"Mine too much funs!"

We had a magical evening. After a holiday laser light show, a new light-up Santa hat, corndog Wacky Pack dinner with a train toy, and a tour of Christmas lights on the way home...

"Noah, did you have fun tonight?"



"Mine too much funs!"

But his huge grin said it wasn't too much at all. ;)

Little Drummer Boy

Yesterday, I reminded Noah that when he was Mia's age, he used to laugh and laugh at the "Pa-Rum-Pa-Pum-Pum" song. It's still a favorite -- today when it came on, he grabbed his drum and Baby Jesus, so he could play and sing to Him.



Excuse the pantslessness -- we're potty training.

Six Months!

Like mother, like daughter...


Submitted to Wordless Wednesday.

Amelia's Baptism

Click for slideshow of more photos

Pampers Gifts to Grow HACK

If you read this, and you buy Pampers (diapers OR wipes), here's a hint.

You know the Gifts to Grow codes inside the packages? They've improved the reward program lately so that you don't have to pay shipping costs on the toys and gifts. But back in the day, I was set on ordering the online rewards to avoid those costs, and I learned that you can't request the same gifts twice from the same Pampers account. Well, not the Shutterfly 8x8" Photo Book, anyway. So 200 points later, I realized how to get around it. Every time you reach your target goal to cash in points, start a new account. All it takes is a new email address, and we know those are easy to come by. If you run out of existing email addresses, did you know you can add "+anything" to your gmail address (janedoe+pampers@gmail.com) and it gets sent to the same inbox? Neat trick for flagging junkmail, from Pampers or anyone else.

There's a bigger perk to starting a new account every time you cash in points -- you also get to reuse all those freebie codes that are one per account. Below is a list of promo codes that have worked for me lately. Eleven points (give or take, some promos expire), just for starting over. At least 8 or 9 of these I used on my previous account as well, and probably the account before that. Plus, I think I'm getting more coupons in my actual mailbox now that I have 3 rewards accounts linked to my home address!

Promotional Code	STARTEARNINGNOW	1.00
Promotional Code	OHAMANDAAWGTG08	1.00
Promotional Code	WELCOMEBONUS089	1.00
Promotional Code	WELCOME2GTG0809	1.00
Promotional Code	THRIFTYMOMMYGTG	1.00
Promotional Code	JUSTBECAUSE2009	1.00
Promotional Code	GRATUIT89102009	1.00
Promotional Code	XKCMYXFVD96VXVK	3.00
Promotional Code	JOINTHEFUNGTG09	1.00

Updated 12/21/09: 7KRPTCWJJJ4K743
(10 pts on new scale, equivalent to 1.00 before)

Updated 12/27/09: happyholidays10
(10 pts on new scale, equivalent to 1.00 before)

Updated 12/30/09: GROWWITHVILLAGE
(10 pts on new scale, equivalent to 1.00 before)

Updated 2/10/2010: WELCOME2GTG2010
(10 pts on new scale, equivalent to 1.00 before)

Updated 2/10/2010: WELCOME2VILLAGE
(10 pts on new scale, equivalent to 1.00 before)

Updated 2/10/2010: GTGPLAY2USA2010
(30 pts on new scale, equivalent to 3.00 before)


Let me know in the comments if you know of any other Promo Codes that are still valid. And if you have regular codes from diapers or wipes that you're not using (unlike the promos, those can only be entered one time), I'd be happy to dedicate a page to you in my next Shutterfly 8x8" Photo Book. Send me an email!

Perfect

It's beautiful to see them so in love with each other. Noah kisses Mia on the back of her head (he always has), where he can be tickled by her crazy hair but she can't slobber on him. Mia squeals with delight when Noah hugs her, and grabs for him when he tries to quickly slip past her.



He patiently turns away when she reaches for his eyes, and protests when Daddy "rescues" him by taking her from his cozy bed.



And they're both learning how to share, right alongside each other.
Tell me things stay this perfect!

She's crawling!

While Noah was reading bedtime stories tonight, Mia was working on a surprise performance of her own, scooting across the living room in her own version of a 3-legged race. Or 2 arms and a leg, if you want to get picky about it. By the time Mommy and Daddy caught on, she was really moving fast. Now instead of puddles of drool, we have trails of slime!

She has also really started grabbing and hugging and petting Noah in the past week or so. I'll bet she's chasing him around the house before too long now.

Happy Halloween!

Curious George


Monkeys love Bananas!


Professor Wiseman, Curious George, The Man in the Yellow Hat, and a little Chiquita


The Man in the Yellow Hat


Ding Dong was Noah's favorite part.


Overall, Trick or Treating was a huge hit!

Uh-Fly

Noah blew mommy and daddy away last night. PoPo brought him some alphabet flash cards, and yesterday he wanted to look at them. We weren't too shocked that he could name every letter, but we had no idea that he knew all the phonetic sounds to go along with them. "C: kuh-kuh-kuh." All 26. Who teaches him this stuff? PBS? Daycare?

It made me pause when I realized he was reading better than he could speak. Case in point: Noah doesn't say "butterfly" yet. Until recently, he just called them "flies," but this week he's added a syllable so that it's more like "uh-fly." One of the flashcards last night had a butterfly on it, to which he said "B: buh-buh-buh...uh-fly." I could see the little wheels spinning like mad in his head when he realized what was going on in his mouth. I think we might see another verbal explosion in the coming days!

Wednesday Words

No Wordless Wednesday post this week. It's Wednesday, but I don't have a photo. It was too precious a moment to grab a camera. Yesterday evening, Noah caught a butterfly in the yard. He was tickled pink to get to hold it in his hands, up close and personal, and I was in awe that he could hold it gently enough to not kill it or pull a wing off.

He must have let that butterfly go and recaptured it some 3 or 4 times before I realized that this was going to end badly, without some intervention on my part. After all, this was a butterfly that let itself be caught by a barehanded 2 year-old. It was not flying well before Noah caught it, and while it miraculously seemed no worse for the wear so far, I knew our luck wouldn't last forever. So Daddy was enlisted to create an irresistable diversion ("Look, Noah, a KEY! Can you come unlock the shed for Daddy?") while Mommy helped the butterfly fly over the fence. Crisis averted. But it sure was fun while it lasted!

Says Who?!?

(Submitted to Wordless Wednesday)

This Little Light of Mine

This week Noah has started to really sing along (and talk a lot more), and he thought this song was big fun... especially the bushel part. There's a funny surprise at 0:58.

Big Kid Beds

Mia says "It's about time I got my own bed around here!"


Noah would've shared a photo of his new big boy bed as well, but he was too eager to get in and go night-night tonight!!

Not Yet!!

Did she really just crawl off the mat?



(I feel compelled to point out that, though my carpet is far from immaculate, THAT particular spot is drool from Ms. Bubbles here.)

Amelia's Red Egg Party

(see MORE)

up, up and away!

I think he needs a handful of these to complete his Curious George costume for Halloween. Whaddyathink?

To round things out

Here are a few recent photos of Amelia. She's as happy as can be lately, and talking up a storm!



This one was at the creekhouse over Labor Day weekend. Love those kissable toes peeking out.


You can see other photos of the fishing tournament here.

It's too quiet around here...

Where's Noah?



That's a lot of stickers you've got there!


Not that you can really tell on top of THAT T-shirt...

Three Little Monkeys

(My first Wordless Wednesday post)

Because if there's no photo, it didn't really happen...

We've hit the pool 3 out of the last 4 days, and yesterday Mia got more than her toes wet. First time in the pool, and wouldn't you know, we forgot the camera. But wait! We have cell phones! Sadly, we've had camera phones for half a decade now, and we almost never think to use them to their full potential. But yesterday the lightbulbs went off, we remembered the phone's camera, and the milestone got recorded after all. Here ya go!

What's your excuse?

Thanks, Aunt Simone!!

Play Time!

Amelia's getting into all of Noah's old fun toys these days.



And so is Noah...



He looks so comfy in there it makes me want a bouncer in my size!

Snug as a Bug

I promised I'd post a photo of my latest sewing project, a pouch sling. I found the pattern at KarmaBaby, and I can't believe I didn't make one sooner for Noah. This one fits a lot better than my trusty New Native, and the fabric has a wee bit of give, which makes a world of difference. Plus, I learned to sew a "French seam," so I feel all domestic and stuff now.


I never love pictures of myself, but I love the closeups on each of the kids' faces here.

Camera? What's that?

I don't think about getting out the camera often enough...
Babies grow up so fast, don't they?





This was my first week back to school for meetings and such, and we all survived. Noah had lots of fun playing at Ms. D's house again, and was excited to introduce her to his little sister. Amelia did really well, except for the part where she was expected to drink my milk from a *gasp* bottle! We had been practicing, so it wasn't too bad, but she did hold out longer and longer each day (till 3:30 on Thursday!), waiting for the milk on tap. Today she finally relented a little, but I won't be surprised if we start over again on Monday. At least we know she won't wither away. Did I mention she was in the 97th percentile at her two-month checkup?

Crafty

Speaking of crafty blogs, someone (Tara?) linked to this pattern on Make It and Love It for a reversible nursing cover, and I just had to try it out. It was so much fun I made two! (Blame the nesting bug, this was back in mid-May.) I never used a cover with Noah, but it is pretty convenient in restaurants and such. I'm not terribly modest about breastfeeding, but I hate to show off my belly!


Next time I'll show you my more recent project, the pouch sling I sewed after a pattern from KarmaBaby. I love the way it turned out; I can't believe I didn't make one sooner!

Chalk Paint Fun

I recently discovered another crafty website called Skip to my Lou, where I stumbled upon this cool recipe for Chalk Paint. It looked like fun, but there haven't been many sub-100 degree days this summer to try it out. We got lucky this afternoon, and had a blast.





Supposedly it's washable, but at the rate this drought is going, our artwork might become a permanent feature on the back porch.

even purplemouth makes me smile!

...yes, purplemouth. Gentian Violet to be precise. The other stuff (the stuff that doesn't stain everything in sight) didn't help Amelia's thrush, so we're trying the colorful route.

Wanna see?



If you google gentian violet, you'll appreciate that mommy actually did a pretty clean job!

clean diapers make me smile, too!

daddy makes me smile

Finger Painting

Before:

(notice the one finger method -- he was copying mommy!)

After:


Mommy feels so brave!

(Yes, they were the washable variety)

Little Helper

Noah & Mia

A Busy Week

Last week, Noah turned Two Years Old! (wow, time flies...)



And Amelia enjoyed her first week at home.



As you can imagine, there were too many photos to share here, so click these links (or click the photos) for slideshows of each milestone...

Introducing...

Amelia Jane Gee, born May 28, 2009 at 12:10am.
8 lbs, 3.5 oz. and 20.75in.