Skidamarink Song

Here is the long awaited video of Drew singing skidamarink a dink a dink.....

He pretty much sings" Winky...I love you...too...boop boopy doo - whoo!" I just think it is too cute!

Wake Up Call

Sometimes I forget that the world does not wake up as early as a mommy of two that has to make her husband's lunch in the morning and attempt to get some work done before the kids wake up. For example, when I call one of my less married and a little more childrenless than I and wake them up at 8:30 in the morning! Not everyone has been up for three hours by that time...whoops.

Also, on two occasions this week I tried to run my errands before the rest of the world was ready for me. I got up early, got all ready, made sure both kids were fed, gathered my lists and my thoughts, made a plan, and headed out the door. I dropped Drew off at school and was ready to put some checkmarks on my To Do List. WRONG! Note to self - the bank, Hobby Lobby, and the mall do not open until 9 or 10 so I cannot try and start my errands at 8:30. That would have been nice to remember before I got Carter all loaded into the stroller and headed into the mall. **sigh** I do think the mall should open before 10. I mean really, that is prime time for a mom to shop with her baby - before the morning nap! Arg.

I am proud to say that I have gotten almost all my errands done for this week and even did the mall by myself last night with both little boys. It went quite smoothly with only one meltdown by Drew after leaving the play place. Needless to say, I was quite ready for the boys to hit to hay cme 8:00 and have a very welcome visit by Shell and Rich. We watched American Idol while Shell gave me a much needed pedicure! It was diiiivine! Thanks Shell!

Drewbish

Andrew speaks a language of his own...which Bry calls Drew-bish. I love the way he talks. This week during speech therapy he was supposed to repeat the word Engineer for the therapist, to which he very cutely replied "Andrew-neer". He said it in his very Andrew way....kind of slurring the word Andrew together with a neer at the end. A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E!

I'll Take Mine with Lime

"I don't like pickles in my water!"

Just in case you were wondering, Lainy DOES NOT like pickles in her water! We had this pitcher full of water with limes at Carter's party (I LOVE water with lime)....apparently they reminded this little lady of pickles. 

She makes me laugh!

He's Not Zero Anymore

****When Rylee found out Carter turned one.....she responded with "he's not zero anymore". She is so cute!****

OOoooooh I love that face! We had a party for Carter on Saturday with pizza, presents, and cake. Who could ask for more!?

   

To start things off....Jared was SO excited about the cake pops that he popped one right in his mouth. He knew we were supposed to wait, but it was too tempting and to avoid losing his chance to get one he stuck the whole thing in his mouth. The picture is blurry, but rest assured he got the whole cake pop in his mouth!  Jayce found a leaf bug outside, which was pretty cool and attracked a lot of attention. I don't think I had ever seen on before!

   

Carter got some stacking cups, which he likes to bang together. And yes, I bought him a tube of tennis balls. I read somewhere that babies really like to dump them out and put them back in. We will see how true that is in the days to come. He also got some cute new outfits from Grammy and Poppy! 

   

The definite favorite present was the Little Einsteins Rocket toy. Carter was VERY excited about it....as were all the other kiddos. Poor Carter got pushed aside....but that did not last for long. We made sure he got a turn before everyone else. 

He was so cute sitting on there. He was SOO excited. He kept sqeualing and screaming! I can't believe how big my baby is getting. He is doing really well pushing the toy around the house now. We put a 5 lb weight in the seat so that it didn't go so fast. I am sure walking is not too far off. He is just too cute!

The idea was to have a bubble themed party.....well, that didn't quite happen as I had planned, but we did have cake pops, mini cup cakes and other cup cakes, plus a Carter cake. 

    

Carter was not shy when the cake first came down. We put him on a white tablecloth and let him have at it. He stuck his hand right in. He was a little more hesitant once he got messy and I helped a couple times by squishing his hands in. He sure did like all that sugar. 

Andrew was pretty worried about his brother being so messy. He wanted nothing to do with eating that cake. He is such a funny kiddo. 

Carter is so cute when he puts food like this into his mouth. It is more like a shoving motion. I just love his little hands. 

He was done after a little while and wanted nothing more to do with that messy cake so off to the sink we went. Carter is SUCH a water baby. He loves it! He does this thing where he likes to "lap" the water out of the facet. He does this in the bath and now the kitchen sink. It was SO funny!!! His little tongue would seriously lap the water up - he is just too adorable!!!

   

After the party was done all the kids were in the office/playroom playing together. I just thought it was a moment to record with all five cousins in that little room together playing so nicely! It is so fun to have family close by - wish there were more that lived close by!!! After everone was gone Shell stuck around and we played with the boys. Carter loves his little ball toy, as does Andrew. I love this picture of Shell and Andrew. Drew just adores her and loves to play. 

We had a great one year celebration and it is crazy to think a year has already come and gone. Time goes by too fast. I am so grateful to be able to be home and spend time with these two little munchkins everyday. They change and grow so much and I am right here to watch, record, and snap pictures of it all. I could not ask for better kiddos - they are so much fun and give me so much to be grateful for!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Today is a great day, it is a day that I get to celebrate how great of a mommy my wife is! Our boys love their mommy sooooo much! Megan is such a wonderful mother, she plays, teaches, and nurtures our two boys. She is so patient and understanding when our boys give her trouble (which isn't too often). She takes care of all the needs of the house and everyone in this family. She is always putting the 3 of us before herself, in fact many times her own needs are not met because she is so busy meeting ours. I love her so much and I know I speak for our two boys when I say that they love their best mother in the whole world!! It is safe to say that Megan is always shouldering the load of her loved ones and I thought this picture said it all because she does it with a smile on her face (it was from our recent family hike). Megan I love you and I want to wish you a happy mother's day!!

Happy Birthday Carter

At precisely 3:58 pm my baby turned one year old! I am amazed that it has already been a year since they placed a sweet little 5 lb 6 oz baby in my arms....my baby...my little sweet, angel baby. I had no idea what joy his little spirit would bring to our family. I have loved each moment watching him grow and change. His cute personality continues to show each day. He absolutely adores his older brother and has one of the most infectious laughs. He is so curious yet so cautious. He is independent, but still loves to be carried, cuddled, and loved. We waited so long for this little man and I am grateful everyday to have this precious little boy in our lives. 

Here is a little reminder of the road to life for our little miracle baby....

6 weeks 5 days --------------------- 13 weeks
 

11 weeks 3 days -------------- 23 weeks

  

27 weeks -------------------  29 weeks 1 day

 

32 weeks 1 day -------------- 34 weeks 4 days

May 8th, 2008

I made sure to take a picture of Carter on the 8th of every month. It is crazy how much they grow and change in a month's time. He is just so cute and I love him to pieces!

  

05/08/08 ----------------------- 06/08/08

  

07/08/08 ----------------- 08/08/08

09/08/08

 

10/08/09 

  

11/08/08 --------------------12/08/08

01/08/09

02/08/09

  

03/08/09 ------------------------ 04/08/09

05/08/09

(He does this almost everytime I take a picture of him now when the flash goes off. Silly kid - I have to be sneaky these days to get a nice shot of his baby blues!)

Happy Birthday Carter Noble !!!!!

Needy Needy

My baby is growing up....and as a result he is becoming quite a bit more independent and bit less dependent on me. I have come to the conclusion that Carter has to be one of the easiest babies ever. He has now officially decided he no longer needs me to nurse him to sleep or even rock him to sleep. Being that I love to rock and sing to my boys I still do, but he stays awake and then goes to sleep on his own in his crib. No crying, no fussing...just plays, coos, and then goes to sleep. I am so grateful I didn't have to do the whole "cry it out bit". I was not made for that. Seriously though...this child is an angel (most of the time). I love to check on him after he is asleep to see how cute he looks...I just love the way his little legs are crossed!!

This little event triggered a thought process for me. I have decided I am quite needy. I need to be needed. I love a new baby that is so dependent on me...for food, warmth, comfort, cleanliness....everything. I enjoy it when my husband needs me to make his lunch, do his laundry, or even make him toast. I like to think that Andrew needs me to be there to put him to bed, to help him eat, and on and on. I may not enjoy all this neediness all hours of the day, but it keeps me going. This has been a part of me for a long time. I loved working with the special needs kids in elementary school - I felt needed. As I got older I didn't always pick the cream of the crop boyfriends....I often chose the wayward ones, ones that I could help, ones that needed me. I do think I should keep this in check so that I do not overextend what I can do, but it helps me feel important and secure. 

I am sad that my little boys are growing up and possibly could survive more than two hours without me right there.  Even though they may not always need me in the ways they do know, I know that I still need my mom and I imagine my boys will always need me too. Good thing I will always have Bry. He not only makes me feel like he needs me, but he also makes sure to let me know how much he appreciates me, which makes it all worth it. 

Winky

Andrew had parent appreciate day today. They have been preparing for this at school for weeks and I got my first glimpse into what they had in store for us last week while Drew was in the tub. He kept putting one hand on the opposite elbow with the other hand up....and would say "winky" and then I love you with hand movements pointing to his eyes, across his chest, and then pointing both hands at me. It clicked - he was doing skida marink a dink a dink! He finished the song by hold up two of his cute little fingers, said "too" and then said "boo boopy doo - woo!" His skinny little body wiggled and he jumped up with the woo! Cutest thing EVER! This is the first time I had ever really heard him sing. I was SO excited for his performance. 

He kept practicing and I have him singing on video just in case he didn't perform quite as well as he does at home. I got to the school with about 3.2 seconds to spare before they started singing. Andrew was quite wiggly and didn't really want to stand and sing. He did a couple hand motions and spotted Carter and I partway through the song  shouted "Mommy! Carter!" It was priceless. He didn't even do his "boo boopy do - woo!" so I was glad to get it on video at home before. He made me a cute little bookmark with his picture and then we hung out and had ants on a log. 

Overall I think this preschool performance went WAY better than the Christmas one, in which he cried and hid under a table and we had to leave early. I am so grateful for his teacher and all he is learning at school (well, most of what he is learning at school). I sure do love this kid!

**If I have time I will work on posting a video of the adorable winky song....