My Noah-Bear

"Parenthood: That state of being better chaperoned than you were
before marriage."

--Marcelene Cox

I am now the mother of a 7 year old. Whoa. I'm not really sure where all the time went between November 8, 2001 and now, but I do know that I wouldn't know what my life would be like without my Noah-Bear (a.k.a. Doodie-Bear...I'm pretty sure that was a nickname Rob came up with, not me).

Noah has taught me what I must have been like as a young child. And while he has been an amazing child, I must apologize to my sister, Emily, for being so bossy. And to my parents, especially my mom, I must apologize for always knowing the best way to get to everywhere we were going ("Gosh mom. Why do we have to go the long way? Can't we go the fast way? Ugh." --Jen(ny) as a young Google Maps know-it-all). But, I must admit, I love my Baby-Bear.

Noah is definitely a fine young man in the making. He is smart, expressive, caring, and stubborn (the stubborn part he gets from me, if I have to admit where that comes from). Blake is his BFF. He is concise when it comes to rules. He has no problems calling you out when you are wrong. He loves to run his fingers through my hair (oh how I love it when he does that!). He likes cinnamon raisin bagels, not toasted, hold the cream cheese. Aunt Joni's ribs are definitely his favorite food group. Cake, hold the ice cream. He loves Pokeman and Bachugan (spelling?), Tom and Jerry, SpongeBob SquarePants, and anything Star Wars. Shorts vs. Jeans? Hands down he will pick shorts, even with the thermometer starting to plunge to near freezing temperatures. His favorite scripture story is that of Ammon cutting off the arms of the Lamanite thieves (go figure, he's a boy ;). He is athletic (sometimes scary how much so). Wow. What a kid!

Here are some pictures from his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese last weekend. Noah, Blake and 6 of Noah's friends had a blast!