Our Friday

Let's see... it was pretty much a usual day.

I went for a run and then took Noah to school.

When I picked up Noah from school he and Cole were playing with some musical instruments.  Noah was playing the triangle.

After that we went to the bank and Noah choose a blue lollipop.  I think he likes those because they turn his whole mouth blue.

Morry picked up Evan today from school.  Noah wanted to come along too.  So, Morry and Noah rode the bike to get Evan.

This afternoon Morry played baseball in the front yard with the boys.

For dinner, we picked up Torchy's Tacos and ate at home.

Noah is calling to me to come down and read with him.  He loves doing that.

Soon, we'll get the boys ready for bed.

The Zoo and Haircuts

Evan was up early again this today Pretty much every day he’s been getting up around 7:30am and crying for Daddy. Like most mornings I put on a movie for him in the game room and went back to bed for about an hour. This morning Evan told me he slept in the game room. He must have fallen asleep on the couch?

Once Noah got up and I got the boys changed and fed we went to the zoo. We walked around a little bit and then sat at a picnic table and had lunch. Evan and Noah were very good. After lunch I bought a snow cone that we all shared. I got an extra cup for Evan.

After the zoo, I took Evan and Noah to Great Clips for haircuts. We didn’t have to wait and they were able to cut Evan and Noah’s hair at the same time. Noah finished a little before Evan and I let him have a lollypop. I was watching him eat it. He was doing fine, except he got a ton of sticky drool all over his shirt. When Evan finished his haircut he got a lollypop too and ate it very quickly.

Evan and Noah took good naps today.

For dinner, Morry made burgers on the grill.

We just gave the boys baths and now they are in bed.

JCC and Haircut

We had a busy day today.

For some reason Evan woke up at 7:15am. That’s early for him. I let him play in the gameroom while I lied down in bed some more. I didn’t truly go back to sleep. I know he’ll be ok in the gameroom, but I kept checking on him. I closed the bathroom doors and the gate at the top of the stairs.

Noah woke up around 9:00.

Once I got everyone dressed and fed we went to the JCC. We hadn’t been there in a while. Our normal playgroup is normally on Friday mornings. No one volunteered to host today. The playgroup is kind of fizzling since many kids are in pre-school and busy. Anyway, I decided to try the Tot Shabbat at the JCC again. Evan and Noah seemed to have a good time. Evan ate a lot of challah and juice. Noah enjoyed exploring the toys in the room. There were a lot of people there. I didn’t know anyone except for the lady that leads it. I talked to a few people.

After the JCC we went to the Great Clips near there. Evan and Noah really needed haircuts again. Great Clips is having a promotion. All haircuts are $6.99 and the deal ended today. We normally go to Great Clips, so I thought I might as well try to go today. It was busy in there and they told us the wait would be around 30 minutes. I put our names down and we went a few doors down to have lunch. The boys were very good at lunch. Evan and Noah shared a raisin bagel as well as other stuff from the diaper bag. I had lox and bagel. As we were about to leave I thought Noah had pooped so I wanted to change him. We went in the bathroom there. Luckily they had a changing table. I put Noah on the changing table. There was only pee in his diaper. I had his diaper off and was reaching across the table for the clean diaper. Noah started peeing. It went all over his socks, a little on his shorts that were at the end of the table, and on the table itself. The paper towels were on the other side of the bathroom. I couldn’t reach them. They were high up and the kind you have to wave your hand in front of to get the paper to come out. I had to ask Evan to get toilet paper for me. I cleaned up what I could with the toilet paper and then carried Noah over to the paper towels. What a mess!

After that we walked back to Great Clips. We had to wait just a minute and they were ready for us. Evan and Noah got good hair cuts and Evan got a lollipop.

When we got home Evan and Noah took very good naps.

When they woke up we Skyped with Grandma/Lynn. Evan was being very silly. Noah was excited, but kept saying “Papa” for some reason.

Morry got home from work and then we went out to dinner. We ate at Carinos. This week they were having “Moms eat free”. We thought it would be a good place anyway since the boys like pasta. We had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. Evan and Noah were very good and ate well. They had stuff from the diaper bag, bread, and spaghetti.

After that we went to Petco. We needed to get more food for Lizzy. Evan and Noah love Petco. They had a great time there. Evan loves looking at the fish. They both liked the mice and birds too.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed. Let’s hope they sleep well tonight.

Foggy Day

I was planning on taking the boys to the lake today, but it was foggy and drizzly this morning. We went over to Lamb’s to get my windshield wipers fixed. The other day one of the wiper blades just fell off. Since it was rainy today I had to go over there and get it fixed. After Lamb’s we went to the bank. As soon as we walked in Evan started asking for a lollipop. The teller asked him what color he wanted and he said red. By the time I finished depositing my checks and cash Evan had finished his lollipop.

When we got home Noah was really tired so I put him down for a nap. He slept for about an hour while Evan watched Toy Story. For lunch I made Evan sports mac and cheese. While I was getting it ready he ate a ton of pistachio nuts. He kept asking for more. Noah ate well at lunch, but just ate some mac and cheese. That was about it.

I put them down for naps, but didn’t get to take a nap myself since it seemed like one of them was always up. Once Evan fell asleep Noah started making noise. I had to go in his room, change him, and feed him to get Noah back to sleep.

Pretty soon after Morry got home the boys woke up from the naps. We took them outside and I gave them haircuts.

Then, we had dinner. I made crock pot Coke Ham. It was pretty good. We had some dinner rolls with it. Usually Evan eats ham, but for some reason he wouldn’t eat it tonight. He ended up just eating some Lunchables.

Noah went from a crawling position to sitting today all on his own. When I got him from his nap I watched him sit all by himself.

Evan and Noah are in bed now. It seems quiet.

Getting Better

Today was a better day. Evan had no fever today, but I still kept him home from school. He was acting much better today. He still didn’t eat much at lunch, but at least he ate a little.

Noah needed a haircut so I decided to trim his hair myself. I took the boys in the backyard and while I was cutting Noah’s hair Evan told me he wanted a haircut too. Evan was happy, but moving around a lot. It was difficult. I told him if he stood still and was good he could have a lollypop after his haircut. That kept him still.

We still have some candy from Halloween so I gave him one of the dumb-dumbs from his trick-or-treating. It was blue and he couldn’t wait to look in the mirror and see his blue tongue.

I put Evan and Noah down for a nap around 2:30 and Blanca came at 3:00. She said Noah slept until about 5:00 and Evan was still sleeping when Morry got home. Morry got him up around 6:00.

Since I was out tutoring Morry took the boys to McDonalds for dinner. He was going to take them to Chick-Fil-A, but when they drove by McDonalds on the way Evan was insisting on eating there. He’s only eaten at McDonalds 2 other times. Morry asked if he was sure that was where he wanted to go and he said yes. Morry said Evan ate very well. In fact, he ate his whole meal – all four chicken nuggets, apples, and cookies.

I got home around 8:00. We let the boys play a little before putting them to bed. They are in bed now. Noah is sleeping, but Evan is playing with his school bus.

A cold front blew in today. It was in the 70s when I left for tutoring and now it’s 37 degrees and raining and sleeting. Brrr!

Kevin’s house

This morning we went over to Yenis and Kevin’s house. We had a nice time and Evan and Kevin played well together. We ate lunch over there. Yenis and I made mac and cheese for the boys and had tortellini for us. We had planned to walk to the park near them, but it was cold outside. It was in the 50s today.

We stayed at their house until around 1:30 and then went to the bank. I had some checks and cash from tutoring to deposit. Evan was very excited about going to the bank. He asked the teller for a lollypop and told her he wanted a green one.

By the time we got home and I put Evan and Noah down for a nap it was 3:00. Evan didn’t fall asleep until probably 4:00. He was just playing in his room until then. He even turned his CD player on at one point.

Evan and Noah slept until about the time Morry got home. Then, we went to a new restaurant that opened near us. It’s called Natural Planet. We liked it and would go back there. Morry got a hamburger and I got a pasta with veggies. We were also able to order edamame for Evan.

At home I was finishing folding laundry and Evan was running around with his clean truck sheets. I put the pillowcase over his head and thought that was really funny. Then, he wouldn’t let me take it off. He was running around pretending like he couldn’t see and was running into things. Then I took the sheet and hung it from the dining room half wall to the couch to make a little tent. Evan loved that too.

Chuck E Cheese

Noah slept until 10:30am this morning. I’m glad. He really needed his sleep.

Ben and Molly had off of school today so we went with them to Chuck E Cheese. It was Evan’s first time there. He had a great time. The first thing we did was a little car ride that just moves up and down. Then, we played ski ball. Evan enjoyed rolling the ball and got it in the lower gutter a few times, but could not get it high enough to get any points. We played basketball and some other games. I thought I would try air hockey with Evan. I wasn’t sure if he would understand, but he did really well. He caught on pretty quickly on how to hit the puck. At the end we went to cash in our tickets for prizes. Evan chose an orange lollypop and I decided to save the rest of the tickets for another time so we can get a better prize.

My tutoring schedule for today was 3:30-5:30 and then 6:45-7:45. Since I had a break in between, Morry, Evan, and Noah met me for dinner at Chick-fil-A. We ordered a kids meal for Evan and he barely touched it. We decided to let him play on the playscape and then eat after playing. Evan loved the playscape and climbed all the way to the top, through the tunnels, and down the slide. That was the first time he has done that on his own. After he was done playing he said he was hungry and ready to eat. He ate well and finished all of his nuggets.

I got home around 8:15 and just put the boys to bed.

Day of Errands

We didn’t do anything too exciting today. We just ran some errands. The boys slept late and then we went to CVS and the bank.

As we were leaving CVS there was a mom and two little boys (maybe around 4 and 5) coming in. Evan was very excited to see the boys. He said, “Look, there’s a boy!” One of the boys noticed Evan, and Evan was very excited that they acknowledged him.

On the way to the bank Evan asked me if he could have a lollypop at the bank. I said he could and he told me he wanted a strawberry one. At the bank the teller gave Evan the box of lolly pops and let him choose which one he wanted. Evan picked the orange lolly pop. Before I got the wrapper off Evan told me he wanted to bite the lollypop. He ate the lollypop very quickly with just a few bites.

Both Evan and Noah were very good at CVS and the bank. I still have Noah in the infant car seat because it is so much easier to get in and out of the car, but it was pretty hard walking around CVS holding the car seat. I’m not sure how much longer I can do that.

For lunch Evan told me he wanted peanut butter and jelly. He helped spread the peanut butter and jelly on the bread. Evan enjoys doing that. I think it helps encourage him to eat his food as well. He finished the whole sandwich.

Evan and Noah took good naps and woke up around the time Morry got home.

We went to BJ’s for dinner and ran into Kennison, Nem, and their boys. They are the ones that bought our old house and who opened up the baby clothes store. We sat and talked to them for a little bit while we waited for our table. We ordered Evan a kids pizza and he actually ate a few slices of it. A lot of the time, when we order Evan something off a kid’s menu he ends up not touching it or hardly eating any. We have found that he has the greatest chance of eating restaurant food if they have pizza.

Evan and Noah just went to bed and so far, so good.

We have to get up somewhat early tomorrow. We are going to the University of Texas football game in the morning. We have season tickets and we decided this will be a good game to take the boys. They are playing Baylor and it shouldn’t be too rowdy.

Muffins at playgroup

Well, the neighbor’s barking/howling dog woke the boys up again. At least they were able to go back to sleep for a little bit.

We had playgroup this morning. All of the kids had fun. Evan was happy to see they had muffins there. He was asking me on the way there if he could have a muffin. I think he is starting to associate muffins with playgroup.

After playgroup we went to the bank. I had some checks and cash from tutoring to deposit. Evan gets very excited about going to the bank. He knows if we go inside he will get a lollipop. The teller asked him what color he wanted and he said yellow.

Next, we went to the library. We got some books and also some movies about trains.

For lunch Evan had cat grilled cheese and veggies. He ate pretty well. Noah had a big bowl of cereal, half a container of squash, and half of a container of sweet potato.

Haircuts

This is Morry posting for the first time on this blog. Rachel's feeding Noah right now, as well as getting everything ready for our dinner and dancing at the Oasis.

The Oasis is the "Sunset Capital of the World" according to their tagline. It's this amazing restaurant out on Lake Travis. Really, the thing that is amazing about it is the view. The food is less than extraordinary for sure. They have a restaurant and bar area. Sundays, during the spring summer and fall, a band called the Brew plays there. The Brew is a Latin band that plays Salsa and Latin jazz music. Rachel used to be a groupie. She may dispute the use of the word "groupie", but their first CD had a dedication to her in the cover. If that doesn't scream groupie, I don't know what does. They are a good band though and they are nice guys as well. We haven't seen them play in a long time. This will be the first time this year that we are going.

So you may be thinking, why is the post entitled "Haircuts" when all I've done so far is talk about the Oasis and whether or not Rachel could have been classified as a groupie or not. Well, both Evan and Noah got haircuts today. For Noah, it was his first "paid-for" haircut. My cousin Allison's husband gave him his first haircut when he was 3 months old. This was his first time going to get his hair cut. Evan was up first and he didn't seem to enjoy it. The only thing that kept him from having some sort of hissy fit was the promise of a lollipop at the end. He was in a cranky mood this morning and getting his hair cut wasn't necessarily his idea of fun. The guy did a good job but Evan's hair is very short again.

Noah was up next and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Noah was very calm back in July but he had spend the previous 2 days with Richard. When we took Evan to get his first hair cut when he was 6 months old, he screamed his head off. The 5 to 10 minutes it took to do the job felt like 30 or 40. You would have thought we were torturing the kid. So I wasn't sure what to expect when Noah sat down. The answer is I don't think you could have gotten any more opposite from Evan than the experience with Noah. Noah loved it. He was cooing and squealing and just enjoyed the whole experience. Everyone at Great Clips was looking over at Noah because he sounded so happy. These women were just amazed at Noah and told me that I have a "beautiful family". At the bottom of this post I've included photos of Noah getting his hair cut. We'll add a few of Evan just for comparison's sake later on this evening.

Meanwhile, Evan did get his lollipop - although the guy gave him a mango-flavored Dum-Dum. Evan didn't really like that flavor so he gave it to me. I got him a cherry-flavored lollipop. Now, I'm the type who sucks on a lollipop for about 30 seconds and then I chew it and eat it. I know this isn't good for my teeth and it annoys my mother to death, but I do it anyway. I picked it up from my dad. We both chew hard candy. Well, Evan saw me chew the lollipop and thought that was great. He thought he was supposed to suck on his lollipop. So he immediately chewed it up. I guess this will continue to be passed down from generation to generation among Belkin men.

So that's the end of my first post. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll probably make an appearance every now and then although Rachel will do most of the updating. And I'll probably get the occasional mention in her posts. Until next time...