Happy New Year

I'm catching up on a bit of blogging tonight.  Things are super exciting over here for New Year's Eve.  The kids are asleep.  Dean and I are lounging in our new cozy bed.   Dean is catching up on some DVRed TV using his new wireless earphones.  I am blogging and surfing the Internet with no TV background noise... although the noise from the neighborhood fireworks is a bit loud.  I'm hoping it doesn't wake up my children.  We may watch a movie or I may talk him into watching Ryan Seacrest on Rockin' New Year's Eve... the early edition, of course.  This is nothing but excitement people.  So, scroll down.  There are plenty of new posts.  Happy New Year everyone!  Yay 2012!

PS - Happy Birthday Mom!

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning arrived, and Santa was really good to our munchkins this year.  And, by really good, I mean he may or may not have gone a bit overboard and probably had to save some of the toys for next year.  

 The loot.

Santa left some gifts wrapped in brown paper with the kids named stamped in red ink.  It was a nice touch.  Noah had a blast picking out his name and figuring out which gift belonged to whom.   

First glance. 

Noah asked for one thing for Christmas this year… a xylophone.  Santa brought two.  Daddy commented, “I don’t know if xylophones are making a comeback, but we have the potential to have four in our house.”   Ha. 

Emma loved the xylophones too. She especially loves the tabletop xylophone. It is the perfect height for her to pull up on. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is made to support the weight of a child even a little bitty one. She has had a couple spills of it, but luckily it is low to the ground, so no injuries ensued.

Typical of baby's first Christmas, Emma loved all the wrapping paper and ribbon.  And, she was really interested in anything that belonged to her brother.  Noah was the same.  He loved all Emma's gifts.  I forget how hard it is to find a baby toy that doesn't make noise.  Music.  Talking.  Counting.  Let's just say that there are a lot of new songs and phrases going through Noah's head this week. 

The Aftermath.

 

What's Mine is Yours

There was a bit of toy swapping going on Christmas morning.  Emma loved Noah's xylophone table, and Noah loved Emma's singing zoo.

 

Just climb on over E.  Notice Noah holding her hand.

And, if this isn't the cutest picture ever.

Peace, Love and Perfect Pictures

Merry Christmas!

Up on the Rooftop

I’m not sure exactly what changed between Noah and Santa, but as the big day drew near, Noah started being a bit more ok with the idea.  And, on Christmas Eve, Noah and I talked about Santa coming down the chimney to bring him his gifts.  We baked cookies and poured a big glass of milk.  Noah had his own milk and cookie, and we hung out by the tree, read some Christmas stories, and got the room ready for Santa. 

Ready for Santa.  He's been working on his camera smile... can you tell?

I so wish this picture would have focused better, but I love it anyway.

Five Things Friday 12.23.11 -Merry Eve Eve

Here's a quick iPhone purge. Whatever would I do without it?
1. Santa outtake. Thanks everyone who pointed out Santa's personalized, gold plated belt buckle. I can't believe I overlooked it. Awesome is right.


2. Noah helped me mail Christmas cards earlier this month.


3. Emma is all over the place. Just today... Under a barstool, under our bed, down the hall into the bathroom.



4. It's time to tame the hair. Bows... I'm in. Pa Pa Harold always says, "get your hair out your face." I see his point. Love seeing this little ones sweet face.


5. If you want to know what a brain hard a work looks like... Here you go. Noah memorizing the pre-recorded version of Frosty the Snowman. I'm not really sure how long it takes him to commit something to memory, but by the time we left target, he had it down.

If It Wasn't So Terrible, It'd Be Funny

I hosted a baby shower at my house a couple of Saturdays ago. The Thursday before, Noah got the stomach bug... For real this time. He was pitiful. Rubbing his tummy and saying, "it hurts." The first time he vomited all over the kitchen. Did I mention my mom was visiting? Thank the Lord! She warned me it was coming. The voice of experience.  She could see it in his face. Thankfully, I was able to get Emma out the line of fire. He threw up the rest of the night, about every two hours. Dean took the night shift, and by 3:00 AM, it seemed the worst was over.  My little man did not feel like himself for about a week after that.  The only good thing to come out of it, is that he knows has a REALLY clear picture of what "sick" means.   

That bug was brutal, albeit 24 hours.  Need more evidence.  Catch the part about a baby shower the next Saturday?  Well, my sweet cleaning lady showed up on Friday, to make sure my house was super neat and clean.  And, the baby shower was beautiful.  Again, my mom was there with her baby shower experience to help.  Thanks Mom.  Here are a few pictures.  Thanks to Pinterest for the flower arrangement ideas. 

Well, the “if it wasn’t so terrible, it’d be funny” part of the story, is that five shower guests caught the stomach bug within 36 hours from being at my house.  I also checked with my cleaning lady, and she had it too.  After everyone finished passing it along to spouses and children, I think the grand total infection I perpetuated was 12.  Sorry friends.  It was really great shower, until it wasn't. 

O Christmas Tree

Daddy promised Noah he would come home from work with a Christmas tree.

So, the kids and I went outside to wait.

Noah was super excited for Daddy to pull up.

Daddy picked out an awesome tree. 

And, he strung the lights.

Noah supervised.

Emma approved.

It turned out beautiful and filled our house with Christmas spirit.  If I didn't know better, I would think this spirit originated from our Daddy.  Yay Christmas!

Here Comes Santa Claus

In past years, Noah has not been a fan of Santa.  When asked whether he wants Santa to bring him presents, his response is usually, "No Santa."  This year is no exception with a little variation on the verbal response, "No not Santa to bring toys.  Just Momma."  Thanks for the faith buddy.

Noah did have a brief meeting with Santa at school last week.  The note from his teacher said, "Santa went well, he sat on his lap but wouldn't look at him. I'm not sure if he finally did glance over or not. But I will see if I can get a copy of the picture." 

Here's the picture. 

I do think he's getting to the age where he will tolerate just about anything for a treat.

Notice the tree in the background.  All the students make an ornament with their picture.

So sweet!

Peppermint Twist

Every year Noah's school hosts a holiday play.  Every student from preschool to middle school participates.  This year was the 30th year of the school play.  The teacher's like to surprise the parents with the performances.  Last year, I was so surprised and loved every minute of it.  This year Noah spilled the beans after one day of play practice.  But, I stilled loved every minute of the live performance.  The school's auditorium was packed with standing room only.  Although Noah had a bit of a stunned face while looking out at the audience, he did all the moves to his performance.  We are so proud of our big boy!

Ready to perform.  Wow!  What a crowd.

Doing some twisting.  There was also some 1,2,3 kicks and 1,2,3 jumps.

Round and round.  Up and down.

This was after the performance was over.  He was reacting to the applause.  I think he liked it.

Great job Noah.  Daddy, Momma and Emma are so proud!

Project for Daddy

Hello!

I think it's time to lower my crib mattress.

I'm just saying.

Five Seven Things Friday 12.16.11 - Funny Talk

1. "Llama llama. Holiday drama." Then he collapses to the floor, arms and legs spread wide. They are reading this book in his pre-ac class. His flair for the dramatic always makes me laugh. I wonder where he gets it from.

2. "Um, yeah sure Mom." I'm not quite sure where he picked this up, but for about a week he
used this in place of the word, yes. Cute, the first couple times, but I had to nip it in the bud after a day or two.

3. "Raise your hand if you want a snack." This was said last night as he was sitting at the counter watching me get his dinner ready. Guess I know what they're working on in school.

4. Sometimes when Daddy puts Noah to bed, he has to pull the, "do you want me to get Momma?" or "Momma's going to be mad." One night last week as Dean was putting him to bed, Noah said, "Daddy to get happy Momma."

5. "Where-o, where-o, where is Daddy? "Where-o, where-o, where is Daddy? Where could Daddy be?" Sung to the tune of Ten Little Indians, while waiting by the front window for Daddy to drive up.

6. Conversation between Daddy and Noah. Daddy asks, "Noah loves?" Noah replies, "Daddy!" Daddy asks, "And?" Noah replies, "Ms. J (his teacher). " Not really the answer Daddy was expecting.

7. "What-ev-er!" It's amazing how he can use this appropriately. He picked it up from the iPad app, "There's Another Monster at the End of this Book." Thanks Elmo. Not my favorite phrase, but definitely funny coming out of his mouth.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Emma - Six Months

Guess who's a half a year old! What a joyful baby girl. Time has really flown by on one hand, but on the other... not really sure what we did before we had this little bit of sweetness in our lives. 

Little bit.  What an accurate description of this baby girl.  Yep, still little.  And, apparently, when your baby is little, food is not really all that important. Not enough calories. At her pedi appointment today, Dean and I were encouraged to again, just feed her more. Breast or bottle.  So, I made another trip to Babies R Us for another cart full of various bottles. And, a box of formula which I am more than happy to give a shot, if she would just take a bottle. I'm thinking if both parties put a little more effort into it, we may actually get this too work. And, if she does start taking a bottle than I try to give her pumped breastmilk again. I'm tired of all my hard work being poured down the sink.  She is hovering around the 5th percentile, and is somewhat continuing on a kinda sorta maybe if you look really closely curve of her own.  I'll take her back to the pedi next month for a weight check. 

Having said that, she is doing so well socially and physically. Tonight during bath time, Dean told her to kick, and she did... on command. How's that for receptive language? She is always checking out whatever is going on (translation: easily distracted while nursing), she tries to get the attention of anyone in her line of sight, and rewards them with a big grin.  She is also starting to intentionally flick her wrist back and forth. Great practice for waving.  She is completely enthralled by her brother and locks in on him whenever he is in the room.  Now that she is so mobile, Noah is starting to pay a bit more attention.  Especially since she can get to his toys.

Motor wise, she is constantly on the go. Crawling all over the house on hands and feet. She is starting to roll back on her hips into a slight sitting position, and I'm pretty sure before long she will be sitting like a pro.  Things are starting to get a bit crazy in the mornings and afternoons with this one always wanting to be put down, so I also picked up a nice baby cage play gate to corral her from time to time. Perfect for keeping her in and brother out.  Fingers crossed that she's a fan or back to the store it will go.

Emma Meets Santa

Emma met Santa for the first time today.  I think she enjoyed the visit. Momma made sure that Santa knew what a sweet girl Emma was this year. Santa was a super nice and very friendly.  Emma didn't give him any big smiles, but she was pretty interested in the fuzzy ball on the end of his hat.

A Perfect Fit

For Valentine’s Day 2003, Dean got up bright and early (about 9:00 AM for a pre-kid couple) drove to Big Lots and purchased our first queen bed frame as a gift for me. It was a sleigh bed that resembled the pricey ones sold at Pottery Barn, but for the bargain price of $299. It was a great bed, and it served us well for the next 8 years.

 

Fast forward to 2011, two kids and way earlier mornings, Dean and I are visiting family in Louisiana. I beg him to come with me to this Indonesian export furniture store. They don't deliver to Texas, but they are having a 50% off sale. We are thinking it's time for a king sized bed.  We end of buying a bed and a matching armoire.

This past weekend, Dean's parents were nice enough to rent a U-Haul and drive our new bedroom over. Dean and I were both looking forward to our new suite.

As Dean and his dad unloaded the dresser, carried it into the house, moved it down the hallway towards our bedroom, they came to the realization that the piece was too big to make the turn. They couldn't get it into the room. It was about a foot to deep. The problem solving begin. Solutions were tossed around and rejected.

Dean finally looked at me and said, "it is physically impossible to get this [non-refundable, matches our new bed] piece of furniture into our bedroom."

My response, "what about the bathroom window?"

I'm happy to report that three strong men were able to execute my crazy, last ditch option. And, now I'm pretty sure the armoire will remain in the house long after we're gone.

Thanks guys for all your hard work.

Learning to Accessorize

Is there anything cuter than baby tights?

And don't forget the cardigan, just like Momma