Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving this year was wonderful. It started out with my mom coming out the Friday before. She came out so that she could stay with the kids while I flew to Indiana to meet Justin. He was doing residency interviews out there and he wanted me to come out for his last interview. It's the one we are really hoping to match to, so he wanted me to check out the area, the people, the program, etc. I was so excited to go. It was a great trip. I'm not going to go into too many details here but I will sum it up like this:
-The program Justin wants to match to is AMAZING. It's challenging, but they really prepare their residents well. They also have a really strong support system for spouses and families. It felt like they were trying to recruit me just as much as they were trying to recruit Justin. I appreciated that they acknowledged how important families are to the resident. They're like a big family. That's very appealing to me.
-South Bend is nothing like Vermont (duh). I'm not going to lie, I cry just a little every time I think about leaving VT. It's so beautiful here, not too big, not too small (and don't get me started on the sob-fest of taking Clayton out of school). I didn't realize what an east coast girl I was until we started getting serious about moving. That said, South Bend was nice and it would be a good place to live for residency.

So, after a few days in South Bend (and a visit to Jared and Kerstin), we came back the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The kids didn't miss us once during our absence. They all had a great time with Grammy and she was so brave for taking them all on by herself (but of course Grammy's can do anything)! Thanks mom!

For Thanksgiving we had our friends The Weeches and The Clarks come over. It was good food, great company, and tons of laughs. Justin made his now famous brined turkey and delicious gravy - it's seriously amazing. We also had the best rolls I've ever eaten. Orange rolls. Incredible. Christy already gave me the recipe and I'm itching to make them! I didn't take too many pictures - I was too busy stuffing my face. But here's what we've got:

The table. It's not easy to get seven adults around a six foot table, but I think it turned out lovely. Clayton was so tickled that the turkey he'd made at school was the centerpiece. He told everyone at school all about that when he went back!
Right now, Thanksgiving is the only chance I have to use Justin's Grandmother's china. Someday I want a nice display hutch so that the china can be displayed year round. It's really one of my most prize possessions!
Clayton and Grammy. He was so excited when she came. We surprised him and picked him up at school - he didn't know she was coming. These two have quite a special bond.
Noah and Savannah. I'm not sure what Noah's face is doing here, but it's pretty funny and not that uncommon for him to be pulling weird faces.
Josie was so happy to practice her crawling. She's not very accurate yet - not always ending up where she intended to be - but she's getting faster and more accurate by the day!
The kid's table. I was going to only post one picture but I like them both for different reasons. Ethan's face in this one is priceless! He's saying cheese, just not for the camera! The boys were over the moon that Ethan came to celebrate Thanksgiving with us.
Noah's face is the one that cracks me up here. He was so happy to be eating!

After dinner some people played Wii while others cleaned up, then we sat around and talked and told funny stories. Aside from the food, that's my favorite part of Thanksgiving, hanging out with good people, having good conversation and good laughs. We certainly had all of that. At the end of the day I was counting all my many blessings and desperately trying to stop eating (I was way past full). The mark of a truly great Thanksgiving.

On Friday, my mom and I did our Black Friday shopping. It was great. We stood in line at Toys r Us for 1.5 hours, but that was the worst of it. We got to Toys r Us at 3:30 and were out of there by 5. We then went to the mall where we didn't have to stand in a single line. Seriously!! We had cashiers coming up to us as we were shopping and volunteer to help us. Amazing. I'm not sure I could do Black Friday in a bigger town.

My mom left that afternoon and we've been feeling her loss ever since (especially Clayton). However, we're so lucky that we got to have her for the holiday. Thanks mom! Thanks Dad, Ash, and Bub for letting us take her! I truly have so much to be thankful for this holiday season!

Three at last!!

Today it became official. Noah's actually three. Since we had a big party for Noah a few weeks ago, we knew that we weren't going to do anything too big, but I still wanted to make sure that it was a special day for Noah.

The day started off with a special birthday breakfast. We usually do blueberry muffins and eggs. It's not the fanciest breakfast, but the boys really enjoyed it. Noah was so thrilled when he realized that his muffin had a candle in it! (And yes, he's only wearing underwear. It's his birthday, so he decided to be a little casual.)

Blowing out his birthday breakfast candle.
He's so cute with his little rooster-tail!
Of course, there had to be a special birthday shirt! It's become tradition. They aren't the most attractive articles of clothing, but this morning Clayton did ask if Noah was going to get a shirt with a three on it. I love that they like their birthday shirts!

For lunch, Justin took Noah to McDonalds. They had a really great time. They even took a little trip to Justin's school afterward! We spent the afternoon playing and catering to Noah a bit. It didn't take him long to figure out that it was his special day. He had no trouble soaking in all the birthday attention.

After a delicious dinner of Macaroni and Cheese (as chosen by the birthday boy), we invited the Petersen's over for cake, presents, and ice cream. They were out of town for Thanksgiving so just getting to see Enoch was like a birthday present itself!

Opening presents.
Noah was, of course, pretty slow at unwrapping the gifts, but he was so into it!
The best gift of all was a toy Thomas the Tank Engine. He was so excited when he realized what it was that he lit up from the inside and almost couldn't breathe for a second. You know you've picked exactly the right gift when that happens!
The cake. I know, it's not the prettiest (that seems to be a theme with me - not the most attractive or fanciest stuff) but my kids sure loved it and that's really what matters most.

Blowing out his candles. It took him a while, and most of us probably ended up eating some spitcake, but it was worth it!
All in all I think it was a great day. I think this little boy would agree - it's great to be three!!
Until next year Noah, Happy Birthday! I'm so glad you came into our family and into our lives. You make my life more exciting, busier, funnier, and fuller. I'm blessed each and every day because I get to be your mom! I love you!

Three

Tomorrow Noah will be three years old. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I look at Josie and it seems to me that it wasn't that long ago that it was Noah who was the baby crawling across the floor and desperately trying to keep up with Clayton.

Of my three kids, Noah is definitely my most difficult right now. He's stubborn, hard headed, and extremely opinionated (and not afraid to tell you exactly what he's thinking). The other two kids are (so far) pretty mellow and easy going, so by comparison, Noah is kind of a challenge. I think that because of this though, I have a special bond with him. There are times I have to work extra hard to get along with him and it seems like nothing that worked discipline-wise with Clayton works with Noah. So I'm always trying to think of new strategies for handling him. I think that because of all the time I spend thinking about him and how best to create a good relationship with him, he has a special place in my heart.

It's true he can be a big stinker, but he has the ability to turn the charm on just as easily! You can be fighting mad at him one minute and laughing and hugging him the next. He's very aware of his cuteness and isn't afraid to use it!!

Here are some facts about Noah at three years old:
1) His favorite foods are Mac 'n' Cheese, strawberries, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pizza, cheese, and any baked good he can get his hands on!
2) He LOVES to sing and be sung to. His current favorite is 'Twinkle Twinkle little star' but he loves just about anything.
3) He's a great dancer. It's hilarious to watch him. He's definitely got 'white boy' style!
4) He's a daredevil. If it can be climbed, he'll climb it. If you can jump off of it, he'll jump (who cares about safety). If it looks too small to climb into, he'll squish his body into it. He's constantly banged and bruised, but it doesn't bother him. He takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'!
5) He's very bendy. Like contortionist bendy. I know that little kids are pretty flexible anyway, but he almost seems unnatural. It's not unusual to find him sitting and watching TV with his feet back behind his head or something crazy like that. Maybe he'll be a gymnast...
6) Clayton and Enoch are his best buddies and he loves to be around them. Mostly they all just pester each other :) but they love it. I'm not sure how we're going to handle it when we move in a few months and Noah and Enoch won't be close to each other anymore. It makes me sad for him already!
7) He's very articulate. He has a huge vocabulary and has spot on pronunciation. He'll come upstairs while I'm cooking dinner and say something like, "Mmm, dinner smells lovely." Or, when we set up the Christmas tree he said, "Ooh, the tree is beautiful. It looks fantastic!" I love how well he expresses himself.
8) He's opinionated. He has thoughts on just about everything and he'll tell you what he thinks about it! Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's frustrating, but I love that he's growing up unafraid to tell people exactly what he thinks. We need to reign it in a bit, but overall I think it's a pretty good trait.
9) He's NOT shy! He's never had a single day of stranger anxiety. He's really trusting of people and animals and will go right up to a person or an animal and just start talking, petting, chasing, or playing.
10) He's really active. Running, jumping, dancing, playing constantly!
11) A few of my favorite phrases of his right now are 'Aye Aye Captain', 'Come here little fella' (when he's chasing a bug or a mouse - he did actually physically catch a mouse in our church one day with his hands so perhaps the phrase is effective), 'To the rescue' (as he runs around rescuing whatever is in trouble), and 'That's too too silly'. He says a lot of funny things, but those are pretty common around our house right now.
12) He thinks Josie is a hurdle. He'll often tell me, "Mom, can I jump over Miss Jos?" I'll tell him no but as I turn around to stop him I find out it's too late. I've learned that he asks right before he does it.
13) He loves animals. He really did catch a mouse in his hands one time. It was pretty gross! His favorite animals are dogs though. He may actually explode with excitement if we actually get one someday!
14) He's very loving. He will come up to me randomly and express his love for me or tell me that I look handsome or that he likes my outfit (especially after I've just worked out). He's not shy with his hugs and gives them out as often as he can. He's still pretty cuddly and I'm grateful for that. I hope he doesn't loose this one!

Noah already had an awesome birthday party with his best friend, Enoch, so tomorrow is going to be pretty low key. However, there will be a birthday shirt, a special birthday breakfast, lunch at his favorite restraunt (McDonald's), a special birthday dinner (Mac 'n' cheese), and cake and ice cream with friends.
Noah when he was a few days old.
Noah at one year old.
Noah at two.
Noah at three. I can't believe how much he's changed over the years.
Happy birthday Noah! I love you so much!

Stitches: Our night in the ER

Dinner was over, the toys had all been cleaned up, the dishes were done, and the kids and I were enjoying that fun, playful time together right before bathtime and bedtime. We were all downstairs playing and then Clayton ran upstairs. Noah, Josie and I continued playing downstairs. I could hear Clayton running a race with his imaginary friends on the floor above. Thud, thud, thud. Suddenly it turned into: thud, thud, thud, crash, scream, cry.

Clayton is NOT a graceful kid. He gets hurt a lot. It's always pretty minor but he tends to get a little worked up and overreacts sometimes. I could tell by the way he was crying that he was legitimately hurt but I thought it was going to be another bruise. I called to him and told him to join us downstairs. When he came downstairs though, he had his hands held over his mouth and there was blood POURING between his fingers.

I suddenly became more concerned, but I hadn't reached panic yet. We've had a few head and face injuries in our house and I've learned that, while they do bleed a lot, the wound itself is usually not too bad. I guided Clayton back upstairs into the bathroom and assessed the situation. Panic quickly set in when I realized that he had bitten THROUGH HIS LIP!
Right before we left for the hospital. It's kind of hard to see because of the location, but the outside of the cut is right below his bottom lip. I didn't get a picture of the inside, but it was MUCH worse on the inside.
Of course Justin was out of town doing interviews. I've learned to defer to him in all medical related emergencies. So I called him up and he recommended that I call Chase to come and take a look. So Chase came over, looked at Clayton and recommended that we go to the ER for stitches. So another call was made to the Weeches who, thankfully, came right over to stay with Noah and Josie while Clayton and I headed to the hospital.

The ER didn't look too busy, but looks can be deceiving. We were triaged pretty fast, but then spent over an hour sitting in the waiting room. By this time, Clayton was over his lip and just excited to be having a 'late night' adventure. Finally I went to the receptionist and asked how much longer she thought it would be. I mean, it's not like he needed tests, or IV's, or someone to diagnose the problem. I knew exactly what was wrong and we just needed it fixed. Fortunately, Clayton was the only kid in the ER and everyone really wanted to help him out. So she sent over a woman to look at him. The woman told me that he'd need stitches. She then had a PA come over right away. He looked at Clayton's lip, confirmed that he'd need stitches, and said he could do them right then!! HOORAY!

Clayton was so cute and funny. He wasn't acting hurt at all. Just excited. He'd told the triage nurse though that his pain was a ten (a ten is, like, a cannon ball wound). He was also asking everyone how old they were and then telling them if they were older or younger than me (oh joy). He also asked the PA what his address was. On the way back to the bed for stitches, Clayton was copying the PA. If the PA touched something with his hand, so did Clayton. The PA had a skip in his step and so Clayton tried to copy it. Cute.

As soon as he saw the hospital bed though he transformed. He went from being this brave, precocious kid to being a very scared little boy. The PA explained to him what he was going to do and Clayton was very brave. He did cry, he did need to have his head and body held down, but as soon as the PA started stitching he stayed VERY still - all on his own! I was really proud of him. That's a scary thing those stitches. They were in his lip, so it's not like we could distract him or make him not look. But he got them and was so proud of himself afterward. Rightly so!
This is right after we got to the hospital bed and he realized he'd need stitches. I love the look of concern on his face. This is a classic Clayton 'anxiety' expression. We see it a lot. He did also have the foresight to bring Silky to help him feel better through the proceedure. Good thinking.
The final step of this process was getting glue put on the outside of his lip. This freaked him out too. He kept insisting that he didn't have a hole!!! I finally remembered who we were dealing with. Clayton is a VERY logical child. He is okay with basically anything as long as he can see the reason for it (can we say JUSTIN!) So I asked if we could show him what his wound looked like. The PA didn't think it was a good idea to show a kid his big gaping hole, but I was pretty confident that it would help. So the PA and the nurse found a mirror and we showed Clayton, for the first time, what his hole looked like. He saw the wound, the stitches, and the part that we needed to glue. He was pretty fascinated with it all.

Finally, after looking at it for himself, he turned to the PA and said (with a confidence that would make any doctor proud), "This is where we needed to stitch (pointing inside), and this (pointing outside) is where we need to glue. Can you do that? Right there?"

The PA assured him that he could, so he glued the outside and a few minutes later we were on our way back home. Three hours total in the ER, for a procedure that took about 20 minutes.
This was right after the stitches were done. His poor lip is SO big!
We got home at 11 to find that Noah and Josie were happily in bed. Thanks Weeches! Then Clayton got a bath and went to bed around 11:15.

I was planning on letting him sleep in and drive him to school a little late. I'd emailed his teacher and made arrangements so that Clayton could relax a little in the morning. But he woke up at 7:45 in a panic. He'd missed his bus (it comes at 7:40). He was desperate to get to school. I knew right then that last night was not nearly as traumatic for him as it was for me. Kids are so resilliant!
The next morning. See all of his toys? They were tripping over themselves at the hospital giving him stuff. He walked out of there with that stuffed moose (the hospital mascot), a tube of bubbles, a tooth mirror (to watch the PA apply the glue), a race car, and a ping pong game. They were really impressed with his bravery and I couldn't blame them. They actually wanted to give him more stuff, but I interviened!
He was so brave and so big. Even though parts of it were really scary, he handled it in a way that impressed everyone he encountered. I'm really proud of him but I'll be very happy if I never have to go to another emergency room again!!

All eyes on me in the center of the ring just like a

CIRCUS!

This year Noah and Enoch had a joint birthday party. Enoch's birthday is at the beginning of the month and Noah's is at the end so we split the difference and had their party on Saturday. We went with a circus theme and I have to say, it was perfect! Missy and I had been planning this party for weeks and even though we were definitely ready, I was a little nervous about having a party with 7 rambunctious three-year-olds. However, it went off without a hitch!

When the party guests first arrived, we decorated hats and gave each kid a clown nose and a bow-tie (although the noses and bowties weren't too popular). The hat decorating was a big success though and while the hat decorating was going on Missy started painting the faces of the kids who wanted it. They were SO CUTE!
This little tiger and flower were adorable. They were the only girls at the party, but they had NO PROBLEM hanging with the boys!
Enoch as a butterfly.
Noah was also a butterfly. It did kind of make me laugh that these boys wanted to be butterflies.
Once everyone who wanted face paint was painted, we started the circus games! The first game was "training seals". The kids had to be seals who were training to perform at the circus. They had to train by jumping through hula hoops. Lots of running and jumping. Nice!
I love this action shot!
After the seals were properly trained, they found out that the circus lion was really hungry. In order to keep him from eating little children, they needed to feed him. The kids were going bonkers over this game and there were a couple of those kiddos with amazing arms!
Once the lion was good and fed (and no danger to any partygoers) it was time to walk the tightrope. The kids were so funny on the tightrope. My favorite thing about it was how much they all wanted each other to succeed. They were rooting each other on, holding hands, helping up their friends who had fallen, etc. It was pretty sweet to watch.
I didn't realize how difficult it would be to balance on a few two-by-fours, but it was certainly challanging for these kids. They were amazing though and kept going, turn after turn! So fun!

After they were tightrope proficient, it was time to 'pin the nose on the elephant'. Missy painted both the lion and the elephant. Isn't she talented!?!

Then, for the last activity before lunch, the kids had a 'clown race'. We brought a few pairs of Justin and Chase's shoes and let the kids race around in them. Hilarious. The best was Carter in Chase's cowboy boots. Awesome!
By this point the kids were starting to get hungry (perfect timing). Noah had started to melt down (just a little though) and was hiding out under the table waiting for lunch.
Lunch was a corndog, some pretzels, and some fruits and veggies. To drink - lemonade mix, grape juice mix, orange juice mix, a little bit of water, and a twizzler for the straw. The drink was pretty gross to me, but the kids (obviously) really liked it!
Then it was time for presents. All their friends were really generous. The boys got some great stuff. Thanks everyone!

As the parents started showing up it was time for cake and ice cream. Perfect timing! These boys were so excited about blowing out their candles. I love how excited kids get to do the smallest things!
We put six candles on the cake. Three for each boy. (Just in case you were wondering.)

It was a great party and (I think) all the kids had a great time. I know I did! I know that he hasn't had his birthday yet, but I can't believe my Noah is almost three! We struggle a little together, he and I. He's trying to so hard to be independent, but I want to keep him my baby just a while longer. Is that too much to ask!?! I do love my Noah and I'm glad he had such a fun birthday party. Thanks Missy, for doing it with me. It was a really great day!
Just a few last pictures of my birthday boy. He is now using his birthday as an excuse to try to get away with things. For example, the night after his party he and Clayton were fighting over a toy. I heard Noah screaming at Clayton, "You have to give me what I want - it's my birthday!" Oh boy, trouble!! Love you Pootie!
The birthday boys. We kept trying to get a shot of them together and I think this was the best we got.
The cake was so delicious.
Happy early birthday kiddo!