Spring has sprung?

We have been having crazy warm weather here lately! I am a pretty huge fan of snow and winter, but I'll admit it has been really nice to get outside more (minus all the snow gear), especially with a 2 year old boy. (Not that I trust this weather. It will probably snow as soon as we're used to the warmth...) We have been spending a lot of time outside enjoying all kinds of spring-y activities.
We also had to do a little bit of shopping for a necessary addition to our spring wardrobe:This makes me so happy. :) I just love these boots! (Noah said I had to get some too and picked them out for me.
We have been enjoying bubbles:
Grilled food:
And Noah's favorite thing of all, riding on the lawnmower:
Seriously, this kid would ride on that thing forever. I cannot tell you how many times a day he asks for it...

Happy Spring!

If kids ran the world...

We are big fans of the child sponsorship organization Compassion International. A while ago we got a packet with a few pictures of kids waiting to be sponsored. We have used those pictures to pray for those children off and on since then and lately Noah has been asking to more and more. He has taken a special liking to one particular boy, Jeffrey from Ghana. Now every morning one of the first things Noah does is to find Jeffrey's picture and ask to pray for him, and then carry the picture around with him while he plays.There are descriptions on the back to read and ideas to pray for. One day when we were praying something along the lines of him having food to eat, this is the conversation that followed:
Noah took the breakfast he was eating and said, "Jeffrey, Noah's toast!"
Me: "What a good idea, you want to share some of your food with Jeffrey!"
Noah: "Yes!" He pretends to feed the picture and then hands me the toast, "Jeffrey toast!"
Me: "You want to bring that toast to Jeffrey?"
Noah: "Yes!"
Me: "Sorry buddy, he lives very far away."
Then it was one of those times where I could just see those little wheels turning in his head as he sat for awhile... and then looked at me proudly and said "Car!"
Me: "We should get in our car and drive it over to him?"
Noah: "Yes!"
Oh, what a sweet, smart boy! I'm pretty sure it would be a better place if kids ran the world. If someone needs something, somebody that has it should give it to them. If somebody is sad, you try to make them happy. Not really that complicated. (Silly adults can't quite seem to get it and follow through!) Thanks for the reminder, Noah.

The Details

Now that we've made the big announcement :) , here are some details. I most definitely fall into the category of "high risk" pregnancy. When I started talking with my doctor about getting pregnant again, she said that she was fine with it, but that I would need to be seen by an OB/GYN because I am "too scary." When I met with him the first thing he said was, "Well, you are... special when it comes to pregnancy." There you go, scary and special, that apparently sums it up when it comes to me being pregnant.
We are very happy, very excited, and slightly nervous.
The number he gave me for HELLP syndrome (the name for my liver going crazy and why Noah had to be delivered) occurring again is 1%. That's not so bad. Although when you consider the chances for someone that hasn't had it before are less than .1%, my odds are significantly higher. Still, 1% isn't too scary.
He said the chances of preeclampsia happening again are between 20-40%. But usually it can be managed and doesn't end with emergency surgery and 3 months in the NICU.
Unfortunately, both of them are pretty much just a big basket of unknowns, so there really isn't anything preventative to be done. I will be watched extremely closely to try to catch anything right away, having weekly appointments and ultrasounds once we hit 25/26 weeks.
I have had my first appointment already. They took a bunch of blood and said everything looks good to start with. I got to hear that sweet, fast little heartbeat. :) Due date is September 16, and we are going for as close to that as possible!
Overall I have been feeling...pregnant. Today is the first day in a few weeks I haven't felt nauseous all the time. Hopefully it lasts! I have had people ask how I felt when I was pregnant with Noah, but the weird truth is I don't remember too many specific details about it. I don't know if it is because it went really well (obviously up until it went really NOT well), or because I was working full time, or because it didn't go how it was supposed to and my brain does some weird defense mechanism. That's one of the weird things about being pregnant after having a preemie--in a lot of ways I feel like a first time mom. I am just as scared of labor and delivery and the third trimester because they are completely unknown to me. Strange. More on that later.
I think Noah is going to be a great big brother. When I first told him we were going to have a new baby in our family, I used his new cousin as an example. Then he asked to go see her like 50 times that day--he loves her. :) He has this weird thing where whenever there is a baby in the room, he wants me to be holding it. We'll see how long that lasts after there is one living in our house. :) Of course once we get closer we will talk about it more and hopefully he will do great! He asks to pray for the baby once in a while. When I pray that the baby grows healthy, he says, "no hurt, baby." Lately he has been very sensitive to his NICU pictures; whenever he sees them he says, "No no! Hurt, all done." I don't know why he is suddenly associating it with "hurt" but needless to say we share his prayer that this baby does not have to go through the NICU. We would appreciate prayers from you as well, and will keep you posted on how things progress!

TWO

December is a full and busy month and there is lots to tell, but I figured I better start with a 2 year old update for Noah!
At 2 YEARS OLD, he:
-Weighs 23 pounds and is 33 3/4 inches tall. Technically that is just making it onto the charts for weight and around the middle for height. One of the many reasons I love our doctor: when we went in for his 2 year check up she pulled up the chart on the computer, which of course he is barely on, turned it off, and said, "who needs a chart, look at him, he is doing great!" :)
-Has too many words to count and has stopped using all his signs except "yellow" and "raisin." Those must be a little too tricky still, although he has said them a few times recently. The last few months his vocabulary has increased exponentially! I was never worried, but now they can't even say he is delayed in that. ;) He is especially into saying people's names right now.
-Knows all of his colors and likes to identify the color of everything.
-Calls anything more than one "two!"
-Is pretty much the sweetest kid ever. Almost every time he gets out a toy, he says "thank you (whoever gave it to him)!" before he starts playing with it.
-Has a ridiculous memory. Seriously. Don't do something once if you're not prepared to do it every time afterward too.
-His new favorite thing: tractors. Whole post on that to come soon.
-Still loves cars, buses, and bikes. He has recently discovered that daddy has a whole "bike room" in the basement. Guess where we spend a lot of time now. Daddy sorted out some safe real tools for him and he thinks it is pretty much the coolest thing ever.
-Still loves being outside. I have to bribe him to come in with hot chocolate. :)
-Favorite foods: cheese, fruit, scrambled eggs, muffins, broccoli, chips
-Dislikes: getting washed at bathtime, beans, Ronald McDonald (the statue at McDonald's)
-I love my 2 year old!

*pictures by the fabulous Little Inspirations Photography

We love Christmas!

Christmastime is here! (cue Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack)
Everyone said that Christmas with a toddler would be fun and it is true!! The first thing Noah asks for every morning is to turn the lights on the Christmas tree and he loves Christmas music. Yup, he's my kid alright. :) The first time we read a Christmas book his response when I read, "Merry Christmas!" was "woo-hoo!" (I promise I did not prompt him at all! :)
I have been reading so much about Christmas being so commercial and overdone and all the activities associated adding so much stress to your life. Number 1, it only becomes those things if you let it. And Number 2, I WANT my kid to remember Christmas as a big deal, to have memories and traditions as far back as he can remember. Maybe some big, over the top, and unnecessary things that mean lots of work for mommy, but you know what, it is worth it. (I love this post from one of my favorite blogs.) I believe that God is a fan of celebration and traditions and memories, for OUR benefit. Read Leviticus. And I believe those are some of the most powerful tools to use with our children to teach them about God.
If you know me, you know it has been Christmastime around here far before this week. I listen to Christmas music pretty much all year, and starting on Halloween it all comes out. The tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving (and stays up until I feel like taking it down or my husband makes me :). And I loooooove the Advent season and Advent calendars and all that good stuff. However, I know my kid and I know he would not be able to handle an advent calendar where he only got to open one door a day and wait for the rest, so I decided to do a "Christmas box." I put a card with a picture of a Christmas-y activity on it each day, along with a magnetic piece or a finger puppet of a character in the Christmas story. One of his favorite parts is when Mary and Joseph discover there is no room in the inn. He ran around all day yelling "Room, no room!" You never know what they will pick up on!Some of his favorite activities have been:

putting up a little tree in his roomThis is definitely the favorite. We have undecorated and redecorated that tree many times this month! (It was the tree I had in my room growing up!) For a few days he carried around one ornament of each color pretty much everywhere. Lucy likes to steal them off the tree and ends up knocking the tree over, to which Noah says, "Uh-oh! No, meow-meow!" (But of course then he knocks it over himself and thinks its funny...toddlers. :)

making Christmas play-dough
some Christmas art projects
pretending to be a shepherd and finding baby Jesus hidden around the roomThis was such a hit because I let him carry around a big stick. Boys and sticks...

So I know this post is cutting it close, but does anyone have any toddler Christmas ideas to share? Please pass them on if you do!!

Happy Christmas-ing!

Noah's Very Happy 2nd Birthday!

We have a two year old here!! And so much to celebrate! At his two year old check up our doctor said, "look at him; I can't believe he is a 28 weeker." (For the record, he is barely on the charts for weight and smack dab in the middle for height.) And two is the magic number where they stop adjusting his age. He's just two. (Although I think it will probably take a little longer for my brain. When people ask when his birthday is my first thought is often March instead of December.)
We woke him up on his birthday with special birthday balloons and he LOVED it. He carried those balloons around everywhere for the rest of the day.Then we had birthday pancakes and opened presents and played and had a fun family day. (We also got pictures taken, but Mommy enjoyed that more than Noah...)
On Saturday we had a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" birthday party!Noah excelled at all things birthday party.
Opening and playing with presents:



(Grandmas and Grandpas sure give good presents! He loves them all.)

Blowing out his birthday candle:
Eating the birthday cupcake (well, at least the frosting):
He was sooo excited to have TWO grandpas and TWO grandmas there! (He is spoiled, I mean loved, just a little bit. :)

We love our two year old!! Happy Birthday, Noah!

And thank you to all of you who have loved and prayed and celebrated with us these two years!