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!