Happy 2nd Birthday Noah!

Two years ago on Jan 25th, Brad and I were living in Boston (in a 500 sq ft dorm, no less). My water had broken that morning but the midwife said I would probably have to be induced that evening. We hadn't purchased a car seat yet so that afternoon, we drove to Babies R Us and got us a car seat. The checkout lady asked when I was due and I replied, "Now-ish."

Right on time

That evening my whole life changed as we welcomed Noah James into the world. He was named for two of his great-grandfathers that Brad and I both loved and adored. Our world has never been the same. Our hearts grew ten-fold and we loved like we never knew we could love. 

How precious was Noah?? :-)

I was finishing up my graduate work and Noah was my little helper.

My little helper

Noah came two weeks early, which was a huge blessing because on his due date the city was shut down with a blizzard. It was actually illegal to be driving on the roads.

I swear we aren't bad parents...

Yes, that is my two week old in the snow. No, it was not my idea. Yes, my husband is crazy. And yes, we think he is fine now. [Brad's ninja edit: the idea was to make a baby snow angel!  How cute is that, right?  You're supposed to show the picture of two big adult snow angels next to a baby snow angel, not show the "in process" picture that makes it look like we abandoned our baby in a snow bank.]

Noah's Party

To say we have some stuff going on right now is the understatement of the century. I figured there was no way we were going to pull off a party for Mr. Noah. Have you seen the standards on pinterest and facebook that toddler parties have to meet? I read about one with a 75-animal petting zoo. One I went to had actual hubcaps on the wall as decorations for a Cars-themed bday party. Clearly, I don't have the bandwidth for that, so I figured a party was off the table.

But then again, I am sorta crazy, so on top of my parents moving, having a film crew at our house all weekend, my MIL flying in, speaking in church that morning, leaving for our trip to MDA that afternoon, and seven months of non-stop chemo, I decided to throw a minor gathering. 

For the decorations, I bought all three things in the Cars-themed party supply section of Wal-mart.  The cupcakes were from the grocery store, and all the food served was from Costco's frozen section- but by golly we had a party! And it was fun!

Happy 2nd Birthday Noah- we love you SO much!

Stage 1 of Cake Destruction

Stage 2 - As one friend put it, you haven't truly celebrated until you have cake in your hair.

Stage 3- I might mention that black icing was seen again a few hours later. We were half-way to Houston at that point and my poor MIL had to deal with the fallout of Noah eating an entire cake...sorry Jane!

After everyone had left and my wig came off! Crazy hair for a mama!

All party photos by Maggie Bryant. She is the same friend that took my photos when I found out I was going to be on chemo that would make my hair fall out. She is so talented!