Happy Birthday: Noah 12 months!!!

Happy Birthday to this sweet boy!!!! He is such a fun and loving kiddo. We did a combined birthday party for him and Aben (those pictures will be posted another day :) ). We had a blast with good friends, good food, good cake, and fun in the water. Can't get much better than that!

Noah is now up to lots of trouble :). He loves finding new things to get into and thinks he's pretty cool doing it! He:

• Walks along furniture. He still doesn't stand up on his own in the middle of a room, but rather crawls to something to stand up with. He can stand on his own for a couple seconds...but as soon as he notices he isn't holding on to something and no one is holding on to him...he sits down. :) I think he will get a hang of walking quickly though. 
• He loves walking with his push toys
• Loves bath time still....but only for a  limited amount of time. :)
• Loves playing in the pool and doing 'swim lessons'. As soon as we get to the pool he starts crawling out as far as he can before going under. He actually doesn't mind getting his head in the water either so we definitely have to pay close attention to him. :) 
• Loves apples and bananas. Still will not eat any cheese though. Still loves his milk too!
• Is hit and miss with food. Some days he eats like a crazy kid and others he is as picky as can be.
• Is a great nap taker. His naps last about 2 hours if not longer sometimes. I love it! 
• Still wakes up at 6 to eat, but then will go back to sleep until 8:30 usually. Every now and then he won't go back to sleep. 
• Is always laughing, and those dimples are just to die for!
• Finally gives kisses! 
• Loves giving high fives
• Occasionally, when we ask Noah how old he is, he holds up one finger and smiles really big. It's so cute when we can get him to do it.
• Says: momma, dada, ya, shakes his head no, more (signing). 
• Can climb up the stairs...and thinks this is a hilarious game
• Can climb up onto the couch and can usually get off without diving head first. :)

I'm sure there are more 'new tricks', but that's plenty for now. :) He is a sweet little boy...and little being a key word :). He is only 19 pounds- 9% for weight and 20% for height. But I love my active, healthy, little boy! I guess Sean and I are bound to have the little kiddos...no Roley Polly kids for us! :)

Fun with Family

In May, the boys and I were able to spend 3 weeks in Utah and Idaho with family. Sean unfortunately had to stay for finals. He did get to meet up with us for about 5 days of the trip...it was definitely way fun seeing family, but so hard being away from Sean for so long. I'm so glad I am not a single mom. Even though I don't see Sean much with medical school going on, I still have his support and help. I gained a new appreciation for those single moms out there. It's hard! and I only had to do it for 2 1/2 weeks!

Flying alone is quite a challenge. Gratefully they were pretty amazing and even happy at some points!

I don't look forward to flying alone ever again. It's exhausting! And you get a lot of bad looks...."oh no, there's a mom with two kids BY HER SELF!!! Please don't let her seat be next to mine!" Yeah...I knew what they were all thinking...their faces said it all. But, they were surprisingly good. Aben was great for the most part...going through security was quit traumatic. But once we were settled on the plane, he loved it. Noah struggled at times, but luckily slept a lot!

First we went to Rupert to visit the Rutschkes:

He immediately found his favorite toy and went driving around. He loved mowing the lawn with Grandpa Rutschke and talked about it for about a week too! He loves playing with all his cousins there and they all had a blast.

Next we went to Salt Lake for my best friend from college, Erica's wedding:

 And we got to spend time with the Taylor cousins in Mapleton and Provo!:

 And of course enjoy some Rita's! 

Next we headed to Nampa to visit my parents:

Aben got to play with the cool toy lawn mower that blows bubbles and help Grandpa Taylor mow the lawn.

 We read stories with Grammy Taylor

We played with our friends really cool ginormous dog,

 Noah made silly faces, as he wasn't quite sure if he liked the big dog or not,

 We played at the Boise Zoo...

 and pretended we were turtles,

 and played on the merry-go-round. Aben loved that he got to ride the lion.

 Noah discovered is love of french fries.

 And Aben got to drive a cool jeep. The trip to the zoo was a definite success!

Noah just loves his grandparents!

We had such a fun trip, but next time... I don't think we will drive around quite so much! Next time, everyone will just have to come see us!! :)

Noah: 10 and 11 months!

 Noah at 10 months

Noah at 11 months

First of all, I cannot believe my little baby is already almost one! Why can't the time go this fast when you're pregnant?

Noah is such a joy. He is such a happy boy and has such a sweet disposition. He is happy to see everyone. He doesn't have much stranger-danger in him...except with men. :) When I went home Noah would go to just about anyone and would go happily. He loves people! But he is still a mama's boy and shows his love for me everyday. Oh how grateful I am for him!

Some of my favorite things he does now is:

• He loves when we say "Yay!" so he can smile and clap and bounce up and down. 
• Still prefers army crawling to regular crawling :). He has started to do a regular crawl if the toy he wants is close, but if he is going across the room... he chooses to army crawl.
• Loves food...especially if he can feed it to himself. 
• Is very sensitive to cold food...like cold fruit or cold water. He makes such a face and hates it!
• Loves his milk and knows how to sign for it. 
• Knows the sign for "more" but can't quite do the sign himself yet.
• Talks non stop still. He usually sticks with "dadadada" and "yayayaya" but I have got him to say "mamama" a handful of times finally!
• Can drink from a straw. I love it when they can finally do this!
• Can stand up using something to balance with. 
• Loves to take baths, especially if big brother is taking a bath too. They love playing together and splashing as much as possible! 

 This is how I found him after his nap one Sunday. What a silly boy!

 He had to come play peek-a-boo with me while I was eating breakfast. I was trying to eat a quiet and peaceful breakfast..I waited until after the kids ate so I could eat in peace and the kids could play. This little one had to come and disrupt my 'alone' time. I guess I can handle this face disturbing any quiet time of mine! 

 Loves watching the water fill up in the tub and loves his daddy!

 Needless to say, we now keep the bathroom door closed. 

 First time he stood up on his own. I guess with the right motivation, he will finally do something! ;)

Happy 11 months to this handsome fellow!

Noah: 9 months!!

Noah has officially been out longer than he was in! Why is it that pregnancy lasts forever, but the first nine months of a baby's life flies by too fast! :( I love love love this age, but man...he's getting too big!

Noah now:

• Loves his solids. He loves cheerios and other finger foods. He is the best vacuum cleaner! ;) One day while I was cleaning, Noah decided to scoot (yep, that's right...he's a mover now!) into the kitchen and play with a spoon Aben left on the floor under the table. He loves to hit things on the floor and make noise. But then I realized it had been a minute or so since I heard him hitting the spoon on the floor. So I look over and he had found a bunch of crumbs from a chocolate cookie Aben just ate and I had yet to clean up! He was in heaven :). Woops!
• He army crawls all over the place! He doesn't crawl on his hands and knees, but he pulls himself around and rolls to get to wherever he wants. He is getting better and faster at it. I have officially put up the gate for the stairs now. :)
• Is always babbling...like he always has. He says dadadada and yayayaya all the time. I haven't been able to get him to say mama yet. :(
• When I say, "no, no, no," Noah shakes his head no and then usually smiles really big like he is proud of himself.
• Is starting to clap
• Is finally getting better at going to bed for naps on his own without me rocking him. YAY! This week was rough, but the last couple times he hasn't cried so I am hoping it will stick this time and that he won't revert back when the teeth he is working on swell up again.
• He still only has the two bottom teeth but he is working on three teeth on top... 
• Absolutely loves playing with Aben, especially now that he can move around
• Loves taking Aben's toys away from him. This is pretty comical...Aben doesn't quite know what to do about it yet so he usually just starts saying, "No Noah. Don't do that...MOM!!!" :) Ha Ha Ha! (Is it bad I think this is hilarious!)
• Loves bath time!

Noah is such a sweet and funny boy. He is generally so happy all the time. He seriously brightens my day. I love going and getting him out of his crib because he is always so excited...swinging his arms, kicking his legs, squealing, and smiling as big as can be. I was always so worried that I wouldn't be able to love him as much as Aben...but it's amazing how you love them both even more!

 Aben loves sharing his food now...good thing Noah couldn't figure out how to bite any pieces off :)

He found the cheerios!

Always so happy!

 

Being a mom of two.....

Being a mom is hard, being a mom of two is hard, being a mom of two while your husband goes to medical school is especially hard.

Some days I look at my kids at think, I could have three. I could do it. Then a day like today happens and I think... "How in the world am I going to make it as a mother the rest of my life!" Don't get me wrong... I love my children and even on the hardest of days, I still love them, if not even more then I did the day before. I would never in a million years want to go back to the days of being married and not having any children. Even the worst days are so much more fulfilling to me when my children are in the picture. I love being a mom. But that doesn't mean it isn't sometimes so overwhelmingly hard that I don't know how I'm going to make it. I'm used to hearing kids cry, and a lot of times it doesn't even phase me. But some days....it does. Some days I don't get the dishes done, the laundry folded (or possibly even switched over into the dryer), the floor vacuumed, the dirty clothes picked up off the bathroom floor. Sometimes its all I can do to clothe, feed, and put my children to bed. And even those days sometimes end in tears. But I've come to learn that motherhood is beautiful. It is the hardest and most challenging duty and role I will ever have. I've worked as a med/surg nurse and that job was extremely difficult. But motherhood is still harder. It doesn't end and there is no lunch break. You don't get to go home at the end of shift and call it a day. But despite its difficulty, it is remarkable and more fulfilling than anything I could ever imagine doing.

These days that are hard make me think about what people are saying about stay-at-home moms. What many are saying about the role of a woman. I am so grateful to be a woman. I love being a woman. I love and am grateful that I am different than my husband. We are equals, but we are different. He teaches our children things I couldn't, and vice-versa. I love being a nurturer. I love staying at home. I don't think there is anything wrong with a woman working full time and hating to clean and cook, but there isn't anything wrong with a woman being proud of staying home either. I love taking care of my children while my husband goes to school. And I pray I can continue to be a stay-at-home mom when my husband is done with school and is working, even on the days like these, that try my patience and make me want to just sit in a corner and cry.

Being a mom is hard, but it is beautiful. And I am so grateful I can be a mother! 

My Aben

Aben is such a crack up. He is so silly and makes us laugh constantly. He has grown up and changed so much since we've been here in Missouri.  He loves robots, cars, his new grocery cart/kitchen set, and playing with Noah. He absolutely loves hot cocoa and strawberry milk. I've had to explain many times that those are special drinks and can't be consumed at all times. He loves loves loves peanut butter sandwiches and mac and cheese, but overall is a good eater and will eat just about anything. He is constantly talking and singing songs.
Some of my favorite sayings of his are:

• "Perfect!" (perfit) :)
• Has picked up some sayings from us:). Sean always calls Noah "number two" and Aben "number one". Aben the other day in the car turned to Noah and said, "Number two, what are you doing? What are you doing, Number two?" I think Sean and I laughed for a good 10 minutes. 
• The other phrase, I'm embarrassed to admit he picked up from me. The kids were really obnoxious one evening out at Costco. After I got Aben in the car, I said as I was getting in, "You are driving me nuts!" not thinking Aben could hear me. But of course he did and now says "You're driving me nuts!!!" Really funny though.
• "That sounds awesome!"
•  "Are you happy mommy?" He is so intuitive and can tell when I'm frustrated or sad or mad...etc. especially after he does something super naughty. So he will look at me and ask, "Are you happy?" He then usually proceeds by saying "Sorry, mommy". So sweet. It's hard to stay mad at him after that.
• This may be too much information, but he has been potty training...which is rough. Especially going poop in the toilet. One day after he was in the bathroom and I was in the living room...trying to get him to go potty on his own, and he calls out with excitement, "Mommy, I pooped a banana!" He thought it really was a banana because of how big it was. This was another time I laughed a good 5 or 10 minutes! The things kids say!
• "It's lost forever! It went to China!". When Aben would go to bed and didn't have one of the dozen of stuffed animals he wanted, and Sean and I were not wanting to hunt for yet another animal, we would just tell him..."He went to China. He'll come back tomorrow." Well, now anything that is lost...is in China.
• I've been telling Aben that we are going to go on an airplane in May to see Grandma and Grandpa. He then proceeded to tell me after much thought. "To go on the airplane, we need a ladder. " (Of course, since airplanes are too big to just step up in) and then thought for another second how we could get a ladder and then yelled..."Oh Toodles!" For those of you who don't know Micky Mouse Clubhouse....Toodles is the toy that brings all the tools that help Mickey and his friends with their adventures and tasks. So of course Toodles could bring us a ladder for the airplane! How smart can you get!
• "I have a nice idea"....he always has a nice a idea of what we should be doing.
• "Hmmm...let's think here." And what makes this even cuter is how he holds his index finger up to his mouth like he is really thinking as hard as he can.

 Aben thought he should wear his dad's basketball shorts instead of his own

 Our new favorite thing to do now that it's warm...eat lunch outside! Of course, he has to have his sunglasses.

 He loved playing with our homemade jello play dough. The random blobs in the sky are birds and that weird shape by the tree is a dog. He was really proud of his creations!

 He loves making his brother laugh!

 Fun at story time at the Library. His favorite part are the bubbles...as you can still see in his hair from him running around under the bubbles like a mad man.

 My silly boys!

 Our fun lunch date at Wendy's. He was one happy boy!