He's ONE

Jude had his first birthday today!

We celebrated with dinner at MaMops and BaPops.

No question his favorite gift was a balloon!

Happy Birthday to our sweet boy

5 days shy

of his F I R S T birthday and he can't get any cuter

From Elves to Grinches

Here's a glimpse of the Christmas season around our house

I love this tradition. It began in our house 2 years ago but this year Ellie is totally into the Elf on the Shelf. She gets up every morning looking to see where 'Grapes' is. I've really gotten into making his appearance more creative than just sitting on a shelf.

Country Village is one of our favorite places. Huge Christmas tree, Santa photos, pretty lights . . . Ellie never wants to leave.

No matter the season - Jude is always in the mood for a meal. This boy must be going through a growth spurt because he can't get enough food. We've added snacks between every meal but he still wants more more more!

One of my yard sale finds last summer was 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' on vinyl. It has become Ellie's favorite and she's even figured out how to put on the record by herself.

This photo captures it all!

The excitement and wonder are at an all time high. 4 year olds at Christmas are the best!

A Tradition . . . Rain or Shine

It has become a family tradition to cut down our own Christmas tree on the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Along with my parents, we hit up our favorite breakfast spot - The Maltby Cafe - then drive all the way to Arlington to the tree farm. We sing Christmas carols and talk about what we want for Christmas.

This year was especially "fun" because it was poooouuuurrrring rain. Drew loves it when I have use the Northwest gear I own like waterproof boots and jacket.

So all bundled up we cut down our tree - it wasn't much of a surprise that we settled on a tree that was literally 5 feet from the car.

Always the Northwest kid - Ellie loving the rain!

The perfect tree - in the perfect location

Happy kid

These days . . .

• are crazy with Christmas prep! The Christmas tree is up . . . cards are being written . . . presents are hidden under the bed . . . listening to "The Grinch" on vinyl by candlelight every evening.
• are exhausting! Going on 10 weeks of sick Nobles. Now I have a sinus infection and Ellie is super stuffed up now. Next will be Jude and we'll make another round of illness
• fraught with injury! Jude is crawling and climbing like mad - which means he gets hurt about every other minute. He's either being squeezed by his sis or taking a header down the ONE step we have in our house. Tonight ended with the poor kid getting a fat lip.
• full of missing family! Drew's sister Shaneen and baby Stella just left after a lovely visit. Jude loved having a baby to poke at and by the end of the visit Stella barely cried!

• Drew's on daddy duty. I work every other weekend which means Drew has his hands full. Saturday mornings start with the Dub Reggae Show on KEXP. Even Jude jams out.

Eleven Months

Jude is now 11 months old!

He's the chattiest, happiest, smiliest, cutest boy ever!

We are pretty sure he will be a musician, as EVERY time he hears music he starts to rock out to the beat.

And he finally seems to be getting well - no rash or cough at the moment!

He thinks his sister is hilarious. Here is she is explaining the plan for a day . . . a trip to Home Depot to buy . . . letters?

Eating and chatting.

Rough Days

It has been 7 WEEKS, yes S E V E N WEEEEEEKS of sickness in the Noble House.

It started when Ellie caught a cold on our last day in Disneyland, then Jude got sick and we had to take him to the Children's ER, again, because he couldn't breathe because of his 'reactive airway'. Then Drew got sick with bronchitis, then Ellie got sick and had to miss a week of preschool, then Jude got sick again - super sick - with a double ear infection.

We tried to treat it naturopathically but after 5 days we had to succumb to antibiotics. And last week, on day 7 of his 1 week course of drugs, while we were up in Canada, he developed the most horrible rash and once again couldn't breathe.

Thank goodness I took his Albuterol puffer with me, something I will carry with me at all times from now on.

At the Urgent Care clinic, they said he had an allergic reaction to the Amoxicillan and that it would run its course in about a week.

Poor guy can't catch a break. He was so itchy, irritable and swollen. He doesn't even LOOK like himself in this photo. You think this looks bad - this wasn't even at its worst!

Next stop, appointments with pulmonologists and allergists to make plan for his poor lungs.

I haven't slept for more than 45 minutes at a stretch for 5 days, we are all exhausted and now since I've come down with a bug you can add my name to the ongoing list of unwell Nobles.

Here's to hoping for some relief for the little guy and sleep for the rest of us!

Ellie turns 4

and Jude gets an ear infection!

Last week was a rough week in the Noble house. Poor Jude had a double ear infection. We tried to avoid anitibiotics, going the naturopathic route. When we finally succumb to the drugs, he had yucky reactions to them!

The one bright spot in the week was Ellie F O U R T H birthday!

It was a great day - spent at preschool and then a family party with all the grandparents present.

Teacher Paula leading the class in Happy Birthday to Ellie

We made candy sushi for her preschool treat! My sister gave me the idea and it was perfect this year cuz Ellie LOVES sushi.

Here is Ellie's 4 year update:

• She weighs about 34 pounds
• She loves all things princess and Disney
• Absolutely, loves preschool
• Can write her name, identify all her letters and numbers 1-10
• She can count to 20 when she's in the mood
• Sometimes she reminds me of Varuca Salt and when she first saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Varuca was her favorite character. Oh goodness!
• Her bedtime is 8pm and she gets up about 7am
• We got her Shel Silversteins "Where the Sidewalk Ends" for her birthday and she now professes "I love poetry"
• Thinks her brother is "The cutest baby who ever lived!"

I can't imagine any kid being more smart, funny and special as our Ellie girl! Can't believe she's F O U R!

Trick or *Cough*

I have to say for a person that is still scared of the dark - Halloween is one of my very favorite holidays!

I mean, really - the tradition of going to your neighbors houses and asking for candy is pretty awesome!

As you can see by the photo below - Ellie agrees.

We had our 2nd Annual Asmann/Noble neighborhood trick or treating parade. Lots of kids and champagne in plastic cups! So fun! Lil Stinker and Belle say "Happy Halloween!"

Jude, Sedona, Ellie, Livie, Rowan and Chloe

Unfortunately, this Lil Stinker spiked a temp and started pulling at his ears that evening. Ellie has never had an ear infection but I was suspicious.

Yep, I was right - a DOUBLE ear infection. Poor boy is miserable. Whimpering, high temps, sore ears!

We're taking the naturopathic route and putting garlic drops in his ears (which means he smells like foccacia bread) and giving it 24 hours before antibiotics.

Hoping for a speedy recovery!

p.s. Tomorrow my baby girl turns F O U R!!!!!!

Masquerade!

We have survived another birthday party!

This year was a 4th Birthday Princess Masquerade.

Her friends dressed up, made masks and even got to play outside on this surprisingly sunny October day.

Aria, Ellie and Alister She's F O U R!

Ellie and Aria admiring the princess cake Our friend Eric is a baker and designed this fabulous cake for Ellie. Complete with Princess Ariel in a masquerade mask. And the best part - it was delicious - chocolate ganache. Everyone said it was the best cake they EVER had. I agree!

Ellie wanted me to pretend I was like Snow White at Disneyland and pose for a picture. I had to talk in a high voice, have "pretty" hands, give all the girls a hug then wave as they walked away. She was very specific.

More birthday celebrations are on the agenda for the week. Including candy sushi for her preschool treat . . .

Carvin' and Crawlin'

This is the first year that Ellie has really been into pumpkin carving.

She loved getting her hands in the guts and thought it was pretty cool to use a 'real knife' to carve her pumpkin.

Macgruder is a crawling machine! He's getting faster even since this video was taken last week. His one legged crawl is pretty adorable!

Bubbling Bouncing Giggling Baby Boy

Our baby has entered double digits! Jude is now 10 months old!

Here is his monthly update:

• He laughs nearly constantly. He's just the happiest guy we've ever met!
• He loves being packed around by his sister. We just recently let Ellie start to carry Jude around - with our arms close, of course. Pictures of this adorable scene soon.
• He weighs over 20 pounds!
• Teeth count = EIGHT! Yep, 4 on top and 4 on bottom
• The nickname that seems to be sticking . . . MacGruder
• He pulls to standing. Especially in his crib at night.
• Maybe starting to sleep better. We have been doing some sleep training over the weekend and the last few nights he actually has had a few 4 hour stretches of sleep!
• Has Reactive Airway Disease. Which is like asthma for babies. We had another trip to the ER a couple weeks ago when he was struggling to breathe while he had a cold. Appartently, this kid didn't get the memo that breastfed babies should have a lower risk for respiratory illness!
• And most importantly . . . He's crawling! It's the funniest one-legged crawl I've ever seen but he can't sure get around. If you come to our house anytime soon don't expect to see any cute decor accents within 3 feet of the floor.

Pumpkin Hunting

One of the highlights of fall is always the pumpkin patch trip. Amazing to think last year Jude was in my belly!

This year we met friends at an urban farm near Seattle and Ellie got to pet lots of animals and even saw chicks hatching.

Jude was happy being packed around and loved the wagon ride with his sis.

Happy Fall!

More Disney Moments

It's taken us 2 1/2 weeks to recover - all of us had colds and the poor kids were really sick.

It's still fun to look back on some of the best Disney moments . . .

TWIRLING

PRANCING

WAVING

Eleven

The 2011 Noble/Ocampo family Disney trip was decidedly a success.

True - there were some rough patches when Ellie got scared of Captain Hook but most of the time she had the look of wonder in her eye that I was hoping for.

So here is my photo-journalistic TOP 11 of Disneyland

#1: Thrills! Drew insisted on taking Ellie on the mini-roller coaster in Toon Town. I was trepidacious because she had gotten so scared on Peter Pan but he dreams of having kids that love thrills as much as we do and since she was willing, I held my tongue and hoped for the best. And verdict is . . . she loved it! And even wanted to go on again. I breathed a big sigh of relief and Drew was ecstatic. He's already making plans for more roller coaster rides. #2: Dress-up: Ellie really wanted to wear make-up like the princesses and outside the Princess Fantasy Faire (a new princess meet and greet area) they had the most amazing face painting artists. I tell ya - Disney employs some very talented people! #3: Treats. The buzz is that Disneyland has terrible food - and that may be true if you only eat off the food carts stocked with corn dogs. But we found some yummy treats like Beignet's shaped like Mickey Mouse in New Orleans square and MaMop spoiled Ellie with cotton candy - twice! #4: Surprises! After the Captain Hook incident I was worried Ellie wouldn't like any rides. Who knew she would LOVE a 200 ft tall Ferris wheel or the spinning Tea Cups!

#5: Naps! I think both kids (and Drew) were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people in the park even though it wasn't busy by Disney standards. Jude did a great job napping in the sling and, thank goodness, BaPop has the baby touch and could always get him to sleep. But for the first 2 days Ellie didn't nap at all - then I mentioned she should take a sleep in the stroller. Within minutes she was snoozing - it was like the thought hadn't occurred to her. Funny little girl.

#6: Mid-September is . . . Halloween . . .? Yep, the entire park was decorated for Halloween. This was a bummer when it came to the Haunted Mansion because it was all re-done in a Nightmare Before Christmas theme, which definitely seemed out of place in September. But Ellie looked super cute next to the fall decorations in her Belle dress.

#7: The Best Moment. On the last day we happened upon Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother and Susie, the mouse. Ellie was very comfortable around the characters at this point and their interaction was priceless. They twirled, curtsied and gave a princess wave. This was my favorite moment!

#8: Family. To be able to go on this vacation with my parents was awesome. We all got along great and Drew and I even got to head back to the park late one night to go on the big rides and see the fireworks.

#9: The Dichotomy of Disneyland. The debate of when to take kids to Disneyland is always a hot one. If they're too young then they may be scared or not remember the whole experience. If you wait too long they won't truly believe in the magic of it all.

We decided to go this year because Ellie is so enchanted by the princesses right now (and Jude isn't crawling so he is more portable)

I'm so glad we decided to go because she looked at the Princesses just as I imagined. She even asked Cinderella "Did the mice make your dress?"

But in the same way she believed the Cinderella was real - she also believed the Queen of Hearts was real - and she was scary.

So many times I heard myself saying "Of course, that's Sleeping Beauty's castle" and then in the next breathe "No, Cruella Deville is just a person, she won't get you"

So we got the wonderment but also some of the fear. Just like a Disney movie - some scary parts but always a happy ending. #10: The Belle dress. MaMop and BaPop bought Ellie a princess dress in the park, which was a very special treat. I was hoping she would pick Tiana's dress from Princess and the Frog but Ellie chose Belle. She danced around Main Street, loving her puffy dress.

#11: Smiling Faces. I think this is the mark of a good trip: The morning we woke up at home after returning from California, Ellie asked "How many more sleeps till we get to go back to Disneyland?."

Well Ellie, if we go when Jude is 4 then that's just

One Thousand Four Hundred and Sixty

more sleeps.