Golf...Who Knew?

So Mike got a set of clubs for a wedding gift (thanks Michael!) 5 years ago (okay really that long? wowzer!). Anyway, since then he has had several chances to play and goes when he can. He really enjoys golf, and I was always glad it was something he had a good time doing. I thought it was nice for him to have a hobby. We had talked at one point about me trying to play, but that was when Noah was still incubating and it didn't seem like a good time to try. Well, we have several friends here who golf, and I have a few girlfriends who I know golf some too. So today we went - me, Mike, Ken & Alexis. Mike & I went to the range earlier this morning so I could at least have swung a club before getting to the course. I did okay, there's a lot to think about apparently while you swing, I figured if I at least hit a few balls I would be doing good. Then we went to a 9-hole course on base to play. Well, I was super slow, but overall I think I'm hooked. I had such a great time. I even hit a few decent shots (everyone else said they were good, so I guess they were). So it will definitely be something to do again. Now I keep thinking that it is nice to have another couple we are friends are with who plays, we can either go together or swap kids to go sometime. I told Mike he might be in trouble though, if we play some more this spring and next summer next year I may want a set of clubs myself. I don't think he minds the thought though, it really is nice to have something else we enjoy doing that is together. (by the way, we made it through 7 holes before we needed to go get kids and I think I hit a 59 - probably pretty bad but that's okay I've had putt-putt scores almost that high) Now we just have to wait to happily repay Sandi for watching the boys so her and Alan can go do something fun.

The Little Things in Life

So I've gone through half a box of tissues today, had chills and generally felt yucky - not super fun for a day; yet somehow today I am thankful, I find myself content. I'm doing a Bible study on Wed. mornings that is awesome, it is about being content regardless of the situation because as Christians our contentness should not be about circumstances, it should be eternal. I am trying very hard to practice these things, it is easier said than done but today I feel I've made a little progress - because I am greatful. Mike is still at home while I am feeling so yucky, this is huge. It was nice to be able to have him pick up soup and hot chocolate (necessities when I am really sick in my book) and to have him help with the boys. (though by the way he's tired right now, he says the night was really stressful...lol).
I am also grateful that we are continuing to have success with potty training for Noah. We had mastered the going #1 in the potty; Noah's seemed to have taken to that very well and telling us when he needs to go most of the time in enough time to get to a bathroom regardless of where we are. Now, the issue has been with #2 - he would go sometimes but seemed a bit scared or unmovitated. So we have been trying to figure out how to encourage Noah to finish going potty. Apparently he is highly motivated for M&Ms. We've had 3 days of success...yeah! Tonight he went without any encouragement from us, he just said he needed to go potty and then exclaimed "I did it Mommy. M please!"
I am also thankful for time with the boys. I'm glad that we are able to teach them about just how much God loves them and cares for them. Part of this is saying bedtime prayers. Every night we ask Noah what is thankful for so that he can say thank you to God. Tonight, Mike was putting NOah to bed, as I lay on the couch blowing my nose even more. I hear them talking, it was bread today (he had probably 4 pieces of banana bread today guess it was a hit). It has been for batman happy meal toys, for Daddy, for running, for playing, for cars. It is a refreshing thing to pray with a 2 year old, he is free in his thankfulness, he doesn't care that he may not say it right or that it isn't "special enough." And you can't forget this part, Noah wants this part of his bedtime routine, it is not enough for you to pray for him at bed he wants to talk to God himself. I pray for the boys, that this need, this excitment continues and that Mike and I can continue to lead and guide them in the right way.

Noah's Adventures

A little bit to fill you in on Noah's life lately. First, we are continuing to see improvements with his speech, which is encouraging to us. We just have to remember to slow down and wait for him when we are talking to him. It seems lately that we are getting more words in a sentence from him without any prompting on our part. For example, he'll say "your turn mommy" or "your turn daddy" and "want adio on please" (adio = radio). It is exciting to see him express himself more clearly and get a bigger glimpse into the workings of his mind. He even asked me "why" this morning, though I can't remember about what. That is very exciting to me.

Noah's also gone to the dentist this past week. He had a great time playing with the picture cards on the floor, climbing in and out of my lap, and charming everyone. He didn't seem afraid of the tools as they showed them to him, even when she showed Noah "Mr. Thirsty" and explained that it went in your mouth he was opening his mouth to try it out. I was really pleased that he stayed by my chair the whole time and played the toys and things that he was allowed to play with. The office was great with him and even let him help count my teeth and ride in the chair by himself. He was a little unsure about the chair going up when he was alone in it though. This was just a "happy" visit for him, he won't have a real visit until he's about 3 but I am glad it was a good first experience at the dentist.

It also seems that Noah's starting to remember things longer. He's of course learning lots and lots and remembers lots of letters, numbers, etc. But it seems that we have just recently realized that he remembers things about the past in more specific detail. Mike was putting him to bed tonight, Noah likes to have a puzzle some nights to go to sleep playing, so Mike handed him the shape puzzle from his shelf. This was the same puzzle I had given him last night and then moved to the shelf before I went to bed, so he hadn't played with it since then. Well one of the pieces was missing and Noah got upset and was pointing between his bed and the wall, the missing puzzle piece sure enough was down between the bed and wall.

Another Doctor's Visit...

We weren't planning this visit but ended up back at the doctor today for Josh. He spiked a bit of a fever today and has just been miserably cranky since Wed. night. Yesterday Mike and I both noticed he was pulling on his ears. No wonder he has been cranky, he has another double ear infection. I feel so bad for our little guy, he's a trooper I know but this isn't fun for anyone. We didn't even have to get his weight checked or temp taken - just went straight back to the room. Dr. Toth immediately looked at both ears, they were indeed infected and got us started with an antibotic. We will still follow up in a month and go from there...

Elora went with us since she's over here Friday afternoons, Sandi offered to have someone else keep her but I felt like her and Noah would do great playing and didn't want to have to be a bother to Sandi. Noah and Elora both impressed me with just how great they were. They are both wonderful kids of course but waiting at the doctor's isn't exactly fun either. So even with getting 3 kids in and out of the truck we were only there 45 minutes. That is amazing considering we had a prescription to pick up and I am thankful, ever thankful for that. Now just to get Josh to feeling better.

Josh's follow-up Appointment

Well it sure seems that we have a week of doctors' appointments this week, two down and 1 more to go. Monday was Noah's appointment to check on his snoring which turned out fine thankfully. Today we had an appointment with Dr. Toth for Josh's follow-up because of his double ear infection from July. We had his ears checked a month after and there was still fluid, so this was a month check to hopefully find there was no fluid. No such luck; there is still fluid and apparently his ears are looking a bit worse. We have to document fluid on the ears, and the readings from his ears being flat for at least 3 months, so another month and we'll check again. Neither I nor his doctor are hopeful that there will be much improvement but I am still hoping for the best results.
I am thankful that we have a doctor who isn't just letting this go because I am concerned about his hearing. It seems lately that when I am sitting behind him and say his name in a normal voice level, he doesn't respond. Today the doctor was snapping to get his attention so he would turn his head and nothing. I was told to watch for any sign of fever and bring him back in, guessing they think another ear infection could be likely. So we're waiting and hoping for the best, we'll check again in a month.

Noah's ENT Appointment

Well - this is going to be short, it's almost 10 and the gym calls early these days!

Noah went to the ENT again today to check on his snoring which was concerning to the peditrician. His anoids are fine, she looked, and then did an x-ray to be sure but they are fine. We talked about his snoring and other things and she said that from looking at his nose and talking with me his snoring has more to do with his allergies and the fact that he has nasal allergies specifically. Now, if his snoring gets bad enough that it is interupting his rest we will have to re-evaluate whether it will be time to use a nasal spray. Until then, well he just snores! Not that it is an odd thing in this house, even the dog snores it seems so Mike is the odd man out here...

We are glad that there is no need to consider surgery and that it isn't really affecting his life, he'll just snore and drool like a crazy man while he sleeps and we'll have to wash sheets several times a week like we do now.

Happy 9 Months Josh

Can you believe our baby is 9 months old already? He's growing up so much, though I don't feel like he's gotten much taller or heavier in the last month but of course that's just my gut feeling. He's been crawling after Noah everywhere though so despite the fact that he eats like a small horse he isn't gaining a ton of weight. He's officially gotten 2 teeth you can see, his second tooth popped through this past Wed. the 10th. He'd been cranky a few days before it finally came through so we are all very glad it's in! Josh is also clapping, sometimes it seems very random, but there are other times it seems quite purposeful because he's happy or excited. It also seems another favorite thing to do is to shake his head back and forth, he's really quite funny when he does it. He's getting a little more time with the push truck too and can really get some speed "walking" with that. He continues to try to switch from object to object when he's cruising around and is getting braver about letting go when he's standing up holding onto things and tries to stand, though its only a few seconds until he falls on his bottom.

On a not so fun developmental stage I believe he's beginning to have separation anxiety. It wasn't a great week dropping him off at the nursery in church and this week it was really just once that I left him as the other two times I was helping in his room. Noah seemed to go through it a lot earlier and just recently is 'over" it so I am not super excited about it, but developmentally it's suppose to be healthy they say - just not easy on mom when they need dropped off. I guess I should be glad we didn't have to deal with it for 9 months with Josh. Noah seemed to cycle in and out of it for the first 2 years of his life, hopefully Josh will have just a few short cycles.

Random Thoughts

I can't help but post today and just say that I hope we all stopped and said a prayer for all those who lost loved ones 7 years ago, for those serving our country in so many ways and thier families who keep the homefront strong. I've thought about what it will be like having to tell Noah & Josh as they learn history in school what that day was like for us, it will be hard even though we were not hit with as much tragedy as many, but important to remember and share with them. Right now they are too little, but one day we'll have to talk.

Our week has been so busy, Mike & I were talking tonight about just feeling like the week got away from us, it seemed crammed full every day and things that were planned for the week to do at home didn't necessarily get done. That's alright, there are those weeks and the things at home that matter get done. Still our mornings are a rush right now, but it is a good rush and routine I think. It's week two of everyone leaving the house by 7...Mike gets dropped off at work (unless he's had to be in earlier - which has happened recently and it's been the wee wee hours of the morning), the boys and I head to the gym and "play" as Noah says. He's enjoying the playground and climbing up slides and through the tunnels and crawling with Josh. Josh likes to crawl around, though I'm leary somedays depending on the ground because he'll eat anything down there. Other times he sits in the stroller and snacks. We have been rushing home, Noah watches cartoons, Josh naps, and I get ready and we are gone again usually by 850 - it seems crazy. Tuesdays and Wednesdays now we'll have to be at church by 9ish or possibly on another outing for MOPS depending on the week, Mondays we usually go to the learning center, Thursdays a trip somewhere (museum, zoo, somewhere) and Friday the community center to play and then the library. The boys seem to be adapting really well to the "schedule" and enjoy being out and playing and then having time in the afternoon after naps to relax and explore things at home. We'll see how it needs tweaked but for now we are enjoying it.

Josh has begun sleeping better, he had for about 2 weeks slept great and then had about 2 weeks where he was up 2 or 3 times again in the night, just needing a quick comfort to get back to sleep but still not sleeping solidly. I hope that this continues to be improving, sleep has done us all so much good.

The boys are both doing so much right now, they just seem to be learning every day and are enjoying playing with each other now. I think that I will try to post in the next week an update on each of the separately so that it's not pages and pages in one post =) We have been good though, just seems that with busy days we're taking evenings to have little "plugged in" time, not much TV or computer. We miss you all though and hope you are well and enjoying the fall weather if you have it!

Where'd the Week GO?

It's Thursday night and I am again wondering where the time has gone. Monday we had a pretty laid back day here, running a few errands and taking care of some chores. Mike was a saint and cut 40 growth charts out of 2 4x8 boards and then has helped me sand over half of them already. We'll be making growth charts as a creative activity this year in MOPS - have I mentioned Mike helping os much, I appreciate his support and help so much with many of the things on "my plate." Tuesday was an early morning, we dropped Mike off and went to the gym and then to the learning center. The boys had tons of fun, Alexis, Simon and Ryder were also there. Noah listened and participated in a few songs and then sat for some of the story too. I was pretty impressed. Josh was sleeping during the story and eating for most of the songs, no surprise there.
Wednesday we went to the zoo with Alexis and boys, Sara & Ethan, and Sandi & Elora. We went through the creatures of the night display and considerng that Noah doesn't like the dark at all he did super. He covered his eyes until I said look at this. We saw lots of owls and bats. We've been doing lots with owls this week. We've painted with feathers, glued on feathers and made some owl puppets. We had lunch with Mike which is always a great treat during the week. Wednesday was also the start of AWANA - it will be an exciting year. Today we spent most of the day with friends again, working on getting things accomplished. Noah and Simon had lots of fun playing and it seems that Josh is joining in their fun too.
Noah is surprising us these days, he seems to know many of his colors now. He's even beginning to say some of the colors, he's had blue for awhile now but now says black, reen (green), purple, ellow (yellow), and red. He also when we asked him what "2" was quickly told us two and then again this morning while Mike was asking him how old he was, Noah said two, put up two fingers and pointed to the '2" on the wall. It is so awesome to see how quickly kids learn things, we haven't sat and done worksheets or read unending stories on these things (though we do read quite a lot it seems!) but through playing and making things there has been so much observed. I guess I was reminded this week just how fortunate and blessed that I am to be here at home with the boys. I'm not saying that every day is only filled with bliss and joy (did I mention Noah did not nap 3 days this week?) but it is so rewarding a career to be here with them, to know that I am involved in their lives to almost every detail. I realize it is not an option for many, or even something everyone would like - but I am grateful, blessed to be here with them.
Saying that - I must also say that I am also grateful for breaks, mini-vacations even if it is just going to lunch alone with a friend or typing when everyone is alseep here =). I am reminded that taking care of me means I can better take care of the rest of the family by Mike, so many others in family and friends. This is so true! This weekend I'm looking forward to a vacation that has been long awaited - I'll be meeting with Kristin in Kansas City for a weekend away from all kids. I can hardly believe it is almost here, though I haven't packed or cleaned. I feel better knowing that while I'm gone that things will be in order and clean (if the boys cooperate tomorrow) and also that dinner will simply need taken out of the freezer and popped in the oven for Mike & the boys. He'll have them all weekend and I know they will have a blast too! So we'll get back to you on Monday or Tuesday...have a great weekend and stay safe out there on the east coast!