Co-Authors

Sumer asked if I had taken over this blog. I guess in the past month I have had a whole bunch of fun stuff to write. So I thought instead of telling you it was Shane every time I would just add myself as an author. So now from now on you can just check the bottom of the entry to see if Meredith or I posted it.

O I also wanted to be sure everyone knew that I wrote the entry about the horned deer, but Meredith said that anyone who knew us would know that it was me and not her.

Noah Swings

A Horned Dolphin and a Deer with Tusks

Nathan’s newest letter animal at school is Nikki Narwhal. When he first learned about it he came home saying that the narwhal had a long nose. I knew that wasn’t true so I told him that it wasn’t a nose, but rather a horn. It turns out that I was wrong too.

Tonight Nathan and I spent some time looking up animals on the computer. I found a video of a narwhal and learned that it actually isn’t a horn, but rather a tusk that grows out through a hole in its mouth.

So Nathan and I started talking about tusks and looking up pictures of other animals that have tusks (this is why I love the internet.) We found pictures of warthogs, elephants, and walruses, all animals that I knew had tusks. Then we found this animal that you see below. It is actually a Musk Deer and as you can see it has two very prominent tusks.

So tonight while teaching Nathan I learned a thing or two as well. Who would have thought that there was a deer with tusks out there.

O and in case you are may not know what a narwhal looks like I can throw one of those in here too.

Noah Rides

This is my little boy. Can you believe how big he is getting. Noah is sitting up on his own now for short periods of time. So I (Shane) strapped him in this little red car and pushed him up the hill after his brother. Noah and Nathan both thought it was a blast.

Boys Day Out

For our Anniversary I (Shane) gave Meredith some time to scrapbook. I agreed to take the boys somewhere for one Saturday and two weekday nights so she could get started on Noah’s book. So last week we printed about 250 pictures, and today I took both boys to Albany.

The original idea was to go and spend the day at the zoo, but it turned out to be 40 degrees instead of 60 like yesterday so we ended up at the Aquarium instead.

I have made several long trips with Nathan and a few with just Noah, but I don’t travel with the two of them alone very often. This is also one of the first time Nathan and I have taken a long trip since he was potty trained. That adds a whole new level of stress.

We started by going to the Mall so we could eat some Chick-fil-A. This was my first time to try out the new ride and stand stroller. I have to say that thing is freaking big, or at least bigger than our regular stroller. So we go into this bathroom at the mall at it is sort of small and there is someone in the handicap stall so the stroller won’t fit in the other stall (and honestly Nathan and I won’t fit well either). I send Nathan in the stall, but I really have to use the bathroom myself so I part Noah in the only place I can which is sort of over by one of the urinals. I need to go, but I don’t want to pee right at Noah’s head so I go to the only other one available. So now me and the boys are taking up 3 of the 4 holes in this bathroom and into this situation walks a man with a seeing eye dog. So I am trying to pee and sort of talk to this guy about the stroller blocking the urinal. When suddenly 2 Hispanic guys walk in. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but I could tell from their tone that they were pretty surprised by the whole thing too. Needless to say we went out of that bathroom without washing our hands (I did use some wipes before we eat before people get mad at me).

But after that crazy time it all got better. We made it to the aquarium and Nathan had a great time. Seeing him excited always makes things more fun.

I have to explain this face that Nathan makes for pictures now. Once I was taking a picture of him and he was giving me his fake, eyes closed type smile. So I asked him to open his mouth and look surprised, which is closer to his real smile. That sort of caught on and now when I tell him to look at the camera this is the face he makes.

Noah liked rolling around for a while, but eventually got tuckered out and went to sleep.

Of course we had to stop and get popcorn because that’s is Nathan’s favorite food.

We also went to Mellow Mushroom because that is one of my favorite foods.

 

The other day I was digging around in the garage and found my old Game Boy Advance. Nathan has claimed it as his own and loves playing Sonic and Mario on it. I don’t think I ever would have imagined way back when I got that for Christmas that I would be passing it on to my son.

Anyway, all in all it was a very fun day. Nathan fell asleep on the ride home and pretty much walked straight to our bed. Meredith put a pull up on him while he was sleeping and as of 10:23 he is still asleep. Considering that he fell asleep around 5:45 I would imagine Meredith will have a real fun time at 4:00 this morning when he wakes up.

Wii Fit

Our Wii Fit came today and Shane is getting quite the workout. He's been hula hooping, skateboarding, stepping and even marching with marching band. Wonder how long it will take to be "Wii Fit" fit?

Noah's New Tricks

Noah is growing and changing every day. He can now roll over from front to back which makes him a happy little camper. He is almost sitting up completely by himself. He is sure trying. Can't believe we're already past the 6 month mark headed towards 7.

Movies and Munchies

Meredith saw on the internet a Winter Family Day type thing was happening at the movies. Apparently some of them had Thomas the Tank engine, but the one in our area was supposedly Olivia (you know the little pig).

Well, Nathan has a history with not wanting to go to movies. He made it into Wall-E, but left crying the moment the previews started. I couldn’t even get him to go in the doors of Monsters v Aliens. He just sat on the floor crying. But since this was a show that he knew and since it was a very cheap ticket we figured we would give it another shot.

Then Meredith had the very great idea of taking some big headphones with us since a big part of the problem is how loud the movies are. The headphones worked for Nathan and were the only way I could convince him to go into the theater (even a promise of popcorn wasn’t enough without the headphones). I think he must have asked me if I had them like 3 times.

When We get inside the theater—pink popcorn in hand—we pretty much have the place to ourselves. Only one other family came in which was surprising for such cheap tickets. At the start of the movie Nathan was ready to go. Even with his headphones he was scared as the lights came down and had to sit in my lap through the first stupid commercials. But then the saving grace of our afternoon happened, the first real preview was for Toy Story 3 and that turned around his whole attitude.

So we settled in to watch the show which turned out to be several PBS cartoons strung together to make an hour long show. One of these was Olivia, but only one. Nathan enjoyed it, but I was so sleepy that at one point I actually laid down across the seats and dozed for a bit.

In the end it was a darn good way to spend an afternoon (especially since before the Movie Nathan said he wanted shrimp to eat so I took him to Red Lobster) and I think that Nathan will be willing to go back and see more movies which is a very big plus for me!

Learning to Share

The first of many times to come...Noah was playing (or chewing on) Winnie the Pooh and Nathan snatched him away.

2 Days of Clean Underwear

Who would have imagined that it was medical condition that was keeping Nathan from learning to go to the bathroom. I am soooooo glad that Meredith thought to talk to the doctor about it.

Anyway, Nathan went two whole days without going to the bathroom in either his underwear or his pull-up during naps. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

Noah Six Months Old

Noah is now 6 months old! Shane took him to the doctor today because he wasn't feeling well and his check up was already scheduled for later this week. So wham, bam on top of an ear infection he got 8 shots! Poor guy! We'll start him on antibiotics tonight. He is 17 lbs. 7 oz., 27 inches long and just a bundle of joy. He has learned to spit and blow bubbles and loves to play with his toys now. He can pull that pacifier out and chew on it upside down and backwards. He will put anything he can get his hands on in his mouth. He is loving his cereal and fruits and veggies. Last night he and Mommy made a mess with the carrots. I evidently wasn't feeding him fast enough so he just reached right and grabbed on to that bowl. We are so very blessed with our two precious boys.

New Year’s Day

The Murphys came down to hang out with us today. They are staying the night and we are all going to Auburn tomorrow to watch the Tigers play basketball.

They also brought the Christmas presents that we couldn’t fit in our car, including our very own “fire bowl.” So we had to break it out tonight and cook some hotdogs and make some smores.

Meredith really is cooking over a fire and not just ashes even though the camera didn’t pick up the red of the coals.

 

At one point Nathan said to Meredith, “Mommy, this is the best fire party ever!” It was pretty cool.