Merry Christmas!

Dear Ty and Noelle,

Thank you for a wonderful Christmas. The last two days have been a flurry of activity with lots of laughs and love. I enjoyed every minute of it and hope you did too!! As I sit here by the tree, with new toys stacked up everywhere and snow softly falling, I know without a doubt I am the luckiest mommy in the world!!

I love you to pieces,
Mommy

Tails

Dear Noelle,

I just had to write down the latest dialogue between you and daddy:

Daddy: "You better settle down or I'm gonna jerk a knot in your tail

You: "No you not. I don't have a tail. I'm not a dog, I'm Noelle."

And the way you're looking in this pic, it looks like you're gonna jerk a knot in HIS tail!

Love you,

Mommy

Christmas Cards

I gave us ten pics to get it right. Equipped with a camera that won't charge, the photo shoot lasted all of about 12 minutes, with Jeremy yelling "poopy pants" for about 11 of those. Christmas Cards: pass or fail? Check your mailboxes soon and find out!

Does the picture below not say it all? I'm a mess, Jer looks like he is drowning, Noelle is ready to pounce and Ty is being smooshed into the floor.

Full Hands, Full Heart

Dear Noelle and Ty,

There's no doubt that with the last two months, my hands have been full, but so is my heart. I have hardly had time to sit down and catch my breath, let alone get on here and blog about our daily festivities. It's gonna take a while to catch back up....

My sweet little Ty: You have really come into your own and your personality has captured my heart. You are all boy, from your little man laugh, to your messy hands and face, to your never ending pooping, to finding anything, no matter how small or gross, on the floor and eating it. You have developed a love of dog food and can now get 10-15 pieces shoved into your mouth in a matter of seconds. When Daddy or I catch you, you put it into third gear and try to high tail it out of the kitchen. You can say daddy and no, more like nnnnnnno.

You still only have two teeth, but are eating lots of solid foods now. You tend to be a meat and potato guy...and you like your juice too! You are *this close* to walking but are too stubborn to give it a good try. And when you don't get your way...LOOK OUT. Screaming and gnashing of the teeth to follow.

And my little doll Noelle, I have loved every bit of our last two months. You are really into the holidays, and really love the Christmas lights. You are cautiously awaiting Santa's arrival, and I'm not sure I can convince you to go see him at the mall. Sometimes I think you are a 2 going on 15- your current Christmas list includes keys, a phone, and a pink video recorder (mp3 player to the tune of $145). What ever happened to barbies and cabbage patch dolls?

You adore your little brother and are the bests big sis. You are so selfless and sweet and I'm not sure how I got so lucky to be your mama. You are going to be starting pre-school soon and I am so excited for you! I know you will just love it!

Well, I'm signing off for now. I can't seem to get more pics loaded right now...could have something to do with my camera that hasn't been charged in a week, but I'll have to investigate when sleep isn't calling. I will try to get a few catch-up posts written in the next few days, complete with Halloween pictures, and of the Christmas fun we've been having!

I love you both!
-Mommy

7 and 8 months

Dear Ty,

Well you have certainly been keeping us busy. You have been learning all sorts of new stuff these last two months and it's so exciting. You started crawling AND got your first tooth on the SAME day, September 23rd. You love, love, love being mobile and it seriously happened overnight. One day you popped up on all the fours, the next you were on the go. You love putting anything and everything in your mouth and a big fan of pulling mine and Noelle's hair every chance you get.

Your first tooth is on the bottom and it solidifies your cuteness. You have been introduced to some non-baby food and can't ever get enough...crackers, toast, and potato to name a few of your favorites. I know how much you are dreaming of your first bite of steak, but we will have to wait until you get a few more teeth.

You hate, absolutely hate, having your face washed, nose wiped and hand washed.

You are now officially in the big boy car seat due to being so darn chunky! While it stinks not being able to pop you in and out of the car in the infant carrier, I think you enjoy your Cadillac of car seats much better. It's more comfortable and you get a better view of what's going on around you.

Other firsts this month: first ear infection, first time going from belly to sitting up, first time mimicking funny faces, first time pulling up to standing on your knees and first time getting super mad when you don't get your way. Super mad.

I love your little husky laugh and still think you are the sweetest little boy. I'm having fun dressing you up in your fall clothes and you look so handsome in just about everything you own. I stopped by Gymboree the other night and about died with how cute all the Christmas outfits were. You and Noelle are going to be stylin' for sure.

Your smile still melts my heart and there's nothing like a "toothy"smile to brighten my day!!

I love you,

Mommy

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Dear Noelle,

One of the things I really hope to instill in you is a love for reading and I think we are on the right track. You get super excited when we go to the library and have a blast bringing back the old books and picking out new ones. You are always trying to get us to read "one more please" or keep reading for "just two more minutes".

We have read and re-read your collection of books so many times that you have a few of them memorized. I happened to sneak up on you and Ty in the hallway today and you were reading him Brown Bear, Brown Bear:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

All was going well until you said " gorange oldfish" and I started laughing. You caught me with the camera and got camera shy shortly after, but these impromptu reading sessions with Ty are happening more and more and I think it's the cutest thing! You're such a good reader AND a good big sister!

I love you little girl,
Mommy

Melting My Heart

Dear Ty,

You are
without a doubt

the cutest,

sweetest,

most adorable little boy

I have ever seen.
I love you!

Mommy

Dark in here!

Dear Noelle,

Had to share the conversation we just had:

You: "Mom, I dropped my nigh-nigh"

Me: "Okay, you can get out of bed and get it."

***you rummage around for a good minute***

You: "Ummmm, mom....it's pretty dark in here." (with the tone of voice that was really saying, DUH, how the heck am I supposed to find anything in the pitch black, can you get off your butt and help me out in here or what.

I love you,
Mommy

Why would you do that?

Dear Noelle,

Tonight we had a great dinner: homemade Italian beef, cucumbers fresh from our garden and french fries. You accidentally knocked your spoon on the floor and as I went to go grab it, you threw a hunk of meat at me. What the heck would possess you to do that? Needless to say, you landed in time out. When I asked you why you would do that, you said, "Cause it's funny!"

Of course.

We then headed out for a bike ride and you can now FLY on your little bike. At one point I was running with Ty to catch up to you, and as you kept going faster and faster, I couldn't help but think of how much your bike riding parallels your growing independence. You are getting to be such a big girl and are a wonderful help (when you're not pelting me with food). I love how your personality is so unique and even when you are testing the limits, I never forget how lucky I am to be your mommy.

When we got home, we started to fill up the tub for bath time. You came up to me, hugged my neck and said, "Mom, I love you. You're my friend."

You're my friend too, baby girl, and I love you infinity!!
Love,
Mommy

Vacation Part 1

Well, we did it. We survived a week long vacation with two little-littles. Despite our best attempts to get out of the house early, we ended up not getting on the road until about 7:30 am. We were aiming for about 5:00 am so the kids could sleep a little on the way up, stop for breakfast, drive, nap, get there. Well you know how it goes: there's always one last thing to pack, gotta do this, do that, check this, check that, next thing you know we're out the door at 7:30. Did I mention we had everything packed and the car loaded the night before?

Yeah, the best laid plans....

Either way, it worked out just fine. Mapquest put us there in 6 hours, and we made it up in about 8.5. The kids did awesome and the stars aligned for us so that we only had to stop a few times and got everything done at each stop (diaper changes, potty breaks, nursing, lunch, gas)... unlike the dreaded 3 hour-turned-6 hour- trip to St. Louis down to Stacy and Hari's where we lucky enough to make individual stops for the above mentioned needs.

We had fun playing flash cards, drawing and singing in the car and stretching our legs with some quick runs when needed. We got to the house, checked out the place, the beach, the boat and headed to the grocery store to stock up for the week. We decided to do most meals at home, and got lots of yummy stuff to BBQ...although I'll admit by the time we got home, we ended up throwing in a pizza and calling it a night. We were all pretty tired from the car ride and wanted to get a good night's sleep for the next day's adventures.

Sunday, August 2nd

We all slept in until about 9:30, which was AWESOME. You just never know how kids will adjust to sleeping in a new place and we really lucked out. Little did we know this was going to become a common theme for our trip, and I was not complaining at all. We cooked a huge breakfast and headed out to the beach to soak up some sun before naptime. Our beach was perfect as could be for a family with an energetic and exploratory toddler. The water was super warm, shallow, clear, in other words: SAFE. Just what a mother with a slight OCD needed. Daddy and Noelle played ball and expored while Ty and myself hung out in the sand.

**I realize it's totally ridiculous that it has taken me a month to get some vaca pictures up, and there are tons more to come!! Things are just TOO BUSY! Plus, Ty's 7 month update is coming too!

Wordless Wednesday

So THIS is how it works...

Dear Noelle,

As I'm sure any two year old mom does, I have been working a lot with you on sharing. Ty is getting to the age where he is interested in toys and every now and then he gets ahold of one of yours. Without fail, you immediately want whatever it is he has. Even if it's a toy that hasn't made it's way out of the bottom of the toy basket in over a year. Doesn't matter. Then a nice long talk ensues on how you have to share with Ty, etc. etc. We usually end the battle with you finding another toy to exchange with Ty's cool one.

So, today, I was getting some of the old baby toys I had packed up from when you were itty-bitty and cleaning them off for Ty. I gave him this ball popper thing and once you noticed a "new" toy in the room, came over to me and said, "Hey mom, can I share with Ty?".

A breakthrough! Great! Finally, all the sharing talk we've been doing has finally paid off. Now you and your little brother are starting to co-exist peacefully and they can just mail me my mother of the year medal!

Or not.

Once I said, "Noelle, that's a great idea! Sharing with Ty is a very nice thing to do!" You walked right over to him, snatched the toy from his hand and proceeded to ball pop around the house while poor Ty was still trying to process what happened.

Ah, so this is how your little mind thinks sharing works. Guess we have some more work to do, huh?

Love,
Mommy

Wordless Wednesday - A day late!!

SO COOL

Dear Noelle and Ty,

When your Uncle Dave and I get together, we usually end up laughing hysterically at some point. It doesn't take much to get us going, be it a one-line zinger from him, remembering a funny old story, or just recalling bits of our favorite movie, Dumb and Dumber. Whatever the case, a dose of laugh-so-hard-your-abs-hurt always leaves me thankful for such an awesome brother. In fact, just the other day we were talking on the phone about his internship and he made some off-hand comment which had me in tears. Neither one of us was talking, just laughing and he has the type of laugh that is contagious....you just keep laughing harder and longer until you can get yourself under control (kinda drives your Grandma nuts, lol).

Anyways, the point of this post.

You two can get each other laughing the same way. The best is in the car, Noelle starts making funny faces or funny noises, and the next thing you know, Ty is laughing and soon enough you are just laughing at each other laughing, kinda like me and uncle Dave. It's the coolest thing to watch and even though some days it gets a little crazy around here, I love knowing that you two have each other and are going to be the best of friends!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Love,
Mommy

Thursday's Playlist

So, a blog I check out from time to time ( http://knowingnorrah.blogspot.com/) does "Thursday's Play List" and this week's theme is Children's Songs. This couldn't have come at a better time because Noelle's favorite song of the week has changed to a new tune on her Baby Boogie CD. I don't know the name, but it's one we love to sing in the car. It goes like this: My mom mom mommy is a bumble beeShe goes buzz buzz and she tickles meMy dad dad daddy is a rolly polly bughe wraps his arms around and goes hug hugthat's buzz buzz and hugs hugsmommy and daddy and love love love Noelle loves it and I always reach back to try and tickle her, which makes her laugh hysterically. I googled it and found a sound clip so you can hear how catchy it is.... My Mom, Mom, Mommy, My only question is, what the heck does a child of a bumble bee and a rolly polly look like?!

The Next American Idol

Dear Noelle,

Did you know you have the most beautiful voice? You have been singing since March, but you get so camera shy every time I try to record you. Your favorite song to sing is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. I love how soft your voice gets and the way I can tell you are really thinking about what it is you are singing. You always make me smile and I especially like the way your tone fluctuates. You have a few kid CD's in the car and know all the words to the songs. The ABC's, Goodnight - Sleep tight, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Mulberry Bush, and I Like to Bounce are just a few of your current favorites....sometimes you even like to blend two songs together. Here you are in action, singing the ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle. Oh, and the best is when you get to the L-M-N-O-P part....

(Note to Readers: Make sure you turn off the Blog Music on the right so you can hear the sweetest voice!)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I love you baby girl!

Mommy

Sittin' on the dock of the bay...

...literally. It's about time for a family pic, eh? Here we are at the Grand Traverse Bay...

A Month of Firsts

Dear Ty,

My little sweetie, this has been quite the months of firsts!! You turned six months while we were on vacation and you have been a busy little boy.

Let's see, we kicked off the beginning of the month by you finding your toesies....

You are now able to sit up on your own (and have been since July 17th!!)....

You started rice cereal on July 23rd and while you LOVED it, it did not love you. You puked and then were up half the night crying and having stomach pains. So, we waited a bit longer and re-introduced it with smaller amounts and you've handled it fine so far. You are also eating bananas, applesauce and peaches right now. We tried carrots, but they didn't love you either. I can hardly get any pictures of you eating because you start yelling and fussing if the food isn't coming at a rapid rate. Here is a video clip:

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We also had our first positive park experience. You've been before but have not enjoyed it until now. The swings used to scare you, now you love them! You are so stinkin' cute....

You also started working on drinking from the sippy cup....

You went to your first baseball game on August 2nd. We were up in Traverse City, MI and went to see the Beach Bums. You had fun at the game.....

...but not as much fun as your sister....

You ended your fifth month just like you started...playing with your feet, except now you like to suck on your big toe. YUM.

Some favorites: you love to watch your big sister Noelle and laugh at her when she makes funny faces. You are working hard at trying to crawl and you love to grab anything you can get your hands on, including mine and Noelle's hair. You are quite the demanding baby and like to "yell" when you are not happy, mostly around feeding time if I'm not shoveling in the food fast enough. You have had an aversion to your crib this month and prefer Daddy's chest as your new bed. I have a feeling I'm going to have to give you some tough love with a cry it out session. Either that or your Dad's going to go to the looney bin for lack of sleep. You continue to drool incredible amounts, yet no tooth has popped through.

You are so chunk-a-licious! You are up to 17 lbs, 14.5 oz and are 27.75 inches tall. I can't wait to see what your 6th month holds....

I love you bunches!

Mommy