Recovering Noah

Head on over to Sarah's blog (Sarah of Sarah's Covenant Homes) and watch her ADORABLE little girl, Shayna, sing a song that she wrote called "My Heart's Bamming." Shayna is just the cutest thing ever... and the song has a wonderful message that is pretty surprising coming from a little girl. I can tell that she's going to grow up to have a beautiful servant's heart... just like her mama. Click here for the VIDEO . Oh, and be sure to leave a comment for Shayna letting her know how much you enjoyed her song!

Look what Noah got today... And this... Oh my. If you could only have seen the look on his face. PURE JOY. Can you read the message that Anoop wrote? It says, "To Noah, from your biggest fan! Anoop Desai". When I read that to Noah, he had the biggest, sweetest smile on his face. So beautiful. And then he carried the button around the house for a good 20 minutes until I finally had to pry it away from him. I was telling Mike, aka Clefhangerfan, (the guy who orchestrated all of this) that sometimes Noah's behavior is so bizzare sometimes and he's so often in his own little world that I wonder if I didn't make all this up. You know, is it just a dream? Did it really happen? Was it just my imagination? But almost every single time that Noah hears Anoop sing on American Idol or listens to his CD's or gets a package in the mail, it never fails to bring a smile to his face. And it just lets me know that this is real. That music is powerful and it's healing ...

Why, yes, that is a shopping cart in the middle of my driveway. What? You haven't heard? All the cool moms have one. It definitely pays to have parents who are garage sale addicts. I just happened to mention my newest dilemma to my mom the other day and she said to come on over, go to their garage and pick up Noah's newest method of transportation. Confused? Let me explain.... A few days ago, I found myself face down on a massage table while a cute, young chiropractor went to work trying to realign my back. That's right. I threw my back out. By yawning. I kid you not. I yawned, stretched up, leaned back... and " Ooooh ! Ouch! Oh my gosh!" And the rest is chiropractic history. Basically, the chiropractor told me that I can't lift Noah anymore. He assured me that it wasn't the simple yawn that threw my back out (thank goodness that I'm not that feeble).. but a mild dose of scoliosis coupled with nearly 7 years of hoisting a kid on my hip that did it....

.... when I suggested that Nandi might be color blind... I offer you proof: Apologies with flowers greatly appreciated. Apologies with chocolate... even better.

Noop-Dogg is gone. A moment of silence please. Sniff. I have to pull myself together or I'll never make it through this blog post. Let's concentrate on the positive. I thought Paula did a fantastic job with the choreography for the disco group number. I swear, not 2 seconds after they finished, my mom called and said, "Oh my gosh, did you see Anoop? Didn't he look smokin' hot!! That scruff! Those shades! Those clothes!" Oh, wait, a second. Those were my words. My bad. (Sorry, I just have to take a moment and laugh. I haven't said "my bad" since the Reagan Administration.) Anyway, my mom did really and truly mention how cute Anoop looked with his sunglasses and disco clothes. Actually, she said she liked the "bad boy" look on him... which made me giggle because never in my 35 years have I heard my mom utter the phrase "bad boy" - not even in a context to describe the serious jerk I dated during my junior and senior year of ...

You give up the money you've been saving to go to the upcoming U2 concert and decide to buy American Idols Live tickets instead. The American Idols Live tickets go on sale on the same day as the annual Homeschool Bookfair - which you've been looking forward to ALL YEAR LONG... and you're contemplating missing it just so you can be sure to get tickets to the AI Tour. You realize that the American Idols Live tour comes to town the exact same week that you're scheduled for vacation and you tell your husband that there's no choice but to make the 8 hour RT drive back to Dallas just so your 7 year old can see his favorite singer perform in person. You are prepared to break out the puffy paint and glitter glue to make signs that say, " We love you Anoop! " , T-shirts that say, " We're Anoop Desai-ples ", and brave a crowd of 100,000 people... even though you get pretty cranky in crowds of more than 10. And, finally, Def Leppard's Vault, which h...

Isn't that hysterical??!! If you have NO IDEA what this is about, then you need to first read the previous post I wrote called I Am No Jenny McCarthy . My friend Chantelle , who I am SO loving at this minute and who has completely replaced Jenny McCarthy as my girl crush, left the following comment on my blog post: "Oh Leslie, I know you love Jenny, but you have to stop covering for her. I feel I should enlighten your readers to the TRUTH about that Shape magazine cover. The truth is... yes, that's Jenny's face on the cover, but that's not her body. It was stolen from a beauty far greater than her own... http://www.starfishdiaries.com/2009/04/real-shot.html" And it linked to this picture. Wow, can I just say how in love I am with myself in that little red swimsuit. I don't think I have ever, ever quite looked that good. That's some hot stuff, isn't it? I am definitely enlarging, printing, and framing that baby. Total inspiration for the diet/worko...

Now, I imagine from the title that you think this post is going to be about autism. And, honestly, I can't blame you. After all, Jenny McCarthy is a huge autism advocate.. and it IS National Autism Awareness Month.. and I have YET to blog about it... And really, Jenny McCarthy and I have a lot in common, don't we? She's a mom on a mission..... I'm a mom on a mission. She was told her son has autism..... I was told my son has autism. She lives with a man who makes her laugh..... I live with a man who makes me laugh. She has big boobs... I wish I had big boobs. Honestly, it's beyond me why someone hasn't stopped me on the street yet and asked if I was Jenny McCarthy's long lost twin. But, nope, this blog has nothing to do with autism... It has everything to do with this... > This is Jenny McCarthy on the recent cover of Shape magazine. Now, I ended my subscription to Shape a few years ago after I realized that I was doing myself no good by reading the magaz...

It was very brief (because American Idol gave Anoop's friends and family practically ZERO screen time), but one of Anoop's friends was wearing a bright yellow button that said Noah on it!!! Isn't that cool! I'm not sure if I can name names, so I'll just say Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! . That was so unbelievably sweet of you. We did get it on tape, so we'll always have it. You rock! Unfortunately, I can't air any of it for ya'll to watch seeing that three things happened during the making of tonight's Noah Watching Anoop video: #1. Noah was stimming on the ceiling fan lights, so we turned them off. It didn't occur to me that it'd make the whole video dark - which it did. You can hardly make out anything. #2. Despite threatening Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum within an inch of their lives and demanding that they be quiet as church mice during Anoop's performance, Twiddle Dee decided to climb on the seesaw.... Yes, that's right...

We've had the most horrific smell in our house. It was disgusting - like a mixture between rotten fish, bad diaper, and the possibility that a rat had somehow died in our wall. It was gross. What's worse is that it was in our bedroom. Now, I'm a sensitive creative. My nose is very delicate and every time I entered our room a wave of nausea would just take over me. I spent days on my hands and knees sniffing the floor. Did a pull-up accidentally get kicked under the bed? Did we leave the dog in the house for too long? Did Noah spit out his cod live oil in the corner? It was driving me crazy. Finally, the smell start wafting into the living room - which backs up to our bedroom. So I got on my hands and knees and start sniffing again. (Perhaps I was a bloodhound in a former life?) Anyway, I about passed out when I got to the floor between the T.V. cabinet and a shelf that had some toys on it. I was positive that our dog had somehow squeezed between the two inch space and peed...

It is Easter weekend and, believe it or not, we have yet to do a holiday craft. St. Patrick's Day wore me out and I just haven't felt motivated to break out the pipe cleaners and glue gun. Until today. The kids have been begging to dye Easter eggs, so we did that first.... This little gem below is actually what was attached to the side of one of our eggs after we fished it out of the boiling water... Man, we had a blast with that thing! Who'd of thought that you could kill 20 minutes by pretending to sneeze it out, pick it out, cough it up, or dig it out of your ear. My two kids who are all about boogers and snot had a field day with this tiny piece of egg. Have I mentioned how classy we are? Below is a pic of the kids dying Easter eggs. While Noah DID participate, he's not in any of the pictures. Everytime I stepped back to take a picture, he tried to drink the egg dye. "Baby, don't drink the kool-aid!". Then we decided to do what every good Baptist fami...

I have been blessed to meet so many amazing people via the blog word, but Christine takes the cake. She is dealing with a lot of things with her child who has RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder) and she comes through each episode with grace, strength, and a heck of a lot of humor. She never fails to inspire me or shock me - and I'm secretly filing away all of her ideas in case I have to use them with a particular little squirt later on down the road. Today's blog was one of those that shocked me, but then made me just sit back, shake my head and go, "You are one cool mom. Man, I'm so glad to know you!" So, I thought I'd share it for any of you having similar issues in your home. Head on over there and check it out.

For your viewing pleasure, I am giving you a brand-new Noah Watching Anoop video. :-) It's in a different location this time. We were relegated to the bedroom because the younger two waited all day to watch Charlie Brown Easter and it came on at the same time. Seriously, don't these T.V. executives have any consideration? Sheesh. Anyway, don't look too close because, yes, you will see dirt, dust, and I think there's a quick glimpse of a shelf full of children's toys. In our bedroom. Soooooo romantic. Ty Pennington, we need a makeover, please!! I have to say, I think Noah really likes it when Anoop sings ballads. If you look back at his videos, he seems more connected to "Angel of Mine", "Always on My Mind", and tonight's song. And I'm not sure if you can tell in the video, but although he is watching, he's actually listening . He's a very auditory little boy and you can see that he's really listening to Anoop sing. The aut...

Yesterday we went to the Dallas Heritage Museum. What a hidden treasure!! It's a Living History Museum just south of downtown Dallas. Who would of thought that such a gem exists among the skyscrapers and highways of the city? Anyway, it is FREE the first Sunday of each month. Yesterday, the kids got to participate in egg rolling races, make clay birds, dye Easter eggs with natural dye made from red onions and beets, and make old-fashioned flowers out of tissue paper. They had a blast! And did I mention that it was FREE? Be sure to check out their website HERE . It is really a fantastic place for kids. Noah had a blast. He stayed in his special chair for the exhibits, but he was able to run around a lot in the fields. And it wasn't crowded at all. He could run and shriek and spin in circles and nobody even cared. We all had a fantastic time. It's free again on May 3rd. You should check it out! Rootbeer, folks! It's rootbeer.