And in a good way today!  Which is a good thing, because we've been spending A LOT of time together lately and we've had some not good tears. 
Since Ellie got here, I've been amazed at how well Noah has transitioned.  It's like nothing changed around here.  He doesn't get jealous, he's not mean to her, and he doesn't get all that mad when I tell him to hold on a minute (which is like 20 times a day) and he only tattles on her a few times a day. 

Today we were playing in Ellie's room and she grabbed a hold of his shirt.  I took a deep breath because I just knew I was going to have the "she's just a baby" convo with him again.  He started to whine, stopped and laughed and said "she likes my shirt...she grabbed, babies just do that Mommy"  Ahhh...I can breath...no melt down because she touched him.  He then put his sleeve out again so that she could grab it.  Laughed his big ol belly laugh and smiled.  Then he put his hand out so she could grab it and said "look Mommy we're holding hands!"  My eyes filled with tears, and flashes of them walking together everywhere came into my head.  I just know he's going to be such a good big brother (if he can ever stop tattling on her).  I stopped, thanked God for my children and my husband.  I love little moments like that where God shows you just what He's done for you in your life...make sure you thank Him!

(shiver me timbers...I gotta go be Captain Hook...with the Veggie Tales...and possibly Batman)

Busy Hands

While on maternity leave with Ellie I taught myself how to crochet, with the hopes of making a few headbands for her....well I accomplished the few headbands goal...but then exceeded it tremendously. I can't help myself and I can't stop. I enjoy this so much, but I'm quickly running out of girls to crochet for. Do I dare attempt to sell them, the thought keeps crossing my mind and with an entire summer in front of me, it's an enticing idea.

Any ideas or suggestions???

God Sighting

While I was driving to work this morning, the guys on the radio were talking about God sightings, I have a long ride to work, so I started thinking.

Almost two years ago, Richard was in a car accident, not his first, but by far the worst. He was rear ended while at a stop. I had to drive past the accident on my way to UVA to get him and when I passed, his car was still there, with Noah's car seat sitting on top of the car. Noah wasn't with him, thank God, but that's a wake up call and a half to any momma! I cried and prayed my whole car ride, got lost, cried some more, had my mom pulling up maps on her computer at her house to get me to Richard.

The car was totalled as you can imagine, a mustang where the odometer has stopped working, is probably ready to retire anyway. A mustang you can replace, a husband you can't. God watched over Richard that day, he was pretty banged up, but he was still here.

Whenever I pass by the spot where Richard's accident took place I always say a prayer and thank God for my husband and protecting him. Sometimes it gets overwhelming and I shed a tear, at the thought of what could have been. A few months ago as I drove by, it hit my harder than normal and as I got past the spot, I looked up and there was a sign that read "Jesus Loves You". Perfectly placed! Thank you Lord for loving us so much and thank you for protecting this family!

30, 3 months and almost 3!

Wow...a whole month has come and gone again! Time continues to fly on by, sometimes a little too fast. My boys made me a fantastic cake for my birthday and mother's day. Listening to them attempt to decorate it themselves was quite entertaining...I heard phrases like "is it supposed to do that?" and "Noah get your fingers out of there" but I happily stayed in the living room to listen and giggle. Turning 30 wasn't so bad at all! I had a great day celebrating with my family and friends. Ellie's almost 4 months, but here's the 3 month picture...I'm so behind...with everything! I have yet to write in her baby book or get any pictures of her printed, poor second kid. If we ever had a third one, it would have to raise itself. Luckily this little lady is such a happy camper, she's okay with pretty much anything. She's loving life and we are loving her. Her smile takes away every bad thing in my mind and heart and makes me pause and thank the Lord for my sweet girl.

And then there's Noah...what can you say about him. He'll be 3 in a few weeks! He continues to make us laugh like no other and frustrates us the same. His vocabulary is a little to extensive for his own good and he's really struggling with who is allowed to tell him what to do and who he's not allowed to tell what to do. He still loves his sister and is not bothered by her in the least. He's still my cuddler, I cherish those moments when he curls up in my lap and even if its only for a minute, it gives me all the purpose I need. It encourages me to keep doing what we're doing, because even though we're hard on him, he still loves us (even though lately he says he only loves his Nana).

Maybe once school is over I'll catch up on my blog, maybe then I'll get pictures of Ellie printed, write in a baby book, crochet a million hats, get the basment finished, get my sister moved in, and really clean my house...............or maybe I'll just enjoy my kids and not stress the other stuff!

Naked Cowboy eat your heart out!

Ellie pooped today...aren't you excited! She sure was, it's been like four days! It was the kind of poop that required two parents, an entire package of wipes, a gas mask and a trash bag...luckily we had all those things, well except the gas mask. So in the midst of this breath holding diaper change, in runs.... ...The Naked Cowboy! All we could do is bust out in laughter...how could you not. The last time we had seen him, he had all his clothes on. He didn't actually call himself the Naked Cowboy...but that's all I could think of. He returned a few minutes later with nothing on...but Richard wasn't laughing anymore at that point...maybe the Ellie fumes had gotten to him.

Needless to say, we have a very happy little girl now!

Hiking

We needed some fresh air before I went back to work, so we took a family trip up to Skyline Drive a few weeks ago. We packed our picnic and off we went. Hoping to find a trail we could all walk, we set off. Noah said we were going to look for mountains with our binoculars! Believe it or not, Noah walked the entire 1.3 mile trail. He never really cried to be carried. He more cried when he had his "hiking stick" taken away because he was going to poke his eye out, or when he had to hold hands because the trail we picked had an incline like Mt. Everest! (Please note Daddy has the binoculars with us...to look for mountains of course)

Noah was so excited to see some snow!

Ellie hung (literally) in there with me! She barely made a peep the entire time!

More from that day.

Ellie's in there...somewhere!

Two Months

Where does time go???

We celebrated two months with Ellie on Saturday! It was just Noah and I, so we made Ellie's picture...gotta say, I'm loving this little tradition! I love having Noah help - please take note this picture includes Ellie, a rainbow, a giraffe, and a little truck - so he says :)

Ellie is weighing in at 11.2 pounds and 21.5 inches. And she doesn't have a Noah noggin, hers is in the 50th percentile! (Noah's head has always been in the 90th percentile). She smiles and talks and sleeps almost all night! She's had her first case of pink eye thanks to her sharing brother, but we survived!

Speaking of my little man...he's not so little anymore! I can't believe he'll be 3 in June. He talks more than ever and is as dramatic as some of the 4th graders I work with! I love his imagination and his heart!

George wanted in on the pictures too, George is Noah's toy of the week. Each week Noah seems to find a new stuffed animal he loves and then it has to sleep in his bed with him. No biggie except he doesn't usually kick anyone out of the bed...so at any given time Noah has about 6-10 different animals in his bed.

I have to go back to work on Wednesday, I'm gonna miss this time with Ellie and my extra time with Noah. I'm gonna miss sleeping in and wearing my pj's all day, and believe it or not, I'm gonna miss my trips to Walmart (one kid and weekday mornings make for good walmart trips!). But I miss my job and a paycheck!

The Sisterhood of the Renninger Girls

***I apologize ahead of time if this post causes tears...I haven't written it yet, but I can only imagine. Recently my little sister came to visit for a few days and this post started brewing in my head...then I got distracted by my new obsession...no not Ellie...but I'll post that another day.

My sister and I are 5 years apart...well 4 years and 11 months to be exact...and that's to the day! I think I remember the day she was born, or it could just be a mom implanted memory!

Apparently we got along okay in the beginning! I'm sure I loved her because she was a baby and all cute and cuddly. I'm sure I resented her a little bit, I'm seeing some of that in my own house now! As we got older we played a lot! We spent hours outside in our blue tarp fort, complete with army cot, until our Dad built us the real cabin out of yard timbers. We had the most fabulous toy room in the basement...but you had to wear socks, concerte floors are cold! We were everything from teachers, to cooks to aliens (Nomis-only few will get this). I loved dressing my little sister up in those lovely dress up clothes from the 70's, and we were fabulous preformers - we have the videos to prove it! Cate was usually the preformer and I was the director - typical big sister right!

As we got older that relationship changed a lot!

We were very different girls as we got older. Cate was the athlete, I was the dancer. Cate traveled for sports all weekends, I hung out with friends all weekend. Cate didn't worry about boys, I couldn't stop worrying about them. We were sisters, but I don't remember us being all that close anymore. I think both of us were jealous of the other, for different reasons. I know I envied her athletic abilities (my middle school basketball career on the "B" team was nothing to write home about), I marveled at her ability to not care what anyone ese thought about her. And as the years went on I know she got tired of the comparisons between us!

And then we come to the present...and once again our relationship has changed again. This is my favorite part of the journey! Over the past few years, Cate and I have really regained our sister bond...or should I say created our bond, one I don't think we ever truely had until now. My marriage, the birth of my children, her education and now her upcoming marriage have really brought us together. She has become an amazing listener for me! And we've both gotten really good at cheering up the other's spirit. I miss her lots when I don't see her, and enjoy all the moments when I do! I think it took us both a while to figure out who we really are....

...and the funny thing is, I think we are a lot more alike than we ever knew! Love you Cay Cay and so proud of who you are and all that you have done!

Party Like a...

ROCK STAR!

That's right, I had to ask him again if that's what he said..."Mommy this is how you be a rock star!" Of course I had to ask how you "be a rock star", because every mommy wants to be a rock star too! Apparently you have to have on your pajamas you've had on all day and then wear some beaded necklace that your mom has tried to get rid of a million times!

You also have to shake your butt! I tried but he said I didn't do it right, maybe I didn't have the right beads...who knows! Oh well maybe tomorrow I can achieve Rock Stardom!

Thursday's Confessions

Thinking back over my day today, and most of my days, I have to giggle, I do some things that probably most mom's do, but if you weren't a mom, you'd wouldn't understand.

First off, I'm blogging while Noah is in the bathtub (what would we do without wireless internet and laptops?!?!)...I am so thankful he allowed me to break his regular routine of bath right before bed, because I know someone else will need a bath right around that same time! (And if you know Noah, he doesn't break routine well!)

This morning I was too lazy to put new sheets on his bed after his got all wet, so instead we went and slept on the couch.

I took him to daycare this morning, just to get out of the house by myself.

I've taught him how to turn on lights with a stool because I'm so flippin tired of walking down the hall to turn the bathroom or bedroom light on, because heaven forbid Noah go into a dark room. And we can't leave all the lights on because then our electric will go up, and with the price of gas we'd never afford both!

Today I took a load of laundry out of the dryer that had been there for 3 days. Did three more loads of laundry...that are folded but not put away...oh and one load is still in the dryer, might stay there for a few days!

I eat my son's "going to the potty candy"...even when I didn't go to the potty :)

I haven't kept up with what clothes Noah has at daycare, he had to come home in girls' skinny jeans today, with embellished pockets and all, he wasn't happy and I laughed (bad mommy).

When we got home today Noah wanted to watch TV, like always, I told him he had to go play in his room for 15 minutes, 30 minutes later he came out and asked if it was time to watch TV yet, I told him no, he had 5 more minutes. I was later punished for this act...

Look what I found once we got out of the tub! He also found all his old art work I've been saving and pulled every piece out. When I told him he wasn't supposed to do that he said "but its my art Mommy and I love it!"

I did eventually give in and let him watch a movie...well because...I'm tired and its just eaiser than saying no! I did make a wholesome dinner of pizza, apples, and cucumbers for him though while he was watching his moive! And I get him to eat his cucumbers by giving him ranch to dip them in...he's so my kid!

Movie is almost over and the little one is squirming...fingers crossed she doesn't wake up till after 8pm...then we get to sleep till at least 3am!

We're all in one piece!

We all survived our day without Daddy! I'm sure my performance as a Mommy wasn't award worthy, but my kids were all fed and may have even smiled a few times! I had to resort to my dear friend DVD player for some sanity. My house was a wreck, there was laundry left in the dryer, and some dishes left in the sink...but we did it! I even remembered to take a break from my need to put my house back together and play with that little boy who I'd been telling "Just a minute" all day!This is "struction" man and "fireman"...our mission was to fix his bed that apparently his friends had broken (not really...just in case you were wondering). Apparently firemen don't make very good "struction" men, because I was told, Mommy we aren't playing pretend anymore, oh well!

Oh and this is the "struction" man dance...yes they have a dance!

Thankful for a Sunday full of church, family, and relaxing! Gotta go find Richard, who has ventured off into the woods somewhere with Noah....someone's gotta make dinner!

The Big 1!

Ahhh...sweet silence! I have approx. 30 minutes before #2 wakes up and wants to eat again and about an hour or so before #1 wakes up and wants all the attention! The kids (that still sounds funny to say) and I are on our own today. Richard had to work and help his sister move, so needless to say, its been an interesting day so far! At one point today, I was trying to feed Ellie in her room, I had Noah beside me on his stool with his blanket and animals asking me "please hold me Mommy", beside him was Kapone crying to go out and behind the chair Mandy...how we all ended up in that tiny little room! To occupy Noah for a bit we made Ellie a Happy One Month sign...If you look closely, you can see the picture he drew of Ellie, I especially enjoy the big circle/triangle eyes! Today our little Ellie B turns one month old!

According to the Wii (we have no scale) she's weighing in at a little over 8lbs. I have no idea how long she is. She sometimes sleeps all night and then sometimes she likes to get up at 2am, either way, I love her sleeping habits at night. She hasn't quite decided what to do during the day. Sometimes she sleeps all day, other times she wants to be up and part of the party! She can roll from her belly to her back...she's a genius! She can lose a pacifier anywhere! She still wears newborn diapers and is just starting to fit into some 3 month clothes. She can sleep through church and the dogs barking, but squeaky floor boards wake her up! She loves her boys...she could stare at Richard and Noah for hours.

She has made the house feel complete. Noah is becoming a master at "what's wrong with Ellie", every time she cries he lets us know what she needs.This morning she was fussing as I was in the kitchen trying to get her bottle ready and I noticed she had stopped for a second, when I turned the corner to look, there was Noah rubbing her belly whispering "I gotcha Ellie Marie, its okay"...what a good big brother!