The Down Low

Pictures courtesy of Samantha, who sends me plenty of great ones!

So what's been going on in our day-to-day grind lately? Sickness! For 3 weeks straight, either Noah or I was sick. It started with the old hand, foot, & mouth, and switched over to this weird cold/allergy thing with a cough. After basically 4 days of fever, I requested from our pediatrician that we go ahead and try some antibiotics, feeling like a sinus infection made the most sense. The next day, the fever was gone! So relieved because being at home was really getting to both of us. We are ready for some fun...and good sleep!

Two cute buddies hanging out.

We also held a cookout at our house last Saturday evening and invited everyone we know around these parts to come out and meet our friends, Ross & Kelly, who just moved to the area. Fun was had by all but Noah, who was just not feeling his best. Sadly, I did not take any pictures.

The gang at Samantha's house, adorned in Froot Loop necklaces.

I must blog about our latest mishap from this morning, even though I'm pretty sure there's no way I could ever forget it. This morning, Noah and I headed out of the house to go to Wal-Mart. I hit the button on the garage door opener, as I have done a hundred times, and we go out into the garage. I go over to the fridge and get a drink out. This couldn't have taken more than 5 or 10 seconds. I hear screaming, look over, and see Noah dangling from the ceiling. Yes, dangling. Apparently, he caught hold of the door as it went up and just never let go. I rush over and lift him down, thinking his poor fingers must be trapped. Talk about a moment of sheer panic. But, no, he is just holding on for dear life, hanging like a little monkey from the garage door. He cried and I think was just scared, but then on the way to Wal-Mart I started giggling, which made Noah start laughing, and we both laughed the whole way. It was hard to decide if I should keep shaking or just laugh. That was truly one of the funniest, and initially scariest, sights I've ever seen. Too bad there wasn't time for a camera! :)

Tomorrow we head out on a quick overnight trip to San Antonio. I have been dying to take advantage of our already paid-for Sea World passes and a free stay at the Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk, compliments of my Chase Freedom card! Cheap, mini-family vacations rock! Wish us luck and safer adventures. :)

Trick or Treat Fun

Here are some of the pics from Monday night trick-or-treating and a few pre-Halloween ones as well.

As previously mentioned, Noah shared his hand,foot, and mouth disease with his best buddy, Adam. As promised to Adam's mommy, we invited them over to play since there is no where you can get out of the house to for several days while trying to avoid the spread of the contagion. :)

The boys had a great time playing together and painting pumpkins!


The finished products.
And now for the trick-or-treating. This was Noah's first time going out. I think he thought everyone had lost their minds but he seemed to enjoy himself anyway. :)

Ross, Kelly, & baby duck Madison joined us!

Such cuties!

Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween weekend this year. My parents came down and brought Noah's Halloween costume. He had a great time showing it off all weekend. My mom made this terrific train costume from the description we found on someone's blog! He was not crazy about putting it on the first time but once he saw himself in it, he was hooked!

Here we are arriving at the hospital's fall festival on Friday night.
So excited to show Daddy his train!

Riding the tractor/train with Mommy, the only one with short enough legs to take him on the ride :)
Counting his wealth. Mimi brought change for his piggy bank.

On Saturday morning, we headed out in search of a pumpkin patch!

Hanging out with Mimi and Papa while Mommy & Daddy went on a date night! (Sidenote: if you haven't seen the movie "Courageous" and eaten at North by Northwest, you must.)

Dressed up so handsomely for church on Sunday morning!

Trick or treat pics to come later! The boy just can't get enough of that train!

Hoof & Mouth

Okay, so it's not really "hoof & mouth" (which I think might be a cow disease?) but it is "hand, foot, & mouth disease."

Ever heard of it? It's a tricky one. First of all, it incubates for 3-7 days before symptoms arrive on the scene and they can spread the virus during this time, not knowing that they have it. Last Wednesday morning, about 15 minutes before we were due to leave for Kindermusik , Noah became very fussy and I decided we'd better skip since he just didn't seem well. Good thing for those kids! He ended up passing out on my bed mid-morning (never happens!) and woke with a 102 fever. Two days later, after ups and downs of fever, a trip to the pediatrician who found ulcers in his throat, he broke out with this on his mouth and backside. I will spare you the pic of his bottom, suffice it to say, it is a bit gross. Nothing really on his hands and feet though. 7 to 10 days of contagion! Enough to drive us both crazy with boredom since we need to avoid other children and mostly stay home. Generally, adults do not catch this or do not show symptoms if they do. So glad my little boo is getting better now.

Sadly, we shared the bug with Noah's best buddy Adam, so the two boys are toughing it out together today while I'm at work. Noah's blisters are almost gone but poor Adam is just getting started. Beware!

Motivate Me

I need to get my blog booked. Ha! My intention since the day Noah was born (if you'll remember, a couple of friends actually made books out of my pregnancy blog for me...still thankful!) has been to put them into a book. I'm just not talented enough to use the do it DIY programs and too frugal to use the more expensive ones. So I plan on doing just a plain Shutterfly book but that seems a little boring...

Anyway, the time-consuming part is searching through old pics, not just copying and pasting the blog...but maybe if I commit myself to doing 5 posts a week, I will eventually book my entire blog! It's only getting worse right? ;)

Wish me luck!

30 Month Stats

We visited the pediatrician this morning for Noah's 30 month well-check and flu shot.

Weight: 29.2 lbs (50th percentile)
Height: 36 in (55%)
BMI: 35% (whatever that tells us)

He had a good check-up, despite getting that nasty shot. Luckily, dumdums make everything better.

In speech therapy, we are now working on how to answer questions, or converse, rather than just parroting everything someone says to him. We are continuing to work on pronunciation, of course, but Noah has done well with all of his initial goals and is making progress. He is also learning colors and trying to get the hang of counting and identifying letters.

For the most part, he is a great sleeper and is still enjoying his crib tent. :) I see no good reason to make the switch to the toddler bed just yet. Jeremy wants to work more seriously on potty training, but I don't think Noah is really ready and I don't want to begin and have to stop because he isn't quite mature enough yet. But it's coming...

Noah is loads of fun and keeps us laughing. The other night I was gone to my Moms Night Out with my moms group from church and Noah cried at bedtime when I wasn't there to put him to bed. And who can blame him? I spend lots of time reading and cuddling and put on a great bedtime routine. Daddy rocks him for 2 minutes and puts him down. However, last night, Noah insisted that Daddy be the one to change his poopy diaper! I think I got the better end of the deal. :)

Two and a Half!

We had pictures made on Saturday to commemorate Noah's half-birthday. :) These are all the rough shots, except for a few black-and-whites edited by Jeremy. I even included some of the funnies.

The last 6 months have really flown by!