Pajama Party!

Today was an exciting day in our house - pajama day!!! Clayton's school had a pajama party today and Clayton has been looking forward to this day for over a week! The kids got to come in their pajamas (obviously) and bring a special blanket and book from home. Clayton chose to bring Silkie and 'If You Give a Pig a Pancake'. As a special surprise, I got him some new pajamas to wear (he needed some anyway, he's growing like a weed). He was so excited and I thought he was too cute!
Justin didn't have to be in this morning until 9:00 so he got to be home to see the excitement. He and Clayton also ganged up on me and convinced me that you can't go to school on pajama day with fixed hair! I'm not going to lie, it was pretty difficult for me to send him to school without first doing his hair!
It just wouldn't be fair to let Clayton stay in his pajamas without letting Noah stay in his too. I'm not exactly sure who was more excited - Clayton or Noah. You'd have thought that Christmas came early! I think they look so cute here - rumpled hair and all!
At school, the kids got to lay on sleeping bags and listen to stories, eat a special snack of cookies and milk, make dream catchers, and sing lullabies. It doesn't really sound like much, but it doesn't take too much to make a group of 3 and 4 year olds excited. This is Clayton and one of his teachers - Miss Judy (this isn't the most flattering picture of her - I actually took a better one of her - but I love Clayton's face in this picture, you can just tell he's so excited).
So now it's 5:30 and my boys are still in their pajamas. I figure that since I never let them stay in their p.j.'s past breakfast - we'd milk it today. At lunchtime, Clayton said to me,
"I feel sad for Daddy."
(Me) "Why?"
(Clayton) "He doesn't get to wear his pajamas to the hospital. I think that makes him feel sad."

Somehow I don't think Justin is that torn up over pajama day, but I am really glad that Clayton enjoyed this day so much. I'm so glad that he still gets so excited over such little things. Hopefully he doesn't lose that for a long time!

I have a mouse!!

Anytime baked goods get left on the counter my mouse appears. He sneaks onto the counter when no one is looking and nibbles on the baked goods as fast as he can. My mouse often gets caught - but not after significant damage has been done to whatever tasty baked treat was on the counter. My mouse does NOT like to be caught!
I need to be more vigilant in guarding our baked goods! But, you have to admit, as far as mouse problems go - I have a pretty cute mouse!

What's been going on...

First, the weather has FINALLY decided to act like spring (sort of). This week we have been enjoying temps in the mid 40's to the high 50's. Needless to say, we have been spending a LOT of time outside. Yesterday was the first time in many, many months that I let the boys play outside without coats on (it was almost 60 degrees - hooray). I really hope this means that winter is behind us and that spring is finally here to stay!
The boys have been in heaven outside. I finally freed all the bikes from the garage and ever since, the boys have been outside until dark. I'm so happy that they can finally go out and get their energy out!!
Clayton won't really stay still enough for me to get a good shot of him outside (which I think is a good thing - play hard little boy)! I kind of lucked into this one.
Clayton got this bike for his birthday when he was 2. It's so strange to me to see it passed down to Noah.
Clayton loves having his big wheel back. I think that for his birthday this year, a real bike might be in order!
Noah is just so cute!!! He slides for hours.
Since this is Vermont, moisture is something that we have to deal with. Our backyard has a few 'mud pits' and Noah wasted no time finding them. (It actually got worse after this picture was taken. I sent him back outside and about an hour later had to literally hose him off before I let him back in the house.)
Second, St. Patrick's Day was a lot of fun. We did the same thing we did last year. I had the boys decorate a box and leave it in the moonlight. After they went to bed, some sneaky leprichauns found it and put treasure in it. Then they hid the box and left several trails for the boys to follow. The boys had to find the right trail so that they could get their treasure. For the second year in a row - it was a huge hit!
This is the box that they decorated. I didn't take very good pictures of it this year, but it turned out really cute. Noah did the lid and Clayton did the rest.
Clayton following the leprichaun's trail. They were very sneaky this year.
Noah wasn't too into it this year. He liked it once Clayton found the box, but I think he was still waking up a little bit here. (Ignore his mismatched pajamas - the more pregnant I get, the less I care what pajamas they are wearing. I reach in the drawer and whatever two things are in my hand when I pull it out are the ones they wear.)
We also had our traditional St. Patty's Day breakfast of green eggs, toast, and green milk. When Justin came home Clayton told him, "The leprichauns came today and left us a treasure! And Mommy made green eggs and milk - just like the last time the leprichauns came!" I'm surprised he remembered - but happy too. Apparently he loves this and I will just have to keep it up!
Noah is always happy to have eggs for breakfast. Usually when I make eggs, I also make blueberry muffins. On St. Patty's Day there were no muffins and this really confused Noah. I think he's going to end up being a creature of habit (just like his momma).
I think his crazy happy face says it all!
Third, the boys got new swimsuits. We are going swimming on Friday and I realized that Clayton didn't have a suit to wear. As I was looking through all of Clayton's old things for a suit for Noah I remembered that his 2T swimsuit got horribly stretched out and had to be thrown away. Therefore, I had to buy both kids a suit. Noah and I did this while Clayton was at school. When Clayton got home I made him try his on just to make sure it would fit and he didn't want to take it off. He was running around the house shouting, 'I'm going swimming, I'm going swimming!' It was a little disappointing when he had to take it off. Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to wear to take them swimming! (If you live in VT and you want to go swimming, ask me about it - it sounds really fun and it's FREE! And yes, it's an indoor pool.)
Finally, we are down to about four weeks until baby! I had a dr. appt. earlier this week and stuff is starting to happen! She's head down and I'm a little dialated which is nice, but, as I know from previous experience, this doesn't really mean anything to me. I was at a 3 for a week and a half before both Clayton and Noah were born and they weren't early. I think that once I hit 37 weeks I'm going to start running again - I want to try to get her out people!! I've had to start physical therapy twice a week because I'm carrying this kid so far out in front of me that it's starting to give me some serious back problems. It's been better since I've started the PT, but it is still a bummer not to be able to exercise or do some of the other things that I want/need to do. (Justin is such a trooper - he's the best husband ever! He's really stepped up.) On the plus side - I think this will be my littlest pregnancy yet! I'm on track to gain 10 lbs less than I did with Clayton and about 5 lbs less than I did with Noah!! Hooray! Maybe this means that she will be smaller than the boys (fingers crossed). We are all just waiting excitedly for the baby. Well, Justin and I are anyway. Clayton, again, doesn't really seem to care. He's not a baby person. As for Noah, he thinks that everyone's stomach is called 'baby sister'. I think it's going to rock his world a little when he realizes that there is actually a little person in there. I'm still a little worried about how he's going to handle it when the baby comes, but I know he'll be a good big brother - he's had a great example!

Thanks Aunt Ash!!

This week, Aunt Ashley sent Clayton a package. He has been feeling a little left out lately because all of our deliveries are for the baby. His thoughtful Aunt Ash decided to send him a little something. You can see for yourself how he reacted:




I got a new camera a few weeks ago (I know, it was about time), and Clayton felt so special to get a new one of his own! He has been taking pictures non-stop since he received his camera. I've had to erase things off the memory card at least twice a day because of all the pictures he's been taking. He's had the camera for almost a week now and shows no signs of being bored or disinterested. Perhaps I have a future photographer on my hands. Here are a few of the pictures that he's taken this week:
There are TONS of shots like this. Apparently, he loves his legs and feet.
He's taken a lot of pictures of Noah too. I like how sweet Noah looks in this picture. Well done Clayton!
He wanted to take a picture of me taking a picture of him.
He likes to take pictures of people. Vanessa was a willing subject.
Chase and Missy were also willing to ham it up for Clayton. (He needs to leard to keep his finger away from the lens.)
Of course Justin is ALWAYS willing to be photographed!
Random picture of grapes. I threw this in because the majority of his pictures are random like this. He takes pictures of the floor, the TV, the table, toys, you name it - if it's random, he's taken a picture of it!
Vanessa came to take pictures today. So of course, Clayton had to document the experience.
Noah was not cooperative with our photoshoot, but I like this one that Clayton took.
I honestly don't know how many pictures there are like this. Everytime I have to delete images off of his memory card there are several of his face. I think it's funny.
Clayton didn't take this, but I had to throw it in. When Ashley sent the camera there were several pictures still on the card. At first Clayton was really confused because he thought he had taken those pictures. This was one of my favorites! Love you Ash!
This is the one I took of Clayton with his new camera. Doesn't he look professional?

Thanks Ashley for making his week! He really felt special when he got this package and I appreciate you making him feel that way. We love you!

More thinking...

So now it's Noah's turn. With the baby coming I worry more about him than I do Clayton. Clayton has always been so independent that bringing Noah home didn't seem to phase him at all. He noticed Noah, of course, but his temperment and personality didn't seem to change one bit. He didn't get clingy or demanding or possessive or anything. It was great!! I worry that my sweet Noah won't adjust that well. I'm trying to soak up the last few weeks of him being my 'baby' before he gets a violent shove into 'middle child-dom'. Here are a few things about Noah that I never want to forget (the pictures don't really have anything to do with what I wrote - they are just my current favorite ones of him - even though some are a little blurry):
'Akoong' means 'I love you'. We say 'I love you' several times a day. Noah has been able to say those three words for over a year now, but he rarely does. Instead, he says 'Akoong'. We know that it means 'I love you' because he uses it as a response when you tell him you love him. He will also come up to me randomly with a hug and say 'Akoong Mommy'. Everyone in our house knows what this means and we all love it! I hope he hangs on to this phrase a little longer (although, sadly, it's starting to phase itself out). It's cute to actually hear him say 'I love you', but there is just something about 'Akoong' that melts my heart.
He is a BIG cuddler. If I sit down for longer than a minute, he curls up in my lap (which is getting pretty hard these days). Lately, I stay sitting until he moves off. I think I waste a lot of time like this, but I know that before long, he won't want to cuddle on my lap anymore and I want to take advantage! He also loves to give and get hugs and kisses. He's very affectionate and I just can't get enough!!!
He loves to read. He is constantly bringing me and Justin books. He has most of them memorized but he loves to curl up beside you and listen to you read. His favorites right now are 'Brown Bear' and 'Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs'. It's hard to deny him when he comes up to you with a book and says, "Mommy, read?" Justin and I usually drop whatever we're doing and read to him. Those big blue eyes are hard to resist!
He is very artistic. Well, at least compared to Clayton. Noah loves to draw, color, dance, and sing. He can spend an hour straight doing nothing but coloring (which is pretty impressive for two years old). His pictures are actually pretty good too - in my opinion. He has really good fine motor skills and I'm always pretty impressed with the control he has with the crayons. He is also always willing to 'shake his booty'. He loves to dance and it's fun to watch. He is also a really good singer. He loves to sing. Right now he loves to sing, 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and other variations of that song that we have made up. He sings to himself sometimes and I love to hear him walking around the house singing to himself. Justin is very musically talented and I think Noah may have inherited that from him.
He is such a daredevil!! I don't think he's afraid of any physical stunt. He climbs everything, jumps off whatever he can get on, shoves things up his nose, stands up on things that seem really wobbly, gets into places that are too small for him, etc. He gets hurt a lot (he already has a scar on his forehead that I think will be with him for the rest of his life), but that doesn't seem to stop him. Justin and I joke that he will be our kid who breaks an arm, but the older he gets the less I think it's a joke. He's given me quite a few scares, but this kid takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'! It's a good thing he's so bendy and flexible otherwise I think we'd be in trouble!
He adores his big brother! Sometimes I think it borders on pestering, but isn't that what little brothers are for? He follows Clayton around and is almost always willing to play whatever imaginary game Clayton is playing. If Clayton is not around for some reason, Noah will go through the house looking for him. I love that my boys are such good friends.
Like Clayton, he's a people person. I don't think you could spend time with Noah without falling in love with him. He has a very laid back attitude and rarely lets things get to him. He loves his friends and get very excited to see them. Even though he has a major 'two year old attitude' it doesn't cover his sweetness and his outgoing-ness. I don't think he'll be quite the 'people person' that Clayton is, but I definitely don't think he'll have any trouble making friends!
Noah is VERY articulate. He has really good pronunciation. Sometimes when he speaks I forget that he's only two because he expresses himself so clearly. The downside to this is that he skipped a lot of the cute pronunciations that often accompany 'toddlerhood'. However, here are a few of the things that Noah says right now that I love:
Akoong
Keekiss - this is what he calls Clayton. He can actually say Clayton, but he prefers to call him Keekiss. I love it.
Abigeeguy - Abinidi. We have a book of Book of Mormon stories that's aimed at toddlers. Noah's favorite story is the one of Abinidi. I love when he asks for it because the way he says it is so cute!
ChoCoLate - I said he is very articulate. He pronounces the word chocolate perfectly, but he puts emphasis on the c and the l and it's fun to see the way his mouth moves when he says it - it's like he's really concentrating to make sure he says it right.
Wahbs - Hobbes. For Christmas a few years ago, he got a stuffed Tiger that Justin immediately named Hobbes. Noah loves it and sleeps with it every night. Again, he can accurately pronounce the word 'Hobbes' but prefers 'Wahbs'. We've actually all started calling it 'Wahbs'.
Soo-bah-woo - My sisters taught Clayton that 'Shoobaloo' is the magic word (thanks a lot ladies). Noah caught on to this and says it often. He will ask for a drink and when you say to him, 'what's the magic word?' it always makes me smile to hear 'SOO-BAH-WOO!'.
Noah is a great kid. I don't know how I got so lucky with these amazing little boys but I did! They are very different but I think that they are alike in a lot of the ways that matter. They are both loving, accepting, and sweet. This little girl is one lucky kid to be getting such great big brothers! I feel so blessed with my little family! I love you Noah!!

I've been thinking...

I've been thinking a lot lately about how things are going to change around here when the baby comes. I realize that for a while after she gets here we will go into 'survival mode' and there are a lot of things that will probably go by the wayside as we adjust to life with a new little one. As I was thinking about this, I realized that there are a lot of things about the boys that I don't want to forget - but that I might forget about when I'm sleep deprived and running on empty. So I figured I'd take some time to write down some of the things about the boys that I really don't want to forget. I'm going to start with Clayton in this post and I'll do another one about Noah later.
Basically, Clayton rocks (although, in fairness, both of my boys do)! He is a great big brother. This morning Justin said to him, 'Are you MY Clayton?' and Clayton said, 'No.' Then I asked, 'Well, are you MY Clayton?' and again he said, 'No.' Justin asked, 'Well, then whose Clayton are you?' to which he replied, 'I'm Noah's Clayton.' He's such a sweet and kind brother, I'm excited to see how he will be when the baby gets here.

Clayton likes to ask for things by describing what they are or what they do instead of asking directly for what he wants. Here are a few examples:
'I want something cool and juicy.' (This could be anything from a drink of water to M&M's - although why he thinks M&M's are cool and juicy is beyond me.)
'I need something long and bendy.' (This usually means a cool cloth that he can lay across his head - we learned this one when he was sick.)
'I want a snack that pops.' (popcorn)

Clayton's favorite things to do right now are play pretend and play Wii (I can't wait for winter to end so we can get back outside). You might think that these two games have nothing to do with each other, but you'd be wrong. Clayton's favorite Wii game is MarioKart. He loves to play with Justin (and is actually pretty good - he doesn't come in last place anymore). When he plays, he is always King Boo. He knows who he wants to be and what car he wants to drive (his current favorites are the jet setter and the flame runner). We don't let him play that often, but when we do - you'd think it was Christmas! He gets so excited. He loves it so much that King Boo has become his new imaginary friend. He either pretends to be King Boo - which is rough because King Boo doesn't talk, be kind of grunts with his tounge hanging out, or he pretends that King Boo is following him around.

Clayton is really smart. He loves letters and numbers and he loves figuring out how things work. He will sit for long periods of time with his toys just analyzing them and what makes them work. He is a lot like Justin in that way. However, he doesn't really have an interest in the arts. He's the kid who doesn't like to color or write or sing or dance (that would be our Noah). It's not that he can't - he just doesn't have any interest in it. He never has. It always made me a little sad when other kids would draw these cute little pictures of people or animals and Clayton just drew any old scribble and called it a 'snorkle' (seriously - everything he draws/paints is a 'snorkle' - we have yet to figure out what that is). There is a dad who is an artist who volunteers at his school and always tells me what a great abstract artist Clayton is. This makes me laugh because his 'abstractness' has nothing to do with him being a great artist and more to do with him being impatient with the art process and hurrying to put any old thing down on paper. I was starting to doubt whether or not he actually could draw something specific (honestly - in his four and a half years of life he's NEVER drawn an actual picture of something, it's ALWAYS a scribble). Yesterday though, he drew his first actual picture!!!!!
This is a picture of Clayton and Bessie. Bessie is a stuffed beaver that is the class 'pet'. Each kid gets a chance to take Bessie home for a weekend (but since we got her right before a vacation, we got her for a week). Each kid then has to write in the 'Adventures with Bessie' book what they did with Bessie and include a picture. Clayton and I sat together and wrote down what we did with Bessie (Clayton was sick most of the time Bessie was with us - so her 'adventures' with us are a little lame). Then I asked him to draw a picture of him and Bessie. I was totally expecting a scribble but he really surprised me and took his time drawing a picture of him and Bessie!!!! You can actually tell what it is!!!! You could have knocked me over with a feather! He then wrote his name at the top of the picture (it needs a little work, but I'm really impressed with his letter 'a'). Anyway, I wanted to include this because it is honestly the first actual picture he's drawn and he is so proud of it (and so am I). I'm just sad that we have to give it back to the school. I want to tear the page out and keep it - but I'll settle for posting it.

This is Clayton and Bessie. He was so happy to have her come to our house for a week. His face in this picture cracks me up!
Clayton loves school. He is the kind of kid who makes friends easily. He loves to be around other kids - and he's starting to get really good at playing with them. He usually likes to play around other kids instead of with them. When I drop him off at school all the other kids run up to him saying 'hi' and asking him to join them at whatever activity they are at. I'm glad he makes friends so easily - I think this is a trait that will serve him well later in life. He's a very polite kid and incredibly articulate - which makes me really happy with him. He's starting to get very good at following the routine in school. This is a relief because he'll start kindergarten next year (WHAT!?!?!) and I worry about him sometimes because he's so young.

Finally, as I said before, Clayton is incredibly smart. He has started reading this year. I mean, really reading. I was making lunch one day and he was sitting at the counter watching me (this was probably around Thanksgiving time) and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he said, '/J/ /I/ /F/ - JIF!' It took me a second to figure out what he was doing, but once I realized he was reading the peanut butter I got really excited. I called Justin in from outside and we made him read EVERYTHING we could find. He did too! I was so impressed. He has known all his letters and sounds since he was 2, but we never worked on putting them together to form words. Like I said before, he is a kid who likes to figure out how things work and apparently reading is one thing that he wanted to figure out. He has reached the point now where he can read simple 3, 4, and 5 letter words and short sentences. He's getting pretty fast too. He likes to sit with us at night during family scripture study and read some of the verses (with a little help). It's been months since he started doing this, but I get blown away by it every time. So here's some video of my little reader:




So there are a few of the things I had to put down so that I wouldn't forget. I'm so blessed to be Clayton's mom and have him in my life. I know that things are going to change a ton once the baby comes but I am constantly grateful that Clayton is my first 'baby'. I can't imagine a better oldest child or a better big brother. Noah and the baby are lucky to have him. So are Justin and I! I love you Clayton!

29

Yesterday was my birthday and, as always, it was a great day! I'm a little freaked out about being 29 - I think it's the anticipation of turning 30 (although since I've been anticipating it for the past few years I don't think it'll be too bad). It just seems really old to me. I was watching MacGuyver reruns the other night (yep, that's right, I was) and I thought, 'HOLY COW! My mom was MY age when MacGuyver originally aired!!!!'. That was quite an eye opening experience.

Anyway, back to the most special of all holidays, my birthday. Since it wasn't actually my birthday this year it wasn't quite the extravaganza that it was last year, but it was still a really great day. It started out with Justin getting up with the kids and taking them with him to his weekly basketball game so I could sleep in or whatever. I'm not sleeping too well these days but it was still nice to be able to lie in bed until 9 and then take my time eating breakfast while I watched whatever I wanted to on TV. Shortly after Justin and the boys got home, I left to go out to lunch with Vanessa. We went to Stowe to this really great place called the 'Rusty Nail'. We sat on the covered patio right next to an awesome fireplace. It was so nice to have a long lunch with a great friend. Thanks Vanessa!

Later that night, Justin took me to a really fancy restaurant called 'Butlers'. If you live in Vermont, you SERIOUSLY need to go!!!! It's associated with the Culinary Institute of New England so you know it's going to be awesome. One of Justin's friends from church is the head chef there and it's AMAZING! It's a little pricey and the food is a little more sophisticated than what I'm used to, but the experience was awesome! Michael (Justin's friend) told us that when we got there to just order an entree and he'd take care of us. I ordered duck and Justin ordered grouper (which is a fish). While we were waiting for our food, Michael kept sending out all sorts of fancy foods for us to try.

The first thing he sent out was called fois gras. It was the best thing I ate all night!! I thought it was some kind of banana thing. Michael came out at the end of our meal and told me that fois gras is really fattened duck liver. EWWWW!!! I would have never in a million years touched that stuff if I'd have known beforehand what it was, but it was seriously delicious. It was almost like a dessert. I'd eat it again! (Not an actual picture from our dinner, but you get the idea - it's pretty and doesn't look like it'd be made from something gross!)

The second thing he sent out was actually two different tasting plates. The first one was a fish plate. Now, I DON'T eat fish. I honestly cannot remember the last time I ate seafood other than shrimp. I really REALLY don't eat it. Ever. But Justin and I had decided that the theme of the night was 'try everything'. So I tried it. I was surprised at how much I liked it. I ate a scallop that was flavored so good I almost forgot what I was eating, and some halibut fishsticks. There was also an oyster on the plate that Justin ate (I just couldn't bring myself to do it).

With the fish course was a meat course called 'The old and the young'. I'm not sure why it was called that, but it was awesome too. It had a braised shortrib on it that was delightful and something that looked like a veal eggroll. Our favorite thing on that plate though was the shaved veal tounge with gnocchi. Again, never in my life would I have ordered shaved veal tounge, but it was really tasty. And the gnocchi - words cannot describe how much Justin and I loved it!!

By the time our entrees came, we were practically full already! Michael took such good care of us! Our entrees were really good. I have to admit that I liked Justin's better than mine (which is weird because he ordered fish). My duck was good, but it took me a minute to get used to the texture.

For dessert, we ordered a neopolitan meringue cookie thing that was - again - delicious, but WAY too small (oh well, I guess that's what you get at those fancy places). It was a great meal and, even though I don't think I could eat like that often, it was fun to be fancy for one night!

It was a great birthday! A huge thanks to Rick and Vanessa for watching our kids so that we could go out! And thanks Justin for making sure that I got to spend the day relaxing and doing things that I enjoy doing - that is really the best gift you could give me!
This is an actual picture of us before we went out to eat. Two things - no, I am not having twins and yes, I really do have a month and a half left. I am aware of my girth, I do not need to have it continually pointed out to me (this public service announcement brought to you on account of the many people lately who look at me with pity in their eyes when I tell them that NO I am NOT due any day).