Father's Day 2011

Happy Father’s Day! Overall we had a great Father’s Day, though it did start out a little sketchy. Saturday night we went out to Bonefish Grill for a nice Father’s Day dinner. The meal and family time was great, but when we got out to our car we saw that someone had hit our new van, denting in the bumper and did not even leave a note. It was pretty disappointing considering the van isn’t even a month old. On Sunday the boys gave Daddy a card which they colored. Also they both made him cards at school. Church was special because it was the last service before our pastor is leaving for a new assignment. We will really miss him and enjoyed the farewell service. Afterwards there was a picnic under a tent on the front lawn. The thermometer said it was 96deg but the heat index in that tent had to be over 100deg. It was hot!! We enjoyed the rest of the day at the house with Mommy cooking a special meal for “Super Daddy.” (A few times during the day Joshua told Matt “You my super hero. You Super Daddy.)

Joshua really enjoyed wishing his daddy as well as his grandfathers and even a few other people from church “Happy Father’s Day.” It was so genuine and super sweet. So to all the dad’s out there especially my dad, Matt’s dad and stepdad, and my wonderful husband Matt, Happy Father’s Day! We love you!

A Funny little Joshua story:
Joshua was trying to climb over the ottoman with an armful of toys and fell and started crying.

Me: Oh no! What hurts?
Joshua: (big tears) the ground.

Proof that he is his father’s son…

Fun with Daddy

Joshua's Haircut

Before

After

After the haircut Joshua said "I not shaggy!"

Peek-a-boo!

Noah has some new tricks! He now plays peek-a-boo with me. He’s played before, but I had to do all the work by covering his eyes. Now he uses a blanket to cover his face when I say “Where’s Noah?” Then he giggles and removes the blanket so I can say “Peek-a-boo! or There he is.” Noah thinks this is absolutely hysterical and mommy and daddy find it endearing as well. I’ve attempted to videotape this, but Noah turns into a serious statue whenever I try so I’ll just have to enjoy the memories and write them down for posterity’s sake.

Another new trick that Noah has is that he’s learned to click his tongue. He enjoys doing this, especially after he finishes nursing. He also enjoys mimicking so we alternate clicking at each other. It is a sweet game.

Conversation with Joshua:

Joshua: I need bread please.
Me: Not before dinner.
Joshua: It’s for the ducks.
Me: We’re not feeding the ducks today.
Joshua: But Mommy (insert big, serious eyes) they HUNGRY.
Me: Okay, let’s go feed the ducks.

Joshua getting ready for Beach Day

Sweet Stories

It’s June! Schools are closing for the summer, traffic is getting lighter, and the temperature is swelteringly hot. I feel like I’m melting at work. But enough about me, here are some short stories about my sweet boys!

One night it was storming pretty hard at our house when Joshua came into our bedroom w/ a couple toys under each arm and said “Buzz and Woody are scared. I sleep here tonight.” All three of them slept peacefully between mommy and daddy.

When Joshua wants something he’s gotten where he will repeat what he wants and start getting louder. This is particularly a problem when you are already talking to someone else and indicating to him he needs to wait. Instead this is what he says “I talking to you. Hey! I talking to you. You hear me? I still talking…” It’s cute now, but we are still working on patience. I told my dad about this and he said “Awww! Tell him he wouldn’t have to tell Grandpa twice. He would listen to him.” I sarcastically replied “Just like when I was growing up… Wait, that’s not how I remember that going down.”

Joshua can be so stubborn. Last night he threw a toy up in the air *again* after Matt and I had told him not to about 20 times already and it landed on my shin. I told him he hurt mommy and needed to say sorry. Usually we tell him he has to say sorry or sit in time out until he’s ready to say sorry. This time he crossed his arms, stuck out his bottom lip, and ran to time out before we could go over the options. He eventually did apologize. Where does he get that stubbornness? ;)

Deep thoughts: Driving to work a couple mornings ago Joshua saw the sun reflecting off the bay and commented “Look Mommy, the water is glowing!”

A small rebellion: Last night at bedtime I told Joshua to put his head on his pillow. I tell him this (head on pillow) at least ten times every night. Anyway, this time he shook his head and said no. I told him “You don’t say no to me. Put your head on pillow.” So he did, but he also shot spidey webs at me. It was so hard not to laugh!

Noah has become my shadow. He follows me all over the house. Fortunately he’s very loud the way he slaps his hands on the ground while he’s crawling so I can keep track of him. If I run out of the room to put up laundry and then get back in his line of sight he giggles ever so sweetly as he crawls towards me.

Memorial Weekend

Hmmm, Should I smell the flower or attack the flower?

Well it was Memorial Weekend and we celebrated by not going to the beach.  Most of my blog readers know what that means.  ;)  Instead we headed North.  Friday evening we drove to Birmingham and stayed at Granddaddy’s house.  It was the first time we’d been to Pleasant Grove since the tornadoes stuck on April 27^th.  The destruction was unbelievable. PG was unrecognizable. Trees that were so big around that Matt and I couldn’t stretch our arms around together were snapped like twigs or else blown over. Joshua was concerned by the demolition and asked “What happened? Where did it go? Who took it?” I told him it was a tornado and he spent the rest of the weekend asking “’Nado gonna take granddaddy’s house?” So sad.

Saturday we went up to Huntsville to visit Grandottie and JerryPop.  We had so much fun! Mommy and Daddy got to go to the movies for the first time in 1 ½ years and saw the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  The movie was entertaining, and the best part was being able to sit down for more than 5 minutes without having to pause the movie to change/ soothe/ read/ entertain/ wipe off/ pick up one of the kids. Seriously it takes us an hour to watch a 30 min show even though we are fast forwarding through commercials.

Big brother sharing with baby brother

On Sunday we visited a small church to hear Jerry and Dottie’s friend Larry speak as a guest pastor. When we got there we saw that Noah had had a massive poop explosion.  I mean he was literally dripping when we got him out of the car. (He wasn’t sick, he just had a lot of poop, which is still pretty soupy but not too smelly since he’s breastfed.)  Matt held him out while Dottie and I stripped him down in the parking lot and wiped him with about 50 wipes.  I dressed him in spare clothes while she found an outside trash can to dispose of the foulness.  Then I had to find a restroom to rinse out his clothes.  It was awful! I can’t believe a boy that little can have so much poop! Joshua’s had some doozy’s in his day but nothing like this.

Here’s the good part.  Immediately following the service I had to change Joshua’s diaper because he stank it up at the end of the service.  Then I went back into the sanctuary to meet up with the family.  They were talking to the pastor when he turned to me and said “Your family is just exploding isn’t it.” *I thought they must have mentioned the diaper* so I said something like “Well church must bring it out of him…” I saw his confused expression and realized he was referring to our growing family, not the poop explosion before the service because no one had mentioned that. Oops!

Noah, Jerry Pop, Joshua, and Grandottie

Matt and I have a friendly competition regarding the drive on I-65.  One of the Clanton exits has a water tower that is painted to look like a peach. Well you could also argue it looks like a giant butt when you are headed Southbound. Matt and I always try to be the first to call out “Peach butt!” when we pass it.  (This is only after I clearly established a few years ago that it is against the rules to call ‘Peach butt infinity.’) Anyway both the boys were asleep and Matt and I were searching the skyline for the peach when we both saw it at the same time and yelled “Peach butt!”  In our enthusiasm and subsequent debate over who actually called it out first we woke up Joshua. (Since I’m writing this blog, I’ll state for the record that I won.) Um, are we too competitive?

Noah is 9 months old!

My baby boy is 9 months old. He had his well baby checkup today and here are his stats:

Weight: 20lbs 2.2oz, 42 %

Height: 29in, 73%

Head Cir: 18in, 61%

I love Noah's expression here.

He was a happy boy and showed off some tricks, like crawling. There were no vaccines today – yea! He only had a toe prick which he didn’t cry about and we found out he’s not anemic. Joshua started to melt down towards the end but he gets a pass from me because the wait was really long (1 ½ hrs) even though we were the first appt after lunch.  The office is going paperless and everyone seemed slowed down by the new computer system. So here are nine fun facts about my happy, little Noah:

I have bounced til I can bounce no more.

• You are pulling up on everything and have even started a little cruising on furniture
• You say “Mama” all the time.  Joshua tries to coach you into saying “Dada” which you sometimes say, but not as often as “Mama.”
• You have changed crawling styles.  Instead of an army crawl, you have a traditional crawl on all fours.  And boy are you fast!
• When it is time for bed, Daddy and I like to say “It’s time for Noah to power down.” We put you in a crib, in a dark room and (usually) you’ll fuss for less than 2 minutes and are asleep.  It’s amazing.
• I am told that you refuse to hold your bottle at daycare.  Miss Maria tells me that you may be hungry but still refuse to hold it and they end up feeding you while you cross your arms behind your head. Easy living!
• You and Joshua are playing together more and more.  You get so excited when Joshua plays with you, especially when he crawls with you.
• You aren’t a very good eater when it comes to anything with texture. You literally gag when the Gerber puffs or wagon wheels, or crunchies are put in your mouth.  Also you are a casual eater when it comes it baby food and consume about ½ a Stage 1 container at a sitting.  Your favorites are bananas and squash.  Also you now have 6 teeth.
• You are wearing 12 month clothes and size 3 diapers. I’m at a point where I’m having to buy you new clothes because even though you are both August babies, your different builds have made the clothes seasonally off.
• You really enjoy playing with toys (even Joshua’s).  It’s so cute to watch you play, chew on, and carry toys around the room. When Joshua catches you playing with one of his toys he’ll take it away and say “No, you too little.” I think we’ll be hearing more and more of that.

You are a wonderful little boy and we enjoy watching you grow and learn. We love you Noah!

Brothers

I can't believe it...

Joshua and the "Big Car"

We are the proud new owners of a mini-van, or as Joshua likes to call it, our “big car.” It was just a few years ago that I swore I would never own a mini-van, but time changes everything and I’m actually excited about it.  It’s a celestial blue Honda Odyssey EX-L w/ Navigation. It’s got lots of room – leg room, storage, trunk space, etc. It has automatic everything.  As a bonus, this was probably our best, headache free (with regard to salesmen) car buying experience.  We are selling the Hyundai Santa Fe.  This was supposed to be our family car.  And it was a great car, but the biggest drawback was that when there was a rear facing carseat installed, the front passenger seat had to be moved so far up that the passenger’s knees were hitting the dash.  I hated riding in it because I felt like even in a small crash I ran a risk of breaking both my knees/legs.  And now we are excited out a new van.  This is a perfect example of why you should never say never.

I have crazy hair in the morning!

Weak parenting moment – The other night I was trying to get Joshua to go to sleep and he kept sitting up to play.  About the tenth time I came into the room and said (again) “Head on pillow Joshua.” Instead of complying he defiantly shook his head then stuck his tongue out at me.  Without thinking I stuck my tongue out back at him. He thought it was funny and smiled.  At that moment I realized my credibility was lost and wouldn’t be able to explain how “It’s not nice to stick your tongue out at people…” so I called in Daddy to take over. Eventually he did go to sleep but still likes talking about how “Mommy stuck her tongue out at me.”

Mid May Update

So life has been sailing along so quickly these days. My mom came for a visit recently which was great. The boys love their grandma! Noah is pulling up on everything. He's altering his crawl.  His normal crawl is an army crawl, but sometimes he'll do a traditional crawl on all fours and other times he'll do a crab crawl, reminiscent of Joshua.  He loves chewing on my knuckle as he's teething like crazy. He loves it when Joshua plays with him.  He gets so excited.  Here are a few short stories about Joshua.

I'm standing!

Joshua is always talking.  He's got quite a personality and sense of humor.  Also adorable is the way he sorts through situations to figure them out for himself.  For example, recently Matt brought Joshua to work at the end of the day.  He pointed to the scrubber stack which was billowing a white plume and said "Did you know that Mommy helped build that?" Joshua looked for a second and replied "Just like Bob the Builder?"  An interesting way to put it but yes, it was like Bob the Builder.

Joshua, Grandma, & Noah

Something else Joshua likes to do when he's stalling to go to sleep and he's had one last sip of water, one last Bible story, one last hug, and one last kiss, is he'll say "I love you. You my best friend." It melts your heart and always warrants one more snuggle and kiss good-night.

From time to time I mention the drive across the bridge.  It's not really that far, but it always seems far.  I think living in a small town and having children have changed my viewpoint.  Anyway the other night we were crossing the bridge on our way to dinner and Joshua exclaimed "Wow! We went far!"  This just further goes to show how he is always paying attention and mimicking his mommy and daddy.

One last Joshua story.  We have been working on potty training with limited success. Here's a conversation:
Me: Let's go sit on the potty!
Joshua: No! It's dangerous!
Fortunately his courage can be bought with a couple m&m's.

Noah is standing!

Here is photographic evidence from late that week (May 6th) that Noah is now pulling up. Here he is playing at day care. (Thanks for the photo Ms. Kathy!) He's been close to doing this for a little while and now that he does, we can't keep him down.  He's pulling up (and pulling down) on everything.  Yea Noah! We are so proud of you!

Mother's Day

Joshua, Mommy, & Noah - Mother's Day 2011

Brothers - May 2011

I had a wonderful Mother's Day thanks to my sweet, thoughtful husband and my two little men.  It started a few days before Mother's Day when I got to get a manicure and pedicure.  Then Matt cleaned out and vacuumed my car which was really nice because if I had had one word to describe it, it would have been crusty. Over time there was quite a collection of partially eaten Ritz crackers, Nilla wafers, etc. in the backseat of the car.  We went out to eat Friday night at Outback. Joshua asked for 'my very own steak' but got to enjoy eating mommy and daddy's steak instead.  Then mommy had to work all day Saturday (big outage going on at the plant).  While I was gone my baby boys made me a card with their hand prints. On Sunday we went to church where they gave all the moms a rose. Joshua told me I was "pretty like Tinkerbell." Then I wanted to go out to lunch somewhere without a long wait so we went to Buffalo Wild Wings which worked out perfectly.  Then we decided to go to Sam's on a diaper run and discovered that moms do not (typically) shop at Sam's on Mother's Day as it wasn't crowded at all.  We were in and out. At home Matt took some great pics of the boys. Here are a few of them. Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful moms I know