laughter

Blaise Laughs from Vanessa Strickland on Vimeo.

Just try NOT to smile. I dare ya.

learning 2 things

1. how to hold things.

2. a love for sophie the giraffe.

superhero wednesday

some days you just need to be a superhero.

jamie had a shirt that had shrunk and was too small. he mentioned this to me and i immediately snatched it away after seeing something my friend kelly had pinned on pinterest. this brilliant idea of cutting up a big shirt to make a superhero cape for little boys. absolutely brilliant. and easy. and i had all the supplies.
you see, i find tons of fantastic ideas on pinterest, but the supplies are not always available here in kampala. but this? this i could do.
in less than 5 minutes i had created TWO capes out of one old shirt. {for the back piece of fabric, i just cut a slit big enough to fit over their heads.} and then to make it even more awesome, i made a mask out of the long sleeves!

i'm not going to lie. i'm quite proud of myself. 

someone is already too cool to pose for his mama.

{go gryphons!}

what have you done lately that you're proud of? is there an easy craft or activity you can do with your kids? please share!

jude's antics

jude is just one of those kids.
you know the kid whose parents always have an outrageous story to tell of his latest adventures?
the kind of kid who can't be left alone for too long or else he's bound to get into some sort of crazy mischief?
the one who blurts out hilarious comments in unexpected moments?
seriously.
jude cracks me up every.single.day.

yesterday alone he did several things that made me laugh out loud.
after dinner he slapped his hand and then said, "sorry, hand. will you forgive me?" *pause* "will you forgive me, hand? HAND?!"

later after i gave him a cookie he looked at it and then made it say {as if it were a puppet}, "hi, i'm a butterfly." and then he made if "fly" all around. he then looked at me and said, "i eat butterflies. big ones." and proceeded to shove the cookie into his mouth.

he constantly does sound effects and plays around with using different "voices" depending on the situation.

and then last night i ran the boys' baths {see this post for what that actually means} while they were wrestling with jamie in our room. i went back to the living room, heard jamie say "okay, bath time" and then noah came out to me to help him with his shirt. then he ran back to the bathroom and called out, "MOM! Jude is...um, come SEE!" and i already knew what i would find when i went into the bathroom.

and this morning? 

while jamie was scrubbing off some pen & marker that noah had used to illustrate some art on our coffee table, i was trying to print off and make up our weekly meal plan when jude came into the spare room {where our printer is} and said,

"look mom! a daddy rock!"

i looked over.

it was a rock-hard piece of poop. in his hand.

life is nothing less than exciting around here!

why being a mom rocks.

last week i made a little mail box for the boys and it's been a huge hit. every morning noah races out to the living room and checks in the box to see if there's any mail for him.
i don't remember to do it every day but when i do, oh he is just beyond thrilled.
sometimes it's just a note saying something i really like about him.
sometimes it's a small candy and the other day i wrapped up 2 small books - one for each of the boys that i had picked up at a book store in town.
the other day i left them little note cards and i didn't know what jude really thought of it all or if he even got it. but yesterday i heard him say "love, Mama" to himself. i looked over at him and he was holding his note card {upside down} and he said it again, "love, Mama". then he saw me looking at him and he walked over to me and held out the card for me to read to him.
oh my heart. words can't describe.

more noah funnies

today during the boys' bath time, noah and i got talking about men and women and being married.
it went something like this:

n: and one day when i become a man i'll have kids too!


me: well, if you want kids, you'll have to get married so they can have a mommy.


n: so i'll marry you!


me: aw, that's sweet noah, but i'm already married to daddy. so you'll have to marry someone else.


n: what about auntie jen?


me: *laughs* nope, she's married to uncle graham.


n: what about miss jen?


me: nope. she's married to mr. nick!
*pause*
you know how you have friends like hannah b and hannah t and leah? well when you become a man, they will become women. so maybe one day you'll marry one of them.


n: yeah. like hannah t. 


noah thinks about this for a bit longer and then becomes distracted by jude playing with the bubbles. jude flops on his belly in the bathtub and laughs. noah does the same and laughs as well.

n: i think i'll just marry jude.


oh kids. i love their innocence. i love the lack of filter. i love being a mommy.

Jude-isms

{Not to be confused with Judaism}

Some things I don't want to forget that Jude says/does:

Nama & Gumpa = Grandma & Grandpa

On his baby bike he's either pumping his little legs saying "Fast! Fast! Fast!" or after getting in a good push he'll put his legs up in the air and ride out the push until he stops.

Mama up! {melt my heart}

He loves pressing buttons, turning knobs, pointing out fans, opening cupboards, pulling out cheerios, throwing his food on the floor {grrrrr}, tunnels {seriously, he loves tunnels}, cats, his bunny, swings, slides and climbing up onto anything.
He doesn't like being chased {it freaks him out}, getting his hair wet, getting "too close" to dogs, cheese, when Noah's playing with a toy that he wants {which is almost all the time} and getting his diaper changed {although he did just learn how to say "bum cream" this week}.

Neeno = Noah {I absolutely love that he calls Noah "Neeno"}

ShoutWhispering

Yesterday at church we brought the boys into the second service (we had just gone to the first service) because we wanted to see our friend's baby boy get dedicated.
We tromped up the stairs and sat in the balcony.
We sang one song and then the worship leader started talking a bit about what God had been teaching her.
When you're with kids, any kind of "quiet" time seems to stretch on and on into infinity.
In my mind, she was talking
a lot.
And Noah wanted to draw so he was ShoutWhispering to me that he wanted to draw an "H" for me and an "O" for Daddy and so I said that was fine and gave him some paper.
Jude was forgoing the ShoutWhispering and loudly pointing out the many fans that were on the ceiling.

FAN!

MORE FAN!

Yes. Yes. Lots of fans.
Here, have an Altoid.

CANDY!

Noah ShoutWhispers

I WANT TWO CANDIES!

And then Noah catches the word "children" coming from the worship leader.

In a ShoutWhisper:

CHILDREN! MOM! SHE SAID CHILDREN!

Yes, she said children. She's talking about how we are God's children. If you love Jesus, you are a child of God. I love Jesus so I'm God's child.

YOU'RE NOT A CHILD! YOU'RE A GROWN UP!

Oh Noah. You do make me smile.

We sang a couple more songs and then got to watch our friend's son get dedicated.
And then we high-tailed it outta there! {read: Jamie scooped up Jude and Noah stomped all the way down the balcony stairs, across the balcony and then slid down the banister that I used to slide down when I was a little girl.}

dandelions

the days pass by so quickly {too quickly}.
everyone says
enjoy your kids; they grow up so quickly.
it's true. they do grow up so quickly. the days do pass so quickly. it's the enjoying that i need to continually remind myself.
it's not that i go through the hours and days and weeks with a frown on my face, it's just that the cute things, the adorable things, the funny things; i forget that they are cute/adorable/funny. i get used to them. i forget to cherish them. i don't take time to cherish the moments.

my mother's day gifts will not be elaborate or expensive (if there even are any). there will likely be no big "to-do" about me. and i'm okay with that.
my gifts are the dandelions noah picks for me and waits for me to finish what i'm doing {today it was a diaper changing} so that he can hand them to me and see my delight in his gift to me.
in this moment i thought,
this is it.
these are the moments i need to cherish and enjoy and live in. every day.
and those dandelions?
they are so the best gift ever.

first phone call

This past week has been really loosey goosey and kinda go-with-the-flow. Jamie's not on campus (but still working from home) and I'm trying to pack and keep up with the daily things like laundry and cleaning and dishes.
Anyway, so all that to say I'm somewhat distracted. With most things.

So this afternoon, I was scrounging up a pre-dinner snack for me (I was starving for some reason) when Noah decided to pretend to call me on our phone. I heard him press a few buttons but didn't think much of it.
Then we stopped our pretend conversation but a few minutes later I noticed he still had the phone to his ear and was talking differently and it looked like he was listening for a response.
So I asked him if he was really talking on the phone.

Yes. To Auntie Erin. 


I asked him if he was really talking to Auntie Erin.

Yes. .... (to Erin) but we went to the toy store; Jesters. Do you remember?
(referring to a toy store we went to over a month ago.)

So Jamie goes over and listens in and confirms that yes, he is really talking to Erin. We both are laughing really hard right now and eventually Jamie gets the full story that somehow Noah called the place where Erin works and by chance Erin happened to pick up the phone and say, "Hello? Hello?" Noah asked her what her name was and she said, "Noah? Is this you? It's Auntie Erin!"

So random. But really funny and cute.

In between the hairy, chaotic and out of control moments there are moments that make me laugh. Pretty much every single day.
If you can laugh, life is good.

And now I'm going to finish making macaroni and cheese for dinner while Jude "drives" a cup around on the kitchen floor. Because it's been one of those kind of days. You know, the ones that are chaotic and distracted with the funny moments in between?

the eczema battle

For the last few months Noah has had these horrible red patchy rashes all over his body (namely back/stomach/groin/legs) and at first because it was mostly in the diaper area I thought it was some kind of diaper rash - even though he had just been potty trained.
But then it spread. And I thought that maybe it was viral. It wasn't pretty. And still isn't.
But after two visits to the doctor I am convinced it is eczema. I just didn't believe that eczema could look so terrible. But it does. And the poor kid just itches all day long.
So now we've got a strict skincare regimen and we'll see how he's doing in a week or two.
Right now (as of tonight) we're doing the following:
Homemade Oatmeal Bath (10-15 mins long)
Pat dry with towel
Put 1% hydrocortisone cream on the worst affected areas (right now it's belly/back/groin)
Slather on a pharmacy mixed combination of Glaxal Base moisturizer (hypo allergenic cream) and glycerin all over his entire body.

I'm also going to purchase either Vitamin E/Omega 3's to help keep his skin soft and moisturized.
If this continues until and through the first few weeks of considerably warmer weather then I will (reluctantly) look at changing his diet to eliminate possible causes of eczema. (the main two being dairy and wheat.)
Blech. I'm so not into all that diet change stuff, but if it's not changing I will totally do it for my kiddo.
Personally I'm fairly certain it's the weather as it's ridiculously dry and has been since his eczema flared up.
But we'll see.

Oh and here's a quick (and cheap) tutorial on how to make your own Oatmeal bath (great for eczema, chicken pox, poison ivy skin conditions):
You will need:
oats (I just used up what I had left which was large flake quaker oats)
a blender

Put about a cup (if you can fit that in your blenders - some are smaller) of oats into your blender and blend until you have a consistently fine powder.
Add the powder into a warm bath (not too hot as that will dry out skin even more) and mix around to break up any clumps.
Sit in the bath for anywhere from 10-20 minutes and then quickly rinse and pat dry.
Alternatively, you can put the powder in the foot of pantyhose and tie it off. Then let the water run through the  oatmeal sack and let it float in the water when you're done filling the bath. You can even squeeze the oat goop out onto affected areas while in the bath too.

Anyway, so we'll see where we're at in the next few weeks and hopefully he improves.
He's so cute, though when he talks about his rashes.
He says,
Yeah. I have rashes all over me. 
When I see an especially "angry" flare up I say,
Oh Noah. I'm so sorry that you have rashes.
And he usually says something like,
My rashes make you sad? 
And I say,
Yeah. It makes me sad that you have rashes that hurt you and that I can't make them go away.
He was especially cute for the doctor when we saw her yesterday telling her about his rashes and beforehand telling me that he would "try to be brave".
This kid. So cute.

jude reads

One of the many ways that Jude is so very different from his big brother is that he usually doesn't have any interest in books. I've tried to read to him every night but it usually ends up in him squirming on my lap and violently shutting the book.
Until this week.
Last year a friend gave us a bag of some toys her kids have grown out of and in this bag were some books. I sorted through and kept this one book by Mercer Mayer called "Where is Kitty?" - a lift-the-flap book. I don't remember which boy found it on our book shelf, but this week Jude stumbled upon this book and it was magic.
Jude.Is.Obsessed.

He LOVES this book and I'm thrilled {me being a self-professed book-worm}.
This is a video I caught this morning of my interactions with Jude and this book - enjoy the absolute CUTENESS of it:

tantrums and my own issues

Lately I've been struggling with my responses to Noah's meltdowns. Like screaming-in-my-face-in-the-middle-of-Chapters meltdowns. Like throwing-metal-cars-across-the-room meltdowns.
Everything in me just melts down into one emotion: pure rage. And then embarrassment if we're somewhere public. And then frustration because I don't know how to make.it.stop.
I read somewhere {Raising Boys, maybe?} about testosterone surges in boys at ages 3 and 7 and then of course during puberty I think. This would explain the pure rage and anger Noah exhibits, but how to explain mine?
I've mostly been able to keep it under check but it's definitely a wake up call that I need to work through my issues of control and pride {because that's what causes my embarrassment in a public situation}.
But it's frustrating to feel like I'm back here again. Working through these issues all over again.

Today I decided to play out a future situation with Noah.

Me: Noah, we're going to Hannah's house after lunch. And we're going to stay and play there for awhile. But after awhile we're going to have to leave and come back home. So when I say "Noah. It's time to go." You need to say, "Okay Mom." and then we'll get our coats and boots on. Okay?

Noah: Okay.

Me: So let's practice. Noah. We're having a fun time at Hannah's house but it's time to go.

pause


Me again: So what do you need to say?

Noah: Um...okay Mom. Boots and coats, now?

We rehearsed this a few more times and I also reminded him of this in the car on the way there.
While we were there we had a minor struggle for a diaper change {more on our goal of The Great Potty Training of 2011 later} and I reminded him of his response when I would soon tell him that it was time to go.

And then when it was time...it worked! He said, Okay! {and then quickly asked if he could watch something on tv while I prepared dinner when we got home.}
So all the rehearsing worked. I wasn't a believer of the practicing and preparing beforehand in the past, but I guess I needed to actually get him to say the words and pretend. I think it helped a lot.

I hope this will help the rage in our household. Because Jude watches and is The Ultimate CopyCat in his spitting and hitting and saying "NO!". It's shocking because he's so young, and kinda scary at how much he picks up from watching Noah so I'm really trying hard to set firm ground rules of expected behaviour because I do NOT want my children screaming in my face, much less anyone else's!

It's truly a good thing they are so cute because all I have to do is look at pictures like these {no matter how my day has been} and my heart goes to mush.

Hey Jude...{PS I love you}

Jude, oh my Jude.

You.

I just can't get enough of you.

And sometimes you drive me bonkers.

You are cheeky. Hilarious. Stubborn. Persistent. Smart. Driven. Laid-back. Serious. Funny. Happy. Fussy. Easy. Tricky. Adorable. Surprising.

You make me want to eat your cheeks. Squeeze your thighs. Pinch your double-jointed toes.

Play ball with you. Keep you up late. Give you an early bedtime. Watch you cock your head back all the way so you can get the last little drop of milk out of your sippy. Throw you up in the air. Make you laugh. Cuddle you close. Kiss your forehead. Laugh out loud. Scream out loud. WhisperI love you onto the top of your head. Watch you as you sleep. Pray you sleep in. Hold you close and never let you go.

You are my second born and I love you oh-so-much. You have completed this family {for now} and the joy you bring to my heart and life are such that I could never be able to put them into words.

You have been out of the womb for almost 14 months now and it's like you've always been with us. We don't know life without you anymore.

Your hair. It kills me. It curls and flops and sticks up and out and I really don't want to cut it. So for now, we'll leave it.

I still call you "baby". I'm not sure when I'm supposed to stop. I don't imagine I will any time soon.

Lollipop

I love the way he says "lollipop".

Also an added bonus, my singing.

Lollipop from Vanessa Strickland on Vimeo.

Responsibility of a 3 year old

Maybe I should call this the Noah brag blog...but he's changing so much and doing so much these days that I just want to remember it all (so I won't be offended if you don't really read these entries - they're more for me anyway - well, future me. Because present me cannot remember if I changed my undies this morning let alone a cute thing my son did yesterday).

Today before nap I told him to come upstairs with me and we'd read some stories after I put Jude down for his nap and then it would be his (Noah's) nap time.

He was laying down playing with his cars when he sat up and said,

"I just have to clean up my cars, Mommy."

!!!

I love this kid. Often he fights clean up...but today...all the work and effort we put into teaching him responsibility for his own things, and after learning the consequences of NOT cleaning up, he surprises me with owning the responsibility of cleaning up his own toys.

I'll say it again; I love this kid.

My kid.

notes to myself so I don't ever forget

Things I don't want to forget about my boys:

Noah, sitting and eating an afternoon snack: It's 29 bucks.

Me: What's 29 bucks?

Noah: Um, my toes.

Jude crawling/climbing. Seriously. The kid will climb up and down anything he can. Today it was up onto a kid chair and then up onto a rubbermaid container (I'm dragging out the fall gear) and then back onto the chair and then back up onto the container. Easily over 20 times.

Jude getting into EVERYTHING. Yesterday alone I caught him with a black white board marker in his hand almost sucking on it with a black streak across his cheek and black-streaked hands, also probably mildly electrocuting himself by sucking on a computer charge-cord that was plugged into the wall but not into my computer and of course getting up to the fourth stair but not knowing how to crawl back down and then just generally crawling away from me as fast as he can while giggling maniacally the entire time. I am SO in trouble with this one.

Noah: This dinner is delicious, Mommy.

He was picking through his curry and eating all of the chickpeas.

I like the chickpeas.

Jude starts crying.

Me: Oh no. What happened?

Noah: I kicked him.

Me: Noah. You KNOW that in our family we don't kick. What do you need to say to Jude?
Noah: I'm sorry Jude for kicking you. I forgive you.

Me: No, you say, "Will you forgive me?"

Noah: Will you forgive me, Jude?

So sweet.

While most times Jude just crawls into Noah's carefully lined up cars and demolishes any semblance of order Noah had created and Noah usually screeches with displeasure at this "giant baby" invading his car-land, sometimes he is gentle and understanding and shares willingly and makes Jude laugh.

Like yesterday when we were jamming to some Sharon, Lois & Bram (or SLB as Jamie likes to refer to them as) and Noah started imitating some of the sounds and words that were being sung and Jude just giggled away. So Noah kept doing them and they were laughing together and being silly. And my heart just gushed.

This.

This was what my heart longed for.

Honestly? It's these moments that make everything else so worth it.

Wind your toy

Last night we all went to the Guelph Pep Rally at the university.

Every year all the first year students gather in the bleachers in the football stadium and get some speeches delivered to them, but then they get a chance to perform their choreographed boogies. They get into their respective dorms and then try and "out boogie" each other.

And every year people from the hill across from the bleachers attempt to join in and blend in with the boogie-ers. I had my year. But Jamie likes to join in every year. This year he took Noah for the last boogie we stayed for.

Noah LOVED it. And EVERYONE on the hill was watching him and laughing at all his cute antics.

When Jamie and Noah came back off the field, Jamie lifted Noah high into the air and ran across the bottom of the hill. Everyone erupted into a loud cheer! Noah was a star!
He didn't quite get that they were cheering for him, but when I told him, a small smile spread across his face.

It was adorable.

Noah busts out his own dance moves.

Jamie shows Noah how to "wind his toy".

Look! He's actually winding his toy!

Marcel the Shell

Um, I'm kinda sorta in love with this video.

I want Marcel the Shell. I'd make a little bed for him out of a matchbox and then I would put him up on a shell so that Jude wouldn't eat him.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON from Dean Fleischer-Camp on Vimeo.

"Wanna know what I use for skis?

A man's toenails."

Judester

Today Jude had his one year check up at the doctor's.

I think it's safe to say that Dr. B is quite enamoured with our little Jude. Especially how he is always sucking on his two little fingers.

I asked her about the whole standing/walking/crying thing (how sometimes he cries when I hold his fingers and he walks forward). We both agreed that it's likely he just doesn't want to be pushed to walk. He'll do it on his own time and it's too early anyway to be worried or concerned about things.

He wailed when he got his shots, though. So much drama.

Oh and he LOVES, LOVES, LOVES his Daddy these days. It is just beyond adorable. I never really experienced this with Noah and I wanted to so badly for Jamie. But these days, Jude will just reach out for Jamie and say "Dah Dah Dah Dah".

Tonight we were in the grocery store and Jamie went off on his own to grab a few things while I got the rest of the items with the two boys. I ended up holding Jude because he just wasn't a happy camper in the grocery cart and as soon as he saw Jamie coming the arms went out and a smile replaced the tears and all he said was "Dah Dah Dah Dah" until Jamie took him from me.

So.Cute.

Oh and Jude is 22lbs and 31 inches tall.