Oh-Bla-Di

So it’s been nearly a month since I’ve updated this blog.  To be honest, that’s a little hard to believe because Noah’s birthday seems like it was yesterday…or maybe last week.  So, it seems as though it’s been a fast month.  On the other hand, little dude’s birthday may as well have been a lifetime ago for all that has happened.  We’ve been busy living life at a mostly frenetic pace so, when we’ve had slow moments in which I could be blogging, I’ve chosen to simply be present and put memories to rest only in my mind.

But, since just reading the archives of this place reminds me how weak my memory is for the details, I’m going to try to get some stuff recorded before it’s gone for good.

Since I last wrote, Matt’s been to San Antonio for a week, I’ve opened a new veterans center at UNLV and been to Champaign, IL, Ava started dance classes again and Noah has started walking.  To say we’ve been chasing life would be an understatement.

Matt’s trip to San Antonio was of the last minute, emergency kind since he needed to go visit Michael on his return from Afghanistan.  Michael was hurt, which I’m not really going to talk about until I have his permission, but we were (are) so grateful to have him home and on the road to recovery.  Matt was gone for 8 days, but I think that was probably only barely enough time.  We hope to head back to San Antonio in mid-October so the whole family can get to see him.

After two years of advocacy and foundation building, UNLV has finally opened a one-stop shop for veteran services.  I’m so excited about the possibilities for this center and really believe that it is a game-changer for UNLV student veterans.  We opened during the week that Matt was gone, so it was a little bittersweet (all my UNLV vets are someone’s Michael) and also a little hectic.  I don’t recommend single parenting during one’s most busy work week ever.  Chances are good stress levels will be high and patience levels will be low.  Last weekend, on Sunday, I traveled with Liz and another colleague to the University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign to do a presentation about our vets program at UNLV.  It was fairly well-received and we also were encouraged by other presentations that helped us to know we are on the right track with our work.

Noah transitioned to a new classroom at school during the week Matt was gone and has been having a great time in toddlers.  His teachers, Miss Amy, Miss Nettie, & Miss Abby, have all been awesome.  This is the classroom where Ava started at Bright Horizons, so we already feel pretty comfortable with how things go in there.  With only a week or so of peer pressure in the toddler room, Noah was up and walking almost everywhere.  He still crawls if it seems more convenient, but has realized how much more he’s able to do on two feet.  He’s a little steadier every day and is truly turning into a toddler.  At school he sits in a chair at a table to eat meals, sleeps on a cot & is learning to play nicely with others and follow directions.  At home, he plays a little more independently and still clearly thinks his big sister hung the moon.  No one can get him to laugh at silliness like she can.  At his 12 month well-baby check, he was completely normal.  He weighed 21 lbs, 5 oz, and was 30 inches long.  We had another doctor appointment about a week ago and he’d gained another pound.  Whole milk is really doing its thing for him.

Speaking of big sister, Ava has been learning so much at school lately.  Since last I posted, she’s learned about the solar system, bats, soccer, football, and cars.  The solar system, in particular, struck a chord and she’s still fascinated with all things planet, moon & stars.  She’s also started dance classes again and being six months older has obviously benefitted her.  She follows along a little better and isn’t the baby of the class anymore.  Whoozers is also just growing up, getting smarter.  Today, while we were playing outside, she wanted to write letters with her paintbrush and water.  It’s exciting to see her start to “get it.”

It’s our fourth year here in Vegas and that means it’s assignment matching time.  Matt got word last week that he’s got a job in Dayton, so we’ll be heading back there next summer.  We’re super excited to be heading back to our house – the one with the huge backyard and all the family-friendly activity so nearby.  That news has me pining for fall and trees and cooler weather but, alas, it’s 100 degrees here in Vegas still and it’s a full year until we’re back on the other side of the Mississippi.

Our house in Ohio.  Doesn’t it look cozy?

A couple of anecdotes to remember:

~The other night when I was asking Ava what she learned at school that day, she replied, “Mommy, why are you always asking about learn, learn, learn??”  So exasperated with the nightly inquisition!

~Noah is such a bruiser.  He comes home nearly every day from school with some sort of damage to his face from falling or running in to something.  On Tuesday when I picked him up after his latest incident, Abby kept a copy of the report and said, “Well, I’ll just add it to the pile!”

~After seeing Lion King on the stage at Mandalay Bay, Ava is obsessed.  The movie is an instant classic although she’d only seen it once before and we are constantly playing “Simba” and “Simba’s mommy or daddy.”  Preschoolers are wonderfully impressionable.

~While we thought that Ava was incredibly musically inclined as a baby, her little brother may just have her beat.  He shakes his booty like none other and even likes to conduct the music he’s hearing.  Doozers has a pretty good sense of rhythm already.

~Ava’s been begging to “go see Rebels” so we finally did last Saturday.  We went to a UNLV women’s volleyball match.  She loved it, even though they got trounced, and Noah also liked all the clapping.

~We took the kids to see fireworks, postponed from July 4th, at Lake Las Vegas last Saturday night.  Ava loved all but the finale – she didn’t like them all going off at once.  True to his “chillest baby ever” reputation, Noah was completely unfazed by the loud noises and explosions.

I hope to get a Noah-at-13-months post up soon, but I have a few days until he hits that milestone.  Probably I’m the worst Mom ever for missing the one year milestone, but we got a little sidetracked right about when I should have been writing it.  In light of that guilt, I’ll pledge to get it done this month.  Here’s to promises kept!