What's New With Noah

Confession. I am really bad at baby books. And scrap booking. And any kind of organizing when it comes to recording my children and their milestones. Except for here on this blog. It seems to be the only place where I am really able to record anything cute or interesting that my children do. At least one day I will have this to look back on and show them pictures and stories about when they were young. ('Cause if they believed life as it is presented in their baby books... Well, let's just say that Noah would assume he only made it to 6 months and Liam would be afraid that he never existed at all. Yikes.)

All of that to say that I have some cute Noah updates to share with you. (Or, more importantly, future me.) Noah is 5 going on 30 - seriously. The things that he says! I vacillate between laughing hysterically and being utterly horrified. For instance the other evening he and Liam were watching a DVD after dinner. Liam had randomly picked a Veggie Tales DVD that I wasn't even aware we owned. (I know, I know, its like, heresy, to call yourself a Christian and not have your children watch Veggie Tales, but what can I say? We were too busy having dance parties to Lady Gaga songs.) Anyway, they had been sitting through about 15 minutes of it, and I was putting laundry away in the bedroom, when I heard Noah say in a disgusted voice, "I mean... how can vegetables TALK?!" I died laughing - mostly 'cause I have always felt similarly disgusted with the same idea.

Then there was a two weekends ago when we were staying at my Mom's. He suddenly turned to us and blurted out, "Something is wrong with my tooth!" Yep, you guessed it. He has his first loose tooth. And though he was excited about it for a few seconds, the emotion quickly swung to anxiety and he made us promise - swear - that we would just wait for it to literally fall out of his mouth. He does not want it pulled. Shocker.

Also, a few nights ago we were reading before bed when something happened that reminded me what a little sponge he is. We usually read one or two chapters of either a Magic Tree House book, or Magic School Bus book. That night we were reading about children on a field trip to see sharks. I was reading a part about an octopus when he stopped me and very seriously informed me of the following:

"Mama, do you know what? Octopuses are very good at getting away from predators 'cause they have jet propulsion. (This is all punctuated by his emphatic hand gestures by the way.) That's like, when the shark chases them and they use jet propulsion to get away. And they have ink defense too. It's like, they see a predator, and Bam!, they let out their ink defense. That's why they are so good at getting away from sharks. And, anyway, they could always just 'stang' them with their...tenta...penta...what are those things called?..." (trailing off).

"Tentacles?"

"Yes! They could always just stang them with their tentacles."

Of course, I was very impressed that he knew all those things and I told him so. Then I asked if they were learning about sea life at school.

"No", he scoffed. "I heard it on Wild Kratts."

(That is a TV show about two brothers who study wild animals, for those of you who don't have a 5 year old boy.)

These are just some of the things that he has done lately that are worth mentioning. I could go on - and on. But I won't. All I will say, is that Noah constantly amazes me with how smart and funny and sweet he is. I love having the privilege of being his Mom and getting to watch him grow up!

Friday Facts

Fact: I have sucked at blogging lately. I am trying to remedy that. We'll see how it goes.

Fact: We traveled to Atlanta last weekend. I was very worried about the 5 hour car trip but I must say, my boys did an awesome job traveling. We timed our trip - coming and going - to coincide with Liam's nap time, so both ways he spent almost half the time asleep. Noah played on the iPad quietly. Then, when Liam woke up, they both watched movies together on the portable DVD player. Throw in a couple of snacks and some funny faces to entertain in Atlanta traffic and you have a successful road trip.

(Sub-fact: My pictures these days are terrible. I vow to stop relying on my iPhone and start using my real camera. No really, I WILL do it!)

We did lots of fun things in the ATL. On Friday we got to see our good friends Jan, Clayton, and Abigail. That was a fun surprise for Noah - he had a ball playing with his buddies. We sure do miss them! On Saturday my Mom treated us to a visit to the Georgia Aquarium. The boys had a blast. We decided to brave it without the stroller and just let Liam wander around with Noah - it was the perfect decision. He hates to ride in the stroller and is finally old enough that I trust him to walk with us. We got there early and visited all the really popular exhibits before it got crowded. Everyone loved the underwater tunnel with the whale sharks and big sting rays.

(Aunt J, the above picture is for you. Mom must have been amazed by one of those Hammerhead sharks!)

As neat as it was to watch the fish swim around above us, Noah and Liam's favorite part was the moving sidewalk that went through the exhibit. Seriously.

We also really enjoyed the big tank. (I think I heard it is actually the biggest tank of any aquarium anywhere.) Noah, Bebe, and I staked out spots on the floor directly in front of the tank and spent a long time just checking out all the cool fish.

 Shortly after that Noah turned to me and asked when we could go visit the "lunch exhibit". Oh, and maybe after that the "toy exhibit". Is that what they are calling gift shops these days?

Fact: Taking two little boys to a train museum will always be a good choice.

Again, I am aware that the picture sucks but it at least proves that we went there!

Fact: It is inadvisable to try to go shopping at the mall with a 21 month old. You will end up in the Nordstrom men's shoe department wrangling an umbrella stroller, several packages, a bored 5 year old, two balloons, and said 21 month old in full melt down while your husband tries on expensive shoes and pretends he doesn't know who the crazy stroller lady with the loud children belongs to. Just sayin'. And after that super stressful meltdown in the middle of your favorite department store, it will be essential to stuff your face with food from Chipotle while you cruise down GA 400.

Fact: After being spoiled by Bebe for 5 days, it is always a good idea to have an impromtu play date to distract Noah from the fact that we are back to life as usual.

Abby Grace is a pirate, Olivia is a cowgirl... And I am not sure what the hell Noah is. Mario, the super hero police officer??

Fact: I am ready for the weekend. Happy weekend friends!

Random Monday Thoughts

1. I was seriously irritated with myself when I looked to the right hand side of my blog page and saw my post count for 2011. It says, 99. 99?! For some reason it bothers me that I didn't write just one more post and hit an even 100. I really like round numbers so much better. (I know, I know - I can file this under the heading of "White People Problems". On second thought, you can probably file all of what I'm about to say under that title.) Moving on...

2.  Last night my friend Jessica and I tried to go to our usual Sunday afternoon yoga class, but as we pulled up we were astonished to find both the main parking lot and the overflow parking lot completely full. I have never seen so many scantily dressed hipsters carrying yoga mats, walking down one street before in my life! The only thing I can figure is that it is January and everyone is full of resolutions and good intentions about working out so they all flocked to yoga class to begin their physical transformation of 2012. Well, even though I go on and on about the benefits of working out and how everyone should do it, I guess what I really mean is this: By all means please work out as long as it does not affect me in any way shape or form, OK? We opted to skip our class instead of being crammed like cattle into a hot room. It is one thing to roll around in my own sweat but the thought of having to touch someone else's sweat while trying to hold triangle pose made me throw up in my mouth. Here's to hoping people give up on their new years resolutions quickly so that I can have my non-crowded yoga class back as soon as possible.

3. Never, I repeat never, make important life decisions on your 5th glass of wine. By this I mean, it is not advisable to go to Bunco Night, drink 3 glasses of prosecco and 2 of red and, while basking in the glow of your $10 cash payout, commit to running a half marathon! I am kidding a little.... I did have that much to drink at Bunco but I was fully with it enough to know what I was committing to. One of my friends here in the neighborhood was signed up to run the Divas Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach in May and when I found out I immediately committed to doing it with her. I have needed a kick in the pants for my running for a long time now and I figured I wouldn't find a better chance than this. Running a fun, near-by race with someone else instead of by myself. So,  I signed up and now I have to get running. Officially I have no goals but to have a good time (They have feather boa and tiara stations along the course and firemen who hand you roses at the finish line so I think "fun" is a done deal!) Unofficially, I would love to run it under 2 hours. Even if that means 1:59:59.... Just sayin'.

4. Noah has a 3 day school week this week, and then he gets Thursday, Friday, and Monday off. Excuse me, but didn't we just have a 2 week holiday?! Oh well, we are using the super long weekend to head to Atlanta and see my Mom. Five hours in the car with Liam... I'll let you know how that goes.

5. Oh, and speaking of my Mom. She sent me this picture a few nights ago and I almost crapped my pants. I knew that Liam looked more like me than Wes, but I had no idea how much he looked like me.

I think my direct quote back to my Mom was, "Holy Crap, it's Liam in drag!" Wes is totally creeped out.

Happy New Year

And we are finally back to the old routine.

After 2 weeks straight of holiday events and time with family and friends we are back to business as usual. Noah is back at school, Wes is back at work, the guest room is empty, and my house is quiet. Can't believe it is the beginning of a whole new year. Although, I will admit, it felt a little uneventful. We rang it in quietly, drinking wine on the couch and watching Ryan Seacrest on TV. Yes, we are getting old. Whatever.

While I am not a resolution kind of person, I DO like the feeling you get at the beginning of the year. Like everything is a blank slate, and you can write whatever you want on it.

Let's start with this. I need some wholesome food...pronto! I didn't completely go off the wagon over the holidays, but I know that I consumed way too many treats. And that is fine - there is definitely a time and place for treats so I won't beat myself up about it. However, you can imagine my joy when I checked my email and saw that my first CSA pick up was this morning.

Look at all that green! Kale, bok choy, carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, tomatoes... I have such grand plans. This should go a long way to helping me with my much needed holiday detox!

So, happy new year everybody. Whether you are starting it off with bok choy or a Big Mac - here's to hoping its a great one!