Here are Videos from Today

Photobucket Album

A Day to Play

Today we played, we ignored that the floors need to have the vacuum run over them, the dust that is sitting on shelves, and the toys throughout the house. You know what, it felt really good. Both the boys are already in bed, they both seemed happy and content today and our house was filled with laughter. It was an amazing day in that sense. We also got to go to lunch with some of the other ladies, someone asked if it was baby's day out - I guess so. Alexis was kind enough to pick the boys and me up and Sara and Ethan were there and Holly (all her boys were in school) and we enjoyed our Subway. Naps for all when we got home so I did get a little done today to be productive (working on getting everyone's addresses/birthdays/anniversaries back). After that though, we just played, I took lots of video - probably too many and will post a link to the photobucket album when I get them all uploaded. Noah was showing Josh how to build, he was also climbing all over - he pushed his bed out so he could climb the taller part. Oh - and he was digging through his toy bins, suddenly I thought I heard puppy....I did and he had found a puppy! Holy cow, I never get lucky enough to get those moments on video but this time I did...you can almost hear him say it. We also had AWANA tonight, the boys both played well in the nursery. Mike spent his time after work doing more work on the deck...lots more to go I think but there is progress. I hope you are all doing well and safe.

It's been a few days...

Well I'm sorry that I haven't posted in the last few days, we have either been busy or I've been grumpy - neither makes it good to post! Our weekend was filled with lots of work. Saturday morning I had VBS Training, we did some errand running for more deck stuff and worked. Sunday was of course church, a baby shower, some hanging out and meetings in the evening. Yesterday there was more work being done for the deck. Mike got the holes dug for the post (all 42 inches of them 9 inches in diameter!) with lots of help from Matt and our neighbor Dennis. He rented an auger (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, sorry) but the first one had an issue with its motor and he didn't get the extension post so he had to go back for a new one and the extension and since Matt had to leave, our neighbor was kind enough to help. I had offered to help - hahaha, after I saw what it actually was I knew Mike was right, I am too short and I'm sure not strong enough. Then last night, Ken helped Mike get the concrete poured in the post. Simon and Noah both really seemed to like watching the big boys use the machine to dig and pour concrete later. Mike & Noah also took a trip to Lowes to order the wood we'll need, they couldn't get it delivered until Wed. morning though. I think today Mike is planning on working in the afternoon after work on getting some of the prep work done (pilot holes and the board on the house and things). He has really been working so hard to get the deck and patio done. I feel pretty useless, just hanging out and watching the boys, though I suppose helps. I finally got pictures loaded on the Kodak site and here are a few, too. I don't have the pictures from Sunday from the Parent-Baby dedication yet, a friend took them so I will have them sometime soon to share too, but that was also on Sunday. Josh was so alert the whole time, there was another little girl that was a little older, walking (they do this until the kids are 2, well once per child but until the age of 2) and she was so cute, she walked back to her seat half way through...heehee. Well I have to get things done here, there seems to be things piling up around us and the list for things to get done inside keeps growing and growing so I should go and get those things done and lunch ready for Mike & Noah.

Beep, Beep...

Well, we seem to have a new favorite word around our house - beep, beep. Noah seems to continue to pick up new words fairly often and beep is one of his new favorite. He gets the meaning too - playing with his cars he goes beep beep. Yesterday at the store, he was riding in one of the "fun" kid carts, imagine a mini bumper car that looks like a dragon with a handle and little bag on the handle, and you guessed it, it was beep beep the whole time. He has been the goofiest kid around lately though, he is laughing at things that we don't get why they are funny, spinning in circles and making himself laugh and just otherwise being goofy. It has been a whole lot of fun for the most part, though Noah is of course continuing to test Mike & I when we say no thankfully not all of the time and we just hope that being consistent (or trying very hard to be ALL of the time) will help him learn. Oh and we finally found a broom for Noah - he loves to help sweep and while we were at ToysRUs we found one that was his size...he really loved helping this morning after breakfast.

Josh continues to work on getting teeth - he's been much fussier today and just seems to be bothered by them, chewing on his hands and clothes and drooling. Poor little man, I hope that he gets some relief soon. He is really pushing himself up on his hands now though - he is so much more tolerate of being on his tummy. I'm not sure if it's this new strength and just getting to look around a lot more or if it is that he can roll over now and when he's done being on his belly he just rolls over. He's not quite rolled from his back to his belly, he can roll from side to side really well - I wonder if it's not wanting to be on his tummy or if he's just not quite there. Hard to tell. This morning I laid him on the floor and had a toy on either side of him to look at, he would roll one direction and stare and "talk" to the toy that way and then roll to look at the other toy. This was while we were making breakfast, so Noah goes down and gets a toy, lays down beside Josh with one toy between them and puts the other toy on his other side. He talked to Josh and imiated the motions Josh was doing. Josh was knawing at his fist, Noah found a teething ring and put in Josh's mouth. Such a sweet boy. Tried to get video of Josh rolling over, he wasn't very cooperative but the videos I thought still turned out cute.

The Patio is Done...

Well it was another pretty nice day today and Mike was able to get the patio finished completely. After Noah went to bed last night, he finished the pavers and got some of the sand spread out. Today it is completely done - I must say it looks good, I will post pictures from yesterday afternoon - I didn't get out to get pictures of it completely finished today. We have had a tired day here, both boys didn't sleep well at all last night. It makes for a long day when that happens and there is still work to do. Mike also got that yard done today, we finally have to mow again and such, spring finally is here.

I'm going stir crazy other though being in the house and we may venture out tomorrow. I opted to stay home from AWANA tonight, I miss the girls but am being a big baby and trying to make sure that I get to 100% by the end of the weekend and not the 75% I feel like right now. We'll see what tomorrow brings - we have to make a diaper run to Walmart and maybe another errand or two - nothing too exciting as you can tell. I am thoroughly though loving my little area downstairs, I feel like since I can sit comfortable it counts as taking it easy to relax down there. So nice to have that space and not worry about getting things clean after each time I work.

decisions, decisions

Well it seems that this week is full of lots of decisions and considerations...some of them not so important and some probably more important. Nothing major family wise, thankfully, but there have been lots of things to get done around the house and updates of sorts that need to be done. Mike is hard at work on finishing the patio portion of the overhaul of the backyard. So that was one decision that while not life changing, took a bit of time, just how big did we want to go, what kind of pavers to use. I think Mike's choice looks very nice and his hard work is paying off and I know when the patio and deck are both done we will enjoy it tremendiously. We are still waiting on the permit for the deck to get started on that. It takes 5 - 10 business days so its still a bit early to have heard, but hopefully soon as I know he wants to get to started on that. The goal is to have it done by the 10th since we are having Noah's second birthday party at the house and will be grilling out.

The other big decision as far as the house goes is windows...not again a life changing decision but still feels pretty major! We are getting estimates this week from various places and will probably decide by the end of the week who to go with and what type of windows to get. I think we'll stick with sliders for the living room and basement and go with double hung throughout the rest of the house. The patio door will also need replaced, but may wait until the end of the summer - it's not in quite as bad shape as the windows. At least hopefully we'll see some savings in heating and cooling with new windows =)

And of course leave it to the two nerds to not even be able to buy a simple birthday present for the 2 year old (almost - this is scary, Noah is almost 2, really I find it hard to believe at times). We looked and looked at train tables, and decided that we would make one, or rather Mike would make one that would be more sturdy and durable than the ones we could buy at a much more affordable price (of course that doesn't take into account the router accident and sore fingers!). So we have that part of the present decided and done but want to get Noah some tracks for his birthday. We kept talking about wood versuses plastic tracks...there are advantages to both and disadvantages to both but ultimately decided on the plastic tracks as they seem to be able to stay snapped together better and we hope will be less frustrating for Noah. So that was decided, we were looking at various track options, for plastic it seemed Thomas would be the way to go, until we started reading various reviews online at lots of sites. Seems that the buildings that come with them aren't getting good reviews and are frustrating for little ones. So I think after a little more research and reading, we're changing our minds again and opting for Fisher Price's GeoTrax. This was what many reviewers suggested to buy and the reviews for the GeoTrax itself were all very good. It is also nice that there are lots of various things that go with this system that aren't expensive and will make nice stocking stuffers and other small gifts throughout the year without spending $20 on one train (GeoTrax have some that are only $5 for a vechile...that is much better to me)

So are we really complete nerds? Is it sad that every decision we make from windows to train sets we tend to want to research and read reviews or instead can we simply say that we are just informed consumers who want to spend wisely? I think I like the informed consumer approach, I was a nerd too long in high school =)

Oh - and Josh is getting much more tolerant of tummy time! He is also getting much more purposeful in his arm and hand movements, reaching and grabbing at toys and bringing them toward himself. He is especially liking to chew on things lately (I think we may have teeth in a few weeks). He is also throwing toys, not on purpose, but Noah thinks it's great when he does. Last night, Josh even rolled over while Mike was playing with him on the floor. He also is starting to get his feet up and under his butt and trying to scoot. Soon I think we'll have a baby who wants to play and be part of the action - as Mike says, the fun stage is almost here (he says the 0 - 6 month age is not a lot of fun...they eat and sleep and poop - nothing fun).

Weekend Recap...

Well I'm sure that I will forget many things that happened this weekend as it was "busy" in some sense but also I didn't do much but rest. Grandma Taitt left very early this morning, I think Noah already misses her. Noah and Josh had a great time being with their grandma, and I'm sure are a bit more spoiled after her being here (that's what grandmas are for though!). Noah enjoyed some time out with Grandma, they ran some errands to the store a couple of times, and somehow managed to come home with new things - imagine that? Grandma let Noah help pick out a toy for Josh at Walmart...apparently Noah was very opinionated as to which toy he wanted to get for Josh, saying no to several toys and then holding a couple of toys and staring at them pretty intently before deciding on one. Noah also had an opinion about which flowers to bring home for Mommy - they are quite pretty the ones he chose.
Noah's train table is also finished and upstairs, an early birthday present. He is enjoying it more than words could tell you - Daddy did a great job on it. Of course, Noah's favorite game to play with cars is "crash" and almost everyone has had a chance to play crash on the new table already. Noah also has a bubble machine to enjoy on some warm days this summer, though it was windy Saturday he and Grandma enjoyed playing with the bubbles while Mike and some friends worked in the backyard taking down the deck and digging out for the patio.
Josh continues to be more alert every day and really seems to enjoy laughing - he's quite tickilish under the arms and on his ribs. I think he may be discovering his feet too, he will get them raised up and stare at them as he moves them about. I still think his favorite thing is Noah, who today moved Josh in his rocking chair in front of the oven so they could make faces it seemed in to the door of the oven. Noah thinks this is great fun and I guess wanted Josh to join in the fun. Cereal seems to still be something odd for Joshua - he doesn't scream in protest and does watch the spoon some but still hasn't quite gotten down the eating from a spoon. We'll keep trying though.
Plans today include more resting for me (ugh - I'm tired of needing to rest already!), naps for the boys, and some more work outside for Mike as me and the kids allow - picking up and bending down are still a bit touchy and painful for me...but otherwise he wants to get started on replacing some more of the siding (yep there's a bit more that needs replaced in the back) and I think ordering pavers for the patio.

Growing boy....indeed

Wow! Josh is sure growing. He had his 4 month well baby visit today. He weighes in at 14 lb 9 oz and is 25 inches long with a head circumfrence of 42 cm. He is in the 50% for height and weight and is doing very well. The heart murmor was also barely audible today, so it might just be going on away on its own. He met all of the goals he should be meeting, laughing and turning toward voices, he is also doing push ups while on his tummy, holding his head steady, and grabbing at objects. He's getting to the fun age Mike would say - and I would have to agree, this is much more enjoyable than the fussy and crying phase 2 months ago. We may also be starting cereal soon as yesterday Josh polished off 9 oz in one sitting, another 6 1/2 oz later, and pretty much ate like a piggy all day.

In other news, Mike was apparently jealous of my surgery and felt he needed some attention medically. He got to go to the ER last night to get his finger stitched after a minor accident with his router. His finger is fine, it only needed one stitch and his nail got a piece of it out. It might mean that demolation on the deck is a little later done but not too big of a deal.

hello again

Well I am home, actually got home last night. The surgery went well and apparently it was a pretty nasty looking tumor when they took it out and cut it open - I didn't ask for pictures though. I'm resting lots thanks to Mike and my mom. Josh is taking well to getting bottles, as long as you get the bottle warm enough. Noah went out on an adventure with Grandma to the grocery store and a quick trip to the other store. They came home with steaks for dinner tomorrow, mac and cheese and OJ and of course some new clothes for him and Josh for the summer and beach towels - guess we shouldn't be too surprised, huh?

But in other more exciting news, Joshua rolls over now! Just from belly to back but still I was so excited. Mike had just left the room, unfortunately he just missed it but I got to see it and so did Grandma. Josh was a bit surprised by himself I think. It's funny because yesterday I told him to not do anything new and cool until Mommy was home, guess he listened =) We are resting lots more today and hanging out as the weather is yucky. We'll update pictures later this weekend I bet.

Happy Tuesday!

Okay, for those of you who took literacy with me (umm...guess that's just Sharon!) you'll get the title, even when we didn't want to be in class Ms. Daegon always greeted us so warmly and happily that we soon forgot - that and of course she was an awesome professor. But anyway...I don't feel super happy today but am trying to fake it =) The house is pretty much clean, well it's as clean as its getting before my mom gets here tonight, and arrangements for the boys have been made for tomorrow. My surgery time got switched til 12:30 so that means at least we don't have to be up quite so early, but not eating all day isn't going to be fun. I also learned that they are planning on taking out the ovary along with the cyst...so I'm adjusting to that little fact (I really thought that would have been mentioned in my preop appointment!). The boys are both napping now but once they are awake we may go out and run some errands (nothing exciting) but other that it will be a normal day here. I don't even have any pictures from today that I took....so I'll post some really cute ones from yesterday's softball practice. And FYI - it may be a couple days before another post....

Josh is 4 months old, 4 kids nap at once and other cool things that happened this weekend

Well first of course is that Joshu turned 4 months old yesterday! Can you believe it? We can't, last night I kept thinking 1/3 of his first year are now done...how did that happen? I'm still so very grateful that I can stay home with the boys, I love being home with them and getting to see so many of the things they do day to day first hand. Josh is grabbing at toys lately, especially in the exersaucer while he plays there. He is getting SO big too! You wouldn't believe that he came home from the hospital at 6 pounds. I also think he continues to look more and more like Mike everyday, and I tell you he loves his daddy and will stare and stare at Mike with great big smiles. Though, honestly Noah is the one who gets the best smiles out of Josh most of the time all Noah has to do is look at Josh and say something and Josh breaks out into a huge smile. Josh also seems to be sleeping better consistently at night - which is SOO nice!

So Saturday, I had a baby shower. Alexis came over with Ken and Simon who hung out with the boys and Elora who we were watching while Alexis and I went to the shower. I was worried about fussy kids and nap times, and thinking getting back from the shower wouldn't be much fun since all the kids would probably be getting tired but having a hard time napping. Okay, we come in from the shower and get sshed...no kidding. Alexis and I were both like what? Ken & Mike calmly announced that all 4 kids were napping! Before there was time for a kid to wake up...we quickly made an exit and went shopping. Ha, I haven't been that spontanious in a very long time. I still had only found just one shirt and my others were just getting too worn out. I must say Alexis was a great friend to shop with...and I now have at least 1 shirt for each day of the week at least. We got home and the kids were up and playing and happy. I think we were both very appreciative of our sweet husbands. Of course, after that we stayed with the kids and the guys went to do stuff in the garage. I also had to make a cake for Mike because I felt so guilty about the fact that at the shower we had chocolate cake with peanutbutter frosting...really! Mike was in shock and didn't think it was a common thing at all to have this cake, so we had some with dinner too.

Sunday was church and a quick lunch and some errands to come home and put Noah down for his nap and Josh down for his nap and then chores around the house. Mike finished installing the shelves that he built for me downstairs! I am absolutely thrilled to death with them...they look awesome and are perfect for my craft stuff. Now I will just need to work on getting them organized a bit better and in a way that is a bit more attractive. But it is so nice to be able to work on stuff and leave it out if I want, close the gate at the top of the stairs to keep little fingers away from it! I was playing last night, which is why Josh's picture didn't get posted or emailed until today. So...it was a wonderful weekend, I think a very good weekend to be me...I am still trying to not feel so guilty about having some clothes and having some space for me....but it's hard, despite it being hard not to feel guilty though I think I'll enjoy them!

Videos Finally!

Photobucket Album

Yep I should be sleeping, but I can't so...

instead, I am finally getting some of the videos for April uploaded to photobucket and thought I would share the link. It's about 1 am...I figure after this I can feed Josh and maybe just maybe sleep for 4 or 5 straight hours, that is just as good if not better than the 4 hours of broken sleep I would have had otherwise I think. I almost feel guilty for doing that while I sat here wide awake and not able to sleep, you know instead of like mopping the floor or scrubbing the bathroom...but hopefully you guys will at least appreciate them finally being up! I think I have discovered that Noah may possibly talk in his sleep too tonight, I keep hearing him and it sounds like he is saying words, I've heard some for sure already and other times it's very quiet. Poor thing, I hope he is resting okay despite that.

just a little of what we've been doing...

We haven't been up to a whole lot it seems the last couple of days. Little sleep tends to do that to families I think =) Though yesterday, Noah really enjoyed water painting, he was very into it and did 3 pages of painting (for those who think that doesn't sound like a lot - you must not live with a 2 year old!) Can you believe that today he is 23 months old?? What is that? Where is time going? It is going fast. I have pictures, but they aren't on the computer so you'll have to wait for some new ones. Noah continues to surprise us with words, we'll be sitting and talking or playing or watching TV and suddenly he says something we understand. Grant it, his new words are not well pronounced by adult standards, but they are understandable. He has a couple phrases he uses regularly too, lately he likes to say "close door." Yesterday was when he really surprised us while watching Mickey Mouse Club House, they were introducing the characters, and Daisy was next, her picture came on and he said "daisy." Haven't heard it since but it was definitely Daisy. We are also "mooing" now for cows.
Joshua seems to think that he should be in another growth spurt I believe, I cannot believe how quickly he is growing! I feel like all he does is eat but really he is starting to play some too. He likes his exersaucer still and he also enjoys making the cow sing on his chair when he pulls on the handle that hangs down. He is quite the talker, but only it seems when he wants to talk, because sometimes no matter how silly we get or how much we talk to him he doesn't really give us much but a look...but other times we just glance at him and he's jabbering up a storm. He also is getting more tolerant still of tummy time. He's growing stronger and stronger. Joshua is moving in his crib at night, must be having some good or exciting dreams! This morning, I woke up (Mike had to be at work a little before 6 - yuck!, but I suppose at least he got to sleep last night and not be up every hour and a half so I suppose its a pretty fair trade) to what I thought was Josh starting to fuss, I think I closed my eyes praying it would stop so I could sleep, then I heard what I thought was Noah because it sounded like kicking (Noah does this to his wall when he wakes up if we don't get him quickly enough). The kicking was pretty soft though...I thought it was very odd, but I still heard Josh so I decided I would check on him first and then get Noah since he wasn't crying or yelling. Oh, it wasn't Noah kicking, it was Josh who had turned himself around so his feet were at the side of the crib - he was kicking it!
That really is probably about it for us, we have a friend of Noah's coming over for the day tomorrow, I have another baby shower (yep another one, I told you it's in the water here, don't drink it if you visit and don't want a baby!), and I think we'll try to get out after that with the kids to do some playing and running around. I finally finished up our family magnets too tonight, I have only had this in my head since Sept. to get finished, but they are done - the magnets are drying on the back of the tiles. I hope Noah likes them as much as he likes the clothes-pen letters. They aren't fancy, just some small tiles with magnets on them and on the front decoupaged tissue paper and pictures of our family that is far away. Hopefully this will help Noah and Josh learn the faces at least of all the family we talk about all the time. Hope you guys all have a great weekend!

What a Big Boy!

Our little Joshua is getting so big! We broke out the exersaucer today and he really seems to be enjoying it! Noah was enjoying it too, both while Joshua played in it and then later when he climbed right on in too! I just wanted to share some pictures of our great big boy!

Best $10 I've Spent in A Long Time

So Josh has only been getting up to eat once a night now fairly regularly now for the last week or so. You would think that means more sleep for us right? Nope, because after he is up about 1 to eat, he gets himself out of his swaddle and freaks out and wakes up, isn't able to get himself back to sleep until you reswaddle him and then in just a minute or two he's back to sleep. Not so bad, but it had been every 45 - 70 minutes. ARGH! So finally yesterday, out of desperation for sleep, I headed to Babies-R-Us for a "swaddle me" blanket, it is prefolded etc. sack like blanket with strong velcro. Whoo-hoo! Josh went to sleep about 8, we stayed up late working on random stuff (Mike has the deck plans almost done!) So at 11 we got him up to eat, then put him back to bed. I think we were asleep by 1140 at the latest and imagine my GREAT surprise when at 5 we hear him crying! Seriously 5 hours of sleep is so huge right now, I was ready to be awake and ready for the day at 5 but decided to try and get some extra rest since he went back to sleep. He's still asleep, too. I think I would have paid much more than that for that blanket thing at this point since it's been well 4 months about since I've had that much sleep!

Here are the boys watching American Idol - I think Noah was pleased with whoever was singing - as you can tell by him clapping

just some pictures and videos and an update on surgery

Ah...well this is what I get for being such a planner. Oh well, I'm adjusting to the new idea of what surgery will be next week after being a bit blind-sided. I told you before I had 5 dinners in the freezer, milk frozen, was ready to go in Wed. morning next week and be home that afternoon. Mike had through the weekend off, we'd go to the church teacher's appreciation dinner on Friday and I'd teach Sunday school on Sunday....easy peasy! Well, hmm...not quite so easy it seems. The surgery is still going to be on Wed., they will still try and use the robot to do it. However, the cyst is about the size of a tennis ball and even with doing it laproscopically they will have to make another cut a bit bigger than those to remove the cyst, vertical probably below the belly button which means I will probably have to stay Wed. night. Okay, so I'm not completely paranoid yet...then the rest of the story. There's a 50% chance that it won't work at all that way and they have to do it the old-fashioned way which means I stay til Friday at least. So it stinks, I'm not ready to be away from Josh...I don't want to be away from Noah that long either. But I suppose this is how it is right now so there's no point in arguing with it. Other than that news, today was a busy day of just getting some errands and other things done while the boys were being watched. We'll keep you posted on any other news though.

Pulling and Catching....

Well it was a rough night last night with boys seeming to need loads of attention. Noah seems to be having teething issues and was up we think from that pain. Josh just wants to eat every 2 1/2 hours! After a rough night, we had a lazy type morning and ended up getting to church just on time barely. We went to lunch after church with some friends, both couples had parents in visiting and it was going to be nice to visit with them all and relax. Ha ha, what were we thinking? Noah wanted to be held most of lunch and was a bit whiny, he obviously was very tired and not feeling great, usually if he doesn't want to sit during lunch he wants to get down and go. Josh needed some attention of course too since he had slept most of church and was wide awake. Oh well, that is what happens I suppose and I only hope that we didn't appear to rude.

After a nap and some tylenol when we got home, Noah was feeling much better. Joshua was pretty content and wanting to play too. We got the bar with hanging animals on it, I'll have to post pictures later of it, but anyway, they were hanging down and Joshua was grabbing onto them and batting at them with his hands! He loves to hang onto things, but it's so cool to see how he's actually getting control of his arms and hands. He even got the cow pulled down several times to make it sing! He's growing so quickly. The nursery workers say that each week Joshua looks so different, they remember Noah had the same look as he grew and got bigger, but Josh looks so different each week. He definitely is growing so quick.

Noah, while he had rough spots today during the day, otherwise was happy and wanting to play. He amazed me this afternoon while he was playing catch with Mike. The had a raquetball they were throwing back and forth and Noah was catching it! He's catching already, I just can't believe it because it wasn't a big beach ball or something, it was a small ball. Wow! He also this morning went to the kitchen and told Mike "wanna eat." He had been repeating eat this week when we would ask him if he wanted to eat, he would say "eat" but this is the first time he came to one of us on his own and told us he wanted to eat. He's defintiley getting more and more independent and it seems his speech is growing by leaps and bounds each week. He is also saying down, though it's not quite so clear yet as some of the other words but it's getting there.

One last note, I finally feel like we can be ready for me to have surgery. There are 4 meals in the freezer, 1 more I'll make and freeze tomorrow for 5 that will just make life easier during that week after. We also now have a gallon and a half of milk in the freezer for Josh for the days that I can't feed him after surgery. So glad that we are ready, we still have a week and a half about before so we'll be extra ready hopefully with a little more milk frozen so we don't deplete the entire stock and have a super clean house. This week will be crazy busy in some ways, lots of figuring out the schedule with the truck and work and meetings and some extra stuff thrown in there too, but we'll try to keep things updated. We took some videos today and will hopefully post tomorrow, for now we're getting ready to get some sleep and hopefully not have kiddos up all night again...we need some rest!

Our Zoo Trip

It was a gorgeous day here today (yeah!!) and we did in fact make our trip to the zoo. We left of course in the morning so we could have our exurcsion in before nap time. Noah had so much fun just running around, he was okay in the stroller basically until we got into the zoo - no surprise there though. He ran around and looked at things, but mostly had fun running and seeing things. He also was doing this thing where he would walk, stop, spin circles, then continue walking. Odd, not sure where that came from but it was funny. We saw lots of animals today, the fish were a favorite. Though we again saw what could be a fear of the dark starting to show...in the aquarium there is a tunnel you walk through and Noah held onto Mike's hand the entire time, walking slowly through the tunnel and then when we got to the other side gave high fives! We also went to the petting zoo area. I know I've mentioned before how Noah doesn't like to go to sleep for bed or a nap with books or toys on the floor, but really I think it is so funny because at the petting zoo area, Noah was picking up the hay that was out of the trough and putting it back in. Seriously? Where does he get this from? Joshua also seemed to really have a good time, he was following things with his eyes and smiling and cooing. He got to ride in the stroller without the carseat, I think it let him really see more that way. He wanted held after a while and of course once he was in the sling for a bit fell asleep for his nap. We really did have a good morning out. I put lots of pictures up on Kodak - they are in April's folder!

Just a quick little note...

April 2 - Noah & Josh cuddling

We had a fairly uneventful day today. My eye is looking and feeling SO much better, so that is great. The boys were both a little needy this morning, Noah I still feel is working on molars, goodness it seems like it's been a long time and they still aren't in, but he is chewing on his fingers and drooling so much. Ha, Josh is drooling like crazy too! Oh well. Noah stayed with a sitter tonight while we went to a social at church, 3 of Noah's friends stayed with the sitter as well, that is why Josh went with us. Four 2 year olds seemed like more than enough for one person and Josh is still little enough for it to not be a big deal. That's really been the excitment today, other than the small bump Noah got on his head, he and Elora ran into each other. I think Noah must have the harder head though, Elora had a goose-egg already before they left and his was just slightly a bump. Ouch! Elora seemed okay though thankfully. Tomorrow we're going to try to go to the zoo...I think it will be a little crowded because it will be the first nice day in awhile and cabin fever I am sure has struck everyone, but hopefully it won't be too crowded in the morning.

April 4 - Josh staring at Daddy

A pain in the EYE

I must first say that I don't feel like I get any normal things normally, like this cyst thing that has been in the corner of my eye for a very long time, elementary school actually. Anyway, last night it was more irritated, this morning it was swollen and hurting. Went to the eye doc and he put me on antibotics...said it will take a couple days to feel better but should not get worse. So tonight, it had pus/white goop and blood coming out of it. Okay - really if it had been expected, I think the doc would have warned me about stuff coming out of it. I'm totally unnerved, it's my EYE! So my vision is slightly blurry, it hurts so badly, so we call and I go in to the ER - thanks Alexis for going with me!! - and they drain it more and get out a huge core and that quick I'm feeling better. Amazing, it was kind of cool/gross to see the core they got out, it was SOO big for being in that small place. So now more warm compresses and finishing up the antibotics. So gross, but still kind of cool - Mike does not agree, he thinks it is just gross. Oh well. The boys are both doing well though - I know that's why you really read - I will post and take more pictures tomorrow I promise!

Amazing Boys...

So not just my own boys either! Seriously, tonight I am just amazed at the boys we know! I was talking to Kristin today and hear Tucker in the background talking. Tucker isn't quite 15 months, yet even when they were here visiting...he was talking up a storm, he can say ball and down and more. Simon also is 15 months and saying truck and signing all kinds of words. Such smart little boys. Then Kristin tells me how Braylen is counting to 5 on her fingers, she starts by saying one, then Braylen repeats one and counts all the way to 5, holy cow he's only 2! I don't know, I jut think this is amazing. Well yesterday Noah amazed me with his stacking cups. He was getting ready to get in bed for his nap, he tends not to like things to be out and not put up when he goes to bed (where'd he learn this from??). So I watched, thinking he would just put them away, no he looked at them, picked up the top two from the stacked ones, put the one that wasn't stacked on the stack and drop the others back on top - right where they belonged! We have had these put away for several months, so I really was surprised at how quickly he knew where to put them. Then tonight, he wanted Mike to go downstairs, we asked him where he wanted Daddy to go, he pointed downstairs, we told him to say downstairs, and he almost got it, it was so close. But what was amazing was that he went to the shelf where the tub of letters (from when I was in college, it was a literacy class project I made) that can go on the metal door, pointed to the tub so Mike opened it and he took one out and ran to the metal door. Really?? We have only had these out once, sadly they had been put out of sight downstairs because it was too messy so now he can see them that the clutter is gone. But really, it just amazes me how much all these incredible boys learn and just how quickly! So if you need some stories of amazing kids, just give us a call chances are we will have a story or two, if not from Noah or Josh from one of their amazing friends!