Halloween 2010

Saturday night was our Trick or Treat night around these parts. Mike and I decided to take the kids out to eat before we went Trick or Treating. We had to wait a few minutes to get a table and I snapped this picture of the kids.

When we got to our table, I took a picture of Dad.

And Emily took a picture of me and Noah. He looks all happy, but he really fussed and cried during most of the meal. I said on Twitter the other night that he wants me to hold him any time we sit down to eat and that is so true.

Before supper was over, Emily spilled her drink all over the table. It was just one of those nights. When it rains it pours, right?

After supper, we stopped by Aunt Pat's house. Madison and Mason happened to be there at the same time. Then Kevin and Sarah showed up a little after we did. It was all totally unplanned, but we all showed up at the same time.

Here is a picture of Aunt Pat and Noah.

Next, we went by Nanny and Pops's house. The power was out in their neighborhood so everyone was sitting outside handing out candy. As we pulled up, the electricity came back on. A LOT of people were walking around Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.

Noah was getting a little fussy so we ran by Aunt Charlene and Uncle Ralph's house to Trick or Treat. Cherry, Madison and Mason and Kevin and Sarah went over there with us. The kids played for a few minutes while the adults chatted. And then the OU game started and everybody scrambled.

Here are the kids - Sarah, Madison, Noah, Mason and Emily.

It ended up being a long and late night out, but we all had a good time.

We were all tired and ended up sleeping in until 7am on Sunday morning. We had to leave the house by 7:45am for Sunday School so we were in a mad scramble to get everyone ready and out the door on time. I cannot say that we were exactly on time, but we did better than expected.

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Fall Carnival 2010

Tonight we went to the Fall Carnival at Emily's school. We were running a little late because Noah had to eat right before we left.

Noah wore his "Baby Chef" costume. With his cheeks, it was a perfect choice! Emily was a 50's Sock Hop girl with a poodle skirt and cateye glasses. She was soooo pretty!


We made it in time to go through the Trick or Treating at the classrooms. They had the cafeteria decorated like a sort of haunted house and the teachers were dressed up and handing out the candy.

Emily saw the first group of dressed up people and she decided that she did not want to go through there and Trick or Treat at all. We were about to leave, but one of the ladies from the school took Emily by the hand and walked her through.



Then we went over to the carnival where they had several booths set up with games and face painting and a cake walk, etc.

Emily did not want to do any of the games, but we did find the booth that Cherry and Madison were helping with.

They were helping at a face painting booth and tattoo parlor.

Noah was really good while we were at the school. He didn't fuss a bit. He was just looking around at all the people in costume. I wonder what he was thinking.


We all had a good time at the fall carnival this year. Can't wait until Halloween so that we can dress up again!

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Faces

Emily - July 14, 2005

Noah - October 16, 2010

I think they look a lot alike at this age. What do you think?

When I saw this picture of Noah from last weekend, it brought to mind the photo above of Emily. I had to drag out my photo archive and search through it for more

than a half hour to find the picture I wanted, but this is it.

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Seriously?

This has not been a good week for me. It started off badly and that trend is just continuing.

I'll give you the highlights.

On Monday - I had a flat tire on my way to work. I was at the gas station when I noticed the tire was very low so I was able to limp the car over to the air machine and air up the tire. Then my father-in-law helped me take my car to the tire shop.

The tire had a nail in it in such a place that the tire could not be repaired and had to be replaced.

It was early in the morning and the tire place was not busy so they were able to get me going again fairly quickly. I was "only" an hour and a half late for work.

Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, I can't even remember what I did. I just know that my stomach hurt both days and I was just wishing they were over before they even started.

And that brings us to today. I was in a car accident on my drive home from work today. A lady pulling out from a parking lot onto one of the busiest streets in the metro area ran right into the side of my car.

The street is divided in that area - three lanes in each direction, plus a turn lane. I was driving in the center lane and the other car was pulling onto the street from a parking lot on the right. The right lane was clear so I thought she was pulling into that right lane. Well, she went a little wide and into my lane so I swerved to the left, but she still ran into the side of my car. Crash!

I pulled over to the side of the road and called the police. Then I tried to call Mike but he wasnt home. So I called his mom to let her know I would be late picking up the kids. While I was on the phone with her, the other driver got out of her car and came up to my car. It was a very old lady - according to the police report, she was 85 years old! I told her I'd called the police and they should be there in a minute.

So I was talking to Mike's mom and watching the lady. I was sitting there and the wind blew some papers out of her hand. And she stepped into traffic to gather them up. OMGGGGG lady!! I think I even said something to his mom like "OMG I gotta go, this lady is gonna get herself killed!!!!!!!!" I forget exactly what I said, but that's what I was thinking in my head.

The policewoman came and got our information. She asked what happened. And the old lady said "I thought I had room to pull out" and the policewoman said "Well, apparently you didn't." Hehe. I really think she was trying to pull across all three lanes of traffic. She eventually got a traffic ticket for the accident.

My car is messed up pretty bad on the passenger side. I am just soooooooo thankful my babies were not in the car with me at the time. The passenger side door will not even open. I took some pictures of the damage, but I cannot find my camera right now. Maybe I'll post those pics another night.

So that's how my week has gone.

Let us hope tomorrow is a better day.

And the real reason everyone comes to my blog ... a picture for your viewing pleasure.

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Wordless Wednesday

Cute

Cute

Cute!

These pics were taken by my sister, Heather, last weekend while we were in Arkansas.

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Wiggle Worm

The other morning, I went to get Noah out of his bed to go over to Nanny's and he had wiggled himself out of his blanket. When I put him to bed, he was tucked neatly under that blue blanket you see with the stars. His feet were pointed straight toward the right of this picture.

And somehow, he wiggled himself around so that his legs are pointing toward the crib bumper.

He will probably be on the move before we know it!

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A Girl and a Boy

Blogger took sooooooo long for my pics to upload that I don't even have time to type a big long post. But these are my beautiful kids after church today.

The second pic is my favorite!!1

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Noah - 2 Months

Today, Mike and I had to take Noah to his two month doctor's appointment. He got a good report. He weighed 11 lbs, 12 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long. That's the 30th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight.

The doctor said Noah was more alert and interacted more socially than most babies his age. He smiled and laughed at the doctor and "talked" to him. The doctor also said he holds his head up really well. In the next month or two, he will probably start rolling over.

He had to get three shots and some drops in his mouth. He seemed to like the drops, but hated the shots. Poor thing! He cried and his legs were bleeding, but both stopped fairly quickly.

After we got out of the doctor's office, we sat in the lobby and fed him a bottle. Then we had to make a quick stop by my work before we went to lunch. We went to Hideaway Pizza. Yum! Noah was good while we were eating lunch. He slept most of the time.

Then we headed home and Noah napped while I worked from home. Then Mike went and picked up Emily from school. It was a busy day, but a good day.

Big Boy

In honor of Noah's two month doctor's appointment, he wore a "big boy outfit" today. It was a t-shirt and blue jeans (without the snap crotch, by the way) and a button up shirt. He looked soooo cute! I think the colors went well with is strawberry blonde hair.

Funny story - I had Noah sitting up against this pillow so that I could take his picture. And all of a sudden, he sneezed and fell flat on his face on the couch! Hehe, whoops!

Sister Love

Aren't they sweet? They sure do love each other.

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Sunday School

This morning was our first day back to Sunday School since Noah was born. We had a hard time getting up and dressed in time, but we made it okay. The weather turned cooler overnight and we were not really prepared for that. Noah didn't really have any dress clothes that were warm. Emily didn't have any fall shoes that fit. But we made the best choices we could and ran out the door.

I wanted to get some pictures of Noah going to church the first time, but I didn't really have time before we left. And he pooped on his outfit at Sunday School so I didn't do it when we got home either.

This was the first week I got to see our new Sunday School class. Promotion Sunday was just a couple days after Noah was born so we have been gone the whole time. They were sooooo cute! We had four kids - three little girls and one boy. Most of the kids did not say very much, but I am sure they will come out of their shell before the year is up.

I got to tell the Bible story. It was about Jesus going to church for the first time when he was 40 days old. How special that this was our story the first week that Noah came to church. He stayed in our classroom and Mike held him most of the time.

All the boys and girls tried to say their memory verse and it was soooo sweet. They all got stickers for trying and then we made strawberry scented playdoh. 5t was a great morning.

After Sunday School, we stopped by the grocery store and later went to lunch with Mike's parents. We went to Ted's and had a really good time. Emily and Noah were both really good and it was nice to have some adult conversation.

Here are some pictures of Noah from tonight. This is his alternate church outfit. He managed to keep it clean the rest of the day.

He's holding his head up so well.

Surprisingly, he kept these socks on all day.

Who is this? Elvis?

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My Little Sailor Man

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Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work after a 2 month maternity leave. I was really nervous about having to go back. Since I left, our team has merged with a new team and moved to a new office building. I only know a few people at this new building and my best friend Karen is still at the old building. All those things made it really hard to go back.

I knew where to find my desk. I had been there once before and I remembered the steps. But I don't know where anything else is. Hard to believe, but I'm fairly directionally challenged. I rehearsed the directions to my desk in my head over and over all morning just to make sure I could get there okay.

This new building is really confusing to me. It has two buildings - Building 1 and Building 2 - that are interconnected by a breezeway. I honestly do not know which building I work in. Like I said, I just memorized the directions to my desk and any mention of Building 1 or Building 2 is just confusing to me. Show me where to go and I'll be fine. But don't tell me.

I am sure that in time this building will become as familiar as the other building, but in the meantime it's difficult.

Also difficult was getting out the door with a baby this morning. I ended up leaving the house about 30 minutes after I had planned. Everything just takes longer than I think it should and there are a lot of things that have to be done at the last minute.

As I was getting ready to head out the door, I realized just how many bags I needed for a day of work. This picture below contains all the bags that I have to take with me every morning.

Bag List, according to Emily - my "pumper bag", my laptop case, Noah's bag, Noah's bottles, my purse (which I could not find because I haven't been using it the last couple months, but finally I did).


Mike and I have worked out a schedule for our new "normal." In the mornings, Mike will take Emily to his brother and sister-in-law's house to catch a ride to school. I will take Noah to his mom and dad's house.

If I work from home, Mike will pick up Emily from his parents house and I will cook supper. If I work from the office, I will pick up Emily and Noah and Mike will cook supper. How long do you think that will last?

Next week will be the real test of our new schedule. I'm definitely going to have to work on my morning routine. I may have to shift my showers to the evenings. I tested that out earlier this week, but I don't know if I could do it every day. I really don't want to have to get up at like 4am to make this work.

So that's how my first day back to work went. I know it will get better from here. I like my job very much and I am excited to see what changes will be coming my way with the new organization. I think the changes will be good for me and my career once I get settled back in to the routine.

Noah's first day at Nanny and Poppa's house went well. He ate about every 2 hours, which is not all that uncommon for him. He goes back to the doctor next week and I am anxious to see how much he weighs now. That boy eats a lot! Every time he wakes up, he expects to eat something. He slept on the bed a couple times so that was good too. It won't take him long to settle into the new routine.

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Name That Photo

The weekend went so fast for us. It did not escape me that this was the last weekend before I have to go back to work. I wanted to have some fun but at the same time get some things done before my maternity leave ends.

On Saturday afternoon, Emily and I went shopping with the boys stayed home and watched football. We got some cool weather outfits for Noah and a couple dresses for Emily. If you know Emily, you know that she LOVES to wear dresses so she was all over this shopping trip. Emily would wear a dress every day if I would let her. But for school I tell her that she has to wear shorts underneath her dresses and that's not so appealing to her.

We got a few outfits for Noah and a couple pairs of pajamas. He's wearing one of his new outfits in the picture below. It also has a pair of tan pants and a cute hoodie. And a pair of blue and green shoes that coordinate with it.

I though the picture below was really cute, but it needs a caption. What do you think?

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Going Green

Emily and I made another attempt at taking some pictures. I think they turned out really cute. Both of the kids happened to be wearing green this day.

Which one is your favorite?

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Bags

I have a problem - I feel like I have too many bags.

When I was working, I always carried my purse and my laptop bag and my lunch bag. Now that I'm staying home, I've been carrying all my "stuff" in Noah's diaper bag. His diaper bag had a detachable pouch that I've been using to hold my stuff. Everything doesn't fit, but I can stuff the other things into some of the outside pockets on the bag.

Now that I'm going to be going back to work in a few days, I'm thinking I don't want to carry a separate purse. I need something that I can throw in the diaper bag or throw in the laptop bag or carry on its own. Does something like this exist? Does it make sense to try to not carry a separate purse?

My biggest fear is that I will forget to get my stuff out of one of the bags and I'll end up without my driver's license or my credit card or something. If I have to carry a separate purse to make sure I have all my stuff, then that's what I'll have to do.

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Don't Wake Me

The other day, Emily and I went into Noah's room to get him up so that we could take Emily to school. Emily started talking to him in her sweetest little voice. And this was his reaction ...

"Don't wake me, Sissy. I'm dreaming."

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Stretch!

(This last one was Emily at about 2 months old.)


Everybody now - Get those arms up - Lets stretch!

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NMS

This morning, I tried to take some pictures of Noah. I have started to feel like my time at home is really coming to a quick end. There were so many things that I wanted to do while I was off work and I seem to have a lot of things still on my list. One of them is taking more posed pictures of Noah. I think it's really difficult to keep him settled long enough to take some pictures.

They're not perfect, but they're the best I could do today.

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Parents Choice Drop Ins Bottle Liners

Okay so I have a question. Have any of you ever tried the Parents Choice drop ins bottle liners? These are the liners that go into the Playtex Drop Ins bottles.

I recently tried these with the 8oz Playtex bottles. They seem to work well. So far, I have had no leaks with any of the generic liners. The only problem I have is that the measurements on the bottle holder do not match the actual number of ounces of liquid in the liner. For example, I put 6oz of liquid into the liner and it comes up to the 7oz line on the Playtex bottle holder.

I don't know why the measurements on the bottles and the liners don't match up, but it's really difficult to tell how much baby actually ate. I'm not sure if the bottle liners have the measurements marked on it. If it does, they are very faint because I have never noticed them.

This issue with the measurements is the only thing I would change with the Parents Choice bottle liners. Otherwise, they work great - no leaks, no wasted milk.

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Generics

We used to have a dog. He was a Bassett Hound named Fred.

This is Fred.

We used to feed Fred a generic brand dog food. He seemed to like it very much and ate a lot of it. Then the vet told us that the generic brand dog food was like feeding your dog Snickers. It tastes really good, but does not have much nutritional value.


We recently started Noah on a generic brand infant formula. When the powder is mixed with water, it resembles melted ice cream. Maybe feeding your infant a generic brand formula is like feeding them melted ice cream. (I know the generic infant formula has the same nutritional value as the name brands, but this is what always comes to my mind when I see this generic formula that looks lke melted ice cream.)

The new formula is Parents Choice Sensitive. It's the same as Similac Sensitivity and is a low lactose formula. Noah seems to like it. He still has some gas and is fussy sometimes, but I think it's better than it was before. It's got to be better - the last formula we tried he would hardly even eat.


I have a picture for you from early this morning. It looks like Noah was fussing, but he was really talking - "Hey Sissy, come get me I love you and miss you."



When Noah took his bottle this morning before school, he drank more than usual. I put him in his swing for a few minutes while I fixed Emily's hair and he threw up all over himself and the swing. I had to clean him up and change his clothes before we could leave for school. We were a little later than usual, but we still made it to school on time.

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Wordless Wednesday - Just a Swingin

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