francesca's little men

Noah

1. All week he has been drawing pictures and taping them up on his walls, the hallway walls, the doors of each room and the front room walls. It has been driving me crazy. I finally took them all down and showed him a special drawer where he could put lal of his artwork. We designated a spot. I felt good about it. And today, he has spent all afternoon putting pictures back up around the house. There are 3 on the front room walls, one in the office and one on his door and currently, he is drawing more right next to me and asking for more tape. I should be mad but I'm not. It's the way he describes each picture - he's so animated and uses his hands and his eyes are huge while he explains about the aliens. The latest picture in the office that he just put up is a picture of a "fire pumpkin" ... you'd have to see it.

2. He wears this red, plastic fire fighter hat everywhere. He puts it on when he knows friends are coming over and when he goes in the backyard and sometimes wears it coupled with his superman cape. I love his sense of style. Today he wanted to wear it to preschool, but I said he couldn't. He said, "ok, then can I bring it in the car and wear it to Haley's house after preschool?" I said no. So I saw him go into his room and come out with his red fire fighter hat underneath his Detroit Tigers baseball cap. Who did he think he was fooling? I had him take it off, but it was cute that he loves that red fire fighter hat so much.

3. My friend Debbie stopped by today to drop something off. She brought in her two little kids. Her youngest boy is 4 months old. His name is Jonah. Noah loved Jonah. He sat and stared at him and hovered over the carseat and then I left the room to get something, came back in and saw Noah leaning into the carseat giving hugs and kisses to Jonah. It was hilarious ... and a little dangerous (you'd know what I meant if you ever saw Noah hug someone. It's a full body sport). Then he started singing, "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" and lurching Jonah's hands up in the air on the word "beam" ... it was cute and yet again, dangerous. But mostly cute. I made him stop, but I love that he loved Jonah so much.

*bonus* - Noah has been in his room "going to bed" (I use this term loosely) for about 3 minutes. He just came out and said, "Mommy! I just dreamed about something funny. I dreamed about a ..... ice gun!" He laughed then went back in his room to bed. First of all, who has a dream when they're not asleep and in 3 minutes? Second, you had to see his hands and face when he said it too - priceless.

Liam

1. He has been sick with a fever for 3 days now, so I went to the pediatrician today, Dr. Lacy (I like her). While we waited in the room for the doctor to show up Liam sat in my lap. He didn't move. I could feel his hot, feverish body against my chest and I looked down at his hands grasping mine as we just sat there silently. It was so beautiful. It made me think about Emma Smith. I did some research on her a few years ago. She lost one of her babies to a fever. The way she described the hurt she felt from losing her sweet little boy brought me to tears at the time - in her words she seemed desperate as she watched sickness take over his body and he died in her arms. What would I do if I couldn't bring my sweet little Liam to the doctor and give him Ibuprofen to get his fever down. As it was, I felt awful that the medicine was wearing off and he just sat in my arms, spent. His breathing was heavy and raspy, his voice was hoarse. I love him and I'm glad I can take care of him when he's sick.

2. We had hot dogs for dinner tonight. Liam LOVES hot dogs. He was so giddy about dinner that he got himself buckled into his seat at the table before we were ready to eat and sat there and kicked his legs in anticipation as I squirted mustard and ketchup on his hot dog. It was cute.

3. Liam woke up at 5:45 am, crying. Daniel brought him in bed with us and we gave him water and some more Ibuprofen because his fever had spiked again. He never went back to sleep. He just bumped around in bed with us and leaned over Daniel and said, "daddy?". At 8 am, after Daniel left for work, Liam had a little breakdown in the front room. Some argument with Noah. Anyway, I brought him in my bed with his favorite blanket and he fell asleep with me from 8 to 9:30 am. I didn't sleep well because Liam was snoring like an adult male with a serious sinus problem, but I loved looking over and seeing his completely relaxed body flopped over 3/4 of my side of the bed and his chubby thighs were nicely exposed. It was gorgeous.