Buddies

Hannah had such a great time visiting her cousins, especially Lex. They loved being silly together. Even though they don't get to see each other very often, you'd hardly know it by the way they get along. While we were in Salt Lake, Lex had Hannah over to her house for a sleepover, and they spent every minute they could playing together the rest of the weekend.

Jungle Jim's

For our first day in Salt Lake, we decided to go to Jungle Jim's. Justin described it as "Chuck E. Cheese's on steriods," which turned out to be pretty accurate. It is basically in indoor amusement park full of rides for littler kids. Justin and I were excited that she was tall enough to ride the bumper cars. She was thrilled as well, and we figured it would be just like when she drives her little pink Jeep around at home. Turns out she had a bit of hard time trying to steer, and didn't enjoy the "bump"er part of bumper cars!

Overall, Hannah has a great time on all the rides, but after awhile she got bored with riding everything all by herself. So, being that Daddy was waaaaaaayy to tall to ride anything, I decided to cram myself into a bunch of rides with her. I am not the most flexible person, but somehow I was able to fold myself in half and ride quite a few of the rides with her. We all had a great time, and think that Jungle Jim's will become yet another place on our "have to visit" list whenever we get back to Utah again.

Tongue Sucker

After Noah's surgery, he was exhausted. By the time we got him home, he had dropped his bo-bo (pacifier) out of his mouth as he was sleeping so soundly. He was making some strange noises from the backseat, and when we went to get him out of the car, we found out why. He was back their sucking on his tongue. I've heard of babies doing this, but I've never actually seen it. I couldn't help but take a little video. It was such a sweet moment after a terribly long day.

Surgery!

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Ever since Noah turned six months old, he has been suffering with one ear infection after the next. In all, it was only three infections, but because several of the antibiotics he took never took care of them, they were stretched out. For the past three months he has been waking up every few hours most nights, often screaming in pain. The third infection was the final straw. His pediatrician had told us that if he got one more infection he was referring us to Children's. Sure enough, about a week and a half later, he was back on new medicine.

We had to wait a couple of weeks for our appointment, but last Monday we saw an ENT doctor, who recommended putting tubes in Noah's ears. We also had a pretty neat hearing test done on him, which showed him as on the low end of the normal range. Not bad, but we didn't want him to lose any hearing, that's for sure.

We were shocked when the doctor said he would like to do the surgery as soon as possible, and asked if Wednesday would be okay. Of course, nervous as we were, we were so excited at the prospect of the light at the end of this long tunnel.

Justin and I both took off work, and we had Hannah spend the night at Grandma and Papa's the night before. We had to be at the hospital at 6:15 for his 8:15 surgery. One of the hardest parts was that he couldn't eat any solids after midnight, and I couldn't nurse him after 2:00 am. I set the alarm for 2:00 exactly and fed him, in an effort to keep him full as long as possible. We had a lot of pre-surgical prep to go through, and they explained the whole procedure.
He had to go under general anesthesia, but with a mask, not an IV. That made me happy. But, since he is under a year old, we were not allowed to go back with him when he went to sleep, and we had to wait until he was awake before we could go back to see him.

It was so hard to hand him over to the nurse. By the time 8:15 rolled around, he had been crying for a good 30 minutes because he was so hungry and tired. I had to hand over my hysterical baby to a nurse. I couldn't watch her walk down the hall with him. I just turned to my wonderful hubby who hugged me and watched them go himself. I kept looking at this incredible painting they had right outside the surgical unit, and it gave me huge comfort.

We couldn't believe the surgery only took 10 minutes, but no sooner had we sat down in the waiting room than the doctor came out to tell us he was done and they were just waiting for him to wake up. The next 15 minutes, though, seemed like days.

Finally they came to tell us he was awake. As we rushed back, I fully expected to see him in the jail-like hospital crib, and they had warned us that 99.9% of the babies are screaming from the strange feeling of coming to. Instead, we found him snuggling with a nurse in a rocking chair, calmly drinking a bottle of pedialite. It was a comforting sight, and she later told me it is her favorite part of the job. I love Children's Hospital. The nurse quickly handed him over to me, and when I commented that I'd never fed him a bottle, she told me I could nurse him.
I did, and when he was done we just sat and cuddled. He never did cry. That has always been Noah, though. He never really cries, with the exception of those darn ear infections! Now we are just ready to have our happy, healthy little man back. Oh, and we're hoping he may finally sleep through the night!

Zoo Lights

We were excited when Grandma Monty called to invite us to a Qwest event at the zoo. It was a private event that consisted of a catered dinner, animal demonstrations, and a private viewing of Zoo Lights before it officially opened for the year. Uncle Josh and Aunt Jackie met us there. We had dinner, and saw the animal demonstrations. Hannah was so scared of the cage full of giant parrots that we had to leave pretty quickly.
Then we bundled up and headed outside to see the lights. I've only been their once before, when I was pretty young. It was still just how I rememberd it. Hannah had a great time riding on Daddy's shoulders most of the way, while Noah kept warm by being bundled in a bunch of blankets in his car seat.

A Rare Photo

Exhibit A Exhibit B

Hannah is notorious for not making eye contact with cameras. Just as you think she's looking at you and you snap a picture, her eyes dart to the side and you've got another goofy shot (see exhibit A). Noah is hard to make smile at the right time these days. He thinks life is great and flashes huge grins, right up until the moment you try to move the camera to your face to take the picture (enter exhibit B). The other night we were so excited to be able to succeed with this picture. We think it's a keeper! I can't believe they are in the SAME picture together with their gorgeous smiles!

Yummy!

There is nothing better on a Sunday morning than Justin hopping out of bed when Noah wakes up, loading him up into the car seat, and going to get donuts so I can sleep a few more minutes. That is what he did a couple of weeks ago. It was wonderful. There is a Lamar's doughnuts not too far from our house, and Hannah loves to get their gigantic cinnamon rolls. We tease her that they are bigger than her head, but she loves to get them. She is only able to eat about a quarter of one. Just look at that sucker!

We Justin left to go get the donuts, he asked me what kind I wanted, and I couldn't decide between a chocolate or vanilla one, so I told him to just surprise me. Well, he found the perfect treat for a person with my dilemma; check it out!

We spent the rest of the day hyped up on sugar, but we certainly had the energy to get our errands done that day!

So Comfy!

The other night Noah was a little cranky, so Justin cuddled up with him on the couch and started watching some tv. Soon, Hannah decided she wanted a snuggle, so she crawled up next to daddy as well. Before we knew it, Noah was getting very quite and then fell asleep. The three of them sat that way for a good 30 minutes before it was time to get ready for bed. I guess I'm not the only one who knows how nice it is to cuddle with Justin after all!

Here Comes Noah!

Noah has really taken to crawling all over the place. He is getting to be pretty quick, too! One minute he'll be sitting and playing with a toy or something, and the next minute you look, he's gone! The phrase "here comes Noah!" has become quite frequently shouted by Hannah in particular. She can't seem to get over the fact that he is very much mobile.

Anyway, the other night I was sitting on the floor upstairs trying to get a good picture of him. You can tell in the first photo that I had just called his name, trying to get him to look at me and smile. Well, as is the game these days, he just started crawling on over to me the second he realized I was there. I snapped a bunch of pictures right in a row to catch him as he got closer and closer. Here they are!

A Lot to Look Forward to!

As we put the finishing touches on planning our December trip to Salt Lake, Hannah has become more than a little excited. She can't wait to go see her cousins Alexis and Lily. All weekend she kept asking "today, mommy?". I knew that saying "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...." wasn't a good idea, seeing as how we had 26 days to wait. So, we sat down to make a ring count- down, Christmas-style.
At the top we put a picture of Lex and Lily, then attached the rings. They dangle quite far down! We put the count-down on the closet door just outside Hannah's bathroom, and at night after she gets ready for bed she gets to rip off one ring and be one day closer to seeing her cousins. She was especially excited because we told her we have a pool at our hotel, and that we will invite them to come swimming. It only got better for her when I shared with her that Aunt Lindsay wants her to sleep over at their house one night. Hannah sure loves her sleepovers!

It makes me sad that the cousins are so far away. We've always had a hard time with Justin's brother and his family living in Utah while we live here, and having my daughter and son miss their cousins as they gets older will only make it worse. Luckily, the Sevy's make a couple of trips a year to come out here, and we have always gone out there at least twice a year as well. Basically, the pain of missing them will grow as time goes one, but so will the fun that they have when they are all together!

A "Great" Visit!

A few weeks ago we were lucky to have Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Withers come to town to visit. Hannah was especially excited, and she insisted on sitting next to Grandma during dinner. Later, Justin was tickling Hannah as usual, and she ran to Great Grandpa to hide. She started tickling him, which he loved. I don't ever remember seeing a bigger smile on his face. Noah was pretty easy going, as usual, and let both Great Grandma and Great Grandpa hold him. We had a great time and
hope that they can visit again soon!

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween! Hannah and Noah both had a blast this year, and I must say that I did, too! This is the first year that I haven't worked on Halloween. The day is usually long and tiring because my school always had a big parade and then parties afterward. Since we are on a
"traditional" calendar now, I was on Fall Break for the week of Halloween. Instead of being tired (and, let's face it, cranky),
I was happy to spend the day with my kids.
We began the day by going over to Grandma Dianes's for the daycare party. Grandma had decorated with cobwebs, spiders, balloons, and other spooky stuff. The kids had cupcakes with cobwebs and spiders on them, then we went outside to play games. Hannah had a hard time admiting defeat during musical chairs, but still had a great time.

After we left Grandma's we rushed home to make and eat dinner with Grandma and Papa before my sister came over with her family. It has become a tradition to go trick-or-treating with them. Hannah and Milla set off walking, while Aiden and Noah had their daddies carrying them. One especially neat house is down the street from us. They decorate like crazy for the few weeks before Halloween, adding something new each day. Then on the 31st they pull out all the stops. This year we walked past their open garage that had the infamous bedroom scene from "The Exorcist". Their little daughter, who is just a bit older than Hannah, was waiting at the door dressed and made up to look just like the creepy little girl from "The Ring." That house is definitely the craziest I've ever seen.

After about an hour of cruising the streets full of kids (did I mention it was like 50 degrees? I've NEVER seen a Halloween like this one. So nice and warm, and because of that the neighborhood was full of kids and parents. It was like the a scene from the movies.), we headed home because Leslie and her family needed to leave to see their other cousins. Hannah wasn't anywhere near ready to be done, so Daddy and Grandma kept going with her, while Papa, Noah and I went home to hand out candy and let Noah play.

While they were out, some moron tried to scare poor Hannah. She was riding on Daddy's shoulders, tired out from going so far, and a kid who Justin guessed to be about 13 or 14 walked up with a super scary mask on, and started growling at Hannah. He actually got close enough that Justin put his hand out and pushed this kid's face away from them. My mom also let him know that what he was doing was not cool at all. I was proud of my husband for being so protective of our little girl. Luckily it was him that was there and I wasn't, because I probably would have embarrassed everyone by yelling at the idiot.

In the end, we all had a great time, and Hannah got to pig out on candy that night. The next day we took her to buy the new movie "Tinkerbell". This is our trick to keep her from eating all that nasty candy for the next month. We let her "trade-in" her candy for a new toy or movie. She loves it and never even asks again about the bag-o-sugar!

Eight Months!

We can't believe how fast the past 8 months have gone! Our "little man" is so much fun and is such an easy going baby. In honor of his eight month birthday, here are 8 tid-bits about Noah David Michael:
1. He will eat ANYTHING! Justin accidently bought "sweet peas with Alaskan salmon" last week and we though we'd give it a try. Noah chowed it down just like anything else we give him.

2. He has been army crawling for a few weeks, but knows if he wants to get somewhere fast, rolling is his best option.

3. He loves his big sister and will laugh at her when she dances, jumps, smiles, or just breathes!

4. He has the bluest eyes I've ever seen.

5. He still wakes up at least once a night to be nursed, and has already hit the 20 lb. mark on the scale.
6. He loves to ride in his stroller and has been known to hold himself up by the tray for over a 30 minute long walk with his Papa.

7. He will cry if you take away anything he is interested in or if you take too long opening his jars of baby food.

8. He is so sweet, easy going, and fun. We are truly blessed by having him in our lives, and he has been the most perfect addition to our family.

After our short visit to Boo Town, we made the best out of being at Heritage Square already. They have a ton of rides that Hannah is big enough to ride. Justin talked her into going on the Alpine Slide, and they had so much fun together that Grandma Monty and I took her to the top again and I rode down with her for her second ride. She was so cute, reassuring me the whole way to the top in the ski lift that I shouldn't be scared because it was so much fun. She "whoo-hooed" the entire way down, and couldn't stop laughing at how fast Grandma Monty had gone when she zoomed past us. Next up was the go-karts, which Hannah says was her favorite. She and Daddy drove in one kart and Grandma Monty rode in another. I wanted to ride the ferris wheel, so Hannah and I did that together. We got to stop at the top and I told Hannah that the rules say you have to kiss at the top, so I got one sweet smooch from my little girl up there. Too cute! The last stop was the Carousel with Grandma Monty. They must have gone around and around for at least five minutes, which seems like a long time to me! We all had so much fun!

Boo Town

This past weekend we went to Heritage Square to go see "Boo Town". There certainly wasn't much to it, but Hannah seemed reasonably impressed. She got to paint some little pumpkins and work her way through a kids sized maze. I enjoyed the little tent area that was all filled with places to take cute photos.
Grandma Monty met us there and Hannah was pleasantly surprised to
see her. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there, but Hannah had a good time with what we did do.

Shake It, Girl!

Little miss is quite the dancer these days. Whenever we we video Noah for any reason, she wants us to record her dancing. She was lucky this time that one of her favorite songs, "Dangerous" happened to be on the radio. Justin was out of frame dancing with her, which you might notice because I "caught" him for just a second before he saw me. Heh-heh!

We dance together all the time. Monday and Tuesday nights are the most likely days you'd find us all dancing together in the living room, because Dancing with the Stars is on. Hannah loves to be in a dress dancing around, but will make do with a small blanket wrapped around her waist.

Last weekend we went to my cousin's wedding, and Hannah was in heaven. Papa and Grandma bought her a fancy dress to wear, she got new shoes, and there was dancing and cake. In my daughter's eyes, that is the perfect evening. She couldn't get enough and keeps talking about the next wedding she wants to go to; her's and daddy's. Too sweet!

Go, Noah, Go!

For the last two weeks we have been saying that any day now our little boy was going to start crawling. You can't exactly call this crawling, but Noah has certainly figured out a way to get from point A to point B. He is very proud of himself, and so is his big sister. She cheers him on every, uh, step of the way. He is seven and a half months old and so much fun. Since the beginning he has been the easiest baby, so we are hoping that he doesn't get himself into too much trouble now that he is semi-mobile and ruin his perfect record.

The Greatest Show on Earth

For weeks we had been looking forward to going to see Barnum and Bailey's circus while it was in town. Hannah was so excited we were
surprised she actually took a nap before we went,
but she did. The show was over two hours long,
but Hannah watched
the whole entire thing. She loved getting popcorn and lemonade, and claims that her favorite part of the show were the clowns, although I thought that considering we were at the circus, we didn't see too much of the clowns. I was impressed with the trapeze men and women, and Justin
liked the elephants the best. We brought Noah, who was dazzled by the
lights and music for about 20 minutes, then got pretty bored. We kept him occupied for awhile, then Justin was able to get him to sleep in his lap. On the way out Hannah wanted a coloring book, so we got her one as we ran through the rain to get back to the car.

The circus is pretty much the same as I remember from when I was little, but I will say we were surprised by the prices! The tickets weren't terrible, but when I went to get Hannah her popcorn and lemonade, I was shocked that is cost $16! It was pretty tasty stuff, but geez!