Cultivating My Small Garden

Happy New Year

2010-12-31T22:00:00.002-05:00

Just a few hours now before the new year begins. I have talked with friends who are hoping for a year of adventure and change, but for us it should be a year of preparation. This is the year we get the bills paid off and the saving account building. Our plan is to move in 2012, so this is the year of getting things ready. Going through boxes and being sure of what we really want to take. Moving across the country is not cheap and you just want to be sure of everything that you take.

The current plan, baring any major changes, is to move to Las Vegas, NV in June of 2012. I used to live there and loved it! There is nothing as wonderful as a bright beautiful sun each morning. I loved where I was teaching and the place I was living. The people I met in Vegas were wonderful and I know we will meet new fabulous people when we get there. In September 2012, Noah will start Kindergarten, so we are getting prepared for him to be in school full time.

I laugh at the number of things I think about. The truth is that I am a consummate planner and think of all the possibilities, so I have potential solutions. Of course with all this planning is the possibility that life could throw us the curve ball and everything could change. I am open to it all, but I must admit I am super excited about going to Vegas.

As we end 2010, I hope that everyone has a wonderful and healthy New Year!

My Christmas Miracle

2010-12-25T02:30:00.003-05:00

This is I spent time thinking of Christmas Miracles. I started wondering about mine. Would there be one and was their ever one in the past. Truthfully, I never looked and if they came it was not with a loud thunderous announcement. "I AM YOUR MIRACLE!" Consequently, it was a new of consciousness and one that bade some time to reflect upon. And then Noah coughed.....

Although most people who know us are aware, for those that don't. Noah has cold induced asthma. If he gets a cold then we are usually hospital bound or at least very attached to our nebulizer, so we pulled ourselves up and got ready for the onslaughter of our own barely breathing just to listen and see what was going on. When Noah was one we almost lost him when his lungs closed and wouldn't allow any air in and that has remained our defining moment. So, with the neb at the ready and the hospital on speed dial we were ready, but this year was different....

It came without fanfare
or emergency lights.
It came without wheezing
and tough fitful nights.
He just coughed
and wiped his nose on his sleeve
and went about playing with the greatest of easy.

So I sat looking down
at my greatest joy
A wonder he is
my miracle boy
And so I wish you all
the best Christmas yet
One that brings happiness
and love without fret.

So that is my Christmas miracle today. My son sleeping with sugar plums dancing in his head.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a magical New Year.

Why I haven't blog

2010-08-30T21:41:00.004-04:00

The question I ask myself on a daily basis....why don't you blog?. Firstly, I do love to blog, and am not without a plethora of ideas, but somehow I have trouble blogging without including pictures and I am having a terrible time getting to my photos and setting them up. That is my excuse and I am sticking to it. :P

I have successfully completed my return to work and honestly I am enjoying being back. I really thought that Noah's transition into school would not bother me and I would look forward to it, but then I also thought he would be excited about it and not having the anxiety he is currently showing. So here we are, Mommy and son, struggling with the new changes. He assures me he doesn't want to go to school and I am trying to put on my best excited face about how much he will enjoy it. Ahhh parenthood, I am not sure I signed up for this part. I have a feeling I will be saying that a lot.

A Fabulous Birthday Present

2010-06-11T22:52:00.002-04:00

Today, some dear friends and I celebrated my birthday again, because why only do it once. It was an amazing day. We went to a place called SpaWorld. It was brilliant. We spent the day in a fabulous heated pool with different jets to massage different parts of your body. We also went to a number of saunas and sweated before returning to the pool.

During our visit, I decided in indulge in two different spa treatments. The first was a body scrub. Let me tell you there is no part of my body that has dead skin on it anymore. Trust me not an inch. It felt soooo good and I was amazed at how soft my skin was when it was over. Next time I am going to add in the massage with it. The second treatment was a 30 minute foot massage. It was so relaxing I almost fell asleep. Honestly, the place just lends itself to a nice relaxing day. It was quiet, and comfortable. The place was a cozy kind of warm and I enjoyed reading and sleeping as well.

Then of course there was lunch. We ate Bi Bim Bop. One of my favorite dishes in the world. I could eat it all the time. It is a Korean rice dish served in a hot stone bowl. They load it with vegetables and an egg. So good...most Korean restaurants serve a lovely miso soup and several sides that includes kimchi (another fav) and this time dried squid. I was in heaven.

The day also had a certain sense of empowerment for me. I know this sounds quirky, but I am not one of those people that looks in the mirror and says "Wow! What a goddess." In this place you were naked when you went to the pool and for the scrub. I put on my best brave face and was convinced that I would die from humiliation, but was determined to have fun. It wasn't like that at all. I felt embarrassed for about a minute and it just faded away. Everyone else was there too and it just didn't seem to matter and I felt that maybe my feeling about my body weren't really that big a deal. I came home delightfully happy and relaxed. Truly a wonderful day and a fantastic birthday present.

I must say that I couldn't have had this day without Stephen agreeing to be Noah's solo caretaker for the day. They had a wonderful time just Daddy and son. Big hugs to my favorite boys for letting me have a me day.

I now I am ready for sleep....

Absolutely Nothing

2010-05-13T01:01:00.002-04:00

It is kind of shocking when you realize that you had an entire day and nothing happened. Okay, Noah made new concoctions in his smoothies with a little sausage and pepper, then spiced up the lemonade with some salt and pepper, but experimental cooking has become his new norm. Not even the meals were exciting with cheeseburgers and salad for dinner. So Wednesday as the hump day surely should lead to some excitement tomorrow. Right?

Happy Birthday!

2010-05-11T21:55:00.003-04:00

Today is my 39th birthday. Honestly, it was a wonderful day. We just stayed home and enjoyed being together. It is very rare to have a full day with just the three of us, but we managed it and it was wonderful. I made crepes for breakfast. The ones with nutella and fruit in them. Yummy! This time even Noah got into the act.

For a long time Noah only ate the fruit. Overall, that is a good thing, but I was pleased he started to eat the crepes too. This birthday marked some great presents and much needed ones too. I needed a new computer. My Dell had hit the end of the road. Everytime you got on the internet the mouse would jump as you would type. Very annoying and Noah managed to remove several keys and which made it difficult to type. So I ventured into the world of Apple and got a Macbook. So far I am very pleased and enjoying using the iPhoto software to create books. Currently, I am making an ABC book for Noah. I should be ready to send it off to get it published in the next several weeks.

I also got a Kindle. This was not a need, but purely a want and one that I love. I have several books on it already and love being able to pop out a book and ready in a pinch. I even got a skin for it that is dark blue and black. The goth chick in me is thrilled. :)

The last present was a complete impulse buy verses the others that I had planned and researched for several months. That is a Healthmaster blender. Basically if you have a Vitamixer or a BlendTec then this is along the same lines. Noah has become enchanted with smoothies which he refers to as "recipes" and I enjoy making them. We drink them almost everyday and I am constantly impressed with all the things you can put in a smoothie and it still tastes fantastic. I love it.

All-in-all a great day and I am a little sad it is ending, but life must resume. :P

Angels in the World

2009-11-04T00:28:00.001-05:00

Tonight I took my mother to Urgent care to see about a possible blood clot. She is doing fine at the moment and will get further tests tomorrow. While we were getting her prescription, there was a 14 year old girl who had recently had a heart valve transplant. She collapsed and became unresponsive. He father was screaming and crying for someone to help her. A nurse came immediately and within a minute there was a group of people around her getting her stabilized and calming her father. At the point we had finished retrieving our prescription she was breathing and able to open her eyes. By the time we left the parking lot the ambulance had arrived and they were placing her inside.

These are moments when I am awestruck by people in the health care field. They are truly amazing. I know everything they have done for my little one and I wanted so much to hug that father and tell him I knew how he felt and that one day he too would take his angel home, just like we did. If there are angels in the world, I think most of them must be in the health care field. Tonight as I get ready to sleep in my bed at home I am thinking of that family and sending them my love and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Halloween

2009-10-31T23:42:00.003-04:00

I just glanced at my blog and was astonished to see how long it has been since I've posted. With twitter and facebook out and about, it is hard to keep up with a blog. Sometimes it is difficult to figure out which of the excited things in your life is worth writing about. :)

So here we are and it is Halloween. I was laughing at all of the places we've been to and things we've seen over the past several months and realize that I am going to have to do a flashback blog about what has transpired over the past several months, but for today we will focus on Halloween. To be honest, Halloween is my all time least favorite holiday. I could easily live without it, but once you have a kiddo it becomes more of a priority. Last year, we went to the Leesburg Parade, but this year, since we are now in Fairfax, we needed a new plan. Hence we have, Mall-oween. Basically, you do your trick or treating in the Fair Oaks mall. The nice part is that you are not worried about spiked candy or unfriendly neighbors, the downer is the sheer number of people. It looked like the day after Thanksgiving. Although, Stephen swears there were more people than that. Noah loved it and by the 3rd store and gotten into this say, "Trick or treat," smile and someone will give you candy. Personally, I liked the vendor coupons that came with his candy. It was nice.

Noah decided to be a fireman this year and we introduced him to painting pumpkins. He is now in love with painting which is good because he will be making several Christmas presents this year and it is better when he is excited about them. I must say that Halloween was very fun, but I am still glad it is over.

Friends and Fireworks

2009-07-07T14:40:00.004-04:00

20 years later and here we are. I attended my 20 year high school reunion last week and it was very fun. Honestly, it was great to get in touch with people I haven't seen for a while. Several old friends couldn't make it which was a bummer, but we still had fun. The person next to me is Lee Ann and she and I have been friends since 8th grade. I only get to see about every other year and I loved being able to spend time with her.

For the 4th we drove down to Wakefield, George Washington's Birthplace and had a picnic. We used to do this all the time when I was a kid. Noah enjoyed his learning about toasted marshmallows. This place was perfect. It is right next to the Potomac River and had some wonderful woods to explore. It was also incredibly clean. Can't beat that!

We took Noah on a hike through the woods and he decided that a good hike needs a big stick to cart around. But after awhile...Noah decided that riding on Daddy's back is a must better way to hike. But did you know....
you ride on Daddy's shoulders too. These are the great parts of getting older. I miss the infant, but toddler to preschooler is even better.

We have also begun potty training and although I know it is common to take a picture of your child and their first poop in the potty. I decided that is there is a limit to my wanting to capture every moment of Noah's childhood. I do have to say though that potty training is much easier than I had initially feared. Hopefully, transitioning from pull-ups to underwear will go as smoothly.

Turning 2 and deja vu

2009-04-26T00:46:00.010-04:00

My munchkin is 2. He had a wonderful birthday. We began celebrating on Saturday with a day of presents and a fun chicken and dumplings dinner. Noah LOVES chicken. We even got him a birthday cake. This year he got a big wheel that looks like a motorcycle, a pirate ship, a Little People airplane, and a kitchen. He loved all of them. We ended up opening them over the course of the day which made for the perfect amount of excitement without too much overwhelmingness.

On Noah's actual birthday, March 3oth we went to the National Zoo. Noah thought this place was amazing and loved seeing all the animals. He ran through a large part of the zoo. His favorite animals were the pandas, and the birds. He really wanted to see Melman, but all the giraffes were sent to FL while the zoo is creating their new Elephant habitat. It was so much fun to spend the day, just the three of us. It happens so rarely these days.

Noah thought the birds were amazing.

Noah and Mommy with the seals. It is very rare to get a photo of Noah and myself. I thought this one wasn't too bad.

My boys....they are the best in the world!
We were very excited to see the new gorilla. Mommy gorilla even stopped to allow photos to be taken.

Noah liked to snuggle up to the Panda statue.

On Saturday, we got together with several of Noah's friends at the park and ate cupcakes. Sadly, the weather wasn't the best - very windy. Noah enjoyed playing in the park especially on their wooden fire engine. I will have to post some follow up photos. I haven't gotten them downloaded yet.

During all this Noah picked up a runny nose and after two weeks ended up in the hospital again. Luckily this time did not require trips in a helicopter and incubation. So we learned the joys of entertaining a two year old that is strapped to an oxygen pump and an IV drip. Thankfully, he is home now and back to his same old self. Now we need to return to potty training, but need to find time at home to do it.

Discoveries

2009-03-02T10:58:00.012-05:00

Noah is growing so fast. I look at little babies and realized mine is no longer a baby, but moving quickly into kiddom. For the last month, Noah has been on an endless search and discover mission.

We didn't think it would ever happen, but we finally got snow. Noah thought this was brilliant.

He started his snow journey by helping our neighbor Kurt clean off his car. I am sure Kurt was concerned about the hood of his car, so Noah swept off the lingering snow. Next he decided to get started early with helping his father shovel snow. Luckily they make shovels in his size.

Although this was Noah's second Valentine's, I am pretty sure he doesn't really remember the first. This year I stole an idea from "Jon and Kate plus 8" and gave Noah a Valentine's backpack that had some toys and books and a candy heart inside. Noah walked around with his backpack on and was sure this meant we were going somewhere.

As the weather finally got warmer, Noah found out the sunroof in Mommy's car opens up and you can climb out it, if someone is there to help you. This was a good 1/2 hour of fun entertainment and he even abandoned "driving" the car.

While over at a friend's house, Noah also found out the if you have a large dog crate, a new playground is born.

As many of you know, my son is a guitar hero. We got him a guitar for Christmas and life was good until we went to Costco and discovered the Fender. We did not buy him the Fender, but it was fun to play with.
Noah got a hold of the camera that is in my purse and took his own photograph.

Lastly, I love it when my "boys" take a nap together and it doesn't happen very often.

Just like many of my friends, the discovery of Facebook and Twitter has pushed my blog to the back burner. The other factor is the sheer number of photos I take and sorting through them. Take heed I will be writing more often and still posting my pictures. Who knows what is to come....

25 Random Things

2009-01-21T12:09:00.002-05:00

A friend tagged me with this and I thought it was fun, so I'm adding it as a blog entry. Truth is I didn't think I had 25 things to share, but low and behold.

1. I am crafty---cross-stitching, quilting, knitting, scrapbooking, (soon to crochet).
2. I am a die hard Redskins fan...even when they are losing. I have clothes and everything.
3. I am very opinionated about Politics/Religion/Spirituality...I just don't share it with many people.
4. My dad died when I was 21 and I miss him very much. My son has his eyes.
5. I love all things sweet, but I hold a special place for COTTON CANDY!
6. Becoming a teacher was one of the best decisions of my life. Teaching and I are well suited and I enjoyed it everyday.
7. My first hero was my grandfather. When we would sit together and read the comics he could read what Woodstock said in "Peanuts." I thought it was amazing and he told me it was the special line in his glasses.
8. I remember the day I learned to read. It was Richard Scarry's Biggest Word Book Ever.
9. I used to live in Las Vegas, NV. I loved it there.
10. I have never loved anything the way I love my son.
11. My husband is a beautiful man and most days I'm not sure why he picked me, but yeah me.
12. I can sign although not as well as I used to.
13. I have more craft projects then I have years left to live.
14. I am secretly a goth chick who digs vampires.
15. I have played the clarinet for 26 years.
16. I am an oil painter, but not a terribly good one. My mother is much better.
17. One of my favorite presents was the year, my husband agreed to be my gopher and I got to sit all day and cross-stitch while watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Needless to say that was before Noah.
18. I spent my 30th birthday at the zoo.
19. When I was able to bring my son home from the hospital, he weighted 4lbs 7oz. I held him for 3 days straight because I was afraid he wouldn't know who I was.
20. I graduated from Longwood University and met two of my best friends there.
21. When I was 2, I beat up the little boy next door for taking my big wheel.
22. I play with the Loudoun Symphonic Winds.
23. One of my favorite things to do is get up early in the morning, grab McDonald's and go have breakfast in the park. My dad and I used to do it all the time.
24. I love photography and wish I were a better photographer.
25. My idea of heaven is an endless array of great food, books to read everywhere, craft projects to do and nothing but time.

2009

2009-01-07T13:42:00.007-05:00

Wow has life been busy. I realized this morning that it has been a month since I blogged last and Christmas is now behind us. We had a lovely Christmas this year. Everyone managed to get things that they really appreciated. I made the Grandmothers coffee table books of Noah, which I was rather pleased with in the end. My mother is hinting at a future yearly library and would like a calendar. I got a new lens for my camera and a tripod to properly test out my newly developing skills. This should help with my overall interest in taking nature shots. What can I say I like bug pictures. Stephen was upgraded to the lastest IPOD has to offer. He is becoming our main Mac guy. And Noah....."is gonna be a rock star." (thank you Nickelback :)

Noah is now full equipped with a piano, drums, guitar, and a harmonica. I think he might be a little into this music thing. The guitar and drums ranked as his favorite gifts by far.

Right after Christmas we left for Houston to visit Stephen's family. It was probably one of the most relaxing visits we have had there in a long time. Last year we spent our visit in the hospital. The weather was a fabulous 65-70 degrees and we enjoyed every second of it. Especially at the park with that is next to my Mother-in-law's house. It was a fabulous park with ducks and a soccer field. The kids has a wonderful time.

This dog was even nice enough to let me play with my camera lens and see what it could do.

I also managed to finish up the last of my dishcloths and I finished the book Twilight. I have talked to several people who did not care for the book, but honestly I can't put them down. I have been this excited over a book, since Harry Potter. I even dragged Stephen out with me to see the movie. It made for a great end of vacation date.

Ah, so the Christmas fun is over and the New Year has begun. This year is the "Year of the Purge" for us. So wish us good luck as we more that get rid of the unwanted in all aspects of our lives. I'm starting in the kitchen.

Thanksgiving and a Christmas Parade

2008-12-09T01:48:00.006-05:00

I'm amazed at how much work goes into one meal. I love cooking Thanksgiving, but any way you slice it, it is a lot of cooking. We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving with my mom. We tried a new sweet potato recipe that Stephen enjoyed. Sadly for Stephen, I try a new recipe every year in an attempt to reach sweet potato perfection. The problem is that I really don't like sweet potatoes, but both my guys love them. Noah has also discovered cranberry sauce. My big secret....I like the kind out of the can. I open it and think of that dog cartoon, where he watches the dog food slide out of the can and wiggle (still can shaped) in his bowl with a look of complete dejection. I, on the other hand, love cranberry sauce that way. Noah is my first convert. :)

We also started the tradition of going to Bull Run Park to see the Festival of Lights. Noah tradition has become sleeping through the Festival of Lights. This was his second sleep in a row. Maybe next year.

On Saturday, we went to the annual Leesburg holiday parade. It was fun to watch and see the bands perform. Secretly in our heart of hearts, Stephen and I would love for Noah to join the band. It was very cold and by the end, Noah had had enough of the cold and made it known to all that this cold thing stunk. Next year, Mommy and Daddy are driving closer to the parade route, so we don't have to walk in the cold. Overall, we had a good time and Noah got a cool Frosty the Snowman Light to wave around.

Picture with Santa

2008-11-25T13:01:00.003-05:00

This year we decided to try the picture with Santa. Last year, Noah didn't really get the Christmas thing, but this year he is much more interested. However, sitting on Santa's lap was pushing it according to him. So to get our photo, Daddy lent a hand or rather a lap. I thought the picture was quite cute. My boys are very photogenic. Sadly Mommy is not so much and I wasn't dressed for picture taking. We even got a haircut before hand and Noah enjoyed his first lollypop. He has a new favorite now. I was impressed; Noah will sit at the hairdressers all by himself. Way to go kiddo!!

Busy Bees...

2008-11-24T13:23:00.006-05:00

I am endlessly amazed at how busy this time of year gets. I thought staying home would provide a little more time, but not really. I love the baking and decorated that comes with Christmas. I am looking forward to showing Noah about Santa. In order to get prepared I built a series of cubbies for Noah's toys and then broke out the label maker - one of the world's greatest invention. It really doesn't do much for Noah, but it does wonders for me and now Daddy has a fighting shot at getting the toys in the right spots.

Noah has become quite the accessorizer. Check out Daddy's headphones and one of the medicine spoons that come in first aid kits.

By naptime, he had moved on to new headwear. It is important to keep your head warm when you sleep incase your room has a freak blizzard.

The one shot I have trouble getting is of Noah in Stephen's cowboy hat. This is the closest I get. When I try to get it from the front, he takes off the hat. I'll get it one of these days.

Long Time

2008-11-16T23:51:00.006-05:00

It feels like a long time, since I have had a chance to write. I love this time of year, but no matter what is going on there is always a lot to do. I have been working on various Christmas presents and hoping the receivers like them. I have planned the menus and am getting ready to work on baking the cookies. I found the greatest cookie pan that I think will help make sugar cookies and gingerbread a little faster. I love decorating these cookies, but I hate rolling them out.

We recently had Henry come to spend the day with us while his daycare was closed. The boys were very fun together and Noah enjoyed playing with Henry as long as he didn't sit on Mommy's lap. He is a little possessive over his mommy. Henry and I still snuggled anyway. The boys especially enjoyed playing with Noah's water table.

Henry thought this was fun until he discovered the frog under the table and went to investigate.

Noah has been really cooperative while taking pictures. I've been experimenting with pictures and light. These are some I really like.

Halloween

2008-11-02T13:28:00.005-05:00

Although this wasn't Noah's first Halloween, he was definitely more into it this year. Since this is the only year, I will get to dress him up in the costume of my choosing (next year he will have an opinion) I went with the Bee costume.

It is hard to get him still these days and most of my pictures are of him running in one direction or another. We did manage to get him in the stoller and down to the parade grounds. He can be bribed with apples, so that is our handy trick.

The parade this year was a little disappointing, since it is usually a lot longer with more of the high school bands (Being a former band geek, I like that part). It turns out the because Halloween was on a Friday most of the bands had football commitments. Noah overall enjoyed the parade and by the time we got home he was ready to crash. He has just figured out what the candy deal is.

We met up with Noah's friend, Henry. (I love this picture. It looks like Henry is getting a tiger hug.) Both boys seemed to enjoy getting out of the strollers and checking out their surroundings to paying attention to the parade. So we had a tiger and bumblebee.

Now to see if Noah remembers what Halloween is all about next year. He has definitely learned that good stuff comes from the plastic pumpkin.

18 month checkup

2008-10-27T21:00:00.002-04:00

Well we had our 18 month checkup. I am ever amazed at what he is supposed to have accomplished by now - walking fast/running, at least a 10 word vocabulary, eating with a spoon, and the list goes on and on. I must say I am pleased that Noah has reached these milestones, but Wow what a lot to learn.

Noah is working hard on expressing himself and getting you to understand his wants. Friday, Noah handed me the car keys (which he got out of my purse), and said "Mommy, go, Mommy," then preceded to walk to the door. I decided to see if he really knew what he wanted, so I picked him up and put him in the car and said, "Okay, Noah where do you want to go?" His response, "cookie." In Noah language, that means the grocery store because Mommy gets you a cookie when we do our weekly shopping. So I headed to the grocery store and we picked up milk and a cookie. It was exactly what he wanted and he was as good as gold. These are the moments I wouldn't trade for the world.

Noah is now a whopping 24 lbs 14 oz. and comes in at 32 inches. His head is still in the 50th percentile, but basically the rest of him is lingering around the 25th. I was surprised that we have now reached the point that we don't go back for a well visit until he is 2. It is so far in the future that I can't even schedule it yet. He isn't a baby anymore. ;)

Happy Anniversary

2008-10-26T20:39:00.002-04:00

(sung to William Tell) Happy Anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary,haaaappppy aniversary! Stephen and I celebrated our sixth anniversary today. We had a great day. Noah spent the day with Ammy and we went to Tysons and to Morton's in Reston. It was an amazing meal and Stephen and I enjoyed the alone mommy and daddy time. I don't think we have ever eaten a dinner so slowly. :) You can tell we have been married awhile. Presents have become more practical. Stephen got a Franklin Planner and I got a Japanese skillet. Not flashy, but exactly what we wanted.

Noah has taken to using his fudgescicle as a crayon. At Ammy's house he "painted" her shower and here he got to the stove.

Rally

2008-10-24T11:57:00.004-04:00

On Wednesday, Stephen and I bundled up Noah and took him to the Obama Rally at Ida Lee Park. There is something about a presidential candidate being 3 blocks from your house that makes you want to go and see them. So we were there with the other 30,000-50,000 (depending on which news publication you subscribed to) people listening to Barrack Obama. Honestly, it was a good speech and he is a brilliant speaker, but what shocked me was all the people. Noah reached out and grabbed a guy who I am pretty sure was a Redskin and the guy laughed and patted Noah on the head. Noah also grabbed a women's sweater and made her his new friend. Then there was Tina, who we later discovered had met Stephen at one of his open houses and her best friend was the speech therapist in my classroom. I also ran into one of my former students. I felt terrible for getting his name wrong. He is in high school now and it was amazing to see how much he looks like a young man, not a kiddo. For so many people, it felt rather cozy. Luckily there was only minor rudeness from the McCain protesters, but you have to expect some of that from both sides at these things. It was definitely a cool moment. We snapped a ton of photos, but we couldn't get a good one of Obama he was just too far away.

On Sunday, it is our sixth wedding anniversary, so Noah and I slipped out to Tyson's Corner mall to check out some different gift options. We found several presents for Daddy for Christmas and I picked up one for Sunday. Noah and I had a blast. The mall is very fun. I discovered they have a Hannah Andersson store. We got some PJs on sale and enjoyed looking at all the clothes. If I were I rich man....all our clothes would come from there. They are fantastic. We also found that they put a CakeLove in the mall, so Noah and I had a cupcake. They are amazing. I want to get his new cookbook. I am going to add it to my Christmas list. Noah and I had fun and managed to make it to the car before the "I need a nap" fussies hit.

A Star is born...

2008-10-15T10:07:00.005-04:00

We're a small star, but still a very cool moment. Noah is in all the local papers as part of the ad campaign for INOVA Hospital. I must admit it is very cool and we have saved a ton of papers for scrapbooking. Next we are filming a commercial for the local movie theaters. Luckily they don't want Mommy to talk which works for me. I like the background job. :)

After a week of Noah having a cold and on the neb again, I decided that Mommy needed a day out. So Daddy went to work and Noah went to spend the day with Grammy. I enjoyed shopping and the movie City of Ember that I have been excited to see. I have read the book to my students for the past three years and we really enjoyed it. Turns out that they just released the 4th book, so I picked it up after the movie and am enjoying it immensely. Noah enjoyed a Popsicle at Grammy's house.
It was a very cool day and I enjoyed the time alone while Noah enjoyed the love and attention.
Noah has also become quite the computer efficienado. The next Bill Gates...

Fall is here....

2008-09-24T13:05:00.008-04:00

When I was teaching I always new that Fall had arrived because the children suddenly went slightly insane. I always attributed this to the cooler temperatures and the fact that recess was slightly longer because it was just to beautiful to go indoors. I have now discovered that Noah also shares the insanity. Over the past week we have had some big accomplishments and some wacky behaviors.

Noah and I shared our first true conversation. It went something like this....
Noah: Mommy apple
Mommy: Are you hungry? Would you like some blueberries?
Noah: Please
Mommy: Okay let's go to the kitchen.
And off we went. He got his blueberries and was as happy as could be.

We went to our first kiddie concert. I was supposed to meet my SAHM group for the first time, but had no idea that this is what I would find.
I never did find my group, but Noah and I had fun all the same. We will try to find another activity to go to. Besides after about 20 minutes, Noah decided he was done and left for Sears.
Noah has also found various and a sundry Stephen accouterments. This will teach him to start putting his things away or at least very high.

Noah loves Daddy sunglasses. Almost as much as he loves Sam, his super cat sidekick.

Now you would think this is enough horseplay for one little boy, but no. He didn't want the dog to feel left out, so after creating a minor flood in my kitchen, Noah pretended to be the dog and lick it up.

And finally we have gotten him to settle down in his room and sleep. The toddler bed has made all the difference. It took about a week for him to become completely comfortable, but what we could not manage after the hospital visits with the crib, we have made it with the bed. He likes to have the freedom to get up when he is ready. Now I find he will get up and start playing in his room. And he just looks so cute. :)

Mr. Mischief

2008-09-15T23:02:00.005-04:00

My son is 17 months and fearless. First it was the deck and realizing that you could move a chair to the edge and look over the side. Second, it was the sink, all you need to do is climb up on the toilet seat and fall into the sink basin. Now it is the bed. This used to be a safe refuge. He could get down easily and is very aware of the edges until I cleaned the fan. Several days ago, I had to clean the fan which requires me to stand on the bed since I am short. So now I present my monkey grooming on the bed....
Noah has also decided that the world is so much better since he discovered Vaseline. I'm not sure what he thinks it is, but first he tried to put it in his hair and now it is on his lips. We just have to get him to understand that a handful on your face is a bit much.

It was everywhere. It was a great motivator for cleaning the bathroom though.

Today, the INOVA Fairfax Hospital people came to take Noah's picture. It was very fun and the people were very nice. Noah thought it was fun. He got to play and a whole bunch of people paid attention to him (that is his favorite thing). Two of them were young women and he was in heaven. He even flashed them his killer grin. We are going to be doing a video for the hospital as part of a testimony to be played on INOVA Fairfax TV. I had no idea how many people it took to do an ad campaign. Luckily they wanted an intimate setting so we used our postage stamp backyard. Personally, I am amazed they made it all in the house at the same time.

Daddy was in charge of getting Noah to look in certain directions and to hand him toys. There are a bunch of pictures of him with his bathing suit sun hat. Apparently it worked well in the photos and Noah loved wearing it. Mommy's job was to sing various Wiggles tunes to keep the smiles going. Luckily my blog doesn't have sound and the only one who loves my voice is Noah.

Trifecta

2008-09-07T23:21:00.005-04:00

1st in the winner's circle we have walking.

Noah started walking in earnest on Thursday, but I was afraid this was another of his "look mommy I really can do it" and then never do it again. Luckily it is Sunday and he is still walking up a storm. This is the end of his walking across the room. By the time I got the camera out he was already to Stephen. We are also not sure what is up with the hat, but it has been a staple over the last several days. He can't wear it enough.

2nd in the winner circle is "the big boy bed." I went to Babies R' Us and got Noah a toddler bed. I wanted something close to the floor so he could get out when he wanted, since he has figured out how to crawl out of the crib. So Stephen and I put it together on Saturday (we got rained out of RennFest).
I don't know why, but I love to put together furniture, so this was a very fun project for me.

3rd in the winner's circle is that I have finally finished the first page of Noah's Sub. There are 8 pages total and page one has taken me 3 years, so at this point I believe I will be in my 60's by the time I finish.

But this still deserved a Steve Carrell happy dance, so I did one. :)

New Ways to Play

2008-09-02T01:15:00.005-04:00

This has been quite the weekend for us. We had a great time at Ashburn Park with Henry, Jenni, Debbie, and Mirella. It was a very fun playground with lots of things to climb. Noah is a big fan of climbing and enjoyed the playground immencially. He also managed to pick up several 9 year old girlfriends while he was there. I am interested to see how he reacts the first time someone doesn't want to play with him. It was great to see everyone and play with Henry. I miss when Noah was that little. Noah decided at one point to climb into Henry's stroller, now he crawls in and out of his own. It works well in that it gives him a few minutes to play with the straps before he gets out. As always I am nervous he will fall, but so far has managed it like a champ. Sadly, I left my camera at home, so I don't have any cool pics of our playdate.

Today, we went back to the park with Daddy and had a nice lunch, then it was time to run errands and do some work at home. I broke out my clarinet in what seems like an eternity and Noah and I played. He couldn't figure out why it didn't work like the tin whistle. He kept blowing and blowing, but didn't get a sound. He also thought that sucking on the reeds would be fun, so he took one out of the box to test it out. After a while he gave up and moved on.

Noah has also learned to swim in the bathtub. I guess he figures if you can't be in the pool the bathtub will do. Usually, when I want him to get out of the tub, I just let the water out. Today I discovered that he knows how to turn the water on "cheeky monkey." So I will have to develop a new plan or I will never get him out of the tub.

Toys

2008-08-26T00:48:00.002-04:00

I am not sure why we buy Noah toys. When really all you need is a large box and a lint remover. He crawled into the box and managed to get back out, but found the box to be endlessly fascinating. We play throughout our entire day and I find very little of it is with toys. We do a lot of exploring and Mommy is there is make sure we don't fall and get hurt.

The funny thing is that at this time I was working on ripping out a closet to install the new components I had put together and he wasn't nearly as interested in what I was doing. Today it was the cat's litter box. I barricaded it with a rolled up rug and a baby gate. Noah managed to get through both and start sifting his hand in the litter before I could get to him. So now we are working on "no you can't play in the kitty litter." Never a dull moment.

I'm old!

2008-08-21T23:19:00.002-04:00

It is official I am old. I know what you are thinking "37 is not that old." Oh yeah, well guess who had to go for a mammogram. That would be me. Not really a terrible experience although I feel sorry for any small chested woman because my girls are huge and manage to squeeze with little problem. Still doesn't rank as an experience I am looking forward to in the future.

I have discovered that the Wiggles are the world's best workout. Noah has recently discovered that there is a TV in our house. We were playing downstairs and he found all the buttons on it, so I tuned in to an age appropriate show and we watched the Wiggles. He loves them. He had seen the Doodlebops before and really enjoys them as well. So I decided that if the show came on Noah and I should dance. There songs are only a few minutes long, but what a workout. You move constantly the whole time. Noah thinks dancing around is fun and has started to dance at any music he hears around. It is super cute.

Currently, Noah and I are digging out the living room from all the school stuff. Really I am digging out and he is taking out the stuff I just put away. He thinks this is quite fun. Tomorrow I am going to clean while he is asleep. Much easier.

Sad ending and new beginnings......

2008-08-16T23:36:00.004-04:00

Well, yesterday was the big day. I went to school and packed up my belongings. Let me tell you that 14 years of teaching is a lot of stuff.

This only scratches the surface of what has to be sorted and organized before it can be stored. It was sad to leave everyone. I really loved my job and am excited to eventually go back. Noah and I will be having fun over the next couple of years. We have even signed up for our first mommy and me swimming lessons.

I am constantly amazed at how things change with Noah. We have trying forever to get him to walk. We play games with walking. Daddy and I will stand on either side of him and we will walk across a room together, but no cigar. He climbs onto the toilet and then into the sink, but will not walk until.....

Today for whatever reason, Noah decided to walk. He walked about 10 steps across the kitchen by himself. I loved it. Daddy and I made a huge deal of this and danced around singing, "Noah was walking..." Noah thought this was hysterical.

He also decided to ride on Daddy's shoulders. We have watched older kids walk around on their dad's shoulders and we were waiting until he could handle supporting himself, well today he thought this was grand.

It was a great day. Two big firsts for Noah and I redesigned a closet in my house, while Noah took a nap. Again, I am endlessly amazed at what you can accomplish while they are asleep.

New Tricks

2008-08-07T22:12:00.005-04:00

I had a friend who told me she really didn't like the infancy stage, but loved toddlers because they do tricks. I was thinking, but my infant did tricks--smiling, laughing, rolling over. Those were good, but these latest ones keep you on your toes. Here is an example...

Yesterday, I am making the bed and Noah is playing the bathroom, like he usually does. I go in expecting to find all my make-up strewn across the floor and Noah with a brush in hand cleaning the bathtub. This would be the norm most morning, but noooo.... I find him in the sink. He has learned to put the toilet seat top down, climb on it and climb into the sink. So my son is happily brushing his teeth and looking at himself in the mirror. He can do this in under a minute, so you can't turn your eyes away for a second.

Trick two is mimicry. Noah has taken to mimicking everything we do. So each night, we go downstairs and play in the bathtub and wash his hair. Noah decided that if Mommy rubs his hair with wet stuff in the bathtub then this must work at dinner too.

This would be shampoo via ranch dressing. Yummy ;)

One of the things we are currently enjoying is the Adams' Family Band. The three of us play a bunch of instruments to make our own "music." Noah thinks this is great. I do have to say that the instruments he got for his birthday from Mirella are one of his favorite presents.

Time for a Trim

2008-07-28T22:55:00.005-04:00

Several days ago while I was giving Noah his bath, I noticed that when his hair was wet it went down his back almost to his shoulder blades. Needless to say it was time to bid the baby curls goodbye and get a haircut. At first I was going to go to my hair salon to get it done, but decided that it needed to be done sooner and Noah can only handle so much of a drive. Today, Daddy and I took the kiddo to Cartoon Cuts. They saved his curls for us and put them with a card that says the date and location of his first haircut. Our little boy is growing up.

Now, I am hoping people will quit asking me about my daughter. :)

Back from Vacation

2008-07-26T00:18:00.004-04:00

For this year's vacation, we rented a house on the Eastern Shore of Virginia and spent a week relaxing. Okay, everyone else spent a week relaxing. I got the task of cleaning, cooking, and taking care of the babe. So really same day, new location, but it was a lovely location. When you stepped out into the back yard you were looking at one of the estuaries to the bay. Gorgeous.

I did get some reading done and decided to work on my scrapbooking. I stayed up one night and got 3 pages done. That was as far as I got. I also tried some new recipes while I was there and made everyone the guinea pig. We found a seafood market and got some crabs and scallops. Super yummy! Stephen went fishing in the bay and caught a flounder, so I got to clean and fillet my first fresh fish. Not my favorite experience, but it tasted fantastic.

Noah had a wonderful time. He has become my official water baby. We took him to the beach for the first time. I expected him to last about half and hour, but two hours later I was dragging him from the beach. He would have played until he collapsed. The great part was that we were on the bay so the water was at our knees for a long way out. Noah didn't have to worry about not touching the bottom and he loved jumping the very tiny "waves." He became so comfortable with the beach that at one point I thought he was going to head out on his own until Stephen reigned him in. My son is fearless. I am hoping extreme sports are not in his future.

So now we are home and I can focus on finishing the last bits of cleaning my house. We just got a new water toy. It is a squirting beach ball. Can't wait to check that out!

Times They Are A Changing....

2008-07-11T23:44:00.007-04:00

To say June was a turbulent month would be an understatement. In order to save time I will give you the quickie version. Stephen had a moment about how unhappy he was staying home and taking care of Noah; said things he shouldn't have said; I left him; we went to marriage counseling; we are back together; I have quit my job and am searching for one with benefits that I can do out of our house because I am staying home with Noah; and we have finally reached a reconciliation. The most interesting part about it is that we are probably happier than we have been in a long time. Noah is too. Although he smiles so much it is hard to tell if he is ever unhappy.

Here is a pictorial overview of the past month:

Grammy decided that we were old enough for a bagel breakfast sandwich and Noah decided that he should eat all of it. Most of it came tumbling out after he realized that he couldn't chew it.

Noah has become very fond of the dog bowl and enjoys "sink and float" experiments. Here he is testing dog food...last week it was my cell phone. He also likes to be like the dog and dip his face into the dog bowl.

And here we have his two great loves...water and girls. He is a nut for both. We went to my friend, Carla's house and played in her pool. It was the first time he has been in water without being able to touch his feet to the bottom. When we took him out of the float and put him on the stairs he decided to just walk and sank like a stone. Scared me to death...he thought it was funny.

I will be posted more regularly now. I should have done it sooner, but my writing also came out a little melodramatic and who wants to read that. Oh, yes before I forget we are up to 10 teeth now. He is pretty much munching down anything he can get in his mouth.

We are off to the beach for the next week. This will be Noah's first time and can't wait to introduce him to sand.

Diagnosis Abound...

2008-05-29T18:11:00.002-04:00

We met with the Pediatric Pulmonary Specialist today. She is a lovely woman and treated Noah in the hospital; she was also the one that said we could handle his needs at home and allowed us to be discharged from the hospital. Apparently, he does not have asthma per say, but he does have a respiratory disease that I can't remember the name of. In essence, we will treat him as if he has asthma and this should prevent further hospital stays. So for the next month, Noah is on Pulmacort twice a day which is a steriod and then he will switch to one a day for the next year. Because of his age he can't handle an inhaler yet, so we will have to see and we may find he grows out of it. Currently, it is brought on by seasonal allergies. So the goal is to be able to take him off the steroid for a couple of months next summer. We shall see.

Because life is not enough if you can't have two crisis, we now have problems with our dog. About four days ago, Willie could not bend his back legs. We tried walking him around the block and he couldn't make it, same with playing with the ball. So of course, we rushed him to the vet. They tell us that he has gained 10 pounds in the past month and he has to have a bland diet, due to a three day diarrhea explosion all over the house. Thank god for carpet cleaners. So needless to say we were panicked. After blood tests and x-rays, it has been determined that Willie has hypothyroid issues. So he is now on a daily medication as well and soon should be feeling better. Our biggest hurdle is keeping Noah from feeding him. Noah likes that Willie gives him licks when he is fed.

The bright spot is that everyone will be okay with some handy drugs and a lot of TLC. My munchkin has regained his speech and is back to climbing like a champ. Still doesn't walk, but honestly he doesn't seem very interested in it. Very much the way Stephen and I were according to our mothers.

Speaking of mother, Chips came for a visit after Noah got back from the hospital. It was great. She cooked meals for us which tasted fantastic and the house is clean with the laundry done. I will never keep this up until summer, so I am enjoying it as long as I can.

New Appreciation

2008-05-19T21:28:00.003-04:00

We arrived home Saturday and it took until today to get myself together enough to recall the events of the past week and a half. I feel like I have entered a surreal nightmare and am only just coming back to reality. Here are the events of the past week and a half.....

Thursday, May 8 - Noah's nose had been running for a day or so and the mucous was getting thick, so we quite milk products and decided to take him to the doctor, since he was breathing a little harder than usual and was uncommonly fussy. When I left for work at 5:45am, he was sleeping soundly and I thought maybe it was a rough night, but told Stephen to take him to the pediatrician anyway just to check it out. I get a call from school at 9:30am that Noah is no longer able to breath on his own and has been taken to Landsdowne. I immediately leave school and everything a mess to go to the hospital. After I am there for about 15 minutes, they determine that they cannot handle his situation and the drugs they are giving him aren't working. Noah is placed in sedation and transfered by helicopter to INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children.

Friday, May 9 - After a long night of working on his breathing and the right combination of drugs and testing, it is determined that Noah has had an acute asthma attack combined with a strep infection in his lungs, so they are continuing the breathing tube and placing him on helium to see if they can get air into the lower parts of his lungs. They basically are sealed shut and the doctor is trying to avoid another numathorax issue which would require a chest tube as well. He is also put on an opiate drug so that he remains sedated and without pain.

Saturday, May 10 - clearly we are not going to the zoo and life at the hospital is still wait and see. I have taken to massive hours of playing Sims, since it does not require a lot of my thoughts.

Sunday, May 11 - Happy Birthday to me, but still no significant improvement in Noah. At this point he has not been awake since Thursday morning. He is also diagnosed with a heart murmur. The pediatric cardiologist is not too concerned. We will see him again when Noah is three.

Monday, May 12 - That evening we are able to take out the breathing tube, since he has loosened up enough to breath on his own. Did I also mention that they had to adjust the respirator because he kept fighting it? Oh goodness!

Tuesday, May 13 - Happy Birthday, Sue. :) Noah is in a significant amount of discomfort, so we are continuing with the sedatives, but they are being reduced slowly. He has the shakes and is suffering from a certain amount of withdrawal, so they are contemplating placing him on a morphine which is a lower opiate than he is currently on. He is also on round the clock albuteral.

Wednesday, May 14 - Still sleeping quite a bit, but his able to stay awake for two hour stints. He is almost ready to change to albuteral every hour. By the late evening he has been placed on oxygen continuously, but albuteral every hour.

Thursday, May 15 - We are changing to albuteral every two hours and they are placing him on a nasal canula. At about 5:00 pm, our Noah returned. We played pull mommy's glasses off and get out bingy back. He has trouble getting his fingers to his mouth and he can not support his own weight on his legs, but he is smiling and laughing. Late that night he is moved to intermediate care.

Friday, May 16 - He continues to improve and has his first meal - French toast. He loves it. He is able to sit up and we are working on fine motor skills. They have reduced his oxygen to the point that they decide to place him on room air and see if he can maintain his sats. We are moved to the "floor."

Saturday, May 17 - The pulmonary specialist says his lungs are clear and we can take him home with specific maintenance instructions which include two different oral medications and nebulizer treatments every 4 hours. We go home and collapse.

Sunday, May 18 - Stephen's mom arrives from Houston an Noah naps for the first time in 4 days.

And then there is today. I went back to school. My kids were thrilled. Noah saw the pediatrician today and he is doing well. I found out he turned purple. They are unsure about any long term neurological damage done, so we get to wait and see and work on prevention for the future. After all the stress, coming down from it has been a trick. I am exhausted and unable to sleep. But my baby is home and breathing like a champ. He has fallen behind in crawling and pulling himself up until his leg muscles gain some strength, but he is getting there. Today, I just held him and cried. The doctor's were wonderful, but I could have lived my whole life and never met them.

I miss me....

2008-04-29T20:55:00.003-04:00

For the past year, I have enjoyed the wonderful new role of my life...Mommy, but I miss parts of me. It is funny I was looking at a friend's pics on flickr and saw her oldest is graduating from high school. I remember when he was 9 months old. I kept thinking about how much fun we had together and suddenly I'm missing old stuff.

I downloaded the lastest Depeche Mode and Duran Duran. I miss these bands and music right now I like, but it doesn't let me escape like these guys. I was a little sad to see Timbaland on Duran Duran. I think he and Justin Timberlake have become a bit overexposed, but I digress. I had a rough couple of days and whenever I got the chance I would drown in Cure - Disintegration is the best album ever.

I miss my crafts--cross stitching and scrapbooking. So far Noah is still in the NICU and connected to many tubes. There just isn't time with work and Noah to do it all. I want to learn to knit better and finish learning sign language.

I miss literature and book discussions. Although adorable Big Bulldozer is not some great allegory.

I guess you could consider this my birthday whine, but I think of it more as a moment of misty-eyed walk down memory lane and the dreams I had when I was young.

(Now is the perfect time for a song...)

But all that comes to mind is 5 Little Ducks :)

Coolest Unit Ever

2008-04-22T20:39:00.002-04:00

Although most of my blogging is about Noah, I have to share the coolest science unit ever. The kids and I have become science detectives at Mrs. Faraday's Fudge Factory. Turns out her factory isn't working properly and we are there to gather clues, conduct electrical experiments and solve the mystery. The best part so far comes tomorrow, when the kids and I test insulators and conductors with electricity and fudge. Can you think of a better way to spend the day? The other great part is that Maureen is going to make the fudge. She is a fantastic baker and makes the best goodies. She promised to keep making me yummies even when I am in third grade.

Stephen and I went on our first date in 2008. When we went to see "Forgetting Sarah Marshall." We loved it. In the movie theater we were at, you could order dinner, so we picked up our dinner at the cafe and took it with us--a very fun time. Unfortunately, when we returned from our 3 hour fun feast, we found out that Noah spent a half an hour at my mother's door crying mommy and daddy and pushing his hands against the door. So it will probably be a while before I will be ready for a date again. I know this is his age, and I can't wait until Grandma's is the coolest place ever.

Change

2008-04-12T14:53:00.003-04:00

Change is good, albeit scary, but good. Several events have happened over the last week. First, Stephen and I attended a band concert from our band. I haven't played in over a year and I was amazed at how much I missed it. Noah is one and I think by September I will be able to handle going to practice again. I will leave school at 3:00 and stay with Noah until 7:00, then head to practice. We will see how it goes. It is hard to be without him, but I have given up all of my interests to be with him, so I want to try and bring some of them back - slowly. He is so much fun to be with and I always feel like I am missing something. How can you resist a face like this....

The second change of the day is that I am changing grade levels. Due to the budget issues, we have to downsize 4th grade from five teachers to three. I sat in the meeting and looked at my team and felt it made the most sense for me to go. I had contemplated pushing for 1st grade, but 3rd seem to be a better placement, so I am off to 3rd grade next year. It is only one of two grades I haven't taught yet. I think it will be fun and challenging. Of course this all occurs just as I figure out a new way to organize all my 4th grade materials. Teaching 4th for seven years has resulting in the accumulation of a lot of stuff. One advantage to 3rd is that their is still pieces of what I have that can be useful. Unfortunately, changing grade levels can also be expensive. Luckily, I shouldn't need too many more picture books for next year. Although I do love picture books. :)

Spring is here....

2008-04-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

I love Spring. It is my favorite season and Virginia has the best springtime weather. We got up to the low 70s today, so I went on a photo shoot. It was a good way to play with my digital camera.

Fortunately, I have kind neighbors who don't mind me poking through their flowers to take some pictures. The last one is from my yard. I have high hopes for my rhododendron. Maybe it will be pink. I love pink now that I am the minority in my house.

A Mom for a year...

2008-03-31T21:54:00.000-04:00

Noah is one. I can hardly believe it. I am still looking at his baby photos and can't believe how much he has changed. We had a birthday party for him on Saturday at the Tuscarora Creek Park. Unfortunately, it was a bit colder than I would have liked, but everyone seemed to hold out okay. The party was also during most people's nap times including ours, but the kids seemed to survive it well.

He liked the whole party idea. Although he couldn't quite understand what to do with the candle on the cake. Daddy had to help.

It was a fun day and Noah was completely exhausted by the time it was over. Thank goodness birthdays only come once and year and I think we have learned that we will not be having his 2nd birthday party outside.

We got ice cream to go with the cake on Sunday. Noah seriously digs ice cream.

Spring Break

2008-03-23T21:31:00.000-04:00

Spring Break has come to an end and it is time to return to work tomorrow. I had a wonderful week. Noah and I spent the week with Henry and had such a good time. Henry is very fun and we spent time making him laugh and smile. Noah had fun playing with Henry and trying to get him to kick. Noah would push his foot against Henry's foot and Henry would push back. It makes for a lot of laughter when you are and 11 months and 3 months. I wonder what jokes they will be telling each other when they are older. Noah even gave Henry a kiss on the head which I would have loved a picture of if it didn't happen so fast.

I also managed to rearrange my living room. I created more play space for Noah and got my dining room table back. Noah's toys are now in an organizer, so he can find them and we can put them away easier. Eventually, he will be putting them away, but by then I would like his toys out of my living room. He is fascinated with his basketball hoop at the moment and making it sing when you put the ball in. I am constantly amazed at how he grows and learns.

Did I mention how excited I am for summer vacation?

Stephen says...

2008-03-23T21:27:00.000-04:00

As I sit here at an Open House on a Saturday, just before Easter Sunday, waiting in between potential buyers to peruse this beautiful & unique house, I felt inspired to go ahead and ask, and English teachers please forgive the run-on sentences.

In light of this holiday, may the resurrection of the Housing & Financial markets, Consumer Confidence, our salaries & wages, the value of the dollar and our homes & neighborhoods, research into alternative resources of affordable energy, establishment of rational & reasonable standards of providing credit (not to mention many of our scores) vs. risk, our Congress, the President, banks & investors prepared not just to “delay the inevitable downfall of our economy”, but to provide a real intention to re-allocate more of our tax dollars we already pay to you to restore that which has been broken, please come to pass.

Since I’m already asking, may the reduction of the number of bankruptcies & foreclosures throughout the United States of America, the price of gas we all pay at the pump, the risk of inflation & stagflation, the cost of common, every-day purchases & food, the number of credible, information-providing institutional “doom & gloomers” that have forgotten about the all too important Law-of-Self-Fulfilling-Prophecy and fear come to pass.

Yes, the necessary correction of our economy is at our front door. May it not break the very foundation upon which this country stands for. And speaking of the front door, I need to answer it again.

Amen.

Baby Withdrawl

2008-03-13T22:42:00.000-04:00

Noah is growing up a little faster than I would like these days. He has a singular top tooth, which makes him look remarkably like something from Hee Haw, but what can you do. He is growing out of his 12 month clothes. So I had a sappy moment in Babies R Us with the preemie clothes. I just looked at Stephen and sniffled about how they used to be too big. I have been assured that you have to ride the emotional hump of the first birthday and the oh I miss my little baby. Good thing I am watching my friend's son next week. It will give me my baby fix and then I can get a grip and move back to my 4th graders.

Speaking of 4th grade, I told my boss that I would move to 1st grade if they had a position. I haven't taught it in 10 years, so I'm sure I'm insane. I love 4th grade, but I wouldn't mind being with the little ones again. We shall see. If not, then I have the most amazing science units on roller coasters, and being a weather detective that I am very excited about.

I joined a website to post my pictures on. Okay I forgot the name of it, so it is a good thing I saved the email. But I thought this would be a blast especially since I got my new camera this Christmas. I'm having a ton of fun taking pictures of the munchkin although it takes me forever to get them downloaded. Like this one of Noah at Christmas. Check out the Santa suit...it says "HO HO HO" on his butt. I love baby clothes.

Latest birthday question - who do you address the invitations to? For example, my friend Michelle has two children and we will invite them. I can't imagine her husband wants to come to Noah's birthday, but I'm sure Michelle and the girls do, so do you include the whole family, or just invite the kids? My goal is not to alienate anyone and we are cool if every guests whole family shows up. It is in a park on what we hope will be a beautiful day, so where is the etiquette guru when you need her.

Loving the Weekends

2008-02-23T14:27:00.000-05:00

Joyfully, I have had two 3-day weekends in a row. Snow days are a small perk in the teaching profession and I love them as much as the kids. We have just starting introducing Noah to feeding himself. It is quite a messy experience, but a wonderful one. I love to cook, but something about cooking for my son is even better. Yesterday he had a scrabbled egg and a piece of toast for breakfast and this morning he had a waffle. You are not supposed to let children eat eggs because of possible allergies. Noah grabbed a huge handful of egg off my plate a month or so ago and has been hooked on them ever since. Last night I made a rice and chicken casserole. It was so much fun to eat as a family with everyone eating the same thing. It doesn't always work out that we can feed him what we are eating, but this dish worked and he loved it.

Noah's top teeth are breaking through. I didn't realize that the top teeth would be worse than the bottom. He is miserable. It hurts his ears and makes his stomach upset sometimes. Poor kiddo. I will be happy when this part ends.

I did manage to reserve the park for March 29th. We have decided to have his birthday party at a park that way everyone could play and we would have cake and punch. I'm going to get him a large cupcake of his own to tackle. We will see how he does. I'm excited. It is hard to figure out what to do for a child's first birthday. Now I need to come up with a theme, so I can send out invitations. I wonder if there are Doodlebop plates and napkins.

Odds and Ends

2008-02-17T07:56:00.000-05:00

It has been forever since I felt like I have had time to sit and write. Several weeks ago my ear drum burst and that has been an ever constant trip to the doctor's office. It is healing, but I am virtually deaf in my left ear. Makes teaching a bit of a challenge.

Noah went to the eye doctor and it looks like he has Stephen's eyesight. Everyone do a dance. Stephen didn't develop issues with his eyes until he was 16 and his can be corrected with Lasix. Mine on the other hand can not be corrected and I started wearing glasses at 18 months. Also, they didn't have to pry his eyes open this time which makes me very happy.

I went and did some retirement research and it looks like I am going to have to work until I am 57. I was kinda bummed. I thought I would be able to retire at 53, but all my moving around has cost me a little bit. In several years, I am going to figure out about buying some years. I had always figured that teaching would be my first career and I would have time for a second one. The second one of course changes regularly, so I'm not sure what it is going to be...

One silly Noah jumping on the bed....

2008-01-21T21:36:00.000-05:00

It is official. I have entered the bad mommy club for not paying enough attention to my son and he fell off the bed. Actually, Daddy and I were having a moment in another room and he woke up and fell off the bed. Way to kill a moment. He is fine, but Mommy and Daddy were a mess. Daddy was convinced that a part of his head might have concaved, but I assured him it was supposed to be like that and the minuscule dent was really the shape of his head. I know this is just the beginning, but wowzer.

Suzanne came over today and we took our nine month photos. Is he a cutie or what?

We are mobile...

2008-01-20T22:01:00.000-05:00

It's true. We are officially boy on the go. Over the weekend, Noah mastered the crawl. He is now up off his belly and fast. Today he decided to top himself and climb one of our flights of stairs by himself. Needless to say the baby gates and up and running this evening. I have never seen anything like it. Now he follows me whenever I am going. No more private bathroom moments.

He has also decided to try climbing. First it was me, and now he has moved on to the bathtub. This kiddo is going to send me to the funny farm, but he is awfully fun. He can pull himself up to a standing position, so we figure walking is just around the corner. Keep your fingers crossed that I don't lose him somewhere.

Schedule

2008-01-13T23:52:00.000-05:00

So part of my 2008 hopes and dreams is to become more organized. Stephen got me a Franklin planner and I have been faithfully putting the important dates of my life in there. It is taking a while, but I have hopes that it will be fully implemented by summer. This also helps me remember when I need to get a sub for school due to Noah's doctor appointments. All this being said, Noah has decided to alter his schedule and I am having a dickens of a time getting him back on track. Pre-hospital visit, Noah would gladly get up around 8:30am and take a nap or two in the day and usually find his way to his crib around 9:00pm. This was great. I could still get school work done, before my bewitching hour. Post-hospital visit, Noah gets up around 9:30am, takes two nice long naps during the day and will not go to bed until 11:30 pm. So here I am updating my blog at midnight and Noah has just gone to sleep. I keep thinking if we could move him slightly in 15 minute increments, maybe I could get some sleep.

Home Again!!

2008-01-07T21:51:00.000-05:00

We are back in Virginia. Thank goodness. Noah is doing well. He is off the nebulizer and free from his medications and back to his same energetic self. We made it back on Friday and were exhausted.

Today I returned to school. I am still exhausted. Noah's schedule has been thrown off, so he is now up until 11:00. This is rough when your day begins at 5 am. So I am here writing a blog while Noah is playing with his phone. I will be downloading some photos in the next day or so about our hospital stay. We got bored after a while and decided to play dress up the baby. Noah thought it was great fun. He is quite the entertainer. Reminds me of his daddy....

Christmas Adventures in Houston

2007-12-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

Well, our first Christmas with Noah was wonderful. He enjoyed playing with Santa and Daddy. He was more excited about the play phone than the Tonka 3-in-1, but I say give it time. It was also fun to spend Christmas morning with just the three of us and I got a new digital camera. It is the Canon Rebel XTI. The exact one I wanted. I will post pics from it as soon as we get back to VA. We then left for my mom's house and had a wonderful day. Stephen got a set of golf clubs and he is very excited for spring to come around, so he can play. The animals were delivered to my mom so they could have company while we are gone and little did we realize that this would be a great thing.

I am excited to report that Noah made it through the airplane ride like a champ. We got a lot of wonderful compliments and people assured us that they wouldn't mind being on a plane with us again. Luckily, it seems that Noah has Stephen's ear drums and plane flight doesn't bother him. We arrived in Houston and all was well until Wednesday evening. Noah had been coughing, but not much that we were concerned. We figured we would keep him away from Charlie since he was so small. In the night, Noah started to develop problems breathing. Luckily, Chips, my mother-in-law, is a Vice President of a hospital and family care practice. So needless to say getting in to see the doctor was not difficult. He was diagnosed with RSV which is not a big deal for anyone over 1, but a very big deal for our wee one. I was so happy I didn't go over to Jenni's house and expose Henry to this nastiness. The doctor gave Noah a steroid shot, worst shot ever. He slept a bunch and still wheezed a bit and started to return to his good natured self.

By 4 AM on Friday, good mood was over. Noah woke up crying and barely able to breathe. He was rushed to the ER and put on oxygen. By 10 AM, we were admitted into Hermann Memorial Southwest Hospital and we have been here ever since. Noah is better. Today we were able to take him off of oxygen, but he still receives nebulizer treatments ever 4 hours. Initially, we were going home today, but we have changed our flight until Friday. The doctor believes that if everything keeps getting better we should be able to be released on Thursday. Keep your fingers crossed.

My boss is fabulous. We contacted her and she is taking care of everything at work for me, so my classroom will be taken care of for the rest of the week. Did I tell you how I can't wait to get home and relax a bit?

Colds All Around

2007-12-23T21:18:00.000-05:00

Today, I was supposed to go to Jenni's house for our annual ornament exchange. I actually managed to have mine completed this year and I get Stephen's cold. I decided passing on illness to a very small wee one was fairly contemptible, so I stayed home. My little one seems to be holding on, but is starting to sound stuffy, so we got cold medicine for him just in case. Isn't there some saying about the family that gets sick together...yadda, yadda, yadda

Christmas is coming along well overall. My mother is setting up most of the day preparations at her house, so we can get our together before we leave for Houston. And all I have to manage to is get us packed, my house straightened, and the animals over to their grandmother's for the week. The interesting thing is that although the RAV4 holds a lot, it will not manage all six of us (Stephen, me, Noah, Willie, Jack, and Callie) and all the presents, so we are breaking it up into two days.

I have also discovered that keeping up with a blog is a definite commitment, so I am working on becoming more diligent about it. Thankfully, Noah has started to return to his normal bedtime at around 8:30. We spent two weeks with bedtime being at 11:30 and I couldn't manage to get anything done. I enjoy Christmas, but find I fall behind in all areas of my life during this time. Maybe 2008 will be the year that I manage some efficiency in my life.

Babies and Glasses

2007-12-12T22:49:00.000-05:00

All my friends are having their babies. It is so very cool. Jenni had her little boy, Henry, today. I am very excited to see him and hold a little one. Noah has gotten so big and is just changing by leaps and bounds it will be nice to hold a not so wiggly one.

After six months, I finally have my new glasses. It only took four times to get it right. (yes, I recognize this as the complaint that it is and not to worry my bracelet is now on my right wrist.) I do love them though. They are very flexible so I don't have to worry as Noah rips them off of my face.

Noah has his two bottom teeth. I can tell by his behavior that more are coming, but I'm not sure where they are coming in at. He is almost crawling and I am so excited. My little boy is slowly becoming a toddler.

Complaint - Free Living

2007-12-09T21:21:00.000-05:00

Stephen and I have ventured into the world of complaint-free living. We are supposed to aim for 21 days without complaints. The longest I've been able to manage is 28 hours. Luckily I slept for about 6 of them so I got a reprieve. Today I had to move my bracelet twice, so my first day begins again. If I can get to 10:15 tomorrow, then I am good for day 1. Woohoo!! Keep your fingers crossed.