Living Doll

I asked Chase to keep an eye on Noel the other day so I could do the floors. Nothing out of the ordinary about that. The odd part is that Chase tucked him in like a little doll and placed some toys around him. Ordinarily, Chase plays with him like a kid who just happens to not be able to walk and talk yet. I was surprised when I checked in on them and this is what I found. I thought it was pretty darn cute and I hope you do too.

How I spent my weekend...

This weekend I took the Student Leaders from my campus on a retreat at my father in law's lodge. These women are great and it keeps me young working with college students. Chris, Chase and Noel joined us for dinner and then Chase led those interested on a walk around the farm. As we walked, Chase pulled me aside to ask, "Mom, is the only the they talk about fashion?" It was pretty comical. I told him, "No, sometimes they talk about boys." You should have seen the face I got from him with that answer.

Here is my little monkey. If something stays still long enough, Chase is going to try and climb it.

Attack of the baby

I wanted to take some pictures of Mr. Noel, but he is 1) very mobile these days and 2)incredibly interested in seeing what the camera tastes like. While he isn't exactly crawling, he can definitely get where he wants to go by pulling himself along with his arms and pumping his bootie up and down. It almost looks like he is doing the worm. I swear the child gets cuter every day.

Fruitful Friday

I have to brag a little about our backyard garden. We have two small plots and have had a great deal of success with our zucchini and cucumbers especially. The zucchini in front measured 15 inches long. They really aren't supposed to get that big but this one kind of eluded us. Chase discovered it and shows it to everyone who comes to our house. He is so proud of it, but oddly enough he doesn't like zucchini.

Witty Wednesday

Last night we went to eat Mexican and then to the grocery store as a family. This is not a common occurrence as you will see. When we left the restaurant Chase asked where we were going, and we said the grocery store. Chase said to his dad in a kind of awe-struck voice, "Dad, have you ever been to the grocery store?" Chris reminded him we had stopped by a grocery store the other day on our way to Six Flags. As we turned into our local Ingles, Chase said "Dad, have you ever been to this grocery store?" And in case you are wondering, yes, Chris has been to that grocery store too.

A Dark and Stormy Night

We had a really strange and now that I look back, comical evening last night. Chris had to work late so I had to do the boys and dinner solo. I threw some fish and vegetables in the oven got myself and Noel in our swim suits and hit the pool for a little while. Noel was sleepy, but we really had missed that late afternoon nap window so we pressed on. I was shocked to find it was already 7pm when we came in the house and tried to feed Noel while finishing the rest of dinner. To say that Noel does not care for baby food lasagna is an understatement as he projectile vomited across the tray of his high chair while Chase whined at my arm that he thought he was going to starve to death.
I placated Noel with a Zweiback and managed to get dinner on the table. Noel's disposition had gone downhill fast and I ended up putting him in my lap facing me where he promptly went to sleep (and covered me in pre-chewed Zweiback). I then proceeded to try and eat my dinner over his sleeping little head. Chase had been excused to watch cartoons. About half way through my meal, I manage to suck a piece of potato down my throat and start to choke. It was a tiny bit of potato, so it wasn't like my airway was blocked but I couldn't catch my breath. My coughing fit woke up Noel, whom I had to put in the pack and play, and he was MAD and screamed his displeasure. Meanwhile, I begin to think I might black out and got a little scared. Chase, meanwhile, is so wrapped up in Cartoon Network he doesn't even notice that I am coughing and wheezing like there's no tomorrow. When he finally gets disturbed by the coughing and screaming, he says to me in a perturbed way, " why don't you drink something?" Well, that is because I was so busy feeding you and your brother I didn't make myself a drink. I must of looked pretty frightful because when he saw me he got really scared and kept asking me if I was ok.
Oh, I think I failed to mention that by this time it had started thundering in the distance and whenever our dog, Buddy, hears any thunder he goes crazy. So, hear we have a screaming baby, a choking mother, an insane, barking dog, and no dad. Good times.
Chris came home, the storm died down, and Noel went to bed. Thirty minutes later the storm picks back up, the dog goes crazy and Noel is up. I didn't even try to get him to go back down. Who could sleep in that chaos. I decided instead to give him a late night snack since he really didn't eat dinner, and just do the bedtime routine again when the storms passed. Chase meanwhile had been put to bed, but got up every time there was a loud boom of thunder to make sure everything was ok. Did I mention that this whole time Buddy is barking his head off and running around the house like a wild beast? I was contemplating what I could mix the Vodka in my freezer with. Chris was exhausted and trying sleep ( I laugh a little as I type that).
Deciding vodka and grape juice was not a good combo, I began the bedtime ritual (aka exercise in futility) for the 2nd time that night. At 10:30 Chris brought Noel into our bed where Chase had already joined me. Both boys looked at each other and started giggling. They have already started plotting against us. Shortly after lights out, I feel Buddy hop up on the end of the bed, so all the boys in our house ended up in our bed except the one that belongs there. Oh well, we really needed the rain.

Wordy Wednesday

I had set this picture aside because I thought it would make a perfect wordless Wednesday post. However, I have a lot to blog about so it is going to be wordy Wednesday instead. As you can tell from the picture, Noel has partied his little self out. This was on the 4th of July which turned out to be very low key for us. The night we returned home from Granny's, July 2nd, Chase began running a fever. With Chases' history of ear problems I did not want to end up in the ER on a holiday weekend so I took him to the Pediatrician Thursday a.m. He only had a virus, but that left me thinking he was contagious and our typical Independence Day bash was not a good idea. He woke up absolutely bouncing off the walls on the 4th though so we did end up hanging out at the pool and going to a cookout with the Lammers and watching Chris' maniac cousins put on their very own firework display. Noelly took in his first fireworks like he does everything else, totally calm and laid back.

Speaking of Noel, the Thursday before our trip, he went in for his 6 month check-up where he weighed 20 lbs and 12oz and was 27 and 3/4 inches long. Both put him in the 95th percentiles. He continues to be the happiest little guy I know although his sleep habits seem to be irreparably damaged since our trip and the holiday weekend.

As for Chase, he completely back to full speed ahead and informed his father yesterday that he could feel his hammer teeth coming through his gut. Allow me to translate, he can feel his 6 yr. molars coming through his gum. He also told me, when I thought he was coughing on pool water, and needed a break, that it wasn't water but something was stuck on the punching bag in the back of his throat. I will close with that little riddle and let you figure that one out on your own.

Better check your fluid levels...

Chase in Granny's tub where she allows him to put in tons of bubble bath and turn on the jets.

The other night we were driving and Chris was telling me about one of his customers who has a very sick child. Chris commented on how he couldn't imagine being in that position because he was an absolute wreck that Chase had to stay in the NICU because of jaundice. Well, this was the first Chase had heard of this and he had a million questions. If you know Chase, you also know that simple answers to such questions do not suffice. So, during the course of the conversation I told him his body had too much Bilirubin and that made him a little sick. He finally seemed satisfied and we moved on to other topics of conversation, but right as we were getting out of the car he posed the toughest question of all...."Mom, how did they get rid of all my hill-billy fluid?" If you have heard his accent, you know that they didn't.