The Simple Wife

The Simple (minded) Mother

Noelle — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:36:10 +0000

Instead of calling this blog “The Simple Wife” I briefly considered changing it to “The Simple Mother”…and I mean simple as in simple-minded. These last couple weeks have reminded of the true nobility of being a stay-at-home mom. Here’s what Robbie’s been up to try my patience, I mean, ahem, help me grow into a more loving, kind, patient mama.

Story # 1:

I was busy around the house and about to start cleaning up the front room when I was appalled to see that Robbie had taken the bathroom cleaner from the bathroom and was happily slathering himself in it. Maybe he liked the smell, maybe he was imitating me with body lotion, maybe he didn’t know WHAT he was doing, I don’t know, but I panicked. After a hysterical call to my husband, he sent me hunting for the number to poison control, and I tried to pull myself together enough to call them. Riley, of course, chose that moment to wake up from his nap and start screaming which always flusters me when I’m on the phone. By the time a way-too-calm person finally answered the line and had me read him all the dangers posted on the bottle, I just knew I would be told to rush my baby to the ER, so while trying to sound like a calm, put-together mother (in actuality I wanted to start bawling), I began getting my things together, trying to change clothes, and listen to what the nice man was telling me I saw Robbie sitting on the couch going through my purse. Of all the things to choose from, what did he choose to pull out and start eating? Hand sanitizer, of course. I froze in paranoia. I was ON THE PHONE with poison control because I wasn’t sure if my son had been eating bathroom cleaner and there he was…eating hand sanitizer! I just about lost it right then while desperately trying to think of what to do next. Ask the man to call off the search on the bathroom cleaner and switch to one on hand sanitizer? Would he think I was incompetent? Crazy? Ahhhh…the joys of motherhood. Thankfully, all turned out well. I was instructed not to let Robbie eat or drink anything for the next 3 hours and watch signs…none of which appeared and another crises was successfully averted. Story #2 to follow…

My little boddler

Noelle — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:57:37 +0000

Yes, I have coined a new phrase. Watching Robbie toddle around the house lately has given new meaning to the word “toddler”. However, seeing him in a little onesie today (as opposed to the khaki pants and button-down shirt he wore to church yesterday), reminded me that he is still a baby. That’s when it hit me! He’s a boddler…somewhere in that transition between baby and full-blown toddler. Of course, he’s working very hard on the transition. Just last week, while I got ready to vacuum, I ran into my room for a minute. When I came back into the living room, lo and behold! Robbie had taken the vacuum cleaner cord, dragged it across the living room, and was attempting to plug it into the outlet. Needless to say, I was impressed. He followed that impressive feat with going into the laundry room, getting the broom, and carrying it around the kitchen. And all this time I thought I should do chores while he was sleeping!

He’s also finally figured out how to clap his hands…of course, it could just be that he’s known how and hasn’t wanted to. It could very well be that he is merely following in the footsteps of his parents and loves applause. This coincides with how we’re learning to fold our hands when we pray. Sometimes he gets so overcome with joy that he claps instead of clasps…it’s all cute, though.

Today at lunch he surprised me by not only eating a whole bowl of mixed vegetables but half a burrito as well. As I write this he has alternated between playing with my ponytail, coaxing me to come play with him, and is now sitting on the edge of the couch turning the fan and lights off and on. I love being his mommy!

My Little Cookie Monster

Noelle — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:40:27 +0000

On Monday the weather decided to cool just enough for me to justify turning on the oven and baking chocolate chip cookies…something I really miss when it’s too hot to bake. Robbie happily pulled pots and pans out of their drawer and banged them on the kitchen floor until I had almost finished mixing up the batter. And suddenly…he noticed mommy doing something that looked more exciting than what he was doing! So I put him up on the counter so he could “help”. I gave him one of the beaters to lick and the next thing I knew he was trying to re-dip it in the bowl! He quickly decided that sticking his whole hand in the bowl gave him even more cookie dough, and before I knew it, not only my baby, but also my kitchen cabinets and counter were smeared with cookie dough.

Over the last two days we have both more than satisfied our cookie cravings. Robbie enjoyed having a cookied tacked onto breakfast, lunch, dinner and anytime inbetween that he could get his hands on one. Here’s some pictures of my little cookie monster.

Staying busy while mommy started the cookies

Yummy!

Cookie dough everywhere!

Reflections

Noelle — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 16:12:34 +0000

What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time I was in the hospital looking at my four day-old baby hooked up to an IV underneath a blue light, and today he is a happy healthy one year-old. Praise God!
Last year at this time I never imagined the joy it would bring me when he crawls into my lap and lays his head on my shoulder, to see him gaze in wonder at an object and then reach his pudgy hand out to grasp it. To hear him laugh hysterically when mommy or daddy tickles him; to see a huge smile spread across his face when I walk into a room. Ahhhhhh…I love being Robbie’s mommy!
In honor of his first birthday he got scrambled eggs for breakfast, taco bell for lunch, birthday cake, presents, phone calls from family, and tons of attention from mommy and daddy (wait–he gets that all the time!).

July 14, 2008

July 10, 2009

Ready, Set…I must be forgetting something!

Noelle — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:50:18 +0000

I’m sitting here, starting to feel exhausted. After Robbie woke us up I made a casserole for a funeral, went to the dentist, came home, cleaned the house and packed, went to an Open House at WOAK, came home, napped, did more cleaning and packing… In spite of all that, I feel remarkably on top of things considering that I’m leaving on a trip tomorrow. Usually I always feel somewhat panicked the day before a trip because of all I have to do and the more on my to-do list the more I procrastinate until I’m hastily throwing half my wardrobe into a suitcase at 10:00pm. Yes, I’m tired, but feel so incredibly peaceful (house is clean, laundry done, packing almost done), that I can’t help but wonder, what am I forgetting to do!?!?!?!?

Money, money, money

Noelle — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:47:22 +0000

I can’t say for certain the first time I saw a $100 bill, but one clear memory I have is when I was about seven years old and my family was going to Disneyland for the day. We had to go pick up the tickets at a friend’s house (they must have gotten a good deal on them or something), and I remember sitting next to my dad in the car while he held the $100 bill he would exchange for the tickets. Nowadays, it’s impossible for a family of five to go to Disneyland for $100, but at the time, I gazed in awe at the bill…humbled and amazed that my dad had that much money and we were going to use all of it to go to Disneyland.

Times have changed…I had to pay bills the other day. It’s a very bittersweet process. Bitter because I have to watch money leave our checking account (and hope that my horrid math skills will keep our checkbook somewhat balanced), but sweet because it means I’m on top of my duties as a housewife and we no longer owe anything (until the next month). I dashed off checks for the house, credit card, power bill, etc., writing them out for a few hundred here, several hundred there. After everything was finally signed and stamped and I collapsed on the couch next to David, I thought of that time when I saw that $100 bill my dad held and wondered when $100 started to seem like so little. I wish I knew!

I am hoping that Robbie will inherit his granddad’s monetary skills, and he’ll always be a good steward of what the Lord has blessed him with…and be much better at math than his mommy!

Auntie Rae’s Nephew

Noelle — Thu, 28 May 2009 20:50:32 +0000

When I was a little girl, and my sister Rachel was an even littler girl, mom had dad put child-proof locks on all of our kitchen cabinets because she got tired of dealing with the after-math that came from allowing Rachel to “explore her world”. I’m beginning to feel the same. However, Robbie has one-upped Auntie Rae…he can get into my kitchen cabinets that already have child-proof locks! I don’t mind being the mother of a genius, but somehow, this is not exactly what I had in mind. Here’s what my industrious little guy has been up to:

Hey, look what I can do!

Hmmm…what else can I pull out?

Yay! Now I got everything out!

New Haircut!

Noelle — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:45:19 +0000

On Friday I got my bi-annual haircut. I usually get it cut at the beginning of summer and sometime in the fall. I always spend a lot of time pondering what I’ll get for my new do, take a picture with me to the salon, chicken out, and wind up with the same cut I always have. My sweet husband gave me the okay on a rather short cut this time, so I took my picture of Reese Whitherspoon in “Sweet Home Alabama”, determined to go for it. In spite of my strong desire for something “different” and the permission from my husband, I still wavered after I showed the picture to the stylist and said, “Maybe can you make it a little longer than the picture?”

All things considered, I do like my summer style and am starting to realize that maybe this style just looks good on me…I just don’t want to start looking dated!

Ridin’ Robbie!

Noelle — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:21:44 +0000

At the ripe old age of ten months, Robbie has decided that sitting on his bottom while riding his motorcycle is much too blase. Here’s a clip of my little daredevil. I can’t imagine what he’ll be up to when he can actually walk!

One day, five hours, and…

Noelle — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:32:23 +0000

“Cinderella Meets Her Fella” has been finished for over a day and so far, I don’t have any affects of stage-loss! Wow! Either I’m getting more mature, or I’ve just been so busy getting my house back in order that I haven’t had time to sit around and mope. Considering that my house had been suffering through my recovery/maintaining stage after a bunch of company and a trip, I think it’s the latter. Here’s some of my favorite pictures I got of the production.

Cinderella and Fella

Me as Head Fairy Godmother Gladys