A Grateful Heart

As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed today, I saw a link to an article about a little 3 year old boy that was killed in a car crash last night.  My heart aches for that family and causes me to feel a deep sense of gratitude that my little ones went relatively unscathed in our accident last week.

 I'm grateful for…

• the 5 AM snuggles when we just don't want to sleep in our own bed. 
• the "I'm hungry mom" right before meal times.
• the giggles and squeals when they're playing together.
• the "Mommy your home!" shouts when I get home from teaching.
• the tugs on my pant legs while I'm getting ready in the bathroom.
• the sprints to keep Noah from hurting himself across the room.
• the "I'm sorry mom" and sweet I love you's from my two year old.
• the tupperware strewn all over the kitchen floor.
• the messes that are made when I get "help" making something.
• the adorable smiles when I get them up in the morning or from naps.
• the toys that I can never seem to stay on top of.
• the food that can constantly be found on the floor by the kitchen table.
• the screaming when I leave the room or get out of sight.
• the sound of "crashing" from cars, trucks, trains and tractors.
• the crying when they wake up from naps.
• the excitement when we get him from nursery and the crying when we leave.
• the mound of poopy diapers that my children produce.
• the splashes during bath time.
• the sticky table tops.
• the stroke of little hands caressing my face.  
• the crumbs all over my couches at the end of the day.
• all of these things because they mean I still get to see them in the morning.

I realize that some of the things that I find annoying or tedious are such precious memories in my heart. Future memories could be taken away in a moment and I'm grateful for the memories of my children that I have and for one more day to be with them.  I'm grateful it's not my time to say goodbye for a time and that I get to hug and kiss them tonight before bed.  Even through the crazy times and when it feels like I'm at my whits end, I wouldn't trade them for anything!  

The Evolution of Noah (a.k.a. Photo Dump)

So I kind of haven't been really good about updating my blog.  I guess that what happens when you don't have a lot of down time and if I do, I usually sleep, clean or veg out.  Hopefully Noah will be okay that every month of his life was not documented on the blog (just in the baby book) and won't be jealous of his brother…. ( ha ha ha).  I still find it hard to believe that he is almost one year old.  Time has gone by so fast and he has changed so much!  He is busy, busy, busy and too smart for his own good!  I think having a brother running everywhere has really motivated him to be mobile so quickly.  So here is my photo dump of the monthly pictures I took with my phone.

 Not excited about having his picture taken and not being held.

 A little happier about having our picture taken and cracking a smile.

Not sure what he thinks but at least he stays in one spot!

And the moving and blurry pictures begins!

I wish my phone camera had a faster shutter speed to catch this kid.

Look at those rolls!  It's a lot of work to keep those up!

I think it took me like 10 minutes to get a still shot of him.

I forgot to take a picture with a sticker until he was a week away form 9 months, so this random picture will have to do.

Standing and ready to take off!

Noah really is such a sweet baby!  Not that he doesn't have his moments of being cranky and angry but he is usually all smiles for anyone he meets (although we do frequently start with an open mouth stare:)!  He sleeps mostly through the night, but still wakes up once or twice.  We call him the boob snob because he refuses to take a bottle.  Before Noah, I thought that you could get any baby to take a bottle if you gave it enough time, and then I had Noah and that opinion went swiftly out the door!  To clarify, he has taken a bottle at times but it is very rare.  He LOVES Steven and get so excited when he gets up from a nap and comes out to see us.  Steven isn't always as excited to have Noah follow him everywhere since he just woke up.  I have absolutely loved having two boys together!  I feel very blessed to see them learn and love each other!  Melts my heart when Steven does "big brother" stuff and loves on his little brother, even though some times it is a little less gently.  Noah does not like to be alone, ever…so it works out that he is the second child.  He is also my little socialite and follows us all over the house.