18 Months.

So Noah turned 18 months old last week during the move.

18 months.  Goodness gracious.  

I can honestly say that while this age is the most challenging thus far, it is by far my favorite.  He is a BLAST.  Cracks us up every day.  (Don't get me wrong...we definitely have our fair share of trying times too..but man he's funny)

I feel like over the last month, even just the last week or so he's really taken off on development.  Here's what he's doing now at 18 months. 

Runs...ALL THE TIME.  We here his little feet pat pat patting away as he runs all over.  Especially this week as he has been at Mom and Dad's and they have more space than we do.

Words: Mama, Dada, Mommy, Pop (Poppy), Papa, Nini for Nana, MiMi, Go-Go, Ball-Ball, No (we do not like this!), Noah, This, Wa-Wa (Water), Ooshs (shoes), Up Peas (Up please)

Points to his ears, hair, mouth, nose, toes, feet, belly button.  Can't get the eyes down..always points to his ears haha

Recently has started to try to tickle people's feet..cracks me up.  He especially does this to Nana and Papa-even when they're wearing shoes.  

He loves to stand on the couch and fall face first without trying to catch himself.  Today he was doing this on the ottoman.  He'll count (Ah-Da-DAH -which is his 1, 2, 3) and then fall.  Hilarious.  I never realized that I'll count to three when we're playing until he started doing it.  Pretty funny because I don't even count to three when I'm disciplining him.  

He loves to "drive" anything and everything.  This week he's driven all of pop's lawnmowers, and his tractor, and his truck, and Papa's van.  He just runs from one to the other.

He has quite the appetite.  He'll eat almost anything. Sometimes when he's done eating, and I haven't caught the drift he'll just open his mouth and let it fall out.  That's a great experience. 

Says NO.  A lot.  We're working on it.

He had to say goodbye to his best friends this month.  Watching them play and hug each other for the last time was precious to me.  

He signs for more, please, thank you, and occasionally help.  He also will sign for Jesus when we sing Jesus loves me- um best thing ever.

When we pray before meals, if I am kneeling down praying with him, and his food is in front of me, he will try to put food in my mouth.  Hahaha.  Hilarious. 

Still loves to throw balls around.  We think he'll be left handed.  He really seems to favor that side.

When he runs he punches his left arm.  So funny.  I need to get it on video.

LOVES to be outside.  Since we've been at my parents he runs to the door every morning first thing and tries to open it to go outside. 

He has quite the voice.  He loves to yell.  Not in anger really (but sometimes) but often just to yell.  

He loves to giggle.  

Lots of kisses and hugs, and recently has become super affectionate with Mama. Makes my year.

That's probably it for now.  This little one brings us so much joy, and teaches us so much at the same time.  We are learning every day it feels like and I hope that he is too. 

Hope you have a great week!

The Joy.

Reading that last post, I sounded so depressing.  I forgot to tell you about the joy.  There's lots of it. 

For example:

We are going to live close to Chicago- we have so many memories of dating in Chicago so I'm super excited to make new memories as a family.

We have family all over the place up there.  That's awesome!

We have so many friends still in Indiana/Illinois.  I am SO VERY excited to spend time with them! 

Fall weather...remember how I love me some fall weather and colors.  SOOOO excited about that. 

SNOW! YAY! (I'm sure my opinion on this might change.)

It's kinda like an exciting adventure. You have no idea what's waiting. I felt that way when we moved here and it was one of the best decisions we've ever made.  It will be exciting to do it again.  

I'm sure there's more...but I just wanted to say we are excited.  It's hard not to get caught up in the sadness and forget the joy...but there is so much.  We'll talk again soon.  Don't know when blogging will happen in the next couple of weeks as we have LOTS to do.  Have a great week!

So..we're moving.

I've been dreading writing this blog..because I'm a big ball of emotional craziness.  We are moving.  Not to Taylor, Tx as we planned...but to Chicagoland area! Every time I say it or type it out it seems a little more real and a little more crazy.  Good crazy.  But still hard to grasp in this brain of mine. 

(p.s. even now I have a few tears.) 

So let's talk about how this happened.  You might remember that about a year ago we sold our house, with the full intention of moving to Taylor to do life with some peeps that we love oh so dearly. For the last year we have looked at houses in Taylor (for real, I have the Taylor real estate market memorized)  and despite all our efforts, haven't been able to agree on a house. About the time March came around, we settled that no matter what, when June came we wanted to have a decision, and we were leaving this apartment.  (so we thought)

Over the last few months a possibility for a job for Brad up in the midwest showed up on our radar, and we began to pray over that.  While we really struggled with the idea of leaving here, we both felt strangely led towards this job.  We prayed over it, and decided to really be open to whatever might come of it. 

Fast forward to the last month, Brad interviewed, and we prayed, and the deeper he got into the process the more and more we felt like this is exactly what we're supposed to be doing.  How the timing worked out has just been amazing too, and the peace the Lord has given us over Brad leaving his current job has been something we just can't question.  Greg, Brad's current boss was so very gracious, and we are so so thankful for how wonderful he has been to our family the last three years.  So leaving on good terms was extremely important to us.  

So, an offer came, Brad accepted, and he starts his new job on August 13th.  The job is one he is really excited about, and he will be working with a close family friend.  We're so thankful for the opportunity.  It seems very final, probably because it is, and if we (read: if I) think about it too much I get pretty emotional.  Please don't get me wrong...I am so very excited for Brad and this new job, I'm so excited that we'll be close to family, and I'm excited that after praying this over as a family and feeling such a strong sense of peace we can completely trust that the Lord is going to protect us in this.  I can also look at where we were five years ago when we decided to move across the country and how fearful I was about that...and I look at where we are now and I know that Jesus has been with us all the way.  He will be with us in this.  So I am joyful.  My heart just hurts..because we are leaving friends who have loved us so well, and who we cherish so deeply.  We're also leaving a church that we adore, and have grown exponentially while attending.  And I am leaving my dream job.  (I'm not kidding about that- I know I only work one day a week, but I love it.) 

So here we go.  We're not really very sure where we'll be living exactly.  The job is in Illinois, we'll live somewhere close to the IN/IL border..no decisions on where yet. Hopefully we'll nail that down by the end of this week.  No idea where I'll be working, I'm applying in both Illinois and Indiana for licenses and jobs. We'll figure that out  soon enough. Here's a song and verse or two that have been keeping my heart peaceful over the last few weeks.  

Standing on this mountain top

Looking just how far we've come

Knowing that for every step

You were with us

Kneeling on this battle ground

Seeing just how much you've done

Knowing every victory 

Is your power in us

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts will say

Yes, our hearts can say

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did you leave us on our own

You are faithful, God you are faithful

You are faithful, God you are faithful

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts will say 

Never once did we ever walk alone

Carried by your constant grace

Held within your perfect peace

Never once, no we never walk alone

Never once did we ever walk alone

Never once did you leave us on our own

You are faithful, God you are faithful

You are faithful, God you are faithful

Every step we are breathing in your grace

Every step we are breathing out your praise

You are faithful, God, you are faithful

You are faithful, God, you are faithful

Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Just so you know I haven't forgotten...

I know we have a blog...but we are still without a computer that connects to the internet...so it shall be a few more weeks before they come back.  For those 5 people that read our blog still. :) 

Anyways...just a picture or two for tonight.  Life is good...lots happening.  But we're blessed. We're having a fabulous summer which has been wonderful.  Noah is growing..quite the little pistol...but oh we love him..we'll have a post on just him someday soon. Here are some pictures of the last few months. 

Enjoying some girl time with friends.

We took Noah on his first boat experience...he slept through much of it. :) It was a very LONG day of driving the day before. 

 Lake time with daddy. 

This boy L-O-V-E-S him a dog. That's a great dane..that he walked right up to and loved on. No fear. 

I love his face here.  I don't even know what he was doing..I just find it hilarious.

Sweet little man after a day at the splash pad. He was asleep as soon as I turned the car on. He plays hard.

Our Fourth of July.  My guys.

He was SOOO excited because a float was coming that had a ton of balloons on it. 

His new favorite thing to do. 

He was cracking himself up jumping up so we could see him over this little pool.

Fireworks in the Big T.  We made Brad be the photographer.  Noah was a little hesitant about the fireworks at first, but by the end was loving them. 

We had a great day! Hope you did as well!

Big day tomorrow...so guess who can't sleep!

Tomorrow is a big day! 

We are so excited! 

Tomorrow we get to go to "Gotcha" day for our sweet friends as they get to adopt their three precious children. I literally have not been able to think of this all week without crying.  

Sweet Mullins fam...you are LOVED. 

So we're pumped! And I'm writing about it..because I can't sleep. 

In other news. 

Confession: I'm really struggling with activities for little man during the day. We go to a park nearly every day...we need out of the apartment, and we both need the sunshine.  So our mornings are usually smooth and easy, spent at the park and usually our errands in the morning.  By nap time he is exhausted...but at times that only equates into a 2 hour nap. (I realize 2 hours should be plenty..but I truly think he some days would still take two naps if given the opportunity..and only two hours total just isn't cutting it for him) Some days he does a 3 hour nap and those afternoons are much better.  Anyways..today-I felt like we were just staring at each other. He climbed on the same box approximately 15 times...he fell probably 7 of those, and then cried, and I picked him up. It's like a weird version of groundhog day. And today I felt like a failure of a parent. Because we just ran out of ideas. I even had an egg carton, a paper bag, some other crafty things thinking we could make a Father's Day present for Brad (what would we make you ask? I have NO idea...so they're all just sitting there)  So anyways, that's my confession of the day. I'm learning. 

However..despite all that...at the end of the day when Noah gave me some precious sweet snuggles and lots of giggles, I was totally reminded of my absolute joy at the gift of being able to be home with him 6 days a week. It also made me thankful that even though sometimes I feel like a junky Mom...I'm his mama...and he knows he is loved unconditionally, and we'll start fresh tomorrow!

That's it for tonight. 

Have to get some sleep so we can be ready for one AWESOME celebration tomorrow and Saturday.  YAY!!!!  

Recently.

Recently we've been busy. Thus no posts.  

Additionally, my laptop doesn't connect to the internet, which also hinders the posts.  

But here's what we've been up to: 

As previously stated, we went to Ruidoso

Then Brad had to go to Spain

So Noah and I went to Florida (which was a blast!)

Noah had his tubes placed May 2nd. He did great!

Noah now signs for please, thank you, more, and sometimes eat

He says Mama, Dada, Yummy (me-oh but it's purposeful), Roar, Uh-Oh Moo, Ball, and once this week he said Car and he tries for up (but usually comes out uh-oh please)

We're still in the apartment...someone in this family is being taught patience (and let me tell you...it is a long process.)

We found a new park...it's awesome. Noah loves it. So do I.

Noah and I have turned over a new leaf on our days...we're really working on getting out and having fun so we don't go stir crazy.  We have a better system now and it's working well.

I don't sleep. Ever. It's kinda frustrating. I had a minor breakdown the other night..where I was close to the ugly cry while telling Brad it's so unfair I can't sleep.  

Don't think I'm unaware of that being a little irrational...it's just true. 

Brad taught me about an ap on our phone last night called Sound Hound...you can sing and it tries to identify the song.  It's a fun game for the car. 

Noah's new thing is climbing on everything. His favorite place to sit is in our little rocker chair, he likes to sit there (by himself of course)

 It sure feels like we've been busier than what this looks like...but I'm drawing a bit of a blank. So instead: pictures. 

Here he is in "his" chair. 

Alright.  That's it for now. 

Ruidoso.

Let's talk for a minute about friends. We've been blessed...BIG TIME...with some absolutely amazing friends in this life we're walking through. Friends from growing up, friends from college, and now friends from our time in Austin. Good gracious are we thankful.  So when the opportunity presented itself to go on a vacation with some friends kids free back in April..we were P-U-M-P-E-D!!   So after much planning...on the Bean's part (thank you for that sweet Bean family!)..ix couples decided to go on an awesome little vaca to Ruidoso, NM.  And can I just say it was soothing to my soul. That is not an exaggeration. Soothing. To. My. Soul.

 I, being a talker, feel like I should have so many more words to explain this...but I don't. But we LOVE the people the Lord has put in our life. They ROCK. 

We spent 5 fulls days of uninterrupted time (two days were spent on 10 hour car rides but still) with friends, no kids, just talking and spending time together. It was a-stinking-mazing. Don't get me wrong..we missed our sweet boy...like CRAZY..but there's something to be said about some quality adult time. 

 These faces..we girls made them a lot on this trip. Our husbands our just troublemakers. 

 We ladies got pedicures and massages, we sat out on the porch and read, we watched a movie-IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY- I mean seriously. The guys played golf, we stayed up late, slept in (not me but unfortunately that's just how I am lately), ate meals and didn't have to share our food. It was great.

And boy did we come back refreshed.  Good thing because life kinda hit hard after that for everyone, back in full force.  

More pictures..from our night of Just Dance. 

The sweet Peterson's! Rockin it out. 

 We group danced. We're not ashamed. We're not too old. 

Hahahaha.  

Have a great day!