The Best Brothers in the World!

Several weeks ago, Chris stuck Noah in the bean bag, and then stuck Kyle on top of him. Kyle LOVES his brother, and was so happy to be sitting with NOAH! He thought he was BIG! Chris was making them laugh while I took pictures.





A very squirmy Kyle on a very tolerant Noah

I can't believe how fast both Noah and Kyle are growing and changing. Since these pics were taken, we've taken more that I need to upload.

Noah has always been nice to Kyle, but never hugely interested in him. He'll sometimes be silly though and dance around making Kyle laugh his head off--but still I've been waiting for more.

It came last week. Kyle is a professional crawler now and is all over the place. He's also pulling himself up to a stand on the couch, in the crib, and on the old music table toy we used for Noah. I think he suddenly seems more interesting to Noah. Kyle also says, "Da da! Mom Mom! and Na Na!" He also calls himself "Gky Gky!" Since we explained to Noah that the "Na Na" means Noah, things have really changed. I think he feels like a celebrity. We really do think "Na Na" means Noah--he'll call for Noah and when Noah comes, he smiles and laughs. Kyle adores Noah. So all of a sudden, Noah is giving him unsolicited kisses and hugs, telling him why I'm taking a while to get to him, "it's okay Kyle, mom is getting your food for you!" He calls him, "Little Baby" lately in a sweet little tone. He includes him. He doesn't want Kyle to go to bed.

We're THRILLED. THIS is why we had another (besides the fact that we wanted another!). But to see these two already interracting and really, playing together is the reason we wanted kiddos! I told Chris, nothing in the world makes me happier than seeing our two boys smiling and laughing together. Nothing! I would have never imagined that only a few short years ago. There's just nothing better.

Lagging Again!!

But I've got great blackmail pictures!! Noah's going to have to pay me the big bucks for these later! LOL!





Chris created this space robot outfit out of a couple of paper bags.

I've got more pics finally that I'll be adding to the site here in another day or two. I had my first ever official migraine today and I'm ready for beddy bye!

More Pics From DECEMBER! OY!

In random order, even! Lucky you!

I'm just trying to get caught up with some of our cuter pics from the Christmas season.

This pic is of all 5 beloved Backyardigans. Tasha (see yellow hippo) and Austin (see purple kangaroo) were the latest arrivals via Santa's magic bag.



This was the DAY after Noah was SO SICK. Remember on Christmas Eve he got the stomach flu and was soooo sick? The next morning he seemed in fine shape--he did eventually have a little relapse. Christmas Day was really good though! Our first Christmas with our two boys!!

At the Christmas Tree Farm in front of one of the train displays. Papaw sat Kyle up in a chair like a big boy!

Papaw and Kyle! Mimi--we didn't get one face shot of you with a kid! Only a group photo where I look awful, which is why it's not included in this post. ;P

One of my random shots--still experimenting with the new camera. I thought this ornament looked kind of cool.

My camera set on a panoramic setting. Neat view with Noah running off to inspect Christmas trees!

Our sweet little Christmas elf!

More to come. Thanks for looking!

Noah's Debut!

An interview with Noah (just to make it fair!). An update to follow. I swear.

I just found a bunch more pics on my camera that I need to upload...will work on that this weekend.

In the meantime, CONGRATULATIONS to Brent and Lauren on the birth of their 2nd daughter, Brenna Elizabeth! Congratulations to Big Sister Zoe!!

Kyle's Debut!

My first ever video...this is Kyle probably a good 6 weeks ago. I've been really bad again about getting pics up and running! I'm hoping this works!

Look Who's Playing With Kyle!

I really need to get going on updating pics...I probably took this a month ago. And that hoodie Noah is wearing? Gone. In a landfill. That's the Elmo hoodie he was wearing when he got so sick at Costco. Enough said about that.

I ran for my camera when I saw here that Noah had gone and sat down by Kyle and was talking to him.

Kyle on his Baby Gym. Again an old pic. I have since dismantled this thing as he is so mobile he was just flipping over and getting his legs all caught up in it. Now he'll just play on the floor with toys. And it must be a second kid thing, cause this kid can PLAY BY HIMSELF. Can I get a "Hallelujah!!" Please?? How I wish we had left Noah alone a little more. But you know, no matter what, a first kid doesn't have siblings, so even if we had left him alone, he still didn't have any siblings to share mom and dad's time.

One more thing. Kyle has an announcement he wants me to make on his behalf-- he cut his first tooth today! At least I think it was today--I've been checking and saw it was through today. No wonder his sleep has been worse again lately. But he's very proud of himself. And his tooth.

This week Noah starts going to preschool (Mom's Day Out) two days a week instead of just one. Yahoo! I'm excited for him cause he needs the outlet, and he loves his teachers, and I'm excited for me!

I had to go to Target today. My Target just got remodeled and they added a little Starbucks with a neato sitting area. So I went in with Kyle (Noah was at school) to feed him and then he fell asleep. I was kicking myself that I hadn't brought a book. A BOOK! I could have READ A BOOK. During THE DAY. WITH COFFEE. Target is my new favorite place. Oh the life of a mom with small kids. =)

More December Fun

***Turn us up, we've got tunes now!***


So I jinxed us by putting it right here on our blog that Noah was all done being sick when he woke up on Christmas morning. He felt great all that day--I don't know, a sort of honeymoon period?? He woke up that night and got sick again. Ever since, he's been feeling yucky, but now we've moved on from vomiting to the other end of the spectrum. Sorry, I have been known to gross out all my friends and family who don't have kids. ;P I've had to get over the whole gross out factor pretty quick. I've done more laundry this week than I think I've ever done in my whole life. Let's just say I'm ready for everybody to feel better now. At least I haven't come down with anything yet! Did I just say that?? I've surely jinxed myself now! I'm going to knock on wood now. I'm not usually that superstitious, but I am NOT taking any chances. This was the flu from h*ll.

I got a cute pic of the boys together! And we didn't even have to do the M&M bribe here! He actually *asked* to hold Kyle. ASKED!!! After we all hung out with my Cranmommy friend Andrea and her family, Noah was considerably warmer to Kyle. I think it's cause he saw that Leah interacts with her baby sister Mallory. Thanks Andrea!!

Here Andrea, Kurt, the two girls and Noah and I were all decorating Christmas sugar cookies. Man, they made a MESS, but they had a lot of fun, and the cookies turned out really cute.

Our island is big, so it was a perfect setup for all the kids and cookies and sprinkles. It's not so good for dough though, it kept sticking to the Corian. Oh well, they were still good.

After they all went home, Noah said, "Mallory is Leah's baby sister!" And I told him yes, and that Kyle is his baby brother. He took more of an interest in him after that. Since he's been sick though, he's been a grump. I can hardly blame him though, he's been through the ringer this week. I told him that since we missed making our cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve, that we'll make New Year's cookies instead. Hey, maybe we'll even start a new tradition--New Year's Eve cookies!

"Santa Got My Message!!"

That was Noah's response to finding out that Santa had indeed brought the two remaining Backyardigans plush toys he's been itching for!

Noah must have unwrapped a good ten gifts today, and still, the things he played with all day, were those 5 friends.

Kyle enjoyed his new "older" baby toys too.

Of course, I have pictures of all of this, but just not now. So the pictures I'm about to post have nothing to do with Christmas. I couldn't do that. It would just make too much sense.

So here are some more recent but random pics.

Don't worry, it was washable marker:

Senor Kyle:

Chris' mom, A.K.A. Mimi, and Leprechaun Kyle:

Enjoying some sweet potatoes:

We're happy to report that Noah is much better today. Yesterday (Christmas Eve), he got really sick with the stomach flu. It was really bad, and so awful to see him so miserable. He ended up missing out on all the Christmas Eve fun with cookies for Santa and reading stories, but all was well when he woke up this morning. He was so much better today it was ridiculous. If I had barfed as much as he did yesterday, I'd have been laid out for a week! So we ended up having a very nice, mellow, in our PJs all day kind of Christmas.

Hope yours was fun too!

Testing, Testing, 123, Testing!

I think I am finally figuring out how to download my pictures onto the computer! Now I'm just trying to figure out *where* the pics all go once they are *on* the computer. For some reason, it is putting pics in lots of different folders.

These are my attempts at some up close shots of Kyle. I have so much to learn, but already, I love this camera. I can see their faces with so much more clarity!

A chilly Noah driving in his little car

These were probably taken about 3 to 4 weeks ago. I love how handsome Kyle looks here. He looks so big to me here. It's crazy how fast the second one grows. He's already up on all fours (hands and knees) and rocking. He'll probably start crawling soon. He's not even 6 months old yet. I don't think Noah crawled til 7 or 8 months. Kyle is just dying to keep up with Noah. He gets so excited when he sees him playing, or running, or dancing.

This is just the beginning of all the pics I've been taking recently. I'm going to stop here with the pics so I can go try to really figure this out, but I was dying to get some pics from the new camera up!

Last weekend and this weekend we went to a place called The Big Tree Plantation. It's a really neat outdoorsy place where you can actually chop down your own Christmas tree. Another thing you'd never find in California where it's 80 degrees at Christmas time! Score one for Ohio! I don't miss looking for my tree in one of those parking lot Christmas tree lots. This place was really close to where we live, but out in the country on acres and acres of land. We got to take a tractor/hayride out to the trees and go searching for the tree we wanted. We also saw Santa (a bit creepy if you ask Noah), and the real reindeer that pull Santa's sleigh. In fact, Noah was quite sure that the two we saw were Blitzen and Wudolph. He said to Chris, "Dad! Come see!!" it was really quite adorable. We went on to go into the little shop where they had a million things Noah shouldn't touch, but they also had an eating area to have free hot cocoa. We ate funnel cake, drank hot cocoa, and watched the little train they had set up. It really was a good time, and Kyle enjoyed himself as well. You really can take that baby anywhere.

Well, check back again in the next few days if you'd like to see more pics. I'm going to be updating the blog a lot over the next week or so.

Hope you all are cozy this chilly night!

Next time Noah will get more air time!

We've Got Pictures!

Don't get too excited--these are still from the old camera. I finally uploaded ALL of our pics off of the old camera--so this should be it. I've begun snapping away with the new one, but now I just have to figure out how to upload them. That will be my next project!

Here, Kyle's waiting for his very first taste of rice cereal.

Looking a little confused. For awhile, I think all of this was more for practice than anything. This was probably a month ago. He's since tried sweet potatoes and this week, squash! Such excitement in a baby's life! =)

Noah celebrating his third birthday! Yep, that's a Costco cake. I did, however, make him homemade cupcakes for his preschool class. That is if you can call Betty Crocker "homemade."

The candle on the cake is Pablo from The Backyardigans. We have a minor obsession with The Backyardigans over here.

Little brother watching Big Brother open presents.

Do I note a tinge of affection for Little Brother here? Maybe just a tinge??

The cool socks that Aunt Deb and Uncle Fred sent Kyle. These socks ROCK. Not only are they ADORABLE, they STAY on his feet. This is unheard of in the baby sock.

Hangin' out in the baby exersaucer, looking so mature these days!

Noah emerges from the depths of his tunnel! What a bright, smiley face! =)