Happy Birthday Noelle!

Today is Noelle's birthday! I can't believe that she is 1 year old. This last year has gone by much faster than I expected. This time last year we had a 2lb 15oz preemie and today she is 20+lbs and is as active and happy as ever. She has been through a lot this last year but it has also been so much fun. Saturday (Oct. 24) we had her birthday party. We had a lot of fun and lots of friends and family were there. We missed the Pfeil family though and love you guys a lot. She got a lot of fun presents and jumped right in to the cake. We've realized that we do not have a shy little girl and she is not reserved at all. As me and Michael are not social butterflies we've realized Noelle is. She is so much fun and keeps us on our toes. I feel so blessed to be her mother and am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for watching over Noelle. I know that Noelle was supposed to be born when she was and we've learned so much from all that we've been through together. I wouldn't trade any of it for anything in the whole world. I can't believe how fast she is growing. We love you Noelle so much and are so grateful you are a part of our lives!

Here are some pictures of Noelle throughout the year. Be sure to see the last few pictures, they're from her party on Saturday :). Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!

This was the first picture taken of her in the NICU.

The first time I got to hold Noelle. To be honest, thinking about this today I could literally feel what I felt that day and couldn't help but cry. I remember that day so clearly.The first time Michael got to hold Noelle.

We loved when she would hold on to our fingers.

One of the first times giving her a bottle.

The day we took Noelle home from the NICU.

Home at last.

One of the first days without the oxygen canula.

We just love this picture.

First day trying rice cereal.

The day of Noelle's surgery.

Happy Girl in the physical therapy room.

One of the first days with her helmet and up camping.

Getting a break from her helmet. She's so happy and excited in this one.

One of the last days with the helmet. She loves this bouncy door thing.

So proud that she can finally pull herself up :).

Our cute little pumpkin!

These next pictures are from her birthday party:

These were the desserts from the party. I made the small and big pumpkin. The big one is made of two bundt (carrot) cakes put together and the small one is two small bundt (chocolate) cakes put together. Both with cream cheese frosting. The small one was Noelle's. Me and my mom did the bat cupcakes. Okay, I made them and my mom decorated them. I had the basic idea and my mom pulled it off.

She actually did pretty good opening presents. She was really happy to see this stuffed monkey for some reason. Cute.

Uncle Tanner and Aunt Nina got her this awesome rocking horse. She's very curious about it. Spoiled girl :).

She wanted to touch the candle.

She did not hestitate at all, even with all the people around.

She is loving making a mess.

Very happy eating chocolate cake.

By the end of the party Noelle was exhausted and wanted to sleep and she did as soon as everyone left.

Zoo, bedtime, and helmet news

We've had a good and fun couple of weeks. A week ago this last Saturday we went to the zoo. We didn't know how Noelle was going to react but she seemed to like it a lot. She really liked the penguins. She just watched them so intently swimming in the water. She also really liked the train ride. It was kind of a cold day but we had a great time. Michael had never been to the zoo in Utah and I hadn't been in such a long time so it was fun for us too. I was so excited to go that I forgot our camera. I was bummed at first but got over it.

The night before the zoo Noelle had a little sleepover with her Aunt Nina and Uncle Tanner. They offered to take her overnight just for fun and I guess to see how it was having a baby overnight. Lucky for them Noelle slept 10 hours straight. She hasn't slept that well for us in a while. For some reason she has had a hard time sleeping straight through the night. I think it's a combination of getting herself too worked up and teething. Also we still have her in our room and so when she wakes up she stands herself up and cries and screams at us because she can see us. Whenever she doesn't want to sleep she just stands right up. We can't really move her out of our room until we move out in December so does any one have any suggestions? Oh and she works herself up so much that she can't go back to sleep. We're really trying to get her off taking a bottle in the middle of the night but it's gotten to the point that that's the only option. Any advice on that or words of comfort? :) The nights are getting to be not so relaxing anymore. Anyway.

So the best news yet... Noelle doesn't have to wear her helmet anymore!! Happy Day!

Michael reading to Noelle. She was so interested and calm the whole time. She really likes books. I thought this picture was so cute.

We went to a creamery called Leatherby's and gave Noelle some icecream. She LOVED it!

Don't you just love her crooked pigtails :)

Aunt Nina's witch hat. I just love her happy face in this.

Noelle is starting to do this face whenever she isn't too sure about something or doesn't like something. It's so funny. My cousin's little boy does something similar to this and they call it "the stink eye." That's totally what it looks like.

good news

A couple good things have happened since the last time I posted. First Michael got a promotion at work. He is now the Manufacturing Engineering Technician (long title, I know). We're really excited about it and I'm so proud of him for working so hard. Another piece of good news is that we found an apartment to move into and we'll be in it early December. I know that's still about two months away but we were going to move out of my parents house in early January. Anyway, it's so dang close to Michael's work and a perfect size for us. We're grateful to my parents for letting us live with them, it's definitely been a blessing.

Noelle has been growing so much every day. She is crawling like crazy and pulling herself up so fast on anything she can. She is getting taller and just looks like such a big girl. She is making all different kinds of noises and loves to listen to herself. She says 'dada' all the time but only says 'mama' when she really wants me. I can't believe she'll be 1 year old in less than a month.

Here are some fun pictures over the last couple of weeks.

We took a few pictures of Noelle with some pumpkins to put on her birthday invitation.

She was spitting and yelling because she was tired of being outside and trying to smile for us.

Scary but cute

'Behind bars'

She's soooo messy with her food

I tried to get her to watch Sesame Street and she did for a few minutes. She LOVES elmo :)

She loves pulling herself up to the bars near the stairs.

Mommy and Noelle

Grandma Fullmer and Noelle

Grandma Fullmer bought this dress for Noelle at a carnival on Labor Day. It's so pretty.