Brothers

Brody thinks Noah is the funniest guy ever. Noah thinks it's awesome that he can make Brody laugh. I think this video sums it up...sibling love is awesome. And by the way, pink Bumbos are totally manly! :)

Happy Birthday to Noah!

So as of my last post I had all of these great ideas of posts to remember Noah through his 5 years. Then, the students that I work with kind of went mad last week and all hell broke lose at work. The blog posts that filled my mind, were swept away by arguments over water coolers and electives. (But that's a story for the book I'm going to write about working with graduate students some day!)

Anyway, today's Noah's birthday! And when he woke up I told him that he now fills up a whole hand's worth of fingers, and I asked him if he felt different. He looked at himself and said "yeah, I kinda do!"

I can't believe 5 years has gone by so quickly. Five years ago at this time (1:06pm), I was happily enjoying my epidural and Walt was telling everyone "Any minute now!!!", meanwhile Noah wasn't born until 9:31pm. I am so blessed to have him in my life and am so lucky to be his mom. He's taught me a lot - and you wouldn't believe all of the things I've learned about animals in 5 years. Did you know that sloths only leave the trees to go to the bathroom? Now you do!

I'll leave you with a "then" picture - here he is, just after he was born. My how he's grown!

10 days

In 10 days Noah will be 5. Can you believe it? Because I can't! It hasn't been that long and yet he's changed so much. In 5 short years he's gone from a tiny baby who needed me to do everything for him, to a toddler hobbling around on fresh legs and saying mama for the first time, to a little boy who can say and write his ABC's, can do basic math and carry on a decent conversation. It's amazing what a transformation they go through in such a short time.

So I decided that over the next 10 days I'll do some reminiscing of Noah in the last 5 years. Remembering all of the things he's learned and also, all of the things that he's taught me. As his parents, Walt and I guide him and teach him a lot of things...but one thing I didn't really know until I became a mother is how much children teach us. One of the best things I've learned, is how to see the world fresh again. Once I grew up, things like lightening bugs and a deer in the yard weren't things that could excite me anymore. But, seeing these things through Noah's eyes has made me slow down and remember it's the simple things in life that matter the most.

Just a few months ago, we were driving somewhere and crossing a bridge. Noah sighed from the backseat "Isn't the world just beautiful?" And it was that moment, when I looked at the river, which was so still it looked like glass, at the trees that were all shades of orange and yellow and red, and I realized how right he was. So I said "Yes! You are so right! The world is beautiful". And we spent the rest of that drive naming things in nature that are beautiful. So today is the kickoff to 10 days of remembering things that Noah said.

One of those days...

As a mom, you have the days where you think this is the best thing on Earth. Things like the day you finally get to meet your newborn baby, when your baby says "mama" for the first time, or takes his/her first steps. Then, there are the bad days. The days where you think "Did I really willingly sign up for this?" (And I signed up twice!) Yesterday was one of the "bad" days. :)

I scheduled Thursday off from work to get some things done while the kids were at daycare. You know, like getting the maternity clothes out of my closet and drawers. Since Brody is now almost 7 months old, I think it's time. However, that plan was quickly changed at 1:30am when Noah woke up with a terribly painful ear infection. We were up with him most of the night...and he was crying so loud, that he kept waking Brody. Oy!

On the way to the doctor's office, poor Noah was so sick that he fell asleep in the car. Before we left, he asked for a cup of juice. Of course I let him have one in the car because you know, he just had an ear ache, so juice is fine. (BIG mistake). I pull in to the parking lot of the doctor's office, and just as I go to pull in to a spot, the sleeping child turned in to the girl from the Exorcist. Spewing red juice everywhere. (I will never be able to pour him this kind of juice again! The smell will bring back BAD memories). So now, the poor thing is covered in vomit. (Luckily it was all juice). I had to try to put on a brave face getting him out of the juice covered car seat, when really I wanted to yell "EW! I'm not touching THAT!" We walk in to the office, I take him in the restroom and clean him up as much as I can.

He's really sick, so he wants to sit on me and have me hold him. Again, I wanted to say "EW! You're all wet, get off of me!" But instead I held him, like a good mom. Then, I become the mom that every other mom both pities and is glad isn't her - because he makes me wet from the top of my thighs to right above my knee. The best part about being covered in vomit was that they got us in and out of the appointment in mere minutes. I think they didn't want our vomit covered selves stinking up the place. Perhaps I should have him do this before every appointment! (I kid....so not worth it).

Anyway, he's doing much better today - and so I'm hoping to have more of those "aw, I'm so glad I'm a mom" moments this weekend...to help me forget about the Exorcist moment yesterday.

The Zoo Class

Due to weather, Noah's zoo class was cancelled last Friday. We did manage to get him in to the class on Saturday though, so it wasn't a total disappointment. Walt was under the weather so I got to go with him...I was secretly happy! Not that Walt was sick, but that I got to go!

I don't have any pictures, there really weren't any picture taking opportunities, and besides, none of the other mothers took pictures and I didn't want to be "that" mom.

The class was great though and Noah had a blast. First they watched a little video about what zookeepers do, then the "teacher" showed them pictures taken at our zoo of the zookeepers taking care of the animals. Then, they got to meet and touch Bindi the lizard. I love how 4 and 5 year olds just blurt out whatever come to their mind. "What does she eat?" "Can we see her walk?"

We made a craft - a zookeeper vest made out of a grocery bag. It's really cute. And then, they got to meet and pet Bernie, the guinea pig. The best part though, was that we got to go in the "behind the scenes" area of the education complex. This is where all of the animals that they use in the education programs live. The zookeeper was there, and showed them all of the different food that is in the fridge. (Including frozen rats and mice...ick!) And even fed a few of them while we were there - a fox, a porcupine, some other thing that looked like a kangaroo (I forget it's name). Noah's favorite part was that the opossum ate yogurt, just like him. Now when I ask him what he wants for lunch he says "Yo-grit, just like the possom". (I love how he says yogurt!) I swear the parrot or macaw or whatever it was was watching me and somehow knew that I hate birds. At one point it let out this big screech and I think I screamed louder than the kids! Noah was always right up in front when the keeper would open the cage and feed them - he's definitely not one to hang back and miss out!

Finally, we got to meet Flower, the skunk. She was in a little fenced in area and the instructor fed her meal worms and she gobbled them up. It was a fun time, and Noah has told me that I can the secretary at his zoo. My dad and Walt are in charge of helping him pick up poop. HA!

What Noah is up to

Let's see...Noah has been up to a lot since I updated last. He can write all of his letters (amazingly well), became an expert sled rider, and won the Heisman trophy. Okay, I am kidding about the last part...it hasn't been THAT long! But, he did get his picture taken with it at the car show.

It's hard to believe in just a few months he'll graduate from pre-school and Kindergarten will be looming in front of us. In our school district, K is all day, every day and while I think that's a lot for 5 year olds, I think he's ready. Am I ready? Not really - it seems like he was just born. They grow up so quickly.

He's going to a class at the zoo tomorrow. "If I were a zookeeper". He's really excited, so I'll be sure to post about that experience. I think if he enjoys it, we're going to think about sending him to zoo camp in the summer. He says he wants to be a zoo keeper, so when I saw this class listed I knew it would be right up his alley. He got to pick who went with him, and he chose Walt. (Much to my chagrin). So I keep saying "Well, when you're there, you could ask THIS question." I can't wait to hear all about it. Although I think he might be slightly disappointed that he's not in the tiger cage schlepping tiger poop! ;)

And to leave you with a funny Noah story - I'll tell the tale of the "Cup O Soup". About a month or so ago, Walt and Noah were out playing in the snow. When they came in Walt asked Noah if he'd like a "Cup O Soup" for lunch. Noah said yes. Walt brings Noah a mug with soup in it. And Noah says "WHAT IS THIS? You put my SOUP in a CUP? What is wrong with you? This could spill all over me and burn me!"

We tried to explain to him that it was soup that you put in a cup and sort of drank, and it was fine. He insisted on it being poured in to a bowl. Sometimes it's like he's an 85 year old man set in his ways, instead of a 5 year old!

What Brody is up to

Yesterday Brody had his 4 month check up. I can't believe it's been 4 months already! He got an A+ and seems to be doing great. He weighs around 14lbs and is 25 inches long. (To compare, Noah was 17 pounds at his 4 month check up! I forget what a big baby Noah was!) He's so close to rolling over, he gets on his side, lifts his head, swings his legs, but he just doesn't have quite enough oomph yet. Which I'm totally fine with a non-mobile baby for a little longer. Noah crawled around 5.5 months, so I'd like a little more time this time around before I have to worry about him not being in the same spot when I come back! He had a double ear infection last week, and the doctor said it's almost all cleared up. I guess we did get more medicine in him than he spit out....sure doesn't seem that way when we have to give it to him.

He's really starting to develop his own little personality lately. The video I'm going to post is his first real laugh. And you know, there's not much else in this world better than a baby's laugh. (Sorry it's so dark!) What made him laugh so hard? I was fanning him with the coupon circular that came in the mail -- the wind would get in his face, blow his hair and then he'd laugh and laugh. Oh! And one of the most exciting things about Brody is that he sleeps in the stroller. Noah was one of those odd babies/kids that never fell asleep anywhere but his bed (and sometimes the car). I would wait and wait for the stoller to lull him to sleep, but it never happened. I keep trying to come up with new places I can take Brody in the stroller just so I can see him snoozing in it!

The Elf on our shelf

Have you heard of The Elf on the Shelf? I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but when I was home with Brody I was mostly unplugged from the internet world. (Probably because Brody likes to nurse and I barely had enough time to shower and get laundry done before he wanted to just hang out and nurse some more). Anyway, my BFF gave Noah an Elf on the Shelf for Christmas. We received him about 2 weeks prior. How it works is you read the story about how he comes to your house and then reports back to Santa each night and every morning he's in a new spot. You can talk to him, but he can't talk to you. And you can't touch him or all of his Christmas magic disappears. You have to name him and once you do - he's your elf and the fun begins.

So we read the story and Noah tells us that he has the "perfect" name for our Elf. His name will now be "Ho". You know, because Santa says "ho, ho, ho". Walt & I had to hide our amusement that we now had a ho living with us. Anyway, the first night at 4:30am I wake up in a panic and realize that we forgot to move Ho...so I stumble out of bed and find him a new spot. Thank goodness I did because Noah looked for him right away. And so it began. Every morning, first thing, Noah would search and search to find Ho. He talked to him and told him what was on his Christmas list. And we'd threaten that "Ho is watching" when he was being somewhat naughty.

The sad part was on Christmas Eve when I told him that Ho would be going back to the North Pole with Santa that night - and Noah burst in to tears. I mean, real, big crocodile tears. He was sad that Ho had to leave and he loved him and would miss him. It's January 18 and we STILL talk about Ho all of the time. In fact, Ho left Noah a letter and a shark book (Silly Santa forgot to leave it for Noah!) just the other night.

If you have a pre-schooler and dont have an Elf on the Shelf, I think you should think about getting one. It's a really fun tradition to start and it's amazing how much joy that Ho brought to our holidays!

Meet Brody

Here are a few pictures, the first right after he was born. The next meeting his big brother for the first time. And the last, taken on his 1 week birthday.

We found "Nemo"

Most of you have probably heard by now, that "Nemo" - who is now officially known as Brody Alan - found his way in to the world on October 13 at 8:44 am. Here is his birth story:

Oct 12 - All day I just didn't feel good. I didn't have pains until later in th evening, but I just felt awful. Like it took everything I had to get up out of the chair and make lunch.

7:30-ish that night - I got the first of what I thought could be a "pain". I told Walt and we started to watch the clock. By 11:30 they were about 20 minutes apart. We had no idea how fast they'd get closer together, so we decided to call my parents to come over and get Noah.

1:30am (Oct 13) - By this point, I was SURE it was labor and the pains were coming about 5 minutes apart, so we called the doctor and she told me to come on in.

2:30 am - We arrived at Magee...and what a difference driving in the middle of the night makes. I think we made it there in 18 minutes.

3:45 am - I waited in Triage for over an hour for a doctor to check me. When she did, she informed me I was at 6cm and they were going to move me to a Labor & Delivery suite. The nurse was surprised, the monitor wasn't showing my contractions were that strong and they didn't even think I was in labor. Guess that's why I waited over an hour. On the way out, the doctor asked if I wanted an epidural. I said "yes please" and I started to cry to Walt. I told him that since I was already at 6cm and it takes HOURS to get an epidural (I didn't know this! I just wanted it then!) I would surely die.

4:30am - I arrived in the L&D room and we waited. And waited, and waited....all the while the pain got worse and worse.

6:30am - Finally sweet relief! I guess there was an emergency in surgery and all of the other patients got backed up. But, finally I had my epidural and I got that warm, fuzzy feeling instead of all of that pain. The doctor came to check me shortly after I received my epidural and I was at 8cm! I have brought up the fact that I was only 2 cm away from a completely natural delivery to Walt about 10,000 times in the past 2 weeks. ;)

7:30am - They told me it was time to push! I couldn't believe it was happening this fast. It seemed like it took forever with Noah.

8:44am - After a little more than an hour of pushing, and me crying to them that I couldn't do it...I DID do it - and Brody was born. He weighed in at 7lbs, 80z and is completely and totally perfect.

I will add here, that I feel like I was cheated out of my epidural goodness. I only had it for 2 hours - and I would have taken it a week before he was born! Walt gave me a lovely gift in the delivery room, a necklace with Noah's, Brody's and my birthstones. I told him it isn't a "push present", it's an "8cm present". :)

Soccer and The Olive Garden

It's been a while...I know I've been saying that a lot lately. But, now that things at work have slowed down and I'm going to be on maternity leave any day now, (Hear that "Nemo"?...ANY DAY NOW!! ) so I'm going to try to be a better blogger.

Noah started playing soccer in late August. I can't even tell you how cute a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds running around chasing a ball in their shin guards is. They all crowd around the ball and just run and kick - it's awesome. I do see some improvement each week, and last week, Noah even scored a goal. Of course, it was in the OTHER team's goal, but still!

There he is putting on his best "pirate" face. And another just taking a "water break". He says that's his favorite part.

And, I will end with a conversation that he had with my parents. They were out to eat together...I will call my parents "Ma & Pa" because that is what he calls them. (Don't ask!)

Pa: Oh, don't forget I have that Olive Garden gift card to use.

Noah: Oh!! I want to go there! Tell Momma and we can all go there for dinner tomorrow!

Ma: Well, we're out to eat tonight, we can't eat out two nights in a row.

Noah: But, I REALLY want to go to Olive Garden!

Pa: And what would you get to eat at Olive Garden?

Noah: (with that "duh" look already perfected at the age of 4) Black Olives!

Somehow I think he'll be quite disappointed when we go to the Olive Garden and it's not just a giant olive buffet. :P (If you can't tell black olives are one of his favorite foods)

A few videos

The first one is Noah playing in some waves. The second is the feeding of the seagulls. Enjoy!

A long overdue beach review

It's been almost a month since we've returned from our trip to the beach...and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. My excuse is that this is our busiest time of year at work -- we have a class finish and a class start in the same week. I worked over 50 hours last week, which is no fun for a woman who is almost 8 months pregnant. I am still recovering, I think!

Anyway, enough about me and my complaining, right? You want to hear about Noah at the beach. He had the time of his life. I think that first picture says it all -- it was pure bliss from the moment he stepped foot in the sand. This picture was shortly after we arrived and had unpacked the Jeep. We walked down (Walt & I still in our clothes) just to take a walk. I did put Noah in a swimsuit - just in case. I will chalk one up to a good parenting decision there. Of course, a 4 year old isn't going to want to just take a walk. He's going to want to dive right in. He was soaked within seconds, and Walt finally gave up, unloaded his pockets, left me on the sand and dove right in with Noah.

We were busy every day and luckily the weather was perfect beach weather. We managed to fit in some mini golf, nights on the boardwalk and lots of good food. The highlight for Noah though was feeding the seagulls. The gulls ate really good the week we were there - we saved food from dinner for them (fries, shrimp tails, rolls), fed them a half a box of Cheerios, and even bought several bags of popcorn to feed them. I'm surprised they didn't follow us home. Noah would actually cry when he ran out of food, and make all of us tell the gulls goodbye and we'll see them later.

The weird thing about seagulls is that they can hover over you while catching food in mid-air. There were a few times that we were surrounded by our feet and over our heads. And miraculously somehow none of us were pooped on. If you're ever looking for the best thing to feed a seagull (the most fun that is, I don't think they care what they eat) - Ritz Crackers. You can throw them like a frisbee and the seagulls catch them out of mid-air. :)

I will end with our funniest beach story - the one night at dinner, we start saving up things to take with us to feed the gulls. We then noticed that on the table next to us there was a package of Ritz crackers left there. So we asked the bus boy if we could have them. At the end of the meal, the waitress brings us a box and we pack up all kinds of leftovers in it (even a roll that fell on the floor). As we're walking out of the restaurant, Walt drops the box all over the floor. Of course, seagulls don't care if their food has been on a dirty floor, right? So we scooped it all up and leave. Walt was laughing hysterically, thinking about everyone in the restaurant watching us steal food from other tables and the floor - then dropping ALL of it on the floor and packing it back up. Perhaps there's a blog somewhere out there telling the tale of the "poor" family who had to take so much food and even ate it after it was on the floor. ;)

One Liners

Here are a few of the short funny things Noah's said lately:

1) He asked Walt if they're going to dig the baby out of my belly with a shovel. (Dear Lord I hope not!)

2) I was drinking a Diet Coke the other day and he asked for a drink. He was also talking like a baby. I said "No, especially because you're talking like a baby and babies can't drink Coke". He looked at me and said "Well, YOUR baby is drinking Coke when you drink it". Touche. I guess he had me there. :P

3) My aunt is watching him while his daycare is closed for vacation. He was helping her and he put some Kleenex on my cousin's dresser for her. He swiped his fingers across her dresser and said to my aunt "Boy, she sure does need to dust in here!"

The surgery

It's been almost 2 weeks since the surgery and I'm happy to say that I think Noah is back to his old self again! And he's eating like a horse. Walt even joked yesterday that he's going to tell any other parents of "non-eaters" that the solution is to have their tonsils removed. (For example on Friday for dinner he ate: pasta, blackberries, applesauce, 1/2 jelly sandwich, fruit cup and a popsicle! This is almost a week's worth of dinner for the "old" Noah!)

Anyway, everyone at Children's Hospital was so awesome! We arrived at 10:30 on the day of his surgery - and were quickly called to the pre-op room. We met with some nurses and then the anesthesiologist came in. He was so wonderful and even did some magic tricks with Noah. Noah was totally at ease with him. They also allowed one of us to accompany him to the OR, where we could stay with him while they put the sleepy gas on him, so he wouldn't have to see us leave. I didn't think I'd be able to hold it together, so Walt went with him. The doctor let Noah have a choice of walking down or being wheeled in his bed -- and he walked. So it was like a parade through the halls - a couple of doctors, Walt, Noah and me. We got to a set of double doors and one of the doctors held back and told me that this is where I exit the parade to head to the waiting room. It was so hard to leave him...but it helped that he wasn't scared or upset. It was also hard not to cry my eyes out as I checked in with the people in the waiting room. But, I must say I did pretty well! Walt arrived about 10 minutes after me and said that Noah was sound asleep when he left.

Then we waited. And while it was only about 30 minutes, it seemed to last forever. In walks his doctor (a shout out to Dr. Chi -- he was really awesome!), he comes over to us in the waiting room and asks us to follow him to a little private room. Now, when you watch as much tv as I do, you know that on medical dramas, they only take the people to a private room for BAD news. This was probably the longest (20 foot) walk of my entire life. But, my nervousness was quickly washed away when the doctor informed us that everything went perfectly -- in fact, so perfectly that he was breathing without any problems and we would NOT be admitted to the ICU. I could have hugged him, seriously! He said as soon as he woke up we could go back to recovery. And in this few minute conversation, he must have said 3 or 4 times just how LARGE his tonsils really were.

We waited again, but this time, the waiting wasn't as bad. In fact, Walt & I downed zebra cakes and pretzels (it's the lunch of champions, don't you know) - because we hadn't eaten since early that day and it was now after 1pm. We ate breakfast early before Noah got up since he wasn't allowed to eat -- I would have felt awful eating in front of him. When we walked in to recovery, he was sitting up, eating a popsicle. The poor little girl in the bed next to him had the same surgery and was crying to the point of making herself sick -- it was awful to hear that.

They came to take us to his room, which was very nice. He ended up eating 2 packages of Jello and since he did well with that, they approved him having a soft dinner. He had a rough night that night - and fought us like crazy to take the tylenol with codeine. But all in all - I think he did great. We're slowly introducing more food within the past few days and he's doing great. He has a follow up on July 22.

And while I hope to NEVER have to return to Children's Hospital again, I will say that the commercials are definitely true. If you have children, be glad you have Children's. It was a wonderful experience, I honestly can't say enough good things about it.

Sleep Studies, Tonsils and Adenoids...Oh My!

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Noah needed to see an ENT about his tonsils. At the first appointment, it was determined that he does have extra large adenoids that block his nose and that those would definitely have to come out -- he wanted us to go for a sleep study to determine if his tonsils would come out as well.

Last Thursday, we headed out to Wexford for the study. The Tech had us put in a movie that we brought and then she came in with her cart full of wires. She glued 8 electrodes to his head, several on his face, a few on his chest/belly, two on each leg - plus he had to wear this thing that went between his lip and under his nose and one of those oxygen tubes (like where the two prongs go up your nose). My poor baby looked like a robot! I have no idea how he even slept - but he fell alseep right away. And he really took it all in stride -- I think I'd have cried if they wanted to hook me all up like that. They told us it would take 2-3 weeks for results.

On Monday morning, the ENT's office called us and informed us that he does have sleep apnea and they wanted us to come in for our follow up appointment on Tuesday morning. Wow! Already, they were fast! As it turns out, the doctor that reviewed the study was so concerned about Noah, that she emailed his doctor over the weekend. He stops breathing 19 times per hour.

At the appointment, he advised us that of course because his tonsils are obstructing his breathing and causing the apnea, he wants them out ASAP. Like within a week. He also ordered an EKG because the stopping breathing can cause heart problems - which was probably one of the scariest things that has ever been said to me. So we schedule the surgery (for Tues, June 30), head for pre-op bloodwork and an EKG. And here I thought we'd be in and out just like the last appointment! (I am happy to report that his EKG did come back normal, thank God!)

Typically, they do the tonsils/adenoids surgery as outpatient. But, because of him having the apnea, they want him to stay overnight, in the ICU. Again, I know it's just precautionary and because there will be a doctor there at all times...but hearing that my child has to be in the ICU scared me so much. And of course, they have to tell you the worst case scenario, which most likely won't happen (he could get fluid in his lungs as his body learns to breathe without obstruction), but it's still a lot to take in.

So if you have some prayers or good thoughts to offer to Noah on Tuesday, we would appreciate them. I will be happy when all of this is over - I haven't slept well since we found out, I must check on him (to make sure he's breathing) a hundred times a night.

The 4 year old animal activist

I think if you're one of the readers of our blog, you know by now that Noah likes animals. A lot. In fact, I have learned more about some wild animals in the past 2 years than the rest of my life. I've also learned all kinds of new and obscure animals. (Can you pick out an Okapi or a Tapir?) This is a story about how no matter how big or small (or even if it has vertebrae), Noah loves them all. It's a story about worms.

Walt is a big fisherman. And of course, he wants to share his hobby with Noah. He got him his own pole last year and they've been practicing casting. (Noah is actually really good - much better than me....but I only ever went with Walt when we were dating...you know, because that's the kind of thing girlfriends do. And wives say "eh, I'll stay home and read!") A few weeks ago, Walt planned to take Noah fishing one sunny afternoon. A few days before he had gone out on his own to the river, and had bought worms. He took the leftover worms with them fishing.

They get to the pond and Walt proceeds to get out a worm, cut it in half, and put it on the hook. Much to Noah's horror! He said to Walt "SHAME on you, Daddy!!!" He was appalled that not only did Walt kill the worm, make him bloody, but he was also going to feed him to the trout. He made Walt promise that this would be the last worm that went to a watery grave, and instead they brought them home and set them free in our garden. It was the first thing he told me when they got home! (All about Walt, the worm killer!)

I figure at this rate, he'll be vegetarian by the time he's 5...and he'll be throwing cans of red paint on fur coats at the ripe old age of 7.

The Par-Tay

A few days after his real birthday, Noah had what he likes to call his "fake" birthday. (AKA a party that is NOT on your actual birthday). We had a party at the park near our house. It's the perfect spot because 1) there is plenty of room for everyone 2) there is a playground for all of the kids to keep busy on 3) I have no mess at my house. (And guess which one is my #1 motivator to have the party at the park??) The playground. What were you thinking? ;)

The theme for this year's party was Scooby Doo. He has a major crush on Daphne from the show. He's always telling us how he buys her makeup. And he also told us the reason he likes Daphne and not Velma is that he only likes girls who wear make-up. Yes, he is 4. (He must have a thing for red heads because "Jane the wife" from The Jetsons is also one of his "girls". ) Anyway, here is the cake that my cousin Holly made for him. She always does such a fantastic job...and the cakes taste good too!

He had a few friends at the party and one of the big hits was the pinata. They all took turns taking a whack at poor Scooby. He held together pretty well, until finally we let my 14 year old cousin take a turn, and he knocked his head clean off. Then it was a kid swarm on the candy and treats we stuffed him with!

He got a lot of nice presents - and had fun running around with his pals. So I'd say his "fake" birthday was a success!

Fabulous Fours

I'm a bit behind...but a few weeks ago, Noah turned 4! Since his birthday was in the middle of the week, I convinced Walt to take one of his 500 vacation days and we headed to the zoo. Here he is with his present from us - a classic Big Wheel!(Yes, he is wearing Christmas pj's...but they fit and they're the perfect weight for this weather!)

We had an excellent day at the zoo, even though it was field trip day for what seemed like 57 schools. The highlight of this zoo trip were the baby beavers. Have you seen them? If not, you should. They are unbelievably cute. The momma beaver would tuck them in to the nest...and the second she turned her back to continue moving a big stick to where she wanted it...they would escape the nest and go for a swim. Here's momma carrying one of her pesky babies back to the nest.

After the zoo, he took some time to ride his Big Wheel, then we went to Red Robin for free birthday burgers! (Walt's birthday is the day before Noah's - so they each had a free burger coming). They sang to him and gave him a free icecream, which he thought was awesome. We ended the night by letting him stay up past his bedtime to watch the TV show, Wipeout. He gets a kick out of seeing all the people doing the dumb stunts. His party was the following Saturday and that post will come soon!

All about Tonsils

Everybody's got them (well, unless YOU had them removed), but they're not really a part of the body that we think about much. They just hang around in the back of our mouths and do whatever it is that tonsils are supposed to do. But, lately, Noah's tonsils have been the subject of many conversations at our house.

A few years ago I talked to his pediatrician about his snoring. Basically, my concern was that someday no one would want to be his college roommate because of his horrible snoring! He checked them, said there were large, but a lot of times they do shrink.

Fast forward to a month ago when we took him in for a bad cold. The doctor looked at his throat and his tonsils were so huge (they actually touch each other when he opens his mouth) that she thought he might have strep. He didn't have strep, but she said to have them rechecked at his 4 year well visit, but her thinking was that they're too big and they'll need to be removed. Last week, he had an ear infection and the pediatrician he saw this time, said that we need to get him to a ENT doctor ASAP to have them looked at. Her personal opinion is that they're going to have to come out.

They also told us to pay attention to how he sleeps - to see if he gasps and/or startles during his sleep -- which he does. (In between loud snores). This could be sleep apnea and if left untreated could mean some problems down the road. So that's where we are. We'll see what the specialist has to say, but from the people that I've talked to, my non-professional opinion is that they're going to need to come out. So it will be 2 weeks worth of popsicles and Jell-O for Noah.