Day 59: Tub fun..?

Peter had to work late tonight, so to keep the kids happy I gave them baths (I know, it sounds like more work than it's worth to some people, but my kids LOVE bath time and it gives me some fun, whine-free time with them). I got Noah all cleaned up, got him out of the tub, lotioned him up and got him ready for bed. Then I grabbed the camera so I could take pics of his hair - which has the slightest curl to it when it's wet (especially after being towel-dryed). As I was putting the camera away, Noah army crawled at lightening speed into the bathroom, and climbed up to the tub to play with Emily. She giggled and splashed with him and he just thought it was hilarious and awesome. Of course I had to take pictures! And then I had to change Noah's jammies - because his feet were completely soaked! Haha! It was so cute. Reminds me of a pic of me climbing into the bath with Melanie when I was a baby, lol! At least Noah can't climb yet!

Day 58: Standing Tall

Noah really likes to show off his standing skills lately. He's getting much better at climbing up to things! And now he can get himself down quite skillfully - most of the time. It's cute to see him concentrate so hard while he sits himself back down without falling! He really likes to stand on the edge of the exersaucer now to play with it isntead of going inside!

Day 57: Joy.

I stayed up late Saturday night making these yuuuummy blondies from a recipe in my Joy of Cooking cookbook. It was really easy but I felt fancy because I had to brown the butter! Unfortunately, I overcooked them just slightly and they were a little more chewy than I would have liked. Oh well. I'll have to try them again sometime!

Day 56: Sooooo big!

I finally got around to taking Noah's 9 month pictures on Friday (I'll post the rest of the pics on the family blog later). I loved this one of him waving his arms with excitement - if you didn't know any better,  you'd think he was answering the question, "how big is Noah??" Adorable!!

Day 55: Visitor..

Another not-so-great picture.. I didn't want to disturb my subjects by turning on a light or opening the blinds, but I did want to capture the three kiddos all glued to the TV! We had a little friend over to visit for a couple hours Thursday afternoon and Emily enjoyed playing with him and watching a movie with everyone. Too cute!

Day 54: New Addition

I know this isn't the greatest picture, but it's the best one I could get of Noah on Wednesday of last week. He was a super grump and naptime had become absolutely ridiculous. So after searching craigslist and asking around on freecycle, I gave up and went to Target and bought him a mobile for his bed. He loves that dumb Gloworm, but it only plays music for about 20 seconds before shutting off. His new mobile (which converts into just a music box if he ever starts attacking the mobile arms) plays for 15 minutes at a time - and he can control it by batting at the little rolly thing on the base! So anyway, long story short, it works like a dream and we are no longer fighting with him at bed and naptime. Of course, this is partly because he's not sick anymore. But still. We love the new mobile.

Day 53: Brasileira

Tonight I made a very traditional Brazilian meal - arroz com frango, e feijao negro. Meaning, rice that's cooked with pieces of chicken, and black beans. It's something we ate a lot in Brazil at members' homes, because it's fairly inexpensive. Although, I used chicken breast because that's what I had on hand, instead of cutting up a whole chicken and using that in my rice. So aaaanyway, after Emily had her bath, I dished her out some of everything thinking she'd probably end up eating some Mickey chicken nuggets, but to my great surprise, she chowed down on the chicken, rice, and especially the black beans! She loved them and asked for seconds even! I love my little Brazilian girl!

Day 52: Smiles amidst the chaos..

Check out the crazy look on Emily's face! And the filth around her mouth? And then there's Noah the Nightmare who has been evil since last Thursday - no ear infections, just a cold and general evilness - chompin' away on a snack instead of taking a nap. And then all the boxes stacked up beside his high chair. I got zero of them unpacked yesterday. Annoying. Too much screaming, needy baby to get things done. lol. Oh well, at least they're cute. And, I got all the boxes along that wall unpacked and moved out by tonight! So, yay me! Victory at last! In the kitchen, at least...

Day 51: Daddy's Helper

Peter has a lot more patience than I do, for sure. (At least in some instances, haha.) When I'm washing dishes, I just want to get in there, get them done, and move on. When he washes dishes, he brings a chair up to the rinse sink and lets Emily "help." She does an okay job, but I think she ends up with more rinse water on herself than on the dishes! They looked cute working together this afternoon, though!

Day 50: Big Baby

Emily got this doll from us for her birthday last year. After watching Toy Story 3 we named her Big Baby on account of she's never wearing clothes, and looks oddly familiar to the animated baby in the show. It's pretty much the best baby doll ever. Each hand makes a sound if you squeeze them, as do her feet. When you press her belly she laughs - although Emily has always insisted that it's crying, not laughing, she hears. Her eyes open and close every time she makes a sound.. aaaaand, best of all, she drinks her magical bottle. When you put it up to her mouth, the baby's face moves and she makes a "sucking sound." When she's done drinking, Big Baby burps, then closes her eyes and "snores" while she sleeps. Adorable! Emily loves her. Saturday night she spent almost an hour feeding, burping, and rocking her sleeping Big Baby. It was the cutest!

See the blue vein-like line down her head? Emily took a blue crayon to Big Baby the day after she got it. Ugh. Also, I think it's about time to give all her babies baths. They're filthy!

Her little (also nude) baby came to hang out for a while too. So funny.

Day 49: Caged and Enraged

On Tuesday morning Noah figured out how to stand up in his crib. Since then every nap or bed time has consisted of an almost never-ending cycle of him climbing up, getting stuck, the growl/whine/screaming for someone to rescue him. Five minutes later he's back up there, stuck in this position until FINALLY he gets too tired to try again and goes to sleep. It is SO annoying. I hate this baby phase. Just learn how to get yourself down already! lol. He did pull himself up to the couch successfully today, too. I'm thinking he may end up being an earlier walker than Emily was if he keeps this up..

Day 48: Splish, splash!

Noah enjoyed bath time for one of the first times EVER the other night. He's usually not much of a fan, but I left him in the sink for a little while after getting him clean and he really loved splashing the water, and even gave himself a round of applause as he soaked everything within a ten foot radius of the sink!

Day 47: TV Zombies

While Peter works on fixing the TV stand so it will fit in the little alcove, the TV remains on the floor, giving the room a lovely white trash chic effect. The kids couldn't be happier. Emily loves to sit RIGHT up to the screen to watch episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Noah joined her the other day and they looked adorable, ruining their eyesight and all.

Day 46: Chucks.

So.. I have continuously owned a pair of Converse All-Stars for the last 18 years.. since I was in the 7th grade. Always black. Always low-tops. I don't wear them often anymore, but I do own them. They're comfy and I like them. So when Emily needed some tennis shoes because it's too hot for her Ugg-style boots, too cold for sandals.. it was almost a no-brainer that I'd get her a pair of Chucks at Target today! They were pricey, but I couldn't help myself. Pink low-tops with stars on the side. Adorable! She loves them, too! She thinks they're tap shoes, like Mickey's tap shoes on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Haha! We love our All-Stars!

Day 45: My little love bugs!

As we were getting ready to run errands this morning I left the room to find Noah's socks, and came back to hear the kids squealing with laughter, sitting on the floor. Emily was "tickling" Noah and laughing, and he squealed with delight at her! So cute! They love to play - Noah thinks Emily is hilarious most of the time, and sometimes Emily will actually sit and play with him for a while. It's so cute!

In other news - when I left the room, Noah was NOT sitting up. He got into the sitting position all by himself! He did it a few more times later in the day - never when I was around to see, though! What a big boy he is now!

Day 44: Gloworm Pal

Noah has a new little bedtime buddy. While unpacking I found Emily's old gloworm and he loves it. When I lay him it bed, I press the gloworm's belly and his face lights right up. He'll smile and grab it, which is a great time to leave the room! Haha. Here you can see that he was suuuuper tired - Sundays are hard! Haha. Cute!

Day 43: Muffled

Emily was hanging out with Peter in the garage while he worked on the TV stand (it doesn't fit into the little alcove in the wall, so he's making it smaller..). She doesn't like the sound of power tools so he stuck these ear muffs on her. She looked so funny! I especially love how it squished her cheeks a little bit. Funniest part was that because she couldn't hear much, she did all her talking in a VERY loud voice. Haha! She was so noisy! Hilarious.

Day 42: In love

How many pantry posts can I have? That is yet to be seen... I spent a large part of the day on Friday sorting food, throwing out expired canned goods, dumping jars of brown peaches and other spoiled goods down the sink, and putting everything into the pantry. It's sooooo nice to be able to have access to the food we own - what went to waste was mainly because it was so hard to get to in Emily's closet that you couldn't see it or remember what you already had. I love the new pantry!

Day 41: Annoyed.

Our satellite was supposed to be installed on Thursday. The whole dish movers thing, you know. Supposedly someone came to our house at 8:15a.m. and no one was home. Except that I WAS home and didn't hear anyone knock OR ring the bell. When the chick on the phone told me that they'd have to reschedule for next week, I told her that if I didn't have TV in 24 hours I would be cancelling my service! What a shocker - they got someone to come the very next morning. LOL! And, we got some free vouchers for Pay-per-view movies of our choice - because I told her I didn't want free Cinemax for a month because all they play are rated R movies and we don't watch those. I was really snotty. Haha!

Day 40: Big Sipper

The day before these pictures were taken, I was holding Noah, walking into the house, and had Emily's sippy full of milk in the same hand as Noah. All of a sudden he grabbed her cup and started chewing on the straw. Or so I thought. When I looked closer, he was getting milk in his mouth! So I bought him a little straw sippy of his own and gave it to him with his breakfast - you would think he'd been drinking out of straws all his life! So funny!

Day 39: Big Pond, Little Fish

Emily got a special treat this night - a bubble bath in the BIG tub that's in the master bathroom! She loved it! "It's a big bath!!" she said. Haha.

Day 38: Moving Boxes...

Ugh. Moving boxes. I don't know what's worse: packing or unpacking. I dislike both equally. lol. By Monday night I couldn't keep up - I was unpacking as fast as boxes were being brought in. All these were piled in the kitchen at the end of the night, even after I'd already emptied a bunch of others...

Day 37: On Being Thankful

Among all the changes with moving into a new house, we also had some major changes occur at church. Our stake reorganized all the ward boundaries and we found out we'll now be attending the Visalia 4th ward. My parents are still in 3rd ward, and Peter's parents are still in 6th. This past Sunday was our last Sunday in 3rd ward, and the bishop got two new counselors because his former counselors will now be attending other wards also. We knew we'd be busy unpacking and moving on Monday, so Sunday night we made some cookies for our bishopric members and had Emily color on some homemade cards that we delivered that night. We even gave a plate of cookies and a card to Grandma & Grandpa whose help we will miss during Sacrament meeting! Okay, well, during all 3 hours of church, really! Heehee. We're excited to be in a new ward, though, and I think it's going to be fun to get to know new people and go to a new building!