We're the Allison's

Idols.

2012-01-23T14:04:00.003-06:00

Oh my goodness.

Yesterday, during worship at church, the Lord just reached down and calmed my soul. I mean, a peace that completely overwhelmed my whole heart. Oh how thankful I am for a God who is so good.

Then, the message yesterday just spoke directly to my heart. I thought I would share the link on here. I would love for you to take 41 minutes of your day to listen to it. The truth of scripture hit home yesterday for me.

Here's the link!

I feel like there's so much more I could say...but it literally took me all day yesterday just to process all my thoughts enough to share with Brad...which didn't happen until we went to bed - so I'm just going to say please watch it.

Have a good day!

29.

2012-01-21T08:34:00.003-06:00

Brad turned 29 yesterday! We were pumped it was a Friday so we could have a date night. We have not gone on many dates since Noah was born...so we were SOOO excited!

Our awesome friends the Benaglio's watched little man so we could have some time together.

We went and grabbed Uchi (DELICIOUS) for sushi. So strange because I really don't like sushi all that much..but this is our third time and it was just as amazing this time if not even more. So good. Seriously.

Afterwards we went to grab some cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory to eat at home ...which I am eating for breakfast because I was way too full when we got home. Yum!

So in honor of the sweet man in our life..Noah and I had a little photo shoot! :) Printed a framed a couple for Brad because he has no pictures in his office of our little dude.

Happy birthday Brad! You are L-O-V-E-D!

11 Months Old!

2012-01-19T22:00:00.004-06:00

One big sweet boy turned 11 months old this week!

I just can't handle the fact that it has already been almost a year.

I hate to say it...but it truly feels like we delivered him last week.

So much so that when I walk through the baby department I get really sad and teary when I realize he can't fit in the "baby" clothes anymore. Or when I think about the fact that in about a month he will no longer need me for nutrition. Or when he giggles at something like he understands and I realize that my precious little baby is getting big. Oh boy do I have tears often. Happy tears.

I kinda cheated this month and already updated a couple of posts ago about what he's learned...but for my own memory here we go again!

Learned to wave...he waves at anyone and everyone. If you look his way he will wave. My heart breaks for him when he's waving at someone who doesn't see him and doesn't wave back. Hahaha I always feel like it must just be so sad for him. (Mind you- he doesn't care...he moves on to the next person to wave at)

Dances when I ask him if he wants to dance. Wiggles his little body from side to side. ADORABLE.

Signs for more..but lately has been stubborn and won't do it.

Had croup, pneumonia, and this just in - his highest fever ever. Yuck. Rough Month.

First Christmas. So sweet! Which I can finally post pictures of now because I fixed them on the computer.

Spent time with all his family.

Started rocking out nap times! This has made our days so much better.

Loves to swing at the park.

Likes to be in on a joke..if someone is laughing Noah will start all out giggling right along with them and then look for approval. He especially does this after Brad is teasing me and starts laughing..Noah has to get in on it too. I am already feeling outnumbered.

Had his first full day of a babysitter that wasn't family/or close-as-family friend last Friday. Oh let me just tell you that was ROUGH on this mama...but she is WONDERFUL, and Noah did great.

Really loves to play with empty cups. Seriously. Best. Toy. Ever.

Plastic balls too. He has a couple of toys that have balls and he just carries those things around all day.

Really seems to understand more what I say during the day. As in dance, more, yes, no, uh-uh.

He has realized that if he pounds his hands on his high chair his cheerios will bounce right off of it onto the carpet. He thinks that's hilarious.

He actively plays peek-a-boo. So cute! The other morning he got up early nursed and when he was done he pulled up the blanket and started playing peek-a-boo. Oh this boy.

Still doesn't want to walk on his own. But cruises all over the place and uses his walker with such pride.

Has discovered he can open cabinets - so I have discovered our apartment is NOT child proof. We'll be addressing this over the next week.

Wrestles with his puppies.

Really he'll wrestle with anyone who will wrestle back.

Not interested in a sippy cup. I bought 2 more different kinds tonight (these are #3 and 4) to give a shot to. He will eventually need to be drinking from a sippy cup, and well currently he's just not doing it. We have one available all the time..but he just looks at it. So hopefully one of these will work.

Really loves big kid food. I'll be ready to get rid of baby food completely...but then again it is SUPER easy.

I'm sure there's more but I won't put you through it! :) This month this mama's goal is to get to work on some sensory things and just spending our time wisely together enjoying time outside and learning through the day.

Hard to believe next month it will be a whole stinking year. Wow.

We didn't take many pictures this month..except for Christmas as he was sicky most of the month. Here are some fun ones..there will be more from Christmas later.

First SNOW!!

With sweet Nora. He loves her. We know it.

Opening up his Christmas gifts from Mama and Dada.

Helping Mama cook dinner.

Playing with his new toy from Christmas.

Have a great week!

Brushing the teeth

2012-01-19T16:13:00.003-06:00

Noah is on the mend over here...and we've been working on learning to brush his teeth.

He thought Mama trying to teach him how to spit out the toothpaste was pretty funny.

Please excuse my clearly not ready for the day appearance. That's how I roll.

Oops.

2012-01-17T23:41:00.003-06:00

My pictures are broken (or corrupt as says my computer) so no Christmas pictures until I reload those.

Also. Our baby has been sick, so no 11 Month picture, so no 11 month update yet.

He's on the mend..so it's coming.

But guess what I did tonight.

Noah has been sick AGAIN. (I mean seriously.) Also, I use the term sick loosely - our sweet boy is not sick in a way that some babies are sick, and we are so blessed in that!

However...boy did have a fever this week. Let's clarify...from Saturday morning at 6am he ran >101 non-stop until this morning.

He peaked at 103.8. Can't lie...I don't get too nervous with fevers..but I began to panic a bit when he hit 103.5 after motrin at 3am. You'd be amazed the things you can google.

He's ok though.

Took him to the doctor- he literally tested negative for everything. RSV, Strep, Flu (A&B), even his white count was normal. So I am very thankful for that.

Turns out..just a virus. But our sweet pediatrician called three times in the last two days just to check on Noah. (This was validation for my crazy by the way. I figure if the doctor himself calls three times to check he must be worried too.)

Anyways..we've been fever free since he woke up this morning..but at about 1000 tonight I went to check on him and I was CERTAIN he had a fever.

I told Brad to check him and see what he thought..Brad checked and said "No way he has a fever. Not at all."

To which I very confidently and smugly replied..."You'll be sorry at 3am when his temp is 105."

Then we dropped it.

Then I (OF COURSE) had to bring it up again and said "What are you going to give me if I'm right?"

So Brad said "Do you really think he has a fever? Go wake him up and check it."

Me: "No way, you made me feel dumb I'm not waking him up now." (So rational)

Brad: "You always err on the side of caution...why wouldn't you get him?"

Me: "Fine. I bet it's at LEAST 101. Seriously." Note: I definitely thought it was at least 102...only verbalized 101...you know just in case I overshot.

So we checked it.

97.6.

Then I couldn't look Brad in the eye, because I was embarrassed. He very kindly and graciously did not say "I told you so."

Good move dear husband. Good move.

I'm a delight to be married to.

Have a great night!

He cracks us up.

2012-01-06T22:44:00.003-06:00

I love the precious innocent giggles. Seriously. We crack up every day.

This was tonight while we were getting him ready for bed...silly boy.

Our friend gave Noah this puppy for Christmas. He wrestles it every day. He was also given Scout for Christmas (the vtech dog) and he does the same thing to Scout. I think he's trying to give some love!

He learned to dance! :) I LOVE this.

Who knew a bowling pin could be so entertaining!

Christmas was different this year.

2012-01-06T14:34:00.005-06:00

Oh my goodness. I LOVE Christmas. If you don't believe me..just go back and look at the last 4 years on this blog here...trust me...you'll see I do not tell a lie.

I LOVE IT!

This year was especially amazing. There is something about Noah..and it being his first Christmas...it made it so very special for us. That precious boy just brings such a light and joy to our lives.

More importantly though...this year I felt like my heart was truly focused on Jesus.

I would like to be able to say that every year I am completely focused on Jesus..but after this year...I guess I can look back at other years and see how my heart wandered.

But this year it looked different. This year has been tough on our family and on many of our friends...in different ways...and as Christmas approached I struggled and wondered what it would look like for us. (Read any of the past month of blogs..there is a trend.) Thankfully the truth of Jesus touched my heart so deeply this year. I'm thankful for that. SO very thankful.

One of the messages we had at the Stone a few weeks ago Matt spoke about sin and death...and about Christ. Paraphrasing he touched on the fact that Christmas is so much more than just Jesus' birthday. It is the day God fulfilled His promise to save us from sin and death. On Christmas night God looked at the sin and death in this world and said - I've had enough of you. God gave us Jesus and on that night he served notice to sin and death that their days are NUMBERED. 33 years after his birth Jesus died on a cross for us and he FOREVER destroyed sin and death.

We haven't had death this year...but the brokenness of this world, and the truth that we will not stay young forever, and that there will be pain and hurt for us and for those we love - it has absolutely never been as evident to me before as it was this year.

So as we celebrated Christmas I was rejoicing. I rejoiced that God gave us Jesus. Almighty God who is perfect and holy and righteous...He gave us Jesus so that we can forever be with him in eternity. The magnitude of this keeps hitting me harder and harder. I think the Holy Spirit is just beating me over the head with it...and I'm so glad for that. I want to OVERFLOW with thankfulness and joy for the Savior we have in Jesus. I want to live and breathe Jesus.

I want there to be no doubt when someone speaks to me that I am completely and wholly His and only His.

I have a long way to go. But how thankful I am for Christmas. For the opportunity to worship Jesus and remember what he saved me from.

So this year was different. Don't get me wrong..we had an AMAZING Christmas home with our families. Celebrating Christmas with them...oh I LOVE it! (There will be pictures in the next post of this!) But for me, personally, Christmas was different. And I'm ok with that.

New Year...New Fun!

2012-01-03T14:29:00.003-06:00

So to follow up the depressing post about Noah being sick.

Today I will share that the last two weeks have been amazing with our little man!

I usually save these updates for the monthly update..but I am just LOVING this!

Here's what he's learned!

If you ask him to dance...he shakes it. It's maybe the cutest thing I've ever seen. If I could JUST get it on video.

He also just dances whenever there are some jams going. We went shopping today and he was just grooving to the songs playing in the stores. It was cracking me up! I was trying clothes on and he was rocking out watching himself in the mirror.

He is standing by himself more and more. He usually doesn't fall either, just sits himself down like he's over it. I'm not so sure he'll be walking soon because he's completely content to crawl and army crawl. He LOVES his walker..but shows no interest in doing it on his own. I'm ok with that.

He's been SOOO giggly lately! About everything and everyone.

Today he cried when Brad left for work. Heartbreaking yet so precious to me. I love how he loves his daddy.

Last night he slept until 7am. I'm soooo hoping he does that again tonight. Yesterday I told Brad I felt like maybe I've been lying to myself or living in denial when I say little man is a good sleeper. Because it feels like we haven't had a solid night of sleep in about 2-3 months. But Brad gently reminded me that he was an AWESOME sleeper from 7weeks to about 7.5-8 months. Then at 8 months we started waking up in the middle of the night/early early am, and then not going back to sleep. Poor little guy though..in the last two months he has been traveled to Missouri and Indiana, had an ear infection, croup, and pneumonia (holy stinking cow), gotten two teeth, been switching up nap schedules, and learned all sorts of new skills. So it's only fair that sleep has been a bit of a struggle. If he sleeps through again tonight I'll be so thankful! 5am wake up calls every day are just a little tiring!

That's about it! We have 12 uninterrupted days together as I don't go back to work until next Friday! This Mama has big plans for organization each day, and for fun together as a family! :)

Hope you have a great week! Maybe we'll get a few more blogs posted in the next 12 days!

Noah's First Thanksgiving.

2011-12-29T20:52:00.004-06:00

In Pictures. Because I'm soooo behind. Plus. Who wants to read three posts in a day! :)

The only full family picture we took over the weekend! Thanks Jess and Ryan for these pictures!

We were able to spend time with the Sunnenbergs! We love you guys! So glad we were able to catch up! Can't wait to see you this Spring!

Noah meeting Audrey Claire.

Hanging out with Mimi and Grandpa Bud

I love these two more than words could say.

More time with the Sunnenberg Fam.

Noah was able to get some cuddles with both of them.

Playing with Audrey Claire.

Playing at Mimi and Grandpa Bud's!

It was a great weekend! We're excited to go back to Springfield hopefully in January or February.

My least favorite part of being a parent.

2011-12-29T20:02:00.003-06:00

Our little man being sick.

Least favorite part.

EVER.

And can I just say...for the record...that I may have been a little naive- and I really in my head had the thought that Noah would never get sick while I was nursing him. That he would have like a super star immune system and never be at risk for sickness. Kid you not when he had his first ear infection last month...I seriously was shocked.

I'm a nurse.

I mean seriously. I should know better. :)

Anyways.

In the last two weeks Noah has had croup and then apparently that progressed itself right on into viral pneumonia. Boo.

Sweet little Noah kinda has no idea that he is even sick. He just goes around smiling and giggling at everyone like it's nothing. He's a little clingy, a little more fussy, and our great nights of sleep have been sadly interrupted..but all those things will pass.

However, taking that sweet child to the ER and then to an urgent care...and the xrays (oh my goodness children's xrays are just mean) well I've definitely learned that I don't like it, but that I sure am thankful for pediatricians, and ER doctors, and urgent care doctors who help our sicky little man get better.

Funny story..the night we went to the ER...we woke up at like 4:30am to Noah with stridor. Stridor. WHOA! If you don't know what that is...don't you worry..you'll probably be glad you don't because you won't make up crazy scenarios in your brain. Like I did..at 4:30am. I heard Noah on the monitor and seriously I FLEW out of bed. I grabbed Noah, went back to our bedroom, shook Brad to wake him up, and grabbed my phone to call the doctor. I clearly wasn't in my right mind because I panicked when I couldn't remember the number...which is saved in my phone.

I did figure it out and after I got off the phone with the doctor...I was standing there in our bedroom, with Brad, and I say "I need to call mom" You should have seen Brad's face. 4:30 am and that was my first thought after I got off the phone with the doctor. But I was convinced. So I called Mom and Dad's house and barely said anything that I can remember except I said "Mom listen to Noah what do I do?" She quickly told me to get him to the ER. (Seriously..I had just told Brad we needed to go to the ER, and then the doctor had confirmed it when I called, but I NEEDED Mom's confirmation.)

Timeout: Can I just say that stridor...when heard in the hospital setting that I work in..we get a little worked up about it. Like when you take a breathing tube out of someone that's the first thing you listen for...and if patients have it then they are at risk for being put back on the ventilator. So you have to know that at this point in the night, when it's my child and I'm hearing this noise...all I can think is HIS AIRWAY IS CLOSING!!! Rationally I can look at this now and laugh...but to be fair...he sounded BAD. Bad enough for Mom to tell me to take him to the ER.

Ok back to the story. It was cold that night. Not freezing obviously..but cold and damp for Texas. So by the time we got to the hospital...Noah no longer had stridor at all. In fact...he just smiled at the triage nurse- and at this point I'm thinking "Thank goodness they don't know I'm a nurse or I'll look really dumb." The guy even said...I'm not hearing any stridor now, and Noah's oxygen percentage was like 99%. I explained that I realized he looked fine now..but he had sounded BAD at home. Of course then the registration lady came in to verify our insurance and asked what my position was at the Heart Hospital- and when I said nurse even clarified that I was an RN in front of the triage nurse. He definitely gave me a look then.
Oh my goodness. I felt so silly. But oh well..Noah is safe, we were right he had croup, and he got treated right away.

P.S. He didn't have to get a breathing tube. Obviously.

10 Months

2011-12-17T16:56:00.001-06:00

So 10 months have come and gone..and our sweet little man just keeps on getting bigger. He is such a joy to watch grow! Here's what he's doing this month. {I realize these can be boring..but I am EXTREMELY poor at documenting on time in his book so this way I have it somewhere to go back and look at! :) }

Pulls up to standing on EVERYTHING. Walks behind his little dinosaur, and is getting more efficient at this. When he lets go though, he topples. He is getting more graceful as he falls.
Boy has bruises all over! I fear people think I don't take care of my kiddo. But he is FEARLESS. So he runs full force into everything...usually with his little noggin.
Giggles. He loves to giggle.
Can see himself better in the mirror we have in the back seat of our car. While driving I sometimes hear him giggling and look back to see him smiling at himself.
Had his first Thanksgiving! We were able to go to Springfield to spend Thanksgiving with Mimi and Grandpa Bud. He had such a great time! He also was able to meet sweet miss Audrey Claire! (Who is just BEAUTIFUL)
Is a bit of a brute. Will climb over anything to get where he thinks he needs to be. This is cute..except when he does this to other babies/children.
Continues to say dada.
Claps his hands when I ask him to clap his hands.
He got his first two teeth this month! He did pretty well overall...but there were some clingy days (but this mama kinda LOVED that!)
Occasionally says Na-na or a very faint ma-ma when I come get him after naps or when he is upset. Yet to hear a real mama. But he smiles when someone tries to get him to say it, so I know he knows who I am. Stubborn boy.
Continues to be a pretty mellow fellow.
HOWEVER. We have recently decided that when we don't like something..it's ok to yell. That's a change...but we're learning.
LOVES to eat peas as a finger food. I heat a few frozen peas up for lunch or dinner often while I make the rest of whatever he is eating. He really likes them.
Has slightly lost interest in pureed foods. I'm thankful I only made the one batch because I think it all would have gone bad. We are moving on to table foods. This makes me kinda sad..and yet I think it's so adorable watching him learn what he likes.
Likes to let Mama and Daddy read to him now.
LOVES bath time. Now lays on his belly and splashes.
Seems to recognize more and more people that he is close to. In the nursery at church Auntie Kat was in his room..and he climbed his way right on over to her lab while she was holding another baby so she would hold him too. Apparently he is a little attached to Auntie Kat. :)
Continues to love his friends.
We are finally on a schedule. Not a strict has to be down by this time or anything kind of schedule, but we have a routine and it's wonderful. He's napping twice a day and finally seems to be resting well during those times. (Although as I type this we JUST got home from Christmas and poor little man did not have ANY normalcy of sleep because we just let him party all the time while we were home! I think he liked it!)
Goes to be around 7:30 every night.
Prior to leaving for Christmas he was sleeping until about 6:30. However sprinkle in a few sicky nights (later post) and all of a sudden we have a little one who is waking in the middle of the night, and then around 5-6 for the day. Excited for our little man to be healthy again!
I think I forgot to mention that our trip to Springfield was his first real road trip..he did GREAT!
Had his first babysitter that wasn't friend/family. He did great. She was wonderful and I felt safe the whole time with her having him..but I'll tel you I sure am ready to get home to him whenever we're not with him.
Is starting to understand his toys more.
Seems to understand what we say to him more
Signs for "more" (Actually the sign for more is a clap..but it's purposeful so we count it.)
He shakes his head no whenever I say yes. With a huge smile on his face. I think he thinks he's saying yes right along with me.

Oh! Sweet little man is awake! Have a great week! More to come!

well.

2011-12-16T13:10:00.003-06:00

So if you have read my posts lately..there's pretty much a theme - either posts about Noah or about the heavy heart I've been carrying around lately. It seems like every day I hear a new story that just breaks my heart, and oh my heart is just, well I don't really have words. Anyways, the Stone released a worship cd last week, and two of the songs have just really been speaking to my soul. So I thought I would share.

#1. Oh I love hymns. "On Christ the Solid Rock"
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name

When darkness seems to hide his face
I rest on his unchanging grace
In every high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil

On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand

His oath, His covenant, His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay

When he shall come with trumpet sound
Oh may I then in Him be found
Dressed in his righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne

On Christ the solid rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking stand

#2. Forever Reign
You are good, You are good, when there's nothing good in me
You are love, You are love, on display for all to see
You are light, You are light, when the darkness closes in

You are hope, You are hope
You have covered all my sin

You are peace, You are peace, when my fear is crippling
You are true, You are true, even in my wandering
You are joy, You are joy, You're the reason that I sing
You are life, You are life,
In You death has lost its sting

Oh, I’m running to Your arms, I’m running to Your arms
The riches of Your love, will always be enough
Nothing compares to Your embrace
Light of the world forever reign

You are more, You are more, than my words will ever say
You are Lord, You are Lord, all creation will proclaim
You are here, You are here, in Your presence I'm made whole
You are God, You are God
Of all else I'm letting go

My heart will sing
No other Name
Jesus, Jesus

I'm so thankful for the ability to worship, when sometimes my words seem so small and insignificant. I'm especially thankful for an EVER FAITHFUL Lord and Savior.

Hope y'all have a great week. A 10 month update to come. Our little bud is getting so big!

I'm so excited!

2011-12-10T10:34:00.003-06:00

So on Pinterest I saw this adorable little photo book...it looked like this.

And I thought.."ADORABLE!"

I have been wanting to make something special for Noah for Christmas, and then to start a tradition for our next kiddos. I love reading to him, and I love the idea of a personalized board book. If this turns out I would love to make one for each kiddo!

BUT: The link that was on Pinterest was wrong. So I googled it...of course...and I couldn't find a website that I liked, and I definitely couldn't find the one that I was looking for.

HOWEVER: Today I googled again..just in case! And I found the website! And it's reasonably priced. And I can get it by Christmas!

Oh I am so excited! This will be such a great way for him to see pictures of all his family members who don't live here in Texas. We have like zero pictures in frames here (truth- I know that's sad) and so now he'll have a little book of his very own that can teach him.

That's it for today! The website is pintsizeproductions.com

Yay!

Valley of Vision

2011-12-06T22:41:00.004-06:00

Oh also...I forgot I wanted to post this today. At the worship service tonight they read this prayer from Valley of Vision. It really hit my heart.

MY FATHER,
Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips,
supply words that proclaim ‘Love lustres at Calvary.’
There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy Son,
made a transgressor, a curse,
and sin for me;
There the sword of thy justice smote the man, thy fellow;
There thy infinite attributes were magnified, and infinite atonement was made;
There infinite punishment was due, and infinite punishment was endured.
Christ was all anguish that I might be all joy,
cast off that I might be brought in,
trodden down as an enemy that I might be welcomed as a friend,
surrendered to hell’s worst that I might attain heaven’s best,
stripped that I might be clothed,
wounded that I might be healed,
athirst that I might drink,
tormented that I might be comforted,
made a shame that I might inherit glory,
entered darkness that I might have eternal light.
My Saviour wept that all tears might be wiped from my eyes,
groaned that I might have endless song,
endured all pain that I might have unfading health,
bore a thornèd crown that I might have a glory-diadem (crown),
bowed his head that I might uplift mine,
experienced reproach that I might receive welcome,
closed his eyes in death that I might gaze on unclouded brightness,
expired that I might forever live.
O Father, who spared not thine only Son that thou mightest spare me,
All this transfer thy love designed and accomplished;
Help me to adore thee by lips and life.
O that my every breath might be ecstatic praise,
my every step buoyant with delight,
as I see my enemies crushed,
Satan baffled, defeated, destroyed,
sin buried in the ocean of reconciling blood,
hell’s gates closed, heaven’s portal open.
Go forth, O conquering God, and show me the cross, mighty to subdue, comfort and save.

So many different thoughts.

2011-12-06T22:06:00.004-06:00

I seem to have so many things on my mind lately..about all SORTS of crazy things. Not all crazy..but all over the place. After being inspired by Rox...here we go.

1. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/austin-stone-live/id482639306
Get this. I think you would really like it.

2. We had a worship service tonight. It was absolutely amazing.
3. Life seems to get harder the older I get. Not even necessarily for us. But for our friends and family. Watching this truth play out in life has only proven to me how not in control of this life on earth that I am.
4. Christmas is in 19 days. OH MY GOODNESS! I'm so so so excited to celebrate Christmas with our little man!
5. We get to see both our families at Christmas. YAY!
6. I turn 27 in 13 days. 27. When I still feel 18. Well- 18 but married and with a baby boy, and a nursing degree. All things I didn't have at 18. But I have an extremely hard time believing I'm going to be 27. Also..I remember when I was in college..and on Friends Rachel turns 30...and I remember thinking 30 was so far away...I'm fast approaching 30. But I'm cool with that..because each year brings something new and exciting and I like that.
7. Noah got his first tooth. Oh my goodness. He really did pretty well with it. Yesterday was a little tough as he REALLY wanted to be with mama all day, but then that little tooth broke through last night, and this morning we have a full bottom tooth through, and another corner of a little bottom tooth through.
8. We purchased a little piano for Noah (a toy obviously) and he LOVES it! And it cracks me up!
9. Christmas brings me so much joy. What an amazing time of year.
10. I can't wait to be home for Christmas. Sarah, Phil, and the girls will be home from Florida, and Luke will be home from Columbus, and I mean - Oh My Word. I'm PUMPED.
11. We decorated for Christmas this week. It makes the apartment a little more homey!
12. Speaking of the apartment...we haven't found a house yet. Which has been tough. I miss having our own home, and our own space. But I am trying (and it is a daily battle) to trust in the Lord's timing. He will provide a house when it is time. We have prayed all along that He would give very opened or very closed doors in this process. So far he has done EXACTLY that. He allowed our house to sell in 18 days- full asking price- OPEN door. We put an offer on a house and the owner countered 1000 off list price (we were QUITE a bit shy of that on our offer) - CLOSED door. We found another house- but it already had multiple offers being negotiated - CLOSED door. Then we found another..and we REALLY wanted that one to work -but after praying about it both of us came to the conclusion that this was not the house for us - CLOSED door. So here we are - and we're waiting and praying that an open door will be soon. But for now, we're extending our lease until May -and then we'll be looking to lease in Taylor if we are unable to find a house to buy.

That's it. Time to go to bed. Hope you have an awesome week!

Oh Indiana.

2011-12-05T21:47:00.007-06:00

Back in October we were able to head back to Indiana for Purdue's homecoming. It was SUCH a great weekend...though SUPER busy..but we had a GREAT time!

We were able to spend time with Brad's grad school friends (who are AWESOME), a little time with some of Brad's family (looking forward to more at Christmas!), quite a bit of time with my family (also looking forward to more of this at Christmas!), met sweet baby Austin and had lunch with El, and played some cards/chatted with Rox & Jake and played with sweet Nora. Noah and I were able to go on our first trip to the Covered Bridge Festival with Mom, Aunt Vic, and Aunt Jo. It was so great! I know I'm forgetting some things...but let's be honest..it was over a month ago that we were there- can we say BEHIND?!

Here are some pictures..that's the best part anyways.

I stole these next few from Aunt Jo. We had a family dinner of Arni's - because it's the B-E-S-T. I LOVE my family. I love Arni's. AMAZING.

Noah bundled up and ready to shop til he drops!

Partying in Indiana is hard work!

With Nana.

Noah went right on over there to Rox so she would cuddle him with Nora.

SO adorable! Hard to believe these two are quickly approaching 1 year old. WHAT?! Love that Nora is such a sweet little lady!
More cuddles with Rox.

Meeting sweet little Austin. Noah was super interested. He can't wait until Austin can play with him! I can't wait to get Austin, Nora, and Noah all together. It kinda brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I know I'm getting older...but so cool and weird all at the same time to all have had babies this year. (My other friend from home, Manders also had a little man this past year.)

Loving on that Uncle Luke. He seriously could play with Uncle Luke all day every day. Even when we face time Luke cracks him up. I love it.

Have a great week!!

Dear Blog.

2011-12-05T16:22:00.001-06:00

Oh my dear blog.

I have not forgotten you.

I've been busy.

Making Christmas things. Going to Missouri for Thanksgiving. Enjoying this season. Loving on my sweet baby and sweet husband.

And so I have been weak in my blogging.

But there are blogs to come. With updates on that little dude, and our little life.

That is all.

9 Months Old. Wow.

2011-11-18T10:17:00.005-06:00

9 months have passed. Almost as long as I was pregnant with this little guy. This week I've been especially emotional over how big he is getting. (P.S. Will these crazy emotions ever settle down?) Seriously...I just watch him with tears some days because I'm just fascinated by him.

9 Month Stats:
Weight: 21lb 6.5oz slowing down now that big boy is on the move.
Height: 29"

It's been another big month of growing and learning for our little man - here we go:
Pulls up to standing
Cruises between pieces of furniture
Takes steps using a little push dinosaur (The other day I was helping him when my friend Cara was here-boy was watching Cara the WHOLE time with this big smile on his face just showing off for her - he walked the most he has done yet just to show off for her)
Continues with "dada" Sometimes I hear "mama" when he's finished with his nap...but never other than those times despite my best efforts.
I've also noticed that he has started to mimic what I say sometimes. He'll only do it once, and then I'll try to get him to do it again and he just smiles. So it's not purposeful-but it's funny. I do think he's trying, but I realize he has no clue what he's saying.
Mama finally made his baby food this month and he has done really well with it-except the chicken...and who can blame him for that. I've mixed it with other things..and he tries..but he's not a big fan. See the video below for his first day trying. I was working that day, he had just been diagnosed with his first ear infection (boo) and yet he was still so stinking happy.
Figured out how to eat his puffs without choking. :)
Spent time with a ton of family. We went home to Lafayette and were able to see almost all of my family, even Uncle Lukie came, and some of Brad's too...we can't wait until Christmas when we get to see the newest member of the family from Brad's side of the family. We were so sad we weren't able to go meet him while we were there.
I forgot to mention last month that he was able to spend time with Aunt Sarah, Uncle Phil, and the girls. How he loves his cousins!
First ear infection -yuck. They are rough on a little one. First fever. Also yuck. I think he's on the mend now but poor little guy has had a rough last week.
Likes to be read to now.
He is CRAZY busy.
SOOO hard to get a diaper on. Boy does not like to lay still. It literally takes two of us sometimes. (I thought that might be more due to weak sauce parenting-but I truly think the boy is just a crazy little wiggle worm)
Has finally gotten into a nice routine of two naps daily
But has started waking up again at 4 or 5am to eat. I can't seem to get him convinced he doesn't need to eat them...hopefully this is just a phase.
We wake up in the morning to him standing in his crib with a huge smile on his face (after he goes back down from his 5am wake up call)
Gets so excited when he sees Brad in the morning..and sometimes will crawl to follow him as Brad walks out the door in the morning. Love how he loves that daddy.
Had his first Halloween. Was a pretty cute Pooh.
Loves cardboard boxes
Loves dogs
Such a curious little dude. He watches everything that goes on around us, and wants to be in on the action.

That's it. Here are a few pictures. Hard to believe that in a few months a whole year would have passed. Have a great week!

With Mimi and Grandpa Pud when they came to visit

Yep...he likes to sit there and wait for us to come in. Just ever so quietly. This was actually at night time and he had been "asleep" for about 30 minutes. I went to check on him and turns out. Not asleep, but waiting there for us to come play.

Ornery. I love it.

I'd like to think he loves to read...but I think he might prefer just to make fun messes.

Playing in the laundry.

The chicken.

Family Pictures!

2011-11-13T20:30:00.006-06:00

So I have been wanting to have professional pictures taken of Noah for awhile, but since we didn't do newborn pictures, we decided to wait until he was old enough to smile in them. Well then we had the opportunity to go back to Indiana for Purdue's homecoming...a post I WILL post soon...and we found a photographer to take our pictures in the gorgeous Indiana fall colors! Sweet Brad went along with them even though the weekend was already crazy busy. I was so happy she was available...and they turned out great! Here are just a few of our favorites!

ALSO...if you are in Lafayette and want pictures taken- look Joy up. JoyInspiration Photography. She was so sweet and we felt very affordable. Plus I just think she did a great job! (P.S. If you think you might be interested do this before January-she and her husband are moving to Alabama then.) Here they are!

Want to play a game?

2011-11-11T16:34:00.003-06:00

Let's play guess where Noah's favorite place is...

Boy loves him some laundry! It's adorable. If I open the laundry closet door he leaves WHATEVER he is doing to come and observe. He's entertained for quite some time. (Bad mama confession: sometimes I do laundry when I'm making dinner so he will be entertained and I can cook)

Either way. I love it. Kinda in love with that sweet face.

Also- remember when I said I thought I had a trick for blogging (Rox) I was wrong. As evidenced by the lack of blogging. :) Soon there will be more updates. Have a great week!

Halloween.

2011-11-01T22:35:00.004-05:00

So..I've never been much of a Halloween kind of girl. I think I only went out trick or treating like once. We actually have never passed out candy since we've been married either. (Not because we wouldn't-but because we seem to never be home on the night of) I LOVE to see little ones in their sweet costumes though...so I was super excited to dress our little man up in his first costume.

Confession: Years ago..like maybe after we had just gotten married- we found a Winnie the Pooh costume on sale for like $8 at a Disney outlet and bought it for our future child.

Fast forward to last night..and our sweet little man put that little costume to use. PRECIOUS.

We had such a great time! We went out to the Big T for some time with our community group. We ate delish potato soup outside while the kiddos played and passed out candy to the all the Taylor folk. It was fantastic! How we love these people we're doing life with. They rock. Here are some pictures!

The girls in our community group.
LOVE them.
Favorite picture of the evening.
Sweet boy was LOVING that fire truck!
Enjoying the beautiful weather!
Snuggles with Auntie Kat.
Love my little pooh.
My sweet boys.
Our little fam!
P.S. I think I may finally have a system for getting some blogging done. :) Hopefully more to come!

Have a great week!

8 Months Old!!

2011-10-25T20:20:00.003-05:00

So about a week ago our sweet little man turned 8 Months Old. HOW ON EARTH did that happen? This mama is behind...because every day that I tried to get a picture..I didn't. Bad job mama. But either way..he turned 8 months old and he's loved every minute of it thus far. This little dude is one sweet boy...and ever the adventurer. Also, after watching him play next to sweet Nora, it is so clear that he is ALL BOY. He is just crazy and out of control. I love that boyness of him. It makes me happy. We'll have to reign the craziness soon enough, but for now I'm soaking it up!

This month he:
Pulled up to kneeling on his knees. He loves to get up and see what's happening around his world. (While we were home he also mastered pulling up to standing..but that's for next month)
Giggles like crazy
Spent lots of time being loved on by his grandparents.
Went to Disney for his first trip of hopefully many!
Continues to LOVE food, but has decided that green beans aren't really his thing
Now weighs ~22lbs. He is a heavy boy to carry around.
Army crawls so fast. He could crawl...he gets up on his hands and knees, but I think he just likes how fast he can move when he's army crawling.
Held his bottle on his own. (oh my goodness it breaks my heart how big he is)
Graduated to basically all 12 month clothes, I can't believe that.
Now has a sweet little teddy bear that sleeps with him. We call it Bear Bear. (Brad named him which I think is just adorable.)
Has discovered that he can reach up and get the toys that he wants. So he does all day long.
LOVES to be right at my feet while I'm cooking. Does not seem to understand when I say no and encourage him to play in the living room. Instead he scoots right back over to in between my feet. Trying to master teaching. I still feel like I struggle to teach him all I should be.
Continues to say dada. He has many other jabber combinations. Such as Ba, Ga, Ka, La.
A little separation anxiety when I leave the room. Not when we drop him at Kidstuff, not if he's being watched while we're gone, not really anything...EXCEPT if I'm in the room and he thinks I should be playing with him- BAM he is Mad. He is a quick fix though so I'm alright with it.
FAKE crying. He's got it down. Amazing how he can go from this to giggling like it's nothing.
He loves to watch the washer and dryer work.
He also loves to explore the apartment.
LOVES big kids. LOVES anybody who loves him. If you pay him attention..you will be his new best friend.
LOVES to be outside.
We are finally on a napping schedule with two naps a day. It's beautiful and has really made the days easier for both of us.
He now is cashed by 7:30pm every night (well when we're at home). Over the last month he has slowly but surely moved his bedtime up and up. He used to be a 9pm kind of baby..but over the course of about two weeks he just decided 7:30 it was. It's actually really nice because it gives Brad and I some time together each night.
Continues to be an easy going laid back boy most of the time. He is a happy kid. He brings us so much joy. Watching him learn is the most AMAZING thing I have ever experienced. Watching him learn who is important in his life, and how he loves those people..it warms my heart.

Overall...every single month just brings the awesomeness of our God to the front of our minds. Watching Noah grow just brings tears to my eyes..and while part of me is embarrassed to admit that I am still tearful over this little boy...the other part of me has totally accepted that this it the new me. Watching him grow just daily reminds me of God's provision in our life. It also reminds me every day of what a responsibility we have as Noah's parents. I sometimes feel like I will never measure up as a parent..and that's my own sin...it's hard to just remember that my responsibility is to pray hard before the Lord over my son, that our God would call Noah to know Him, and to raise Noah to know Jesus. Rather than focusing on this I often focus on whether Noah is talking enough, or active enough, or learning enough, or on the fact that I haven't made his baby food like I planned. It's so easy to get caught up in all that. This month I'm praying that the Lord will take away those distractions and just allow me to focus hard on raising Noah in HIM and only HIM.

Only the one picture for now. Will have a picture post soon. That's it for tonight. Hope you have a great week!

8:47 am.

2011-09-26T08:47:00.002-05:00

So we arrived home yesterday from vacation. We were gone a WHOLE week! Whoa. It was amazing! There will be an update soon, but today I will write about our morning.

This morning I woke up at 4:38 to Noah crying. Not really his norm I went in to calm him down, but just couldn't. My foggy little mind then remembered that he barely ate anything at his last feeding last night because he was so exhausted (apparently he parties hard on vaca) so I decided to feed him. Sweetly he then fell asleep so I decided to stay in there with him and cuddle until it was time to get up. (This mama loves cuddle time!)

So around 7:30 Noah and I both woke up. I got him out of bed, and realized he leaked through his diaper. Excellent. I also realized his paci had fallen out of his crib (those bumpers sure were good at keeping things in his bed) during the night so I laid down to reach under the crib where it was between the wall and the crib. It was still dark in the room and I picked up the paci and noticed that it felt rough, and I thought "Hmm..I don't remember that having texture to it" Then I look down and there are ants...ALL OVER IT!

I then went on to throw it across the room, scream, and run out of the room. Leaving our poor little man sitting on the floor wondering why his mama was going crazy. Brad also gave me a look of "what is wrong with you crazy woman." I then picked my brain back up and picked Noah up to play in the living room. Brad and I then went crazy trying to get all the ants. They seem to be coming in from the outside wall of our apartment. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Ants. Oh my goodness I hate ants...they make me feel like we have a dirty home. But seriously. It's not.

THEN. Brad left for work and had to walk back up because he realized he forgot his coffee. Then about 5 minutes later I get a call from Brad asking if he left his work keys at home...they aren't here. So Noah and I walked out to the car to look in there with Brad but we found nothing and then realized he left them at our friend's house. Problem solved.

But then. I have been complaining that something stinks in my car. Like smells rotten. I have searched for a diaper that might have been left in there, or food - but without any results. Yesterday when I mentioned it Brad thought it was just because the air was stale after sitting out in the sun for 7 days. But this morning he decided it must really be something. We did a search and TA-DA a rotten avocado. OH MY WORD. I had purchased avocados a couple weeks ago, and when I got home I told Brad I really thought I was missing one, but then just figured I was crazy and moved on. Oh no...I wasn't crazy..it was there...and rotting my car. Thankfully no bugs or grossness just a bad smell, so that's easy to fix.

We then said good-bye, and again Brad called out and gave me my license that I had left in his wallet while we were traveling.

OH MY GOODNESS. What a morning. And now here it is 9am. Noah is napping, I'm getting ready to pick up and eat some breakfast, and we're going to start over. :) Oh well. Just thought I should share. Life is great, the vacation was amazing - we were able to see Carl and Rosemary, and Sarah, Phil, and the girls, and my parents come tomorrow for a whole week. I'm sooo excited!

Have a great day! Updates soon!

7 Months Old!

2011-09-16T15:04:00.005-05:00

How is that possible? You'd think eventually I would realize that this is going by quickly, but I just continue to be amazed!

In honor of his first word..I thought this onesie was appropriate for his monthly picture!

The last month we have had an amazing time! he's growing and learning so much every day. It feels like he changes every day. It's just crazy.

This month he:

Cracked the 20lb mark. Big ol' boy. Weighs 20lb 4oz as of 2 weeks ago at the doctor.

Had his first real cold with an ugly cough...boo that.

Said "Dada" for the first time! And we caught it on video the first time he said it! AMAZING.

Decided he LOVES solid foods. He has had bananas, apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, pears, peas, squash, pumpkin, avocado (he didn't like that one because it was fresh and it was cold...I'm going to try again with room temperature), beets (mixed in yuck), blueberries, and delicious mango! I think that's it. If we're being honest...we're clearly not waiting a week with each food before starting new. He is yet to have any reaction so I think we're good.

He moves...FAST. Still not full on crawling..but he has army crawling down to an art. Now have to shut doors to keep him from finding his way to the toilets and other random areas.

Developed a silly grin where he squints his eyes...he does this when he's hamming it up for his friends.

Learned to high 5! So stinking adorable!

Now notices things above his line of vision. Seems to want to figure out how to pull up. So far he has only tried pulling on things like empty laundry baskets and one of his toys that won't support him. He usually just ends up pulling them over.

Discovered the kitchen cabinets this week. Likes to be in the kitchen right at our feet if we're in there.

Jumped up to 9-12 month clothes, and size 4 diapers.

Mama and Dada have gotten in some bad habits because sweet Noah is sooo cuddly..so we have had to work on bedtime and nap times. He seems to be doing well though...no longer having difficulty at bedtime. Naps are another situation..but he'll nap for anyone but me. Today though he took two beautiful naps.

He is a MORNING baby. Wakes up around 6 every morning. He used to go back to sleep but now he's up and ready to play. I'm thankful for that because I want to be more of a morning girl..I used to be and could definitely get back to that! :)

He loves music...likes to dance with mama. There's this song..."Friday" by Rebecca Black (which admittedly is pretty bad) that the Glee cast covered (which is where I heard it for the first time and it was so fun). It comes on our pandora station and Noah and I like to boogie to it! He LOVES it! Sometimes I find him doing what appears to be dancing in his exersaucer.

Pays more attention to us when we read to him now. Sometimes he seems super interested, sometimes he just wants to play with the pages. As long as he's sitting there when I'm reading to him I'm ok with that.

He loves to sit in a high chair. He will sit and play and eat with us. I'm thankful he still does well when we go out so it's not difficult going places.

Still hasn't cut a tooth..but my goodness does he gnaw at things like he is trying to.

Sits like a champ. Sometimes he just sits and looks at what everyone is doing.

Standing so big!
LOVE that cuddle time after I get home from work!

LOVES that daddy! Such a happy boy in the morning!
We've now removed the bumpers. Because this happened every morning..and he then started pulling the ties. I found the tie on the inside of his crib and that was it for me...off that bumper came!
Anyways that's probably all I need to jabber on about. Should probably be packing! We leave tomorrow on vacation with Brad's parents! At the end of the week we'll get to stay with Sarah, Phil, and the girls! YAY!! Then when we get back Mom and Dad come! We are so excited for the next two weeks!

Hope you have a great day!

Panic ATTACK.

2011-09-14T07:52:00.002-05:00

Time out. Confession here...of a not very pretty side of me.

Yep. Today I had one. Or you know, my version of one. One where I'm so flustered I'm laughing and kinda laugh/crying all at the same time. The really unattractive way. Where I'm laying in bed telling Brad it isn't funny when I'm laugh-crying my way through telling him why I'm panicking.

The one where I selfishly say I don't care about his bruise, or that he has to work and that's why he can't do what I want him to do...all while trying not to weirdly laugh and cry at the same time. (He was telling me those things to make me feel better - I just wasn't having it.)

Why did I have said attack? Because I don't want to go to the grocery.

Seriously?!?! Am I 5 years old? But really I kinda despise going to the grocery. I even have started making a list and having a plan...I just don't like it. Never have. Probably never will. It feels like groundhog day every week...go to the store, buy the same staples, haul all those dumb things back.

This week is exceptionally bad...because we went Saturday to pick up a few things, but I hadn't planned meals for the week, so I had to go back on Monday. However, of course our new HEB doesn't have a meat counter so I needed to go AGAIN for the brisket I was planning to make for group tonight. Except...then I worked last night (6-midnight) so I wasn't able to go get the brisket lat night like I planned.

So enter today, I'm tired...Noah just knew his tired Mama didn't crawl into bed until 1 am after work and boy woke up at 4 am . I didn't really mind...such a sweet smile he greeted me with. So I decided to be a pushover and brought him to lay next to me so I could cuddle him and still sleep. But then the second time he woke up at 7am, and sweet Brad had come to talk to me and BAM - FREAK OUT.

Anyways..for all my whining. I still have to go. I'm looking at Noah pep talking both of us into it right now. (It takes a pep talk to get my 20 lb baby boy and all those bags of groceries up the stairs in one trip.

But all this to say. Wow. Sometimes the ugliness of my heart...it's just not so pretty to be faced with. A strong reminder of how seriously sinful I am, and how thankful I am that Christ took that sin from me, because I SURE do not deserve the love of God. How grateful I am to be His, and that he has forgiven me, and that he has grace for me in the moments of ugliness in my flesh, and that only He can change my heart so that going to the grocery store does not cause me to have a melt down. Because really, if going to the grocery is at bad as it gets for me today...why on this earth would I complain.

Heavy Heart

2011-09-07T16:34:00.003-05:00

So this week as the fires have been raging around Austin, my heart has been heavy and so broken. Yesterday, I was walking through the grocery store and just could not get my heart off those people who have been affected by these fires, like the three coworkers I have heard of that have lost their homes, and that's only the ones I've heard of. Then I've watched the news and I hear something around 600 homes have been destroyed. 600 families right here near our city.

Last night, I was in such a funk. I was talking to Brad about it, about how I feel helpless to help them. It's like I forgot that God has this under control. That absolutely nothing happens here on this Earth that he has not ordained.

Then today I read Angela's Blog. Oh how this touched my heart, and oh how thankful I am that God is ALWAYS in control. Despite my weakness, despite my doubt - He is Good and He is Sovereign. Always.

I mean really.

2011-09-04T02:18:00.003-05:00

It's 2:19 am.

I can't sleep.

Why you ask?

I HAVE NO IDEA.

Sweet husband is sleeping, sweet baby boy is sleeping (but don't you worry I'm fairly certain that he won't be taking that into consideration when he wakes up here in a few hours)

Can't lie..SUPER thankful we have two full days together as a family since it's Labor Day so maybe I'll recover from my all-night hang out.

See I worked today..so I woke up at 4:30. Now we're at 2:23. So 20 hours. (18 if you count the two hours I managed to cash out on the cash while cuddling our sweet little man)

So thought I'd put some pictures up.. that's about all I have :)

Such a sweet anniversary on Thursday. Our sweet friends the Benaglio's watched little man for us so we could go on a dinner date together. It was so fun. We got dressed up, and went to a restaurant I have always wanted to go to (The Melting Pot) and enjoyed a great night together just chatting and having real us time. So thankful for Cal and Kassi for letting us have that time. After dinner we just headed home..spent some time chatting with our friends, and then we were down for the count early. It was so nice though!

ALSO! Ellen and Ryan had sweet baby Austin this week! We're SOO happy for them! I'm super jealous because Rox and Jake are meeting him on Monday! I can't wait to see him!

Here are some pictures of the little one...

Always loves his exersaucer
He had a cold all week...and he was extra cuddly. He usually can't sit still long enough to cuddle me...then this day happened. That morning when he woke up he fell asleep on my chest for over an hour, and then this was that night. Heaven for this mama.

Then up and ready to play with daddy.

Have a great week!

P.S. 2:47am. Still awake and apparently not going down anytime soon. Should also note that I started out in our bed, moved to guest bed, now on the couch. Oh well! I am a HUGE fan of naps!

4 Years Ago Today

2011-09-01T15:24:00.005-05:00

Four years ago today...right about this time I believe...I was walking down the aisle to my awesome husband to be!

Here we are four years later...and I'm so stinking happy for that man in my life.

This year we grew...a lot. Things changed in our life:
We found out we were pregnant
We had a sweet baby boy
We sold our house
We moved into an apartment
I stopped working full-time..and became a stay-at-home mommy/one-day-a-week nurse
We decided to move to Taylor, Texas

It has been a year of stretching and learning...but also of laughter and joy. What an amazing year it has been. I definitely think this has been my favorite year! Here's my list of what we've learned this year.

1. Having a baby has totally changed our marriage...but in a good way. We've learned it's important to prioritize our time together...or we can go days without really catching up with each other.

2. Brad was meant to be a dad. And he's amazing at it. Noah adores him!

3. Brad works so hard for our family. I have found this to be even more true as time goes on. He has made it possible for me to stay at home to be with Noah...but also to have the joy of one day a week at the hospital. Brad goes in every day without a single complaint..and comes home with a smile and ready to love on his wife and son. How thankful we both are when Brad walks through the door at night.

4. Brad has grown so much in his walk with Christ this past year...it has been SUCH a challenge to me. Sometimes the beauty of the work that God is doing in Brad's heart - brings to light the ugliness of my sin when I'm not walking as I should. I'm so thankful for Brad who is helping to lead me as Christ led the Church.

5. We still love to laugh together. He cracks me up. He is silly and goofy and sometimes I think he might be crazy :) but it's awesome.

6. We're doing fantasy football this year in a co-ed league. (Nope this isn't something I learned...just truth) I WILL BEAT HIM.

7. We really know each other. You'd think that would be obvious..being married and all. But I mean...Brad just knows..he knows when I need a hug, when I need to laugh, when it's ok to tease, when it would be better not to. He knows when my crazy is out on display..and when he should reign that crazy in. I love it.

8. The man has a thing for bags. For real. Bags and flip flops. He could almost ALWAYS be convinced they are a necessity. There are worse things he could love I guess. But it cracks me up. Every year...for Christmas...that's all he can come up with for what he wants..some sort of bag..and some sort of sandal. I love it.

9. I've learned that sometimes it's ok to put the crazy compulsive behaviors in the closet for a bit so that we can enjoy time together as a family. It is SO worth it!

10. I learned that just because I know how to occasionally sew a few straight lines..Brad thinks I can sew anything. A common question in our house..."You could probably just make that right" and if I say no..he responds with "You could probably look it up online" Hahaha I love his confidence in me...but I mean really...my skills are EXTREMELY minimal. But I sure do love that he supports me being crafty.

And this year...a special treat..probably more for me and our memories than anyone reading. But I'll blog them anyway so I don't forget. I asked Brad what he learned this year...he said (and I quote)
"I think having a child helped me appreciate and love you more."
and
"Also a house is less important than getting to come home and enjoy you both everyday."

It's official. He rocks.

There it is. My sappy post for one of my favorite days every year! Looking forward to year five and all it has in store!

Have a great day!

Our Last Week.

2011-08-24T10:43:00.004-05:00

He's gone crazy. We're having so much fun!

Last week I was bummed - Noah was fussy and sad and had an ugly virus - and this made me sad.

Enter Sunday - POOF - we have our sweet, happy, content baby back. Thank goodness.

Starting Sunday we introduced some solid foods into our little man's world. And he has taken to it like CRAZY. We started with just plain rice cereal with some breastmilk. Then Sunday evening we started with bananas. The first day he made this face...I have a picture. It was pretty cute. Like he wasn't sure what the heck we were doing here. But by today he is ROCKING it out. Flies himself right through his food. He currently LOVES his high chair. As soon as you put him in it he starts lifting his arms up and down with a big smile and then he sits so still when you feed him. It's awesome. I realize that this won't always be the case but we sure are enjoying it while it lasts. But score one for the bananas because he loved it.

Also this week he decided he wanted to start trying to crawl. He actually got up on his hands and knees. He's goes back down before he moves..but oh my goodness he's almost there. CRAZY. I don't quite know how to handle a crawling, eating baby. I see now what people mean when they say "it goes so fast." They aren't kidding.

Here are some pictures! And videos if they'll load.

These three have nothing to do with the food..but the other day I put Noah in the laundry basket to pull him around the room in it. He was sitting in the front and loving it. But then he stood up...
And this happened. Which looked a little more like a face plant from which he looked up with this smile! (I actually have an action shot of the fall because my hand was on the button as I tried to save him from the crash-how thankful I was for this smile)
So we tried again..this time in the back of the basket, sitting. He was happy as a clam. Practicing in his big highchair. We have tried that sippy cup with some water...it isn't happening. It's a bit difficult..so we'll put that one away until he's a smidge older. But he's cute when he puts it in his mouth and gums at it.

Noah's first morning of cereal. This is the face that was cracking us up. He doesn't really make it anymore...he gets really excited when he knows food is coming.
I set him up to get pictures of his little onesie..but this picture happened and I LOVE it.
Waiting patiently for daddy to give him his first taste of bananas
They love each other.
And videos..he really does like this now..you can't tell from the videos. :)

First feeding:

First Bananas:

Here he is on the move:

Pinterest. Yes please.

2011-08-21T23:02:00.004-05:00

So Pinterest.

Oh dear pinterest. I tried hard not to fall to it. But I love it. Now I say this...but I only allow myself onto that website just a little bit because clearly it could become addictive. That and I can't seem to figure it out as well as I would like to. But either way..I love it!

So this week some ladies had a Pinterest Party. We were told to come with supplies to make a bracelet (from pinterest of course) and to bring an appetizer or dessert from pinterest to share. It was so much fun!

I made cake batter blondies from pinterest...and they were delish (or at least I think so)! I also made two bracelets! See below. :) So much fun!

Funny story though..I find that when I concentrate I don't talk much. Strange for me. I'm sitting in this room full of awesome ladies and I'm just so focused on my little flower I was making that I didn't really talk all that much. (Don't you worry...my version of not much is about the normal amount for everyone else.) Anyways...so I'm sitting there working on my little flower and allowing my mind to just wander. It was awesome. I think I should do that more often.

So I really hope we make these a regular thing. I have some other pinterest projects I'd like to try.

Have a great week! We had a pretty awesome weekend. Noah changes so much every day that we have our video camera and the regular camera going at all times it feels like. Today we did cereal and bananas for the first time. He actually ate them like a champ! :) Still fighting that silly virus so we don't want to try anything else. But I'm comfortable with the bananas and cereal. I have videos and pictures so I'm sure I'll put those up soon for the family! :)

The Giggle.

2011-08-16T22:04:00.005-05:00

Oh he giggles. It's funny.

.

We took him to the doctor yesterday. His big ol' rash and bad GI things were all from a nasty virus apparently. Mean little virus. Has done terrible things to our little man's skin. The doctor kept saying "oh my goodness poor little guy." (P.S. That will seriously make you feel like a bad mom) What happened to nursing kiddos being immune? I realize they will get sick..and Noah totally isn't even aware that his skin looks like a quilt of dry skin and his poor tummy is all sorts of a mess.

Another video you ask? Sure..here is a video of him scooting his way to Brad's phone. Clearly his daddy's boy. Likes him some technology.

6 Month Stats:
19lb 3oz. (80th Percentile)
27" (75th Percentile)

I had kinda hoped that his weight would be up more...I always worry he's not getting enough milk. Crazy. I know. Boy has some serious rolls. But anyways..he is incredibly active (read BUSY) now..so that is probably the reason for that. The height thing...He dropped 20% on the chart..but let's be honest..with us for parents..height probably isn't going to be his strong point. :)

In other news:
This week I have a pinterest party that I'm going to. Can I get a HECK YES! So pumped about this. I love that the invitation said you must have an addiction to pinterest. I mean..I'm just getting into it..but it's most DEFINITELY growing on me. All sorts of fun things on there. Tomorrow I am making dessert I found on there.

To follow up my EXTREMELY girly pinterest party...I've joined a fantasy football league with Brad and his grad school friends (and their wives) this year. I am so pumped for this! Love all the people we're doing it with, and it will be fun for the wives to have a chance to take those dudes down! Draft on Saturday night..and seirously...I'm excited. :)

I bought baby food and cereal today. Shout out to you Amy Bean for suggesting not to make the food until we get through these first tries and making sure we don't have any allergies. Thank you! No need to waste. So I dove in and bought a few today. We'll be starting hopefully later this week as soon as the little GI bug clears up.

TOTALLY forgot to mention that our dear friends Ryan and Jess and their precious baby Audrey Claire a month ago! We are so excited for them! We can't wait to meet that beautiful baby girl soon!!

And El and Ryan have baby Austin on the way in just over a month! So excited to see that sweet boy too!

That's it for tonight! Have a great night!

6 Months Already! Time FLIES!

2011-08-15T13:06:00.004-05:00

Oh my goodness - today is the day we mark half a year with our little man already. I am having such a hard time believing that. I mean seriously. It absolutely feels like yesterday that we were in the hospital anxious waiting for him..and now 6 months. Wow.

This month - BY FAR my favorite. In the past two weeks he has just gone crazy with some development. It amazes me. So awesome!

Here's what he's doing!
Giggling. FINALLY. I'm so in love. It's hilarious. Sometimes he all out giggles. Then sometimes you find him on his tummy looking at something just hahaha.....hahahaha....hahaha. (That's my impression of intermittent giggling of his) It's pretty funny. Just in the last two weeks has he really taken off on this.

He likes peek-a-boo now. Before he really didn't care. But now he loves when we play that.

He moves everywhere..and is getting faster by the day. He giggles the whole time too. That is awesome. Today when I put him on the bed for his 6 month picture he about scooted himself off the bed before I grabbed him..and I was right next to him looking at the camera. FAST boy.

He has a seriously liking for anything he shouldn't be trying to go for. If there is an option between a cord or a toy - he almost 100% picks the cord. Have to watch him closely.

He recognizes his family in pictures. At least I think so. Brad, me, and all his grandparents. Even Aunt Sarah and Uncle Luke got a big smile out of him.

Remember when I talked about how chill he was. Wow. That has changed. He remains chill at some times..like when other kiddos are around. He's content to take that all in. But if it's just us, or we're eating dinner, or on an airplane, or BEDTIME - boy is CRAZY!!! He seriously goes nuts.

He is much more purposeful with his movements. He grabs things with such an effort and is so determined to get anything he sets his mind to.

Continues to be a happy baby. QUITE the ham. On the flights to Denver and back this week..he found anyone who was looking at him and gave them a huge grin and a jabber.

Loves to talk. Jabber Jabber Jabber. Makes more consonant sounds now.

Continues to watch us so intensely when we are eating next to him. If we're being honest...I've given him a taste of a few things. He hasn't quite figured out what to do with a spoon, but he sure is interested.

Graduated to a high chair while we were on vacation. We didn't have an infant car seat...so high chair it was...although I was the bad parent who didn't have a cover. Oops.

He will be graduating soon to a bigger car seat. He is SOOO heavy for me to carry around in his infant seat, and the limit is 22 pounds..so I'm pretty sure that's happening soon.

That's about it for today. He's sleeping currently then we have to run to the grocery and to his doctor appointment. Sadly...our little guy broke out in a HUGE rash while we were in Colorado. We're not sure what caused it...think it might have been a combination of the colder, dry air and the detergents for the sheets at the hotels. It made us sooo sad though. Between that and some belly issues I asked if we could get his appointment moved up and they were able to squeeze us in today. I'm excited to see how big he's grown.

After this appointment we're going to start some solids. I'm so excited about this. I need to make some food this week, I plan to make the majority of his food. We'll see how I do.

Here's some pictures from his pictures today. It's getting harder and harder to do these because he's so wiggly...and getting so big. A fun challenge though..

Just because.

2011-08-11T10:22:00.005-05:00

I'm going a little blog crazy. Simply because I don't have to work on the apartment, and we don't fly out until tonight.

It's beautiful.

So Noah is napping. First time all week he really went without a struggle. So I'm going to post pictures for our family back home.

LOOK at what we've started doing! He has been kinda sitting here and there, but then he would fall and topple over. But each day he gets more sturdy. How is it possible that he is already big enough to do this? He's so proud of himself!

Hanging out on Mama and Dada's bed.

LOVE that sweet smile!
Funny kiddo.
The definition of cool. Right there.
Story behind this...while I think Noah doesn't notice that I'm gone on the days I work..I think at the end of the day he does. He smiles at me when I come in the door, but the last few shifts when I'm in the shower he has started getting fussy. (Can't touch him until I shower when I get home because who knows what nastiness I've brought home with me - hardest thing ever!) But anyways..last week after I showered I took him while he was fussy and he scooted right up on me until his face was literally on top of mine and then closed his eyes and slept. Not soundly...but it may have been the most precious part of my day. Oh my goodness. The picture doesn't quite do it justice..but we were at a weird angle so Brad was doing his best. :)
That's it for the day! Need to get ready while sweet little man sleeps! Have a great weekend!!

Yay!

2011-08-11T00:18:00.003-05:00

Apartment is organized!

S-WEEEEEEET!!!

This is the first time since the house was on the market that we're just living and relaxing. So stinking pumped to just be able to have a home for a few months!

Sweet story from today...
I held a picture from our wedding day up in front of Noah. I pointed to Brad and Noah got so excited and started smiling and bouncing in his little exersaucer. Best response ever.

I then left for a second so that I could make our bed and I hear him giggling..he was looking at the picture and giggling. Oh love.

He also has decided that napping for me is unacceptable. Auntie Shauna watched him last Friday and boy slept wonderfully. However...if I'm here..and I lay him down in the crib. He cries. This is not so much a bedtime thing - tonight it was but very shortly- but a nap thing. So today I went back in and gave him a paci...he dropped it when I left and cried some more. I think I went back in three times then decided to pick him up. He INSTANTLY closed his eyes. 5 minutes later I put him down and out he was. However...since he's been doing this he hasn't been napping for very long. We've definitely gotten out of any sort of routine in the last few weeks between moving and a crazy schedule. So I think maybe this is where it's showing up. I'm thankful that other than naps and really then only at the beginning of his naps..he's a very content and easy baby. But I sure do hope he starts napping a little easier soon. Poor little guy.

He sleeps fine at night, and wakes up in the morning smiling so I guess it's not that bad.

That's about all for tonight. Probably should get some rest before we leave tomorrow. Yay!

So So So Excited!

2011-08-09T22:12:00.002-05:00

We're going on a vacation. Mini. But it's a vacation!

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Brad left for Colorado this morning, and Noah and I will be joining him there on Thursday.

I am seriously beyond words excited!

I'm most excited to have the opportunity to take our sweet boy out into the sunshine when we don't have to fear for his little health. Seriously. I feel like we have been caged in our apartment for the past few weeks. I think we hit like 50something days of weather over 100 degrees this year so far. There doesn't appear to be an end in sight. When Noah was first born we went on walks every day..until the doctor told me we better stop because of the smoke in the air. We took a week break then started again.

But this horrible heat..you know the kind where you literally drip sweat just walking to your car...I feel horrible making Noah go out in that. The only time of day it feels nice is like 9pm, and sweet boy is down for the count by that time.

Anyways..no reason to complain about the weather. This crazy summer will end soon and we will be back to the beautiful Austin weather we're used to...I just know it! Then our little man can be out all day if he wants enjoying that sunshine!

All that to say...I am beyond pumped! It's a short trip, we get back Sunday, but it's going to be awesome! Brad sent pictures today as he landed in Denver and I was so jealous that he's already there!

In other news...sweet Noah really seems to notice this time that his daddy isn't here. While it makes me sad for him..I also LOVE it that he knows and loves Brad so much. I'm not sure that's the situation, but I'm choosing to believe it. Our little guy did NOT want to go down for the night tonight. I think he knew Brad was missing because fussiness at bedtime is not in our norm. (Not sleeping for me at nap time - that's TOTALLY his norm though.) We can't wait to be back with him on Thursday.

Also. I don't cook when Brad's gone. I don't see the point. So today I had chick-fil-a for breakfast (justification: I felt that after getting up at 3:15 to take Brad to the airport, then getting back up at 6:30 chick-fil-a was a needed thing.) Then I basically skipped lunch, for a mid-afternoon snack/early-bird dinner I had a little quesadilla and a leftover taco. Then when I realized that probably wouldn't suffice for the whole night I had a peach, some soup, and leftover couscous.

And lots of water. That's right - I drank WATER! :)

But seriously. That's a random day.

Also. I am STARVING all the time. ALWAYS. For sweets. Last night I asked Brad to bring home eggs and ice cream. Eggs for brownies of course. Weird.

That's it. All I have for the night. Off to do some laundry and head to bed. Have a great week!

Parenting Fail.

2011-08-04T09:49:00.003-05:00

Last night.

I took Noah to a baseball game with friends while Brad had a meeting for church.

(Sidenote: Before we moved I was drinking water like CRAZY! I mean I was drinking more water than I ever have in my life. LOVED it. Then we moved and the water in our apartment is not tasty. So neither is the ice.)

So I may have had a Diet Coke, Diet Dr. Pepper, and then last night at the game a diet pepsi. Please don't judge me. I had apple juice and milk too. I just was craving pop yesterday. Or more honestly something that was ice cold..and our water isn't. Even though we bought an Ozarka 2 gallon container.

Anyways..we got home and Noah was crashed out. But he still needed to eat and get changed into his jammies. Well I woke him to do those things and then Brad was in the parking lot so I wanted Noah to be able to see him before he went to bed.

Well..Noah LOVES him some Brad. Once Brad's home we're not restful anymore. His buddy is here and he's ready to play. So by this time it's like 10:30 we put him down around 10:45.

Well then Brad hopped into the shower and I had to go back in twice to Noah's room because he was up with his face in the corner of the crib and lost his paci. So I would move him, give him his paci so he'll let himself sleep and off I went.

Well Brad got out of the shower and I told Brad to maybe bring Noah in because I figured we missed his window where he would put himself to sleep. At this point he was super happy just to play.

So Brad brought him in and Noah just went crazy. Happy, smiling, talking, cooing. Scooting all over the bed. Then he laid next to me facing the bathroom while Brad was brushing his teeth. Brad was playing peek-a-boo with Noah behind the wall. Every time Brad would go away after popping out Noah got soo excited he would giggle and then scoot a little closer on the bed to his daddy. Oh my goodness how it warms my heart the way he loves his daddy.

Anyways...so we decided we were helping him stay up too much, so we turned out the lights and I fed Noah again to help him calm down and then Brad took him in and laid him down again. Too which he immediately started jabbering and playing and moving all over the crib AGAIN. It's midnight at this point. I told Brad we would be up all night.

Then Brad came in and says "Where's his other paci?" OH NO. No way that's the reason right? See I had switched his paci's because everyone always tells me they look too small for his face, and Brad thinks they're too "feminine." So I switched him to a bigger paci that we had, one with a handle. BAM. Brad put the old paci in his mouth. The one with no handle and he INSTANTLY (no joke) went to sleep. Hilarious. All this play and craziness because of a paci. Really?

Caffeine and a paci. Parenting fail.

But boy was he happy. Adorable.

Also. He has mastered the scoot. Boy gets everywhere he wants to be, and gets quicker by the day. How is it possible that he is old enough to scoot where he wants to go? I call it scooting because it's not a crawl..though he sure tries...and it's not an army crawl because he uses his legs more than he pulls with his arms. But he sees something he wants and off he goes. I'm in love. Seriously. Yesterday I left him in the middle of the living room, and found him when I finished brushing my teeth up against the couch stuck because he hasn't quite realized that he can't go through solid things. He's funny this kid.

Anyways that's my story.
Have a great week!

He's still working on me.

2011-08-02T09:55:00.002-05:00

So lately..now that the house is sold, and we moved into the apartment, and we realize the next step for us is definitely Taylor - I have been struggling with my selfish heart. We had a message this week about money at church, about having a generous heart, and looking at everything we have as a gift from God, and while I really always felt like that was something I did..I have found there are areas of this that I struggle with. Like the idea of buying a home that is different than where I saw myself in life. I mean...if we're being honest I never saw Taylor in our future when we moved to Austin 4 years ago. I mean..I didn't even know what Taylor was.

But then we met these sweet friends of ours the Campise fam. Guess who lives in Taylor. That's right..those sweet Campises that we love. They are awesome and would makes trips to Round Rock all the time from Taylor. I still didn't see it in our future.

Then of course there are the Mullins. They were the very first sweet couple we met here in Austin. They brought us to the Stone. We bought a home in their neighborhood when we bought our first home. Obviously, they are another fam we love and we got REALLY used to them being right there all the time, for real I LOVED it!

So rewind to about a year ago. Brad and I are praying and talking and know we need to refinance/sell our house. The problem - we just didn't know where we were supposed to move. So I started looking in Round Rock, Georgetown (north of Round Rock), and Austin. I found nothing. Then a few months later the Mullins begin talking about moving to Taylor. Brad and I talked..I thought Taylor was where we were supposed to be...he didn't. So I kept looking everywhere but there..but secretly I would scout out the Taylor real estate. But found nothing.

Around Thanksgiving time we decided that once Noah was born, we would get the house on the market sometime in the spring. As time went on we decided by May (or I decided). It didn't quite happen by May..but June 3rd or something it was on the market. Ready to go.

All this time we continued to check out websites and found nothing anywhere. Except in Taylor...I found a couple I thought could be interesting but we just weren't sure.

Well then the Mullins moved. The night they moved we left their house and the Campises were still sitting on the couch..and I realized we had a 30ish minute drive home and I lost it. Started crying right there in the driveway. Part of this could have been the hormones of just having a baby..but really that was the day I knew we were moving to Taylor.

After this we have gotten to know the Benaglio's better, another family moving to Taylor, and have decided more and more that this is just where God is leading us.

Time went by..and Brad one day said..."so I think we're moving to Taylor." Or something along those lines. I was so so so excited!

So we started looking. Our sweet realtor took us to Taylor multiple times..and we just couldn't find anything. I would find one then Brad would..they never really matched up. (Except one..which we put an offer in on..but we couldn't match up with the seller)

Anyways..so here we are. Our house sold. We haven't found a house yet. But we know where we're headed. But I'm struggling with a selfish heart..and apparently I'm a little more worldly than I ever want to admit. Because I look at some of the houses and I think "Nope, no way, nope. Too much of a project. It's not level. We'd have to re-do the kitchen." Blah blah blah. Then I see some of the beautiful already redone homes and I think..I could totally live here. Conveniently those aren't in our price range.

But I need to get over that.

See moving to Taylor is about more than being with our friends. We feel called there. The people who live there - we're doing life with them. They are actively loving on babies in the foster system..and that is something we have a heart for. We actively feel that we are called to be a support team for these people and those precious babies, and then to hopefully at some point be loving on foster kiddos in our own home. It's also about financial freedom. We are choosing to move there because we can definitely spend less on a home there. I won't have to work full time. It won't be like Round Rock. It's not that kind of town. It's going to be a different life. It's definitely not suburban. But we want to be in Taylor, loving on the people of Taylor.

But if we're being honest. I'm struggling a bit with what that will look like for us. Apparently I am extremely attached to our old home. Or more to what that home was.

So anyways. All that to say. The Lord is working in my heart. Hard. He is changing me and growing me. I'm thankful but I think I'm fighting it. I'm praying for peace for the next few months while we take a break from looking at homes, and for guidance when we start looking again. That Brad and I would be able to find a compromise for what we have to have vs what we can do ourselves in a home. That we will faithfully pursue where we're feeling led. That we won't worry about all the selfish worldly things we could be worried about (and sometimes do). That we will pursue WITH JOY where God is leading us, despite not always understanding. That I will give up some of these things that I think are important..and remember that EVERYTHING we have is His first. He blessed us so we can bless others.

That's my story.
Long winded. But where we're at.
Of course I'll keep you updated. :)

Have a great week!

P.S. On a lighter note..our adorable little guy now scoots wherever he wants to go. Puts his head down, his bum in the air, and pushes himself wherever he wants to be. AWESOME! :) I'll update on him in the next post. He's rocking our socks. Just one awesome little guy!

I'm tired.

2011-07-26T22:47:00.002-05:00

I hate to complain.

Because that's really not how I like to be.

But I'm tired.

It's been a long couple of weeks.

We just have to make it to Friday..that's what I keep telling myself.

I can do anything for that long.

Really until Saturday...because I have to work Saturday...so just 4 days and then we can rest.

REST. So excited.

Then in two weeks we leave for Colorado for a three night quick Allison Fam trip. I am SOOO excited! We haven't been since our first anniversary. So Noah and I will head up at the end of Brad's work up there and join him for a few nights as a family. So Stinking Pumped.

If we can just get through closing then I can do that!

Tomorrow I have to let the guy come in to hook up our internet and phone....into this crazy apartment. I'm so embarrassed. I mean, it's bad.

Sweet Brad came home tonight and helped me put it together a little though. Then I was able to get our master bath all cleaned and organized. ONE ROOM DOWN.

The house is looking good though. Everything is out of there. Today one of our sweet neighbors watched Noah so I could make runs back and forth with things. Tomorrow another neighbor is watching him so I can clean for a couple of hours uninterrupted. I'll be so sad to leave these neighbors.

Anyways..sorry for the downer of a post. Better next time! :) Have a great day!

Done. Almost.

2011-07-25T08:14:00.002-05:00

We moved!
Did it!
Almost finished!

It was a crazy busy weekend! But oh my word are we thankful for friends and for Carl and Rosemary who came to help.

Friday night our sweet neighbors had a little going away get together for us. We LOVE our neighbors! How sad we are to be leaving them! It was wonderful to hang out on Friday night. Saturday was the big move and it took most of the day. Sunday I did a few things at the apartment and the house.

It's still chaotic in the apartment. It's crazy how many things need to be put away, but it surprisingly feels very like home. I'm so thankful for that. I haven't cried yet, and I really thought I would. But Saturday night when we went to bed in our new little apartment - so unorganized and out of control - we went to bed feeling like we were at home. I guess that's how it feels when you know you're exactly where you should be.

Still have a big week ahead. Need to finish up at the house with a few trips to the storage unit...and then closing..and then to say goodbye to our sweet first house. So there may be a few tears this week, but then we'll be clear and free to just live and relax for a bit. Thank goodness!

Have a great week! Once sweet Noah gets up it will be time to head to the house..so I better get a move on!

Oh goodness.

2011-07-19T09:20:00.003-05:00

So I should be packing.
Really.
I should.
And I know this. But there's this little man sitting next to me, and he just takes my interest in packing and throws it out the window.
Because he's this precious beautiful boy who I much prefer spending time with over bins of our things.
But oh my goodness if you could see the chaos.
I have to keep reminding myself to get moving.
I have a tendency to freeze up when I'm trying to pack things. Like I get stuck in all the disorganization.
We can do this.
Saturday is the day.
HERE WE GO!
But here's a few pictures of a super sweet boy I know..because that's better than packing.

Have a great day!

5 Months Old!

2011-07-16T12:47:00.005-05:00

One sweet little boy turned 5 months old yesterday! We're just adoring him! Every month I decide I like that stage better..and so far this month has been by far my favorite. I think Brad's too. Noah is growing and interacting and he brings us so much joy every day!

No stats this month..no appointment with his doctor. Judging by how he feels when I hold him I definitely think he maybe gained a pound or so in the last month. Give or take a bit. But he's feeling pretty big.

New developments this month:
He found his little feet. Maybe the cutest thing ever. He is constantly rolling onto his back to hold onto his toes.
He still hasn't mastered the giggle...but goodness does he try. He's such a happy baby though...always smiling...just no giggle comes out when he tries. It's pretty funny.
LOVES to talk. I was worried maybe he wasn't talking enough when we were back in Indiana. But I think that he just takes it all in..because when it's just us at home..boy can TALK. (Don't know where he learned that from)
LOVES to be sitting up seeing what's happening around him. Not big on laying down. If he's not grabbing his toes he will roll to his belly so he can watch everything that's going on. Loves to sit on our laps and watch what is everyone is doing in his little world.
Likes music. Thinks it's funny when mama dances silly to the music.
Still digs his exersaucer. Seems to be realizing that when he moves his feet that makes music.
Practicing on talking with consonants. So far I've heard Ba, Da, Ga. He is a big fan of bababa and then blows a raspberry.
Speaking of those..he has discovered the fun of blowing said raspberries. We were looking at an apartment last week, and the entire time through the apartment he was blowing raspberries. The sweet girl showing it was like "I think he likes it!" To which I was thinking "Nope..he's blowing those raspberries to say no way mama." (That place smelled badly of cat.)
He is getting much more coordinated with his hands. Definitely can grab anything he wants. Poor little guy though..his paci's don't have handles..and when he goes to grab that thing he just can't get it the way he wants to. He's determined though and I just know he's going to get it down.
He is soooo interested in what we're eating. He watches me every bite I take. I did put the spoon in his mouth this week. I'm just sure if he understood...but he looked at me funny. He has another month to get prepared for that.
His Aunt Sarah gave him his first taste of frosting this month. He won't be having any more of that anytime soon but he sure seemed to like it!
He likes the bumbo..but only for a bit.
He tried his highchair for the first time. It was adorable. Even just with him sitting in hit looking at us funny.
Still LOVES that daddy.
Wakes up almost every morning happy. I love it. He wakes up jabbering, and then when I go to get him up he's smiling at us from his crib.
Recently slept 10 hours straight. I think we're going to be more on this schedule it seems like. He had been doing closer to to 10-6 but we're getting him down earlier..so we're doing more like 9 to 6 or 7. That's fine with me.
He's a flexible baby. I'm so thankful for that. I can take him wherever and he'll find a way to nap and it allows me freedom to get out of the house and to help out in the Big T.
No separation anxiety yet...hoping we keep it that way. But last night when I got home he was a little fussy..after I had showered and I took him he stopped crying almost right away. Oooh how that made my day!

Oh this kiddo...what a joy he is! Can't wait to see what next month holds!

Pictures below:

Our monthly shoots our proving to be a bit more difficult. They are turning into this:

Or This:
Wearing his Daddy's hat. Boo KC. He'll be a cubs fan I just know it.
One happy little dude.
We will cheer for the Royals...just because we love Brad.
Have a great weekend! We're packing and moving some things. Next weekend will be the big final move. Whoa.

Packing.

2011-07-11T11:37:00.002-05:00

If you were a follower of this blog three years ago...you might remember me saying I hate to pack.

Apparently - that hasn't changed.

I still hate it.

It has a purpose. I like that. It will have an end. I like that.

But putting everything in boxes to just unpack and reorganize. I don't like that. Especially when I had it all organized how I liked it.

This particular packing job is difficult because I started with the kitchen..and our kitchen that we're moving to is significantly smaller than the house. So trying to decide what will be unpacked and what will remain packed and put into storage is a bit challenging.

I think I'll recover.

That's all. I could write more..but what I'm really doing is procrastinating on the packing..and sweet little Noah is napping so I need to be taking advantage of this and knocking the rest of that kitchen out. Hope you have a great day!

New place...check.

2011-07-07T21:48:00.002-05:00

So after days of going back and forth trying to decide where we are going to live...we made a decision today. We were still going back and forth, but then the people who are buying our house wanted to close a week early..which meant we needed to get a place right now...so we made the choice.

Thankfully, that closing date didn't work for our buyers either so we still have the same closing date..and we have three weeks to move. That's pretty awesome. We're going to start moving on Saturday, because we take possession of the apartment then. Brad's out of town a couple days next week...so Noah and I will be rocking out some serious movement of random things at our house.

Anyways...it's an apartment. Which I can honestly say is a HARD idea to swallow after living in our house. But we looked and looked and couldn't find a house at this time that we're willing to jump at. But the apartment is super nice. I really like it. It's much nicer than our last apartment. It's a second floor apartment, it overlooks a grassy area which is really nice. It has a really nice kitchen, with granite counter tops and everything. Those things are definitely not necessary in an apartment..but it was also the best deal we could find for the size and price...especially since we only signed an 8 month lease.

Though we're both really sad about leaving the house. I can say that we have lots of traveling to do..and there are a lot of things happening in life right now. It will be nice to have a smaller home to clean and take care of, no yard to mow, no maintenance we're responsible for. We can pick up and leave and travel without any worries. That will be so nice during this time. Plus, when we start looking for a house again..we won't have to worry about trying to sell one house while buying another.

So here's to a life change. One that we feel very strongly the Lord has blessed, and we think it will definitely be the best option for us as a family at this time. Financially, we're going to have so much freedom especially with me working only part time. It's so funny to be so torn.

But oh the relief that we felt today applying for that apartment. I guess I shouldn't say it's a definite..we have to be approved..but I don't see why we wouldn't be. That would be quite the shocker. So we're going to hope all goes smoothly and just say we're a go!

So if we're sparse on here in the next couple weeks..you know why. Have an amazing week!

Moving!

2011-07-05T09:00:00.001-05:00

Well...it's official! (Almost)

We sold our house!

We are so very thankful because it was only on the market 18 days, and we got a full asking price offer. Amazing.

The inspection and appraisal have been completed, so all that's left now is to close.

We close on the 29th. It's just crazy. How thankful we are for our Lord who provides!

Our next task is to find somewhere to live. :) As the market isn't exactly thriving right now we thought we had plenty of time to find a place to live...so we're a little behind. We know we'll find something. We're going to check a house out today, and if it's a no we'll probably go rent for awhile. I don't care..I'm just so thankful the house is sold.

It's bittersweet..to leave this place we love...but awesome to know that we could not have received a better offer, and to know we're doing just what we're supposed to be doing.

So that's our update! Just got home from a week back in Indiana. It was wonderful..but always too short! Will update about that later!

Little man is sleeping so that means I need to get ready and then unpack from the week. Have a great day!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T11:06:00.003-05:00

A day late..but we wanted to wish our sweet dads and grandpas Happy Father's Day! We sure did miss all of you! (And to our mamas and grandmas as we didn't write a blog on Mother's Day! We sure do love you all too!)

And now a tribute to my sweet husband..and the best daddy every for Noah!

Happy Father's Day Brad! We LOVE you...more than we could ever say!

Fatherhood looks good on you sweet husband of mine. The best part of our day...every day..is when you walk in the door! :) I love the way Noah recognizes you and cracks a big grin as soon as he sees you. I love the way he follows you with his eyes..wants to know where daddy is always. I love how he watches you when we're in the living room and you're in the kitchen. I love how much he loves the baths you give him. I love the way you're crazy about Noah. The way you love us both! The way you lead us both! The way I know you love us unconditionally. You are a man who I adore..and so does your baby boy! Thanks for being you!

For Father's Day we went out to lunch with some sweet friends after church. It was great! It's funny how just a few years have changed our lunches out..but how wonderful it is now! We're also going to go to a concert of a guy Brad likes (Mark Broussard) when we get back from Indiana! Auntie Shauna is going to party with Noah so Brad and I can have a date night. I'm super excited! Here's a family picture from lunch yesterday!

Hope you all had a wonderful father's day! Want to wish the sweet first time daddy's we know a happy day too! ! (We'd list you all but there's so many of them I'm afraid I'd forget!)

Have a great week!

Four Months.

2011-06-16T10:01:00.005-05:00

Oh my goodness. Yesterday Noah turned 4 months old. It is crazy to think how fast that happened!

Four Month Stats:
17lb 2.5 oz. (90th%)
26 1/4 in. (95%)
Boy is HEAVY! :)

Our sweet boy's fourth month has been full of fun! He flew home to Indiana and back just at the very beginning of this month..and he did it like a champ! (Except for the huge ol' blowout we had on the last flight. But we didn't care because he was an amazing traveler. Slept or smiled the whole flight..how thankful I was for that)

Also this month:
He smiles ALL the time. It makes me so happy.
He has learned to suck his little thumb...does it more often now.
No longer is a big fan of sleeping on his back. He gets mad until he's onto his tummy and then breathes a sigh of relief and cashes out. I can't decide how I feel about it..since he's supposed to sleep on his back but I just check him a few times before we go to bed, and then if I happen to wake up during the night, and then first thing in the morning. So far so good.
He's moving all over the crib now. We put him on one end and he ends up on the other.
He hasn't quite mastered the giggle. He kinda has a laugh/cry giggle. It's adorable. I'm dying for him to learn that giggle though.
He loves his daddy. Smiles and follows him with his eyes whenever he hears Brad's voice.
I think he loves his mama too. He smiles at me a lot.
Sometimes we put him in his crib and he'll fuss a little bit..so I go in to put in his paci..and he just cracks a big grin.
He has discovered his lungs. Boy can he yell when he wants something.
He jabbers all day.
LOVES his exersaucer.
LOVES sucking on his hands..and his toys...and his blankets..and my hand. Pretty much anything he can get to his mouth goes in there.
He's not that interested in me reading to him, but I do it anyway. He deals with me. But I'm excited for when he loves to read like we do.
Drooling like a champ. Doctor says he's getting ready to teethe.
Loves looking at the baby in the mirror :)
Loves when someone sings to him and makes funny faces. He smiles big then.
Still an excellent eater.
Wants to be up looking around all the time.
Still rolling like crazy from his back to tummy...but just can't seem to figure out he can get back off his tummy. He has done it once or twice...but most of the time just scoots himself around.
Loves other little ones..he totally digs any little person that watches him.
Really loves bath time! Especially when Daddy does his bath..mama apparently doesn't know how to do the fun baths.
Doesn't really love lotion time after his bath..but he deals with it.

Basically we just adore him so much! These past four months have been wonderful! We're so excited to see what the next couple of months hold! It's amazing watching him grow! Oh how we love him!

Here are some pictures from our photo shoot! It's a little more difficult now because he's getting so strong and he can kick himself out of the position. Plus he's definitely more interested in chewing on the elephant. Pretty adorable though. Here they are! Plus just a few others of him.

With his daddy!
We gave up sitting him on the bed..then went to the chair..which pretty much ended up the same way. With the funny little guy eating his elephant.

Brad makes this face below ALL the time. Noah is so much like him!

He was finished with the pictures..so he attacked the elephant! Have a great week!

my biggest fear.

2011-06-13T15:33:00.002-05:00

Ok. Honestly maybe not my biggest fear. But it would be hard to recover.

Today. I was almost that parent.

You know. The one who's kid takes a big poo in the public pool.

I had him in the pool...we were splish splashin around..and then we got out to say goodbye to our neighbor. Then about two minutes later I started to smell..something that very distinctly did not smell like chlorine.

Oh how thankful I am it happened after we got out. I mean...the swimmer diaper might have caught it I guess...because it's not like it got out of the diaper. But poo, and the pool...they just don't mix.

Found out they clean that kiddie pool three times a week though.

Good thing. That's all I'm saying.

Weekend Fun.

2011-06-12T22:05:00.003-05:00

We have been running around like crazy people in the last couple of weeks. I mean sometimes it feels like Brad and I have to plan out three days in advance when we'll actually get to see each other. A little tough. But worth it.

This week Brad had to travel for work from Tuesday to Thursday. Then when he got back into town we had plans Thursday night, I worked Friday...we passed each other for 5 minutes to kiss and say hi and for me to pick noah up, and then Brad didnt' get home until after midnight. So by yesterday I was totally needing some time with my sweet husband.

Well it was awesome! Saturday Brad, Noah, and I had an all family morning which was wonderful. We went to the Round Rock farmers market and scored some amazing Sun Gold Tomatoes, an awesome loaf of bread, and some delicious tamales. Then we headed downtown and grabbed some lunch at a local sandwich shop we had never been to. It was delicious. Then we headed to another farmers market, and then home so Brad and Noah could have some bonding time. Kat came over and went down to a crafty fair with me. It was pretty fun. Didn't spend the money on anything there..I felt most things were a little overpriced. But it was so nice.

Last night and today were spent with friends which is always wonderful. Were able to spend some time out it the Big T last night for dinner, then brunch downtown today which was maybe the most delicious brunch EVER! Tom came up for a visit this afternoon which is always fun!

I mean it was awesome! It was such a huge blessing of a weekend after a tough week of missing my husband.

Noah scored himself an exersaucer this week. Mom and Dad had given us a gift card to get him one for Easter. I had waited because I didn't want to have it sitting around when we were showing the house...ridiculous I know. They had put him in one in the nursery at church a few weeks ago and he loved it so it was time. He needed it..and I'm so glad we did it because he LOVES it! I love it too because it's fun for him! He's growing so big! Turns 4 months old on Wednesday. That's just crazy to think of!

That's all for tonight..I think I may have to run away and grab some double stuff oreo goodness before bed. So healthy.

one year ago today.

2011-06-07T21:17:00.004-05:00

Maybe the best day ever. Or I mean...I guess wedding day and the day Noah was actually born might take the cake for that...but this was I guess the coolest feeling ever day. One year ago today...this little man here....

He was this.

All day I just kept looking at Noah. And I think whoa..that was a year ago? A year ago our life changed? We no longer were two but three? No longer could I eat lunch meat cold or all the soft cheese I wanted? No longer did I have the insane amount of energy I was used to? No longer was my body just one person..it was growing a tiny little human. No longer would I walk into rooms at the hospital fearless about what might be in that room..now I felt like I needed to scrub extra hard..be extra careful..consider that it wasn't just me I was taking care of there.

Basically..a year ago. I realized that I was responsible for another human being. Not that I wasn't responsible to Brad before that..I mean I was..but now this tiny little human was going to depend on us. It's changed me. For the better, I hope.

Also..in my previous post..I forgot to mention..Nana went home today!! She's home from rehab in her own bed with Papa there. She still has work ahead..but she's home! I can't wait to see them all in June!

Also..random note...currently I have Grey's Anatomy on in the background - yep I watch it..please don't judge me - but anyways..I see a lot of myself in Christin. Scary. I actually just heard her say "Have you met me?" (In a sarcastic way) I say that to Brad on a weekly basis. Weird.

That's it. Noah is sleeping...so this girl is just sitting on the couch. Sitting. I haven't done that in quite awhile. Have a great night!

yay summer!

2011-06-07T07:56:00.003-05:00

So I have been dying to get in some pool time, but not really digging the idea of taking our 3 month old out in the 100+ degree heat. So last night once it cooled down a bit we took Noah for his first time. We had a great time!

Noah didn't seem to know what to think. He kept trying to kick and push off the water, it was pretty precious. I can't wait to take him more!

Some pictures:

I was a little worried when he crashed out on the walk to the pool. Wasn't too interested. But he woke up just in time for his Daddy to join us. Then he loved it.

In other news...we have had one showing so far of the house. It wasn't officially on the market until Friday night and we had the showing Saturday afternoon! Yay! Nothing since but we're hopeful that maybe later this week or this weekend we'll have a few. We believe it will sell when the time is right though..so we're waiting patiently. (Or not so patiently but we're trying)

Brad's role at work has changed a little bit..and he's really enjoying what he's doing. That's exciting for him. I am enjoying my one day a week. The whole drive there and most of the morning I just hate missing Noah. But I know it's good for us, and I really really enjoy my time there. I know I'm so blessed to have a job I love as much as I do. Sometimes I feel like I have to remind myself of that the whole time when I'm away from Noah...but I know that will get easier.

That's about it for today. Brad left this morning for three days..so it's just Noah and me holding the fort this week. We really miss Brad when he's gone..but we'll have some serious bonding time all week so we'll probably be ok. :)

Hope you have a great week!

As of tomorrow.

2011-06-01T22:30:00.003-05:00

I'm just not sure how I feel about it.

We have been praying over this for quite some time. We've been feeling like we definitely needed to make a change..and we were both pretty certain that it was going to mean selling our house. We kinda fought it for a good year or so...but we are at peace now and just really feel this is where the Lord is leading.

But we love it here...so it's bittersweet.

We LOVE our neighbors. They said now we're officially traitors. :) Sad.

We do not like our mortgage payment.

We LOVE the house.

We do not love living far away from friends.

We LOVE what we've done to the house.

We do not love that we're leaving our very first real home..and Noah's very first home.

We LOVE the idea of living close to some of our sweet friends again. After living 5 minutes from dear friends..that has been an adjustment. And considering there are now three sweet families living out there in the Big T...its tempting.

Anyways. For now this is where we're at. Whoa. It's definitely making us trust.

Confession.

2011-05-25T21:06:00.003-05:00

Tonight I was folding laundry and Brad was going to help. This conversation followed.

B: Can I confess something to you?
R: ? Sure?
B: I really hate folding Noah's clothes. They are too annoyingly small and difficult to fold.
R: Wow. (Not sure I said that...but I definitely thought it)

Hilarious that husband of mine.

So Brad folded our big clothes..and I stuck to the tiny baby clothes - which I think are awesome to fold. At least we know what we're good at.

Noah rolled over today. I'm so excited. He rolled from tummy to back once last week. Today he has rolled from back to tummy multiple times. ADORABLE. He gets so stinking mad because his little arm gets stuck. Precious. He's such a sweet little guy, so so so in love with him.

Lesson.

2011-05-23T16:39:00.003-05:00

I've learned some things about myself in the last week. I have been down..a little moody, a little grumpy, very sad that I'm not home with my family while Nana has been in the hospital. A little bitter. Basically..if it's not a nice emotion I've probably been there. Not to say we haven't had some nice emotions this past week...Brad took me on a date just the two of us last Monday - it was so sweet and perfect! Little man rolled over for the first time, giggled for the first time, and slept in his crib in his room for the first time. So it's been an awesome week too!

But this is what I learned. Remember when I talked (or complained really) about how I have all these roles to fill and I'm struggling with it. Yadayadayada. Well in our community group we are doing a study called "Gospel Transformation" and this week we discussed the fruits of the spirit.
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
Self Control

I can guarantee you..these fruits are not always visible..or even present in my life.

So at the end of the lesson there is a question..this week's question was:
What areas of your life are without joy? What are some reasons for this lack? How can the gospel speak to this area of your life.

Which got me to thinking...about those roles I talked about. Here's the roles I think I am in...
Wife
Mother
Daughter
Sister
Grand-daughter
Niece
Aunt
Friend
Nurse
Homemaker

Those are the main ones. There are smaller roles in the day to day..but you get the idea.

Know what's missing on that list?

Child of God.

How different would my life look if I spent my time living out that role to the best of my ability. I have a feeling that I would find such joy and freedom in finding my identity in Christ..that I would be able to remember that each and every single "role" he has me in is an opportunity to bring Him glory. I'm thinking maybe then I might be seeing those fruits of the spirit showing up in my life a little more.

Lesson Learned.

Made my day.

2011-05-16T16:12:00.005-05:00

Sometimes...when I'm feeling down and worried..God finds me in my weakness and shows me grace through our sweet little man.

Today..our precious little dude rolled over. I realize it's just a little milestone..one that he is expected to reach...it was perfect timing for this mama! I happened to catch it on camera...not video but pictures so I'm still happy! Who knows if he'll do it again today or anytime soon...I don't care because it happened today!

We had to go to the doctor today. He had a little rash on his neck and it seems to be getting worse. Anyways..not too big of a deal he had a little patch of eczema which got pretty irritated because of his little rolls at his neck..so he ended up with a little yeast to his rash. Makes me so sad!

But we ended up weighing him..15lb 15oz. Big kid this one! Gained 1lb 3oz in the last month. I kinda expected more..but maybe he's slowing down. That wouldn't be terrible because the boy is HEAVY.

Here are a few more pictures from the three month shoot. He wasn't all about the smiles but I don't care..I love all his little expressions.

Have a great night! I'm super excited because Brad is taking me on our first real date since the little man came along! It will be nice to have a night with him! Special thanks to sweet Kathrin for watching Noah - we love you dear friend!

Growing up.

2011-05-15T21:12:00.002-05:00

Is hard to do.

That's what I'm learning.

This week Nana had surgery to replace her knee. It was last replaced 34 years ago, so it had kinda worn out its welcome. She is a TROOPER. It's been a tough go and it's hard watching her feel so badly. It's also been hard watching my family be sad and scared. It's tough being a nurse and watching your family member struggle, and having to be in the family role not the nurse role. Rough. Especially rough for my sweet mom. I was so thankful I was able to be there during surgery, and for the past few days..but leaving Saturday was NOT fun.

But being away from Brad for that long was NOT fun either.

I had a breakdown Friday night while talking to Brad and then again while talking to Dad..it's weird feeling like home is two different places. If Brad had been able to be with me up in Indiana...I would have stayed until Nana was home and walking well just to be sure everything was ok. But he couldn't...and our home is in Austin. And we love it...but oh my goodness it's hard to be away from your family when there are things happening.

Boo for being away from people you love. It's part of being an adult. I get it. I think our God is stretching me and growing me. I'm so very thankful for that.

On a happier note..our big sweet boy is 3 months old today! Oh my goodness I can't believe it! We told pictures..but I'll post more tomorrow..because I think I'm going to take a few in the morning to see if I can catch more of a smile. He's so smiley in the mornings.

We took some pictures tonight though. Here we are...

Have a wonderful week!

FOUND!!! and other random thoughts.

2011-05-12T13:28:00.000-05:00

Guess what!!!

A few years ago...either my senior year of college or the year Brad and I were married, my great grandmother, Grandma Roth, gave me the last necklace Grandpa Roth gave her before he passed away. It was so very precious to me!

Then one time...I believe last Christmas..maybe last Thanksgiving..maybe August of '09 after El got married - at some point when I was back in Indiana, I couldn't find that precious necklace when we got back to Texas. I couldn't find it anywhere. I was devastated. I just KNEW it was in our closet, or in my carry on, or in a suitcase...I KNEW IT! But seriously. I couldn't find it anywhere. I don't know if you are aware of how many times I have organized the closet in the last year but it's ALOT because while pregnant I was even more compulsive then normal . So many times I have searched through those bags. NOTHING.

A few weeks ago I moved Brad's clothes to the other side of the closet..and then yesterday this is what he sent me...

MY NECKLACE! My sweet necklace from my sweet grandmother..he found it! I knew I didn't lose it! Hanging on one of the racks in our closet, up against the wall. It's probably been there forever! What a blessing that it didn't fall and get sucked into the vacuum, or lost when we replaced the carpet, or caught in clothes and lost wherever it happened to fall. It's found!! I'm so excited. I can't wait to put it on as soon as I get back to Texas!

Also. I hate leaving Brad. Hate is a strong word..but that's how I feel. Noah and I came home for Nana's surgery...I wouldn't miss that for anything..but I sure wish Brad could be here with us.

Nana is amazing. She made it through her knee replacement surgery, and she's doing well. I sure wish I could be here to help her and Papa once she gets home.

I went back to work on Mothers' Day. Who does that? Who chooses to work their first Mother's Day? But oh how thankful I am for my amazing husband. He brought Noah up to see me at work, and made chocolate covered strawberries for my coworkers and me. He's so precious to me. I may have teared up multiple times during the day but I made it through. It was good to be back, I really do love my job. It was NOT fun trying to learn the computer charting. I think I'll get it and be thankful for it..but I felt like I was fumbling through the day.

Let's talk for a minute about the changes while I was gone:
New scrubs (No big deal obviously)
New charting
New ordering system
New flowsheets
New charge system
New places of ALL of our supplies
New plans for construction at the hospital?

OH MY WORD.

Thank goodness that my coworkers were AMAZING on Sunday. They helped me so much..and didn't make me feel dumb since I had forgotten how to do everything! It felt like I was a graduate RN all over again. Whoa.

Anyways. It was good to be back. I can enjoy it for one day a week I think!

Straws make a drink for me. I will not drink out of a cup in public without a straw because it feels dirty! I LOVE straws. I go to Mcdonald's for diet cokes because of the big huge straws! But I go to the Igloo in Lafayette because of the teeny tiny straws! I'm sure that a diet vanilla coke would taste good anywhere..but NEVER as good as the Igloo because of the amazing straws!

Our baby turns three months old on Sunday. How is that possible? He's so absolutely perfect.
At least I sure as heck think so.

I always forget how much I love to read until I pick up a book or my kindle and then plan my days for how I can get even a few minutes to read. Currently I'm reading a book I've already read..but it was long ago and I can't remember it! Yay!

That's it for now! Relaxing for a bit longer with the little man..then heading back down to Indy to the hospital. Have a great day!

My heart hurts.

2011-05-05T17:34:00.004-05:00

So this is a serious post. Bear with me. It's my soap box I guess..but it breaks my heart.

The innocence that is taken away from children these days...especially little girls..but also little boys. This world is so broken and lost.

Lately I've noticed this more and more -and I guess that's probably due to Noah- but the more and more I notice it..the more I ache for Jesus. I ache for Him to call these little children to himself.

I look at my sweet innocent child..and realize that he's going to experience things that I will hate...because of the sin in this world, because of his sin nature, because of our sin nature.

Examples:

Yesterday I heard a kid in our neighborhood say "I don't want to go with him...I might get raped" about another little boy. WHAT?! Then he laughed..like that was funny? How is that even a joke..how does he know what that even is? That kid couldn't have been more than 11 years old..IF THAT.

Today I was walking in Sears and I saw a section for girls clothes...Girls Plus. With a picture of a little girl. I'm sorry. Girls Plus section? How many little girls struggle with self esteem and feeling bad about who they are and what they look like..and to pick a precious little girl (who was BEAUTIFUL) by the way..and put her on a picture for girls plus. To single little girls out who may not be as tiny as the others. Seriously.

Then I read this article yesterday. Forgive the harsh title..it has a point. Seriously..push up bras for little girls?

Then I saw a little girl walking around in a pair of jean shorts and a bikini top in our neighborhood and I wanted to stop my car and give her a t-shirt. It's scary.

There's another kid in our neighborhood that likes to call out to me...he says "Hey baby" then makes some inappropriate gestures. Haven't seen him in awhile...but I just wanted to cry. (Please don't think our neighborhood is bad..most of the precious kiddos here are just amazing!)

Once I saw a little girl - 3 years old- singing "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas. Word For Word. Not ok.

Or Teen Mom. Or 16 and Pregnant. Why are we not helping those girls? Why is it ok to put them on TV and watch as their worlds go out of control? For entertainment?

Or how about that Glee is supposed to be a family show...and then they have unbelievably inappropriate scenes. (I can't lie..I've watched Glee..I've even liked it...but I've also turned it off because it's almost made me sick)

Then I think about the kiddos in our foster care system..the ones who have been abused..physically, sexually, emotionally. Their innocence is taken and they NEVER deserved that.

How thankful I am for my Mom and Dad. Dad..I appreciate so much all those times you told me not to wear Abercrombie because of it's way too sexual advertising. Or how you always came and told me to be sure not to change in front of the window. Or for telling me to make sure that I saved my kisses for my husband. Or Mom..for making sure that I always dressed modestly. For never letting me call boys. For helping to realize I didn't need to be forward. All those years I felt like the biggest nerd...I'm so grateful now.

I learned the truth of this verse from you both:
Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
(Hebrews 12:9-11 ESV)

ALL this to say...Lord Jesus please protect these little ones. They are his. I know that this world is broken..and I know that until Jesus returns...that's not going to change. I just pray that in this home it will be different. I wish we could protect Noah from all this...our children to be also - but we only can to a point. But...I pray that God will protect Him in a way that we can't.

And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

(Matthew 18:2-6 ESV)

I apologize for the rant.

Easter in Indiana!

2011-05-05T09:07:00.006-05:00

Oh my goodness Easter was wonderful! It meant the world to us to get to go home and see both of our families! It felt kind of like a whirlwind, especially for Brad because he was only in town from Friday to Monday. We had a fantastic time!

It was crazy that this time at home we had a child..our child..with us. I still have a hard time believing we have a little 11 week old man in our life. I realize it should probably be believable now...it just seems so amazing but surreal all at the same time. Crazy. Anyways...to bring him home to our amazing family and to introduce him..it was so cool! AWESOME!!

It was also a little bittersweet this time at home because it was the last time that Sarah, Phil, and the girls would be there too. They moved to Florida at the end of the week. We're excited for them...but selfishly I'm a little sad. (But also selfishly pretty excited to have somewhere to go visit in Florida!) Anyways..it was wonderful to have time to spend with them before they left. Especially cool to have the girls and Noah together in one place..he has cousins. That's so cool to me. I LOVE my cousins..and now Noah has them. Weird.

I'm super excited because I get to go back next week too, although not super excited for the reason since my sweet Nana has to have her knee replaced. But it will be great for Noah to get time with family again!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week!

All the cousins at Easter.
Sweet husband.
This is absolutely my favorite picture of the week. Luke is an awesome uncle! Set this up for Anna to find an egg.
Aunt Vic, Grandma, and Noah
Aunt Jo and me
Carl and Rosemary
Mom and Sarah
Brad and his adorable cousins
We went to have Noah meet Grandma Jean in Columbus.
Four generations together.
Oh Noah thinks Uncle Luke is funny!
:) Perfect.
Adorable! :)
Sisters and cousins! :)
Noah loving time with Nana and Papa

It was perfect! Have a great day! Next up...Noah meeting friends!

Sweet Victory!

2011-05-02T16:29:00.002-05:00

A blog about our fantastic trip up to Indiana is coming.

But now..I just have to say I am so excited!

I have been deep cleaning our house all day! Sweet Noah has been napping well..and in between my work times we have gotten lots of snuggle time. So all in all an amazing day!

I realize this is not exactly blog worthy. But I really enjoy deep cleaning days. I really enjoy looking at the house after it's finished and saying aahhhh. I feel like I can relax then.

These days haven't really happened in the last two months...because I couldn't bear to tear myself away from our sweet boy. So that's the reason for the victory..Noah and I are totally getting into a rhythm and I love it! I really dig being at home with him...but I've struggled with the roles of wife, mother, and just Rachael. But in the last few weeks..we've really found our groove and I adore it. I think I'm finally figuring out how to be productive while making sure I'm getting plenty of time to just love on that sweet boy. I'm grateful for this! I'm especially grateful of the timing. I go back to work on Sunday. Just one day a week...but I've been dreading leaving Noah, and have been fearful of how I will add another role to my life...but I'm trusting that the Lord is going to get me through that. He hasn't left me yet, and I know that won't change.

So that's it for the day. Noah and I...we make one heck of a team.

P.S. Don't get me wrong...that Brad guy...he's a star player on our team too..he just happens to be out making the money for this little fam during the day :) We're thankful for that awesome man!

Here we come Indiana!!

2011-04-21T16:23:00.002-05:00

So I'm going to take a minute to pause..from the laundry I'm already not folding...to say I am so excited!

We get to be in Indiana for Easter and I could not be more excited! We're going to see both our families! I mean seriously...just thinking about flying in makes me cry.

We haven't been back in Indiana since Thanksgiving...and that's the longest we've been gone since we got married back in 2007. Five months seems like such a long time to go without seeing our grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends. We L-O-V-E living here..and we have A-M-A-Z-I-N-G friends here, it's just so hard being away from our family. We've been super thankful that our parents and Sarah and Luke have all been able to make the trip down here to meet the little one!

I'm so excited for everyone to meet Noah. Seriously!

Plus! While we're home we're going to meet little Nora, and my sweet friend from college Debbie's little one Reuben! I'm super excited to love on those babies in person instead of just internet stalking!! AND we get to see El's baby belly!!

Seriously ...how can I describe how pumped I am?!

Anyways. That's what's on my mind!

I can't focus on anything other than I just know I'm not going to sleep tonight because I can't wait! It just seems like so much has changed since the last time we were there so it feels so much bigger this time. Whoa.

Anyways..have a wonderful weekend! It's Easter! We get to celebrate that Jesus rose from the grave..making salvation possible for us. The words of awe for this are also indescribable.

Two Months Old!

2011-04-19T20:03:00.004-05:00

Oh my goodness sweet Noah turned two months old on Friday. How did that happen so quickly? It's just crazy.

We went to the doctor today. Here are his stats.
14 lb. 12 oz. (97th percentile)
24 3/4 inches (97th percentile)

I'm not sure where little man is getting his height from..but I'm hoping he doesn't use all his height now! :)

He is growing and changing each day. It just amazes me. So cool.

This month he has accomplished:
Smiles, smiles, smiles
He coos and jabbers all day long
He likes music...we turn on Pandora and I sing and dance and make funny faces at him while he smiles and coos. It makes my day every day.
He has pretty good control of his head..but absolutely zero interest in tummy time. We put him on his tummy and he either cries or falls asleep.
He loves bright colors and will turn his head to stare at them
He is starting to learn he can grab things with his little hands. Our noses, our shirts, my hair, his paci.
Starting to try to touch things near him.
He loves to be cuddled, seriously, but he is so sweet and will sit contentedly while I try to get things done
He's a very content baby..not much of a crier at all. AWESOME.
Last week he started SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT! He did it every night last week..but last night we did get up in the middle of the night to eat, so I guess we'll see which sticks. I'm hoping for the sleeping.

I can't wait to see what month three brings!

Here are some pictures from our little photo shoot for his two month birthday. I know that they're all the same picture..but I love his funny little faces.

Uncle Luke

2011-04-18T18:30:00.005-05:00

Uncle Luke came to visit Noah last week! We had a great time! Noah seemed to really like to watch Uncle Luke make funny faces! He gave lots of smiles at Luke! Thanks for coming Luke! Come back and visit us! We love you! Here are some pictures from our week!

I'm different now.

2011-04-18T17:45:00.004-05:00

So I was talking to a friend the other day about how things are different now..and I am..different.

I like it.

For the most part.

Different as in:

Everywhere I go I have a little man with me.

Dates include our third family member now. He's a pretty adorable addition.

I am now a wife AND a mother. Sometimes I find it's difficult to be in both roles. I told Brad the other day I struggle to be "on" all the time. Yet...it's a challenge that I love, and thankfully I have an extremely supportive husband, and a baby who smiles at me and makes everything seem perfect.

I am so much more aware of how very thankful I am for our amazing friends and family. I have always been aware of how much they meant to me, I thought...but now..I just realize more and more how much we love and appreciate the amazing people we do life with.

I am so much more aware of my lack of communication with people outside of Brad. :) This is not to say that I have improved all that much but I'm really working on it. I'm really making attempts to call, write, email people within a reasonable amount of time. I feel like I'm slowly but surely improving.

I am much more emotional. I can't decide if this is good or bad. Good in some ways because I find my heart is more tender. Bad in others..because while it may be more tender..I am also more sensitive. I find myself asking Brad if I'm overreacting often.

I am EXTREMELY bothered by what's on TV now. Or not just TV...things I see out in public. I am more aware of the depravity of our world. I am so so so much more aware of the awesomeness of God. I worry and hurt for the pain the little guy will experience. I wonder about things that he might experience due to his sinful nature...and I ache for Jesus to call Noah to himself.

I think about when he's a teenager and I shake in my boots. Oh GOODNESS GRACIOUS.

It's just different. My thought process. But I think it's amazing. I feel like God is really growing and stretching me and I just am so thankful and excited.

Want to know a change that kinda freaks me out? My stomach appears to be a little weaker than it once was. Like the other day I saw something with blood..and I got queasy. Me..the nurse..I got queasy. Little things...I notice things that NEVER would have bothered me..make me a little weak in the knees. This concerns me slightly for when I go back to work. That's just strange. I'm hoping that's just my crazy hormones balancing back out.

Well..that's it for the day. Tomorrow we'll have an update on Noah's two month stats after we have his appointment. I'm excited to see how big he is.

These made me smile today. I set him up in his chair so I could sweep and mop. If you didn't know you'd think he could read :)

And then a sweet sweet smile!
Have a great day!

God is SO good.

2011-04-04T16:22:00.003-05:00

So lately...I have just been absolutely floored by the goodness of the God that we serve. For real. I want to share just a few examples, because I just have to.

1. For us...in this moment in our life..this is the absolute perfect picture of his goodness in our life.
2. But let's expand on this. For example...before Noah was born you might recall a post I made about finances..and all that jazz. Well a little more detail about that - our company was purchased and our short term disability was understood to be temporarily taken away, and we also no longer had the choice of whether or not to take a paid day off when we were canceled at work. Well those two things combined with a low census really was going to seriously limit what my maternity leave would be able to be. THEN - we were able to stop taking our paid time off if we were canceled, and they fixed the short term disability thing, and BAM my worries were out the door.

3. But then our insurance would cost us an arm and a leg once Noah was born if I wanted to work part time - and then Brad's amazing boss increased what he was reimbursing us for insurance. This made it possible for me to only have to work one day a week, having six days home with our little man, and to be able to keep my awesome job.

4. Do you remember when Brad and I went through foster care training? Well at the time..we just weren't sure what that looked like for us...yet we knew that our hearts were being led to something in that area. So we were certified for babysitting/respite and we have found that at this time our fit is to serve the families that are doing foster care. So we've been able to love on the Mullins' kiddos, and NOW the Lord has opened the door for me to love on the Griswold's new sweet boys AND when the Campise's get kiddos I'll get to love on them too! Since I'm able to stay home all but one day a week, then on Tues/Wed/Thurs Noah and I will be sharing our days with little ones. I'm so excited! Talk about an answer to prayer!

5. This one...I have to admit..I spent most of the day with tears when it happened - and it's not even us. Our sweet friends Britt and Steve had their baby boy Paxton about a week ago. Pax had been breech while Britt was pregnant, and we had been praying and praying for that little one to turn. Britt really had wanted to have a natural birth so we prayed that the precious baby would turn so she might be able to. Well, the morning Pax was born I got the text that he was coming and thought "Oh no he hasn't turned yet!" Well it turns out that Britt had a condition that could have been so dangerous for her. If she had delivered naturally, it could have been a very serious situation..but GOD is SO good! He didn't turn that baby..He kept him breech. Pax was breech so Britt had a c-section, they found the problem, and she and Pax were both safe. How amazing when he answers our prayers with no. A no that means He has a better plan for us than we can imagine. Even now..I think of this and I am just amazed.

There are so many examples, like the Mullins and their move to Taylor and how the Lord worked that out, or the amazing friends and family that He has blessed us with, or how when Brad was unemployed he protected us so very much, or how we know we feel like financially we need to probably sell our house but we're still trying to decide what that means for us - but in the meantime while I'm not working they started a bonus program at Brad's work that is so amazingly helping us out and allowing me to stay home without guilt.

Anyways..He is a God that is SO good. He never leaves us. He knows the details of our life. Even when we're not sure where he's leading, or what the answers are, or if they don't seem like answers we want right now...we just need to wait for His perfect timing to understand.

That's it for today. Have a great day!

Humility.

2011-03-31T14:04:00.003-05:00

So this morning I told Kathrin I've really been humbled since having a child. I used to be so so very OCD about getting dirty, or our house being messy, or about life in general being messy. But since Noah came along I've really learned a lot about what does and doesn't matter. I've decided it's just a pride issue..my thing with everything having to be perfect...and so I really think that the Lord is using this precious little boy to teach me humility.

I think He's teaching me that life is going to be messy - more than just in the physically clean sense - but messy and complicated and difficult and sad. Until Heaven..here on Earth life is just messy. It's a sin filled world..we're sinners. Praise God that he gave us Jesus and the hope of the perfection of Heaven. But I want to be in the "grime" while I'm here. I want to accept the fact that I am just NOT in charge of this life, and I am jump into the mess of life and show others the love that Jesus offers. I really need to stop trying to be in control of my surroundings all the time. I want to be a tool for God..I want to be used..and if I'm constantly worrying about everything being organized..I'm really wasting time.

So that's what I learned today..when this happened! Plus..I learned it's so much more fun just to laugh at these moments than to worry about them. Also...it helps that my sweet friend Kathrin didn't worry about the fact that our little man was making a mess of her sweet house.

So prior to this...as we were eating breakfast Noah projectile vomited ALL over me, and himself, and Kathrin's rug..then he tooted. THIS was the result.

So then...he needed a bath..big time. So we decided to just throw him in at Kat's house, but I'm not all that talented yet since he's pretty wiggly and not able to sit up on his own. So this was the result.
Yep...in there fully clothed with my little man. We made it though and he was very peaceful after we finished.

That's it for the day! Have a great week!

Adventure.

2011-03-28T07:46:00.002-05:00

So Brad headed up to Dallas this morning for work. I wasn't super excited about him leaving us for four days, but I was super excited for this opportunity for him! So I decided to ask him if Noah and I could join in...thankfully he said yes!

However..that means a three hour drive up to Dallas by myself with our sweet little guy. I'm sure it will go well..but I'm super nervous. I don't drive to Dallas on a normal day but today I'll have the little man. Thankfully, he does pretty well in the car.

So today I will be praying for safety and guidance so we'll get there safely and without getting lost. Although I really shouldn't be able to get lost..Dallas is literally straight up 35 from here..there isn't a lot of room for error.

(MOM - don't worry I'll be SO safe!)

So Noah and I will head up there this evening so we'll miss traffic, and then stay tonight and tomorrow and head back Wednesday morning. Wednesday night I'm hoping to crash the Mullins or the Campises's pad and hang out with the ladies, and then Brad will be back late Thursday evening.

We had a great weekend with Brad's parents. Noah got some good cuddles in with his them, I was able to get a nap for two solid hours on Friday, we ate some great food. It was wonderful!

Anyways..off to get some things done...big day ahead!

The boy has skillz.

2011-03-23T20:22:00.006-05:00

Yep. I spelled skillz with a z. That's one of my pet peeves. That's what having a child has done to me..made me all CrAzY and I am throwing my pet peeves out the window. There's another one..writing like I'm 15 with the upper and lower case letters. What up?!

N-E-Ways. (Let's just get them all out there shall we?)

Our child has the unbelievable ability to spit up on, or urinate on, or even make a #2 on, anyone holding him.

Today...I can't count the number of times for spit up...but I do know that he peed through three outfits today.

You'd think I would learn right?

But seriously! We've tried everything! We point his peepee down. We have him in the right size diapers. We check to make sure that the little legs are sealed correctly once the diaper is on. We change him frequently. I think he just likes it.

As for the spit up...I didn't bother changing out of my t-shirt that he so sweetly marked all day until after our walk.

Then when Brad got home..he got it twice. Hahaha.

Sweet little man. It's so funny how little it bothers me. I love it actually.

Also noteworthy:
1. We signed up for e-mealz this week. (Sidenote: that really is spelled with a z) I'm super excited about this. I think it will really help me with budgeting and meal planning because I am SO bad at that. This provides the recipes, the meal plan, and the shopping list. PERFECT. Sarah does it, and she cooked two meals from it for us when she was down here and we loved them. I'm so excited to get started soon.

2. I watched Hoarding: Buried Alive tonight. I, in all seriousness, can't watch that show. The one house had mouse feces, and flies, and she had to plug her coffee pot in to her bathroom. The other house had a couch standing on end in the kitchen. I truly had to look away, but I couldn't stop. I wanted to go help.

That's it. Two blogs in one day. Whoa.

Spit up #2 for Brad of the night.
Just after this..he peed on that shirt.

After spitting up on daddy..so attractive.
Brad loves him some Noah.
I don't know if you can tell..that's spit up #1.
Showing off his blue eyes during tummy time after our walk today.
Spit up #1.
He stands up on Brad and rest on his chest.
He really likes to lay on his side..so sometimes for nap time I'll let him if I'm right there. Precious.
Just thought this was so funny. We were going for a walk..you can totally see his little chubby cheeks when he's in his car seat.
That's it for the day. We had a really productive day today and I'm so thankful for that. Tomorrow we need to have another one and then Carl and Rosemary will be here for the weekend. Yay for family time!

Learning.

2011-03-23T08:36:00.001-05:00

Well we're learning.

Monday we had a rough day.

Sunday night our sweet schedule we had down changed. To be fair to our little one he was a TROOPER all weekend as we dragged him everywhere we went..so we may have deserved the rough day on Monday. Anyways..Sunday night wasn't terrible, but we have been only getting up once a night for pretty much the last 2-3 weeks, but then Sunday we had to get up twice. I realize that's not so bad...but it was a change in our routine.

So then, Monday morning at the first feeding I was exhausted after a long weekend and then a short night of sleep, so I asked Brad to bring Noah's infant sleeper to me, and thought after he ate I would just lay him down in his infant sleeper next to me so we could both catch a few more hours. This was definitely a change from our normal routine because I refuse to put him in bed with us ever because I'm SO afraid of hurting him. For the first couple of weeks I dreams that I had put him in bed and we had hurt him. Plus within 9 (I think?) days here in Travis county there were 6 deaths of infants due to cosleeping...right around the time Noah was born. So we're not messing with that. But I was exhausted..so I said I would do that ONLY if I had the infant sleeper. Well I paid for that. We nursed, but Noah wouldn't burp afterwards, which sometimes happens..so I went ahead and laid him down next to me. Well we both fell asleep but the next thing I knew I woke up to my face, hair, pajamas, and ear being soaked. He had so kindly spit up on me. He's spit up on us plenty obviously, but that one was exceptionally shocking as it came while I was sleeping. It cracked me up. I looked at him and he just had this incredibly peaceful look on his face. Hilarious.

That should have given me an indication of how our day would go. Basically the rest of the day if I set him down he cried..not a whimper but an all out- full use of his lungs-make mama want to cry kind of cry. I'm not opposed to letting him cry it out..not at all..but I also feel like he's so litle if he's crying like that he needs to be comforted. So we didn't get much done on Monday and I was so beat by the time Brad got home. However, almost as soon as he walked through the door the little man found his peaceful content little nature and was content the rest of the night. He went back to his normal schedule that night for sleep and then we had a much better day yesterday.

I think maybe he was exhausted from the weekend, and then I think that the fact that I chose to not get our day started at our normal time..instead choosing to rest and cuddle in the morning..it threw his schedule off. Plus I ate Mexican food on Saturday night which seemed to upset his belly. I think the poor little guy was just exhausted.

Sweet boy gave his first purposeful smile that night though! I think that's God's grace for us...He knows we had a terrible day..and then blessed us with the sweet smile. Of course he hasn't done it again since really, but I am still calling it purposeful. He seemed so sweet and happy on Brad's lap.

In other news...

I went to Kohls yesterday..and there was a little baby in line ahead of us and she was tiny. I thought "Wow, she's little she must be younger than Noah by a few weeks." NOPE. The clerk asked the mom how old the baby was..she was born January 28..two weeks older than Noah. I kid you not the boy had at least 2 pounds on that little one. If not for the way he curls up like a newborn and he grunts like a newborn..I would find it hard to believe he's as young as he is.

He is now holding on to us when we hold him. When we're nursing he reaches up with his hand and holds onto my shirt, and onto my hair when I'm burping him. It's amazing. He does that with Brad too. I LOVE it!

All day yesterday I was certain that Noah was 6 weeks old. I was telling Brad the story about the baby girl at Kohls and how Noah was only a week younger than her and then realized that I've lost my marbles. He's only 5 weeks old. Haha. WAY to soon to forget how old he is.

I think it's amazing how the Lord knows us. I think the details of this little life are amazing. I also think it's funny that me, the girl who CAN'T handle nose noises and food noises, gave birth to a child who grunts, snorts, and squeaks more than any child I have seen. But it's so adorable that I just can't help but LOVE it. That's funny though!

I have decided that though I HATE the idea of leaving this man for 12 hours at a time..EVER...I am actually looking forward to working one day a week. I have found myself missing that use of my brain and how I love our patients. I know I'll cry when I leave Noah..but it will be ok.

That's about it for the day. He's awake now so we're going to get our day started! Have a great week!

P.S. I apologize if this is all baby all the time..it's kinda our new normal! :) We love it..but I promsie that eventually we'll have storied that might have other subjects.

One Month Stats!

2011-03-16T20:56:00.006-05:00

This boy is big!

10lb 15.5oz. (75th Percentile)
He weighed 9lb 1 oz two weeks ago. That's basically almost 2lbs in 2 weeks.
23 1/8" Long (95th Percentile)

I wasn't kidding when I said he likes to eat.

The doctor said he looks great! He was a champ at the doctor and when he got his Hep B shot he was so brave! He only cried for a second while the nurse did it, and then instantly was calm once I picked him up. So proud of our sweet boy. Couple more pictures for you!

Family picture at one month.
With Manders and Rhyon. Rhyon is six months old tomorrow..look how huge Noah is.

Our big sweet boy. He likes to lay on his tummy if it's hurting.

1 Month. Wow.

2011-03-15T22:32:00.005-05:00

Our sweet little man is a whole month old today! I am having a very hard time believing he's already been here a month! I'm also having a difficult time believing he fit inside me a month ago. CRAZY!!

We have had an AMAZING month. This boy has changed our lives...it's amazing! I'm so very very thankful for this precious blessing the Lord has given us. I just look at him and know how amazing a miracle he is. It's awesome.

I don't have his one month stats yet...we have our appointment tomorrow so that will be next post. I think he's going to be above 10lb this time though..the porker likes to eat.

Here's some facts about our man.
1. He loves to eat. Seriously. Loves it!
2. He is a cuddle-bug. We adore this!
3. He looks just like his daddy...I think that's awesome!
4. He seems to recognize both of us and our voices...he will look for us when we're talking.
5. He sometimes has some belly pain and that cry makes me cry because he sounds like he hurts so much.
6. He really doesn't cry too much. I'm so thankful!
7. He teased us by almost making it through the night the other night. But he is awesome..and usually does a 4 hour stretch followed by a 3 hour stretch. We're only getting up once a night once we're down.
8. He will go anywhere with me. I am able to get out of the house almost daily.
9. He hasn't smiled purposely yet..but seems to be getting there.
10. He has so far met his Grammy, Pop, Mimi, Grandpa Bud, Aunt Sarah..and Uncle Luke and Nana and Papa via skype. He's also met tons of friends and he LOVES all of them!

That's about it. Brad is currently trying to put him to bed so I am going to go join my little family! Manders and Rhyon are here so we're excited to have a great couple of days together! Yay!

Have a great week!

P.S. Congrats to Rox and Jake for their beautiful baby Nora! We're so so happy for you all!! Can't wait to meet her!

Pictures below!

Spring Forward.

2011-03-12T21:58:00.003-06:00

So tonight is daylight savings. I'm not a big fan of this normally. Since I grew up in Indiana I LOVED that we never had to deal with changing the time twice a year. When I was at Olivet I adapted..but I remember being SO confused the first time. I didn't understand how the time just changed. It was crazy.

This year we have a newborn. So let's be honest..we don't sleep that much. We are blessed with a good sleeper. This precious little man sleeps really well, but still he's a newborn...so sleeping well is kind pf relative. Anyways, we're currently on a nice "schedule" where he nurses last at 10/10:30ish and usually doesn't wake back up until 2:30. Then once we go back down we make it until 5:30/6ish he wakes up again. So really...I'm incredible thankful for that.

HOWEVER..tonight is daylight savings.

So I am not thankful for the fact that tonight we lose an additional hour of sleep. Not my favorite thing ever. I will be thankful for the extra sunshine I know..but for tonight...I'm kinda dreading it.

I say this..but it's not like I don't take naps with him during the day. I totally do. Often.

That's it for tonight. Need to go to bed so I can make up for that lost hour.

Have a great weekend! Don't forget to change your clocks.

Best part of the day.

2011-03-07T22:42:00.001-06:00

Noah thinks it's funny to pee on me at least once (usually more than that) each day while I am nursing him. No joke. We'll be sitting there, he'll be eating like a champ...then he fusses just a bit..then my belly gets warm.

Every single day. Sometimes two or three times a day.

Then he looks at me like he's proud. (Or maybe that's just my interpretation.)

I think it's hilarious.

He's awesome.

Life is good.

2011-03-06T21:12:00.009-06:00

So Grammy and Pop (aka Mom and Dad) left on Friday. We were super sad to say goodbye. I cried like a baby on Thursday and Friday. It's been hard being away from family since we moved here, but it was much harder to say goodbye now with Noah here. Now it seems so real that our family is so far away..Brad's parents are 10 hours away, mine are 17, so we have quite the hike to see either side. It was so amazing to have them both here though! To have both sets of our parents here to spend time together with the baby boy was so special!

Anyways..so Noah has thankfully been an amazingly content baby...it's amazing. However, on the day Mom and Dad left we had our first rough night. Go figure. He was perfect all day..we came home from the airport..and I snuggled him and cried and he made it all better of course. Then we took a nap together which was awesome. But then...daddy got home and we ate dinner together and then poor Noah couldn't get settled. His little belly must have been upset, and he cried and cried. It made me so very sad. Then I cried again because I couldn't make the sweet boy feel better. We made it through, obviously, but poor Brad must have thought I was crazy. By Saturday our little man was back to himself. It made me feel better because I thought I had done something wrong.

Sarah got in yesterday! We're so glad she could come! She's had some quality cuddle time with Noah and he LOVES it! Operation Make Sarah LOVE Austin has started..and we think it's been pretty successful thus far. Last night we took her for some Homeslice Pizza (delicious!) and our very first Hey Cupcake! AMAZING! Today there was a kite festival here in Austin..so we went down there with Aaron and Shauna after church. It was a GORGEOUS day! We came home and Brad, Noah, and I took 2 hour nap, and sweet Sarah made dinner for us. We're so thankful for family!

Now for our newest pictures!

Before Grammy and Pop left

I love this. My two sweet guys.Snuggling with Daddy after bath timeThis is when we know he's asleep...his arms go up.
On our rough night..he finally passed out when I rested him on his tummy on my arm.
Meeting Aunt Sarah for the first time
Sarah's here!At Homeslice..with Pee-Wee Herman of course.

Hey Cupcake AWESOMENESS!!
At the Kite Festival..we didn't take any with the kites..go figure.
Love this.
Sweet sweet boy.Before naptime after the kite festival
Chatting it up with mama
He loves to cuddle with Aunt Sarah!
That's about it for tonight! We're excited to spend time with Sarah for the rest of the week, then we'll have a couple days of just the three of us. We're super excited this week because sweet Nora should make her entrance into the world this week!! Praying for you Rox and Jake! Have a great week all!

Week 2 Continued.

2011-03-02T21:35:00.007-06:00

Here are some of our second week pictures..they're backwards..so this is from tonight....the ones at the bottom are from the beginning of the week.

Family of 3. Time with daddy.
Time with Pop.
I know he can't purposely smile yet...but he sure seems to have happy dreams.
Pop was combing his hair.
He turned his head to get his hair combed.
Alert and at attention. Precious. Sitting up like he's a big boy.
Adorable.
I think this little face is so hilarious.
Makes us smile.
Telling Pop what's up.
LOVE little boys in overalls. So cute.
BIG yawn!
Lounging with Grammy.
Another happy dream.
So peaceful.
My boys.

So cute in his little swing.

Have a great week!!

Week 2.

2011-03-02T21:02:00.002-06:00

Since that's how we roll now...basically because it's amazing how fast time flies now that there is a child involved. It's fascinating to me how long it takes me to get out of the house.

Like today..Noah did AWESOME last night. We nursed at 10:30 last night, Brad laid him down because I was feeling pretty weakly last night, and then he didn't get up until 3:30. Seriously. So Noah and I had a date, and he laid back down until Brad brought him to me around 7:15 when he was getting ready to leave for work. So I felt great after he nursed this morning. I came right out and got him ready to go, but then we had to eat breakfast of course, and get a shower, and get Noah ready, and then of course it was time to eat again. So we nursed, and then Mom and I got ready to heady out the door..but of course we had tinkled through our outfit so we had to change again. It was 11:30 before we got out the door. Poor Mom must get so tired of waiting on us. I just can't believe how time goes so quickly while I move so slowly. It's hilarious.

Here's another funny story. Today Brad forgot his lunch, so we decided we would run it down to him. While we were there my car battery died. Which is unfortunate since it JUST got out of the shop for repairs for the last two weeks. So thankfully Mom and Dad have Triple A, so we called and they are able to bring a battery and change it all out and you get a six year warranty. Well while we're waiting with our hood pumped in Brad's office parking lot, I decided to run with Brad's car to grab Mom and I some lunch (poor Dad was at home doing slave labor painting trim for us). Lunch was delicious..but Noah had a big ol' poo so I changed him in the trunk. Classy. Then we ate lunch in our car. I mean we looked soooo cool. So then the guy came to fix our car..and of course it was time to nurse. So Brad let me go in an empty room in the office to nurse, and he went to grab my credit card to pay for the battery..which I of course left at the taco place. Ridiculous. Then I looked at Noah and said "Noah I'm not sure this day could get much worse." To which he IMMEDIATELY responded with another big ol' poo. That's our boy.
So I changed him in the trunk again. Then we finally headed on our way for the rest of the day. It's funny how life changes, but Rox you're right, I would NEVER change it for anything! This child and every crazy moment makes me smile every day. It's amazing.

Brad's been back at work but he comes home and thankfully Noah has some awake time right around the time he gets home. I'm so glad for that so Brad can get some daddy/son time in. I just LOVE that!

Mom and Dad have to leave on Friday. I'm so sad I don't want them to go yet. It's hard to believe we don't live close to either set of our parents. We think Brad's parents will be able to come back in March so he'll have some Mimi and Grandpa Bud time then, and then we're heading back to Indiana for Easter. Sarah comes on Saturday, and word on the street is Uncle Luke may get to come meet him sometime soon. Manders is coming too. We're so thankful for company and help!

I had to go to the doctor yesterday, and I stopped in to see Dr. Garza. We were talking about Noah, and he said something along the lines of how amazing God's grace is, and the amazing display of that in this child. It brought me to tears. Seriously. I look at Noah and I just think of all the details that God put into creating him. It really makes it so very clear to us how important it is to pray that the Lord will call him to himself. Whoa.

Oh and for two week stats. Our little man is 9lb1oz. and 22" long.
(He was 7lb14oz when we went home from the hospital. Already gained a pound in 2 weeks)
PORKER!

And now for pictures..because that's the best part! Actually I'll do just a picture post for that.

Pictures from our first week.

2011-02-24T22:33:00.004-06:00

So here are some pictures from our first week together as a family of three. It's been so great! These aren't really in order..but it's late..and we're creeping in on bedtime/dinner time...so they'll stay out of order.

Here he is after his first bath in the nursery..a whole hour old.
His precious little foot after his footprint was taken.
Our first picture.
Right after he was warm..while he was in the bun warmer.
Maybe my favorite picture...right after he was born when they let me hold him for the first time.
I love this picture.
Noah and Grammy.
I carried him for 9 months, I feed him every 2-3 hours, I love him more than I can even put words to - so he peed on me when I gave him his first bath at home. That's love for you. Marking his territory on mama.
Before he gave me his own type of bath.
Caught him dreaming. Precious.
With daddy. He LOVES his daddy! I love these two..so stinking much.
With mama.
On his sweet blanket Grammy had made for him in his sweet outfit from Aunt Sarah.
Love that there are three of us now.
:)

Oh and we have a porker on our hands. The little guy left the hospital at 7lb14oz. His birth weight was 8lb7oz. We went to the pediatrician on Tuesday and he was back to 8lb8oz. That's 1oz in 4 days. That'a boy!

Have a great week!

He's perfect.

2011-02-24T11:35:00.002-06:00

WARNING: Long winded.

So our little man arrived, a week ago now, and it was perfect. Brad and I were so thankful for how it went, it absolutely was better than I even expected..and in the end we had this perfect little man in our life.

Last Monday (Valentine's Day) I woke up at 6:30 ready to go for the day. I wanted to get all the last minute finishing touches completed before we went to the hospital that night to be induced. On Sunday I thought that I was starting contractions too, so I wanted to make sure everything was done..just in case.

Well I took my sweet time getting moving that morning, and at 7:30 I felt like my water broke. I figured there was no way that was true but I went to wake up Brad anyways. After that I called Sarah who said that I better get a move on calling the doctor. We did and they wanted us to come to the office right away. We headed that way and by 9:45 were told to head to the hospital. Thankfully we had brought everything with us since we were pretty certain it really was my water that broke.

Once at the hospital, I wasn't in active labor, so we had time to get settled and just relax together for a few minutes. Because my water had broken, they had me on the fetal monitor the whole time rather than intermittently. I was surprised by that, because I thought I would be able to walk around. At one point I asked if I could walk, but the nurse was concerned that Noah's heart rate had maybe dropped and didn't want me to walk until we were sure that wasn't real. So we watched a while, and while we were waiting Dr. Garza came in. He said Noah's heart rate was great but wanted to start pitocin if we were ok with that because the longer it took for Noah to come, the higher the risk for infection for both of us. I said we were all about anything to make this baby boy safe. They let me hop in the shower and walk around the room for a few minutes and then started the pitocin. At this point my contractions had just started to get more intense.

We continued along, with those contractions getting more and more intense until around 5:30 when I told the nurse I thought we would be heading towards an epidural. I had decided that despite my fear of an epidural and all that could go wrong with that, I was more frustrated that I had to go to the bathroom every two minutes and that alone was reason for me. Plus..the contractions were getting worse..and I was only 3cm dilated. We got the epidural at 7:15..and that was amazing. I was a little disappointed that I didn't make it all the way without the epidural, but it was definitely the best decision for us. When they checked me again at 9:30 I was still only 3 cm dilated..and I was SO thankful we had decided on the epidural because I thought that labor might keep going forever.

But then..at 12:30 our nurse came to check, and we were ready to push. I couldn't believe it at all. I had to wake Brad up again, this time to tell him we were about to push and welcome our child into the world. We started pushing at 1:15 and Noah entered the world at 3:05. So it took almost two hours but it was so awesome!

Our nurse was fantastic, we were so thankful for her. Our doctor was amazing. He was so calm and he made the experience so special. After Noah came and before the doctor left, he prayed with us over Noah. That was amazing.

I have to brag about Brad...he was so amazing. He knew exactly what to do and when to do it. He made the experience so special for us. When we were pushing at the end I was getting tired, and Brad took over the coaching. He was so encouraging and tough all at the same time and I just felt so protected with him there. He's such a natural daddy.

So Noah came, and we were so amazed. We both immediately cried like babies by the way. :)

The last week has been phenomenal. We are getting to know this little man. He is peaceful and sweet. He really is, thus far, an INCREDIBLY content baby. We are so blessed. We have actually been able to rest, not a lot, but more than expected at this point. Brad's parents were here with us until Sunday, and Mom has been here since the day he was born. Dad gets in on Saturday...we can't wait! We have been so very thankful for our parents and their help. It has been amazing to have their support. Mom stayed up with Noah one night while I slept. I woke up to nurse, but other than that I was able to rest. It was amazing. One night we did stay up most of the night, Noah and I, and Brad informed me he expected me to take a nap. Well pretty much as soon as Noah had eaten and Mom was awake I went and took a 3 hour nap. It was amazing. Mom then cleaned our whole house. She's so awesome.

Anyways..we're in L-O-V-E!!! Sorry for the long post...it had been quite awhile! We'll work on getting updates more frequently now! Pictures to follow!

It's Official!!! Noah's here!

2011-02-15T07:38:00.002-06:00

Only time for a quick short update! But promise a great update soon!

Noah Bradley Allison arrived this morning at 3:05am. He is PERFECT!
8lb. 7oz. 21.5" long.

We're totally in LOVE!

Here's just a sneak peak!

Here he is after his bath just hanging out snoozing,
Our first family picture as a family of three!

Post #199 = DUE DATE!!!

2011-02-11T08:26:00.002-06:00

Yep. It's here. We arrived to the date that we have been so stinking excited about every single day for the last 9 months. WHOA!

So far..no action. Still at home! That's all ok though! We went last night and walked around Home Depot and Target and I felt like maybe that would help. I intend to take some nice long walks today..either stopping by the gym or around the neighborhood. Something. It feels good to walk, and it will feel awesome if it results in our little one joining us on the outside! :)

We decided that if we don't go in today then we'll head out on a last date tonight. I'm excited about that, but I will willingly give it up if Noah comes!

This week has been so relaxing. I don't think I've ever had 7 full days off without any plans, and without somewhere to be. But the beauty of being due this week has been I didn't make any plans in advance (except fro yo because that deserves advanced planning!), but we've still been able to spend time with friends and relaxing together and that's just been wonderful! It's been fun..and it will probably be the last time ever that we will be able to just pick up and go as we please without worrying about work, or you know without an infant. So it's been a fun week!

I plan on keeping busy today so I won't stare into space all day! :)

Anyways. As usual I have a one track mind...so this is all I've got for today! Hope you have a fantastic day! We're so excited either way today because our sweet friends the Beans should be welcoming their son Carter into the world anytime today! Yay!!!

Alright..next time that you hear from me..it should be with our precious little man!

So confused.

2011-02-09T19:55:00.002-06:00

So we're two(ish) days away..and I don't know what to do with my time. I realize here in a few days we will wish we had more time...but currently...I'm going stir crazy. I think because today I was under house arrest this feels so much more so. Thank goodness I didn't have to be on bedrest over the last few months...because I would have gone stir crazy.

And thank goodness for Shauna getting me out of the house today. Even going from our house to their house (6 blocks away) was a field trip today. It's always so nice to have some girl time!

House arrest was self imposed by the way...there was ice on the roads today, and the story that follows this will explain why I placed myself under house arrest.

Anyways..so I keep telling Brad I'm not sure what to do with my time. I want to walk laps, run, do some squats..something...but that's just because I'm so excited to meet the little man. However, Grammy had a talk with him and told him he's not allowed to come early now because she can't be here until Tuesday. So I feel a little guilty doing anything to get him here sooner. Plus, Brad's parents can't come until this weekend either so we don't want to get things moving too quickly.

I've read, knitted, cleaned, vacuumed, organized, dusted, mopped. There really just isn't a whole lot left to do..plus anything that I do at this point will make a mess..that I'll have to clean up..and that will stress me out if we go into labor before the mess is cleaned. It's crazy. I'm crazy.

Oh well..it's wonderful to be able to relax. I really need to remember what a blessing that is. If I were working I would be exhausted, and instead I'm able to just relax and rest in preparation. Silly girl.

As for the self imposed house arrest. Due to the ice today...the roads were a little slippery. (Austin has like one truck to deal with ice - realistically I'm not sure if that's true but it does appear that way.) So Brad drove my car today because I didn't have far to go today, and he had some errands to run. Well he made it safely to work...but then was rear ended just before he pulled into his parking lot. YAY.

It's totally fixable, Brad's safe, and the car is drivable. We are so thankful for the Lord's protection there. We're bummed about our little car, but life will go on.

However..after that adventure I quickly decided that driving anywhere in our remaining car was just not necessary. So self-imposed house arrest. Tomorrow though..I am going to get out of here!

Anyways..that's about all we have for now! Have a great night!

YEA!

2011-02-08T20:15:00.000-06:00

I wasn't imagining it! Those really were contractions..and he really has dropped!

We're 1 1/2 cm dilated, and 35% effaced.

Not a whole lot..but a huge improvement over last week! My doctor was so encouraging and said he thinks we could go on our own before the induction on Tuesday! He had a huge smile on his face and said he thinks we legitimately could go this week!

YAY!!!

If not that is ok..we'll get admitted on Monday and induced Tuesday morning. I'm praying that he'll come on his own though..I just think that experience will be so cool. Either way though..he'll be here. That's the best ever!

I keep telling Brad...I want to go for a walk/run and see if I can make him come out. It's very tempting to start walking circles around the house. :) I'm going to come up with something...I'm thinking if I'm up way early again this morning that some yoga may be my start to the day..or a stop at the gym. Something good. Something to get this labor in gear!

I stopped by work today to take care of my paperwork for maternity leave...and one of the patient's husbands stopped by to tell me to drink some caster oil and go run some laps. Hilarious.

However, though I really want him to come..I'm actually really comfortable..and despite waking up at 3:30 this morning I felt so great all day! I've had a ton of energy, and the house is totally ready now for the little man's arrival.

Today I stopped to pick up a few groceries...I'm afraid to buy too many because I don't want our fruits/veggies/milk to go bad before he comes. However...remember when I mentioned that I don't buy cookies at the grocery store...because I'll eat them? Well tonight they had the heart shaped cakes..you know the kind that come in 2 packs..kinda like swiss cake rolls? They were on sale and I totally fell for it. PURE JOY! :)

Have you watched the Biggest Loser? Brad and I both cry every time we watch it. I get so excited for them. I love that my husband has such a tender heart too.

Alright..that's it. This was 197..so I'll have to find two more crazy posts to write and then hopefully the big one! And by hopefully..I basically refuse to spend that 200th post on anything but our little guy.

Have a great day!

Nesting?

2011-02-08T06:37:00.000-06:00

Well...I think it finally set in.

I can't sleep because I have some crazy dreams.

Such as:

The other night it was that my water broke. So all night every time I woke up to use the ladies room I felt like I was going crazy because I was just certain it had broken.

It didn't. In case you were wondering.

Then last night I had a dream that there was a rattlesnake in the cabinet above the refrigerator. I was up a lot of the night on that one.

So last night around 3:30am I decided rather than fight for sleep that just didn't want to come I would get up.

So I got up and watched the Bachelor...which is just crazy because I don't believe that show is of any quality and yet I still sometimes watch it.

Then I decided I would go ahead and start organizing the kitchen. I *think* I've been having contractions this morning and it got me a little worried that I better get on it because things could change quickly any day now. So I finished up the bottom cabinets and then passed out on the couch for a whole 45 minutes. I think I'm going to go finish up the uppers while Brad is still home. If I can get this done then the only thing still remaining for cleaning is to vacuum.

**I say think because I have no idea what real contractions feel like, and everything I read sounds different for everyone. However...I think that whatever it is I'm feeling might actually be contractions. I'm pretty sure there is still a pretty good chance that we could go to the doctor today and no action.

Yesterday I scrubbed the bathrooms, swept and mopped, finished all the laundry.

Want to know something I forgot to do? It's funny because it's crazy. I forgot to contact human resources at the hospital regarding my maternity leave. Who does that? I guess I just assumed I was good and would go have a baby and my job would just be waiting for me. Oops. Thank goodness we have a FANTASTIC human resources department who take good care of us employees. Jeffrey called back immediately and took care of all I needed to get done. Good man that Jeffrey. So today I have to run around town and finish up some errands so that I can be assured that everything is taken care of. I like the feeling of peace.

We also had some awesome fro yo last night! Everybody loves some fro yo! They have a new flavor, snicker doodle. It literally tastes like you are eating a snicker doodle cookie. Pure deliciousness. Also...Shauna and Kathrin - we packed last night. :) Be proud.

Well... I apologize for the one track mind I have here. Imagine living here. Poor Brad.

Oh well! 196 posts down. 4 to go. YAY!

Have a great day!

Let's not get too excited...yet

2011-02-06T23:08:00.000-06:00

So..I'm trying to hard not to get too excited..but I really think baby boy dropped this week!!

I know this doesn't mean that labor has started or anything..but it means it could happen on it's own.

I'm so excited...but I'm trying so hard to remember that we could go to the doctor on Tuesday and he could say we still have nothing happening..and that if that happens that's totally ok.

But still..I mean all day I've been telling Brad..."I think he's coming I think he's coming" Brad has patiently cooperated and not made me feel silly..but I keep thinking maybe it's "mother's intuition." That's supposed to be real right? Maybe not. Either way I can't wait to meet him I'm just so excited I kinda can't think of anything else.

In other news..this is my 195th post. I think an appropriate 200th post would be Baby Boy's arrival..so I'm going to have to come up with 4 more posts between now and then. Silly obsessive tendencies.

Oh...here's a fun story. Remember when we bought our new dining chairs that we ADORE from West Elm? Well one of them started to chip and I was so sad about it. The paint was coming off and I am always worried that it will come all the way off. Brad and I had thought about how to fix it...but then I thought maybe I should just call West Elm and see if we could exchange it, because there was really no reason why it should have chipped. They had a manager call me back and he said he has a brand new one waiting on me to be exchanged!! YAY!! You rock West Elm. I will continue to bring you business because I'm kinda in love with you!

Also..I love watching The Nanny. It has reruns every night, it's pretty funny.

We're planning to get rid of cable..hopefully like tomorrow..but we have to make sure we have the phone/internet all figured out prior to shutting it all down. So I'll only enjoy The Nanny a few more nights.

I'm pretty excited about getting rid of cable. Growing up we only had one channel..TV18. I'm so thankful for that! I didn't want to sit and watch TV all the time..it was awesome. Now I find myself with it turned on just for noise...all the time. Well with our income dropping and us adding a family member we decided it was time to go free of cable. We'll see how that all goes but I'm excited.

In final baby news..we installed the car seat this weekend and I've been driving around all weekend thinking how next weekend we could have a little one in there. We went on a hospital tour on Saturday..that place is amazing. I love the hospital I work in..but it is not nearly as fancy as this place. I mean seriously..I've never been in such a fancy hospital. We're packing our bags tomorrow. We seriously need to. Brad's been telling me to do this for a week. I've been putting if off saying we have so much time. I think it's time.

Oh..and a final note...I have no idea how to be a patient in a hospital. A patient? I mean I'm a nurse. They told us on the tour that if we need something to call the nurse on her phone, instead of using the call light. WHAT? I feel like that's crazy to call the nurse...she'll be too busy to answer that. Weird. Thankfully..kinda..I know absolutely nothing about labor and delivery..so thank goodness I'll need all the help I can get and I'll have to get over my stupid irrational issues about being a patient.

That's it. I think you'll be hearing from me frequently in the next few days..need to get up to our 200th post.

Have a great week!

We have a PLAN!!

2011-02-02T21:10:00.001-06:00

True story.

A real plan.

This makes my heart happy.

Want to know what doesn't make my heart happy?

I somehow landed myself a virus on my computer earlier today. BOO that. I don't download anything..seriously..but apparently I visited a website that gave me one. That's what I get for trying to look up trendy hairstyles.

Sara gave me a cute hairstyle even without a picture from the website though. So I guess it was worth the virus. We'll see how I feel about that if we're able to fix my computer.

But back to the plan.

We went to the doctor today for our 39 week appointment (a few days early). Well...the little one remains head down..but he's just teasing his parents. His little head continues to float..he just won't get into position. Which, while we don't mind him hanging out in there longer than 40 weeks...we would at least like him to THINK about joining the outside world. However, as of right now we have made zero progress.

So today our doctor decided it was time to talk some options. I like talking options. I like plans. Very much so. I was concerned because I had the understanding that at a certain point he may tell us that the best option would be a c-section without trying to go naturally...and I was really hoping to at least try before a c-section.

Well today he told me that if it's important to us to give it a try then he would definitely suggest that. So I asked him at what point we would get to do this. He said most likely, if we go back for our last appointment next Tuesday and nothing has changed then he will most likely admit us to the hospital on Monday the 14th, give me some medication over night, and see how we look in the morning. If we still haven't progressed then we'll go ahead with a c-section...but if we have some action then we'll give it a try! So most likely by the 15th ...at some point that day..we will have ourselves a little Noah in our life! :) YAY!!!

I'm so excited just to know that we have an idea. I'm also so very excited he's going to let us try before jumping straight to the surgery. I just really want to try! He told us at this point it's about a 50/50 chance either way. I can handle 50/50. Ultimately..the most important is that we have a healthy little man and a healthy mommy...but we're really hoping that he'll begin to make his descent and we'll see him soon. We're just so happy!

Now I have a schedule for when I need to finish all my organizational hopes and dreams. It's awesome!

For this week...have to work Thursday and Friday and then I'm a free woman! So that's it for now! Yay!

T - 10 days.

2011-02-01T12:55:00.000-06:00

Seriously.

We'll be 39 weeks on Friday.

Which means at some point...most likely in the next 10-14 days we will have a child.

An actual outside, in this world, breathing little man that the Lord made of both of us.

WHOA.

That being said...there is so much to do.

I have been so looking forward to this time. I thought my crazy organization obsession would be out of of control..and I was pumped for that.

But then I earned myself a huge ol' sinus infection - two weeks away from having a baby. So I have been less than productive.

Throw in a weekend of working..that was INCREDIBLY busy..and you have a girl who can't breathe, can't sleep, and functions like a zombie.

I'm feeling better today. So much so I woke up at 6:30 with Brad to start the day. So today has been much more productive. I'm so glad!

Only TWO more shifts at work. I work Thursday and Friday and then I'm officially done for three-ish months! Most likely to return somewhere around the second week of May.

Have I told you that it works out for me to only have to go back one day a week? This is AWESOME! I'll be honest...I never had a desire to stay at home all the time..I thought I would always want to work. But, as the time has come closer and closer..the idea of leaving our sweet boy at home while I work has been difficult to swallow. I mean when I work I'm gone from 5am until sometimes 8. That's a HUGE part of the day to be without our little son. Yet, I still LOVE my job. So I was kinda torn. Well..since our insurance for our little family is through me I had to keep working, but I wasn't so keen on the idea of working full time. That's a LOT of time away from Brad and Noah..especially while he's so very little! Well..when our hospital was purchased, the requirements for benefits for part time was that you work enough to pay for your premiums! SO..I can work one day a week, make enough for insurance, get to use my brain and heart for something I adore, AND be home the rest of the week with our little one! I'M SO EXCITED!!! Such a blessing!

We meet a pediatrician tonight. I'm really excited about that. Although I have no idea what kind of questions I'm supposed to want to ask him. Oh well..we'll figure that out.

The little man still hasn't dropped...despite being head down for what feels like forever..he is just LOVING it inside me. I'm hoping for some changes this week when we head to the doctor. I thought maybe all the craziness at work would encourage him to get into position..but I'm thinking not. He is definitely WAY up in my ribs. I feel bad for him because it is NOT a big space in there for him. I feel so huge and then I realize that I am pretty short..and he has to fit somewhere.

He's so big though my stomach is always lopsided. That's adorable. Seriously.

I think this week I'm going to have to go ahead and pack a bag, and we'll have to get the car seats installed. It might be time. :) I don't know!

My baby brother turned 22 last week. 22? Are you kidding?!?! We're so proud of him for graduating from Purdue a semester early..and we're excited for him as he starts out his adult life. We wish it could be in Austin. Think about it Luke! :) He's 22. Crazy.

That's it for now! Hope you had a great weekend! I can't believe all the crazy snow up there in the midwest...I'm a little jealous..but then I remember that this week would definitely NOT be the week to be snowed in for us.

It is cold though. 31 degrees and windy. I mean..that's cold for here. :) Have a great week!

So I hear we have a nursery.

2011-01-25T21:55:00.000-06:00

So last night we basically put the finishing touches on the little guy's room. It was so exciting to be in there and know that he can come at any time. It's not like he'll even sleep in there for the first few weeks but still...he has a room in our house. He's a part of our home. I think that is so neat!

So here is some of the process of getting that room ready. This was from right after I got back from our first shower in Indiana. The room hadn't been painted yet, the carpet hadn't be replaced yet, and obviously all the guest room furniture was still hanging out. Around this time...I was going a little crazy with the disorganization.

The night we got the crib we were SO excited we wanted to put it together. It didn't happen though..because we realized if we put it together somewhere that wasn't in the nursery we were going to have to tear it all down again to get it into the room. Instead we just decided to pick all the pieces out and make sure they were there.
Then we moved it into the room where it waited for a few months for it's turn for glory.
Whoa. Chaos.
I don't have any before pictures of the dressers. Silly woman. This is one before though as I pulling out the old ugly contact paper and cleaning out the drawers.

After being refinished we found fun contact paper. Brad is AWESOME and helped me line every drawer. The dark and white finish on the dresser was the idea from younghouselove. It turned out exactly how I hoped! Working on the bed skirt...yet another idea from younghouselove. I kinda love their blog. I thin they have awesome ideas. Plus they're funny.
Brad working hard on the dresser. Number two dresser unfortunately did not work out as planned. It wouldn't stain..so we decided to paint it white...but then it was too much in the room because we found another piece for the changing table. Then we decided to put it in the closet as you'll see in the pictures, but then...we couldn't open up the drawers enough to use...so it's been relocated to the office. I'm super bummed. But that's ok because we still have a nursery that was exactly how we were hoping it would be.
Here's the finished bed. With the bed skirt. I know you can kinda see the metal..but I liked it better that way than making it secure under that mattress. Weird.
So here's the finished room! It's simple. I like simple.
Another view of the room. I have to tell you a secret. That chair..I was so determined to never own one of those (but Brad has wanted one for YEARS). So we go to IKEA and sit in the rocker..and it's SO comfortable! But I didn't really like the color. We decided to go for it though because of the awesome comfort and the price. I'm so glad we did! It's so perfect to sit in. Well then as we put it together Brad said..I could paint the frame white. Silly man..never offer to paint ANYTHING. I will take you up on it! So we may still do that. I haven't asked yet officially. But we might.
Another IKEA/Brad find. He's such a little smarty. We like it though! I love that he has a little library already! Mom and Dad got the little piggy bank at the covered bridge festival this year!
Finally finished letters...changed the plan. These were easier and only required cutting straight lines. :) That precious picture was drawn by our friends' daughter Melina! We just had to frame it and put it in his room.
His little closet! The dresser really does have three drawers..but there was a repair being completed on the middle drawer. This is the sweet little dresser that's now relocated to the office. The closet has doors now too. But I wanted to show the organization.
The inside of the dresser! The picture on top was painted by my sweet college roommate Summer. We've had it in our guest room since we've been married, but it fits perfectly in his room now. It's the outline of a girl praying. I think it's a beautiful picture. Plus it's so special from her.

So that's the room. It's been so fun. I love finding unique things, and anything handmade. It's just fun. I'm so excited to just sit in his room the next couple of weeks and just pray over this little man.

Life is awesome here. Now that the room is done...we just get to hang when we're home! :) I still need to work on the kitchen..but I don't feel stressed at all about it. So after a minor panic attack of "HOW ON EARTH CAN I CONTINUE TO WORK IF I DON'T SLEEP UNTIL MIDNIGHT AND GET UP AT 4:30???" last night...I decided it was time to ask to be taken off the schedule. Dr. Garza and Brad had already told me to do this..but I was stubborn and was afraid that it made me a wimp if I didn't work the 40th week, but seriously. I was scheduled Wednesday and Thursday and then he's due Friday. I can't imagine if he actually were to come when he's due..after getting up and working two 12 hour shifts in a row...that would have been silly. My boss rocks and took me off the schedule for that week. So only 5 more shifts and then I'm done for three months! YAY! Awesome!

I have to just say...my coworkers have been AMAZING during the last nine months. They help me turn and lift my patients..they don't let me do anything that's heavy. They don't make me feel bad about it. They're just awesome. It's wonderful. I'll miss them while I'm off.

So anyways...that was long winded! Have a great week. I think three posts in two days might be sufficient for the week (although Sarah I'm so impressed with the 5 you got up today!) Hope you have an amazing week!

2nd post of the day - random thoughts.

2011-01-24T17:54:00.000-06:00

So this is how my brain works now.

The speed bumps in Texas are ridiculous. Like seriously. They aren't gentle...they abuse cars..and they place them every 10 feet in parking lots. Crazy.

I try really hard not to buy cookies/chips things like this for snacks when I go to the grocery store. Basically because I'll eat them if they're in the house. (This isn't a pregnancy thing..this is an always thing.) Today though, I bought fig newtons and cookies!

I have rediscovered a love for raw bisquick with water, so basically biscuit dough. Gross? You may think so but I love it.

I went to the gym with Brad last night and had some pain in the bottom of my belly...I REALLY hope this means that the little man is trying to get into place. If he doesn't get there soon we have to talk options other than natural..and I don't want to do that.

I'm not sure I can physically handle 3 more weeks of work. I've had the last week off the floor, and it's been wonderful. I love my job..but I'm exhausted at the end of these 12 hour days. It's also been insane there lately..and last week I worked a 15 hour day.

Truthfully 3 more weeks only means 9 more shifts. You'd think that would be totally possible, but with not sleeping all that well...it makes it a bit difficult.

Speaking of sleeping...it seems that baby boy likes me to stay up until at least midnight every night. I have found that my nesting takes place between 9 and midnight. That's when I feel like I have to finish everything right now. That doesn't necessarily mean I do it..but it's when I feel the most inspired.

I don't know if I mentioned this in a previous blog...at 36 weeks..baby boy was already measuring in at a whopping 6lb 7 oz. Which means he'll most likely be in the 8 1/2lb range. He feels HUGE to me. All of a sudden I feel like he's so very apparent no matter where he is in my belly. There is definitely no extra room in there. That's ok though..we want him to be chunky!

I make fun recipes sometimes...they usually only last for one meal. Even if they're delicious I tend to not make things twice. You can imagine this makes life difficult when you try to plan meals and things like this. Silly right? I do make spaghetti occasionally. Part of the problem..I could totally eat cereal every day of the week for dinner. I am really going to work hard at this when Noah comes so we'll actually have a schedule. Mainly for budget purposes..and then once he is eating real food he'll have some variety to his diet.

People like to give advice..sometimes when it's not asked for. Today the clerk at HEB told me that it's always better not to have kids close together..and then went on to tell me it's better to go back to work. She told me then all you have to do is put them to sleep when you get home. Really? I thought she might be kidding..but I don't think so. I smiled and left a little disturbed.

Brad's on his way home now...so I need to go make dinner. Spaghetti. Surprise. Made with turkey instead of hamburger. That's the twist. Brad likes it better that way. :)

Have a great night!

3 weeks and counting.

2011-01-24T08:20:00.000-06:00

That's right..were already at 37 weeks. WHAT?! It's just crazy how fast these weeks and months have passed! WE finished organizing the nursery this weekend...I'm so excited! We hung the cute little mirrors last night, but we are going to finish hanging the last two pieces on the wall and then we're done! Done...that's just crazy! Which is perfect because then we can enjoy just spending time together for the last three weeks. All that's left once the nursery is done is to finish out organizing the kitchen so we have room for baby things, and then we're pretty much set. We have the pack'n'play up and ready in our room, the swing is up in the living room, the little bouncy seat in his room. I mean...seriously...we're ready! I'm so excited!

A blog post will come either tonight or tomorrow depending on what time we finish it out. You know me and my freak organization I can't stand to have pictures up of the room when it's not finished. Ridiculous. I'm aware.

This week sweet Brad turned 28. We had a great time celebrating! He headed to Houston on his actual birthday for work so I just made him dinner here at home that night. Friday we went out for a sushi date at our favorite sushi restaurant, Uchi. Now..let me explain. I don't really like sushi, at all. Raw fish is just disturbing to me. HOWEVER..this place is phenomenal. We went here a few years ago for Brad's birthday and we liked it so much we still talk about it. This time I of course only ate cooked items, but I told Brad I can't wait to go back again and try it when I can eat the raw sushi again just to make sure it's as good as I remember. Either way it was great, Brad loved it, and our waiter gave us our dessert for free. AWESOME. Then Saturday we went out to dinner with friends. Who doesn't love a three day birthday celebration?

So since this always seems to be baby associated...I'm going to switch it up and spend a blog about this husband of mine. 28 reasons why I'm thankful for Brad Allison.

1. He loves Jesus. He grows more and more each day toward becoming like Christ, and it's so encouraging to me to do the same. I love it.

2. He makes me laugh. All the time. He's a big huge goofball and I think that's amazing.

3. He is handy to have around. In the past year he has refinished our floors, painted trim, painted rooms in our house, refinished the landscaping, helped me put together all sorts of crazy things...pretty much anything we need done he tries to find a way to do it.

4. He loves kiddos. I think it's so neat watching him interact with our friends kiddos or our nieces.

5. He's going to be such a good dad! He's so excited for Noah. Watching him get excited gets me even more excited. I love when he tells me how much time we have left..like he has a little countdown going on too!

6. He understands me. He knows when I need to cry, laugh, talk, be quiet, play, be serious. He just knows, and he always responds perfectly.

7. Sometimes in this crazy pregnant brain of mine...I get so jumbled up with my emotions I need to just cry. Like a lot. I've had two episodes of this in almost 9 months...so I consider myself not so crazy...but still. It's happened. And this sweet guy just sat there and held me..until I laughed at my insanity..and then he laughed with me.

8. He has a servant's heart. He wants to help everyone.

9. He has an unbelievable amount of random knowledge. It is amazing. But I sure do learn a lot from him.

10. That guy could talk football for hours. Literally. It's actually kinda fun. I enjoy trying to learn facts so that I can try to keep up with him.

11. He listens to me ramble on and on about nursing. Sometimes I have to process the things my brain goes through..and he really helps me do that.

12. He is a faithful friend. We both struggle at communication. We're not good at emailing or calling people that are on our hearts...but he is a faithful friend. He cares so much for the people in his life.

13. He would give me steak any day. It's almost as if I'm the man in the relationship..you know..like the way to a man is through his stomach. That's me..even when I'm not pregnant.

14. He helped me be crafty for Noah's room. He always has good solutions when I'm frustrated. Last night I was trying to cover letters for his room, it was an epic fail. He sat here with me and tried to come up with a plan.

15. Sometimes he watched girly movies with me. Just because he's sweet like that.

16. He talks about Noah all the time. He puts his hand on my belly and gets this huge smile. It's one of the most special things we've ever shared.

17. He leads me..even when I don't want him to.

18. He likes to play cards. It doesn't matter with who or where..that guy loves to play cards. He would do anything to do so. It cracks me up.

19. He makes jokes that make me uncomfortable. Just because he thinks it's funny.

20. Since I've been pregnant, I've realized that he worries about me more than I think. Like for example...he barely lets me drive his car because he doesn't trust it. That car is fine by the way. No problem there, but it makes him feel better if I don't drive it often. (Except I am today.) Or when we talk about the baby coming..the idea of a c-section is not a comfortable discussion with him. I forget that just because surgery and things like that don't scare me for me...the idea of me in surgery makes him very uncomfortable. If it were the other way around I'd be crazy....but I forget he might feel the same way.

21. He is a family guy. Family is so important to him.

22. He is awesome to go on trips and vacations with. He knows how to make them so fun! Although he's already planned lots of trips in the next year he wants to take..and I keep saying I think we'll have to wait and see. :)

23. We talked the other day about parenting...some of the things we'll come across as Noah or other kiddos get older...things we hadn't talked about before. It was awesome. So exciting to plan and prepare for what our life is going to be like.

24. Every day I wake up and realize how thankful I am for him. I feel like as time goes on our marriage just continues to grow more and more. I LOVE that.

25. He thinks a fist bump is always appropriate. Even in the doctors office. :) Come on that's hilarious.

26. He goes to every doctors appointment with me. He asks questions, and he holds me hand, and he is invested in every part of this.

27. He went to the preparation for childbirth class alone without me for the first hour because I couldn't get out of work on time. He wasn't freaked out, and he even had opinions. I LOVE it!

28. He just rocks. Our life together is better than I ever imagined...I'm so thankful for a God of details who created this man for me.

That's it for now..be prepared..pictures are coming! I'm so excited!