Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-Treat! The boys had so much fun going door to door collecting treats and candy! Lets just say that we have enough candy to compete with Willy Wonka at our home. Baby Noah did not get any candy, however he did get to try bananas for the 1st time. I thought that it would not be Halloween if he didn't get to eat something sweet, so bananas it was! I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!

Mascoutah Fall Festival

This year we were able to go to the annual Mascoutah Fall Festival downtown. We enjoyed walking up and down main street viewing the different booths. Daddy treated us to corn dogs and Kettle corn! Yummy!

Trunk or Treat!

This was our first year going to Holy Childhood's (Joshua's school) Trunk or Treat festivities. For those that don't know, trunk or treating is when families park their cars in the parking lot and hand out candy to the kids from their trunks. They even had games, crafts, and a haunted playground for the kids. Nicholas was able to experience his 1st haunted house/playground. He went in it with Nick and only jumped once. Nick did say that Nicholas was squeezing his hand the entire time! Joshua was not brave enough to go through it. He changed his mind after hearing the kids screaming! Can't say that I blame him. I too am a "sissy la-la" when it comes to scary things! We had lots of fun even though the weather was chilly! You could tell that this was our 1st year attending because our trunk was naked so to speak. Lots of trunks were decorated with lights, ghosts, goblins, etc. I will have to hit up the Halloween clearance section after the holiday so our trunk will blend in with the others next year.

The Annual Queener Halloween Party

On Friday, Nick and I went to the Queener Home for a little adult Halloween fun. Every year we have a great time and this year was no exception! Nick and I always seem to pull together costumes at the last minute. In the past, we have gone as Naughty Nurse/Dirty Doctor and Peter & Louise Griffin (The Family Guy). We had lots of good ideas, but waited to the last minute to decide what is it was we were going to dress up as. You can decide for yourself if we made a good decision (look at the pictures below)

6 Months Old

Noah is now 1/2 year old! I know what you are thinking. How can he be 6 months old already? I don't have the answer to that question. What I do know is that everyday has been absolutely wonderful with him in our lives. He is becoming so much more active and playful! There is so much life in our home thanks to Noah (and his 2 brothers too)

Noah has been quite a busy boy this past month! Here is what he has been up to:

• Growing like a weed! Weight 16lbs. 10oz. Height: 27 in.
• Eating like a little piggy! So far Noah's menu consists of Mommy's milk (#1 favorite), baby rice cereal (not such a big fan), sweet potatoes (#2 favorite), and peas (still giving me mixed signals on this veggie). Oh, let us not forget about his little thumb! He'd be lost without it.
• Wearing size 9 months clothing and still size 2 diapers
• Taking a bite out of crime or anything else he gets in his mouth! Noah has 2 teeth (bottom front)
• Discovered his tongue and how to turn it into an instrument. He makes all sorts of noises with it!
• Loves to babble, giggle, laugh, and smile!
• Discovered his favorite song is The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He gets the biggest grin on his face when he hears me starting to sing it. It's so cute!
• Becoming a wiggle worm! Noah may not be crawling yet, but he sure makes his way around the room by squirming, scooting (on his belly) and rolling everywhere.
• Playing with toys and his big brothers. Toys are becoming more and more exciting to Noah! He plays with his "baby" toys and his brothers' "big boy" toys. Lucky for him Christmas is around the corner.
• Continues to bring love and happiness to all of our hearts!

Happy Half Birthday Baby Noah Xavier!

Hanging out with Mommy

Here are some pictures from the other day. Many of the pictures that I post are of the boys only. I am not in many pictures because I am the photographer in this family. Every once in a while I am able to pass the camera to Daddy and say "cheese"! The picture on right is of our reenactment of WWF Wrestle Mania! Gotta love having boys!!!

Carving pumpkins

Tonight the boys, Nick, and I carved pumpkins! The boys were very excited and couldn't wait to get started. Nicholas was not thrilled about having to dig out all the guts. He is such a, as Nick puts it, sissy la-la! Joshua, on the other hand, loved the squishy, gooey, slimy feeling! We had a fun time turning our pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.

Hey There Shaky Shaky

For those that do not know, Noah has been seeing a pediatric neurologist. About 10 weeks ago, I began to notice that Noah was having small tremors or shaking. I first thought that he was just getting startled easily. After seeing more and more of these "shaking" episodes, my motherly instinct kicked in and I knew I had to get this checked out. I will admit I was scared! Scared that something could be wrong with my beautiful, otherwise healthy baby boy.

My first step was to take Noah to see, our family physician, Dr. Raben. At his appointment Dr. Raben said that he did not believe that Noah's "tremor-like" shaking episodes were seizure in nature due to the way I was describing them. However, because he is a wonderful doctor, he decided to make a referral to a specialist just to make sure!

Our next step was going across the river to St. Louis Children's Hospital to visit with our new neurologist, Dr. Mar. Noah received a very thorough head to toe examination which reveled that developmentally he is right on track. Dr. Mar's exact words were, "He is a very strong healthy boy! These jerking episodes are common. We see this in babies and they do outgrow them." I loved hearing those words come out of her mouth. They were very reassuring to me. Before we left she said that she wanted to have Noah get an EEG to confirm her diagnosis.

This past Friday, Noah went in for his EEG (a test that studies the brain's electrical activity) When we arrived, my initial reaction was "Please God. Please let my baby be okay." After seeing all the kids in this hospital, I realized that I have been so blessed. I am sure that there were plenty of mothers there that would have rather been in my shoes. Noah did a good job and tolerated the test/procedure well!

Monday, I received a phone call from Dr. Mar saying that Noah's EEG was normal. This test was able to confirm that Noah does not have any seizure activity. She said that this test revealed that Noah is experiencing what she called Sleep Myoclonic Jerks. It's something that should resolve on its own without any kind of treatment. She said that she is still going to follow up with Noah in January to make sure all is well. Until then, I will continue to love on my little man and thank God for everything he has blessed me with including my healthy Baby Noah.


Here is a website for you to view in case you wanted to read up on Sleep Myoclonic Jerks. I found this to be a great resource! http://www.indianpediatrics.net/jan2001/jan-81-83.htm

Sweet Potatoes

Noah has begun eating baby food! He has been eating cereal for a few weeks now, but isn't very fond of it. He will eat it, but I can tell it's not his absolute favorite thing to eat. I think he would stick to straight breastmilk if it were up to him. I decided to start him off with one of my favorite veggies...sweet potatoes and he LOVED them!

No Cavities!

Joshua made his 1st trip to see Dr. Parmlee the Dentist! He was so excited to go because he wanted to get a new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste just like Nicholas gets when he goes to see the dentist. Nick was in charge of taking Joshua with him for a check-up/cleaning since I am in charge of taking Nicholas when I go for my dental appointments. Daddy said that Joshua did a great job and had NO CAVITIES!! He was able to get his picture taken and put on the no cavity club board in Dr. Parmlee's office. Make sure to check out his photo at your next appointment!

Leaf Art

Collecting the leaves for our art project. Thanks Mr. Paul (our neighbor) for donating leaves!
Our materials.
Nicholas hard at work.
Joshua hard at work.
Tah dah! Look at my leaf man!
And look at the great job Joshua did too!

Pumpkin Picking

Nicholas went on a pumpkin picking field trip with his class today! Per Nicholas's request, Daddy went along for the fun. They rode a school bus to Brautigam's Farm in Freeburg. Nicholas and Daddy had 2 other classmates join them while on the field trip. They both had a wonderful time searching for the perfect pumpkin!

Chicks dig scars

Do chicks really "dig" scars on guys? If the answer is yes then Joshua will be loved by the ladies! Today, while out shopping for a new microwave (our old one was making funny noises and smelled as if it was going to catch on fire at any second), Joshua took a tumble on the sidewalk. Lets just say that the sidewalk got the best of him. He was not watching where he was walking and tripped over the curb. He was not able to get his hands out of his pockets quick enough to stop from falling on his face. This is perfect timing because his school pictures are on Wednesday! Go figure, that's my Joshua for ya!

Life's little joys

Noah's little hand
Noah's little feet

Little hands and tiny feet,
Shy, and cute, and so petite
Outstretched fingers, wiggling toes
Baby Noah I do love them so!

Best Buddies

The other day, I was trying to snap some pics of Noah when all of a sudden Joshua pops himself right into the picture. It is hard to get a solo shot of Noah if Joshua is in the room. He wants to be right next to his, as he puts it, baby Noah. Joshua has really become quite good at being a big brother! At first, he had trouble transitioning from being the baby of the family to being an older brother. Now that Nicholas goes away to school all day, Joshua gets to spend 1 on 1 with his baby brother. Noah loves it when he acts silly and will giggle his little belly off! He especially likes it when Joshua sings to him! They like to play on the floor in the living and watch SpongeBob Sqaurepants together. I hope they remain best buddies for life!

Rub a dub dub

3 boys in the tub! Who do you think they were? Nicholas, Joshua, and baby Noah. Last night was the 1st bath my 3 boys had all together. I must say that the two oldest were excited to have their baby brother join them in the tubby. However, they were not excited when they noticed that they didn't have much room to play because Noah's seat took up too much space. I was able to get the boys singing in the tub for all of you to hear! Click on the video below to hear the concert.

Happy Birthday Bella!

Bella Marie turned 2 years old today. We celebrated her birthday by making her a birthday cake. We even sang happy birthday to our special doggy! She didn't get to eat the cake, but did get a scoop of ice cream!

What should I be?

The other day I pulled out our Halloween bin and started rummaging through all the costumes we have accumulated over the years. Noah was my little assistant. I had fun dressing him up and taking pictures of him. Unfortunately, everything we had was either to big or too small for him to wear for Halloween this year. Here are some cute and funny pics of my baby boy!

2 in and 1 out

Nicholas lost his 2nd baby tooth at Grandma Connie's house today. He wiggled it and wiggled it until it finally fell out! He was so excited to call and share the news with me while I was at work. Looks like the Tooth Fairy will be visiting our house tonight. I am sure she will not get lost because she was here not too long ago.

Noah's now has 2 teeth! His first tooth (bottom right front) came in last Saturday and the second one (bottom left front) came in yesterday! Can you believe my baby already has teeth? It is still hard to get a picture of his new teeth because they are so small and he will not hold his mouth open long enough for me to snap a pic!

A case of MCS

Anyone ever heard of Middle Child Syndrome? Well, I think my little Joshua has early stages of it and I may just have been the one to give it to him. Maybe it's all in my head, but I do often feel as though he is the "black sheep" of my 3 boys. Today confirmed my speculations.

Here is the story. Joshua did not go to preschool last Thursday due to him having a fever. (which we later found out was related to a double ear infection) The day he missed school, his teacher handed out permission slips for a field trip that took place today. When I picked Joshua up from school on Tuesday, his teacher handed me the permission slip. This was the 1st I had heard about a field trip. I immediately checked my calendar the moment we got home. Low and behold, I was scheduled to work. I quickly called my boss to explain the situation thinking she would help me out. No such luck! How could I miss his first ever field trip? Nick could not go on the field trip because one must attend a class in order to volunteer in the classroom and accompany their child on field trips. You guessed it. Nick did not take the class. Needless to say, I was not able to go with Joshua on the field trip to the Doctor's office today. (Dd is the letter of the week) Will he ever forgive me? Will I ever forgive myself ?