Poppa Rocks!

On July 4th, Poppa made a deal with Meredith. When she was "officially" potty trained, he would buy her a pink jeep. We went to Toys R Us and scoped them out and made the deal. Meredith didn't forget it and she made sure Poppa didn't either. When she actually started to take this potty training stuff seriously Mimi was ready to run out and buy an escalade, but Poppa wanted to make sure it was the real deal! So after a week of no accidents and wearing big girl pants all over town, during naps and on long car rides.......we are proud to say Meredith is the owner of a new pink jeep! We went the other night and picked it out with Poppa! She really did want the big, obnoxious, black Escalade! Thankfully Poppa, Josh and I were able to knock some sense into both Meredith and Mimi! Congrats to my big girl!!!!! And Poppa we are sorry potty training cost you so much moula!

Hey guys, it comes with a real radio, mommy is trying to figure out how to disconnect the damn thing! Are you guys seriously going to let her drive? Does she have a license?Ummm Miz.....do you know what you are doing?Woohoo here we come!!!!!

Thanks Susan & peacelovemom!

I just wanted to thank Susan at Friday Playdate again! As well as PeaceLoveMom for my awesome t-shirt! Thanks ladies!

The shirt says it all!

Balloons

Noah got his first balloon at Arnaud's....to say he liked it would be the understatement of the day!



Mom what is this???? Oh I love this thing!
You guys eat I can play with this the whole time. And he did!!!!

Comments overheard at the Wiggles Concert

"Momma here dey come!"

"Yes baby the Wiggles will be on any minute.....should have been on five minutes ago!"

"Mommy where are da wiggles?"

"Ummmm I'm not sure, maybe the big red car ran out of gas"

Note to the Wiggles: When putting on a concert for an audience that is primarily 2 years of age, please be on time. Two year olds have limited patience, and mothers of tantruming two year olds have even less.

###

"Did you wet your pull-up?'

"Nope"

"Yes you did, your cars are gone....see your cars disappeared which means you wet your pull-up....your cars disappear when you wet your pull-up.....did you wet your pull-up?"

"Nope"

###

"Okay go potty"

"Otay......Mommy I pinished"

"Your not finished, you didn't do anything"

"Mommy I pinished"

Bathroom comments are really hilarious at Wiggles concert, I went twice and had many giggles each time.

###

"Are you watching the Wiggles?"

"Look (insert name of random child), look at the stage, do you see the wiggles?"

"I no want to"

"Are you ready to go?"

"uh-huh"

No matter how much you pay for tickets you cannot make a 2 year old enjoy the show!

###

Seriously we had a great time, Aunt Brina had a great time, Nanny had a great time, and Josh and I enjoyed watching both of our children enjoy the Wiggles. The concert did start late, didn't last too long, and made one 2 year old little girl really "cited!" She loved it!

Busy, busy weekend

This week Josh's sister has come to stay with us. All Meredith says is Brina, Brina, Brina! It has been so nice having her here to spend time with the kids and Josh for that matter. It has been a long time since he has spent this much time with his sister.

We also started pooping in the big girl potty! Two days in a row. Meredith has been accident free for sometime now. She went all day today without an accident and we had a very busy day with a four hour round trip car ride! Can you say p-o-t-t-y t-r-a-i-n-e-d! We went to see the Wiggles in New Orleans and eat at Arnaud's ..... Yum! I am so proud of my big girl. I think in a few days it will be safe to say we are officially potty trained!

Noah has also decided that he would much rather eat table food than stinky old baby food. Every time we eat he gets so fussy! So tonight I realized he is screaming his head off because he wants a little of what we are eating. When we got home I threw some sloppy joe's together and he was screaming so loud while we were eating, I gave him a bite. To which his whole face lit up and he was screaming for more. He ate several bites of it and loved it! I also found his top tooth teeth are breaking through.......Oh boy, I wasn't ready for this, I had just stocked up on more baby food!

I will post a more in depth post on the Wiggles tomorrow. I wish you all could have seen my 2 year olds face light up, Wow it made it all worth it. And if that didn't make it worth it....I wish you all could have seen my baby sister dancing with her to the Wiggles songs....that definitely made it worth it!

My little octopus...

Noah sweetie...how did you get that cup? Like this mom....first your reach back.
Then you reach further....you do this when dad is not paying attention behind you.
Then you throw the other and eat the new one.
Mom they are very good!

I swear Noah is my little octopus, he has more arms than I can keep track of and they are SO quick. They come out whenever he is near anything within an arms reach, or just out of an arms reach. This is all new to me, my first one was so not like this. Isn't my little octopus cute!

I never knew how much a little boy could....

melt my heart! Oh he does over and over again, I am so in love!

Thriller

There are two cd's that I play in this house over and over again. Madonna and Michael Jackson. Why? Because they are legends. Crazy? Of course they are, but legends all the same. Here is the gang practicing their thriller moves.....

Hey Noah wanna dance? Ha....look at Brownie sing Momma!
Brownie, wait....wait for Mizzie! Oh great now Sissy will take over!
It's like this guys!
Like this sissy? Ummm yeah..... all I did was put on a shirt and you perfected your thriller move?

Sometimes I need the reminder

This weekend I was talking with a friend of mine who also has 2 tikes that were under the age of 2, once upon a time. Her children are approximately the same ages as my 2. About 27months and 8months. We were discussing how easy it is to forget that our oldest are still babies.

Sometimes I know that I expect too much out of my 2 year old. Some days I expect her to know what I mean, or get what I am saying, or pick up her toys, or quit whining or share with her brother. Things that if she were my one and only I would see differently, things I don't think I would expect because she would be "just a baby."

I am sure the fact that she has the vocabulary and verbal skills of a 4 year old doesn't help either. People are always amazed when they find out she is only 2. The fact that she is incredibly smart and independent and listens pretty well most of the time also let's me forget that she is only two.

Today we were playing in Noah's room after their naps. Meredith was being the little mommy and telling Noah to "play gentle" and showing him how to play with the toys and trying to teach him to crawl. It was so funny to see so much of myself coming out in her. Then she pulled something out of his hands and I quickly told her not to be rough with Noah because he was "just a baby" and she was real quick to reply with "but I just a baby too mommy."

Yes sweet heart you are, sometimes Mommy needs to be reminded of that. Thank you!

Moving right along!

Two steps forward and one step back, that's the way it is with kids right?

Here are our latest milestones....
-Noah has a tooth, it has cut through and the second should be here any second
- Meredith is done with diapers and pull-ups....way to go big girl. She is also continuing to refuse to poop despite suppositories and Miralax.
- Noah has started to protest when you take a toy away and boy does he get mad
- Meredith no longer requires oreos or a treat after every tinkle! Loving it!
- Noah can now throw his pacifier a good 2+ feet out of his bed, a sure way to get mom to come back during nap and night, night time
- We have Wiggles tickets for Sunday
- Noah can scoot backwards, this only frustrates him because he is trying so hard to go forwards and get Meredith's toys
- the kids have begun to play together which is sweet and get in fights which is not sweet.....
No-wee mine.....Waaaaaahhhaaaa!...... Mine, mine........ WAAAAHAAAA!...... Mommy dats mine!.......... WAAAAAAAAAA WAAAAA MAMAMAMA............... It is only the beginning
- I am over the laundry being caught up and the house ever being clean again, soon I will give up on dinner as well.

Greek night anyone?

So last night was the third part in our series of dinner club. First was Cajun night, then there was Mexican night, and last night was Greek night. Mhmmm! I had no idea how much I liked Greek food....none. Josh made a kick ass roasted feta and walnut Greek salad and I made hummus. What the hell, we didn't even know what Greek food consisted of much less how to make it. We also sampled some other seriously good Greek food and I must say, I now love it. Josh and I went in with a 10 year old's attitude.....we will taste and sample it then and stop at Mickey D's on the way home for dinner. Sorry, girls I am just way too pick. But on the way home we opted for Brownies from Chickalay instead. Josh and I loved the food and both had seconds. We are Greek food lovers now.

Next month we are doing Great American takeout. I am bringing pizza, we will be dining and swimming at Mimi's pool. Should be fun and full of chaos and kiddos, but hey that's our life now.

This wasn't in the job description

When I decided to become a mother I knew it would be work, I just had no idea of what kind of work motherhood entailed. None. Seriously most days I am surprised at the things I do, things I said I'd never do, things I still don't want to do, and things I never imagined my former self doing and not getting completely grossed out and vomiting. Yes, welcome to motherhood and here is the detailed job description.

In my old life, finding out I had to do 4 evaluations and reports by last week was a bad day. Today having a blow out in Chick fil a and not having a spare diaper or an extra set of clothes is a bad day. There are still bad days and good days, hard days and easy days, carefree days and really stressful days, they are just very different.

Today was a bad day, a stressful day and a hard day. Meredith is currently potty training and doing fantastically well. She has learned to hold it, she has learned that she will get an urge to go potty, and she knows where it needs to go. Only thing is she really doesn't like to go lately. She can be so stubborn when she wants and has learned to hold it forever. When we first started she learned to hold it for two days and that she made her a little constipated, so when she couldn't hold it anymore it hurt. Which quickly led to the assumption that using the potty hurts, I could see how this would make total sense to a two year old.

Well now we are on a roll, Meredith has been holding it for 4 days. She had no idea how painful that will make her and it is my job to make sure she doesn't hold it for 4 days. Ummm what? I clearly remember reading lots of parenting books, making sure your child didn't go 4 days in a row without a bowel movement was not in any one of them. Today I called the pediatrician's office to see what I should give her. What I was supposed to do? Explain that this situation is not in my parenting manual and..... when I told the nurse how many days it had been I could hear the alarm in her voice.

How was I supposed to know? She wasn't walking around crying or complaining, she didn't seem to be really upset and uncomfortable until last night and first thing I did this morning was call you!

I DIDN'T READ ABOUT THIS IN "What do expect when expecting" LADY!!!

So we went to see the pediatrician and he and I had a little chat. I got a little more information about my job description. I am learning that things are just added to that little list of responsibilities daily, whether I want them or not, whether I like them or not, and whether I think I can handle them or not. I made a mental note, hopefully if and when the need arises I will remember his advice.

No dealing with constipation, inserting suppositories, monitoring bowel movements were not in what I thought was the job description. I am learning that the job description of a mother is one that is constantly evolving. One that keeps you on your toes. One that makes you so tired, so frustrated, so happy, so angry, so joyful, so excited and SO overwhelmed all at the same time.

So tell me what part of motherhood did you not know was in the job description?

I am so the country club type...

We don't belong to the country club, mainly because there isn't one in our neighborhood. But if we had one in our neighborhood or we lived in this other neighborhood we would so be members. I never thought I was the country club type, I have no idea why I didn't think so, but let me tell ya.....I am SO the country club type. Now I just need to convince my husband.

Today we went to the country club as guests. I had a blast, the kids loved it too, Noah was in hog heaven....must have been that country club water. And Meredith loved being in a pool where she could reach. The water was warm, the weather wasn't gonna die hot and the company was great. Ahh the life of the stay at home country clubbing mom. I did feel like an illegal immigrant that didn't really belong, but I'm hoping that other people couldn't notice that right off the bat. I tried to play it cool, like I was one of them, hopefully it worked.

There was a huge pool with a beach walk in, water shoot-up things for the kids to play, a cute little cabana that serves lunch and just puts it on your tab! What is not to love about the country club? One day..... one day I will be a country club member.....a girl can dream right?

A royal pain in the...

This is Brownie.....Browine Jane to be exact. Josh and I purchased Brownie a year before we got married. She was a tiny little squirt, I originally wanted to name her Fudge, but she just didn't look like a Fudge, so Brownie Jane it was. Can you tell I had food on the brain that day. I had begged Josh for a dog, and not just any dog a chocolate lab. After a few days of begging and convincing.... it honestly is really easy with my husband.....we were out on the hunt for our dog.

Now Brownie is one of the family, the member that keeps moving further and further down the totem pole if you will. I don't love her any less, but I want to kill her more often. Her needs have also gone from my first priority, okay second priority I never really per her before me.... to my last priority. I mean I still meet her needs and love her, I just have two other little beings that need things more. And honestly Brownie is more indepedent than my kids.

Well today Brownie did it, she has driven me crazy for the last time. Although nothing will change, I'm not dropping her off at the pound, or giving her away..... although I often think about it..... I am keeping her. She is now getting a designated spot on the blog....called....
What brownie eats!

This new spot is my effort to vent without killing my dog. See my dog can open cabinets and has no qualms about doing it. She helps herself to food left on the island, countertops, in the cabinets and an open pantry door is fair game. She is known to eat the food off your plate as you get up and grab a sippy that has fallen on the floor or rush to the potty with a toddler. It is nothing to come back to the table and find you plate empty in a matter of 3 seconds. Oh yes I could kill her most days.

I gripe and gripe to my husband who often asks, if I remembered to feed her. Probably not, but trust me the dog is not starving she is over 90lbs easily.

So you can catch what Brownie eats over on the side bar. Today she finished off my brownies. The entire pan of brownies. Meredith and I made them yesterday, when we left for gymnastics this morning there were over 3/4s of a pan left....okay just under 3/4s of a pan....although I did think of eating them all last night. Today on the way home from the gym I told Meredith she could have a brownie when we got home and I would have one with her. Can you imagine how mad I was when I got home to an empty pan sitting exactly where I left it?

So Yes, welcome to "What Brownie eats!" I will update it daily! I promise none of what is listed there is given to her and I also promise you will never see dog food.

I never said she wasn't smart

I had Noah in one arm and was toting him around when Meredith asked me to hold her. Sure, you can have the other arm/hip....I am after all supermom. I just don't wear the cape everyday. But Meredith had other plans....

"No momma hold Mizzie"

"Okay let me get you"

"No mommy, put No-wee down"

"No baby, I have to hold Noah too, see one arm for Noah and one arm for Meredith"

"No mommy give No-wee to daddy....dat's my arm" pointing to the arm I was carrying Noah in

****

And an update, potty training is going surprisingly well. We were on a roll last week and then she got sick. As soon as she felt better and we stayed home longer than 5 minutes, she picked right up where we left off. As long as we are home she will go on the potty all day. We just need to work on going in public....any advice???

Lucky Me!

So I entered a contest for a t-shirt over at Friday Playdate!

And guess what I won....seriously go see for yourself. I would say I never win anything, but I did win that trip to Disney world from McDonald's when I was like 10. I so needed a new t-shirt and look how cute they are!

We are learning....

"Momma, I wanna see No-wee's mea-balls and pe-nis."

"What?"

"See No-wee's mea-balls and pe-nis.....his pwivate pawrts"

"Oh...okay....yeah...uhm...no....we don't look at any one's private parts but our own"

***

Tonight I was putting the two tikes in bed and had just finished reading to them both in Noah's room in the rocker, I now needed quiet to nurse him and lay him in his bed...

"Meredith go into your room and get in bed and wait for mommy to come read to you....shut the door on your way out so mommy can feed Noah"

shut the door and get in your bed....what was I thinking? she'll be hanging from the rafters

"Okay momma" quietly shuts the door as she leaves

a few minutes later I walk out of Noah's room to find Meredith quietly laying in her bed waiting for me to read to her. Where is my child?

***

My two year old refuses to undress herself or dress herself...the only milestone we haven't officially met for two year olds. It is stubbornness, not a delay.

"Mommy I take a bath with No-wee?"

"No you just had a bath it's Noah's turn"

"Momma I take a bath" and is profusely trying to get her night shirt off

"Momma I take a bath" still trying to get it off

"Momma I get in" undressed and naked, hopping into the tub

"What the heck...sure"

"Thank you Momma"

Progress....

Tonight Meredith is in bed A-S-L-E-E-P (I'm spelling in case she hears this word and wakes up) and she fell asleep without her pacifier. It has been 2 years and 3 months since she has done that. Josh's exact words were....

"Well it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.....of course the night isn't over yet"

Anxiety

Have I ever told you that I am person with high anxiety. I worry about things all the time. I worry about dumb things, things that may not happen, things that will work themselves out in time and things that are way beyond my control. I have always been this way....a worrier.

Sometimes I feel so blessed, I truly have a great life. There is a roof over my head, my kids go to bed with full bellys and I am married to the most wonderful man. My life is too good, when will the bad luck hit? This is the kind of thing I worry about.

My husband loves his job and it provides better than a great life for us. My kids are happy and healthy and I got to spend every minute with them. My days this summer have been spent hanging out by Mimi's pool surrounded by friends and family and doing lunch and playdates with friends. What is not to love about this life?

But at night when I lay my head down I am ever thankful for it and then I worry that in one instant it could all slip away. My karma is bound to run out. I know this degree of worry is not normal. I also know it comes and goes. A family here in the town I live is going through a really dark time. A father and husband is losing his life to cancer and it is so sad. I know this situation is the cause for my latest anxiety, but it scares me. I don't want to take this life for granted, but I don't want to lose it either.

If you pray please say some prayers for this family.

A sleepover with Patty

My cousins youngest two girls are spending the week at my mom's. We were sick the first part of the week and today we are finally...all better. So tonight Meredith is have a sleepover at Mimi's with Ju-Ju and Patty.

She loves being with the older girls, she thinks she is one of them. Nathalie or Nattie is a little confused as to why Meredith calls her Patty and for that matter so are we. What can I say Mizit likes to give people new names. She gets it from her Poppa.

All boy

Is he not so handsome???? I love this baseball stuff....get rid of the girl toys!

I don't want to forget

Time flies by so quickly and I am sure I will remember how damn cute these two tikes are, but what I don't want to forget are these things....

- the way Meredith ask me to "lay you?" every night
- the way Noah pats the top of my arm when I first pick him up.
- the way Meredith reads "Isabel", "Raindrop Plop" and "Going on a bear hunt" to herself and the round-up crew after she is tucked in
- the way Noah holds my pinkie as he nurses
- the way Meredith starts saying "good mornin shweet boy" as we come down the steps
- the way Noah laughs and giggles with his whole body
- the way Meredith will out of the blue grab my cheeks and say "I love you momma!"
- the way Noah will get a grin from ear to ear and jump out of someones arms when I enter the room
- the way Meredith yells "put on your safety belts" whenever we get in the car
- the way Noah smells
- the way Meredith dances whenever she hears music
- the way Noah loves to hold my nose when I rock him
- the way Meredith calls out Noah Elliott's name...."No-ah Em-u-let"
- the way they fit perfectly in my arms when I snuggle with them, one on each side
- the way Meredith imitates everything I do with Noah with her own babies
- the way Meredith gently kisses Noah on top of his head
- the way Noah reaches out and bear hugs her with both arms

Life is amazing and like everyone says....the days drag on....but they years fly. I don't want to miss it and I don't' want to forget it either.

Chick Magnet

First you get the wheels..... Then you get the chicks!
(and your big sister brings them home for you!)

How cute are these two?

Mom do you always have to let her squeeze me like this?
This is better....ready for action now!
Hey just because she is mad doesn't mean I am done with my photoshoot! Look at me...Ladies Man!

These were taken at the hotel during our trip! I have been playing with my photo editing thing...can you tell I suck!

Josh's birthday!

These pictures are a little late....it isn't like I don't have my hands full with two kids and all. Anyway here is Josh opening his presents with his two adorable children.....

Noah cannot believe that is what he got as gifts....

Seriously dad, there must be something else in that bag....hungry hippos and princess memory....is mom on crack? Mom I am just not happy about princess memory and I cannot believe you put my name on the card...I had no part in this bad gift.....we are men dammit!

An intergalactic emergency

My little princess is in bed sleeping and has been sleeping for about an hour. All of her little friends are sleeping with her and there are a lot. There is Woody and Jesse and of course Bulls-Eye and then there is the little Buzz that Mimi gave her and occasionally his all terrain vehicle, which is just a very cool accessory that Disney made up to make even more money, because I don't remember seeing any four wheelers in either Toy Story movie. And the latest addition to our Toy Story brood is a large, talking Buzz Lightyear. Very large Buzz, in fact he is larger than all the others put together.

Tonight as I was tucking her in and making sure she was covered and moving all of her friends so she actually had room in the bed, I heard....

"THERE IS AN INTERGALACTIC EMERGENCY"

what the....

"BUZZ LIGHTYEAR TO THE RESCUE!

Yes my friend Buzz Lightyear if you wake up my peacefully sleeping toddler there will be an emergency and your stay here at this house will be short lived!

Damn toys....damn boy toys! Who would of though a princess like Meredith would carry around boy toys. Our bag that we tote them is getting pretty cramped.

Let the training begin....

It is hard, it is physical, it is emotional, it is exhausting.....how do parents do it?

Potty Training.....no I am not ready.

I am not sure who is training who to be honest.....who is doing the work, the coaching, the praising, the clapping, the yelling in excitement.....but the one thing I do know....potty training is for the birds.

We officially started potty training on July 4th. Why on the 4th of July you may ask? No particular reason, other than I woke up this particular morning and said..."that's it, today I am going to potty train and she is going to use the potty!" Oh if only life worked that way, my way, wouldn't it be grand.

Back to the training......I woke up on the 4th and Josh put Meredith and Noah in bed with me. We snuggled and cuddled and then Josh took Noah to eat some cereal and I was left to change Meredith's diaper and snuggle with my girl some more....but low and behold the diaper was dry. Completely dry and I thought this is it....my big chance....let the training begin.

So I took off her diaper and brought her to the potty that had been collecting dust in my bathroom and then proceeded to strip her down and instructed her to tinkle on the potty. In my mind it played out quite nicely..... Meredith had to potty really bad since she hadn't gone since the night before and she magically sat on the potty and tinkled and we all clapped and danced and open a potty present and threw the diapers away!

Isn't that a dream, but real life doesn't always work that way like I was mentioning before so instead.......we had a 2 hour naked stand off. Our standoff included: lots of her asking for a diaper, pretending to potty and saying "all done momma", different babies tinkling in the potty, and lots of whining.

Approximately 2 hours from the strip down, she did it. She parked her little fanny on the little potty and tinkled...a few drops....she wasn't very sure if that was what I wanted her to do. After months and months of me explaining and showing her what it was that we did on the potty, she still wasn't sure. So I began to wonder....is this it? is this the right time? And then I remembered that she has started to tell me when to change her because she had pooped or was wet....yes dear self it is the right time.

About 30 minutes later she marched her little bare bottomed self back into my bathroom and sat her little tushy back on the potty and finished her tinkling. She did it! And again we clapped and cheered like wild hyenas and opened another potty present! Woohoo, she was starting to get it.....I tinkle in that plastic toy and my parents act like complete morons on crack and give me a present!

She then went the whole day with no diaper, never mind that we went to a party at Mimi's pool and she was in a bathing suit all day....beware all of you swimmers....if the water tasted funny it wasn't just the salt in it. Seriously though she got me out of the pool three times to potty and successfully went twice. She also got her daddy out three times and successfully went once. We have a lot of trial runs people. And she didn't wear a diaper at all yesterday, not even when we got out of the pool and only a pull-up to bed.

So again this morning she woke up dry and again I stripped her down and the potty standoff began. She finally succumbed to the potty and again we did the cheering and clapping and got another prize. Then we put on a pull-up and headed on our 1 hour drive to the coast for the day....I know who decides to start potty training when so much is going on. That my friends is the way I roll.

She did great though, she only tinkled in the pull-up once and she even had a really big potty break with a number 2 when we got home. We sat on lots of different potties today, really grossed me out and made me question my sanity for doing this potty training at all. At one point I thought diapers until the age of 10 were totally worth it to avoid the nastiness of public restrooms. We also got to listen to lots of other people tinkle and discuss it at a really loud decibel. I even heard the various potty goers chuckle at our conversation while we were sitting on the potty...

"Momma.....whas dat?"

"Ummm that is the nice lady in the next potty tinkling like a big girl"

"Like a big girl momma?"

"Yep"

"Momma....listen....hear dat....is tinkle.....good job lady"

"Yes she did a good job, now it is your turn!"

"Momma, mizit finished"

"But you didn't do anything Miz"

"Das alright momma"

Yes you could hear lots of chuckling coming from lots of stalls. Everyone stuck around to wait for us to come out and wash our hands....no we had no successful attempts either....little shit held it all day until we got home.

So yes the potty training has begun, she officially has Josh and I running at her every beck and call. She gets presents whenever she tinkles even a little bit and they have to be wrapped. A present right of the dollar store bag will not do, I have to throw it in to a pretty bag with some tissue paper for it to be worth it.....luckily I can reuse the same bag over and over and that is alright.

So at the end of next week I am betting my little, smart cookie will either be potty trained or her daddy will be broke. Who is your bet on?

Today I am in love with...

the way that Noah puts his little hand on the top of my arm and holds tightly when I am carrying him.....it almost feels like he is carrying me instead. He is only 7 months old and already so strong. How I love my little man!

More Milestones

This week Noah has started saying ma-ma-ma-ma-ma and da-da-da-da-da.

He also says ba-ba-ba-ba-ba and is very good at raspberries and spitting bubbles. Meredith is also pretty good at spitting bubbles back at Noah. In fact skip your shower tonight and just come on over and get a shower....we tend to get carried away sometimes.

Noah has also gotten really good at crying Ma-Maaa when I lay him down for his nap. He gets really mad for like 8.5 seconds, cries out Ma-Maaa in the most pathetic little cry and then rolls over and naps. Each and every day, talk about a momma's boy. It almost makes me pick him back up and hold him....but then I remember the nap time is sacred!

Then there is the really cute head shake, not sure what it means but it is almost if he is saying No-no. And when he does it, he has the cutest biggest grin from ear to ear. Maybe he picked it up from his big sister who is always telling him No-no when he touches the toy she is playing with. Oh let the sharing fun really begin.

The wave....oh we have the cutest little backwards wave gone on as well. I love it! I also love the way he looks at me when I wave back and say "bye-bye....bye-bye!" His whole little face lights up and he is in awe, like I am showing him the coolest thing ever. He waves at me all day long.

We have also graduated to sitting in high chairs full time in restaurants and are thinking about coming to terms with weaning from breastfeeding. Not that I am ready, the coming to terms part is about me....I think Noah will do just fine. It is just that I have the nosiest little man around. He loves to be in the action and nursing him anywhere unless in a quiet room is next to impossible. His biggest distraction is his big sister, when she is around I can hang up the nursing, he would much rather play with her than eat.

So yes my little Noah is growing up.....7 1/2 months have really flown by. My sweet little boy is growing up way too fast.

Let's do lunch!

Today I took Meredith and Noah to meet up with Adalyn, Burke and Mrs. Katie at the movies. Every Tuesday at 10am our theatre does a kids movie. It is an old movie that is not currently out and you get popcorn and a drink for $3. Can't beat that, plus if the kiddos cry or talk it isn't a big deal because the theatre is full of kids. So we went today to see Alvin and the Chipmunks and Adalyn and Meredith sat besides one another with Katie and I on the outsides of them holding the boys.

The girls were great, didn't move around to much other than to dance a little in their seats and whispered to one another every so often. About halfway through the movie Meredith looked at Adalyn and said....

"wanna get lunch?"

"yeah"

"okay!"

then she looked at me and said...

"momma she's my friend, we gonna get lunch!"

I wonder who was picking up the tab? Meredith or Adalyn? Perhaps their dads give them an allowance we don't know about.

Our adventure or "the trip"

So this past weekend was our big "trip". All week long we told Meredith we were going on a "trip" this weekend and all week long we heard "trip momma, trip?.....Mizit cited!" I am not sure if she knew what a trip was or where we were going, but she was damn excited. And it was fun, but exhausting, and work and it showed us two things.....

1. kids are expensive
2. we are so ready for Disney, as long as there is an immediate care

We headed out on our journey at 4:oopm. By the time we loaded the car and went back in for things we forgot and picked up fast food for dinner, it was 5pm when we actually got on interstate to head to the big city. It started out with me forgetting my makeup and only got progressively funnier as we went.

On the way into town I noticed Noah's eye was running, like he had a clogged tear duct. But he has never had a clogged duct, so I wasn't sure why it would clog so suddenly and where was all this goop coming from. Then I remembered that right before we left Meredith tried to put my sunglasses on Noah and poked him in the eye with the end of the glasses. In the hour and a half that it took us to get to Nola I had gone from the reasonable mom who handles situations with clarity and patience to a mom who was now panicked that her toddler had somehow damaged her babies eye and it was beyond repair and he could possibly lose his vision and into crisis mode. All rationality went out the window someplace around the East. So I called a friend back at home who happens to be an opthamalogist and got his professional opinion on what it was and what I should do. I didn't wait for my husband's opinion, because that would have required me to be patient and calm for another 10 minutes until we got to the hotel for him to look. So this friend tells me he thinks it will be find, the eye is a pretty resilient muscle and he doubt that it was anything to worry about. I threw that opinion out the window and continued to panic and diagnose him myself. When we parked I had my husband take a look and call our friend back, at that point I calmed down a little. I did have Josh call Noah's pediatrician in the morning as it was swollen shut at this point, but after Josh massaged it like my opthamologist friend and the pediatrician said it was looking mush better.....by the end of the trip, Noah still had an eye and appeared to be seeing just fine. I know because he said he thought his crazy momma was beautiful.

Fast forward to check in....we give them a credit card, they give us a key.

We then put the key in the door only to find people in our room or I guess you can say we tried checking into another person's room. Technically it was the latter, but that is where the lady told us to go. The bellman just shook his head and said..."I don't like this one bit". Yeah pal it isn't doing much for me right now either. And at that point, I wasn't entirely focused on the safety/security concern, but I was lugging around a 20lb sack of potatoes, while carrying a purse, diaper bag and toy bag and trying to tell my 2 year old to stick around and not go into any strangers rooms like her mommy and daddy were trying to do.

We then got a new room and a new floor and checked into our suite, which with 2 tikes was very sweet! Everything was great, Meredith loved the balcony and thought her new house was "cute momma! cute!" I thought it was okay, definitely not the Ritz, but not bad. Needless to say I didn't take my shoes off the whole time and tried to get the kids to stay on a blanket and not play on the floor.

Fast forward to night one...

We went to one of our old haunts with the tikes and had a trip down memory lane as we looked at our old selves. The carefree couple that was newly engaged. All the LSU and Tulane residents kicking back on a Friday night with a beer, the girls having a girls night and gossiping. Yes how times have changed. Meredith loved Slice and loved to people watch. Noah passed out in Josh's arms, but in a few years he will appreciate it too.

That night we got Noah to sleep in one bed and was going to put Meredith down in the other when we noticed the bed was wet. So Josh stripped the bed and realized that the sheets and blanket were wet, but the mattress was safe. Not sure if we spilled something or the sheets were just damp, but under no circumstances was I waking my baby to switch rooms or letting my other baby sleep on wet sheets....there was no telling what that was. So Josh called down to get new sheets to which he was told sure they would be right there and it "just wasn't our day was it".....I guess not.

The next morning we awoke bright and early and Josh headed down to buy a $5 crappy toothbrush, $4 sample of toothpaste and a $8 hair brush. Thankfully my mom would be dropping off my toiletry bag later that day, but for now, this no name expensive shit would do.

We then headed out to the Louisiana children's museum and then immediate care. We thought that Meredith might have broken her wrist, but after a $125 consultation we learned it was only bruised and she really just wanted a sucker. Too bad the immediate care only had stickers.

That night we visited with some family and friends at a fiesta!

Then on Sunday we awoke early to celebrate Josh's birthday with beignets at the one and only Cafe Du Monde and a free ferry ride! After our trip to immediate care, we couldn't afford the natchez. No seriously why pay for an hour ride when the ferry is 10 mintues and free. Right up a toddler and mommy of a toddler's alley! I was then attacked by something that bit the shit out of me all over my legs. I changed shorts in the parking lot in the quarter....hey it was New Orleans....changing in public is totally okay. Still haven't figured out what bit me and why it only bit me, but Josh saw the welts all over my legs. Perhaps it was my hotel room phobia appearing all over. We then grabbed a little sushi for lunch and headed home. It was fun...we will do it again .....soon.