Landscapes

The other day Noah and I were scrolling through some pictures on the computer and we came across this landscape shot I took while we were at the cabin back in January.


Noah instictively breathed a drawn out "W-o-w." And it surprised me. That a toddler, ok preschooler, would see a picture like this and be impressed with the bigness and/or beauty. I mean, I can still remember being in high school and saying something like, "Eh. What's the big deal? It's trees; they're green."

Anyway, I don't really know what my point is except that I was just pleasantly surprised that Noah can recognize and appreciate the inherent beauty in nature.

Annabelle

I know I seem to be writing about Noah a lot lately. Is that bad? Shouldn't I be writing an even amount of posts for each of my kids? Am I not being fair to my baby girl, am I playing favorites? That is really not where my heart is about my two kids...it is just that there is more happening with Noah. And this is not surprising given that Anna is still a baby and there is really only so much a baby can do when she can't talk, crawl, or sit up for more than 20 minutes at a time.

But in the interest of writing about Anna these days, know this....

She is now officially 6 months old. She weighs 13 lbs. and 8 oz. She is in the 10th percentile in weight, 50th %ile in height. And her head is really small....the nurse told me 3rd %ile, but the dr. said 25th %ile after she remeasured, but between you and me, the tape measure was really loose when the dr. measured. Either way, the kid has a shrunken head which might explain why everyone remarks about how small she is. :)

She is a screamer through and through. There is no inbetween mood with her. She is content or she is furious. I believe Josh deemed her "Princess Pissed-Off" this morning and I have to agree. Ohhhh, the screaming and shrieking. Ungodly.

We have her down to only one middle-of-the-night feeding now...usually between 12-3 am, but in response...she gets up before the sun at the ripe morning hour of 5:45. Ugh.

She has tasted sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, pears, bananas, and prunes. We will try some green veggies later this week. Wish us luck.

We gave away her baby swing and activity gym today and I am so glad to have the floor space back. Next up to get out of the house because she really just won't tolerate them anymore is her bouncy vibrator seat and her car seat. We got her a nice little Britax one (on sale and with free shipping!) that I can't wait to get in the car.

She still cannot get to sleep unless she is swaddled although she is out of the swaddle by the time she wakes up again. And she still does not hold her own bottle...which is odd, because Noah was holding his own bottle around 4/5 months old.

Anna has a humorous chuckle...it kind of sounds like - Huh, huh, pause pause, huh, huh. And it is usually in response to Noah.

Her favorite toy lately is the lid to a disposable tupperware container, and any of Noah's car, train, truck tires that are within reach.

I love, love, love her big, blue eyes. I count it as a special and personal favor from the Lord to me that she has blue eyes. That was the one superficial thing I asked Him for before she was born.

Munchy Fodder

For weeks Noah has referred to a certain something that we could not figure out as a "munchy fodder". Munchy fodder?! What the heck?!

And try as we might to have him point it out, say it again, or better explain himself, Josh and I have come up with nothing as to the mysterious meaning of Noah's munchy fodder. The closest Josh came to what we thought he might be saying was some version of the "God our Father" song-style blessing that they sing at school. The way Noah sings it it comes out "Dod dar fodder" and so on and so forth. But "Dod dar fodder" and "Munchy fodder" still didn't seem to make a whole lot of sense to me...at least not together.

And then it hit me today in the car as Noah and I were driving home from a blissfully pleasant trip to buy groceries. As I turn a corner, a truck with a really loud engine roars past us. Noah pipes up from the back seat with his ever-loving "Munchy fodder!" Now he hadn't SEEN the truck, but he did HEAR its distinct rumble...its distinctly motorcyclish rumble. AH HA!

Me: Noah, do you mean motorcycle?

Noah: Uh huh!

Me: Baby, it's not munchy fodder. It's motorcycle. Mo-tor-cy-cle.

Noah: Mun-chy-Fodd-er.

Yeah - what he said.
Clear as mud...but clear at last...at least.

Mug Shots

Just playing around and snapping pictures, too.

WPTM #10: Worthy and Lovable

What Parenting Teaches Me #10: Worthy and Lovable


When I pick up Anna from her crib, I can't help but plant my lips on her sweet cheeks and kiss her and breathe her in and tell her I love her.

When I am holding Noah, I can't help but squeeze him real close and kiss and tickle him, and tell him how much I love him.

It's like instinct. The love and affection just come out of me for them. And I imagine it is the same for our Father when he looks upon us. Just love.

I am reading The Shack and it had a similar point in a chapter I read last night. The father falls before a judge and begs to give his life for each of his children...begs to go to hell for them so that they don't have to. The judge points out how bad his kids can be, have been, and the father is of course unmoved in his choice to take their place....because they are still his own, still worthy of his love. The judge (who is wisdom) points out to the father that that is exactly how Jesus was able to die for sinners. He sees us and sees worth, sees his love for us. What a wonderful reminder that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

That thought lifts me up when I feel down or discouraged about myself and my mean heart. It is just the encouragement I need to try to be better, to love better, to serve God with my decisions and obedience. Because he sees me as worthy, as lovable, as perfect as the blood of Jesus. He has as pure an affection for me as I have for my babies...probably even more. I couldn't possibly have an emotion that didn't originate with Him and I couldn't possibly feel something deeper than he does.

So when I am taken aback by what I feel for Noah and Anna, I am also taken aback to think how God feels that for me.

Sponsor Fright

We just starting sponsoring a 10 year-old-boy in Ecuador through Compassion International. But now that we are officially linked to the boy, I feel very nervous. I just can't figure it out.

Josh says I have a fear of commitment. And I do, but usually about little, dumb type commitments. Not about the big things like marriage, adoption, children, money, etc.

Maybe it is just the newness of this. I have never sponsored a child before and I can't say I know exactly how this goes. Maybe it is the responsibility for helping this boy now...you don't just go back on that, or let it slip your mind. Maybe it is because he is older and I don't know what he expects of us or if we will disappoint him with our contacts with him.

Or MAYBE I need to stop focusing on myself. Probably that.

Puddle Stompin' and Pedalin'

We have been eagerly awaiting a good and rainy day like today so Noah could try out his new raincoat and rain boots. Turned out he could hardly walk in the boots, which confirmed what I thought about them being too big when I ordered them online. Oh well, next year then. We headed out as soon as Anna went down for her nap and just stood in the rain, jumped in little puddles, and enjoyed the magic of bubbles on a soggy ground.



Then we gave the new trike another go. After watching his cousin Brooklyn pedal her new trike on a video that Emily emailed, Noah had a little more luck. That, or just took great advantage of the downhill roll that his bike followed. :)





I deleted the video of the little temper tantrum that followed once Noah lost the syncopation of the pedaling. But you can imagine.

Spring's First Casualty

Seems as though March has drawn first blood already. Noah took his first of what I fear will be many tumbles in the coming months. He cried alright, but I suspect it was just for show and sympathy...which I doted on him of course, but only because it meant I was going to get the boy back in the house without a fight. ;)



Seriously though, I guess it would be too weird and cumbersome to make him wear knee pads all summer. And a mouth guard. That's too bad. Confession - every time he runs, I visualize and fear him falling on his face and knocking out teeth. I just know it is coming and I dread it. Every time he picks up the pace and runs, I cringe.

Apples and Bananas

Here is Noah's version of the beloved little jingle "Apples and Bananas".



I only WISH you could hear our little solo artist belting out "Yes, Jesus loves me" upstairs in his bed while he should be taking a nap.

And while I am on the topic, he also frequents:

The ABCD's
Baby Bumblebee
Itsy Bitsy Spider
Zacchaeus was a Wee Little Man
God Our Father
Twinkle, Twinkle

Of course, unless I was there to translate for you, you wouldn't know which song he was singing no matter how hard you tried.

It's just... he's just... too, too precious.

Weekend Potpourri

We got Noah a tricycle yesterday and quickly learned (although I kinda suspected) that pedaling is harder than it looks. Noah doesn't get it and gives up quickly.

Got Anna a new stroller today, one that does not need her carrier. We are about to kick that bad boy to the curb. She is just not the baby carrier type of baby that Noah was.

I saw the movie Duplicity yesterday and it was good, but too involved, complicated, and convoluted to provide the relaxation and break I was really looking for. I really had to concentrate and think hard to keep up and understand what was happening.

There are birds building a nest on our grill again, up under the cover just like happened at our last house, last summer, except this time I don't have a hound I have to worry about keeping from eating the baby birdies when they come. We also have a bunny that frequents our back yard several times a day. Noah loves it!

I am out for mole blood....one (or more) of those critters is ruining our back yard - not to mention causing Noah to trip and fall a lot when he is running around.

There were two yard sales going on across the street from our house yesterday. I loved the constant flow of people in and out and around. Really felt like spring.

If I want to get a good night's sleep when Josh offers to take the night with Anna, I have decided I will have to actually LEAVE the house and stay in a hotel (which of course I am not going to do - but a girl can dream). So even if I don't have to get up with her, I can still hear her crying and carrying on and you know a momma can't hear all that and still sleep like it's not happening. (Memo to me - this is just for a time, it will pass, things will get better, you are gonna miss this, they grow up so fast, etc)

Potty Training has been non-existent with Noah since his FL trip. I am thinking he will get into it again when I can let him pee standing up in the back yard...or just standing up at all. Oh, my, the experiences I can see coming our way.

Anna's ok with sweet potatoes, but really took to the bananas. What she is not ok with is having her face wiped with any sort of wet cloth afterwards.

Looks like "me and the gym" just might stick. I am kind of liking it.

Anna screamed for 2 1/2 hours straight last night!

We are retracing our church visiting visits. We went back to another church (Freedom Church - quite like our last church in AL) last night for their Saturday night service. We'll see. It certainly felt more normal to be in a worship service where the room was not the size of a football field, you know?

On Beth Moore's blog there is a post where everyone named their favorite books...oh my word, I was in hog heaven! I ordered 4 more books on Amazon that day.

Also, I forget to say before, that Noah's birth family also sent presents for Anna...which I thought was so sweet of them.

Anna at Play

Loving her new toys




Got this table at a consignment sale, and though you can't tell from the picture, it really frustrates her and I am still not sure why


When she flashes this smile at me I forget all the drama she puts me through


Gnawing on anything she can fit in her mouth

Highlights of Spring

Some things I love about Spring:

Everything in bloom
Cherry Blossoms
The hum of lawnmowers outside
Seeing sweet baby feet go bare
Yard sales
More daylight
Warm days and cool nights
Wearing flip-flops
Neighbors spending time outside
Bradford Pear tree petals blowing all over the ground
Being one season closer to football season!

I know I am forgetting some things...feel free to add to my list!

Products I've been loving!

Lubriderm Intense Skin Repair Lotion - As I have said before, I originally got this for Anna, but I started using what was left on my hands on myself and I don't think I will use another lotion ever again! It really makes a big difference in your skin for a lasting amount of time...especially in tough spots like elbows/feet...hence the intense skin repair formula. Another feature I love is that each time you press its pump it only dispenses a small amount at a time. No more lotion pumps dispensing more than you can use in one pump and having to wait for a gallon of lotion to soak in. We have even switched Noah to Lubriderm Sensitive instead of Eucerin. (I'm not knocking Eucerin - I am just that impressed with this Lubriderm formula).

Crib vibrator - I seriously don't know how we would have survived with Anna without it - especially when we first started having her sleep in her bed and not the vibrating bouncer seat. We turn that baby on for every nap and every bed time and every waking in the night. It stays on for 10 minutes. It even has a feature that will make the vibrator come on again when it hears her cry. It also plays music (including the cry feature) and it has a light to shine in the crib when needed at night. Love it. The brand is First Years, I believe. I would go check to make sure, but you know who is asleep and I am NOT risking waking her up.

On Demand - What's not to love about having tons of movies and shows ready for you at the touch of a button? So great for schedules that change regularly and for kiddos. And while I am at it, I am in love with that DVR, too. Alison, you are right. Watching a show 20 minutes after it starts is wonderful as I fly through commercials. It's like adding minutes to your day! Especially with how Noah's bedtime falls right around 7:30ish every night.

Dishwashing packs instead of gel - Just another little convenient invention that I just started using and love.

Insulated thermos - When Noah was a baby and we had to feed him at night, we would have to heat a cup of water, put the bottle in the water, and wait for it to heat. Take 5-10 minutes sometimes and feels like 30 when the baby is screaming to be fed. I don't know what took us so long to figure out that we can have hot water ready and waiting for us all night by putting heated water in a thermos. When Anna wakes up, we just pour, shake in the formula, and go. Wonderful.

Baby video monitor - I have said before how much we have loved having this. But it is a point and product that is worthy of repeating. IT IS FANTASTIC! Once you have one, you wonder how you ever lived without it.

Private connection baby monitor - For you worriers out there that think someone is spying on you and your baby...there is a monitor to secure your connection. We just got this one for Noah's room when his original monitor fizzled out on us. Just a cool feature.

BeBe Sounds Angelcare baby monitor - We got this for Anna when we thought we would have to put her to sleep on her belly and the idea just worried me to no end that she would fall victim to SIDS if we did. This monitor's alarm goes off if it does not detect movement for 20 seconds...movement as sensitive as breathing. But it has a million other really cool features, but the one that has been invaluable to us is its cry feature. We have it set to only come on when her cries reach a certain loudness. This keeps you from hearing every little grunt or noise babies make in their sleep and also keeps you from hearing cries that don't turn into anything that needs your attention in the night. It also affords you those 5-15 extra minutes of sleep when baby just coos in bed before deciding she is ready to get up. Also, I have loved how it tells me the temperature in her room. It even has a way to set the alarm to just vibrate. And its bedroom unit has a soft glow nightlight as well. We also like the temporary mute button for when we are just waiting for her crying to stop upon her falling asleep. IT HAS JUST BEEN A FABULOUS GOD-SEND! More expensive than regular monitors, but I wouldn'd do a baby again without it. Then again, I'm not doing a baby again anyway. But you get my point.

Dove Gentle Exfoliating Bar Soap - Just feels good on the skin. Love it.

Red Tulip - This little gift shop near my home just puts me in a good mood. I love going there. Such unique, funny, special, pretty, and creative stuff.

PBS Sprout - 24 hour preschool programming. I would sorely miss this if it ever went away. Not that Noah watches it 24 hours, but that it is always playing something age appropriate. Always.

Honey Maid 100 Calorie Pack Cheesecake Delight Bars - OH. MY. GOSH. Delicious little snacks. And only a 100 calories per bar. Unless you eat 5 of them in one sitting. :)

Samples of Unhappiness

She's killing me.

Doctor's Orders

I always appreciated what a laid-back and easy baby Noah was. Turns out, I am appreciating his relaxed baby ways even more now....now that I am facing Anna's more high-strung baby ways lately.

Two weeks ago we took her to the doctor about her unfriendly fussiness. Two weeks later, today, she is still fussy, if not fussier. In fact, I think you could easily categorize our little She-Ra as an all around raging, short-tempered, demanding tyrant. It has been so bad over the past two weeks that I took her back to the dr. today with my tail between my legs and asked her to please tell me again why she thinks this is just teething and to maybe double check on that in case there is still something else to blame. Two weeks of Motrin and Tylenol and teething swabs and teething tablets have done not a thing to appease her seeming pains. The dr. checked her over and agreed she is a totally healthy baby girl and decided it is not the teething bit after all then - given the lack of teeth or red irritated gums. We talked about a typical day in the house of Anna and her diet and the dr. gave me a set of highly difficult steps to follow to remedy her extreme moodiness. Read carefully.

Feed her baby food.
Get her out of the house more.
Get her on a routine.

What?!?! That's it?!?! The doctor went on to tell me how quick, alert, healthy, active, engaging, curious, and smart Anna clearly is. A real go getter she says. For this reason...she needs more stimulation. (Translation: She is bored and therefore frustrated). Hence all the irritability and screaming lately. But seriously, how was I to know? She wiggles and wants out of my arms, but when I set her down she lights up with fury. I think the real diagnosis here is this:

HIGH MAINTENANCE!!

And it is for this reason that I feel like a baby dunce all over again. All the drama and worrying I have endured on Anna's behalf lately, and all she really needed was a little something more to do and to eat!? Noah was just too easy on us his first couple years. So really, this is all his fault, I guess. :)

(little note - this dr. visit was the first outing I did with both Noah and Anna all by myself where I wasn't really just out to drop one or the other off somewhere and Noah was an absolute angel for the entire hour we were there and waiting and talking with the dr. Just a perfect angel. See what I mean - too laid back for my own good)

And yeah, I have been putting off feeding her baby food. Probably out of my own fear of committing to another time consuming task in my day. It's funny, too, because with Noah it was just so novel to try new foods. We did it as soon as we could. He was 4 mos. Here Anna is a few days shy of 6 months and I have to have a medical professional tell me to feed my baby. Good grief. So I obediently went to Wal-Mart (my 2nd official venture out with Noah and Anna all by myself where no dropping off was involved) and I bought a ton of stage 1 baby foods. I got home and promptly fed her sweet potatoes. And she ate like a pro. Which only further supports the dr's claim at how quick she is. To date, I have only fed her baby rice 3 times. And I stuck with it for all of a few minutes before I let her off the hook (or maybe I was just letting myself off the hook). The point is, she took to eating much quicker than I expected. Fine. I give in. Bring on the baby food regimen.

And a routine? Well, that is just right up my organization skills alley. No more trying to figure out Anna's napping needs and timing. The doctor said to pick what I want out of the day for her and for me. Done. The first thing on our getting-a- better-routine for today was putting her down to nap the same time as Noah. And it turned out Anna didn't mind a bit.

Go me.
Go doctor's orders.

Worlds Apart

On the week's eve of Anna turning 6 months old, here are some more Noah/Anna baby days comparisons I have not mentioned before.

Anna's formula is WAY cheaper than Noah's was. Hers (the Sam's generic for Enfamil Gentlease) costs us a little over $1 a day. Noah's hypoallergenic stuff (Enfamil Nutramigen - for which there was no generic version) cost us a whopping $8/$9 a day depending on where we could find it in stock.

We never needed to strap Noah into his stroller, bouncer, swing, or high chair. He was so happy to sit/lay, ride where you put him. Anna, like I said, is go, go, go, grab, reach, lean, twist, turn, scream, scream. Ergo - she must be strapped into everything that comes with straps. And if I am being honest, we really should strap her onto the changing table.

It is a chore to change Anna's diapers - she is so wiggly and rolls over on contact with the table. Noah was so docile you could leave him there unstrapped and walk across the room to pick out his clothes from the closet.

Anna still does not need bibs. She just doesn't drool enough to make it worth it. Noah, as I have said before, wore them til he was almost 2, I think. And even then would drool his shirts to sogginess.

Anna does not have a flat side of her head. Noah did - again because he was just so at ease with laying. Remember he didn't even roll over til 10 months. Anna is a regular roly-poly and just refuses to lay anywhere but in her bed when she is sleeping.

Anna is a teething drama queen. Noah was not in the least.

Anna has such soft clear skin. I was admiring it the other day and it made me recall what a rough road Noah had with his face and skin and still does. But as far as his facial skin at her age, he always had those rough red patches of excema break out beside his mouth. Or so we thought. Turned out to be allergic reactions all along. That poor baby.

Anna is a very light sleeper. Noah sleeps hard. We still go in and check on Noah every single night before we go to bed - sometimes to make sure he is covered, often just to get to see him one more time. Not so with Anna. Not a chance I am going into her room. She wakes up just at the sound of the door opening. And then of course the sleepy time is over. Not good.

Here are two shots of precious baby Noah at the same age Anna is now:

Weirder still

So again....about my car. It gets even weirder.

Yesterday, apparently, it was assaulted again and again by some literal birdbrains.

I left my car in the driveway instead of the garage during the day. And when I went to go pick up Noah, I noticed a strange mess on my mirrors. Both of my rearview mirrors are scratched up and dirty and have gooey smatterings on them and bird poo, etc. Gross and nasty! I know this is the doings of some bird (or birds) because our day started off with a robin throwing itself up against the glass in our back doors. Repeatedly. So clearly, that is what they did also to the shiny spectacle that was the mirrors on my car. Dumb. Must be spring fever. I just wish I could have seen it happening. I would have videoed the birdy mayhem for you. You don't get to see psycho birds every day you know.

Anyway, for the record and back to my car, this makes number 6 on my list of car-related woes. Except it's not all that woeful. I am strangely NOT bothered by anything that happens to this car.

Florida, Family, and Fun

Noah was living large last week when he headed south to FL to visit with Josh's family and his own birth family. Here are some snapshots of his trip and the all the fun that was had, starting with a couple shots from the airport.


There is all manner of fun at Memaw and Papa John's house - lots of space for running around, lots of cows to "moo" at, a cat, cousins Holly and Hannah, Uncle Jason and Aunt Yesi, too, a trampoline, a hot tub to swim in and kubota to ride on. I am surprised the boy was willing to come home again!





Noah, Josh, Memaw, and Papa John. Such a good picture.

They took to the ocean on one day on Papa John's new boat. Josh said Noah mostly kept his eyes shut for all the wind. That explains the downturned hat, I guess. :)




Josh and Noah spent one whole day with his birthmother, Tania, and her family. Noah met his biological grandmother for the first time also. From here on out he will be calling her Abuela, and his biological great-grandmother Granny. Noah also got to see his biological great-great grandmother for the second time on this visit. I have only gotten to see the pictures and ask Josh a million questions, but it is clear what a special time this was for everyone. I love the following shots of Noah and Abuela, and then the ones with Tania of course.





This picture has all 5 generations in it. Pretty special.


During Noah's visit with his birthfamily they had an early birthday party for him. Cake and presents and balloons and singing and all the attention a little boy can soak up. Noah was in heaven!


He is definately one lucky little boy - to have so many special people who love him.

Unlucky Still

My car is seriously unlucky. Well, that, or I am. I have posted before about our automobile woes, but the hits STILL just keep on coming...literally.

A history lesson if you will. There was the scratch, the dent, the ticket, the bashed rearview mirror. Now there is the slightly discolored bumper. My dad backed into it last week with his car. To be fair though, his car looks worse than mine as far as fender benders go.

But, still.

Can you tell?

Can you tell we're teething?




Oh heaven help us...she may look sweet and happy, but she has been anything but - lately. We even took her to the pediatrician today hoping to find out she has an ear infection. You know, something to blame her incessant fussiness on, something we can treat and make go away. Nope. The doctor grinned at Josh and sent him back home with the little teething beast. It's a good thing she's cute, because she is the worst kind of company lately. What gives? I can't even remember Noah ever whimpering over teething.