Calling All Parents

Okay, you experienced parents out there,
I {we} need some advice.

Our little Noah has literally
turned into a little monkey.

A monkey I tell ya.

Guess who woke me & Josh up
the day before yesterday?

Yep, you're right.
Mr. Monkey.

He wasn't calling us from his bedroom.
Oh no, he was standing in our bedroom
talking to us non-stop.

And, if it is possible to master the art of
climbing out of your crib, Noah has mastered it.



I cannot believe how fast he
can climb out of his crib.
I'm quite impressed.

So, what's the problemo you ask?

We cannot keep our little ape in his crib.

He thinks it's pretty fun.
And really, I don't blame him.
I probably would do the same thing.

But, it has kind of gotten tricky
around here knowing how to handle this.

Is it time to pull out the big boy bed?

We need advice--
any advice you can give us
is much appreciated!

Ewww!! Yuck!!

I'm sure we've all heard that at one time or another from our little tots.

Noah isn't too picky when it comes to foods {yet}. He is pretty good about taking at least one bite of something new. But just because he takes a bite, doesn't mean he swallows it. 99% of the time, if he doesn't like something, it comes right back out.

Sound familiar?

The other night Noah wanted to try an olive. I was pretty sure he was not going to like it, but I got one for him anyway. It was so funny. Almost as soon as he put it in his mouth, he spit that sucker out. I don't blame him. Olives are nasty.

Anyway, he obviously isn't going to like every fruit and vegetable I give to him, but sometimes I feel like he is spitting everything out. Unless of course it is mac & cheese.

Well, the other day, I came across an article which talked about fun ways to get your "picky little eater" to eat healthy foods {especially fruits and vegetables}. So, I thought I would share it with you. I don't know about you, but I need all the help and advice I can get when it comes to getting my child to eat healthy foods.

Got your pen and paper ready?

-------------------

1. Let your child pick out fruits and veggies at the grocery store.

2. Ask your little one to help in the kitchen by stirring batter and adding spices.

3. Use cookie cutters to make cucumber stars and apple hearts.

4. Dunk fruits and veggie in sauces or dips.

5. Minimize distractions and maximize conversation by leaving the TV off during mealtimes.

6. Sneak in nutrition with shredded carrots and zucchini in casseroles and spaghetti sauce.

7. Top cereal with fruit slices instead of sugar.

8. Let your child help add the ingredients for fresh fruit smoothies.

9. Kids often will copy what they see. Make sure your child sees older siblings, cousins, friends, and you (yes, you) eating a variety of foods.

10. Forget the clean-plate club and encourage your child to take a bite of everything on the plate. The more often your child tries it, the more likely he or she will be to eat it willingly.

Hope some of these ideas help!

via

I Spy Something ...

French on Etsy!

eiffel tower fine art photograph, eiffel tower paperweight,
chandelier gift tags, paris je t'aime necklace, france ring

One Month to Go...

Sweet Noah, you are 23 months today, and as Mommy always says, I can't believe it! Next month we will be celebrating your 2nd birthday!

Let's see, what are you up to this month, Mr. Noah?

You love to run all.over.the.place! It doesn't matter where we are, once you get those little legs a running, there is no stopping you.

You love when Mommy and Daddy take you to Pump It Up; it is one of your favorite spots to go play. You really come out of your shell when you are playing there; it is so much fun to watch you. Your favorite thing to do while we are there is slide. You are so funny because you get so mad at us if we try to go down the slide with you. Mr. Independent wants to go all by himself!

You love to sit back and listen to Mommy or Daddy read to you. One of your favorite books right now is, "For the Love of a Pug." The other night as soon as we got to the end of the book you kept signing "more," and we ended up reading it five times that night.

New signs you have learned are: "work," "amen," "pray," "swim," "down." I'm sure there are more I am not thinking of right now.

You cry and whine about everything now. You cry if we change your diaper. You whine when we put your bathing suit on. You cry when we put you in the bath {yes, the bath!}. You've gotten to be pretty good at throwing fits.

You can climb up on our bed all by yourself now, and of course you still love to jump and play on it once you're up there.

You have been waving "bye-bye" for probably a couple months now.

Every night when I put you in your crib to go night-night, you are always such a sweet guy and blow Mommy a kiss.

You are a picky, picky eater! The only thing you will keep in your mouth these days is macaroni and cheese or spaghetti. Oh, and of course anything with chocolate or sugar on it.



You have been so good about riding in the car lately. I think you have gotten used to the fact that it's pretty much always gonna take 20-30 minutes to get wherever we're going. You are always so patient and sweet!

When you wake up in the mornings or at nap time, you love to throw every single thing that is in your crib on the floor. When Mommy comes in to get you, the only thing in your crib is YOU.

Your favorite phrase right now {and for the past couple of months} is, "uh oh." And it's so very cute when you say it.

The other day when we were all at the church cleaning, you mimicked Mommy when she moved her tongue side by side. It was adorable!



You hate flip flops with a passion; you are constantly trying to take them off. They sure look so cute on you though.

You are such a good little shopper with Mommy. I am always so proud of you when we go to the store because you are always so patient and happy while we shop.

I love you so much Noah! No matter how big you get, you will always be my baby.

A Gentle Reminder

I wish I were better about jotting down the cute things Noah does on a daily basis; it would sure be easier to remember those sweet moments, when I sat down to blog about them. This afternoon, Noah did something I {nor his Daddy} never, ever want to forget. So I sit and I write to share this sweet moment we had with Noah this afternoon.

If you know our family at all, you know the Bonjours are usually {ok, always} late and that we are big procrastinators. I haven't always been that way, but when my name changed from Callan to Bonjour, something happened to me. Not good traits to have, I know, but it seems no matter how hard we try, we are still always late and always waiting until the last minute to get things done. Of course after our sweet little bundle of joy was born, it only got worse. Naturally.

So anyway, this week our family had church cleaning duties, meaning we had to get the church spotless by Sunday morning. We planned on getting it done Friday afternoon, but yeah, that didn't happen. So our relaxing Saturday afternoon turned into cleaning day at the church, which is perfectly fine because we were still spending time together as a family. Of course, since we are procrastinators like I mentioned before, we didn't get to the church to clean until mid afternoon, which probably wasn't the best plan since Josh had to work this evening. We had three hours max to eat something, clean, and drive home so Josh could get ready for work.

On our way to the church, we grabbed some food to bring with us, so we could sit down and eat real quick before we started cleaning. We finally arrived at the church, brought our food and drinks in, and then we all three sat down at one of the tables in fellowship hall to eat.

As we were eating lunch and probably half way through our meal, our sweet little Noah did this:



Josh and I looked at each other realizing in our rush to eat and start cleaning, we had forgotten to pray for our meal.

But Noah hadn't forgotten.

Thank you Lord for the sweet and gentle reminder you gave us today through our precious Noah. These are the moments I always want to remember.

Pump It Up, Baby

When we moved to Fort Worth a little over a year ago, we not only left the only home we'd ever known, but we left our family and some of our closest friends. Moving away from the people you love is never easy. In fact, to be truthful, it just plain sucks. There were many days I cried until there were no tears left and just wanted to go "home." I'm pretty sure that is a natural reaction to picking up your life and moving to a whole new place, but even so, it was hard! Regardless of how difficult a transition it was for us, we trusted God and knew if Fort Worth was the place he was leading us, he would take care of us and provide for us. Has he ever! He has provided for our every need, in every area of our lives.

From the beginning, our church family at New Life Deaf Fellowship has been such a wonderful support to our family. I can't imagine our lives without the close friendships that we've developed there. God has blessed us with such wonderful people who love us and who love Noah as well. Josh and I thank the Lord often for the church he has placed us in.

It was also my desire when we moved for Noah to have little friends around his age to play with, as well as for me to develop friendships with other moms who have young children. When we first moved, there were many Sundays where Noah was the only one in the nursery. Oh how I longed for it to be filled with little buddies for him to play with. God has been working because this past Sunday we had five little boys, all under the age of two, in the nursery! God is good!

I am so thankful to the One who knows my heart. He knew not just what I wanted for Noah but also the kind of friends I desired for myself. Not just any friends, but friends who are deeply rooted in Him. Friends I can relate with and share my heart with. Friends I can be myself with. And, wow, God has abundantly provided for those needs and desires.

If you have been reading our blog for a while now, you've probably met Laura and Ian. What a true blessing they are in our lives. Laura and I have become great friends, and we often find ourselves chatting the night away on Google Chat. And even though Noah is several months older than Ian, I know they will grow to become close buddies. Thank you Laura for reaching out to me when I needed a friend.

But our good Lord wasn't finished. He had another friend for Noah {and me!}. Several weeks ago on a Sunday morning, I was in the nursery taking care of the children, and in came Lindsey and AJ. Lindsey and I immediately hit it off and started talking. Come to find out, her sweet little AJ was, you guessed it, 22 months! Exactly the same age as Noah. And she was sharing with me her desire for AJ to have friends his age to play with. Isn't it amazing how God works?! Of course we decided a play date was a must.

Laura and I had already decided a week or two ago to get together for a play date, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to ask Lindsey and AJ to come along and play. And, let me tell you, I found the perfect place to take our wild little Indians. The place is called Pump It Up: The Inflatable Party Zone. It is a huge building filled with huge inflatable slides {Noah's favorite!}, bounce houses, obstacle courses and more. It really is amazing! And it is FREE for all of us to play. Can't get any better than that! Noah and I have been going twice a week since we found out children under the age of two are free. And, they encourage parents to get in there and play with the kids. So much fun!

So, we decided this past Wednesday to all meet up at Pump It Up for our play date. We all had the best time! It took Ian and AJ a little bit to warm up to the place, but not little Noah. Oh no, he was all over the place jumping and sliding. He was ready to play!

I almost didn't bring my camera along {gasp, I know!} because I didn't want to have to keep up with it, but I'm so glad I decided to bring it along. I got some really cute pictures of our fun at Pump It Up!

All six of us: Me & Noah {far left}, Lindsey & AJ {middle}, and Laura & Ian {far right}
I love all the boys expressions. Makes me laugh.

Cute little Ian & AJ



Ian holding onto Mommy for dear life! But don't let that little face fool you.
I could barely get any pictures of him because he was running all over the place!



The boys in their police cars! AJ is the cop you want to pull you over.
Noah, well, you better hope he's having a good day.
And Ian, he must have been having car trouble.

Adorable!

Just a few of the inflatables.
You would not believe how big this place is!



These next two pictures of AJ and Noah are so funny.
They both loved the slides! And I have to admit, so do I.
Their expressions are priceless.



Then some little girl thought AJ and Noah were little hotties.
I had to break her little heart and tell her they
aren't allowed to date for another 30 years.
She ran off crying.
Should I not have done that?



Ian and Noah discussing how many tickets they had given out that day.



AJ and Noah downing their CapriSun's that Laura brought for the boys.
Poor little guys were so thirsty. Noah had never tasted the goodness of a
CapriSun before, so it didn't take him long to flatten his out.
Looks like he is considering stealing AJ's. Haha.

We decided on our way out we must get together for weekly play dates. Thank you Laura, Ian, Lindsey, and AJ for playing with us! We had so much fun.

Isn't God so good!

Just Want to Say...

Wishing you a Happy Weekend!

Wish List

I am swooning over this beauty.



The shape, the pattern, the detail of this
camera bag is simply fabulous!



And it has just been added to my wish list.

Want to check out some of Ketti's
other handbags? Click here.

Summer Fun

I have to say, this has definitely been one of my favorite summers ever!
I get to spend all day, everyday with my little guy, Noah, and it just
doesn't get better than that {except when Daddy is with us too!}.

We have had a busy, busy summer! But it's a good busy. We've had so much fun!
Staying indoors would just be a shame on these warm {ok, hot} summer days.
There are so many fun things to do here in Fort Worth!

Here are my favorites
{Get ready for lots and lots of pictures!}:

Taking time with Noah to cruise in his Volkswagen Beetle.



It has been really hot this summer, but that hasn't stopped us
from getting out and playing at the park.



"Here Mommy, I found you a tree branch."



Taking a break with Mommy. Whew! It's hot!



One of our favorite spots this summer has been the pool.
We go almost every day, especially since we have a pool so close to us.
It has been wonderful and such a relief from the heat!
You can bet it didn't take Noah long to learn the sign, "swim."





Happy boy!




Laying out working on his tan.





Such a sleepy little guy. Playing at the pool is hard work!



We've played with bouncy balls!




And guess what else we've done this summer? We went to the Fort Worth Zoo!
We could not believe how big it is! We will definitely have to make another
trip out there. We probably only made it through a third of it!
We saw all sorts of fun animals: monkeys, zebras, alligators, elephants, & giraffes.
Noah loved watching the animals. We can't wait to take him again!








Of course, as soon as we walked by the M&M machine, Noah
went straight to it. He knew there was "candy" in that thing.
It was so funny. He kept walking back and forth in front of the
machine trying to figure out how to get the candy out.
We can thank Papa for his M&M addiction.



I love this picture of Noah. He is waiting so patiently
for Daddy to open up the candy for him.



Noah helping Daddy run the sound at church.
Such a big helper!



What a fun summer we've had together!