A Preschool Love Story

This picture has nothing to do with this entry. It's only up here because it's cute and I don't have a camera to take pictures of the events below. I promise we will get one soon so I won't have to rely on my mom's camera and Mike's phone.


So I picked up Evan from school one day and we stopped at a bench on the way home. Evan whispered something in Noah's ear. I asked him what he told his brother and he said, "I told Noah that Evelyn is the most prettiest girl in the whole world."

WHAT!!!! It took all my willpower not to make a big deal out of it. "Yes, Evelyn is pretty." I agreed, but I was freaking out on the inside. It was the first time I ever heard Evan say anything like that without being prompted. Milely Cyrus is one thing, but I think it's just because Mike and I make such a big deal out of it. When we got home, Evan whispered in my ear as I took off his shoes in the mudroom, "Evelyn patted me on my head today." He was giddy! My 3 year old has a crush!

Not only that, but Evan's best friend at school is Naomi. If anything I thought it would be her. Ms. Catie tells me they play together all the time. Evan even told me,"Naomi does silly things that the other kids don't do." I asked him like what - does she say silly things? And Evan replied, "Yes, and she pretends to fall on the ground - that's silly! The other kids don't do that." Today he told me, "Naomi knows my name." Apparently, Evan doesn't really even hang out with Evelyn. Okay...

Here's another funny preschool story. Actually, it starts out not so funny. Evan got sick at school. We walked there in the morning. He jumped on the rocks... no hint of what's to come. So he got there and apparently didn't want to participate in anything. He looked tired and didn't play. They took his temp and it was high. They called me. I didn't answer. My stupid phone was buried somewhere. Then Evan threw up. All over. Noah and I innocently came to pick him up and the teachers greeted me at the lunchroom door where all the kids were eating, but Evan. He was passed out asleep on a couch in the corner, laying on a huge teddy bear in his spare set of clothes. The back of his little head was facing me and his arms were wrapped around the bear. I can't even describe to you how my heart broke and how adorable and sad he looked on that couch. It took a lot to wake him and I had to make him walk to the car since I couldn't carry him with Noah strapped on the front of me in the Bjorn.

I made Evan a bed on the couch when we got home and we watched tv and read until his nap. This is what he told me, "I threw up all over Ella, a girl with long, yellow hair." Oh no! Ella's parents probably want to kill me for sending my sick kid to school and who in turn, threw up all over their daughter.

I wrote an email to the school and asked about poor little Ella, whose hair was long, yellow and curly now. A few nights later at the school harvest party Ms. Kathy, the director laughed when I approached her. Evan had thrown up on his teacher, Ms. Bethany, whose hair is long, blonde and stick straight. No curls. She had been carrying him at the time! She was coated in vomit and had to go up to the thrift store on the second floor to purchase a $2 outfit that she wore the rest of the day.

When I told Evan that his one teacher's name was Bethany, he cracked up and was like O that's right! Her name is Bethany... I thought it was Ella!

Apparently there is an Ella in his class too. And as for Evan, he's never sick more than a few hours. The very next day he was jumping off the couch, telling me he's bored.

Also, speaking of the school's harvest party, it was a few nights after Evan was sick. I wasn't going to go at first since Mike was traveling, Evan was recovering, and it was bitter cold. but we went anyway and I'm so glad we did. I threw the kids in their costumes and warm clothes, put Noah in his stroller - and we were off! It was dark and the families were told to bring flashlights. We roasted our own hot dogs and marshmallows, there were games, tons of food. It was small - it's a small school, but it was fun. We saw Evelyn, dressed as a princess! She said, "Hi, Evan!" and Evan smiled shyly and turned his head away. Then he threw up on her. Just kidding!

Noah fell asleep in his chicken costume and we walked home down Main St. in the dark with the sound of kids blowing whistles in the distance (the whistles were some of the prizes... every kid wanted a whistle). It was a magical, crisp, Halloween-feeling night. I just wish Mike could've been there to share it with us!

Halloween Fun

Here we are at Menz's haunted house restaurant. For those of you who know Menz's, it's pretty much a haunted house without the decorations with its dark, meandering rooms and taxidermy. When I was little, I was there with my parents and ordered a fried chicken basket. Then I couldn't eat it because the stuffed 2-headed animals made me visualize that I was eating a 2-headed chicken. My dad snapped, "It would taste the same, 2-headed or not - Eat it!" I couldn't...

Anyway, they decorated the place with black lights and monsters that pop out when you push the buttons. Then they give you flashlights to read the menu. Evan loved it, "This is the best restaurant EVER!" We all had to take turns taking him to the "scary room". Where he would scare us over and over again with a man where Evan would remove his head and then push a button and a dracula would pop out of a coffin. All kids in costume could pick out a Halloween prize out of a treasure chest. Evan chose a viking-style ax that he wanted to bring to church the next day.



That's not Evan's actual Halloween costume. We lost his fireman jacket! So he picked out the mailman costume our neighbors gave us.



This is before Noah put on his costume- we were running late as usual and had change him at the restaurant. We had plenty of time. We had to wait an hour, even with reservations. Thank God for the arcade and rides outside the restaurant.



Our NoNo was such a good boy... Even though it was super late for him. He doesn't like to miss out on anything, just like his brother. Didn't these brothers both make the cutest little chickens ever?

Noah at 6 mos.


Evan at 9 mos.


Here is Evan scaring us.



Unfortunately, Menz's is much more expensive now then it was when I was little. No more fried chicken baskets. So my mom and I ordered the clam strips platter (the cheapest thing on the menu) and split them with Evan. Mike ordered pork chops and did the same. So Evan had a little of everything, but skipped the applesauce. He is totally NOT into applesauce anymore. I don't know what happened. Anyway, it's going to be part of the Cronin family Halloween tradition from now on.

Noah is 6 months!

Look at our little imp!


Look at him again.


And Again...


And AGAIN!


The last 2 remind me of the movie Overboard when Kurt Russell was showing Goldie Hawn doctored wedding pics, trying to convince her they were married. Noah's face looks like hers in those shots. Mouth open, confused expression.

You can't tell here, but he really is the most happiest person on earth. He loves everybody and everything. He's been at the fireworks this summer and didn't flinch. The Acme check-out lady could pick him up and bring him home and he'd be perfectly happy. Our realtor stopped over the other day and Noah started cracking up at her and put out his arms for her to carry him. He was in my arms at the time- wanting to transfer to her! Little punk. He gives everyone a big, toothless grin and if anyone smiles back at him he cracks up like they just told him the funniest joke. Oh he is cute. Even his hair... the softest, silkiest little baby fuzz you ever felt.

Well, here's the story on the milk. It's going away. Probably because Noah isn't much on nursing. My body knows it's hooked up to a machine and the supply just isn't there anymore. Marti told me the same thing happened to her at 6 mos. So on Noah's 6 mo. birthday (my and Mike's anniversary), I had to give Noah formula. He made this awful face and only drank about a half ounce. Mike tried feeding him later on that night and he drank a bottle then puked it up all over Mike (I was in the kitchen making dinner, crying... feeling so badly for my baby). Poor Noah is used to human milk and his little body didn't know what to do with something that was cow milk based. I tasted it and it was yuck. It had this awful metallic flavor. Tears were streaming down my face with that first bottle and I kept apologizing to him. So then we tried Earths' Best Organic and Noah tolerates it. The key word is tolerates. Also, it's making him constipated and he's been spitting up a lot more. I can't wait to see what it's going to do to his poops. I'm still giving him as much breast milk as I can, but I don't know for how long unless Noah starts nursing again to bring back the supply.

Also, Noah has been eating rice cereal since a week before his 6 mo. mark (and now oatmeal and squash). I grind up some banana for him now and again since he's been eating that since (sshhhh 5 months). It's funny because babies develop their palate partially from what you eat and they get through your breast milk. That's probably why Evan doesn't eat a lot of meat, because by the time he was a few months old I wasn't eating meat... Just fish. And Evan really likes seafood. He eats chicken and pork on occasion, as long as it doesn't have breading on it, but he's not much into red meat, except for an occasional pepperoni or hamburger and Very Rarely does Evan ever eat a hamburger. That most likely came from me. So now I eat everything with Noah, so it will be interesting to see what he ends up liking. Right now it's everything. He's been trying to grab food out of my hand and shove it in his mouth since he was 3 months.

But I have to give Evan some credit. He did try my homemade chili. He promised me he would when I told him I was going to put it in the crock pot. And he did. He took 2 bites and said "Yum. It's very good!" So asked him to take another bite and he said "No thank you!" I guess it wasn't THAT good. But that's how we usually get him. I always ask that he tries something once and if he likes it - awesome. If not, then don't eat it. At least you tried it and you know. Then we try again in a few months and keep our fingers crossed. It seems to work for now, but then again our boy is getting older and is much better with eating then he used to be. I can't take all the credit. I have to give some to the tv that distracts him enough to sneak things past him sometimes. That's us Cronins. We sit around the dinner table and eat dinner while staring at Phineas and Ferb.

Trip to VA (and playset pictures - finally!)

We have no pictures of this trip. Our next big purchase is going to have to be a new camera. In the meantime, please view Evan's Aunt Kelly's montage of pictures of the cousins: Evan and Noah with Jack and Kate. They're all wearing jack o'lantern jammies from Mima. It may take a minute to load, but it's worth the wait - You're going to poop your pants it's so cute!


Kelly's Pictures (Click Me)

The ride to and from VA was awful, but the actual time spent on vacation was fantastic. The first half of the trip Mike talked his way into us getting a suite. It had a kitchenette, dining room table, 2 bathrooms (tv in one - Mike and Evan were very pleased.) The boys and I bummed around and shopped while Mike worked. One night we joined him at an outdoor reception and Noah had a chance to meet all of his coworkers (some had only seen him when he was first born). He was super cute and funny and charmed everyone. Mima and PoPo met us one day to hang out too. After 3 days in the hotel, we headed over to the Giffords. Evan and Jack ran around like maniacs and we got to see their newly finished basement - incredible!! A pub-like bar, tv/family space, toy/play space, beautiful bathroom and a workout room. We all got to meet Kate and they met Noah for the first time. Kate wasn't feeling Mike at first with his beard (I think she prefers big, curly moustaches), but by the end of the trip she warmed up to him and now they're almost best friends!

Some bad news for me and Noah. The trip was the start of me losing my milk supply. On the way down I thought I wasn't producing due to stress, which was probably partly true. But after a second session of only an ounce or so, I knew I was in trouble. More to come about this on Noah's 6 month update, but in the meantime I have to pull out some pictures or my sister and mom will yell at me for writing too much and not showing anything so.... Here's something I've been meaning to post for a very long time - Evan and Noah's new playset!!!!! Evan loves locking his grandmother and aunt in the clubhouse part. Poor Brittany actually thought she was locked in and kept screaming for help.

And here are some shots of Evan and Noah's playset being installed in August. It happened to be on the same day our old neighbors from Roxborough came for the weekend.

Evan had no idea this was happening. He knew there was a surprise from his grandparents and that's it. He and my mom were coming back from a walk when it arrived on a big trailor. Evan thought the little front end loader was his too. He seriously did.





Then we got to reap the rewards! My favorite part is the trapeze bars at the right. I like doing a little flip. Just in case you can't see: a club house with a door with keys, windows that open with screens, a porch, a rock wall, a slide, a tire swing under the clubhouse, 2 swings (one we replaced with a baby swing), trapeze, monkey bars.


O ya... a periscope, steering wheel and telescope mounted on the porch. The boys' playset is nicer than our house.