Happy Friday! Love, Noah

25 random things...

I got tagged a few times on facebook for this but figured Id paste it here on my blog. If you're interested in doing this- consider yourself tagged!


25 Random Things
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 20 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I will not eat canned food unless it has boiled first. I will also not eat anything semi-liquid out of the fridge unless it has boiled. All other food must be scalding hot. Unless someone else serves it.

2. I have a ketchup phobia. Stemming from Halloween when I was probably 5 years old and we were out to eat and I saw a kid with fake blood on his face which I thought was ketchup and immediatly was grossed out. I do eat ketchup, Im just VERY funny about it.

3. I have a fear of being paralyzed and unable to feel my legs. It all started with an epidural during my delivery with Juliana where I could not feel nor lift my legs and freaked out.

4. I check on my daughter every night, sometimes a few times. I have a fear of something happening to her. I never had that fear with Noah- I knew he would be okay.

5.I could seriously eat wasabi on anything and everything. I love it. My favorite is wasabi and chicken sandwiches.

6. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be 24 and married with 2 kids.

7. My kids are exactly 12 months apart. Meaning, I got pregnant with Juliana when Noah was only 3 months old. October is apparently my month. They almost had the same due date. I found out I was pregnant with both of them the day after Thanksgiving.

8. My kids are my greatest accomplishment. Hands down.

9. I dont go to church. I have issues with most churches and possibly organized religion in general. I do believe in God!

10. I couldnt really tell you my real hair color since Ive been dying it since middle school.

11. I have a dream of working as a registered nurse in a foreign country, perhaps with the peace corps. Not sure when or if that will ever happen with two small children.

12. I credit my friend Lucy with changing my life for the better even though I have not seen or talked to her in quite some time.

13. I love to clean the counters. A bottle of 409 use to be the greatest present I could think of when I was younger.

14. I hate taking laundry out of the dryer. I try to get Allen to do it.

15. In the past 18 months, I have lived in 3, soon to be 4 different places.

16. I quite possibly have the worst memory ever. Many times I cant remember what I did yesterday. However I have excelent short term memory. I could study for a test 5 minutes before and ace it whereas if I studied for days before, I wouldnt.

17. I get horribly mean when I feel rushed or if Im late to something.

18. Im always late. Always.Except to work. Ive never been late to work. Or school.

19. I hate skittles. I cannot stand the smell of skittles. I gag.

20. I love sleep and I love getting lots of it. I could sleep more than my kids if allowed. I however have nighttime insomnia.

21. I only partially named "Noah" after Noah in The Notebook. My husband claims otherwise.

22. Juliana is named after the group "The Juliana Theory"... which I dont listen to anymore. It was just set in stone.

23. Im the ultimate procrastinator.

24.I dream about writing a book. One day perhaps. Not sure what I would write about.

25.I stress constantly about the economy and everytime I hear about someone losing their job, My heart sinks.

Wordless Wednesday...

Oh dear God help...

What has happened to my sweet little princess?? Okay, I realize the first 3-4 months of Juliana's life couldn't necessarily be considered "sweet." Actually she was a tad bit of a terror. Please let me emphasize "tad" on that one. She had colic, and well, cried. A good bit. So much of a good bit that it wasn't necessarily easy for me to find anyone to keep her while I went say, grocery shopping. Or to Walgreens to pick up a thing or two. One of the first outings we took was when she was 4 weeks old and was just starting to crank it up a bit. On that particular night, I locked Juliana in the car. It was one of those "Oh %$#*" moments. Twenty minutes, three police cars, and the EMS later, she was free. That's actually a completely unrelated story. Anywho! After the first 4 months, she got much better. She was still a sensitive little thing, but the hours of crying turned into an hour, which in turn turned into several minutes, she started sleeping well, would play by herself in her exersaucer (for moms that don't have one of these things and have a small infant, highly recommended! Juliana hated everything BUT the exersaucer- swing, bouncer, etc) and cried for one of three things- food, sleep, and when she was done playing and needed some mommy time. But holy heck! Juliana has once again pulled out all the stops! The past three days she has been quite the terror. She wakes up (hours early!) screaming. Doesn't want to go back to sleep. Talks loudly then proceeds to scream, louder. Goes back to sleep for an hour. Then is up for the day. Doesn't want to play in her exersaucer. Wants mommy to hold and tote her around all day long and if I cant, she gets hysterical. Which she has gotten quite hysterical quite a few times today (HYSTERICAL!!!), screaming loudly, of the ear piercing variety because it just isn't feasible for me to walk her around all day. And God forbid you ever walk out of the room and leave her for 2 seconds to grab something in an adjoining room. Noah could scream at this age but it was never the kind that made the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up and make you grind a layer off your teeth. Juliana just has that knack. What the heck is this? Teething? Separation anxiety? Was it the regular formula we gave her the other day? Whatever it is, I do hope it resolves... quickly. Before I need a gray touch up kit or a set of dentures.

Today I really got to thinking how much moms (and dads, too!) really sacrifice. No, not trying to pat myself on the back here but to more or less give a shout out to all moms out there. I, by no means, should be the recipient of the #1 mom award. I don't wake up in the morning and take a shower and put makeup on before my kids wake up. Nor do I always greet my children overly cheerfully when I pluck them out of bed. The house is not immaculate, or always very clean for that matter for the most part. I lose my patience. And I will go to bed without having had a shower for the day, or put on any makeup, or changed out of my PJs (yes, Ive done this a few times). But seriously guys, being a parent is tough! I never imagined the sleepless nights, the worry, the stress, the mess... before having children 18 months ago. Today I had two babies, battling it out for attention, dealing with meltdowns and screaming... and when I finally got them in the bed tonight, I looked around and saw a disaster. Two highchairs covered in food, 2 outfits that needed spray-n-wash, a floor that needed to be swept and mopped, a sink full of dishes, dozens of toys scattered all over the place, an outfit caked in mud that needed to be rinsed out in the sink and prewashed, a pair of toddler shoes that were also caked in mud that needed to be cleaned, a tricycle and a 4 wheeler that needed to be put away, bath crayon that needed to be washed off the walls... ETC! *Sigh* I wouldn't trade it for the world though. *Sigh once more for effect*.

*Lacking a transition here* Noah discovered "dirt" today. Well, he gave it a name for the first time. He's all boy. And therefor, we let boys be boys:

Miracles and milk

I wanted to post a picture of one of my best friends, Kayla with her son Nicholas with of course, my Juliana. Kayla and I have been great (if not best) friends since we were 9 years old and we are fortunate enough to have children around the same age. Kayla was told that she probably would never be able to conceive a child, yet found that she was pregnant a few weeks after I found out that I was pregnant with Juliana. A few months down the road in her pregnancy Kayla's baby was given the diagnosis of Trisomy 18, a disorder incompatible with life and she was told that he would likely die after birth if he was not stillborn. Nicholas was born nearly 5 months ago 150% healthy with absolutely no medical problems whatsoever and absolutely no indication of Trisomy 18. A little miracle.



Today we were all out of formula. Juliana has been on similac sensitive since I stopped pumping and was doing fairly well on it. We got the bright idea to go buy regular enfamil and see how she did. I believe the picture speaks for itself. She was not a fan. Yes I did stop to take a (very quick!!) picture before getting things cleaned up. That is what you call projectile vomit.




My little water baby, moments later:

Trying to "grab" the water. In complete amazement:

Juliana and I spent the majority of the day alone. Noah's great grandparents came and picked him up this morning to spend the weekend and see a USC basketball game tomorrow afternoon. It was such an awkward feeling without Noah around. It was so quiet that it was unreal. Noah "talks" constantly and you can always hear him making some sort of commotion or other. It just felt so odd today without him here. I even started to check on him before going upstairs only to remember that he wasn't here.

The husband is home from work bearing chocolate and most importantly, his presence. I must go.

Yawwwwwnnnnnn

Why is it that every morning when my "alarm clock" goes off AKA crying baby, I wake up completely exhausted. Seriously- exhausted. I stumble out of bed, half fall down the stairs, settle the kids, and would stare at the wall for a complete hour if I could (Don't worry, I don't have that option). All I can think about is getting some serious sleep. I have no energy and I'm starting to think that I need to get my thyroid checked. I manage to have about 75% of the symptoms of one. Isn't there just always something?? But the real kicker in my case is that I put the kids to bed at 8pm, do a few things around the house and get in bed to go to sleep. And I cant. I'm tired. But I cant sleep. Yeah I just don't get it either.

Today was Noah's day. It was completely all about Noah as he made sure to make it that way. He started the day off, bright and early, after a few clementines by blowing out his diaper. All over the house. I had to think quickly on this one and ran him into the bathtub with all his clothes on and plopped him in the tub and handled it from there. A couple more incidents later, I was sticking some avocado and banana in the food processor for Juliana and Noah runs off. I'm thinking hes hiding because he doesn't like the noise. I finish up doing what I'm doing, put it in a bowl, put Juliana in the chair to feed her and call for Noah as hes still "hiding." I find him in the bathroom and he has completely FILLED UP the toilet with various er, feminine products along with a few other things including but not limited to a toothbrush (not mine thank God), an eyeliner pencil package, a toilet paper roll, and a small bath toy and has tried to flush. You guys must think I left this kid up to his own devices for quite some time but no really, give this kid a minute without your undivided attention, and he will multiply it. So tonight as I was digging stuff out the toilet (with my bare hands might I add. You would think as I'm a nurse I would have one pair of gloves around here somewhere but nope, not I) and gritting my teeth, I decided that Noah needed a little extra rest tonight and both of the kids went to bed early. I'm sure I'll pay for it tomorrow. But really, being a mommy is quite glamorous isn't it?

Snow day.

We live in the south. Any amount of snow is a big deal. It was a big deal today. I woke up to see that it was indeed snowing. I was telling Allen that it reminded me of a snow globe. The snow just seemed to float around in the air and never really seemed to hit the ground- it seemed weightless. It was wonderful. Noah was quite impressed with it and even called it by name. It started to come down pretty hard and I told Allen that we needed to go to the store and get a few things just in case the weather got worse and the roads became yucky so that we wouldnt have to go anywhere. So off to the store we went to grab a few items along with some ingredients to make chili and cornbread- seemed like the appropriate meal. As we were leaving, we realized that the snow had indeed stopped (bummer #1) and we were missing the Inauguration (bummer #2). Noah did briefly get to play in the snow while it was falling but I just KNEW that it would still be snowing when we got back so I didnt snap any pictures then. He was trying to catch a snowflake. Can we have another snow day, please?

A view from the house:




At the store getting "provisions":

Juliana didnt quite get what all the hype was about:

Is that snow?!! Or did someone spill salt?

Noah, happy as a clam to be running around in wet soggy pants from crawling all over the ground. Yes, we put a hat on him. No, he wouldnt keep it on: