Video: Finding Easter Eggs

I thought I would post a short little video of Noah finding Easter eggs, since it is so cute. :)

Easter Egg Fun

Here is Noah, 13 months playing with his second cousin Leah, 8 months. They are both dressed for Easter Sunday. :)

Noah had lots of fun finding Easter eggs last week at Aunt Penny's house. He did a great job finding them and putting them in his bag! It was really cute to watch! (Don't ask me why he is in a onesie instead of his nice shirt....who knows!)

Grandma and Grandpa Rosenberger had an Easter egg hunt for the four grandsons at Mark and Jill's house. Noah had a harder time getting eggs because he kept falling in the grass. It was okay, though, because Mommy and Daddy ate all of his candy anyways!! :)

Noah's cousin Caleb is evaluating his stash inside after the hunt.

Noah earned $4.88 from his Easter eggs, and we put it all in his college savings fund! (Maybe in a few years when he figures out that his parents eat his candy and his money goes to the bank, he won't like Easter egg hunts so much!)

13 months

Today Noah is 13 months old!

I meant to do this last month, but here it is....one month later. My favorite things about each month during his first year of life. I am sure I forgot lots of things, too. It is hard to think of things I "hated" but more, perhaps disliked about certain phases. (These aren't all the BEST photos, but I wanted to try to incorporate some that I haven't shown yet.)

Pregnancy
LOVED: feeling little kicks
HATED: heartburn, feeling tired

1st Month
LOVED: becoming a mommy
HATED: lack of sleep

2nd Month
LOVED: watching Noah smile
HATED: still tired!!

3rd Month
LOVED: taking Noah into the movies
HATED: saying goodbye to our Nicaraguan friends, keeping a schedule

4th Month:
LOVED: Noah's laughter & love for swimming
HATED: 5 am feeding session--too early for me

5th Month:
LOVED: feeding baby cereal; watching him learn to sit and reach for toys
HATED: leaving him 24 hours for the first time

6th Month:
LOVED: watching him crawl; moving him to his own room

HATED: occasional nighttime crying/waking

7th Month
LOVED: saying goodbye to night waking; letting him play in the leaves & fall activities

HATED: fussiness & wanting to be held all the time

8th Month
LOVED: changing bedtime to 8pm instead of 10pm; baby babbles HATED: watching him cry at loud noises such as the vacuum & garbage disposal

9th Month
LOVED: moving beyond baby food to table food; watching "the blanket game"

HATED: seeing him hit his head / fall often when pulling up

10th Month
LOVED: watching him take his first steps; playing pat-a-cake

HATED: trying to teach how to use a sippy cup

11th Month
LOVED: watching him walk!

HATED: cleaning up a messy highchair; babyproofing & putting away everything he takes out

12th Month
LOVED: giving him cake for the first time

HATED: temper tantrums! and biting

13 months old!!!!

Don't Leave Me, Mommy!

This is how Noah looks if I leave the room to do something else (or go to the bathroom!!!) We are discovering that Noah is in the thick of separation anxiety, which hopefully is just a passing phase. Combined with that and his new ability to show emotion (usually by crying extremely loudly), I am finding that it is becoming increasingly difficult to leave him a nursery or other place where I am not. Last night Noah cried hard for a short while when I left the room, even though Jason was there with him. That was very unusual. Normally if he is timid around those he doesn't know, he wants to be with either of his parents. The only solution we can determine is to keep putting him in situations where he is away from me and just hope he outgrows it over time.

Saving for College in a Different Way

In our house, cans = cash.

In effort to encourage others to recycle, we are also building up a savings for college for Noah. We collect cans from various sources, friends, family, etc and smash them to save space in our garage. Currently the price that aluminum is selling for is very low, so we are storing the bags in our garage in hopes that the price will go back up.

Here is our current stash of smashed cans we've collected from the past few months. Once we have enough for a load, we drive them to the recycling center and get paid. The money is 100% for Noah's 529 college fund. As he grows older, he can participate in this little fundraiser more and more.

It has become a fun game for us to find cans when we take a walk in our neighborhood or at the park. Not only do we help clean up the community and promote recycling, but we earn a little money for doing it. As we have learned in our frugal lifestyle, every little bit counts.

As a side note, another viable option for college savings is called UPromise. By registering your Marsh, Kroger/Dillons, CVS, and other shopper cards and even credit cards if desired, 1-8% of qualifying shopping and restaurant purchases are put in a fund that can be transferred to a 529 savings account. Noah currently has one of these accounts, so let us know if you want to link your shopper cards to his account. =) It has $21.50 in it from the past 9 months of doing nothing differently, just regular household / grocery shopping trips, so basically it is free money.