Ray of Sunshine...

Meet my firstborn son, Noah James. He is a ray of sunshine! This little boy is rarely sad, usually only when he is sick or getting in trouble for being naughty. Noah was born in March 2007. I had his name picked out since I was about 13. I told Ryan I wouldn't compromise on the name (sorry, Ryan), and so he agreed that his name would be Noah James (the James is my dad's name- Hi Daddy!).

I was really sick when Noah was born. I had a horrible head and chest cold. For a time I was on oxygen during my labor. They kept telling me to take a deep breath and push, and everytime I tried to do that, I'd breathe through my mouth- my nose was plugged and I'd end up in a fit of coughing/barking. I got to the point where I prayed they would just do a c-section, because I thought I wasn't making any progress, and at that point the doctor told me to stop pushing, and out came Noah.

It took Noah 6 months to pass his hearing test in one of his ears. It was stressful. Every few weeks, we'd make the trek up to Edward's hospital to have his hearing checked. Finally, the day came when he passed. I think I cried on the way home.

A little after Noah turned 1, Ryan and I noticed that one of his eyes tended to wander. Our pediatrician recommended the Wheaton Eye Clinic in Plainfield, where there's a wonderful pediatric opthamologist. She diagnosed Noah with Accomodative Esotropia, and we got Noah his first pair of glasses. The first day, I had to sneak his glasses on him, because he kept trying to take them off, but I waited until he was engrossed in his sand box, and slipped them on for the 3rd time. He stopped what he was doing, and started walking up to the plants in the back yard and looking at them. He walked up to both dogs, grabbed their faces, and kissed their noses. He could finally see well, and his eye didn't wander.

Being a boy, he is very tough on his glasses. We're on the 3rd pair of lenses- they upgraded us to the strongest lens material out there. We're also on new temples- both broke off at the same time- poor kid had to wear duct taped glasses for a little over a week until they came in. They've been bent multiple times as well. They know Noah by name when we walk into the office, because we are frequent flyers there.

This year, Noah had his first real Christmas. Last year was his first Christmas, but he was more interested in eating the wrapping paper or waving it around. This year, he knew what he needed to do with his gifts. As soon as he saw one he would dance in place, saying "opy, opy, opy" (open, open, open). Ryan and I saw that he was getting overwhelmed with his gifts, so we've hidden them and he opens one every few days- don't worry, they're not all from us- we didn't get him much, it's the rest of the family that did that. For example, the tool bench from Auntie Jaime and Uncle Bill. He loves it, and it's not noisy at all... of course that's a lie.

My prayer for Noah is that he will be like Noah in the Bible... "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God." Genesis 6: 8-9.