Belated Easter

I hope everyone had a happy Easter. Here are some pictures of our holiday.

Decorating Easter eggs

These next pictures were from last night - we never actually got around to opening Easter baskets on Sunday! We went to church from 9am-noon so there wasn't time beforehand. Then when we got home we had lunch and the little guys were wiped so we put them down for naps. They slept until 4:30 when it was time to go to dinner at some friends' house and we didn't get home until bedtime. Fortunately my boys are still little enough that they didn't notice the delay (plus, Noah got an Easter basket after dinner by winning the "slam-eggs-into-each-other-see-which-one-cracks" game, so that was exciting for him). Still, I'll definitely have to fine-tune things before next year.

Sam was most excited about the veggie puffs that were in his plastic eggs

This morning Noah was talking to my dad on the phone and, when Grampie asked how his Easter was, Noah said, "The bunny came and put candy in my basket and Daddy swiped it!" Guess he noticed when Ben took one of his pez. :)

Happy Easter everyone!

Yay!

Well, we're in our house. I'm suddenly feeling very much like a real Texas resident. My house is in Texas, my car license plates are now Texan and my Texas driver's licence came in the mail the other day (complete with visible baby spit-up on my shirt in the picture - nice). Kind of weird for this California girl.

Moving was, of course, ridiculous. As it always is I suppose. At the end of the weekend I really don't think I had ever been so tired. Ben and I were reminiscing about when we moved from downtown Chicago to Wicker Park. After we returned the moving truck we went back to the downtown apartment to get a few odds and ends. We were so tired that we thought we'd lay down for just a few minutes. But, of course, all our furniture was gone so we layed down on an empty cardboard box and fell asleep for 4 hours! On a cardboard box! Hahaha! Anyway, the move made me feel extra bad remembering how on our move down here in October I high-tailed it to California with the boys and left Ben behind to do it all by himself (that was Ben's idea though, just so you know). But at least we're in now and pretty well settled. That's not to say we don't have a few boxes still lying around the house. But we're basically set up.

Since we moved in we've started furniture shopping (only purchases so far are Noah's big-boy bed and our refrigerator - which I am embarassingly fond of). With the exception of our nursery stuff, we've pretty much been doing the hand-me-down or temporary furniture thing so far, so very few things are actually going to stay in our house. But since we have so much to get eventually, I know it's going to take a looooong time to get set up the way we want. Our formal dining room is currently furnished with a baby swing and Noah's play kitchen stuff - and there are really no immediate plans on changing that! But that's okay. I'm just excited to be in the house. This is the first time since Ben and I got married that we are living someplace with no plans to move in the near or semi-near future and that's actually a really nice feeling.

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from moving day. The most exciting aspect for Noah was the big truck that Daddy got to drive.

P.S. Does anyone know why my spacing doesn't register when I publish my post? I keep manually putting spaces between my paragraphs but they disappear when I publish. Any ideas?

Things I Will Miss... or Not

Tomorrow we will close on our house and Friday is moving day. Yay!!! I'm really excited to finally get into our house, but I have to admit that there are a few things about the apartment that I will actually miss:

1. Being in walking distance to the grocery store (and a few other stores). I love being able to just put the boys in the stroller and do some grocery shopping (if I don't have too much to get) or mail off a package or get some lunch. I get some stares because people don't really tend to do their errands on foot here, but I feel like it's a little remnant of city-like living for me. I will definitely miss this.

2. The swimming pool/kids splash pool. Noah loves this so much and it's right in our complex. Now that the weather is getting hotter I will miss this a lot. There is a really fun pool and splash pool in the development we're moving to but the one in the apartment is directly across the street and open year-round (a plus in Texas, for sure).

3. Not being responsible for repairs that need to be done. This is very nice and will be missed a lot (remember my kitchen flood incident?). Our apartment even changes light bulbs for us.

Of course, there are a whole bunch of things that I won't miss too! Here are just a few:

1. Our upstairs neighbors. Nice people and a cute family, but they are so loud! And the kids are really rambunctious so we constantly hear them jumping off furniture and running around above our heads. Noah's always looking around with a confused look on his face saying, "What's that?" trying to find the source of all the constant commotion. Living on the first floor still beats having to climb stairs but still. I won't miss this.

2. Our next-door neighbors. They seem to really like each other a lot (wink, wink) but I'd really rather not hear it...

3. No yard, no garage

4. Not having a bedroom for Sam. My poor baby hasn't had a place to call his own since he was born. Since he wakes up at night I don't want him and Noah sharing a room. So Sam sleeps in the Pack 'n' Play in Ben's and my bedroom... until we're ready to go to bed and then we wheel him into the office for the rest of the night. Naps occur in one of those two rooms, depending on what I need to be doing during naptime. The poor kid never knows exactly where he'll be when he wakes up! He'll actually have his own bedroom in the house and we'll finally get to move him into an actual crib since we already ordered a big-boy bed for Noah to transition to. Who knows, maybe that will help him start sleeping longer stretches (fingers crossed)!

5. Paying rent (that's a given)

Migraines

Does anyone else ever get migraines? I get them sometimes and they really suck. I had one today, which started up while I was at the bank getting a cashier's check for our title company (we close on our house tomorrow). I'm sure the ordeal at the bank is what escalated my dull headache into a full-blown migraine. I went in to do a wire from our bank to our credit union but they said it wouldn't be guaranteed by the morning so then I wanted to do a check but didn't know the exact amount yet. So I'm sitting at the bank desk making phone calls to Ben, to our loan processor and to the title company while rocking Sam's stroller and bribing Noah (who was, very conveniently, acting as two-years-old as possible) with suckers and milk. I finally got out of the bank and by the time I got home (skipping all other errands) my head was killing me and I felt like I could puke. I was in rough shape - thank goodness for DVDs and naptime in these situations! Several hours later I still have the headache, but I am at least functional again, thank goodness.

Rough Go

This morning Noah got in trouble. Lately he has been teasing Sam (I can't believe this is starting... I guess teasing is in a boy's blood or something). He'll hold one of his toy cars out to him and then yank it away when Sam reaches out for it. Poor Sam gets so sad (just so you know though, Noah also has many moments of giving toys to Sam - overall he's a sweet big brother). Anyway, after gentle reminders to be nice to his brother and then stern warnings to stop teasing, I finally had to pull out the big guns. I took Noah's cars away and had Noah spend a few minutes in his crib. This did not make him happy at all. A few minutes after his release from time-out Noah layed down on my bed sulking and then said to me, "I'm having a rough go." We talked and hugged it out and then he sat up and said, "I'm okay now."

He's also lately been having fun playing in the walk-in closet. He likes to run inside, shut the door and wait for us to ponder, "Where's Noah?" Then he'll burst through the door exclaiming, "I came out of the closet!!!" :)

The Feminine Mistake

(Be warned, some serious ranting follows...)

My family and I just went out to dinner and then Ben and Noah needed to get haircuts. So while I was waiting for them at the haircut place I was flipping through magazines and I read an article in Glamour about "the feminine mistake" - which, apparantly, is quitting work to stay home with your kids. I probably don't have to tell how much articles like this bother me. Obviously, I'm annoyed on a personal level because I have done exactly that - quit my job to be a stay-at-home mom - so it's a direct offense to me and how I have chosen to live my life. But even more than that, I feel like these kinds of articles - along with "mommy wars" and working mom vs. stay-at-home mom debates - are so damaging to women in general.

I'm so tired of women being pit against each other all the time. In my opinion, it's hard enough to be a woman and a mother in our society. There is so much pressure to be everything and do everything and raise perfect kids. The last thing we need is to feel disrespected and devalued and to constantly have to justify ourselves. We should support each other and cheer each other on. And I feel like this on the flip side too - it also annoys me when working moms are judged and attacked. They shouldn't feel like they have to justify themselves any more than stay-at-home moms do. But I think both sides feel hostility from the other and so everyone is always on the defensive. Stay-at-home moms are portrayed as lazy and unambitious women with atrophying brains (the article I read today had a picture of a mom wearing slippers - like all we do is lounge around in our pjs all day) while working moms are portrayed as selfish and career-obsessed women who don't care about their kids. It's ridiculous! I'm sure there are lazy stay-at-home moms and I'm sure there are working moms who rarely see their kids. But this isn't the wide majority of either side. Most moms - working in the home or out - are fantastic moms who are doing the best they can, who love their kids and try to do right by them.

I just don't understand why women need to attack each other all the time. Why is it anyone else's business whether someone chooses to keep working after having a baby or not? We all make our own decisions and there are very compelling reasons, as well as advantages and disadvantages, on both sides. But why does anyone else care so much? If you think quitting your job is lame, then don't do it! If you think continuing to work is lame, then don't do it! But why the desire to tear the other side down? Shouldn't we all just be grateful that we live at a time where we have those choices to make in the first place?

Which leads me to another issue ("Oh boy," you must be thinking). I'm all about the feminist movement - for the most part. Our foremothers did a great job of demanding equal opportunities for women. But I think a HUGE oversight has been to devalue the (traditionally) feminine role in the process. Well, that wasn't an oversight so much as a deliberate tactic which I think has backfired big-time. It made the (traditionally) masculine role be the "better" one and totally demeaned the feminine. Rather, I wish that equal respect for the feminine had been demanded along with equal opportunity and freedom of choice. Now anyone choosing a more traditionally female role is somehow considered an enemy of the feminist movement.

So, to sum up. :) I hate mommy wars. Everyone needs to mind their own business.

And yes, I do realize that I need to stop taking these things so personally. I'm working on it.

Rant over.

Eight Months

Seriously, where has the time gone? Yesterday my little Sam turned 8 months. Here he is enjoying some quality time with his froggy.

I love this last picture - such a little ham!

So at 8 months, Sam:

• Still does not sleep through the night (which you are all well aware of from previous posts and probably sick of hearing about)
• Is finally starting to eat some solids - slowly (and very messily) but surely. So far he has tried rice cereal (which he will eat only when mixed with something else and warmed up), sweet potatos, squash, pears, peas, and veggie puffs. He's really not too keen on anything yet, but at least he's starting.
• Sits unassisted for about 3 seconds before flopping over (so I don't really think that counts as sitting unassisted).
• Rolls, flips, scoots, and army-crawls his way all over the place. Every time I look at him he is in a completely different place in the room. He is fast! It's very cute to see him army-crawl on his belly. He kind of grunts as he pushes himself along on his forearms.
• Is starting to get into proper crawling position. He'll push himself up on his hands and knees and rock a couple of times before lowering back to his belly.
• Gets mad when we take things from him that he shouldn't be playing with (or when Big Brother gets too territorial with his toys).
• Imitates sounds we make. One sound he likes to make is "ma-ma-ma," which of course I LOVE.
• Plays little games with us. For example, he likes to hold his hand up to our mouths cause he knows we'll kiss it and then pretend to gobble up his arm. When we stop he'll wait for a second and then hold his hand up for us to do it again. This is a favorite game for him to play with his Daddy.
• Is still just as smiley as ever. He loves people and will flash his biggest grin and do a little chuckle every time anyone looks his way.

Swinging Babies

This morning we met some other moms and kids at the park. Sam had his second swing experience (I forgot my camera last time) and loved it again. He was much more receptive to the idea of having fun on a swing than Noah was as a baby. Sam took right to it, but Noah definitely needed some convincing. He came around eventually though.

Here's Sam on the swing:

(swinging with my friend's baby Drew)

And here's Noah when he first tried the swing (at exactly the same age that Sam is now, within a week):

Noah's Perfect Day

Yesterday was a real banner day for my little Noah. Here's a run-down of the highlights:

1. When we left the apartment for our morning walk, we saw that the garbageman was here. We stopped and watched as he dumped the trash from the dumpster into the garbage truck (Noah was wide-eyed).

2. Midway through our walk we stopped at our normal stop so he could ride the horse and zebra toys on the side of the trail.

3. When we left the county building where I was getting our Texas car title/registration/license plates we saw a huge fire engine. Noah excitedly pointed it out so the two firemen inside asked if he wanted to see inside. Of course he did, so they lifted him into the truck, showed him around and let him pretend to drive. I SO wish I had had my camera. Noah was a little shy with the firemen, but couldn't hide his excitement. So cute.

4. While out driving we saw several school buses, vans, pickup trucks (this is Texas), dump trucks, giant excavators, and concrete mixer trucks. Heaven for a little boy obsessed with his trucks. Of course, after the fire engine experience, Noah wanted to see the inside of all the trucks.

5. Went to Barnes and Noble to pick up a new copy of My Big Truck Book, which has been read so much that our copy literally fell apart. Not only did Noah get the new book, he also got to play with the trains for awhile (with no drama this time, thank goodness).

As you can tell, almost the entire day revolved around trucks. That's just how it is around here lately. Noah knows all 40 trucks (I counted) in his book and reads it constantly. When we're in the car he'll recite it from memory in the backseat, taking breaks only to point out the various trucks he sees on the road.

So there you go - a 2 year old boy's idea of heaven.

A Little Much, I'd Say

So I was just reading an article on pampers.com about potty training. Here's an excerpt:

Life Is Unfair

As he sees it, your child is being required to give up part of himself when he goes to the bathroom in the toilet; it's something he has made, and he has to put it in an arbitrary and often inconvenient place... Then your child has to deal with the indignity — and even terror — of having his precious production flushed away, never to be seen again. The other things he makes are proudly displayed on the refrigerator. Why does this one have such a different destiny?

Is it just me, or does this seem like a little much to you? You'd think they were joking with this article, but they're not. Lest you think I'm making this up, (or if this beautifully-written excerpt has piqued your interest), here is the full article.

Just thought you'd all enjoy a little laugh! Or maybe now you can all go ponder the destiny of your poop.

Tickets and Shoes

This morning I got pulled over for speeding. UGH! It's completely my own fault obviously - I was speeding, with no good excuse whatsoever. And of course the policeman didn't simply give me a warning, I got the actual citation. I don't think I've ever gotten out of a ticket. I know there are women out there who do but I guess I'm just not charming enough. Anyway, so now I have to pay the stupid ticket or pay for the privilege of attending driver's safety school.

After I got back on the road I drove immediately to Nordstrom and bought some denim capris and these cute shoes (note: I used a gift card my parents got me for my birthday - thanks Mom and Dad! - and not money that will have to now be used for my ticket):

Nothing like a pair of green summer shoes to make you feel better! (That is, until you realize that two additional pairs of cute shoes could have been purchased with the ticket money, but I'll try not to focus on that).

Something's Gotta Give

This baby WILL NOT STOP WAKING UP AT NIGHT. Several times. Every night.

I'm tired.

I feel like it's fairly pointless to do any sort of sleep training so close to moving but come April, BIG changes are going to be made. Get prepared, Sammy - Mama's got plans.

Correction

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the ultimate rejection. Well, I stand corrected. Last night as we were getting Noah to bed he gave me a big hug and then also wanted to say goodnight to "Mr. 'Tatos," his 3 little Mr. Potatohead friends (the mini versions - one potato, one corn on the cob, one carrot). They were all put away in their plastic suitcase but he gave the suitcase a big hug and then said, "Love you, Mr. 'Tatos!" So that is the ultimate rejection - when toys get an "I love you" while Mommy merely gets a "thanks." Nevermind that I'm the one who feeds him, clothes him, plays with him, cuddles him, kisses his boo-boos, takes care of him all day long, grew him in my body and gave him life. I guess to get an "I love you" requires plastic body parts that can be taken off and on. I just can't compete with that.

Escrow

It's only been a week since we entered in a contract for our home and, while I'm still really excited, I am already SO done with the whole house-buying process. Between getting through the purchase process and the actual moving, I feel like my head is spinning with everything that has to be done and phone calls that need to be made and papers that need to be read/signed. We had our inspection on Monday, which went pretty well (despite the inspectors being a full hour late and then taking 3 full hours - at least they were thorough) and now we're back in negotiations with the sellers. They're really nice people fortunately, but in general I can't stand negotiating. I feel like you walk the line between making sure you get what you should and nickle & diming. You know what I mean? I just find it all so uncomfortable. It's like bartering with street vendors or something - I would so just rather pay what they tell you to, just to avoid the back & forth. But I guess that would be pretty stupid in this case - it is a house we're talking about, not a fake turquoise necklace.

Anyway, another thing I'm becoming painfully aware of is how much home ownership actually costs. The home itself is one thing - I've never made a six-figured purchase before and it's pretty daunting to think about. But then there's the homeowner's insurance, the property taxes, the survey, the appraisal, the inspection, the appliances, and on and on it seems. And that's before any of the fun stuff like furniture (will we ever get to that part??).

All in all, I can't wait for a month from now when we will be finished with the purchase process and be all moved into our new home.

Baby Laughs

Here is a picture I took yesterday morning of Noah jumping in some leftover rain puddles.

And here is a picture of Sam's reaction (he was watching from the stroller - we had just gotten back from walking on the trail by our apartment).

He would just start cracking up every single time Noah jumped. I challenge anyone to come up with a more delightful sound than a baby laughing. So freaking cute.

Bedtime

The last several nights have been a bit of a pain in the bedtime department. Noah goes to bed willingly after reading stories, but after a few minutes of laying in bed he'll call us in for some reason or another. And then he'll call us in again. And again. And again. Sometimes the requests are legitimate (he wants his blankets on) and sometimes they're not (he wants a kleenex even though there are no traces of snot anywhere). And now he's not even trying to make up excuses - he just called me in because he "need[s] something else." I say, "okay, what else do you need?" He thinks for a moment, then "I need something else." Hmmm.

The thing I find frustrating is that I've just spent all day long being such a nice mommy to the boy and then I end the day having to get all stern with him so he'll finally go to sleep. I hate that! As a special bonus tonight, after I got the kids in bed I went into the office and found chocolate all melted and ground into the carpet. Noah had helped himself to one of my Valentine's chocolates while I was putting Sam to bed. When I saw him with chocolate smeared on his face I suspected that I might find a mess at some point tonight. Oh well, I was able to tell that it was the cherry-filled one and I don't like those that much anyway. And we're still in our apartment and not our new house so I guess it's okay.

P.S. I checked the MLS listing for our house just for fun and saw that it is now listed as "INACTIVE." Know why? Cause I bought it. :)

Wal-Mart's Gross

So I just got back from Wal-Mart, where I had gone to get the oil changed in my car. I don't normally care for Wal-Mart but I figured they would have my car in and out and while I was waiting I could do some shopping. An hour and a half later I was painfully reminded why I hate that store so much. On the way home I was discussing this hatred on the phone with my mom. Well, apparantly Noah was paying close attention to my end of the conversation because after we got home Noah was playing with his toys and suddenly looked up at me and exclaimed very emphatically, "Wal-Mart's GROSS!" I just laughed and agreed.

At least the ride to and from the store was amusing. There's some construction going on near the store so Noah had a fabulous time pointing out the various trucks he saw. Concrete mixer trucks, diggers, excavators, pick-up trucks. He knows them all (thanks to My Big Truck Book, which he has fully memorized - it's very entertaining to listen to him identify all the trucks). As I type this, I'm listening to him read his truck book, saying things like "Concrete mixer truck - (gasp!) Just like the concrete mixer truck we saw!!" I love this boy.

Look What We Bought Today!

Our first house!! I am SO excited right now!! We just got the call from our realtor tonight that the sellers had signed and executed our contract. We first saw this house in person on Saturday (after falling in love with the pictures online) and put an offer on it yesterday morning. After working out a couple of minor details we reached a verbal agreement with the sellers this morning. So I've been excited about it all day, but I was trying to hold back a little since we didn't have the signed contract yet and they still could have entertained other offers. But now it's official!!! And our realtor learned just tonight that there were multiple offers on it today but they still chose ours and I'm so happy!!! Sorry this post is so full of exclamation points, but I'm obviously super excited right now. I've already decorated all the rooms of the house in my head. Noah said that he's excited about the backyard (which he was particularly fond of when we viewed the home this weekend - he stepped out the back door and said, without prompting, "Hey! I like this backyard!").

It's a little weird to not be house hunters anymore. It's very nice though - I was starting to get pretty discouraged with the whole thing. We first started looking at MLS listings over a year ago when moving to Houston first became a possibility. Last summer, before moving here, we even put an offer on a home that we had seen online (Ben had flown down to see it in person) but didn't get it since we couldn't close as fast as the sellers wanted. We were really really bummed about losing that house (but now I'm not!). Once we actually moved here we started house hunting more intensely, to the point where we literally recognized every listing in our target areas. There was actually another home that we had gotten really excited about recently but when our realtor called to set up an appoitment their agent told him that it was being taken off the market because they discovered that the foundation was 7 inches uneven. Yikes. Coincidentally, an almost identical home was on the market 1/2 mile away and that's the one we bought. YAY!!!! Hopefully our inspection will find a perfectly level foundation. :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 28th birthday. The above sign on my door was curtesy of my friends, Joy and Scott, who came over last night bearing Chinese food (so we could simultaneously celebrate Chinese New Year). Imagine my dismay when I found out today that Joy's birthday is tomorrow - so we celebrated my birthday and didn't say a darn thing about hers! Embarassing! Anyway, I had a great day hanging out with my hubby and my boys, opening presents, and talking to family & friends on the phone. Now I'm going to go eat a little bit of the chocolate cake that Ben and Noah made for me. Well, let's be honest, I'm going to go eat a lot of it.

Yum

Don't these look delicious??? Ben knows that chocolate is a fool-proof way to my heart. :) I've already eaten several pieces. I love Valentine's Day (and hubby's who really know how to make it great)! Now that we have two little ones our V-day celebrations are pretty simple but I still love it. We exchanged cards (including one Ben got me from Noah & Sam - so cute) and goodies (chocolate for me, cookies for Ben) and had a candlelit dinner after putting the boys to bed.

I wanted to include a picture of me and my valentine - but, again, now that we have two little ones we don't seem to have very many pictures of just us so here's a picture of me and Ben from last summer in Mexico. Actually, this picture isn't technically of just us since Sam is in utero. Oh well, here are the three of us.

I love you, Babe!
Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day!

Happy Birthday x 3

Today is a big day in my family. Besides Valentine's Day, it's also the birthday of three of our family members - my dad, my sister-in-law Laurel, and my niece Alex.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

I wish we could get the whole family together for a huge, triple-birthday party. One of these years we'll have to do that. I love you all so much!

The Birthday Boy

(with Noah when he was 10 months)
The Birthday Girl

(with her adorable kids - Ethan, Emma and Adam)

The Birthday Baby

Seven Months

Here are Sam's 7-month froggy pictures (one day late). He was so excited about the frog that it was basically impossible to get a shot of him just sitting nicely next to it. Such a little rascal!

As you can see, Noah joined Sam for his last picture. As soon as Noah climbed up on the chair, he pointed at Sam and said, "He needs a shirt."

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today is my parents' 37th wedding anniversary. Congratulations, Mom and Dad! Thanks for getting married and making our family. You are the best parents (and grandparents) in the world.

I love you!

I Heart Wellies

Today was a very rainy day. I didn't used to enjoy being out in wet weather, but ever since I purchased my fun wellies last year, I actually look forward to the rain. The last time I wore my wellies an old lady stopped me and said, "Well, those are some craaaaaazy boots!" Anyway, I find I can enjoy rainy weather even more since I bought Noah a pair of wellies - now I can find it adorable and funny when he runs around jumping in every puddle he sees.

So we had fun in the rain today. Well, for the most part. There was the incident at Target when we exited the store during a really heavy downpour. I had Sam strapped to me, I was pushing the cart with one hand, holding the umbrella with the other, and trying desperately to keep my puddle-jumping Noah from running in the middle of the road. I was about to breathe a sigh of relief upon getting him in the car when I noticed that I had accidentally shoplifted some mascara. About the last thing I wanted to do was trace back to the store, but you know, in the name of honesty or something... So back we all went to pay the stinking $4. The karma hander-outers better have been paying attention!

The Ultimate Rejection

Me: Goodnight Noah, I love you!

Noah: Thanks.

Little Four-Eyes

Noah loves to wear glasses. He has some sunglasses that he asks to wear every time we go outside. Well, this morning we were getting ready to go mail some letters when he said he needed his glasses. But he didn't want his normal sunglasses. No, today he wanted to wear Mr. Potatohead's glasses. I thought it was weird of course but didn't see why he couldn't wear them if he wanted to. So I said okay and he wore them for a good hour - while we walked to the leasing office to mail our letters, while we walked to the playground, while Noah played at the park, and while we walked home. Sometimes I wonder where this kid came from.

Well Baby Visit

Have you ever seen a cuter face?


This morning I took Sam to the pediatrician for his 6 month well-baby visit (although he'll be 7 months old next week). Here are his stats:

Height: 26 1/2 inches (50th percentile)

Weight: 16 lbs 12 oz (25th percentile)

Head: 17 inches (25th percentile)

So I'm a little bit worried because up until now he's been in the 50th-75th percentiles and now he's in the 25th-50th all of a sudden. I worry that he's not growing as much as he should be - especially since he seems to have no interest in starting solids at all so he's still 100% breastfed. Is he not getting enough calories? Hmmmm. I keep trying to give him cereal and baby food but he pulls his bottom lip way in and clamps his mouth shut! The pedicatrician told me not to worry about it but I still do. Although my friend Audrey did say the other day that he was the perfect density. So that's something. :) Still, I guess I won't bemoan his 3 night-time feedings anymore. Apparantly he really does need them!

In other well-baby visit news, poor Sam had to have more immunizations today - 4 shots in his little legs. It was so sad - I feel like since Sam is such a mellow and happy baby, it's even more pathetic when he does cry. He rebounded quickly though, the little love. And then Noah got a sticker (where's the justice in that?).

Oakland Zoo

I'm very lucky that some really good friends of ours from Chicago now live in California, just 15 minutes from my parents. They moved out there to open a DELICIOUS sandwich shop in San Francisco - The Toaster Oven (the best sandwiches you'll ever have - so if you live in the Bay Area, get yourself down there pronto!). Anyway, so now when I go there to visit my family I get to see Mitch and Libby too. We saw them a few times while we were there (including one night for dinner, which inspired this post - sorry guys, thanks for dinner and for putting up with us!). One day the boys and I met Libby and her two boys (Sam and Nate) at the Oakland Zoo. We had a great time. Here are several pictures from the day.

The Animals

The Humans

California Pictures

Here are some pictures I took while in Cali. You'll notice they're bascially all of Sam. Don't read any parental favortism into this - I tried my darndest to take pictures of Noah but he was always having too much fun with his cousins to stop for any photo shoots.

My dad and Sam

My mom and Sam

Ryan and Sam

Alexis and Sam

Sam

Leftover Funnies

I meant to post these little stories last week but didn't get around to it. It's hard to keep up with blogging from out of town! So here are a couple of leftover Noah funnies.

One night Noah really wanted to sit in my dad's chair. For some reason, the empty chair right next to my dad was not good enough. So he said he wanted to sit in it and I just said "ok" because I figured he meant the empty chair. But Noah was undeterred and said, very politely, "Can Noah have a turn?" It was so cute I just wanted to eat him up. Of course, my dad immediately relinquished his chair.

One day Noah pointed to the space heater and said "That's hot. We should blow on it."

While we were visiting, my parents got some new garage doors. In the days before they were installed Noah was very interested in the broken garage doors and repeatedly talked about their need for a screwdriver (he thinks anything can be fixed with a screwdriver, batteries, or a trip to Target).

Movie Reviews

I'm back to Texas and back to blogging (finally!). The boys and I had such a great time in California with my family. It's always so sad to leave, but it's made easier by the fact that we miss Ben so much and are so happy to be going home to him. My hubby's a trooper for living without his family for so long when we go out on these trips.

One of the FABULOUS things about visiting my family is the abundance of willing babysitters I have all around me. An extra pair of hands (or two or three) is so helpful with two little boys! Plus, while I was there I was able to do many things with one or two less kids with me. I went to the gym, went shopping, went out to lunch, ran errands, and hung out at my sister's house after putting the boys to bed for the night. It was especially nice to do things during naps. And Noah was in heaven getting to go to the park with Grampie so much.

The best treat of all was going to not one, not two, but THREE movies. Here are a few movie reviews for you:

1) Dreamgirls - I saw this with my mom and we both really liked it. We're both musical lovers though, so if you're not you may not like it as much. But I'm a sucker for singing and dancing and all that so I thought it was great. And a good plotline too. Of course, my mom came straight home and did some research on The Supremes (which the movie was supposedly based on).

2) Night at the Museum - I saw this with my sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and Sam (Noah was napping at home with Grammie and Grampie, but he can't do long movies yet anyway). ADORABLE. It's based on a great children's book of the same name. This movie was seriously so good I would have seen it even without kids with me. Really cute, really funny. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson were both great.

3) The Queen - Sooooo good. This one was my favorite. The movie itself is really excellent and should win Best Picture, but the experience was so fun too. I saw it with my mom and my sister (thanks, Dad, for watching all the kids!). We brought Chipotle into the theatre with us (no one seemed to care for some reason) and ate lunch while we watched the movie which was so fun. We decided when I live near them someday we're going to do this once a week. Another reason I think I liked the movie so much was that my late grandmother (my mom's mom) looked exactly like Queen Elizabeth. Seriously, she did. It's really weird but they could literally pass for twins. If I had a digital picture of my grandma I would show you to prove it but I don't so you'll just have to take my word for it. So watching this movie was kind of like seeing Grandma act her little heart out on the big screen, which was fun (although she looked even more like Queen Elizabeth than Helen Mirren all made-up did).

Well, I hope you enjoyed my movie reviews. I doubt you'll get another one for several months!