Sick - not fun

I got the flu and Noah got pink eye. Not fun.



I'm going to start practicing my "new years resolution" now. I've picked Philippians 4:8 to be my "theme" verse for next year:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

So, here goes...



Brian and Noah haven't got the flu (yet) and the worst is over.

All this coughing is surely building some fabulous ab muscles.

"Protocols" are awesome when they save you a trip to the germ-infested doctors waiting room and $$$ for the visit. We had our pink eye prescription in hand by 8:30 Monday morning for less than a 10 dollar bill.

Brian and Melissa haven't got pink eye (yet), and you can barely tell he had it.

Yes Man in the Snow

Here's Noah's first time for "playing" in the snow this season. He didn't want anything to do with it - sticking with the sidewalk for awhile. I finally gave up waiting for him to voluntarily venture into the white piles. I plopped him into the snow (second picture). He just sat there and looked at it. His dad took him out for a second "play" in the snow the next day. Brian wasn't much more successful than I was. It seems our occasionally cautious little guy finds snow something to be wary of.

Climbing to intriguing places does not bring out the cautious side of Noah. He will put his best attempt at getting onto the window seat, or reaching up to the kitchen counter or into the desk drawer.

Noah has got his "yes" and "no" words mastered, and he prefers "yes"! Anytime I need a "yes man", I just ask him my question and he will reply "yeah".

Bathtoys = Fun for anytime

Here's another "before" haircut shot. Noah likes this bathtoy so much that he goes in there when the bathtub is dry and plays with it!

First Haircut

Before - Set up with a cracker, waterbottle, and a distraction to look at. His hair is so fine and blonde that you can't tell how long it really is in the pictures!

After - Looking handsome and a bit more boyish. Didn't even finish the cracker, it was so easy.

Halloween Sailor

Better slow than never. Here's Noah at the big daycare party. He's looking cute in his sailor suit! He really liked the balloons; he even got to bring one home.

Fast learner

Now that Noah is walking, he explores more of the house. He walked on into the office and sat down at the bookshelf. I caught up with him doing a little reading. He must have gotten bored with the kiddy books, so he pulled "Elementary Statistics" off the shelf and opened it up. He's so smart, he chose to start right at the beginning of the book. Next thing you know, he will grab a pencil when he sits down with the text books, so he can work a few problems!

A little Fruit

This is how Noah prefers to eat his fruit! He is so independent and stubborn. Can you see how much of it he consumed? I put away the camera before he was finished, he ate close to half the pear.

Noah on the Shore

We stopped at Split Rock for a leg stretcher on the way home. Noah likes to stand anywhere there is a place to help him balance. He found this big driftwood tree to play at. It was a great place to pick up rocks, put them on the tree, then sweep the tree clean again. Of course, tasting the rocks just in case they are good is a requirement!

Grand Portage

We hiked to the top of Mt. Josephine, the views were awesome! Good thing we packed lots of warm clothes, the hike started in the snow. Brian carried Noah for about 2 minutes during this hike, on the flat area. Going up that hill with an extra 25 pounds on your back is hard work! There was a really cool "fort" at the top of the hill, we think it was the foundation for a lookout tower.

Little Monkeys

I thought these little monkey faces would be perfect for Noah's birthday. He's pretty much a monkey himself. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. They were pretty tasty too, at least the day of the party, the cookies and cereal got soggy pretty quickly afterward.

This was my fun, creative endeavor for September. What's up next?

Happy Birthday Noah!

Noah has a message that he wanted me to give you all about his upcoming birthday:

My Birthday Wishlist
Here are a few of the things that I want for my birthday...

a splatmat - I really want to control my own food and sometimes that means watching how it lands on the floor when I drop it over the edge. It would be really cool to have a target to practice hitting. Besides, messes cause mom and dad stress, so maybe that would help them to chill out.

slippers - I expect that dad won't turn the heat on until it is plenty cool, so I need something warm and fuzzy for my feet.

plug covers - I'm starting to get curious about those little holes in the wall and I keep getting told NO, so let's just cover them up and not worry about it.

cups - I only have 3 right now, one for water, one for juice, and one for milk. What if one of them is dirty or if I want to have one for travel... When my friend Malachi was over last weekend, his cup looked really cool and I tried to take it away, but mom kept giving it back to him, she's no help.

toys, lots of toys - I really like it if they make sounds when I shake them or have parts that spin or spring. The ones I have are getting pretty boring, so new ones would sure be fun.

more time outside - I really like to taste the leaves and rocks and chase the squirrels and rabbits. Please just take me out there and let me get dirty!!

I realize I'm giving you this message pretty late, so you might already have great gifts planned for me. I'm sure I will love them, especially the packaging that they come in. I hear that it will be colorful and crinkly and I can tear it. Ooh and boxes, I hope I get some boxes!

I'll see you soon for the big party!!

Noah

Going to be a walker

This is Noah's favorite toy right now. He runs that little thing all over the house. He can't steer it yet, and he's pretty tippy, so we follow closely and catch him or turn him when needed. I love his facial expressions, you can tell he's intense!

Purple Cauliflower

This stir-fry looked so good! We got a purple cauliflower in our veggie box so we chopped it up with the fresh broccoli, summer squash, added a couple of carrots and chicken, and served it over a bed of rice. It was great! So colorful!

Playing in the yard

These are my "Noah as baby cover model" photos. He wasn't in the best mood that morning, but the coloring and lighting are right on!

Great and Easy Cookies and an invented bread recipe

Since Brian kept going back for more, it seems like these cookies are blog-worthy. I found the recipe online somewhere. It's all over the internet.

1-1-1 Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter (I used chunky this time)
1 cup sugar
1 egg

mix together, drop spoonfuls onto baking sheet, bake 375 degrees for 10 minutes.
That's it. EASY!

I had to make cookies because I needed the oven on to create some warmth in the kitchen to help proof my bread from yesterday. I whipped up some bread to go with dinner. I couldn't find a recipe that used wheat germ and didn't use 10 other ingredients that I didn't have on hand, so I invented my own recipe and it turned out great.
Here's what I learned/did: I looked at several bread recipes that I like and found that they all use a flour to water ratio slightly over 2 and one was as high as 3, and slightly less than one teaspoon of yeast per cup of flour. Add to that the following facts:
whole wheat works best with a "tenderizer" ingredient or two
milk and honey are both tenderizers
bread really only needs water, flour, yeast, and salt
most bread also includes a bit of sugar
That's all I needed... Here's my (approximate) mix, I'm not big on measuring. :)

1 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 cup dry milk powder
2 T honey
1/2 T kosher salt
2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 T vital wheat gluten
2 t yeast

Mix ingredients. Let rise an hour or so, form into loaves, let rise again for 40-60 minutes, bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes. Tastes great, holds up well to spreading butter.

We got our first CSA veggie box last night. I'll be looking for good ways to prepare some lesser known veggies and possibly sharing some of the highlights.

Take a Hike!

We went out to the nearest piece of the Richard Dorer State Forest last Sunday for a little hike. Noah wasn't nearly as big a fan of hiking as he is of biking - probably the inability to fall asleep in the carrier... We won't be doing that again unless we can time it to go when he is very well rested. When he gets tired, he shrieks, and when he is that close to your ear, it's painful!

Noah's Teeth

Not the greatest picture, but I think you can see those little teeth on the bottom gum! (Try clicking on the picture to get the full size version.)

Noah sure talks a lot lately. I'm not sure if that is a response to having foreign objects (teeth) in his mouth, or the pain of teething, or if he has just hit that point in development?!

Crafty Fun!

I had the pleasure of creating a diaper cake recently for our friends from small group. It was fun to make and well received. My favorite part was the little sock roses. Ha ha ha, now Lindsay has to unroll 80 diapers before she can use them!

Babies like Milk

Noah has not taken to real food at all yet. That's probably because Brian says, "Babies only drink milk, Babies like milk". The faces this kid makes when presented with a spoon full of other good stuff are funny!

He got his first tooth! Maybe now that he has teeth, he will decide he wants to eat...

Sleep baby

If you asked me 5 years ago about having kids, I would have told you that I'm too much of a sleep baby to sign up for that yet. If you asked me 5 months ago about having kids, I'd tell you that the amount of sleep that Noah allows me to have is just not enough. You would think that with my particular interest in getting enough sleep, I would have planned ahead and read about training your child to sleep well! That's my latest topic of reading, and boy is it great! Noah has increased his sleep by almost 2 hours per day in the past week and we might have conquered sleeping through the night.

RECOMMENDED READING:
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber

I haven't finished reading either of these, but just the first chapter of each of them gave great information that I was able to implement right away.

Have a good night sleep!
Melissa

Bike Club - First Ride 2009

Yay for Spring! I'm really liking the weather we've had the past few days. Less bundling and less hiding out indoors. Brian wishes it was still ski season, he thinks that the Chariot is easier to pull on skis than on bike. I think that it's easier for him to "keep up" pulling the Chariot on skis than on bike since he only has to keep up with me on skis! We'll probably ride with the Easy Riders when Noah comes with this year, otherwise babysitter?? Dave from bike club took these pictures (thanks!), I stole them from the bike club bulletin board. The first one is from before the ride when everyone was gathering, the second is from near the end when we were coming back into town. Noah's first bike club ride chalked up at 40 miles, and it was a tough 40 miles pulling that load!

Artesian Bread and other baking

You may know that I enjoy baking bread; you may have enjoyed some of my fresh baked bread at a potluck or progressive dinner. I found a new recipe for Artesian Bread that I tried out yesterday. The results were great, and it was a pretty easy one to make. Doesn't it look tasty??

Feeding Noah has made me a VERY hungry girl. On my days off, for fun, I bake. It adds a some interest to a day full of laundry, feeding the baby, and changing diapers.

Last week I baked cookies. I didn't get around to taking a picture of them, so they didn't get their own post. Ever since last summer's family reunion, I've been baking cookies with "Dad's Special Secret Recipe". I don't think he'll mind if I let the secret out to my small handful of blog readers... Here's the story. Mom set out a stick of butter for his cookies, just to be helpful, with the understanding that they use a stick of butter plus shortening for the full amount of "fat" called for in the recipe. He didn't know that she only set out part of the "fat", so he didn't add anything more than the one stick of butter (recipe called for either 2/3 cup or 3/4 cup, I don't know exactly). He thought they were a little different when scooping them onto the tray, but didn't know why. The cookies got rave reviews at the family reunion. They weren't greasy and thin like they can sometimes be. They held their shape well and had great texture. So, now whenever I bake cookies, I round down the "fat" ingredient to the nearest easy quantity of butter. I've been pleased with the results every time.

Let me know if you try the cookie trick, or if you have a great bread recipe that I should try. I'd love to hear from you.

Weekend with Grandparents

Noah got to do some excited playing in the exersaucer last Sunday (as pictured, thanks Grandma) and some quality lap napping with his grandparents.

While he was having all that fun, his parents went skiing - first time of the season that Brian skied without pulling the Chariot. He didn't know what to do with his extra layers when he warmed up! We need the Chariot to slow Brian down, he could have skied circles around me. The snow conditions were atrocious since we only had 2 inches on the ground, but it was nice to get outside for a little while.

Here's a few things that Noah has been up to lately:

He must have something soft and fuzzy to sleep with. And a full belly, but that makes anyone sleep better.

He explores his body with his hands - those ears are pretty neat to grab onto; when his belly is uncovered, he finds some little baby fat rolls to grab onto; and it's always fun to check out what's inside that opening between his chin and nose...

He rolled over! Either clothes or hardwood floors have made that an extra challenge for him, when dressed in nothing but a diaper on a carpetted surface he rolled right over and gave us a big gummy grin.

Waterpark fun

This past weekend we went to the Dells with Nate & Irene and Joe & Jenny. It was supposed to be more of a ski trip, but for a variety of reasons, the waterpark was the main attraction. Here's Noah's first time at the pool. I was glad that they had life jackets available to use. Noah seemed to enjoy his time in the water. He stared at the large objects in the kiddie area, and enjoyed floating in the wavepool.

We did get out skiing while we were there. There are 2 WI state parks within a short drive, so we spent one day at each. Mirror Lake is a skier's park, Devil's Lake is not. The warm weather made being outside pretty comfortable, but didn't do much for the ski conditions. I'm afraid that our season is pretty much over, boo. We'll have to drive north for a few more ski outings, and start thinking about biking for local fun.

Black River State Forest

We got away for a ski weekend at Black River again this year! Noah made the uphills extra challenging and the downhills fast. The weather was great, 20s and sunny. The trails were well groomed and well used - we saw half a dozen people while we were on the trails and a bunch more cars in the parking lots. Here's some shots of the fun. Brian found a creative way to "park" Noah and the chariot when we stopped for a rest break.

I took a turn pulling Noah this time (for more than 10 strides). My goodness! It's like molasses going up the hills. I'm not sure if I should be impressed by Brian or disgusted at myself that we are pretty equalized when he is pulling the load.

We actually saw another chariot in use for skiing while we were there! We've gotten lots of comments from other skiers about Noah's sweet ride. Since most people who ski are quite a bit older than us the comments go something like, "Back when our kids were little..." "...nothing that fancy..." etc.

Skiing

We've been out skiing 4 times so far this season. Rochester is off to a good start for snow this year. Here's Noah's first outing. Brian is getting super workouts towing him!

Back to work

Today is Noah's first day in daycare. I hope he has a good day. Here are some photos of the little guy - since I've been so bad about posting...

These are the first time I tried to get smile shots. He's pretty good about smiling whenever we ask him to now.