The many faces of Noah

God gave me this picky child as a kind lesson for what I put my Mom through.

  

Now that we are settled in the new house, Mama has her groove back.

On the top of my current missions, I am determined to only cook ONE meal each night.

For the longest time, I was making up to three meals a night--one for the kids, one for Matt, and a low carb meal for me.  It was exhausting.

So now, we have one meal (mine just tends to be modified) and if the kids eat it, they get "a point."  It's been 4 days & Connor's doing really well...

Noah is going strong with a 1/2 a point... hahaha.

Tonight I took it easy thinking it'd be one night without complaints from Noah and made Turkey & Cheese Melts with grapes and chips.  It was hardly a dinner.  Wouldn't you know Noah thought the chips were too spicy and he was not hungry.  Another "point" failure.

I will go back to the drawing board for meal ideas for the next few nights.

The monster looked cute, as the last one left at the dinner table like usual, so I grabbed my camera and let the magic happen with this goob.

Bless his heart..

First day!!!

Noah was excited--he had almost all the same kids in his class as last year, so he was pumped.  Connor wasn't crazy excited, but we liked his teacher and he knew a few kids in class.  My Connor had bedtime anxiety last night and needed some mom snuggles/chat time to fall asleep easy.  

So this morning, I assumed Connor didn't need his embarrassing mom to walk him into class anymore... but surprisingly, he wanted me to walk him in.  While I thought he's too old for this, I happily went along with him and tried to chat with him to ease any first day jitters.  There were no hugs or kisses in front of classmates and I snuck away before he actually got to his classroom doorway, so I did my job.

Noah went into school like a boss.  Put his lunchbox on the counter, set his backpack in the hall by his name, gave me a hug and kiss, and walked right in without turning back.  It was amazing.  

I carry more anxiety for the boys than they actually do.  Darn this parenthood thing.  There's something about 4th grade that makes Connor SO MUCH older now.  It's the age of deodorant and being forced to be more responsible.  It's weird really. About an hour after dropping the boys off to school I randomly realized I forgot to put a spoon in Connor's lunch box and had that awesome mom guilt like, "Oh I hope he's comfortable enough to ask for one."  Then I reminded myself, "Dude, he's wearing deodorant now...surely he can find a spoon on his own."  What's wrong with me?!

Then there's Noah.  4 years old going on 18.

It was strangely refreshing to get both boys to school and not feel like bawling.  Actually it was quite the opposite.  I rejoiced, went to the gym, watched one of my shows, and am headed to treat myself to tacos for lunch.  It's glorious, people!!!

Can't wait to hear how their days went!!