Our Little Toddlersaurus Turned Two!!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving AND Noah's 2nd birthday! We had a great dinosaur theme! I found this great cake idea, you have to check it out. The instructions are super easy to follow. David and I were very proud of our creation and it was a recognizable dinosaur! Noah loved it (it was cake how could he not). I also found an awesome cake recipe, seriously I don't know that I will buy another white cake mix again. Check out my Sweet Elder blog for the recipe.

Oh I forgot, Noah's stats:

15% for weight - 24 lbs.

60% for height - 34 1/4 inches

and a big noggin' (I don't remember what the nurse said)

He is a super active little guy. Loves dinosaurs and trucks and to read!! It is amazing to see him go all the time and never stay at one activity and then when we sit and read books together, he usually can't get enough, love that! Some of our favorites Trucks (from his cousin Harrison), From Head to Toe by Eric Carle, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food by Jane Yolen.

A really funny thing Noah has started to do: When I need to redirect him after he has done something he isn't supposed to. I either pick him up or sit down with him and tell him to look at mommy's eyes or find mommy's eyes. I have a couple times put my hand under his chin (gently) to keep him focused. So this weekend, he continued to climb on top of a small table we have in his room with a lamp and cd player on it. So I picked him up and tell him to find mommy's eyes, he holds his own chin, closes his eyes and starts singing the blessing we sing before meals and he sings at school! 'God our Father, God our Father...' How could I keep a straight face after that, and let me just say David and I are in for it, Noah totally has my number!

A Busy Time Of Year

It is so easy for me to think of all the things I 'need' to do, but if I really think about it do I REALLY need to do them right now? It is easy to see that the counter top is covered with dishes, bread wrappers, sippy cups and mail, the bathrooms need srubbed and the car needs cleaned out, but Noah is running around talking about the helicopter he just saw out the window or a puzzle he is focusing on (for more than 5 sec.) and my mind is thinking about laundary! I don't even like folding laundry, you think I would appreciative that Noah is giving me an excuse not to get that task done. There is always something I think I need to get done or if Noah would just entertain himself for 20 min. But really I am thinking about it all because when Noah is in bed for nap or for the night I want to make sure 'my time' is filled with things I would really like to do: read a book, look at the new magazine I got in the mail, catch up on HGTV or scrapbooking. We are selfish creatures, we humans. I know these thoughts are normal but before I know it my little boy is going to be big and not wanting so much of my attention or my husband and I might end up with different work schedules and not get to spend the whole weekend together as a family. I thought about this alot yesterday when Noah didn't take his nap, David and I were really short with each other and were frustrated that Noah didn't take his normal nap....then I reminded myself that I can't control it all and really Noah was in a great mood for not having a nap so I should look at the bright side and look at the extra time we get to spend with each other! This time of the year is for family and friends I need to keep my mind there and all the rest will fall into place!

Wear Clean Underwear

Hello All~ I was given a book recently and I have found it very informative and a quick, easy read. Now it isn't a novel it is book about legal planning when it comes to crisis, selecting gaurdians if anything should happen to you, etc. It isn't really what we want to think about, not being there for our children, but it is our responsibility as parents to take care of our children no matter what happens. So anyway, it is a guick, easy read packed with information. Check it out!

Wear Clean Underwear by Alexis Martin Neely

http://www.wearcleanunderwearbook.com

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all of you, we have had a wonderful weekend and still have another day to go with an extra hour! We carved our pumpkin which now proudly sits by our front door, I finished Noah's costume and David and I purchased finishing touches to ours TODAY!! I have to brag on myself though, I am so pleased with how Noah's costume turned out I am proud of myself! We walked a couple blocks with some friends and Noah did awesome saying 'trick-or-treat' and 'thank you', he even told one man 'have a good day!'. Isn't it awesome, the things kids say! I wish I could attach an audio clip to the blog. If anyone knows how to do that let me know. David and I dressed as pirates and Noah was our parrot! We hope you all had a safe and happy Halloween, enjoy your extra hour!

As Promised

Here are a few pictures from the pumpkin patch that we visited last weekend, and of course there are only a few pictures because the battery died! I am known to have the luck of our camera battery die at an event or the camera be full. We had a great morning though and that is what counts, I am sure Noah would rather his mother be focused on him than chasing him with a camera ;-)

Words, words, words!

I was just writing a friend about how conversational Noah is becoming, it is always adorable when they say the perfect thing.

Lately, he has been saying, 'oh! gosh' and at appropriate times really. When he or I drop something or we can't get something just right...it is so hard to explain but it is just perfect, and we are not really sure where he picked it up from. Hopefully, I will be able to catch some audio and attach it to this post later.

He sings the Itsy, Bitsy Spider, and the Blessing that he sings at school. I thought I knew it but I am going to have to ask Mrs. Dawn and Ms. Monica what the words are because when we start singing it with him, he tells us, 'No, no!'

We sing alot in the car, oh how I wish I could share. OH, and I do have to share that there is a bit of a Texas drawl in some of his words, we are raising a Texan!

I Know....

So we haven't been on the ball lately and the last time we posted ANYTHING was a month ago. I guess that should tell me that we have been busy and we have things to share, I will try and narrow it down. Let's see David and I are both very busy at work but, that is the boring stuff I know many of you who read would rather hear about family things and Noah. (It's okay if you really only care about Noah)

School has started for Noah, where I work, and he comes with me a couple times a week and hangs out with Dad the other couple of days. It has worked out wonderfully for us though a little stressful at times while we try to stay with only one car, but we make it work and you know it is cheaper with only one car. Noah loves his teachers, Ms. Dawn and Ms. Monica, and really I think he thinks he runs the school since we are there all the time.

In the last month Noah has gained an Aunt and David and I a sister-in-law. Justin, David's brother, was married Sept. 12th to Hannah! We are all very excited that our family is growing and David and Noah stood up in the wedding....well actually Noah had a hard time focusing since the wedding was outside. At one point he bent down to the ground the started saying, rather loudly, 'Daddy, grass, grass, Daddy, grass!' I found it amusing and I will have to admit I am thankful we can pronounce the /gr/ sound....some one year olds can not!

Ben and Emily came to visit and Noah hasn't stopped talking about them, well actually Emily, sorry Ben!

The weather has been very Fall-ish for Texas, and David and I are soaking it up! Today, we went to a pumpkin patch just north of Dallas about a half and hour and Noah picked out a pumpkin and ran through the fields. It was pretty muddy and wet and about half way through our time there, Noah started walking around stiff-legged because his pants were wet up to his knees! It was funny. We did get a few pictures and I will post them in a seperate post but we were totally bummed that our camera battery died as soon as we got a family picture with the pumpkins. Atleast we got a few pictures and Noah had fun.

I promise there will be more later....just don't hold your breath!

30 Days Of Happiness: Molly Dog

I dear friend of ours is doing this 30 days of Happiness on her blog, you can check it out http://theyellowdoorpaperie.blogspot.com/ So I have decided to follow along with her and other blogers but I am putting a little twist on it and try to blog 30 days of happiness for my son, Noah....it really is all about him anyway! So enjoy and if you would like to see what my 30 Days of Happiness is check out my personal blog http://sweetelder.blogspot.com/ in a couple of days.

Noah and Molly seem to have this love / hate relationship, really hate is a too strong of a word for them but I don't know really how else to explain it. We had Molly before Noah came along so she was kind of our 'first baby' and then of course we had Noah and there was and still is more attention given to Noah. But Noah loves Molly, he is becoming more and more 'nice' to her. He doesn't pull her tail as much or chases her with a toy. And I think Molly really loves Noah, she puts up with all of his craziness and load noises. Will let him lay on top of her or pull her tail, for atleast a short amount of time before she find a 'safe place' from him. But what Molly really loves about Noah and what Noah really loves to do for Molly is feed her off of his plate, much to mom and dads discouraging. But they do make a pretty good pair and I think as an onlooker that they are very happy to have each other around!

The School Year Has Begun!

I can't believe that today is the last day of August! David has been 'back' at school for a week now and has just tured in a draft of a chapter, there will be revisions but he is getting somewhere. I am finishing up our final week before school starts for me and Noah. The week is full of parent coffees, classroom visits, and making sure my desk is clean....which I have to say is quite a task these days. I hope to get some school pics posted soon, so stay tuned!

Last night we went to celebrate our friend Jordan's birthday at an outdoor eatery with live music. Noah really enjoyed himself (and took it very seriously, judging by the look on his face). We stopped filming a bit too early. Right after we stopped filming, our little rock star, in true rock star fashion, threw his sippy cup on the ground with a very angry look on his face just as the song ended.

Where does life go?

Ugh! It just seems like life is flying by. Maybe it is just me, but I feel like David and I are living on the fast track and gearing up for a big race! I am preparing for teachers and students to come back, there are/were so many things I wanted to get done in the office while everyone was gone this summer....I am sure if I made a list it would see like I got more done. David is typing, typing, and typing. He is typing/writing his disertation, editing for his copy editing job, reading/assessing papers for another free lance job he has taken on and gearing up to be the managing editor of TCU Compositions Studies (a yearly journal)...
Plus we are trying to be a family that spends time together as much as we can and SLOW DOWN to enjoy our lives and our little boy. I find myself wishing away hours, days even weeks sometimes. Like the upcoming teacher in-service week. Did I mention I am leading a training on Assessment, yikes, I am totally freaked out!
Really we are doing well we just know/feel that this school year, we better put on our running shoes. (good thing Noah can finally wear his All-Stars from Grandma, they are super cute...I mean awesome!)
So I am callenging myself to make the most of every moment and focus on the positive or the good that come from each day!

New Things With Every Phone Call

So as you all know little boys and girls do grow up and our little fella isn't any different. David and Noah have been spending the days together since am back at work from summer vacation. Throughout the week I have received several phone calls from my boys and everytime I see it is them calling I hope that no one is hurt or David isn't asking 'What time will you be home?' No seriously they have had great days together. They have visited the zoo, gone swimming, played in the dirt, taken naps together (which I am extremely jelouse about), built forts, and a whole lot of other male bonding activities.

But today David called me and what I hear when I answer the phone is David talking to Noah, 'Tell Mommy what you did today, can you tell her?'

I say, 'What did you do today, Noah?'

David says, 'Noah did you go potty?'

Noah finally chirps up, 'Potty!'

Now I realize that we are far from being potty trained but a couple weeks ago we purchased a little throne from our little prince because he has been telling us potty. We understand that he hasn't fully grasped the concept and are not pushing it but when he does say potty, we will ask him if he needs to go and he usually says yes so we take him and sit him down. He is usually not there for more than 5 seconds but atleast we are getting the concept about what needs to happen when he says potty. So the short of it Noah went potty in the potty three time today!! Crazy I know and don't worry I am not going to stop investing in Pampers all because of a few trips to the bathroom, but you have to admit it is pretty cool!

The second phone call today was the utterance of a complete sentence. David was telling Noah that he sees the soccer ball and Noah repeated, 'I see it.' He also has been saying, 'bye-bye Daddy.' or 'Good night, monkey.' It is so wonderful to hear that little voice.

4 Years Married, 8 Year Together, And Lots of Memories In Between

These pictures chronicle our relationship. Sadly we uploaded them incorrectly, so it starts at the top here with our most recent picture, but it'll all be OK, I promise.



Every year on my mom and dad's anniversary, my mom puts on her wedding dress. We decided to give it a try, too, but uckily for us we bought my suit, so I can participate as well. Even after having a kid, Rebekah fits into her dress like it was tailored for her (which, I suppose, it was). My suit, however, fits as if it were tailored for a skinnier person (but not just the waist! My shoulders have grown, too...I'm becoming a man).

This is our 3rd anniversary. We were in Farragut, and we didn't take our wedding attire with us. Instead we reenacted the "Mashing of the Cake" (but somehow Rebekah managed to keep her face clean, hmmmm)

Not an anniversary, but pretty important, I suppose. Not Rebekah's best picture, but c'mon, she just made a new human. I look awesome because, c'mon, my wife just made a new human!

We cheated a bit for our 2nd anniversary. I didn't button up my shirt, and Rebekah didn't zip up her dress. I was just lazy. She was preggers.

This is a very early Molly picture. She was our first baby, but after having Noah I think I like kids better than dogs. Kids have diapers, and when you leave them in the house alone, they don't pee on the carpet. And I guess I don't leave Noah in the house alone...
First anniversary in our first apartment together. We went to San Antonio to celebrate. We walked the riverwalk, and, well...that's all there is to do in San Antonio, but it was fun!

This is probably self-evident, but this is a photo from our wedding. Huzzah for marriage! Huzzah for the only day in August that wasn't over 90 degrees for a ceremony in an unairconditioned church!

This is our first visit to Texas. We stopped by the botanical gardens after we visited TCU. We were still in college (and unmarried) so we took our friends Adam and Kim along to chaperone so we could still have a white wedding.

Engagement pictures! Look at Rebekah's perm!

If I really have to explain this one to you, then you obviously didn't ever walk the ceremony we just got done walking.

Thanksgiving of our Junior year, we went to my rommate Ben's parents' house in Holland, MI. We made a snowman and hugged it. I tried to bring him inside for the night (it was cold) but I just ended up murdering him. I cried a puddle of tears the size of my melted friend.

Sophomore year in Adam and Hal's room. Aren't we so young and cute and full of life?

Our very first picture together. Notice the lack of dog, child, and beard.

One Fine Day

So the last week has been a week off of work for me. That means David gets a work week devoted to his second wife, his dissertation, and I am a stay at home mommy! I do have to say that it is different being home and not leaving the house but it has so many rewards. Noah is awesome for one thing, I am sure y'all know that - I mean look at the kid he is adorable. No but seriously, I have been having fun, tons of fun. Yes there are times that I wish he would sleep in atleast until 7 (it was a sad day when I started thinking 7 was sleeping in) or when trying to make lunch he has to have my attention or to take a walk means chasing Noah down to put on shoes, get a leash on Molly, then chasing Noah down again because he has wandered off while I was attending to Molly, carrying Noah down three flights of stairs while manuvering around Molly so I won't trip myself, hauling the stroller out of the car and then finally we are off. That in itself is a workout! But it is those moments at the end of the day that make me smile, laugh and almost tear up because of how lucky I am. How lucky I am to have a little boy who loves to be outside and loves to just say my name over and over that he begins to sound like a CD that skips.

David and I have been talking the older Noah gets the harder it is going to be to keep a straight face when desciplining him. He is just too cute and when he looks at you and you know those wheels are turning in there, he has totally got us figured out, he will slap a huge ol' smile on his face and all seriousness is gone, I am a bit frustrated but really what can you do when he goes limp and lays on the floor in the middle of Target (no joke happened last week). I might add that David was no help and was laughing! I laugh now.

I guess my point is it is a blessing to me a mom to Noah and I am blessed to have time with just him. And really we will all agree our lives would just be too boring without kids, and frankly I think we would not notice the little stuff as much and to me that would just be a shame.

Our Little Boy is Growing Up

Okay so I knew it was going to happen but everyone is right it happens so fast! Noah is talking so much and words that he has been saying are coming out a lot more clearly for instance outside now actually sounds like outside instead of 'ass'--David and I would always laugh about that. Also he knows the things he is not supposed to be doing and he will look at me with those big blue eyes and then look at or towards whatever he wants to do and do this stare down with me, it takes everything in me not to laugh or smile. If anyone really knows me I am HORRIBLE at hiding a smile! Noah is going to get away with so much no matter how much my sisters and mom talk about my 'teacher voice'. Anyway, the only time that Noah sits still anymore is when we read our books for bed and snuggle a little bit and I know one day that to will end but I sure enjoy the moment now. Last night I couldn't help but notice the smell of baby sunscreen and maple syrup coming from my little boys cheeks and hands! Okay enough of being a mushy mom I have tons of pictures I want to post but I know they are not all going to go. I will have to make a little snapfish album or something.

Noah decided to lead the Iowan Elders in a chorus tonight during dinner. He found it quite funny. So did we. We miss Rebekah...

June

We have been very busy; traveling, work, rest, play....the list can go on and on as I am sure all of you are aware. At the beginning of the month ourselves and 6 other couples rented a lodge in Minnesota and spent the week together (without children!!). It was strange being away from Noah for so long but we were so happy that he got to spend time with both sets of grandparents. We were also very excited and THANKFUL that his grandparents took time off to spend time with us and Noah. We have a couple more weeks between Dallas and Iowa so hopefully when June dies down and July rolls in we will have pictures and many stories to tell. I (rebekah) miss my boys something fierce, they are staying in Iowa for two weeks while I am in Dallas at work, but I will fly up for the weekend!!
After being away from Noah for a week we got to my parents house after he was asleep for the night and it took everything in me not to run in and pick him up! The next morning there was no descussion about who was going to get up to get him, we both jumped out of bed and raced to his bed side and were welcomed with open arms, a huge smile and a simple 'Daddy, Mommy'. That little voice made me melt, at that moment he could have gotten away with anything!

A Month Later, Sorry!

It has been a crazy month but with lots of great things. I, Rebekah, have been spending the last two weeks at home with my boys and loving every minute of it. I am not so sure that David, LOL. I finished up another great year at UPUMC Weekday School without too much craziness, David another year of graduate school and Noah turned 18 months on the 29th. We have already hit the pool several times in this Texas heat, taken many animal adventures to the zoo and we about to embark on our first, of three this summer, to Iowa! We hope everyone enjoys their summer, stay safe and we will keep you posted on what is happening here!

This is one of the pictures I took of Noah at the park. I've printed a few of the pictures and I'm giving them to Rebekah this week for her birthday. She got this one today. She also got the camera that took the picture for mother's day. Notice the good quality? So many more megapixels than the other pictures on this blog.

Noah loves taking off our glasses. He also likes putting on glasses of all kinds, as is evidenced here:

Right before we filmed this, Noah was giggling. We got him squealing.

And here are some pictures from the day and a couple that are just too darn cute not to share. The one of him at the table proves he has the best "I am so indifferent towards you right now" face EVER