So much to be thankful for...

This month brought more laughs and new experiences as always, ending with a good reminder of all we have to be thankful for...our sweet boys, health, a welcoming and comfortable home, good jobs, and a very loving family and supportive circle of friends!

Noah has begun to enjoy spinning himself around repetitively, sometimes to the point of getting a little dizzy, which especially funny to watch. For some reason, he likes to do this when he gets out some of the costume hats he likes to play with, specifically the pirate hat...not sure why it's always that one, but maybe he's a pirate walking on a ship?! :)

We still love playing outside as much as possible, though on days that Mommy works, that time is cut significantly with it getting dark by 5:30 - so no more evening walks. :( But we usually just play outside until dinner is ready instead. Noah doesn't ride much on his wheel toys, he more so likes to push them around - just likes he sees Drew doing a lot of times! We also have fun with bubbles and soccer balls. He's also very aware of any pieces of trash in the empty lot next to us to the point that he will start walking through the weeds to get it out for me (he's seen me picking up the trash, and now this is his way of helping I guess!) He does the same thing with leaves, so that keeps us pretty busy outside! He is also oddly particular about finding the absolute smallest piece of trash or dirt on floors, picking them up, and bringing it to Mommy to deal with...I hope he's not OCD like me and it's more of a random 1 year old phase! :)

Noah has learned to glorious joy of splashing as much water out of the tub during baths - driving Drew to new heights of laughter, and a bit of irritation to Mommy and Daddy - we don't mind the splashing so much as long as it doesn't drench the walls...a fine line to teach a 1 year old - actually, seemingly, impossible! They also love to race each other back and forth down stairs, and it's getting more and more appropriate and Noah is more capable. It's funny though, Drew obviously wins, but Noah will stop 1/2 way and turn around the other way to head back to get a big head start - no one taught him that one, he figured that out all on his own! He loves to wriggle and wrestle and snuggle on the floor - an interesting combination, but he gets a kick out of it!

The last 4 cuspids have poked through this month, with 2 coming at the same time right before Thanksgiving, with the classic low grade temperature, diaper rash, irritable child complex, but glad it's over with - only the 2 year old molars left! We are happy that less and less foods are becoming off limits for Noah, as he wants what Drew has at all times! A random food note, Noah has never been a big fan of any type of noodle based meal, so spaghetti, macaroni, etc. were always a wash, until this month we happened to find that he LOVES cold macaroni and cheese! Seems silly, but being as that's one of Drew's favorites, it's nice to know we don't have to make 2 meals anymore, just need to make it ahead of time so Noah can eat his cold!

We were able to make several trips to the parks in the area this month some more, and both boys are extending their abilities, which is fun, and a little bit dangerous! But they both love it! Noah specifically likes to climb UP the slide and go DOWN the stairs - which is the hardest way to do that for a 1 year old, so he keeps us on our toes! He has little fear though, climbing up everywhere there's a place to climb. He climbs up the first step of the stairs and onto the gait frequently now, but has added climbing on the handles of the stove (we have a smaller lower stove and he steps on that handle and holds onto the top handle). It has ended badly only once so far! He also started climbing up on the child sized rocking chair, which was fine, until he started standing on it every time - so now it's in the closet...

He is learning more and more vocalizations, etc. - he sings along (kind of) to a song Nana taught us about raindrops being lemon drops and gum drops - he sings the part "ah-ah-ah-ah" for standing outside with my mouth open wide! He also claps along with "If you're happy and you know it". And he knows lots more animal sounds - elephant, monkey, lion/tiger, bear, cat and dog. He also folds his hands during prayer at meals about 50% of the time!

Noah is still so much of a Mommy's boy! While he gets excited and will now run up to give Daddy a hug after being gone for awhile, etc., he still seeks out Mommy ALOT! He gets upset when Mommy isn't the one to get him first thing in the morning and won't stop looking for me. He's always at my feet it seems, and wants to be held...I love to snuggle, but it's just not feasible all day long! :)

There were several doctor appointments this month - Noah had his 15 month check up and all was well with him! They both also had dentist appointments, which they both hated, as expected - both required Mommy lock/hold down with Mommy in the chair! But we made it through. Drew ended up having 3 cavities :( and got them filled and sealed, but had to be sedated since he fights the dentist so much, so that added an extra layer of not fun to it. Drew did well, knowing that he didn't want to be there, he was pretty cooperative, and the sedation wasn't nearly as bad this time waking up, so that was a relief. Mommy was able to stay with him during giggle juice, laughing gas, and administering anesthesia until he was out, so it was a bit weird, comforting and yet scary to watch...it's always good to be near your child, but bizarre to see him unconscious. He was pretty silly with the laughing gas - he was truly laughing at nothing for about 3 minutes! We all got a bit of a kick out of watching him! I was also able to be there when he woke up, so that was nice, and he wasn't agitated at all this time - yeah! He was a bit whinier the rest of the day, but nothing like with his tonsils and adenoids, so thankful for that! Here's hoping we've all learned our lesson and we don't have to do that again!

Both boys had special weekends with both sets of grandparents this month. The first weekend of the month, the Palmer grandparents watched both boys for the entire weekend! The first weekend for Mommy and Daddy without kids since way before Noah was born! Whew! A nice break and a fun time for the 4 of them as well - they had fun going to the park, staying up late, watching movies, and getting all sorts of yummy foods - they had a blast, but we were all ready to be back together by Sunday for sure! Then 2 weeks later we all headed down to Houston for the weekend with the Glienke grandparents. More time outside and at different parks and playgrounds and tons of attention - all good things! The drive wasn't awful, though the drive into Houston took an extra hour thanks to Houston being Houston with horrible traffic, but we made it and had a great time with them.

Drew is learning more and more every day, and with that, is repeating, saying and singing more and more things that are anywhere from cute, funny, non-sensible, and sometimes inappropriate. We hear our phrases coming back at us more and more, which is always interesting. He comes home singing bits and pieces of songs from school or Sunday school that we try to piece together sometimes. He's starting to learn the days of the week, though the concept of present vs. future is still very difficult for him, ie: Christmas is in 4 weeks...Drew "today?!"...nope! He can mostly count to 20, but almost always skips 13 and 15.

He's actually been a bit more difficult dropping him off at school lately. He says he doesn't want to go, and wants to make sure we aren't going to leave him there...we of course have never done this, but he seems more concerned with this concept of being left lately...who knows! He's doing really well at school though, the teacher has mentioned several times how well he is doing with listening and behaving well at school. We've noticed an improvement as well, with sharing toys usually being the hardest aspect to cooperative play, but we know this is very normal.

And while the majority of the time we'd probably say he's doing a much better job of listening and making good choices, there are times where the extreme opposite occurs and his defiance, temper, tantrums and pouting are off the charts. When he gets really mad, he starts throwing his toys, etc. - we are NOT ok with that! So, trying to quelch it, but harder than we thought.

He's started to really enjoy playing games and role playing - so Daddy is delighted! We play CandyLand lots of nights before bed - he's of course happiest when he gets all the candy cards! But he also loves to role play with his cars or animals, or dragons and soldiers.

His preschool is at a church that is a voting center on Election Day and when I was dropping him off that day, he saw all the people of course, so I explained what was going on. His reaction was kind of funny - "I DO NOT want to VOTE Mommy!" - it just tickled me that he had such a strong opinion about something he really has no idea about at all! HA!

He still loves his Big Wheel, but is slowly transitioning to the bike with training wheels. With the darker hours, our practice time has been cut short, but he does love to ride on wheels!

We were able to go to one of Daddy's soccer games again this month, which Drew just loves. However, we won't be going back for awhile since now it's a constant chase of Noah not falling off the bleachers or getting out of the water fountain. But Drew had fun with another boy there, and it was neat to see how he played with someone he just met...did pretty good. The other boy was about 1 year older, and they had fun. So none of us actually WATCHED the game...so yah, maybe in another year we'll go back!

Drew still takes really long naps in the afternoon (anywhere from 2-3 hours), but is taking longer and longer to go to sleep at night, so we may start to have to play with that some. However, there are some nights it's pretty interesting to hear him talk, sing and play in his bed while he's 'winding down'. He only every now and then gets up and out of bed multiple times, he just lays in bed and chats it up, sometimes for an hour or more! Kind of crazy! But regardless, he's up at 6:30am! Sheesh!

We had a nice, quiet Thanksgiving in Fort Worth with Aunt Lynne and her kids and Uncle Ted and Sydney. Grandmother was supposed to be there, as was Grandma and Papa, but there were some health issues with Grandmother, so they weren't able to join us. It was still nice to be with family. The boys enjoyed some of the Thanksgiving specials on TV - they were ok with the Macy's Parade, but were glued in on the Dog Show that followed...crazy kids!

We all had fun kicking off the Christmas season with the Parade of Lights in downtown Fort Worth - the kids certainly loved it, but the parade was WAY too long - more than 2 hours of holding wiggling kids is crazy! We decided we need to create some sort of carrier or stand for the kids to sit on instead, but be able to fold up into a backpack - ha! We enjoyed setting up our Christmas trees and decorations (though it takes forever while trying to keep the boys happy as well), and they both love playing with all of the dancing/singing stuffed animals we have - it can get pretty noisy these days now with all of them going at once! But they also love playing with the nativity sets as well, so it's fun to see them enjoying that too. They were both even really excited about all the Christmas books to read through! Should be a fun Christmas this year!

Another 1/4 of a year behind us...

The boys are keeping us busy as always, but certainly growing and learning at rates that continue to amaze us. And we just love trying to keep up with it all, playing new games and in new ways with them each and together!



Noah just loves to play with and just like Drew...picking up cars when Drew plays with cars, animals for animals, etc. He is certainly already playing more like a big boy than Drew did at this age when we were the only ones around to teach him! Noah has already started to make the "car noises" when he moves the cars along the ground or couches...just like Drew! He's also picking up on animal noises, though he mostly just roars for all the animals still. :) He's also enjoying some simple puzzles every now and then too!

Noah is definitely only taking 1 afternoon nap these days, and we moved bedtime back to 8 for him and 8:30 for Drew...our time without children awake continues to get chipped away a little bit more! HA! But they are also becoming a little bit more independent in their play, so I suppose it's a good trade off. Noah is really starting to look at and ask to 'read' books now, which we are very happy about, and reading his favorite "Good Morning, Good Night" touch and feel book is a favorite at bedtime and sometimes even first thing when he wakes up.

This picture is of Noah giving Mommy repeated 'zerberts' after dinner - something he's done more than once and is hilarious and VERY ticklish!

Some random motor skills Noah has acquired is he really wants and likes to 'help' with any spoon-fed foods for himself, ie applesauce, yogurt, etc. We scoop it and then he'll grab the spoon to bring it to his mouth. It is without question still very early and very messy, but he's a determined little boy and if he wants to do it, he's going to do it, or we're going to hear some serious screaming! He also has started bending over to look through his legs - so cute! Daddy has taught him to stand on Daddy's feet and hold Daddy's hands while they walk around together - Noah thinks this is great! Noah also has more than once, in the middle of playing and having a grand time, so much so that his enthusiasm throws him to the ground on his back and he just wriggles and rolls around in pure delight - it's really quite funny to watch! He loves all that vestibular input - rolling around on the couches into the craziest positions, throwing himself back while being held in sitting or standing (watch out, there are times he's been close to throwing himself out of our hands and onto the ground!), loves to be thrown high over our heads - all that good, dangerous, crazy stuff! And he LOVES to be tickled! I've even told his teachers, if he's crying for a silly reason of sorts, just tickle him and he completely forgets about it and bursts into giggles! He loves it! If we are playing a game of tickle, he'll just wait for you to get him again, you can just sense it, he's anticipating it and can't wait for his turn...if combined with chase, he'll run away just ever so slightly and then come right back wanting more!

I know I've mentioned it probably every month, but the child LOVES being outside! He continues to bring us his shoes, cry if it just LOOKS like we are moving to the door to go and then we don't - oh how that upsets him. I promise, we do our best to get outside when we can - it's pure delight for him, but it will never be enough I don't think! His class at school sometimes gets to play on the playground these days, which I imagine is truly the highlight of his day!

Now that Noah is mobile, he only wants to be mobile on his own accord. Our nightly walks with Drew on the Big Wheel and Noah in the stroller start out a bit chaotic with Noah not wanting to be IN the stroller, just outside running around...so those may come to an end or something will need to change soon. There are times we walk to the golf course and let them run around there (after the golfers are done for the day of course) and they really like that! Granted, with the time change, not sure we'll be able to get out after dinner anyway...sigh! At the zoo, every time Drew gets out of the wagon, Noah wants out, but then doesn't get back in as nicely as Drew does! Same goes for grocery stores, etc. now too - making those quite a bit more challenging - gotta keep it short! He's also getting quite good at climbing - he can make it onto Drew's bed easily, has learned to move Drew's step to where he wants to get higher and climb up, he's also gotten onto the top of the boys picnic table and the chimney hearth, as well as the first step of the stairs, etc. But thankfully, he also responds 75% of the time to "Noah, feet on the floor" and will stop climbing and walk away - I mean seriously - the kid's amazing! :)

Noah continues to amuse us often at dinner being rather silly and sweet, getting our attention and having lots of funny faces and responses for us! Such a cutie! He's signing "More" and "Please" much better these days, and it's absolutely amazing all the phrases he understands and will follow...he'll go to the closest 'changing' area when I tell him we need to change his diaper (but then fights it the whole time of course), goes to the table when we tell him it's time to eat, just all sorts of things - it's just greatness...I never cease to be amazed by all he knows! He is babbling as if having a conversation more and more these days - which is always fun to hear and 'respond' to - just cute as anything! He knows exactly what he's saying too, you just know it, and one day, it's going to start making more sense to us too! He's started saying "Da" for Dog - a favorite animal of course too! And there was even one day where I just know I heard him say "Baby" when we were reading a book of first words! Even if it wasn't that articulate, he's certainly getting closer to mimicking our sounds and words!

Both boys have seemed to increase the intensity of their tantrums lately...Noah will scream and if being held, throw his body into a backward C or onto the ground. Drew will scream at an incredibly high pitched voice and usually starts throwing things or dumping things over...right, we're pretty firm on putting that to an end immediately...ah, parenting!

We had some fun excursions this month with Fall in full swing - on the calendar at least - not always as obvious by the weather...but fun none the less. We were able to go to the Benbrook Cowboy Roundup/Heritage Fest with Grandpa, Nana and Uncle Kevin - with lots of fun with a train ride, petting zoo and both boys enjoyed some of the groups dancing on stage.

We also went to the Flowermound Pumpkin Patch with some friends, and everyone had fun, but Drew could have stayed there for 2 more hours easily! I was so happy - he finally agreed to getting in the bounce house for the first time and he loved it! YEAH!

For Halloween, the plan was for Drew to be Spiderman (something he'd decided months ago of course) and Noah to be the spider. Well, Noah didn't really like his costume...and it was hot outside, and getting in and out of the car would have required putting it on multiple times, and that just wasn't going to make anyone happy, so we took a quick picture at home and then the boys both went as Spiderman!

Trunk or Treat at St. Paul is always fun as well. Drew had been sick the night before, so wasn't on his A-game per se, though he may have acted this way regardless...but we kind of had to pull him along while we were chasing after Noah who showed no hesitancy what so ever and LOVED all the dogs he found on the way!

Drew is in underwear 100% of the time these days and it's wonderful! About 1/2 way through the month, we even started letting him wear it at night. There were a few accidents during the day and just 1 or 2 just couldn't make it in time (ie - I forgot to do that first thing in the morning) type moments, but it's really gone so well and Drew is SO proud of himself! There are occasional reminders but by the end of the month, he's doing great! It is surprising how long he can 'hold it', worrying me some, but making me learn to trust him as well as him learn the lesson...I've learned more than he has I think. He's having a little bit of a hard time not getting a prize every time now, but that will be squelched quickly...it is nice to only have 1 kid in diapers, no doubt about that!

Drew is more and more obsessed with his cars these days - traveling with him wherever he goes. He's even started keeping his favorites for the day on his nightstand at night so he can play quietly with them at bedtime and first thing in the morning if he needs. He's had some nights where he's slept with some, leaving some significant marks on his body from lying on top of them! What a goof! He can have a real fit if Noah gets the one he wants, and Noah screams right back - fun times! I'm still not sure how to handle some of those conflicts by the way - who gets there way? I don't want either always being the default because they are either the biggest or smallest/youngest, but it's hard to know who it goes to sometimes and how to teach them both how it works...any words of wisdom is appreciated!

Drew is super fast on his Big Wheel these days, easily leaving us in his dust when we go for walks. So we've tried to start coercing him to practice his 'big boy' bike more often. There are some days where he seems ok with it, but we think it comes down to one of the first times we tried it, I accidentally pinched his chin with the helmet strap and now that's ALL he thinks about, avoiding it at all cost! He reminds me every time I put it on - geesh! But we are making progress, so that's what matters at this point.

He can be a bit dramatic to say the least...there was a day he got a cut on his foot and it was bleeding quite a bit. So we put on a band-aid - something he normally begs for but isn't ever necessary. Well, then he tip-toed around all night because of the band-aid and threw a big fuss over it, as if it was the most serious injury ever! Oh, it was ridiculous! He was slightly consoled when we covered it with a sock, somehow making it better - who knows?! Gracious - be a little tougher please! Be assured, we do not run to either boy any more when there's a spill/fall, etc. - enough of this whimpyness!

 Oh, and another funny story...we were talking one day at lunch about forgiveness with Drew and how we are suppose to make good choices and set a good example for Noah, etc. Drew responded with "Mommy, like when you pinched me with the helmet...that was a bad choice!" Matthew and I started laughing uncontrollably - I mean give me a break kid, that was months ago, when will I ever be forgiven!?! So then we talked about forgiveness...:)

This is probably normal 3 year old behavior, but there are times where Drew gets so tickled over the smallest of things...a few from this month included the words "Toodles", "attitude", and ringtones on our phone! Silly Drew! He also has added the word Incredible to his normal vocabulary, which can be pretty funny when he talks about ordinary things...so funny to hear words like that come out of a little boys mouth I guess!

Drew had a special night with Daddy one night this month...Daddy wanted to camp in the backyard in our tent (that we got as a wedding gift and 10 years later, using it for the first time - so sad in retrospect, but happy to see years of use in the future hopefully!) Drew was pumped as we set the tent up the evening before - he was so disappointed and confused why he wasn't sleeping in it yet. But next day, we grilled hot dogs and hamburgers and they even roasted marshmallows over the fire pit for s'mores! They snuggled up on the chilly, windy night in the tent with a lantern, and just a few cars of course. Mommy and Noah were inside - Noah had been sick that evening, and Mommy's plans were to get lots of school work done and praying Noah was done throwing up...around 10:30 Mommy got a text from Daddy saying Drew was no where close to calming down to sleep. In fact, at one point, Daddy had lightly drifted to sleep and quickly woken up with Drew walking all around in the tent...so they came inside and Drew went to sleep in his own bed...he seemed wired and awake when he came in, but moments after Daddy closed the door, Drew was sound asleep - too much excitement I guess?! But it was a positive first experience for Drew, so hopefully next time he'll be able to make it through the night! It was a fun time regardless.

Well, another fun month in review. No weight or height stats this month (just never got around to it), but Noah is wearing size 12-18 month clothes, size 4 shoes and diapers. Drew is wearing size 3T, though some are too short really, and is in size 9 shoes.

The holiday season is upon us...we pray for a special time with family and friends and being able to communicate and demonstrate the true meaning for the celebration to the boys and those around us!