A Beautiful Sunday

It was a beautiful day here today and we got to spend much of the morning outside and at church. Our church had their family fest today and we had an outdoor service with all the kids out with us too and then fun, games, and food afterward. We were running late (totally my fault) and then forgot a stroller...so we went ahead and headed home to grab it (a bonus of living 2 minutes from church) and Noah was so upset, he kept pointing and saying hurch, hurch...so he was very glad when we were back. The service was wonderful, with great music. Mike & I both helped out with booths, for Sunday school, small group and MOPS so that kept us pretty busy but were still able to enjoy our time and relax some. Noah had a great time and went in the small bounce house that was near the MOPS booth - that was a first. I was really glad to see him bouncing and jumping around with his friends having so much fun. There were also firetrucks to peddle around, he needed pushed but still had a great time with them. Josh was content to talk to all the ladies and be held. So it was a great morning and afternoon, a little more draining than we thought so it was home and time for naps for us all. On the way home, we had lots to load in the truck, so I got Josh strapped in, Mike opened Noah's door and had him climb in, then was loading more stuff. Mike & I both were in the front after everything was loaded and Noah is trying to tell us something and it sounded urgent before we left...we turn around and he's pointing at his straps and buckles...we had forgotten he had just climbed in. What a smart boy and how great that we got a reminder, I'm so thankful! I doubt we don't check before leaving any more, that could have been very scary, but we were both impressed that he was telling us he needed buckled!

We have played lots and fed the boys lots the rest of the afternoon. Suddenly it seems they are both eating nonstop for periods of the day. Noah's appetite has been sparing to say the least lately, so this seems a surprise for him. Not much else, just lots of playing bowling, an errand to get more milk & bananas - that stock was resupplied on Thursday...yikes! I'm sure this is just a hint of what is to come, I'm sure in the future we'll be buying 2 - 4 gallons of milk a week without thinking about it. Enjoy the rest of your hopefully long weekend!

Dinosaurs & Other Random Things

So yesterday we had a lot of fun with all our friends coming over. We were going to have a dinosaur dig and volcano erruption. The kids were not so interested in digging for dinosaurs, but did seem to like watching the volcano. That's alright, the purpose in our "themes" and adventures right now is just to expand horizons and experiences and some days are going to be like that. There was a bit of digging and lots and lots of playing by the big kids (by the way have I mentioned how odd it is to consider Noah as one of the big kids??). While we were playing with all the kids Mike was golfing with Ken & Matt. The weather was beautiful, a perfect day it seemed to spend out on the golf course and to top it off, Mike says he shot the best game he's ever had. I doubt you could beat a morning like that often. Yesterday evening of course was group, the kids all seemed to have a great time playing and Kasey is improving in her behavior with that many kiddos running around too (she isn't jumping, at least hardly ever).





Now for the random thought - Josh has been sleeping wonderfully the past week. I cannot tell you how much better Mike & I both feel with getting sleep. So I feel bad complaining about his behavior right now, but he does have one last really annoying habit I wish we could end, and we've been working on it as well. I think everyone knows Josh is a nursed baby...well he likes to pinch while he is nursing. It's really just annoying and sometimes painful, he's got quite a bit of strength in those little fingers. Well, we've tried not letting him eat when he does it, telling him no firmly, etc. Today though he kept at it - Mike came up with a brillant idea - he got one of Noah's old mittens and put it on him. LOL - it seemed so strange but he didn't seem to mind it being on, was kindof distracted with it and didn't try to pinch even. So here's our little man with his nursing attire on I guess =)

Noah's Screening & Appointment

We have had another busy week here, but it has been a good week. There has been playing at the learning center and a trip to the Children's Museum with lots of friends. I'm sorry that I haven't posted much this week, we are also working on helping Josh fall asleep on his own. This has not been super fun, but it hasn't been as bad or long as I thought it would be either, so I am very grateful for that. We are on night 4 and doing great, he slept through the night all of last night with only one short cry and then was promptly back to sleep.

Anyway - Noah had his screening on Wed. afternoon. He passed and was above the "line" for each area of evaluation, including speech. It seems that his problem is mainly articulation, we knew that. But this is a very common thing at 2 - and honestly he's made great progress in the 4 weeks of waiting for the screening so I am not surprised. Gross motor skills he maxed out, no surprise there either. They gave us some strategies, many she said we were doing already it sounded like (having him try a word, repeating etc.) but also to slow down when we talk to him. We also discussed his snoring and how nasal he sounds (okay I never really thought about it him sounding this way he's just always sounded like that). She said it could also be a problem with his annoids (I'm sure I spelled that wrong, you nurses out there can correct me =) okay?). So she suggested we see his primary care doc to see if they were enlarged. We saw him today (talk about getting an appointment speedy!) and yes they are enlarged it seems from what he could see. He was more concerned that he was snoring even when he was not sick, and loudly some nights. So we have an appointment to see ENT again on Sept. 15.
I feel like Noah is a "healthy" kid now but seems to see specialists more than I would like, but at the same time, if there are issues that need to be dealt with, I would rather deal with them now when he is young and bounces back so quickly. I'm a bit torn, of course. But we'll have to wait a few weeks and see what is really going on in that throat.

Tomorrow we're having a "dinosaur dig" and "volcano erruption" so I'm sure I'll get pictures and post about that, if not tomorrow afternoon then Saturday. Mike has a 4 day weekend and will be golfing in the am - so we're doing it with some friends coming over. Then hopefully the boys will nap, I'm running to the teacher store (lol yep it could be trouble!), and then we have group tomorrow night - so I'm not promising on Friday but sometime this weekend. We miss you all...oh and Happy Birthday Mom Taitt (a day late) and Dad Taitt (a few days early!) Love ya!

The Weekend Review...

Well the weekend once again flew by us - leaving us going where'd it go? Friday was a not so great day on the homefront. Josh continued to be crabby and fussy most of the day, a trip to the doctor proved his ears were not infected...the doc did give us numbing drops to help with pain though so I guess he thought there was something to it. Of course the whole time we were at the doctor Josh was fine and in good spirits. I had the MOPS retreat to do some planning for the year with the other great ladies, well I took Josh with me, which had always been the plan, but he refused to play or be content with anyone but me and it was making things very difficult for me as I was trying to explain our craft and demonstrate so I finally called Mike to come and rescue me.

Saturday was more of the retreat, we got so much work done...it was great! I went kid-free. That was pretty nice too. It's just easier to concentrate on other things when you're not worried about your kiddos being happy and safe (I knew they were safe, and hopefully happy, cause Mike had them). Mike said the boys were in great moods for the day. The played some and ran a quick errand. The evening was spent trying to play at a park (it was muggy, there was bee or wasp nests, I was grumpy after that so it didn't last long) and instead we went and got a treat from TCBY.

Today we had church, Josh moved up rooms. He is now in the crawler room, which is good cause he is getting speedy. He can chase after Noah now with no problems at all, he's exploring the house and absolutely everything he can reach right now. Thank goodness it was pretty much babyproof before, it's made a little less work for us. We have discovered there are a few things that Noah plays with that are a bit too small and have to be very careful now. We had a great lunch with some friends after church. Naps went well for us all - yep even Mike and I snuck in a nap. After our nap, Mike and I worked on getting downstairs cleaned up and reorganized a bit...it looks great. We've shifted some things around and repurposed a few things so that toys can be more easily found and taken out. The big toy box is wonderful, but very hard for little ones to get things out of, so it has a new home in the garage for all the outside toys (it's pretty much full of course already). I had a meeting at church for Sunday school teachers and left with both boys still napping. I came home to a very happy and playful set of boys. We played some more and got them to bed. Mike has worked on painting more of the trim and I got our dinosaur eggs started. Yep, we're exploring dinosuars this week at our house - so by Wednesday or Thursday hopefully Noah will have two dinosaur eggs to paint and then on Friday when we do our volcano demonstration they'll be ready to "hatch" and find our dinosuars.

We took a few pictures, they aren't posted anywhere yet - sorry. We'll work on that some tomorrow hopefully. Hope you guys had a great relaxing and productive weekend wherever you are!

Learning Center Fun & Art

Do you ever wonder where time slips away to? I mean really, how does it seem it will never pass when you are anxiously waiting for something but then there are days that seem to disappear before you realize it? We have had busy and fun days the last couple days but I really am wondering where the time went? On Tuesday Mike went and played golf with Ken - a well deserved and over due outing in my opinion - so the boys and I headed over to hang out with Alexis and her boys. We talked about some MOPS stuff (we're doing creative activities together this year and want to make sure we have lots of fun things planned that will go over well) and mostly hung out. The boys had a blast together as always, and Ken and Mike were done early and were home to play with the boys. Apparently, the push car in their backyard was getting lots of speed thanks to the daddies and the boys were both so sad to come inside when it was time to!

Wed. we played at the learning center with Sara & Ethan and also some other friends we knew from church. That was lots of fun. Noah really does enjoy going and it's really nice to see Josh starting to have a good time there as well. He is moving all over and enjoyed watching the older kids and trying to keep up. He likes the cars and the ball area and the mats. We had lunch out with Mike - Noah saw someone with a motorcycle helmet and was very interested in it and the guy's motorcycle. I told Noah when we go and visit back east when he's older (OLDER - not the next visit - older as in he is in booster seat not a carseat!) that he will surely get a chance to take a ride with someone - Grandpa Lucas or Grandpa Taitt or Uncle Mike or now apparently Aunt Chrystal. I had AWANA that night and had to go to Target to get Josh some light weight pjs - he has outgrown his 9 month pjs and we have 12 month pjs but they are all very winter time and too hot. I can't believe he's in 12 mo pjs...he's not very heavy, just getting long.

Today we made a quick trip to the commissary; as soon as we pulled in the parking lot though Noah was crying NO NO NO...he was pretty good considering how the trip started. We then played at the learning center again. Josh was climbing, yes you read that right Josh was climbing up the little mountain of mats they have. Noah had a great time too, both boys enjoyed songs, Noah made it through almost 5 songs - I think that's a record! Then it was home for lunch and chores. Tonight we took dinner to Alexis and Ken - which of course meant a great night for everyone. Simon and Noah had a lot of fun golfing today since they missed out on Tuesday! Noah was so sad to leave. I'm uploading pictures to Kodak and will work on getting videos up tonight too. Mike is out jogging with Kasey and boys are sleeping, but there are so many things that need attention around here and our weekend is going to be super busy. Sorry the posts are fewer and longer between, we are really trying to work on getting time to read and study in the evenings after the boys are in bed and get to bed at a decent time and well, the boys just don't slow down all day!

Oh two side notes - Josh is starting to run a low grade temp again, so we'll have make an appointment tomorrow (I'm sure they will be sick of me by the end of this but oh well, he is so fussy in the afternoon and tugging on both ears still). Noah has his evaluation set up for the 27th too, we'll do a general evaluation on the 27th and then have a multidisciplinary team meeting on the 2nd and go from there (such as if he needs further evaluations from a speech pathologist).

Update for you on EARS

Yes, ears - both boys had appointments this morning on their ears. I'll start with the good news, Noah's hearing is great right now! Noah went to Boys Town for a full hearing test and to see the ENT doc today (thanks to Sara for keeping Josh so I didn't have to juggle them both). Other than being a little rambunctious Noah did great. We're still waiting for his speech evaluation (hopefully by the end of the month) though as he's getting new words but still struggling some. He'll follow up in 3 months with the ENT doctor to check on his tubes and also to make sure that the wax build up from a few weeks ago hasn't returned.
Now Josh had an earlier appointment on base with Dr. Toth. We saw a resident working with him at first, who was pretty good. There is still fluid on both of his ears though. Dr. Toth came in and checked things out more, we talked about what the fluid could mean if it stays over time (hearing loss because of the fluid and the need for tubes possibly - yep we've been there, done that, different kid though). So we have to make a follow up with Dr. Toth in a month - we'll evaluate what's going on at that point and see where we need to go. They got a base line reading from today of the pressure in his ears so we can compare that. It was nice that Josh's hearing and health seemed to be the most important thing to the doctors today, that they weren't just going to let it go and hope for the best. We have a plan of action for right now. I was also told this could be the reason he isn't the best sleeper (great, could we please solve this before Mike leaves again, pretty please?). Of course, it also means that he could have an ear infection come on at any time since the fluid is just sitting there at the moment (they are not infected right now), so we'll keep a close eye on his temp and if we have a low grade fever even for just a day or two I'm taking him back in. This time we're going to do our best to stay on top of the ear infections.
So that's it, the boys are both napping (ahh, peace and quiet) and I'm getting stuff prepped for our MOPS retreat this weekend, we'll leave to go get Mike in a bit, then have dinner and I'm off for a meal swap - yummy stuff to stock the freezer some more!

The Air Show

Today we made our way to the base for the Air Show. We decided to get up and go early, hoping to park at the squadron before the show started for better parking and also have the boys in their best moods. Noah seemed a little off right at first, but was soon excited to see all the planes and helicopters. He loves helicopters right now! We had a really good time. The only sad part of the day was when we saw Simon (of course with Ken, Alexis, and Ryder) and had to say goodbye because we had already gone on the EC130. Noah actually cried, he was so sad to leave his friend.

There were so many cool planes to see and we also saw parachuters and some planes taking off, the Air Force chopper, monster truck (we saw that on Thursday too) and a race car. We were back by nap time though so that boys could rest and I could make salomi & cheese rolls for our meal swap on Monday. We watched the Thunderbirds flying from the back deck though and Noah was so excited about them. Mike & him had lots of fun on the deck together. After the kitchen was clear of some smoke (yeah - salomi rolls should be baked on rimmed cookie sheets not flat stones - DUH - I should have learned this lesson the last time, a little grease makes lots of smoke!) Mike and the boys headed to the store for a quick errand, I cleaned up the kitchen. They were home and we had dinner and then did lots of painting. I will try and post pictures from our painting tomorrow - but Noah finally was okay with paint on his hands, he's really enjoying painting and playdough lately.

Zoo & RibFest Fun

Yesterday we had an early start to our evening since Mike was able to come home early (what a nice treat!) and we headed to the zoo to see the F-16 on display and check out the rest of the zoo of course too. Noah always has a great time at the zoo, and he had a friend come along, too (Elora came with us). The two of them had a ball, we saw the jet, the desert, the aquarium, and the butterflies and of course the exploration station (Noah's favorite I think). It's neat when we get out and see that the boys are growing more than we sometimes notice at home. For example, Noah had so much to tell us and say at the zoo about all the animals and trees and plants there. He has been excited before, but seemed so much more intentional with what he was saying (though we didn't quite catch it all). Elora and him both seemed to have ideas running through their heads that they were wanting to share. So much fun! Josh also seemed to be more aware of his surroundings, he loved watching the fish especially.

Noah & Elora

After that we made our way to the RibFest - not knowing quite what to expect - and found a good time. Ken & Alexis and their boys met us there a little later, so at first we walked around some of the carnival rides and then had our dinner. Noah didn't eat much, it seems to be his trend lately hope that changes soon. We had BBQ of course, we just tried one place because of the lines and Mike & I both agreed the ribs were great but the rest of it was just okay...we could make better at home. Noah was tired and mopey, Josh was eating like crazy of course and pretty content to chew on his shoe (it hasn't touched the ground not to worry). As soon as Simon was there though - all was better in the world of Noah! Simon and Noah had a great time running around and dancing to the music. We ended up watching a bit of the Air Force Honor Guard and checking out the Air Force Monster Truck (remember it's Air Force Week here). The monster truck was a HUGE hit with both Noah and Simon. After that we were all ready to go and decided to stop and get some ice cream closer to home...it was yummy but both babies wanted fed again and Noah was all sugared up and it was past his bed time, I hope we weren't too much of a bother to the others in the ice cream shop!

Ryder fast asleep

There are more pictures on Kodak and I'll be adding videos on photobucket as I get time too.

Happy 8 Months Josh!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while - I'm sorry! We had a pretty busy weekend, there was some fun had but mostly a whole lot of work! Our fence is officially fixed! YEAH! Mike and our neighbor worked so hard all weekend and got it up and it is so wonderful! I realize that I have no pictures to speak of to show you, so we'll try to fix that later this week.

Noah continues to have good and bad days of potty training - it is frustrating and rewarding all at the same time. We are sticking with it though and just relishing in the good moments! Noah is also continuing to get more and more words and the words he is saying, he's saying clearer. It is so exciting for us, we really love that he can more clearly communicate with us. It is also amazing what he has going on in his mind. Tonight for example while we were reading, he was saying "baby, baa" talking about the baby sheep on the page and then was saying animal noises and moon - it seemed that he and daddy and the animals were going to go to the moon, I asked if I could go, no I wasn't allowed. He also at church tonight clearly told us he was ready to go, at the door, he turned to us (talking with Ken & Alexis) and said "wanna go byebye"

Joshua is officially 8 months old today - can you believe it? He is getting so big. He has been fussy though the past few days, Saturday he was just NEEDY and then Sunday the same thing, Monday he wouldn't be content unless he was being held. I was worried of course, he was congested and I thought we might have another bout of sickness. Today he was a bit fussy in the morning but overall better. Tonight at church they said he was moving everywhere and playing and having a good time, though when the older kids had a snack he wanted to eat (he had eaten literally 2 minutes before we left, he had snacks he shouldn't have needed a meal). He was okay with his sippy cup (which he now has the hang of!). I was so glad to see big smiles from him again. Tonight while we were taking his month picture though - we saw it - Josh has his first tooth! It is barely poking through but there is defintiley a tooth coming through (the middle bottom right one) - guess we know why he was so fussy! Now if we can master sleeping through the night that hopefully the pain is gone...that would be so wonderful! It has been a big couple weeks for Josh - learning to crawl, to cruise, to use his sippy cup, and his first tooth.

Tomorrow we have plans for the zoo (it's Air Force Week here, they have an F-16 simulator at the zoo, we are hoping to catch a glimpse) and then to check out the RibFest here in Council Bluffs, so I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures, I believe we are meeting Ken, Alexis, Simon and Ryder too so it should be a great fun filled day and I promise to try and post more often now!

Cruising through summer...

Well, on Friday Josh started crawling forward. I was expecting by today we would have a speed demon on our hands again. Once again though Joshua is proving that his agenda will be met on his terms =) He is still crawling forward, some. He gets to where he wants for toys but he is most interested in getting close enough to something to pull up on. He pulls up on the train table, Noah's potty chair, the stool, the sit and spin, boxes, whatever he can. Yesterday he seemed to be trying to cruise around the train table, but only one foot was moving and it was going back and forth and his arms would go and then he would get mad and hit the table. So today I thought he might have moved, maybe, but it was just a tiny bit and I didn't see it so I can't be sure. Tonight as we are getting ready to go to dinner (8 batches of baby food and I didn't feel like cooking anything else, lol) Mike was letting Kasey out, put Josh standing at one end of the train table and came back to him on the other end. So I guess that Josh is more interested in being up right and crusing around than he is crawling, it seems crawling is just a means to an end at this point for him.

Potty training has hit a wall, a frustrating, ugly wall the past few days. I was really ready to give up, blaming myself for using pullups while we camped to make our lives easier and thinking I had failed Noah (yep, definitely have this issue with feeling guilty as a mommy all the time, we're working on that one). So today we stayed home for baby food and potty training. The day didn't seem to be going so great. We still had some accidents, once Noah didn't even seem to care/know that he was wet. Of course when he was successful we praised him and praised him and made a HUGE deal of it. Tonight on the way to eat, we are driving on a street that was backed up and congested. Suddenly, Noah is saying, pee, go pee. We were both like hold it buddy, just hold it! We made it as quickly as we could to a McDonald's and Mike ran him in for a successful potty trip! Yeah! And then again while we were eating he said he had to go. Maybe we're going to have some improvement, that would be nice! While we were at the restraunt in the bathroom, a lady came in and Noah almost ran into her, looked up and said sorry. We washed our hands and she was coming out, he goes she potty mommy.

It also appears that we are having some increase in vocabulary lately, I'm very relieved. I still think that we should continue with having his speech evaluated because the articulation is still weak, but I'm so glad that he is not just too frustrated to try new words. He is now saying - "help" "sorry" "potty" "peas" (that's suppose to be please) and "I did it" (followed by his fists up at his sides very excitedly)

2 Year Old is Found in Bed...Unassisted !?!

Okay let me start with the strange, even maybe scary news - it is almost mind numbing (those of you with 2 year olds I think will understand how shocking it was). Noah went in his room at 2:50 this afternoon, closed his door. I heard "Nemo" (his bear with a message from Mike) play twice and then nothing. I finished getting Josh to sleep for his nap, checked on Simon who was playing in the hall and then Noah - who was in fact asleep. SERIOUSLY? That is awesome! Normally he hates naps, today I guess he needed it. We had Simon over to play for the morning and afternoon while his new baby brother arrived and I guess Noah was worn out from an early morning and lots of playing. Amazing! Simon had a nap prior to all of this (at his normal time unlike my boys who were onry and didn't sleep like normal) and so then Simon and I got some time to play cars. It was nice. It was also really really nice to not have a nap time struggle. I am not getting my hopes up that this will continue, but boy was it nice! I did take some pictures of Noah and Simon outside playing and will post those later, probably tomorrow as we have bedtime to do here, I have to get ready for MOPS meeting in the morning and the commissary and some errands after - so don't hold your breath, sorry.

And yes, it wouldn't be right to post without saying WELCOME RYDER and Congrats to Alexis, Ken, & Simon on a beautiful boy!

Camping...

We had lots of fun despite the heat, it was way way too hot even for me. I must say that it probably made me a little whiny and worried about the boys and how they were doing. We swam in the lake, played ball, roasted marshmellows, sung some songs, talked a lot and a little church - it was a really great weekend and I wish I could elaborate but I am tired and have tried to get pictures uploaded in all the places so I'm kind of tired of staring at a screen too - sorry! I didn't take many from Saturday afternoon on, not sure why other than I was just hot. Oh well. I will post more on here, but for now check out photobucket or Kodak they are all there.

Oh - and Josh got a haircut tonight, such a big boy, he looks so grown! I'm a little sad, but knew I would be. He did pretty well but was MAD by the end, after a bath he seemed to be back to all smiles thankfully.

We Have Forward Movement!

WhooHOO! GO JOSH! It is a bit ackward at the moment but it was definitely forward and he's repeated it already. We got home from taking Kasey to the kennel (we're camping this weekend, we are staying home tonight to make sure Noah is better, he had a fever last night and was complaining his ear hurt, no ear infection but not taking chances), we went to Parables to get a book for family devotions during dinner (aka something about 3 minutes, Noah's attention span), and dinner and Josh was on the floor sitting when he started trying to come toward me or a toy - not sure which, the camera was handy and I grabbed it quick to see if he would do it again and he did! YEAH! We'll update more on camping sometime Sunday or Monday - enjoy your weekend everyone, stay cool and safe and check out our little moving man!