Saturday, April 4, 2009

THE PERFECT SATURDAY

Finally. Finally it feels like Spring has arrived. The temperature got up to 65 or so today and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. Kris took Noah out today and I spent a bit of time out in the garden and cleaning the decks. I can't tell you how good it felt to drink up tons of vitamin D.





Mt. Hood was out and I made the first batch of ice tea. To me that is pretty much a good day.

This morning Noah wanted to experiment with my hair dryer. He loves to use my brush to brush his own (and sometimes my) hair. Up till now he hasn't seemed very interested in the dryer. I was afraid he might be spooked by the air blowing on his face, but he loved it. Kris took a picture of Noah getting his hair done.

It was even warm enough for ice cream. While they were at the mall, Kris got him a scoop and let him go to town. He seemed to do pretty well with the spoon.










Tomorrow, Noah and are going to spend the day together while Kris goes off to do his own thing. I think we'll spend a bunch of time playing on the deck and going for a long walk.

Have a good evening - GO UCONN!

Friday, April 3, 2009

I hope I don't jinx it by saying it "out loud" but I think spring may have sprung in Oregon. This is a picture of budding leaves on my Japanese maple in my garden. And here is a tulip that has flowered. These tulips are special because my mom and I planted these a long time ago during a difficult time and every spring when I see them bloom I think of that time and realize I've made it through winter to another spring.
Noah and I played outside on the deck and watched Sam and Tyson enjoy being outside. Sam chased a bug which Noah thought was hilarious. He's not feeling very well and needed lots of lap and snuggle time today. I'm still not sure if he is getting a cold or just run down from something. Maybe his molars are bothering him. I hope is isn't getting something because this weekend is supposed to be in the 70's (yes - really!) and I really want to take him to the park and do outside things.

At dinner, Noah decided to scoop most of his food off his tray and into the pouch on his bib. He then put the bib up on the tray and picked out food a bit at a time. I'm not sure what made him think of doing this, but it was fun to watch. He was very meticulous and only picked out one piece of food at a time. He seems to go through food phases where one day he only wants to eat cheese, and the next day if you give him cheese he won't touch it. lately hes wanted sauce on everything, especially tomato sauce. I've been sneaking in his veggies by covering them in tomato sauce. He'll probably catch on soon.

It's time to be done for the day. I'm feeling a bit run down myself so I think I'll call it a night early. I just checked the veggie sprouts and now we have chives poking through. I'm going to have to be sure to keep the chive sprouts covered because Tyson is obsessed with eating chives. When they are growing outside as soon as you let him out he beelines to the pot and eats until you shoo him away. Weird cat.

Enjoy your Friday evening!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Woo Hoo! My veggies are growing! The lettuce, dill, pole beans, tomato, and broccoli have all sprouted. Yesterday only the lettuce had come up, and when I looked this morning the rest had sprouted. Grow little veggies, grow!



We actually had a little sun today between the thunder, downpours, and hail. Tyson parked himself in the only sunny spot on the floor and refused to budge until the sun went away. I think he was soaking it up just in case we didn't see the sun again for awhile. That happens here.

Noah surprised me again today. In addition to being quite the climber, he has added escape artist to his skills. I heard the safety gate at the top of the stairs rattling and went to investigate, and yep, Noah had figured out how the latch works. He isn't quite strong enough to snap it open, but I'm afraid it won't be long. I'm thinking escaping from his crib is next. I cringe at that thought. I'm already half awake all night listening for his cries, now I need to add listening for a big THUMP and then little feet padding down the hall.

By the time Kris got home from work the weather had improved quite a bit. Kris took Noah to the park that is down the hill from us. They had fun playing basketball (Kris lifts him up to "dunk" the ball) and swinging on the swings. As you can see from the picture even though it wasn't raining it was pretty cold so Noah is wearing his cute winter coat and hat.

Operation "Clean The Garage" officially begins tomorrow. We are planning on having a HUGE garage sale the second weekend in May and I'm going to need every day from now till then to get ready for it. I can't believe how much stuff we've accumulated, especially since Noah's arrival. Maybe I just have the spring cleaning bug. The goal is to make enough room in the garage to finally have a place to put a second refrigerator/freezer. We'll see how far we get.

Hope all is well with everyone. good night.

Wednesday April 1, 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRIS!

Kris turned 36 today and was a good sport in letting me take a picture of him in a birthday hat. I love the fact that from now until my birthday in May, I can say "I'm only 35 - my husband is 36." =)

It was a gray and rainy Wednesday so Noah and I stayed home this afternoon and played. He took a really long nap which is sort of unusual for him. I hope he isn't coming down with a cold again, he tends to sleep a little more when he doesn't feel well. Maybe it was the weather, I sure wouldn't have minded curling up with a good book.

A good part of the afternoon was spent at the front door. Noah loves examining the door knobs and looking through the peep-hole. The only problem with that is the fact that he weighs almost 25 pounds and is still to short to reach the things he wants to look at by himself. So my job was to hold him until he decided he was done looking. For some reason he didn't think that this was asking too much and every time I tried to put him down he threw a major fit. My arms are going to be sore tomorrow!

I'm so excited! I just checked the veggie seeds and the mini lettuce seeds have sprouted! Maybe this will work after all! I'm exhausted and Tyson keeps batting me with his paw saying it is time to pet him because he feels neglected. So here I go off to please a cat........ more tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 31

I learned a very important lesson today. Never, and I mean never EVER go to an invitation-only, two hour, buy-one-get-one free sale at Toys R Us. It seriously is one of the most traumatic events I've ever witnessed. Picture about 100 people (mostly women) lined up at the store entrance door in the rain for half-an-hour waiting to be let in. Once the door opened, it was like watching a school of piranhas devouring some poor fish. The shelves had been stocked, two minutes later they were bare and people were fighting over scraps. So much for getting the cool tricycle thing I was going to get for Noah. But I did end up getting something that quickly became my new best friend.This is the AquaDoodle. It's a mat that Noah can doodle on with a water-filled pen thing and it ONLY WORKS ON THE PAD!! As in I don't have to worry about my walls, carpets, or cats getting doodled on. Noah actually spent a whole half hour doodling. I think it is the most time he has spent in one place for the last few months!

The other thing that Noah really enjoyed today was playing with the truck that Nanny and Poppy gave him over the holidays. The truck runs across the wood floor when you push down on the driver. He pushes down the driver then runs behind the truck until it stops. He did this over and over this morning.
I can hear Noah splashing around in the tub with Kris, they are so fun to listen to. Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight and have good dreams. I think I'll probably have nightmares about being stuck in Toys R Us with a bunch of lunitic moms looking for the perfect deal. Scary.

Don't forget to say "Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit" tonight for good luck in April. Happy last day of being 35 to Kris!!! =)

Monday, March 30, 2009

I finally got a camera that works! So I'm hoping I can really get this blog up and running.

I had a mini melt-down moment today when I realized that I'm now the parent of a TODDLER and not a baby anymore. For some reason I really had a hard time wrapping my mind around that. Noah has changed and grown so fast. I've been lucky - every dark cloud (unemployment) has a silver lining, right? - enough to have had the opportunity to be with him at home since he was born, but I simply don't know where the time has gone. How he got so big and so independent. Maybe that's why this blog is important to me. I need to be able to remember the silly and new things that he does everyday. In each day he can be a crabby kid, a snuggle bunny, a tantrum throwing whirlwind, and everything in between.

Take today for example. He has become quite the little climber and has figured out how to turn his toys over or manuver them into position so he can climb up onto the furniture. Poor cat Sam. He thought he had found a Noah-proof place for a nap.
So much for that. Sam tried to ignore him, but after a few seconds, bolted off the couch and ran for cover upstairs. Since Noah was already up on the couch looking for trouble, he decided it would be fun to try and climb over the arm.
He almost made it before I put him back down on the floor. He was so proud of himself that he had figured out how to climb onto the couch he gave me the biggest smile!

After all the cat "petting" and climbing it was time for a snack. Over to the bin of snacks Noah went and picked out his favorite peach wheat puffs. I guess it was hard for him to figure out if there were any left in the container because he spent quite a bit of time putting the container up to his eye and peering in.




I guess there were plenty of snacks still in the container because he proceeded to dump the entire thing all over himself.One of Noah's favorite times of day is just before he gets into the bathtub. We have dubbed this "naked time." He finds great joy in running around the house with nothing on and lately has been trying to find ways to avoid being dressed at all. The only thing he like to wrap himself in is the sheepskin run on the floor of our bedroom. I really like this picture:

I started a new project for the year. I've decided to grow most of our vegetables for the summer. I planted the seeds and now Noah and I check a few times a day to see if anything sprouted. I think he'll be interested in watching the plants grow and change. Then he can help me plant, take care of, and harvest what we grow (I should say what we "hopefully" grow) this summer. Maybe he is a little young for this - we'll see. Here's what we are growing:






Well, that's it for tonight. Hopefully Noah will start sleeping better tonight. He's been getting up 2 and 3 times a night for the past few nights. Wish me luck!