Noah cuteness

I found a few random Noah pictures on my phone from this week.

Here's a little baby cuteness for you :)

Mr. Blue Eyes only wants to sit up now.  

In his carseat...in his tub...in his stroller...he's determined to perfect this new 'trick.'

Sitting up in the stroller is great for him to see new sights, but not got great for trying to get him to lay back & fall asleep.  He officially hates the jogging stroller now.  Bye bye easy naps in the stroller.

Cute squishy clean-ness after his nightly bath.

This cute ginormous forehead can now fit into more hats from his wardrobe.  Here's his safari bucket hat, similar to his big bro's.

Insert funny caption below.

And last but not least, here's what Noah has to say to a certain someone after the rough mediation session Mommy had today.

How can you not laugh at this silly vulgar baby?!

Good night everyone!

SunSplash!

There's a lot that goes into a trip to SunSplash...with a baby.  There's no doubt I'm a planner!  I was up the night before packing bags.  Bags that were functional, yet not my cutest ones, in hopes they didn't scream steal me off this beach chair since I was trying to avoid getting a locker.  I had one bag packed with the kids' stuff.  One for the towels/adults.  I should not have opened the can of worms with my husband about how it'd be so nice to trade positions...where I just worried about packing for myself...how I could just wing it and not have to think of the 1,000,000 different scenarios to prepare for.  It gets me no where, since I'd never give up the control of packing it all anyway.

So anyway, I had a bag full of snacks, baby food, diapers, water diapers, back up water diapers in case poop occurred, hats, sunscreen spray, sunscreen lotion for the 5 year old that hates cold spray, dry clothes for the boys (all 3 boys) that were cozy to nap in on the car ride home, etc.  I, then, had to strategically hide our money/phones/camera in our bag to avoid needing a locker.  When my sweet husband asks me why I'm so frazzled the night before our trip while I'm packing bags, as well as laying out everyone's outfits for the next morning, so we can be up, sunscreened, dressed, nursed, fed, and out the door by 9:00am... I just smile.  Oh honey, you will never understand!

But oh my, God was so good today.  He timed Noah's nap time perfectly in the car on the drive there, kept the lines short, kept my 5 year old content, gifted us a secluded, shady area to park our stuff, and made our day wonderful!  All my anxieties on how to keep C content while I had to sneak away to nurse Noah or fight to get him to nap while we were in a noisy, unfamiliar place were put to ease.  I was able to toss a towel over Noah to feed him in our secluded seating.  It was, as if, the kiddie fountain area where we sat was like white noise to our sweet babe.  He slept easily and peacefully.  Matt & I took turns take C on the big slides.  C was in Heaven.  Noah was happy.  Matt & I were able to enjoy ourselves and everyone's company.  It was an ideal day!

The water was ice, ice, ice cold, so we kept Noah from touching it.  It didn't phase Connor though!  

Matt hoisted Noah up high as we cruise down the lazy river with Peewee.

The big slides required life jackets for kids under 48".  With Peewee just a few inches shy of 48", he got to trot around in this fancy thing.  I thought it would bug him all up around his face, but he just exclaimed,

"Look, Mom! I float!"

Cute kid, right there.

You can't tell by the picture, but these picnic tables were kiddie sized.  This was my nursing station/Noah's nap area.  It worked out great.

This kid was happy as a clam!  We sat waiting for the boys to come down the big green slide & he was just squealing away!  He loves to be outside and people watch.  I just pulled the camera out & snapped this beauty.

What a doll babe.

Matt & I did great swapping children throughout the day.  I loved being able to give C some one-on-one time too.  These were the green slides we went on ump-teen-times.  You can't really tell, but there were about a gazillion stairs to reach the top of the slide.  I was winded each trip!  I would have done it over and over again for my happy boy.  We had fun screaming/cheering/saying funny things as we went down the tunnel slide each time.

After about 3 hours of no tears/fussing from either child, we were in dry clothes and ready to head out.  We timed it perfectly.  Note to self: take cute family photos before we're exhausted.

Instead of trying over and over for a successful everyone-looking-and-smiling photo, I opted for the true to life photos today.

Example 1

And Example 2...

A sweet family next to us that traveled from Canada with their two young boys (youngest was 2 months), offered to take our family picture.  I felt a bond with this Mom that I didn't even know, as she was toting around her newborn under a 'hooter hider' while pushing her empty stroller and holding her other son's hand all while trying to remain calm with her family in order to make fun, happy family memories!  I thought packing for a day at SunSplash was overwhelming.  Award goes to that woman, who traveled all the way across the US with her babes.

Oh, and this was a fun attire day for Mom.  Boys were wearing matching swimsuits, as well as matching dry clothes.  I bought those shirts before I had Noah and couldn't wait for an opportunity for both the boys to fit into them/wear them together.  I got a few compliments on my awesome dressing skills.  It's the little things that make me look like I have my crap together.  Haha.

All the boys of the house are snoozing, so now it's my turn!  Goodnight!

Spring Break!

Of my 29 years, this has been the best Spring Break that I can remember!  Why, you ask?!

I get to spend the days with my babes.

My giggly tiniest babe.

The tiniest babe who is working day (and night) on becoming mobile!  We're not crawling yet, but we're rolling everywhere!!  This little booger started out on his playmat.

We've ventured to new parks close by.

This was a first for the little guy.  He looked similar to a wiggly bug, flailing his limbs while he was all squished to the front of the swing.  By his face, I'm pretty sure he hated the swings!

Definitely hated them.

Dangling baby made it easier to snap a brother shot.  It was until this photo that I realized how dorky C's glasses have become.  Regardless, he's still cute :).

I let Peewee climb this insanely high rock.  It was until he got to the top that I felt a major Mom panic.  Like, if-he-falls-how-in-the-world-will-I-lift-him-and-his-brother-to-the-car-to-then-drive-to-the-hospital-across-town-panic.  This boy has made it 5 1/2 years without a broken limb or stitches in the back of the head.  I would like the streak to continue!  He let him enjoy his climbing glory for a moment, then calmly talked him back down to Earth.

Spring Break has been a glorious break from waking my boys up early to get ready to drive C to school.  Ironically, this little booger still likes to wake up ridiculously early just for fun. (For example, last night Noah decided to wake up every few hours & then be wide awake at 4:00 AM). At least we don't have to get in the car on schedule.

C and I had a BLAST cops the other night.  Meet "George."  Officer Connor and Officer Mommy had to cuff him and 'silence' him after he stole our doughnuts.  Pretend play at it's finest.  C is always on Team Mommy, while Matt is always the bad guy.  Haha!

Daily trips to the park have been great for both boys!

I feel like my legs look similar to Noah's in the sunlight (color and cellulite)!

I put the boys in their matching jammies and was determined to get a cute picture of them together.  Well, I had to peel one child away from his Lego creation while the other child was a 1/2 hour past bedtime & kept rolling over the moment I put him in photo position.  I was beyond frustrated and exhausted after trying to get a cute brother picture.  I opted to just get their pictures separately the next morning & collaged it all together to make it somewhat cute.

I am being summoned to play Lego Star Wars with Peewee while Noah hopefully naps for another 4 hours! :)

Super Mom!

I admit...I've always tried to be that Mom. That Mom that always has fun activities planned for the kids.  That Mom that always tries to keep snack & meal time new and exciting.  That Mom that volunteers in her kid's class.  That Mom that plays video games with her boys and says silly bathroom words like "poop" to make her son chuckle. That Mom that only promotes educational cartoons.  I am that Mom. Well, I'm that Mom, but a little slacking lately.  It's nearly impossible to be that Mom when I'm running on an hour's sleep, have a baby that only nurses to sleep, and have a 5 year old that thinks all my latest activity ideas are now "boring."  My patience runs thin faster.  My creativity is lacking.  My pantry is bare.  "Spongebob" has taken over my TV lately.  I so want to be able to do it all, but some days its just not possible.  Even my blog is feeling neglecting.

Today, I started to feel more like that Mom again though.  I set up a cute decorative chalk board chore chart for Connor.  I went out to lunch with my Hubby to a new Mexican restaurant & packed appropriately to keep my sweet 5 month old content the entire time.  I cleaned house.  I ordered Noah's personalized Easter basket. I delivered a bag of some of Noah's hand-me-downs to a neighbor with a baby boy.  I'm slowly feeling like myself again. 

Maybe it was after that 6 hour stretch of sleep last night that Noah gifted me!  Sleep is so under-rated.

As I take a break from my Super Mom duties, I figured I'd catch up on my poor blog.  Here are some photos from the past week or two. 

Matt & I found ourselves at Jaycee park a few weeks ago, as we were in the Cape, but had a few hours to burn before we picked up Connor.  We didn't know where to go with Noah, so ended up pulling into Jaycee park.  The views are so refreshing.  I always seemed to avoid the actual park with Connor over the years, because of the sand.  Oh, how the clean freak in me hates sand.  The weather was perfect that afternoon though and it was a great place to park Noah, feed him his carrots for supper, and wait to pick up C.

I remembered taking Connor to Jaycee Park when he was a baby for a picnic supper with my parents.  I tried to recreate the photo with Noah, just 5 years later.

 It's pretty amazing how much my life has changed in those 5 years.  I had no idea in the top picture of what my life had in store for me.  In the bottom picture, I may be aged with a few gray hairs already (eek!), but so so happy with where God has brought me.  And by golly, I make some adorable, smiley babies!

My boys are lucky to have such a wonderful Dad.

Sidenote: After having Noah, we refer to Matt as "Dad" quite a bit around the house.  I knew C might have questions with both the boys having different "Dads."  I made a point to explain to C back when I was pregnant that he's lucky to have two Father figures and that Matt is known as his Step Dad.  C didn't really seem to care, since he knew Matt as "Matt," and he didn't really worry about the title since he'll never actually call him that when talking to him.  Well, in the past week, I have been with C when he is talking to his friends about Matt.  C made a point to say, "See Matt.  He's my Stuff Dad."  He says it so fast that it sounds just like Step Dad, so the kids didn't question him.  I asked C later what he called him and he said, "He's my Stuff Dad."  C assumed I was saying "Stuff Dad," as in the "Dad he does stuff with."  We got a good giggle out of it and I told him he can call him that if he wants. :)

Noah's been doing much better trying new foods.  He was pretty picky to start, making lots of gaggy faces and refusing anything other that sweet potatoes and carrots.  I just kept trying with new flavors and he began to accept them.  We even busted out C's mesh eater to try some banana and avocado.  It made me want to do another fun comparison photo of the boys.  Oh, the big blue eyes!

Noah's officially at the point where he won't stay asleep in his carseat if the car stops moving.  I carried his carseat in the house with him sound asleep, then looked down to see this face.

Another month has passed...

Lots of big changes this month!

-Eating baby food (sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peas, bananas, avocado, pears)

-Rolling over both ways

-sleeping better (up 2x instead of 12x)

-fresh hair has grown in

-grabbing toys

-everything goes directly in the mouth

-able to go in the pool

-cries less in the car (cries half the time instead of the entire time)

Our little Piranha baby wants to chomp on just about anything.

Still no teeth coming through though.

Last week, I posted on our neighborhood Facebook page asking neighbors if they were selling a jogging stroller.  Within 5 minutes, I had found someone down the street that was selling a perfectly good jogging stroller for $25 (same one was $150 brand new).  We picked it up & it has become our new go-to stroller.  I have jogged a few times with it, fed Noah babyfood in it when we're out and about, and walk him in it every day.  He wouldn't sit long in his other stroller and with this one, he falls asleep in it almost every time!  It was well worth the purchase!

We usually walk while Noah and his Octopus hang out.  He usually just chomps on him until he falls asleep.  This is how I caught him on our walk a few days ago.  So cute.

He stays asleep as long as I keep walking.  It's great motivation to shed my remaining baby weight!

Last Tuesday, Connor hung with Nana & Papa.  Papa snuck home early from work to get some pool playtime in with his little buddy.  Seeing Dad play with Connor in the pool reminds me of when he used to play with Craig, Katie and I as kids.  After launching C in the pool, I can imagine Dad was sore the next day though.  C isn't light!!

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday, it was just me & the boys.  Holy long 3 days.  Matt went to Ohio for work, so we were home alone.  Behind this happy baby was lurking a congested, stuffy nose that kept us up alllllll night long those few nights.  It was not easy entertaining both boys running on zero sleep, without a break when Matt would usually come home in the evenings.  

I managed to take both the boys to our dentist appointment on Thursday.  I had no idea how it would go!  I was blurry-eyed from no sleep, C was on his own in the Dentist chair while I held Noah, and Noah was awake during his regularly long afternoon naptime.  I think God knew I couldn't handle much more, so he gifted me an exhausting, yet easy visit.  No tears. No cavities.  The girls in the office held Noah for me while I got my x-rays.  I managed to hold Noah on my lap the entire time I got my teeth cleaned.  Connor scored some Star Wars goodies out of the treasure box.  We all did great!  Phew!

  

Matt got in Friday night.  He entertained C while I headed out before bedtime to load up on all things Vicks for Noah's room that night, in hopes it would help him sleep.  To my surprise, Noah slept MUCH better, and we all woke refreshed this morning.

  

Let's hope another wonderful night's sleep is in store for us tonight!