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For Noah’s 11th month-day, he got his first haircut.  He’s been needing one for a while now, but we’ve just been putting it off.  Well, no longer.  Today, we visited a cute kid’s haircut place in the Greenlake area called Beach Comber Kids Cuts.  It was a really cute place with a back room filled with toys while the kids wait for their appointment.  Their chairs are fashioned after different animals.  Noah sat on the dolphin seat.

The ladies were really great, and asked me what movie to put on for Noah while he got his hair cut.  Unfortunately, as soon as they started the video, the power went out of that socket, and was unable to get it back working during his appointment.  This made for a less-than-happy baby, but for the most part, he did pretty well.  He only really fussed when they had to get around the ears.

Here’s some pictures of his time there:

“What are you doing to me, Mommy?”

Getting hairs cut…

Before…

And After… (it was exhausting!)

Overall, it was a good experience. Definitely more money than I’d like to spend on haircuts, but I think it was worth it for the first one.

Here’s his proof of bravery!

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About a month ago, I bought Noah his own potty chair.  I had read a book about early-start potty training and thought that it might be nice to start him early.  I figured it couldn’t hurt, and if it didn’t go well, it really wouldn’t matter since he’s under a year.  We’ve got plenty of time.

It started with me putting together the potty chair.  For the most part it was already assembled, but for some reason, I struggled getting the little pieces to fit properly.  During this time, Noah became fascinated with his new “toy.”  He’d open the lid and throw his pacifier in it.  He’d push it around, and try to take it apart.  When I finally got a chance to finish it, I put him on the potty.  My parents were around at the time, and after a minute or so, he used it!  We were delighted.  (Maybe too much so.  I think it might have scared Noah that we made such a fuss!)

I was very encouraged by our first encounter that every once in a while, I’d stick him on the potty when I thought he might need to go.  Surprisingly, we had success almost every time.  He just loved to sit on his chair.  He can sit there for up to ten minutes being perfectly content (as long as mommy’s there watching him).   We now have a routine that I put him on the potty every time he wakes up in the morning or from naps.  He definitely knows what it is for, and we really have only had a handful of times where he hasn’t used it.

We are still using diapers in the meantime, but diaper changes are easier now since he has some time everyday where he doesn’t have to wear them.  I thought about taking a picture to go along with this post, but I figured that Noah’s already going to be über-embarassed by the fact that I even shared with the world about his potty endeavours.  So, no picture this time!

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The longer we use the name “Noah” for our son, the more I like it.  I’ve discovered that it is one of the most cross-cultural names that I’ve ever come across, and if you know us at all, this is something that is really important to us.  Recently, I was talking with our neighbor’s mother who is here visiting from Canada.  When she heard my son’s name, she said, “What a good Canadian name.”  Really?!  Never knew that.  Another time, I was talking with a Muslim lady who thought that “Noah” was great because he’s a prophet in the Quran.  And I thought that he was only in the Bible!  How cool is that?

Another interesting thing about that name “Noah”, is that it means “Wanderer.”  After we had decided on the first name and we were still looking for our elusive “O” middle name, I decided to do a google search for a name meaning “Wanderer” since my pregnancy was full of wandering from country-to-country, state-to-state.   Instead of finding an “O” name, I discovered that our first name already meant that.

I guess, though, a lot of people think that “Noah” is a great name since it was #6 on the top boy names for 2007.  Not original, but cool nonetheless.   We just named him after his daddy: Philip Noah Hagelberg.  =)

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Since Wednesday, Phil’s been gone to one of the conferences that he goes to twice a year.  This time, he went to RubyConf which was hosted in Orlando, FL.  He had a great time hanging out with fellow programmers while listening to awesome speakers (and speaking himself!) at a beautiful resort that stretched as far as the eye could see.  Noah and I missed him here though!  So, yesterday afternoon we went to go pick him up from the airport.  Noah was so excited to see his daddy.  He was talking and laughing at daddy all the way home.  He can be such a chatterbox when he gets going!

Here’s a picture of Phil and Noah after he got home!

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Isn’t it amazing how prayer works?  Sometimes it feels like God is so far away, and that he doesn’t care about our humble plights here on earth.  And yet, He does care!  We don’t always get what we want, but He knows what we need.

Yesterday, I went to the Women in Prayer time at my church.  We’ve been really struggling with Noah’s sleep, but after 10 months, I’m pretty used to it.  So, I casually mentioned that we are still having problems, and one of the women prayed for us.  Last night, Noah only woke up once and even then only cried for about 30 seconds!  Praise God!

Now, I know that this might not be the end of all our sleep issues, but it reminded me this morning that God is affected by our prayers.  He wants what is best for us.   Sometimes, that is going through a trial that He wants us to learn from.  Sometimes, it is a good night’s sleep.

Sola Deo Gloria.

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Today was a day of casts.  While the rest of the country cast their ballots to elect the next President of the United States, we had the pleasure of taking Noah to the doctor to get his cast off.  He is now officially cast-less!  Yay!  Here are some before and after pictures:

Before:

After:

What a happy boy!

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So, Phil and I have to make a trek out of the country once a year or ummm… something bad is going to happen I’m sure.  Not exactly sure what that bad thing would be but it would be bad, promise.  So, anyway, when we realized we weren’t doing anything this weekend, we decided to take our chance and get away.  After all, 2008 is almost over! This was also our chance to take Noah out of the country for the first time and start him on his love of other places. Uncle Loren came too so it was a great family affair.

Another great thing about living in Seattle (as there are many reasons that we love living here) is that Canada is only two hours away!  That’s twice as close as Portland, OR.  The trip up there was beautiful.  The autumn is so gorgeous with all the leaves changing in bright yellows, reds, oranges, and purples.

We spent most of our time at Stanley Park.  It was so big that we really only saw one tiny fraction of it, but it was so beautiful. We walked around the end of the peninsula and saw some totem poles and a lighthouse.

We also went to downtown Vancouver, and spent some time at Historic Gastown. It reminded us a lot of Pioneer Square in Seattle where Phil works. We went to a fun coffee shop called Smart Mouth that Phil wished we lived closer to. From there we walked to the Seawall Promenade where the big convention center is and all the ritzy hotels are.

Noah really enjoyed his first international trip. He loved looking around at everything and even found some time to get out and play.

In closing, here is the big happy family!

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