the end of summer

I haven't experienced the end of summer quite like this before. Before now, I was either in school...thus dreading the end of summer for reasons obvious, or I was working...and never really thought twice about the end of summer b/c it was just like any other time (except the amount of time spent sweating while standing still decreased). This summer I have felt a new thing...back to school. Noah started mother's day out two days a week last spring when we moved to jonesboro and then he was out for the summer...and now he's back to school! The first day back was actually kindof hard. I always thought I would never be that mom who was sad her kids went back to school, but I am. I most definately am. But school is great. Somehow they get the kid to sleep there...sometimes over 2 hours. (which is something I've seldom accomplished at home) And he is able to play for long stretches of time all by himself. He still comes to me to "taste" what he's been cooking in the pots and pans all over the kitchen floor...but mostly he's independent. Like right now...he's emptying out his drawer of sippy cups, spoons, mini tupperwares, etc...and having a blas: Pretend drinking out of his big boy cups and stirring up his bowls. :) he is so freakin' cute. (and we won't tell daddy that earlier, he was trying to walk around in my high-heels that I took off at the back door after church today.)



So, the pool closes next weekend and in a month or 3 we'll be wearing sweaters, school is back and I get 2 days a week to go to Kroger without a helper. Fall is great. I'm excited for all of the things he'll come home doing that he learned from buddies at school...he's already saying "no"...what is to come with my little smart boy!!

molars

i didn't know that cutting teeth could be so terrible, until the other day when I realized that noah is cutting a molar. goodness. it is awful....for me...I can only imagine how bad he feels. Tylenol & Motrin all around!

However, he is sleeping till 730 in the mornings now. Trade-offs.

to Noah....I can't believe what you can do!!

My precious little man is ONE. And I have not been very good at keeping up with your accomplishments along the way...the baby book is just not handy all the time. Every day you do something else that is new and I can't believe you're doing these wonderful little things and where did you learn them?



Up until now, I haven't really written down the little things and exactly when you did them...meaning that your little brother or sister is likely to never know when he or she walked, got first tooth, etc. But starting around 9 months or so, you really started to blossom into your own little person!! Around 8 months you started standing up and cruising around on furniture and thinking you were generally a genius for doing this (and we agreed, never mind that kids have been learning to walk on their own for centuries...you were the smartest ever born). And since you did this....and 8 months,... I was convinced you would walk at 9 mos like I did, but you did not. You spared us until you were about 11 months. You really took off when we went up to Nashville to see Aunt Erin and Owen...I think you were just turning 11 months then. You were climbing stairs way before you were walking, though...so that was entertaining for me in Dallas with our steep staircase in our apartment.



So...you have done so many things between about March and now, it's hard to remember them all...but before your first birthday you started signing. Your first sign was "airplane" and then "hat". Soon after that you perfected "please" and "milk". Now there is a new one just about every day. It is so great that I can know what you want now and you don't have to scream to tell me!!



You have always been the focused type...you'll sit down for 20 minutes and work on a puzzle or flip pages in a book looking for your favorite things--balls, balloons and other round things. :) You have such a sense of humor...you giggle when you toot and you think it is hilarious to hide from me when I'm trying to get you dressed in the morning. You are totally surprised when you are pointing the water hose at yourself and you squeeze it and you squirt yourself in the face. You hate to get water on your face in the bathtub. You love bubbles. and hammers. You LOVE hammers...anything resembling a hammer...a mallet, whatever. You actually just hammered your bellybutton with your favorite blue and yellow one. You have about 4 favorite "brown bears" all almost identical (and any one will do in a pinch, although the babystyle one is your fave) and a "blue blanket" with your initials on it that miss jessica gave you. You must have these for night night and for naps. Otherwise, it's not good. I love it when you pick up things that are too big for you...you think you're so big, but really, you're so precious and small!!

Your language sounds akin to German with a hint of Portuguese...and you like to give speeches. You will walk around with your hammer and hit things and talk for what seems to be hours....I do so wish I knew what you were saying. It sounds SO important. Your latest sounds like "little" and you say it over and over...littlelittlelittlelittlelittle, dah! It is so absolutley precious.

Right now, you're munching down on your dinner of salmon and cheese, pasta, broccoli and apples....and your Papa has taught you how to chew very dramatically so it's extra loud in your direction! As of the past few days, you've become a good eater, that is, if you're allowed to eat on your own time and do your own thing with your fork. It takes a while....but you eventually get done eating. You just signed at the lights just to make sure I knew they were on. Now you're doing Indian noises with your mouth and hand. It's nonstop action, here.

I'll try to do better, little man, at keeping up with your progress. I know it's not going to slow down any time soon! :)

"Ducks" (or geese)

Yeserday after I almost died pushing Noah in the jogger, we went to the park (which is on the jogging trail) and saw some geese. For simplicity's sake we were calling them ducks because "quack" is easier to do than that weird honking noise that geese make ... and I'm just going for basic right now. So...we were looking and quacking and pointing with both fingers and quacking some more and what do I hear but "DU-U-UK" come out of Noah's mouth. Of course, I couldn't get him to do it again on demand...but I think he said duck. OK, I was hoping that his first real word would be Mommy or at least Daddy, but I guess I'm okay that he's going to talk at all (in English).

respect

I have complete and total respect and awe for someone who can jog with a double jogging stroller on hills. I did a run yesterday with my light-as-a-feather child in his equally light jogging stroller and the few killer hills almost did just that. I was DYING! So, kudos to those with more that one in the stroller & who keep on running.

Vomit

So I only post once a month...sorry. But my life is so full of wonderful things like my first experience with a stomach-bug-like behavior. Last Saturday we were all set to go to Nashville to Owen's first birthday party & Noah was calmly eating breakfast in the highchair. (Adam had commented on how quiet he was this morning...) I put in that last bite of yogurt (we haven't mastered the spoon ourselves yet) and OUT it came, with force. My first time being puked on by my own kid. Made it 13-some months without a single drop of real vomit on me, and whoa nelly, here it came. I didn't realize that a little person could hold so much inside!!! I will spare the details of looks and smells, just to suffice that it was coming out his nose. Poor Noah. He had no idea what was going on...he must have thought he was dying or something b/c he looked terrified! So we get him out of the highchair (lucky he was there b/c the tray was helpful in clean-up) and clean him off...and we did not go to Nashville that day.

Fast forward to Monday. He did great all day Sat. and Sun. Dinner Monday....same ballgame. And same again Tuesday afternoon at lunch. We have deduced as the 2 geniuses that we are as parents that our child simply does NOT like to be "fed" anymore. If you try to feed him anything against his will, even a tasty yogurt snack....it will come back to haunt you in a few minutes. (and seemingly in a greater quantity than it went in as) So we no longer "Feed" Noah. Noah feeds Noah, only. There were a few days of worry on Mommy's part: will he eat enough b/c he's not the greatest eater on his own...and very picky too....but he's doing fine (and actually eating better and more than ever!) My first taste of him exerting his independence, I guess. I'm just getting ready for what's to come, I suppose.

Nashville was a blast with Owen...those boys are so funny together!! Will share some of my favorite pics.

ONE YEAR LATER

So we made it one year. I believe in my heart that we've both grown into our roles as parents. Even though we thought we had it together at the start, we see now that we were so clueless....and will look back on ourselves in this moment and realize that we are still. But we are learning every day.

Noah had his first birthday twice...how exciting! We had the party with friends in Dallas & then came "home to Jonesboro" and had one here with friends & family, complete with more cake! It was a blast to see him playing with cousins and getting to know the family better. We welcome everyone to come and see us any time here. I am so thrilled to be back closer to our families. Dallas was great & I miss it, but nothing is as great as living near family. (especially when little people are involved)

The title of the post is a link to picasa pics from the party or click www.picasaweb.google.com/calliecabell to get to see Noah eating cake for the first time and opening presents, playing with friends & cousins, and just generally being cute as can be.

Sorry to everyone who left the party with fever, runny nose, and possibly diarrhea...that was not an intentional party favor, just extra bonus! Noah is missing school today (boo-hoo!) due to 101 this a.m. and Mommy is oh-so-sad.

question of the evening

adam looked at me last night holding a yellow plastic cup in his hand and said, "is this your cup?" i said yes, of course...but thought to myself, "two of us live here with a small person who is not yet able to drink from a cup like that. now, please, tell me....if it's not yours, and you think it's not mine, and the only other person living here drinks from a Gerber sippy cup....who's cup do you think it is?

Separation Anxiety

Just pretend I've been blogging all along...these 2 months I've not. Basically been a single mom (wouldn't recommend it) in Jonesboro for 6 weeks, so typing out my life story hasn't been top priority. Since moving the last weekend in March, I've battled a couple of colds, 2 more teeth coming in, several bad storms (fearing all along that the dead tree in the back yard could come crashing down and land on the neighbor's house), and the onset on severe separation anxiety. You think it's bad, and then the next day comes and it's worse. He has a near-death experience every time I leave his field of vision, that is, unless his grandparents are around...and then he could care less if I'm around. We were in Olive Branch this past weekend and several times, he chose Grandmother over me. Boo-hoo. Except I got to go running and he didn't care!!

So, life in Jonesboro is great. I'm missing Adam horribly while he studies his little tail off -- he's never going to want to go back to Cafe Express again after this month. And I can't wait to go visit my friends in Dallas. But all-in-all, Jonesboro is a very nice place and I'm glad we picked to live here. Our house is big and empty, but that will get better with time :) The best part is living an hour from my mom and dad. I can't even count how many times we've gotten to see them since we moved in! Noah just loves seeing them, it's so fun to watch him get excited about going in Grandmother & Papa's garden. He LOVES birds and airplanes and anything else that may be overhead...trees, etc.

We're not walking yet, but soon, I feel. He's cruising around on this little truck thing at lightning speed and going from table to couch to leg to table again...and never missing a step. When he gets to a cabinet or door facing or a human leg or whatever is in his way, the little devil just bangs it until he gets it turned the right direction and goes off on his merry way. We went to our friend Wes' birthday party this past weekend and he got a fantastic new Tonka ride-on toy that Noah just loved...hence, we now have one. I'm a sucker. But I do think he's going to use it for a long time b/c William (Wes' older brother) was very interested in it, too, and he's 3. Justification of a new toy. Do I really need to do that?

I promise myself to be more consistent in my blogging so I can REMEMBER this time!! The days keep flying by and Noah is getting so big and so smart and so coordinated...it seems like only a couple of months ago, he was a tiny, helpless newborn. It amazes me everytime he does something new. I know all kids talk and walk and do things like grow up...but it somehow seems extra special when Noah does it :)

Weather

The weather is absolutely nuts here...let me see. Last week, we were out in shorts and flip flops. This week it snowed. Not just a little snow (well, in downtown Dallas it was a little snow) but a few miles north of us got 9 inches! That is like skiing snow. (to me anyway) some kid was on the news, he had taken the wheels off of his skateboard and was using it as a snowboard on a hill in his neighborhood. Now, that is newsworthy material. That is the thing about the news...the local news, that cracks me up. "breaking news" often involves someone with 3 teeth who almost always lives in a trailer park, some kind of drugs, a rotweiler chained between 2 trees, and a gun of some sort.

Dallas' finest.

That's it. i'm moving as soon as I can. we have had more trouble lately getting Noah to sleep, both naps and nighttime. and the neighbor's dog just went nuts and then she takes him out the back door (which is right below noah's window) and slams it (which she does EVERY time she goes out). I cannot cannot take it anymore. living 4 feet from someone is something you only have patience for when you don't have a small child...and even then, it was tough. needless to say, he cried out. however, he seems to have gone back to sleep. a miracle. we'll see. when the neighbor gets back in 10 minutes from walking her menace (a jack russell terrier, which I think may be the most annoying dog ever bred), she'll slam it again and I may have to go tell her what will happen to her little yapper if she keeps it up. (I'm all talk...I'll do nothing of the sort...but it's nice to fantasize about being aggressive, which I am, but usually only over the phone...telemarketers beware)

speedracer

Let me just say that I love LOVE crawling Noah. He is so very much fun, even though I'm constantly running after him trying to prevent electrocution (loves the power strips), drowning (pulling up on the toilet is a nasty favorite), sutures (pulling up on an open dishwasher is often not a good choice), and other injuries... BUT he can entertain himself and me! I love watching him do his thing. It seems like he used to need my help last week to do things when he was a "slow crawler" and now he is practically changing his own diapers.

This is noah making a break for it...he likes to escape when I'm not looking. Adam & I have watched him climb the entire staircase (closely, of course) several times....we especially like to do it about 6pm to wear his little self out before bed. He thinks he is so big and bad when he gets to the top. He just squeals like "look at me, I'm so big, I just climbed the stairs" and wants to do it again. Another favorite of mine, which I don't have a picture of, is the Jailhouse Rock. There is a baby gate (thank God for those) in the hall upstairs and he loves to shake it and dance. I must get a pic and possibly a movie of this b/c it's too cute.

I'm ready for our move. Let's not say that I'm packing yet, but I'm definately thinking about it. Adam is constantly studying, so it's like we don't even live together anymore anyway! He lives at the hospital. And just knowing we have a big old beautiful house waiting for us an hour from shirley & jay makes living in this squeaky, tiny apartment that much more miserable! Not that I want to leave adam....I just want to move into our house....it just happens to be 450 miles from Adam.

Book recommendation for anybody who reads that reads this--The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Not b/c it was on Oprah's list, but b/c it's a great historical fiction. Don't be intimidated by almost 1000 pages....it goes fast!

First Fever

Today is a milestone for me as a mommy...I've been through my first fever. And I feel terrible! Yesterday was mother's day out and he was acting puny before I took him. He didn't have fever but he was snotty. However, he's been snotty since November, so I didn't really think anything of that. Just to be safe, though, I had one of the anesthesiologists at Scottish Rite take a look in his ears before I took him to school...they said they were fine. In a nutshell, after I picked him up from school, he had 102 fever. I felt like such a bad mommy! And so we did the tylenol, motrin, humidifier, etc last night & I thought he would feel better this morning. 103.4 this morning, oh, he was so pittiful!!! The bad mommy feelings got worse. We have been having a stay-in-our-PJs-all-day today and I held him for his entire morning nap. Guilt goes a long way with me. I even let him watch TV....we never even turn it on, and today he watched 2 morning shows with me. (I still feel bad that someone else is probably sick in his class b/c I took him to school yesterday...nevermind the person he caught it from LAST wednesday). So, he's down for an afternoon nap, no mommy, just in the crib all alone. I hope he is able to sleep a while.







That is the thing with the first-go-round...you don't know these things. No amount of nursing would have prepared me for what it's like when your own child has a fever or is coming down with something. Looking back on the past few days, it's pretty clear that something was going on, I just chalked it up to teething or some other vague excuse that "they" always use (whoever "they" are). So now I know...if he's not wanting to eat, not sleeping well, fussy way more than usual...he might be getting sick. It seems so easy to diagnose that now. However, next time all of those things happen, it may be teething or some other such thing. I suppose you're never 100% certain when it comes to small people who can't speak English very well.

Noah & Ellie Scott at Chuy's (our favorite Mexican place in Dallas....we shall miss it greatly) He does great at restaurants...just stick him in the high chair & he's happy!

Noah clowning around trying to show off some new tricks, like standing up for a little while before bumping his little noggin on his table on the way down :)

Homeowners and Crawling

It is surreal to say "we bought a house last Friday". Really, because we can't actually move into it yet...it's just sitting there, empty, waiting for us to come home to it. But how fun is that!? Adam & I have a grown-up house now, and all of the stuff that goes with it, like a mortgage (which neither of us have ever experienced before) and the pressing urge to buy a lawn mower. Excited, but nervous. I'm excited about all of the shopping, but he is nervous. :) There are rugs to measure for, and furniture to buy...my list goes on and on. But, for now, I have to just be fine with having shelter because we have to wait on the decorating till Adam actually starts working & getting paid. Unfortunately, they're not paying residents enough to live in and decorate houses of this size. We know it's big, but we bought with intentions of filling her up with kids over the next few years. Looking around our apartment, I'd say we're about half-way full, just with Noah's stuff.

We are so unbelievably blessed with friends in Dallas that it is going to be really hard to leave...but then we're so very excited to be moving closer to grandparents and aunts and uncles and family friends that it makes the move a little more sweet than bitter. I'm just praying that we can find a group of friends in Jonesboro who are as supportive and loving and fun as our friends here in Dallas have been. Through all of my pregnancies and miscarriages and then having Noah, and not knowing what to do with him some days, my friends really pulled me through! Noah has been a little additon to my friends' families and their kids to ours & that has been so much fun!!

Speaking of the little devil...he's crawling. He's been working on it for about 2 weeks now, and I think he's got it down. He isn't lightning-fast yet, but I feel that will be here in a matter of days. Today, I was drying my hair in my bedroom and he was in his room playing on the floor. The mirror in my vanity faces out my door and into his room so I can see him playing behind me. Then I see him coming toward me. Before I knew it, he was there at my feet, trying to gnaw on the cord of the hair-dryer. Great. not only is he crawling, but he has a death-wish.

He's a happy kid from what I see. His teachers tell me (at Mother's Day Out) that he's "aggressive". I think he just knows what he wants....and goes for it. (hence, toys dragged all over my house) He's not capable of meanness or aggression, yet, in my opinion. So, I'm just going to ignore their observation for now. They also tell me he won't play alone, that he has to be held all day long. Right now, he's sitting on the mat by himself, playing with a tube of A&D ointment (his favorite toy...just try to take it away from him, you'll see. he takes it everywhere, but I digress), just talking away and smiling. I guess it varies day-to-day. And he did just get up from a nap & is extra happy. But he always does better at home with me. I need to resist the urge to take him out of the program, though, because he needs that socialization, I think. Also, he's entering separation-anxiety and it's getting worse by the day. When I see him cry for me, it just breaks my heart, and it is so hard to leave him there when he's crying. But I do. I guess I have to. And there he goes. He's had enough alone-time, needs some attention.

Shots for us all

Screaming @ 8 weeks and then big grins now...the payoff is so sweet. I know your heart has to grow when you have two, then three. Because mine is so full right now, it could burst!! Noah's first plane ride was a cinch. He was a champ the whole time....getting on the plane with all our we'll-just-call-it-"stuff" was a different story all together.
Christmas morning, and Santa came. Loads of toys, and what does the little boy like best? The package of links that cost 2 bucks. Go figure.

Yesterday was Noah's 6 month check-up...and we both got shots! Okay, first of all, 6 months? How did he get to be 6 months old? He's actually 6 1/2 months, if you want to count it. He was 27 inches long (only 2 more inches in the infant carrier, big step) and 17lb, 6 oz. My little baby is growing up into a big boy. He's sitting up, grabbing toys away from you when he wants them, pushing buttons, stealing the remote (I secretly think Adam is teaching him tricks behind my back), eating everything from blueberries and mango to steak and potatoes...and loving it! So where did those 6 months go? And what did we do? We spent so much time in the beginning trying to get him to stop crying, that I think I missed (or don't remember, or blocked out) the first 4 months. So that leaves 2. And in those two months, there was vacation to Florida, starting mother's day out, Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Year's...so that didn't leave much downtime. I guess, looking back, we were pretty busy. But I can honestly say (apart from a few evenings at 630 when Adam still wasn't home from work & I was really grouchy and Noah was really grouchy) I have LOVED every minute of being at home with Noah. I wouldn't trade in one day. (Well, I do trade in one half-day. I get Wednesdays from 9-3 & he gets to make new friends and learn coping skills without mommy there to hold him. His teachers say he has "Lap-itis" likes to be in your lap all day....and we're working on getting rid of that nasty disease) But how much fun is my job? I get to teach this little man to love everything around him and watch his face when he sees, smells or tastes something new. It is truly priceless. I know there will be days (and probably have already been days) where I'll want to cash out and go back to the "real-world of work" but I can't imagine not doing this.

I remember when he was about 10 weeks old and I drove to Mom & Dad's in Olive Branch for his sip and see...he cried for about 6 1/2 hours in the car. I thought for sure I wouldn't make it...really, really. But I did, and every day, when he smiles and giggles and talks and grabs my neck and hugs so tight, all those hours of screaming were worth it. You can read a hundred books and nothing prepares you for all of this in mommy-dom. How fun!!

The Real Santa Claus

Noah went to see Santa...the one I talked about before. I thought I needed to show pictures so people would see what I was talking about. Noah told him what he wanted, and guess what?! He got it ALL. (that could have absolutely no correlation to the fact that his grandparents are doting and love to spoil him...naaahh!) However, there is one correction to my previous statements about said Santa Claus...he does have a job. He's a child psychologist! Perfect!!