Circus

Saturday, Noah, Luke and I met John in Oklahoma City. He had been at youth church camp all week and the boys and I were in Fairview visiting family. It was nice to be back together again. We celebrated by going to the circus. It is the first time Noah or Luke had been to the circus. Of course, I don't think Luke will remember much...have even slept through some of it!

They had a pre-show before the circus where you could walk around to see the clowns, get tattoos, see the acrobats, see the main elephant, guys on stilts, guys who juggled, try on outfits, take a picture on the motorcycle, and more. Mommy picked up a couple clown noses for the boys...aren't they cute! This was one of my favorite things. I saw them in the pre-show but unfortunately missed it during the show...Luke got hungry. It was right up my alley...they are pretty much gymnast/cheerleaders.

Noah's favorite part of the circus was the elephants. He loves elephants. Daddy and Mommy are often elephants around the house while Noah rides on our back. We also recently saw the new baby elephant at the Oklahoma City zoo. I don't think they rank higher than the hippo on Noah's chart but they are pretty cool! I had to get several pictures of the elephants so that we could refer back to them when Noah needs an elephant fix.

They also had lots of tigers. It was neat to see them. They were soooo big! I am sure that man fears for his life a little each time he does that. I am pretty sure I don't want to have that job when I grow up!I enjoyed the trampolines too. It was neat to see them flying so high and doing trips without running into each other. Pretty neat!Noah had a blast and really focused in on the elephants. I would say he was a bit young and uninterested in most anything that wasn't an animal. He is a pretty active boy to be sitting there so long but did well. It was the first time he has gone anywhere that he had to sit for a while and do well with it. We haven't attempted any other shows or movies and he didn't do well at football or basketball games...maybe in another year.Here is my sweet Luke. Isn't he cute...and tired!

We had a blast! Thanks Grammy and Pop for taking us! It was so fun to experience it with you two!

Pictures

I am trying to get better at taking pictures. I love looking at pictures of the boys but just don't remember to take them in the moment. I feel like I need to work at it now or poor Luke will miss out on some of these precious childhood memories. I am so blessed to have these cuties!The boys love helping me with tasks...well, Noah does and Luke just wants to be where I am. I try to get some of my tasks done while they are awake because it is a rare moment when they are both sleeping. I try to take advantage of those times to spend time with the Lord, read, work out, or do something for myself. I also feel like it is good for the boys to learn to help Mommy. They need to know that they are a part of the family and need to do their part to make the everything work around the house. They are too young to do to much on their own but do great helping me. The time and discipline is finally paying off...sometimes you wonder if it is clicking in the moment. Noah is becoming such a polite, helping boy. It is all by God's grace!Noah did such a good job helping me with dinner. He tore up all this lettuce by himself. He had to make all the pieces about the same size. I am glad he likes cooking with me. Hoping he wants to cook dinner for us one day. Wouldn't that be great!

Noah is such a helpful big brother. I try to involve him in taking care of Luke. Since Luke is teething (already has two teeth in) then Noah thought he would help him out by putting a teething toy in his mouth. So helpful!Lunch time at the Woogies house...When Luke is sleeping, I try to be intentional with Noah since I pay quite a bit of attention to Luke when he is awake. We do school, cook, play rough, play outside, games on the computer or board games, etc. Noah loves circles and is a perfectionist so this was a fun task for him. We decided to put everything in a circle around his dice tower. He did such a good job!It is hard to feed Luke these days. We have to be in a room by ourselves without any noise. Otherwise, Luke wants to know what is going on with Noah or whoever. He is a little social bug and always wanting to learn about this world he now sees. After I fed Luke, I walked out to see Noah working on this masterpiece. He had gotten them all out of the bag and told me he was putting them in rows.

Fairview

We had a great time in Fairview. I decided to take the boys there because John was going to be at Youth Church camp all week. I like to visit family when he is going to be gone for a while. I went to Mesquite to be with my family when John went to Russia in May and now we have visited Daddy's side of the family. It was a fun and busy week.

One evening we went to visit the historical society. Grandpa met us out there with the cub cadet. We rode around in it and Noah really enjoyed that. One of the stops we made was Noah's Great Great Grandpa Wohlgemuth's house. It was moved out to the historical society for show. Pretty neat!One of Noah's favorite parts of the tour was the huge trains. This is the back of the coal car. He wanted to climb up...already trying to scare Grammy and Mommy!Here is the caboose that the society got for free. They plan on fixing it up. Can't wait to see it complete! Marva's friend Sarah is holding Noah in the front of it. Noah and I had to take a picture on the train. We climbed up there and peeked around a little. It was so high! I don't think I am as much as a dare devil as I used to be. I sure wouldn't mind being in Heaven (falling off it) but now I think of my husband and boys that I would leave behind. :(

Noah had to wear his Thomas outfit for the visit!Here is the engine from the front. It is huge!We also saw a old tractor. Noah loves tractors so I had to get a pic of him. It was kinda hard for him to look into the sun for the picture...Here is Grammy, Grandpa, Noah, and Sarah on the cub cadet. This is a suspension bridge that Grandpa helped build nearly 20 years ago. Noah loved running across it. There is a bridge like this (that bounces) at the playground in Weatherford and Noah loves it. It was fun to see him bouncing on a bigger version!It blessed my heart to see Noah playing with his brother. He had so much fun. He kept pushing Luke around house and wanted to do it again and again. I can foresee Noah really enjoying playing with Luke as he gets older. Noah just loves playing with other kids and will enjoy having a brother around to play with. Thanks Grandpa, Nana, and Grammy for such a good time! We love you all!

Blue

Ever since Noah was little I pushed something called 'Blue' upon him. I heard of kids getting attached to a large blanket or something big and didn't want that to happen. So, I thought giving this to Noah would be better than something so big. His 'Blue' is a small dog with a tiny blanket attached. I actually bought two foreseeing that I would need to wash it and still have one to give him. Noah now knows he has two but he is OK with that and likes them equally. He often wants to have the other Blue and switch them out. He sleeps with it every day and night and often carries it around the house. Luke now has his own 'Blue.' Nana (John's Grandma) got Luke a Blue and this is the first time he's had it. He seems to like it already. Noah was very excited to show Luke his 'Blue' and wanted to take a picture of them. Luke's blue is an elephant. I went ahead and bought another Blue for Luke too. I thought Noah would be jealous of Luke's Blue and want it too be he is not. Here is a picture of Luke playing with his Blue.Noah wanted me to take a picture of a funny face he was going to make but just smiled instead. What a cutie!

Fun Times

Noah is so much fun right now. He just cracks me up all day with the things he says...he never stops talking and if he runs out of things to say then he will just say silly sounds while dancing and laugh at himself. He is so full of joy and love for life. He has quite the imagination too. Yesterday during lunch he was pretending that part of his peanut butter sandwich was a dog who was sad because he lost his sock and his foot was cold. We had to go searching for his sock.

We have been spending more time outside lately. We got out his pool from last year and he loved it. We realized the next day that it had a slow leak so we will have to invest in another one! He is such a cutie...how can you resist playing with that kid!He is learning my routine with Luke. When Luke woke up from his nap, Noah got my nursing pillow and brought it in the front room so that he could feed Luke. "I feed Luke, Momma," Noah said. I put Luke on the pillow but he wasn't quite sure what to do after that...pretty sure he isn't producing any milk!

Here are the potato heads that we put together one day. He wanted to take a picture so we could show Daddy our creations. So proud!

Here is our swing set that John put together with Larry. It is great! We love it! Noah loves the fort and swing the best. He can swing forever!

Had to get a picture of Luke in here since he is so precious! He is really rolling over both ways now and doing great. He can hold his head up while on his tummy pretty well. Just love that smile...I can't get enough of him!

My Boys: 29 months and 3 months

Noah
Noah is so much fun! It seems like he is learning a ton EVERYDAY! He is such a smart boy and full of life. We really enjoy our time together. Here are a few insights into like with Noah:
*He is learning more and more about the Lord. It blesses my heart to hear him give the right answers to certain questions. I hope that helps him come to know the Lord as his personal Savior some day. We are praying for him always!
*He is a Type A person. Both of his parents are...so what do you expect! He likes everything to color coordinate. He separates Legos, colored letters, candy, etc. He even had to eat his fruity cheerios one color at a time on his spoon!
*Along with that, he loves his routines and everything to be done properly. His bedtime routine must be done to a 'T,' his toys must be in the RIGHT spot (but he does have his time to be destructive and just tosses everything around) before moving on to the next task, everyone must be properly clothed with a shirt and pants (wonders why Luke often doesn't wear pants), knows he needs his shoes, bag, and keys before heading to the church building. Love that kid!
*He is so loving. He loves to kiss, hug (he has to hug you before he kisses you-'the right order'), and one of his favorite things to do now is butterfly kisses. I try to get all I can because one day I won't be soooo cool!
*He is full of joy for life. Everything is exciting! He has the most expressive face and doesn't hide his emotions one bit. Praying he learns real joy in Christ one day and shares it with all he comes in contact with!
*He loves his Daddy. He loves to tell Daddy he loves him and to have a good day. He always announces when Daddy gets home with a huge smile on his face. One of his favorite things to do is wrestle with Dad, crawl on him, jump on his tummy (good ab workout!), and ride him like he is an elephant. So sweet!
*He loves what we call 'school.' I work with him while Luke is sleeping on his letters and numbers. He learns them so quickly! We color letter pages, play games, and read books. It is a special time.
*He is so active. He loves to run and climb on anything he finds. We got a swing set and trampoline for him and look forward to him playing on it!
*He is very polite. He using please, thank you, excuse me, etc. all the time.
*Loves TV and movies: Thomas the Train, Curious George, Little Bear, Clifford, Olivia, The Cat in the Hat, Chuggington, Sesame Street, Madagascar, and Toy Story.
*Loves to read! He will sit through books way above his age and enjoys them so much.
*He is great at puzzles and has been doing 3 to 7 year old puzzles since he was 2. He has a photographic memory like his Daddy. He is also really good at matching games where he can find a pair after one look.
*He still nurses his drinks all day. He will down a glass while keeping it to the side of his mouth so he doesn't have to stop playing. Clever boy!
*Loves all his stuffed animals but especially his 'Blue' which is a small doggy with a little blanket attached.
*Does well at going the potty in the potty and often tells me he needs to go. But we haven't transitioned to big boy underwear yet since he drinks so much and cannot hold it longer than 10 to 15 minutes.
*Is doing better at eating since we make him try one big of everything. He is still picking and has a huge sweet tooth. He loves having dessert after every lunch and dinner meal like his Mommy and Daddy. I guess he learned that bad habit from us! He likes to eat either ham and cheese for lunch or peanut butter sandwiches. And of course, everything is better with ketchup!
*He loves to play outside in his sand box, climb trees, find sticks, kick or throw the ball, or just run around.
*He loves playing with other kids. He always has. He will not hesitate to go up to a kid at a playground to play with them. It is so cute to see! I hope he never loses that and always seeks others out for the Lord! I always say he would have been good as a twin or second kid because he loves playing with others his size. So sweet!
* He is learning to be a good helper. I loves to help with the dishes, cooking especially, laundry, Luke's diaper changes,etc.
*Has a habit of calling me Momma and instead of Mommy now. It seems weird to hear it after he was capable of saying Mommy for so long. I think he learned it from his Mamma Bear book. He also likes to call Luke, 'Lukey.' Not sure where he got that from?

Luke
Luke is a great baby. He has done everything with relative ease at this point. He is eating well and gaining weight quick. In fact, he was in the 97 percentile at his 2 month appointment for height and 75 percentile for weight! He brings so much joy to our lives.
*He loves to be held. I love holding him and putting my face against his checks. He is so soft and warm with his Daddy. Can't get better than that!
*Joyful - He will smile and talk to anyone and even do it when no one is paying any attention to him. He even likes to take breaks to smile and talk to me while eating. Social bug! It brings joy to my heart to share that time with him!
*Strong - He is rolling over. He can roll from his tummy to his back and often does it all night long. Yes, I have a tummy sleeper and does not want to be on his back! He often wakes my up every 1 1/2 or 2 to roll him over or eat...it makes for a long night. Last night is was every 3 hours thankfully! It is hard to wake up so much when he was sleeping around 6 hours in a row until he learned to roll over. I remember Noah having this problem too. I look forward to him learning to roll the other way so I can do the CRY IT OUT method with him and sleep for longer periods.
*Loves to play. He started hitting toys and play at 2 months and is getting better at it. He loves his floor mat and tries to hit and grab the toys.
*Loves his bath. He doesn't cry and loves to splash around. I think he is going to outgrow his baby bath before he can sit up in the bath tub with Noah. Last night he was kicking his legs so much that he got water all over the kitchen floor!

There is so much more that I could share but I hope you have a little insight into life with my boys. I am a blessed Mommy and wife! Thank you Lord for my blessings! I couldn't have better males in my life!

He's rollin!

Luke is rolling! I was shocked to see him on his back last night and again this afternoon. He is rolling from his tummy to his back! What a big boy! He will not even be 3 months June 4th! Yea, I am a proud Mommy...just may not be so happy about getting out of bed to place him back on his tummy in the middle of the night...

Getting Ready for bed! I love those boys...and man!Luke is stylin' in his jump suit. I loved when Noah would wear it and now Luke is lookin' fine in it too! Cute boy!Here is Noah playing with his trains. He loves his new Thomas and Friends blanket that Kathy Neufeld made! Thanks Kathy; he loves it!

Potty Training: Day 6

Today went pretty well. Noah started off with pooping in his night diaper and peeing while on my lap but after that it went well. He went about every 30 minutes except for one 1 1/2 stretch. That stretch stressed me out a little. I didn't want Noah making a mistake while eating lunch, nursingLuke, etc. It seems like at least one time during the day everything seems to happen at once where it is hard to manage potty training with everything else. After that I put a pull up diaper on him. He did really well with that. I think he liked the freedom of being on the couch and whenever he wanted without me stressing out about it. He never made a mistake in the diaper and went on the potty every time. I am thankful he is now going on the tiny porter potty as well as the big potty in the bathroom. I was worried for a time that he wouldn't ever want to go on the big potty.

I think it will be a while until I am comfortable taking him in public. I am not excited about sticking his cute little bottom on a public toliet. I might have to wipe it off before I let him sit there and put his hands all over it...Ahhhh! I am grossed out just thinking about it. And I am saying that after cleaning up poop, was peed on, spit up on, and everything else today.

Nana gave Noah a big Thomas the Train pillow for doing so well potty training. I had such a hard time trying to decide between the Thomas pillow and either Woody or Buzz. He loves them all but Thomas matches to well with his room theme. He loves it! He is such a big boy!

Potty Training: Day Five

Today went well. Noah didn't have a mistake until around 5pm. He was going every 30 minutes or so and did well. I tried to get him to go around 5pm because I know he needed to. I could tell that he just sat on there and didn't try. I kept telling him to try and he didn't. One minute later he made a mistake on the couch :( I was upset with him more because he didn't try than making a mistake that could have been avoided. I should have made him try by force but was trying to make it a more pleasent experience today; especially since he was doing so well. After that he was sentenced back to the tile after getting the privalege of being on the carpet all day. I feel bad for him...he isn't even 2 1/2 yet but I now he can do this if he tries as most of the day proved. We even had company today and he did well with that. My friend Laine and her two boys came to visit. It was really nice to visit with her but it was also a bit crazy at times given that we had four kids to watch all under the age of 2 1/2.

I will continue to limit Noah's drinking tomorrow and make him go every 30 minutes. I guess that will be the plan until he can learn to tell me consistantly when he needs to go himself. He is able to at times but it just depends on how exciting the activity is at the time. Most of the children who have recetly been trained are still not able to do that so I imagine that will not be any time soon...Noah is not even 2 1/2! I am so proud of him!

Potty Training: Really Day 4

I called this 'Really Day 4' since it is the fourth day I really tried to train him and didn't put diapers on him all day. Today was a rough day. My parents take care of Makenna all day on Monday and Noah LOVES Makenna. I love when she can come over because he just adores her. It was really hard to manage them playing while trying to potty train Noah. Makenna has a personal space that no one can enter and is very sweet and gentle. Noah has no personal space, loves touch, and is very active and rough. So that can get interesting at times.

We have only allowed Noah to stay on the tile or outside while he is potty training so that he doesn't make any mistakes on the carpet. That was exceptionally hard today because Makenna wanted to be on the carpet and of course Noah wanted to be wherever Makenna was...trouble. It was so sad to try to make him stay on the tile when we were on the carpet...it was like we were telling him he didn't belong. It was sad. I tried to stay on the tile as much as I could so he would not be alone.

He actually had his first mistake on the stairs. I told him to stay off the carpet after the mistake and of course he started climbing the stairs on the outside of the rail. Yea, not safe. But all is well and we did somehow survive the day. I think the hardest part of the day was taking Noah to gymnastics class with Makenna. I knew he would like it and wanted to get him out of the house for some fun...it didn't go well. I knew I would regret the trip before I took Noah and hauled Luke along with me. On my way home, I told myself a million times...why did I do that. Noah didn't want to do what the class was doing. He didn't want to jump on his own tramp but wanted to jump with Makenna. He didn't want to do the dancing part of the class either. He wanted to climb and jump into the pit only. He loved pit time and did OK on the obsticle part. Finally after taking him to the stands and back to class about 8 times, I said it was time to go. He kicked and screamed because he wanted to stay. He cried harder than he ever has in his ENTIRE life when we left and tried to get him into his car seat. I didn't think I was going to accompolish the task of getting him into his seat. He wanted to go back to gymnastics. All of this going on while Luke is screaming his head off. It was a pleasent ride home. I immediately gave Noah his milk, bath, and put him to bed. After he didn't fall asleep I let him get up again and eat a nutragrain bar before going to bed again (since he didn't eat dinner well and I didn't want him waking up early again). Noah was so sweet and cute at that point so it made me forget how hard the day was. He is so loving and precious and did great on the potty at that point (he knew he needed to poop, told me, and went). He helped me bathe Luke and had some sweet time with Grandpa and Nana. I guess God gives us those times to forget the ones where you want to pull your hair out. Mothering is not easy but God gives us the strength, grace, and patience to endure. I thank God everyday for my special boys. I love them so much. I am blessed to have them. I just hope they learn the godly things I do and not how impatient and frustrated I can get with their disobedience. Praise God for forgiveness and loving us even when we are sinners! God is good!

I am going to try to give Noah a lot less drink tomorrow and see how well he does. I think he is getting extremely tired of going to the potty every 15 minutes. I think he will do a lot better when he can actually play for a while before having to go again. I think he knows when he needs to poop and doing pretty well holding his pee and going on the potty when I take him. The difficult part is when I can't take him because I am nursing Luke or trying to put him down. I think that will be a continually struggle until Noah can really hold it well for a while. Better get to sleep so I am ready for Day 5. :)