Staying Connected

Summer 2011

2011-09-05T17:44:00.000-07:00

As most of you know - The kids and I went on a very LONG trip to visit family in Arkansas and we even spent a few days in Texas. We were gone for almost 6 weeks and I have to shamefully admit - I hardly touched my camera!!! Shame on me....

BUT - I did get a few pictures of a hiking trip we took ...

This summer, our trip was off to a rocky start. My first week, everyone got sick (really sick!), we had to go to urgent care, Eli had to have a tooth pulled and busted his head open a few days later. But - it got much better (I dont know why this is bolded all of a sudden?) Noah learned how to swim! He resisted us pretty much the entire time - but we kept taking him to the pool almost every day and FINALLY after us teaching, showing, begging, reteaching, begging some more, finally he plunged in and just did it! He saw a little girl (a much younger girl) in the pool swimming and having a great time - he looked at me and asked how she did that and I told him that the only difference between him and her was that he was too scared to let go and just do it....he said "Go get my goggles, Mommy!" and off we went - swimming like he knew how to all along. And then he was even brave enough to swim without goggles or anything!

Monkey See, Monkey Do! Now Eli thinks that he should be able to swim like that...but he just doesnt have the understanding of the rules and 'how to' yet so we have to watch and be mindful of where and what Eli is up to while at the pool!

So thanks to MEME and PEARPAW for helping show (almost) both the boys how to swim and love the water. :0)

Jonah on the other hand is part fish...he just has no fear whatsoever.....and LOVES the water. Any water in fact! Water in a glass, in the tub, in a dog bowl, or in the toilet - he doesnt care where it comes from! To him, water was meant to be played in.

Happy Birthday Noah

2011-06-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

He's 4!!!!! I cant believe how quickly the time has gone by! I also can believe how much my life has changed in the past 5 or 6 years - WHEW!!! Praise God for change! :0)

Here are a few pictures of the little mans bday party....

HAPPY HEART DAY!!!!!

2011-02-14T15:10:00.000-07:00

What a great day it has been already - and its only 2:30! (crossing my fingers.....)

I woke up to a sweet little boy kissing me on my forhead and saying "Will You Be My Valentime, Mommy?" it was so cute........

Then Jonah graduated from his cranial helmet! NO MORE HELMET!!!! He's free at last! And his head looks FANTASTIC! He's turned out to be well rounded already. lol

Then I went to pick up Noah from preschool - and he sees me as his entire class is returning from the bathrooms - so he runs down the hall and screams "MOMMY!!!! I thought you were in jail!!!!"

nice

I think I heard crickets...so I stammer and look at the teacher and say (trying to explain) "Oh, we talk about jail all the time at home..." what??? first of all -we dont...and that sounds horrible! I panicked - what could I say? lol

oh well

Here are some pictures - ENJOY!

Noah and I made these to pass out to all of his little friends at school - and he really helped! He cut, glued and stuffed right along beside me! He was very excited to pass them out. :0)

KISSES!!!

Jonah sat up for a few minutes today!

And then he does this...

It makes him tired - lol

But he's still my little Q-T-Pi!

BYE BYE HELMET!

Someone is crying now - I gotta run

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!!! WE LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU ALL TERRIBLY!!!!

Breakfast in the Batcave

2011-02-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

We had a very special guest join us for Breakfast this morning

Just so everyone knows - Batman will eat anything when bribed with more bacon.

Robin came along too but refused to be photographed while in costume

And the Jonah just hangs out waiting for attention. :0) Actually he loves this bouncy!

What a great way to discover the greasy kid handprints on your doors.....ew

Just hanging around!

MY BABY CAN READ!

2011-02-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks - Noah has really started showing interest in what letters 'say'. Could this be because he started school a few weeks ago? I dunno....but Im amazed at the change in Noah already. The other day I heard him in the play room singing the ABC's and then he went through each letter and said "Big A little a - A says aaaaaa as in APPLE!" for every single letter he did this - and I walked into his play room and he had a set of his flash cards scattered all around him.

So we have been talking about what sounds certain letters make when they are put together like - "oo" and "ou" and "ch" and things like that. He seems to be soaking it all up!

Then last night, I was working from home in front of the computer and Daddy was on the floor in the playroom with the boys drawing simple words on a drawing board and having Noah make the sounds of the letters and putting them all together......it dawned on me..Noah was reading! READING! He really did do most of it himself - Kev would point to the letter, Noah would make the sound, and we had him put the sounds all together quicker and he would shout the word! He read, DOG, CAT, JONAH, BOOK, NOAH, ELI, BANDIT, and then at my request BOOGER. Just to make him laugh.

Reading.....sheesh...

Now, I know he is no genius - thats not what I am saying....but he is growing up so quickly!!!

Eli has really been showing interest in letters too - today we went to a Dr appt and then to the "BLUE" hardware store and he pointed out every letter "S" he saw...I think he likes it because he can say it really well. He's a cutie...

This is the last week Jonah has to wear his helmet - YEAH!!!!!!!

Well, I gotta run and pick up #1 from school. More later! :0)

Love old photos

2011-02-02T22:56:00.000-07:00

Well - you all know I have fallen in love with Lightroom. I have been searching my computer for some old photos that I can maybe make better or more interesting just by getting creative with them....that and the fact that I have NO pictures of my kids hanging in my house - seriously - NONE! So I thought I would try and gather some to print and put in some frames...one of these days.

But I found a set of pictures that I love - I love them for their imperfections and stories they tell....and the memories that I hope to never forget. The below set of pictures was my INSANE attempt to get ONE good picture of the three boys together right after Jonah was born - mission failed.

Yes - thats Eli with his finger down our newborns mouth....and thats Noah for being goofy while trying to take the pictures - and then me getting grumpy with everyone for having fun instead of taking a perfect family photo.......oh well - I sort of love the results like only the Mom would.
This is my crazy family

Then I found some pictures of Jonah as a brand new baby - some are before his trip to the hospital, one is during, and some are after - but the poor thing was so orange from jaundice that I needed to do some playing around with color.

Isnt he a sweet big brother!?!?! Noah is the lover....Eli is the "finger in the mouth'er"
Anyway - so there is my special find for the week. Old pictures can make you smile - or make you laugh out loud so hard the other people in the house come check on you.

Hopefully I can find more to share soon....

$8 haircut

2011-01-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

After Eli's tooth incident - I had an especially irritable day and decided to take the plunge and take advantage of the GreatClips haircut sale. $7.99 for a haircut, cant beat that! I called them to make sure it included womens cuts too - no matter the original length because I planned on going pretty short. I needed a change - badly. All these babies have really left their mark on my hair! What used to be thick super curly long hair is now whispy, thinning, frizzy, not curly at all hair...so off it goes.

I was terrified to go to GreatClips to be perfectly honest. Like I said, I called before hand and asked if there was anyone there who had a lot of experience cutting short hair for women - I was assured there was a manager on duty who knew her stuff.

rrriiiiight...

Well I show up and get seated almost right away with an asian woman who seemed really nice - really she was very nice, I couldnt understand a word she was saying but she was all smiles! As soon as I have about 5 inches cut off my left side she starts to get a little crazy and nervous about how many people just walked in the door after me. At this point she's just wacking away at my poor hair and loading on some gloppy stuff to show me how to style my hair by teasing, blowdrying the hair up and then spraying with hairspray - and then she said she was done and I looked beautiful and that I should tell my husband that I was going out for the day to show off my hair! I even tried to tell her that it wasnt what I was expecting and that I wanted more cut from the sides - she looked annoyed, looked into the waiting room, and I could almost hear her saying "YOU $8 HAIRCUT OVUH NOW, YOU GO HOME! NEXT!!!" My hair was clearly 2 inches longer on my right side....I looked like a chicken dipped in grease and then electricuted. I wish I were joking....but im not. I could hardly get out of there fast enough - I didnt care if people were looking at me like I was a crazy person to pay for that kind of service - but I was in flight mode...

I went straight to another GreatClips to have some else fix my hair - and now Im in love. His name is Brandon and he is David Copperfield with Sciccors. My hair still isnt what I had in mind - but Im completely ok with it - I love it actually. And I will definately be going back to BRANDON again!

Here's the reveal - its a phone picture so sorry its a crappy one..

I asked Noah if he liked my new hair - he said no. (love the honesty though) He said that I should go back to the store and get my ponytail back.

Mommies are supposed to have LONG hair mommy....

crazy kid

No Tooth fairy for Eli

2011-01-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

So far so good with Eli's tooth! He fell in the bathtub and chipped his front tooth pretty badly. It bled, bruised, was loose, and got all swollen for more than a week. But then all of a sudden it got better - it actually turned a little gray looking but other than it seems to be just fine.

PRAISE JESUS!!!!! I was so afraid he would have to have it pulled or it would fall out and I would have to look at his adorable face with a big gaping HOLE in is mouth....for YEARS before his adult tooth came in! An everyday reminder of not being the perfect mom. lol

Speaking of teeth - Jonah has TWO bottom teeth now. I think that is why he is currently crying in his crib - so I better cut this short!

More on the crazy life later! :0)

2011-01-19T23:35:00.001-07:00

Last week - Noah started school...LOVES IT. In fact, he didnt want to come home last Friday. "Well, FINE then!! I secretly said to myself.....

SO of course, he got sick. Fever, snotty, snotty nose too, horrible cough and all around just a really uncomfortable little guy. Couldnt breath, couldnt sleep, didnt want to eat - all that stuff. Which means that I got NO sleep for almost 2 nights in a row and my poor kids watched an alarming amount of TV while I was a zombie on the couch....

Its bad when you know what time it is through out the day by what show is on TV.....

Yeah - Im THAT mom.

Horrible I know....but now Eli and Jonah are both sick so I continue to get no sleep and the hours of TV watching are building at a shameful rate and I find myself in this LAZY couch dozing rut....

Enter: 5 Hour Energy drinks

Now, Im pretty much still a vegetable until around Super Why aka 10am - some mornings I dont even have enough energy to finish my coffee for crying out loud - and I do...I cry! But after Word World aka naptime, I down one of these saviors in a bottle and I soon find myself able to cook dinner and even clean a bathroom or two.

Case in point - I just realized its 11:30 and Im not in bed yet.....not good.

Maybe I will wake up and feel like this....unlikely

Im having an affair...

2011-01-17T12:52:00.000-07:00

It must be love - what else could it be? Im staying up late - pining for those secret moments when we can be together. Daydreaming about the possibilities. So focused on the moment that I cant hear the chaos around me. Theres guilt, passion, and infatuation along with the little white lies about exactly how much time we are spending together....

I want to shout out my love from the top of someplace very high - I LOVE YOU! I LOVE YOU, ADOBE LIGHTROOM 2.0!!!!!

I have spent my time rummaging through my old digital photos from the past 6 or so years and pulled out my favorites - some from pre-children days, some recent ones too. I have been so hooked on this photo shop program that I even started editing Kevins collection of AIR SHOW photo's...now thats saying something!

Before I show you my very amature results let me just remind everyone that I am an absolute beginner - both at taking a photo and properly editing it. I really have no idea what I am doing - I point and shoot and hope for the best! So far, I chalk it up to luck. :0)

Before Lightroom:

After Lightroom:

This picture of Eli was my very first Lightroom project - not perfect...but better than the original.

Before Lightroom:

There are SO many problems with this picture, I know. But for some reason I absolutely love it - I love the luck involved that made his face even a little bit in focus, and I love the fuzziness showing the action...and of course that great big smile.. I love it!

After Lightroom - even better!

I wish I had the worlds biggest wall to frame every favorite picture I have.....

Before Lightroom:

From our trip to Big Bear Lake back in 2004

After Lightroom

Before Lightroom

After Lightroom

This was my shout out to Kevin - for allowing me to spend a few hours on the computer and leaving him in charge of the kiddos! THANKS BEBE!

Anyway - I KNOW these are NOT perfect pictures...but they are definately impoved! It makes me want to take pictures of everything!

yikes - I better go....that sounded like something breaking....

We are still alive!

2011-01-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone - yes, are still alive. FOUR MONTHS since my last post...that is just terrible. I should be ashamed of myself.

But even now, as I force myself to just pop online for a quick little post - its already 10 pm and the baby is about to wake up to be fed AGAIN so I have to make this short and sweet.....

We had family pictures taken and I adore them. Especially now since we captured Eli's beautiful smile BEFORE he fell in the bathrub and chipped his front tooth - on a friday night no less so now I have to wait through the weekend praying he doesnt lose his tooth completely and swallow the stupid thing....

ANYWAY - back to the pictures - They are great. THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS AT SHUFF PHOTOGRAPHY for such a great time at the park despite the toddler meltdowns! This was Noah "NO!! I DONT WANT TO DO IT!! I DONT WANT TO SIT!! I DONT WANT TO SMILE!!!!"

But you would never know it from the photos....lol

They turned out great guys - thanks!

Here are a feew of the kids - and let me know if any of you want any copies! I will mail some out hopefully before next Christmas....HA!

My dream.......

2010-09-06T22:27:00.001-07:00

I think in my former life I must have been a decorator....not because Im any good at it - but only because thats all I seem to think about lately. Well, between feeding the boys, cleaning up poop, wiping off spit up, saving one of their lives, cleaning up thrown food, cleaning up toys and then feeding the boys again...between all that I sit back and think about all the things I would do in terms of decorating....ya know..in my free time. HA! I have been CRAZY with DIY ideas - I never thought about it before, but maybe thats my "happy place" - just go off to lala land where the walls are neutral, finishes are dark, and the fabric and light, fresh and geometric....a Candace Olson Oasis...(sigh).

Oh, where was I? Anyway, I found this inspiration room. It has the same bones that my bedroom does so Im gonna go with it - and its beautiful too. Of course, THIS room probably has about a $20,000 dumbed into it......and Im going to try to copy it for a fraction of the cost. And when I say Fraction - I mean like less than $700 when its all said and done (insert sarcastic laughter here!). Im thinking lots of DIY and craigslist finds. But, from what I have found so far (nesting tables and workable dressers on CL , all for less than $300 so far) - I think I can HACK it! The biggest DIY's will be the headboard and the dressers - I found these lovely mirrored dresser look-alikes here and/or here (have you seen the prices of the real things!!! CRIMINAL!). And the headboard - well I have a plan for that too....coming soon!! baby crying....gotta go!

**Thanks to a few of my favorite blogs: Pearl Street Interiors and Blissfully Domestic for the very clever DIY's!

Bigfoot, Soccer and Slides OH MY!

2010-09-06T21:41:00.002-07:00

Noah has discovered Monster Trucks - he loves them....even sleeps with them. He gets to pick a new Monster Truck out of his Treasure Chest (when he fills his good behavior sticker chart) and for the next several weeks - thats all the wants to play with! It goes to the store with us, it takes a bath, it sleeps with him, it goes on play dates, it - goes - everywhere with us! Our church recently had a grand opening event and there was a monster truck RIDE there. Kevin took Noah to ride in the back of a REAL Monster Truck - he LOVED IT!!!! I thought he would be too scared, but no.......oh no.....he talks about it STILL and asks where the truck is every time we go to church now!

They also had horses playing soccer - WHO KNEW?!??!?!

Also, we fell in love with great big blow up slides this summer. There is a place we can take our kids ($7 per child) and jump for about 2 hours on different kids of slides and mazes and trampolines. Its called PUMP IT UP - and its almost like Heaven according to Noah. Its pretty much a room with padded walls and fun things where you can let your kid go wild without too much worry. So its almost like Heaven according to ME too! EXCEPT when your child climbs all the way to the top of the tallest slide and then gets too scared to slide down - and you have to climb up there and rescue him but then realize that the only way down is ....down the very large steep slide with all your adult friends waiting down at the bottom watching ....and waiting...and waiting some more. I might have heard crickets....Well, its not so graceful looking as an adult, let me tell you. We went so fast (I had both boys on my lap) that we went OFF the slide OVER the emergency brake bumper and landed flat on our tooshies on the padded mat on the floor...people laughed. After that - Noah looked at me and said "LETS DO THAT AGAIN MOMMY!!!!!!" and he was a blur of motion and crazy happiness after that. - its the best $7 I ever spent...the both slept like ROCKS!!!

The down side - Every family we went with got sick with a stomach bug for the entire rest of the week. But, it must have been worth it because we are all going again this month!

two favorite things all at once - eating & sleeping!

I didnt bring my good camera however...but I will next time! In the meantime, here are some pictures I have been taking of the three little beasts...

Noah loves this thing!

Jonah just being adorable!

Eli Eli oh!

2010-09-06T21:11:00.001-07:00

Eli right after a hair cut from Meme

Eli - what a character! He loves anyone with food. This child will eat his college savings. I will have to get another job just to pay his grocery bill! He has started to say his first words - is actual first being cracker - no surprise there! But he says, DADDY, JACKS, BYE BYE, JUICE, BALL, MAMA (rarely), UP, BALL, Bath.......most of which just sound like BAH. But we understand.....its mommy magic. He loves to copy people, sounds, movements, and he will ask "WHAS AH?" (whats that?) and he will say "GAJAH" (good job!) when he is proud of himself. He likes to sing and tried to join in once he learns the word and sound pattern - his current favorite is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Eli is definately our climber. I catch him trying to climb the strangest things - I had to pull him out of a basketball hoop just the other day - he got stuck. He is relentless - STUBBORN - OBSESSED with pushing buttons. (actual TV buttons...not my buttons!) And damn the consequences! He will put up with a hand smack just to push those buttons - they are TOO tempting! But, when things get serious and he gets angry - his fits amaze me. I just stand back and watch in awe - Wow...how can something so NEW to this earth feel such hurt and anger? Kicking and screaming on the floor with big fat tears pouring off his red puffy cheeks. Its quite a show! I almost want to give him a high - five when its all over! The terrible twos are going to be F.U.N with this one.

Favorite way to watch TV #1

Favorite way to watch TV #2

Learning to use a spoon

But 90% of the time, Eli is a pretty cool cat. He is very independent, quick to temper but easy to please, and just goes with the flow. He rocks....

Jonah - well he just sleeps all the time still so he's easy!

Bringing Jonah Home

2010-09-06T20:52:00.001-07:00

We got to be together at home as a family for a whole two weeks before Jonah got sick. I picked him up one morning and thought to myself that he maybe felt a tiny bit warm. So I took his temp - 100.7 - I called his Dr and he told me to take him to the ER right away. Thats not an easy thing to swallow. Because my first thought was "Really, for a temp of only 100.7?? Cant we just give him tylenol?" Buuuuttt - apparently not. We ended up spending 14 days in the hospital. Turns out, Jonah drew the lucky number (again) - 1 out of every 1 billion infant boys get a UTI - Jonah was the 1. AND he became SEPTIC to top it all off. (I really dont remember the stats - but I do remember it being pretty rare). The poor little guy had to have all sorts of ugly tests run - x-rays, blood work, spinal taps, cathiters (7 total - ouch!), picc line......

Jonah in hospital - feeling MUCH better!

This was were I lived for 2 weeks

BUT, all the while, I was thankful - it could have been much much worse. We came very close to losing him as it was and we felt very blessed that it didnt get any more serious. I know a few mothers who lost their babies this summer - one to SIDS, and more than one to miscarriages....so needless to say, there was a very real fear of losing our tiny baby, but we were blessed indeed.

My heart breaks in a whole new way for each of my dear mommy friends who still hurt from their losses - Im still praying for each of you!!!

We are all home and healthy now.......the real fun begins!

All the boys together (43 pictures and only ONE turns out a tiny bit decent!)

We had some issues with Noah at first, but we worked through them and things are back to normal. He is such a good big brother - really he is. He has such a big tender heart and loves to play with his brothers. It could be playing chase with Eli or kissing Jonahs head, hands or feet - he adores his brothers. I wonder how long that will last??? Eli will be bigger than Noah - there is no doubt - and he will get his revenge!

Stuck in a stepstool - started out funny....didnt end that way

Summer Summary

2010-09-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a (not so short as it turns out) Summary of our 2010 Summer - so far....Eli turned 1 year old, we survived another season of toddler teething, Noah turned 3 years old, we built our first wood working project - a train table for the kiddos (love it!). Then a week later we were surprised by the early arrival of our new little man - Jonah Robin Davis born 6-26-2010 weighing 5 lbs 12oz.

And what a dramatic arrival it was! whew! Thankfully we didnt have any MAJOR complications - just a bunch of small annoying ones.....Breech, version procedure (Not fun......at all.) Then Dr induced me and my epidural did freaky things to the upper half of my body instead of putting my lower half asleep. And when they were trying to fix that I suppose I blacked out cause I woke up with a ton of panicking nurses around me. One of which was holding the sick pan up to my mouth (which I was using very well I might add) - and I will never forget that part because she must have been eating a burger cause all I could smell was onions on her hands! And that did NOT help me in the throwing up department....

Apparently my blood pressure dropped really low - Dr called it a reaction to the epidural - They said it was rare I must have drawn the lucky number. SO - as my labor progressed ...my epidural didnt....and I got the pleasure of having a semi natural child birthing experience. I did a lot of praying and promising the good lord above that I will do ANYTHING He wants for the rest of my life as long He made the pain stop coming.....I owe Him a lot of favors these days. The Dr had to threaten me with emergency C-section because I couldnt push the right way - he busted out the suctions and like magic - Jonah arrived. He was tiny but healthy and thats all we asked for! Praise Jesus! (lol)

All in all - it was the hardest and scariest delivery for me so far - but the easiest to recover from!

On our way to the hospital! yikes

Here are some pictures:

Jonah - day one

Jonah and tired Mommy

Angry.....ggrrrr

2010-08-29T17:55:00.002-07:00

This is my driveway - my brand new driveway. Not that I was really sentimental about my driveway like a wacko - but once it was covered in TAR tire marks - I was sad and really missed my nice clean driveway. The city decided to RETAR our street - without so much as a warning or a headsup to anyone who lives on this street. I turned our corner and suddenly found myself on very fresh TAR. And with the kids in the car I couldnt see any way around NOT pulling into my driveway so I could get them in the house and out of the 111 degree heat. WHO PUTS TAR DOWN IN 111 DEGREES ANYWAY?!?!?!

SO - this happened 9 days ago...and I have been staring at it for 9 days with my anger growing everyday. So finally - today was only 95 so I gave it try to clean it up on my own. Supplies: Mineral Spiritys, scrub brush, scraper, sand, and a pressure washer from a neighbor who saw me scrubbing and felt sorry for me. TWO HOURS later I had about a 5 foot section SOMEWHAT cleaned up.

So I decided to give it a rest and sent a very unfriendly email to the city for some help. Im not a big complainer - but with THREE little ones I will NEVER find enough time to clean all this up on our own and the whole situation could have been avoide if the city had been courteous enough to give us SOME KIND of warning!

Sigh...Im calming down.

What a waste of time!!!

2010-05-24T16:50:00.002-07:00

Here is where I have been wasting most of my time lately - blogs.....lots of blogs...Im blog crazy lately. THATS BLOGGING CRAZY! yep - thats me....but here are my favorite new heros.

http://www.knock-offwood.com/

she needs a cape and screw gun because I'm her #1 fan!

http://www.designspongeonline.com/

LOVE LOVE LOVE the DIY section - super huge waste of time......

Well - my eldest child is freaking out because my youngest woke up before him (the NERVE!) so I better go for now....duty calls. Where's MY cape????

Oh yeah, and another quicky favorite - my future theme song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4
Noah actually ASKS to listen to and watch this video - he loves it.....HA!

Its me again....

2010-05-24T16:18:00.004-07:00

HALLOWEEN?!?!?!? You gotta be kidding me! I could have sworn my last post was just last week...kidding - its been a while...a long while...I am ashamed. Well - as you all know I've been a bit busy, so there! We've had a few holidays, a trip to Texas, a soon to be three year old (I cant believe that!) and now a walking toddler, unexplained rashes, fevers, some puke here and there, pink eye, and a soon to be newborn in the house.

And here I am 8 months pregnant looking for projects to get done before BB3 gets here - no we do not have a name...so he is called BB3 - Baby Boy #3.

I find myself spending all my time planning these HUGE projects and leave myself too tired to actually get them done. I suppose I had forgotten just how tired the third trimester can leave you - I am seriously ready for bed by 8pm. Screw Silence - Naptime Is Golden in this house!!

Im driving poor Kevin crazy with all my ideas - sewing curtains, beginning woodworking projects, painting fountains, refinished dressers...yes, Im a little DIY crazy lately. BB3 just around the corner is leaving me a little panicky about my ME time - so I suppose Im just trying to squeeze it all in in a matter of weeks before I am unable to do anything but take care of preschoolers, toddlers and infants OH MY!

my motto will be "There's no place like Home Depot"

Eli is up and walking - actually he cracks me up - he is a bottomless pit that eats twice what you think is humanly possible - and as I type this he is standing at the cabinet door putting the door pull in and out of his mouth....and laughing about it. Kids are special....lol

Anyway - I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still alive - and sorry its been a while since we posted last....hope you can forgive me! Who knows when I will be back though - Enjoy some pictures while you can! lol

Halloween Happenings...or not happenings.

2009-11-02T13:40:00.011-07:00

Halloween .....hmmm.... How does a person explain Halloween to a two year old? I mean, seriuosly, if I were pint sized and most everything is new and huge to me than I suppose I would be terrified too. So I dont blame Noah for absolutely refusing to wear his halloween costume that I spent a few days....DAYS...... making and then REmaking. I blame myself for expecting him to wear it happily and pose perfectly for precious keepsake pictures. It was definately one of those times when you ask yourself - What was I thinking?

I guess I should have known how it would all play out after the way he flipped out over ME wearing the fireman uniform. And when he woke up from his nap on the afternoon of Halloween and saw my face painted up like a butterfly - he screamed "NO MOMMY - I DONT LIKE BUTTERFLY - TAKE IT OFF - TAKE IT OFF NOW MOMMY!!!" Maybe that should have been my second clue to just give up....but no, I stood strong. I knew my child could be brave and obedient and carry out the task of being the cutest darn caterpillar the world has ever seen....

So after I called in the services of DADDY to hold his screaming crying self down while I shoved and tugged and struggled to get this costume over his wiggling squirming body for a good 15 minutes - we were still unsuccessful. Toddler - 1, Mommy - 0 ....again.

By this time I was half an hour late to the party that I was supposed to provide games and activities for - and of course Kevin recieved an important business call right at the time he could have been helping me load up a still crying half dressed caterpillar and a hungry infant; along with the camera, stoller, picnic basket full of halloween goodies and of course the diaper bag. So Im sweating off my face paint and really hating my 'brillant' ideas and wondering WHY I even try so hard in the first place....

However - the kids still had a great time at the park and wore themselves out - so when we got home I pretty much hog tied Noah to the floor (easier to do now that he has lost some off his energy!) and forced on the rest of The Very Hungry Caterpiller costume and Kevin was able to snap a few not so perfect pictures - but still...at this point, all I wanted was a picture - any picture - and then a large glass of wine.

Its hard to look pissed off with a butterfly painted on your face - but I think I pulled it off nicely. (I was tired from my death grip around his ribs trying to keep him still for this picture!)

Firehouse Tour

2009-10-08T22:05:00.004-07:00

We took a tour of a local Firehouse today with the MOMS Club we belong to. Its very close to our friends Laura's and Emory's house so we just walked over from there. And as soon as we walked in front of the station Noah hid behind my legs and planted his face into my behind! I should have known then that this was going to be ugly......

This is me looking like Im doing the ROBOT dance in fireman suit (dork) but there is Noah crying very heavily asking me to take it off RIGHT NOW

This doesnt look like the face of a little boy having a good time....

Actually - all of the little kids were a bit nervous about all the new things going on, but Noah takes the cake for biggest flip out of the day. Thats ok - we still love him! :0)

The crew of 11 were SO nice and patient with all of our kids running all over the place and I know deep down Noah had a really great time - he talked about it all day long and even asked if we could go back tomorrow. Crazy kid.....

Eli just chilled out with Miss Laura or myself being content and sleepy - he didnt care. :0)

LET THERE BE PICTURES!!!!!!

2009-09-22T15:07:00.002-07:00

Its not much - but Eli is 5 months old now and that realization made me break out the camera for a few snap shots!

Eli

2009-09-20T21:35:00.002-07:00

I love bedtime at my house...not because its quiet (well maybe a little) but because I get to rock both Eli and Noah before we but them to bed. Eli just lays there looking up at me with this expectant look on his face - just waiting for me to teach him something or show him something new. He loves to reach up and explore my face while I let him grab my nose and poke at my eyes and make silly noises to him. That, of course, usually catches the attention of Noah and he just wants to come sit next to us and rock with us while we wind down for the evening.

Tonight Noah actually suggested that I put Eli down so I can go ahead and take him to bed - he MUST have been tired! Though he will suggest that I put Eli down for many things he thinks is more important! That is the main reason why I love bedtime so much - its the one time of day that I actually get to HOLD Eli without being on Noah patrol too. I sometimes wish we could bottle these times and save them forever ya know? Tatoo them to the back of our eyelids for that warm fuzzy feeling every night when we finally close our eyes for bed.

Last night I had some MOMS CLUB friends over for movie night - we talked most the night about our kids - funny how that happens. We didnt really get into a good movie but I did get really into a bottle of wine...........................it was great. It wouldnt hurt to bottle those times either! HA!

Still no pictures.....

2009-09-17T21:44:00.006-07:00

Dont get all excited - I still dont have any pictures...

I just wanted to tell you about my very ambitious dinner. Well it really wasnt all that difficult in itself - its just the events that surrounded it that taught me a few very important lessons

1) One little oven full of smoke will completely fill up a 2200 square foot home
2) The above event will set off every smoke alarm in the house
3)Little kids really dont like smoke alarms

4) and this is the big one - I will never attempt to cook a new recipe without Kevin home to help me with the kids

It all started with some serloins that I found in the freezer - then I remembered a 20 pound bag of potatoes (yep - 20 freeegin pounds) that we bought from costco that we needed to eat - so Steak and Potatoes right?? Well - Im not a grilling machine so I went to the internet for a serloin recipe that I could do in the oven - found Alton Brown's broiling method and thought - BROIL!?!?! HECK I CAN BROIL!!! I'll JUST PRESS THE BROIL BUTTON - IT WILL BE LIKE MAGIC!! So I set myself to marinate the steaks - all with a 2 year old watching my every move from his beloved steps that he backed up to the counters so he can see whatever is going on up there. After washing his hands about 15 times from touching the raw meat - the steaks were ready to just sit for a little while and get all flavor blasted from the marinade. On to the potatoes - I wanted to scallop potatoes for a nice little change so Noah (again) watched me cut the POH-TA-TOES and had to smell almost every slice and declare it smelling good enough to fling across the kitchen floor to be licked up by the dog. Which he thought was the funniest thing to watch a dog try and lick up a flat sticky piece of potato from a tile floor. It took about half of a potato for him to get bored of that and start sticking his fingers in the butter.

So I had to turn on the TV in order to save his life

The pototoes baked for about an hour - then I hit the magic BROIL button for the steaks - Altons recipe said to put a sheet of tinfoil down on the bottom rack of the oven to catch the drippings - then place the steaks directly on the rack above it - broil for 5 minutes on each side simple enough. done....

By the way - you ever try to re-roll tinfoil after someone (not mentioning any names but Im sure you can guess) decides to UNROLL the entire brand new box of reynolds wrap? Its not an easy thing to do and apparently time consuming....First of all - it was the length of my hallway! I was impressed!

Kevin walks in from work - we start to say hello but then his phone rings - business call - of course....Kevin paces when he is on the phone so he is doing laps around kitchen talking about webpage design....and Im starting to wonder why I smell smoke...

Thats when ELI woke up and decided that being held was the only thing on Gods green earth that would even come close to comforting him - so here I am...trying to sautee onions through what looks like smoke billowing out from my oven while holding a 5 month old.

I open my oven (yes I put Eli down and yes he immediately started screaming) and expect to see flames come shooting straight for my face - but it was just smoke.....lots of smoke...I wonder if this is normal so I just flip the steaks and keep on cookin

I Pick Eli back up since Im getting the look from Kevin - ya know, the "Im on the phone please do something with that screaming kid" look....

Hold whimpering Eli and stir stir stir the onions and then the smoke alarms go off - Eli about jumps out of my arms and pinches me so hard on my neck I swear I will have a bruise tomorrow and Noah is holding his hands over his ears and I think thats when he pottied in his pants - and Kevin is still trying to talk on the phone.....sigh....

Anyway - after we had every window and door open with every fan on high - FINALLY the smoke is not burning our eyes and Noah has stopped coughing - we sit down to eat dinner. It wasnt bad...but after all that hard work stupid sauteed onions were my favorite. Im gonna have to re-read that recipe to see of the billowing smoke is part of the show - the cooking experience to add just a hint of that missing charred flavor that only a GRILL can provide....

Noah threw most of his food to the dog and only wanted to cry about playing outside - Eli loved his applesauce but then spit it all up - twice - then decided it was bathtime immediately now or we would all perish a painful firey death. So after about 4 bites of my dinner I just gave up. Kevin offered me a swig of his beer but I was thinking more along the lines of a shot of something a bit stronger.

I took the boys to the bathtub and let them declare this evening a victory.

Crazy Kids - 1
Insane Mommy - 0

Quick Update

2009-09-09T21:37:00.003-07:00

It has happened - the very thing that we digital cameral users dread! I lost my pictures. Of COURSE my media drive went wacko on me - nothing else did - nothing else was lost - nothing but my THOUSANDS of pictures that were NOT on a flash drive or other external storage device. My first reaction was "Dont Panic" - and then I cried. HA!

Well - all hope is not lost yet. We are still going to try and take that drive to someone who may be able to save most of my pictures. So pray for me! lol

I just wanted to let you all know how the kiddo's are doing. (of course I have no pictures to post at the moment - sniffle) Eli is such a happy little guy - he just loves to be looked at and smiles SO BIG when he sees another persons face....I dont think he cares who it is as long as he gets to stare at someone he is all grins. We started some solid foods - he is taking a bit longer to get used to eating than Noah did. Eli gags on everything so far.....except peas - he loves peas. ?? Fine by me, it just makes for intersting and artful diapers. His big accomplishments are: Rolling over, belly laughing, and just being a delightful happy little baby!

Noah - the kid amazes me. He pretty much can carry on a conversation with you - about almost anything really. He will tell me that he needs more juice and that I should put Eli down to go get it for him. He will tell me that he wants to play with a certain toy and that I should put Eli down and go get it for him. He will tell me that he wants to go outside and I should put Eli down and go out with him...do we see a pattern? LOL But he loves Eli and still showers him with kisses and hugs - even when Eli is crying he will come tell me that we should go see whats wrong with him. There have been many times I may be busy and hear Eli crying on the floor and then all of a sudden its quiet - my first thought is of Noah holding a pillow over his face or something but I look around the corner and see Noah holding Eli's bottle for him or helping him replace his pacifier. Its really pretty special and we are so proud of him. :0)

Another HUGE HUGE HUGE thing for Noah is - he is WELL on his way to being potty trained!!! We had ONE tinkle accident this morning - but that was after a whole weekend of wearing a diaper while we had company - I put his big boy pants on him this morning and reminded him that we dont potty in them (or on the floor, or on his toys, or outside - YES I have to list them out like that to cover all the exceptions or they WILL be tested!) and he was good and dry all day long! AND it has been a week since he POOPED in his pants - he has made it to the toilet everyday like a PRO! WE HAVE A PRO POOPER HERE PEOPLE! And after he poops he runs out of the bathroom buck naked and announces to everyone that he pooped in the toilet and we all have to dance and rejoice. He cracks me up...

Brian, Angela, Caden and Paxton came to visit us this weekend. Caden and Paxton are around the same ages and Noah and Eli so the older boys had a BLAST with eachother. (once again, no pictures to share yet) They will be good buddies we can tell - they spent most of their time chasing each other or the dog and just had a great time being boys and doing boy things - jumping on the beds, playing in the sand box or slip n slide or swimming - it was really great! Thanks to Brian and Angela for taking the time to visit us - I know the boys had a great time and so did Kevin and I! :0)

Well, thats all for now - I have to hybernate and try to regain my energy from this weekend!

Eli's Update

2009-07-02T11:00:00.002-07:00

Eli is growing so quickly! He weighs a bit over 9 pounds already and really, he is a very happy baby. He smiles with a great big open mouth gummy grin everytime he sees another persons face - or even Bandits face! He loves to look at and smile at people. He loves to be rocked and overall is a quiet content baby. However, even though he is as cute as a button - he has the WORST GAS!!!! I can honestly say I have never heard a baby fart as often, as loud, or as stinky as this little guy - He can clear a room - even the dog protests - Im sorry but it had to be said! Consider yourself warned....

Picnic

2009-07-02T10:40:00.003-07:00

It was a cool crisp 101 degrees out yesterday with some cloud cover....so I decided that it was picnic weather. By the time I had the kids packed up, lunch picked up, THEN unpacked at the park - it quickly became a zillion degrees and Noah's face was bright red with sweat dripping into his eyes so our outing was less then a half hour long. I got home and realized that it took me longer to get ready! But I got a cute picture or two so I suppose it was worth it!

Noah turns 2

2009-07-02T10:20:00.006-07:00

Here are some pictures of Noah's little Birthday party we had - Aunt Kristin and Grandma made him a cake - and then we had some of his friends from my Moms Club come over for some fun on a slip n slide! I ended up being in charge of flinging young children head first down the slide.....such a good mommy I am! But the kids had a blast and thats what its all about.

HE SMILES

2009-06-16T22:46:00.003-07:00

HEY BRO!

Its true - there IS another emotion other than crying that we can now enjoy!!! Eli smiled at me for the first time the other morning - June 9th to be exact...I woke up and there he was looking at me...and as soon as I said good morning to him he got this great big open mouth smile as if to say - FINALLY YOU WAKE UP! I have been trying to get it on cameral for several days now...but everytime Noah sees the camera it becomes all about him ya know...so the picture may be a little blury but at least I managed to catch it!

ZOO Trip

2009-06-16T22:26:00.005-07:00

MORNING HAIR before trip to zoo!!!!

We took Noah and Eli to the Zoo for the first time this past weekend. It was hot and we MEANT to only stay for an hour or so...but before we knew it 4 hours flew by and we still skipped a bunch of stuff we didnt think Noah would really care about yet....but we had a great time and I really think Noah enjoyed the experience - Eli just slept... Of course one of Noah's favorite parts was feeding the ducks - which we could have done at any local park with a pond!

We went for a trian ride - which he liked after we got rolling and forgot that daddy couldnt come with us. We fed the Giraffes - have you ever done that??!?! They have this foot long purple tongue that stretches out and wraps around your hand to take the little pebbles of food our of your fingers....slimy and a bit creepy...but still pretty cool. And check out this turtle!!!! ITS GINORMOUS!!!!! ITs so big we didnt think it was real - but then it moved and everyone who was standing there looking into the tank gasps....it was huge - those fish were LARGE goldfish about the size of my hand but this ancient turtle makes them look like sardines! Noah didnt care - he was looking at the stingrays

POTTY TIME!

2009-05-22T20:50:00.004-07:00

I have a very important Announcement to make - NOAH USED THE POTTY THREE TIMES!!!!!! He even ASKS to go use the potty now - he doesnt always know WHY he wants to use the potty, but everytime he mentions it I take him in there and sit him down on it...and he actually "put the water in the potty" three different times! So we do the "peepee" dance and he gets a couple of M&M's when the mission is accomplished. I actually bought a book on using the potty that came with a calendar and some stickers - we may crack it open pretty soon. He also got some big boy underwear with Elmo on them.

Im not rushing him into anything yet - I still dont think he fully understands what he has done - its all about the candy to him! But he WILL NOT keep his little hands OUT of his diaper (I have re-named him Bundy) and has even gone so far as to 'reposition' himself inside his diaper so that he just pee's right out the side of it anyway so whats the point ya know? My poor new carpet......oh well - thats kids for ya!

Here are some pictures of the little guy playin in the water outside

Those diapers really can hold some water huh?!? This is what Eli does for fun...he lays there and just looks around....I cherish these days! HA!

Grandpa Wild Hog!

2009-05-22T20:34:00.005-07:00

The Wild Hogs came to visit us in the desert! Grandpa Wes and Uncle Mike aka 'CatDaddy' came for a visit on the bikes - and Noah was fascinated by them (the motorcycles, that is!) He was a bit timid at first but once he got comfortable and was sure it wasnt going to be turned on and make loud noises he was more than happy to play with/on them!

Noah had a great time visiting his grandpa and uncle! We got to see lots of family that we havent seen in a very long time - it was a very nice visit and we thank both Grandpa AND CatDaddy for taking time to come see us, visit/play with Noah and meet little Eli too!

HA! This is what happens when you let the grandparents take over! lol My kid was covered in black grime from playing in the driveway - with the tires I presume.....not really sure actually but it is definately the most grime I have ever seen on him...so naturally I had to grab the camera.

The only clean part on his legs were the parts beneath his TOE NAILS!

Can you say POSER? We're so proud.....lol

Finally Here

2009-05-20T13:53:00.009-07:00

Well - He is finally here...and I am finally able to update this blog! Sorry it has taken me so long...Elijah (Eli) Allen Davis was born on April 23rd at 9:11pm weighing 6 pounds 3 ounces and 19 inches long. I was in labor for about 4 hours and everything went perfectly fine! Eli came home a little yellow from jaundice but is pinking up nicely. He has dark grey eyes for now - I think they will turn brown - and dark brown hair...LONG fingers and toes - and more gas than a room full of men at a cabbage eating contest! WHEW! This little guy has some tootin-talent!

He sleeps a lot (Praise Jesus!) and eats about every 3 to 4 hours so I am actually able to get plenty of sleep while the kiddos are having their naps too....so far anyway....

All in all - things are going really well! I am having a little difficulty with breastfeeding at the moment but its nothing that wont pass with time and practice. Im just very happy that I am able to nurse this time around...

After this first month with Eli he is becoming more and more alert and I am watching him try to sit up at the moment - he is on the floor looking up at me with an irrated expression -- could be the flatulance...yep it was! how cute....lol. He is not a fussy baby at all - until you undress him or are too slow to put food in his mouth or if he has a particularly difficult 'movement' - lets just say this little fellow is NOT a fan of poopin!

Now for Noah - this child never ceases to amaze me. Both Kevin and I are so proud of how he has handled becoming a big brother. Of course he isnt perfect and certainly has his needy moments - mostly when I am feeding Eli and rendered completely useless to him. But other than those rare "Im gonna pull my hair out" occasions Noah loves to shower Eli with kisses - and any exposed body part that he can name is fair game. He loves to help change Eli's diaper and will fight me over who gets to go throw the "Shoowy poopy in the trash" - Im happy to let him win on that one. He will bring me the burp cloth, blanket, pacifier, or even the remote when I am again rendered useless. Dont think for a second that he hasnt also stolen these items just before I needed them and bolted across the house in fits of laughter and then there's me chasing after him half dressed - not a pretty moment for any of us. But these things I can handle - the only real danger thus far is the possiblility of Eli getting his eyeballs squeezed out of his head by Noah's not so gentle affection....that and maybe choking on a cheeto Noah is trying to share with him. But as long as its all in the name of brotherly LOVE I'll take it - and then just gently remind Noah to be gentle and thank him kindly for sharing as I take the cheeto snack to the table.

Its hot here - already - so our outdoor time as been limited to the mornings or late evening - if at all. Being indoors has been the hardest thing to adjust to for all of us. Its just too hot for little Eli - but Noah LOVES to be outside and we can only play for about 45 minutes before we need air conditioning...and thats just not enough for Noah. So we are currently trying to think up fun indoor activities that we can do ...any suggestions??

Shared first experiences

2009-03-31T22:07:00.004-07:00

Well - we had our first family emergency today - both Kevin and Noah shared their FIRST car accident experience. Dont panic - everyone is just fine and dandy - MY CAR taking most of the scratches and bangs that go along with car accidents. An elderly handicapped (78 yrs old and blind in one eye!) gentleman didnt see Kevin driving along a low traffic side street and pulled right out in front of him. Kevin called me to tell me to come get Noah and when I pulled up the fire truck and police cars were there with their lights flashing and everyone standing by watching - it really looked very scary - but Noah was just sitting in his car seat going "WEEOOO WEEOOO WEEEOOO!!!" (siren noises) and saying "BYE BYE BLUE AND RED" meaning the flashing red and blue lights from all the emergency cars that arrived - must have been a slow day for First Responders! But like I said, my car will need some work but it DEFINATELY could be worse - and everyone was lucky enough to be unharmed. We will probably take Noah to see his Dr just in case. But now - for some pictures of Noah playing outside in his new back yard - riding on his "outside bike" and washing off rocks. Can you believe its already warm enough here to play in the water??

This kid LOVES to watch the clothes in the washer - he will sit there for almost an entire cycle - long enough to eat a snack and ask for juice to replenish himself!
Another favorite past time - to play the drums like daddy! Sadly he knew enough about the ROCK BAND game to watch the TV and try to 'PLAY' the drums just like daddy does! He and his friend Emory were very entertained!

Cookie Monster

2009-03-20T22:41:00.004-07:00

This evening Noah was taking a bath - and looked up at me in the middle of playing and splashing around and suddenly asked for "More COOOOOKIE?" so I told him (hoping that he would forget) that "You can have a cookie after your bath, ok?" and he said,

"Uh-huh, All Done Bath!" and he reached down and pulled the stopper out......

All MOVED in! WHEW

2009-03-09T21:07:00.006-07:00

Ok - for the official report. We have MOVED!! Im not going to post our new address on the web but if you would like it just email me and I will forward it to you! We are all moved in and I only have baby gear (for the new one) left to unpack! Let me tell ya, I hope to never have to move while pregnant AND/OR with small children again! This has probably been one of the most challenging months in my adult life! But we love the new house and are very happy to be in our new HOME!

THANK YOU to Jerry and Elaine for taking time to come help with everything. Noah really enjoyed your visit and we cant tell you how much you really helped us with watching Noah and putting our house together. It was an interesting week - drama at every turn as you well know - thats for sure - and we couldnt have done it without you! So thanks again!!

Pregnancy wise - things are going well so far - I have my 32 week appointment this Thursday to schedule a final ultrasound to be sure this baby is growing as expected. I have a feeling he is much bigger than Noah was at this stage so I suspect things will be just fine. If I let my belly be my guide I suspect this one will be at least a pound or two bigger! I certainly have grown ROUNDER with this one! HA! After this appointment I go every two weeks until delivery.....I cant beleive that......it just flew right by me and I am SO not prepared yet......but I will be.

Noah Update - I dont even know where to begin with Noah! This child changes and surprises me every single day! He can say almost the entire alphabet when prompted by a letter - he can tell you if you are wearing a RED, GREEN, or BLUE outfit. Green is my favorite - he scrunches up his little face and shows all his teeth to say GREEEEEEEN! He will just go around the house and point "Whats this?" until we have properly labeled everything in the room. His new favorite activity is to play with the "outside ball" (basketball) at the park across the street from the new house. This ball has been labeled the "outside ball" because if allowed to play with it inside it ends up being thrown on top of the kitchen counters or in the sink causing all kinds of trouble. He sings and claps along to songs that he remembers from his CD's or a show he has seen. While driving to the store last week - I didnt have the radio on at all but he started clapping and singing "Im A Mess!" by Laurie Berkner - its a cute little song and he loves it and I was blown away that 1) I understood him and 2) he remembered that song after hearing it only once that morning! Anyway, he is a handful and just so much fun to be around - he cracks me up actually.

Here are just a few pictures of the new house and Noah's new BIG BOY room. He is THANKFULLY still sleeping perfectly fine in his crib so we are still using it - but the bright fun monkeys on his wall are new and something that will grow as he and his room will - plus they are just WALL STICKERS and can easily be rearranged or removed if needed. Its still pretty white in there but I havent decided what color to paint as an accent wall or anything yet....its on my list ok? lol

I will have more to post soon - I just need more time to get things just so!

Holiday Wishes

2008-12-09T16:35:00.007-07:00

Noah was so not impressed with Santa - he is looking right at me with this totally abandoned look on his face! He even crossed his fingers in hopes that he will survive the 4 seconds of lap time he was forced to indure with Santa.....poor Santa. hehe

I just wanted to quickly wish all of you a very Merry Christmas!!! Its been too long since I last updated the site to here are a few new pictures from the past several months and a video of Noah playing Santa! Hope to see you all very soon and hope you all have a safe holiday!!

Noah was a little devil for Halloween - we went to a Pumpkin Patch and he played an a corn box - sort of like a sand box but with corn...obviously. But he loved it and was happy to make a mess with no fussing from Mom!

Goodbye

2008-11-15T21:24:00.004-07:00

Well - today I took our cat Macy to the vet to be put to sleep. She was 13 years old and diagnosed with diabetes and her health was beginning to go downhill. Even though I know we did the right thing, it was so hard to do. To be present for such an event is something I dont think will ever leave my memory. But Macy lived a good life while she was in our home and I believe we did the right thing. So I just wanted to post a few pictures of her...

Just an update

2008-09-25T20:15:00.006-07:00

We survived the summer!!! The heat is finally giving us a break and it is quickly nearing my FAVORITE time of year. Now that it is cooler outside (101-103ish HAHA!) Noah loves to spend time playing in the water and squirting Bandit with the hose!

We had a wonderful visit from Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kristin over the weekend. Noah had tons of fun with all the extra attention and I know they had fun spoiling and loving Noah to no end! I dont have any pictures yet but will get some soon Im sure. We spent the weekend just relaxing and shopping and of course being entertained by our crazy little man.

And for those rare few who may not know about our little surprise - we are expecting another baby in April!!!! I know I know...shocked into silence as I was for about a week - but we are super excited and cant wait to see where this new adventure will take us. :0)

Noah Eating!

2008-07-23T17:12:00.004-07:00

Its a messy job - but he did very well for his first attempt!

Noah's 4th of July

2008-07-19T19:17:00.024-07:00

Noah had a fantastic 4th of July weekend. We spent the holiday in Texas with my parents - aka MEME and PEARPAW. We flew out and once again people commented on how well Noah flew - he generally does pretty good on a plane - so far anyway. He started his weekend by exploring their garden - full of okra, tomatoes, green onions, and melons. He even pulled out a carrot! We washed it off and he took a few bites - seemed to like it like that - cant get any fresher!

Then we put him in the pool and he did pretty well until he went under for the first time ever - shocked him a bit and then he was pretty much done with the pool for the day. He wanted to play with his bucket full of pool water instead...

We went to a fish fry at Marilyn's house and Noah played in her beautiful back yard. She has the most beautiful flowers! Noah loved her sprinkler and played with it for almost an hour - he cant go underwater with a sprinkler so those are his friends! He had a good ol time running through the water and chasing after his big beach ball. Then we picked up the sprinkler and ended up in this position so of course I had to get a picture!

the running man...

Noah with his Grandpa Wes!

All that water and excitement zapped him out so we went back home and popped fireworks. At first Noah didnt know what to think about them - he would stiffen his whole body up and DID NOT want Mommy to let him go! He was ok with the sparklers but the big ones that whizz and buzz just didnt empress him too much - so it was late and off to bed he went...and he slept through the entire night. I dont know how cause the enitre neighborhood was popping fireworks and it was so loud!

The next day we had the pleasure of having Brian and Angela visit us for a few hours. We finally got a chance to meet Caden and he is ADORABLE!! The boys had a great time 'swimming' together and we want to say THANK YOU to Eric (Angela's brother) for flying everyone all the way to see us - it was so nice to finally get to visit and play with little Mr. Jones.

After that we just took it easy for a day or two - had lunch with Meme and Pearpaw and watched a lot of daytime TV. Noah started to run a fever that slowly got worse and ended up with everyone in a frenzy trying to get a hold of Dr's and pick up medicine before everyone closed! I took off in a blur with my grandpa driving 95 MPH to a whole other state to the closest Walmart pharmacy! A trip that I will never forget.....(I left Noah at home with the grandparents thank goodness!) THEN what we thought was an ear infection turned into a mild strep infection wich then turned into an allergic reaction to Amoxicillan wich turned into another trip to the Dr and pharmacy to get a new antibiotic. And then all was right in the world....Noah is just fine now and happy as can be! Other than the sick part (which even that was TOO bad) it was a very good trip - too short as they always are...but I really think Noah is at an age where he is starting to connect more to people and I really think he had a great time with Meme & Pearpaw. He even whispers "PAWPAW" when he sees pictures of them together....

Actually he really tries very hard to say anything you say - so the time for precaution has arrived! He will use the same tone of voice, the same syllables, and sometimes even the same letter sounds...just maybe not in the right order!

The one thing that I am so happy we decided to do is teach Noah some Baby Sign Language - I cant describe how it feels to have him communicate with us already. He can say 'ALL DONE' when he is..well, all done with something. He will tell me when he is ready for a BATH, he tells me when he wants MILK (or juice), he knows when he sees a DUCK, and he will tell me when he wants to go to SLEEP, and the newest one - he will tell me when he wants MORE of something. He will do the sign for these things and try to say them - somethings he will just try to say because we dont know the sign for them, like OUTSIDE or dog, or cat. He just says these things without using the sign. But it really is a great feeling to know at least a part of what he is thinking! And his needs are being met without too much guess work -bonus!

Well - thats whats new in our neck of the woods! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

He had me at "MAMA"!

2008-06-27T22:34:00.003-07:00

He said it! He said it!!!! Noah calls me MAMA now!!!!!!! Its been two straight days of costant MAMA MAMA MAMA so I think it stuck this time! He now calls me MAMA!!!! It took over a year but oh well...it feels sort of unreal to hear the designation directed toward me. Not unnatural...just different..but hearing him call for me is certainly something that melted my heart all over again...

Another New Project...

2008-06-26T20:27:00.002-07:00

I have started yet ANOTHER project...scrapbooking! And boy is it challenging! Both to the pocketbook AND the creative mind! There are just too many choices and it can quickly become overwhelming....SO I picked a topic and a small amount of pictures to go with it - and 2 days later I had my very first Scrapbook page completed. Thats right, it took me TWO days to finish this simple little page. However...I really like the end result and I think I will stick to it for a while...at least until I have my first year with Noah completed. He may be 3 years old by the time I finish but oh well....

More pictures

2008-06-22T22:51:00.008-07:00

Mornin Mommy - whatcha doin?

Noah opening his birthday gifts!

Thank you to Uncle Josh and Aunt Kristin for the trike!!! He loves it!!!!!! He LOVES to ring the bell and he cracks up everytime...its too funny! Thanks again guys!

Everyone knows the best way to open a gift right? Just climb on top of it and use your mouth...and show off your very dirty feet - EW!

15 minutes later we still have over half of it to tear off - maybe it would go quicker of he stood up on it...? hehe
I was just waiting for this to happen....off he goes!

The end results: Jumbo Lego airplane (Kevin's work of art)....and a Vtech Train track that has buttons at every half inch that say a multitude of things - oh yeah, and it has a whole bag of little animals that make even MORE noise - but he seems to like it! And after 45 minutes of trying to open these two gifts this is how we played with them!

Im so glad they're friends!!! I wish I had a video of this - because Noah has never laughed so hard! He was out of breath from laughing, hiding the ball from Bandit by laying on it, Bandit rolling him over and giving Noah slobbery kisses! It was too funny and aparently way more fun than any store bought toy!

BBQ

2008-06-21T21:39:00.003-07:00

We had a BBQ at the house today. It was fun to have friends over - we havent done that in a while and its nice to get to cook and be a good host to our friends. It was also sort of a casual b-day celebration for Noah. We got him a cake and everyone watched him eat a little, then feed it to Bandit, then eat a little more. He started to give so much to Bandit that we had to put the dog outside!

Here is a picture of the cake - woopty-do...but we have a video of Noah eating it and I will post it as soon as I get it edited.

Im sad

2008-06-21T21:27:00.003-07:00

I just wanted to quickly say that I miss my little boys hair.....It was funny, wild, crazy and unmanagable - but thats Noah to a T. I guess I just wasnt ready for him to look so grown up - whats the rush?!?!? Before I know it, he will be up and on with his own life....and I will still be missing that baby hair. :0(

B is for BIRTHDAY BOY!!

2008-06-19T08:45:00.009-07:00

Happy 1st Birthday to our little Noah! We had a busy day even though we sort of had a low key Birthday celebration. Noah and I first went to play with all the other kiddos in our local Moms Club. Then we met up with Daddy for lunch and took Noah's in for his first haircut!! He did really well!! He didnt cry at all - he actually thought it was pretty funny experience - up until the very end when it was picture time and he spotted his juice....needless to say, we had to skip the picture and give him his juice immediately! Here are some pictures....
Then, that evening we went to the Splash Park by our house for a picnic with our friend Laura and baby Emory. Noah and Emory played in the water together and had good birthday fun! Emory got Noah a big ball and his first set of toddler crayons! Thanks Eric, Laura and Emory!! Then it was cake time! He was hot, tired and not too hungry so he mainly just played in his cake....and certainly made a mess of us both! If you look closely you can see that Noah decided to blow out his candle by pinching it with his fingers! OUCH!

Then we came home and blew up the present that Brian, Angela and Caden got Noah - a kiddy pool that can be filled up with balls for indoors! Its really cool and Noah spends many hours in it everyday!! Thanks guys!!!!!

So it ended up being a perfect Birthday for little Noah! I hope he has as much fun as we did! hehe

Weekend update

2008-06-13T10:43:00.002-07:00

This week -

Noah went into a kiddy pool for the first time
He had a run in with a cactus for the first time - not fun
He went swimming in a real pool for the first time

Its been a busy week for everyone - we are trying to get the office a bit more up-to-date in the decoration department because we have some clients coming to visit toward the end of the month. So thats been fun - stressful because Kevin and I dont agree all the time on just how 'up-to-date' and stylish we want to make it. BUT - every improvement counts in the end.

We celebrated our 8 year wedding anniversary this year! I just cant believe its been that long already! My friend Laura watched Noah for us so we could go out on a DATE - one of the very few dates we have had in a year! We went to the YARDHOUSE to have some the best steaks EVER. It was really nice to get to eat a whole meal uninterrupted. It felt sort of strange really - the entire time I felt like I was forgetting something. But it was nothing a Mojito couldn's fix! hehe

NEXT WEEK is Noah's 1st BIRTHDAY!!! Can you believe it!!?!?! I think we decided at the last minute to have a small BBQ at the house on the 20th. Im getting more and more excited - 1st birthdays are more for the parents than the child, I am learning!

A Little Blue

2008-06-13T10:27:00.006-07:00

Noah is feeling a little down in the dumps today...I found a new tooth on the bottom (this is tooth number 9!!) and that seems to always make him feel sick to his little tummy. He got sick twice last night, but this morning he has been better. I can always tell when he doesnt feel well because he seems to be a little more snuggly that normal. He never was a big cuddle bug so I really cherish the times when he will just let me hold him and we can relax together. Today we slow danced around the living room until he fell asleep....I know it silly but I hope I never forget these times...

Another new event happend this morning as well - Noah started clapping his hands. Not doing sign language - he was doing the sign for BALL the other day...which LOOKS a lot like clapping his hands...so maybe he was just clapping his hands after all. Not too sure, he wont tell me....

Here are a few more pictures from our Texas Trip from a previous post...

I still cant believe this...

2008-06-02T09:19:00.004-07:00

I cant believe our little kiddo is walking!!! He took his first step on May 4th during the Kentucky Derby - I didnt get a chance to see it but DADDY saw the whole thing! But on May 30st he just decided that he had had enough of this crawling business and just took off across the room! He still crawls once in a while but he loves to just walk around aimlessly - just for the sake of walking! Show off.......HA!

He seems to walk much better if he is holding something in his hands - a toy, clothes, papertowel, whatever....he will even borrow Bandits toys if needed - and then he will walk around with them in his mouth just like Bandit...gross, I know....but still kinda cute. hehehe

Visiting Gamma and Grandpa

2008-06-02T09:04:00.002-07:00

Kevin, Noah and I visited Gamma and Grandpa in Lubbock in mid May - we had such a good visit! Noah had fun exploring their new house and huge yard outside with Gamma and Grandpa. We went to Kristin's graduation from Texas Tech - attended a baby shower for her sister-in-law and then celebrated Noah's 11 month birthday! Needless to say, as usual, it was a very busy week but we all had a really good time...its always hard to come home!

I finally got to visit my friend Christy whom I havent seen since my baby shower last year - it was SO nice to see her and I was sad to have to go to get Noah to his nap....(But we dont mess with nap time!)..Christy, I miss you SO MUCH and thanks for spending time with us!!! I just wish we had more time everytime we come to visit.....

Noah has made a habit of not sleeping well while on vacation - he needs constant reassurance that we are still there and havent left him at night....but during the day he was as happy as ever and developed a new found love of rearranging furniture - and anything else that could be scooted across the floor.

And in the spirit of saving the best for last - KRISTIN AND JOSH ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY IN DECEMBER!!!!!! Congratulations to you both - you will make fantastic parents and we are so very happy for you!!!

As soon as I have the pictures ready I will upload them

Some new things

2008-04-29T21:37:00.005-07:00

I love his hair, it needs to be cut so badly, but I just cant bring myself to do it! I love it....its baby hair!

Noah has changed even more the last few days -

He will now repeat UH-OH to you though I dont think he knows when to apply it yet...

He has been saying DA-DA and more recently MA-MA and using them correctly most of the time -of course, MA-MA is usually reserved for when he is upset about something...but he can DA-DA DA-DA all day long! :0)

He will walk now while holding on to something with just one hand - he hasnt stood my himself for more than a few seconds still so walking by himself is a bit too much yet - but soon I fear........sooooon. lol

And then the cutest thing (I think) he dances now!!! He will hear music on TV or the radio and depending on what he is doing he will stop and dance to it. If he is crawling, he will rock back and forth and laugh. If he is standing he will bounce up and down and laugh. If he is in his high chair or sitting he will bop his head like one of the Roxbury brothers from SNL...cracks me up he does!

Naturally I cant get it on video yet....but I will try!

His separation anxiety is (hopefully) peeking right now, he will hardly let me out of his sight for an instant! And sometimes it feels like I have a 20 pound mumbling growth attached to my legs while Im in the kitchen trying to clean, cook, eat, or talk on the phone. We tried to leave him with the nursery at our church, but we got paged to go pick him back up because he hadnt stopped crying since we left him. The lady said "He certainly knows how to say MA-MA!" So we decided that I would volunteer at the nursery for a while so he can get used to it - I have been wanting to do that anyway. And I will try to just reassure him that Im not leaving him for good anytime I leave the room, I will just come right back. I also read that helping him get attached to a 'lovey' will help, so I have been carting around his favorite stuffed animal for him to snuggle with if he feels the need.....hopefully this will all help. Im sure that his teething pain has something to do with this new stage and in a way I find it sweet and endearing, but then he also needs to be comfortable with other people too so we need to find a happy medium.

Anyway - on to a few more pictures!
No, we dont keep the kid in a cage, he likes to play in Bandits crate - but its yucky most of the time so we arent normally allowed to play in there....drats!

Antique pictures of Noah

2008-04-29T21:22:00.007-07:00

Here are a few pictures we had taken of Noah in late March - actually it was the day before Easter I think. Please keep in mind that these are pictures of pictures - we dont have digital prints so this was the only way to share them with all of you - if you see some pictures you want just leave a comment (it emails me) and I will send one your way!

(The phone is my favorite....its just different...)

To Meme & Pearpaw's House we go!

2008-04-29T20:01:00.006-07:00

Noah and Mommy flew out to Texas for a few days in mid-April. I was really nervous to fly with him - with him being so active I thought I would have a hard time keeping him entertained enough to avoid "the look" from other non-child rearing flyers..but other than the fact that he peed all over me, which I can handle, he was really very good. He was fascinated by everything happening outside the window - some of the luggage handlers even waved at him he stared so long! Then he discovered that the window has a little plastic cover that slides up and down - so then we played that game over and over and over for about an hour. THEN he discovered the tray - so the poor lady sitting in front of me had to endure that slapping, banging, up/down up/down movements for the other hour of our flight - but that sure is better than 2 hours of crying so I was sooo proud of him and even more relieved! He would lean over and smile at others who looked at him, play peek-a-boo with the people sitting behind us, it was a lot of work holding such a wiggle worm for so long but we actually had fun on this new adventure we had. And strangers even commented on how happy, friendly, and well behaved he was. Like all mothers would, I wanted to reply "I know...he's perfect!" hehe Once on the ground back HOME we had a ball - Noah got to experience the good ol' Texas winds. The look on his face was priceless when that cold wind hit him for the first time - he had a panicked sort of painful look in his eyes and his mouth in a deep frown. It was "What in GODS name is that and why does this hurt?!?!" Oh, it was funny - I still laugh when I think about it. But the weather improved and he spent lots of time with his MEME outside watching birds and trucks go by; and he watched his PEARPAW build a shelf for his new shop (aka THE MANBARN). In fact, the weather got so nice Noah even went for a ride on the famous riding lawn mower - That was always a treat for us when we were growing up, to ride Pepaw's lawnmower, and now Noah is a pro as well. He was a little wary of it at first, but he didnt cry, he held on for dear life at first, but then relaxed and enjoyed the ride - he even started to relax enough to drift asleep! Luckily, we made it to the crib in time for a long nap.

The poor little guy was cutting all 4 top teeth while we were there (sigh) the nights were long and I have to admit that I hybernated for a few days when we got home! It took Noah a few days to let anyone else but mommy bathe him or put him to bed - but toward the end of our visit Meme & Pearpaw were pro's and all we had to do was stip the baby naked and he would make a b-line for the tub no matter who was bathing him! He loves his bedtime routine... He enjoyed Meme's cooking and of course SO DID I! Noah even ate his first steak....and potato, bread, peas, corn, watermelon, and cake. Yep, we thought his little tummy would explode but he couldnt get enough of it! He certainly is a good eater - he has dropped the pinch motorskill and graduated to the 'shovel' method. LOL
Kevin called every day and missed Noah so much - he would call just to hear him make noise in the background. I dont know how he did it really, I would have sobbed every minute and been on the next flight out to be with our little guy.

It seems like just when we get all settled in, its time to get back on the plane and head home. The flight home was interesting, there was a sweet older woman sitting next to me who loved Noah, she was so helpful, played with Noah, HELD him - she said it was just to give me a break because she knew how hard it was to travel alone with a baby. She talked a lot about her grandkids and it was so nice to have such a friendly helpful person be nice to you without knowing anything about you ya know? God was telling me to pass it on one day when I see a clumbsy, flustered and sweating mom alone with a wiggly baby to be nice to her, maybe even help her and by all means, NEVER give her 'The Look".

After a 2 hour delay in Vegas, (not an ideal place with a baby - I found that you get 'The Look" even there while sitting in front of a slot machine with an infant in your lap" and lost luggage that ended up in Maryland instead of Phoenix (???) we made it home in time for me to collaps into what I hoped would be a deep sleep for 2 or 3 days. No such luck...maybe next time...

Happy Easter!!!!

2008-03-24T22:53:00.006-07:00

HOPPY EASTER!!!

The Easter Bunny came and went already! Is anyone else a little freaked out by how quickly this year has flown by already!?!? Or is it just me? I still catch myself putting 2007 on paperwork - hello...I just cant believe Easter is over already.

Noah had a GREAT Easter - well at least I think he did. We went over to another family's house to hunt eggs. We were thinking that there might be a few other families there but we had no idea that the fire department would have to come and block off their street because of the herds of parents and kids flocking to their house - it was a mini carnival! There were face painters there, the firemen were handing out little fun things to the 1.2 million kids, the EASTER BUNNY was there IN PERSON (or in bunny??) it was insane! And this was all in our friends back yard! Thank goodness their back yard was bigger than our whole plot of land. But it was perfect and I really think Noah had fun crawling around and playing with the eggs that he "found". He wasnt even scared of the Easter Bunny who crept up behind him and eerily just sat there watching until I took a picture...gave me the creeps actually...but I came home with some great pictures and thats all I wanted! Well, that and the chocolate that we found..HA!

This is our friend TONYA - she watches Noah for us and they have become great friends! Thanks for spending Easter with us Tonya! :0)

Looks like Noah Laid the eggs! HA!

St. Patricks Day

2008-03-24T22:45:00.003-07:00

I have to post this picture - is was the morning of St. Patty's Day and we were eating lunch and hadn't dressed for the day yet - but Noah needn't worry about his green clothing cause he had enough of it on his face to avoid a pinch!

This kid LOVES Broccoli!

Here we are after we cleaned up a bit!

He's so cute all I want to do is SQUEEZE HIM!! hehe

Noah's Visitors

2008-03-02T10:40:00.005-07:00

The grandparents came to visit Noah in mid February - and yes it has taken me this long to get this site updated! sorry....This past month has been a busy one for us..we have all been sick, out of town, or on Jury Duty (YUCK!). BUT - Meme and Pearpaw came to visit us - NOAH - and here are some pictures of the visit!

Noah discovered the Piano and he LOVED it!! So now he has a Noah size Piano on the way! My ears may regret that purchase...hehe
But he loved it so much how could I NOT get him his own little piano! Maybe we have a musician in the making!

Noah has a new trick!

2008-02-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

He is actually a bit obsessed with this toy - now that he has learned he can do this on this toy - this is ALL he wants to do now. He will stand there until his little legs give out and he just plops over! He sometimes bangs his head on the way down but just gets right back up! Instead of making him quit we just surround him with pillows on the floor so he doesnt hurt himself. I wonder if they make helmets to fit a 7 month baby?? HA!

Portraits

2008-02-06T21:06:00.001-07:00

Noah and I went to Target with a friend and had some portraits taken - Here are some of the pictures we took! Enjoy!

(I have this first one ordered for you grandparents already! 8x10)

Below are a few pictures of Noah and his friend Emory - Emory and her mommy Laura are in the Moms Club I belong to - and we have become good friends, so it was fun to have their picture taken together! HOW CUTE ARE THEY!?!?! hehe

GYMBOREE

2008-01-29T09:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Gymboree - its a sort of giant padded room with padded obstacles for kids to climb on, over, fall off of, and really just go hog wild crazy. It was SO loud and I was constantly in fear of being trampled or drawn on, but Noah LOVED IT! Oh my gosh you should have seen him - he never stopped smiling and he was climbing all over things - even pulling himself to standing without help from me!! The 'instructors' would clap their hands and start singing some catchy song and Noah would stop and stare and smile so big - it was so cool to see him actually playing that I had to join a membership to Gymboree - its a whopping $40 a month but I just don't have those sort of things for him to exercise and 'practice' on so I thought it would be really good for him. And I have to admit, I had fun too!
The owner there is a friend of a friend and she came over to say 'Hi' - she saw how active Noah was at such an early age already - she laughed and said that I better get ready, I will have a tornado on my hands in about a year! HA!...I'm frightened.

7 Months and TEETHING...

2008-01-26T11:34:00.000-07:00

Noah past his 7 month birthday last week and the poor baby didnt have a great celebration - and neither did we! For the first time - he was sick ....very sick :0(
He spent the day throwing up all over himself and pooping all over everything else - yes, we lost a few good PJ's but they will be well remembered.
We took him to the Dr. and we just had to give him lots of pedialyte and let it run its course - so it did and he got over it. And as a 'thank you' to Mommy for taking care of him during his worst of times so far, he gave me whatever he had and it was my turn! Not Fun!
BUT - we are all healthy, happy, and vomit free again so life is good.
That is, until Noah started cutting his other bottom tooth. Who knew that a tiny little tooth could make a baby's head spin all the way around and start speaking in tongues?? The poor thing has had such a hard time with this one - and we have tried everything to help soothe him, frozen waffles, frozen teethers, cool wet rags, warm wet rags, baby oragel (I will never again use this, I think it made his whole mouth numb and he completely freaked out! This was when I thought his head was about to spin!), tylenol, motrin, humphryes drops AND tablets, and Im sure Im forgetting some other magical teething treatment that others have told me to try. In short, none of it worked all that well - the teething tablets I have to say were the most effective...but the real secret is just to ride it out. For us anyway. It only lasted a little more than a week and then POOF!! there is a tiny little tooth top poking out and we are back to sleeping through the night. WHEW! And just in time too - I wasnt sure how long I could endure that shrieking cry of pain - it was heartbreaking....and I have to admit a tad irrating at 3 am.
But like I said we are all better now - until the next tooth decides to pop out!
I feel like there should be a sash for Motherhood. You know, like the one we used to get in the Girl Scouts. We could get little patches that we would have to iron on after we conquer the little (and not so little!) challenges of parenting. There would be a HUGE one for labor - and then one for functioning with no sleep - a little green cloud for baby gas - a little iron-on tooth with a big smiley face on it for getting through teething - the list is endless. Come to think of it, I dont think a little sash would be big enough to hold all the patches! But I would proudly wear mine everywhere! hehe

WE HAVE A TOOTH!!!

2008-01-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

(you may have to open the picture to enlarge enough to see the tooth)

BOY - what a way to start the new year! We are 'crawling' and we have teeth! Noah has one bottom tooth that has come through already and the other bottom one next to it coming up right now...so our nights are, once again and literally, painfully long. BUT I found a great herbal remedy that seems to work (so far) better than Tylenol. They are Homeopathic Teething Drops or pellets - like Humphrey's or Hylands. I just felt terrible giving him Tylenol all the time - I suppose I felt guilty giving him drugs to help him fall asleep - I couldn't decide if it was for his benifit or my own (HA!) so Im sticking to the herbal stuff so I wont feel so bad...and it seems to work better anyway so thats perfect!

But he sure is CUTE with that little tooth! You can barely see it here in this picture but he seems to be 'tooth shy' - he doesnt like to show it off and this is the only picture we have been able to take of it!

Let the Childproofing begin!

2008-01-13T11:55:00.001-07:00

Here is a short video of Noah learning how to crawl!

Christmas

2007-12-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Texas for Noah's first Christmas to visit Christa's family. We had such a good time and it was SOOO HARD to leave. Noah had a WHITE Christmas and the snow was a very nice change from the Arizona bright & bubbly sunny winter weather.
He LOVED being around so many people to love him and got all the attention a baby could ever ask for! He got to see Great-Grandpa's and Great-Grandma's, 3rd Cousins and Coworkers....it was like Show-and-Tell and Noah was the star!

He was more interested in eating the wrapping paper but after we got the toys put together for him he had a great time playing and learning new things!

Meme and Pearpaw worked on teaching him how to "motorboat" and he is getting better and better at it! Grandpa Wes was able to get him to sleep TWICE in a row without a fuss!

For Christmas dinner we had Turkey, Roast, the best dressing in the universe (it has sausage and apples in it!), and of course, pumpkin pie. Noah feasted on Squash and tried Sweet Peas for the first time, and he LOVED them!

It was such a good week for all of us, we didnt care too much for the LONG LONG drive and think we may stick to flying from now on - lesson learned! But other than that, it was a perfect Christmas and I know it will always be one to remember. It was so hard to pack up and come home but I just have to remember that thats just the way it is and we have to do the best we can to stay connected and visit often.

Bla Bla Bla

2007-12-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Well - I can confirm now that Noah can say his Ba's, Da's, and sometimes his Ma's...the Ba's and Da's he just babbles away continuously while playing...but when things are serious and immediate action should be taken - he whips out the ultimate weapon...a charming, heartbreaking & adorably said with a sad frowny face MAMAMAMAMA! I seriously doubt he really knows what or WHO he is calling for but I still come running when I hear it - How could I NOT?? Its too cute and I just want to be DOUBLE sure he learns who MAMA is real quick! hehe

Of course I got it on video - sorry for the bouncy screen...but it was the best I could do given the scene...

Santa came to visit!

2007-12-12T22:20:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of Noah with his Santa hat on!!

He'd rather EAT his santa hat then wear it.....

And below is our best attempt to take a 'family' photo! HA! Silly dog...

HOLY BUTT-RASH BATMAN!

2007-11-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

Noah has his first bout of diaper rash....I was SO proud that we hadnt had to deal with that yet....but then a few short days after I bragged about it - it happens...should've known better!! At least its not a bad one!

BUT - to take full advantage of this unfortunate event, OF COURSE I had to get the camera out during some AIR time! hehe

YES - he did pee all over the place.....but Spot Shot is wonderful!

Kiss the chef!

2007-11-28T21:43:00.001-07:00

I asked Keving to take a picture of me cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner......so this is his masterpiece.

ME....cooking our wonderful turkey in a fabulous roaster....in the garage...on top of our dryer...right underneath the bleach and oxi-clean....nice.............

Giving Thanks...

2007-11-28T21:01:00.000-07:00

Noah sure had a good time with Gamma and Grandpa!!!

Who wouldnt love THIS smile??!?

Yummy sweet potatoe Thanksgiving feast!

He held is own bottle for a whole 4 seconds!

This is his new face...he sticks his tongue out when thinking...hehe

Thanksgiving was a big treat for all of us here - Kevin got to visit with his parents - golf with his Dad, Noah spent lots of time hanging out with his Gamma and Grandpa while MOMMY got to cook (YEAH!!), run errands(WOOHOO!), clean (OMG!), and get some much needed projects done around the house..needless to say, it was SO NICE to have the extra help with Noah so I could take care of a few chores and actually get to be a good hostess to our guests for once! We all really had a good time and I must say...I MADE THE BEST TURKEY EVER!!!! hehehe

Anyway, thanks to Elaine and Jerry for making the trip to visit us and for helping out so much - we enjoyed being able to spend the holiday together!!!!

Thought I would share this cute little song with you all...

I AM THANKFUL

Sung to: "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain"

I am thankful for my doggy and my cat

And my teddy bear so furry, soft and fat,

I am thankful for soft kittens

and my nice warm wollen mittens

And my swing set and my baseball and my bat.

I am thankful for my crayons and my books

And the way our brand new baby smiles and looks

I am thankful for potatoes

and for juicy ripe tomatoes

And for all the tasty food that mommy cooks.

I am thankful for my mommy and my dad,

They both love me when I'm good and when I'm bad,

I am thankful for the flowers

and refreshing summer showers

All the pretty things around me make me glad.

(NO I didnt write this, we found it at the Library!)

Just a little update

2007-11-13T00:41:00.001-07:00

This just keeps getting more and more fun and exciting! Noah has really been showing some personality these last few days - he loves Bandit now - and gives out loud belly laughs when Bandit is nearby to get his attention, then he reaches out and gives him pets and slobbery open mouth kisses....nice and sanitary, I know...but what can ya do?!

He has been working on saying "OH" sounds and he makes the most adorable face when he tries to pucker his lips for it - he gets it half way right most of the time.

He has discovered his toes and likes to grab ahold of them with his hands - the first time I heard him laugh was when I put his toes in his mouth. Now he laughs at everthing - peek-a-boo, tickles, funny faces, and even when you wash his 'boy parts'....yeah, thats awkward but still kinda funny. hehe

He is definitely entered into the bouncy stage - when we hold him (or try to!) he just wants to wiggle and jump and bounce - he has head-butted me several times, ripped my glasses off my face, pinched my nose closed, and almost ripped out a few earrings. I sometimes look like the frazzled mother with crazy birds nest hair with a dazed look on my face...you know the one! Noah is actually not a very big cuddle bug at all (unless he's sleepy) - otherwise he wants to MOVE! So lately he loves his bouncy seat and will stay in it for a lot longer than he used to! And Mommy likes the spare time to get some things done!

Everyone comments on how happy he is - and he really is a very happy little guy. He smiles at everyone - loves to laugh - and is such a marvel to watch as he learns and explores. Dont get me wrong, when he is tired and sleepy but doesnt want to go to bed - he will surely let his opinion of naptime be known, but thats to be expected from a baby from time to time I suppose.

All in all - its hard work and you never know what to expect on a daily basis. But we are so in love with him and we cant imagine our lives without him. Kevin is already talking about when Noah can have a sister! But for now, Noah can get by with just a big puppy to play with!

Teething?!?!?!?!

2007-11-07T20:40:00.000-07:00

This is where his hands spend most of thier time....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

2007-10-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

I swear I didnt give him the candy......

Well, Its October 31 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! I cant believe how fast this year has gone by already!! Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away - and then Christmas - ACK! I am getting really excited for the holidays though..I LOVE this time of year! And now that we have a happy little baby to share it with it will be even better....

We have been having a great time hanging out with other babies and new mommies with the MOMS Club I joined - I tell ya....its been a LIFESAVER! Well, maybe a marriage saver is a better description! HA!

We walk almost everyday with out new friends at a nearby park - we go to infant story time at the library and I really think Noah likes it - they read several short books and then we sing and dance along to rhymes and goofy songs like 'The weels on the bus" and Noah smiles through the whole thing!

Last night Noah was laying on floor on his play mat just sucking away on a new pacifier and it fell out of his mouth - and as I was leaning down to put it back in for him, he reached out, picked it up, and stuck it right back in his mouth all by himself!!!!!!!! I was shocked! And then so excited and impressed by him - and then sad....he is already beginning to not need me as much - its a small thing, I know, but it sure pangs the heart anyway. We get so excited for him to grow and learn new things...but when you actually see it happening you want them to stay a baby forever!

He is beginning to sit up better and for longer periods by himself - he reaches for and wants to explore everything. I held a peice of ICE to see what he would think about that and he sort of made a sour face when he touched it - I wonder what he thought???

He loves to pet Bandit - everytime Bandit comes close Noah reaches out for him. I encourage it because I want them both to get used to each other - but I think Bandit is sort of shocked by it - I can just see him thinking "Woah, it sure moves a lot more than it used to! Got any food on those fingers?" I put some sunscreen on Noah one morning before our walk - and Bandit tried to lick every inch of it off him - Noah laughed when his feet were being 'cleaned'! It was cute...

Noah is definatley more aware of who Mommy and Daddy are and who 'strangers' are - he will cry for a few seconds if someone new holds him - but once he figures out he is safe and new people are funny - he will smile and be just fine with it. Then he will spit up on them...thats when ya know you are really accepted! HA!

Anyway, we just wanted to say HAPPY HALLOWEEN to everyone! We sure miss you all and cant wait to see ya'll for the holidays!

4 Months

2007-10-21T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well - we are beginning yet another month as a family! Noah is now 4 months old and its been exciting! He has started to experience solid foods - so far just oatmeal and squash from time to time. He loves it - we tried apple sauce and he didnt like that too much - he gave me the cutest sour face, gagged, and then out it came! It was a messy job at first trying to feed him completely dressed and with a bib on- all he wanted to do was put the filthy bib or his food covered hands in his mouth which just made the mess worse - so now he eats almost naked -and with all furniture draped in plastic shower curtains...kidding...but thats not a bad idea hmm...

As you can imagine Bandit is never very far away when Noah is getting fed - he just sits beside him and patiently waits for that little squash covered hand to fall into the perfect licking position. hehe

As the video shows below he can roll over - from belly to back and from back to belly. Sometimes he forgets and panics when he suddenly finds himself with a different view! And I know it may be early but I really think he has crawling on the brain already! He is trying with all his might to figure that one out. I wonder how long it will take??? Right now I think its adorable - well I think everything is adorable - but its scary to me too. I only thought I was tired now, I have a feeling that this little guy is going to run me ragged! With any luck at all we wont be the parents of the little kid wearing a helmet and leash at the playground!

I see YOGA in his future...I can't even do that pose!

Noah got his second round of shots this past friday and that was hard - he cried for about 2 minutes and then was happy again. I love his ability to get over things pretty quickly. Of course there is the rare occation when he cries himself to sleep, but we really are blessed with a happy baby - all we need to do is look at him and he gives us the biggest gummy grin and squeals in delight.

The BIG NEWS is that he is sleeping through the night!!!! I am now beginning to feel more like my old self - I actually wore make-up and did my hair the other day (WOOHOO!!) - we walk at the park several times a week - I am making lots of friends in my local MOMS Club...life is just wonderful these days!

Our little PUMPKIN

2007-10-11T21:40:00.000-07:00

We went to a pumpkin patch this week. I don't know why really, we didn't get any pumpkins and Noah is WAY to young to appreciate the scraggely farm animals and rinky-dink corn maze..I guess I just wanted some pictures of him at an actual pumpkin patch for his first Halloween. It was a bit hot outside so shortly after this Noah fell asleep in his stroller for the remainder of the visit while I chit-chatted with other moms from my MOMS Club group. We actually ended up having a good time and I'm glad we went! :0)

Noah Rolling Over

2007-10-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Here he is ROLLING OVER!! He did this for the first time over a week ago but it has taken me this long to get him to do again in front of the camera....

Milestone Week!

2007-10-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well - it has been an exciting week here at the house with Noah. He had his first real belly laugh on Tuesday (Oct 2nd for those keeping record)!! I was changing his diaper and he had his feet in the air - so I grapped his little toes and stuck them in his mouth! He thought that was pretty funny so we did that over and over again until I got teary eyed from listening to his adorable little laugh! hehe

THEN - we spent the day at the office on Thursday (Oct. 4th) and I put him down on the floor for some 'Tummy Time'. (I confess, we hadnt been doing that as much as we should) and after about 15 seconds of working it out in his head he rolled over all on his own!! And to my knowledge on his first try! We were so excited at the office we made him do it again! He had a surprised but very pleased look on his face - his little grin said " HA! I dont need no stinking 'Tummy Time' !!!" hehe

He gotta wear shades...

2007-10-01T09:19:00.001-07:00

We went to the lake with some friends this past weekend and of course, I had to get the appropriate gear for Noah - little swim trunks, baby sunscreen, a hat, and some very cool baby shades. The swim trunks he didnt wear afterall for a couple of reasons - they ended up being WAY too big for him....and I really couldnt figure out if he was supposed wear a diaper underneath them...it said 'no additional diaper required'...but it just didnt look very leak proof so I just avoided it all together! What can I say, Im clueless...I just didnt want my friends to get pee'd on! BUT he still looked adorable. I learned that the lotion type of baby sunscreen is SO much better than the twist up stick kind - those take FOREVER to apply and are harder to make sure you have all areas covered well - but we stayed under the umbrella anyway so it worked out. We did let him put his feet in the water and he seemed to think that was pretty cool - well he didnt react to it at all really, but at least he didnt cry! He loves being outside and I think he had a good time....AND he slept like a log that night so that's a plus for me!

Daddy and Noah

2007-10-01T09:14:00.001-07:00

Noah enjoying some play time with Daddy! Patty cake with his feet is a family favorite! hehe

3 Months

2007-09-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Noah passed his 3 month 'birthday' this past week! We are still working on sleeping through the night, though I think he is getting better, finally! I usually have to wake up only once for a late night feeding, but then after that he sometimes wakes up and just needs to be reassured that we are still here and ready to comfort him. He is SO alert and active its amazing to me! He can hold himself in a sitting position and tries with all his might to pull himslef up with anything he can grab onto...namely my hair! OUCH! He LOVES to stand up and face the world so he can see whats going on all around him. And he is really starting to enjoy bathtime and squeals in delight as he kicks and splashes around! He can also roll half way over - if he is on his back he will roll to either side ( I think usually his left side). AND HE FINALLY FOUND HIS THUMB and sucks till his hearts content!! We also have been able to enjoy the outdoors more now that the weather has cooled down to 99 degrees! HA! We go for walks and he LOVES it; he gets so wide eyed as he takes everything in. He can sit in is stroller like a 'big kid' and I think he really enjoys the new view he has of life now!

Its almost sad though....he is growing and changing so quickly. It really is true, it passes by so fast and before we know it he will be asking to borrow the car! I had to clean out his dresser and store all the clothes he has that wont fit him anymore and that was SO HARD! And to think that in just a few short weeks we will be starting him on SOLID foods!! Ack! Bandit cant wait to help 'clean up' the mess that will make! HA!

Kevin and I had our first 'date' since Noah was born. We had a friend watch him while we went to a movie and then to a Cardinals/Seahawks football game. It was nice to have a break from Noah but we both thought about him and I held my cell phone the entire time just itching to call Tonya and see how he was doing! HA! But I didnt and Tonya is SO good with him I knew everything would be just fine. Noah adores her too - we are very lucky to have a circle of friends like Tonya around us who love to help! THANKS TONYA!!

So thats the news around here - being a parent is the hardest job in the world and we are only just beginning! It is nothing at all like I expected it to be - I think we both had a romantic idea of what parenting and having a baby would be like. But the reality of it hit home hard and honestly its been difficult to get used to for both of us. But we are working it out and doing the best we can and thats really all you can do as a parent I guess! I dont know yet...we're still learning! :0)

But for this smile.......we'd go through anything!!

Congratulations!!!!

2007-09-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

We just want to say Congratulations to Brian and Angela Jones for their new baby boy Caden Reed Jones! Caden was born September 21, weighing 6 lbs 9 oz and 19 1/4 inches long. Both Mommy and Daddy are doing well!! He is perfect and precious in every way!

Congratulations!!!!

To Gamma's House we go!

2007-09-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

(Sigh) Yeah..Gamma loves me.....

Could these pants make him look any more like an old man!?!

Aunte Kristin and Daddy and Noah

Bathtime at Gamma's!

First Adventure

2007-09-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

This is Noah and his GREATGrandpa!

Noah's first trip to Texas to visit the anxiously awaiting Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and a whole slew of other family and friends was WONDERFUL......and a touch exhausting! Noah went on his first plane ride - I was so nervous but he did really well. He got to spend some time outside and feel the grass under his feet for the first time!

It was a trip BURSTING with firsts...he discovered his mouth and figured out that its a great place to put his hands - he almost figured out how to suck his thumb...which he is still trying to work out by the way...he began to really try to sit up on his own. He isn't strong enough yet, of course, but he sure puts in the effort! He spit up on almost everyone and even peed on PEARPAW! HA! Everyone just fell in love with him and there was rarely a moment when he wasn't being held and loved on by all the family! Even in his sleep we would just sit and watch him!

It was a long trip but it all went by too quickly - it was so hard to come home!!! But we just have to remember that we will be back to visit very shortly. I cant wait for everyone to see how much Noah will have grown and changed the next time we all see each other again! We sure miss you all and certainly wish we lived closer....but I suppose we all have to go where life takes us and do the best we can! Until the holidays...WE MISS YOU ALL!

(I dont have any pictures of his trip to Lubbock - but as soon as I get some I will post those as well!)

2 Months...

2007-08-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

Noah was 2 months old yesterday - again, I cant beleive its already been 2 months but at the same time it feels like a lifetime! I already have a hard time remembering our life before we had him! As hard as these few months have been - its worth every second and I wouldnt trade it for the world! Noah gives us the biggest smiles when he sees us and it melts our hearts everytime. He loves to look at the world around him while being held with his back against our chests. Kevin is trying to teach him to make a clicking sound with his tongue...and I have actually heard Noah making that sound, but I cant say it was on purpose just yet...HA! I am currently reading up on how to start baby sign language with Noah. Sounds pretty difficult though so we will see how that goes.

Noah gets his shots tomorrow so wish us luck!!!

Are you ready for some football!?!

2007-08-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of football season - I had to take this picture. It only took about 40 shots and one spit-up cleaning to get it even halfway decent! Some of the throw away pictures are pretty funny though - gives me a whole new respect for photographers, taking pictures of infants is not easy and requires LOTS of patience. But, for those of you who are still in Texas and Dallas Cowboy fans - this is for you! We cant wait to see all of you in Texas in just a couple of weeks!

2007-08-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

Fits like these are pretty much few and far between these days...the only time we see this face is when we are not quick enought to put some food in that growing belly!

Both my kids

2007-08-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

Bandit just had to be a part of the picture - and it was too cute to tell him to go away! This is pretty much how Bandit feels about Noah, he just likes to sit and look at Noah, sometimes getting close enough to sneak a small lick on the hands or cheeks! He has been so good with him....and of course we still take time to play with Bandit everyday and give him attention too! We love both our kids! hehe

2007-08-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

As far as sleeping through the night...we are getting there!! There is hope for me yet! We finally got a routine down of a last feeding, bathtime, and then reading a book while being rocked to sleep - works everytime! Then we put him down for the night (IN HIS OWN CRIB EVEN!!) and he will sleep until about 2 or 3 am for a late night snack...but he goes right back to sleep until 6 or 7am! Its an inprovement and its wonderful for MOMMY! HA! I feel it wont be too long before he will be sleeping until 5 or 6am...at least I hope so.

2007-08-07T12:24:00.000-07:00

Noah has really begun to develop a bit of a personality so far - he "talks" to us quite a lot now and is all smiles when he sees either of us for the first time in the morning...what a great thing to wake up to! I spend my days just watching him (and taking tons of pictures!!) and Im beginning to tell when he is learning something and really taking it all in - he likes to lay on the floor and bat at his toys and look at himself in a mirror. As much as he has changed since coming home from the hospital its hard to think of all the changes that he will be going through over the next several months!

THANK YOU!!!

2007-07-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

A BIG THANK YOU to Brian and Angela Jones for taking time out of their lives to visit us here in the desert IN THE SUMMER no less - AND being 7 1/2 months pregnant themselves! Noah said he misses you and says thanks for helping us out so much! Angela, thanks for the movie date - I needed a short MOMMY break so it was perfect. Cant wait to visit you up in SC soon to meet the little Mr. Caden Reed Jones! After seeing you with Noah, its clear to see that you both will make wonderful parents!!! Not that I had any doubts before - HA! Good Luck and please let me know if there is anything I can do to help! :0)

2007-07-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

I think Noah is beginning to discover that he has a VOICE! He made two distinct 'baby babbles' today that weren't crying! He was laying on his little tummy time mat and he made a single baby 'coo' noise! It was so cute! Kevin and I were eating and we both froze and listened to Noah try to 'talk' to us! hehe It was exciting...I can only imagine how cool it will be to hear him actually say a WORD!

Of course...

2007-07-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

ARRRRG!!! Our little pirate has acne....neonatal acne as a matter of fact. I had no idea such a thing existed but apparently it does. His little cheeks are speckled with tiny little pimples! :0(

It will go away on its own in a matter of weeks but I hate that all these great pictures will show this and give him a complex!

Its ok Noah....happens to the best of us! :0)

Happy 4th of July!

2007-07-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

He wasnt so happy.....

Everyone was here visiting and left withoug getting to experience the joys of an adorable baby throwing a major tantrum - so I felt compelled to take a picture of it and share it with all of you this way! HA!

Next time Im breaking out the recorder and mailing the full experience on a DVD. I just dont want the grandparents to miss out on ANYTHING! HA!

Funny things I have noticed...

2007-07-14T12:46:00.000-07:00

Why are there nonslip sticky pads on the bottom of some infant socks??? Its not like this 3 week old baby is going to go taking off running down a tiled hallway anytime soon!

Also, we went out to dinner the other day and the waitress actually set down some crayons and an interactive kids menu in front of Noah's baby carrier! ????

Im just sayin....

This first Month...

2007-07-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

This first month as a new mommy has been...well probably the hardest thing I have ever been through. Emotionally its been so rewarding and I already cant imagine life without having a child. Its amazing how much you can instantly love someone so much! I just want to sit and stare at this little person all day long. Physically though, it has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. Lack of sleep can really take a toll on a person and make the easier things pretty difficult. BUT its all completely worth it and we are already getting into a little bit of a routine so that helps too. I know it will get better soon and life will seem a little more normal!

Introducing....

2007-07-13T12:03:00.000-07:00

His name is Noah Wayne Davis and he is the newest addition to our little circus..I mean family! He was born on June 18, 2007 at 12:30pm. Weighing a wopping 5 pounds 1 ounce and was 19.25 inches long. We are so excited about being a real 'family' now!

Picture Kev took on July 4th

2005-12-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

Another Oops Pic

2005-12-18T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here is another that was taken the same day! Another favorite! It was a good day for screw-ups!

Flower Power

2005-12-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

I think this is one of my favorite photos of ours. And actually it was a complete mistake! Goes to show ya, even a mistake can be a blessing in disguise! At least in my eyes...

Ta-da!

2005-12-18T19:57:00.000-07:00

This picture always makes me smile - I took this by the pond where I work. I can almost here the duck going "Ta-daaa!"