Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!  We went to Birmingham for the holidays.  The boys rode up with mommy and their fuzzy brothers (Hardy and Ridley) rode with daddy.  We stayed at Granddaddy’s house and had Thanksgiving lunch at Granny’s house (with mommy’s family) in Oneonta and Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Dana’s house (with daddy’s family) in Helena.  Everything was wonderful! We enjoyed getting to visit with family.  Noah got to meet extended family at these gatherings.  In keeping with his holiday tradition, Joshua got sick Thanksgiving morning, but felt better by the afternoon.  And being the generous boy that he is, he shared with his mommy who got sick the next day and missed the second half of the Iron Bowl.  Of course, given the outcome, I’d say I got to watch the best part.  The boys also got to see their cousins, the Green family, who were staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.   While I missed out on the Black Friday shopping, I did get to do some shopping on Saturday with one of my sisters, which was fun.  Also Grandma cooked a yummy lunch on Saturday which we enjoyed.  Then we stayed at Aunts Celeste and Elaine’s house for our last night in town.  I enjoyed spending time with everyone… and all the help with the diapers!

Noah is all smiles in his picture but he had a raised rash show up all over his body (even on his eyelids) over the weekend. I had been lotioning him with Aveeno baby crème which we have always used on Joshua’s skin. It didn’t seem to help, in felt Noah acted like it stung him. I took him to the doctor’s office and they said it was eczema. Joshua also has eczema, but his is really, really mild compared to this- in fact, it doesn’t even look similar. I have started lotioning him with Aquaphor ointment and otc cortisone crème so hopefully he’ll be feeling better soon. There is nothing worse than a pitiful baby.

Noah is 3 months old

Tummy time wore me out!

Happy 3 month Birthday!  With Thanksgiving tomorrow, this will be a short post.  You are an amazing little boy that we all feel privileged to watch grow.  You have discovered your hands and enjoy looking at them and playing with them.  You are a dedicated, right handed thumb sucker. You do not like drinking from bottles.  You have an amazing smile and the sweetest giggle.  It melts your mommy's and daddy's heart.  You are wearing size 3-6 month and 6 months clothes and size 2 diapers.  You still do not sleep through the night.  I have a theory that since you fuss and do not finish your bottles during the daytime, you make up for it nursing a couple times at night.  But you are happy, healthy, and loved and that is what matters most.  Joshua is a good big brother.  He enjoys giving you slobbery kisses on the head.  Sometimes I have to pat dry the area he kissed.  Aren't brothers the best?

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Yesterday was Mommy's 32nd Bday. We had a great day. Daddy made waffles and bacon for breakfast, then we went shopping, and later that evening, went to Outback for dinner.  Everyone had a good time, especially Joshua because as he says, "I like steak!"  All my boys, the dogs included, got me sweet birthday cards.  Thanks for a fun day!

I stuck.  Help me, pleasssssse!

This afternoon Matt set up the tree and we started decorating ot while watching "Elf." Joshua seemed to really like Buddy the Elf as well as Santa Claus. If you ask him, Joshua will tell you Santa says "Ho! Ho! Ho!" It's very cute! I realized we have a lot of breakable ornaments.  As a result the top of the tree is heavily loaded with breakable ornaments.  Joshua enjoyed hanging his ornaments, then counting them, then pulling them off the tree and throwing them across the room, and repeating the process.

Shhh! Sweet Dreams.

Noah's 1st Day of School

Noah's First Day of School

Noah started school today at Miss Kathy's. Overall both he and mommy (and Joshua) had a good day. Another baby started in the infant room as well and his mommy left in tears just as we got there which was a little discouraging but it went well. I only had a few tears as we pulled out of the driveway.  I get to take a baby break at lunch when I go to the nursery and feed Noah.  One benefit that Noah had being the second born was I knew to dress him in pants.  On Joshua's first day of daycare I dressed him in a cute onesie and no pants.  The nursery was cold and they told me to bring pants in the future.  Matt got a good laugh out of Joshua fullfilling the nightmare of not wearing pants to the first day of school at just 3months old.

When I went to pick up my boys Joshua said "I miss you Mommy."  Then when I asked him if he had a good day he said "Yeah, I a good boy!"  He is my good boy.  He was happy holding my hand and walking to his classroom in the morning and out to the car in the afternoon while I carried Noah.  (He often walks up to us with outstretched arms and says "Hold you!" when he wants us to pick him up.)

Noah is still sleeping in our room which is nice because he still frequently wakes up hungry during the night.  He has found his hands, specifically his fingers and thumbs and will suck on them.  He seems to prefer his right hand over his left.  It's awfully cute, though with the lack of arm control, he'll smack himself in the face a few times before he finds his mouth.

Here's a cute Joshua story.  Grandottie and Jerry Pop stayed at our house for Noah's baptism and Joshua slept in their room one evening.  While they were trying to get him to go to sleep one night, it was quiet and Joshua started laughing out loud.  Jerry Pop quietly asked him "What's so funny?" Joshua giggled and said "Mommy."  Awww, my sweet little boy!

Noah's Baptism

We had a wonderful weekend.  Noah was baptized on Sunday while surrounded by family and friends.  It was a special, beautiful day that we were happy to share with everyone.  Noah was really well behaved and didn't mind Pastor Alan holding him.  Joshua was also well behaved and even made his prayer hands when he noticed everyone praying during the baptism.  Noah was given a bag containing a religious book and a baptism certificate from the children's ministry.  It was especially cute that this young children's group is called "The Ark" and has a picture of Noah's ark and a rainbow.  Both boys enjoyed being passed around to grandparents, aunts, and cousins during the service.

The baptismal gown that Noah wore has been in Matt's family for 69 years.  It is a beautiful garment that big brother Joshua, Daddy, Granddottie and more have worn.  Special thanks to Grandottie for bringing the gown to Florida and for getting it ready as I would not go near it with an iron for fear of burning it.  We enjoyed visiting with everyone and having lunch together.  I was especially proud of the cake I frosted as I don't have much experience doing that.  It didn't look professional, but it looked like it was made with love and tasted great!  Thanks to everyone for making the trip.  God Bless!

All the gown wearers (minus the 3 in the background)

Noah with Mommy's family

Noah and Granddaddy

Kisses from Mommy and Daddy

My boys

Here are some tidbits about what my boys have been up to lately:
Noah's eyes look like they will definitely be brown.  There was some question as to if they would be hazel, but they are definitely a beautiful brown (like Mommy and Joshua).  He has a deep belly button, which he also gets from his mommy, unlike Joshua who has a little bebo.  He is quite the smiley boy and has started laughing sweet giggles when you talk to him.  He is wearing size 2 diapers and solidly fills out his 3 month clothes.  Mommy really needs to wash his 6 month clothes so he won't have to squeeze into his current ones.  He still does not like pacis and rejected the first bottle we tried to give him.  Hopefully he'll figure it out.  He's still sleeping about 6 hours straight at night which is wonderful!

* Joshua's 3 favorite foods are still steak, pizza, and crab claws.  We recently went to a restaurant for dinner and Joshua was eating mommy's steak as fast as we could put it on his plate.  At one point he started wailing and big tears were  rolling down his cheeks.  Matt said "What happened?  Show daddy wear it hurts."  Joshua held up a finger.  He was eating so fast he bit his finger.  Poor baby!
* Joshua is better at saying the blessing - when he wants to.  He will fold his hands and say "God is great, God is good. Let us thank him for the food. AMEN!" Of course sometimes when we say "Do you want to say the blessing?" He'll say "Nooo! No blessing! No blessing!"
*Joshua recently did a very two year old thing - he used a crayon to color our couch.  Fortunately he wrote on the upholstery behind the cushion, so no one should ever see it, but I still want to know "Why would you do that?"  And where was mommy?  Changing Noah's diaper of course.
*Most exciting new trick - Joshua recently demonstrated his handle on the alphabet.  All the alphabet magnets were mixed up on the refrigerator and we asked Joshua "Find the "A" please."  So he stood in front of the fridge thinking it through and brought it to us saying "it that?"   We went through the entire alphabet and he brought them all.  He confused "M" and "W" but they are similar so it's understandable.  We are so proud of our smart little boy.  What will you discover next?

A recent conversation:
I gave Joshua some Cheerios to eat while I was feeding Noah. Here's the conversation when I came back:
Me - Did you eat all the Cheerios? Are they in your tummy? (I was expecting him to show me his tummy which is usually how he "tells" me he's eaten something.)
J - No.
Me - No? Where are they?
J - In the couch.
At least he's honest...

Nap Time!

Happy Halloween/ Happy Birthday Daddy

Happy Birthday Daddy! Halloween is that special time of year when everyone gets to dress up and celebrate Matt's birthday.  This year we started out by taking the boys trick-or-treating at Daddy's work.  Joshua was a bumble bee and Noah was a Cebu, or cow.  Of course if you ask Joshua, he was a Bumble bee Cebu and Noah was a cow.  So what is all this talk about Cebu's about?  When Noah was born, Joshua was given his first Veggie Tale DVD which was called "Josh and the Great Wall."  The Silly Song by Larry on that episode is about 3 Cebus.  A Cebu is a cow.  Anyway Joshua really, really likes cebus and singing about them. I tried to get him a cebu costume for Halloween, but couldn't find any I liked in his size, but I did find an adorable bumble bee so that is what his costume was.  I did find an adorable cow costume so that is what Noah was. (It did come with tights, which he wore and was called a "cute little girl" all night, so hopefully this was the first and last time he'll wear tights. Ha! )  Apparently our house was only big enough for one Cebu because when you asked Joshua what he was for Halloween he'd say a Bumble bee Cebu, but if you asked him what Noah was for Halloween, he'd say a cow.

Joshua the Bumble Bee Cebu

Noah the Cow

Anyway, our area voted to celebrate Halloween on Saturday, October 30th so we started out by going to Publix where they had stations set up for the kids to play games.  Then we went home where we gave out candy.  Joshua got really excited whenever someone came to the door.  Then Mommy took Joshua and Noah trick-or-treating to a few houses while Daddy gave out candy, then Mommy and Daddy traded jobs.  It was a really fun night.  Joshua liked knocking on people's doors and then walking in like he owned the place when they opened the door.  He wasn't too interested in saying "trick-or-treat", but he did say thank you.  I was excited that he seemed to get most enthusiastic about suckers instead of chocolate. More for Mommy and Daddy! Also we gave Daddy cards and presents and had a wonderful day. We love you Daddy! Happy Birthday!

Funny side note: One of the Veggie Tales songs talks about the Promised Land and how God said it would be "flowing with milk and honey." I find it amusing that Joshua says he is a Cebu Bumble bee, which if that combination could produce something, wouldn't it be milk and honey?

2 Months Old

Noah is 2 months old!  I can hardly believe it.  He is a happy baby, our little chunky monkey.  He has a couple new tricks.  He sleeps through the night now (from 10pm-4am).  Yea!  I am so excited about this!  He continues to smile big gummy grins.  He seems patient with his brother.  What I mean by that is that he doesn't fuss and cry when Joshua gives him a big shove in the baby swing or when Joshua says "Baby Noah's eyes" as he pokes him in the eye.  I am working hard with Joshua not to poke Noah in the eye or mouth or ear, but the concept hasn't stuck yet.  He is either very happy or very fussy - not much of a gray area.  He loves to be held.  Noah does not mind tummy time.  He's really good at holding his head up and can even pull his chest up some when laying on his tummy.  He is a strong baby.  He is really filling out his 3 month clothes and comfortably fits into 3-6 month clothes.  Daddy says he looks like the Michelin baby and all we need for a Halloween costume is a tire.  He's coos and "talks" these days.  His face is expressive when you "talk" back to him.  He gets so excited, his legs start pumping and he waves his arms.
Noah recently had his 2 month checkup so here are his stats:
Weight: 14lbs 6oz - 95%
Length:  26in - 99%
HC:  16in - 60%
That's a healthy boy!  He got 5 immunizations in the form of 1 oral and 3 shots.  He did really well despite a slow nurse.  Noah still does not like pacis so mommy just loved on him and he calmed down.  You are such a handsome little boy!  We love you so much and are excited to watch you grow!

Side note: I couldn't post this without mentioning Joshua's goofy behavior during the appointment.  He was wearing a jack-o-lantern shirt and was given a Halloween sticker right off the bat.  When asked what he was going to be for Halloween he said "Cebu Bumblebee." Very sweet! Anyway while I was undressing Noah, Joshua took off his shoes.  A nurse saw this and put them back on for them, then the next time I looked down he was sitting on the floor with his socks and shoes off.  Eww!  Then when they left to get the vaccines Joshua pulled his shirt up and started taking off his pants.  "Joshua, what are you doing?" "I take it off."  "No, we don't take it off.  Please stay dressed!" My silly little nudist.  What am I going to do with you?

Pumpkin Patch

While we were visiting family we went to the Pumpkin Patch in Hayden, AL. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts Celeste, Elaine, and Denise, Mommy, Joshua, and Noah all went and had a great time. Joshua enjoyed the hayride, particularly the tractor pulling the wagon. I remember looking around and being surprised at how many pumpkins were cracked or split apart. I was thinking that this must not be a good crop since there were so many "weak" pumpkins. Then I saw Joshua pick up a pumpkin, take two steps, realize it was too heavy, and then drop it. Fortunately it did not break, but that mental image explained all the broken ones.

There was still a huge selection of pumpkins and Joshua enjoyed counting them. He would walk by touching each pumpkin and count them saying "One, two, three, four, five, that one, seven, eight..." It was cute that the higher he went, the more "that ones" there were as well as the occasional slide back to three. Like last year, I think Joshua's absolute favorite part of the pumpkin patch was playing with the hay. He threw it all over the place. I probably took 80 pictures of him throwing hay because he was having so much fun. Noah pretty much just hung out. He was not particularly impressed with the trip and didn't like how dusty it was. He kept sneezing. Hang in there Noah, it'll be more fun next year! We were able to get Joshua to sit still for a couple brother pics. It was another great day. Thanks to all the adult supervision for helping me keep up with my boys!

Noah and his Great Grandma

Lastly I have to include a picture of Joshua hanging out with Miss Sarah Katherine on the princess couch. It was great to see the Coram family!

Fun in Birmingham

We had a great time in Birmingham! Noah got to meet friends and family which was wonderful. Also we visited a pumpkin patch and a scarecrow trail. We learned that Noah travels pretty well, barring no standstill traffic or any other stopping. (Yea!) We started out the week meeting Daddy's extended family. We took tons of pictures of all the cousins, but it is impossible to get everyone looking in the same direction...unless you start a Veggie Tales DVD (see below). We may have started it to entertain a 2 year old, but everyone enjoyed it. Thanks for hosting Aunt Dana!

Next the boys and I went to stay with Mommy's family while Daddy went to Granddaddy's lot to work on his new house. The pumpkin patch was so much fun, it will get it's own posting with pictures. Noah and Joshua got to spend time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Granny (My Grandma). They also got to go to the park while Mommy and Celeste took a short shopping trip.  We visited Aunt Stoppie and her broken ankle at work and Joshua sat in her lap while Celeste pushed them in a wheelchair.  Then at the end of the week we watched the Alabama - Tennessee football game at Aunts Celeste and Elaine house.

A big smile from a small guy

We took an afternoon trip out to Granddaddy's lot to see all the progress and meet more relatives.  Afterwards we went back to Grandaddy's house to eat dinner and meet his step-cousin Miller who is a couple months older than Noah. Here is Granddaddy with arm arm (and leg) load of grandsons.

Next we went to Huntsville to see Grandottie and Jerry Pop. We all went to the botanical gardens in Huntsville for a picnic and to see a scare crow trail. Most of us had a great time. I say most of us because early on we came to a tree house exhibit that had a slide. I was at the bottom catching Joshua and on the last trip down the slide he went air-born and flew into my front teeth. Joshua had a knot at his hairline and my top four teeth were numb for a couple hours. When the feeling did come back my whole face hurt. It was still a good trip.  I'm glad we stayed because we took a ton of great pictures and enjoyed the company and pretty location.