The odd things I find myself doing and saying now that I'm a parent

Everyone who's a parent knows that once you cross that road from child-free to parenthood, your life is never the same and all your preconceived thoughts and ideas about what you would and would not let your child do, play with, eat, etc are just completely out the window. For example, the germ-freak in me never would have thought I wouldn't bat an eye about dirty pacifiers, stepped on animal crackers and sippy cups from yesterday going into his mouth. I never would have imagined myself letting him play with tubes of lipstick from my makeup drawer, metal utensils or our cordless phones just to keep him happy for 5 minutes while I finish what I am doing. And I certainly never would have imagined that these phrases tend to come out of my mouth, very nearly on a daily basis:

"Noah, why is there a night-light, a piece of tupperware and a bunch of Lego's inside the litter box?" (meanwhile a light bulb is going off in my head as to why the cat has been following me around whining for 3 hours…)

"Where did you get that animal cracker you’re eating—I haven’t bought any in 3 months!" (I swear he stashes things all over the house to have for a “rainy day)

"Stop eating cat food...remember you didn't like it the last time either!"

"If you pull the cat’s tail one more time and she hurts you, don’t come running to me"

"How on earth did you reach that?" or
"How did you get all the way up there?" or
"How did you get your head stuck in that?" or
"How do you plan to get down from there?"

"We've been over this, You cannot eat lunch with a pacifier stuck in your mouth" or
"Please stop chewing on your foot so I can finish feeding you your dinner"

"Where did your diaper go?" closely followed by:
"What is this puddle from?"

"Sure you can play with this metal fork…just give me 5 more minutes on the phone…"

"How did you get the phone...OMG why is it dialing...did you call China...again?"

"There is a reason we take our clothes off for a bath"

"Night-night sweetie. If you sleep past 6a.m I’ll let you eat cookies for breakfast"

I've only been in the shower 140 seconds--how did you possibly empty my entire nightstand, closet and dresser onto the floor in that short time span?"

and the phrase I probably say most often these days:
"Oops, I thought that was baby-proofed..."

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful dads out there and an especially Happy Father's Day to my Dad as well as to my husband, David (easily 2 of my most favorite people in the world):) I had the privilege of growing up with an amazing, fun, caring, nurturing and supportive Dad who to this day is still his little girl's hero as well as one of her dearest friends. Now I have the honor of raising my son with a magnificent husband who is also such a good father that his little boy thinks he hung the moon. He is everything I could ever want as the father of my child. The Daddy-Noah reunion at the end of each day or at the end of each business trip is the sweetest thing in the world. When that door opens, Noah's face lights up like a Christmas tree and the pitter-patter of his little feet as he runs as fast as he possibly can across the room with his arms wide open into the big, strong, comforting embrace of his Daddy, all the while shouting "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!" And with no time to relax or recover from a long day at work, on the road, on a plane, in another country or from the horrible Atlanta traffic commute, it's on the floor for David as he tickles Noah, plays with him, showers him with hugs and kisses and elicits endless rounds of precious giggling. There is no greater love. I know I am lucky and not a day goes by that I don't thank God for my upbringing and for my current circumstances. I put together a framed photo collage of David and Noah from the last 18 months so he could take it to his office. Here it is--although it is a bit small so if you click on the photo you can see the detail much better.



What makes a Dad (author unknown)

God took the strength of a mountain
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages,
The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring,
The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity,
The depth of a family need,
Then God combined all these qualities and
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew his masterpiece was complete...
And so he called it...Dad.

Pictures from our weekend in Baltimore

So much fun playing with all the cousins!



More cute pics from playing outside



Noah had a blast playing outside. He is all boy, that's for sure.



Noah sleeping in Grandma's arms at the reception and then playing with Daddy and cousin Samantha.



Noah's twin cousins: Cameron and Lauren. Aawww aren't they adorable?



A fun visit with Great-Grandpa Nelson



Noah was so worried Samantha was going to "carjack" him that he finally just crawled out of the window. Still working on that whole "cooperative play" concept...


Christian enjoying the tire swing. What a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

God answers prayers...even if they are trivial!

This week was our much anticipated trip to Baltimore to visit David’s family. While looking forward to the trip for several months we were very worried about the travel plans. Flying with a 19 month old sounded just plain awful. We actually were going to drive the 13 hour trip just to avoid stressing out us and every other passenger on the plane but then the gas prices went up and the plane tickets came down and it just made more since to fly. I know most people who pray, pray for really important things such as world peace, the medical cure of a loved one or for their spouse to find a job. I’ll admit it, I must be shallow and last week I found myself, on numerous occasions, simply praying for a stress-free flight to Baltimore with Noah. I nearly worried myself to death about this flight. My prayers went something like this:

Dear God,
This is Cristie, Just a stay-at-home-mom of a very, very mobile, impatient,fast, fidgety, kinda loud, part-monkey (but oh-so-sweet and adorable) toddler. Yes, it’s Noah..I’m sure you know him. Anyway, please, please, please, please help him to actually be still, quiet and fairly easy on our flight this week. Please help him behave so the other passengers don’t give us evil looks and secretly wish Noah was riding in the baggage compartment. Please make sure he doesn’t vomit on board or have a diaper explosion that offends the noses of every passenger. Please, if he’s going to scream, help him find an “inside voice” that doesn’t carry for 12 miles like his normal screaming voice. Please, if he forces us to let him walk up and down the aisle because he can’t sit still, help him not to climb in the lap and bother every single stranger he finds in rows 4-28. Please help him not to continually kick the seat in front of him, throw toys at the people across the aisle from us or help himself to the neighboring passenger’s drinks and snacks on her tray table. And most importantly, please, please please help us to like him as much when we get off the plane as we do when we get on the plane. Amen

Well, all I’m gonna say is that God answers prayers…even trivial ones like this one. While our trip was still exhausting (how can it not be when flying with a toddler, a car seat, a stroller, 3 suitcases, David’s brief case and 2 other carry-ons) but it was quite surviveable. Noah was in a great mood at the airport and made tons of friends since he insisted on saying "hi" to every person he saw. He actually slept for 90% of both flights and was perfectly behaved throughout the airport, through security (and if you know the Atlanta airport, which is classified as the busiest airport in the world, you know that is quite an accomplishment), through the rental car ordeal and on the car rides as well. We got sooooo lucky and were so relieved.

We went to Baltimore because David's wonderful Aunt Linda was being ordained in the Episcopal church as a Deacon. I must admit, not being Episcopal, I've never been to an ordination (we kept calling it a coronation) but it was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful downtown cathedral and I'm glad I got to experience the occasion with all of David's family. David, Noah and I as well as the families of Linda's three children (except for Mark who is serving our country in Iraq) all stayed at the home of a close family friend. They were out of town on a cruise and gave all 16 of us (8 adults and 8 kids, 4 of which were infants or toddlers) the full use of their lovely home and had it completely stocked with food, linens, cribs, high chairs, pack-n-plays, bouncy seats,baby gates, toys, etc etc. Noah had a blast playing with all his cousins, running around in the huge yard and getting to visit with his 90+ year-old Great-Grandparents who also live in the area. As soon as I finish unpacking and can find the camera I will upload some pictures of the family reunion.

Noah tidbits

Here are a few random pictures from the last couple of days


This would be where Mommy accidently left the bag of animal crackers within toddler reach and they ended up all over the floor. He was stuffing them as fast as he could into his mouth when I found him.



And this is where he is showing the camera his mouth full of animal cracker crumbs!



Same day, but unrelated to the animal cracker mess. Self explanatory but this would be what happens when a 19 month old doesn't get his way




Kickin' back with a cold one. What a life!



For some reason Noah took off his pants before "cooking" in the "kitchen" with his little friend Logan. He didn't learn this from me. Maybe Daddy cooks like this when I'm not at home. Don't know.




Isn't this just the best picture! Good thing, since I will NOT be taking this kid to get formal portraits done again until he is about age 4 (see post from last week about passport picture disaster)



More cute pics...




Last but not least...our sweet baby was sooooo tired after playing all morning with Logan that he fell sound asleep while in his high chair eating lunch. He even had a bite still in his mouth that he hadn't finished chewing. He never woke up, even when I scrubbed all the peanut butter and jelly off of his face.