Happy Birthday, Shellie!

(I know this is a little early, Shell, but enjoy)

Famous People Born on October 7th:
Niels Bohr, Danish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate - 1885
John Cougar Mellencamp, American singer - 1951
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia - 1952
Yo-Yo Ma, French-born cellist - 1955
Simon Cowell, English recording executive and television judge - 1959
Toni Braxton, American R&B singer - 1968
Rachel McAdams, Canadian actress - 1976
MICHELLE KOSAKOWSKI - Greatest youngest sister on the planet - 1988

Bella says:


The family says:

Happy Birthday, baby girl!
We love you, we miss you and we hope that your twentieth is fantastic!!!

Love,
Grant, Kristi, Noah and Bella

When Grant was Little...

So last night, right after I finished posting to the blog, Grant was getting Noah dressed after his bath. Here's what Noah got to wear:

Grant told him they were his cowboy jammies. Here's what happened...

Grant (to Noah): So when you're twenty-six someday you can never say you didn't get to wear cowboy pajamas.
Me: You didn't have cowboy pajamas?
Grant: No
Me: Did you want cowboy pajamas?
Grant: I don't know if I did then but I do now!
Me: With feet?
Grant: Of course!

So I'm on a mission to now find Grant cowboy pajamas with feet... Anyone know where I can find some?

I actually witnessed Noah rolling from his back to his tummy today. As I said last week I knew he could do it, but I hadn't seen it. This morning I finally saw him (and have twice since then) seen him roll and eventually figure out how to pull his arm out from underneath him. He's so funny and so proud of himself when he does it.

Alright, I'm out of here. Grant just got home with the makings for ice cream sundaes. Enjoy the rest of the pictures from today.

Daddy feeding Noah his dinner

Noah playing

Noah in his cowboy PJ's

Laid back Sunday

Today was a typical Sunday for the Gatchel family :-) Church this morning, low key afternoon and then dinner with friends!

The three of us were up and off to mass this morning. For the most part, I really love our Church, and have only one major complaint. As soon as Communion is over a slow exodus begins. Then as the final blessing has just left the priest's mouth it's a free for all! The place is nearly empty before the recessional song begins! It drives me bonkers. God is asking for one hour a week - not 58 minutes people! Grant says that since the Church is definitely an "older" crowd that the old people have to leave early just to get to the back doors of the Church by the time the song is over...

We just got back from dinner at the Hals. Beth made fabulous enchiladas for everyone and we got to all catch up for awhile. I was so excited that Noah was in a better mood and I got some 'adult' conversation for awhile.

Alright, that's it for today. Enjoy the pictures!
Noah and Daddy

Some of the "Florida Family"

Noah and Mommy playing

The boys taking a snoozie

The things you do for love...

It seems that in the past few weeks Noah has "discovered" his voice. He's 'talking' quite a bit and always making all kinds of interesting noises. The one that instantaneously brings a smile to my face is the baby giggle. He's got this funny little giggle that comes out at odd moments. And then Grant or I spend tons of effort attempting to figure out what exactly it was that made him giggle so we can do it again and get another giggle.

Case in point, The Witch Doctor song. In the '80s I very clearly remember watching the cartoon Chipmunks movie. The one where they race around the world collecting the dolls at the same time the Chippettes are collecting their own dolls. I think the first time I watched it was at Aunt Diane and Uncle Jack's house... Anyway, back to the point of this. In the new movie released last year which I definitely did not see, there is an updated hip hop mix to the Witch Doctor. It is cheesy and horrible. Don't believe me, check it out... But I played it for Noah and of course he loves it! He starts laughing and giggling (the crazy dance that I do along with it might be some of the cause as well). I listened to the song (and did the dance) 5 times in a row yesterday. The saddest part to all of this is that I'm starting to like the song ;-)

I didn't post anything but pictures last night because it was a really long day. For some unknown reason Noah threw a tantrum from about 6pm to after 10pm last night. We were out to dinner with everyone and he pitched a fit and I ended up bringing him home and he continued to pitch a fit. Still haven't figured out what was wrong. We don't think it's teeth as he's been wonderful all day today.

Alrighty, I'm out for the night. Hopefully tomorrow will be exciting :-) Enjoy the picturesNoah 'walking'

Noah wearing his Halloween jammies from Grandma & Grandpa Koz

Go Cubbies!

Thanks Grandpa Gatchel for my Cubs outfit!

Trying to get that sock off

The start of the weekend

Too tired to write anything tonight, so pictures and video only :)

Noah and Cookie Monster

Noah and Daddy at the restaurant

Noah and 'Uncle Thomas'

Playing this morning

Checking out his gift from Aunt Sarah

Thank you Aunt Bob!!

Splish Splash!

Grinning in the bath

Is it Friday yet?

This might be a little short as I am typing and watching the vice presidential debate at the same time. I'm interested to see what both of these candidates have to say. I have already made my decision, but I think that there are still plenty of undecided voters out there that are watching this very closely tonight.

We've had a pretty good day here today. When I got off of work (my "day job" that is) I worked on downloading some songs for Noah's iPod. We got Winnie the Pooh today :-) And the "Numa Numa" song. OK, that one might have been way more for me, but Noah does like it, too. If you don't know what I'm talking about and you need a laugh, you've got to check out this video Bless that guy, it cracks me up every time I see it :-)

We also ran to the store and got some of the pictures that I needed for Noah's ABC book. If anyone has any ideas, I'm still looking for words for L,Q,R,U,V,X,Y and Z. I want them to be words in Noah's every day life that I can put a picture to. For example, A is for Ark, B is for Bella, C is for Cookie Monster... It's not something I need right this second, this is to be a Christmas gift but I'm hoping to get it done sooner rather than later...

Alright, off to watch the rest of the debate. Only a few pictures from today, but I did take a little video of Noah being noisy!Noah playing

Grinning Noah

The yarn I got today to make Noah a blankie

A Penny Saved...

Today Noah learned about financial responsibility. With the current state of the economy we figured we'd better start really early! But I've promised I'm not going to rant about that on here... Anyway, back to Noah's lesson of the day.

We went and opened Noah his very own savings account! The bankers laughed at me as I explained to Noah how important it was to save money while they opened the account. Yes, I'm aware he's 4 months old, but I usually babble to him all day about the other going-ons, why not "teach" him something while I'm at it. I just read yet another article about how the number of words heard in the first year of life has a lasting effect on a child's intelligence. So while I probably don't hit the recommended 30,000 words a day at least I know he's hearing plenty. I know that the day to day events aren't extremely exciting, but how else is he going to learn?

Anyway, we opened an account for him. I told him it was for his college fund and that he should go to Michigan University ;-) Go Blue! But we'll be thrilled no matter where he goes, so no pressure, kiddo.

Other than that it just seemed like one of those days when I'm not sure I'm doing anything right. I 'broke' the computers at work - thank goodness it was an easy fix. I think my mind is in a different place lately and I'm not 100% anywhere. I kind of feel like I'm walking through a really thick fog, just hoping not to bump into anything before I reach my destination. I know I'll get out of it/over it soon, here's to hoping at least :-)

Enjoy the pictures from today. I'm also posting another Cookie Monster clip, because Grant and I both think it's really cute!

There's a froggy on the window on the window....

The start of some of the pages for Noah's ABC Book

Getting dressed after bath time! (Noah's "discovered" his feet)