Piper!

Noah and I got 2 baby visits in this week! Yesterday we got to see baby Calvin again with his big brother Fred. Today we got to see baby Piper! My good friend, Ryane, from work had another little girl. Piper was born on May 16th and Noah has been asking to "check facebook" to "find pictures of piper." He was very shy, but I think he was excited to see her. We had fun playing outside with Meryn and her new sand table. I got plenty of snuggle time with Piper which was lovely. The kids got to make a pizza, though it was more Meryn and I fixing the pizza and Noah grabbing ingredients and eating them. Piper is just so perfect, it was wonderful meeting our new little friend!

Updating the look

Yes yes, I have changed to blog layout for you (few) faithful readers. So hope you like it. Just a quick note, we are NOT planning on naming the baby Moses. It's just the nickname that both Josh and Philie came up with, separate from each other creepily enough. We do have a name, but we're not publicizing it until the big day. And yes, I went with my earlier of the two due dates (July 26th vs. August 3rd) as it's the one the doctor is sticking to and the one I'd prefer. So again, hope you like the changes. If not, suck it, I'm pregnant, don't piss me off...

Adding to the boys club

Noah and I had our first official playdate with Fred since the arrival of his little bro, Calvin. Noah did surprisingly well with Cal, but it helped that Cal didn't have any crying fits while we were there. The big boys had a blast playing with Nana Lynn in the yard, getting all sandy in the sandbox, and taking a "manly shower" together (which sounded like a teenage girl party what with all the screetching and high pitched laughter). I enjoyed snuggling with Cal, he's so sweet and so perfect. And the big boys are both really good with him, rubbing his head and kissing him frequently. Welcome to the club, Cal!

A Visit South

Noah and I took a trip down to West Lafayette, IN to visit my cousins Brad & Jeaneen and their 3 kiddos. CJ is about 6 months older than Noah and the two boys have bonded in a family full of girl (we're working to change the balance). The guys had a great time, they played on their computers in their office of moving boxes, they went on a bike ride with Brad, and enjoyed matching Bob the Builder shirts. We had a great time, Noah and I both slept hard last night recovering from the partying. Hope see all of them more at the lake this summer!

New Dishwasher, New Activity!

We've had a busy week! We finally got our new dishwasher delivered (it was purchased on IL cash for clunkers appliance day back in mid-april). It's lovely even if it doesn't match our white on white on white kitchen. It even plays a little jingle when the dishes are clean, very exciting stuff. Noah also got to try out scissors for the first time this week. He needs some help figuring out where all his fingers go and orienting the scissors on the paper. But, overall it was a big hit. Noah loves snipping the edges around his pictures. He seems to know the rules for now, "no cutting fingers, no cutting clothes, no cutting Ellie, cut the paper." I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he tries something like his hair, but for now we are enjoying our new found activity!

2 year old...ugh!

Here's a video I took with my new camera. Shows the LOVELINESS of 2 year old!

New Camera!!!

This weekend Noah and I went up to Michigan for a quiet weekend at the lakehouse. We celebrated my birthday on Friday night. It was awesome, my parents got me a new camera! It's a nice point and shoot with some cool features. It has this smile mode where the camera detects if a person is smiling and automatically takes the picture (the last picture with Josh, that's what we were messing with). My dad calls it the "terminator camera" as he is afraid that it's going to start selecting targets to do more than just take pictures. I'm still learning how to use it, but I love it already. My brother got me a salon gift card to get a much needed pedicure! A side note to explain the random outfits in this post. Josh got Noah some spiderman swimtrunks which he had to try on over his cars pjs. Josh had "rodeo" themed buy back week at the book store he runs. Hence the hillbilly shirt. The beard was not for rodeo week, it's a permanent feature of late. So, hopefully as I master this camera we'll have nice new pics to post!

Welcome Baby Cal!!!

My dear friend Jessica (better known as Philie) had a beautiful baby boy yesterday! His name is Calvin Edward and he is perfect. He's a BIG boy, 9lbs 4oz, 22 inches, and a head that was 15 cm in circumference. Good thing he was a c-section kiddo! Philie said that during the operation, as Cal emerged all the medical staff said "look at that big head!!!" He is precious, and Erin (another high school friend) and I got to visit him today. Big Brother Fred came for a visit too and got a new train from Cal. Philie looks amazing (the last picture was taken by Fred with my camera). Welcome Baby Cal! We are well on our way to our own basketball team!

This saturday, Saturday, SATURDAY!!!

This morning we were so excited to be invited to join the Worst Family for Big Truck day in Palatine! This was our last play date with Fred sans little sibling as they are going in to have the baby on Tuesday, woohoo! Stan was a trooper, although I think he secretly enjoyed looking the part of master of a harem with 2 toddlers and 2 pregnant women in tow. He helped the boys in and out of all the trucks. It was pretty cool, there was a bus, a UPS truck, snow plows, tow trucks, garbage trucks, back hoes, and many more! The boys enjoyed looking and sometimes climbing on them and honking the horns. I absolutely LOVE the 2nd picture with Noah looking like "are you sure I'm supposed to be driving here?" But he eventually warmed up to the whole thing and was pressing buttons left and right. Neither boy was feeling particularly photogenic today, but we managed to get some shots. And Florida girls, that first shot and 2nd to last shot is to show off Philie's belly just for you before she goes in to have the baby, enjoy!