Pics for G'ma and G'pa

these are already up...but my grandparents requested smaller file sizes for the pics so they could print them...so everyone else can ignore this...carry on people. :)

And let me know if these don't work and I'll try again!

Halloween!

Here we are! About to unleash these naughty Things into the neighborhood!

Dangerous

As I mentioned in my previous "Noah" post...Noah's language development is really taking off.

We have a slide in the play room, one of those small plastic Little Tykes brand slides. While I was cleaning the bathroom I heard a banging so I poked my head out to see what was going on, and caught Noah with the slide overturned climbing up the steps of the slide (picture the actual slide part laying flat against the floor, and the steps leading into the air). I screeched at him "NOAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?????". His response...."Dangerous" with a little smirk on his face. What a booger!

Eli

The past few weeks Eli has started showing an interest in trying to walk. Not on his own of course, but he has been trying, very hard, to get around with push toys, and bywalking along the furniture. Noah was an early walker, and took his first steps when he was just 9 months old, and was walking well at 10 months (and running like a wild child at 11). I was thinking that with Eli's more laid back personality that he would be a late walker, but he is proving me wrong. He has even stood on his own for a few seconds once (then collapsed to the floor...but it still counts). He babbles quite a bit now too...and says Dada very excitedly when he sees Brandon come into the room, so I think that may be his first actual word. He can also climb the stairs now too...which is a bit terrifying for me, so we have to be vigilant about making sure the baby gate to the upstairs is closed.

Unfortunately, while he had been sleeping really well, Eli got sick last week and has been a little bear at night since. He will sleep through the night if he is in bed with us, but he simply refuses to sleep in his crib. I am thinking about trying to bring his crib into our room and just put it right next to our bed so he doesn't feel alone, but I really like my space when I sleep...and as wonderful as it is to cuddle with him, I just don't sleep well when he is next to me. I have also seen some pretty neat co-sleeper bassinets that I might look into buying too. I still want to work with him on sleep, but at this point I'm just needing a good nights sleep. Brandon has been really good about getting up with him in the mornings when he doesn't have to go to work, which buys me an extra hour of sleep, but since he usually works 6 days a week that really just doesn't cut it. I just wish someone would tell him he's not a newborn anymore...it's okay to sleep longer than 2 hours at a time!

And while it doesn't have anything to do with this post, I just realized how much I overuse "..." when I type. Oh well. :)

Noah

Every day Noah impresses me with knowledge I didn't know he had. We talk about colors and numbers and letters, read books ect but it still amazes me with how much he knows! Yesterday he pointed out his blue chair, and then his orange chair to me. I knew he could say the words, and recognize them within the context of a book we read about colors, but he had never pointed out an object and told me the color before. He also knows about half of the alphabet now. He loves this Clifford's ABC book (you know...the big red dog) and I got him a alphabet fridge toy from leap frog that tells you the letter and sound that it makes when you put each letter in the toy. SO from that, and the book, he is now able to recognized about half of the alphabet! He is also starting to put more sentences together. For instance this morning I was cleaning up breakfast in the kitchen and heard Eli start to cry, and before I could even turn to go get him Noah came running into the room and said "Baby bump wall", and sure enough Eli was sitting next to the wall with a big red mark in the middle of his forehead. I am always impressed when I hear sentences that he puts together on his own (opposed to phrases that he hears us use). He's just getting so darn big!!!

Pictures for the family

Most of these are already on facebook...but wanted to add them here for non facebook family to see :)

Such a good big brother!

Eli's getting big!

Widowed again...

And so it has begun...Hunting season. The next 3 months It'll be just me and the boys on weekends. I wont lie, it is challenging, and will be especially so this year since Noah is to the age where Daddy will be missed, but we always find some fun things to keep us busy. This year I am hoping to go down to Missouri for a weekend, and of course we will be back at the apple orchard at some point, and I'm sure we'll visit the pumpkin patch again. And now that we are in the new house we are only a few minutes away from my Grandparents (not that we were all that far away to begin with) so I think we will make ourselves at home up there a few weekends too :)

In other news...

Sleep has found me for over a week now. Rather than the 3-4 hours a night I had been getting, I have been doing 7-8 for over a week now and boy how I feel GOOD! Not only do I wake up rested, but I'm definitely more patient with my very strong willed 2 year old (or almost 2 year old). It's great!!!

Last week a new little girl started daycare with me. She is the daughter of some friends and was born just a week after Noah so I was pretty excited when they asked me to take her. She will only be coming Mon-Wed for just a few hours, which is nice because, well, a house full of 2 year olds can be overwhelming at times, so it's nice that she gets to come play with us, but it isn't too much to handle either. My new niece Emily will be coming mid December which I am soooo excited for! I love that I will get to spend so much time with her, and I am so happy that she will be with me, where I know she will be very loved, rather than in a daycare. I'm also really excited to be able to have another little baby...without having another one of my own :)

And finally, I finished one of the boy's halloween wigs for their Thing 1 and Thing 2 costumes. I tried a few different things before this idea (which is just a stocking cap with a feather boa sewn on) but I think it turned out pretty cute!

So that's all I got to say...nothing too interesting I guess...just life.

Pumpkin Patch

We usually wait to go until mid October, but Brandon had the day off yesterday, and it was a beautiful day so we decided to go a little early this year! The boys had a blast and we spent an entire afternoon playing. Noah's favorite thing was the giant jumping balloon they had, and he also enjoyed the hayrack ride. Brandon had fun in the haunted barn (mommy and the boys stayed behind for that one!), and Eli laughed hysterically through the piglet races. And me...I guess I just enjoyed watching my boys (including Brandon) having so much fun together.