A Trip To Cabela's and Some Friends

We had a relatively busy week compared to most.. On Monday, Noelle really wanted to go to Cabela's and see the animals. So, we met Tom there after work. Both children loved the gigantic fish tanks.
For dinner we headed up to the cafe and enjoyed some good food. Noelle loved just walking around seeing all the animals and attractions. Tom, walked around remembering the days when he could actually go hunting! Instead of buying hunting equipment we bought clothes for the children and fudge for the pregnant mama. Oh, how life has changed!
We spent awhile (surprisingly, a few hours) wandering around and having a good time. It is a great store to entertain the children, Tom, and I. It seems to have something for everyone and it's only about 20 minutes from our house, perfect!

Tuesday we headed to gymnastics. Noelle has gained much confidence and now seems to be a little leader. At times, all the little girls will be listening to the teacher and Noelle will hop up and say, "Let's go over here", and everyone follows her! Many times she will do something, like hang on the rings, and then shout very loudly to all, "I'm so good at gymnastics!". Such great confidence she has now!

After gymnastics I received a call from my good friend Stacy. She was on her way to visit for a few days. There was a bit of miscommunication and I thought she was coming the following week. No biggie, I briskly cleaned most of the house and excitedly waited.

I have not seen Stacy and her two children, Jacob and Kelana, since a few days before Max was born. Jacob is five months younger than Noelle and Kelana is four months older than Max. The kids got along great, minus a few sharing incidents by Noelle. We spent the next few days playing and enjoying each other's company. They left Thursday morning and Noelle has talked about the visit since then. We will be heading to their house in a few weeks to visit again.

Travelin' to Traverse City

Thursday we headed up to TC. My Mom had surgery on Tuesday and my Dad and brother headed to Minnesota for a hockey tournament. The thought of making the long drive with both children was enough to make sleep the night before very difficult. I stressed about every detail and packed enough things to last a week.

The drive was actually not bad at all. I think all my stressing prepared me for everything that could go wrong. The children only whined for a total of about 10 minutes for the little over five hour drive. We made one stop at a fast food restaurant for lunch and bathroom breaks. I was able to take care of both children, feed them, change diapers and go to the bathroom with no trouble. I guess all the traveling we do has paid off because they are little angels. A few dropped cups, stuffed animals, and night-nights were our only obstacles.
Noelle was extremely excited to see Granma and of course her "best friend" Abby and Duke (the dogs). Max was put down and the menacing ensued. He was into everything and had his first encounter with stairs. I had a feeling he would not have a problem with them and of course he was up them before we could even react. He's my monster through and through. That night Max was in the pack n' play in the room with me. He will never be doing that again. Every move I made he shot straight up and cried. I would try and not move until he settled down, the just move the slightest and he would again wake. It was a long night! I tried bringing him to bed with me and he climbed on me as if I was a jungle gym. Oh, what a long night. There were times he would nestle up against me and I would look down as his sweet face and just be in awe of him. Shortly thereafter one of his big meat hooks (we have dubbed his very large hands meat hooks) would come and slap me across the face! He is such a boy, a rough and tumble boy

Friday morning Aunt Ceecee arrived and was greeted by a very excited Noelle who ran out when she pulled up and shouted "I love you!". After a bit we headed out to do some shopping and to leave Granma alone in a quiet house to get a much needed nap. Noelle picked out a bunch of blue shirts, her favorite color as of now.

Here is a picture of Max doing his infamous pout:

Anytime Aunt Ceecee told him "NO!" for touching outlets he would bust out this pout and go into a very deep felt sob. We couldn't help but laugh!

We had a wonderful visit. I don't think we were much help to my Mom, more of an exhausting distraction! We headed out Saturday morning and again it was a fairly easy trip back with minimal complications.

Walker, Texas Ranger

In the past few days Max has taken his first step! He is no where near being a full walker, but he is on his way! He has also found a new talent for balancing on his own without the help of anything to steady him. Personally, it is kind of sad because he is my baby and I'm not ready for this. The good thing is that I'm sure he is at least (if not more) than a month away from fully walking. It wasn't a one time step by accident either, he has continued to do it and he I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he adds more steps to the mix. Noelle is doing great with her patch! She now begs to keep it on and it is hard to make her take it off after the three hours. I am so glad that is was a quick adjustment and not a daily fight. Yes behind Noelle the kitchen table is disastrous, the nausea has been very tough on me! A little messy house and two children to chase around while being nauseated is no big deal to me these days, there are more important things to worry about!Since becoming pretty good at walking behind things Max has a new job of pushing Noelle around on her "ride". Sometimes she uses her feet a little too much and quickly darts forward leaving Max desperately grabbing for air and then falling. They both seem to have a great time and I'm excited they have begun to truly play together and enjoy each other.

Patches O'Houlihan

Thursday we went to the pediatric ophthalmologist at University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center. It was not a great appointment. Noelle started off good, watching the fish and playing with the toys, then the wait started to get to her. She kept saying, "I want to go home" and "This is not fun".

They finally called her name and as I rounded up the children and started following the doctor Noelle says in a matter of fact voice, "This is terrible!". The doctor chuckled and then started the examination. Noelle had no problem doing the things she was asked and even stated after a little while, "This isn't so bad Mommy." Soon she was asked to state what she say on a projected screen at the other end of the room. A patch was covering her right eye and she had a lot of trouble seeing with her left.

The second doctor came in and it was concluded that the vision in her left eye has decreased. It is a problem that all of us Goodhue children have run into. One eye is always much weaker than the other. The fix - Noelle has to wear an eye patch over her right eye three hours every day. The good news is that surgery is still not needed at all, her eyes are straight as an arrow with her glasses.

They took a quick peak at Max and unfortunately saw a slight crossing of his eyes. Apparently, it was very slight and might not even need glasses to correct it, but it does need to be checked out with the thorough 4-5 hour exam. So, on December 18th (our wedding anniversary) I will be stuck in a small and crowded doctor's office for around 5 hours, with two children and my pregnant self...fun times! Hopefully Tom can take a few hours off to come and help. It isn't the end of the world if Max does need glasses, but I'm not thrilled about the fact at all. Damn that bad eye gene. It seems it is pretty strong...Thanks Mom!!

So, we tried the patch for the first time last evening. Oh, boy. It was NOT fun. Noelle hated it and kept saying, "The doctor told me I can take it off if I don't like it and I don't like it." Poor girl! It is very hard to convince her to keep it on, but we did last an hour. I am hoping for two hours tonight and just try to work up to three over the next few days. Note the very sad face Noelle is exhibiting below...poor girl!

100th One

Well it's my 100th post so I figured I would make this post the one that I officially announce to all we are expecting Baby Number Three!! Yippee!!!

Today, I went into the doctor and I am 10 weeks along (out of 40 for those who have no idea how long a full term pregnancy is). My due date is April 7, 2009! The baby had a very strong heartbeat and everything looks great. We are so excited and feel so blessed because we were told it would be hard to conceive on our own.

For the record I have a (I guess you can call it mother's intuition) feeling the baby will be another boy. Tom thinks girl, but he is wrong. We will most likely find out the sex during the 20 week ultrasound, unless the baby will not cooperate.

I have been tired and nauseated, but elated!

Noelle is aware of the new baby and seems very excited. She keeps coming up with names for us. One of her favorites is Ruby because of the TV show Max & Ruby. We told her the baby is very small and will be spending a few months in my belly to grow stronger and bigger . She then said without hesitation, "then the belly doctor will take the baby out when he is bigger." I guess she remembers what happened when Max was born! Max has no idea what is going on, but at 8 months old why would he even care?

Well that my news for my exciting 100th post! Wish us luck and a few prayers wouldn't hurt either!


P.S. - Max finally got his first tooth! The bottom left central incisor came through today (9/10/08). It's about time!! It looks like more will soon follow.

Granpa Roehrig

Saturday, Granpa Roehrig came in to spend the day with us. It is so nice to have him come so that we do not have to load up the car and make the drive over to Sturgis. We do not mind the drive, but it is a great change of pace to stick around our house.

Noelle was very excited and woke up wondering when Granpa Roehrig was coming. He arrived around 11am and brought dinner (yummy steaks), cookies, and books for Noelle. They quickly jumped on the couch and dove into books. There were many books from our recent outing to the library (Noelle's first time and definitely not her last since it was such a success) that Noelle was excited to show off.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying the children, watching football, and relaxing. We had a great dinner with delicious steaks and afterwards we all took a nice walk. Noelle was Granpa's little sidekick, walking alongside him and picking rocks. It was a really good day had by all. Come again soon Granpa Roehrig!!!!

Our Little Nastia Liukin

Well, she is FAR from that but Noelle did have her first gymnastics class on Tuesday, September 2nd. She was excited and very nervous. When we arrived she clung to me before the class started. She kept mumbling, "I so tired" and "I want to go home".



The class started and for a warm up they did a obstacle course around the gym. Noelle would not do it unless I held her hand. I set Max in the middle of the room. I just love all the padding everywhere, he crawled around like he owned the place and I had no worries!

After the first few times around the obstacle course, Noelle began to gain more confidence and do things on her own. The instructor did many different things with the children and Noelle seemed to grow more confident with each passing moment. I was even able to step back, but not out of sight, a few times. Her favorite part was the balance beam. She was even able to do the big balance beam a few feet on her own.

I wish I had pictures but there was no way I could get to my camera! Maybe next week.

I forgot to mention in my last post that Maximilian turned 8 months! He still has no teeth but his appetite for non baby food items keeps growing. Over the weekend we got out his little push toy and he gets behind it and cruises! I am amazed at how well he does. Sure, he does fall over occasionally but for 8 months I am in awe. The other day he was standing on the TV stand and let go and turned toward the toy bin and tried to walk, instead he fell face first. His courage and lack of fear impresses me daily.