The New Saying

Noah's new saying is "I don't want to".

He doesn't want to eat, he doesn't want to nap, he doesn't want to play trucks. Really?

So, then I ask him what he wants to do and he says "I want to watch a movie again."

Noah is obsessed with the Cars movie, The Bob the Builder movie on how to build a road and bridge, and Elmo's SpringTime movie. The Bob the Builder movie we are borrowing from Lisa and I soon realized that I am going to have to buy us our own copy of this movie.

If I would let Noah, he would watch those 3 movies all day long.

So, today, I started a new routine of only one movie per day. Thats it. Since Noah is 2 years old, this brought on a whole new type of meltdown. When you say "No" to a 2 year old, the day is no longer fun for any one. WOW!

I do not know how daycare handles a whole room full of 2 year olds saying "I don't want to" everyday! Geez!

Here is Noah watching the Cars movie!

2 year olds can be lots of fun too even if they have major meltdowns. Noah wanted to play hide and seek so he hid in our hallway closet. So, I pretended to look for him.

Here is our conversation:

I asked "Where's Noah? I can't find him"

Noah "I'm in the closet."

I asked again "Where's Noah? I can't find him"

Noah "I'm in the closet"

As soon as I open the closet, he is laughing so hard and he is loving this game of hide and seek.

Our first family photo as the 4 of us. Noah doesn't like family pictures. We tried the trick of saying "Show your teeth to Grandma". Well that didn't work as well as we wanted it to. We tried our best to get a good family photo.

Sweet Noel. So beautiful. So cuddly. Love.

Mike and I had date night in Appleton. Mike's Mom babysat. We ate at Good Company in Appleton. The fish plates we had were amazing! Mike had cod, I had perch and haddock. Super yummy! Then we went to OctoberFest Car Show on College Avenue in Appleton. We went to a few bars and at one of the bars the guy asked me if I was 21 and I said "Yes, I am 32". Then he let me in the bar. At least I didn't have to pull out my driver's license to prove it.

On Saturday, we went up to our land in Crivitz to clean out the camper. We are selling our land and waiting for payment from a couple. So, the land is almost sold with the camper. We are selling the land and camper because I don't like it. Mike loves it. I tried to love it, but I just don't.

After cleaning out our camper, Mike and Noah played at a playground in Crivitz.  

I wish Noah would smile like this during our family photo attempts. Telling him to "show his teeth and smile" usually works but sometimes his new saying comes up and he says "I don't want to smile". Oh my goodness!  

I just love these cake mix cookies with the cool whip (recipe is in one of my August 2011 posts). Instead of lemon cake mix, I used a yellow cake mix. Yummy!

If you love the above cookies, you will really love the below recipe "St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake". Don't hate me if you eat the whole pan in one day like we did.

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake
Ingredients

•1 Box Yellow Cake Mix

•1 large Egg

•1 Stick butter or margarine, melted

•8 oz cream cheese, softened

•2 large eggs beaten

•2 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

1.Preheat oven to 325°

2.Combine, Cake mix, 1 egg and melted margarine or butter.

3.Press into a greased 9×13 pan with your fingers

4.Blend, cream cheese, 2 beaten eggs, and powdered sugar until smooth.

5.Spread over first batter.

6.Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until edges are brown.

7.Dust with powdered sugar on top after cake has cooled

Noel eats about 23 oz per day. She eats every 2 to 3 hours sometimes she goes 4 hours. We write down all her feedings too. Noel is 4 weeks old today!


In the spirit of Noah's new saying, "I don't want to fold this huge pile of clean laundry in my living room right now". Hence the reason I am blogging instead.

Anyone have any good ideas on how to best deal with 2 year old melt downs and with the saying of "I don't want to"?  If so, leave your ideas under comments or email me.

Hille Happenings

Today, Noel is 3 weeks old. It's crazy how fast time goes. At her appointment last week, she weighed 6 lbs 13.5 ounces.

Her feedings are going well. She usually eats every 3 to 4 hours and she is eating 3 ounces every feeding which totals between 22 and 23 ounces per day!

We are trying to get her days and nights straightened out again. Last night was much better.

The night feedings are getting better. Mike does one feeding and I do the other feeding so we are both getting more sleep! Usually the feedings are at 12:30 AM and 4 AM.

Noah looks like a little boy with his helmet on instead of a toddler. He is growing up so fast!

Mike is teaching Noah how to ride 4 wheeler. Noah does very well.  

As promised, here are pictures of my hallway closet project. We have seperate bins for our hats and mittens, each family member has their own bin. Each family member also has their own hook for their coats.

Each family member also has their own bin for their shoes. Everything is labeled appropriately. I absolutely LOVE the closet now!

I love this picture of me and the kids!

Lately, I love to try to take pictures of the kids together.

Here is my fashion princess!

Noah showing off his 4 wheeler skills. 

We bought the kids new jammies for winter! Elmo and a cupcake is today's picture! We have lots of nice warm jammies now!

Noel looks so cute in her summer outfit!

Noah loves playing with his chalk on the sidewalk with Papa!

When it was still nice outside, I was getting the kids ready to go out and play . Suddenly, Noel started to scream.

So, I asked, "Noah, what did you do to your sister?"

Noah: "I pulled her toes"

Then I gave the friendly hourly lecture of how we have to be nice to Noel.  

For Halloween, Noah is going to be spiderman and Noel is going to be a pink skeleton!

I am already thinking about Christmas! It's only 3 months away you know!

Noah wants semi's, the lightening McQueen Semi, Army Trucks, GI Joes, Garbage Trucks, Cranes, Disney movies and Bob the Builder movies and sticker books. 

Noel will be 4 months old for Christmas and according to her sign of Virgo, this is what it says "She will be a picky eater, She likes things neat, organized and is very detail oriented and she likes educational toys". Hmmm....this sounds like someone I know very well. 

Mike wants a hot rod truck or rat rod car for Christmas.

I want a Capuccino maker or Kindle for Christmas.

The family wants an iPad for Christmas.

Hope all my co-workers are having fun at Epic's UGM this week!

Here's to a fabulous week everyone!

Experiencing the Stay at Home Mom Life

Being on Maternity Leave for 12 weeks lets me experience what life would be like as a Stay at Home Mom. Let me say this. WOW! I thought being a stay at home Mom would be easy. Yeah, not so. Life as a Stay at Home Mom is A LOT of work. It is rewarding and exhausting all at the same time. I really thought that Stay at Home Moms enjoyed watching TV and playing on the internet all day. Yeah, not so. Most Mom's probably only get 6 hours of sleep a night. It's too bad that Stay at Home Moms don't get a paycheck because they totally deserve one for all the work they do. (Mom, I don't know how you did all the house chores, cooked, cleaned, took care of 4 kids, and did the Farm chores morning and night----Mom, you are defintely super woman!).

Here is our daily schedule AND yes it really starts at Midnight:

Midnight- Alarm goes off and I feed and change Noel
12:40 AM- Back to Bed for 2 1/2 hours
3 AM- Alarm goes off and I feed and change Noel
3:40 AM- Back to Bed for 2 1/2 hours
6 AM- Alarm goes off and I feed and change Noel
6:40 AM- Back to Bed if Noah isn't up already
7 AM- Noah gets up if not already up, we watch Super Readers on PBS
7:30 AM- Make breakfast and Noah and I eat
8 AM- Art time with Noah after starting a load of laundry
8:30 AM- Stories or Stickers with Noah
9 AM- Put in another load of laundry and feed and change Noel
9:30 AM- Snack Time with Noah
10 AM- Play trucks and toys with Noah
10:30 AM- Do special project with Noah (today it was putting out the Autumn Decor)
11 AM- Make Lunch and Noah and I eat
11:30 AM- Noah naps for 1 hour, sometimes takes a nap at Noon instead
Noon- Feed and Change Noel, then do dishes and fold laundry, then I nap or blog if time
12:30 PM- Wake up Noah and have snack
1 PM- Play toys with Noah
2 PM- Another snack with Noah
2:30 PM- Time to go outside with Noah and Noel. Noah plays in the sandbox and on his playground set
3 PM- Feed and Change Noel
4 PM- Mike comes home from work, I start making dinner while Papa and Noah play outside
5 PM- Dinner with Mike and Noah
5:30 PM- Mike or I Clean up from Dinner and Dishes
6 PM- Mike or I Wash and Sterilize Bottles and then make bottles
6:30 PM- Mike feeds and changes Noel
7 PM- Mike or I give Noah a bath, Noah cleans up toys
7:30 PM- Mike gives Noah a Snack
7:45 PM- Stories or Movie with Noah, Noah brushes teeth
8 PM- Noah goes to bed (Noah gets up about 5 times to go potty between 8 and 9 pm)
9 PM- Noah finally falls asleep, I take a shower
9:30 PM- Mike feeds and changes Noel. I go to bed and sleep for 2 1/2 hours before midnight comes again for Noel's feeding

On Wednesdays, Noah goes to Polka Tots Day Care all day, so Noel and I get to hang out all day, mainly catching up on sleep!

At night and on the weekends, Mike spends lots of time with Noah. He takes him shopping, gives him motorcycle and 4 wheeler rides, takes Noah to the park, plays with him in the sandbox etc. Mike also gets up at night to feed Noel on the weekends. Mike is the perfect Dad to our kids! 

Like I said before, being a stay at home Mom is A LOT of work. I give A LOT of credit to all the stay at home Mom's out there. It's a lot of work, but rewarding at the same time. Noah comes up to me usually once a day and gives me a hug and says "Mama, I love you!". This is the sweetest moment of the day!

I really thought that this Maternity Leave was going to be alot like my last maternity leave. I didn't realize how lucky I was last time to sleep whenever the baby slept. Now with two kids, a nap is only possible when both kids are sleeping, which is only one hour a day. It's funny because I remember being exhausted when on maternity leave with Noah too, but now I look back and think, really? how could I be exhausted when I could sleep whenever the baby slept. That's all hindsight now.

Watch out Martha Stewart, Amy Hille is now a Mother of Two and loves being perfect and organizing too!

Don't worry co-workers, I love Epic and a PayCheck too much to be a stay at home Mom! (Non co-workers- Epic is the health care computer software I work on).

Sweet Noel. She is very content and the sweetest baby! I lucked out and I had two very content babies!

 I love cuddle time with Noel.

 Sweet baby feet! Love.

 Fashion Friday with Noel. She is one well dressed baby!

Mike built a huge sandbox and playground area for Noah in the backyard. It is awesome! We love it!

Noah loves his bath crayons to make art on the bath tub walls!

Art time with Noah at 8 AM.

Noah and I put out the Autumn Decor today!

Noah loves to help Mama and Mama loves his help! Today, Noah woke up at 7 AM and came into our bedroom and said, "I wake up and I am so happy!" How sweet it is to be 2 years old!

Yesterday, Noah and I worked on organizing the hallway closet so everyone has their own bin for their shoes, their own bin for their hats and mittens and their own hook for their coats. We don't have the labels put on the bins yet, so we will post pictures of this project next week.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Adjusting To A New Routine

We are all adjusting to a new routine at the Hille Household.

Sweet Noel. 

Noel wasn't eating very well with the Avent bottles so we went and bought Dr. Brown's bottles (per the recommendation of Dr. Kathuria) and now she is eating much better.


She eats every 2 to 3 hours, one ounce per feeding.

Noah likes to watch her and he is the big helper!
We love all of Noel's cute hair!

 Noah and Mike washed my car when I was on bedrest! I love my guys!

 Noah loves to build a garage for all his semi's, trucks, and cars.

 Noah's trucks, bus, and tractors all do wheelies!

I am so glad I put together a Hille Home Management Binder to put all of our To Do's, Menus, Shopping Lists, Noah's papers, Noel's papers, Projects, Cleaning, and Holiday Planning.

Sleep. We all want sleep.

I will try my best to update my blog once a week, but there are no guarentees. Naps will out win blogging.