That's My Momma!

Sunday morning I was in the nursery at church helping take care of the children, and we had three children ranging from 6 months to 4 years old. I just love each one of them; they're all so precious. We also had a visitor who brought her 4 month old to church, but she decided to keep the sweet bundle of joy with her. I don't blame her. I remember how hard it was to leave Noah for the first time; it's definitely not easy. Anyways, it wasn't long before her sweet baby was crying in church, so momma had no other choice but to bring him to the nursery.

I ended up holding the baby, and at first he was content looking up at me with his big bright eyes. Baby fever had suddenly hit me again. But it wasn't long before the little guy realized that I was not his momma, and he wanted her now!! So, then I panicked {just kidding}. But, I did think to myself, "Ok, what did I do to calm little Noah when he was a baby?" It's amazing how quickly that stage passes by. Sad really.

Anyway, I tried rocking him. Nope. He just screamed louder. Then I thought, "Oh, maybe if I change his diaper! Yeah that will work." Um, negative. So then I ran a check list in my mind of what I hadn't done. Oh, yes! A bottle should make him feel better. But, he refused it and continued to cry. So, I stood up and started bouncing him on my shoulder to see if I could calm him, and lo and behold, he began to calm down. What is it with standing versus sitting? It always seems to work that way, doesn't it? So, I finally got him calmed down, at least for a minute, and then guess who started bawling?

You guessed it, Noah! He did not like that his mommy was holding another baby. He buried his head against me, wrapped his arms around my legs, and just cried and cried and cried. I felt so bad. Of course I wanted to sweep him up in my arms and hold my little guy, but I just couldn't at that point because the other worker was holding the other baby. Thank heavens, the other baby fell asleep after a few minutes, so I was able to hand off my little baby and tend to Noah.

Of course, as soon as I wasn't holding the baby anymore, guess who stopped crying.

My jealous little Noah. Oh goodness.

Don't you worry sweet little guy, you will always, always be my baby.

"Where is Noah?"

While we were at the dinner table the other night,
Noah created a new version of "Where is Noah?"

Oh, I love it! What a little cutie!

Silly Ol' Pug

Remember this blog post I wrote about our Lord Protector?
Yeah, well, Einstein is determined to live up to that name.

So, I guess my only other option now is
to buy myself some ear plugs.
Silly Ol' Pug.

Ice Cream

Noah is a pretty big fan of ice cream, as you can see.



And surprisingly he keeps himself pretty clean while he's eating it...



...which makes cleanup afterward a breeze.



Can someone please explain this mystery to me?



Aren't toddlers supposed to make messes?



Hm. Guess not.

p.s. I've been a very happy girl today. Wanna know why?
I lost 6.6 lbs my first week of doing Weight Watchers!!
Talk about motivation to keep going! Yay!

This Week's Recipes

Update: The recipes are better organized and now formatted for easier reading. Enjoy!

So, let's not waste any time and get to the new addition to the blog, shall we? I know you're just dying to know what all the fuss is about.



This is the new button the hubs made for me, and it will go underneath the email button on the right side of the blog. You do know I have an email button, right? I'm so excited I can hardly wait to tell you what this new button is all about.

This past Monday I started Weight Watchers, and I am totally loving it. I love it because it doesn't feel like a "diet." It is all about portion control and learning to choose the right foods that fill you up. And part of being successful with Weight Watchers {or just eating healthy in general} is having a dedicated meal plan each week.

So, last Sunday night while I was planning my menu for the week, I thought to myself, "What if I created a button on the blog that links to my menu plan for each week to share with all of my wonderful friends & family?" And then I thought, "Heck yes that is a good idea!" So, I begged Josh on my hands and knees {ok, not really} to make me a This Week's Recipes button, and he sweetly obliged.

Each week, on Saturday evening, I will post my menu for the week. All you have to do is click the This Week's Recipes button {again, located on the right side of the blog underneath the email button}, and it will take you directly to the recipes. If you look over it, and it looks like a good menu for you and your family then you can just print the sucker off, and voila, you have your menu for the week. All you have to do is the shopping. Sounds like a good deal, huh? Or if you see some meals that make you want to gag, then you can just pick and choose. Be forewarned, most of these recipes will be new to our family, so it will be a trial and error for all of us. But it's fun trying out new recipes, right? Seems like I always get in a rut and cook the same things {ahem, chicken} over and over again, so this will help all of us branch out. So far all the recipes we've tried this week have been wonderful!

And also, obviously there will be times when I go out town or when something else comes up, so there may be a few weeks here and there when I don't post a new set of recipes. But for the most part, there will be new recipes every week for you to enjoy.

So what do you think? Please, leave me a comment and let me know. Or if you have a suggestion, just email me. I would love to hear it.

I hope you enjoy this new addition to the blog!



p.s. I just want to thank you again and again for all of your votes for the Overall Awesomest Blog contest. It was a close race, but we ended up in second place. It sure was an honor being nominated though. We truly appreciate your support!! Thanks so much!

Kansas City Part 2

I'm back with the second half of our trip to Kansas City. If you missed the story of Noah & our, um, interesting flight to Missouri, you can read it by clicking here. I'll wait for you to return.

Ok, glad you're back. So, we finally arrived, and I was as relieved as ever to be off the plane. I'm sure Noah was too. We walked hand in hand through the airport to the luggage claim to get our stuff. By that point, Noah hadn't napped, so he was tired and not in the mood to run around the airport. Thank the Lord. He was the sweetest little guy and stood with me the whole time as we waited for our luggage. My sister, Abby, met us at the luggage claim, and somehow between the two of us, we managed to get Noah, his huge bulky car seat, and the suitcase safely to the car. On our way back from the airport we stopped by Bibi's work to say hello, and then we decided to grab some lunch. We went to Panera Bread, ahhh one of my favorite spots to eat, and we stuffed our faces. Yummm it was so good. We decided to head back to Abby's apartment to rest and wait for my mom to arrive. I had never seen Abby's apartment, so she gave me a tour of the place. I wish I would have taken some pictures of her beautiful apartment; I loved how she decorated it. It wasn't too long before my mom arrived, and we all decided to take Noah on a walk around the apartment complex. Of course, Noah loved being outdoors and was all boy exploring everything around him.

That evening we met up with Bibi and we all went to Red Robin for dinner. They must have had a party or something going on, because there were balloons every where in the restaurant. Noah loved the balloons, and of course he wanted every single balloon he spotted. Somehow {ahem, thanks Bibi!} the little guy ended up with two balloons at the table, and one of them kept hitting me in the head every five seconds. I was wishing I had a needle to pop that sucker. Oh, did I say that out loud? Oops. After dinner we left with full tummies and two balloons. Noah wasn't about to let go of those things. The little guy had a death grip on them. I don't have many pictures of Noah at the restaurant with his balloons. The settings on my camera were all wrong, and a lot of them turned out blurry {insert sad face here}. I hate when that happens.

I love this picture of Noah and Bibi at the restaurant. Let me tell you, they were the best buddies the whole time we were there. And boy did Bibi spoil him rotten!

After dinner we all made a quick trip to Walmart to get Noah a jacket {since Mommy forgot to pack one} and a few other things. We split up as soon as we got there, and Abby and Bibi went off to look at the toys {for little Mr. Spoiled}, and my mom and I went over to the clothing area to find Noah a jacket. Of course, Noah still had a death grip on one of his balloons, so the balloon came along with us into Walmart. Pick and choose your battles, right?

We looked around a little bit, and finally found a good jacket for Noah. But we weren't sure on the size, so we decided to try it on him. Remember, Noah and his balloon were inseparable, so you can imagine the fuss he made when we tried to take it from him so he could try the jacket on. My mom and I both thought we had a good grip on the balloon, but apparently, we did not because the balloon slowly began to drift to the ceiling. We felt horrible!! He kept reaching up to the ceiling at the balloon, and we couldn't do anything about it. But, guess who came to the rescue: Bibi!! He stood on top of a clothes rack and captured the balloon! Yay!

When we got back to the apartment the real fun began! Bibi bought a whole bag of balloons and blew every single one of them up for Noah. He had so much fun! He was running through all the balloons and kicking them everywhere. It was so cute.

"Mom, seriously, put down the camera."

The next couple of days were full of wedding planning. We had so much fun. I am so glad I was able to be a part of helping Abby plan for her big day. And it's sure nice to not be the bride this time! Abby made a bunch of appointments, so we were busy running all over the place. Sweet Noah was so good the whole time. He was probably wondering how he got stuck wedding planning with the girls. Where was Bibi when he needed him? Anyway, here are a few of my favs:

All the wedding planning wore the little guy out.

The whole trip was just so much fun. We loved every minute of it. But I have to say, "Where's Noah?!" was my favorite part. When Noah got a reaction from all of us when he jumped out from behind the blinds, he did it over and over and over again. I think I could have watched him do it all night long. It was soooo cute!

Stop right here. Before you push the play button, turn the volume on your computer down. We were a little excited and didn't realize how loud we were. So just a word of warning before you watch it.

We love you Mom, Abby, and Bibi. So glad we were able to come visit you. Hope it's not too long before we hang out again.