Tender moments!

The other night we were praying as a family. It was Noah's turn for the prayer. This usually consists of him repeating the last word in each phrase that Ron or I say. For instance we'll say "Thankful for mom... (pause)" and Noah responds "mom... (pause)"...etc. So we've been trying to get him to voice his own prayers. Ron was helping him and his prayer went as follows:

Ron - "Thankful for ___________" (repeated over and over a few times)

Noah filled in the blanks with the following: "Mom (I love that I was first! :), Dad, Mason, Noah (yes, he is thankful for himself), Mom (again), Dad, Noah, and Bear!"

At this point in the prayer Ron tried a little harder to change the course of the prayer.

Ron - "Thankful for Jesus"

Noah sweetly responded "sacrifice."

At this point in the prayer my eyes teared up, (they are tearing up now just typing it!). Maybe it's a pregnancy thing because lots of things make me cry now days but I love little tender moments like these with my boys. I feel like it's a great reminder of the power of example and no matter what you think they are listening and sometimes get it! Now of course I know that Noah was just repeating what he's heard Ron and I pray out loud but I still think it's a wonderful phrase for my little man to pick up.

Sleep Issues

Not sure what to do about my 2 yr. old Noah. He's always been an early riser. The normal sleep schedule for him goes as follows:

Bedtime 8-8:30pm (he probably would go down earlier but Mason is such a night owl that he WON'T go to bed any earlier than this. So we compromise.)

Wake-up 5-5:30am. (SOMETIMES he'll sleep in until 6am) This is way better than in the past. He used to get up at 4:30am FOR THE DAY! Once this boy is up he is UP! There's no getting him back to sleep UNLESS you lay by him until he falls asleep. And even that doesn't always work.

When I get home from the gym at 6am this is what I find:

Or this:

and this:

Poor Ron. He's so good to let me go to the gym when Noah gets up so early. He'll sometimes put a movie on for Noah so he can rest a little more til I get home. Although Noah's pretty demanding in the mornings. Wanting Oatmeal, his sippy, or "ANOTHER MOVIE". His attention span is super short! He wants another or different movie every 10 mins!

Lately when he gets up at 5am or earlier he's REALLY cranky all morning long and falls asleep earlier for a nap. I know he's cranky because he got up too early and didn't get enough sleep.

Mason Goes to bed pretty good, although he has a hard time falling asleep. So he will just lay in bed (or do quite activities like puzzles, look at books, ...etc.) until he eventually falls asleep around 10-10:30pm sometimes even 11pm. I think he just has insomnia. Sometimes I go in to check on him around 10 or 10:30pm and he's just laying in bed starring at the ceiling. It's kinda cute but worries me. He usually sleeps in until 7 or 7:30am so I don't worry about his sleep time. Plus he still takes a 1 1/2 hour nap everyday. I've tried to nix the naps hoping it would help him fall asleep at night faster or earlier... but that doesn't work. As good as he is about the whole bedtime routine he almost EVERY night manages to wake up and come sneak in bed with Ron and I. We wake up most mornings with no recollection of him joining us during the night.

Noah will do the same but he's a lot more vocal when he comes in and asks if he can lay by us. Usually out of exhaustion I just give in. So you can image how packed our little queen size bed is in the mornings!

I'm not sure what to do. Especially with my ticking time bomb baby girl to come any day now. I feel like having a noisy new born is only going to make our sleeping arrangements that much harder.

I can't get the video clip to download that we got. It's a sweet video clip of the boys at bedtime. Ron was being sneaky and filmed them reading the book "Down by the Bay". It's really cute song/book that they love. Halfway through the clip you can hear Noah saying over and over: "Let's lay down..." That's my little exhausted 2 yr. old wanting to sleep. I love moments like this. Even if it happens when they are supposed to be SLEEPING!

Snow Trip

This weekend we took a spur of the moment trip to the snow. We've been wanting to take the boys for a while now and I'm really glad we did. Mason and Noah loved it! Isn't this gorgeous?!

I couldn't believe all the snow! Beautiful!

Ron and Mason's snowangels!
We couldn't make a snowman because the snow was too fine and not wet enough.
But still lots of fun to dig and play in!

Our poor boys! We don't have very much cold weather gear. So, we improvised with lots of layers! I think Noah looks like he's wearing a helmet!!! ha! I totally forgot his gloves so we just put multiple layers of my gloves on him! Poor guy couldn't really move his hands! But he didn't seem to mind much.

We even begged Aunt Maryann to join us. Noah's favorite part was throwing snow at any and everyone in his path!

Girls Day Out and Nails!

Ok! So... I got to get a pedicure this last weekend with my sisters! Maddy's Birthday was this last week and selfishly I had the idea of getting her a gift card to a nail salon. So Erica, Rinn, and I pitched in. I had this idea because I've wanted a pedicure for weeks now! At this point in my pregnancy reaching my toes isn't very fun or easy!

Erica, Me and Maddy! (Too bad my others sisters and mom couldn't make it!)

Maddy opted for acrylic nails! Isn't the Birthday girl cute?!

TA-DA! The finished product!

Ok this video is hilarious! After our pedicures we figured out we were in massage chairs. Erica's massage chair was more like a roller coaster ride!!!! :) Hilarious!

My toes are SUPER cute! (It's about the only thing that can be cute on my fat prego body right now! :) Seriously!

Urgent Care visit

Noah jumped off the couch this morning and landed on his left arm.

After that, and all day long he didn't use his left arm. Just let it hang by his side. I took his shirt off and didn't notice any swelling or anything. I really didn't want to take him to the doctor because it seems like EVERY time I do there's NEVER anything wrong with my kids!!!!

All day long he played "fairly normal" other than not using his left arm. He kept telling me, "Mom, this arm is not broken (he says while pointing to the right arm). This one is broken (gesturing to the left arm)." I called the Dr. office in the afternoon and they advised me to bring him in. So when Ron got home from work he took Noah to Urgent Care.

His jacket is on funny because they kept having to take it off for the nurses and doctor to check him and it hurt him to try and get his arm back in the sleeve. When Noah was shirtless he'd notice the ID wristband and try to get it off. He kept saying "Take it off Daddy, take it off!" But when they put the jacket on he wouldn't notice it and would stop complaining about it.

After waiting for an hour in the waiting room they brought him back to the exam room, some nurses did initial checks and then they waited another hour in the room for the doctor. They took an x-ray and determined that it wasn't broken but his left elbow was dislocated. So they popped it back in. It's amazing how fast he's back to using his arm now that it's back in place.

Dad told Noah if he was good and cooperated with the doctor that he could get an ice cream cone on the way home. And of course Daddy followed through with his promise of ice cream on the way home!

Ice Cream makes everything better!