Genetics

Noah has loved football since pretty much the day he was born. Even as an infant, he would turn his head to watch it on TV (otherwise to this day he has pretty much no interest in TV... unless the Yankees are on).

Apparently, his admiration for it is only increased with potato chips....

As this video clearly shows, he is truly his daddy's boy!

Big steps forward

It's amazing how quickly kids change. How fast they grow up. In so many different ways... I love watching both boys grow and become such amazing little people. Every day, I think about how lucky I am that I have them. Even when I'm exhausted from being kept up all night (they take turns at that), or I'm doing the millionth load of laundry, or whatever... it is all so worth it to get to be with these two boys. They make me laugh every day and their hugs make me feel like my heart is going to explode. I love being their mom.

Anyway... here's what the boys have been up to!

Big news on both: Noah is walking! Finally. He took his first steps (leaving the coffee table to walk to me) on Sunday, October 5th (15 1/2 months old). Now he is pushing his toy walker-push-toy-things all over the place, walking like... well, you'll see. Josh says it looks like a penguin. It is the cutest thing... he hasn't quite figured out how to bend his knees yet. But he's getting there. He laughs and laughs while he wobbles around.

Also in Noah news - he is saying a lot now. His favorite thing to say these days is "Uh Oh" (usually preceded by him throwing something off of the high chair, etc.). But he also says "ap" for apple (which he points at in his book), "puhdibak" (put it back), "dock" (sock), "igoddit" (I got it), "maw" (more) and of course, 'hi dada'. I think there are one or two others... but he mostly still grunts and points. Tonight I gave him a bath, and he grabbed the washcloth (he loves to play with it). I said, "Noah, clean your feet! Where are your feet?" and he looked at me and then grabbed his feet! I was so surprised... that was something new! We played this game for a little while until he got confused. But he knew his back, his arm and his toes. Wow! So my saying those body parts every night at every bath is finally paying off. :)

In Evan news, he is finally all better. He was sick for almost two weeks, poor kid! He had a bad cold, an ear infection, swollen glands, his 12 year molars are coming in, he had allergies... in the doc's words, he was "a mess". But we still made the trip down to NJ to Jack's Golf Tournament at the end of September. Evan really didn't want to miss it ("I feel fine, Mom!") and it was SO nice of the family to invite us. It was really wonderful. Evan and I got to meet all of Jack's family (the baby boy who had inspired Evan to hold the toy drive for the hospital earlier this year) and they honored Evan at the dinner as a special guest! They asked him to pick out the winning tickets for a few of the raffle drawings - and Evan was so nervous. He kept asking me over and over what he had to do, if he had to say anything, what if it went wrong, etc. I promised him it would be easy. He ended up having a great time, although by the end of the evening he was ready for bed (that cold was getting the best of him - and he was trying really hard not to spread his germs). Back at the hotel we changed into jammies, rented The Hulk on PayPerView and snuggled into bed. It was a great Mom-and-Evan trip, but it would have been perfect if he were feeling better.

Here's Evan at the podium, picking out raffle winners:

Here he is trying not to get his cold germs on baby Jack's adorable sisters (p.s. they're playing with the maracas Evan gave them :) :

Fifth grade and a fifteen month old

Well, I'm not very good at keeping up-to-date with this blog, I guess. This last month has been a blur....

Here are the updates: Evan has started 5th grade (his last year of elementary school!) and so far he really seems to like it. We'll see... he has good days and bad days, but doesn't everyone? And he lost his last baby tooth. He also has reached my height and weighs 100 lbs. Holy cow... I know everyone says 'it goes so fast' but no one warned me that time seems to speed up exponentially once you have kids. It seems to be speeding past me some days.

Anyway, on the Noah front: No, he's still not walking. He just reached 15 months, and he still butt scoots. But he is standing a lot more, and a lot sturdier - even starting to let go with one or both hands now. And when he sits down, he bends his knees now - so he doesn't crash down on his tush like he was at first (I guess that diaper wasn't great padding after all). And he is cruising around the furniture all of a sudden. He is very cautious - which is a good thing.

He's still generally a very happy baby - although he has his days (again, who doesn't?), has reverted back to waking up at 5am (shoot me) and has just started throwing mild temper tantrums when something is taken away from him. He now trys to 'help' around the house (you can see him here 'helping' with the dishwasher - he generally takes off with the basket full of silverware...) He doesn't say much (usually a grunt means 'yes' in response to a "Do you want..." question) but today he said 'car'. Twice. It was the cutest, sweetest little sound I've ever heard.

We also started taking Noah to a little playgroup at the library.

It's great... it's free, it's an hour long (I take him with his Nanny over my lunch break, once a week) and there are about 12 other babies there. He's the youngest. He's completely fascinated by the other kids and goes right up to them (doesn't even give a second glance back at me or his Nanny). So he is loving it. Evan is disappointed, though - he REALLY wants to go with him, but of course it is during school hours so that won't work. Hopefully we'll find something on the weekends that we can all go to together.


Evan is off at the Grandmas' tonight, working on his 'real metal iron man costume that he's not sure if he wants to wear for Halloween or just around the house' (those grandparents have a whole lot of patience...). They are all having fun with it, though, and it sure is creative. I'm hoping he comes home early tomorrow, otherwise Noah will be complaining all morning. He gets really grouchy when Evan is not home, and I swear he knows the difference between a weekend and a school day.

Waiting at the door for Evan to come home from school...

Growing up right before my eyes

So... Noah is really standing! He is getting stronger and sturdier at it every day.

Sure, most 14 month olds are practically running around, but our Noah just loves his butt hop so much, he is taking his sweet time to walk. So the standing alone thing is such a big step forward (no pun intended)!

We also don't really have a house set up with cruise-height furniture, and I think that probably would have helped him. Sorry, Noah. (PS>These photos are a little dark but you get the idea. :)

I am so thrilled to see him starting to stand and walk, but at the same time... my baby.

I only need to look at Evan to know how the time really does fly...

Speaking of Evan.... time for a few photos of him. We went to a wedding recently (my oldest friend - friends since 2nd grade - married my step-brother... how cool is that!). Evan is thrilled since her son is now not just his friend, but his cousin, too.

I didn't get to take too many photos since I was in the wedding party, and Josh had his hands full with the boys... but look how gorgeous Evan looks. (I'm a bit biased, I know...)

Evan watching over his sleeping brother (after he said to me, "You go dance, mom - you should enjoy your friend's wedding.")














Evan and my friend Laura's three boys... so cute, all in their polo shirts...














And a truly tuckered Noah - who partied hard at the wedding... And lastly, my favorite photo of the week - and maybe of all time:

Crazy summer days

I used to think the summer was relaxing, and that the school year was so hectic.

Now, between the long camp hours, work, the nanny, more work, Noah's schedule and trying to fit in some 'let's enjoy this beautiful day before the end of the summer' - I think we're all ready for the fall. And I never, ever thought I would say that!

So far our attempts at 'let's have some summer fun' haven't worked out so well... mosquitos, rain, bugs (Evan hates bugs of all kinds) and some really dumb rules at Great Adventure have been getting in the way of our summer fun.

We spent the day at GA recently, and it was a bit of a disaster. I hadn't been there in years, but I remembered it as a mostly-roller-coaster park with some other fun (and easier) rides, like the log flume and the runaway train. I thought Evan would love it. A beautiful summer day. Lots of things to do, rides for kids, hot dogs and ice cream. What could be bad about that? Well...

The park is now ALL roller coasters. One after the other... and the few rides I thought he would enjoy? Let's see: the log flume had a 2+ hour wait (it was a broiling summer day), we tried the runaway train and not only did Evan hate it, the ride got stuck while we were on it. Not good. Then - the worst part - Evan was turned away from every attraction he REALLY wanted to go on, because (get this): he was too tall. Too tall! I never heard of that before at an amusement park. Too short, sure. I can remember as a kid my dad taught me how to lift my heels inside my sneakers so I could cram another inch in... but poor Evan. I felt soooo badly for him. It was such a tease, to see all these kids (probably his age, too) running around and having a great time, on the giant treehouse, the ball pit with the air shooters (shooting plastic balls at each other) and the water play area. We begged a manager and a few others, but no dice. Needless to say, we won't be going back.

We did have some fun, though, just all being together (despite the 3+ hour car ride each way)...

Evan was much happier when he got this Batman cape as we were leaving the park... whew. At least the day ended well!

Maybe this is why I'm so tired all the time?

I know this blog is about the boys, but I have to tell you how my night went last night - and in a big way, it is all about them:

5:45 pm - Get home from working in the city, exhausted after long commute, but - bliss, no one is home. I can put my feet up.

5:50 pm – Oh well - Josh and Noah walk in - I start prepping Noah's dinner.

6:00 pm - Attempt to feed Noah, who wants nothing I've prepared - in the end he has inhaled about 3 dozen puffs, a jar of his old standby favorite baby food, 12 peas and a huge slice of watermelon. My dinner? The Annie's mac-n-cheese he refused.

6:30 pm - Evan gets home, we all play for a bit.

7:00 pm - Josh offers to watch kids so I can shower (YAY!).

7:05 pm - Finish what felt like the longest, best shower ever. Start running Noah's bath water.

7:15 pm - Attempt to give Noah a bath, while he proceeds to stand up in the tub, turn around to try to grab anything not bolted down and pour cups of water outside the tub onto the floor.

7:30 pm - Wrestling time! Try to get Noah into his PJs and ready for bed.

7:45 pm - Tell Evan for the 10th time to get into the shower.

8:00 pm - Put Noah to bed. Start Evan's laundry.

8:30 pm - Family time: Josh, Evan and I watch an episode of Buffy.

9:30 pm - Evan goes to bed; I decide to get some work done on the computer.

12:30 am - Exhausted, turn off computer, fall into bed.

2:00 am (maybe??) - Wake up to Evan looming over me, his belly hurts (although I suspect that v. scary Buffy episode may have something to do with it) - I go to his room to put him back to bed.

5:00 am - Wake up (where am I? Oh, right - Evan's room) to Noah screaming.

5:10 am - Waiting to see if Noah will stop crying on his own.

5:15 am - Go see what is wrong with Noah. Oh, he dropped his paci outside the crib. Give it back to him. Wait, that's not making him any happier.

5:30 am - Make Noah a bottle.

5:45 am - Put Noah back into his crib, a much happier baby.

5:50 am - Remember that Evan's laundry is sitting in the washing machine, and he'll have nothing to wear tomorrow. Run downstairs and switch it over to the dryer.

6:00 am - Crawl into bed just in time for the alarm to go off.

6:30 am - Nanny calls in sick for the day.

Here are a few more recent photos...