Noah

I haven’t blogged about Noah lately, but he has been doing some awesomeness lately. Here is my installment of Noah stories:

“happy cry” – About a month ago, we got home from church and got busy changing diapers and changing clothes and Noah was downstairs in the meantime doing stuff. He came upstairs and asked me to come see what he had done. He brought me to the chalkboard, where he had drawn a picture of God. I knew it was God because there was a dialogue bubble next to the figure with the word “god” written in  it and an arrow pointing at the figure. Dead giveaway. I looked and told Noah is was very nice. He looked at me and with his eyes slightly squinted he said, “Doesn’t it kind of make you want to happy cry?”

lessons – In church the other day, Noah’s Primary teacher pulled me aside and said she felt badly that Noah hadn’t been able to give his lesson. I asked, “what lesson?” His teacher seemed surprised that I didn’t know. She told me that a few weeks ago Noah came to class and raised his hand right away and told her, “I have a lesson to share with the class”. So the teacher asked him to go ahead and share. Noah proceeded to take out a bunch of pieces of paper he had made in preparation and gave a short lesson on faith. Evidently, he had prepared a lesson today also, but there wasn’t time to give it and she felt bad about that. I told her I had no idea he was preparing lessons and totally laughed. What a Noah thing to do. So Noah. I love him.

John Tanner – Last Sunday was our Primary Presentation, where Noah and Liam each had a speaking part and they sang in Sacrament meeting. It was beautiful. Since they performed so well, they got to see a movie and eat treats during Primary in the 2nd hour of church. The movie was one that was put out by the Church about John Tanner – an early Saint that had a miracle in his life and then that gave up money and fortune for the Church because he was converted. At the end of the movie, Noah turned to the kid next to him and said, “When you watch movies like that – doesn’t it make you want to cry a little?” Noah. What a sensitive little soul.

Speaking of the Primary Presentation, I have to mention Liam. For several of the songs, they had learned sign language. It was pure delight to watch Liam try to do the sign language. He would follow the easy signs pretty well, but every once in a while a sign would come up that required specific fingers to be used. Liam would see the sign being made and look down at his hands, furrow his brow and use one hand to push down and raise up the fingers required, then make the sign and look up. By this point, the song had progressed a verse or so and Liam seemed totally unaware that he had missed about 10 signs in between and just continued on with what everyone else was doing. Totally gorgeous. His little, round face was so fervent and serious. He never acted up or poked the kid next to him. He just sat there and looked beautiful. What kind of a 4 year old does that??

Noah was hilariousl, but for different reasons than Liam. Noah really wanted to get a laugh out of the kids in his class and he told me before we went to church that he wanted to add something to the end of his speaking part. He wanted to quickly say “goodbye” at the end, because in practice it had gotten a pretty good reaction. I asked him if he thought that was the right thing to do in church. He said no. When he was standing in the line of kids saying their speaking parts, he looked out into the congregation where I was sitting. I smiled and he scrunched up his face, looked at the microphone and back at me, then he wrung his little hands a little and frowned. It was hilarious to watch him go through the decision making process right in front of me. He decided to just say his part and sit down – no big laugh. Also, Noah knew all of the words to the songs. He was the picture of perfection. He did the sign language, sang the words and when he saw me watching him a huge grin spread across his face. He is delightful. I am lucky to have both Noah and Liam. They are good boys.

blissfully unaware

I will have pictures tomorrow. After Halloween night. But I’ve been doing and thinking stuff, so I’m gonna take a minute and write it down.

There was a little thing called “hurricane Sandy” that has been blowing people’s lives to bits and I was so in my own little world, it didn’t phase us around here. People have died, and homes have been ruined and Liz has been without power and alone in her house with howling winds and wild weather and I …. bought a juicer at Costco. It’s sad but true that I am completely blissfully unaware of the world around me right now.

I don’t know when it happens, when your new baby life turns into real life, but I guess I’m not there yet. I always think I’m there, but then I miss a hurricane and think, “hmmmm, I must not be back yet”. Back to real life, where I worry and think about other human beings and really start getting dressed for the day – not just taking showers and then getting right back into sweats. Someday it will happen. But I am in no rush for right now, because I am trying to just soak it up. My baby time with little Ray.

I was talking to my friend, Mandee, about a month after Ray was born and I was telling her happily that I was getting back to normal and trying to get out and about and do stuff. She sounded dismayed and told me I shouldn’t be trying to get back to life so soon. She said Ray will only be a baby for such a small moment in time. She told me to soak it up. Sit and talk to him. Rock him for a long time. Hold him and cherish this time.

She was right.

So for the past few days, while hurricane Sandy has been ruining everything. I have been taking care of a sick little Ray. He got a cold and has a runny nose and I have holed up, not gone anywhere and just tried to soothe his little, sad self. Infants look so completely pitiful when they’re sick. Ray sneezes and whines and drools and looks at me like, “what happened? Why am I so miserable?”

Two nights ago was the worst for him. He is generally on a good little sleep schedule these days and doesn’t have a hard time going to sleep. As long as we put him in his crib, at the right time, with a blanket to rub softly against his little sucking lips – he does great. But two nights ago – he was not having it. So I sat in the recliner and rocked him for a half hour, until he fell asleep in my arms. It was sweet. With every rock forward I got a whiff of his little head. He smells like milk. Sweet milk. And I looked down at his face as he let sleep overtake him. It was so peaceful to watch.

Also, for the past few days I’ve been worried about his weight gain. I think my milk supply is waning and he isn’t gaining like he should be, so I’ve been trying to up my milk production by nursing more. It’s not really working. So a few days ago, we introduced Ray to his first food: bananas. And although it took him two days – he finished off the baby jar :)

I’ve not only been concerned about Rays weight gain, I’ve been dismayed at my weight loss …. I’m actually not losing anything. Somehow I am feeding him and he’s not gaining and I’m staying the same. What the heck. Anyway, I recently read a blog post here about juicing. So Daniel and I decided our early Christmas gift to ourselves would be a juicer. So off I went to Costco on Monday and bought the Jack LaLanne juicer for $89. So far, I love it.

And now – the basement. While Ray has been sleeping off his illness during the days I am trapped at home. In a good way. And I finally got the gumption to do the final clean up from our Halloween party. I decided that if I was going to be putting everything back, I might as well make it more organized than it was before and very functional. No extra toys lying around to make a needless mess. I was only putting back the toys the boys actually played with. So, the fort was left in storage, the trains were left in plastic bins and the PotteryBarn kitchen was stored away (by the way – the kitchen is my favorite kid toy we own. I will definately be saving it for when Ray gets older and into cooking like both my other boys did). The only stuff I left out was the computer desk, legos, the art desk, the chalkboard, the dress ups and a few other bins of toys. It felt liberating. seriously. But then again, I am kind of a weird-o about organizing. I get a high from it. I can’t really throw the other toys out, because Ray will need something as he gets older and goes through the phases my older two have left behind, but it feels good to have them stored away and a simpler, cleaner area downstairs.

So that’s what’s up. Hurricane Sandy came and went and we took care of sick Ray, juiced kale and cleaned the basement. Now it’s time for Halloween and that means my birthday is right around the corner :)

stuff i forgot to write down

I forgot to mention a few things about Liam and I don’t wnat to forget them – he loves to dress up. Yesterday we went to Goodwill to look for costumes for the boys for Halloween.- and we hit the jackpot! I wasn’t expecting much, but it was awesome! And Liam loved it. He was in heaven. He kept picking out costumes and saying, “THIS is the one I wanted. Let’s buy it”. Two days ago when we were looking online for costumes, mostly to get a good idea of what we should look for, Liam saw an awesome Captain Rex (Star Wars character) outfit. It was $65 and I told Liam it was too expensive and Liam responded, “Wew (well), mommy, then you wiw (will) have to save up ya money and buy it fa (for) me because we need to buy it”. He is so bossy. the heck? This kid.

So, lo and behold, we found a Captain Rex outfit for Liam at Goodwill and he has worn it every moment since then. In fact, I woke up this morning and came into the front room to see both Liam and Noah wearing their Halloween costumes over their jammies and watching cartoons. They are beautiful.

 

Liam, age 4 1/2

This kid. So beautiful …. and so complicated. sheesh. I was just taking a shower
(yeah, it’s 3:30  in the afternoon) and I’ve had a hard time getting up the gumption to get needful things done today, like laundry and cleaning up after my Halloween party …. so I’m trying to decompress in the shower and Liam waltzes in and this is the conversation that ensues:

Liam: Mommy, when can I have my Captain Rex gun and Captain Rex helmet?

Me: On Halloween. I don’t want you to lose or break them before Halloween. Then you can play with them whenever you want after Halloween, k? (By the way – we’ve had this exact same conversation about 45 times since I bought this part of his Halloween costume on Saturday)

Liam: (whining and falling on the ground as he says this) nooooooo. I want it.

Me: Well guess what Liam? I have some good news.

Liam: (still whining) Why do I have to do everything??!

Me: what are you talking about?

Liam: Why do I have to do everything?! (louder this time)

Me: OK, I don’t know what you mean, but you can wear your Captain Rex stuff this Saturday, before Halloween at the trunk or treat at the church. Isn’t that fun?

Liam: no. I want it.

Me: OK, fine. It’s not fun, get out while I shower.

The other day I snapped some shots of him because I haven’t for a while. He’s so beautiful. Recently he has really good days and really bad days and hardly any in betweens. But here are his favorites: he loves peanut butter and honey sandwiches, playing with his lego star wars guys and he recently made a best friend at preschool. His name is Lucas. Liam is very reserved in public and needs lots of love, pretty much all the time. He LOVES Ray. I think more than anyone in the house … maybe he even surpasses me. Liam notices Ray and talks to him and … sniffs his little hands all the time. He sniffs Ray’s feet too. I ask him what Ray smells like and Liam says, “baby”.

When Liam is having a good day – he is the best helper. He will say things like, “Mommy, I will do everything that you say today!” He also will give spontaneous love – squeezes and kisses and snuggles. He loves to nap and sleep (just like his daddy). At bedtime he falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillows most nights. He will often times tell Noah, “Be quiet! I’m going to sleep, Noah”.

I would say more, but Ray is crying and I have to pick up Noah. Here are Liam’s pictures:

This is such a Daniel face … rubbing his eyes the same as Daniel and looking at me with those eyes saying, “stop taking my picture”. So Daniel.

what is up

Yeah, I haven’t blogged in like a month or something. But that’s because it has been crazy around here. School started and life ensued and I have not had a spare moment, even to shower. seriously. I usually wait until Daniel gets home from work. And yes. That means I spend a good majority of my time interacting with humans at the store, or at Liam’s preschool … in my pajamas. whatever. That is absolutely the least of my worries.

Remember when I said Ray was a good baby. I take it back. It’s not necessarily that he’s a bad baby …. just that he’s not an easy baby …. so Ray is a hard baby. About a month ago we enetered the naptime dilemma. Ray is about 3 1/2 months old now and he started showing signs of nap regularity about a month ago. At about two weeks ago, all hell broke loose. He was not napping at ALL in the afternoon, but he was super tired, but couldn’t go to sleep and stay asleep, so he was miserable and therefore I have been miserable. I have to count my blessings. Ray sleeps through the night just fine. Goes down around 9 pm (ish) and gets up like clockwork around 7:30 am. So thank heaven for that. But the rest of the hours of the day are a mess. He’ll sleep for 40 minutes and then be awake for 2-3 hours, then sleep for 10 minutes and then wake up when I lay him in his bed, then he’ll pass out in the swing for like 30 minutes and be awake and screaming after that. Like I said – it’s a mess. And don’t even ask about what I’m doing. I’ve done it all.

I am religious about naptimes. With Noah, I lived and died by naptimes – I skipped church meetings if he was napping. But I can NOT get a handle on Ray. I got a swing and a noise maker for his room that pleasantly plays ocean waves and makes white noise too because I thought Noah and Liam were waking him up. I’ve read “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby” and I’m starting furiously in on “Baby Wise”. I’ve swaddled him. I’ve rocked him to sleep, nursed him to sleep, walked him to sleep. I’ve let him cry it out. I’ve put him to sleep awake but tired. I have kept a record of his wakeful hours vs. sleep hours (really more like sleep “minutes”). I went off of dairy because I thought it was affecting his tummy and keeping him up. I just started a gluten free diet today to see if that makes a difference. I’ve driven him around in the car to sleep.

As Liam would say “It’s not wuh-king!” Anyway, so there’s that. It is affecting everything else. The laundry doesn’t get done, the house is slightly messy kind of all the time (which makes me crazy), dinners are hit and miss and forget about excersizing the 34 extra pounds that have taken up residence on my middle, bum and thighs. Whatever. I will figure it out. eventually. But until then, it is day in and day out insanity. Right now I should be making dinner. Daniel will be home in an hour. But Noah and Liam are playing their Lego Star Wars game downstairs and Ray fell asleep in his carseat, so I am taking a moment to write down what’s been going on.

Liam started preschool for the first time this year. He will only have one year of preschool before he starts kindergarten, unlike Noah who had 2 years, but I think this is better for Liam. After the second day of preschool, Liam’s teacher, Mrs. Yessler, came up to me and said, “We were a bit weepy today”. She said this with the sweetest smile on her face and nodding reassuringly at the same time. It was cute. I asked her why and when and she told him it was at circle time. So when I got home I asked Liam about it and he didn’t have a lot to say (very typical Liam – to not have much to say. I blame Daniel). I didn’t think much of it, maybe it was just new and second day of preschool jitters. Then I took Liam to his third day (he only goes MWF) and as we drove into the parking lot of preschool Liam said, “I don’t want to go to my class. I don’t like their rules”. I parked and said it was OK, he’d get used to their rules and it was time to go in. Liam burst into tears. It was so super sad to see his fat face crying about preschool.

I asked him why he was crying and he tearfully exclaimed, “I don’t know where to sit at suh-cle (circle) time! Mrs. Yes-wer (Yessler) said to we-member where we sat and to sit down and I don’t we-member where to sit!” So cute and sad at the same time. He had fears about circle time! And was worried he’d sit in the wrong place, so instead of asking “where do we sit?” Mrs. Yessler had told me the day before, that Liam had stood by the circle and cried. We’ve been working on “using your words” to express your needs and wants, but Liam still expects people to read his mind …. or at least read his very obvious and telling eyes :) We went in and talked to Mrs. Yessler together and she said she’d help Liam find a place to sit. When I went to pick him up, she said that Liam had been her “little buddy” all day. My little Liam. He’s such a beautiful, squishy, sensitive soul.

Noah, on the flip side, is LOVING school. He could not be happier. He is in his element. He makes friends and knows their first and last names. wha? seriously, what 6 year old knows their friends’ first and last names?? … Noah. That’s who. He is also starting piano lessons this week. He seems like such a big boy now.

After the first two days of first grade for Noah, I decided to skip out on the ridiculous mayhem that was the front of the school pick-up situation. So, I told Noah and showed him where I would wait for him at the back of the school. So, the next day, I sat there in my car waiting to see Noah. And he showed up. He waited for the crossing guard lady to tell him it was OK to cross the street and then he did and then he looked for me and saw our car and came running for us, backpack on and lunch bag in his hand swinging. I almost had tears in my eyes. Weird huh? But he has his little life all figured out. He goes to recess, has friends he sits with at lunch, friends he plays football with at recess and now he walks to the back of the school and finds our car. I don’t know, I guess it doesn’t sound like much, but it seems like such a huge jump in responsibility from last year. I had to get out of my car and walk up to the front of the school everyday to pick him up, he only went for half days, he only brought a snack to school and there was no recess. Ah, my Noah seems so grown up.

Well, times up. Now Daniel will be home in a half hour, no dinner is made, I haven’t showered and there’s laundry half folded all over my bed. Plus, who knows how many more minutes I have before Ray wakes up – it’s all guesswork these days.

That’s what is up.