Go, Diego, Go!

We get 2 tv channels.  PBS and NBC.  I think we got cable once in our married life.  We did the 1 month - maybe it was 3 - introductory rate and then canceled it.  I really don't miss having all those channels.  Truth be told, if we had cable or satellite, I'd watch way too much tv.  I enjoy being able to get the news and a couple of my favorite shows, namely this and this.  I know that if Noah is watching tv, which is rare, (he prefers his Signing Time and Baby Einsteins to tv) he is watching wholesome shows that are geared towards learning.  That being said, we have found NickJr.com which allows you to watch some shows on their site.  Noah has enjoyed watching Diego every once in awhile.  In this video, he is singing the theme song.  Man, he is cute.  Oh, and that sticker on his head is the norm lately...  Whatever.

Ammon will be so proud...

Noah: "Mommy!  Mommy!  I wanna play soccer!"

Me: "You want to play soccer?"

Noah: "YES!  THAT'S RIGHT!  Good Job!"

Me: "Haha.  Thanks, Noah."

love.love.love

We like Valentine's Day.  This past Valentine's day marked 4 years since Ammon proposed to me.  :)  I have loved being with him.  We didn't really have a courtship... The very short version is, we met.  He fell in love.  I did not.  He persisted.  I fell hard.  We "dated" for a month before he proposed.  5 months later, we were married.  Life with Ammon is wonderfully happy.  We live for eachother and our family.  On Valentine's Day, we were still sick but weren't going to let that ruin things for us.  My parents had given Ammon a Chili's gift card as part of his birthday present.  He saved it for this day.  Will and Ginger watched the boys while we went out for dinner.  Ammon got ribs which he hasn't had in SO long.  They're too expensive for us to get regularly.  I got what I always get from Chili's.  Chicken Club Tacos.  We had a great time people watching, reminiscing about our time together and being without kids.  After dinner, Ammon took me to Goody's.  They are going out of business and everything was 60%-80% off.  He picked out an awesome ring for me and had me pick out a handful of jewelry and headbands.  Thanks sweetie!!  For Valentine's Day, I made us a gift.  

I made a "love notes" book.  I wrote on the inside that I wanted it to be a place where we could write little notes to one another.  Maybe to say thank you or to share our feelings about how much we love and appreciate eachother.  Maybe we will recall a look, a moment or a touch.  Once one of us writes in the book, we will leave it open so the other knows there is an unread note.  I am so excited to fill this book!

Girls' Night Out

Saturday night, a bunch of us girls planned to go out and have fun without boys and without children.  The plan was to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic and then go out to eat.  I couldn't spend that much time away from Griffin because he is still nursing and won't take a bottle.  I decided I would go to the movie and skip out on dinner.  We had about 20 girls show up and we had a lot of fun!  We had the whole theater to ourselves and I think we all enjoyed the movie.  I enjoyed the company more than the movie but, it was still pretty good.  I haven't read the book so, I'm not sure how it compares.  I would watch it again just to see her dancing with that fan.  Oh my goodness... so funny!  I cannot wait until the next Girls' Night Out.  It was much needed!

No More Plugs

Noah has given up his plugs!  As a baby, he was very attached to these things.  They really helped me get some sleep and they kept Noah happy.  About a year ago, we made the plugs a bedtime thing.  He kept them on or under his pillow and only got them when he was sleeping.  Last week, he bit holes in all 3 of his plugs.  When he complained about them, I told them that they were broken.  I asked him if he wanted to put them in the trash and he said, "yeah".  He dropped them in the trashcan and hasn't had them since!  He asked for them once that day but that was the last we have heard about his plugs.  Yay!  He isn't having trouble falling asleep without it at night but naptimes are a little different.  When I put him down for a nap now, he sings and sings.  Sometimes he falls asleep, sometimes not... Oh well.  At least there is no more stressing about bringing his plugs places, searching the house for an hour to find them in some random drawer or going in his room to give it back to him in the middle of the night.  :)

In other "Noah News" - you might remember me talking about his neck problem last week.  Well, the following day, he still couldn't move his head to the right.  After naptime, he cried and cried.  I could tell he was in a lot of pain.  I called Ammon and we decided to take him to the chiropractor.  Dr. Ray is in our ward and he totally fixed Noah!  He had me sit on the table and then Noah sat on me.  He used his gun thing (what's that called?) and worked along Noah's neck and shoulder for awhile.  Noah was absolutely perfect.  Then he had me lay down on the table and hold Noah on his back.  He took Noah's head in his hands and was so gentle in stretching his neck a bit.  Noah had almost full range of motion back by the end of the appointment and by the next morning, he was 100% better.  Thanks Dr. Ray!!

Front Yard Bliss

We were able to go to the temple 2 weeks ago.  Another fantastic trip!  When we got home, it was warm and sunny.  Noah was excited to play outside so we all enjoyed an hour or so in the front yard.  Noah found some leaves in our flower bed and started throwing them up over Griffin.  They did this forever!  Griffin watches everything Noah does and you can tell that he wants to be doing it too.  Griffin laughs at Noah ALL the time.  No one can get him to laugh like Noah can.  Ah, brothers...

WIND!

A couple weeks ago, we went to a friend's birthday party.  It was a beautiful day outside and we were driving with the windows down.  Who knew that wind could make you giggle like this?!

Together as Family

I'm allowed to complain, right?

Right now, Griffin is sitting next to me in the highchair.  I am looking out the window waiting for the love of my life to pull up in the driveway.  Noah is out with Gigi and Pap.  I think they went to the park for awhile.  Today has been a tough day.  Ammon and I have been sick for a week now and it's getting really old...  We keep telling ourselves that we're getting better only to wake up the next morning feeling just as lame as the day before.  Griffin caught our cold Saturday night and has been struggling to sleep and breathe.  Noah, thank goodness, hasn't gotten the cold yet.  We've been praying for it to skip him.  This morning, he kept telling me that his shirt was hurting him.  He would point to his neck and I figured the tag was bothering him.  4 shirts later, I thought it had to be something else... We went to Kindermusik.  Noah screamed the whole way there saying he was hurt.  I could not figure it out.  He sat for most of Kindermusik and didn't participate like usual.  When we left there were more tears and more "hurting".  When we got home, I had had enough whining and put Noah down for an early nap.  He continued to say that his shirt was hurting so I let him nap in socks and a diaper.  30 minutes later, he is screaming in his bed.  I went in to try and comfort him but, it wasn't working.  I took his temperature.  No fever... Griffin was napping by this point so I offered to hold Noah and he jumped at the chance to have me all to himself.  We sat on my bed and watched tv shows on the laptop.  More whining.  I tried to pinpoit exactly where it hurt and finally figured out that he somehow strained his neck.  He couldn't move his head to the right at all.   I put him in the bath, as a distraction and made a few phonecalls.  Griffin woke up. He's still sick so all he wants is to be held.  Exersaucers and jumpers are not helpful.  I fed Griffin while Noah was in the bath and then Noah wanted out and fed.  I got him out and dressed and gave him a banana and 2 pieces of bread (his request).  I made a couple more phonecalls.  Ammon.  Chiropractor.  Pediatrician.  Ammon again.  (Ammon just walked in.  He leaned in for a kiss and sparks flew.  Literally.  Ouch!!  Have you ever gotten shocked on the lip?  Not cool.)  Anyway, Noah started to play in the living room.  He seemed happy and wasn't complaining about his neck.  Gigi called and wanted to play with Noah.  I decided to hold off taking Noah in to the doctor until tomorrow.  He seemed like he was getting better and really wanted to play with Gigi and Pap.  They picked Noah up and took him to the park and to the grocery store.  I am so grateful.  I haven't slept in about a week now and I feel like I have been growing impatient with Noah today.  I know he had so much fun with them.  Being a mom can be so trying sometimes.  I'm grateful I have the support of family and friends.

Hurry!

Ammon posted this on his blog and since I'm super curious to see what he'll make for me, I'm posting it on mine.  Here are the rules:

The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year (hopefully sooner than later.)
4. You will have no clue what it is going to be.
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
The catch? Oh the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me you did will win a marvelous homemade gift by me!

Let the games begin!!

My Buddy

Noah is so smart.  For Christmas he got the Signing Time videos and he absolutely LOVES to watch them.  He is pretty fluent in ASL.  Sometimes we don't speak at all, we just sign.  It's amazing to me that someone so small has really grasped the concept of speaking through signs and that he's been doing this since he was 8 months old!  I am so glad that we decided to start signing with him.  And not only start signing but I'm really grateful that we have kept it up too.  I really feel like Signing Time has trained Noah's little mind to learn.  It makes me giggle a little to go out in public and watch people's reactions to Noah.  He signs "thank you" which is similar to blowing a kiss.  Every time he signs thank you, without fail, they think that he is blowing them a kiss.  We have to explain that he is signing thank you and then do the whole conversation of "yes, he can hear"  "yes he can speak" "no, we don't know anyone that is deaf" "he's been signing most of his life" "well, babies can learn to sign before they can learn to speak so, we started it as a way of communication and we have just kept it up" blah blah blah.  I am so proud of him.  He is an exceptional little boy and he learns and grows everyday.  

Off to the Library!

Yesterday we got to Noah's Kindermusik class only to find that it had been canceled.  I knew Shanna had been trying to call me but our phone was all messed up.  Needless to say, I didn't get the message.  I knew Noah would be crushed if we went straight back home so I asked him if he wanted to go to the library.  "Library!  Yes!"  So we went into our local library for the first time in his life.  The lady at the front desk gave me a schedule of all the events and then we headed over to the kiddie section.  They had a few small tables and chairs, a really fun area rug with bugs and numbers and a bucket full of toys.  Noah loved picking out some books and playing with the toys.  They have story time once a week so I think we'll hit that up when we can.  They are also celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2nd.  Every half hour they will have someone read one of his books and then that evening, they are having a party with cake and an appearance of the Cat in the Hat.  Noah will love it.  He's really into Dr. Seuss books right now.  It's nice to get out of the house for awhile and it's becoming easier to be out with both boys.  Next time though, I'll be sure to bring a bag in with me.  Carrying a baby, books, papers and holding a 2-year old's hand is quite the task.  (I'll also remember to put the books in the car and not leave them on the roof as I drive away.  Thank goodness they were still there when I realized what I had done at the stoplight.)