Making new friends

Nearly every day Noah asks if we can go for a walk outside. He says "shoes? shoes?" and when I put them on he runs to the door, signs "open" and says "dee door, dee door!" (the door). If I don't get there fast enough he asks "eeess?" (keys?)

This time on our walk he found a new friend, our neighbor's kitty. He had to sit down to take a closer look. (While hanging on to his loved blankie...he's our little Linus).

Sitting next to his new friend

This is his inward gasp face of "ohhhh mommy this is REALLY cool!"

Our neighbors kitty was very patient letting him pet her. Whenever Noah sees a cat (including ours) he'll "talk" to them in soft meowing sounds. Maybe that convinced her cause she started purring. I think he's made a new friend!

Baby Girl Shower

Kerry threw me a baby shower this weekend for little miss Archer, and I think the whole church showed up! :) It was so fun to have a shower for our little girl cause everything (I mean everything) baby I own is blue. Clint reckoned if Noah was a boy then he must be in blue. NOT tan, not white, but blue (of course!) So looking through all my baby clothes/blankets and stuff nothing was suitable for our little girl! So it was so fun to receive such nice girly things from everyone!

Thank you to Kerry who organized it and to Amber who hosted...half the church! :)

Some of the ladies standing in line for the yummy food! Including a cheesecake from Springs, my favorite!

Some of the girls! Sue is prego with Twins but not showing yet (far left!) So we are the two expecting ladies in the church. (and honorary Liz who is now in Australia!)

Helga made these amazing cupcakes with real roses on top, so pretty.All the girls watching opening presents...I can't wait till baby Archer and baby Gemma can play (shes' the two month old in the photo!) They will be about 3 months apart.

It was fun opening girly things :)

Nina Cait and I

Now I have to organize all my fun things in the cupboards in her room, thank you!

Shooz Shooz Shooz

On Sunday Morning Noah always wants to get dressed in daddy's nice clothes. He'll go into his cupboard and say "shooz!" (shoes) and pull out one of the nicest pairs, drag them to just the right spot (near something to hang on to) and then put them on and walk around in them. He also does this with Clint's ties and belts. But this week it was mainly the "shooz!"

Seeing how they fit

How do the "shooz" look mommy?

This week has been a burst of new words for Noah. He hasn't been much of a talker, so it was fun to hear his little voice come to life. Now the new words frequented in the Archer household are "shoes, door, keys, boo-boo, bowl, and tooth (for toothbrush)."

Getting ready....

So after long debate, we are going to double our guestroom as the baby's room. So I'll be making a brown & pink & white quilt for our double bed for our guests (which will turn into her bed someday!) and we've moved Noah's crib into the guestroom/baby girls room. My parents sent this cute pink & brown set from Target, thank you!
The wall decals are my favorite. Since I won't have a changing table in the room (with the double bed there's just no room!) I'm having a special board made that goes on top of the crib when I need to change her.

One month to go!

Vroom Vroom

Noah is obsessed with cars at the moment. He pushes around his little toy cars and says "vrooom vrooom" and every day he makes the hand motions for driving a big wheel, points to our car and signs "please please" while saying "VROOOM!" He wants daddy to take him for a "drive"

So in they go...engines started, seat belt on first!

Steering the wheel and pushing the windshield wipers is way to much fun

He usually turns back and looks at you with this big smile like.....wow thank you so much this is just so fun!

It takes alot of explaining to tell Noah that the drive session is now over, because it usually ends in tears with lots of "more, more!"

On being 30

I turned 30 this past week and it turns out that being 30 is really cool. I thought I'd moan and groan on my 30th birthday about how ancient it seems and how the cool part of life is over. But its totally not. I love this stage. I love having young kid(s) and a cute husband and our little house, and just life. The Lord has been so good to sustain me for 30 years....so bring on the next 30! I'm so excited to see what the Lord has for me. What's been cool being at our church for three years (that's much smaller than Grace) is seeing people at all walks of life...and people in their 50's and 60's having such amazing lives and testimonies and walks with the Lord. It makes the next 30 years seem so exciting. I can't wait to be wise someday :)

Big Boy Boat Bed

For Christmas Noah's SAfrican grandparents gave him his big boy boat bed (thats alot of b's!) and I gave him the quilt that is now finished and on the bed! So fun.
I was really nervous about the transition between his crib and the bed (thinking he'd just jump out after I put him down to sleep) so for a few nights I kept him in his crib so he could get used to the bed being in his room. He'd wake up standing in his cot pointing at his new bed saying "vroom vrooom!" (I think he thought it was a car!)

But he's slept perfectly fine in his new bed, and only got out once without permission so far when I didn't hear him calling for me cause I was outside. He now calls "mamma!" and I know its time to come in and get him up, and he'll just sit in his bed looking through the portholes til I come get him. So cute.

So now the crib is empty for the baby coming in 6 weeks! She's coming so quick!

Cozy Christmas

This year we had a simple Christmas at home. We got back from Cape Town late Christmas eve, and then Clint preached 8am Christmas morning, (an awesome sermon, btw, you can download it on our church website!) and then we had a simple Christmas just the three of us, and went to a family in our church for lunch. It was such a fun day.

Noah sporting his shirt from his American grandparents: "good things come in small packages" :)

Opening Noah's presents...way more than ours thats for sure!

Noah liked that he could see his reflection in the balls on the tree

Noah liked ripping the paper and opening the gifts this year

Noah is really into trucks/cars at the moment, so we got him a dump truck that dumps out different shapes. He loves it. Any car he sees he says "vrooom vroom" and when he plays with his toy cars he lies on the ground next to them pushing them back and forth saying "vrrooooom!" So cute.

Playing with daddy

Clint gave me for Christmas the most amazing hair straightener (we live in Durban, a crazy humid place in summer, and I used Cait's in Cape Town and fell in love with it, and Clint organized from CT that there would be one under the tree for me!) Well, Noah saw it and started "using" it. He knew exactly what to do! Now its a definate "no touch" item!

Silly guy!