Bath time.

Enjoying some time with my cute little man while he's still cute and little.

North Market Date

This Christmas, my present to Rudy was to have a date every month without our little man. For January's date we headed to the North Market. This has been one of my favorite places in Columbus from the first time I stepped foot into it. I love the market's atmosphere, the colors, and the smells. Oh, the smells: spicy Indian food around one corner, fresh bread around the next, Belgian waffles, the list goes on and on. 

So when I saw that there was a small pop-up donut shop was open on Saturday I had to try it! We got to sample everything she had in her shop, and chose the sausage maple and lemon blueberry. In another stall we got a couple of coffees and headed upstairs to try our treats. They did not disappoint!

My handsome date.

Destination Donuts - Sausage Maple and Lemon Blueberry

 I also brought my new camera along and snapped some photos of the market. I want to catalogue the things I love about Columbus before we leave!

 

This past week we had a good amount of snow. It has been Rudy's dream since moving to Columbus to snowboard down Wahalla ravine, and he finally did it! It was very slow, but very entertaining. The few people that were out walking or sledding got a kick out of it. We also used the board as a sled and zipped down the hill with Noah. It was fun with just two of us on the sled, but once we all got on it was a bit precarious. Even though Rudy had to drag me outside on such a cold day, I was really happy we got out and Rudy lived the dream. It was really fun for all of us.

 

Christmas in Columbus

 Our first Christmas staying in Columbus with Noah was just perfect. We had a quiet morning at home spent eating cinnamon rolls, opening presents and watching Charlie Brown. Then in the afternoon we headed over to my grandparent's house where we had dinner with aunts, uncles and cousins. 

I hope your Holidays were as joyful as ours!

  

   

The stockings I made this year.

 

 

Scraped Knees

One cute thing Noah does now a days is think his scraped knees are "bye-byes" instead of "boo boos". He looks at them and waves bye-bye and says "ouch!"

Thanksgiving 2011

We shared Thanksgiving with our Ohio family at my grandparent's house this year. It was Noah's first year to enjoy the feast, and to make it even more special, he got to sit in my Grandpa Bunky's father's highchair which was made in the 1890's!

Right as the meal got underway, I accidentally cut Noah's finger with a butter knife while trying to cut a tomato. It bled a lot, and made for a bit of a stressful situation, but eventually things settled down and I could finish my meal.

Before dinner we all lounged in Tissy and Bunky's beautiful living room, looking at books and playing blocks with my cousin Ross.

Looking at photos with Bunky, Noah's great grandfather!

It's been a rough few days for Noah, what with three teeth coming in, getting cut by his mom, and falling at church yesterday and coming up with a split eyelid and black eye. But we're all doing well. Noah's such a trooper and is as happy and sweet as ever. We have so much to be thankful for, to list our blessings would take too long here so I'll just keep the list in my quiet heart and go to it when I need to.

A Couple More Halloween Pictures!

I thought I'd share a couple more Halloween pictures here before I post about Thanksgiving. Noah just had the best time walking the sidewalks and leading the pack.

Here is my little octopus wearing an Octopus Cap!

Noah the octopus, Octopus Kids, and a Picture Wall.

Noah was a little octopus for Halloween this year, and went walking through the neighborhood with a big group of friends. It was one of the cutest things to see him walking the sidewalks like a big kid in his costume. We borrowed it from my wonderful friend Jenny, whose 6 year old son, Augustine, wore it when he was 1. She said that he wasn't walking yet when he wore it, so it was a whole new level of cuteness to see Noah walking around in it.

Also it's a bit funny that I run a company called Octopus Caps and Noah was an octopus for Halloween.

Speaking of Octopus Caps, I started Octopus Kids this week! Noah has the first Octopus baby cap, and I thought it was so perfect that I needed to start selling them on Etsy. I think they will sell really well for the Christmas season.

Noah was also wearing an Octopus Cap in my last post about apple picking.

To get to Octopus Kids' Etsy store, click here.

Lastly, I got Noah's gallery wall hung. We had friends from church over for a Halloween cookie decorating party, and I wanted to have it done for that, so I did it! I'm a big procrastinator, so having people over gave me a good jump start.

Rudy pointed out that the "N" and clock on the bottom look like "NO", something which escaped me completely! I think I'll add an "AH" to the end of it and say I meant to spell "Noah" out. You have to be flexible with these things.

Also I think I'm ready to pack up the Pack and Play, and put a bonifide toddler bed in Noah's room asap! I like the idea of never putting a baby in a crib, but always letting them sleep on a mattress on the floor. Once they start crawling, they are free to explore their space. I'm never out of earshot of Noah while he's sleeping, so I think this is a good thing for us, although it is nice to know that he can't get into any trouble while inside of his cage, I mean crib.

Picture wall in Noah's room.

I finally got to put up Noah's picture wall earlier this week. I painted the N today and added it and the clock this afternoon. After Noah watched me hammer in the nails, he went and got his own nail and tried to place it gently on the wall. It was so cute and fun to see him learning and trying new things.

I hope he likes his little gallery as much as I do!

Noah and the Apple

There's a whole lotta cuteness going on.

Lately...

We've been up to so much lately...

{Picture taken by our friend Nick Fancher}
You can click on the picture to see it larger.
We went apple picking last weekend. It was in the 70's and absolutely gorgeous. Noah couldn't have had a better time. Can you tell?

Gatsby ate a corn cob off of the table when our backs were turned a few weeks ago. He had to have it surgically removed which was the pits all around. All I have to say about it is thank God things cost less in Ohio than they do in California!

I caught a nasty stomach flu this week and was out of commission for a few days. As soon as I was just about done with being sick, it was Rudy's turn. We're both just now on the mend and crossing our fingers that Noah doesn't get it!

Noah turned one on September 23rd! More pictures and a video to come.

My lovely friend (and old next door neighbor), Jess, had a baby boy and named him Charlie! This is us at her baby shower. It was at a wine bistro and was a very fun and much needed mama's night off. I also wore bright fuchsia lipstick which is a big deal for me (dork, I know).

Now that Noah is walking full time, I try to take him and Gatsby for walks around the block pretty often if not every day. It was a bit drizzly two weeks ago, but we went anyway. I think he's just about too cute in his raincoat. Also, how cute is our front yard and street?! I feel so blessed to call this house our HOME!

Lastly, here is a view from our attic master bedroom at 7:30am. It is our very own back yard. Need I say more?

I'm watching two little boys who live down the street rake leaves in their yard. It's adorable. I LOVE fall.

Talkin' little man.

Here's one more cute video for good measure. I love how much he talks and plays while we are eating together, it makes my days so bright.