New babies and horrific shopping trips

Wow. It feels like it has been ages since I last posted anything about anything! Really. Ive been so very busy and at night when I sit down to write a blog, I'm just too tired. Or I forget. Or I start typing up something and then feel like its not interesting enough or feel that I'm not doing a good enough job writing it... (list of excuses continues).

But none of that! I am so very proud to announce...

My niece! Megan Olivia Bozard was born on Wednesday, February 11th at 6:55am weighing in at a hearty 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 inches long, with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was a tad bit stubborn and came a few days after her due date but alas, she came when she was good and ready! Her mommy is doing well and both mommy and daddy are so, so, so proud of their beautiful little girl. We got the call late Tuesday night that Krystal had headed to the hospital with frequent contractions so my mom and I packed up, left the kids with Allen (who had to work the next day and ended up taking both kids to work with him... now THAT is a different story!), and headed to Charleston. We ended up spending the night in the hallway of the hospital and Miss Megan was born early the next morning via c-section (She just didn't want to come the normal way! And she was turned around backwards). We didn't get any sleep that night, but it was well worth it. Just call me Auntie Elizabeth.

It always takes a minute of getting use to when holding a brand new baby after holding much larger, sturdier ones. I think the biggest shock was holding my brand new Juliana after toting around a 25 pound 1 year old. I almost over compensated when picking her up that first time and flung her in the ceiling tiles. Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it is a bit of a shock.

I have realized that it is so much easier to write if I do it nightly, rather than waiting a week or two. I'm kind of left sitting here saying "Well... what else is there so say..." Lets start with Friday night. On Friday night I decided to take both of the kids to walmart to do a little shopping... by myself. This turned out to be quite a disaster. I have taken the kids places by myself, but I try to avoid stores. It started off great. Noah was happily sitting in the large part of the cart and Juliana was sitting in the seat. I'm pushing them around, they're laughing and smiling. Im thinking "wow, this is easy!" I go to check out Valentines Day card (yes, I procrastinate), Noah is smiling at other people, trying to talk to them, behaving. It was quite crowded in that one little aisle. I look over, and Noah is digging in a woman's pocket book who happened to push her cart up next to ours while she looked. I stopped him, we're still okay... I realize that I need to quickly grab a card... look at one to get and hear *riiiiiipppp* I look back, and Noah has ripped a jumbo gift bag in half. We grab the bag, a card, and quickly exit the aisle. Grab the necessary items on my list and stop to pick up a pack of the ABC refrigerator magnets and put everything in the cart. Juliana decides at this point that she has had enough of sitting in the cart and starts screaming... loudly... ear piercing. I pick her up and try to steer the cart with one hand with her in the other. Then I hear Noah shouting "B, B, B, B!!" As I'm looking for the "bee" I see a refrigerator magnet go flying out the cart at someone. Oh no... Noah hasn't really torn open the pack of magnets and started throwing them at people... has he? *gulp* He sure did. He had thrown half of them out the cart already. I try to gather them up while he threw the remaining ones out... Juliana is still carrying on... I have nice people following around behind me picking up the magnets as he starts pushing them through the bottom of the cart. It sounds like I have no control here, doesn't it? I have a 1 year old and a 6 month old... I have a limited amount. I thought about taking all the ABCs and shoving them on a shelf but decided that I needed to purchase it if Noah had wrecked it. Oh me, oh my. I see why some moms take xanax.

After leaving walmart (alive), we decided to stop by so the kids could visit their great grandmother. She has Alzheimer's and doesn't know who we are, but has the best time with the kids when they come. It is the cutest thing. She kept asking and saying (over, and over... and over) "How old are they?"... "Are they both boys?"... "You've got your hands full don't you?"... "They are cute little boys. Are they boys? " Its actually really fun and I never have to think of anything to say when I go over there. You just answer the same 5-10 questions several times.

Noah, trying to figure out her wheelchair.
Juliana, checking out her great grandma
Noah taking my grandmother for a stroll.

Oh! I have a video for you guys of Juliana playing in the sink (I'm starting to feel like I have ADD when it comes to blogging). Please press mute or turn the volume way down on your computers. I always cringe a little and feel like such a doofus when I hear myself on video.

Allen had to work on Valentines day this year. I feel like its a highly overrated holiday anyway. Since Allen was at work and Noah was invited to spend the weekend with his great grandparents, My mom and I packed Juliana up and headed down to see my brother and sister in law, and of course Megan. Juliana was absolutely fascinated with this real life baby doll and wanted to grab her toes and pull hair. Its kind of cute when you think about it. Noah gives Juliana such a hard time... hugging her, squeezing her, pushing her over... and Juliana is such a helpless little thing (or so we thought). But she was hard at work doing the same things to her litle cousin.

And lastly, tonight I decided that it was perfectly acceptable to wake your sleeping (or almost sleeping) child up by turning on the light and blowing bubbles. Allen and I had bought this super bubble wand at the store and I could not wait to try it out to see if Noah liked it. The picture speaks for itself. Goodnight everyone!!

Happy 19 months to my first born! How fast they grow up. Seriously, these kids grow up FAST! I know most anyone starts talking about their kids growing up by saying "Seems like just yesterday, yada yada yada." Well, it doesn't exactly seem like yesterday that Noah was born and doing a whole slew of firsts, but it doesn't seem like we are just a few months away from his second birthday either. My itty bitty boy, born weeks early- with a preemie body and a not so preemie- sized head. We had to buy two outfits for him to come home in when he was finally discharged- one for the outfit itself (preemie) and another for the hat (0-3 months). They can, and they do grow overnight though (seemingly). I was completely in denial yesterday. Allen got Noah out of the bathtub in the morning and handed him to me to dress (he just does not attempt anymore after I started redressing him every time). I pulled a pair of jeans out of the closet, a pair that he wore last week, that fit him just fine then... they were about an inch too short. What?! Same thing happened with a jacket that fit him perfectly a month prior... too short. This kid eats his wheaties. But, here are a few pictures of my little bit, when he was a little bit bitty-er, still too young to eat his wheaties:

My red head, a few weeks old:

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Oh, my Noah. Hated tummy time, loved to be held, hated his swing, never liked toys, always liked wires, cables, and string. Who stayed in the hospital after mommy had been discharged due to severe jaundice and came home with a bili-blanket looking like a pumpkin. Who could have won a record if there was a spit up distance contest, or longest sideburns on a baby, with an affinity for musical instruments, and even more of an affinity for his daddy. Loves to carry on long, drawn out conversations with his mommy in his toddler jibberish, expressions and all while sporting a piece of toast on his forehead. Funny guy. Oh, my Noah.

Have I mentioned how frustrating it is to not know where your stuff is? We have all of our wordly possessions, spread out in about 3 or 4 locations and we cannot find anything. This evening, Allen and I went out to our storage space and opened up a few boxes and were thrilled to pieces over our findings. Who needs presents when you can box your own stuff up, put it in a storage space for a few months and then reopen it sometime down the road? I am looking forward to some consistency. But seriously, I hate having to buy duplicates of things that I know that I have somewhere but just cannot find. Like a duplicate nursing license that I'm about to drop a chunk of change on. Hmmph. Ive got to get more organized. Organization is certainly not my forte and I will spend hours deliberating what I want to go in a drawer or how I want things arranged in the closet. I spend far too much time thinking and not enough doing. That's a whole other story.

Leaving you with a few pictures from yesterday. Noah has started hamming it up in front of the camera.

Noah wearing his Daddy's work gloves.

Bath time. He looks like one of those baby seals you see on an animals in arctic documentary. You know what I mean. The little baby seals that come up, put their faces up to and sniffs the camera.  

Taking the Graham zoo to the Riverbanks zoo

Allen had the day off today- yes, a day off... on a weekend. Can you believe it?! No, neither can I. Really. So we decided to wake up uncharacteristically early and seize the day by meeting some friends of ours and their kids at the zoo and making a day of it. Its actually rather neat since these friends of ours also have an 18 month old and a 6 month old (that makes 4 birthdays in July, we're booked!). This was Noah's (and Juliana's for that matter but she wasnt really all that impressed) first trip to the zoo. Noah was absolutely fascinated by all the animals, knew many of their names and knew what sounds they made (Well, mostly... things went "tweet tweet tweet" if he wasnt sure). His favorite being the reptiles and snakes (Sssssss) and fish (tweet tweet tweet... No wait, hmm).

Double strollers. A complete nuisance in stores. Great for field trips.

We figured Noah would be terrified of this guy feeding the fish during the presentation and that definitely was not the case. This little 20 something pound one year old pushed his way to the front and stood there for the whole thing.


Noah just happened to love the reptiles. Eww? Yuck Noah. The Koala bear that you had no interest in was much cuter. And no, we will never get anything that looks remotely like that.

Bad table manners... Chillin out having lunch after wrecking havoc upon mine. This little girl cant keep her hands to herself for one minute without slapping the cup of ketchup across the table, grabbing a handful of your food, flinging the tray, etc.

Noah and his little buddy Caroline checking out the wallabies

Noah and Allen feeding the "Birs! Birs! Tweet tweet tweet" *flaps arms/wings*

A mighty rough picture of me for sure...

Zonked out during the car ride home

Daddy and his two little monkeys at home

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: