Isaiah at 18 Months

Isaiah was 18 months on March 22, so I wanted to record a few things about him at this moment in time.

-He's 25lbs and just shy of 32 inches tall.

-He still only has 8 teeth.  His molars have been huge bruised "marbles" under his gums for MONTHS, but just now one is actually cutting through so that part of it is through the gums.  The other ones are still just bruises.

-He gets up between 2 and 4 times a night to nurse.  It's just recently he started sometimes getting up only 2 times.  I love those nights.  But I usually end up laying awake for 2 or 3 hours anyway.

-We cosleep, and we love it and have no plans to stop.

-He doesn't talk much, but he does say Mama, Dada, Noah, more, no, yah, ball, block, Papa, Nana, baby, bird, moo, cheep, and maybe a few other things.

-He likes to build now, not just destroy.

-His "lovey" is a panda that Noah built him at Build-A-Bear, named "Pandy".  He ADORES Pandy, which is especially cute because Noah made him for him. I don't think I have a picture of it, unfortunately.

-He hasn't been sick that many times.  4 or 5 times total, one of them being right now (we all have a cold except Justin).

-He's a super smiley, friendly baby, but he is not easy.  He is pretty high maintenance and requires a lot of attention.  But he's a toddler, so yeah.  I expect that.

-I've always said that 12-18 months is my least favourite age (for so many reasons), and literally just in the 1.5 weeks before Isaiah turned 18 months he suddenly got a little easier.  Up until that point he still wanted to be held or worn every second, even while I was cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, etc.  Right before turning 18 months he suddenly preferred to play than to be worn.  Nothing else got easier, really, but that made a HUGE difference.

-He is a MAJOR STINKER.

-He loves to strut around like a peacock on the dining room table.

-He's not a "good eater" even though he always wants to eat.  He just doesn't actually ingest a whole lot, and he's rather picky.  He still gets about 95% of his nutrition from breastmilk, which is fine.  It's healthier than most things he could eat anyway.

-In the tub he is constantly doing this (don't mind the old lady tiles):

-He continues to be a hitter, scratcher, pincher, and biter. He's always done these things, ever since he was an infant. It's usually not even malicious, but it HURTS! We are just finally starting to make some headway with the whole "Be gentle, be gentle" and petting things instead of hitting. And finally when we say "No biting! Just kissing." He will kiss whatever he was about to bite. Up until now those things didn't work. And interestingly, if he's hitting or biting and we just say "No hitting!" or "No biting!" it will make him do it even more. Every single time.

Trying to bite for no reason:

Still trying to bite...

A split second before I yelled "ISAIAH NOOO!!" and he smashed Noah on the head with the old diaper sprayer:

-He's a HUGE gym rat, and pretty much his favourite place to be is in our garage gym.

In short, he's "challenging", but he's a pretty awesome kid!  We like him :)

Things Noah Says... and Does... Well, Just a Noah Update.

Noah is (almost) always adorable, but here are a few things he's said and done, and conversations we've had lately that I really don't want to forget:


After he poured orange juice into the blender for our smoothies...
Me: "You did such a good job!  You're a good pourer.  I'm impressed."
Noah: "I know!  I'm almost a grown up."


Noah: "Where do the TV shows go when they're not on?"
(Seriously I didn't know how to answer that)


Noah: "I'm your kid and I'm Daddy's kid.  And Isaiah is your kid and Isaiah is Daddy's kid!"
Me: "That's right!"
Noah: "Mommy, do you share us with Daddy?"
Me: "Um, well kind of, but not really.  Because you're just both of our kids, so it's not really like I'm sharing you with him.  You're just both of ours."
Noah: "But Mommy, that's sharing!"


A long time ago, probably before he even turned 3, I told Noah "I love you to pieces."  He responded with "I love you THREE pieces!"  Ever since then he always tells me how many pieces he loves me, which often goes something like this: "You wanna know how many pieces I love you?  I love you one hundred, 2 fousand, free hundred, two fousand, one miwwion, FREE FOUSAND, TEN FOUSAND pieces!"


About a week ago he fell outside and smashed his forehead on the cement.  He got a HUGE goose egg (I'm not sure I'd ever seen one so big), and at first he called it a "goose egg".  But then somehow he switched to calling it "my headache".  As in, "Be careful of my headache!"  And "Mom!  Isaiah is trying to touch my headache!!!"

(You can see slight evidence of his "headache" in the picture below.)

Noah loves to be creative.  He loves to draw, cut, tape, glue, and paint.  Then he tapes up his creations all over the house for us to enjoy.  Actually, as I'm writing this he just got out his paper and pencil crayons and said "Let's get creative!"  His absolute favourite thing to draw right now is fish.  Sometimes he draws his own fish, other times he asks us to draw a fish for him and then he "customizes" it.  He doesn't "decorate" things, he "customizes" them.  He came up with that term himself back when we were still living at our old house.  It still makes me laugh.

Talking about that made me remember this time in the summer when I was taking the boys to get my parents and go down by the bridge.  Noah had coloured patterns on little squares of paper, and then gave them to Granny and Gramper, calling them "gift cards".  "I made a gift card for you!"

A couple of weeks ago we were going to this grocery store that gives out a free cookie to kids who come in with their parents to shop.  I told Noah we were going to go there and he looked very serious and said "But I don't have anything to give her!  I'm going to go draw her a picture."  So he did.  

Everyday for the past couple of months we have made smoothies.  And Noah loves for us to sit on the floor and "have a picnic" while we drink our smoothies.  He is so good about sharing his smoothies with Isaiah.

Overall, Noah is just a totally awesome kid.  We feel so lucky to have him.

Isaiah is 14 Months Old!

Who am I kidding, I am not even a "blogger" anymore.  I just don't have or make the time.  However, I don't want Isaiah's baby/toddler/childhood to pass by without me recording ANYTHING.  Even if it's just every couple of months.

So, at 14 months old, Isaiah...

-Weighs 23lbs, which is about 65th percentile.

-Is 30 inches tall, which is apparently 25th percentile.... I knew he was a shorty!  Justin is in denial.

-Has 8 teeth - he just got 2 teeth (the two on the bottom to complete the set of four in the middle) this past month after 2 or 3 months of no new teeth.

-Started talking at 13.5 months old, just like Noah.  He's been saying Dada for a long long time, but he said it even when not referring to Justin, so I don't count that so much.  His first official word was "more" (more food, of course), followed by Mama, no (nah), and Noah (Nah-Nah).

-He also started signing to nurse on the same day he said his first word.

-He actually eats now.  When he turned one he liked the tastes of things but never actually swallowed anything.  He swallows things now.  He doesn't eat A LOT - maybe 3-5% of his nutrition is from solids, the rest from breastmilk - but it's an increase.  He started drinking water from straws and sippy cups, too.

-He still sleeps not so great.  Up 4-8 times a night.

-He naps well.  He went to one nap right at 12 months and that one nap is anywhere from 1 to 2.5 hours long.  Generally it's about an hour and a half.

-He was walking the week before his first birthday, and within about a week was walking totally full time.  He never crawls anymore... *tear*... crawling babies are so adorable.

-He wears 18 month pajamas and 24 month pants and shirts.  He's not as tall as Noah was, and he could fit into 18 month shirts, but I like them to be a little bigger so they don't ride up when he gets picked up.  All our 18 month pants are too short for him though, and the 24 month pants aren't TOO long... If we're going outside I cuff them, but he's not tripping over them or anything.

-This is random, but something I want to remember - He loves to sit on Noah's potties.  LOVES it.  He just sits there and grins, then stands up, sits back down, stands up, sits back down.  It's hilarious.

-He gets into everything.  Just like Noah did.  But he does something Noah never did: When I tell him "No", he says "NAAAHH!"  back at me in this kind of throaty voice.  It's quite funny.  I'm not sure what age that will stop being funny at. haha

-He is such a little cuddle bug.  We still babywear for several hours a day.  We all love the cuddles :)

-He LOVES Noah, and Noah loves him.  The two of them are as best of friends as brothers can be when they're 2.5 years apart.

Can I just take a moment to revel in the fact that It's the 22nd of the month, Isaiah's actual 14 month birthday, and I'm ACTUALLY posting this on the correct day??

I should really post more often.  Life is so full and it's just passing us by with no record of it.  Sigh.

LOL FOREVER!

THIS just happened:

Noah: "How much does Isaiah have testicles?" (this was the actual wording of the question, haha)

Me: "Pardon me?"

Noah: "Does he have two testicles?"

Me: "Ummm, yes he does."

Noah: "How much does Papa have?"

Me: :"Uhhh.. I don't know, I have never talked to Papa about his testicles."

Noah: "Does he have two?"

Me: "Probably.  Most boys have two."

Noah: "How much does Gramper have?"

Me: "He probably has two, like most people."

Noah: "How much does McQueen have?"

Me: "None, silly, he's a car!"

Noah: "How much does Chick Hicks have? [starts laughing]  Chick Hicks has zero testicles!"

That was 10 minutes ago and I am still laughing.

Updates on my Boys

I just wanted to write an update on where things are at.

Isaiah seems to be doing a lot better.  Last Monday I let him cry while I held him, and that drastically improved his overall state of being.  I really do think he needed a healing cry for any number of reasons - I had a horrible attitude while I was pregnant, he went through over 2 days of labour, I had bad baby blues for a couple of weeks after he was born... I don't know why, but those are definitely contenders!

Anyway, because he was doing SO much better, on Thursday and Friday I didn't give him any reflux meds.  He'd been on them for a week, but I thought maybe he didn't need them and all of his fussiness was due to us not allowing him to cry when he needed to.

Friday he got progressively fussier as the day went on.  And Saturday?  Oh my gosh, Saturday SUCKED.  By night time there was so much screaming I just didn't know what to do anymore.  Justin took him and I sat on my bed and cried.  And then called my mom.  Thankfully Isaiah finally fell asleep on Justin and then went in his crib.

On Sunday evening he was back to nursing REALLY fussily again.  Crying and popping on and off the whole time, like he had been doing before he started the reflux meds.  I stopped and gave him the meds mid-feed.  Then Monday I gave him two doses, morning and late afternoon.  The fussing while nursing went away.  Tuesday I just gave him a late afternoon dose, and the fussing while nursing was back (although not as bad).

Bottom line, I think he really does have painful reflux, and that his fussiness has been due to several factors, that being one of them.  Today (Wednesday) I'm going with two doses again.  I'm going to see how this two dose thing goes (he's only supposed to have one dose) and let my doctor know.  Hopefully he believes me and changes the prescription, because he didn't think the meds would make any difference to begin with.

Anyway, moving on from reflux...

Isaiah is cutting teeth.  Yeah, what the heck, right?  I first noticed the little white slits in his gums at 4 weeks.  Then at 6 weeks I was rubbing them and I could feel the sharp pointiness of his two bottom teeth right below the gums.  WHAT?!  I think they've receded a bit again in the past few days.  Poor kid.  A teething one month old?  Not fun.  This could also have been contributing to his fussiness in the past month.

At 7.5 weeks, Isaiah is smiling a lot more now, which is wonderfully rewarding.  He has been growing much more smiley in the past week.  He's also having a lot more pleasant and content periods than he was having 2 weeks ago.

He takes a lot of naps in the Sleepy Wrap, which allows me to not worry about trying to put him to sleep.  He'll nap for over 2 hours in the wrap sometimes.  I just pop him in and within a few minutes he's out like a light.  I can even sit down now when he's sleeping in it (before I had to keep moving).

Sometimes he takes decent naps when he's laying down, sometimes not.  I'm not stressing about it, and trying not to think too far ahead.  It is what it is right now.  I'd rather have him get his rest in the wrap and me be able to take care of Noah and my house and myself than be fighting to get him to sleep in the first place, and then be fighting to get him to sleep longer than half an hour.

Sleep at night is... pretty good I guess.  It depends on your standards.  It's not horrible.  He often puts himself to sleep while lying on his tummy in his crib.  But he's still up every 2-4 hours.  Sometimes its an hour and a half, and the longest stretch yet has been 4 hours 20 minutes.  He is frantically hungry when he wakes up, and I know he's capable of putting himself to sleep since he does it every single night (if not at the very beginning of the night, then at some other point during the night after he nurses).  So it's not a sleep association thing... I'm not sure when he'll get over the needing to nurse every 2-4 hours all night long.  For now, I'm just accepting it. I sure would love to not have to go to bed right when he does, though.

On Sunday I skipped going to my SIL's baby shower.  It would have been over two hours of driving and unfortunately Isaiah is HATING the car again.  He was great in the car on the way to my midwife appointment last Thursday, but every time he's been in it since he has been screaming non stop.  He seriously panics, and I feel terrible.  I'm trying him in it again today to take the kids to my parents house to put up their Christmas tree, so we'll see how that goes.  Non stop panicked screaming makes for a LONG 25 minute drive.


Now, let's talk about Noah for a minute.  He is great, of course.  He and Justin have a new bedtime routine that doesn't include me, since I am doing Isaiah's bedtime routine at the same time (bath, jammies, boob, bed).  Justin and Noah do the bath and jammies thing, then Noah picks a book to read and goes in his crib.  Justin sits on the mattress outside of the crib and reads Noah the book.  Then Noah "reads" the book himself.  Then they turn off the light, turn on the sound machine (Noah decided he didn't like white noise anymore, and chose a "nature" track instead... it drowns out no noise whatsoever, but he is sleeping just fine anyway), and then lie side by side as Noah goes to sleep.  Noah will actually go right to sleep with Justin in there beside him, which really surprises me!  It also gives me hope that when we transition him out of his crib, he'll actually do well.

Last night was Noah's first night with a pillow and blanket.  He was asking for them, and since many kids his age are in big boy beds with pillows and blankets, I saw no reason for him not to have them.  He really enjoyed it!  When Justin tucked him in he said "If you get cold, just pull the blanket up to your shoulders."  Noah replied, "Oh, that's a good idea!"  It made us laugh.

I really enjoy listening to Noah's running commentary as he plays with his toys.  His imagination is hilarious, and I love hearing him say all sorts of "grown up" things as he plays or "talks on the phone".  "Oh hi Aunt Giliane.  It's just Noah.  Oh yeah, I'm good.  I'm just doing fine.  We're just going to have dinner now.  We're having buns.  Okay, see you!"

He just started saying his whole prayer with us at meal times, instead of just "Amen" at the end.  He surprised us by saying it a few nights ago, since we didn't know he knew the whole thing.

He is super sweet to Isaiah still.  He always tries to share his toys with him.  Some things he's said to him that made me laugh: "Hi Isaiah!  You're chubby!  You're a chubby boy!"  "Hi Isaiah... I love you... I'm so proud of you!" (I wish I could explain his tone of voice when he said that one).  "Hi Isaiah!  You're so tiny and cute!"  He calls him "cutie pie" and "chunky monkey," which I find adorable.  He'll also say to me, "Hi Mommy... you're so pretty and cute!"  I'm not sure where he got this pretty and cute business from, but I'll take it!


I'm sure I could blabber on for another 10 paragraphs, but I'm leaving the house in less than an hour and I need to get things ready before Isaiah wakes up (he's sleeping in the wrap).

Things Noah Says

I'm so glad I decided to start doing these posts... otherwise how would I remember all of the hilariousness that is this darling 2 year old?

After waking up with another dry diaper:
Mommy: It's dry!
Noah: Let me feel it! (feels the diaper)  It's dry!  There's no pee in it... There's pee in this penis, though!


Noah: (rubbing his stomach) My tummy is so big!
Mommy:  Why is your tummy so big?
Noah: Because the baby's moving!


On the way to his bedroom for nap:
Noah: I want to walk.
Mommy: Okay. (Puts him down)
Noah: (pauses, seriously) Which one do I like?
Mommy: Pardon?
Noah: Say it.
Mommy: Say what?
Noah: Say 'Which one do you like.'
Mommy: Which one do you like?
Noah: I like walking.  (Proceeds to walk to his crib).


Looking at the Nutella on Justin's toast:
Noah: You have funny peanut butter.


Busting in on Justin while he was, ahem, peeing:
Noah: NICE TO MEET YOU!!!!!!


While trying to play Fruit Ninja on the iPod, the screen went black and I couldn't fix it.  I told Noah it wasn't working:
Noah: (Speaking very thoughtfully and matter-of-factly) It's okay.  We'll choose a different one.  (Goes to main screen).  Sooo... the Fruit Ninja is broken.  Sooo... we need to pick a different video.  Someone needs to fix it.


Running around naked after bath, Noah stops, leans over, and sniffs:
Noah: I smelled my bellybutton!!!!
Mommy: You smelled your belly button?
Noah: Yes!
Mommy: What did it smell like?
Noah: Peanut butter!!
Mommy: (laughing) Your belly button smells like peanut butter?
Noah: Yes!  And jam!  (sniffs again) It smells like Thomas!  And Percy!  (sniffs again) It smells like Mavis!


This next one is totally TMI, but it was too funny for me to not record:

After going to the bathroom, Noah stood up and looked at the shape of his "handiwork":
Noah: It's a J!!  (shuffles around the potty) Now it's a C!  (shuffles again)  Now it's a moon!  It's a very yucky moon!

Things Noah Says

While carrying him to the potty in the morning after waking up with another dry diaper, Noah reached his hand in between us and said very maturely and enthusiastically, "Oh yeah, this penis is VERY dry!"


Noah brought me a bucket full of puzzle pieces, and said very seriously and enticingly, "I have animals... and shapes!" (dragging out the words 'animals' and 'shapes,' as if he was trying to sell them to me).
I said, "You do??"
He replied, in the same tone of voice, "Yes, I do... If you want them!"


While taking new batteries in and out of his drill:
Noah: I need to read it!!!!! (inspects battery closely)... It says... "battery."
(It actually said 'Energizer')


While sitting in the mattress in his room reading books:
Mommy: Noah, can you please get me a pillow?
Noah: Okay!  Of course!  Of course I will!


Mommy: OUCH!
Noah: (very concerned) What happened to you, Mommy??
Mommy: I burned my finger on the pan.
Noah: You remember when I burned my finger?
Mommy: Yes, I do.
Noah: Mommy had to kiss it!
Mommy: Yes I did.  Will you kiss the burn on my finger?
Noah: (in a very sweet voice) Yes, of course.  Of course I will, Mommy! (kisses my finger)



Noah: Are you happy, Mommy?
Mommy: Yes, I am.  (I notice he's pouring his cup of water into his high chair tray).  Wait, no I'm not!  Don't pour your water out!  That doesn't make me happy.
Noah: Are you sad?
Mommy: Yes.
Noah: I'm sorry, Mommy...  Good boy for saying sorry.
(This was hilarious because he congratulated himself for saying "sorry".)


While following me around as I clean, waiting for me to be ready to give him a cereal bar from the box he's been carrying around:
Noah: You need to wait.  I'm a very busy person.

Things Noah Says

I need to keep a better record of the funny/quirky things Noah says and conversations we have, so I'm starting now!


-"That's mine's!!!" (Noah is deep into the stage of language learning where he generalizes grammar rules and uses them in 'inappropriate' ways.  This seems like a step backwards in language development, but it's actually a step forward, and I thought it wasn't supposed to happen until he was quite a bit older.)

-"Elijah is three... Josiah is one... I'm two... Ethan is one... Lilah is three... Millie is one... Ellis is four... Elsie is four... Nancy is four!" (Nancy is Ellis and Elsie's Mom)

-In the bathroom at the midwife's office Noah picked up one of those little samples that has Johnson's baby wash and Penaten cream in it.
Noah: What is this??
Mommy: It's for the baby!
Noah: Ohhhhhh! (puts the little package on my tummy and switches to a high voice) Here you go, baby!  It's for you!

-Before we left for the grocery store:
Mommy: Are you going to be a good boy at the store?
Noah: I'm going to be a PINK boy!!!
Mommy: A pink boy?
Noah: (realizes what he said) A BIG boy!

-In the pool yesterday:
Noah: (puts both hands on my tummy) There's cheese in there!  And grapefruits!!

-We were both going to the bathroom before going outside:
Noah: (pointing to my "area") You have a giant!!!
(I've told him several times that it's called a "vagina," and he can totally say that, but we don't talk about it very much, so in his vocabulary it's evolved from "gian" to "giant" to now "gina" - long I sound, not "geena").

-"I want some peanut butter toast and jam sandwich!!" (This is a bit older, as he hasn't said this is over a month, but this is how he used to ask for either peanut butter and jam toast or a PB&J sandwich.)

-This almost always happens when I'm taking off his shirt and putting on an orange one:
Noah: This is not my favourite colour (referring to the shirt he's wearing)... This is my favourite colour!!! (pointing to the orange shirt)

-Before his haircut we were swimming in the pool and I used some water to spike up his hair:
Noah: I look sassy!
Mommy: You look sassy??
Noah: Sexy!  I look SEXY!
(seriously I have no idea where that came from)

-Before leaving for the store, post haircut:
Noah: You have to make my hair snazzy!
(this makes more sense to me, because I always told him his hair looked snazzy after I styled it)

-Today Justin took Noah's shirt off so he could put sunscreen on him.  Noah started crying:
Noah: I want to be a monkey!!!
(Neither of us have any idea what this means.  Noah gets sunscreened, pouting the whole time.  Then Justin puts his shirt back on him, but Noah pulls it up so it's just hanging out around his head like a turban or something.)
Noah: (really happy now) Look at ME!  I'm a monkey!

-Yesterday I was sitting in a chair in the living room.  Noah opened the drawers on his train table and took out the big sheet of instructions.
Noah: (In a very serious voice) Okay.  Look Mommy.  Here is all the trains, see?  And look.  This is how you put the tracks together.  See?

-After coming in from playing outside with Daddy:
Noah: I found ants!!
Mommy: You found ants?!
Noah: Yes!  There's was lots of them!  They could be hungry!
Mommy: The ants might be hungry?
Noah: Yes!  What they should eat???

-After sneezing while playing on my iPod:
Noah: (holding out the iPod to me) Mommy, I bless you'd all over the phone!!


I know there are hundreds more, but this is all I can remember right now.  Hopefully in the future I will record these things better, because before you know it my toddler will be a preschooler, and these toddlerisms will be no more.

In Which Noah Apologizes

I know this is my third post in less than 24 hours, but I had to record this for my memories...

~~~

Noah loves to flip around and do somersaults (he actually does a perfect somersault, which is kind of impressive) whenever he's on a soft surface.  We have established that he is NOT allowed to flip on the same couch or bed that I'm on, but occasionally he just gets so exuberant that he can't help himself.

Just now we were sitting on my bed after he got up from his nap (he woke up in a really good mood).  He started to flip around, and ended up doing a somersault where he landed right on my bedside table, smashing into my lamp and knocking over a cup of water.  Thankfully it was a huge cup with very little water in it, otherwise it would have been a disaster.

I really do my best not to overreact and get really angry and yell, because it's rarely ever necessary, and Noah is fairly sensitive to anyone acting upset at him.  So I'm exclaiming (not yelling), "NO!!!  Oh NO Noah!!  This is why you aren't supposed to flip!  This is very bad!!"  while trying to stop the water from spilling all over everything else on the table.  Meanwhile he is scrambling his hardest to get off the bedside table.  Once he gets back on the bed I'm trying to right everything on the table and I'm still saying things like "This is not good, Noah!  This is why Mommy tells you not to flip!  This isn't safe!  You could break things!"  He looks freaked out and while I'm talking he keeps saying, "Hi!  Hi Mommy!  Hi!"  in a little shaky voice (which immediately makes me glad I wasn't actually shouting and getting mad at him).  I think he was trying to distract me.

Once I said, "Hi, Noah" (while trying my hardest not to laugh), he said, "Are you happy??" in his shaky voice.  Because he always wants to make me happy.  I said "No, Noah, I am not happy.  I don't like it when you flip around me, and you could have broken things on the table."  So he said "Hi, Mommy" again, while touching my arm.  I said, "It makes me upset when you flip when you're around Mommy."  He exclaimed "Don't be upset!!"  I'm still trying not to laugh, and he still seems kind of shaky from the whole incident, so I give him a hug, partially so I can hide my smile.

While I'm hugging him, he says emphatically, "I'm sorry!!"  I said, "Thank you Noah, I'm glad you're sorry."  After our hug was over, he tilted his head, smiled at me, and asked, "Are you happy, now???"

I told him that yes, I was happy now.

He just melts me with his sweet little heart.  I don't know what I'd do without him.

The Past 5 Days

My hubby was gone for three full days last week - Thursday, Friday, Saturday.  I kept myself as busy as possible, especially in the evenings, because otherwise I get all bitter about being left alone for 3 days for an optional track and field meet.  Especially when I was left alone for two full days the week before for another optional track and field meet.

Here's what we did:

Thursday - In the morning Noah and I went into town for my midwife appointment, and then went shopping for my friend for her bridal shower.  We went home for nap, which didn't happen for whatever reason.  Then we went back into town to my parents' house to hang out and for dinner.

Friday - We had my friend Melissa and her 8 month old daughter Talya over.  We played inside and went out to the pool, as well.  Then naptime.  After nap Noah and I went back out to the pool until 5:20.  I thought we'd stay home for the evening, since we had been fully occupied until that point... that turned out to be a mistake.  Noah goes to bed pretty late, so we just felt like it was a long time to fill.  I got so lonely and bored.  Apparently I am a huge suck.  But even Noah was asking "Can we go somewhere, please?"

Saturday - My parents came over at 11:30 in the morning and didn't leave until 7:30.  We spent the day by the pool and then I made them baked potatoes, BBQed steak, and vegetables for dinner.  I surprised myself (and my parents) in that I was able to BBQ the steak and actually do a really good job.  I have never actually BBQed before!  I've turned the BBQ on, and I've started to BBQ things like pork chops, chicken, and burgers.  But my hubby has always stepped in by the halfway point and finished things.

On Sunday morning Justin was finally home!  But Noah and I had to leave at 9:30am to meet up with my Mom and then drive 2 hours away for my friend Corey's bridal shower.  I was pretty much dreading Sunday for a long time.  I didn't want to bring Noah because there was 4 hours of driving in one day, and a fancy bridal shower to bring a 2 year old boy to.  But I was also 100% uncomfortable with leaving him in a different city for 9 hours while I was 2 hours away.  I had never left Noah any longer than 2 hours before, and I just was not comfortable leaving him for that huge chunk of time when I was not in pretty close proximity to come home if things weren't going well.

I hemmed and hawed about it for awhile, but the few days leading up to the shower (along with the way Sunday morning went) clinched it for me.  I would have not enjoyed myself at all because of worrying about Noah if I hadn't brought him.

So, as I mentioned, I was a little bit worried about the trip.  However, it couldn't have gone smoother!  I knew Noah would be awesome at the shower (he's been to many showers and always done really well), and he was.  He was the only kid there, and we were there for about 4 hours, but everyone was incredibly impressed with him.  He was as good as gold.

The car ride was what I was more worried about.  4 hours in the car in one day is a lot to ask of any toddler.  But Noah was perfect.  He slept for about half an hour on the way there (he was up way too early that morning), but other than that he was fully awake.  Still, he didn't even whine.  Like I said, it couldn't have gone smoother, so I was thrilled!

It was nice to be able to make it to the shower, because Corey is getting married on September 29.  My due date is October 10.  Considering my current level of pain/discomfort, and taking into considering how I was completely crippled at that point in my pregnancy with Noah, I am 99% certain I won't be able to make it to the wedding.  Corey is a really good friend - we lived together for 3 years in university, and she was one of my bridesmaids when I got married (before she got engaged I told her I loved her, but asked her to please not ask me to be a bridesmaid, because I would probably be pregnant or have a newborn, plus I have Noah, and I just wouldn't be able to handle the responsibility).  Not making it to her wedding is pretty sad for us, so it was really nice to be able to celebrate with her on Sunday.

So that was my weekend.

This morning Noah and I went to parent/child drop in to get out of the house and play.  It was okay... there were only two other kids there, and I wanted to punch the one little boy.  Noah tried to go over and play with them twice, and both times the little boy shrieked/growled at Noah when he got close.  Both times Noah jumped and ran away terrified.  I was so mad.  Noah is just the nicest, sweetest little boy.  When he is playing with other kids he is so helpful and kind to them.  He would never be mean!  We don't really ever even interact with mean little kids.  I only get together with friends who have nice little kids, because why would I want to hang out with a brat?

What happened this morning was such a small thing, but it really bothers me.  It just reminds me how mean some kids can be, and how I can't protect Noah from everything that's going to hurt him in his life.  As a mother, that thought makes me cry.


Okay, moving along.  This afternoon I told Justin that after 4 full days of being Noah's only parent, I was ready to get out of the house - alone.  So I went shopping.  In town.  Without Noah.  I realized today that I have never done that.  I have never left Noah at home with Justin and gone to a different city.  I've left him at home with Justin so I can run errands in our little town, but I've never actually left town.  I was gone for 3 hours.  Justin said it wasn't totally smooth sailing, and Noah had a bit of a hard time.  But they made it through unscathed.

I think it's important that Noah realized I was actually gone, and I was gone for awhile, and then I came back.  He still has really bad separation anxiety from me.  The problem is that I usually don't have any reason to leave him.  I don't have any childless friends nearby, and there's not a lot that I would go do that Noah wouldn't really enjoy... so I take him!  Plus, Justin isn't home a ton because of teaching and coaching, so it's not like I have very many opportunities to take off by myself.

Today I did, so I took it.  I went to town, picked up my mom, and went shopping.  I bought four super cute maxi dresses that I am really looking forward to wearing!  Life is about to get a lot more comfortable:)

Change of Plans

For the past couple of weeks Justin and I have been planning that today would be an evening out.  It was our good friend's (Justin's more than mine - he was his best man) surprise 30th birthday party.  Justin told me it started at 6:30, so I thought I could go!  The plan was to drive two vehicles into town and drop Noah off at my parents' around 6.  They would feed him and bathe him, and then I would leave the party at 7:30, go pick up Noah, bring him home, and put him to bed.  He would end up going to bed at his normal time of 8:30 if this plan had worked.

Well, Justin is a man, and with pretty much everything that gets planned through him I am way under-informed. Last night I finally made him showed me the invitation for the party.  This was more so because I was wondering if we should eat dinner before we go.  But I was glad I finally saw all the details, because it completely ruined my plans for the night.  

Justin had told me it started at 6:30.  I assumed we should be there at 6:15, because Russ would be getting there at 6:30.  Umm, no.  Russ wouldn't be getting there until sometime between 7:15 and 7:30.  That would leave me a maximum of 15 minutes to be at the party at the same time as Russ.  I pretty much immediately said, "Well, I guess I won't be going!"  Noah woke up at 6:30am this morning after not falling asleep until past 9:30pm the night before.  That's not much sleep.  So I wasn't about to stay out later and have him go to bed later.  Not after a short, crappy sleep like that.

You have to understand - Noah has still never been put to bed by anyone other than me.  Ever.  I know this will happen at some point, but at this exact time in his life I am not comfortable with it, because I know he wouldn't be.  He may now finally be at the point where Justin could put him to bed without me and there wouldn't be a huge freak out.  We haven't tried this yet, as there has been no reason to.  But that scenario would definitely be our first "step" to getting Noah to be okay with someone else putting him down.  I'm not about to just suddenly change EVERYTHING for Noah by having his grandparents put him to bed when they have never done it before, and he has never had anyone but me do it.

{I realize that I am likely one of very few mothers with a 2 year old who has never been put to bed by anyone other than myself, and some of you might think that is crazy.  But try to remember that every child is different. Mine has a history of massive separation anxiety from me.  I had separation anxiety as a child, and I remember the feeling quite vividly.  So I would never say that my child just needed to "get over it" and throw him head first into a situation that would cause him and his caregiver extreme stress.  There is absolutely no reason for me to do that to him, and as his mother I would never risk breaking his trust and security just so that I could have a "break" from putting him to bed for a night.  Plus, I am/was nursing, and until I got pregnant Noah was still getting a significant amount of milk from me right before he would go to bed.  I wasn't going to skip that and jeopardize my supply.}


Anyway, since Russ is basically Justin's best guy friend, I of course wanted him to still go.  So I sent him along by himself, and I had Noah to myself for the evening!  I was actually really looking forward to it.  It was weird, but a really good weird.

I am a stay at home mom, so I am by myself with Noah for a minimum of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.  And we have lots of fun, and lots of quality time.  But for the past 3 or 4 months Noah has loved his Dad.  If Justin is home, Noah wants to be hanging out with him.  If he's sad or upset, he wants Mommy, but if not, he wants to play with Dad.  This is a drastic change (back in the day we used to have to pretty much force Noah to spend half an hour alone with Justin, because he would just whine and cry for me the whole time), and it's really good timing since I'm pregnant, but sometimes I have a bit of a hard time with it.  It's not like Noah doesn't love me - he does!  But it's really weird that if Justin and Noah are playing and Justin needs to go do something else, when I step in to take Justin's place Noah is not interested.  He just wants to go where Daddy is going and do what Daddy is doing!  If we are home alone he doesn't really even ask for Justin very much, but if Justin is home I sometimes feel kind of superfluous.

Tonight, however, it was just Mommy and Noah.  Justin left at 6:30, so I got Noah all to myself.  Noah was very excited to go for a walk in his stroller, which ended up turning into an outdoor play date with some friends around the corner.  When they went inside, we went back home to play in the backyard.  We have a big playground back there, along with a new sandbox (I have no idea why we waited until Noah was 2 years old to buy him a sandbox!!), so there is lots of entertainment back there, even when the pool is closed.

After playing back there for awhile, we went inside for a snack, then bath time and bed time.

Another reason this was nice is that for the past few months Justin has been home for pretty much every bath time and bed time, and he always gives Noah his bath while I get other things ready for bedtime.  (We have this arrangement because I used to always be the one to bathe Noah, and then he got so that he would just lose his mind if Justin tried to bathe him. This sucked, especially since I ended up having to bathe him even when I had the stomach flu.  So we slowly made the transition to Daddy doing most of the baths, and it worked well.  He is 100% happy when I bath him, of course, but now he is also 100% fine with Daddy bathing him.)  As much as I love having Justin around for every bath and bed time, it is nice to be able to do it 100% alone once in awhile.

The night passed really quickly, which sometimes isn't the case when we're home alone in the evenings.  It was fun and peaceful and wonderful.  So, even though my plans for a short night out with my husband were ruined, I had a great night in with my little man, the best little boy in the whole world.  And I preferred it :)

Things I Don't Want to Forget (2 Years Old)

I need to write a 2 year old post/update, but I just have not had time to be able to sit down and write and edit a long post like that.  And tonight I'm watching Dancing With the Stars, so I'm not going to do it now either ;)  But I DO want to write some things that I don't want to forget.

~~~

As I'm sure is the experience of most parents of toddlers, Noah slays me on a daily basis.  Example:

Tonight after dinner he put a wet washcloth on his head and said, "Tada!!  I'm a person!"

He then held the washcloth out to me and said "Mommy be a person?!"

Because obviously nobody is a person unless they have a washcloth on their head.

~~~

A few of the most frequent sentences to come out of Noah's mouth, which make me die of cuteness everytime, are:

"Wow, that's aMAZing!"

"Here ya go Mommy." (while handing me something I usually don't need).

~~~

Noah recently started saying "Yeah I DO!"  after we ask him a question.  Like, "Do you want to swing, Noah?"  "Yeah I DO!!"

But this one is especially hilarious because he doesn't always use it correctly.  I'll say "Did you poop, Noah?"  He'll say "Yeah I DO!!"

He also got a new Cookie Monster PlayDoh set where you feed Cookie Monster the food you make out of playdoh.  He LOVES to do this, and when he feeds CM he says "Cookie Monster eat it all!  Eat it ALL!!"  So we say "Did he eat it all, Noah?"  And Noah says "Yeah he DO!!"

He is usually very grammatically correct, using plurals, possessives, and past tense in the appropriate situations.  So this is incredibly adorable.  I don't even know how he learned to use that phrase!

~~~

I've been suffering from bad foot pain for the past couple of weeks.  At the beginning, before I started using homeopathy to help, I could barely walk.  At one point Noah was in his high chair and Justin tied an ice pack to my feet and then carried me over to lay on the couch.  Noah was so concerned for me, and when he was allowed out of his high chair he came over, leaned his head on my chest, and said "It's okay, Mommy."  Then he went and got Pup and Action Chugger, his two most prized possessions, and put them on my chest.  He said "Here's Action Chugger.  Here's Pup.  Here ya go, Mommy."  and patted me.  

How adorable is that?

~~~

Noah is getting more detail oriented when he goes to bed.  He used to go in his crib with nothing but himself.  Sometime after 6 months we got him attached to Pup, his lovie, by always putting Pup in the crib with him.  So obviously Pup was a necessity (Pup was named by Noah, by the way.  I always called him "Your puppy" and Noah named him Pup about a year ago).

Then we went to Build-A-Bear when Noah was around 18 months.  He really wanted a puppy that was there, so we got it (and named it 'Scout').  We started putting Scout in his crib to keep him company, and of course he became a necessity along with Pup.  And every morning when I get Noah out of his crib, Scout HAS to come out and sit beside us while Noah nurses.

A couple of weeks ago after I put Noah to bed he was crying and calling out for me.  I went into his room and he didn't really need anything.  He really just wanted me there with him.  In order to make him feel like I was "doing something," I asked him if he wanted some water.  He said yes, so I got him a sippy cup.  Now, every single nap time and bed time since then he has asked for water.  Every. Time.  I just have to remember to fill it up before we start bedtime routine and put it on his dresser.  Otherwise I'm putting him in his crib and immediately going to the kitchen for it.

Oh, but stupid me, I didn't stop there.  Last night our house was borderline for temperature.  He was wearing light summer PJs.  It wasn't cool enough for a sleep sack or fleece sleeper, but it seemed a tad too cool for a single light cotton layer.  So I spread an oversized receiving blanket over top of him.

Today at nap time?  He wanted a blanket on him.

Tonight at bed time?  I left his room, and he was immediately calling "Mommy!  Mommy!"  I went in and he said "Blanket, please?"

I have now learned that I should never add anything to bedtime, even 'one time,' unless I want to continue it every night.  I am switching up the blanket that I put on him so that he hopefully will not get attached to just one specific blanket.

He pretty much sleeps in the same corner of his crib all the time (I haven't seem him out of that corner for ages).  So he might actually keep that blanket on all night!

~~~

Amazing Memory

For a 21 month old, I think Noah has an amazing memory.  Couple of stories:

-We hadn't seen my brother's family for 2 months before we saw them on Boxing Day, so it's not like Noah really knows them.  But almost 2 weeks after the Boxing Day gathering I was showing Noah a picture of their family on Facebook.  I hadn't reminded him of any of their names before showing him the picture, but when I pointed to each person he said each of their names.  Correctly.  Nick, Hilary, Elijah, and Josiah.  I was seriously impressed.

-Lately Noah is randomly thinking about his grandparents a lot.  He'll just start saying "Nana!  Papa!  Granny!  Gramper!" (or, rather, Nana, Papa, Ganny, Bamper).  Tonight at dinner he was doing that, so I started asking about other people in our family, like Uncle Matt, Aunt Lynsey, etc.  I asked about Josiah (my 14 month old nephew), and Noah looked at me very seriously and said the following:

"Siah.  Soodah.  Yittle.  Cying."

Translation:  "Josiah.  Soother.  Little.  Crying."

Yes, Josiah always has a soother in his mouth, he is little, and he cries.  A lot.  No, I have not been saying any of these things to Noah.  It's been 2 full weeks since we saw them, but he remembers exactly what Josiah was like.

He never ceases to amaze me.

~~~~

Tomorrow is our RE appointment... I'm equal parts nervous and excited.  We're bringing Noah.  I'm hoping everything will go according to the little plan in my head, but I have to remember to prepare myself for things not going that way.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Noah just sprayed Pledge directly onto his face, and then stood there licking his lips. It appears he thought it tasted interesting.

It was all over his chin. Thank goodness it didn't go into his eyes.

~~~~~~

Today Noah was on my bed while I was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed.  Noah came over, hugged my head and said "Love you!!" (which comes out "Wuff yooouuu!"). That's the first time he told me he loved me without me saying it to him first :)

I love that kid.

Things I Don't Want to Forget (9.5 Month Edition)

(Noah is 9 1/2 months old)

Things I don't want to forget...

-If Noah is playing and something he's playing with rolls under the couch, he will crawl over to the couch, lie on his stomach, lay his head on the ground, peer under the couch to find his toy, and then reach his arm as far under the couch as he can to try and get his toy.  Seeing him do this seems crazy to me.  It's such a "big boy" thing to do.

-Of all the toys he has (and somehow he's collected alot in the past couple of months) his favourite toys are his mini-sticks and foam hockey puck.  If we set him on the living room floor with all his toys put away in their bins, 90% of the time he will crawl over to the green bin, stand up, dig through it, and pull out his mini-sticks.  He then tries to find his puck (which is harder to find, so we normally get it for him).  He will actually hit the puck around with his mini-stick.  Again, crazy.

-Noah just started doing this really cute thing where he does this enthusiastic, exagerrated crawl toward us while breathing/laughing really loud and excited.  I wish I could describe the sound better than that.

-Noah is just starting to rest his head on our shoulders to cuddle more often.  This is a totally new thing for Justin, because Noah has never really done that to him since he could hold his head up.

-Justin recently cut his hair really short, and if he brushes his hair against Noah's hands, Noah laughs like he's being tickled to death.

-Today Noah was playing with his bat (his second favourite toy) and everytime he slammed it on the ground Justin would say "BOOM!!" in a funny voice and Noah would laugh his head off.  There were two of these "sessions" today, and both times Noah laughed so hard he puked.  He hardly ever throws up anymore, so that was funny.  Funny weird?



-When Noah turned 9 months I put him down to 2 naps a day, and we haven't looked back.  His first nap starts sometime between 10 and 11, and his second nap starts sometime between 2:30 and 3:30.  He has some hour long naps, but the majority of his naps are still 30-40 minutes.  He can put himself to sleep in just a few minutes (he does scream bloody murder for a couple of minutes if I put him in his crib awake, but then he literally just stops abruptly and goes to sleep).  Since putting him down to 2 naps it seems that his wake up time in the morning has gotten later (knock on wood).  There have been many days in the past 3 weeks where he has woken up between 7 and 7:30.  Most days, actually.  Also, his awake times during the day are lengthening more and more, and some days I actually have a hard time fitting 2 naps in and still getting him to bed by 7:15pm.  This sounds weird, since he only naps a maximum of 1.5-2 hours between his two naps.  But he's just such an awake child that he doesn't want to go to sleep before the 3 1/2 hour mark.  We may need to move down to one nap sooner than later.

Things I Don't Want to Forget

Noah is 4 1/2 months

-Noah scooted himself forward this afternoon! He was on his tummy and was getting frustrated, so he bunched his knees underneath himself and pushed off and scooted forward a few inches! I couldn't believe it. He never puts his knees underneath himself anymore. When he was younger and had tummy naps I always kept his knees bent and his bum in the air, and he almost never straightened his legs on his own. But now he refuses to keep them bent and straightens them right away. This was a first!

-Yesterday Noah got his second haircut. I did it alone, so there was no one to take pictures. A second haircut isn't as monumental as a first haircut, anyway, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Who would have thought my little one would need 2 haircuts by the time he was 4 1/2 months old? He could have probably used more than 2 by now, but I waited so long for the first one. Looking back at pictures and videos, I realize that I won't be making that mistake with my next child.

-Today Noah keeps getting stuck on his side. He rolls from his back or his front to his side and then his legs prevent him from going anywhere else. He can't seem to coordinate them properly. It's pretty funny. I wonder if he's getting any closer to being able to roll over whenever he wants.

-I'm teaching Noah to reach up to me when he wants to be picked up. Sometimes he almost seems to be getting it... in a spastic, uncontrolled way.

-Last night Noah was awake for 3 1/2 hours before he went to bed. He just never wanted to go down for his last nap of the day. He was a pretty good boy, though, considering that's a very long period of time for a 4 month old to be awake when he only has half hour naps to recharge his system.

-When he's in his exersaucer, Noah spends pretty much his entire time leaning forward trying to eat his toys, which are pretty much stationary. He's such a mouther!

-Noah is constantly getting distracted by the TV and Justin while he's nursing. It's getting to the point that I can't really watch TV while he nurses anymore because he keeps popping off and turning around to watch it! Or if Justin is sitting beside me Noah will pop off and arch his back so that he can smile at Daddy upside down. It's hilarious. But he really needs to learn to eat better.

-On that note, Noah is now consistently going 2 hours between feedings. I really think he has the potential to go longer if he would eat more in one sitting, but he just doesn't eat as much as I think he could if he would really pay attention to what he's doing. He often doesn't even drain one boob, much less make it over to the other side. It seems like as soon as the edge is taken off his hunger, he wants to go play instead. I've tried everything, but I also don't want to force feed him. Maybe he just has a small tummy.