Another Week Gone By

This week I took the children to visit my good friend Stacy at her home in Cass City. We left Tuesday morning and had an easy 2 1/2 hour drive there.
The children all got along well. Max, being the now champion walker made himself at home and traversed the house on two feet!

We had to hit up the indoor pool. Something that as soon as Noelle saw it she wanted in! She loved the water, but is not as comfortable as her friend Jacob (5 months younger) who can basically swim on his own in the pool. Max hated it and cried the whole time, maybe if we had an indoor pool and he was in it everyday he would love it (hint, hint, husband...).

Whole idea was to spend two night there. Well, that changed after the first night. For some reason Noelle and Max kept each other and me up basically the entire night. I felt like I had two newborns and did not get much sleep. I made the executive decision that we all needed a good nights rest and to leave Wednesday evening inside of on Thursday.

Stacy bought some pumpkins and paint for the children and Wednesday morning we left them have at it. It was a big hit and Noelle loved painting her pumpkin. Both of my children were beyond irritable for most of the day, Wednesday. By the time I had packed up and was ready to leave, I think it was a relief to Stacy and her children! Here are some goodbye pics...

Upon leaving the driveway, within mere minutes Max was out. Noelle shortly followed and I had about an hour and a half of much needed peace and quiet. Of course when all was going well we hit a cramp. About an hour from home the highway was shut down and we had to find another route. Not fun. Max was very cranky, wanting to get out very badly.

After getting back on track Noelle mentions she has to go to the bathroom very badly. I asked if she could hold it and she said she could. The frequent mentions of her bladder issue increased. We were only about 30 minutes from home, and the middle of nowhere. I sped up a bit and used as many diversion tactics as I could think of, i.e. songs that were very loud and very out of tune. I made a quick call to Tom to meet us outside when we pulled up (it was 7:40pm by the time we did reach home) and he quickly grabbed Noelle. She made it, but had a lot to expel by the time she did reach the bathroom. I was expecting an accident, but I guess her bladder is now capable of holding it for longer periods of time, not something we encourage all the time.

Let's see what else...on Friday I turned 25! Tom and the children got a few very nice presents and then they baked me a delicious chocolate cherry cola cake. Saturday, today, I was able to sleep in and Tom took care of the monsters most of the day and let me relax. For dinner he cooked me some wonderful salmon that we all enjoyed very much, even Noelle!

That's it for now.

Apple Picking

Max continues to gain more confidence and walks more and more each day. Crawling will soon (within days I do believe) be a thing of the past, sadly.
Noelle is very proud of Max and cheers him on most of the time. She has started to push him down because he gets to her faster than before. After she pushes him down she hugs and kisses him, but the initial act is still disciplined. (Below is a picture of Noelle with some dark brown eye shadow spread all over her face. She was so proud of her cosmetic feat we left in for the entire day!)
Saturday, we met up with the Mitzels for some apple picking fun. Noelle was very excited to spend some time with her buds. The crisp, cool weather was utterly perfect compared to the sweltering high 80 degrees we were met with last year at this time.
The wagon ride was a big hit with the kiddos. It went through a decorated forest with a bunch of characters that the children liked to point out. All three little girls had an apple in their hands as quickly as the men could pick them! On the ride back my usual on the go little boy fall asleep against me. It was a rare occasion that I was cherishing!
Fresh donuts and cider were then picked up and we ate them back at our house. When nap time for most of the children approached and meltdowns were not far off, the Mitzel Family headed off. It was a really great fall day, one that seems to be the perfect synonym for fall.

I took a quick video of Max walking today. He can walk about 25 steps on his own and he walks about 75% of the time! It still shocks me to see him walking up to me from a different room. He walks like Frankenstein, arms out to help stabilize his very wobbly body. Anything in his path well result in an immediate fall due to his lack of direction. But then again he is only nine months and he will only get better with time. We are all very proud of him!

A Night Alone

Before I write about this weekend I wanted to share some random things about the children before I forget them:

"Don't you talk at me like that Mommy" says Noelle when I try to be stern with her

While painting Noelle stepped down to whipe off some paint. I was doodling and when Noelle comes back to the table and sees what I did, thinking it was her own, she says, "Wow! I am such a great artist!"

Max is always referred to as "Mr. Meat hooks." or just "Meat hooks". She will say things like, "Hi Meat hooks, how are you?" Poor little guy actually responds to his new name!

When Max does something he is not supposed to Noelle usually says to me, "Mommy your son is a troublemaker!". Or when he gets up from a nap, "Mom your son is up."

Max now has two teeth (not relevant to this little story but I wanted to document it anyways) and can take up to five steps on his own. Every time he does take steps Noelle always says, "He's taking his first steps again!"

A favorite character of Noelle is Barack Obama...anytime a commercial comes on with him in it, she starts laughing hysterically. I mean, on the floor rolling around and wants to watch it over and over. When we ask her why she thinks he is so funny she comments that his name is very silly!

Max is getting better at walking and Noelle loves to hold his hands and help him along. Sometimes she goes too fast and he falls over, then she pulls him back up. The poor little guy loves it despite being dragged around.

Moving on to this weekend

On Friday Tom took the children to his Dad's house while I relaxed and enjoyed some much needed alone time. They left when Tom got home from work and didn't get back until 7:00pm on Saturday. I had over 24 hours of alone time! It was wonderful to say the least. I didn't know how much I really needed this break.

Before they left on Friday, Noelle got her Halloween costume in the mail. I had asked her what she wanted to be and gave her a bunch of ideas. She was set on being a doctor. I found a great costume online and had "Roehrig MD" embroidered on the jacket, and it came with a real stethoscope. Noelle was instantly smitten with the costume and called herself, "Noelle Roehrig MD" while wearing it. I know it will be something that she dresses up in for years to come.
While I was sleeping in on Saturday, cleaning, and relaxing, Tom, Granpa Roehrig and the children went to a local (to Sturgis, Mi) apple/pumpkin farm and had great fun. The pictures speak for themselves:

That's it for now...we're off to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather outside!

Early October

Thursday Aunt Ceecee came to visit. Noelle was very excited and couldn't wait to see her, as were the rest of us.

That night I decided I needed a change of pace. After much consideration I told Charlotte to cut a lot of my hair off, and she did. Six inches came off! I love it! She also highlighted it a bunch (that happened during nap time on Friday) and the style is oh, so adorable, in my opinion. It it very easy to blow dry and doesn't take 45 minutes like before.

Friday, Max had his nine month well baby visit. Nine months! I can't believe he is that old! He weighed in at 19 lbs. 1 oz (25th percentile) and 29 inches (I believe the new nurse was way off on the height measurement as he was this tall one month ago. I have not remeasured him, but plan to). It was a relief to have Charlotte around because, for the first time since I have been going to this pediatrician, they were running way behind. It was so helpful to have someone there to help wrangle the children. Max is healthy and well. He did have a change in acid reflux medicine due to his continuation of spitting up, but other than that he is wonderful.

Friday evening we left the children with Charlotte and headed out for a romantic dinner for two! It was what we needed. We went our favorite little Mexican restaurant and it was heaven to take our time enjoying our food! Our initial plan after dinner was to catch a movie but we were running a bit late and wouldn't make the movie. We decided instead to head to the store and pick up some odds and ends we needed. Exciting isn't it? To a childless couple this is just sad, but to us it was very nice to hold hands and slowly make our way through the store, not having to worry about getting out before any meltdowns occur.

Saturday we took advantage of the wonderfully cool, sunny weather and headed to the Toledo Zoo. It was a really nice trip, although a bit cramped for Charlotte on the ride to and from due to our small vehicle! We ate lunch there and spent about three hours wandering around enjoying the animals.

The above duck was told by Noelle, "Don't you shake your booty!" because of the way he waddled...he than tried to eat her feet and she was not thrilled about it!

Sunday, Aunt Ceecee departed. Tom then came down with some type of flu bug. He was confined to the bedroom and not doing well. We have been together for five years and I have never seen him that sick! Poor guy! I had a very very mild case of the same thing, thankfully. He stayed home from work on Monday, feeling a little better, but not that well.

Tuesday, toady, Tom decided he was feeling a lot better and off to work he went. I had a doctor's appointment today as well. Because I'm considered a, "high risk pregnancy" I get to have an ultrasound done every visit. Today the doctor asked if I was interested in finding out the sex of the baby. She looked and is about 65% sure we are having a GIRL!!! I was, and am, shocked since I thought I'm carrying a boy. The baby was moving a lot and she kept seeing something that may indicate a boy, but she gave me the answer of 65% for identifying the sex. I go back on November 5th and the baby will be bigger and it will be easier to see. I was just amazed at how much the baby has grown since 10 weeks. She (or still possibly, he) looked like a baby and not a little bean. I was able to see her/his little fingers opening and closing into fists, little legs bending and straightening and even the baby flipping around, it was incredible! I think I will consider the many ultrasounds a blessing because it will be amazing to see the baby grow.