Chauntelle's Random Musings

Worst Come-On Line EVER

2011-03-05T19:09:00.003-05:00

I was reminded by a friend today of the worst come-on line ever.

My two friends and I had set out for the Strip, to have a little fun on a Friday (Saturday?) night. We were at a table at an alcohol-friendly establishment, enjoying the festivities, when we were approached by a man. I remember him being old--and by old, I mean, probably in his 40s. We were in our mid-20s, so the simple fact of him being 40ish was creepy enough. But no, it really does get better.

This guy comes to our table, and I had already noticed that he smelled...weird. Now, I don't make it a habit to smell strangers, but I just caught of whiff and it was just a little off. So, Strike 2.

He hangs around, trying to start some small talk, and it goes like this:

"Hey, if anyone asks you what my name is, do you know what to tell them?"

And me, not being afraid to offend Stinky Old Man, said something probably like, "I don't really care."

Stinky was not only old and odd-smelling, but undeterred, and continued on:

"Milk. Do you know why?"

Me, again: "I really don't care."

"Cuz Milk does a body good."

Seriously. I'm not making this up. He actually said that.

So, if any of you are out there, looking for a good come-on line, this isn't it.

Worst come-on line ever.

Ah...videos!

2010-10-21T21:42:00.002-04:00

I grew up when MTV wasn't always around, so when they hit the airwaves, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. It wasn't really about the music--it was music television. And it was cool. Then, videos sorta just...stopped. I liked some of the other programs ("Singled Out," "Remote Control") but then it seemed that it was all TRL and lots of screaming tweens. (Maybe part of it was due to the fact that I was getting older...and I was no longer a screaming tween myself.)

The along comes Ok Go, and once again, I'm mesmerized. These guys are brilliant. I think I like their music, too. But, then again, I'm so busy watching what's going on in the video that I'm not really sure what their songs sound like.

Caught this video tonight, and just thought Noah would love it, and I thought it was pretty awesome, too.

Various & sundry musings...

2010-09-28T20:45:00.002-04:00

On any normal day, I find myself zooming around town, in a car dirtier & messier than I'd like, and depending on the time, there's a good chance that mini-me is in the back seat. He's usually talking about this & that. Fer instance, this morning, he was musing that "Pluto used to be a planet, but now it's just a moon." Me: "Really? Did you learn that at Montessori?" Noah: "No, Grandma. Grandma knows everything." Me: "Yes, yes she does."

But then, every once in awhile, I guess his little tootsies get hot, and he takes his shoes off. Mind you, I know when this happens, even if I haven't turned around to peek at his cute little toes. I have no clue when he went from a sweet-smelling baby to a little boy with feet that smell like old french fries. Believe me, for a while, I was searching under the seats, between the seats, for the offending tater, convinced it was there. But no, it was simply our little boy's feet.

I guess the smells only get worse from here.

But speaking of smells, tonight I had the most wonderful compliment paid to me by Sir Stinky Feet himself--
Noah: "Mommy, what do you smell like?"
Me: "I don't know. What do I smell like?"
Noah: "You smell like the special kisses you give me, Mommy."

*Sigh*

I still snuffle his feet every chance I get, stinky fry smell or not!

Thankful for all my blessings

2010-09-11T23:24:00.002-04:00

I am about to go to bed, and I remember that this morning, Mom reminded me that it was September 11. I'm sure someday I'll be able to get through this day without crying, but not today. I didn't watch any of the news coverage. I didn't read the paper. I saw flags at half-mast, and wished that we'd put our flag out, too. It just sort of hit me, after I kissed my baby goodnight, and realized that he'll never know a world where this day wasn't the day that changed most of us.

I am sure that we all remember where we were that morning. I was at the T.B.I. lab in Jackson, listening to a morning call-in show, "Bob and Sheri" when they broke in and reported that there had been an accident, a small plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. The next thing I knew, they were reporting a second plane, and one of my coworkers ran to the front of the lab where I was, and I think we were both in shock. She ran next door to the field office, where they had a TV. I was sort of stuck, not sure what was going on. She ran back in to tell me that the Pentagon had been hit. And then the plane went down in Pennsylvania.

I called Patrick, to make sure he was ok. He wasn't anywhere close to New York, but I had to make sure he was safe.

Then I just remember all the footage, all the stories, the pictures, it was everywhere.

My heart aches when I think of how I'm going to have to try to explain to Noah why and how someone could do such a thing.

Until then, I'll continue to kiss his cheek as he's sleeping, dreaming of kitties and rainbows (as instructed by Grandma), and know that I am so thankful for all that I have.

A little patch of green in the middle of town

2010-09-09T20:04:00.003-04:00

Patrick found out about a park pretty much right smack dab in the middle of Spartanburg. So, we all hopped in the car a couple weekends ago & went for a little hike. Saw lots of wildflowers and butterflies; a river that looked fairly clean; and a boardwalk that went over a swampland where Patrick saw a heron. Noah seemed to have a great time, so I'm sure we'll be going back again.

Okay, not the best picture of Patrick, I think I'm passable, but LOVE the funny face Noah was making!

We're a little more normal in this one!

My two boys...

This is at the beginning of the hike. Noah had never really experienced a mud puddle before, and actually slipped in this one. He was a bit muddy for a while, until the mud dried & we could flake it off!

What ifs

2010-08-28T20:18:00.002-04:00

I had a chance to reconnect with a friend from my UT days recently. I heard her interviewed on NPR last summer; the program was about Forensic Anthropology, so of course I had to drive slowly to make sure I heard all of it before I reached my destination.

Her voice sounded the same, and they identified her as "Dr...." so I knew she'd taken her book learnin' farther than I had. I was thrilled to hear her name, to hear her accolades and I had to assume that she was doing well. I had a few minutes to myself last night and decided to Google her (what did we ever do before Google???). I sent her an e-mail, and she replied. I hope we can keep in touch; she's someone that I've thought of frequently--someone that I should have stayed in touch with. Of course, that led me down the slippery slope of "what ifs."

Let me start by saying that I love my life, and if changing one thing meant not meeting Patrick, which then in turn means no Noah, then I wouldn't change a thing. I still have a tinge of regret, though, of not staying true to what I went to UT for. For not realizing that I was grasping at straws, and at a friend that turned out to not be true. For not realizing that what I was doing (moving off campus, not being able to concentrate 25 hours a day on school) was STUPID.

I understand we have to fall on our ass from time to time to learn a lesson, but this is a particularly painful lesson, because Forensic Anthropology is still a huge passion of mine. I thought I was cleaning the slate a couple years ago & sold most of my books...I wish I had those books back. Even though I know that right now that's not where my life is, there's a part of me that wants it to be.

So, I hope to stay in touch with this friend, and who knows--when Noah is older, when Patrick finishes his Graphic Design degree, maybe we can look at the possibility of me picking up Forensic Anthropology again.

Where has the time gone?

2010-06-07T11:54:00.005-04:00

If you saw Noah's picture blog, you know that today was his first day of school. Since his previous school was not going to be in operation past last week, we decided to go ahead and start Montessori school--they have Summer Camp, where they are focusing on Art and Science, both of which we think Noah will really enjoy. Starting in the summer, too, may give him an easing into the program.

Here's the deal: whereas his last school was Monday through Thursday, 9am through 1, Montessori is Monday through FRIDAY, and drop-off is 7:30 - 8:30 (school starts at 8:30, but you can drop your child off beginning at 7:30) and pick-up is 2:30. That's a whole day, and an extra 3 hours per day that I won't have Noah with me.

So....Mommy is dealing with it okay, and so is Daddy. We know that he'll love this new school--new adventure, new friends, new challenges. It's just hard--it's like REAL SCHOOL as far as the days and hours go.

I thought that we would have a few months to adjust; we'd have him in his old school through the Summer, then Montessori in the Fall, but nope. Had to rip that band-aid off quickly.

He did express a little anxiety, and there was a little tearing up and clinging when we got to school, but the people at Montessori are great--they understand that it's hard the first day and they handled Noah beautifully. I've already received a phone and an e-mail update telling me that Noah is just fine, and is enjoying Art. I was able to keep it together while we were there, then cried a little when we left, but I think I did okay. I just didn't want Noah to pick up on any of MY anxiety or my sadness at this new step.

It's just been such a big week--he ended going to school at Springwell (where he'd gone since he was 18 months old); he turned 4; he started a new school with a big-boy school schedule!

A quick note on his 4th Birthday--we had a great time, with lots of family, and we loved having everyone over to share in the food and celebration. The Big Present--the ginormous play set--is supposed to be finished tonight, so we'll be sure to video Noah's reaction to it. It may be dark by the time the workers finish putting it together, so we may have to wait until Wed. to do the big reveal.

He's such a big boy... I started getting a little nostalgic, so here are some pictures that I wanted to share on this big day!

6/5/2006--Just born! I remember when he used to sleep all the time....

6/5/2007--First Birthday!!!! He looks so tiny in that big ol' highchair! Ah, to be able to restrain him at the table again...

6/5/2008--Second Birthday! Check out those crazy curls over his ears!

6/5/2009--I think this is his Third Birthday, but I could be wrong...

6/5/2010--Fourth Birthday! I love his ability to accessorize...

6/7/2010--First Day of School.

Our son is a genius.

2010-02-14T17:51:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I may be a little prejudiced, but I think he's truly amazing. We were sitting here tonight, just playing with the markers, and I wanted to see how many words he recognized. Turns out, a lot--at least 27, and one punctuation mark.

See for yourself:

Then, when Daddy got home, he was talking to Noah about various other words: "What word is it if you put an "l" instead of a "b"?" (talking about "book"). The answer from Noah: "LOOK!"

He's just amazing. Simply amazing...

More snow pictures!

2010-02-13T09:59:00.005-05:00

Okay, I'm cutting the comments to get straight to the pictures.

Enjoy!

Yard, off of our back patio, looking right.

Pear tree. Everything just looks so pretty and clean when it snows...

Daddy and Noah at the top of our subdivision. Wanted to check out the main roads. Yup. They're icy!

Noah sitting in the snow. He was doing a 1/2 snow angel.

Kicking the snow. It's such a lovely powdery snow and he had a lot of fun kicking it around.

Noah in our front yard. I love the silhouette of the monkey ears.

Close up of Noah; wish it were more in focus!

Noah doing a snow belly--sort of a reverse snow angel.

Our front yard. And our monkey.

Mommy doing a snow angel--Noah wouldn't join me for this one. Note the beaver mittens!

Noah playing in the snow.

Daddy and Noah.

Daddy repositioning one of Noah's mittens. Okay, I confess--they're mine, but we had to get him another pair of mittens, then put these on top to keep his fingers warm. The snow is that kind that when it gets on fleece (or dog fur, if I remember right) it just balls up & it's hard to get it off and then it just hangs around, making your hands cold. Unless you have beaver mittens. Then your hands are impervious to cold.

Proof! We got 4 inches!

Wow. I've really been slacking.

2010-02-12T20:04:00.005-05:00

Honestly, I'm not sure if anyone even reads this anymore, but it makes me a little sad that blogging has tumbled to the bottom of my "to do" list. It's something that I enjoy, but with everything else I have going on--a blooming Real Estate career, a nearly four-year-old that requires at least 26 hours in a day, still trying to set up the new house, trying to figure out what's for dinner so that we're good and DON'T eat out every night--it's just really hard. By the time we get Noah to bed, and then usually get something to eat for ourselves, it's 8:30 or so, and I'm. just. tired. It's all I can do to finish a library book during the 3 week check-out time (and let's face it--usually I renew and re-renew with the books, and I STILL don't manage to finish them).

So, to recap the last couple of months-- We had a fantastic Christmas in our new house, and were lucky enough to have lots of family to share in it with us. Santa was good to us this year, and there was no shortage of wrapping paper. There was, however, a shortage of ribbon, as Mousey loves to eat ribbon. I guess it's her way of giving us Christmas presents, tiny poops wrapped up in pretty, shiny strands. Thanks, Mouse!

Our New Year was as exciting as it always is--cheap champagne, and going back and forth between the Univision (Spanish Television) countdown and skipping past Dick Clark (bless his heart, but it just makes me want to cry...) to the lesser of two evils--Carson Daly or Ryan Seacrest. It's always a tough decision. But, we rang in the new year, happy to have seen another year come in, and just knowing that this year was going to be great. And so far, it has.

We've had the coldest winter ever (and this is according to a gentleman who's been in this area since God was a child), so yay for the new house & the glory that is energy-efficient windows! We've already had one morning where we woke up to the world covered in white--granted, it was small ice pellets, but Noah still had fun! And then today--holy cow, it started snowing & just didn't quit. We had probably 2 inches in about 3 hours, so I consider that to be significant. And it's a great, perfect-snowball-making snow, too. So, Noah and I went out when it first started, then again when Patrick came home, and I posted some of the early play pictures on Noah's blog (http://noahpic.blogspot.com/) and I'll post some more here.

We're still really loving the new house; we need to set some ground rules for some unplanned visitors, though. We understand that it's cold outside, and you like to nest in our nice, warm house, but I'm OVER hearing your little feet scurrying about. So here's a warning, and I'll only say it once, in my sternest Mommy voice: I'm getting some mouse bait. I'm setting it out. It's your choice--you can eat it and die, or you can leave my house peacefully. I don't care which. I prefer there not to be killing, but if there must, then it's your little heads. I've warned you. I don't want to hear the excuses about your internet connection is down, you can't read, blah blah blah. You have been warned.

Don't worry, Rachel. They'll all be gone by the time you come, I promise.

My business is doing well, and I've branched out into Property Management, for one of my best and beloved clients. I am still amazed, though, that no matter how good of a job you can do for someone, they can still be unhappy over the most incredible thing. But, I guess that's the nature of the beast--buying a house is asking people to plunk down more money and make the biggest purchase of their lives, and if they're not 100% happy--at closing, 2 months or 2 years after closing--it's your fault. I guess it's easier to blame someone than yourself that you simply chose badly. And I'm a big girl--I can take it. I won't guarantee to not be mad about it and whine and complain to my nearest and dearest, though. But, I'll get over it, ready to greet my next clients with a big grin, and my promise to do my very best, absolutely 110% over & above, job for them.

Noah is growing by leaps and bounds--we measured him the other day, and he's 40 1/2 inches tall. He's reading--not complete books yet, but I'm sure by next week, he'll be thumbing through the Wall Street Journal. His vocabulary and memory never cease to amaze me. Today, we were driving around, and he said he wanted to go to Mickey's Drive Through and get a hot dog. Huh??? I was trying to decipher where he was talking about, and then it hit me--on New Year's Eve, we went to Rickey's Drive In for hot dogs (it's also where introduced Noah to A Splash of Orange--Sprite with a little bit of orange soda in it). That, to me, is amazing, that he remembered we had hot dogs at Rickey's!

He's becoming his own person, more and more. He's telling jokes, deliberately being silly, and just charming the pants off of everyone he meets. He is, in every sense of the word, a blessing.

We've started tentatively planning a Disney trip--we'd love to go in September. The temperatures are still decent; schools are usually in session; and that's typically a slow season for Disney, which means 1) less crowds, and 2) cheap rates! We figure, too, that by that time, Noah will be tall enough to ride any ride that WE want to ride! We found some great deals that include the Park Hopper Passes, where you can do any Disney park, any day, so it doesn't just confine us to the Magic Kingdom. Now, for this to happen, I've got to get my butt in gear and sell some Real Estate! We've got a long list of to-dos that require money, and unfortunately we're grown ups, and the dream vacation is at the bottom of the list. Being a responsible adult sucks!

Wow...it's still snowing. I better go ahead & get these pictures posted, and then cuddle up on the sofacouch with Patrick, and watch the opening ceremony for the Olympics. Enjoy!

Daddy & Noah saying "SNOW!"

Mommy & Noah making a snow angel. Noah's not dumb--he didn't want to lay down in the snow, so he decided to lay down on top of me, and let me absorb all that cold, wet snow. Yeah, I loved every second of it!

Such a cutie pie!

Patrick getting ready to throw a snowball at me.

Noah attempting to throw a snowball.

Our front yard.

The pear tree in our side yard.

The yard--it's about 1 1/2 to 2 inches, and you can sorta tell on the chair.

Christmas Time is Here!

2009-12-10T08:17:00.003-05:00

Well, we're not done yet, but we're slowly but surely getting the house dolled up for Christmas. We do have our tree, with lights & the unbreakable ball ornaments (which were put up by Patrick and Noah); we have a shelf that's a good substitute for our mantel and I've got my Christmas hand towels out.

We've still got to wrap the porch railing in garland & lights, and Mom donated a Christmas wreath for the door that needs to be plugged in, but the most important decorations have been put up:

The inflatable Santa & inflatable Mickey Santa.

Our across-the-street neighbors have some inflatables, and when Noah saw them, he asked when we were going to put up our Santa & Mickey Santa. I thought it was amazing that he remembered them from last year.

I wish we'd taken video when Patrick was setting them up--the joy on his face, the jumping up & down, the clapping...almost made us cry, and SO made us want to buy up every single inflatable and put it in our yard.

I'll take more pictures when the outside is done, but this should give you an idea of what it's starting to look like.

Our love to all!
Enjoy!

Wow. 39? Really?

2009-11-25T20:29:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know that this is cliched, but I don't feel old. In fact, I feel anything but. Well, except in the morning when my knees are a bit stiff, or when I've slept funny and my back sorta aches, or when I don't get any of the pop culture references the kids are talking about these days.

But seriously--it seems odd that I'm in my last year of my thirties. I'm the age that I thought was positively ancient, and yet...here I am.

I don't see myself as ancient, and I don't mind getting older--every day is a new opportunity, a new somethin' or other to learn. And, of course, it does beat the alternative. I guess it helps that I still shock people when they find out my true age, because I must look that young.

I look back at everything I've accomplished, and even though I may not have done everything that I thought I would, or even that I did everything "right," I think my life so far has been pretty great: I've got wonderful parents, great friends & family, and I've had some great adventures: living in Alaska, experiencing -60 degree temps, going to England twice, getting married (on a glacier!), having a baby, getting a chance to see said baby grow into a little boy, and hopefully get to see him have a life of his own adventures.

I think I've had a pretty amazing journey up to this part--and can't wait to see what the next 39 years will bring!

Goodbye, Carolina Avenue...

2009-10-27T22:59:00.002-04:00

It seems so strange that tonight is our last night at 201 Carolina Avenue, Greer. I was trying to remember the exact day we moved in, but couldn't. I know we closed on the house 4 days after Noah was born, but the move itself is a bit fuzzy. I do remember that I was still in a fragile state, and didn't do a whole lot (when I tried, well, it wasn't good...I just remember thinking, "Uh Oh" and "Did I rip something?").

I remember it was very, very hot, and we had everyone pitching in to help move us in--Patrick, Mom, Dad, Dan, Janet, Rachel... We had Sonic for lunch (I think I still have the receipt we used to write the order down on), which again reinforces Patrick's belief that I only remember things when there's food associated. He may be right.

I remember the first thing to come into the house was Noah's Pack-n-Play--this was the only bed we had for him, since a true crib wouldn't fit in the apartment. Then the red sofa for a place for me to sit. Then I just watched our belongings being carted in by various family members.

We were so excited about the house, the yard, the location. It really has a lot going for it--lots of charm in the wood floors and original doorknobs; the large kitchen; the huge, fenced yard; the man shed that we had all sorts of ideas for (guest cottage was what we would have loved to have done. As it was, it was an amazing storage space). We loved the little dollhouse, and could just see a little girl loving it (at the time we made an offer on the house, I was still pregnant, and the sex of The Bean was still unknown). Then, when Noah made his appearance we thought when he got older we'd make some modifications to the doll house & make it a boy house someway--a barn-type house, maybe.

The house wasn't perfect, but I don't think any house IS perfect. We loved the porch, the deck, and the fact that we could walk to Downtown Greer. We really loved that last part when Greer went all-out and did a gorgeous park, and restaurants started moving in (then moving out...but then a resurgence, and more eateries are moving to Downtown). It had its quirks, as most old houses do.

I think I'll always have a special place in my heart for 201 Carolina--

It's the first house we brought our son to.

It's the house our baby said his first word, "Kitty." (Thanks, Mouse, for upstaging us yet again.)

It's the house our baby first crawled, and then rolled.

It's the house our baby took his first steps (finally!).

It's the house we took our Christmas picture in for the first 3 years of Noah's life.

It's the house that saw the transition from floppy baby, to baby, to toddler, to little boy.

It was our home.

I wish the new occupant many years of happiness, and hope that some of our joy we found within these walls will remain to bless the new families that will call this house their home.

Boo at the Zoo!

2009-10-19T15:00:00.005-04:00

We had our first Boo at the Zoo last night, and Noah had a great time. We were a little worried--driving up to the zoo, they had a police officer directing traffic, and we noticed immediately that the first parking lot was completely filled up. Granted, this isn't Disney World, but it is a little intimidating when you see the line getting into the zoo stretching past the gates, and nearly down into the parking lot, doubling on itself... But, we figured that we were there, may as well see how bad it's going to be. And you know, it wasn't bad at all. We waited in line for maybe 15 minutes, and during the wait, Noah really enjoyed seeing all the kids dressed up in the costumes, and it was great weather, and people seemed like they were in good moods.

Once we were in, they gave Noah a bag, and we went through the zoo, stopping at the various stations getting treats. We were there for about 1 1/2 hours, and got lots of pictures and some video of Noah the Dinosaur. He really enjoyed all the blow up decorations--in fact, he woke up this morning talking about one of the large decorations in particular (of course, it would be the one that I didn't take any pictures of, and Patrick thought he had video of it, but when we got home, realized he didn't get it).

I give it a big thumbs up, and hope we'll be able to go back next year!

Enjoy the pictures, and our love to all!

Out front, waiting to get in; they had a sorta Harry Potter theme going on.

One of the treats were vampire teeth; snapped this in the nick of time, because they promptly fell out of his mouth after the picture. I've got the teeth, though, and will sanitize them for future use!

Chatting with the "snowman."

Loved the kitty in the pumpkin.

This is one of my favorites, I think because it's something that I can see us getting a picture here each year...

In front of one of his much-loved blow up decorations.

With a fellow dinosaur!

One of the treats was an animal mask. He's the elusive Raccoonasaurus. I think there needs to be a comic book about him...

Looking for the piggy...

With his friend, the Owl. We were so proud of him--he saw "Boo" all over the place, and he pointed at it and said, "That spells boo!"

A new blog...

2009-10-15T08:50:00.004-04:00

I am not giving up my blog--I've had it for too long, it's seen me through way too much, and I do enjoy it when I have time.

We think you'll like the new blog--it's basically a Noah Picture-of-the-Day.

I got a wild hair the other day to just take a quick picture of Noah before we left for school. We see him every day, and certainly notice the changes going on--legs getting longer, face looking more like a boy, ability to put outfits together.

So, we thought we'd document these changes on a new blog.

Hope you enjoy!

Noah Pic-of-the-Day blog

We're doing the Happy Dance

2009-09-22T14:44:00.002-04:00

Okay, let me first say that we haven't gotten to the closing table yet--we still have inspections and the appraisal. I really don't think that there's going to be anything major found in either of those hurdles to prevent us from closing, but you never count on the closing absolutely happening until you're getting up from the closing table, handing your keys over to the new owner!

We put the house on the market late Monday night (the 14th--Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad!); had two showings the following Tuesday; a 2nd showing on Wednesday; a contract & counter-offer on Thursday; and accepted contract on Friday.

We are thrilled.

The closing date is October 14--it was supposed to be the 16th, but the closing attorney is going on a fishing vacation, so we had to move it back 2 days. Now the next step is finding Mom & Dad a house--we've looked at a few that have NEARLY everything, but not quite, so we're sure that the house is out there, we're just not sure when we'll find it!

We are just thrilled, though, that we got a contract that quickly! I guess it has something to do with having a really awesome Realtor who knows her stuff! :)

Our love to all!

Videos!

2009-09-12T08:28:00.001-04:00

I upgraded my phone to a nifty little model that takes videos! Unfortunately, the format that I set some of my videos in, MP4, doesn't quite translate to all the players that our family has out there. SO--with some fancy footwork and some help from Patrick, we uploaded them to YouTube so we can embed them here.

Hope you enjoy!

Am I a frustrated entymologist?

2009-07-06T21:20:00.007-04:00

At least, that's my bet. I kinda like bugs. Not ALL bugs, mind you--cockroaches do make me run away, screaming like a little girl (but they're really, really GROSS! *Shudder*).

To bring everyone up-to-date, I'm growing 'maters. LOTS of 'em. I've never really had much luck, so figured if I planted 12 (and then Mom & Dad gave me a Beefmaster--love that name, by the way...I picture a tomato dressed in animal skins, wielding a sword above his head--so 13 plants in all), then we'd maybe get one or two plants. Well, I took Dad's advice, and planted them in a good spot, with good soil & have actually fertilized them. And guess what?

WE HAVE TOMATOES.

I've already harvested 2 Beefmaster and about 6 Romas. YUM. There is NOTHING like a fresh, garden-grown tomato. So, I've got 13 vigorous plants:

And, if you have tomatoes, chances are you're going to have hornworms--a lovely, fat green worm with a horn on it's backside. These little buggers can defoliate a tomato plant pretty quickly, and from my research, the best control for a home gardener is to just pick them off & drown them.

Or, my preferred method is to pick them off & fling them to the street so the mockingbirds have a juicy snack. (Patrick said he never realized I was so bloodthirsty.)

So, I went out & picked off 3 one morning...all were about 3" long and had these white egg thingys on its back. Well, not knowing about hornworm reproduction, I was afraid that these were little hornworms just waiting to hatch. So, as per my method, flung them to the street (by the way--they were gone the next time I went out, so I can only assume that 1) they're either much faster than I give them credit for & they hot-footed it back to the garden, or 2) there were some VERY happy mockingbirds).

I started thinking, and though I remembered something about parasitic something-or-others, and consulted the all-knowing internet.

Voila!

The tobacco hornworm (there are 2 varieties--tomato and tobacco, and the only difference I could find was the color of the horn. Tomato are black, tobacco are red, but both are equal-opportunity feeders of both plants) IS a host to the paper wasp. So, those little white egg thingys WERE eggs, but for the paper wasps, and according to my research, by the time you see the eggs, the hornworm is pretty much done. Apparently the larvae of the paper wasp eat the hornworm from the inside. Yeah, ain't nature beautiful?

Anyway, I've been pretty vigilant, and have not seen many hornworms. Until Saturday morning, when we found a beauty. I say "we" because Noah made a friend: "Pah." Yup--found a nice, big one, and Noah carried it around for a long, long time. I think he may have nearly loved it to death. We thought it would be neat for him to watch the hornworm spin his cocoon and morph into the hummingbird moth (I think that's what the tobacco hornworm becomes...but don't quote me on that. And oh, yeah, the other difference between the tomato and the tobacco worms is the type of moth they turn into--but both turn into HUGE moths. Quite impressive, really.). Unfortunately, it wasn't to be--Noah wanted to carry him around. And, something my research didn't reveal is that when hornworms are picked up, squeezed a bit and carried around, they emit this greenish juice stuff (much like the "tobacco" that grasshoppers spit when you pick them up). Not sure if it's supposed to make them taste bitter (we didn't try it, thank you very much), but it was interesting.

We finally convinced Noah that Pah had to go take a nap, and then we put Pah out to pasture (sort of like sending the aging family pet to an unnamed, geographically vague "farm.")...which probably caused him to end up a really, REALLY juicy snack.

See how happy Noah looks with his friend:

Okay, so I go out tonight, and I find one of Noah's little friends with eggs on it:

And I look closer, and I see that the eggs are HATCHING!

So, okay, some of you may be totally grossed out by this, but I think it's pretty cool. You can even see their little antennae and eyes... I guess they got a little irked with my flash! Maybe it's for the best that I left when I did...not sure how aggressive baby paper wasps are, but I know that the adults do sting, but I think for the most part they're fairly passive. But, the way I react to stings and bites, I really don't want to find out.

And, for those who ARE grossed out, and want a little cuteness to go with your bugs, check out the movie(s) that Patrick's posted on his blog:

http://www.possumstar.blogspot.com/

On a completely unrelated note, the house is getting closer...the roof is DONE; we should have the missing part of our hall baseboard and our laundry room-kitchen threshold done tomorrow. We're getting the carpeting estimate tomorrow. The inside of the house is painted (except for going over the trim work); and today Mom & I did a bang-up job on the front rails & planter boxes (they're now white, and it really looks great!). It's coming along, and we keep crossing stuff off of our list, but if anyone wants to come and help, well, we won't turn it down...

Our love to all!

2009-06-18T21:18:00.003-04:00

Turn left and we'll be at the Target.

2009-06-04T08:39:00.004-04:00

This is what Noah said last night as we were on Woodruff Road, headed for A. C. Moore. And he was right--Target WAS up ahead on our left. Now, I've been working with Noah on left vs. right, but I think this was the first time that he'd really said a direction, and meant it. He's been known to imitate my Nuvi GPS (best thing EVER!) and say "Turn Left. Turn Right. Arriving at Destination." using the same inflection as the woman inside the Nuvi, even, but this was something new. So, we tested him when we stopped, to see if it was just a fluke. We asked him which hand was his left hand--he raised his left hand. We asked which was his right, and, granted, he had a 50-50 shot of raising the correct hand, and could probably deduce (as he's a genius) that we meant the other hand, but still... Pretty amazing, I think.

It's just amazing that tomorrow he'll be 3--the time has gone by way too fast. He's such a little boy now, and just getting more amazing every day. Last night we talked to Grandma on the phone, and he was really holding a conversation with her. He was telling her about his trains, and how he wants to hear "WeWillWeWillRockYou" in her car. (Apparently, Mom likes to rock out to Queen, and Noah's favorite song now is "We Will Rock You.") When we pulled up to their house yesterday to check the mail & water the plants, he said, "We're at Grandma and Grandpa's house, but they're not here right now." I think I read somewhere that at this age children can learn 10 new words a day, and I think Noah's surpassing that. He constantly is putting ideas and concepts together, and we're seeing an understanding of past, future and present tense. The other day he was bringing all his stuffed animals to the living room, lining them up and telling us to "Shhh" because they're going to sleep. Then he brought out his blanket and covered them up. (I think he may have then proceeded to then hop over them with his hopper ball, which I'm sure did nothing for the quality of sleep his animals received.)

He's really started to pretend--not just with us and with him ("You're Mommy Froggy and I'm baby Froggy!"), but with his Little People, trains, bugs, dinosaurs...

But, we still have yet to succeed with potty training. We've started to bribe him, and I'm okay with that. We give him 2 Skittles for peeing, 3 Skittles for pooping. He's received 2 Skittles to date (which is pretty much when I started the whole bribing-for-peeing), but he understands that 3 is more, and he is continually saying that he wants to POOP on the froggy potty so he can get 3 Skittles (by the way, that's not me paraphrasing--that's pretty much, verbatim, what Noah says). And yet, he continues to wait until he'd got the diaper on before pooping. Or peeing, for that matter. (And sorry folks, if this is too much information for you. Feel free to scroll down to the pictures.) But, we keep trying, but in a very non-pressuring way. I'm still not sure if he knows what he's supposed to do and just refuses (because he's my son, and SO stubborn) or if he's still not developmentally there yet. But, we sit on the froggy potty after eating, and either read some books ("Animal Baby" magazine is still his favorite, something that Mee Ma started for him, and he still really enjoys it) or watch a show. I'm just afraid that if we just watch "The Backyardigans" or "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" every time he sits on the froggy potty, he's going to be conditioned to want to go to the bathroom every time he sees them!

We're still working like mad people to get the house ready to put on the market. We've painted the bedroom, bathroom (still have to put up the molding, and a few finishing touches), living room, dining room, hallways...Noah's room and the hall bath were already painted. Still need to get carpet in the dining room (not my first choice, but the wood floors are too far gone, and not sure what other cost-effective option we have) and in the bedroom, and I'd love to put a new sink & toilet in the hall bath. Then, it's just touching up paint here & there, continuing to declutter and clean, clean, clean. I would just like to say a HUGE "THANK YOU!" to Mom & Dad for allowing their house to be our dumping ground! We've also been making progress outside, though not as much as I'd like...seems like the weeding gets away from me, and there are still some things we need to do (get rid of the dead bush, do something with the area in back that used to be the compost heap, smooth out the area where one of the trees used to be and put some pots out with some plantings). But, all-in-all, it's coming along. Hopefully we've got the situation with Allstate resolved and we can get a new roof, which will be great. I'd love to get the house on the market by the end of June (if not before)! I'm just tired of living in a giant toy box... Our house is perfectly nice, and I love the yard & where it is geographically (about 10 minutes from everything), it's just too small. I think we outgrew it before we even brought Noah home. I'm sure it will make someone else a perfectly wonderful home!

And just really quickly, back to Noah--I just have to say, too, that I'm amazed with Noah's retention--he has started to remember what happens in particular episodes to the point where he'll say, "the one with Mickey and the numbers" or he'll start to talk about what is coming up in a particular episode. And oh, back to the "We Will Rock You"--it started out with him vocalizing the "stomp stomp clap" part of the song ("Ssssh Ssssh Sssh! Ssssh Ssssh Sssh!) but the other day I noticed he was singing along--granted, he didn't know all the words, but heck--neither did I (uh...I do now. It's amazing how quickly you learn a song when you hear it over and over and over and over...).

It's just amazing to me to think that just 3 years ago, I was huge, feeling miserable, looking for furniture with Mom and Dad, with Noah just about to make his arrival. And now, he's talking, running, jumping, singing, making up silly songs, and just generally being wonderful.

Enjoy the pictures!

Noah with his bear on his head. In his big-boy Mickey Mouse underpants.

Noah drawing a smiley face. At least, that's what I think it is.

Noah and Patrick making handprints. And a mess.

Our future artist. The easel also serves as a way to gauge his height. In about 2 weeks, he'll be taller than the easel, I think.

Noah in his ladybug hat from school.

Patrick and Noah, making beautiful music on the dulcimer.

Striking a pose. With cheese on his head.

I've got a photo when Noah was itty bitty that's similar to this. Amazing how big he's gotten. In the earlier photo, Patrick is able to cradle Noah with just one arm, and Noah is this little bundle sleeping on Patrick's chest.

Hmmm...maybe this is why the potty training isn't going the way we'd like...

Some funny stuff...

2009-05-08T18:49:00.004-04:00

I can't believe that in less than a month, Noah will be 3. Just doesn't seem possible.

This is just Noah being silly after dinner tonight.

Enjoy!

Noah being cute...

2009-04-29T22:10:00.002-04:00

Our love to all!

Quick video of Noah having fun at dinner...

2009-04-29T20:05:00.002-04:00

I'm afraid the sound isn't great, and I'm sorry for that, but hopefully you'll get a kick out of it!

Enjoy!

Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy Busy

2009-03-24T19:56:00.007-04:00

Seriously.

B. U. S. Y.

Happy busy. Working busy. Trying to keep my sanity busy. Hopefully things will continue to move forward for me; just had one deal close (before you choose a lender in the future, please talk to me...I've got a story for you!), and am meeting with some other folks about some land, and am talking to another person about some MORE land, so things are good. In our area, anyway, it's still a buyer's market, but as a whole, the market hasn't lost much. There are still more foreclosures out there, which hurts NON-foreclosed house values, but some buyers don't want to go through the hassle that comes with a foreclosed home and are willing to pay a bit more for a home where they have a better idea of the history.

Sorry for that diversion--I know y'all don't read this blog for Realtor tips! Noah is growing like the proverbial weed. He's started saying "But why?" and "What's his name?" He still confuses his gender pronouns ("he" and "she" are pretty interchangeable, and it's regardless of whether he's talking about a boy or a girl), but everyone has to have a name, and I should know it, and if I don't, "but why?" He's really saying his name clearly--to the point where when people ask his name, they understand that he's saying "Noah." He's also calling "Chick-Fil-A" by its actual name, and not just by "Chicken." Which, by the way, tells something about our habits and what we feed our child.

Most of his 3T pants are now completely unrolled, especially if they have those wonderful adjustable waists & we can cinch 'em in tight. If the waist is a bit big, we still have to cuff the pants a bit, but it's still amazing that just a few weeks ago, pants that were still a bit too long are now just about perfect. Luckily, he's still able to wear his 48 pairs of shorts... The waist is pretty much right on (thank God for elastic!), and they're not as long as they were last year, but they're still an acceptable shorts length (no, I will NOT put my son in hot pants--don't worry!). Plus, he's got a HUGE selection of t-shirts, and thanks to my Aunt Patti's bargain hunting last year, he's got some swim trunks, too!

I think most of you have heard of my cell phone & washer saga, but if not, here it is in a nutshell: washed my cell phone (chalking it up to sleep deprivation) and tried to wash a rug twice, and the 2nd time pretty much made it so our washer didn't spin during the spin cycle (still agitates, just doesn't spin). So, thanks to Aunt Rachel, put the cell phone in a bag of rice & by a heater for a few days, and then for good measure, under a shop light. Well, it works--I just don't ever, EVER turn it off (sometimes when I do, and turn it back on, it says "No Service" or somesuch, then I take the battery off, turn it back on, take the battery off, turn it back on, take the battery off, smack the phone, turn it back on, take the battery off, say bad words, turn it back on and then vow to NEVER turn it off again), and seem to have lost the camera function. I still can text, but just can't take a picture. I'm okay with that--I'm not due for another free phone until June, so I'm okay with a working phone (more or less) with all my contacts in it, for free. The washer, however, is not so fortunate. I did not have a bag of rice big enough, and didn't try the shop light. When the weather is nice, we've pretty much been able to hang the clothes out to dry enough to then put them in the dryer, and Mom & Dad have been kind enough to let us use their washer. But, I think it's time to buy a new one. I'm not too heartbroken--the one we've got is 7 years old, and I think it was on an outside porch at one point in time, because it's got rust in very odd places... I just wish that washers cost $5.99.

Patrick's been keeping busy with his art class, and it turns out, he's a pretty good artist. He drew a picture of Noah's Big Wheel that really looked like a Big Wheel. I'm amazed at that, because I have issues with anything other than stick figures, and even that's debatable. He seems to enjoy it, but it's a very time-consuming class, and I know that he is looking for ways to manage his time creatively, to try to fit everything in (me, Noah, school, work, dishes). It's hard sometimes, and I must admit, sometimes the dishes suffer. But, to me, school is more important, and until they can either find a way to fit about 4 more hours in the day, or clone people, we're just going to have to make due.

We had been completely at a loss, not too long ago, about what was going on with Noah's sleep habits. He was usually very good about going to bed around 7:30, waking up at 7; taking a nap from about 1:30/2-4ish, and then all of a sudden...BOOM. No more going to bed before 10pm. That sucked. Not exaggerating, sometimes he'd be up out of his bed 52 times in 1 1/2 hours. This all coincided with daylight savings time (why do we even need it anymore???), and the discovery that he's getting ALL FOUR of his 2-year molars. Also, we noticed a rash where his paci would fit (Dr. said it was due to skin being irritated by excess saliva, hydrocortisone cream & vaseline and we should see an improvement, and we have...though it's still there, and was for his school pictures that were taken last week!). *Sigh* So, in order to clear up the rash, the paci had to go--and since he's nearly 3, we figured that there's no sense in giving him BACK the paci once the rash went away, since the habit would most likely be broken by then, and it's been close to a month.... He's only asked for a paci a couple of times, so we think we're in the clear. We think we've figured out the sleep issue, though--I think that when he'd take a nap in the afternoon, it was just enough of a recharge to make him SO not ready for bed a mere 4 hours later. Solution--no more afternoon naps. Yes, I know... I so miss my afternoon quiet time, but it is so worth it to have our nights back, where he falls asleep by 7:30 (tonight he was asleep by 7:15), and he sleeps through the night, waking up bright-eyed & bushy-tailed at 7am. Luckily, the weather has been great, so we've been able to take him to parks, or just outside in general between 2-5, to burn some of that energy off and keep him busy. It can be ugly, though--he's tired, and has no patience for waiting, or if he gets a slight bump. Tonight he threw a fit because I wanted to wash his hair. He also burst into great big sobs when he was trying to get IN the tub & ran into my arm. So, yeah, the no-nap-in-the-afternoon has its trying times, but I just try to keep him busy and just hope for the best. Just pray for us... Enjoy the pictures!

LOVE this shot--just a random shot of Noah saying "CHEESE!" while dressed in his Pooh towel.

Another random shot...I can really see him getting older in this picture.

Goofy boy!

Noah waiting to get his picture taken at school. Apparently he was entertaining everyone with his singing of "Shake your booty...shake your booty!"

Playing with his easel (thank you, Great Granny & Great Grandpa!)

The artist at work... To be honest, I'm not sure WHO drew the Pablo...based on the out-of-proportion arms, I would guess me, maybe, but it's almost too good to be me. So maybe Patrick deserves the credit.

I'm thinking this is categorized in the "NOT a good idea" column. But man, a Retro Rocket IN a Tonka truck? That's one vehicle that is NOT to be messed with!

Patrick & Noah, happily drawing on the MagnaDoodle.

Patrick and Noah...doodling around.

Drawing circles...

For his birthday, Mom & Dad bought Noah this really great pirate ship--complete with canons that shoot out yellow balls (much to Shaka's delight) and makes all sorts of great sounds...with no "off" or volume control! It's pretty cool, and Mom was much too excited to be able to wait until June, so Noah's been enjoying it now. He's sporting his eyepatch & hat here....I've got pictures somewhere of him at the helm of his vessel, complete with hook! I'll find it and post it later.

This is a lobster Noah made at school. Doesn't the chocolate pudding mustache make him look older? I'd say he could pass for 6 at least. Just hope the other kids don't ask him to try to buy Apple Juice for them at the local Quik Stop.

Noah having fun with his Little People construction site (thank you, Aunt Brenda!). I'm feeling like I've posted some of these pictures/narrations before, and if so, I apologize. Too late to turn back now... When Noah was playing with this, I wanted to play with him, and he physically pushed me away and told me "No! I play!" If only he'd do that with his diaper--"No! I change!"

Kicking back, spanning the gorge, readin' some books...

Noah really likes his Noah's Ark that Aunt Patti made him.

I guess he's checking out the plot synopsis on the back of the book...

...and to show that he's got diverse interests, here's the book Aunt Rachel got him!

I wish this was a little bit sharper, but I still love it.

Taken TODAY--such a little hipster.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

2009-03-02T08:47:00.007-05:00

We had a pretty good bit of snow yesterday. It started around 5 or so, and pretty much kept going for a few hours. Stopped, then started up again around midnight. I'd say we got close to 3 inches. Everything looks so pretty after a snow. I know that this amount is considered a sprinkling in some areas, but for here, it's pretty amazing. There were more than 700 closings around the city & county--just about every place is closed or were on a 2 hour delay. Luckily, there's not any place that we need to be today, and I can do everything I need to do from home, as long as the internet connection holds out!

I just love snow--maybe not the technicalities of it (shoveling, ice, etc.), but there's something about waking up in the morning, and seeing that particular light shining around the curtains, the kind of light that you only get when there's snow on the ground. I love how it makes everything hushed, and clean and crisp. I love the sound of it crunching under your boots, and the way trees look like sculptures. I love when it snows big flakes (as it did last night), and just before the flakes melt on your hand you can see the intricacies that make each flake different.

I do NOT like cold feet, however.

So, I pretty much used the memory card all up last night & this morning taking lots of pictures, and tried to pick out some good ones for y'all to enjoy. Oh, I'm also posting Noah's early driving photos, too.

Enjoy!

This is Noah, sitting on his new ride.

Noah taking Hippo (pronounced HEEpo) for a ride. Note the bungee cord ingenuity.

LOVE this picture!!!!! He can't quite reach the pedals to make a full rotation, but he's almost there...he's figured out, too, if he puts the Big Wheel on a hill, he can zoom down!

Getting some last minute driving instruction from Daddy, I think.

Get yer motor runnin'....head out on the highway....lookin' for adventure...

The snow last night, probably around 7 or so...about an hour after it had started snowing. Note the big flakes and the accumulation on the railings & car.

Noah's first snowball! Actually, iceball, since it was a very wet snow.

Okay, so the pics are a little out of order. This is when it first started snowing--the white patch is where a tree used to be, so the snow showed up there, what with the contrast and lack of vegetation.

Okay, another random picture. Noah was pretending to be a CD player. I don't advise you try this at home, boys. (Look very closely at where the movie is attached...)

Another shot of him & Hippo, going for a ride.

Noah and Patrick, playing in the snow. About 2 hours after this, you couldn't see where their footprints had been on the back deck.

Looking at the snow falling.

Lots & lots of snow!

I think it's just the camera angle, but I like how it looks like a big flake landed on his nose.

Playing on the deck...

This morning...
This morning.... Those plants to the right of the frame are usually standing up so high that it's impossible to see the house behind them.

Note the accumulation on the railings, and you can sorta tell there are cars back there...

This was last night, around midnight. I love how the flash hits on the snowflakes.

Noah dances...and Mommy sings. Sort of.

2009-02-20T19:02:00.002-05:00

I think it's self-explanatory.

Enjoy!

Oh, and here are a couple more...

Every day I say I'll be better about posting...

2009-02-12T20:45:00.002-05:00

Patrick was telling me about something he read, where a woman was keeping a 1-sentence journal--every day she would write a sentence (or two, but the minimum was 1 sentence) about what her child did that day or something funny that was said. I thought that was an amazing idea, and immediately set out to do the same. Yeah, that was about 1 1/2 weeks ago.

I try, I really, really do. I love to look back on my old posts, see what's happened--when we were leaving Jackson, when we were expecting the Bean, the Christmases, Birthdays, other celebrations since then. I love that I have our lives documented, commented on & pictured. My main fear if I don't continue to blog regularly is that I'll forget some of the funny things Noah said or did... I do have a baby book, and I began diligently recording all the milestones...until about month #2, then I think life just took over. I'd try to go back--gathering the doctor's office cards detailing how long Noah was, how much he weighed, and would put that information in, but then it all would get fuzzy--"When did he get his first tooth?" (I do remember that whichever tooth he DID get in first, by all the baby books, it should have been the last one to come in. No surprise, our boy doing it his own way...) I think, miracle of miracles, we actually have his first step on video, but some of the other stuff just escapes me. And I feel bad--I feel that, as his Mommy, it's my duty to record this information to pass down to him when he's expecting a child, or when that child is born to be able to say, "Oh, here it is, in your baby book: your first word was "Kitty" when you were 7 1/2 months old, and you were wearing your Teddy Bear t-shirt with green socks." Yeah, well, future Noah, you'll just have to be satisfied that your first word was, indeed, 'Kitty' and I don't remember what you were wearing or how old you were, exactly--I know it was between the ages of birth and two.

And, dear Readers, do you remember how excited I was about the new camera? The fact that it takes excellent video? Well, it does, however--it takes movies in .mov format (QuickTime) and for some reason, in HUGE files. I can't figure out how to adjust it, but it pretty much takes overnight for files to upload to YouTube, and forget uploading directly to the blog. So, I've had to create workarounds, which eventually get me where I want to go but not without a lot of frustration & headache. Now, I think the easiest thing to do would be to just shell out the money to upgrade to QuickTime Pro, where I can change the format that would be easier to upload, but I'm cheap and like to try to do things the hard way. But, here are a few videos, and hopefully there aren't too many boring parts you have to sit through to get to the good stuff!

And see, I wait so long between blogs that I forget all the good stuff that I wanted to tell you--the latest cute phrase Noah is saying, or what amazing thing he did the other day, or how big he's getting... He's started galloping (not quite skipping, but what you'd do if you were pretending to be a horse); he loves the song "Walk the Dinosaur" by Was (Not Was), and will sing "Boom ackalacka Boom" which I think is the cutest thing ever. He'll try to turn the TV channels, which just results in the static pattern...okay, so that's not really cute, more of an annoyance. He's been calling me Daisy Duck, Dora and Piglet--and Patrick is the corresponding Goofy, Boots and Tigger, with Noah being Mickey (or Minnie), Diego and Pooh. He'll say, "What's wrong Mama ----" (insert "dinosaur," "lizard," "hippo," or any other item--animate or non--that catches his eye, and you're supposed to say, "Nothing, Baby ----" and say whatever item he's called you. This can go on for a long, long, long, long time.

We went to Target the other night & purchased a Dinosaur "Tickle Tunnel"--basically a fabric pop-open tunnel with "feet" on the side and a detachable dinosaur face that he LOVES...in fact, tonight I climbed in one side and Noah thought that it was the coolest thing ever. Until we bumped heads. Then he proceeded to tell me that "Noah has an owie on his head and Mommy has an owie on her head and you wanna kiss it make it better? Okay." Then I asked him if he wanted to kiss Mommy's owie, to which he leaned his head forward a little and made a little smacking noise to show me that yes, indeed, he was kissing it and making it better.

He's really enjoying school, and we've signed him up for a 4-day week (adding a day), and most days I drop him off & he just runs into the classroom, and when I go to kiss him & tell him goodbye, he just sort of looks exasperated, as if he wants to say, "Yeah, yeah, will you leave so I can have fun???" Sort of bittersweet for Mommy--I'm so glad that he enjoys it, and am glad that he's not crying, clinging to me for dear life. But then, I am sort of sad that he's NOT clinging to me, and crying and not wanting me to leave.

Something tells me it only gets harder from here.

I'll try to post some actual pictures soon, but until then, I hope these videos will tide you over.

Enjoy!

(Noah and Daddy playing Pac Man...or "Fat Man" as Noah likes to call it. And, to clarify, Daddy is trying to PLAY Pac Man, and Noah is enjoying hitting the reset button.)

MerryChristmasHappyNewYear!

2009-01-12T13:55:00.003-05:00

Yeah, I know I'm behind... We had a great Christmas, both the weekend before, the actual day & then the trek to Knoxville a couple weekends after. New Year's was quiet (just like we like it), and full of hope & promise.

We're all doing well, and hopefully I'll get some time to do an actual post... But hopefully these movies will tide you over in the meantime. They're video we took of Noah on Christmas morning.

Enjoy!

Jingle Bells...the alternate version!

2008-12-16T07:17:00.001-05:00

I am so proud of my son for learning the alternate version of "Jingle Bells"...

Enjoy!

Christmas time's a-comin', Christmas time's a-comin'...

2008-12-13T19:57:00.003-05:00

Well, I think we're just about ready for Christmas! We've started cleaning the house, getting ready for the New Year (Patrick, thank you again for cleaning the fridge...seriously--he CLEANED it, took the shelves out & everything. That's one of my blind spots, I'm afraid. I put leftovers in the fridge, promptly forget about them, and then Patrick is left to deal with the furry masses left behind. And the condiments that are 2 years old. So sweetie, thank you so much!!! It looks fabulous. To those who are going to be visiting, be sure to look inside & give props to Patrick.).... We finished putting the lights up...well, I say "finished" but we still have some flashing icicle lights that have no home. I think this is the first year that we're using every single one of our 11 strands of lights. Or something like that. Seriously. We love our lights. AND we got a new strand this year--globe LED icicle lights that has patterns that will knock your socks off. Very mesmerizing... Every time we put up a new strand, Noah's face just lights up, and he says, "oooohhhhh!" and claps, so you know, we go put up more lights just to get that reaction. I can't WAIT for Christmas this year...it's all because of Noah. This is the first year that he really is paying attention to lights, the inflatables, the presents that are WAY too big for us to hide and we've been WAY too lazy to put into the Man Shed... Last night we went out driving to look at lights, and saw some nice displays, one of which rivals the trailers that used to be opposite Pellissippi. Seriously. MAJOR attraction. I think they're trying to be the Hollywild of Greer. We shall make that a destination for everyone visiting! It does not disappoint. Unless you're expecting tasteful decor, and then, well, I guess you'd be disappointed. I, however, think that the more lights you have, the closer to God. And I also think that God likes colored, random flashing lights, too. And Frosty witnessing the birth of Jesus. God REALLY likes that.

We even bought Noah his own stocking...he had one, but it was "Baby's First Christmas" and he's getting to be a big boy now, so we had to get him a more appropriate stocking. At least until he's older and wants to pick out his own stocking...

I just hope that everyone out there has time to relax for just a minute, sit down, look at their own colored, flashing lights, and just enjoy the season.

We were playing with our new, fantabulous webcam & took some pictures with some of the "special effects."

Enjoy!

Noah in a Winter Wonderland...and my forearm to ruin the fantasy. He LOVES watching himself on the computer screen!!!!

This was a very close runner-up to the Christmas Photo we actually chose (and should be on its way to everyone!).

Noah sings with the Jingle Cats

2008-12-10T17:46:00.002-05:00

This is a video of him doing a somewhat-singalong with the Jingle Cats--it's a video that Patrick found on You Tube and Noah calls it the "Standing Kitties." I love that he lowers himself & makes a hissing noise along with the Singing Cats.

He's so funny.

Enjoy!

By the way, in case you're curious, here's the actual video:

LOVE the new webcam!

2008-12-07T18:18:00.001-05:00

This was taken tonight by our new webcam (by the way, if any of y'all have webcams, you can get a free Google e-mail account & sign up for their FREE Chat services & we can webcam back & forth!), and Noah had a lot of fun seeing himself on the computer screen...

Enjoy!

Noah's Thanksgiving Day Wishes...and a dance, to boot!

2008-11-23T20:18:00.001-05:00

Enjoy!

All things Noah!

2008-11-19T15:45:00.004-05:00

Well, I think Noah's room is finally done. Only took 2 1/2 years, but hey... The only discernible theme that I can see is BackyardigansRocketshipSpaceMonkey--we've yet to really put the Backyardigans on his walls (I moved them to the doors when painting the walls) because he's gotten to the age where he can reach them easily (and if not, he'll drag the footstool over & use that to boost himself up) and then carnage ensues. When Lowe's had these decals on super clearance, I picked up an extra set, but am hesitant to use the 2nd set--maybe waiting until he's beyond the "let's see what happens when we pull on Pablo's head---oh, it rips off! Cool! Let's see what happens when we pull on Uniqua's arm--oh, it rips off! Cool!" stage. Then again, he is a boy, so he may NEVER get beyond that!

His room is painted a nice yellow--I think it's called "Safe Harbor" which I liked, and it's the kind without any VOCs--so no odor, no headache, good for the environment! (Of course, I kind of negated the whole "good for the environment" when I just tossed my used paint rollers....) I'd already painted one shelf red, and the fan blades red, blue, yellow & green--so you've got the cheerful primary colors going on. Then on one wall, under the chair rail moulding, we did a blackboard! We were trying for the magnetic blackboard, but I was on my 5th or 6th coat of magnetic paint & it just wasn't working... The instructions on the outside of the box didn't specify that you should have it professionally shaken--it's in a small pint-size can (though it weighs about 10 lbs due to, I guess, the metal shavings in it to make it magnetic), so it's not something that I thought about. Then you get it home, and read, and then it's "well, do I just stir the heck out of it & hope for the best, or do I put on my "outside" clothes--as opposed to the pink sweats & sweatshirt paint uniform I'd donned--and go BACK to the store & say, "Here, shake this?" And had I done the latter, would it have worked better? No way to tell. I take comfort in the various boards out there where people who'd had it professionally shaken AND not having the same issue I did--that it just wasn't that magnetic. So, we had a heck of a primer base for the blackboard paint! I did about 3 coats of that, which was hard to tell where I'd done, since it's black & the magnetic primer is black... But, I think we got it pretty well covered.

I found a nifty stuffed animal holder in the shape of a rocket, so that's hanging up in his room; we found a light-up moon that will go through the various phases (crescent, 1/4, 1/2, nearly full & full) that adds a nice ambience at night (and very appropos for when we're reading "Goodnight, Moon"). We bought a 12-bin organizer that holds nearly all of his toys, and then we've moved all of his books onto his bookshelf. Surprisingly, I don't think the room looks TOO cluttered! He's got his alphabet mat on the floor, so that gives him a cushioned place to sit & play, and he seems to really enjoy playing in his room.

As for some of the other pictures, it's just Noah being Noah...

Enjoy!

From the back wall, looking diagonally to his closet...

From the position I was just looking at, with my back to the closet looking diagonally...

Standing at the door to his room, looking diagonally... (Not sure why the picture is slanted...)

I think this was taken after he started eating his pure sugar, Peep-like Pooh Bear lollipop!

...as was this one!

With the aforementioned lollipop...

Love those big blue eyes!

Such a happy boy!

Noah & I painting a horse... This was at Hagood Mill this past Saturday--they had Native American dancing (well, they were supposed to...we heard singing, but didn't see much dancing, but Noah had fun anyway!). At first he wasn't sure he wanted to do it, so I had to have my hand slathered with yellow paint, too, and we did it together--which made for a great memory!

Noah and I stepping back to admire our handiwork.... Yes, the pun is intentional. Not good, but intentional! (Ours are the yellow hands.)

After doing it once, Noah wanted to continue painting the horse!

In his Mickey Mouse poncho towel...it has sound that, so far, hasn't stopped working after washing! This was the best $13 we've spent for him, I think! He LOVES it--he even refused to take it off for church this past Sunday! We figured God would understand and get a kick out of it!

VOTE!!! And also, Happy Halloween!

2008-11-04T08:55:00.006-05:00

Okay, I'm getting to this post a little later than I intended, but since today is Election Day--

GO VOTE!!!!

I don't care who you vote for (well, okay, I do...but this isn't going to be my political soapbox, so I won't go there), just VOTE!!!! Yes, the lines will probably be long--we went to our little polling place at 7:05, and were done by about 8:15ish. Funny, though...the line was shorter when we LEFT than when we got there! This election is an amazing opportunity--so exercise the right that we have, and go stand in line, meet your neighbors, and VOTE!!!!

(Plus, if you vote, you get a nifty little sticker! The folks at our polling place even gave one to Noah--yes, we took him and he charmed the pants off of the people standing in line!)

Okay, now to the Happy Halloween part of the post!

We were going to go to the mall, since our neighborhood just isn't great for trick-or-treating (we had 2 kids stop by, a woman and her two boys that live about a block over, and they weren't even dressed up. That's okay...we didn't have very good candy, so I guess we're even!). But, at the last minute, Patrick suggested Mom & Dad's old neighborhood, so we went there. We wanted to be there by 6, but that didn't happen... Noah's schedule was ALL messed up, but at least it was a Friday night, and it only happens once a year, so we're not terrible parents, right?

Noah was SPIDERMAN! I should have gotten a 3T costume...not sure where my brain was, so the costume was a bit tight, but he LOVED it! Did NOT want to take it off! It came with a little cap, which surprisingly, he liked wearing, too. The piece de resistance was the "mask" --spiderman eyes on an elastic string. There was NO WAY Noah was going to let that mask over his head. So, I used some Mommy Ingenuity and took off the elastic and hot-glued the mask to some of his "cool baby" sunglass frames. He tolerated it enough for a couple of pictures, which, really, is the most important part!

We had a great time trick-or-treating, and Noah was even knocking on the doors & saying "Trick-or-Treat" and "thank you!" and "Happy Halloween!" One of the houses had a HUGE inflatable Elmo on a pumpkin, and Noah was talking about that for DAYS. He enjoyed seeing the other kids dressed up, and for the most part nearly every house had some sort of elaborate scene going on, so that was great. And, saw lots of Mom & Dad's old neighbors who send their "Hellos" and wanted to know when you're coming back! One of the neighbors said that they think that the big house on the end of the cul-de-sac may be coming up for sale soon, but as it's the biggest house there, I'm not sure that it would be in our price range... Saw the folks who bought Mom & Dad's house, and I tried to peek in to see if they changed anything, but it was hard to do that & be subtle!

Towards the end of the journey (we were only out for MAYBE an hour), Noah's Spiderman head candy bucket was too heavy for him to carry, so he was handing it off to us after he collected his booty. He got some great candy, too; not like the crap that we bought to hand out!

I think that we made the best decision--I think the mall would have been way too crazy, with too many people; I think the way we did it was great for Noah's first time to really trick-or-treat. Enjoy the pictures!

Daddy & Noah, just before we leave to go trick-or-treating! (Note the Micky Mouse pumpkin in the background...thank you, Mimi & Papa!)

Noah practicing putting tricks into his Spiderman head candy bucket.

...and practicing getting the treats OUT of his Spiderman head candy bucket!

Putting the finishing touches to his costume...the EYES!

The Jack O'Lantern that Patrick carved. Please pay no attention to the slugs crawling around the porch... I guess they do add a sort of ambiance....

Noah chillin' on the sofa after voting.

In his uber-fashionable Monkey Hat!

The spoils!

Out trick-or-treating!

In his full Spiderman regalia!

Okay, so I had to put this in here! :)

New Camera!

2008-10-23T08:53:00.004-04:00

I decided to invest in a new camera; I'd done some research & we just so happened to have received a $30 coupon for the camera that I'd been eying, so Noah and I trotted off to Costco last night & picked it up! It comes with a wide-angle lens, which will be invaluable for taking pictures of houses, and it's much smaller & easier to carry. I still love our other one, but technology has a way of improving over the years, and this one has amazing resolution--10 mega pixels, a more powerful zoom...not that I necessarily NEED a zoom in Real Estate...but it's nice to have!

I had some fun last night & this morning, and apparently, Patrick did too, since there was a self-portrait he took. Thanks, sweetie!

The camera also does movies--and they don't turn out as dark as with the other camera!

Enjoy!

1st Haircut!

2008-10-18T19:52:00.004-04:00

Okay, today was the day that we took Noah to get his hair cut...Surprisingly, I did okay. I was holding him on my lap, since we didn't think he'd sit still by himself. Patrick took video, and Rachel took some still photos, and I just tried to concentrate on the task at hand (NOT letting myself or Noah get nipped with scissors) so that I wouldn't cry!

Jodi (Hairdresser Extraordinaire!) did a fabulous job, as she always does. She didn't cut off all his curls, and she left it a little Rock Star-ish. It's just a little shorter, a little neater.

And yes, I did save some of his hair... I will, of course, keep the best curl. I'll make sure Grandma & Mimi and Aunt Rachel have some. After that, any that's left...well, maybe I'll make a collage with the hair & dried macaroni.

Enjoy the pictures!

(Okay, so I HAD to do a "before" shot!!)

Yoga?!?!

2008-10-10T21:44:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure where he's getting it, but Noah was doing yoga poses tonight & was even saying "yoga." I took a video, but it doesn't really show off his prowess... He was doing a combination of Up Dog (or maybe it was Cobra...whichever one allows you to keep your thighs on the floor...which I always did, anyway), then he went into some modification where he was in a sort of Down Dog, but with his leg up in the air. I was impressed.

I've been super-busy, which is great; Noah has even had a couple weeks where he's been in school a day or two extra, which he seems to love. He really has started to not only enjoy school, but look forward to it. He talks about his classmates, and we talk about what he's going to do, and there is less clinging & more "Yeah, whatever, Mom. See ya!" when I tell him goodbye.

Patrick brought home some Halloween Peeps; they're in the shape of kitties, and I guess they're chocolate (since I can't stand Peeps, I'm assuming they're chocolate, since they're brown on the outside). Noah loves them. The other night he caught a glimpse of the wrapper and asked for a Peep. I think he even said "please." I said, "After dinner--you've got to eat your dinner first." Well, he did, then said "Peep? Kitty Peep?" So, since I'd said he could have one, I couldn't really say no, so he had one. Enjoyed it, as you can see from his lack of talking. Then it was straight into the bath. You may not be able to tell it from the video (the pictures were from the 1st Peep tasting), but he was one sticky Peep mess.

I know I sound like a broken record, but every day there's something new...whether it's yoga, or his ever-expanding vocabulary, or how he's beginning to interact with his stuffed animals (today, Noah fell & scraped his knee a bit, and he was carrying his stuffed Mickey Mouse, and immediately began talking about how Mickey fell down, Mickey hurt his knee, and "it's okay, baby" and put Mickey up to his shoulder & began patting Mickey on the back and telling Mickey "don't cry, baby."). It's just amazing to see how big he's getting, and how he is absolutely a little boy now...

Mom, where are the bricks??? I need to tie a few to his head right now to keep him from getting bigger!!!!

Enjoy the movies & the pictures!

Our love to all!

Sorry this one is a bit blurry...but you can tell that he has begun enjoying his Kitty Peep. Note lack of ears atop Kitty Peep's head.

I think these may be slightly out of order, but that's okay...again, enjoying Kitty Peep's head.

Mmmm...so yummy. That's his new phrase--of course, he wouldn't say it while I was taking the video!

Eating Kitty Peep.

Yoga moves!

Lots of Photos & Movies...

2008-09-26T19:52:00.011-04:00

...because let's face it--that's what y'all want to see! Oh, yeah, sure, you pretend to want to know what's going on in our lives, but it's really ALL ABOUT NOAH! And I'm sorry it's been so long between posts...I truly have been running these past few weeks (in a good way! I am trying to coordinate all events for a closing on October 15, and get some marketing tools ready for a really fabulous piece of land that I have listed & am trying to sell quickly--so if y'all know of anyone who would like 38 acres, gorgeous mountain views, house that's in move-in condition, for less than $380K--less than current market value, even!--let me know!!!). I'm going to drag my planner out, get it updated with dates for the current year (I think it's stuck on 2006, but I'm not sure) and actually put in a standing date to update the blog weekly!

Enjoy the photos & the videos; our love to all!

Noah's 1st Moon Pie at the Fiddlin' Contest, Hagood Mill, Pickens Co. Sept. 2008 (Note the absence of RC; we had to make do with Pepsi...)

Noah petting a piggy, Hagood Mill. No, we don't know why this gentleman brought a pig, but Noah thought it was really cool...

This was right after I put out his alphabet mat back on the floor (we'd had to put it up for a time because of Mouse...there are some letters that just won't be the same, but hopefully she's either gotten bored of it or forgotten about it, so Noah can really enjoy it). He was showing off some karate moves (I think I'm posting some video of it, so you can see him in action). This was getting close to bedtime, so he was extra punchy & just a hoot. (Note the Spiderman socks.)

Checking out a brand-new box of crayons...he LOVES to color!! He's sporting the new sandals that my Aunt Patti sent him; they're super-cool, he loves them, and refused to take them off that first day!

At the Ripley's Aquarium in August; he's communing with the jellyfish. Overall, I think he enjoyed the visit, but after about 30 minutes, I think he was ready to call it quits. That, and he was super tired....

At one of the hands-on exhibits--he truly did love this part! There were all sorts of knobs & dials and we probably could have spent the entire time here & bypassed all the fish!

In a simulated fish bowl...

Son of a son....son of a son....son of a son of a sailor....

At Falls Park--August, I think. They've got this section where there are columns of water that shoot up at random intervals, and Noah was having a great time! Lots of other little kids running about, and it took him a bit to feel comfortable going to where the water was, but once he "got it" he was off & running!

Sorry about this...for some reason, it won't save it when I flip it, but it's such a great picture (from the same park day as the water columns) that I had to include it... Just looks like he's stalking some wild prey....

Sporting the latest in Toga wear...

Uh, okay. I don't have a good explanation for this, other than he's sporting one of our "napkins" (they're really bandanas, but I liked them for linens), wearing his favorite sandals, evidence of coloring, AND his puzzle (in his hands). I'm surprised the living room doesn't look more messed up.... It's just Noah at his most "Noah-ness"!

This boy loves shoes...here he is in Daddy's sneakers....

...and in Mommy's heels. Personally, I like the juxtaposition of casual Spiderman Under-roos with a dressy shoe. But that's just me. Oh, and the socks have camoflauge flames on them, so he's really on the cutting edge of fashion.

This was tonight. I was running the bath, when Patrick hollers at me (that's what we do here in SC...."holler") to come quick. Of course, I think someone's head is split open, but no...it's our son. Swinging from the table. Notice that his feet are NOT on the floor. *Sigh*

This is Noah, running around with a blanket on his head. No, I don't know why, but if you listen closely (yeah, I know...I'm loud, but you should be able to pick it out) he's giggling....

Noah demonstrating his karate moves... And just generally being silly...

And more silliness...

Shave & a Haircut...2 bits! And an ankh.

En Espanol, por favor...and another unidentified language...and just general cute-ness.

Funny Silly Songs

2008-08-31T13:33:00.003-04:00

We've really been making up a lot of songs to make our boy happy, and here is one that he's participating in. We call it "Where is Shaka?" and it's sung to the tune of "Frere Jacques" (or, for our American friends, "Brother John"):

To the untrained ear, here are the lyrics:

Where is Shaka?
Where is Shaka?
At the beach!
At the beach!
Chasing after squirrels!
Chasing after squirrels!
Woof Woof Chomp!
Woof Woof Chomp!

Noah Knows Diddley

2008-07-26T17:02:00.004-04:00

We went to the library this morning, and one of the CDs we checked out was a Bo Diddley CD. We played it on the way home & I happened to glance in the rear-view mirror and saw Noah rocking out. Big time. Like almost head-banging. And yes, though it's hard to imagine, you can headbang to Bo Diddley.

So, when we got home, we put it on the stereo & watched the dancing commence.

The 2nd video is just of him walking around, being himself.

Enjoy!

Hoss & Pa, Little Joe, Adam left the show...

2008-07-24T20:04:00.004-04:00

Okay, as a little background, I had heard a song on WDVX (Knoxville's own, a bluegrass station that plays much more than bluegrass...they're on the World Wide Web, so check them out: WDVX.com.) called "Dan Blocker" by a gentleman named Gurf Morlix. Yeah, I know--I'm not sure if that's his real name or not, but it's certainly memorable. And, Patrick being the thoughtful guy he is, bought me the CD (and the whole thing is good, even if Windows Media Player classifies it as Jazz, which I don't see how that's possible, but okay). So this song, "Dan Blocker" is basically to the tune of the slowed-down "Bonanza" theme. The whole of the song is pretty much this:

Dan Blocker, Dan Blocker,
Lorne Greene, Michael Landon
Purnell Roberts
Dan Blocker, Dan Blocker,
Lorne Green, Michael Landon
Purnell Roberts...

And then to spice things up, it goes:

Hoss & Pa,
Little Joe
Adam left the show...

Then back to the Dan Blockers.

ANYWAY.

Patrick put it on the CD he made for Noah, probably more for me than for Noah (since he knew that I'd most likely be the one listening to the CD WITH Noah), and when it came on today (surprisingly, we made it all the way up to song 19--usually we're stuck on the first 5: "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" theme, "C is for Cookie," the Count & "Batty Bat" song, "Go Diego Go" theme, and sometimes if I'm lucky, we'll get to "No" by They Might Be Giants, and the Wonder Pets theme... but today, AH! We got to SONG 19--"DAN BLOCKER!" And Noah was rocking out. I mean, he was swaying in his seat, bobbing his head. And when it was over, and I'm not exaggerating, he said:

"Dan Blocker do it again?"

And again, and again, and again, and again.... We must have heard that song about 20 times in a row, and he was STILL asking for it. I finally said that "Dan Blocker" had to go ni-night and turned the radio on. He was still wanting "Dan Blocker" tonight when Patrick came home, so I took these videos. I think you can hear the song in the background, and you can see Noah's lips moving a little. He's not full-on singing, but trust me... He's pretty much mastered "Dan Blocker" and I can make out when he's trying to say "Purnell Roberts" so I'm impressed.

Enjoy the videos & the song!

...and MORE movies!!!!

2008-07-23T20:01:00.008-04:00

I know, I know...I've found a new toy! I just really like being able to share these snapshots with everyone, and Noah has such a great laugh that I can't help taking lots & lots & lots of footage. I just know someday I'll look back & wish that I'd taken MORE pictures, but right now I'm trying to get as much as I can and yet still step out from behind the camera lens & participate.

Enjoy!

Oh, just a quick postscript while I'm waiting for the videos to load (see, even though my format is Blog-friendly, and I can post them relatively easily, it still takes 10-20 minutes for one 1-minute video to upload to the site...so I usually have some time to kill while waiting.). Noah's teacher had to put him in a couple time-outs today...apparently he was pushing some of the other kids & throwing toys. I asked if anyone was hurt, and his teacher said, "Well, Jordan (this really cute little girl in Noah's class) cried," and then she added quickly, "but it didn't leave a mark." *Sigh* His teacher did reassure me that this is perfectly normal, that it's because Noah is bored. See, originally all the kids in Noah's class from the Spring were going to be in the 2-year-old class for the Summer, but because they had SO MANY, they had to split the class, and they did it by birthday: the kids whose 2nd birthday was on/before May went into one room (the 2's room) and the other kids (including our precious boy) stayed in the toddler room. So, apparently Noah is bored, and wants to play with other big kids, with the big kid toys. Who can blame him? His teacher did laugh and say that they know to expect this, and they can hold out for another 2 weeks. Then we have a week break, then back to school for Fall, where Noah WILL BE in the 2's class, and hopefully this will be behind us. Or, Noah learns that when he pushes a fellow 2-and-some-month-old kid, that other kid pushes back.

On the toddler bed issue, Noah seems to be adjusting fairly well, but he truly can get out of his room by himself. He did it once, but then it seemed like he "forgot" until this morning. Pray for us. As far as sleeping, though, he's roaming around less & less, and we're trying to be strong & not let him fall asleep before we put him in the bed. It broke my heart last night, though... I was at an appointment last night, and came home fairly late. Patrick had already checked on Noah, and everything was fine. I check on him before we go to bed (which wasn't long after Patrick had checked on him) and in that time, Noah had gone from sleeping IN the bed, to sleeping on the floor--not even on one of the cushions or pillows we have next to the bed! So I scooped him up as gently as I could (which isn't as easy as one might think...when he's asleep, he's HEAVY!) and put him back into bed. I have no idea if he went back to the floor, because as I said earlier, he got up & opened his door this morning before we could check in on him. It was so sweet, though. He opened the door, came out of his room with his blue blankie, looked down the hall to our room, and said in a sweet little voice, "Hey, Mommy!" and then gave me the best smile!!! What a way to wake up...

Patrick having fun, swinging Noah around & letting him touch the ceiling...which, as you can tell, delights Noah to no end!

This is Noah singing the Mickey Mouse theme, pretty much all by himself. The last time we were in the car & heard the Mickey Mouse theme that plays at the end of the show (the original "Mickey Mouse Club"), I was amazed to hear Noah pretty much singing the entire song, including the "Why? Because we LIKE YOU!" part! You can sort of hear it here, but it's a little jumbled.

This one is sort of out of order; he was saying one set of grandparents' names, but I was trying to get him to say "Hi" to Grandma & Grandpa, but what happened was, he thought a beat or two, then said, "SCOOBY BALL!" and then followed up with "Mickey Mouse Ball!" Now, those two balls were nowhere NEAR where we were, not even in eyesight (sorry, Mom, but right now I'm not even sure where they are....I'm sure they're around here SOMEWHERE!) so the only thing I can think of is that Noah connected "Grandma and Grandpa" to the two balls that he received when he visited, lo those many months ago.... But sorry that we couldn't get him to say "Mee Ma Pee Pa" or "Grandma and Grandpa." Of course, after we stopped taping, he said "Mee Ma Pee Pa" a few times, and he does say "Grandma and Grandpa" but we must remember that he's not a trained monkey, and does not perform on command...

And the final one, our little goofball giving a shout-out to Patrick's parents and sister (and sister's dog)!

MOVIES!

2008-07-21T12:11:00.005-04:00

Here are a few movies that we've taken--we have found that Noah really, really likes his Play Doh! And, since I can post movies (short ones, but still...movies!) I took a few last week.

And a quick update--Noah is doing okay with the transition to the toddler bed; we're having to resort to lots of rocking, and sometimes letting him fall asleep in our arms. We know that you're not supposed to do that--toddlers are supposed to learn to sleep on their own & fall back to sleep on their own, but right now it's sort of self-preservation. Plus, last week Noah had a stomach virus (he had it for right about 24 hours) and then passed it to me. Luckily, Patrick was spared, but it hit me Thursday night, and each day I think, "Hey, I'm over it!" and another wave will hit as I high tail it to the bathroom. And fun is had by all...

So, I think as soon as I'm back to 100%, we'll try to be strong & wait him out. We've done it a few times, and then go in & scoop him off the cushion where he just conked out, or slide him completely on the bed (where it looked like he just fell asleep as he was crawling back into bed & just didn't quite make it...). We'll just have to be strong...

Enjoy!!!

The first 3 are Noah demonstrating what a heart sounds like & talking about hearts; the 2nd set of three are him wanting Daddy to make "wormans"--in The Backyardigans, there's a worm-like character called Sherman the Worman, and he just associated the long tube of Play Doh with this character... He's just brilliant.

Big Boy Bed!!!!

2008-07-16T21:00:00.006-04:00

We've converted the crib into a toddler bed...and the boy can now wander freely.

It was hard; we talked about it this past weekend as we were readying the room--removing all that we could to make it Noah-proof (or as much as we could, anyway), and I just started to cry. I was also watching a silly show on TV ("Take Home Nanny") where they put their children in their "big boy beds" and I cried at that, too. So, I was prepared for waterworks when I put the rails on this afternoon... but nope. I was okay. And surprisingly, for his first nap, Noah did amazingly well--he got out of bed (as expected) but I only had to go into his room three times to put him back in his bed. The next time I checked on him (just barely cracking the door open, he was quietly running his blue blankie over his feet (keep in mind, this means he's on his back, with his legs straight out and up over his belly, rubbing the blankie over his feet) and then the next time I checked, he was zonked.

The next nap, we weren't so lucky. It got to be a game--he'd hear me open the door, I'd hear him laugh and run from his closet back to the bed. Not exactly what I want to reinforce, so I figured that it wasn't any use, he wasn't going to sleep, so we watched a "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse." Or a "Dora." Or a "Diego." I dunno...they all start to run together.

So, for his bedtime tonight, I was a little anxious. We did our poems (currently Shel Silverstein), recited "Guess How Much I Love You?" and "Goodnight, Moon" while rocking him, as is our custom, but then we moved him to his bed, sat next to it and told him about his day and did our evening blessing. We kissed him, told him we loved him, wished him goodnight, and left the room.

Thump thump thump thump. Creeeeeak. rustlerustlerustle. Thump Thump Thump...

That's Noah, getting out of bed, running to the closet, opening it, tearing into the stacks of diapers we have in there, then running around his room. Earlier today, during the Nap That Wasn't, I noticed that the 5' tall Backyardigans sticky that was on his closet door just wasn't there. Had NO idea where it had gone to, but it just disappeared. And it wasn't like I hadn't been in the room a mere 5 minutes sooner! Later, I found it wadded up at the bottom of the closet, and there was carnage--poor Tasha has lost both of her arms, and a portion of her head; Uniqua only has one arm; and Pablo was pretty much decapitated. I pieced them back as best as I could, repositioned them a bit higher (yeah, like that'll do any good) and just hoping for the best. Now, I do have a second set of all his wall clings, since Lowe's had them on super-duper-get-rid-of-them-yesterday clearance, but I'm hesitant to put up the second set if he's not done ripping up the first set.

So, we go back in the room, put him back into bed...then we realize that this just isn't going to work, not for the first night, anyway. Patrick stays in the room until Noah settles down some, then we leave and let him cry a bit. We hear the crying taper off, and the next time Patrick checks on him, he's out like a sleeping baby.

The bad thing is, during one of his stints in his room, he opened his door. *Sigh* Now, the older doorknobs (like on the closet doors & the hall bath door) he's been able to open for a bit, but the larger knobs have been harder for him to get his fingers around & turn. Not anymore. So, I really don't know what we're going to do... Luckily I don't sleep very heavy anymore, so we'll hear him when he gets up (notice I don't say "if"...)--he's not known for his stealth.

Just wish us luck.

Also, we went to Paris Mountain State Park, even joined up to get the Park Pass, which lets up to 6 people per vehicle into any SC State Park for free. We like the park--they've got trails, picnic grounds, a playground; it's cooler when it's 400 degrees outside; they've got some mild trails that we can walk on; and it's super-close--so now we can go without having to pay the $4 access fee! I got some pictures of Patrick & Noah returning from their hike with the spoils that Noah found...all the while supporting the Braves (this is for you, Granny & Grandpa!).

The movie was taken during dinner one night, and the lighting is a bit low--sorry; not sure how to adjust it on the camera, but it's just Patrick & Noah being goofy, but Noah is really laughing, and I just LOVE to hear him laugh.

Enjoy!!!

This was right after I put the toddler rails on. Look, Ma! No hands! Yeah, tell me that doesn't strike fear into your heart....

At least he's using the cushion to step down onto, and not vaulting over the rails...

Patrick & Noah, Paris Mountain.

Check out Noah's Pine Cone! He's telling us all about his adventure...

Examining the spoils... When he & I were walking on the trail, he'd stop to pick up every rock, look at me, and say, "Hold it?" and expect me to tote the 6 pounds of rocks. Which I did.

Hmmmm...maybe this is why we're having trouble with him standing on the table at home. Which he did do. Tonight. Scared the poop out of me.

I'm not sure what he's thinking, but it's probably along the lines of, "Hey, where did my 6 pounds of rocks go? I know I gave them to Mommy..."

Go Braves!

Our boy loves forts...

2008-07-10T20:47:00.008-04:00

This post will be relatively short, comprised mainly of pictures (which is what everyone really tunes in for, anyway!).

I will say that I've switched Real Estate companies to Red Door Realty; I like to think of it as a boutique-type company, and I'm really excited. It's in a great location, and hopefully I can begin to prosper!

The newest "thing I thought I'd never say" is:

"Noah, we don't color on the microwave."

This was followed by a very pointed stare, and indeed, more coloring on the microwave. This, in turn, was followed by me taking my very willful son into my arms, saying, "Noah, look at me..." and then he not only turns his head, but squinches his eyes shut so that he most definitely will not even look at me, even as an accident. *Sigh*

And to the fort thing. I took a blankie and put it on the floor, underneath our table and then covered the table with a large white sheet:

It's not fancy, but Noah loves it. The first time he saw it, I think there was a spark of recognition in his boy DNA, and he got under it as fast as he could and just laughed & laughed. He calls it a "tickle tunnel," which is what we call it when he drives whatever wheeled device through our legs (we're standing up...otherwise it would be really impossible) and then we tickle him as he drives through the "tunnel" (and granted, it's a really poor tunnel, since it's pretty much just an upside down "V" made by our legs...but the alliteration was nice). But, when I mention "fort" he runs to the table, so he knows it as a fort, too.

His taste in music is also expanding, asking for "Papa Oom Maw Maw" (or however you spell it) and tonight we were playing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and he kept asking for it (didn't hurt that the video accompanying it was an animated hippo) while we were trying to get through our bedtime stories tonight. I think Patrick will have to make another compilation CD for Noah...and quite frankly, I wish he would, because I'm getting a little tired of the first one. I guess it's a testimony to Patrick's ability to pick out songs that Noah will like, but I'm about ready to go nuts. The songs aren't horrible, it's just that I hear them all. the. time. So yes, please--Patrick--we need a new CD!!!!

Enjoy the pictures!

I hope that everyone is able to play this; Noah is somewhat singing "Hot Dog" but in the middle asks if that is his nipple. I thought it was too great to NOT post & let everyone see it.

Modeling his Tyrone Soccer wear... Rachel found this great site for kids clothes that has ridiculous prices; his Mimi bought him this...

Noah's newest best friend. I still hate the little red demon with a passion, but it puts a look like this on Noah's face, so I gave in this one time. That does not mean that I like Elmo, or that I condone Elmo or Elmo-like gifts! Besides, this one doesn't speak, doesn't giggle, doesn't move--he just is there & lets our boy hug on him!

Yeah, I'm not sure why he's got the slipper on his hand, either, and yes, it's not the most intelligent expression. I figure that in about 10 years, though, this is what we'll see Noah looking like.

Noah, playing in his fort...

This is one of the many ways to enter and exit the fort. Under the chair. Now, keep in mind, that it's not like we just have this maze of chairs & that's the only way to get in or out. He just likes doing it that way...

Having a good time....

Noah's Zoo trip...from March

2008-06-30T22:31:00.002-04:00

Patrick has been very, very busy--he's downloaded a snippet from our Zoo trip in March of '08--it's hard to believe how much he's grown in such a short time...

What I love is he becomes so focused on a particular thing--Pooh Bear, Kung Fu Panda, Elmo (to name a few things of late)--and when they're mentioned, he goes CRAZY. Here, in this video, we ask if he wants to see the Pandas (granted, they're red pandas, not the familiar large, black & white, Kung Fu fighting pandas that he's accustomed to seeing), and he just sort of blankly stares... I think were we to go NOW and ask if he wants to see the pandas, he'd be all over himself with excitement.

Enjoy the video, and keep in mind that he's meowing/screeching at some rhinoceruses (rhinoceri?), which I'm sure they love.

'Maters...yum!

2008-06-29T15:22:00.002-04:00

Keep forgetting to tell y'all about the Tomato Incident!

To briefly fill everyone in, I'm growing tomatoes--a variety of regular 'maters, some Cherry tomatoes, and some Roma (or something resembling a Roma--I have the varieties' tags, I just can't remember them, and they aren't really necessary for this story, so I'll continue.). We were out in the yard with Noah, and he is pointing to all of my flowers & saying, "Flowers. Pretty! Pretty flowers" and as he's doing this, we try to prevent him from yanking everything hither & yon. The we get to the tomatoes, and he's really, really trying to get after them, so I pick a couple, and hold out my hand, showing him & saying "tomatoes!" He grabs one, and immediately bites into it, with the tomato juice & seeds running down his chin (it was one of the Cherry or Roma types) and says, "Mmmmmm...tomatoes!" and then eats the 2nd tomato, too!

Then recently, he goes right to the tomato plants, says, "Mmmmm...tomatoes!" and tries to eat a green one (notice I didn't say, "tried to pick a green one" because there was no trying about it--he saw what he wanted & went after it!)--luckily Patrick got the green tomato before Noah could eat it; otherwise, Noah may not have ever tried a tomato again! Now, if we cut it up & fried it, I'm sure he'd be all over it!

Also, the church down the street from us was holding a yard sale, so we wandered down. I saw a couple Big Wheels when I had gone by earlier that morning, and even though I knew that they were probably too big, we decided to walk down, just to see (plus, it was good to get out of the house & get some exercise!). And, sure 'nuff, the Big Wheels were too big, but there was a stuffed Elmo that Noah spotted pretty immediately, and since it only cost us $1, we figured we could swing it. Now, Elmo used to have a talking box that used to work, but since it doesn't work (and yes, I did try it with new batteries in it!), Mommy didn't see any reason to keep the talking box, so Elmo has a pouch that's convenient to carry OTHER things in, like small balls or his small stuffed Piglet. So, yes, I have gone to the Dark Side, have joined forces with the Devil--our son loves his stuffed Elmo and I just can't stand in the way of that.

Now, having said this, I promise to do great bodily harm to anyone who dares give Noah "Chicken Dance Elmo" or any other such noise-making Elmo.

Seriously--BODILY HARM.

Ice cream, where are you???

2008-06-29T15:19:00.002-04:00

This is Noah's opening line to this video, and I think that you'll agree that Patrick's suggestion of a bowl would have been a good thing.

Enjoy!

Videos!!!!

2008-06-28T20:52:00.002-04:00

Patrick has been hard at work today getting some videos downloaded; here's the first one--Noah is singing with "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," "Hot Dog Hot Dog Hot Diggety Dog" & "C is for Cookie."

And, yes, that is my headband he's wearing. What can I say? The boy likes to accessorize.

Love you all!

New pictures!

2008-06-25T21:29:00.005-04:00

I know that everyone tunes in for the pictures, and tonight I'm dog tired, so I'm not quite up to creating a cute, catchy title for this blog.

Let's see... Noah has become the recipient of many clothes this past week--Aunt Patti found a great sale & sent Noah the rewards of her hunt (one t-shirt is featured in the pictures below), and we appreciate it very much! I let her know that it was like Christmas combined with the Clown Cars at the circus--I opened up this box and just kept pulling shirt after shirt after shorts after shirt after shorts... Thank you, Aunt Patti & Uncle Steve! (I must confess, I love all the clothes, but the green checked seersucker shirt & the yellow Bug ABC t-shirt are probably my favorites!)

We ALSO received the outfits that Janet (aka Mimi to Noah) ordered for us from Children's Wear Outlet or somesuch--I can't remember the exact name; Rachel found the site and it's fantastic! The prices are outrageously inexpensive, and they've got really cute clothes! We picked out Noah's outfit that he'll wear to Kala's wedding in August as well as some Dickies brand socks (a bit big right now, but Noah seems to really like them, especially as sock puppets. I have no idea where that boy learned to put socks on his hands!), AND two outfits, both soccer-inspired. One has Tyrone (from the Backyardigans, as if you had to ask...) playing soccer (the top even has soccer ball buttons on it!) and the other features Diego, both of which Noah grabbed the shirts, put them in his yellow dumptruck & started off for parts unknown (well, it was his room, but "parts known" doesn't sound as adventurer-ish).

AND, if that weren't enough, we tried out the big boy underwear that Bill, Lorraine & Skyler gave to Noah for his birthday. They know that we've started the potty training thing, and we think it was so cool of them to get us started off right! They even gave us the vinyl pants that go OVER the underwear, to help catch any wayward liquids (or solids...). The vinyl pants are fabulous (we've already gone through two pair of underwear & two of the vinyl pants tonight)--and to be honest, I'm not sure that I would have known to pick some up had I been shopping for Noah's underwear, so thank you, guys, for sharing your hard-earned knowlege and preventing us from some major accidents!

And how is the potty training, you ask? We're still training. At this point, I'm not sure who is training who... Noah is very willing to sit on the potty chair, he knows it's a potty chair, knows what goes in the potty chair, and we try to be pretty good about making time to sit on the potty chair at regular intervals, but so far, we've had lots of peeing in the bathtub, a couple accidents in the big boy underwear, and lots of just sitting & listening to stories. He does love "No More Diapers for Ducky," "The Potty Train" (I think because Mommy says, "Chugga Chugga POOOO POOOOOOO!" really loudly when she gets to that point in the book.... I can't help it--it makes us both laugh!) and "The Potty Book for Boys" (it features a little boy named Joshua, and Noah will ask for "Josh?" when he wants to hear the story). I find it really amazing, because these three stories are all so different in the way the story is told (the plot line is the same in all of them, though, not to ruin it for you) and in the artwork, but Noah is crazy about these. We've got some other books, too, that he's just not as interested in; he'll sit through a page or two, then ask "Ducky? Diapers Ducky? Train? Josh?" and it's hard not to honor the request!

Every day it's something new--I love peeking in the window of the daycare & seeing Noah interacting with the other kids; today when we were leaving, a car was driving by & it slowed down. The back window rolled down a bit, and a little girl yelled "Bye-bye, Noah!" and she waved. Of course, our little flirt waved back, but it was hard to hear his "Bye-bye" over the pacifier in his mouth (he was one tired little boy when I picked him up today!). I love that he has made such an impression on some of his friends! I hope that he keeps that quality; moreover, I hope that we do what we can to continue to foster it!

He's really singing up a storm now; we took some great video tonight, and hopefully when Patrick gets an hour or so (because apparently even for a very rough video, it takes quite a bit of time to transfer it to the proper format...) he can download it & some of the birthday footage....

Speaking of, we had a wonderful visit in Knoxville, and I made a 2nd Pablo cake--actually the making of the cake was courtesy of Mimi, and yours truly decorated it, with some icing assistance from Rachel. Noah seemed very excited to see Pablo in cake form again, and much to everyone's delight, he dove FACE FIRST into the cake... Rachel got some great pictures, so as soon as I can get access to them, I'll post a few. Noah really had a great time running after Jordan & Skyler; even though they're both big kids, Noah did his best to keep up! Saw LOTS of smiles on his face that day!

He's been growing, I think...he's really sleeping a lot, and I swear I can watch him get taller. Today he took a 3 hour nap, and last night he went to bed at 7 & woke up at 8:45 this morning! It seems like forever ago that we were looking forward to when he'd sleep longer than 3-4 hours, and it was a Godsend when he slept 6 hours--in a row!!!!--at night. Now, when he sleeps longer than he normally does, I just look around, lost, waiting for him to wake up! I try to keep myself busy, but it never fails--I'll get started on a "Flip This House" or somesuch and he'll wake up... Murphy's Law, I guess. So, I usually just putter, trying to pick up the big chunks around the house, getting the 400 bags ready & in a staging position for when we DO leave the house for school & office! I swear, toddlers need a lot of bags... I'm not sure why, since it seems like most of what he needs can be found out in the world (food, drink...), but the stuff we carry for him has grown.

His little brain is just soaking up EVERYTHING, too, even the stuff we don't want him to say. While we were in Knoxville, he took to saying "Oh my God" (which in his weird accent came out as "Oh my Gawd" with extra emphasis on the last "d" so it was UNMISTAKABLE as to what he was saying). I guess we say it more than we realize, because he picked it up from somewhere! And, when we try to correct him or steer him away from saying it, I think he knows that he's not supposed to say it & says it even more. So, I've been extra-vigilant about not saying anything remotely bad (though it is hard whilst driving...there are idiots on the road and sometimes it's hard to refrain from expressing what I REALLY think of them!), saying such things as "Oh my pickle" and things along those lines. I think we will have better luck with fun words like pickle (I don't know why it's a fun word, it just is!) and maybe he'll just forget about the blaspheming in time for our next family visit!

We started watching "School House Rocks" and he's seen the shows before, and he's heard the songs, but never really expressed an interest, until the last time we saw it, and he started singing "Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here" and "Conjunction Junction." So far, those are his two favority songs/episodes, but we're trying to get him branch out--as much as I love those songs, you can only hear them over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over so many times before you go nuts.

And, I'd like to put my squirrel story down for posterity. On Friday, before we left, I'd talked to Mom & Dad, who related some of their weird animal happenings (which involved squirrels...or at least one squirrel, RIP). After we spoke, I went out to the yard to do some final touch-ups before we left--bring in Noah's toys, wind up the hose, cover the pool. I got to the pool and found this: (To those of you who are sensitive, I'd turn away now.)

Yup. Those are two squirrels, one still floating, the other sunk to the bottom, of our beloved pool. I walked up on the pool, saw that, and I must admit, my first thought was, "You better not have poked a hole in my pool!" Then, the 2nd thought was, I must send this picture to Patrick! He immediately called to verify what the tiny picture on his phone was depicting--yup. Two squirrels. Dead. In our pool. Now, granted, the pool is somewhat under a large tree, but come ON--TWO??? So, I got the shovel, and the one that was still floating was easy to get. I didn't really have time to dig a hole & do a proper burial, so I sort of plopped him on top of what used to be the compost pile, but is now the weed-growing pile. The one that sunk to the bottom...he was a doozy. I didn't want to poke a hole in the pool with the shovel (no, I was not grabbing him with my hands, no matter how many pairs of gloves I had on. Dead humans are one thing, but deal squirrels are just nasty.), so I was sort of gently chasing him around the bottom of the pool, trying to flip him up just enough to get my shovel under him. Finally was able to scoop him up and out, and put him next to his brother. Or sister. I didn't really turn them over to look. Or maybe it was his lover, and they decided to go out like Romeo & Squirreliet, and took poison. I dunno. All I know is it was in my pool! Bastards. Oops. Can't curse--how about "Pickle eaters?" Our neighbor saw me walking to the back with something on my shovel, and I guess she put two & two together, and asked if it was a dead squirrel. I said, "Yup. There were TWO of them. In my pool!" We both agreed that it was nasty, and that squirrels aren't very smart.

So, that's the adventure I had. Fun, huh?

Oh, and to end on a happy note, I've started keeping a list of things that I've said to Noah that I never thought would be said to ANYONE, much less a two-year-old. I'll be updating the list as new things come along, but here's what I've got right now:

1. We don't sit on the cat.

2. Yes, that is your nipple.

3. We don't put our fries in our bellybuttons.

4. We don't hit our head with our hot dog.

and my favorite:

5. No, penis doesn't need to have his teeth brushed.

Enjoy the photos!

MMMM...peanut butter! Here he's sitting with Daddy, eating a peanut butter cracker (which, by the way and if you can't tell, he really, really likes)--note the bits of cracker stuck to his tummy. He's also holding his new Spiderman sandals!

Modeling his new big boy underwear...I love these. I can't help myself--I think he looks so cute!!! If the architect/engineer/doctor career doesn't work out, maybe Sears will come calling & he can model in their catalog...

The back of his big boy underwear--and he is an All Star! This is where he's taking Tyrone & Diego soccer jerseys and putting them in his Tonka truck. Notice his pinkie...

Another of his many modeling poses; here he's gazing wistfully at the future, whilst holding his Diego jersey, thinking of the many adventures he and Diego will have...

Here is the Bug ABC shirt--my favorite is the "H for Handsome Fungus Beetle!" AND, if that weren't enough, the bugs are slightly raised & puffy! So cool!

In the bug shirt, but you can sort of make out the vinyl pants, and you can see the Dickies socks--a bit big, but I think the fact that he wanted to put them on immediately is a good sign. Also, you can tell that our hope that he would not take after me as far as insect bites go has been dashed on the rocks. He seems like he is taking after me, with the swelling and the fact that the bites do not go away anytime soon. *Sigh* We've tried his Zyrtec, and that doesn't seem to help much, so I think I'm calling the Dr. again to see if there's something else we can try. I know I tried many, many things before I found that Allegra was what worked for me. I know that they do children's Allegra, but not sure about toddler Allegra, but we'll see. At this point, I'm hoping that he'll grow out of it, but with my history, not sure that we'll be holding our breath.

Helping put the dishes away...he's really, really great!!!!!

Happy Birthday, Dear Noah...

2008-06-13T14:47:00.005-04:00

Okay, so I'm a bit late--but yes, our boy turned TWO, with a Pablo-shaped cake and everything. (And Mom, thanks for all your help--the cake wouldn't have been the success it was if it hadn't been for your help, guidance & encouragement!) We had a very nice celebration --Mom & Dad (aka Momaw and Popaw--that's about as close to approximating his pronunciation as I can get!) were here Tuesday through Friday, and then Dan, Janet & Rachel (aka Papa, Mimi & Rachel...and sometimes "Ray-Ray") were here Friday night through Sunday. I was going to do two cakes, but Janet said that we'd just eat on the one that we already had (sorry, Rachel...). I will do one when we go to Knoxville next weekend. I was pretty happy with how the cake turned out, once I gained some perspective and saw the pictures. It's Pablo-shaped, and then Mom mixed up the colors, and I smeared them on in a close approximation of where they should be. I think what made it all worth it was the look of absolute excitement on Noah's face when he saw the cake. I'd make 400 of those things, just to get that same expression!

He has really grown--we had our 2-year check-up at the doctor, and he is 25.8 lbs, and 36 1/4" tall. No, that's not a misprint. His head is about at my waist and he's just two!!! Luckily, we're in shorts-weather, because I can already tell it'll be fun finding pants to fit him. He's got a skinny little waist, but long legs. He'll probably be in a size 5 pants, and I'll have to cinch the waist with belts!

His vocabulary is growing by leaps & bounds, too; and it's stuff that you had NO IDEA that he heard, much less retained! There's a show called "Max & Ruby." Drives me crazy. As far as I could tell, he was so-so about it. Then one day last week, he wakes up from his nap talking about "Max & Ruby." I can't remember the last time we'd watched the show, but he wanted to tell me about it. He's recently started saying "Okay, sorry" which is something I think he picked up from school--not that we don't say sorry, but it's really been full-force these past few days...which makes me wonder if I shouldn't ask the teacher if Noah is doing stuff he needs to be sorry about! I did peek in his classroom window the other day, and he was leading another little boy across the room; it looked like Noah had a death grip on this other boy's hand, and I just about made me cry, the way my little baby looked like a big boy. Of course, we're running into some issues with his headstrong-itude, too--when he gets something in his mind that he wants to do, he does not like hearing "no." I mean, really--who among us doesn't like to get our own way? So far we've just ignored his little outbursts, making sure that he can't hurt himself (though when he starts pulling hair, I cringe, but I also know that he'll stop if it hurts too bad)--and he seems to settle down. I think my age is an advantage to some extent, because I really don't care what other people think of me on the best day, much less when I have a tantrum-throwing toddler in my store buggy. I know that if this were 20 years ago, I'd have been mortified that my son just threw 4 fruit snacks at me, and was shrieking, "NONONONONONONONONONO!" But today (and it was today, at WalMart...which I think made it easier, somehow. I think because everyone is equal at WalMart.), didn't faze me a bit. I just kept looking for where the tarps would be. (Surprise, surprise--they were in a logical place--the camping section! Which is why I couldn't find them....)

Why do we need a tarp? Why, to cover our pool! That's right, boys-n-girls--we have a fancy blow-up pool that's big enough for all of us! At once! We had a smaller pool (the one Mom & Dad got him last summer seems SO itty bitty now!) that he wasn't really interested in unless I got in with him. Okay, it has been awhile since I've taken yoga classes, so me getting into his little pool was a bit...uh, fun. But this one, holy cow--it's 10' X 6' X nearly 2'. I can completely stretch out longways, and Noah seemed to have fun, too. We bought all sorts of pool toys, and are introducing them one at a time. He's gone under a couple of times, but nothing major, and he did very well (of course I was right there with him--he just got going too fast & his feet slipped out from under him, but he was fine)--got scared the first time, but we got through it & he continued playing in the pool, which I thought was good. I've joked with Patrick (since he thinks it's a bit red-necky to have a big inflatable pool in the backyard...and yes, it kinda is, but who cares when it's a billion degrees outside & your son is wanting desperately to go OUTSIDE!!!!!) that we just need to dig a big ol' hole & put the pool in it. Then we'd have an in-ground pool! Oh, an here's something to add to the vision--I bought a fish net (the kind that you scoop fish out of an aquarium with) to skim the leaves & such that get in the pool. I tell ya, we've got a CLASSY set up!

Okay, news: we're going to be replacing our thermostat. We noticed that it kept running when it shouldn't be, because the thermostat is registering about 7 degrees warmer than the actual temperature. I've ordered one that Consumer Reports seems to think is a good one, and it's an Energy Star, programmable for several days, etc. etc., so we'll see how that works. I've done a 2nd coat of primer on the bathroom walls, and done one coat of primer on the dark wood trim, so the whole bathroom looks TOTALLY different now--I'll have to go over the wood again before I paint, I think, but it's just opened that room so much. Plus, the light-wood vanity doesn't seem like such an odd thing anymore! I've started to prime the laundry room, and with just the little I've done it makes a HUGE difference!!! I put some paint over the blue & yellow splotches that used to be the closet in the dining room, and I'll have to go over them AGAIN because in certain light you can still see that blue/yellow peeking through, but it looks SO MUCH better!!!!! Patrick has his 2nd speech on Monday (outline due tonight), so I've had lots of time to paint after Noah goes to sleep... I enjoy painting, and it gives immediate gratification, but let's be honest--after a hot day of running around after Noah, it's a lot more fun to sit on my butt after he goes to bed!

And the biggest news of all...

We're going to start POTTY TRAINING!!!!

I've put a bunch of books on hold at the library, and tonight we're picking out a potty chair. I've tried to read reviews, but it seems for every person that LOVES this chair or that one, there's another comment that says how awful it is... The main thing that I've taken away from the reviews is this: there will be pee on the bathroom floor. Potty chairs come with a "guard" at the front of the ring specifically to prevent little boys from just peeing everywhere. Depending on the chair you get, though, these guards either serve as toys for the boys to pull off & play with while sitting on the chair (and then when they do pee, there's no guard there to stop the pee from going where it darn well wants to), or the guards are designed poorly, so that it just serves as a pee run-off guide (and not into the toilet). *Sigh* There is a urinal, which I think is pretty cool (and I'm sure Patrick would love to get one)--and yes, I can see where it would be good, because then you don't have to retrain your boy to stand up to pee--but then you still need a potty for the poop to go in (I looked at the pictures of the urinal, and as clever as Noah is, I don't think he'd be able to poop in the urinal). And then, if I set Noah on the potty to poop, am I going to make him get up to go to his urinal to pee? And you would not BELIEVE how many potty chairs there are out there!!! There are the rings to go over the adult toilet seats (which I like--they're padded, and have Diego & other characters on them), then weird Dr. Seuss-looking seats, then miniature replicas of toilets that are toddler-sized that have sound effects and their own toilet-paper holders! Our Dr. suggested getting something that allows Noah to push with his feet--so I think, tall as he is, that rules out the padded seats over the adult toilet seats... We have seen a Winnie-the-Pooh seat, which, to me, a Pooh Potty Seat is incredibly appropriate. Plus, he seemed to like it... Then again, is he going to be turning around to look at the characters???

He's so funny...Patrick and I were talking, and we just really enjoy Noah's sense of humor. There are times when I know that he's just doing stuff to be silly, and he just cracks me up. Patrick and I were playing a mild version of "Keep Away" with him & his ball, and he just started laughing so hard he could barely stand up...I hope he keeps that sense of humor! He's also gotten a lot more daring--he can get up & down from the sofa by himself, but sometimes he likes to take his little Pooh foam chair & put it on the sofa and then try to sit in the Pooh chair on the sofa. Mommy isn't too fond of that game... And, sometimes, he figures that he got up on the sofa, why stop there? Why not go all the way to the top of the bookcases right behind the sofa??? (Granted, they're short bookcases...well, they're as tall as he is, so when he stands on them, he's taller than the back of the sofa, and, well, Mommy just doesn't like it when he does that.) He's really singing now--if a song comes on that he knows & likes (or if you start singing a song), he'll sing WITH you, which is amazing. He also has some mad dance skills that he's been showing off! When he looks at a book, you can hear him talking to himself, like he's reading the book. Much to our surprise, about a week ago, when we were reading his night-time stories, he started reciting along. It's about Little Nut Brown Hair & we change it to Noah Nut Brown Hair and Mommy Nut Brown Hair, and how much Mommy Nut Brown Hair loves little Noah Nut Brown Hair. When Noah was reciting it, however, it came out as "Mommy Butt Hair."

I find myself saying things to him that I never thought I'd have to say to ANYBODY...like today, I had to say, "Noah, we don't sit on the cat."

Enjoy the pictures!

Cool baby in his sunglasses!

Yay! The 'Wonder Pets' saved the day...again! I just love how Noah & Grandpa are having such fun...

I think Grandma & Noah are watching "Happy Feet"--and notice they've got their arms in the exact same position...

Pablo cake!

Is that look priceless??? Thanks, Mom, for capturing this moment!

He just seems so excited that it's a CAKE in the shape of PABLO!!!

Yum! CAKE!!! Rachel took this one, I believe...I just love that the fork is in one hand with some cake on it, but he's obviously shoving it in his mouth with his other hand!

Holding one of his beloved balls... This time, a basketball, to go with his new hoop!

Nothin' but net! Thanks, Mimi & Papa!

Mom took this one...I just love the look of concentration, the popsicle in his mouth, and it seems that he's thinking, "Hmmm...wonder if the belly button is still there. Lemme check."

Noah took a tumble...a somersault, actually, and scraped up his head. ON THE CEMENT. I felt so awful... It looked & sounded worse than it was. Plus, another popsicle made it all better. That, and a Diego band-aid (which stayed on his head about 5.6 seconds).

Present from Mommy & Daddy--a ROLLER COASTER!!!

Another picture of our boy on a sugar high...

Such a happy boy!!!!

Short post, but pictures!

2008-05-22T17:35:00.005-04:00

I need to be quick, because it's about dinner time. Noah's schedule has been somewhat disrupted today--we've had workers doing drywall & various other wall treatments, so even though he woke up BEFORE 7 AM (!!!) today, he did NOT take a morning nap, nor did he get a very long afternoon nap. Which means fun for everyone...

We went to Cleveland Park in Spartanburg last weekend--it's an unbelievably nice park--they've got a lake, a playground, picnic tables (complete with grills), walking trails....and a TRAIN!!! Noah and I rode the train and he had a really great time; I think we'll be going back again. As much as we love Falls Park in downtown Greenville, it can be really crowded; Cleveland Park--not so much! Not sure if it was because it was a Sunday, or if they were calling for rain later that afternoon, or what, but there were very few people there.

So, I'm posting some pictures from last weekend, as well as some of the "before" and "during" (since the workers will need to come back & sand tomorrow) pictures of the walls, and just a few of Noah that I took in the last day or so.

Our love to all! Enjoy!

Noah & Mommy waiting for the train; it was nearly impossible for Daddy to get any shots while the train was moving...All the more reason to go back!

Mommy tickling Noah when we got ON the train because it seemed like it took FOREVER from the time we sat down until we started moving, and Noah started to get really, really restless. I know. Big surprise.

Noah after sliding down the slide all by himself!

He was looking through a plastic "window" that was on the playground...I guess it was supposed to be some sort of space machine? Maybe? All I could think of was, "E.T., phone home!"

Daddy & Noah, sitting on the swing (one of many) at the lake. There were lots of ducks & geese around, too. We're going to have to go back...

The self-portrait of the Hardin family at the lake. Patrick and I used to do these all the time whenever we'd hike somewhere. It has been awhile since we'd done one, and I thought this was the perfect time to resurrect the tradition.

Noah, dressed by Daddy. Love the sentiment of the t-shirt, but think it's probably a bit too small.

I snapped this today; was a complete accident, but I loved the result. His eyes are so blue.

Before, in the dining room. Notice the peeling drywall paper on the sides, the vast expanses of electric blue & neon yellow...

During, and no more peeling drywall paper, and the vast expanses of electric blue & neon yellow are much smaller. Once they're done sanding, I'm whipping out the primer. That wall may very well be the first wall we paint. And yes, I say that knowing full well that there's a 1st coat of primer on our bathroom walls (yes, the terracotta is going bye-bye) and needs to be a 2nd, but oh, yeah, I need to finish primer-ing the walls. I ran out of primer. And Noah was about to wake up. Yes, this is what I do during our son's naps. I primer. Or spray paint. I found a can of silver spray paint in a box of stuff Mom & Dad left us and I began touching up our swing set in the back yard. Ran out of spray paint, too, and had to stop that project. So, um, yeah--I've got about 3 projects half-finished. Not including the front door that has nearly all the paint off, but I just need to go over it with a sander and maybe one more time with the stripper... But I digress.

Before, laundry room. Notice the slatted boards, the various types of paneling. Okay, maybe you can't see it in this size, but if you click on the picture, it'll be more clear. You can also see the various shades of paint that were used to try to make the room a bit brighter, a bit nicer... It didn't really work.

During, and notice the nice, smooth drywall... Just try to ignore the crappy floor. I think what we may do very, very soon (do I hear another project? I think I do!) is to lay down a thin sheet of plywood as a new subfloor (so would that be a supra-subfloor?) and then do the peel-n-stick tiles on top of that. There are about 3 layers of vinyl/linoleum/peel-n-stick on the floor now, in addition to parts of the subfloor that are exposed and parts of where a vent used to be & duct-taped over, and I'm just afraid that were we not to do something with some substance to it, that the peel-n-stick tiles wouldn't stick, and you'd be able to discern the various layers underneath the floor. Not sure exactly how to undertake this particular project, but we've both got Dads who have done this kind of thing before and can offer all the advice that we care to take. And then go & do it however we wanted to in the first place.

And this was a spur-of-the-moment negotiated project. I asked our drywaller how much to do the small bathroom, since Patrick & I were mostly finished taking off the wallpaper, but the walls were so crappy underneath the wallpaper (explaining exactly why they wallpapered...with Gorilla glue) that we were not sure how we were going to fix it. SO--Jose said "$15o." I said it wasn't within our budget right now, that the job we were having him do was stretching it already. He said, "$100, and I'll do it right now." I responded with this: "You quoted us $425 for the dining room & laundry room. If you can do those two rooms & this for $500, you've got a deal." And, as you can see from the above picture, the walls look mucho bettero. I had to fight the urge to say, "$150? No way, Jose!" Actually, this guy is very, very nice, and does excellent work. Let's just say that I'll keep his phone number handy, for myself & for my clients!

New pictures!

2008-05-14T20:54:00.004-04:00

Not much has been going on; Noah had a cold, is getting over it now, and is currently battling an ear infection. Luckily, he's pretty easy-going, and we caught the ear infection very, very early so we've got a good bit of the antibiotics in him, and he seems like he's back 110%. He is still coughing every now & then, but from previous experience, this is normal when he's getting over a cold (and the Dr. confirmed that yes, the coughing may linger for 2 weeks or more...fun!).

To help cut down on some of these maladies, we've started him on gummy vitamins, and they're in the shape of Winnie the Pooh. He even asks for them, saying "Pooh Bear fruit snacks? Please?" He's become very Pooh-centric lately, noticing how many Poohs we have around the house. In fact, today one of the assistant teachers at his school asked him what his name was & he responded "Pooh Bear." I thought that was pretty funny. No worries that Pablo has been displaced, however; that little blue penguin is still #1!

And notice above that he's saying "please!" We've really worked hard on this, and he doesn't say it every time, and sometimes he refuses just for the sake of exerting his will, but he'll usually say it without prompting. Then when he's given the requested treat, he'll say "ThankYouWelcome."
We've started watching "The Alaska Experiment" on Discovery. We missed the first few episodes, so had to watch them via the website, and I really, really like it. There are 4 groups of people, 2 couples and a group of 3 friends and a father and his two daughters, and they're all given a place to live (a 200-sq. ft. dwelling with a wood stove), some dry goods and they do have experts dropping in on them (apparently to hunt moose or goat you have to have a guide, but the guide doesn't guarantee that you'll get anything), but other than that, it's up to them to cut all the wood they'll need to survive the 3 months they'll be there (as far as I can tell it's maybe mid-late October that they start?), they'll have t0 gather their water AND get protein somehow. It's really interesting to see what choices they make and how it impacts them. There is no prize--no money, no nuthin'. They're not in competition with each other, this is just to see how strong they are internally, whether or not they can suck it up & do what it takes. Don't get me wrong--yes, I lived in Alaska, but I had the luxury of a nice house (that was provided to me free of charge, thank you Mom & Dad!) and a flush toilet. Which was indoors. Do I think that I could survive, that I could participate in this challenge? Absolutely. I've become a bit complacent in recent years, but I think that I still have that "Suck it up & quit complaining!" part of me that's not too far from the surface. Do I think I'd whine and complain more than I should? Absolutely. Up to a point. I think even I would get tired of my whining and tell myself to shut up & just do it. I remember cross-country skiing and my feet would get so cold (probably because I wasn't moving them enough...but I do remember having a fear of frostbite & loosing a toe...I've always had this thing about losing a toe, whether to frostbite, or a turtle or a snake. Don't ask me to explain it; fears don't have to be rational.) and Dad would stop, and patiently help me take off my shoes, socks & rub my feet. I was whining the entire time. Boy, I must have been fun. The odd thing is, those are some of my favorite memories. That, and Dad stopping to re-wax the skis depending on the condition of the snow, and choosing from what seemed to be 50 different waxes. I remember thinking, "Is this really necessary? Can't we just keep moving? I'm hungry. My feet are cold."

I digress. Not sure what my main point was, but I'll stop & let you look at these pictures...

Outside, in his favorite place--his swing!

Cool baby in sunglasses!

Looking cute in his tres chic Carrabelle "How to be a Pirate" t-shirt!

Notice that Noah is holding on BY HIMSELF!!! Also notice Mommy's pensive expression...

This is what Patrick used to make my Mother's Day present--he did a paint effect on it, and it's really beautiful, but I also like the B&W photo that he cropped & zoomed in on to make the template. Since I'm usually the one taking the photos, there aren't a lot of me & Noah pictures, so this (and the one that Patrick made for me) are really, really special.

Pushing his Tonka truck, wearing Daddy's shoes...I think it's a great look.

Fun with monkey stickers! Notice the one on Daddy's forehead.

Okay, I know that my public was anxious to know about the baby robins--well, here's one perched on the edge of the galvanized planter. This is probably right after they left the nest, since they weren't flying, but hopping & flapping their little wings.

Close up of one of the babies; haven't seen them since, so hopefully they are all okay, and I was happy to be able to see them fly & be free.

Robin Update

2008-05-06T16:09:00.002-04:00

The little chicks are pretty much taking up the entire nest; I wish these pictures were better, but I'm just hesitant to really hang around & try to get a great picture when Mommy & Daddy Robin are buy trying to feed the little ones worms. I think I saw one of the parents actually FEEDING the birds, and heard a little retching noise. Kinda gross, I know, but also kinda cool. The little ones are so loud when they sense Momma and Daddy approaching with food! We're hoping we can catch their first flight...

Oops!

2008-04-30T23:02:00.004-04:00

Forgot to post pics of the little ones in my updated blog entry below...

That's not a crack in the egg on the lower right; that's just part of the nest. I believe I took this on the 15th of April.

I'm not sure how long this was taken after they hatched but there aren't any egg fragments in the nest, and there is some fuzz, so I'd say maybe a day? This was taken on Monday.

This was taken on Tuesday; more fuzz and less alien-looking. I tried to get a picture today, but Mama was NOT happy with me lurking around the nest. I DID see a little birdie beak peeking over the top of the nest, though!!!

Just a quick blog...

2008-04-30T20:52:00.004-04:00

We've been super-busy, so I apologize for not updating more regularly.

Noah and I visited my parents in Carrabelle for a little over a week; it had been nearly 3 months since they've seen Noah, and I know he seemed like a different little boy! Unfortunately, Noah went through FIVE (5!) diapers from the time we left Greenville to landing in Sanford, so as soon as we got off the plane, we had to get him changed ASAP. AND, because we sat in the plane so long in Greenville without the engines running, Noah got overheated & developed a nasty heat rash. But, other than that, the visit was great, and we were able to see Mee Ma & Pee Pa on both ends of the trip, which was very important to me. (Patrick had to stay home, as he was in the final weeks before school is out...I think it's fair to say that we had more fun than he did!)

We went to the beach; Noah was a little apprehensive about the waves, so we didn't push it. He did enjoy having Grandpa & me bury his feet in the sand, though! Beyond that, we just hung out with Grandma & Grandpa, played with all the toys that Grandma had waiting for him (in fact, we took the alphabet foam mat home with us, Noah enjoyed it so much!), and just generally enjoyed each others' company.

Pee Pa was a lifesaver, and managed to get a Pack-n-Play for our use, which was wonderful. Otherwise, we had several very complicated plans for Noah's sleeping arrangements--mattress on the floor pushed up against the wall, surrounded by pillows; me sleeping in front of the door to keep him from wandering out...

I know that we're getting close to thinking about a toddler bed (or, rather, converting his crib to the toddler bed), but I'm just plain not looking forward to it. I don't think Noah is quite there yet--some sites I've been to suggest waiting until your child is potty trained, and Noah is SO not ready yet--and to be honest, I like the security of knowing that he can't get out when we put him to bed. I guess that's just another hurdle parents have to overcome--and I'll miss that freedom, I'll be honest with you. I know that when I put him down, he can't get out. And he knows that, too, so he usually drifts off to sleep. BUT--when he figures out, "Hey, I'm not that sleepy, I'll get up & wander out & see what the folks are up to! Maybe they're watching a secret episode of "The Wonder Pets!" and we can all see what baby is in trouble this time!" Well, it's all over.

Our back door finally got installed, and it's fabulous. 9 panes of light coming in at the top, opens the way it should, and is energy-efficient (which means, no inch gap at the bottom, letting our precious heat/cold air out). Up next is the drywall project in the dining room (where the closet was) and I think we'll have our laundry room drywalled as well. I think it'll make it look more finished, and not so much an afterthought (which, honestly, is what it was. Old homes usually weren't built with laundry rooms!). From there, I think we'll go for painting and THEN the floors. I'd cry if we refinished the floors & then spilled paint on them.

I'll quit rambling for now & get some photos attached. Enjoy!

Oh, real quick--big news. It's TRIPLETS!!!! That's right, triplets. The Robin who has made her home in our gigantic snowball bush/tree was sitting on three eggs, and they've all hatched!!!!

Me and my boy at the beach.

Mommy, Noah and Grandpa at the beach.

Toes buried in the sand.

Having fun with his Mickey Mouse ball, looking stylin' in his beachwear!

Contemplating the secrets of the Universe. Oh, and having fun with his Mickey Mouse ball.

Noah & Grandma, walking down the driveway.

Noah putting various parts of Russian nesting dolls on Grandpa's famous monkey toes.

Grandpa & Noah, just chillin'.

Noah is VERY fascinated with what Mee Ma is saying... He and Mee Ma really had an in-depth conversation right before we left. I was so happy that they got to see him, and that we got to spend some time with them. I think it was just about perfect!

I love you!

VIDEO!

2008-04-08T08:33:00.003-04:00

This was taken a few days ago; it's not a short one (slightly over 7 minutes), so sit down & get comfy.

Enjoy!!!!

George and Renee

2008-03-27T14:36:00.006-04:00

The premiere of "Leatherheads" was last night (not the big Hollywood Premiere, but the local premiere) and to promote the movie, George Clooney & Renee Zellweger are doing a whistle-stop tour, and they stopped in Greenville. They showed up as surprise guests at the premiere, and today they were downtown in front of the Westin Poinsett getting keys to the city.

So, Noah and I trucked downtown (well, I trucked...he just sort of rode) to get a glimpse of the stars. There were more people than I hoped for, but less than I was fearing, so I guess that's good. Lots of people were carrying chairs when they left, so I have no idea what time people started lining up. We got there with about 10 minutes to spare and were a ways back:

But, I could see the podium, and with my arms as high as they could go & the camera on zoom, I managed to catch this picture (cropped, but otherwise untouched!):

They both said some things, which I'm sure had something to do with how great the city is, how friendly the people are, blah blah blah. All I heard was "mumble mumble mumble" and "What's he saying?" and "HEY! FIX THE MIC!" I guess they were having some audio issues. After speaking, George made the rounds & the first few rows behind the barricade got great pictures & autographs. I, however, was more in the 20th row behind the barricade! I did SEE his autograph, though--a little girl walked through the crowd carrying it, but she showed it to someone, so I can say that I've SEEN George's autograph. That counts for something, right????

He seemed very nice & decent, lots of smiling, and when a football was tossed to him, I think I saw him sign it & toss it back. Hopefully it got back to its rightful owner.

Here are a couple more snaps of George, and, so that I don't disappoint Noah's adoring public, one that I took of him today.

Enjoy!

Fun with eggs and fun with animals

2008-03-24T22:02:00.005-04:00

We had a great trip to Knoxville over the Easter weekend; we had the egg hunt on Friday, and it was Noah's 2nd egg hunt. His first was at school last Monday--and I had completely forgotten that they were going to hunt eggs at school, so I missed my boy's first egg hunt. So, the one at Granny's was the first one where we were a party to! I had volunteered to bring the eggs, and to stuff them with candy--I picked up about 30, because there were only going to be 3 kids, including Noah. However, it wouldn't be a get-together at Granny's if there weren't over-planning. As it turns out, we ended up with about 70 eggs... Noah had a great time; I was the photographer, and Patrick and Noah went about picking up the eggs. Noah was pretty good at it, and seemed to catch on quickly as to what you do during an egg hunt--see an egg, put it in the basket, look for more eggs in the general vicinity where Daddy is pointing.

I have to hand it to our boy, though. He managed to figure out an easier way to get eggs. Follow one of the other kids around, wait for them to turn their back on their baskets, and take the eggs! He did this a few times, but to his credit, he also gave some of his eggs to the other kids, too--which gave me much joy, seeing Noah share so well.

Noah also figured out very quickly that there was stuff in the eggs, and I'm sure it's no surprise to find out that Noah likes peeps. We're not so keen on the sugar rush that follows, but hey--it was an egg hunt, and you don't get to do those every day!

We also went to the zoo. Knoxville has a pretty great zoo, and we figured this time Noah may actually get a kick out of seeing the animals. The first time we went to the zoo was last year, I believe, and the Greenville zoo is much smaller, and Noah was more interested in a water feature at the zoo and people watching. He did seem to enjoy seeing the animals, and seemed to think that nearly all animals required his "meow" sound. Not sure if he thought all the animals were kitties, if that's just his default animal noise, or whether he knows that his "meow" sound makes us laugh and so that's what he falls back on. He charmed everyone, saw lots of different animals, and seemed to enjoy his first carousel ride (but only if Auntie Ray Ray was holding him). We took him to the petting zoo, and he pretty much just proceeded to run around in circles, not really petting the animals at all. At that point, I'm not sure if he was tired, and trying to keep himself awake, if it was the caffeine, the sugar, or what, but it was pretty funny. I'm sure the employees were glad to see us leave the petting zoo enclosure.

On our way out, we saw the Zoo's kids' area mascot, a giant beaver. Noah seemed to think that he'd like to go to the Beaver, right up until the time that the Beaver reached out to Noah. Then Noah was trying to climb up & over Patrick's shoulder (Patrick was holding him the whole time)....so, I guess it's good that we didn't try to get pictures with the Easter Bunny!

We did leave with the required toy for Noah--a stuffed tree frog, which is funny, since we didn't even get a chance to see the frog exhibit! But, Noah seems to like it, so that's really all that matters.

Noah is on Spring Break this week (as is Patrick), so we had today to get back to our schedules... He seemed tired this afternoon, so I put him down for a nap, and he was quiet for awhile. Then over the monitor, I hear him say, "Poopie." We're pretty excited that he seems to be connecting "poopie" with the act of pooping (hey, I didn't think that this sort of thing would be exciting, either, but here we are.). I open his room door & immediately smell that yes, indeed, "poopie." Then I notice it on the floor. Noah's diaper. With some poop in it. The rest of the poop is smeared on my little boy. On his crib. On his blankies. And it wasn't pretty. I noticed, too, that his Pooh bear was aptly named. As was his "green kitty" (i.e., stuffed Grinch). His new Froggie, though, did escape the horror of being smeared with poo, but did not escape the humiliation of being peed on. Oh well. It's all washable, as is the boy himself.

Here are some pictures; enjoy!

Thanks to Rachel for some of these pics! Here is our boy, on the hunt for some not-so-well hidden eggs...

Got one!

He looks like such a little boy!

We visited Nana (Dan's Mother) on Friday; Noah was enjoying all the songs she sang, and was really watching her hands as she was going through the motions.

Gotta love those marshmallow bunnies!

Noah with his friend, Skyler. I can really see a lot of me in Noah with this picture...not sure if it's just wishful thinking, though!

Yum! SUGAR!

On the brass tortoise at the zoo; the live ones were off exhibit, which is probably best, as the live ones probably would not have liked it if Noah sat on them.

1st Carousel Ride!

Here Noah is visiting a real, live Pablo. He seemed to like the penguins, and liked to get close to the glass and point out the penguin's eyes, mouth & nose. I'm sure the penguin learned a lot.
Noah really liked the camel; I just wish there hadn't been so many people so that I could get a good shot.

A moment of quiet contemplation...

"How cute am I?!?!"

Waving "hello" to the giant Beaver...

...and trying to climb over Patrick to escape the giant Beaver!

VIDEO!!!

2008-03-17T14:03:00.003-04:00

We've got some other videos that we need to upload, too, but Patrick took this yesterday, and we were so amazed we had to share it immediately. It's about 4 minutes, so sorry if some places lag a bit, but Noah is singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Of course, Patrick and I are singing, too...so please, overlook those bits. You can also hear him say "Meek Mouf" which is, of course, Mickey Mouse. He gives Meek Mouf a kiss, too.

Enjoy!!!!

(Oh, so totally not as cool as Noah singing, but you can see our new table in the video, too, and you can see that we're using a booster seat now, rather than his high chair--the high chair is still around, but he's such a big boy now, sitting in his booster seat. I just about cried when I realized that he doesn't need his high chair anymore!)

Eepo, Lego & Mickey Mouse

2008-03-13T16:53:00.005-04:00

What do those three words have in common?

They're all new additions to Noah's vocabulary.

The first is probably my favorite. He's got a book, Hippos Go Berserk!, that he really likes. It starts off with one hippo, who decides to invite a couple other hippos over...then a couple more show up, then more until there is a room full of hippos and what we do when we get to the middle (showing all 44 hippos going berserk) is to tickle Noah and say in a high-pitched, excited voice, "ALL THE HIPPOS GO BERSERK!" Noah quickly picked up on this, and sometimes will make a tickle motion with his hands either on his belly or on yours, and will say, in a high-pitched, excited tone, "EEPO EEPO EEPO!" Which, as you've figured out, is "hippo." When Dan, Janet & Rachel were here last weekend, Noah was the proud recipient of a t-shirt with a hippo on it, and he was very excited, and pointed to it and said, "EEPO!"

The other words came about the same day. Noah and I were in the dollhouse, looking for something (well, I was more looking, and Noah was just there, opening and shutting the door which is just his size...) and we found one of the three toy baskets that we have (we keep one toy basket in the house, and rotate the toys) and it had the large back of those big Lego-type blocks, and so I thought Noah would enjoy those, and grabbed those to bring in. In the meantime, Noah found a plastic Mickey Mouse figure, and picked it up, pointed at it, and said "Meek Mowfs." I'm sure I could be hearing what I wanted to hear, because honestly, I can't remember when Noah would have heard "Mickey Mouse"--unless it's at school. The mouse is fairly pervasive, so I'm sure there are references out there, but still...we thought it was very impressive!

When we got inside (toting the famous rodent with us), I unzipped the Lego block bag (actually, I think they're Duplo blocks, but whatever--we call them Lego blocks), and Noah quickly began playing with them. He was putting them together, and I went over to play with him, and he held up a yellow block and said something that we thought sounded like "yellow." Upon further investigation, we think that he may have been saying "Lego."

It's just amazing how much he's picking up on a daily basis. He's really becoming a little mimic... There was a day when I was surprised by something, and said, "Holy cow!" Yup. Behind me there was a little voice that quickly repeated "Holy cow." Only when Noah says "cow" he sounds like he's from Wisconsin. Not sure why.

He LOVES being outside, and on the flip side, HATES to come inside. Since it's been nice these past few days, we've tried to spend as much time outside as possible. He's usually a very fun little guy to be around, but every day he gets closer and closer to being two--which means the tantrums are beginning to become bigger and bigger, and today he started pulling my hair. HARD. Not sure what we're going to do.... I had to put him in a mini time-out last night at dinner. It's so hard, because I know that he's just frustrated that he doesn't have the words to express himself, and frustration that he can't have what he wants. This is the hard part of parenting, not giving in. I'm sure this stage will pass.

Right?

Right?!?

And, apropos of nothing, here are some photos... Some show him with green paint on his head, cheek, chin, nose.... This is what happens when you're doing a tote for Grandma of your handprints & have WAY too much fun with the green paint! Enjoy!

Fun with green paint!

Fun with bubbles!

I know that he wasn't actually holding this bubble on his thumb, but I just love that it looks that way!

I just love how intently he's looking at the bubble.

Patrick filming the bubble show...Noah's a bit older now, and can really enjoy bubbles. Perhaps over Spring Break he can get the film to a watchable few minutes & we can post it!

Patrick and Noah waving at each other. I'm getting crazy "Lawrence Welk" flashbacks....

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2008-03-09T21:40:00.003-04:00

Mom, thank you for being you. I know that your life hasn't always been easy, and I know that there have been lots of times--for many years--that you've struggled and worked, trying to hold both ends together. And the amazing thing to me is, I never really knew how much you struggled and worked until I became an adult. When I was little, all I knew is that I had a great Mommy who loved me very much. Of course, I still realize that I have a great Mommy and love her very much!

You've shown me what it is to be a great Mother, and I hope that I'm close to being the Mommy to Noah that you are to me. I know it's not easy, and I'm only beginning to realize how hard it must have been for you to watch me walk, talk, grow taller and more independent (and realize that bricks tied to my head really won't keep me little forever!). Thank you for understanding that your baby needs to walk, talk, grow taller and become independent, and for helping me do so. Even if that journey necessitated wearing pantyhose on my head (hey, they were an early form of hair extensions, and for some journeys and adventures, a little girl needs long hair!). With barrettes in them (again, little girls need long hair, but that doesn't mean that you want that hair in your eyes.). And even if those pantyhose were your good pantyhose, that you needed for work. Until you tried them on & found small holes right across the knees....from the afore-mentioned barrettes.

I am so grateful that you've been in Noah's life from the very beginning. You are so special to me, and I hope that he knows how lucky he is to have you for a Grandma. Something tells me that you are going to be as wonderful of a Grandma as you are a Mother, and for that, Noah and I are both very, very lucky.
Thank you for being you--an amazing and wonderful woman, Mom, Grandma, role model and friend.

Happy Birthday, Mom!! I miss you, but we're sending lots of love and kisses and hugs!

(By the way--those eggs that you gave Noah for Easter last year? We've still got some of them, and they're still some of his favorite toys!)

Who, exactly, is Pablo?

2008-03-09T09:21:00.004-04:00

This was a question posed to me in a comment from the last post, Noah vs. Pablo. I realized that everyone out there may not be acquainted with the wonderful Pablo.

Pablo is one of the characters on the Nick Jr. cartoon "The Backyardigans." Noah "discovered" them while at Mom & Dad's house, and he seemed transfixed by the moose (Tyrone), hippo (Tasha, complete with red Mary Jane shoes), kangaroo (Austin), Uniqua (pink with polka dots, and it's theorized that she's a ladybug, but we've also read that she's her own being--just as we all should be), and of course, the blue man himself, Pablo the penguin. With a propeller beanie.

For some reason, Noah is really drawn to Pablo--not sure if it's because his name is easier to say (comes out as "Pabbo") or if he has a thing for animated penguins. What WE like about the show is that the characters are nice, they figure things out on their own and they use their imaginations to transform their backyard into an adventure. The songs and dances are really cool, too. As a parent, I can listen to "Float, Flutter, Fly" or "W-I-O-WA" without wanting to poke my ears out. Can't say that for all of the kids' music out there...

Another neat feature about the songs is each episode features a different type of music. Even though Patrick and I are fairly adventurous in our musical tastes, I like the fact that Noah is exposed to more than just what we listen to. The "Flying Rock" episode is disco (still one of Noah's and my favorite episodes, and this may be my fault. I've always had a soft spot for disco, and may have predisposed Noah to it while in utero. Sorry, Noah.). The episode with "W-I-O-WA" (continuing to sing..."the corniest station, in the nation!") is Motown (and the funny thing about episode is that Tasha and Uniqua both have reporter hair. I know...it doesn't sound so amusing, but trust me--it is!).

And, the most important thing about the Backyardigans is the look of utter delight that comes across my sweet boy's face when he hears the theme song...that look is enough to make a person not want to watch anything but The Backyardigans.

I have to thank Mom & Dad (aka Grandma & Grandpa) for not only finding The Backyardigans, but for noticing how delighted Noah was when he saw his gang on the TV screen. I still can't really get behind "Yo Gabba Gabba" or "The Higglytown Heroes" though. I've tried.

I can fully support the beanie-wearing, excitable blue penguin, though!

Long Live Pabbo!

Noah vs. Pablo Balloon

2008-03-01T19:30:00.004-05:00

We were at a store today, and I saw that they had helium balloons in the shape of Pablo. Of course we bought it & had them blow it up. What we didn't realize is that the balloon was about as tall as Noah.

He LOVES THIS BALLOON. He's been dragging it around the house, by the sring, by Pablo's foot, by Pablo's hand....

He's sung to the balloon, danced the balloon around, wrestled the balloon, and fed the balloon. I don't think the balloon has a long life expectancy, but for now, it was the best $7 we've spent in a long time!!!!

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2008-02-27T19:32:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday, Dad. I can't tell you how much I appreciate everything you've done for me--especially the hard stuff, the stuff that made me mad and upset when I was younger. I don't pretend to know how truly hard it must have been to say "no"--but I'm beginning to understand. But I know that saying "no" is the not-so-fun part of being a parent, the part where you want your child to grow up strong and independent.

If I do say so myself, I think you've done a fantastic job--and I know that it wasn't easy, and I know that there are probably times that you wonder if you could have done something different, and I'm sure when Noah is older, I'll have plenty of times to reflect and wonder if I made the right choice. I think you made the absolute right choices--otherwise, I wouldn't be where I am right now.

And I can't think of any Dad who has been a better father, a better mentor, a better friend, than you have been to me. I know you always tell me that I'm special, but you are so, so special.

I miss you terribly, and know that you'll be back (hopefully soon!) and just am so thankful that you were able to make the sacrifices that you did to be able to come to Greenville and spend so much time with Noah. You helped us out so much, and it meant everything to have you here with us, to spend time with us and to get to know our little boy.

Noah is a lucky boy to have such a great Grandpa, and I know that I'm such a lucky woman to have such a great Dad.

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!

New pictures!

2008-02-12T13:51:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile; I know that Noah's adoring fans are clamoring for new photos, and I hope that the ones posted here won't disappoint.

Here's a quick update:

Noah has started school--it's a really good daycare at a local church. Not the one that we go to (they're completely full right now; Noah will go there this summer, though), but one that a friend goes to, and all her children have been at this daycare and I have visited the daycare with her, met some of the people, and Patrick and I had an Official Visit with Noah, and we all got a good feeling from them. It's a structured day--they have story time, play time, learning time--and I think that it'll be good for him. Has not been easy for us, though--it's something new, with people and places that aren't familiar, and he's had a bit of a time adjusting. It breaks my heart when I hear him crying through the closed door & down the hallway! But, it is getting better--on Monday, they said he stopped crying 1/2 hour after I left, and was great the rest of the day. I know it'll take some time, and it's good for both of us. It allows me to have my day, and he gets some socialization, gets to be more independent, and is able to charm the pants off of most everyone he meets. He is scheduled to go Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and if there's a holiday or school closing (they follow Greenville County--when school is not in session, neither are they!), I can switch a day--which is great to have that flexibility. For example, he's home today (more on that below), so he'll go on Thursday since he's not there today. Monday was the beginning of his 2nd week, and I'm sure in no time, he'll be running towards the building (rather than pointing at the building and crying, as he did on Friday when I met my friend there to go over some Real Estate issues! Talk about twisting that knife into your heart!).

This past weekend, we thought Noah had a cold--nothing major, but some stuffiness, and because of his eye issues early on (blocked tear duct, surgery, etc.) we were prepared for some excess eye goop when he's got a cold, and there was, but seemed like it cleared up by Monday morning. So, we drop Noah off at school (I say "we" because Patrick caught whatever cold Noah had....and for some reason, the little guy gets a cold, and he's still running at 110 miles per hour, but he passes it on to us, and it's SO not pretty!) and I get a call around noon (he goes to school from 9-1) that he has eye goop, they cleaned it, and it's back--and I need to pick him up, and he can't come back until the doctor says it's not contagious (i.e., like pink eye). So, I pick him up, explain about the early eye issues, we all agree that it's probably due to the cold & his teething (apparently teething brings about excess mucus, too), but that it's good to have it checked out.

We get an appointment that afternoon, and the doctor says that it's bacterial conjunctivitis (i.e., pink eye) and because it's bacterial, is quite contagious. Great. That's exactly what I wanted to hear. We obtained eye drops, and it's amazing what antibiotics can do! He is still running around at 110 miles per hour, and he is home today, but can go back to school tomorrow. And, since we pay for him to go to school three days per week, we're switching today for Thursday, which may be fun for Noah--they're having a Valentine's Day party on Thursday, and now he'll get to go. Not that I wanted my boy to have pink eye so that he can have pizza & get Valentines, but I am excited that he's going to have his first Valentine's Day party! We even got Valentines for his classmates and I can't wait to pass them out!

Patrick isn't doing so well; I'm trying to avoid him and his cooties. Like I said--when Noah gets a cold, it's a minor inconvenience; when he passes it to us, it's like we've been blindsided by a Mack truck. I have no idea why...

Noah is really growing; he's saying more & more words (I like to think that part of that is due to school), and is just getting to be such a big boy. The other day he was trying to put pants on (what made it difficult is that he already had pants on...) and he's started taking off his socks & putting them on his arms. Not sure why, but I'm sure these pictures will serve their purpose by embarrassing him when he's 16.

We really miss having Mom and Dad here; and I know that they miss being here. More specifically, they miss NOAH. I just feel that their house (or at least the acre next to the house that's for sale as well) will sell quickly, and it is easier with them being there to keep everything show-ready. And, if I do say so myself, it really is a great place. Such a warm, inviting home, and in a very peaceful setting. Just keep all fingers and toes crossed that they get an offer soon, so they can come back to their grandson!

We went to Lowe's to replace our kitchen faucet (it was getting challenging moving the handle to various positions so it would stop leaking; we finally decided it would be easier to just replace the thing) and they had all the Backyardigans room decor on clearance! I picked up the wall appliqués, the night light, the switch plate covers and the light switch plate! I put some pictures here, but keep in mind that you can see patches on the wall that need to be finished and the walls need to be painted...but I was just so excited to get Noah's room decorated that I couldn't wait. They're peel-stick-and-repeel-and-restick, so taking them off the wall again and again isn't an issue (like giant Backyardigans-themed post-it notes)--which is great, because the first time, I put them down low so that they were eye-level with Noah, but then when we found carnage (sorry, Tasha!) we decided that having them a bit higher than Noah's reach was really better for all involved. But, it's a work-in-progress, but I'm pretty excited!

Enjoy the pictures!

Those Finns really know how to boogie...

2008-01-23T21:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, this post has nothing to do with Noah, but I'm putting it here because it made me laugh.

From what I understand, this is a Finnish Disco Dancing instructional video. I didn't know that Disco was big in Finland, and maybe it wasn't, and maybe this is the reason.

And, thanks to LOLCATS, I can let you know that the music is by Dschinghis Khan, performing their hit song, Moskau.

And, for those who are more Noah-centric, Patrick found these on YouTube (okay, what can't you find on YouTube???)--it's Noah's favorite people (Pablo, Uniqua, Tasha, Tyrone & Austin) performing some of today's hot hits.