Eating Well

Okay, so let me list what I've eaten so far today and you can tell me if I'm being sufficiently healthy:

1. One large glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast
2. One can of coke
3. One Nature Valley sweet & salty nut granola bar (the "Nature Valley" brand allows me to feel okay about it, but I suspect that's deceptive... the "dipped in peanut butter coating" description on the box and the mention of 6 separate sugars/syrups in the ingredients are probably more telling about its health factor than the name of the brand)
4. One order of (large) french fries
5. 2 of my kids' chicken nuggets
6. One Dr. Pepper
7. One Snickers bar

Plus, Ben and I are going to a Mexican restaurant tonight which is rumored to have this amazing dessert so I'm not holding out hope for a healthy turnaround at this point. Is that list ridiculous or what?? I'm a little embarrassed about it, but I figured that it would probably make somebody (or, everybody) feel good about themselves for the superior health decisions they are making. So really, this post is kind of like my good deed for the day. I may not have the epitome of a healthy diet, but darn it, I'm a good friend.

Pumpkin Patch, Take Two

Since Ben couldn't join us for our first pumpkin patch adventure, we decided to hit up another one the next weekend. We went to Dewberry Farms this past Saturday (and thank goodness we got there early - it was hot by the time we left at noon!) and had fun roaming around the farm, riding on the tracker-pulled train through the corn (Sam actually hated that, the little party pooper), seeing a mechanical chicken show and playing on slides and bouncers. Here are the pics (and a couple of super short videos) of our trip.

Boys in a corn cob wagon

Daddy and sons
Cute little Peanut
Brothers hanging out on some hay
Cute little Woody (and his hat, of course)
Peanut and some pumpkins

Mama and the boys (don't I look so at home on a tractor?)

Noah's beloved bouncer-thing

Laughing hysterically after falling down

Sam at the toddler playground area

And here are a couple of videos of us going down the roller slide, which was a big hit! Well, it was a big hit with Noah. Sam didn't seem to care one way or the other. Ben and I didn't think the pain of the ride was worth the thrill (see video below for further comment on that!).

It has since occurred to me that, despite having visited 2 pumpkin patches this year, we still have not bought any pumpkins (except for the little ones I've decorated the house with). What's that all about? I'll tell you what that's about. It's about playing at the pumpkin patch until we see the beginnings of a meltdown and then high-tailing it out of there before one actually occurs. I guess next year we'll have to pick our pumpkins out first before we get too distracted.

Pumpkin Patch

We've been able to go to two pumpkin patches so far this fall (by the way, it's finally cooling off a little here and I LOVE it!!). A couple of weekends ago my friend Courntey and I took our kids out to a small pumpkin patch. It was waaaay out there, and our directions were totally off so what should have been a 45 minute drive ended up taking us 2 hours!! Thankfully Courtney's a fun friend so we still had a good time just chatting and being in the car (and thank heavens for DVD players in cars). Here are some pictures from that trip:

Moonwalk (Noah's favorite part of the day)

Noah fishing for pumpkins

Hayride

Courtney and her daughter Greta

Basking in the sun on the hayride

Sam stealing my glasses (rascal)

Kisses from my boy

(I wasn't able to get him to sit still for a picture, but he would for kisses! Hopefully he'll always take time out to give kisses to his mama, cause I love it!)

First Steps!!!

Okay, okay, so I've been a really crappy blogger lately. I guess I was in a blogging funk. Plus, I haven't been feeling too great lately so there's my excuse. But fun things actually have been happening over here despite all that, including... Sam's first steps!! WHICH, I just so happened to catch on video!! How lucky was that? Unfortunately, I did not realize at the time that you can't turn the video around later if you hold the camera vertically while shooting the video. So you'll all have to turn your heads to see the unbelievable cuteness (I promise, it's worth it!).



By the way, just so you know, I was totally aware of the 3 choking hazards that Sam had in his hands/mouth while taking his first steps. I'm a good mom, I promise.

(P.S. Thanks, Melissa and Terica for the kick in the pants to get my blog on. More to come, I promise!)

Perching Peanut

Lately, Sam has become very fond of climbing up onto various places and just sitting there, very proud of himself. Some of his favorite perching spots are:

The sofa (it's a sectional, and he loves to climb up and then crawl around both sides of it before settling into a spot):

The reading chair (here he is intently watching a show):



His activity table (he took the top off of it before climbing up):




His Sam chair:

Meet Woody

Lately, Noah wears his cowboy hat everywhere. EVERYWHERE. (It's become so normal now that I didn't even really notice it in the pictures I posted below until I received a few comments on that hat!). Also, he insists that we call him Woody. If anyone dares to call him Noah (or Beeju, his nickname) he'll say, "Hey! I'm not Noah, I'm Woody!" Then he will wait until you call him Woody before he will respond. It's hilarious. One of the bag boys at the grocery store today remembered us from our last trip (I go to the grocery store a lot... I'm apparantly incapable of planning meals very far in advance, or of remembering everything I need on any given shopping trip) and, without prompting, said, "Hey, Woody!" Noah was floored. I now love that bag boy.

This probably goes without saying, but Noah will be dressing up as Woody for Halloween. Although, don't suggest that he be a cowboy like Woody. If you do, he will respond with, "Hey, he's not a cow-Woody! He's just a Woody!"

Update: Just to emphasize how serious Noah is about his new identity, he just came into the office and saw my new posts on the screen. He wanted to look at the pictures and when I asked, "Who's that," in every picture of himself he said, "Woody!" Should I be concerned that in 15 years all of Noah's friends will be calling him Woody?

Visit From My Mama

The week before last, my mom came to visit. I love when my mom comes. It was a short four days, but we had such a great time with her. The timing worked out well since it overlapped with a work trip Ben had in Chicago. It was a bummer that my mom and Ben only got to see each other one night, but it was really great for me to have some company while hubby was out of town (and it made me a little less jealous that he got to go to Chi-town).

Anyway, this was the first time that my mom has been to visit since I moved to Houston so it was really fun to show her where I live and the places I go on a regular basis. Also, while my mom was here we took the kids to a puppet show, went to the beautiful Hermann Park, went shopping and out to dinner (without the kids), and played a lot of Skip-Bo. A perfect weekend, if you ask me!

Here are some pictures.

Watching the puppet show at the Sugar Land Town Square

Train ride through Hermann Park

Walking around the lake

Tunnels at the playground

Noah and his Grammie

Welcome Home!

On Sunday we drove down to see Ben's parents who are FINALLY home!! They have been living in Singapore for almost 2 years while Ben's dad was opening a plant there (he's an engineer). It was supposed to be a few months and it just kept getting extended until we weren't sure they were ever coming back! In the meantime, we moved down here and now live about 1 1/2 hours from them. Anyway, we are happy to finally have them back! The last time they saw Noah was at his 1st birthday when they came to visit us in Chicago, right before they left for Asia. They hadn't ever seen Sam in person. So it was especially fun to introduce them to our boys (who gave them hugs and cuddles immediately - I swear, kids just somehow know when they're with family, don't you think?). We're excited to have Grandma and Grandpa nearby. Welcome home!


The boys were pooped by the time we were driving back - it was long past both of their nap-times and we had been to two church services. They conked out in the car. Little cute-stuffs.



Oh, and speaking of church services. Our congregation got a good chuckle when Noah, who had just been told (again) to use a quiet voice, exclaimed very loudly, "But Mama, I want to be LOUD!!" over and over until I was able to escort him out of the chapel. Later when we were returning to our seats after having been up on the stand (Noah sat up there with Ben while I directed the choir number) Noah turned to me and asked (loudly of course), "Okay, Mama, can we go home now?" Ah, the fun of kids at church!

Yard Work

I'm not a real fan of yardwork. Ben says he finds it theraputic. I don't understand that, but I'll take it! Maybe someday I'll get some flower pots and develop a green thumb. But in any event, for now Ben does 100% of the yardwork at our house. Actually, he can usually count on a little helper for at least part of the time while he's mowing the lawn.


While these boys are mowing, Sam and I walk around our cul-de-sac. Doesn't he look thrilled about his new ride? Despite the following picture, I promise he does actually like his car!

Reading

Sam enjoys his books:

You'd think it might drive me crazy having to constantly pick up his books but I actually quite enjoy organizing his book shelf so I don't really mind when he tazmanian-devils his way through it. I put the books away according to size, of course. Then the books that are the same size all go in a certain order too. I have a system. Anyway, here's more of Sam reading:

I have virtually identical pictures of Noah at the bookshelf as a baby (here he is a few months younger than Sam is now):

That Explains a Lot

In general, I don't like parenting books. I haven't read one since Noah was a baby. Every now and then I'll google an issue and read an article here and there, but that's about it. I just find that they all contradict each other and only serve to confuse or make you feel like a crappy parent. I know I'm a good mom, so I don't like reading things that make me feel otherwise. Anyway, we do however have a series of books by Armin A. Brott that Ben starting buying when I was pregnant with Noah and we've kept buying them because they're great. (The Expectant Father, The New Father: A Dad's Guide to the First Year, The New Father:A Dad's Guide to the Toddler Years). The author basically just explains normal behavior for each age and gives a run-down of what the child and parents may be going through. And he has good advice without being all preachy and annoying. We've found him to be pretty much dead-on.

For instance, we read this paragraph in his toddler book recently:

Like their teenage counterparts, "first adolescents" [the author's term for late-2/early-3 year olds] are incredible know-it-alls. But the veneer of confidence is pretty thin. "It helps to remember that the child is bossy not because he is sure, but actually because he is unsure," write Ames and Ilg. "The world still seems big and dangerous to him. If he can command even a small part of it (his parents), it helps him to feel secure." . . .

Your "first adolescent" is still quite negative and contrary. But it's critical to keep in mind that her negativity is part of an important developmental stage. "The first step toward a positive self-identity and sense of selfhood is a negative self-identity, a negation of the values and desires of his parents," writes psychologist Fitzhugh Dodson.

This pretty much sums up a big part of Noah's attitude as of late. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G we say is contradicted. We ask him to do something, he says, "No, I don't want to." We say no, he says, "Yes, I can!" I even said to him the other day, "Noah, you have such a cute face," and he said, "No, I DON'T have a cute face!" It literally does not matter what we say - he will respond obstinately with the opposite. My parents got a big kick out of this when we were visiting last month, and it CAN be funny. Especially when he disagrees with something so obviously right, ("It's really hot today." "No, it's NOT really hot today!," insisted as he's sweating in the heat). But it can also be unbelievably frustrating at times. I mean, the person I talk to the most every day disagrees or argues with almost everything I say. That can get exhausting.

At least now I've got a good explanation.

(I should note, though, that I just asked him if he loves his mama, expecting to get a funny, typical contradictory response, but the little sweet thing said, "Yes, I do love my mama. And I love my daddy too. And I love Peanut too." Just when you're about to tear your hair out with a 3-year-old, he goes and says or does something that makes you just want to gobble him right up.)

Extreme Shopping Part II

Well, I had such a great response to my previous shopping post that I thought ya'll might enjoy reading about another exciting shopping moment. I do love to shop. :) So Ben and I have been looking for something to hang above our fireplace. It's a tricky spot because there is a 58x50" area framed out with molding on the wall above the mantel. So we feel like whatever we put there has to be fairly substantial since it will automatically be a focal point. We (I) kept thinking of ideas but we (Ben) weren't really getting excited about any of them. So yesterday I was browsing online and found this at Pottery Barn (when you have an employee discount it's just gonna be the first place you check). So I fell instantly in love and emailed the link to Ben. I got a lukewarm "Interesting." in response, but I was encouraged by his follow-up question about how big our framed-out area was. Long story short, I ordered it yesterday.

But the excitement does not stop there, my friends. Before ordering I thought I'd first check the special employee sale list (sale items are sometimes further marked down for employees). Much to my delight, my votive holder was on the employee sale list for an EXTRA 50% off the SALE price (normally we get 20% off sales), plus free shipping!! So I got it for a grand total of 72.3% off the original price and I didn't have to pay the $14 in shipping. This job is totally worth it.

I have all sorts of plans for this "striking piece of wall art," (to quote the catalog). Votive candles, obviously. But I can get different colored candles depending on the season/holiday. OR I can fill the little glass holders with sand in the summer and get all beachy. Or with acrons in the fall to get all autumnal. Or with cranberries in November to get all Thanksgivingy. Or, as my friend Joy brilliantly suggested, with candy corn in October and conversation candy hearts in February.

I'll be sure to take pictures.

Videos

My old camera had the capability of shooting short videos, but for some reason I never shot any (Blast! I missed some cute stuff). I've actually remembered to use the video funtion a few times on my new camera though. Here are the ones I've shot so far (forgive the novice videographing):


Noah's ABCs (which he learned last year and I just barely got around to recording... yeah, I'm on top of things):

Sam's "fun" snack-time game:

My little cowboy:

So there you go. Our family's video library in its entirety.

Extreme Shopping

Yesterday Noah decided he did not want to take a nap in his bed. He felt that under his bed would make for a more comfortable sleeping environment.



Speaking of random things, the other day I went shopping.
I took the boys in to the Galleria in Houston to hit up Nordstrom and Pottery Barn Kids. I did a little damage. Because it was such a ridiculous sight (and because I'm a little bit nerdy), I recreated the image of my encumbered stroller for you when I got home. As you can see, there was no room left in my make-shift shopping cart for my children. Noah was happy to walk and I carried Sam on my hip while I pushed the stroller with my other hand. My arms got very tired, especially since I met some friends for lunch and the food court is not all that close to Pottery Barn Kids. I got lots of stares and chuckles and, "Well, you have your hands full, don't you!"s. I also got one, "So it looks like Pottery Barn had some things that you liked!" It was pretty comical. The main (and bulkiest) purchase was Noah's quilt.



Cute, huh?