A Day in the Life

Today was a typical day of running errands with the little ones along. I thought you would like to hear how it goes. As stressful as it always seems at the time, I know there will be a time when I will wish to have these days back again!

Today's To Do's:

1. Drop off clothes at the dry cleaner

2. Get new sticker for license plate/registration

3. Go to Costco

4. Pick up a few items at Ulta (beauty supply store/salon)

So we started by getting out of the hosue about 30mins after I wanted to (typical). I managed to get both Noah and Millie and all the dry cleaning out to the car in one trip. Unfortunately, the car was across the street and down two houses. It is so much easier when it is parked right out front! Oh well, that is part of living in the city!

We got to the dry cleaner and I ran the clothes in...only later did I realize I had forgotten the one item Jon told me to be sure to take - his suit coat - even though it was hanging in the dining room right by the front door!

Next I ran into the Currency Exchange to take care of updating the car's registration. This, surprisingly was uneventful and went as planned. A nice treat!

Next stop: Costco.

On our way there I drove by the iron scrap yard. I know this seems weird, but I think it is a pretty cool thing to watch...and I KNOW Noah thinks it is great. There are always multiple cranes picking up scraps of metal, etc and ...when we are lucky...smashed cars! The picture here is actually from the middle of August, but it is pretty much the same sight everytime. I usually park off to the side of the road a little until a semi, scrap truck, or train (see I told you this place is cool) comes by and makes me move. I'm not sure they really appreciate me treating their work site as a toddler attraction, but I know Noah appreciates it and that is what is important to me!

Ok, now off to Costco.

Costco's purpose is twofold. Not only do they have bulk groceries and extra large carts (a bonus when you have two kids), but they have a little area that serves food. It is an easy, quick lunch at a great price that is usually MUCH needed for Noah and me by the time we finish shopping there. We made it through the store without much incident thanks to 20 minutes of Noah's 'knock, knock' jokes. They go like this:

Noah: "Mommy, knock knock"

Mommy: " Who's there?"

Noah: "Bapple" (apple)

Mommy: "Apple, who"

Noah: "Hahahah"

Mommy: "Knock knock"

Noah: "Who dere?"

Mommy: "Tickle"

Noah: "Gickle, who? Hahah!"

Mommy: "Tickle, you!"

To Noah, the 'Gickle, who?' part is the punchline. He gets such a kick out of it he can barely say it through his giggles!"

Just before we finished shopping he announced he had to go potty:

"Uh-oh Mommy! Cotty! Cotty!"

So I threw the last item in the cart and zipped through the checkout and straight to the bathroom (which I know is in the back corner from our previous trips). Phew! We made it in time! After the pitstop, we stopped at the food area for a quick bite to eat and then we were off to our last stop.

At this point, two hours had passed since leaving the house. Millie was now awake and we were quickly approaching Noah's naptime. It was all downhill from there.

We get in the store - which does NOT have carts. As a rule, I should never again even attempt to go in a store without carts. That means Noah is left running loose (literally) and Millie feels like she weighs two tons as I cart her around by the crook of my arm in her carseat...but I only need four items (famous last words!)!

As I looked for items 1 and 2, Noah ran up and down the aisle and his puffy coat kept knocking bottles of shampoo off the shelves. I told him the store was not a place for him to run. He did listen, but aparently I didn't mention anything about not touching anything because next I caught him building a 'tall tower' with jars of moisturizer. So then I fed him the line about keeping his hands to himself. He did a pretty good job of not touching anything but instead asked "Mommy, what dat?" to every item we passed! Ugh. I finally gave up on trying to find the first two items and began hunting for the last two. All of a sudden... "Uh-oh! Mommy! Cotty! Cotty!" Was he joking? We just went in Costco! I found the bathroom and, no, he wasn't joking. He went again and not only did he procede to count 'his work' but he decided to announce my 'work' and acted excited for me - just like I do for him. Thanks Noah. The only person excited by this info was Millie, who is always excited by anything her big brother has to say.

Once we completed Pitstop #2, I realized this was a complete waste of time as this store did not have ANY of the four items I needed! Ugh.

The trip from Ulta to home was a quiet one. I had to work to keep Noah awake at this point. If he falls asleep in the car for even two minutes any chance of a nap is out the window...but he made it home...barely.

Once inside, he found his second wind.

While I was bringing in the groceries from the car - which took me FIVE trips (not counting the trip to get the kids in the house), Noah created a lineup of the most random items.

It was actually pretty funny. Somehow, after an exhausting morning I was still able to find humor in it...until he started to build another 'tall tower' with the tub of cottage cheese, hummus, artichoke dip and sour cream. I had to draw the line somewhere...eventhough he had already created his own line right in the middle of the kitchen.

Good thing naptime was next on the To Do list!! Mommy needs a break!

By yeouch (by myself)

This is the result of Noah dressing himself this morning. I know this
is something he should be doing everyday, but it is usually faster to
dress him myself, so today I decided the time has come for him to do
it on his own. He was so proud and he didn't do too bad...except
being silly with the socks!

Millie Milestone #1

At 6months old, Millie has hit quite a few milestones already, but this is the first one I have documented in my blog, so it is Milestone #1.

I put her down for her nap this morning and usually she either goes right to sleep, or coos a little before she drifts off to dream land, but today was a little different. I could hear her grunting and moving around in her crib through the monitor. So, I checked the camera (we have security cameras aimed at both Noah and Millie's beds so we can check on them if need be). She had rolled over!! She has already been rolling when laying on her belly and she pushes up with her arms, but until this morning she has never rolled from her back to her belly. Yeah Millie!

We are now one step closer to her running around all over the place like her big brother. As excited as I am to see her develop new skills and progress, I want her to slow down at the same time. They are both growing WAY too fast!!!

Inaugural Activities

Whether your political beliefs are Republican, Democratic or somewhere in between, yesterday was a day for the history books. I know Noah probably will not remember the significance of the day, but I still thought I would do somethings to make the day fun and special anyway!

We first started the day with pancakes for breakfast...not the boring buckwheat pancakes we usually have, but instead...

Presidential Pancakes!!

Needless to say, Noah gobbled these up! His fave fruit are strawberries and blueberries and who doesn't like a little powdered sugar? I was pretty impressed with how the stars turned out...Noah couldn't have cared less.

Later in the morning we painted. I gave him red, white, and blue paint to use. After painting and it was time for his nap, I read him Duck for President a cute book about a duck who doesn't like the chores he has to do on the farm, so he decides it would be better to run for President. Cute book.

I watched a lot of the Inauguration on TV while I finished up some details for a wedding invite order. It was clear that Noah had no idea what was going on when he said "Look Mommy, hockey!" after seeing all the people waiting in Washington DC for Obama to speak! There were a lot of people there (close to 2million?) and it was cold, but sorry Buddy, it was not a hockey game. He maybe started to understand a little more after he saw Barack and Michelle walking down the street with the parade because it was then he finally asked..."Mommy, who dat?" I told him it was the new President of the United States. "Oh."

Hopefully by time the next inauguration comes around he will have a little more understanding of how important that day is to our history...and our future.

Habla Espanol

Just a funny little Noah story.
Today I took Noah to Lulu's house to play while I ran a few errands (Lulu is our babysitter who lives just a few houses down...it is so nice to have a great sitter so close!) Lulu grew up in Mexico and very often speaks spanish to the children she watches. I have heard her speak to Noah in spanish before and he always seems to know what she is saying. Well, today I brought him home just before his naptime and offered him a small graham cracker before we went to read his story. He took one and then said "Mama, I want mas" 'Mas' is the spanish word for 'more.' I'm not sure how I knew that myself, and I probably wouldn't have picked up on it if I had not watched Lulu help him put his coat on while telling him to put his arms in the sleeves, in spanish. I thought it was so funny and I told Jon about it when he got home from work. Well, he was able to witness it for himself when, again, at dinner we were eating and Noah asked for "Mas Daddy." Who knew one day Noah would be teaching US a word or two!!

Monkey Bread

Lately, Noah has expressed a strong interest in cooking...what kid wouldn't? It's just another opportunity to make a mess! Anyway, he has always liked helping me in the kitchen, but in the past few weeks you can't even make him a bowl of oatmeal without him wanting to get out is 'ladder' (the stepstool he stands on) so he can get his little fingers in there to help. He helps Jon cook too. Monday they made pancakes and last night it was hamburgers.

So this morning I thought he would enjoy making Monkey Bread...a favorite of mine that my mom made for us growing up (thanks Mom!). He loved rolling the biscuit pieces in the cinnamon sugar mixture and did a great, mess free job!!

When it came out of the oven, he was so excited and wanted me to 'tut (cut) it Mama!' I explained that the best part about Monkey Bread is you don't have to 'tut' it! You use your fingers and pull it apart! He LOVED that he could serve himself.

Needless to say, the breakfast treat was a hit and we won't even talk about his sugar intake for the morning! Whoa! Between the two of us, we did a good job of polishing off about half of it. The important thing is we both had fun and had a delicious meal. Maybe we will go out in the snow and work some of it off now!

Tree Update - Winter

I haven't posted a tree update in awhile and couldn't stop looking at
how pretty it was this morning! I love seeing the changes it makes!
The view around the tree isn't so great, so I choose to focus on the
tree itself. I wish someone would buy that place across the street and
build some new houses!

Happy Millie...again

Here is a new picture of Millie doing what she does best...chewing her
finger! The only thing she likes better than chewing her finger is
chewing her toes! Unfortunately, she is unable to reach her feet
while in her carseat (we were having our typical Saturday bagel
breakfast at Starbucks here), so she settled for her finger.
I just love her beautiful 'Happy Baby Glow'!