Noah's Montage of his Third Year

I have finally got round to finishing of Noah's Birthday Montage. Happy 3rd Birthday Noah, I wonder what you will get up to in the next year.

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The Holiday

This is my favourite picture of Noah and Finley

Here are some of the holiday photos I promised you there are so many I cant possibly post all of them but here are a few.

Noah found his own entertainment and got into the kitchen cupboards aswell as the wardrobes.

Best friends in their t-bags as we call them

Noah December 2008 Pinelodges play area

Noah April 2007 at the Pinelodges play area

Finley - 3 Months Old

Finley was 3 months old on Tuesday. Time is going so quickly Finley is growing and changing every day. I see him looking over at his big brother and querying what he is up to. He follows him with his eyes all over the place.

On Wednesday he weighed 14lbs 7 ozs, he has dropped towards the 75% centile but that isn't surprising being as he hasn't been well for the past two - three weeks, he had his first lot of antibiotics because he was starting to develop a chest infection. He is 63 cms in length so he is probably going to be tall like his dad.



He sucks on his hand and there have only been a few occasions I have needed to give him a dummy mainly to help him get his wind up as he is still suffering from colic. He crys a lot more than Noah ever did which we aren't really used to.





He sits in the bumbo chair happily. He is able to sit up and hold his head up very well. He will sleep through most of the night and wake up for one feed. He is starting to smile a lot more just like his brother does. He likes attention. He has got his second lot of injections next week which should be fun as he is becoming aware of things around him so I'm sure there will be a few tears.

He uggles and makes loads of noises and I'm sure on a few occasions he has said mammmm to get my attention.

It's hard work being a parent of two children and I admire anyone who has more than two but I am starting to get more organised and feel a lot more confident in taking two of them out. Its hard juggling a pushchair.

Another Comparison

Finley 11 weeks

Noah 4 weeks old

Holiday

Just a quickie, We have returned today from a long weekend away, in Ashbourne Derbyshire. It was nice to get away but I cant say it was relaxing, Noah was a little monkey and Finley cried a lot. They are still under the weather with colds and therefore we couldn't take them swimming so spent a lot of the time in the lodge. I will be updating photos when I get chance but obviously with Christmas approaching I'm not getting any time to update the blog as trying to prepare for Christmas. Once the holidays are over I am sure I will get back to letting everyone know what Noah is up to.

Sick

I haven't managed to post lately as the little ones haven't been well. I think its just the cold weather they are both on antibiotics bless them, Finley started to get very chesty and therefore the doctor thought it would be best to put both Finley and Noah on antibiotics so they wouldn't pass it from one to another. As Noah was the one that passed it to Finley. So really we haven't been up to much. Will hopefully post some recent pictures soon.

BBC News Article - Many keeping babies with Down's

There was an article on the BBC website yesterday that more people are keeping babies that have down's syndrome, despite the introduction of pre-natal testing. Take a look HERE. I think this is because down's syndrome is accepted more in society now than it ever has been.

There is another article about a lady her baby was diagnosed with having down's syndrome.
I have previously written about our own experience of been given a high risk of down's syndrome, take a look.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy 3rd Birthday Noah

I cant believe my little munchkin is growing up so fast. 3 years ago today we met you for the first time and this is an experience we will not forget. You are so very special to us and everyday you make us smile for one reason or another, whether it is your cheeky grin, the love you have for your brother, when you are trying to help us up making a straining noise but not putting any effort into helping us up or just being there.

How much you have grown in this last year. By this I don't mean up in fact you have only grown 5 cms over this period however small is beautiful after all. So you now weigh 26lb 8 oz and you are 83cm in height.

During your 3rd year you started at Green Lane nursery, we had a few weeks of tears from both mummy and Noah as we had not been separated for any long period of time before. However after two weeks you were travelling to nursery on the bus and you couldn't wait to get on and waive good bye to us in fact some days you didn't bother waiving at all you just wanted to go. And I couldn't wait for you to be dropped off by the bus as I missed you so much. You loved all of the kind ladies there that played with you. You loved playing with the farm, singing songs and swimming.

You continued to practise your walking which you had accomplished in your second year and this then turned into running and then we couldn't stop you.

Dec 07 You were in the Birmingham Mail for the first time, but not the last.

Feb 08 You breastfed for the last time, which you decided you didn't need it anymore from your mummy you had become independent.

March 08 We all went to Devon on holiday, mummy, daddy, noah, nanny, Uncle John and Matt and Aunty Jo and Cate.

April 08 You moved into your own bed

Between this time you had your first ever stop over at Nanny's house all on your own while mummy and daddy went off to London for the weekend.

June 08 You participated in a Sponsored Walk in Down Syndrome Awareness Week.

July 08 You celebrated mummy's 30th Birthday. We went to see Mary Poppins. You left nursery.

August 08 You missed going to nursery, you played a lot and wore mummy out.

Sept 08 Was hectic, you made friends with your new baby brother Finley, you started pre-school. We were awarded local hero through the Birmingham Mail and appeared in the Birmingham Mail again.
You had a hearing aid fitted.


Oct 08 You met Jason Donovan at the Botanical Garden and was in the paper again.
You continued to do really well at pre-school and made lots of friends. You learned to be very gentle with Finley. You developed a love for Big Cook, Little Cook and In the Night Garden after mummy started to let you watch Cbeebies.

I have started Noah's montage for his 3rd Year but I haven't managed to finish it yet. I will post it as soon as I can.

We would just like to say a big thank you to family, friends, all of Noah's teachers and everyone at pre-school for your help with Noah throughout the year. He is doing well and this is all thanks to everyone of you.

Also if you are reading this blog then thank you for supporting me, I hope that you all enjoy it and please post comments if you wish as it would be nice to hear from anyone that reads Noah's Smile.

Aims for Noah's 4th year well I hope that you become potty trained and are out of nappy's. Although you use the potty and have done since you were 6 month old you haven't managed to tell me you need the potty.
You manage to start using a knife and fork and feed yourself.
The most important aim I wish for you Noah is that you continue being happy.

BonFire Night, Pedro Boots

Noah with his new pedro boots

Noah had his new Pedro Boots delivered and they are great, although very difficult to get on as they are so stiff. We went for black ones this time and they are more supportive which helps him walk a lot better.

Noah is just facinated with playing with the remote here he is turning the television on, one morning before pre-school.

We had our own fireworks display at mums on Friday, although Noah was really tired he stayed up to watch them. His little face was a picture and everytime one went off he would should wow, or scream in delight.
Finley even stopped up to watch them although he was indoors wrapped up at the door. I think he was a bit shocked in this picture.

Finley - 2 Months Old

Finley 8 weeks old

How time flys, I cant believe that Finley is now 2 months old, the time has flown by. On Wednesday he weighed 13lbs 6 oz, he remains on the 91st centile for weight, height and his head measurement. Noah was around 4 months before he got to this weight.

Finley has become a lot more content, he will sit in his bouncer watching his brother or he will look at the large pictures we have of Noah around the house. He will put his hand into his mouth and suck on it until the little hunger pains come and then he will cry for his milk.

He loves music if he hears music he will kick his legs in excitement, if he catches me walking around the room he follows me with his eyes. He smiles when I play pat-a-cake and wind the bobbin with him, when I clap his hands he begins to laugh and it has turned into a chuckle on occasions. He likes his face or nose being touched as he smiles. He loved his bath yesterday he kept kicking his legs as if he was swimming and then he would get all excited it was really funny to watch.

He has had his 6 -8 week check in fact he has had two, the first was already scheduled and then the doctors surgery asked whether we minded coming back in for another one as they had students who needed to see a 6 week check and there was no one else around this age at the surgery. Well of course I said yes and Finley was a little star, he has fantastic control of his head for an 8 week old. He is due to have his first lot of injections on Wednesday.

Finley 2 months old

He lies on his front and can hold his head up and look around, if I hold him standing up he will move one foot in front of the other. He can also stand up and hold his own weight although I am not encouraging this at the moment, he sleeps for longer and sometimes only wakes up for one feed in the night although he is still not in any set routine during the day.
It is amazing how he changes in just a few weeks. I still do not know who he looks like as he is very fair well compared to how Noah looked.

Another Comparison

Finley 6 weeks old

Noah 6 weeks old

Proud Mummy

Noah is hard work sometimes

• When he throws his food on the floor
• When he takes an hour to eat a small dinner
  
• When he pulls everything out after I have just put it away
• When he eats books
• When he tips his cup upside down and gets his drink all over the carpet

But these are things that most children do at some stage don't they?

However there are lots of occasions when all of the above just fade into the background because of the little things he does which make me so proud to be his mum.

• When he brings over a toy to show his brother even though Finley is too small to play with it at the moment.
  

• When I go to collect him from pre-school and he is brought out to me, his little face lights up when he sees me and I get down to his level to say hi and he comes really close and gives me a kiss very delicately. He is just so sweet.
  

• I went into pre-school to collect him today and Jo who is his specialist support assistant, she had been there all day with him watching him and working with him, told me he had done really well. He had got 12 out of 15 verbs correct. He had done really well with the Jolly Phonic cards, he had been posting shapes through trial and error and doing puzzles, he did not throw any items and worked really hard for about 40 minutes. Jo told me that Noah was approaching the other children at pre-school to play with them, which is really lovely to hear. I am so proud of him, when I hear things like this it just spurs me on to continue helping Noah learn.

• This evening we went out for a meal and for the first time we left Noah on a big chair, at home we have a booster seat for him or when we go out we get a high chair. But he sat on the big chair and behaved whilst eating, didn't throw any of his food (which he normally does when we go out) he looked so grown up and acted really grown up.
  

I cant believe how fast the last 3 years have gone, Noah surprises me every day with little things he does. These are such small milestones for other children but are extremely big hurdles for Noah but he manages to overcome them every day. My baby is growing up.

Wordless Wednesday

Noah chasing after his cousin

Drayton Manor

Noah and Uncle Matt

Noah, Daddy, Mummy and Uncle Matt

We went to Drayton Manor on Friday and it was lovely, we visited the new Thomas Land which Noah loved, he went on a few rides a couple he was scared of but given this was his first trip to a theme park he did really well. We took Aunty Jo (sis) Aunty Jen (friend) and Uncle Matthew (brother), it was a fantastic day. It was an extremely cold day but we all rapped up warm.


We went on Jeremy Jet first where Noah was able to control how high we went in the planes. He loved this ride. I then took him on Crazy Bertie Bus he hated this I think it was the fact that we had a bar across us and it was quite restricting, he cried throughout the whole ride.


Pete and Matt took Noah on Sodor Classic Cars he was a bit cautious about this ride after being on the Bus, but by the end of it he had got over it.

We then went off round the park and went on a few of the older rides we then came back to Thomas Land after lunch and took a ride on Thomas and we met the fat controller.

Me and Pete went on Troublesome Trucks Coaster, children have to be over 0.9m to ride on here we measured Noah and he was around 0.7m, I think it will take him at least another 4 years to get to this height so he will be 7 by then its a real shame as I am sure he will want to go on this ride before then, I know its due to safety etc but it does seem unfair.

I was really impressed with Thomas Land I would definitely recommend it, its somewhere to take children of all ages.

Noah and Auntie Jo

As it was Halloween I dressed Noah up in a little devils costume, but to be honest he was a little star all day and so was Finley they both behaved themselves and at the end of the day we had two exhausted children. (Well Finley slept most of the day aswell).

Uncle Matt, Aunty Jenny, Noah and Daddy

I would just like to say again a BIG thank you to Michelle and Sunny at Gough Allen Stanley for the complementary tickets.

Wordless Wednesday

Noah sitting with his legs crossed as he now does at pre-school

Big Cook, Little Cook

One of the kids programes Noah loves is Big Cook Little Cook, I let him watch it before he goes to Pre-school. They do a dance routine when they are about to cook and Noah joins in, he has done for a while but I managed to catch it on camera. He knows the routine off by heart as he pre-empts what they are about to do. You will have to excuse the noises in the background I had Finley on my lap at the time and he is making loads of grunting sounds. !!!

Pre-school half term update

I've been really busy this last week, what with end of pre-school meeting, Finley's 6 week check, a hospital visit for me and finalising Noah's DLA form, which is a right pain as some of you will know.

Noah was in the bad books yesterday, Pete has rock band (which is a drum kit and guitar) he left it out downstairs after playing it on Saturday evening and Noah got hold of the drum sticks on Sunday morning. I left him alone down stairs for a matter of minutes to fetch Finley from upstairs as he was crying and the drumsticks had disappeared. We had a quick search for them on Sunday but had other things to do so didn't think to much of it. Then Pete wanted to play it on Monday as my brother Matt was stopping over and they wanted to play on it together. Do you think we could find the drum sticks, we looked everywhere for hours literally. Eventually in the last place I decided to look, I pulled out the black bin bag from the bin and feel on the outside and what do I feel two drum sticks. Which leads me to wonder what else has made its way into the bin that I haven't found. Noah loves hiding things, whilst searching for these drum sticks matt put his hand down the crease of the arm to the settee and he pulls out a couple of cars and a brick. Whats that all about!?!

Noah has now done half a term at pre-school and loves it, I think he must keep Pre-school on their toes as he certainly keeps me on my toes when he isn't there. He has really settled well into a routine, he sits whilst registration, he sits for longer during story time and song time. I'm really pleased he has settled in well and cant praise the ladies at pre-school enough. Thank you.

Im trying to keep Noah busy during half term but its really hard whilst we are stuck in doors due to this horrible weather. We are hopefully off to Drayton Manor on Friday if the weather gets better.

The clock change. Noah forgot to put his clock back on Sunday and decided it would be great to get up just after 6ish. Needless to say it started to catch up on him on Monday when he was falling asleep at the dinner table. I took him out of his chair and put him on his comfy chair where he fell asleep bless him.




Finley is doing well although he has slept quite a lot today. I suppose he is getting into his own little routine and he is managing to occupy himself a lot more these day. He was weighed last Wednesday and now weighs 12lbs 9 oz he is on the 91st centile for weight, height and his head so he is in proportion. He smiles a lot more and chuckles sometimes aswell.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Photo by Catherine Tully 4 weeks ago

Local Heroes Awards, Birmingham Mail and the Pallasades (part 2)

There was a write up in the Birmingham Mail on Friday 10th October, I will be scanning the news paper in due course and putting it onto the website but for now if you click here you will see the write up. There is also a write up about Jason Donovan click here to read.

A video presentation was also composed and can be seen below.




There are photos for sale of the event on the Birmingham Mail site and can be found here.

Local Heroes Awards, Birmingham Mail and the Pallasades

Today was the Local Heroes Awards Ceremony at the Botanical Gardens we had a lovely day and I felt honoured to have been awarded a Local Hero. We arrived at the Botanical Gardens just before 12.00pm where we were greeted with nibbles and drinks. Our host was Dianne from the Birmingham Mail who wrote the news paper article last year Page 1 Page 2 Page 3
then we were in the paper again a few weeks ago here

Before we went into the room we were introduced to a number of people, firstly Carl Chinn MBE Birmingham Historian, broadcaster, newspaper columnist and author.
The second person we were introduced to was Jason Donavon, he asked what my story was and I told him about Noah's blog. Noah took to him, Jason had a bread stick in his hand and Noah pointed at it and went to eat it so Jason had to give it up and give it to him.

Everyone was asked to go into the room apart from the Local Heroes and their nominators/hosts.
We were introduced by Carl Chinn and then we walked in to the room to the table. Carl Chinn introduced a number of other celebrities along with Jason Donovan. After this dinner was served.


The food was lovely and we all enjoyed it. Picture of the pudding is below.


After the meal the awards started. There were 12 of us all together, there were a lot of remarkable stories and they were definitely hero's. 1 little boy saved his father's life, a couple caring for the elderly in their community, people raising money for charity all of these hero's will be in the Birmingham Mail tomorrow.


I was the last Local Hero to be called and I took Noah up on stage with me, although it had been a long day for him and he was still not 100% he was very good. Carl asked a few questions about why I had set the blog up, about the Solihull Down Syndrome Group and the support I get from my family. I would just like to mention that I have an incredible partner and family who are extremely supportive and are always on hand to help out with Noah and now Finley, so I would like to thank them because without them I wouldn't have been awarded Local Hero.

I was awarded a copy of the news paper article framed, along with a plaque my name on it and a cheque for £100.00.



There is going to be a big write up in the Birmingham Mail tomorrow. I am very grateful to the Birmingham Mail and the Pallasades for a lovely day along with our great host Dianne, Pete and Mum also really enjoyed it and the two little ones were really good. Noah didn't throw any food thank goodness and Finley slept for the whole 4 hours the little star.



Also on our table were two people from Gough Allen Stanley, Michelle and Sunny they work with Drayton Mannor. I think their company is looking into supporting the event or doing something with the Birmingham Mail next year. They were really lovely and have said they will send some tickets for us to take Noah to see Thomas at Drayton Manor where he can ride on Thomas and meet the fat controller. Noah will really love riding on Thomas, we have not taken him to Drayton Manor before but I think he is now getting to the age when he will really enjoy it and he'll love going on all of the rides. So thank you Michelle and Sunny we are really grateful and thank you from Noah.

Hopefully I will be able to get my hands on some more of the pictures from today and will post them as and when I get them. It's been a very long day and I need to get some sleep before Noah decides to wake and Finley wants feeding.