Fun with Flossing, Flashlights, and Flies

I thought I'd always fight with my toddler to brush his teeth, but Noah loves it. He wants to brush his teeth for like 15 minutes after I brush them. Today he sat on the rocking chair in his room brushing away.

Getting to those back teeth.....

Loving it 15 minutes later....
Then while folding the laundry Noah played with our huge flashlight. He does this like once a day and loves turning it off and on.


And then played rolly polly on our bed :)

We have tons of flies in our house all the time cause of the horses next door (they are awesome horses to look at, so its worth the flies) but anyway, Clint and Noah almost every night have "Fly Hunting" time. Noah thinks this is quite hilarious, and watches daddy swat flies with great belly laughs. Then Clint joins Noah in the fun.

The Fly Hunting usually takes place on the ceiling (its where they love to escape the Dynamic Fly Swatting Duo)

Then Noah afterwards will take the swatter quite pleased with himself

And walk around the house with great "effort" noises with each swat and "WHAP!" He pauses, and then with all his might will do a great big "WHAP!" against something, chatting the whole time. Sometimes he will find his sunglasses and put them on in the middle of an activity... :) Stevie Wonder style.

its a girl??!??!?!??!

so the umbilical chord was kinda in the way, so the dr. said not to paint the room pink yet, and wait till my next month appointment. but he did say it looked like a girl, and clint and i saw what we thought was a girl....so for now, its a girl! i wish it was more conclusive, but we are happy to have at least a clue as to what it is! our dr. doesn't like "telling" so he said it was inconclusive with noah (when it was obviously a boy!) so i think he was just covering his bases! so fun that we might have a younger sister for noah to protect! yay!

Like a kid before Christmas

We find out if its a boy or girl tomorrow. I can't wait! Oh I hope the baby cooperates!

Does anyone have advice to share on same room vs. separate rooms for your baby/older kiddo? We have another bedroom for baby #2, but we use it all the time as a guest room so I was thinking of keeping it a guest room and having them share. But what do you do with naptimes, 2am feeds, and crying baby when Noah sleeps through etc. etc?

Speaking of using our guestroom we just had Tim Cantrell and Neil Anderson stay with us over the weekend, and Tim preached in our church for Clint. It was so fun having them in our home, and hearing stories about their churches!

Why is it not tomorrow yet? I don't know how these people wait till the birth!

Can I stay up later daddy please?!?!

After his bottle last night Noah wanted to stay up a little later. He seemed wide awake instead of sleepy like normal. So he toddled over to the TV and managed to find the remote


And toddled over to daddy where he signed "uppies" on the couch and then handed him the remote and signed "please please!"
So they had an extra bit of fun watching the paralympics together. (Wheelchair rugby I think). He seemed pleased as punch that he talked daddy into staying up a little later :) Little smooth talker (or signer in this case).

Ironic

My iron, toaster, and blender all died this week, and all within a month or so past the warranty, of course. My toaster and iron died on the same day. And I bought them on the same day (no joke). Some evil electrician must have programmed in their death date just to spite me. "One year and one month after first use, self destruct." This will now be my third iron, and third toaster, and we've lived here almost three years. I see a pattern developing.

16 weeks, and a happy "bump"

So I guess what all the baby experts say is true, that your tummy "remembers" being pregnant and the happy little bump presents itself a little sooner than with your first. I'm now at that awkward stage of maternity clothes fall off, but my own are a little bit snug. But its way exciting to see a little bump knowing whats inside, and that all the sicky afternoons are worth it. I've been a little more emotional this pregnancy. Yesterday I was listening to a "City on a Hill" CD and a song came on about Abraham sacrificing Isaac and how the Lord made "another way" (i.e. immediately the ram instead of Isaac, but then in the future for us the sacrifice of His Son rather than our death required for sin). I was on the floor rough and tumbling with Noah when the song came on, and just thinking about what faith Abraham must have had to willingly obey in offering up Isaac made me burst into tears as I was looking on the happy face of my own little boy. Noah just looked at me like....what is going on mommy? :)
We find out on Sept 23 if Noah is going to have a brother or sister...why can't it be sooner?

Creative ways...

Being the mom of a one year old takes some serious creative thinking to keep your child safely occupied while you do basic things that you need to get done (scrubbing the bathroom, using the loo etc etc.) when there are no siblings to watch him. (I think maybe I'm just not efficient enough during his naptimes!) When I hang up the laundry in our courtyard, there is no safe way to see Noah. If I put him in the courtyard while hanging stuff, there are trash cans, and our braii and other stuff he can knock on himself. (and that are gross and dirty) but after one hot day in his swimsuit playing with the hose, he's now facinated that water comes out of such a thing and its just outside our courtyard. And he loves playing with it just long enough for me to finish hanging the last piece of laundry. yippee! (And he's just cute playing with it)!

"Where's all the fun water mom?"

What are some creative things you guys do with your kiddos during "I need to get x done" times? (Besides the basic video watching/highchair methods)?

Beach Bum

This last Monday was so hot it felt like early summer, so we headed off to the beach. This was Noah's second time, and I think we will be heading there way more often cause he loves it so much!

Relaxing in the shade before braving that burning hot sandy walk to the water :)

Noah has absolutely NO FEAR of the waves. He'd toddle straight for them, and then laugh when they hit him. I think we have a future surfer on our hands. I love his little wetsuit. It's even got a sunblock layer, so cool.



When we got tired of the water we brought him back to land to play with his bucket and spade

But he would look so longingly at the water

And then make a break for it (this happened like 10X)

So we'd have more fun splashing in the waves

such glee. Can we come back?

These boots are made for walking

"Walker Texas Ranger" is Clint's new nickname for Noah. Toddlers do look like cowboys walking all bow-legged! He's been toddling around the last week getting hang of his walking skills. He used to laugh the entire time thinking it was the funniest thing ever. Now he just does a proud smirk. Sorry its not the best light for a video, but here ya go:

I took him this week to get his first pair of real "toddler walking" shoes, not those flimsy baby ones. I felt like it was a rather momentous occasion, and had fun picking his first real shoes. He missle locked on a pair of sandals and said "please please" and tried to put them on himself. He loves them. I must say, they are quite the walking sandal, and they fit his chubby little feet. :)