Halloween Happenings...or not happenings.

Halloween .....hmmm.... How does a person explain Halloween to a two year old? I mean, seriuosly, if I were pint sized and most everything is new and huge to me than I suppose I would be terrified too. So I dont blame Noah for absolutely refusing to wear his halloween costume that I spent a few days....DAYS...... making and then REmaking. I blame myself for expecting him to wear it happily and pose perfectly for precious keepsake pictures. It was definately one of those times when you ask yourself - What was I thinking?

I guess I should have known how it would all play out after the way he flipped out over ME wearing the fireman uniform. And when he woke up from his nap on the afternoon of Halloween and saw my face painted up like a butterfly - he screamed "NO MOMMY - I DONT LIKE BUTTERFLY - TAKE IT OFF - TAKE IT OFF NOW MOMMY!!!" Maybe that should have been my second clue to just give up....but no, I stood strong. I knew my child could be brave and obedient and carry out the task of being the cutest darn caterpillar the world has ever seen....

So after I called in the services of DADDY to hold his screaming crying self down while I shoved and tugged and struggled to get this costume over his wiggling squirming body for a good 15 minutes - we were still unsuccessful. Toddler - 1, Mommy - 0 ....again.

By this time I was half an hour late to the party that I was supposed to provide games and activities for - and of course Kevin recieved an important business call right at the time he could have been helping me load up a still crying half dressed caterpillar and a hungry infant; along with the camera, stoller, picnic basket full of halloween goodies and of course the diaper bag. So Im sweating off my face paint and really hating my 'brillant' ideas and wondering WHY I even try so hard in the first place....

However - the kids still had a great time at the park and wore themselves out - so when we got home I pretty much hog tied Noah to the floor (easier to do now that he has lost some off his energy!) and forced on the rest of The Very Hungry Caterpiller costume and Kevin was able to snap a few not so perfect pictures - but still...at this point, all I wanted was a picture - any picture - and then a large glass of wine.

Its hard to look pissed off with a butterfly painted on your face - but I think I pulled it off nicely. (I was tired from my death grip around his ribs trying to keep him still for this picture!)

Firehouse Tour

We took a tour of a local Firehouse today with the MOMS Club we belong to. Its very close to our friends Laura's and Emory's house so we just walked over from there. And as soon as we walked in front of the station Noah hid behind my legs and planted his face into my behind! I should have known then that this was going to be ugly......

This is me looking like Im doing the ROBOT dance in fireman suit (dork) but there is Noah crying very heavily asking me to take it off RIGHT NOW

This doesnt look like the face of a little boy having a good time....

Actually - all of the little kids were a bit nervous about all the new things going on, but Noah takes the cake for biggest flip out of the day. Thats ok - we still love him! :0)

The crew of 11 were SO nice and patient with all of our kids running all over the place and I know deep down Noah had a really great time - he talked about it all day long and even asked if we could go back tomorrow. Crazy kid.....

Eli just chilled out with Miss Laura or myself being content and sleepy - he didnt care. :0)

LET THERE BE PICTURES!!!!!!

Its not much - but Eli is 5 months old now and that realization made me break out the camera for a few snap shots!

Eli

I love bedtime at my house...not because its quiet (well maybe a little) but because I get to rock both Eli and Noah before we but them to bed. Eli just lays there looking up at me with this expectant look on his face - just waiting for me to teach him something or show him something new. He loves to reach up and explore my face while I let him grab my nose and poke at my eyes and make silly noises to him. That, of course, usually catches the attention of Noah and he just wants to come sit next to us and rock with us while we wind down for the evening.

Tonight Noah actually suggested that I put Eli down so I can go ahead and take him to bed - he MUST have been tired! Though he will suggest that I put Eli down for many things he thinks is more important! That is the main reason why I love bedtime so much - its the one time of day that I actually get to HOLD Eli without being on Noah patrol too. I sometimes wish we could bottle these times and save them forever ya know? Tatoo them to the back of our eyelids for that warm fuzzy feeling every night when we finally close our eyes for bed.

Last night I had some MOMS CLUB friends over for movie night - we talked most the night about our kids - funny how that happens. We didnt really get into a good movie but I did get really into a bottle of wine...........................it was great. It wouldnt hurt to bottle those times either! HA!

Still no pictures.....

Dont get all excited - I still dont have any pictures...

I just wanted to tell you about my very ambitious dinner. Well it really wasnt all that difficult in itself - its just the events that surrounded it that taught me a few very important lessons

1) One little oven full of smoke will completely fill up a 2200 square foot home
2) The above event will set off every smoke alarm in the house
3)Little kids really dont like smoke alarms

4) and this is the big one - I will never attempt to cook a new recipe without Kevin home to help me with the kids

It all started with some serloins that I found in the freezer - then I remembered a 20 pound bag of potatoes (yep - 20 freeegin pounds) that we bought from costco that we needed to eat - so Steak and Potatoes right?? Well - Im not a grilling machine so I went to the internet for a serloin recipe that I could do in the oven - found Alton Brown's broiling method and thought - BROIL!?!?! HECK I CAN BROIL!!! I'll JUST PRESS THE BROIL BUTTON - IT WILL BE LIKE MAGIC!! So I set myself to marinate the steaks - all with a 2 year old watching my every move from his beloved steps that he backed up to the counters so he can see whatever is going on up there. After washing his hands about 15 times from touching the raw meat - the steaks were ready to just sit for a little while and get all flavor blasted from the marinade. On to the potatoes - I wanted to scallop potatoes for a nice little change so Noah (again) watched me cut the POH-TA-TOES and had to smell almost every slice and declare it smelling good enough to fling across the kitchen floor to be licked up by the dog. Which he thought was the funniest thing to watch a dog try and lick up a flat sticky piece of potato from a tile floor. It took about half of a potato for him to get bored of that and start sticking his fingers in the butter.

So I had to turn on the TV in order to save his life

The pototoes baked for about an hour - then I hit the magic BROIL button for the steaks - Altons recipe said to put a sheet of tinfoil down on the bottom rack of the oven to catch the drippings - then place the steaks directly on the rack above it - broil for 5 minutes on each side simple enough. done....

By the way - you ever try to re-roll tinfoil after someone (not mentioning any names but Im sure you can guess) decides to UNROLL the entire brand new box of reynolds wrap? Its not an easy thing to do and apparently time consuming....First of all - it was the length of my hallway! I was impressed!

Kevin walks in from work - we start to say hello but then his phone rings - business call - of course....Kevin paces when he is on the phone so he is doing laps around kitchen talking about webpage design....and Im starting to wonder why I smell smoke...

Thats when ELI woke up and decided that being held was the only thing on Gods green earth that would even come close to comforting him - so here I am...trying to sautee onions through what looks like smoke billowing out from my oven while holding a 5 month old.

I open my oven (yes I put Eli down and yes he immediately started screaming) and expect to see flames come shooting straight for my face - but it was just smoke.....lots of smoke...I wonder if this is normal so I just flip the steaks and keep on cookin

I Pick Eli back up since Im getting the look from Kevin - ya know, the "Im on the phone please do something with that screaming kid" look....

Hold whimpering Eli and stir stir stir the onions and then the smoke alarms go off - Eli about jumps out of my arms and pinches me so hard on my neck I swear I will have a bruise tomorrow and Noah is holding his hands over his ears and I think thats when he pottied in his pants - and Kevin is still trying to talk on the phone.....sigh....

Anyway - after we had every window and door open with every fan on high - FINALLY the smoke is not burning our eyes and Noah has stopped coughing - we sit down to eat dinner. It wasnt bad...but after all that hard work stupid sauteed onions were my favorite. Im gonna have to re-read that recipe to see of the billowing smoke is part of the show - the cooking experience to add just a hint of that missing charred flavor that only a GRILL can provide....

Noah threw most of his food to the dog and only wanted to cry about playing outside - Eli loved his applesauce but then spit it all up - twice - then decided it was bathtime immediately now or we would all perish a painful firey death. So after about 4 bites of my dinner I just gave up. Kevin offered me a swig of his beer but I was thinking more along the lines of a shot of something a bit stronger.

I took the boys to the bathtub and let them declare this evening a victory.

Crazy Kids - 1
Insane Mommy - 0

Quick Update

It has happened - the very thing that we digital cameral users dread! I lost my pictures. Of COURSE my media drive went wacko on me - nothing else did - nothing else was lost - nothing but my THOUSANDS of pictures that were NOT on a flash drive or other external storage device. My first reaction was "Dont Panic" - and then I cried. HA!

Well - all hope is not lost yet. We are still going to try and take that drive to someone who may be able to save most of my pictures. So pray for me! lol

I just wanted to let you all know how the kiddo's are doing. (of course I have no pictures to post at the moment - sniffle) Eli is such a happy little guy - he just loves to be looked at and smiles SO BIG when he sees another persons face....I dont think he cares who it is as long as he gets to stare at someone he is all grins. We started some solid foods - he is taking a bit longer to get used to eating than Noah did. Eli gags on everything so far.....except peas - he loves peas. ?? Fine by me, it just makes for intersting and artful diapers. His big accomplishments are: Rolling over, belly laughing, and just being a delightful happy little baby!

Noah - the kid amazes me. He pretty much can carry on a conversation with you - about almost anything really. He will tell me that he needs more juice and that I should put Eli down to go get it for him. He will tell me that he wants to play with a certain toy and that I should put Eli down and go get it for him. He will tell me that he wants to go outside and I should put Eli down and go out with him...do we see a pattern? LOL But he loves Eli and still showers him with kisses and hugs - even when Eli is crying he will come tell me that we should go see whats wrong with him. There have been many times I may be busy and hear Eli crying on the floor and then all of a sudden its quiet - my first thought is of Noah holding a pillow over his face or something but I look around the corner and see Noah holding Eli's bottle for him or helping him replace his pacifier. Its really pretty special and we are so proud of him. :0)

Another HUGE HUGE HUGE thing for Noah is - he is WELL on his way to being potty trained!!! We had ONE tinkle accident this morning - but that was after a whole weekend of wearing a diaper while we had company - I put his big boy pants on him this morning and reminded him that we dont potty in them (or on the floor, or on his toys, or outside - YES I have to list them out like that to cover all the exceptions or they WILL be tested!) and he was good and dry all day long! AND it has been a week since he POOPED in his pants - he has made it to the toilet everyday like a PRO! WE HAVE A PRO POOPER HERE PEOPLE! And after he poops he runs out of the bathroom buck naked and announces to everyone that he pooped in the toilet and we all have to dance and rejoice. He cracks me up...

Brian, Angela, Caden and Paxton came to visit us this weekend. Caden and Paxton are around the same ages and Noah and Eli so the older boys had a BLAST with eachother. (once again, no pictures to share yet) They will be good buddies we can tell - they spent most of their time chasing each other or the dog and just had a great time being boys and doing boy things - jumping on the beds, playing in the sand box or slip n slide or swimming - it was really great! Thanks to Brian and Angela for taking the time to visit us - I know the boys had a great time and so did Kevin and I! :0)

Well, thats all for now - I have to hybernate and try to regain my energy from this weekend!

Eli's Update

Eli is growing so quickly! He weighs a bit over 9 pounds already and really, he is a very happy baby. He smiles with a great big open mouth gummy grin everytime he sees another persons face - or even Bandits face! He loves to look at and smile at people. He loves to be rocked and overall is a quiet content baby. However, even though he is as cute as a button - he has the WORST GAS!!!! I can honestly say I have never heard a baby fart as often, as loud, or as stinky as this little guy - He can clear a room - even the dog protests - Im sorry but it had to be said! Consider yourself warned....

Picnic

It was a cool crisp 101 degrees out yesterday with some cloud cover....so I decided that it was picnic weather. By the time I had the kids packed up, lunch picked up, THEN unpacked at the park - it quickly became a zillion degrees and Noah's face was bright red with sweat dripping into his eyes so our outing was less then a half hour long. I got home and realized that it took me longer to get ready! But I got a cute picture or two so I suppose it was worth it!

Noah turns 2

Here are some pictures of Noah's little Birthday party we had - Aunt Kristin and Grandma made him a cake - and then we had some of his friends from my Moms Club come over for some fun on a slip n slide! I ended up being in charge of flinging young children head first down the slide.....such a good mommy I am! But the kids had a blast and thats what its all about.

HE SMILES

HEY BRO!

Its true - there IS another emotion other than crying that we can now enjoy!!! Eli smiled at me for the first time the other morning - June 9th to be exact...I woke up and there he was looking at me...and as soon as I said good morning to him he got this great big open mouth smile as if to say - FINALLY YOU WAKE UP! I have been trying to get it on cameral for several days now...but everytime Noah sees the camera it becomes all about him ya know...so the picture may be a little blury but at least I managed to catch it!

ZOO Trip

MORNING HAIR before trip to zoo!!!!

We took Noah and Eli to the Zoo for the first time this past weekend. It was hot and we MEANT to only stay for an hour or so...but before we knew it 4 hours flew by and we still skipped a bunch of stuff we didnt think Noah would really care about yet....but we had a great time and I really think Noah enjoyed the experience - Eli just slept... Of course one of Noah's favorite parts was feeding the ducks - which we could have done at any local park with a pond!

We went for a trian ride - which he liked after we got rolling and forgot that daddy couldnt come with us. We fed the Giraffes - have you ever done that??!?! They have this foot long purple tongue that stretches out and wraps around your hand to take the little pebbles of food our of your fingers....slimy and a bit creepy...but still pretty cool. And check out this turtle!!!! ITS GINORMOUS!!!!! ITs so big we didnt think it was real - but then it moved and everyone who was standing there looking into the tank gasps....it was huge - those fish were LARGE goldfish about the size of my hand but this ancient turtle makes them look like sardines! Noah didnt care - he was looking at the stingrays

POTTY TIME!

I have a very important Announcement to make - NOAH USED THE POTTY THREE TIMES!!!!!! He even ASKS to go use the potty now - he doesnt always know WHY he wants to use the potty, but everytime he mentions it I take him in there and sit him down on it...and he actually "put the water in the potty" three different times! So we do the "peepee" dance and he gets a couple of M&M's when the mission is accomplished. I actually bought a book on using the potty that came with a calendar and some stickers - we may crack it open pretty soon. He also got some big boy underwear with Elmo on them.

Im not rushing him into anything yet - I still dont think he fully understands what he has done - its all about the candy to him! But he WILL NOT keep his little hands OUT of his diaper (I have re-named him Bundy) and has even gone so far as to 'reposition' himself inside his diaper so that he just pee's right out the side of it anyway so whats the point ya know? My poor new carpet......oh well - thats kids for ya!

Here are some pictures of the little guy playin in the water outside

Those diapers really can hold some water huh?!? This is what Eli does for fun...he lays there and just looks around....I cherish these days! HA!

Grandpa Wild Hog!

The Wild Hogs came to visit us in the desert! Grandpa Wes and Uncle Mike aka 'CatDaddy' came for a visit on the bikes - and Noah was fascinated by them (the motorcycles, that is!) He was a bit timid at first but once he got comfortable and was sure it wasnt going to be turned on and make loud noises he was more than happy to play with/on them!

Noah had a great time visiting his grandpa and uncle! We got to see lots of family that we havent seen in a very long time - it was a very nice visit and we thank both Grandpa AND CatDaddy for taking time to come see us, visit/play with Noah and meet little Eli too!

HA! This is what happens when you let the grandparents take over! lol My kid was covered in black grime from playing in the driveway - with the tires I presume.....not really sure actually but it is definately the most grime I have ever seen on him...so naturally I had to grab the camera.

The only clean part on his legs were the parts beneath his TOE NAILS!

Can you say POSER? We're so proud.....lol

Finally Here

Well - He is finally here...and I am finally able to update this blog! Sorry it has taken me so long...Elijah (Eli) Allen Davis was born on April 23rd at 9:11pm weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. I was in labor for about 4 hours and everything went perfectly fine! Eli came home a little yellow from jaundice but is pinking up nicely. He has dark grey eyes for now - I think they will turn brown - and dark brown hair...LONG fingers and toes - and more gas than a room full of men at a cabbage eating contest! WHEW! This little guy has some tootin-talent!

He sleeps a lot (Praise Jesus!) and eats about every 3 to 4 hours so I am actually able to get plenty of sleep while the kiddos are having their naps too....so far anyway....

All in all - things are going really well! I am having a little difficulty with breastfeeding at the moment but its nothing that wont pass with time and practice. Im just very happy that I am able to nurse this time around...

After this first month with Eli he is becoming more and more alert and I am watching him try to sit up at the moment - he is on the floor looking up at me with an irrated expression -- could be the flatulance...yep it was! how cute....lol. He is not a fussy baby at all - until you undress him or are too slow to put food in his mouth or if he has a particularly difficult 'movement' - lets just say this little fellow is NOT a fan of poopin!

Now for Noah - this child never ceases to amaze me. Both Kevin and I are so proud of how he has handled becoming a big brother. Of course he isnt perfect and certainly has his needy moments - mostly when I am feeding Eli and rendered completely useless to him. But other than those rare "Im gonna pull my hair out" occasions Noah loves to shower Eli with kisses - and any exposed body part that he can name is fair game. He loves to help change Eli's diaper and will fight me over who gets to go throw the "Shoowy poopy in the trash" - Im happy to let him win on that one. He will bring me the burp cloth, blanket, pacifier, or even the remote when I am again rendered useless. Dont think for a second that he hasnt also stolen these items just before I needed them and bolted across the house in fits of laughter and then there's me chasing after him half dressed - not a pretty moment for any of us. But these things I can handle - the only real danger thus far is the possiblility of Eli getting his eyeballs squeezed out of his head by Noah's not so gentle affection....that and maybe choking on a cheeto Noah is trying to share with him. But as long as its all in the name of brotherly LOVE I'll take it - and then just gently remind Noah to be gentle and thank him kindly for sharing as I take the cheeto snack to the table.

Its hot here - already - so our outdoor time as been limited to the mornings or late evening - if at all. Being indoors has been the hardest thing to adjust to for all of us. Its just too hot for little Eli - but Noah LOVES to be outside and we can only play for about 45 minutes before we need air conditioning...and thats just not enough for Noah. So we are currently trying to think up fun indoor activities that we can do ...any suggestions??

Shared first experiences

Well - we had our first family emergency today - both Kevin and Noah shared their FIRST car accident experience. Dont panic - everyone is just fine and dandy - MY CAR taking most of the scratches and bangs that go along with car accidents. An elderly handicapped (78 yrs old and blind in one eye!) gentleman didnt see Kevin driving along a low traffic side street and pulled right out in front of him. Kevin called me to tell me to come get Noah and when I pulled up the fire truck and police cars were there with their lights flashing and everyone standing by watching - it really looked very scary - but Noah was just sitting in his car seat going "WEEOOO WEEOOO WEEEOOO!!!" (siren noises) and saying "BYE BYE BLUE AND RED" meaning the flashing red and blue lights from all the emergency cars that arrived - must have been a slow day for First Responders! But like I said, my car will need some work but it DEFINATELY could be worse - and everyone was lucky enough to be unharmed. We will probably take Noah to see his Dr just in case. But now - for some pictures of Noah playing outside in his new back yard - riding on his "outside bike" and washing off rocks. Can you believe its already warm enough here to play in the water??

This kid LOVES to watch the clothes in the washer - he will sit there for almost an entire cycle - long enough to eat a snack and ask for juice to replenish himself!
Another favorite past time - to play the drums like daddy! Sadly he knew enough about the ROCK BAND game to watch the TV and try to 'PLAY' the drums just like daddy does! He and his friend Emory were very entertained!