Let's hear it for the boy!!

Today was report card day...

Tyler is in 6th grade this year and we have been impressed at how he has really buckled down and taken a strong interest in his schoolwork. In his math class, his teacher has a 100 club. She lists the names of people who make a 100 on a math test on her website and posts their picture with their test. Tyler is a TWO-TIME member of the 100 club -- one of only three students out of 120 in his program to achieve such a feat!

Today he brought home all As and excellent marks on conduct in all classes (behavior is at least as important as academic achievement to us, so we were glad to see that!) He gets to go to a special "lunch out" at the food court on Friday to celebrate being on the "A" honor roll! Way to go, Ty Ty. We are proud of you. Keep up the great work!

Yowzers!! That HURT!!

One week ago today, I woke up to excruciating pain in my back and bladder area. I woke Aaron up and told him I needed to go to the emergency room. I had a suspicion I had kidney stones -- I'd never had them before, but had heard them described as the worst pain ever. Now, I HATE hospitals and have NEVER been to the emergency room, so that's an indication of how much pain I was in. We called my parents to come watch the kids and by the time they got there, the pain had subsided somewhat so we went to the Urgent Care facility instead of the emergency room. When we got there, I was tested for every single thing under the sun except kidney stones and was diagnosed with a bladder infection and sent home with some antibiotics.

I felt much better in a couple of days so figured I just had a particularly bad bladder infection. Until Saturday. While eating dinner on Saturday, the familiar pain started to come back into my back and within hours I was writhing on the floor in pain, throwing up and generally feeling like death was imminent. So, once again, we called my parents to watch the kids and this time went straight to the emergency room. Given the obvious pain I was in they called me in quickly once we got there. They got me into a room, gave me wonderful painkillers and anti-nausea medication and did a kidney scan. In the words of the doctor on call in the E.R. "Yeah, you have a stone, a large one, 5 mm, and it's lodged. And you have lots of infection so we are admitting you because an infected kidney stone can cause serious consequences." Before I knew it, I was getting blood cultures done and being moved to a room. The doctor did surgery on Sunday morning to remove the stone and I got to come home yesterday afternoon (Monday). I am still in a good bit of pain (irritation from the removal surgery), but am thankful that the stone is gone and hopeful that I don't ever have to go through that again. Having been through labor once and two c-sections, I will say without a doubt, that a kidney stone is the most painful thing EVER!!

Punkins at the Pumpkin Patch

Crisp weather and Halloween decorations in abundance signal that fall is here! To celebrate the season (which happens to be my FAVORITE), we loaded up the minivan and took the punkins to a local Pumpkin Patch. This was the first year of what we have decided will be a family tradition of visiting and letting the children each pick out a pumpkin. I must say we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Grace got to go on her first Pony Ride, Tyler enjoyed the rubber duck races, and Noah was the typical happy camper. Here are a few pics of the day...

As Promised, Introducing BOB, Our Revolution Duallie Stroller Strides Super Duper Fantastical Double Stroller

In my minivan post, I said I'd be introducing the stroller we love in a future post. Occasionally I write product reviews (because I find them sooo helpful when making my own purchase decisions), so I thought I'd just post my review here. We love our BOB!!

We consider BOB part of the family!
Reviewer: ASmiles , | Date: September 30, 2007

I had tried out this stroller while I was pregnant with my third child. My second and third are 16 months apart and I do a lot of walking in addition to attending my oldest son's soccer games and needed a stroller that would handle well on various types of terrain (asphalt, gravel, grass). My husband balked at the price at first, but he is an engineer and once he tried one out, he was sold. He got a bonus from work and the stroller arrived 2 days after our son did! We walk a couple of miles as a family twice a day and we love this stroller. The kids are comfortable and the stroller pushes like a dream and we've tested it on about every surface you could use it on. The sun canopies provide great coverage as well as a barrier to protect my youngest from his feisty older sister when needed. The storage basket is large enough to tote all of our stuff and that is no small feat! We've taken it to the mall and other shopping centers and it easily fits through the doors. We bought the car seat adapter and it worked GREAT with our Graco Snugride while we were using it. The ONLY downside I can think of is that it IS bulky when folded up, but hey, that is the nature of a double stroller.

My husband and I joke around when we get in the car and call out all of our kid's names to make sure we have everyone. BOB is such a member of our family that he's now on the "roll call!" :)

After 12 Years of Being a Mom...

I finally got my "Mommy Badge!"
Years and years of being a soccer mom coupled with 2 children under 2 changes your way of thinking. Things that used to be uncool are suddenly the hottest thing going. Things like diaper bags and baby wraps and fancy strollers....and....MINIVANS!!

Yep, it was inevitable and today it happened. We bought a minivan. And the scariest thing is that I LOVE IT!! I don't know why we didn't do this sooner!

A little background...we have been driving a Toyota Highlander for several years. It HAS a third row seat, but I don't think it was ever intended to be used by anyone taller than 3 feet tall. Since Noah came along and two massive car seats took over the whole back seat, Tyler has been sitting in the tiny, tiny third row. He's been a good sport about it, but it's been painful for me to see him back there with his knees touching his ears.

Additionally, when the third row seat is up, it leaves no room for our beloved stroller, BOB (who will be introduced in a blog to come). We have a luggage carrier that we sometimes carry the stroller in on top of the car, but lifting a 30 lb stroller up on top of an SUV isn't easy (well, Aaron does it, but I'm SURE it's not easy). We've been meaning to trade the Highlander in for a while, but we've been preoccupied with house stuff and haven't gotten around to it. Last weekend, Tyler had a soccer tournament and because we all needed to be in the car and BOB needed to go with us, we rented a minivan. The convenience and comfort was undeniable even in a base model clunker from the rental agency. So when we got home we started searching for a used minivan with the features we wanted at a good price. Today, we found it. We had to have it transferred from another store, but it is everything we were looking for...

It's a 2005 Chrysler Town and Country with leather seats, Stow and Go 2nd and 3rd row seats (this feature is GREAT!!), power doors, navigation system, and built-in DVD player (the kids have already tried this out and love it -- well, Tyler and Grace do...poor Noah still faces backwards so he'll miss out on that for a while). Because the thought of sitting with the kids in a car dealership throughout the buying process was a little too much for me, I charged Aaron with finding the perfect minivan for us and I am THRILLED with what he found. When I got in for my first ride, I really felt more like I was in a luxury car than a minivan. I can't believe we waited this long to make the switch!

Though he picked it out, Aaron is in denial that we have moved to this stage of our lives. He's moping around in a state of mild depression because he's now a minivan owner. He says it's not very masculine, that anything named "mini" can't be masculine. I told him we could call it a MANivan if it would make him feel more manly, but he was not amused. Sorry honey...when it's time to trade the Maxima, I promise you can get the biggest, manliest pick-up truck you can find! ...(and then you can use it to tote home all my great shopping finds!!)

Happy Birthday to Aaron!!

My sweet husband turned twenty-seventeen today!! I wanted to make a special post for this day to tell him how wonderful he is!

First of all, he is the most incredible Daddy in the world. I know everyone says that about their husband, but he really is. We are blessed that his job allows him to be completely involved in our children's lives. He is so patient and involved with them and you can see the little ones just light up when he's around. He does his share of diapers, gives his share of baths, reads more than his share of books...he is the BEST! He puts his family first and helps guide us in the direction we need to go.

Second, he is my very best friend. He's totally laid back and I'm a little more high strung so we balance each other out nicely. He's fun and we both like to laugh, which is sooo important as we go through this journey together.

Third, not only is he a great husband...he's a great husband-chef! Many of you know that cooking is really not my thing. How fortunate for me to have found a mate who LOVES to cook! SCORE! After seeing video and still pictures of ourselves at the beach, we both decided to watch what we eat and exercise and I tell you, with Aaron creating healthy meals, it's been a breeze. Some days I go to the store and pick up lots of veggies that look good, bring them home, and he creates a wonderful meal. Yes, I am the luckiest girl in the world.

I could go on and on with praise for my sweetie, but I have a feeling he's the only one who would read it. :) So, I will close by saying....Happy Birthday, Aaron!! I love you!! (and..na na na boo boo...you're older than me now!!) mwah!

Our Day at the Fair

I'll be honest...I'm not a fan of the fair. I haven't been since Tyler was about 4 (at which point he started liking rides that made me queasy). But...this year I thought it might be fun to take all the kids for an afternoon adventure (I've heard too many horror stories about the things that happen out there at night!) Tyler was excited about going, but asked to take a friend since the rest of us are either too short (Grace and Noah), too old (Aaron) or too squeamish (me)to ride the rides he likes.

I agreed to let him take a friend, which meant we needed to take two cars. I picked the boys up after school and met Aaron on the way into the parking lot where we were "robbed" on the way in. Don't worry, no guns involved or anything. This was totally legal robbery..$7 PER CAR to PARK! So since we had 2 cars, we're out $14 before we even get into the fairgrounds! Next, we go to the admissions gate...I forget how much it was for each person, but I know it cost us $23 to get in. Cha-ching..that's $37 down and we've just walked in the gate. Then of course you have to have tickets to ride. When you consider tickets are $1 each, each ride requires approximately 4 tickets, and we have two riders (Ty and his friend) with us....well...let's just say they didn't ride many rides!! I snagged 6 tickets from them so I could take Grace on her first merry-go-round ride. She LOVED it. As she was riding she hugged the horse's neck and as we went past Aaron she'd say "Bye Daddy" and then as we passed others she'd say "Bye People!" It was adorable! And just like that, I stopped putting a price tag on the day.

When everyone was all out of tickets, we all went to see the animals and I was excited to get to see camels. I don't know why, but I've always been fascinated by camels. They are such cool looking animals. We ran into a particularly friendly one who loved Grace! Grace thought all of the animals were pretty cool...and I think Tyler and Tristan had a good time too. Noah was just along for the ride, but he was a happy camper!

All in all, we had a fun, albeit incredibly expensive, afternoon!

A few fun pics

I was FINALLY able to get some pics of the kids TOGETHER!! Until recently, Grace has been unpredictable with Noah. She'd start out loving on him and end up scratching him. Now she LOVES to give him hugs and kissses. They are really starting to interact with one another and it is precious to watch!

Hug? or Headlock?
"NoNo's Nose"Sweet, Smiley Boy!

Soooooo Busted!!
Watching Barney :)
The Three Musketeers

My BFF, Leigh

Having an 11-year old, I must admit, I'm amused with the Cingular Unlimited Texting commercial. Tyler and I often disagree about what's SNF ("so not fair "for those not familiar with the commercial or the lingo). Anyway, every time I hear the tween on the commercial talk about her BFF, Jill-- I think about my BFF, Leigh.

When my parents moved into the house I grew up in when I was 3 years old, one of it's best features was my sweet little next door neighbor, Leigh. My mom says that as we were moving in, she came over and said "Hi, I'm Leigh!" And the rest was history. Leigh was just 9 days younger than me and we were pretty much inseparable growing up until about high school when different interests took us down different paths. We are both very busy ladies and we live in different cities now and admittedly have done a horrible job of keeping in touch, but we recently reconnected via myspace and were able to spend a little time together this past weekend.

One of the fun things about the two of us is that even though we are terrible at keeping in touch, when we get together, it's like we never skipped a beat! We also have some almost eerie similarities -- almost like twins separated for years and put back together to find they've been leading parallel lives. :) One of those similarities is that without knowing it, we both went through pregnancy at the same time and our babies were due within 12 days of one another. This weekend, we introduced those babies, Grace and Cooper to each other. They had such a good time and it was great to watch them playing together.

Hopefully our kiddos will give us a good reason to keep in touch. Of course, I tried to talk Leigh into moving into one of the available houses across the street so Coop and Grace could be the "new us," but unfortunately her job makes that an impossibility. Oh well, here's to future get-togethers!

A Whole Lot of Firsts!!

Whew, it has been a LONG time since I've posted. Things have been incredibly busy since our move and I just haven't had a chance to write. The kiddos have had a fun summer and there are lots of new milestones to report!

Noah (5 months)...is rolling all over the place, sitting up for short periods of time and had his first bite of baby cereal (oatmeal) yesterday. He reacted better to it than his older siblings did at first. He swallowed it right of the bat and gave me a big sheepish grin as if to say "Finally Mommy! I've been watching you guys do this for months and I FINALLY get to try it!" He only ate a little bit and I'm in no hurry to push the issue but it appears that it will at least be less of a struggle than it was with Grace (who would not eat ANYTHING other than Mommy Milk until she was 7 months old). I believe he is also telling us he's ready for his own bed because he is ALL over the place in the middle of the night (which means none of us are getting much sleep!) I wake up in the middle of the night to see a little cutie staring at me and it's just hard to go back to sleep! Luckily, this coincides with one of Grace's first (to come below), so before long Mr. Noah will finally have a real room and bed of his own.

Grace (21 months)...is talking like crazy!! She is learning to say "please" and "thanks" and is using it to get just about anything she wants! It's so difficult to say no to a sweet little voice saying "Treat Mommy, peeeeeeeeeeez!" Especially when you know it will be followed up by "Tanks Mommy!" She has picked up the word "Coke" and when we go out to eat she tries to pull one over on the waitress by saying "Coke" or "Diet Coke" when we order. Of course, she's not getting THAT no matter how much she begs so she has also learned to shake her little finger and say "No Coke for Grace." Little Miss Jokester just giggles at this routine! :) Though mommy isn't quite ready for her to yet, Grace is also showing some interest in the potty. Once every day or so she'll say "Potty" and will either pee pee or poop when she gets there. Nothing consistent yet, but she is showing lots of readiness signs so full-time potty training may be in our near future. Two days ago, after putting her down for nap, Daddy found Grace OUTSIDE her crib pointing in and saying "night night." Sooooo, we've ordered a little bed for her and will give the crib to Noah when it arrives. I am looking forward to decorating her room in extreme girly fashion. When we bought the crib stuff, I knew we wanted more kids so went gender neutral, but with Noah getting that stuff, here we come princess room!! Pictures to come when we get it done!! Grace starts Mother's Morning Out next week and will say "TyTy school, Grace school."

Both Noah and Grace had their first trip to the beach in mid-August. They both love the pool and Grace was pretty impressed with the ocean as well. She was not a big fan of sand though! She enjoyed a trip to the aquarium while we were there and didn't want to leave when it was time!

Tyler (12)...had his first Classic soccer tournament over the weekend. We traveled as a family to Asheville and enjoyed three soccer games in addition to beautiful country! Considering these were the first games the team had played together, we were pretty impressed with their performance (they won one, tied one, lost one). I think they've got real potential and can't wait to see how they progress. Tyler also started middle school yesterday. The school with the HAG program is all the way across town which means he has a very early bus pick-up in the mornings (5:58 am). He and I have BOTH been going to bed early to prepare for our early wake up. Since it's still dark outside at that time of day and his bus stop is just under half a mile away, I drive him to the bus stop and wait with him until the bus gets there. He seems to be happy with school and says the people on the bus are really nice. It really seems like he just started kindergarten yesterday, so it's a little hard for me to swallow. When Aaron and I met, Tyler was nearing the end of his first year of elementary school and time has just flown since then!!

Aaron and I (ages withheld to protect our vanity:)....are enjoying settling into our first house built and purchased together. We remain hopeful that we'll experience our first home sale sometime in the near future.

In a nutshell, that's what's been going on in our neck of the woods. With things settling down a little, I'm sure I'll be back to normal blogging frequency soon!

Love to all!

Way To Go Ty Ty!

Of course I'm talking about Tyler! Grace LOVES her big brother and she calls him "Ty Ty" and I've gotten into the habit of calling him that too. I do try not to do it when he is around his mature "tweenager" friends to save him some embarrassment. :)

Anyway, Tyler is a soccer player. He's been playing since he was 5 years old and over time has really developed some skills! He has been playing Challenge level soccer for the past two years. The Challenge Division is for players who want to move up from recreation soccer to a higher level of play and coaching. To play, you go through try-outs and if you make a team you travel within the local area for competitive soccer.

This year, he decided to try out for the Classic Division, which is defined as "for more advanced players who want to move to the highest level of youth soccer." He had great tryouts last week and we found out on Friday that occupies one of just 11 spots on the team!! It's a big commitment for him to make, but he is completely excited about it and can't wait for the season to start. Way to go Ty Ty! We are proud of you!

The Mystery of the Green Mouth

Ever had a "DUH!" moment? You know...one of those times when you just have to laugh at yourself? If so, you will appreciate...The Mystery of the Green Mouth!

Yesterday Aaron worked out of town and my parents and I were home with the kiddos. As my dad was feeding Grace Cheetos (yes, her Papa lets the junk food flow freely), we noticed that her whole mouth and tongue were green. There was some green around the outside of her lips and her teeth were even green. Now Grace is a curious little thing and her favorite way to really explore things is with her mouth. This was an ugly, army green though (not the color of anything that was actually edible) and we feared she had gotten into something she shouldn't have. The search began to figure out what mystery object she had tasted. We searched high and low. She had just gotten up from a nap, so I searched her crib for a torn stuffed animal or a stray marker she might have smuggled in in her diaper. Nothing! We searched the entire house, every single place she'd been after waking from her nap and even re-traced a path she made through the yard during a quick escape. Nothing! During the whole process I kept asking Grace "now Gracie, WHAT did you eat?" She grinned and giggled and pointed to her mouth (not exactly the clue I was looking for!) After about half an hour of searching to no avail, we called off the search. Grace seemed to feel fine and we decided we'd watch her closely for the rest of the afternoon and call poison control if we noticed anything unusual. Luckily, she had no ill effects and by the time Aaron got home, there were so many other things going on, I forgot to even mention it to him.

Fast forward to tonight...

Aaron was in the kitchen and I was in the living room and we were having a conversation. He came in and opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out at me and I'll be darned if it wasn't that same yucky harmful substance looking green! "Oh Oh Oh...How did you do that?" I asked. "Uh, do what?" he said. "Make your mouth green like that!" He returned to the kitchen and brought out a bag....a bag of Cheetos. Be sure to read the fine print (ok maybe it's not so fine...let me re-phrase that...be sure to read the huge green banner across the top of the bag)....
So...mystery solved. I showed the bag to my parents and we all felt pretty dumb (but we all got a really good laugh out of it!) In my defense, I hadn't even seen the bag when the whole thing started. Mom had just picked up what she thought was an ordinary bag of Cheetos at the grocery store and dad had given Grace what he thought were ordinary Cheetos. The thought never ever entered my mind that it could have been the Cheetos. With the mystery solved though, I will rest better tonight . Ahhh, adventures in Toddlerhood!

"Nothing Tastes as Good as Being Thin Feels" (The first in a series of MythBusters by Melissa)

If you're familiar with my blog, you know that I often like to give a little background before jumping right into the point of the post. This is one of those posts. I would like to start off by saying I love Weight Watchers. Though I was disappointed 4 years ago when I first signed up to find out they don't take away any pounds for free just for signing up (in other words, I had to WORK for every pound), it is a realistic program and when you follow it, you will lose weight. I've used the program several times -- first, before my wedding. I lost 30 lbs this time and while I was still a far cry from the NutriSystem lady whose husband calls her a trophy wife (<--gee, how nice), for me I was in excellent shape. Secondly, 6 months after Grace was born and I realized that I'd lost all of the "free pounds" I was going to lose from breastfeeding, I started the program again and got back to my pre-pregnancy weight TWO WHOLE DAYS before I found out I was expecting Noah. In an attempt to get the few extra pounds off a little quicker this time, I started again several weeks ago and lost 7 pounds within a few weeks. This week has been challenging though. I took a pretty long fall off of the "wagon" and as I was in the shower this morning, I decided I needed a pep talk!

I searched my brain for all the cute little inspirational things I've heard from Weight Watchers over the years. You know "you bite it, you write it!" and that kind of thing, when I stumbled across THE mantra of all mantras when it comes to weight loss -- "Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels!" There, that oughta do it right? Maybe it would have if I had just STOPPED thinking at that point, but that's not how I work. As I pondered the statement more, I began to doubt it's accuracy. First of all I had to think about what being thin feels like. Now, I'll admit, even when I'm on Weight Watchers, I'm usually not "overweight" by most definitions. Without work, I naturally fall somewhere between a size 8 and 12. On Weight Watchers, I usually rest around a size 6 (so we'll call that my definition of thin for me for purposes of this discussion.) So, what does being thin feel like? I think the implication there is something to do with health and sense of accomplishment. For me (and most people I know) if I'm not pregnant and not throwing up or suffering some other kind of illness, I feel pretty healthy regardless of my weight. And sure, there is some feeling of pride and accomplishment when you drop a dress size. However, if I had to sum up in one word what being thin feels like, the word would have to be....

hungry.

Of course, there are ways to combat hunger and still lose weight, but they just aren't as much fun as the good old "eat what ya want" days! As I continued to think about the phrase, I was able to "de-bunk" this myth in many ways. So here is MY list. These are the things that I think taste WAY better than being thin feels! :)

1) Cadbury mini eggs (I'm not talking about the ones with the gooey junk in the center. These have a hard candy coating over the most scrumptious milk chocolate you've ever sunk your teeth into. I'm convinced they are straight from Satan and thankful I can only get them around Easter).

2) Hershey's chocolate milkshakes from Cookout (If you've been there you know they have the world's best milkshakes in a million different varieties. I've tried a couple but boring old chocolate is my favorite!)

3) Hot chocolate from Panera (My "winter milkshake")

4) Cheetos (Though I've said time and time again that someone should invent a "Cheeto tong" to save us from orange finger syndrome, Cheetos are the greatest crunchy snack I can think of)

5) Coca-Cola (not the diet stuff, I'm talking full strength, full sugar Coke. Worth the calories!)

6) Any kind of ice cream shared with an 18-month old (Between the taste of the ice cream and the image of pure joy on the little ones face...total yum! Ice cream sandwiches are my personal favorite with the blend of chocolate cookie and creamy vanilla ice cream...pure genious!)

7) Cheese pizza from Cicionne's shared over conversation with an 11-year old (Conversations with 11 year olds are a hot commodity and if pizza facilitates it, so be it!)

8) Thanksgiving dinner items! And I'm not just talking about one day a year in November. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite meal ever. I love it all: Turkey, dressing, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, broccoli casserole, dinner rolls, pumpkin pie. Oh yes, some things DO taste as good as being thin feels!

If you'll excuse me, my mouth is watering...

Myth status: DEBUNKED!!

Look Out Doc, Here We Come!

We had a "dual" doctor appointment on Friday for Grace's 18 month and Noah's 2 month appointments. While slightly logistically challenging, it was kind of convenient to be able to get both appointments taken care of in one shot. Here's the news:

Miss Grace - the doctor says she is "sharp as a tack," and is doing great developmentally. She's running now and is going through a vocabulary explosion. She loves to point out her body parts and can name a lot of them. She has also become a great helper and particularly likes helping unload the washer, dryer, and dishwasher (let's see how long THAT lasts!) She put on a show for the doctor and had him completely wrapped him around her finger in no time. She is 33 inches tall (85th percentile) and weighs 26 lbs (75th percentile). She escaped with no shots this time.

Mr. Noah - is also doing great developmentally. He is smiling like crazy and occasionally treating us to a little giggle. He "talks" to me all the time and let the doctor hear some of his "language." He's a strong little fellow and pushes WAY up on his arms when placed on his tummy. He is 25 inches tall (100th percentile) and 15 lbs (100th percentile). Apparently Noah thinks he and Grace should have been twins and he is doing his best to play catch up. The doctor said he wouldn't be the "little brother" for long! Noah got 3 shots and had a little bit of a fever the following day. He seems to be feeling better now.

Our kind doctor just loved both of them and said he would gladly take one or both of them home with him (we may just take him up on that one Friday evening for date night! That's a babysitter I think I'd feel 100% comfy with.) :)

It was a great appointment all around and we are so thankful for happy, healthy children.

Tales from the Housing Market

Well gentle readers, as I've mentioned several times in my blog, we are building a new house and our current house went on the market while I was in the hospital prior to Noah's birth. Noah is two months old next week and I really hoped that by this time I would be informing you all that our house was sold, but alas, the market in the area is about as slow as molasses on a tree in the middle of winter. This is the first time either Aaron or I have been through the process of selling a house and I have to say all in all, it has been one of the most stressful experiences I've ever been through.

First of all, let me remind you that I am a researcher (yes, I realize I say that in almost every entry but it seems to be a convenient way to explain some of my neuroses.) :) Anyway, when we decided to build the new house, I did some research to determine what we needed to do to get our house ready. Before we decided to move, Aaron (with the help of friends) had already put in hardwood floors downstairs (thank you dad, Whit Gifford, and Scott Snow). We had enough left over from that task to do the master bedroom (which was in dire need of new flooring), so Aaron and my dad took a weekend and tackled that task. With that done, it was time to de-clutter. We rented a POD which stayed in our driveway for a couple of months while we went through the house room by room as we had a chance and packed up stuff that we wanted to take with us. During this process we also gave about 40 large trash bags full of stuff to Goodwill and threw away many, many bags of trash. Most of the rooms in our house had not been painted since the house was built in 1995 and ALL the articles I had read insisted that painting was the cheapest way to command top dollar for your home, so we painted every single room, every single inch of trim, every single door, THE WORKS! Having painted all the trim white, we needed to change out all of the outlets, so Aaron tackled that task and every single outlet and light switch in the house was replaced. With the help of friends (thank you Skinners!) we ripped very busy wallpaper down in the half bath and painted that too. Somewhere in there, we also had the carpet on the stairs and in the kids bedrooms replaced. All of these things took a good deal of time and we actually finished right before I went into the hospital. We did so much work that we actually started to wonder why we were leaving in the first place! (Noah's arrival quickly reminded us that we were out of space.)

When the realtor came to look at the house, she was duly impressed! But we weren't completely done yet. When we started having showings, we placed fresh yellow flowers in a vase in the entryway (yellow encourages people to buy things and fresh flowers make people feel home), baked cookies for the homey smell, made sure the lawn looked great, played classical music and made sure our dogs were off the premises. We were sure that the first people who saw our house would LOVE it and make an offer. They didn't, nor did the second, third, fourth or even tenth people. They said things like "love the house, but I want a 2 car garage," (ok, nothing we can do about that), "love the house but don't like that it backs up to the school" (ok, nothing we can do about that either, but we LOVE backing up to the school -- free playground equipment after 5pm and no neighbors behind us...EVER), and the kicker "don't like the new house feel" (to this one we offered to let our dogs back in the house for a week to take care of that, but still no interest).

During the course of this process we have been beaten down. There is a automated service that calls and tells you when a realtor wants to show your house. In the beginning, we got excited when we saw the number appear on the caller ID. When we found out someone was coming, we'd go through all of our "getting the house ready rituals," high 5 each other and talk about how great the offer would be when it came in later that evening! As the rejection started to pour in, we got less and less excited to see the number and we stopped putting as much effort into the showings. No more cookies, no more flowers, basically now I just remind Aaron to make sure the toilets are flushed and the seats are down.

Every realtor who sees our house tells us it is lovely and we just have to wait for the "right people" to come along, but our new house will be done in about 6 weeks and as the fear of having two mortgages sets in, we're less interested in Mr. and/or Mrs. Right...we'd be PERFECTLY happy with Mr. and/or Mrs. Right Now!

Tomorrow is a new day and there happens to be a new showing. Here's to hoping it's the Right Nows!

Dear Noah...

I've been wanting to write you a letter and it just so happens that you and big sister are both napping at the same time while big brother is at school (yes, the planets are lined up just so!), so now seemed like the perfect time. I wanted to write to you about how I am feeling during your early days so one day, when you can read, you can know what your arrival meant to our family.

When I was pregnant with your sister Grace, I had picked out a girl name and a boy name before I knew that she was a girl. A week or so after she was born, I told your Daddy that I still felt like there was a little Noah to join our family one day. We were thrilled that Grace was a girl and she brought a whole lot of sunshine to our family, but I knew our family was not yet complete. I found out the day after my 35th birthday that we were expecting another baby and I knew from the minute the second line appeared, that my little Noah was on his way.

My pregnancy with you was BUSY!! Mommy and daddy decided shortly after we learned you were on your way, that we were out of room in our current house. We have a three bedroom house, no "spare rooms," with three kiddos and mommy and daddy both working from home we were bursting at the seams. In November of 2006 we made the decision to build a new house and started going through the steps to do so. In December, we started the preparations to put our old house on the market and there was MUCH to do! In addition to all of that going on, we had Grace to chase after. With your older brother and sister, I had everything prepared way in advance, but I just didn't have time to do so with you! Throughout the majority of the time I was pregnant with you, I was the healthiest I'd ever been during a pregnancy. My blood pressure was better than it had been, my weight gain was lower, no gestational diabetes, no placenta previa. I just knew I was going to make it the whole 40 weeks with you, so thought I had plenty of time left to get things in order. But when I was 35 weeks pregnant, I got sick again and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital prior to your birth. Luckily, between an emergency trip by Nana to Babies R Us and a visit from some very nice ladies from church who threw a baby shower right in the hospital room, we got the necessities taken care of and we were able to dress you in blue for your trip home from the hospital instead of some of Grace's pink hand-me-downs.

You came into the world, healthy and screaming! Being a 36-weeker, I was warned that you may not cry at first and that you may need some intervention from the NICU right after birth, but just like your older brother and sister, you allayed any fears mommy may have had about that from the very second you were born. The first time I tried to nurse you, I couldn't get you to wake up to eat. I called the nurse in and she noticed that your little tummy was FULL of fluid (which is a pretty common thing for c-section babies, especially when their mommies had polyhydramnios). It was no wonder, you weren't all that interested in eating! She took you off to suction some of that out and our next attempt at feeding was a success. You have been a pro ever since!

On the fourth day after you were born, we were able to leave the hospital. From there, we headed to Nana and Papa's house. Our house went on the market while we were in the hospital and with me recovering from surgery and two children under 18 months, we just didn't think we'd be able to keep it in show condition. When we arrived, your sister was so happy to see us! She tries really hard to say "Baby" but right now it sounds a whole lot like "Daddy." Luckily, we are able to tell who she is talking about by who she is pointing to. Unfortunately, she is still learning what "gentle" means, so you've been scratched on the head a time or two. Nana and Papa have been really helpful at keeping her occupied so we can keep you safe. We know it won't be long until you are able to hold your own with her!

You've been with us almost a month now and already I can't remember what life was like before you arrived. You have just fit right into our family. Already, I can tell that you are going to be one determined little fellow! While you have been an easy baby to take care of so far, if you don't like something, you do not hesitate to let us know! If we're holding you in the wrong position, you will wriggle and twist yourself until you get into an acceptable one. You despise diaper changes, but now that we can put you into the water, you are loving baths. You LOVE to eat and do it often. You are the first of my babies to take a pacifier. You are very alert for your age and spend quite a bit of time just gazing into my eyes. You have me absolutely wrapped around your little finger and while they say you can't spoil a newborn, I am surely testing that theory. So far your hair is still dark, but only time will tell what color your eyes will be. Right now, they are dark gray so mommy and daddy like to tease each other about their final color.

We look forward to watching you grow and develop over the years. You complete our family, sweet boy. We love you.

~Mommy

Sharing some photos...

I've had a few people ask me to post some photos of the kiddos on the blog. I do keep a separate photobucket account fairly updated, but thought I'd post a few here for those who have asked for them. :)

Noah and Mommy enjoying the nice weather:

Sleepy boy!

My Nana's makin' my ear stick out! :)
Show me the milk!

Future Miss Red Hat Society
Hunting eggs in my paper plate "bonnet" Nana made for the Easter Parade
Ty's new haircut (Yayyyyy!)

Not Crunchy! (Just a little bit crisp...)

Those of you who follow my husband's blog know that I've been "zinged" several times in his latest entries and he has implied that I'm just shy of spending my spare time chaining myself to trees. I want to go on record saying that I have no problem with crunchy people. Some of my dear friends fall into this category and I have learned much from them. I respect those who care so much about the world we live in and deep down I do aspire to take more responsibility in preserving it. Having said all of that, I feel that I am "not worthy" of being classified that way.

As a researcher, I naturally spent a good deal of time prior to Grace's birth researching different parenting methods. I learned that there are two extremes: The "Babywise Strict Schedule Fit the Baby into YOUR Life Parents" and The Attachment Parents whose basic tenets include breastfeeding, co-sleeping, babywearing, cloth diapering, and positive reinforcement instead of physical discipline. Though there are large groups of people on both extremes, the majority of parents fall somewhere between these two extremes and adjust their parenting style based on what works for their children. Prior to Grace's birth, I declared my allegiance to the Babywise group. OUR baby was going to fit into OUR life, she was going to know who the leaders of the pack were and work herself into our schedule. I had the EASY schedule memorized (Eat, Activity, Sleep, YOU time) and it sounded GREAT in theory. I read several different books with similar themes and I was an expert on raising babies on a schedule (or so I thought).

Then our sweet baby arrived and little by little, I found myself moving to the other extreme...

Yes, I breastfeed.
I ALWAYS had one foot firmly planted in the attachment parenting camp in the fact that I was COMPLETELY committed to breastfeeding. With my first son, I thought breastfeeding was a "natural" thing and did not commit to learning anything about it prior to his birth. I knew I wanted to do it, but figured mothers had been nursing babies since the beginning of time without help from lactation consultants or breastfeeding classes, so as a semi-intelligent person, surely I could pick it up on the fly. I remember the nurse in the hospital telling me breastfeeding babies eat every two hours in the early days and thinking "yeah right. Not MY child!" After 5 days of a screaming baby who couldn't latch, I reluctantly went to see a lactation consultant. Everyone around me was telling me to give the kid a bottle, but it went against my instincts. There were resources available to me and I wanted to make sure I had exhausted all of them before giving up because I HAD done the research to know of the endless benefits breastfeeding offers babies. The lactation consultant was able to help us resolve our issues and I went on to nurse him for 10 months despite working full-time. (And for the record I was right...MY child didn't eat every two hours during the early days. He went an hour and a half tops before being ready to eat again!) Oh...you live and learn.

Luckily, I learned enough during Tyler's infancy, to be much more confident and secure when Grace was born. There was never any question about whether or not I would nurse her. She picked it up like a little champ and continued until early in my pregnancy with Noah when she chose to wean (which was an emotional roller coaster for mommy). Despite my commitment to Babywise prior to her birth, what I learned during Grace's early days is that the strict 3-hour Babywise schedule can be detrimental in the early days of breastfeeding when babies really need to nurse on demand to establish a good milk supply. My guess is that many moms abandon breastfeeding early on thinking they don't make enough milk because they have preconceived notions of how often babies should eat and only feed at those times. So, my commitment to breastfeeding caused me to generally toss Babywise to the curb before Grace was 2 weeks old. Having said that, I have found that the EASY system does work great for helping babies learn to fall asleep on their own and Grace did eventually fall into a modified version of it. She is now a fabulous sleeper so there is some merit in the basic idea. I just don't think it is realistic to expect a newborn baby to fall into a "grown up" schedule right off the bat.

On the same topic, YES, I am vehement about a woman's right to feed her child. To temper my crunchiness though, I will say that I do the best I can to be discreet and not make those around me uncomfortable. I understand that nursing a child is a wonderful, beautiful gift that is in no way sexual, but I also understand that no matter how enlightened I am, there are others who are not comfortable with public breastfeeding. Being the mother of an 11-year old boy, I also understand that it is unreasonable to expect that all people of all ages to "get" the beauty of it. We do the best we can to help Tyler understand it, but some things just come with maturity. Having said that, I think every woman has the right to feed her child in the way that is comfortable for her and her baby. I fed Grace on airplanes, in the middle of the mall, at soccer games, and even at the buffet at the Aladdin in Las Vegas. I never once heard a complaint from anyone around me, but I also made sure that I was as discreet as I could be while still allowing my baby to breathe and eat normally. I will admit though, that I have a serious problem with myspace allowing some of the most vulgar images and advertisements I have ever seen, while deleting images of children breastfeeding. To me, that is pure ignorance, therefore I am (modestly and discreetly) participating in the virtual "nurse in." It's that simple -- not the dramatic revolution Aaron alluded to in his blog -- just me standing up for something I believe in in a manner consistent with my values.

Yes, I co-sleep.
Whew, that is the hardest one to "type out loud." I know many who read this are gasping as they do so because in our society, co-sleeping is not generally thought of as socially acceptable. This makes our society different from most of the rest of the world where co-sleeping is accepted and widely practiced. For me, it's totally a convenience issue. As a working mom who needs to be alert during the day to take care of now two babies, keep the household running, AND have conversations with and conduct work for clients, I need my sleep. As previously discussed, breastfeeding babies eat often and I found getting up every two hours to feed to be more than I could handle. With the baby close by, we ALL get enough sleep and are happier as a result. I should say that well before her first birthday, Grace was sleeping through the night in her own crib and continues to do so. About the time she stopped nursing, she decided she had more room to move around in her own bed and just started sleeping there.

Yes, I am TRYING to learn to "wear" my baby.
Again, for me this one is more of a convenience thing. While I know babywearing promotes all kinds of good things for baby, I have two children under 18 months of age. I don't have enough hands to deal with them on my own. I NEED to wear one of them to be able to do the things I need to do with the other one. Having said that, I now own 4 different types of wraps/slings. I wish Aaron and I had thought to videotape ourselves as we tried to figure out how they worked, wrapping ourselves in yards of fabric and then trying to figure out where in the heck the baby went. I'm just not coordinated enough to "work" some of them, but I have found two styles that I think are going to work with a little practice.

Yes, sometimes I cloth diaper.
I'll admit it. This one even took ME by surprise. If you had told me even 6 months ago, that I would use cloth diapers, I would have laughed in your face. But, a friend of mine introduced me to today's cloth diapers and frankly, I decided to give them a try because they were so darn cute! It turns out they are not much more of a hassle than disposables and given their cost efficiency, environmental friendliness, and the fact that they are better for baby's skin, I couldn't justify NOT using them. I've mentioned that we are currently staying with my parents and in order to not overtax their washer and dryer, I haven't used cloth much while we've been here. However, when we are back home, I plan to jump back into it.

Yes, I am an attachment parent.
As they say, "if it looks like a duck..."
I'll admit it, over time I have moved closer to the attachment parenting extreme. Why? Because it works for our family. In 11 years of being a parent I have learned that it is less about research and facts and more about following your God-given instincts. I want my children to be secure and to know they are loved and the things that "feel right" to me just happen to be in what is considered the "crunchy" camp. But MY "crunchiness" is completely centered around my children. I don't recycle like I should, I don't buy organic food or natural cleaning products, I wear leather, and I don't spend NEARLY enough time outside to be worthy of the crunchy label. I'm just a busy mommy doing the best I can!

Just a side note for those who may be wondering: The "zingers" tossed from blog to blog between my sweet husband and me are all in good fun. We are the most loyal followers of each others blogs and both understand that the "teasing" is good natured.