Another Conversation with Noah

Me, after noticing a small mark on Noah's stomach:  What happened to your belly?
Noah: Bite me.
Me: What bit you?
Noah: 'Nake
Me: A snake?
Noah: Yah
Me: Where?
Noah: Outside
Me: Outside?
Noah: Uh-huh
Me: Where outside?
Noah: Flyin'
Me: Flying??
Noah: Yep
Me:...  A flying snake bit you outside....
Noah: YAH!

1. 2 year olds are awesome
2. Noah's vocabulary and imagination are blossoming crazy fast
3. I hope I never see a flying snake.

4. To not leave Ohlen out, yesterday morning he came in our room.  I forget what Jonathan asked him, but he answered: As a matter of fact...    (I really wish I could remember the rest of the conversation, but hey, I had just woken up.)  I couldn't stop giggling.  I can't help it, the kid just really cracks me up sometimes.

5.. Completely unrelated, but my last post was my 200th post.  For those that have been around for most of them... bless you for sticking around. :)

A Broad Update

Hey all!  Just wanted to give an update of what is going on over here.

The Kids:

Katherine just turned 6 weeks yesterday - and has a Dr. appointment today.  I'm curious to see where she is stat wise.  She has been doing pretty good.  A bit fussy here and there, but really nothing horrible.  She has been sleeping from about 930 - 2 and 245 - 6/630.  Which has been nice.  Still not sleeping through the night really, but better than only getting 2 hours of sleep at a time.  (3 hours between feedings = start of feeding to the next start - so only get as much sleep as is left after the eating is done - which can take 45 min there abouts)  She is really starting to fill out, and still looks very much like her brothers did at this stage.

Noah is definitely a 2 year old.  He is either super happy or throwing fits.  Oh, and that is Desitin he has spread all over his legs.  His response when I walked in on this "Uh-oh"  As if he didn't just do it on purpose and the Desitin just jumped out of the container onto his skin. :)  His big brother knows just what buttons to push to get him to screech.  Considering all the changes he's just been through, I would say he is doing really really well.  We also took away his pacifier a few weeks ago.  He was still taking it during nap time and at night.  We took it away cold turkey.  The first night he cried for quite a while before falling asleep, and woke up once or twice, but really it wasn't that terrible.  It is harder to get him to slow down for nap time, but really, it went really well.  He is also starting to show some interest in the potty.  I'm not fully committed to starting it all right now.  I was going to this fall, but really since he is showing some interest I might just go with it.

Ohlen.  Oh Ohlen.  He is growing up so fast.  Our biggest issue with this guy these days is that he is starting to talk back and argue more.  It can be really frustrating.  On the positive side he really loves his siblings and is, usually, a great big brother.  The times when he and Noah are playing nicely are just so great.  He has really enjoyed being over here and visiting his Great Grandma.  We are also working with him to ween him off of TV and video games.  I got pretty lax in those first weeks we were here.  Because of where his birthday lies he will have to wait until next year for Kindergarten, so I plan to do some "school" time with him starting soon.  Nothing too intense, but just to get him more used to sitting and completing a task.  This guy will be 5 in a month and a half - not sure where my first born baby has gone.

Us.  Jonathan and I are loving it here.  We love the house. We love our neighbors.  We love our location.  Nothing too exciting going on.  We are still trying to pinpoint where we want to go for our 10th anniversary next year.  Our top choices at the moment are London or someplace tropical. (think all inclusive beach bum vacation)  Any suggestions/opinions/advice?

Yes, that is Katherine tucked away in the sling.  (Have I mentioned I love the sling - don't use it as much as I could - but I love it)  I am feeling pretty much back to normal.  I have a whole other post planned for weight stuff, because that is taking up lots of my thought process these days.  In a week and a half I will start babysitting again.  I'm looking to get super organized for that - also probably another post.

In new stuff - I've been visiting Pinterest a whole lot.  That will link you to my boards.  Kind of a more fantastical bookmarking system.  Probably could do a whole post on it - maybe I will later.  If you want to join, but need an invite, let me know.

Also have been checking out Twitter a bit more, but really, I am really behind as to what all the abbreviations mean. And how exactly to reply to someone and all that jazz.  Makes me feel kind of old... :)

Hope you all are doing well.  And hope to start posting more soon. As you'll notice, I didn't follow through with the Sunday music post.  Maybe this Sunday.

Comparisons

Because it's fun. A little comparison of the kids all around a few days old.

Top is Ohlen, then Noah, then Katherine.   I'm thinking she looks more like Ohlen, although I think they all look pretty similar. :)

June 7th

She is here!!  Actually she's been here for over a week now.  It's been a tad crazy around here.  But anyways --- Introducing Katherine Lane.  Born on June 7th. She weighed 6lb 14oz and measured 19 inches long.

Some interesting trivia about her birth date:  Ohlen was born on the 6th, Noah on the 5th, and now Katherine on the 7th....  All different months, but still - my kids like being born in the first of the month apparently.  Also, my dad's birthday is May 24th, mine is exactly a week later on the 31st, and Katherine's is exactly a week after mine on the 7th.  :-D

I woke up Tuesday early morning around 1:30 with regular contractions.  We got the hospital around 2:45.  Because I had taken my evening Heparin shot, I was unable to get an epidural.  Ouch.  I had gone natural with Ohlen too, so I was somewhat prepared, but it certainly wasn't the restful pain free delivery I had imagined. :)  As with the boys, I progressed quickly.  She was born at 5:59am - so approximately 4 and 1/2 hours after I woke up.  So even though I had to go natural, it was at least a quick delivery. And I did get some IV pain meds - Nubane.  It didn't take away the pain, but it did take it down a bit.

So far she has been an excellent baby.  Mostly sleeping and eating. She's not very fussy.  That has been such a blessing.  With everything going on right now (another post coming on that.) we feel so incredibly blessed that she has been so laid back.

The boys love their little sister.  Ohlen is completely in love.  Noah thinks everything she does is hilarious.  He has shown a twinge of jealousy here and there, but mostly has been very happy to have his sister here.

Not so thrilled about her hat.

It is still sinking in that we have 3 kids now.   And one of them is a girl. :)  Again, I'm amazed at how much love you can have for a tiny little person - and without having to borrow any love from anyone else.  It's like with the Grinch - you're heart just grows a little more.  :)  And the same with my brain.  It's like I have a little section of brain designated for each of my kids.  Although, I don't think my brain grows for this one - I think I just lose a little normal brain power. :)  (Some of the penguins are lost.)

Belated Birthday Post

I just realized I didn't post about 2 recent birthdays in our family.  I had all intentions to, but for whatever reason didn't. I blame the heartburn.  No reason, just feel like blaming everything on it right now.  It is starting to defeat the current medication I'm taking for it.

Jonathan's birthday was last month.  He turned the ripe old age of 29. :)  Ohlen insisted we make a cake.  And that it be a Star Wars cake - because Daddy would LOVE a Star Wars cake. Jonathan also loves pizelles, so I made some of those too.  Regular anise flavored, and some chocolate ones.

Jonathan loves dark chocolate, so my aim was to try and make a very chocolately cake and icing.  I made my go to chocolate cake recipe, but halved it.  I used a dark cocoa.  I didn't want to make a regular big cake, seeing as it would be just for our immediate family.  I made the cake in my widest loaf pan, then cut it in half and made a very small two layer cake.

I really didn't want to make any more icing in different colors like I usually do to decorate.  So I found some pictures and fonts online, and made a stencil of sorts.  Then I sprinkled powdered sugar over top.  It did ok.  I should have had a finer powder for the more intricate details, and by the next day the powdered sugar was all dissolved in the frosting so it didn't look as good. But it worked for the little bit that it needed to. :)

Then at the beginning of the month we celebrated Noah's 2nd birthday.  We had a small gathering here for that.  I did a round layer cake for Noah.  I used my go to yellow cake recipe.  Noah is really loving strawberries right now, so I mixed some strawberry jam with the frosting for the middle, and garnished the bottom of the cake with quartered strawberries.  I decorated the top with Thomas, also a current favorite.
As you can see, I had a helper with both cakes.  He was so excited about helping, and keeping the cakes a surprise.  He had a great time celebrating the birthdays.

I can't believe my little boy is 2 already.  Not to mention his big brother will be 5 in a few short months.  And they will have a sister in a month or less.  My goodness.  Time is slipping through our fingers.
Noah's two year pictures.  (A few of them anyways.)  I might try again when the sun isn't in his eyes.  It was overcast most of the day, until right then.  And I'm just noticing how shadowed his face is. Oh well, I still like them. :)  He was in a great mood to be photographed that day.

House stuff is still trucking right along.  The timing is going to be interesting to say the least.  I don't think it matters when this little girl decides to come.  It is going to be interesting regardless.

A conversation with Noah

Noah - sitting at the table after his nap - eating a banana: Ohl? ... Ohl?
Me: Ohlen? He's outside.
Noah: Side?  pause  Bike?
Me: Yep

I love how my boys care about each other.  They keep track of each other.

And Noah's vocabulary is starting to sky rocket - much like Ohlen's right around this time.

:)

This being the last day of March

I totally wasn't expecting to take pictures like this today:

Disney World Part 2 : The Parks

I really didn't sit down thinking I was going to write so much about our trip - but I hope someone can glean something out of it all. :)  And it is hard not to share, it was such a fun time.

Today I want to focus on the two parks that we chose to go to.  This part, for me, was a little difficult before we left.  I had only ever been to Epcot and MGM (which is now called Disney Hollywood Studios - DHS for my blogging purposes).  I went when I was a teenager - and I enjoyed it, so I went in thinking that those places probably weren't the best places to take the little ones.  So I was thinking we would head to the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.  They seemed the most little kid friendly.  However, I then did some research and discovered that there really is alot for the little ones to do at each park.  Magic Kingdom, though, was on the top of the list.  It is just the quintessential Disney Park.  I didn't want to miss out on that.  So that was staying on the list.  At this point (the planning stage), I really wasn't sure about what Noah was going to be able to do, so I was still leaning towards the Animal Kingdom, because I knew that he would LOVE to see animals.  And that is what we ended up doing.

Magic Kingdom

This place was great.  I suggest getting there first thing in the morning when the open.  The ride times are the lowest then.  And if there are rides you absolutely want the kids to ride - go to those first.  Especially those without a FastPass option.  Notably the flying Dumbo ride.  We never made it to this ride.  The wait time was always over 35 minutes when we were there, and it really didn't seem like a great idea to wait that long in the heat with fidgety little ones.  The first ride we went on was a Buzz Lightyear ride.  It can be ridden by all ages!  I was so impressed by all the rides that were accessible to Noah.  They really do cater to all kids.  This ride was great.  There was place to sit and in front of you was a laser gun.  In the middle of the console was a lever that would spin the car.  There were targets to shoot at and it kept track of all the points you got.  Ohlen loved it - and to be honest so did the rest of us.  Noah loved making the car spin. :)  We had about a 5 minute wait when we first got there.  We came back later and it was up to about 25 minutes, so we grabbed a FastPass.  The FastPass gives you an hour time slot to come back and get in a quicker line.  I think the longest we waited in the Fast lines was about 10-15 minutes.  We rode several other rides.  Another that stuck out to me as really great was the 3D show we saw there.  I think it was called Philharmagic.  It had lots of the favorite Disney characters and music in it.  You did have to wear the 3D glasses, which Noah refused to wear - so I'm not sure how much he really got out of it - but Ohlen LOVED it.  Well, except for the occasional blast of air or spritz of water they added for some realism.  It was hilarious watching him try to reach out and grab the 3D objects.  It was really well done - appreciated by us adults as well.

We are ON a Choo-choo!!

Once it hit about 11 it got really crowded.  There were so many people.  By that point we were pretty much only riding FastPass rides.  Ohlen and I did wait in line for one ride for about 25 minutes, and I think that was about his limit.

Some other highlights from Magic Kingdom were seeing some Toy Story characters in a random parade we stumbled on.  (They do post times for those, but we didn't really pay much attention to it.)  A train ride that takes you around the whole park, Noah was especially fond of this one. Ohlen's first roller coaster ride.(He loved it!  I'm foreseeing a Cedar Point trip in our future - a few years yet - but I can not wait.) There were a few rides there that Ohlen was not tall enough for, but there was plenty to do.

We left the park to rest and swim.  Jonathan, the boys, and I headed back to the park around 7 to catch the big fireworks show.  Again, there were so many people.  But the show was good.  I was amused by all the people attempting to take flash pictures of the fireworks.  I imagine they didn't turn out so well.

Waiting for the fireworks.

We were pretty exhausted after our day there.

Animal Kingdom

The next morning we headed out to Animal Kingdom.  Here we mostly walked and looked at the animals.  There weren't as many rides here. It was a nice change of pace from the day before.  And I was really glad that we went to the parks in this order.  The first thing we did was head to another 3D show, It's Tough to be a Bug.  It was hosted by Flick, from A Bug's Life.  The signs on the way in warned that it might frighten small kids, but I really didn't think much of it.  But then as they announced before hand that if it got too intense we could leave through the side, I got a little nervous.  And yeah, we didn't last too long.  There were lots of air blasts - which Ohlen hadn't really liked the day before either.  And this time the subject was bugs...  And they also did some stinky air for a stink bug... yeah, we had to get out of there.  Not the best start to the day, but the rest was pretty good.  We got to see lots of animals.  They also have a place designated to meet a few Disney characters, which was nice.  Ohlen met Goofy.  He was a little shy. :)

I think our 2 favorite things at this park that we did were the Safari ride and the Finding Nemo show.  The safari ride was one that I was really looking forward to.  I was a little bummed though because the map said that pregnant women should not ride.  I did a little research before hand and really, everything I read said that they were just a little overcautious.  So, I decided to ride it anyways. Really, there were a few bumps, but it really wasn't bad at all.  Certainly not enough to cause any concern.  It was a really neat ride.  They loaded up a huge open truck and drove around (like a safari) and we got to see a bunch of African animals.  Very fun.  The Finding Nemo show was just great.  It was a Broadway type show.  The costumes/props were amazing. The show wasn't all that long - I'm thinking about 30-40 minutes.  The boys seemed to like it too.

I was a little disappointed with the petting zoo part of the park.  When reading it, it made it seem like there would be lots of animals that the kids would get to interact with and touch.  It ended up being mostly just sheep and goats.  They've had more animal interaction here at home at the Truck Patch...  Overall, though, we enjoyed this park.  However, it was much more like a zoo than I thought.  There weren't as many rides as I was expecting.  Or at least we didn't find them.  We also didn't venture into the Dinosaur section, which I think is where the rides were.

I do sort of wish we would have been able to go to DHS simply because they have a big Pixar section and apparently you can meet the Cars characters - and I know that Ohlen would have loved it.  However, I'm not sure how another day full of rides would have went.  It will definitely be on our list for next time.  I'm sure Epcot would have been fun too, but I also think that it has a whole lot of walking.  At this point I don't think the boys would be old enough to appreciate all the different cultures that are represented there.

Has anyone taken little ones to DHS or Epcot?  I would love to know how it went.

I have to say - it was a really fun trip.  I wasn't sure how it would go.  How the boys would like it.  They had so much fun.  I think seeing them enjoy everything was best part.