Ginny Stone

Grandpa's work had an open house (boat) and we got to see the inside of a tug boat. This boat had many bedrooms, a lounge, an exercise room, and more. The people that work on this boat spend 30 days on and 30 days off.

The Ginny Stone
In the Captain's chair.

It took us a long time to convince Alex to get on the boat. Once he got on he was very nervous about going down the stairs.

In the Galley.

Playing outside

Alex loves riding his bike. He also loves playing with Oreo, however, Oreo doesn't feel the same way. If you can see it from the pictures, the poor dog is trying to get away from him.

Check out the dirty face.

some Alex-isms from the past week or so

This kid is getting funnier every day.

• The other day we went to get snowballs but Alex kept calling his a snowman.
• ‎"Mommy helllllppppppppp!" Alex calls from the bathroom. "Alex, how did you get one foot in the toilet?" I still wonder.
• ‎"oh no, I'm stuck." so mommy walks to see where he's stuck. The foot in the toilet again.
• Alex shoved paper in his underwear and pulled it out and put it right in my hand.
• "Alex, people do not drink from dog bowl." Alex proceeds to get on hands and knees and bark like a dog. Then, after I think I've established NOT to mess with the dog water, he's in it like he's scrubbing for surgery.
• Alex said, "Aw shit, Thomas is off. Aw shit, I need to turn Thomas on."
• ...and just today, Alex went to use the potty and I walked in after him...he didn't use the stool and I had to clean pee up that was all over the toilet seat. I wonder if he tried to sit or stand.

An adventurous day!

Alex has been defeating the childproof lever lock we have on the doors that go to the outside (the street). We had to go to Lowe's and get dead bolts that lock with a key on the inside. He is a pro at unlocking the door locks as well. On our way back from Lowe's we stopped and got snowballs. We went to this place by his daycare and as Patrick slowed down, Alex said, "Don't stop daddy." He thought we were bringing him to school. As we were eating snowballs, Alex was convinced that his was a snowman. He kept saying his snowman was yummy.

Once we got home, Patrick started installing the locks. Alex refused to come inside. I was sitting inside and Patrick could see him from the door. Next thing we know, Alex walks to the middle of the driveway, pulls his pants down and pees.

It's Carnival Ti-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-ime!

Here's a little post of cute mispronunciations courtesy of Alex:

Parade= Parafe
Banana= puh-bana
octopus= op-uh-puss

And instead of floats, he calls them trains.

Parading

Here's Alex at the parades.

Endymion

Patrick scored free tickets to the Endymion Extravaganza. Here are a few pictures from the night. We did not take a picture together :(

A long-needed update

Alex has pretty much been fine since the flu. Last week he had a small fever at night then the next 2 days only ate breakfast and he had lots of gas. His farts sounded like a grown man's farts. He was fine after 2 days.

So, Patrick and I are going to the Endymion Extravaganza and I got a pretty, teal formal dress. I tried it on so Patrick could see it and I came out of the room and Alex had a huge smile on his face and said, "Hey Barbie!"

It was so cute. He thought I was Barbie! Makes an overweight, swollen pregnant woman feel really good.

48 hour flu?

Wednesday, the day he ran through the yard, Alex came down with a high fever. First of all he fell asleep around 6:50pm Wed. night and that is highly unusual. Midnight he woke with a fever then threw up the drink Patrick gave him. At midnight he had 102.7, we gave him Motrin and he had fever around 6am as well. He had fever and we gave him Motrin again. I called the dr to just see what they wanted to do with him, should I just monitor him, etc. They wanted us to come in that day.

He threw up at 11am, right when we were trying to leave for the dr., then threw up around the corner from the dr office. When we got to the office he had 104.7 fever and they gave him Advil and he threw up about 5 minutes later. They gave him more Advil and he kept it down. They took his temp a few more times and also gave him some pedialyte. They swabbed his nose for the flu and it came back positive for strain B. Alex and I both had the flu shot back in Oct. or Nov. I guess the life of the vaccine is short.

He spent all Thursday sleeping, sitting like a zombie, or throwing up. He woke up at 3am Friday morning with a 99.3 temp., gave him some more Motrin.

Finally at 8am Friday morning his fever broke and now it's 2pm and it's still gone. He slept from about 9:30-11:00 then woke up and wanted juice, milk, cereal, waffles, crackers/cheese (Lunchables). I gave him some Lucky Charms, sans charms. He ate 3 very small bowls of dry cereal. About an hour later he wanted waffles, so I gave him a waffle.

He's bouncing around like normal and wanting to play with his toys and go outside (but it's too cold for mommy's taste). He seems normal. Let's hope this stays.

The fun life of a SAHM

Well, it's been interesting. Decided to log in and tell you the newest. Alex has to help us let Oreo outside or a major meltdown ensues. After letting Oreo in the backyard, Alex decides to run outside...barefoot...into our boggy marshland of a backyard. Even the dog has enough sense not to go in that muck.

When I finally get Alex to come inside he has mud all over his feet. I pick him up and he asks for a paper towel. I just toss him in the tub and rinse his feet off. When he's done, he says, "Oh thanks, mommy. Now I all clean."

Yeah son, I did that just for you :) What a stinker.

ugh...10 days later

I'm such a slacker. Who knew being a stay at home mom (SAHM) would be such a job? So I've miserably failed at 365 photos. I'm still taking when I remember. I've also done a shoddy job at updating every day that I take a picture.

So, what's new?

Well, I'm in school. Yes, again. What better thing to do when you need money but are forbade to work (or get fired/sued) than take out a student loan to help pay bills. So here I am taking 6 hours at SLU. I decided to get certified to become a School Librarian so when the jobs are available I'll have that option already. I'm also taking one class toward SPED certification. Not that I want it, but I HAD to take 6 hours to get the loan.

Here are the books I've already read for the semester that started on Jan. 18.

*The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman (NB)

*The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (NB)~ One of my favorites of the children's books I've read. Very cute story.

*Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (CC)

*Tuesday by David Wiesner (CC)~Check this out, very different.

*Flotsam by David Wiesner (CC)~same as Tuesday, check it out

*The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster (CC)~ The story was cute, the illustrations drove me batty.

*Heaven by Angela Johnson (CSK)

*Currently reading Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes (CSK).

The assignment was to read 2 books in each category: Newbery (NB), Caldecott (CC), and Coretta Scott King (CSK). The First Part Last follows a character that appears in Heaven. I couldn't decide between the two CSK books so I decided to read the first few pages and see what caught my attention and I haven't been able to put down Nikki Grimes' Bronx Masquerade. I read Jazmin's Notebook years ago and remembered that I loved it. I think I like Nikki Grimes's style of writing.

officially a boy

Well, Alex did his first true boy thing today. He pulled his pants and underwear down and while I thought he was going to tell me he had to pee, he put his bare butt in the dog's face and told him to smell his stinky butt.

I have NO idea where he got that from. OMG.

oopsie

I missed a day or two of taking pictures. Darn it. I didn't even make 2 weeks. Well I'm not giving up.

He's finally getting it

We had virtually NO bathroom accidents all day! It's been about a month since we started this potty training adventure. Today he peed by himself pretty much all day, meaning we didn't prompt him to use the bathroom all the time. He had a mini-issue...he's peeing in his underwear a little then running to the bathroom. At least he's not doing it all on the floor.

He's still wearing a diaper to poop. We had 3 days where he did nothing at all then I gave him some chocolate covered raisins and with in the hour he had a massive poop in the diaper. Tonight he came to us (while Patrick was giving me my allergy shots) and he said, "I poo poo in underwear." I look down and he was pulling his poo covered fingers from his pants. Yuck! So we had a poop accident, but no pee!

We also went to Target but had him in a pull-up. He said he had to potty so we ran to the front of the store and Patrick brought him to potty. He kept his pull-up dry but wouldn't use the public toilets. He ended up peeing in his pull-up. I need to get this portable, fold-up potty for this exact issue.

Photo of the Day

Here he is at his party with his friend Kylee.

Happy Birthday Party

Hop on over to http://babynoble1.shutterfly.com to see the pictures.

Alex had a great time today. Thanks to all the friends and family who shared our day with us.

My hungry boy

For dinner, Alex ate 5 fish sticks, a fruit cup, fruit snacks, then just asked for "crackers cheese" which is his name for Lunchables. I did not want to waste one so we made our own crackers and cheese. I wonder if he's going to eat all 6 crackers.

It's almost a nightly struggle for him to eat his dinner and tonight he's wolfing all the food down.

Here are some other pictures from past few days.

This is how he woke up....with all of his cars in bed.

Photo of the Day

When I tell people that Alex tortures Oreo, this is what I mean.

Hold On

1) Alex was talking to Granny on the phone and I had just started a new Tom and Jerry episode. Alex wanted to dance and mimic Jerry so he told Granny, "Hold On" and he put the phone down on the table and started dancing.

2) The other night Alex did not want to finish his dinner (chicken nuggets). Daddy was eating chips and Alex wanted some. Patrick told him to finish his nuggets and he could get chips. Well as soon as Patrick left the room, Alex gave me the nugget and told me to eat it. When I told him no, he threw the nugget behind the couch and told Patrick he was done.

2 jellybeans!

When we started potty training we did 3 jellybeans for pee. That quickly became expensive so we droped it to 1 jellybean for pee and when he pooped I gave him 3. Well today I invented 2 jellybeans.

We left the house and went to the gas station then to Sonic to redeem his free birthday Wacky Pack Kids' Meal. On the way home he said he had to pee. I told him to hold it and he did for about 5 minutes. When we got out of the car, he was literally holding his pants at his penis. I guess that's where the boys get the holding from....when their parents tell them to hold their pee.

I was so excited that he didn't pee in his pants! For that, he got 2 jellybeans.

Photo of the Day

Not even a picture can deter me from watching Tom and Jerry. Alex is enjoying his Free Birthday Wacky Pals Meal from Sonic.

Photo of the Day

"Mommy, look at my hat!"

Photo of the Day

365 and some Lagniappe!

My first 365 photo project

http://365project.org/babynoble1/365

And for the New Year, a new name

Baby Noble 2 will be Ross Lucien Noble.

My dad's middle name is Rossell. Rossell was the last name of his father who passed away when my dad was an infant. It was also Lulu's first husband. Ross is from Rossell. Lucien is Patrick's great-grandfather's first name and his great uncle's middle name.

Love it or not, Ross Lucien it is.

My New Year's Eve Resolution

or some sort

I want to take at least one picuture of Alex every day 365 project. Patrick will likely think it's dumb, but I don't care.

Happy New Year

Happy 3rd Birthday, Alex

Oh, the embarrassment of Terrible Threes

Okay. What is the deal? He doesn't listen. He completely embarrassed me in the shoe store. I had to go out and get his stroller and strap him in. He dismantled the baby gate going to the upstairs in the shoe store, walked in the back where they carry shoe inventory, and just completely ignored me.

Then, for whatever reason, I decided to go to another store after and he did the same thing in there- throwing a fit because his stroller tray was snapped in place and he didn't want it like that. Once I tried shoes on him, he ran into the clothes dept. and I just had it.

This better end soon.

oh, but it doesn't end.

After I wrote the above, he peed on his scooter inside the house. About 20 minutes later, peed in his seat while eating dinner. The pee seeped through his booster seat on the kitchen chair and onto the floor. Then he used the 409 I had out to clean up the pee and he covered the table including our Mac, my laptop, his Leapster and some books with it. I just put him in the tub and waited for Patrick to get home. I need respite from today.

Yay, #2

Alex just pooped on the potty totally by himself. The downside was that he did it totally by himself.

I was eating lunch and he was playing in his room...or so I thought. The next thing I know he comes in stark naked and tells me he poo-pooed. So, I run in his room expecting to see a pile on the floor and it's not there. He's not in there either. I run to the bathroom and he's looking into the toilet. He has poop smeared on his leg and on the outside of the toilet. There's even a turd on the floor that fell through the hole in his step stool.

He didn't tell me he had to potty, but I guess that's just something you want privacy for. I had to bust out the wipes and clean him all up but he was so proud he went on the potty.