All this, in one day!?!?

Today was only big, long, happy, emotional, crazy, busy, amazing, wonderful day in the life of this mom. Yup, just your typical day around our house :)

After a night of getting up with Mason at 2am, then putting him back to bed a half hour later which woke up Grant. I was back in bed by 2:45am. At 4:34am to be exact, came "all done sleeping Mommy" over the monitor from Norah's room. Oh no your not - that's what came from me. I went down tucked her back in and said we would snuggle once the sun woke up. That bought me 2 more hours of sleep.

I had to sneek a shower in. I had Grant and Norah on the couch watching Bob the Builder, one of their favorites. Mason still snoozing, so off to the shower I ran. Let's just say my shower turned into a party, with 2 kids joining in the fun. Mason decided to start crying, I guess he wanted a shower too. Sadly for him, he had to cry it out until we were done.

I retrieved Mason from his crib and put him in the middle of toyland on our living room rug. Then I  watched in amazement at Mason crawling. Crawling just shy of turning 9 months. Not as early as Grant crawled, but certainly well before Norah. After working with Norah for so long to teach her task of crawl, building the strength and coordination to do such a task, it sat in awe of Mason. I have watched intently the last few days, watching him learn. He has gone from pushing backwards, to pulling himself forwards only to have his legs lag behind to figuring it all out and moving foward. Truely amazing.

Mason getting into the crawling position, about to take off.

The day continued on. It's Tuesday, every other Tuesday Norah's speech therapist comes over to work on eating with her. That means no more procrastination in picking up the mess left from the weekend. This weekend, Jason and I cleaned out and organized the basement, well we started on it at least. We found a box of papers to be shredded and Grant has taken on the task of shredding to be his own. Grant, my first baby is turning 4 this week. I can't believe four years have passed by so quickly. In the last couple months his independence has amazed me. He's growing up. This morning he put his mind to the task of shredding and worked until the job was finished, stopping at times to make sure that a certain piece of paper was ok to shred. He even told me he needed a break with a snack. So up onto a chair he climbed and poured himself a glass of juice and found some pretzels and red peppers to eat. Where did he learn all of this, oh my. 

Norah. Norah, Norah, Norah. This little girl, I am so honored to be her mother. The sparkle in her eye, the joy that embraces you when you are with her, the giggle that brings you to the happiest of places and the hugs and kisses that let you know her love. Just of couple of months ago Norah was just taking steps on her own, today Norah spent her day spinning in circles and trying to jump as we cleaned up. She used big words, and pretended to Skype with all her friends. She is embracing what it is to be 2 years old, which meant pulling out every toy I had just put away, saying NO when I asked her to help, flipping over onto her belly when I tried to change her diaper, refusing her food.... Well at times this gives me a headache, I am happy to endure because that means she is proving doctors wrong, she is becoming a "typical" child.

Norah spinning.

Lunch was quick, I had to get Norah a quick nap in before therapy otherwise not too much would be accomplished. Grant came and snuggled with me on the couch for a bit. Which I totally take full advantage of, again he'll be FOUR this week, snuggles are already fleeting. I'll take full advantage of them while I have them. That and he's a daddy's boy, so when Dad is at work, snuggles are mine.

Therapy came and went, and Norah tackled her meal like a champ. I am so thankful for the new SLP that is working with Norah. She can get Norah to eat anything, and Norah works hard for her. Today's meal includes meatballs, oranges, cheese and Starburst chased down with some Pediasure.

Jason was home right on time today. I love it when he is home right on schedule, I was excited to share all of the exciting things we had done today. Mason crawled right over to Jason...yeah you could tell Daddy was proud of his "Little Dude" (that's what Norah calls Mason - it's pretty cute when she says it).

Jason, with the kids just inside the door where they all greeted him when he came home.

Mason continued moving to toddlerhood at an alarming rate today, since mastering crawling was not enough. Today we packed his infant carrier away and into a convertable car seat he sits. Since we had a gift certificate to Red Robin that expired today we headed out for dinner which left Mason sitting in the high chair at the resturant for the first time as well.

Mason sitting at the table tonight in a high chair- first time out of the infant carrier at a resturant.

Mason and Norah rear facing each in their own MyRide.Norah still rear facing, she's starting to look more cramped, but I feel like she should weigh more than 22 lbs and more like 30 lbs before we turn her around.

I am feeling blessed at the end of this day and so thankful for every joy filled moment that I was able to share in with my wonderful family.

Matthew 18:10   "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Donuts for Breakfast! or not...

This weekend I thought it would be fun to all head off to the bakery to get donuts and coffee in the morning. Jason couldn't agree more, I think he would eat baked goods for every meal with an occasional prime rib if he could. We headed out to Cranky Al's - it's a bakery by day and a pizza place by night, it's a great place with yummy goodness. We let Grant and Norah pick out there donut, they both picked out a chocolate glazed donut. Lately they have been copying each, what ever one wants, does or says the other is right behind doing the same, I love it (most of the time). We sat and enjoyed our morning out, encouraging Grant and Norah to eat their donuts. Well after nearly fourty five minutes and about three bites a piece, Jason packed up their donuts to bring home. Not even a half hour after getting home I heard Grant in the kitchen . . . what does he emerge with . . . a bowl of veggies. He tells me he's hungry for his veggies and Norah is right next to him with veggies as well. Insert Jason shaking his head, saying something like his kids would not pick veggies over donuts, so where did these two come from? I love that they love there veggies and fruits so much. Also I can't believe how independent Grant is becoming getting every out and put away for Norah and him, such a big guy.  So here they are super happy to be enjoying the mix of yellow peppers, carrots and cabbage.

 

Mississippi Mud

The kitchen is painted and put back together for the most part. There are a couple finishing touches still needed, but I think it looks amazing. I loved our Cayenne red kitchen, it was fun and vibrant. Now it's Mississippi Mud, throughout the day it has a different look, sometimes more green, other time brown, once and awhile looking like it has grey and blue coming through.

Jason and I stayed up until 3am on Saturday getting all the walls prepped and primed. On Sunday while the kids were napping we were able to get the first coat of paint on. We were determined to finish this weekend so we tagged teamed the last coat in the evening trying to keep the kids out of the way and hand prints out of the paint. We did let Grant help us out. He was constantly let us know that he was a big kid and could help. He painted the wall behind the refrigerator (the place all drips can be concealed).

Thank you Jason for bringing home these beautiful pink tulips, they are lovely.

Color choices

We are painting the kitchen this weekend. For the last week and a half colors have gone up on the wall to help us decide what color it should be.

There's Mississippi Mud over by the sink.

Next there is ECO Green by the cabinets and down stairs.

Then there's Wasabi by entrance to the kitchen.

After all the separate spots were appreciated. The spot with  Green became the place to put all the colors to see which one it would be....

Now we finally settled on a color, time to get in on the walls. Anyone want to come paint with us?

Blueberries

Norah has a favorite fruit, blueberries. Once she sets eyes on those ripe blueberries, they are hers! Don't try to take them away.

Norah's game face, don't mess with her blueberries!!

If she thinks there is competition to get those berries, she starts stuffing them in double time. I'm sure some of those berries get swallowed whole. How much of this bowl did she eat herself you ask? No less than 90% of it. If she could have had it her way, all of it.

Time for the next surgery...

Norah went to see the eye doctor today...leading us to plan for Norah's 5th surgery.

The pressure caused in Norah's brain had lead to damage on some of her cranial nerves leaving her with strabismus. Exotropia is the specific type that Norah has, meaning her eye turns outward. We don't see it all the time, but it is most noticeable when Norah is tired. I see it often on days when her balance is off. In the last six months we haven't seen any improvement.

The goal for the surgery is to correct the misalignment of Norah's eyes before she loses any more vision in her right eye. This will be done by tightening the muscles of her right eye. Norah's doctor said he would usually wait until a child is closer to 4 years old but feels that if we wait too much longer her vision will get much worse. While Norah has strabismus seen in both eyes, the right is worse and so that is the eye we are going to correct. The thought is that the way her left eye deviates is actually helping to protect her right eye, and once the right eye is corrected it will correct itself.  I pray that is the case and that her beautiful blue eyes are protected from any further harm.

First Tooth

Mason is slowly sprouting his first tooth! It officially broke through last week on January 29th. This week it has continued to come in, oh so slowly, leaving us with a miserable baby boy.

Sleepless nights have come to be the norm the last few weeks as we have come into this new milestone. I sit in the glider at night dreaming that of those wondering full nights of sleep will return soon.

Drooling is abundant, leaving puddles on the floor or on shirts, at times making Mason look like he's ready for a wet tshirt contest. Mason is put anything and everything into his mouth to try and bring comfort to those sore gums. Teething drops provide little relief, at least ibuprofen cuts the edge when it gets really bad.

Mason you have been a trooper, I hope those teeth hurry and break through, giving you some relief (and me too...I could really use a full night of sleep).