I Feel Like I'm Falling for Fall...

That is part of a little song played on the Noggin channel but it describes how I feel about this season! Thanks to our friend, Jeana, for the fun picture above. She came over to drop something off I had forgotten at their house and ended up staying for a little visit. She brought her camera since it was such a beautiful fall day and she took some pictures while we were playing outside in the leaves. This was my sneak peek photo - I can't wait to see the rest!

What a fun couple of weeks we have had. Noah is completely binky-free. Bedtimes were a breeze, we had a few rough naptimes, but overall it's been great. This past Saturday my grandma held a little Halloween party for the family. Here are some pictures. Tim and I went as an Amish couple. We got the idea because of his beard and the comments people make about him looking Amish when it starts to get long.

Noah was a dinosaur. My dad, the garbage man, is feeding him pieces of a cookie. My mom put a garbage bag over her, taped food to it and went as the garbage he collected. They originally did this for a church harvest party years ago and brought it back this year.My niece, Kailyn, was a fairy - a U of M fairy if you factor in her turtleneck onesie.The whole crazy family: (in back) garbage, garbage man, Ricky & Lucy Ricardo, a witch, a spooky person, a couple of hippies, the headless horseman and his vampire girlfriend, and Bonnie & Clyde; (in front) an injured person and his doctor, with their fairy child, a pumpkin, the phantom of the opera, amish Tim, dinosaur Noah, a green fairy, spiderman, and amish me.

My cousin, Casey, and his girlfriend, Jessica, were not able to make it due to the fact they had their baby that morning, 3 weeks early. Welcome to the world, Gavin! He weighed in at a healthy 7 pounds, 15 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long - we think they had the due date wrong. Jessica had a dream labor, the entire thing was less than 3 hours long from the first contraction to the time Gavin made his appearance. Oh, jealousy.

Tonight we took Noah trick or treating. All the stores in downtown Grand Haven hand out candy from 4-6pm. We thought this would be better than going to the houses in our neighborhood since we don't know any of our neighbors. While driving downtown I thought, "I hope there are at least a couple other trick or treaters so we don't look out of place." This is what we were not expecting:

They actually close down the main street and the place was chaos! You basically end up in this line of people that moves from door to door, or store to store. We ended at the library, where Noah played for a little bit before heading home.

I started really feeling the baby moving this week. It's still not all the time, but usually when I am falling asleep at night I'll feel something slightly stronger than the flutter. I have an ultrasound coming up on Saturday morning that I'm very excited about. I'll post a picture after I have one.

To end, here are some random pictures from this past month...

He loves apples, big and small. This one is at Robinette's in Grand Rapids. He also enjoyed playing on this large tree.

Breaking Binky

So there are a couple things I would like to accomplish before the baby comes in April. I talked them over with Noah's pediatrician yesterday while there for an appointment and he gave me some tips and advice on how to smoothly transition. I told him I wanted to break the binky addiction, move him to a toddler bed (he is trying to climb out of his crib now. He gets his leg on the top railing, but doesn't have enough umph to get over the edge yet), and work on potty training. I don't want to focus on that one until after Christmas though.

He told me that with the potty training, to watch for his cues that he is ready. He said that if we try to push it too soon then he will rebel and not do it. He uses his little potty every once in awhile now, but when we ask him if he wants to use it and he says "no" we never push it. So we'll really just keep doing the same until he says "yes."

With going from the crib to toddler bed, he just said to make sure that we keep the door shut tight or locked so that he can realize that just because he has this new freedom with a big boy bed and being able to get in and out of it whenever he wants, it does not give him the freedom to walk around the house whenever he wants. He said he'll probably test the barrier (the door) for a few nights, realize it's not budging, and then fall asleep quicker at night.

Then there was the binky topic. He said it's definitely time to get rid of it. Right now Noah only uses it during nap and bedtimes, or in times of total crisis. He suggested, and I had read this in a magazine last week, going to a toy store and letting him pick out a toy (preferably a stuffed animal or something he can sleep with) and then having him "pay" for it with his binky.

So we put the plan into action last night, expecting a rough bedtime and no sleep during the night. We went to Toys-R-Us and Target and there were lots of things he liked and wanted, but not enough to give up his binky for. I also think it was a bit overwhelming because there are SO many toys that he was easily distracted. Finally on the way home Tim said, "We're stopping at Hage's and you're going to run in and see if they have a Bob or Larry stuffed animal." I ran in and all they had was a 2 1/2 foot tall Larry Boy. I ran out to the van and told Tim he can look at it and be the one to decide. A few minutes later he came out with a giant bag disguising the Larry Boy inside.

Once home, we took it out and watched Noah's reaction. He was excited about it.

"Do you like Larry Boy?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to keep Larry Boy and sleep with him in your crib?"

"Yes."

"Then you need to give up binky."

"No." He turned and walked down the hall.

Then he stopped, ran back and started pointing out Larry's eyes and his plunger ears.

"Do you want to give me binky and you can have Larry?" I held out my hand expecting the usual reaction.

He spit binky out into my hand, grabbed Larry and carried him off into his room. Tim and I stared at each other in shock.

"Quick," Tim said. "We need to get him to bed before he realizes what he's done."

A short amount of time later, we closed his bedroom door as he quietly said, "Binky. Binky, please. I want binky please."

I went into our bedroom and cried, feeling like a mom who had just taken away her child's best friend. Actually, I sobbed. It's quite pathetic but I will blame it on pregnancy hormones. Tim just sat next to me and laughed. We listened to Noah talk to himself, talk to Larry, talk to his dinosaur, and sing the VeggieTales theme song for about a half hour. I cried for about 5 minutes during that time. Tim said it was harder to deal with me than with Noah.

After a half hour, there was quiet. After 10 minutes of quiet I checked on him. He was completely asleep with Dinosaur at his feet and Larry Boy at his side. We were shocked he never cried yet prepared ourselves for a rough night ahead, figuring he would wake up and find the absence of binky.

He never woke up once.

I checked on him three times to make sure he was alive.

He asked for it once when he woke up this morning, but when Tim reminded him he traded it for Larry Boy, he didn't mention it again.

Success.

We'll see how naptime and tonight's bedtime go.

Candy Corn Thief

I hate candy corn. Tim, however, loves it so I buy it for him and stick it in a little Halloween dish. Apparently, Noah loves it as well. In fact, Noah loves it so much that I caught him yesterday with his hand in the candy dish. Literally. He had dragged over a chair from the dining room, climbed up, and was shoveling candy corn into his mouth as fast as he could. He looked like he had little chipmunk cheeks. This morning after he woke up, but while I was still trying to function, I could hear him dragging a chair across the floor and knew exactly what he was doing. Fortunately, Tim was still home and caught him before he could get it over to the counter. He's a sneaky one...
He is so proud of himself.

1st and 2!

First trimester was officially done on Friday, two more to go at this point. Morning sickness is still going full-force, proving to me that it doesn't always magically stop at 12 weeks like it did with Noah.

We had an appointment yesterday afternoon and were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time. It was good and strong, up in the 160s, higher than Noah's was. For all you old wives' tale believers, I've been told that this is the sign of a girl, but I am not putting stock in it. We brought Noah with us (the last time that will happen as we ended up waiting for an hour before the doctor finally came in) and he was quite mesmerized by the sound of the heartbeat. We have also managed to confuse him, as when we now point to his belly and ask what it's called, he responds with "Baby." Yikes!

We had a fantastic weekend. I dropped Noah off to my parents on Wednesday night with the intent of getting him on Saturday. When I called Saturday morning to see what time I should come, they said my dad had taken the day off and they were enjoying him so much they wanted to know if we could come on Sunday. No problem! They loved their time with him and he was, as usual, spoiled with new coloring and sticker books, Halloween books, pajamas, a pumpkin to keep at their house, and a movie.

We loved our time alone. Especially me! Thursday I did all the things that are hard to do with him now, like going to Motherhood Maternity and trying on clothes, going to Barnes and Noble and reading, checking out the new Target. That night we went along with Matt & Jeana's youth group to the Relient K/Switchfoot concert. It was very good, although I think I am getting old.

Friday was a day I had never experienced before. I actually stayed in bed until 4:00 in the afternoon! I would get up to make food and then bring it back into bed to eat. The only reason I got up and showered at all was because that night we went on our first double date with our friends Matt & Stephani (whose daughter was visiting her grandparents this weekend.) We have known them for a year but never not had the kids on the same weekend.

Saturday Tim and I spent the day going around the shops in Grand Haven and Spring Lake. We also visited the local Goodwill to get clothes to make up our Halloween costumes. My grandma is having a costume party on Saturday.

So it was a great weekend. There were a couple little glitches, arguments and whatnot, but they ended well. I talked to my mom Monday morning and she said she is already missing Noah and wanting him back for another visit. I said, "Anytime, Mom. Anytime."

Justin Timberlake wannabe

I had the radio on as I was cleaning tonight. While cleaning the bathroom, I could hear a voice I know quite well singing along with Justin Timberlake. I peeked around the corner into the living room and found a little dancer. I'm not sure if I should be proud he knows some of the words or not...

This is October?!

I can't believe it's already October. I can't believe it's in the 80's for weather.
Saturday we attended Family Day for Cornerstone University's Alumni weekend. There wasn't much for Noah's age, besides sidewalk chalk, which is only fun for so long. If we had been without children, or have older children, it would have been more fun in terms of things to do. So we drew with some sidewalk chalk, visited with people that we haven't seen since our college days, and had lunch on campus. After lunch, I dropped Noah off at Scott & Jen's (thanks again, Jen!) They baby-sat him so that I could watch Tim play in the Alumni soccer game. He did so well! He played soccer his first year at Cornerstone, but I didn't know who he was at that time, so when I watched the games, I was never watching him. Therefore, it was fun to watch him actually play with guys that he used to. The weather was unbearable. We were dripping in sweat just sitting in the bleachers watching. We felt so sorry for the players! They played for about an hour straight with a brief 3 minute half-time and no water provided on the sidelines, as well as no subs to relieve them. Yet Tim loved every minute of it and wants to start playing every year.
Yesterday, we worked up a sweat again while cleaning out the mini-van. Actually, Tim did most of the cleaning while I supervised Noah playing in the yard, but I did help out a bit where I could. We now have a sparkling vehicle, just like new! It's actually probably a good thing to do if you are ever get the itch to get a new car. Just clean out the one you have, wash the inside of the windows, vacuum everything, dust it, clean out the trash and voila! New car, or at least a looks-like-new-car.
Over the weekend Tim and I spent some time online at www.family.org and www.familylife.com listening to recent broadcasts. We listened to a very funny one by Dennis Swanburg, who is a pastor and could pass as a comedian easily. That was on Focus on the Family's website. We also listened to a marriage-related broadcast by Tommy Nelson on FamilyLife today. We made a note of some others we would like to listen to. I would suggest taking some time to check out the websites as well.
Tonight is our small group and afterwards we head over to Matt and Jeana's. Jeana and I are going to be working on sewing some Christmas stockings tonight, as well as some potholders and other random projects. It's fun to be crafty.
Our church started a sermon series called "Duets" this month. It's about marriage. It led to a good discussion for Tim and I yesterday after I asked him if he felt like we were singing a duet or if we are out of tune. He said he feels like we are out of tune because of how busy we were last month. It is hard to focus on your marriage when you are going, going, going. We are glad that when we look at October, there is only one Saturday event and the rest is completely open. We even have a whole weekend without Noah coming up in a couple weeks. We are looking forward to that very much. My friend, Rachel, was telling me about how she and her husband spent her birthday just the two of them in Saugatuck and I loved hearing about it. I think it's great when we, as young parents, can leave our children (knowing they are safe with whoever's care we put them in) and can take the time to spend with just one another. It's so easy to let ourselves be defined by our children and overwhelmed with everything in life. It's so necessary to take that time out and go on a date, or even just to stay in and have no interruptions. So this month Tim and I will be working on our harmonizing.
I am looking forward to Wednesday and what is forecast as 57 degrees. I will be finally breaking out and putting up my fall decorations. This, hopefully, is the last of our summer.