The big talker!

Noah has been talking in broken sentences for weeks now, it feels like it happened overnight! His version of words cracks us up. He has his own vocabulary: WA-WA= Noah, Thocklick= choclate, pockle= Popsicle, Cacky= candy, or cathy his preshcool teacher, GO-GO= yogurt, Pooging= Pudding, DAR= Guitar, etc... so cute.... a few things he's OBSESSED with: MUM-MUM's= vitamins, AL-LURCH= Ashlyn, LO-LURCH= Lotion, LOCA= Yoga! He's so cute cause he always wants my yoga mat out and will get in the downward facing dog position and say "mommy LOCA!!!" until i do it with him.

Our neighbor Jeff is selling his house, so he doesn't live there anymore, we use his yard to play and he always has pine cones in the front yard from the giant tree there. Noah loves to throw them into the street and help Jeff clean the yard up. so we've been doing that ALOT lately. He can also reach the pedals on his little trike now! so he is a riding machine. He just doesn't have the whole steering thing down, so he runs into the fence every few feet and I have to redirect him, the problem is that he is so fiercely independent that he doesn't want my help... so he just sits there frustrated that the bike wont go anywhere!

We got new carpet installed in the back room and the stairs and upstairs... so necessary. Upstairs is going to be Noah's room soon, and the old carpet was probably the original... FROM THE 1940's!!! so gross... He is so excited, he points up there and says WA-WA's room... BIG BED MOMMY! he cant wait to get a big kid bed and have the whole upstairs to himself. we're moving him up there as soon as my brother Evan and I finish building the banister around the cut out in the floor that you enter through (it used to be an attic) we're making it out of Red oak, it's really pretty, probably another week before we have time to finish it. We've completely repainted it too it's very peaceful and sweet up there. Once we finish up there and he is moved, we can finally start redoing the baby girls room. lots of prep work before I can even paint. Then I just need to finish making her quilt/roman shades for the windows/ and get registered for her baby shower. after that i think i will be able to relax and just enjoy the last few weeks of this pregnancy.

Noah is still having success at the potty training thing. it's basically when he initiates it at this point. I tried to do it full blown a month ago, but he sort of shut down. So i think it's still in the phase where it needs to be his decision, after all he is only 26 months. Pretty young for a boy. He gets stickers and calls to his grandparents when there is success, as a reward. Noah is still in Preschool on Monday's and Thursdays, which are the days that i'm working now. He loves going to Cacky's house! He is learning shapes, a new number every week, and differences between things like big and small, tall and short, more and less... that sort of thing. He is so cute, now that he knows those differences, he uses them in his vocab regularly. "mommy look, BIG orn-orange ball!" etc...

Last Weekend Noah spent the night at my parents house, and they live in the woods where there are tons of frogs right now. So he and my dad had to go outside and yell at the froggy's to be quiet over 20 times throughout the evening. He has become OBSESSED with froggy's now. We call Papa (my dad) ever day to ask about the froggy's and listen to them on the phone, and he asks my dad to go out and tell them to be quiet. It's so cute because my dad obliges him and yells at the frogs after putting it on speaker phone so Noah can hear/talk to the froggy's... It's so funny!!

Ryan is almost done with his internship and administration certificate, this spring will be his last quarter. He got a student teacher, which couldn't have come at a better time, it makes getting his internship hours so much easier during school days.

I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday (down to every two weeks now) and everything looks great. I'm measuring 32 weeks, the baby is active and I have gained almost 12 pounds total FINALLY... I've been eating ice cream every night and candy bars and basically anything i want... (with my midwifes blessing to do so). My blood pressure is always low, and freaks the nurse out every time I go in for an appointment. It was 89/42 yesterday which was up from 86/40 last time... she always has to take it twice to make sure i'm alive~ I guess that's why i'm so mellow most of the time, it takes alot to stress me out, which is good especially when you're pregnant! Can't wait to meet our active little girl!

Tantrums, It's a girl, sooo sick, Preschool!

Noah is officially a two year old now! I dont mean the day of his birthday (december 30th) but about a week and a half later, we entered the age of tantrums! WOWZERS... the kid knows what he wants and will stop at nothing to get it! When Noah does something he's not supposed to, as soon as "no" begins to escape my lips he's on the floor screaming. He's such a good little actor too, he can ALWAYS eek out a few tears to punctuate with. Yes we've seen it all these past few weeks... The screaming, the head banging, the throwing, the flailing... and through it all we're actually keeping a really cool head. Ryan and i have to take turns monitoring the "freak-outs" while the other gets to leave the room and laugh. He's already starting to ease up on them, because of our lack of attention to him during these oh-so-stressful times. Now instead of continuining with the screeching wildly, he'll come stand right in front of your face and say "owy mommy!! BANDAID?" and he'll point at some obscure location on his body. He's trying to play the sympathy card now... not working either, we'll see what he comes up with next.
Yesterday he was throwing a fit over not getting "cacky" (CANDY) I decided to ignore it and see what he did... he walked over to the corner, put his nose in it and relaxed. I asked him what he was doing, and he replied "Wa-Wa (Noah) time-out"... I almost lost it, i just said "okay hunny, whatever you think is best." Then he put Pooh bear in timeout as well.
Something we started doing at the beginning of December was wean him off his bottle. He was all but off it when he got the flu, and the only way to keep him hydrated was to give him a bottle. Luckily as soon as he was better, we just took it away again and told him bottles are for babies and Noah isn't a baby anymore. We let him pick out a "bottle" (water jug from walmart) and now that's all he drinks out of practically. He calls it his "Nu-Nu Bottle" ( nu-nu is my friend Trina's son Soren, thats how Noah says his name) Soren also has the same bottle, so Noah feels pretty cool that they match.
We found out in late december that our second child is indeed a girl. Noah is finally coming around on this point, at first he would say "no mommy, BOY." But he is getting excited to have a sister. Yesterday i showed him a dress that my mom wore as a baby, and told him his sissy was going to wear it and he got all excited and, I dare say, squealed a bit with me. We haven't offically picked a name yet and I dont think we will until she's born unless something completely jumps out at us. But Grace and Evalyn are our top two for now.
Since the day after Christmas I have had a cold, then the flu, now another cold that is piggybacking bronchitis. Noah Got the flu the day after Christmas, then got better for a week, then got just a touch of a cold that hasn't fully manifested yet, but has lingered for almost two weeks, and for the last week he's had dirrhea and a yeast infection in his nether region! Ryan has been our hero, and thank GOD this happened for the most part over winter break, because it would've eaten up all his paternity leave time if not. I haven't been sick in a couple years and usually I am the one playing nurse to both of the boys at the same time at least 3-5 times a year. I've learned that not getting sick is like pitching a perfect game, You should never speak the words out loud "I haven't been sick in ___ amount of time" because inevitably it will ruin your record!!! I'll never be cocky about my immune system again!
So after talking about it for a while, we've decided to put Noah into preschool two days a week to get him some social interaction. He thrives when he is challenged and around other kids, and he is so bored with coloring and stacking blocks and reading WITH MOM. He needs a change of pace. At his two year check-up, his pediatrician told us he's off the charts, beyond even the advanced chart for what a child his age should be able to do. She even suggested potty training him now, (and she never suggests that this young especially in boys.) She emphatically agreed that he is in fact ready for part time preschool. There's a a great lady that we know who runs a preschool where she never has more than 5 kids, she's highly educated in early childhood and beyond. So he'll have alot of one on one time with her, and other kids to play with. My friend Trina's two boys go there and are EXCELLING in all areas. They do feild trips and art projects and all sorts of cool stuff! We're excited to see how he does. We believe that when he acts out, he's doing it mainly out of boredom. It's usually in the middle to end of the work week that he acts this way because of the ROUTINE of daily life at home. The two days when he is on his best behavior, and isn't whiny at all, is when he is with trina at her house playing with Soren, or thursday's when Soren comes here to play all day... so I'll keep ya posted

EWWWWWW!!!!!

So I'm finally back... sortof. I've been soooo sick from this pregnancy, even sicker than i was with Noah! When i went to the doctor on thursday, they weighed me in at 110 pounds! scary since a few weeks before i was 128. now i am safely back in the low 120 range and very happy about that!!! The baby needs food, and so do I!
Noah took his first trip with Grandad and Grandma Yingling this weekend, they came and picked him up for breakfast on Sunday and all three of them were beaming! They bought a carseat for each of their vehicles and Grandad has been on the phone every other day wanting to come pick up "the plug". What he keeps forgetting is that if he wants to pick up Noah and have it be just the two of them he has to change the Poopy diapers! so he keeps putting it off, naturally.. He wants to wait till Kim can be there to change Noah. It's really cute though.
Kim has been a life saver. when i was really sick (pre medication) she was at my house every morning taking care of Noah so that i could dry-heave in peace. She cleaned my house and brought me water... I am so grateful for her, because i physically couldn't take care of Noah, and she came through in a big way for us! Noah is stringing together tons of 2 and 3 word combos. it's really cute cause it sounds like he has marbels in his mouth sometimes.
Last night he woke up a million times (which is very uncharacteristic of him) and every time he woke up even at midnight he was saying DAHGO!! which is Diego his favorite cartoon, and also the little boy printed all over his bedding. The kid is obsessed.
He has been telling me more when he goes poopy, a few days ago he let me know by coming up to me and wiping some of it on my leg and the couch, saying "ewww" he had reached down to see if it was really there. (*shudders and pukes a little in mouth*) IT was sooo gross!!!
He stepped on the scale last weekend at my mom's and he's still weighing around 35 lbs. healthy boy! We love him in all his gross little boyness~ ta ta for now

Noah's the big brother now!

Yep we are having another little monster sometime in may! The three of us are all really excited, Maggie, not so much. She's tired of having her hair pulled and Noah trying to ride her like a bull. Noah kisses the baby goodnight every night and points to where it's sitting in my tummy and goes Baybee! He's so cute practicing with his cabbage patch doll "Roman Sean Yingling" he rocks him night night and goes Shh Shh Shh with every bounce. It's the freakin' cutest thing EVER!
I am bad, i still don't have a first doctors appointment set up, because we are switching health ins. next month and we dont know to which. plus i want to try and set it up at a birthing center, but they haven't called back yet (3 business days later) not a good sign. But once i go to the doctor and get a more acurate due date based on my exam and hopefully ultrasound, i will update you all and give you a day to look towards.
The rails are coming off of Noah's bed in the next few weeks, once i get a guard so he doesn't roll out of bed so easily. He's so big now he is 37 inches tall! I gave him a haircut a few weeks ago and he looks so much like my brother Brady, it's SCARY! he acts like him too, when Brady was that age. Noah officially is done teething, he's got em' all!!!! YAY we couldn't be any happier! It's so nice we're going to get like a year and a half off till the next baby starts teething.
I'll keep ya posted

wow it's been a while!

So it's been since MAY, oh man alot has changed with Mr. Noah. He learns at least one word every day, he's been aquiring some of the SWEETEST dance moves ever witnessed! He feeds himself like a pro, has grown to over 36 and 1/2 inches, and has almost all of his teeth! the last two incisors will be in by the end of this week! Finally a full mouth of teeth, and no more whiney boy! (hopefully) Noah got shots this week, a month late cause he had a cold when we took him in at 18 months. Before we know it he'll be back for his two year visit! He is 19 and 1/2 months right now!
This week he has been working on his alphabet, he can say A,B,C,D,E,F (SOUNDS LIKE fffffffffffssh) I, J (SOUNDS LIKE "gay", L (JUST STICKS OUT HIS TONGUE AND MAKES NOISE) M,N,O,P,S (SOUNDS LIKE A SNAKE "esssssss"), T,V,Z (all sound like "D") So we're working on it.
Today he learned how to give a thumbs up! Some lady in the checkout line gave him one and he mimicked! He's really funny when he does it cause he gets a devilish grin on his face and sticks out his hand while SLOWLY bringing his fingers to a fist one at a time, till all that's left is his thumb.
A few weeks ago i was disciplining him for something (i cant remember what) and he took my face in his hands and squeezed my cheeks together and said "SHHHHHHHHHHH" really loud. it totally deflated me, i was useless after that, he and I both just started cracking up together.
Noah has also started trying to ride anyone that comes to our house. He'll say "bull-bull" and try to push you to the ground to make it easier for him to climb up you. a few have been sucked into it and allow him to hold on to their hair even, he's just so cute how can you resist? Poor Maggie (our dog) she hates it, cause he's alot bigger than her and will try to ride her all the time, she just lays down and looks at me to come save her, poor thing. then he'll use her as a pillow and hug her and kiss her, and she just lays there and whines instead of getting up and running from him. It's kinda funny.
In a few weeks we are going to give a big boy bed a try (we're just removing the bars off his bed) to see if he will listen and stay in bed when we tell him. that will make potty training alot easier if he already can sleep without rails. Potty training is going to come later probably in 3-6 months we'll give it a try, unless he still doesn't seem ready.
everyone is giving me crap about needing to cut his hair, but i dont want to. It's so cute long, and it makes him look him age and not 3 or 4 like most people think he is. (It's those Yingling genes) he has the most beautiful blonde hair, it got 3 shades of blonde in it, he looks like a little surfer boy. With his pale skin and blue eyes, I think it works.
I will try to be better about updating this for all of you who check it regularly (Sarah) :)

My bottle, Diaper, door!

On monday we went to our friends' home for their memorial day party. There was a woman sitting down with a water bottle at her feet. Noah snuck past her and took it. When we said "Noah that is not yours you need to give it back" he replied "my bottle" I couldn't believe it his first two word combo and i couldn't celebrate, because i was in the midst of disciplining him.
then on Tuesday, while i was changing Soren's diaper, Noah was watching and when i turned to grab the fresh diaper he said "diaper" and handed it to me.
Then this morning when i said lets go outside, he pointed to the front door and said "door" which sounded like DOH. He's getting so big and he's doing so much stuff that he wasn't doing only weeks, days ago. I can't believe it!
At aunt Kami's wedding this weekend, he was the ringbearer, and had a little tuxedo on! It was so cute. Ashlyn his cousin had her little flower girl dress on and she was playing with him in one of the back rooms of the church. The photographer got a really good picture of them kissing on the lips! soooo cute. i will post a picture of it when i get it and figure out how to do that.

The Ringbearer!

This weekend Noah is going to be wearing his first tuxedo! And he's going to look sooooooooo cute! His Aunt Kami is getting married, and we're all so excited! Ryan is a groomsman, I'm a bridesmaid, and most importantly... Noah is a ringbearer! I don't know how far he and Ashlyn will make it down the aisle, or if they will at all... hopefully they are happy and good, but we will see!
This last weekend Noah stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Winslow again while Ryan and I were at Jason and Kami's bachelor/bachelorette parties. There he got into the pond which was pretty exciting cause there's golfish galour in that thing, luckily, it was just his hands not his whole body, like he wanted. (thanks grammy)
Today we had a breakthrough on the hitting... When Noah went to hit Soren (his little friend) I said "no"and he stopped in mid-air!! this happened twice! even if it was fleeting and he doesn't fully get it it yet, i saw something click in his little brain... It was such a great feeling, because Ryan and I have felt ineffectual as parents when it comes to the hitting. It's been almost 7 months of being consistent and saying "NO" each time, taking away the toy, not showing affection, and blah blah blah blah blah! I was starting to feel like he would never get it. So yay for small victories!
Also he like scrambled eggs now, and he says "baby," and "shhh" while sneaking in a crouched down position...
YAY for month sixteen! I wonder how much different he'll be at 18 months... I'm a little nervous to see ;^)