Christmas 2010

I'm sorry for my long absence from the blog.  It seemed liked the Christmas season just went by so quickly this year.  It seems like we put up the Christmas tree one day and Christmas was over the next day.  I hardly had time to finish all my Christmas shopping much less do all the wrapping and organizing.

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends around us.  We were all off work on Christmas Eve so we got to together with Mike's family early in the day to do Christmas.  Then in the evening we went to the candlelight service at church where Sarah was baptized.  It was soooooooo sweet and such a special time. 

I will admit that there were several times during the candlelight service that I could feel myself getting a little choked up.  All during the Christmas season, I kept thinking about last year when we were newly pregnant and not sure if the baby would make it.  And now we are so blessed to have sweet Noah as a part of our family.  We are so thankful that we got our happy ending. 

I must apologize - I did a terrible job of taking pictures this year.  I did manage to get a few pictures on Christmas morning.  But it just felt like I could not get all my stuff together this year.

So here's our Christmas, in pictures.

Santa came.  He brought lots of presents.  See that big pink three-story Barbie doll house?  He brought that on his sleigh too!

And see the baby walker?  He brought that too.  Looks like fun, doesn't it? And TWO stockings this year.  Nuff said (See comments above - we are so thankful!)

On Christmas morning, Daddy woke up super early!  He was so excited that Santa came.  I was excited too, but I needed a little more sleep first.  The kids were both tired so they slept in a little bit.  At the first noise from either of them, we went and got them up.  "Santa came!"

Emily was so excited about all her gifts.  The Barbie doll house was a big hit, but so were the games.  She is at an age where she really likes to play games.  I need to get better at playing games with her.

Noah was pretty excited about his toys too.  He sat in his walker for several minutes while we opened presents.  He was sure watching something intently in this picture.

After we opened presents, we ate sausage balls for breakfast.  That has been a tradition at our house for several years and we are never disappointed.  We had such a good time.  It is so fun to see the excitement on the kids faces.  To me, that is priceless!!

The kids and I went down to Arkansas to spend time with my side of the family during the week between Christmas and New Years.  I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time.  The rest of the family came down on Thursday night and we had Christmas Friday morning.  We got to do a little fishing and a little playing.  We had a good time.  It is always nice to go down there and just slow down and enjoy ourselves for a few days.

All that fun and now Christmas is over.  And all that's left is the cleanup.  Maybe tomorrow.  Maybe.

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Party Party Party

How can I let my 33rd birthday go by without a blog post?  Just like I let everything else go by, I guess.  Ha!

But first ...

Emily did SO good at her Christmas program at school last week.  She got up there and sang her little heart out with her class!  I have never seen her soooo animated up on stage.  Her class sang a few Christmas songs and she was certainly the prettiest one up there.

Cousin Mason's class sang some songs too.  He did good too!  I think he did more dancing than singing though.  All the kids were so cute up there during their performance.

Several family members came out to see Emily and Mason.  We were so thrilled to see such a nice cheering section.  We are truly blessed!

Birthday Bonanza

On Sunday after church, Mike and I took the kids to Bass Pro to see Santa.  But, first, we drove around in the car for a while because Noah was taking a nap.  Mike drove Emily by the News 9 studio so that she could see where Gary England works. 

Then we went on to Bass Pro, but Santa was not there.  He was not supposed to arrive until later. So we looked around a while and then went and sat on a bench by the fish and fed Noah a bottle.  Emily was very interested in what all the big fish were doing.

After Noah drank his bottle, we went over to Toby Keith's for my birthday party.  We got there early so they were not busy.  We got seated quickly with our party of 15.  Noah saw my birthday balloons and got mad, but he was fine after that.  More about the balloons another day.

It was a great birthday.  Emily was soooo into my birthday this year. She went shopping with her dad to pick out my card and my presents.  She was so proud of herself, but she had a hard time keeping a secret.  Sweet girl.

I love my family!!!!  Thank you for making my birthday wonderful once again.

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Kid Updates - 1, 2, 3

1.  Thank you to everyone who purchased cookie dough from Emily for the school fundraiser.  Because of your generosity, she won an award for the cookie sales. I think she got 2nd or 3rd place, but I'm not really sure.  The paper didn't say.  She just had a whole bag of toys for her prize.  We will be delivering the cookie dough this week!  We would have done this already, but the kids have been sick.

2.  The kids have been sick!  Emily started feeling bad last Wednesday night.  She had been absent from school since Thursday.  She actually went back to school today, but I think she has a pretty tough day.  She still coughs a lot sometimes. And she was pretty cranky this evening after she got home.

Noah was not feeling well on Monday, but he seemed better Tuesday and today.  He had a hard time sleeping a couple nights this week, but I'm hoping he will have a good night tonight.



3.  Emily's Christmas Program at school is tomorrow night.  I think her class is going to sing several songs.  I will try to get some video clips for you.  I just hope she is feeling okay!  It is miserable to perform in front of a crowd when you're not feeling well.

4.  Okay, this is a bonus - the rash on Noah's head is looking so much better since we've been putting Aquaphor and hydrocortisone on it.  And he has some adorable long hairs on the back of his head!  He might need a haircut back there soon.  When he was born, his hair was strawberry blonde.  But now it's growing in a pretty blonde color.

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A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words

Ironically, you will see no pictures in this blog post.  But pictures can tell a story.  Even when you're five.

On Sunday, we were riding in the car on our way to lunch.  We weren't really talking about anything.  And Emily calls to me from the back seat.

Emily:  Mom?
Emily: MOM? (Just being real here)

Me: What is it?

Emily: Will you take your camera to work and take a picture of your boss and bring it home so that I can look at it?

Me: Uhh, yeah, why?
Me (silently): Hahahaha, my boss would get a kick out of this!!!

These days, even kids know the value of pictures!

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Happy 4 Months Noah

Today was Noah's 4 month check up with the doctor.  It was an early morning appointment so Mike went with us.  Noah is usually very happy in the mornings so I thought this would be a good appointment. 

First, he got weighed and measured.  He is 15lbs, 12 oz which is the 50th percentile for weight.  And he was 24 1/2 inches long which is the 3rd percentile for height.  So he's a healthy boy, but a little on the shorter side at this age.  All that could change as he grows. 

Noah just talked and smiled and cooed while the doctor examined him.  Dr K was wiggling Noah's legs to check his hip joints and Noah started laughing out loud.  Dr K said "Oh, you like that, huh?  Nobody else likes that!"

Dr K said Noah looks great.  He's eating well and growing well.  He's hitting all his milestones right on target.  The doctor said I could start Noah on baby food if I was ready, but he doesn't have to start until he's 6 months old.  I actually gave him his first jar of sweet potatoes on Sunday.  He liked them, but we made a big mess!

So what is Noah up to these days?

• He wears 3-6 months or 6 months clothing
• He wears size 2 diapers.
• He takes a bottle every 3 hours or so during the day.  Sometimes more frequently!
• Noah usually wakes up once during the night, but it settled back to sleep with the pacifier or just a hug from mom.  He has slept through the night a few times, but he gets up once more often than not.
• We have tried giving Noah rice cereal before bed, but it does not help him sleep longer.  He's just as likely to get up once than if he had a bottle of formula.

• Noah is a big fan of the swing.  Sometimes he falls asleep, but he just likes sitting it.  Some of his best naps have been in the swing.
• He's a fan of his bouncy seat too.  It has a little birdie that spins around on it and he likes to talk and smile at the birdie.
• Noah likes to sit up and look around. He's very vocal and will talk to anyone.
• Noah's favorite passtime is chewing on his fists.  He tries to get his whole hand into his mouth.  The doctor said he's not teething yet.  Babies this age just like to chew on things and drool a lot.
• He usually does not mind riding in the car.  He gets mad when the sun is in his eyes, but usually either goes to sleep or talks to Emily while we ride.
• Emily ADORES her brother.  She is very good with him.  She knows that she has to be gentle with him.  She can get him to smile better than almost anyone else.
• Noah loves Emily too.  He watches her when she's walking around and he turns his head toward her when she's talking.
• Noah looks just like his Daddy.  Mike always teases him and asks whether he looks like Dad or if Dad looks like him?  I always say that Noah is Mike's "Mini Me".

The pics of Emily and Noah on the yellow blanket were taken this weekend.  Emily was laying on the floor watching TV and I put Noah down there next to her on his tummy.  He just started looking up at the TV just like she was doing.  It was too cute not to get a picture!

Noah, we love you so much!  We are so thankful for you and we are so excited to watch you grow and learn.  We could not ask for a sweeter baby!!!

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Fancy

This afternoon after church, I tried to take some pictures of Emily and Noah. Noah was wearing the cutest church clothes - a button up shirt, pants, and a sweater vest. How cute is that????


I was having a hard time getting both of them to look at the camera and smile at the same time. I think Emily finally gave up on me and decided to lay down instead.




This evening at supper, Mike was holding Noah while we were eating and Emily was talking about a spider she had seen earlier in the day. She was telling Noah all about it:

"Spiders have 8 legs and they spin webs!"

"Sometimes they're black and sometimes they're brown."

"And sometimes they bite you."

"They bite you and they can KILL you!"

"If they bite you, sometimes you will DIE."

And Noah starts laughing.

She looks him straight in the face and says "Stop laughing, Noah, I'm serious! They could bite you and you could die!"

And Mike and I both just started laughing. She sounded soooo serious and we thought it was soooo funny.

Poor baby. He better grow up fast!

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A Few Pics From the Other Night

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I Once Knew A Boy

I think Mike is the king of object lessons. Any time a situation comes up where he wants to steer Emily in a certain direction, he always has a story that starts with "I once knew a boy."

Tonight, the lesson was about doing what the teacher tells you at school. And he started with his "I once knew a boy" and I automatically smile and roll my eyes. I just cannot get into the stories like he does. But he has Emily totally going with these stories.

So tonight .. "I once knew a boy who got kicked out of school." It took him a while to explain that the kid was not literally kicked by anyone. But just that they wouldn't let him come back to the school. Emily gets SO into these stories and asks a few dozen questions about the story and what happened in it.

"I once knew a boy who sneaked food out of the kitchen and had to go to the hospital."

"I once knew a boy who didn't get anything from Santa Claus ..."

"I once knew a kid who didn't chew his food good and choked on a chicken bone."

"I once knew a kid who opened up the truck door while it was moving and fell out on his head."

"I once knew a boy who told lies and then nobody believed him any more."

Some of them are so funny that it's hard to keep a straight face. Most of the kids in his story ended up in the hospital I think. Mike probably can't remember all the details of the story, but Emily sure remembers! She'll sometimes bring up things that happened in Mike's stories and want to know more about them.

Mike is really good with kids. He always has been. Even before we had kids when we only had a niece, he was always telling her stories.

My kids are lucky to have him as their dad! He is so fun!

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The Smiles Have It

The other night after supper, Mike was holding Noah while I was cleaning up the kitchen. Emily was running around and jumping all over the place. And Noah was turning his head to watch her and see where she went.

Emily realized Noah was watching her and that got her tickled. She would walk in front of him and laugh when his eyes followed her. And her laughing got him to laughing. And pretty soon, we were all laughing.

I loved seeing them interacting with one another. They are both always interested in what the other one is doing. It is going to be fun watching they change as they grow up.

Here are some pictures of Noah that we took this weekend. Mike was making him smile and talk and I snapped a few pics.

And then he fell asleep. No, he didn't just fall asleep there. He fell asleep in my arms and I set him down there.

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Halloween 2.0

Here are a couple pictures of my Halloween cuties. Emily was wearing a black cat jumper and Noah was wearing a Boo onesie that were borrowed from Kim and Brynlee.

Love them, Love them, Love them!!!

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Halloween 2010

Saturday night was our Trick or Treat night around these parts. Mike and I decided to take the kids out to eat before we went Trick or Treating. We had to wait a few minutes to get a table and I snapped this picture of the kids.

When we got to our table, I took a picture of Dad.

And Emily took a picture of me and Noah. He looks all happy, but he really fussed and cried during most of the meal. I said on Twitter the other night that he wants me to hold him any time we sit down to eat and that is so true.

Before supper was over, Emily spilled her drink all over the table. It was just one of those nights. When it rains it pours, right?

After supper, we stopped by Aunt Pat's house. Madison and Mason happened to be there at the same time. Then Kevin and Sarah showed up a little after we did. It was all totally unplanned, but we all showed up at the same time.

Here is a picture of Aunt Pat and Noah.

Next, we went by Nanny and Pops's house. The power was out in their neighborhood so everyone was sitting outside handing out candy. As we pulled up, the electricity came back on. A LOT of people were walking around Trick or Treating in the neighborhood.

Noah was getting a little fussy so we ran by Aunt Charlene and Uncle Ralph's house to Trick or Treat. Cherry, Madison and Mason and Kevin and Sarah went over there with us. The kids played for a few minutes while the adults chatted. And then the OU game started and everybody scrambled.

Here are the kids - Sarah, Madison, Noah, Mason and Emily.

It ended up being a long and late night out, but we all had a good time.

We were all tired and ended up sleeping in until 7am on Sunday morning. We had to leave the house by 7:45am for Sunday School so we were in a mad scramble to get everyone ready and out the door on time. I cannot say that we were exactly on time, but we did better than expected.

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Fall Carnival 2010

Tonight we went to the Fall Carnival at Emily's school. We were running a little late because Noah had to eat right before we left.

Noah wore his "Baby Chef" costume. With his cheeks, it was a perfect choice! Emily was a 50's Sock Hop girl with a poodle skirt and cateye glasses. She was soooo pretty!


We made it in time to go through the Trick or Treating at the classrooms. They had the cafeteria decorated like a sort of haunted house and the teachers were dressed up and handing out the candy.

Emily saw the first group of dressed up people and she decided that she did not want to go through there and Trick or Treat at all. We were about to leave, but one of the ladies from the school took Emily by the hand and walked her through.



Then we went over to the carnival where they had several booths set up with games and face painting and a cake walk, etc.

Emily did not want to do any of the games, but we did find the booth that Cherry and Madison were helping with.

They were helping at a face painting booth and tattoo parlor.

Noah was really good while we were at the school. He didn't fuss a bit. He was just looking around at all the people in costume. I wonder what he was thinking.


We all had a good time at the fall carnival this year. Can't wait until Halloween so that we can dress up again!

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Faces

Emily - July 14, 2005

Noah - October 16, 2010

I think they look a lot alike at this age. What do you think?

When I saw this picture of Noah from last weekend, it brought to mind the photo above of Emily. I had to drag out my photo archive and search through it for more

than a half hour to find the picture I wanted, but this is it.

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Seriously?

This has not been a good week for me. It started off badly and that trend is just continuing.

I'll give you the highlights.

On Monday - I had a flat tire on my way to work. I was at the gas station when I noticed the tire was very low so I was able to limp the car over to the air machine and air up the tire. Then my father-in-law helped me take my car to the tire shop.

The tire had a nail in it in such a place that the tire could not be repaired and had to be replaced.

It was early in the morning and the tire place was not busy so they were able to get me going again fairly quickly. I was "only" an hour and a half late for work.

Then on Tuesday and Wednesday, I can't even remember what I did. I just know that my stomach hurt both days and I was just wishing they were over before they even started.

And that brings us to today. I was in a car accident on my drive home from work today. A lady pulling out from a parking lot onto one of the busiest streets in the metro area ran right into the side of my car.

The street is divided in that area - three lanes in each direction, plus a turn lane. I was driving in the center lane and the other car was pulling onto the street from a parking lot on the right. The right lane was clear so I thought she was pulling into that right lane. Well, she went a little wide and into my lane so I swerved to the left, but she still ran into the side of my car. Crash!

I pulled over to the side of the road and called the police. Then I tried to call Mike but he wasnt home. So I called his mom to let her know I would be late picking up the kids. While I was on the phone with her, the other driver got out of her car and came up to my car. It was a very old lady - according to the police report, she was 85 years old! I told her I'd called the police and they should be there in a minute.

So I was talking to Mike's mom and watching the lady. I was sitting there and the wind blew some papers out of her hand. And she stepped into traffic to gather them up. OMGGGGG lady!! I think I even said something to his mom like "OMG I gotta go, this lady is gonna get herself killed!!!!!!!!" I forget exactly what I said, but that's what I was thinking in my head.

The policewoman came and got our information. She asked what happened. And the old lady said "I thought I had room to pull out" and the policewoman said "Well, apparently you didn't." Hehe. I really think she was trying to pull across all three lanes of traffic. She eventually got a traffic ticket for the accident.

My car is messed up pretty bad on the passenger side. I am just soooooooo thankful my babies were not in the car with me at the time. The passenger side door will not even open. I took some pictures of the damage, but I cannot find my camera right now. Maybe I'll post those pics another night.

So that's how my week has gone.

Let us hope tomorrow is a better day.

And the real reason everyone comes to my blog ... a picture for your viewing pleasure.

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Wordless Wednesday

Cute

Cute

Cute!

These pics were taken by my sister, Heather, last weekend while we were in Arkansas.

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Wiggle Worm

The other morning, I went to get Noah out of his bed to go over to Nanny's and he had wiggled himself out of his blanket. When I put him to bed, he was tucked neatly under that blue blanket you see with the stars. His feet were pointed straight toward the right of this picture.

And somehow, he wiggled himself around so that his legs are pointing toward the crib bumper.

He will probably be on the move before we know it!

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A Girl and a Boy

Blogger took sooooooo long for my pics to upload that I don't even have time to type a big long post. But these are my beautiful kids after church today.

The second pic is my favorite!!1

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Noah - 2 Months

Today, Mike and I had to take Noah to his two month doctor's appointment. He got a good report. He weighed 11 lbs, 12 oz and was 22 1/2 inches long. That's the 30th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight.

The doctor said Noah was more alert and interacted more socially than most babies his age. He smiled and laughed at the doctor and "talked" to him. The doctor also said he holds his head up really well. In the next month or two, he will probably start rolling over.

He had to get three shots and some drops in his mouth. He seemed to like the drops, but hated the shots. Poor thing! He cried and his legs were bleeding, but both stopped fairly quickly.

After we got out of the doctor's office, we sat in the lobby and fed him a bottle. Then we had to make a quick stop by my work before we went to lunch. We went to Hideaway Pizza. Yum! Noah was good while we were eating lunch. He slept most of the time.

Then we headed home and Noah napped while I worked from home. Then Mike went and picked up Emily from school. It was a busy day, but a good day.

Big Boy

In honor of Noah's two month doctor's appointment, he wore a "big boy outfit" today. It was a t-shirt and blue jeans (without the snap crotch, by the way) and a button up shirt. He looked soooo cute! I think the colors went well with is strawberry blonde hair.

Funny story - I had Noah sitting up against this pillow so that I could take his picture. And all of a sudden, he sneezed and fell flat on his face on the couch! Hehe, whoops!

Sister Love

Aren't they sweet? They sure do love each other.

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Sunday School

This morning was our first day back to Sunday School since Noah was born. We had a hard time getting up and dressed in time, but we made it okay. The weather turned cooler overnight and we were not really prepared for that. Noah didn't really have any dress clothes that were warm. Emily didn't have any fall shoes that fit. But we made the best choices we could and ran out the door.

I wanted to get some pictures of Noah going to church the first time, but I didn't really have time before we left. And he pooped on his outfit at Sunday School so I didn't do it when we got home either.

This was the first week I got to see our new Sunday School class. Promotion Sunday was just a couple days after Noah was born so we have been gone the whole time. They were sooooo cute! We had four kids - three little girls and one boy. Most of the kids did not say very much, but I am sure they will come out of their shell before the year is up.

I got to tell the Bible story. It was about Jesus going to church for the first time when he was 40 days old. How special that this was our story the first week that Noah came to church. He stayed in our classroom and Mike held him most of the time.

All the boys and girls tried to say their memory verse and it was soooo sweet. They all got stickers for trying and then we made strawberry scented playdoh. 5t was a great morning.

After Sunday School, we stopped by the grocery store and later went to lunch with Mike's parents. We went to Ted's and had a really good time. Emily and Noah were both really good and it was nice to have some adult conversation.

Here are some pictures of Noah from tonight. This is his alternate church outfit. He managed to keep it clean the rest of the day.

He's holding his head up so well.

Surprisingly, he kept these socks on all day.

Who is this? Elvis?

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