Pics of Noah..

1 week and 1 day
1 week 2 days

1 week 3 days

3 days

4 days
5 days

My two butterbeans!

my little baby! my BIG baby

Dinner time tonight

So lots of friends and neighbors have made us wonderful meals to help out since the birth of Noah! However I am a lot picky so I don't always like it, but still I am extremely appreciative. Josh loves everything so it never goes to waste. Tonight Meredith and Josh had dinner, and I decided to run out and grab a pizza for me.....

I get home and I am greeted at the back door by the cutest toddler!
***
Josh is cleaning up and looking after Noah, I set the pizza on the kitchen table and start talking with Josh.
***
In the background I hear "momma, momma, MOMMY!"
***
I am still talking to Josh and not looking over at the table or the pizza or paying attention to that background noise.
***
Once again in the background I hear "Mommy, Peetz, Peetz (pizza)"
***
Still not paying attention to that little background noise and talking to Josh.....
***
I then here "Peetz, Mmmmm! Mmmm!"
***
Now that little background noise has my attention, she has climbed on the chair, helped herself to the pizza box, opened it up, removed a tiny slice and taken a bite!
***
Now this is a kid that loves her groceries! She proceeded to finish that slice, and as I previously mentioned had already eaten a big dinner and dessert.

Little Betty Crocker & Her Momma!

Well today Mimi came over, she bathed Noah, did tons of laundry for us, and pretty much helped us all day! Thanks Mimi! While she was here, Meredith and I ventured out on a little trip to the grocery store and Fred's Dollar Store. We went to Fred's because I needed a bundt cake pan, and since Noah is nursing round the clock I didn't have time to hit a good cake pan store....Fred's happens to be conveniently located next to the grocery. So Fred's it was and let me tell you that pan worked great! Anyway we then went to the grocery, but before we headed in, we went to the bakery section to get a cookie (my bribe to keep Meredith in the front of the cart, belted in) She got a cookie and I got to grocery shop with my favorite girl! We got some staples (oreos, chocolate chip cookies, yogurt juice, frozen kid cuisines, pizza rolls) You know staples! We also got ingredients for a double chocolate chip pound cake! Yum! That required things like yellow cake mix, sugar, chocolate pudding, milk chocolate chip morsels, and the other basics....eggs, oil, water, you know. So we came home, fed Noah and then Mimi gave us more quality time, while me and my little Betty Crocker baked the cake. She poured in all the ingredients with a little assistance, however when it came to the chocolate chip morsels she was all over that. Let's just say 1/3 went in the cake, 1/3 were consumed by little Betty, and 1/3 wound up on the floor with me on my hands and knees fighting Brownie for them. (I know chocolate can be deadly for dogs, but brownie was faster than me!) However we did finish the cake, it was a huge milestone.......Meredith's first cake that she pretty much did with just a little help, and mine too! I loved baking with little Betty, I think we will make it a weekly thing or at least monthly!

Oh and the cake was rather delicious!!!!

we survived

We did it! We survived today, one tantrum, no timeouts, 3 yells of DANGER!, 1 episode of climbing on the kitchen table, noah had no concussions, although he was almost pulled out of his swing! a few episodes of jealousy, I put Meredith's shoes on the wrong feet again, we read a few books, all ate breakfast and lunch, plus a few macks(snacks) that were healthy!!! I say overall we did pretty well! Mimi is coming over tomorrow! I am off to bed so I have energy to tackle the night shift!

Going at it Solo!

Well tomorrow is a big day! As Meredith says....Dada at wuuuurk! Yep it is true, Josh goes back to work and I just want to cry. He has been an amazing around here lately and not just doing dishes and laundry, but spending time with his kids and wife.

So yes tomorrow I am going at it solo and I am very sad, not because I can't handle it, because "if you are handed it, you can handle it!" And I know althougth it has been tough around here, I can do it! I am sad because I will miss him, I will miss my partner in crime. The one who sits at the kitchen table after lunch to crack jokes and make me smile, the one who tagged team diapers with me this week, the one who took shifts at night with our littlest one, the one who brought me vanilla frappuchinos in bed, the one who ate breakfast with us each morning, the one who sat at the kitchen table today with playdoh, the one who held noah as he consumed his lunch. I will miss him more than he knows.

I even begged him to let us come sit in his office tomorrow, I promised we would all be quiet! I really think we could!

My Elf Family!!!

Hey, I just made a total elf of myself. Check it out by clicking the link below.

This is hilarious! I had to share it with all of you!!!!

Meredith has watched it over 20 times!!!! Right before it comes on she says....... Ready! Ready! Ready!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9602656549
This elfin' greeting brought to you by OfficeMax®.

Friends!!!!

"this too shall pass"

Thanks Laura & Neely, last night I was having a bad night. Why? Noah isn't sleeping during the night and I don't mean through the night, I mean at night. Not at all, unless he is being held and since I am so afraid of squishing him, or rolling on him, or him being in bed with us until he is 10, I hate to let him "sleep" with us! So yes it has been a little rough, I mean waking for a feeding or two is one thing, waking all night to hold him and then getting up with a toddler at 7am is excruciating!

Anyway I emailed a few friends last night about a local organization we are all in and at the end vented a little about how hard being a mother of a newborn is and they responded immediately and were so comforting and supportive. Even though we weren't in one another's company or on the phone they were still "there for me!" And there advice was ...Remember that everything is just a small phase, it won't be like that forever, it will change and work itself out....."this too shall pass!"

And in the grand scheme of things, they were right!!! thanks! they also offered to help me out with the grocery or arranging a playdate with Meredith and doing lunch! Thanks girls, your emails last night were exactly what I needed. Friends -- I don't know what I would do without them!

Breastfeeding and the curious toddler!

Yes I am a breastfeeding mama! I never thought I would have been, before children my response to breastfeeding would have been "Ewwww! Gross!" But at some point in my pregnancy with Meredith I decided that I would breastfeed her, in fact I was determined. I had heard horror stories of how hard it is, and bleeding and cracked nipples and everything else that went along with it. When Meredith was born she took to the breast and with the support of my husband I quickly became a pro. I must admit there were moments in those first two weeks I wanted to quit, but Josh was my support that kept me going along with Lansinoh. I breastfed Meredith for a year and found it to be one of mt biggest accomplishments and one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. So of course when Noah was born I could not wait to experience that bond with him as well. In fact he is a lot like his sister and latched on in the recovery room and hasn't let go. He is mommy's little booby baby.

Like I mentioned before breastfeeding is not the easiest thing when you first get started and if it wasn't for Lansinoh lotion I wouldn't have made it! And now when I nurse Noah I have two little inquisitive eyes watching who want to know "What are you doing mama?" To which I explained giving Noah his milk. "What is that?" It is mommy's lotion for mommy's boobies. So last night as we were winding down and getting ready for bed, Meredith marched proudly into the living room with my lansinoh lotion in her hand and looked at me rubbing her chest with her other hand and said boobies! I couldn't help but laugh and say "Yes that is mommy's booby lotion!" I am fully prepared for her trying to put it on herself in the next few days! I swear this little girl is too smart for me!

What am I most thankful for!!!!

My husband!

I married the greatest man in the world. I really did! He has been great with the birth of our new addition. Let's start from the beginning. In recovery while waiting to go into the OR I was a tad nervous, okay I was more than a tad. I yelled at him a little I was so nervous, not sure why....he just apologized. I then had him talked in to making an appointment for a vasectomy for next monday and he agreed. After the surgery whenI was on a high from meeting our new son, I had him talked into 2 more kids and he agreed. He was right there with me holding my hand, rubbing my head and calming me down while I had a c-section. He then went with our baby boy to recovery and he was beaming as a proud new dad!

Fast forward to Tuesday when my hormones were out of wack and I yelled at him, he took it in stride. And then on Wednesday when it took to long to fill my prescriptions or he printed too many pictures, I yelled again and he again he just apologized. I am sure some part of him deep down inside wanted to yell right back or perhaps even knock me out, but he didn't he just apologized, smiled and gave me a kiss. And yes I was wrong to yell, very wrong and none of it was deserving or even something to yell about, but he handled the situation so brilliantly it was awesome. And I am so sorry and thank you Josh!

What else has he done: He has changed every diaper since Noah was born, why??? ....uhm because he has. I don't even have to ask. He has gotten up at night with Noah and literally walked the hospital room for over an hour so I could sleep. When I asked him why he didn't just rock him, he told me he was afraid he would fall asleep. He got up again with him last night as well and watched ESPN from 11pm until 2am so I could sleep! He made sure we all ate today and waited on us, he made sure Meredith kept her same routine, he made sure I didnt' do too much or do anything really. Somehow he managed to take care of me (3 days out of surgery), a toddler and a newborn... let me tell you that is no easy task, but he did it so well and he never complained. Not to mention he decorated the christmas tree with Meredith today, as he put ornaments on, she pulled them off. He got all the decorations out of the attic, he did three loads of laundry, he cleaned the kitchen after he prepared our Thanksgiving day lunch and dinner! And he still bathed and put Meredith to bed after reading Good Night Moon! (her favorite)

This man truly deserves an award, and since they don't give out awards like that. I am dedicating my blog to him today! Joshua, I love you. Thank you so much. And on this Thanksgiving night, I am most thankful for you! Without you I wouldn't be who I am today, I wouldn't have the two most amazing children and I wouldn't have the wonderful life I have! But most importantly without you my life would be so incomplete! I love you with all of my heart! I don't know what I would do without you! You are my hero!

Thank you for all that you do! today, this week, everyday! You are a great husband, friend, man and father! You truly are one of a kind.

Introducing Noah Elliott

Introducing the newest memeber of our family Noah Elliott! Noah arrived into this world Monday November 19, 2007 at 9:53am! He was 7lbs 13oz and 20 1/2 inches long. ( a big boy compared to his sister!) He was born via c-section and I must say that went much better this time around! He is a beatiful baby and we are so excited he is here!

Meredith is adjusting well, it definitely wasn't love at 1st, 2nd or 3rd sight! She is doing much better now and has even held her baby brother. She has started calling him bubby! I will try so start blogging again after my little hiatus and keep you posted on what it is like to be the mom of 2 tikes under 2. I must say it is already harder than I imagined. I am sure as we settle down and get into a "new" routine, things will get better!

Less than 12 1/2 hours to go!!!

My bags are packed!
My little one is asleep!
The bassinet is ready!
The car is loaded!
My clothes for tomorrow are laid out!
And Desperate Housewives & Brothers & Sisters isn't on! grrrr!!!

I will catch back up with you in a few days! wish us luck!

Very Emotional...

So Monday is the big day! I have surgery.....we have another child.....I am responsible for a little girl and a little boy....Meredith becomes a big sister.....my husband has another person to provide for....we have another child to instill good values and morals in....we have another child to potentially screw up.....but at the same time we have another miracle.

These past 9 months have flown by. I remember finding out for my birthday in April I was pregnant. It was a surprise, well a planned surprise. We did it again the first month we "tried". I just wasn't expecting it, I had what I thought was a period the week before I got a positive home pregnancy test.

It was a Friday night, and Josh was on the phone with his dad (phone calls that last seemingly forever!!!!) I remember him coming home from the hospital and he asked if there was anything I needed him to pick up on the way home. "Ummm sure how about 3 butterfingers!" and he jokingly (well I thought jokingly) said "and a pregnancy test!" Why?... because butterfingers were all I wanted when I was pregnant with Meredith and not just one....but 3 or 4!

So I took the test while he was on the phone and that plus sign came up so fast! I thought no way.....so not possible! I had a period last week for 5 days! Heavy at that and then I thought wow! okay don't get too excited....tell josh.....we will go see the OB....see what he thinks of all the bleeding and pray it is all okay! So I did just that. And everything was fine, but then I started bleeding again. So I went in to see another OB, because mine was out and she told me I was miscarrying. I cried. I cried for this baby I didn't know. I cried for this unborn child who was no older than 6 weeks. I cried on my husband's shoulder and then my mother's shoulder and then I put on a happy face for my baby girl.

After the OB told me I was miscarrying, we did a blood test to confirm it, a test I would repeat two days later to get the final results. I being the impatient person I am, went in the next day and saw my OB. He looked at the same ultrasound and said I wasn't miscarrying. He repeated the blood test and my numbers had more than tripled and he thought maybe it was twins. I was elated, I couldn't wait to have this miracle baby! This baby that had gone through so much in the first 6 weeks of his unborn life!

And now, 9 months later he is almost here. And yet I am sad, anxious, elated, thrilled, blessed and nervous all rolled in to one! I am sad for the child that is my first and only will no longer be my only, I am anxious about how he will get into this world and that he will be okay, I am elated that after 9 months I am finally going to hold him in my arms and kiss his sweet little cheeks, I am thrilled to be having a second miracle and that Meredith will have a little brother, I am blessed to be this lucky & happy in life, and I am nervous about being a mother again!

A cheap trip to see Mickey Mouse!

Meredith has recently become interested in Mickey Mouse (Mit-ee Mouse) and Cinderella (Sin-a-wella). She has a Mickey Mouse doll of mine that she has been playing with for a few weeks now and several princess dolls from her Aunt Sabrina. She is all about that crazy mouse though. Well today I took her to Chuck-e-Cheese with her little friend Ian and his mom Caryn. Partly because I am soaking up every bit of meredith time as an only child that I have left.....partly because I missed hanging out with Caryn (adult time is essential)....partly because I really wanted pizza for lunch. So we pull up to the mall and get out and Meredith is holding my hand and walking through the parking lot so excited and points to the big mouse on the sign and says Mit-ee Mouse! Mit-ee Mouse! To which Caryn responded...."well this is a pretty cheap trip to Disney World!" My thoughts exactly, guess we can hold out on the real thing a little while longer!

Fingerpainting & Playdoh

As a child growing up there are two things we never really did at my house....

1.) finger paint

2 .) play with playdoh

My mom will tell you that she never allowed playdoh in the house and I don't think we ever finger painted either! It was too messy! So these are two things, that I couldn't wait to do with Meredith and eventually Noah!!! We tried finger painting out the other day. We went outside, sat at the little tikes table, laid out 3 huge sheets neatly covering the entire table and then squirted 4 paints in neat little dots on the sheet. I was thinking this is going to be great, a little paint on the fingers, a little paint on the pictures it will be just fine. Until.....the paint was on her hands and then she rubbed her eye, and then she brushed her hair out of her face, and then she moved to the other side the table touching..... the seat of the table where she then but her little tush, my leg, my chair, the camera on her way, then rubbed her belly and much more! (did I mention her hands were covered in paint). She then looked at me and sweetly said "more peeze" so I obliged and put several huge globs of red, blue yellow and green paint. At this point I thought.....there is no turning back! It was everywhere. But the memory is priceless and you know what.... it washed right off.

And today she got her first set of playdoh from her Old Paw! We may try that out this weekend!

Sometimes the mess is worth it, just look at this face & these masterpieces!

Edited to add: my mom corrected me we finger painted plenty, but no she never allowed play-doh and yes we were very creative. I have lots of great memories that I WILL continue with my children!

Bringing Home My Baby BumbleBee!

Here are the long awaited pics from Halloween! Sorry it took so darn long. Meredith's favorite song is.....I'm bringing home my baby bumblebee! So in honor of that, her costume was a bumblee bee. Nevermind that the bumblebee in the song actually gets squashed & then wiped away! This bee was definitely too cute to squash!

her trick or treating buddy! Such a big girl

Old Paw!!!

This week Meredith has been spending some quality time with her Old Paw! That would be her great grandfather. He can be a bit rough around the edges and fuss a little, but not to her..... she loves him. It is amazing to watch how she walks right up to him and gives him a kiss. Did I mention my child was pretty shy!!!! But not with Old Paw. Now when we pull up to Mimi & Papa's instead of asking for Papa she wants Old Paw or Paw Paw, those are her two names of choice for him. He got in town Saturday night and he was wearing a hat, we have seen him everyday since and each time she sees him she wants to know where that hat went. It really is adorable to watch her with him. It melts my heart, Old Paw was such a big part of my life and I am glad he got to be a part of hers as well. I only wish my grandmother would have gotten to meet Meredith too! Thanks Old Paw for making dinner for us tonight, we had a great time!

Today is playday!!!

Believe it or not, I have a busy week my last week of pregnancy. I have had mommy & me, and now I have several meetings, and an OB appointment with a pre-op video. Anyway I am exhausted and decided today is playday! Yep I am fortunate enough to be a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM) so we have the option of doing nothing. And that is what we are planning to do. We will most likely play in the playroom, play outside on all her toys (thanks to Neely, Chris and Connor - you guys are lifesavers), take a walk around our neighborhood, fingerpaint on our new outside table, and maybe even squeeze in a little Wiggle time!!!

So everyone enjoy your Tuesday, I fully intend too and I hope Meredith does too! This will be her last Tuesday as an only child! Now she just needs to wake up!

Good hygiene & people skills

We think good hygiene skills are pretty important so we started practicing good hygiene with Meredith hoping it is something she gets used to doing and likes doing.... like when we brush our teeth, she does with a little assistance; when we comb our hair, we comb hers; when we put on deoderant, we let her pretend to as well; when we take a bath or shower she automatically assumes she gets to get in too, even if it will be her 3rd bath or shower for the day. So yes I think she is started to learn the importance of those skills.

As for people skills, I read somewhere that you should never force your kids to do anything with their body they don't want. So I know it takes her a while to warm up, so I don't force her to hug and kiss people hello, I may suggest it, but ultimately it is up to her and she will do it if and when she wants. I also don't make her go to people she doesn't feel comfortable until she does. Our newest thing is talking! She also is learning to talk on phones and over the computer, but again she does this only when she wants and I don't force her too.

Well this morning she was practicing both of those skills with Josh. As I came in our bedroom from doing some laundry, Josh was brushing his teeth for work and Meredith was sitting in brownies dog bed, brushing her teeth with one hand and talking on her princess cell phone with the other, with her toothbrush in her mouth actively brushing! Now that ladies and gentlemen is talent!

The best things in life.....

I always remember the saying...."the best things in life are free" and it is so true. Some of the best things in my life are....

- my family - you can't replace them, they get on your nerves and make you want to scream, but they love you no matter what and I love them
- kisses from Meredith! I love them, I don't think I could go a day without them. She doesn't give them to just anyone either, which makes them all the more special
- hearing meredith sing when she thinks no one is listening. It is so cute.
- hearing josh sing to meredith when he bathes her and puts her to bed
- the kisses I get blown as Josh carries her up the steps to bed.
- the kisses she blows to Josh as he leaves her room for the night after he tucks her in.
- seeing Meredith smile.
- Josh coming home from work and all three of us (meredith, brownie and myself) running to the back door to see him
- the hugs that we have now named "the best kind" those are rarely given out and rarely to anyone but mom and dad!
- listening to her say "mmmhmmm!" when she sees something she really wants
- her little "luv u" it can melt a grown man's heart, I have seen it happen
- the snuggle time I get at night and first thing in the morning.
- hearing her cry out for mommy when she is waking up or scared and knowing that I can comfort her
- the way my kisses can make her feel all better, I wish that would be true for the rest of her life
- laying in bed at night next to my wonderful hubby and with brownie on my feet and meredith asleep in her crib and knowing that there is nothing more I could want in life and that i have never been happier.

Bye Bye Cute Girl!!!

So this morning when Meredith woke up from her nap I told her we had to get dressed. So she went in her closet and picked out a new outfit to wear, an expensive new outfit. I wanted to save it, but she looked at it and said...."Oh so pwetty" So I let her put it on. We were going to pizza hut and target, so we were going somewhere. Anyway the whole time we are getting dressed she is looking at it saying "Aw" "oooh" and so on. She is totally digging this outfit. After she is dressed and has willingly let me put on her socks and shoes and button the buttons on her shirt (see what picking out her own outfit does), we go into the bathroom to comb her hair. She says "bow" and we pick out a matching bow and then we go comb her hair into a fountain ponytail and put the bow in. So now that she is dressed, I said look at you how cute you are as we are looking in the mirror. Then I said are you ready and as she stands up on the bathroom counter she looks at herself in the mirror and says.......

Bye Bye Cute Girl!!!!

I looked at her and said what did you say. And again she waves to herelf in the mirror and says......
Bye Bye Cute Girl!

Hysterical, is she a girly girl or what!?!?!?! what am I going to do with a boy now????

A day in the life of a toddler!!!

Well by 8:50am we have already....

--woke up and had some yogurt juice (we don't do milk anymore!)
--watched a little clifford as we snuggled with mommy!
--yelled at brownie!
--changed two diapers (one peepee and one poop....gotta see the sign language for that one!)
--had some french toast and oatmeal for breakfast
--yelled at brownie!
--read 3 books 5 times each with mommy
--destroyed a playroom
--yelled at brownie!
--helped mommy prepare dinner (throwing and stiring things in the crockpot!)
--had a mack (snack) sliced apples
--yelled at brownie
--changed our shoes 3 times! such a girl!!!
--colored a picture as mommy cleaned up after making dinner & breakfast
--colored the dining room window sill as mommy continuted cleaning up!

Okay it is now 9am and we need a nap!!!!! and to think, we have only been up 2 hours!

Trick or Treat

I fully intended on having Meredith's halloween pictures up on here by now, but with being sick and losing my camera that hasn't happened yet! I will find it and post them soon. Meredith did thoroughly enjoy trick or treating though. We started off in our neighborhood, she rode in her wagon and would get out when we got to a house and knock on the door with her daddy, jack-o-lantern bucket in hand! She then would say the cutest "twick-tweat" you have ever heard! At the first few houses she wanted to give the people the candy out of her bucket, but she quickly learned that she could pick out candy out of their bowl and put it in her bucket. She had her first taste of candy this halloween, suckers & M&Ms are a huge hit with her! We went to a friends house to continue our trick or treating, she loved every minute of it! People thought she was the cutest bumble bee ever! The next few mornings, she only wanted candy for breakfast,lunch and dinner, that is when Josh and I figured we had to lose the halloween paraphenalia and the buckets, dont' be silly we kept the candy for ourselves, we just hid it!

Pictures coming soon!

Top 10 things about being preggo!!!

Okay I don't want to scare those of you who haven't had children, I mean Meredith & Noah will need cousins (lots of them). So to follow up to yesterdays post, here is the....

Top 10 things about being preggo....
10. You get a whole new wardrobe! and at first you think it is fun to buy and wear maternity clothes!
9. You get lots of attention even from total strangers.
8. People often let you cut in line for the potty.
7. You have an excuse to nap during the day.
6. If you are married to the world's greatest husband, he will run to Krispy Kreme 3-4 nights a week for hot donuts and OJ.
5. People give up their seats for you, well some do!
4. You do have the excuse of eating for two.
3. People actually praise you for gaining weight.
2. Your skin & hair will be fabulous.
1. You will hold the most miraculous thing in your arms after 9 months! There aren't even words to describe it!!!!