Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Never sounded so lovely.  

Catch!

Adam and I love to blow kisses at each other, catch them and stick them to our cheeks.  

Sometimes those kisses get really high before they get caught!

Five Months

Noah loves-

His hands- best toy ever! 

Drooling 

Accidentally grabbing at anything within reach and holding on tight!

Napping 4 times a day

Waking twice a night (just twice!  Such a thoughtful boy)

Sitting up, assisted

Rolling over on his own 

Making intense eye contact with strangers until he can crack a smile out of them

His mama!

I love- 

His dimpled chubby fists

The way he beams at me when I come into his room

The way his long eyelashes tickle his pudgy cheeks in his sleep

His baby snorts

The tender ways his siblings love him

They way he slows us all down.  

Life can't be hurried when there is a sweet baby Noah nearby. 

 Of course, a screaming baby Noah nearby is another story altogether! 

I Don't Know About You...

But I'm feeling thirty-twoooooo!

Not really, but it fits, so hey!  

I had a birthday, and boy was it a great one.  All I really wanted a day off, and I got it.  I traded in diapers, dishes and discipline for breakfast in bed, snuggles galore, a quiet morning, a lunch date in East Village with my friend Jami, so many hugs and "Happy Birthdays!" from my kids (or, in Emma's case- "Your... your... birthday!  Can we put da fire on da cake?"), Milky Way cake, presents, a dinner date with two of my handsome boys, the best baby-sitter ever (my kids love her, and she cleaned my house!  I got the day off and didn't have to spend the next two days catching back up!), a trip to Target and Home Depot, and a day full of thoughtful birthday wishes from so many family and friends.   

As I always do on my birthday, I stayed up all the way until midnight just so I could fully enjoy every minute of it.  And I thanked Jason over and over again for taking over at home so I could have a day off.  He looked pretty tired by the end of the day.

So, to everyone that hasn't been thirty-two yet, I probably sound pretty darn old.  But for those who thirty-two has come and gone (including myself as I read this in the future), thirty-two probably sounds like a spring chicken.  I'm not that old or that young.  But here are a few of the ways I'm feeling a bit of both.

Ways I'm Feeling Old

1. My wallet is full of coupons.

2. I daydream about what features I want in a minivan.

3. My shoulder hurts a lot, and I wonder if I'll need surgery on it in some distant day. 

4. I get a ridiculous amount of satisfaction in cleaning out a closet, diaper bag, or car.

5. Sometimes I'm happy just to sit and watch, not join in. 

6. I have loads of advice I've gained from personal experiences, but I don't readily share my gems because I am still young enough to know what it's like to receive loads of unsolicited advice. 

7. I have personal friends that are dealing with major life heartbreaks.  The fun days of falling in love! getting married! having babies! are slowly coming to a close.  Real life is setting in and it can hit pretty hard.  Of course, I'm still so grateful for the many, many other ways we get to experience joy.

8. Stretch marks, dark circles under my eyes, general lumpiness- I've got the marks of motherhood. 

9. I really look forward to General Conference, and not just for the naps. 

10.  I really appreciate a good nights sleep and the value of a good mattress.  I feel old because I asked for a new bed for my birthday. 

11. I told my kids 'If you're not wearing your seatbelt, you're wrong!' Got that one from my dad.  

12. I spend time, money and effort taking care of responsible things like saving for retirement and my kids college, weddings and missions.  

13. I long for the carefree days of childhood. 

14. I often ask my kids to turn down their music.  

15. I am referred to as 'Leah's/Adam's/Emma's mom' (and I love it!) 

16. I volunteer in my children's classrooms... Not often, but I could.  I have kids in classrooms. 

17. I make pb&js by the loaf, them cut them into cute shapes and freeze them for convenience. That seems like a very mom-like thing to do.

18. I understand and appreciate the value of a true friend. 

19. I know why it's important to turn off the lights, and I do it. 

20. I have been lots of things- a student, a "construction worker", a newlywed, a new mom, a piano teacher.

21. I know the importance of eating my vegetables and eating more fiber, and now I do it! 

22. My daughter and I read the same books and then discuss them together. 

23. I am learning the meaning of the phrase 'this hurts me more than it hurts you'. 

24. I don't use #hashtags to label my life, nor do I have any desire to start. Fine for those that do, it's just not my thing. 

25. I have my favorites and I'm not usually interested in trying something new.  I make a Milky Way cake every year for my birthday and I am perfectly content with a box full of milk buttercream chocolates from Sees.  No need to try something new when I've already got a favorite I love.

26. I really love peace and quiet.  It's pretty rare, so I relish it when I get it. 

27. My teeth hurt.  I had some rather traumatizing dental work done not long after Noah was born (a horrible time to do such a thing!) and one tooth has never really been the same since.  I hate eating in front of other people because I have to eat slowly and carefully so as to not upset that tooth.  Talk about old lady! 

28. I am learning the value of a dollar- "a penny saved is a penny earned", "a stitch in time saves nine"- all of those phrases make sense to me now, and I use them to teach my kids.

29. I love work!  I mean, I LOVE play, but I understand the value of work, too.  During Saturday chores a few weeks back I reminisced with Leah about how my mom used to take our whole family into the bathroom and teach us how to clean it and how much I didn't really care back then.  Her response was, "Kind of like how I feel now."  Fair enough.
30. I feed the missionaries.  And I think they look so young!
31. I feed my kids the same foods that I turned my nose up to as a child.  
32. I embarrass my children by honking and waving at them at school. 

Make a wish!

Ways I still feel so young...

1. I can still have more babies.  Time is still on my side, for a few more years anyway. 

2. I know candy is bad for my teeth but I still eat it. 

3. I love sticking my hand out the car window to catch a wave on the wind. 

4. I would rather eat dessert first. 

5. I spend my days coloring, painting, making pillow piles and reading picture books.  

6. I don't worry about losing the last 10 (or 15) pounds- I have confidence that they'll come off soon enough. 

7. I run for fun a few times each week. 

8. My heart still skips a beat when I see my handsome husband. 

9. My babies are still babies- I have the most adoring fan club that follows me around most of the day.  We move through the house like a small flock of birds. 

10. I jump on the bounce house and the trampoline with my kids. 

11.  I look forward to adventurous days to come- the day that I get to zip line though a rainforest or raft down a river.  

12. I know I shouldn't eat candy before bedtime, but I do anyway.

13. I give my kids piggyback rides up the stairs. 

14. I still ask for lots of advice- I haven't figured it all out, or even most of it!- and I love learning from people that have more life experience than me. 

15. I don't have teenagers.  I'm guessing I'll feel a WHOLE lot older once that phase of life comes.  

16. The to-do list for my life is still so long.  
17. I spend a lot of time thinking about and looking forward to the long life and all the adventures I have ahead of me.
18. I don't always plan ahead.  Sometimes my level of procrastination is ridiculously child-like.  
19. I can take the stairs two at a time. 
20. I can do a headstand.
21. I still catch myself thinking that life is shaping up to be one pretty fantastic happily ever after. 

That's all I can think of right now, but that's okay.  I'm perfectly happy with the balance of old and young that I'm experiencing in this phase of my life.

And blow it out!

Oh, What Do You Do In the Wintertime?

Everyone is so over this long and freezing cold winter, and we are no exception.  It is so hard to want to go anywhere lately when the high is -2 degrees.  Weather like that means we haven't had many chances to play outside.  But we are grateful that we have still managed to keep quite busy and healthy this winter.

We've been playing lots of games and reading lots and lots of books.  The privilege of screen time has been all but revoked in our house this week, and that time has been replaced with loads of imagination play, crafting, and silly stunts like couch handstands and endless rounds of chase and hide and seek.  I generally dislike screen time, but this never-ending winter combined with my need for the kids to be extra quiet while sick baby Noah is sleeping has made for some days that have been filled with far too much screen time.  I just can't wait for spring time when "go play outside" is an option again!

We spend lots of time in front of the fireplace.  We've been eating like bears going into hibernation- I love cooking just for the sake of turning on the oven and heating up the house, and can always find time to make cookies or bread or pretzels, even if I just can't find the time to make an elaborate dinner.

Adam started a low-key gymnastics class last week.  He was extremely hesitant to join the class at first- I often forget that he is capable of being shy about anything, but he hid behind my leg at first and was ready to go home.  I was proud of him for joining the class after a few minutes, and as soon as he recognized an old friend from preschool (who also happened to be the cutest girl in the class), he was ready for some fun.  His bear crawls, log rolls and somersaults were awesome, and, now that he knows what to expect, he loves it. 

His reading is taking off, too.  I am often unsure if he is actually reading something or just has it memorized, but he is really trying to figure reading out!

Noah and I got to attend Leah's music class last week.  It was fun to see a bit of how Leah spends her days at school.  She has some great teachers this year and especially loves music and library class.  She is always sharing facts about wild animals and is known in her class as the girl who never has to turn a card.

 Leah is losing teeth like a shark.  Number 6 came out this week, and she was devastated that it didn't come out at school, despite her careful efforts to not wiggle it at home.  She was not at all interested in putting her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy, and instead decided to write a note to her (check yes or no style) asking if she could please leave her a tooth locket like the ones they hand out at school for safe keeping of lost teeth .  She was thrilled to see the response the next morning stating that the tooth fairy had left a tooth locket in her desk at school!

This was her teacher's account of the discovery-
 Leah came in quickly today with a friend.  They were both whispering “ok let’s go look quick”.  They opened the desk and a big smile and gasp came out of both their mouths. “ Look she put it in there like she said”.  They were so excited.  Leah told me that she lost a tooth last night and the tooth fairy left her a tooth box in her desk.  Kids kept asking her what she had and she was so excited to tell them.  We put her name on a tooth under March on our tooth graph. Leah was very excited! 

She and I got haircuts this week.  I think she would like to have curly hair like this every day.  And violin lessons are going very well- her teacher often comments on Leah's natural ability for the violin and music concepts in general.  Leah has told me that she is determined to succeed and that she will not give up.  "If I get stuck," she said, "I know I can just ask Mommy for help and I'll be okay."

Emma is just getting too big too fast.  Our little Fraggle Rock (nicknamed as such because her long wispy caramel-colored hair fluffs and flies around like one of Jim Hanson's puppets of our youth) seems to have a personal mission lately to be as LOUD as possible at all times.  I am constantly amazed at how quickly she can get a rise out of her big brother, as well as how tender she can be with her baby brother.  She is slightly obsessed with Mulan and likes to pretend to cut and hit and kill.  She has to spend a lot of time in the car with me taking Adam to and from his new preschool (about 13 minutes one way, making a total of nearly an hour in the car each preschool day) so she's watched that movie a LOT lately.  I tried to switch it out for 101 Dalmatians in hopes of calming down her soldier-like persona, but she was completely terrified by Cruella DeVille.  "I don't like dat woman!  Hers too skeeery!"  She also has a hilarious vocabulary and says things with complete enthusiasm. "Dat's AWE-some" or ""So SPARKLY!" (after cleaning a toilet).  She is totally two.

 And Mr. Noah is just so sweet.  He still commands most of my attention, but he has small spurts each day where he is content to sit and watch the craziness swirling around him.  He caught his first cold this week, and it has been miserable for both of us.  But his intense eye contact, huge smiles and occasional "coos" and "goos" keep us all happy.

Jason and I are still around, too.  Jason has finally- finally!- wrapped up his winter of traveling and is getting ready for a busy spring at work.  He's been at Dow for nearly a year and he has received very good reviews about the work that he's been doing.

And tomorrow is my birthday!  So I'll be back with more about me soon.  In the meantime, given the amount of smiley mommy paraphernalia I am finding around the house, I'd say I'm pleasing my bosses, too.

Getting Ready to Read

Everyone benefits from this fantastic milestone.  Adam and I just finished reading The Mouse and The Motorcycle.  We dragged out the last chapter over three days- Adam loved the book so much he didn't want it to end.  He was thrilled to learn that there are two subsequent books starring Ralph The Mouse, which are currently on their way to our house.  I'm a sucker for good books.

A Family Temple Trip

We ventured west to the great state of Nebraska last weekend to attend the temple.  We have heard really wonderful things about the Omaha zoo (second best in the nation, after San Diego) and the children's museum, but this trip's sole purpose was to attend the temple.  And it was a perfect day.  Well, perfect after we bought new clothes for Emma after she promptly barfed all over herself 20 minutes into the drive.  I bet from now on I will actually remember- Emma gets carsick!

The day went quite smoothly and quickly, which was a pretty stark contrast to our temple trips to Chicago.  We absolutely loved our trips to Chicago to attend the temple, but it always seemed to take forever to get there, there were no options for taking care of the kids on the temple grounds, and we always wanted to spend time afterward exploring exploring Chicago- often more time than we actually had, resulting in late night returns home and grouchy kids on Sunday morning.  On this trip, we turned a blind eye to the thing or two we'd like to someday to do in Omaha and had a great experience taking care of the kids at the temple.  There is a pioneer museum and waiting room at the temple where we could eat and play.  And the weather was even nice enough that we were able to go outside for a bit.

It was a bit of a surreal moment for me- hiking the small hill behind the temple with Noah bundled up in my arms, the other kids scattered in three different directions in front of me.  There is a small graveyard there for some of the many pioneers that died while walking across the country.  I was reminded of the sacrifices of our ancestors who wanted so much to obey the Lord and find religious freedom.  We found names and ages of pioneers buried there who were the ages of each member of our family.  

There are beautiful stained glass windows at the temple that I pointed out to the kids as we walked around the temple grounds.  Once it was my turn to go inside, I saw that those same window prisms casting beautiful rainbows across the rooms.  It reminded me of the rainbows that we see in our own home every afternoon.  I promised myself, and the kids, that every time I see those rainbows on our walls it will remind me that our house can be just as special as the House of the Lord.  

This temple is just two and a half hours away, and I'm already looking forward to going there again!