The search is over.

We finally found him! Of course he was in one of the most obvious
places...Noah's drawer in the kitchen where he keeps his art supplies
and 'upstairs' toys. Duh!!
Lesson learned: Always have a backup!
You better believe I will be picking up an extra Mr. McQueen next trip
to Target!

A.P.B!

We are having sort of a small crisis here today. Noah has lost his Lightning McQueen car. He just keeps saying... "I can't find my best pal Lightning McQueen! He usually gets 'lost' multiple times a day, but we are usually able to find him within about 10 mins of looking. This morning we have searched all over the house and haven't had any luck so far.

Please be on the lookout for him.

Description:

Hotwheels style car,

Red with a 95 on the side

No headlights

Lots of scratches and body damage...all inflicted with love, of course.

Please post a comment with any clues or knowledge of his whereabouts. I think I might go crazy if we can't find him...or I might just have to make a sneaky trip to Target!

Peek-a-boo!

I couldn't resist posting this picture of little Miss Mills. We were
at the farmer's market this morning and she was supposed to be napping
in the stroller, but instead she was slumpped down in the seat peeking
out under the middle bar and playing peek-a-boo with the blanket. She
can't stand to be left out of anything!

Order Complete!

I have been as busy as a bee and now I have another wedding invitation
order completed! Yeah! I will try to relax a little this weekend
before digging back into the next one on my list...

She has her Mommy's hair!

Millie definitely has her Mommy's hair...well at least she does in
this picture...literally! My hair is so long it was hanging over
Millie's head while I was holding her and Jon took a picture. We
thought it was hilarious.

Maybe this is a sign that it is time to finally cut my hair so I can
donate it. I have grown my hair out to donate to Locks of Love during
each of my pregnancies. I feel fourtunate that I am able to have
babies and that is my way of 'giving back' ...but I have yet to cut it
after Millie was born...ten months ago! Maybe next week will be the
week. It has to happen soon- it is driving me crazy! I will keep you
updated.

Rain Rain Go Away

What's better on a rainy day than a trip to the Childrens Museum,
going out to a fun lunch and watching a good movie from an impromptu
tent Mommy threw together! I just wish Millie enjoyed it as much as
Noah did!

Noah Visits the Dentist

First, a little background:
Noah's feelings about brushing his teeth seem to change on a whim. The first two and a half years of his life he LOVED his toothbrush. I first introduced it to him at 10months in an attempt to keep him from rolling over and wiggling around while putting his jammies on before bed. At that point, he would just chew on it, but it still got him used to the idea of having it in his mouth.

He was still interested in his bristle-y buddy when we moved it to the bathroom and added a little toothpaste. Even his doctor was surprised to hear Noah was always eager to clean his petite pearly whites. But about three months ago something changed his feelings - I wish I knew what it was, and brushing his teeth became a nightly battle neither of us looked forward to. He HATED it and threw a fit every night. Until...one day a few weeks ago, during one of our ritual Battle of the Brushes. On this night, he had a little icecream after dinner and soon after finishing we went downstairs to start our bedtime routine. When the time came to brush his teeth, Noah put his hands over his mouth and started shaking his head (like he had every night for the past three months) and I then told him firmly "Noah, you have to brush the ice cream off your teeth!" I have no idea what made this idea so appealing to him (nor do I really care), but ever since I just tell him it is time to brush the ice cream off his teeth and he usually gets right to work...regardless of whether he had ice cream or not.

So after making that much progress just a few weeks ago, I did NOT want to undo it with a nightmare of a trip to the dentist.

Usually I plan something like this out very well. I think of all possible scenarios and make sure I have a solution for each ready. Well, unfortunately I ran out of time so instead I told him we had to go to the dentist so they could 'tickle our teeth.' Not only did I not prepare him well, but, I had also scheduled my appointment at the same time and took Millie with me. WHAT WAS I THINKING??

As I sat in the waiting room...waiting - 20 mins after my scheduled appointment time (which was now just 15mins before our usual lunchtime and 45 mins before naptime) I sent Jon a quick email to tell him that I was totally regretting making our appointments together, why didn't I get a sitter for Millie, why did I schedule it for this time of day, why hadn't I prepared Noah better, why didn't I bring a snack for Millie!! I began to panic. How did I think this was going to work? Did I really think Noah would sit still like a perfect angel in a chair while I had my teeth cleaned? Did I think Millie would sit next to him in the stroller without any of her blood curdling shrieks (whether she was happy or not)? And then, how would I be able to keep Millie busy while I acted as a straight jacket for Noah when it was his turn? Beads of sweat were beginning to form on my brow and I was about 2 mins from throwing a huge, embarassing fit in the waiting room and storming out.

Then... all of a sudden through the door came the most wonderful sight...my amazing husband! Daddy to the rescue! He had received my email and aparently didn't want to receive a tear-filled phonecall from me with screaming kids in the background and possibly a message from the dentist's office saying we were no longer welcome back, so he took a break from his super busy day to bail me out. I wouldn't have made it through that appointment without him! He kept both monsters busy while I had my turn (which took about 45mins) and stayed for the beginning of Noah's appointment to make sure all went well. Thanks to him, all went well and Noah was all smiles when we left and LOVES brushing his teeth!!

Creative Chaos

This is the view I have been staring at for the past couple weeks and the reason I have failed to have a decent post lately.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I design custom invitations and stationery and spring is always a busy time for me as I work on birthday invites, wedding invites and accessories for summer and fall weddings. As much as I love doing this, it leaves little time for little luxuries such as posting updates to my blog. I am currently working on 5 different orders and hope to have a couple of them finished by week's end...maybe one will show up in YOUR mailbox??

I shall return soon enough with updates on the kiddos. They have been as busy as I have!

Put-off by the Post Office

Why do I always seem to have such a hard time making it to the post office? This seems like a simple errand that everyone must do from time to time, but for me, I absolutely DREAD going. My friends never understand why it takes me months to send them a simple gift, return a book, or mail a stationery order, etc. Well, here are just a few of the many reasons I STRONGLY DISLIKE going to the post office:

Maybe it is because in Chicago a post office with a parking lot is rare if one even exsists? This means driving around the block until a meter spot opens, or someone pulls away from the always full curbside parking (loading zone), or parking blocks away and hauling both kids in through the snow, rain, wind, or whatever else Mother Nature is dumping on us that day.

Or maybe it is because the postal workers who work there are so patient, calm and friendly...NOT!

Or because it means I will be chasing Noah down while lugging the 22lb carseat in the crook of my arm and trying balance the stack of 4 packages I need to mail out.

Or because I love spending 30mins of my day waiting in line (I wish I could say 'standing in line' but... see above) no matter what time of day I go!

Or maybe I love to pay WAY too much for packaging tape because I forgot to tape the box before I left the house and of course they won't share theirs, and this is the second time I have had to buy it because I thought I would out smart them by keeping a roll in the car, but whoops...I drove a different car that day!

Now I realize some of these issues are self-inflicted, but for once, it would be nice to have a peaceful, quick, positive experience. I think the only way that would happen is if someone built a drive-thru post office...hmm...not a bad idea. If you see a 'Mailing Mama' open up in a city near you just remember you heard it here first!

Warm weather means...

...naked baby legs and bare piggy toes! I LOVE 'em!

Tree Update - Spring has Sprung!

I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but there are finally tiny leaf sprouts on the tree out front. Yes! It is quite a welcome change from the blanket of snow that covered it just a few weeks ago! Bring on Spring!!

The world is not my trash can.

Since tomorrow is Earth Day, I thought I would post a couple things I do to help make the world a cleaner place...

I haven't always made a focused effort to take care of the environment like I probably should, but in the past 6 months or so I have tried to get a little better at the 3R's - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

I have trouble with the last R - Recycle (see below), so I try to make it up by focusing more on the other two.

REDUCE

I bought these great reusable bags that I LOVE. I use them instead of getting plastic grocery or shopping bags everywhere I go. In the past two days I have saved 6 shopping bags by using my cute reusable bag instead. I do have one exception to this rule so far - I still get bags from Target, but my reason for that is because I REUSE them to put stinky diapers in...instead of using a Diaper Genie and in my opinion Target has the best plastic bags.

I have also worked on reducing the amount of paper towels I use. I admit, it is sooo much easier to grab one, use it once for just a little drip and toss it out only to grab another one to use for something else. In order to realize that there are other ways to clean up spills, wipe messy faces, clean the mirrors, dry your hands, etc I decided this would be a good thing for a PTA (paper towel abuser) to give up for lent. Yes, I am proud to say I made (6.5 weeks?) paper towel free! It wasn't easy...especially on day 1 when Bowman decided to heave-ho in the kitchen - it would have been MUCH easier to clean it up with a huge wad of paper towels as I usually do, and it was very tempting, but I did not.

REUSE

For some reason I have a recent sense of guilt when I throw plastic containers out with the trash. I have been trying to come up with ways of reusing them instead. These are just a few of many plastic items I reuse.

I love the plastic coffee creamer containers (the liquid kind). I use it as a plastic bag holder for the car. It fits perfectly in the cup holder in the backseat and makes it easier to grab a bag to collect any garbage that might get left in the car (I guess this is another reason I keep the bags from Target). I also figured out a way to inter-connect the handles when putting the bags in the container so the next bag comes out just a little to make it easy to pull out). You could also use it to make salad dressing in...it has a nice pour spout and you can stick any unused dressing back in the fridge.

Another favorite that you will find all over my house are plastic takeout containers. They are great for storing small things like crayons, office supplies, items collected on nature hikes...the options are really limitless here!

RECYCLE

Here is why Recycling is a little tough for us.
Our dumpster is fenced in and unfortunately there isn't room for another container. The only option would be to separate and collect it myself and drop it off at our closest recycling center. Maybe I will make this a goal for the future, but right now, I have a hard enough time getting to the grocery store, post office (future post to come on this one!), Target, etc. I can just see myself collecting items to recycle and having good intentions of dropping it off, but running out of time because someone had a meltdown and then leaving a container of stinky trash in the back of the car. I can hear Jon now lecturing me now...ooops! :o )

So there you have it. The few things I do to try to make the earth a little cleaner for us all to live. What are the little things you do on a day to day basis to help out?

Sparking Carrots??!!

Over the weekend I made Millie some diced carrots by cutting them into small cubes and simmering them in chicken stock until they were soft enough for her to mash with her little tooth-less gums (she is 8 1/2mos and still no teeth!). Today I wanted to warm them a little before giving them to her so I put them in the microwave for 11 seconds. Three seconds...yes, THREE seconds later it looked like the Fourth of July. Sparks were FLYING! Are you kidding me? I took them out quickly to see if in my usual mindless lunchtime haste I had put something metallic into the bowl, but there was nothing in there but tiny little charred pieces of carrot.

I had to bring Jon in to take a look. I just couldn't believe this. The whole purpose of me making the carrots myself was to know exactly what was in the food I would be giving my little Mills. Anyway, he couldn't believe it either.

So of course I had to get online and find out if this was 'normal' or if I had just witnessed a fluke occurence? What was going on?

Unfortunately, I was dissapointed to find no concrete answers. Everywhere I looked seemed to have a different assumption than the next, but these are the reasons I found:

From the USDA website:

"Some foods such as raw carrots and hot dogs can cause arcing while being microwaved. In hot dogs, this can be due to the uneven mixing of salts and additives. In carrots, it can be due to the minerals in the soil in which they were grown. Whatever the cause, turn off the oven immediately to end the sparks"

Some sites mention that it has to do with the higher amount of minerals (iron, magnesium and selenium) in carrots -and a few other veggies.

Others say if the carrots are cut with metal knives and have sharp edges/corners that the electrons congretate at the ends and jump from one piece to the other??

"Anecdotal evidence suggests that a cut edge of the fruit or vegetable must be present, touching that of another cut edge, for the phenomenon to occur. This phenomenon seems similar to that of the 'edge effect' where electrons congregate at the sharp edges and point of a metal in an electric field and can discharge via a spark to another edge or point nearby."

Doe anyone else think it is crazy?

Whatever the reason, it is still unnerving to me. Am I the only one who has witnessed this?

If you don't believe me, and don't have the time to experiment on your own, I found this clip on YouTube that looked EXACTLY like what happened in my kitchen today...right down the to bowl they used. Now you can experience flaming carrots without the fire hazard!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ4c-l6m5YE

Mr. Fix-it

If you know me, you know that I am a little crazy about my kids' sleep schedules. Consistency is key and one thing that has remained consistent in both Noah's, and now Millie's bedtime routine is Baby Tad. Baby Tad is a stuffed frog who plays 'nighty night' music and allows you to set how long it plays - up to six minutes. This thing has worked wonders on nights when the inevitable night waking occurs and although I don't like to get my kids 'hooked' on something I might need to break them of in the future, this guy has been the one exception. Well good 'ol Tad returned from Florida a changed froggie and not for the better. He no longer worked! Panick set in. Not only is it tough to find this particular model (I don't think they make it anymore), but our first night back, Millie woke up at 4:30am and I really could have used his help. So last night I took Tad to see 'Daddy, MD'. He performed a fairly quick, painless procedure to realign some wires that were out of place. Now Tad is happily singing his merry tunes again and everyone is sleeping through the night again.

An Egg-cellent Easter!

Happy Easter to everyone! We just returned home after vacationing in Florida for the week (more on this in a future post), but we still had time to color eggs and await the arrival of the Easter Bunny. Noah was excited for his visit this year. He had a great time hunting for eggs while Millie watched and giggled. After he found all his eggs he kept asking where the Easter Bunny was. I told him he visited while we were sleeping and Noah's response..."That Easter Bunny, kinda sneaky!" Yes, he is!

Here are a few of the eggs we colored. I thought Noah would lose interest after decorating just a few, but he surprised me by saying..."Do more, Mommy, do more!" We colored 17 eggs with only a few casualties. Next year I will have to hard boil a boat load of them so Noah and Millie and Mommy all have enough to color. (Mommy had a little trouble at first giving her eggs to Noah to color after he quickly colored all his - so we worked together to decorate the rest and that made us both happy).

The flowers in the picture above were made with coffee filters. We folded them in half, then in half again, etc until they were as narrow as we could make them. Then we dipped them in the remaining dye, unfolded them and set them out to dry overnight. The next morning, we made them into pretty flowers by layering and twisting and holding them together with a pipe cleaner stem! I'm sure you could do this anytime of year using food coloring as well.

Tree Update - Spring?

(I wanted to post this last weekend and completely forgot, but I still wanted to make sure it gets added)

I haven't done a Tree Update in quite some time, but you haven't missed much. It has been the same old, bare bones, brown tree for quite a few months now. For the past three for four weeks I have been taking quick peeks at it, keeping my fingers crossed hoping that maybe THIS will be the time I see the first signs of new Spring growth. Well Sunday there were some changes from the boring brown...

These were NOT the changes I had in mind! I guess you never know what to expect from Mother Nature sometimes. She loves to keep us guessing. The funny thing is that on Jan 10th, I posted this picture of the tree and 'couldn't stop looking at how pretty it was'. It is interesting how a few months and a couple 70 degree days just a few weeks ago can turn an average cold, snowy day even more bitter!

All Aboard!

After a trip to Costco we always have plenty of large boxes on hand...what a great train they made and who knew this would keep the little ones busy for almost an hour!

Looks who's 'bringing up the tail!' Good dog, Bowman.

Noah's Maps

Noah has been interested in maps for some time now. I'm not sure what it is about them that he likes so much, but they are something he asks for quite often when we are riding in the car. On long trips he always asks where ____ (insert person we are visiting) lives. I always find myself in the awkward, not-so-safe, half in the frontseat half in the backseat mom position trying to point it out on the map for him.

This was my solution:

Friends and family laminated map stickers!

When I finished making the stickers. He could not wait to look at them. This surprised me a little because usually when I work on something like this for him it takes him a little while to appreciate it...if at all. This time he carried them out to the car and looked at them all the way to our destination and back. Yeah!

The 'how to:'

1. I sized and cropped pictures of friends and family we visit often (and happen to have pictures of!) using Photoshop.

2. I laid out all the pics (sized to .85in circles) in Illustrator and printed them all at once on photo paper (I tried cardstock first, but they weren't clear enough to tell who some of the people were).

3. Cut out circles. I wish I could have found my large holepunch for this, but my not-so perfect hand cut circles work just fine (or so I am trying to convince the perfectionist side of me).

4. Laminate circles. I used GBC SelfSeal laminating pouches.

5. Cut circles out of laminate.

6. Put through Xyron 150 Create-a-sticker. You could use double stick tape here too. Or if you REALLY wanted to simplify the project you could print the pics on label sheets and eliminate step 4.

Now your stickers are ready to place on their proper map locations!

WARNING: After placing all 24 of my new, indestructible stickers on the map, I so proudly presented it to Jon to show him what I did at naptime that day...he quickly took the wind out of my sails by pointing out that the maps are no longer useable because the pictures cover up parts of them map...whoops! I was so caught up in the details of my project, that point didn't even occur to me. So if you decide to do this project, you might want to buy new maps :0)

You could also use this idea on a full size map of the United States (or world, or city) if you have family and friends all over and hang it in a playroom or bedroom!

Worth the Wait

Noah has never been in a rush to do anything, but when he does it is always well worth the wait.

Becoming pregnant with him took what seemed like ages, but I think that made me realize how precious that experience is and made me appreciate it all the more.

He was due on Valentine's Day 2006 (what a 'sweet' gift that would have been), but decided he wanted the suspense to last a week longer! I'm also not forgetting the 17hrs of labor!

He didn't walk until he was 15mos old, but when he did, he didn't just take a few steps here and there he started walking and didn't look back. He also had great balance and never fell very much as is common for most toddlers.

Potty training is the only exception...and I am soo grateful! I decided about 6mos ago (age 2 1/2yrs) to stop diapers 'cold turkey' and Noah has done wonderfully! He has only had a few, rare accidents during the day and no (knock on wood) accidents at night. This is very rare for a BOY his age!


Since he was 18mos old he has been a little behind the ball in the speech department. In the past he never really said too much, usually just sounds that only Jon and I could translate, but in the past couple months he has made up for lost time...and now he won't stop! I am no longer worried and I now realize he was just focusing his energies on other things and now that he is talking it is amazing to me everything he has retained over the past months - just like a little sponge. Just because he didn't say he was learning, doesn't mean he wasn't!

The main thing with Noah is if he can't do it like everyone else does (i.e. Mommy and Daddy), then I think he would rather not do it at all until he has perfected it! He seems to have an 'I'm not going to do it until I can do it right' mentality and I can't wait to see what's next!

I know this isn't the most exciting post, but I wanted to write it because Noah is at an age where his personality and all his quirky little traits are starting to really become apparent. It is such a joy to watch him change and grow and I don't want to forget it!

Millie Milestone #3

Millie has a new game she LOVES to play. "How big is Millie?" "SO BIG!" Of course she isn't saying "So big", but she raises her arms when I say it. It is absolutely adorable.

Noah, in his attempt to not be left out of the game, tells me what questions to ask Millie...for example:

Noah: Mommy, how Noah big?

Mommy: Millie, how big is Noah?

Millie: (Raising her arms) Giggle, giggle!

Mommy: So big!

Noah: Mommy, how Daddy big?

... and so on, until he has made it through everyone in the family including Bowman and the house and anything else that happens to catch his eye.

How big is my love for these two little ones? SOOO BIG!