Monterey Bay Aquarium...with Cuz Jonah

Shortly after Christmas, Cuz Jonah and Cuz Noah headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.   They were joined by a gaggle of parents and grandparents...Uncle Drew, Auntie Nessa, Mimi and

Pop-Pop {Jonah's grandparents}, Nana, Papa, Kc, and myself.  

Gotta love the kelp forest!

The two boys were so fun to watch.  They loved running after each other trying to be the first to find the next tank.

 

Noah just had to show Cuz Jonah how to be his very own sea creature.

 

Noah and Jonah got such a kick out of climbing on the large seahorse.

Noah tried to get an "up close" view of some seahorse eggs.

One of the highlights of the trip was the Jellies Experience.

 I just love watching the slow, undulating movements of the curious creatures.

 

I even got to be kaleidoscope jellyfish.  Noah got quite a kick out of it.

Noah got a pelican who flew all around the aquarium.

And, of course, we had to take the token picture at the tidal pool.

It was so fun share one of our favorite places in the world with some of our favorite people in the world.  A great big THANK YOU to Grams for making it all possible.

Fourty-Eight Months

My Little Man turns 4 today.  It is truly shocking how fast these past four years have flown by.  

Noah's current stats are:

Weight: 43 pounds

Height: 40 inches

Once again, our wonderful friend Lisa, from Bug O' Boo, created Noah's Shark birthday shirts.  I think she truly outdid herself this time.  I loved the pirate shirt as well as the Noah's Ark shirt and the under the sea shirt, but these truly take the cake!  

 

Our silly little Bubs just loves to stand on his head and chose to start the "monthly photo shoot" by showing off his fantastic talent.  

Aww...such love for Ryan Bear.  It reminds me of this picture.

Bubs looks so big and grown-up in this picture.  He is slowly transitioning out of the "toddler" stage and into a "little boy".  Not sure if I am ready for this!

Cousins...in jammies

Every year, Nana gets Christmas Jammies for all the cousins and every year, we attempt to take a cute photo.  Noah and Jonah started out standing in front of the fireplace. 

One boy would look at one camera while another would look at Auntie Nessa or myself who were jumping up and down behind the cameras.

Let's try sitting.

How about hugging?

How about wrestling?

Seriously! Are we finished taking pictures yet?

Finally...Uncle Drew got the best photo of the evening.

Christmas Festivities

Ok...I am finally feeling like my head is above water and I can dive back into "reality".  These past few weeks have been so busy with family, friends, report cards, surgery, end of the semester assessments, Oral Interpretation {a group I am co-coaching at school}, more end of the quarter assessments, and birthday celebrations.  EEK!

So...backing-up a few weeks...we were blessed to have family surrounding us for Christmas.  We celebrated Christmas Eve with Kc's side of the family.  For Noah, this meant tons of attention and presents!  He was so excited to see that his stocking from Rocklin had made the trip to Fresno.

The wind-up frog was so fun to watch.

He loved the semi-trucks from Aunt Sharon and Uncle Gary.

This Christmas was all about "Dress-Up Clothes".  He got a fantastic king/knight costume complete with sword and shield.  Daddy got his own sword and shield so I predict many a battle will be fought in the Jackson Kingdom.

Bubs also got a great doctor costume.

He had such a blast treating his sick patient, Squirt.  First Dr. Noah showed Squirt how to open wide so we could look in his mouth.

Next, Dr. Noah listened to Squirt's heartbeat.  "He's all healthy," Dr. Noah declared.  

 

On Christmas Day, we headed to Nana and Papa's house to celebrate with the Smith Family.  You can read Auntie Nessa's detailed post here. 

Once again, Bubs was all about the opening of presents.

Noah got a fantastic Angry Birds lunchbox from Cuz Jonah, 

 an adorable turtle backpack from Cuz Hunter, Cuz Brooklyn, and Cuz Jed,

a super cool helicopter and fire truck set from Nana and Papa,

that went with his awesome fireman costume.

We are so blessed to be surrounded by amazing family.

It truly was a Very Merry Christmas!

Twenty-Six

We had a fantastic Christmas {post to come later}, an amazing family trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium {post to come later}, a great behind-the-scenes trip to Sea Lion Cove {post to come later}, and an incredibly hectic first week back to reality {no post to come later}.  I simply cannot believe how fast the holidays have come and gone and quickly the wild rush of reality has set in.

Tomorrow, we'll be heading back to Children's Hospital for surgery number 26.  If you remember, back in March, Noah had a tube placed to correct a clogged tear duct.  And, if you remember, back in September, the tube refused to be removed.

So...here we are...ready for another surgery.  First, Noah's ENT {the very same Dr. who placed Noah's trach} will remove the stubborn tube and follow up with a scope of his trachea.  Next, Noah's Opthomologist will perform a surgery to help alleviate his nystagmus.  Noah's eye shakes back and forth, called nystagmus.  In order to releive some of the quivering, the Dr. will loosen the tendons on one side of his eye and tighten the tendons on the other side.  This will "force" his eye to stay in {relatively} one place.

Please pray for skillful surgeons, patient nurses, fast acting Versed, and a speedy recovery.