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!

Family Pics-December 2013

Over our Christmas break my brother Justin was awesome and took some time to take pictures of our family. They turned out great and I have loved being able to update all our pictures in our home! I just love all my boys :).

I don't think I could have asked for more handsome boys and a more handsome hubby!

Noah: 8 months!

I know I say this everytime...but time really flies. My Noah was just 2 weeks old when we came here to Missouri and now it has already been 8 months! I guess med school does go by fast...once you look at the time that has past. In the moment it seems like it drags on, but almost a year of school already done and I can't believe it. Noah has been such a joy to our family. Everyone, especially, Aben loves him more than we can say. He has is own personality and it is finally starting to really show. I can tell he is going to be genuinely happy boy and someone that has such an ability to love others.

Noah now:

• Pushes up onto his hands and knees and rocks...I can't wait for him to crawl!
• Talks constantly. I know I've said before that he loved to babble and coo, but he really talks all the time!
• Sat in a highchair at a restaurant for the first time. And he loved it! He was so happy the whole time. It didn't even bother him that we were all eating and he wasn't (which usually makes him extremely mad-he loves his food and if he sees someone eating, he has to eat to.)
• Is really starting to interact with us more. Especially playing with Aben. He loves his brother and loves playing with him.
• Has definitely regressed with his sleep habits. He thinks he needs to wake up at 3am every morning. We have had to try several different ways to get him to go back to sleep on is own and are now just having him cry it out. Hopefully this will work very soon.
• Has this new awkward half smile that he does. It is a common and almost constant expression on his face. You can't tell if he's smiling, happy, sad, about to cry, or has a bad taste in his mouth. Its hilarious. What a strange boy he is! :)

 Finally enjoying some sun shine at the park after a very long winter. This was his first time in the umbrella stroller and not his baby stroller. He loved it!

 My silly boys! This picture made me realize just how much they look and act like brothers!

 Love this picture of them playing. Noah thought Aben was hilarious digging in the dirt. He couldn't stop laughing!

 Noah's famous awkward half-smile. Am I happy, sad, or disgusted?

Noah: 7 months!

I can't believe my boy is already 7 months old! The months fly by too quickly. He is still the sweetest and smiliest boy around!

He now:

• Has two bottom teeth! Teething is no fun! 
• Has had a rough time with his sleep schedule what with his teeth coming in
• Has started to copy us. :) This is my favorite thing and I need to get it on video. When he is laying down especially, but sometimes when sitting up too, if we nod and say "Yeah, yeah, yeah", he will smile and start nodding too. So cute! Sometimes he even initiates it and doesn't stop until he gets the smile or laugh he is wanting from us. He also sticks his tongue back out at us too if we do it first.
• Is constantly blowing raspberries. Aben thinks this is especially funny.
• Still doesn't like tummy time. He just wants to move! He can't quite get on his hands and knees by himself but is strong enough to if we help.
• Is starting to scoot around. If on his back he can kick and push himself up and on his tummy he scoots himself backwards or around in circles. 
• Sits up like a pro.
• Is getting better at picking up little things and putting them in his mouth...like those little rice puff snacks. 
• He likes to steal pickles from my plate and suck on them :)
• Still takes three naps. His last nap is only about 30 min at like 4:30 or 5. He is so grumpy by bedtime if he doesn't get this last 30 min snooze.
• Has to fall asleep with his sock monkey.
• Is in size three diapers...he weighs 16 lbs 13 oz. :)
•  Loves bath time, especially with his big brother!

 

 He stole my pickle! And loved it :)

He is such a joy and I can't imagine our lives without him!

Christmas break fun

I know I already posted about Christmas...but I didn't post all the pictures I wanted to yet. So here's for the best part! ALL the pictures :). We had  so much fun with the cousins and it was so fun seeing Aben get excited for the first time to actually open presents. I LOVE having kids!!!! It makes everything so much more fun!

 Opening their Christmas Eve presents from Grammy and Papa Taylor. Missing Jerry and Ashley, and Justin and Nicole's kiddos! :(

 Playing hide-and-seek with Lexie....his new favorite game!