My Boy Painted a Tree Today

There are "things I should be doing 'online', but I'm just having too much fun with these guys:

Noel and Lennon are being super-cute fun together - MOST of the time...there are still the moments where I find Noel in the prolonged "hug" (read: strangle hold), or Lennon with a size 10 Toddler shoe in his face, but a lot of the time, it's good, and I think it only gets better. 

Today Noel painted a tree.  I'm impressed.

Noel (who introduces himself as "Noel Bowl"), age 2 yrs. 9 mo.

Tyler, We Want to Meet You!

When I first moved out on my own, I could not cook.  A gourmet meal to me was hummus and Wheat Thins.  A few years back, I worked from home.  Well, working from home for me, meant sitting in front of the TV with my laptop, working.  It was the life!  However, even with 200 channels (thank you, DirecTV), there were times when there wasn't much on TV.  I came across Food Network during one of these days, and it happened to be around Christmas time.  Tyler Florence, who was then the host of Food 911 (RIP), was helping someone make restaurant quality steaks.  I was hooked.  

We began to DVR episodes of Food 911 and Tyler's Ultimate religiously.  We tried a LOT of Tyler's meals.  We watch Tyler's Ultimate still, today, on pins and needles, wondering what amazing, incredible dish Tyler's going to show us how to make this week (sloppy joe's with squash slaw!?!)  To be quite frank, Elliott and I love Tyler.  We feel like he's our long lost brother.  He's the kind of guy you'd want to make you dinner, then hope that he'll sit down and eat with you.  We're pretty sure we'd get along with this guy like peanut butter and jelly (speaking of...).

So yesterday, I was checking Twitter, and I remebered a Fellow Twit had mentioned meeting him at the Food & Wine Festival in NYC.  I wanted to follow up and see how it was.  I confessed to her that he is my cooking inspiration...and the die was cast!  She gave me the idea to publicly ask for Tyler to come give my husband and I a cooking lesson.  In fact, I thought of an even better idea for Tyler's time with us!  I am a good cook, but my kitchen is insanely disorganized.  I'd love for him to help us get organized so we can cook his fab meals without feeling overwhelmed by our kitchen...and then, of course, we would use our new found skills to cook an insanely good meal together and eat it with him in our living room while we watch The Brady Kids cartoons or Scooby Doo.  That's not too much to ask, is it?!?  

Help me, my friends...get Tyler to come over!!!  Leave me a comment-I'll use it as a "petition".  Word is out on Twitter for anyone that knows Tyler, and I am guessing that with the power of social networking, we can get this to happen (ya know, if Tyler WANTS to *please!!*).  Thanks, everyone!!!

From the E$

I just really like this picture, don't you? My husband took it.

Who's Who?

Can you tell? I had one where they looked even more alike, but Lennon had his hand in his face, so I went with this one. They are the exactly the same age in these pictures. Lennon is doing great...he's a little bruiser & totally fearless. He's got someone he wants to keep up with, so he's ready to go. He still centipedes through the house, but now he just goes about 100 mph. He can pull himself up and has started working his way around tables and such. He loves his big brother, and his big bro is starting to love him back. It's pretty nice to have these two playing together. The past 8 months haven't been easy, but this makes up for it in spades. I love to see them smiling in each other's faces, and I reaaaaaaally love to see Noel give Lennon hugs and kisses. It's been a long time coming.

Peace

My youngest child has been quite disgruntled his entire life.  He just never seems comfortable, unless we are right by his side.  If he is awake, he wants to be around people.  There is nothing wrong with this, but it is just different from our first experience with Noel.  Noel was laid back, even as a baby.  We think it was because he was premature-he just took a few more months to sleep and keep growing, and it just made for a really calm babyhood for him.  I often wonder if Lennon would be a more relaxed child had he been born first...but he was born into a world of banging pots and pans together to make cymbals, and noisy toys and Yo Gabba Gabba.  He doesn't really have too many opportunities to just chill, like Noel did.  

This afternoon, I got home from work early.  When I noticed Lennon getting tired, I took him in our room and nursed him.  Just us.  Him & me, there in the quiet room, with nothing but the white noise of the fan.  I had the opportunity to look at him, and study him, and just be still.  He was more relaxed than I think he has ever been.  I held him.  With his head on my chest, he just laid there quietly, his eyes open, content.  At Peace.  Now, after almost 8 months, I think I finally understand this child (I'm slow to read people).  He needs a time to be calm, and still, and quiet.  He showed me something today, about myself that I just realized-I, too, need this quiet. 

A few minutes of calm during the chaos of life is important for all of us.  We are so wired these days to never take one single second away from tv, or music, or twitter, or facebook, or wii...I could go on and on...We can learn so much by listening to our children, who don't have to have all these distractions to be happy or fulfilled.  All they need is you.  All they need is you.

Good Times in October

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged. No excuses though, we'll just get on with the good stuff.

We think perhaps we should enter him in a mini-Brian Wilson look-alike contest. What do you think?

He's a little cuddler, especially at 4:00 AM. That's right, almost 8 months old, and still not sleeping through the night. Thoughts, ideas, tips?

On the BIG BOY playground. So exciting!

He knows he's adorable.

Amy & Laura are in a Hula Hoop Contest!

Amy, my MumsTheWurd! partner & friend, and I are Wii-ing it up together.  Today will mark my 5th day using the Wii Fit.  I don't know if I can explain in a blog post how much I despise exercising.  Perhaps this is why the Wii Fit called me a weakling and a couch potato...but anyway...

The Wii Fit is FUN!  It's exercise, but you can do things like Hula Hooping, Yoga, Strength Training with a trainer, etc.  It's something I can see myself doing every day for 30 minutes, at least.  Elliott & I are both love the sports disc too, which includes things like tennis, boxing, and bowling. 

The most interesting thing about the Wii Fit, is that it does a body test when you first plug it in, and tells you what you weigh, your BMI, sets goals, etc.  I was amazed!  I fell into a category I was ok with, but I know it could be better.  I'm pretty excited to see what happens over the next couple of weeks Wii-ing with Amy!

Over 4 days, I've done the Wii Fit for at least 25 minutes, done other games on the sports package (a workout too!), and done outside activities (like walking for 1 1/2 hrs. at the zoo)...and I gained 2 lbs., as of last night.  We'll see if that's different today, because I'd just had dinner when I did the body test last night. 

Amy & I will be logging our "activities" over the next couple of weeks to keep each other honest.  Right now, I think we both love the Hula Hoop most-Amy caught 5 hoops at once!  My highest was 3, but geesh, who knew hula hooping was such a freaking workout?  I have been feeling the effects of the workouts-I am SORE!!!