There's No Place Like Home...

...At least that is what Dorothy said. I think Dorothy is right. It's official. We are home owners. We closed on our home (which is an entire post on its own) Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.. We started to move in this last weekend and it is starting to feel like home. I wanted to post some pictures of the house prior to our big move in. When we get settled, I will post new pictures, settled in pictures. Noah will probably be close to graduating, at least Kindergarten before we get totally moved in at the speed we are moving right now! :)
This is the kitchen, of course. We have an island that sits in the middle. The island is mobile. It will not be for long. We are knocking off the wheels and making it stationary. Now, we need to figure out JUST where we want it!

The laundry room... yep, it has a sink. How fabulous is that?? It is one of my favorite rooms in the house. It also doubles as a dog-bedroom at night.

The picture above and below are our bedroom. I love our bedroom. It has recessed lighting. It has a great fan. It is spacious and has a ton of natural light. Super!
And, this is the closet to our bedroom. It IS my favorite room in the house. Noah and I have spent more time in here than anywhere else this week. I love this room. I wish that was normal.
This is my bathtub. I couldn't get a great picture of my bathroom, so this will have to due.
I will take pictures of the outside and post them soon!!

Pictures Since The Big Move

The new house has been so much work. Noah thinks it is funny to fall asleep or entertain himself until just the moment I NEED free hands... little stinker. SO, the house isn't getting unpacked as fast as I was hoping. Here are some pictures of Noah in the new house!

The following two pictures are while we are sitting in my over sized closet. We are working on being on our tummy. Noah is DAYS away from rolling over... he loves being on his tummy.
Look at that crazy look he is giving his daddy. I am not sure what warranted those crazy eyes... but, whatever it was, Noah was not happy.
Daddy came home from work yesterday. He was sooo exhausted from installing appliances all day; he asked Noah if he wanted to take a nap. Noah quickly agreed. My two guys slept like this for at least an hour. It is one of my MOST FAVORITE things - to walk into a room and see them cuddling together.
One of my other most favorite moments with Noah is the first 10 minutes after waking up in the morning. He is always sooo happy. He doesn't cry in the morning. He just lays in his bed and makes noise, plays with his mobile and hangs out until I come get him. When I do, we go straight to the changing table; he giggles, coos, talks and smiles for about ten minutes. Honestly, how can your day be anything but good when this is what you wake up to??

It's Been A LOOOOONNNGGGGG Morning

I have the Angelcare Movement Sensor baby monitor. I love this monitor and would recommend it to ANYONE. For those of you who do not have this monitor, the idea behind it, is your baby's mattress sits on a sensor. That sensor monitors the slightest movements, including breathing. The monitor sounds an alarm when/if your baby stops breathing. I read so many reviews before I registered for this monitor, and everyone says it is completely legit, with very minimal false alarms. Done. I want a monitor that makes me feel safe about Noah sleeping in his own bedroom, and this is the exact thing that gives me piece of mind...

...Last night, about 2:30, Noah starts tossing and turning in his bed. I can hear him over the monitor that he is a little unsettled. We check on him, he's asleep, we go back to bed. Around 4:00 a.m. Noah's alarm goes off. It jars us awake. Cullen shoots across the house; I am not sure his feet hit the floor between our room and Noah's...only to find Noah awake, kicking his feet. We calmed down, Cullen changed and fed Noah and I went and laid back down.

I laid there and got a little teary. It was quite scary. I got up, went and gave Noah an I LOVE YOU kiss, pet his face, wiped away my tears, and went back to bed. Noah was fine, and it was a false alarm. But, it got me thinking. How many times does that monitor go off, because a baby really isn't breathing, AND how do parents stay calm when they run into their baby's room to find them not breathing??

He started getting fussy and restless again at 5:30ish. I just got up and held him. He fell fast, and deep asleep on my chest. We spent the rest of the morning in the chair, Noah sleeping and me just laying there pondering...

I know I am only 11 weeks into motherhood, but, being a parent is so stressful. You are completely, totally, 100% responsible for a little being. A being you love, unconditionally, whole heartedly, instantly. But, how do you get through moments like this?? How do you get through the moment a doctor tells you that your infant, toddler, teenager has to go under for a major surgery? How do you mend their first broken heart? How do you get through the tough moments? Are those all masked by the good moments? The "I love you, mommy"? The kisses and bear hugs from your baby??

I am exhausted, emotionally. I need a nap.

I Guess I Can't Blame It On Pregnancy Anymore...

I forgot I locked the garage this morning. I forgot to put the house key back on my key chain....

Rewind three years. I am N-O-T-O-R-I-O-U-S for locking my keys in my car, in my house, basically anywhere they are of no use! When we lived in Pflugerville, I locked my keys in my car, while it was running - all because I needed to check the mail. I can count at least 20 times I have locked my keys in my car or locked myself out of the house in the last two years...

Fast forward to this morning. My **NEW** HOUSE is foolproof. I have 6 keys to the house. Yes, six keys. When we closed, we were given four, and over the weekend I made two. At closing, the realtor asked for my key to compare to the set of keys she had in her bag - she didn't want to give me the wrong ones. Well, once returned to me, I didn't put the key back on my key chain. When I left the house this morning, I locked the house up, as usual, without a key. WHY DO I DO THIS TO MYSELF?!??? It's as if I enjoy torturing myself!!

Last night, we gave a key to my father-in-law. Guess where I went this morning with a very loud, very hungry baby this morning?? All the way across town, to get Billy's spare key!! Dangit!

Don't worry, after I got the baby fed and asleep, I took the next 10 minutes to hide keys around the outside of the house and in the garage so that this little situation doesn't happen again!!

Sorry, Cullen. You did marry a dummy!

I Have A Ten Week Old Baby!

Ten weeks old. TEN WEEKS OLD. Really? How is that possible?? I guess it is true, what EVERYONE says, time just FLYS in the world of your infant. I love you, my little Bug. Now, quit growing!I took this picture yesterday. I love the shirt. It was a gift from a co-worker (Thanks Mrs. M!) I know he is not smiling.... He misses his Nana and Papa.

Two WHOLE days.

Thursday is the big day!! We drive by the house every day watching the progress of our home being built! We had our walk through last week; nothing major to fix!! The sprinkler system went in yesterday - sod goes in tomorrow!

WE CLOSE ON THURSDAY!

I am so excited, I can hardly contain myself. Can't wait to post pictures of the complete house. I can't wait to live in our house, making memories with our sweet baby...

...and speaking of sweet baby boy... Here is a picture (just because every blog post is better with a picture!)

Skipbo With Mom and Dad

Noah is a board game/card game prodigy. I mean it, Noah LOVES playing cards.

He sits with us; he gives us tips and pointers on how to play.

He gets a little cranky when we play the wrong card...uber competitive (much like his mommy.)
When we play the right cards, he likes to just sit back with the rest of us, and just enjoy the game!


Next time you are in town, stop by, sit a spell. Enjoy a round of Skipbo with the little guy!

Dear Fantasy Football:

Dear Fantasy Football:

Football season is around the corner. Can you feel it? Hot summer days, leading into cool fall nights. Tailgating, hot-chocolate, visiting with old friends, friendly rivalry…these are all things football season brings to mind. While bring so much joy to the fall season, you also bring a very dark side.

Conversations with other concerned wives have caused the need to speak out; and as a member of the Jaded Wives of Fantast Football club, I feel it is my duty to speak on behalf of our entire association.

We hate you. I repeat, we hate you. You came into our husbands lives as a fun pastime, to increase the love of NFL football (not that any of them needed MORE reason to love a sport). Over the last few years, you found a way to infiltrate other areas of their lives, like a virus, like a dirty, nasty virus. You have become increasingly more annoying. What started as a 12 member league of managers that comes and goes with football season, has evolved into a year-‘round passion, nay, obsession. While I respect the fundamentals you instill in our husbands (loyalty, fervor, dedication, etc.), you have turned them into monsters.

While you provide an outlet for our husbands to pretend like manage actual squads through drafting/trading players then discussing life on your message boards has become a compulsion that increases in time. Do you know your message-boarding began this year as early as June?? FOOTBALL DRAFTING DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN UNTIL LATE AUGUST!! An example: my husband came home last week and said "the message boards have already begun." Your football related message board has turned into a forum for life. Our husbands discuss anything on what should be football-only boards. Sure, the intention is there… but with one foul comment, they are down the path of destruction only to be stopped, and superseded by the next deceptive (yet funny) comment about someone else’s wife or girlfriend, sexual orientation, home, job or (now) children.

Fantasy Football, we are begging you to take it easy. GIVE US OUR HUSBANDS BACK... if you must be a part of their lives, let your Fantasy Football shenanigans take up only 3/4ths of our husband’s spare time, rather than the usual: EVERY SPARE MOMENT, IN. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

To sum things up: Block services until August. Have a cap on allowable time per day. Require husbands to spend AS MUCH time with the wives and children they leave behind as they do with their boyfriends/managers daily. If you do those minor little things, we promise to lighten up, and be mostly okay with occasional conversations we have to have to satiate our husbands.

Thank you for listening to our collective complaints. Have a wonderful season. Best of luck with everything…. Kind of.

Sincerely,
Members of the Jaded Wives of Fantast Football Club

I'm The King Of The Water.

If you have ever been near Brodie and ANY body of water, you know that in a past life, he was an otter. Brodie would almost give up breathing if it meant he could stay in the water full time.

Because it has been so hot outside, we bought Brodie a baby pool. We filled it up, put the cherub on the back patio in his seat, and played with the puppies in the water. Brodie decided it was HIS pool only. He finally has water in HIS backyard; he was certainly not about to share it with his sister! Here are two videos of Brodie being...well, Brodie.

"The Light Switch"

So many mommy's have told me about this magical light switch that turns on around 8 weeks. This "light switch" mommies talk about encompasses longer sleeping at night, smiles from their baby, taking more food (which inevitably means longer sleeping at night), holding their head up without much assistance, this incredibly cute blob switches into an incredibly cute baby.

Noah's light switch turned on. He is a real baby. He has managed to sleep longer at night; eat more less often; he smiles at everything, everyone - including his silly puppies. Anything catches his eye. He is so happy to be held and loved on.

(Guiltily), I have told so many people, I am counting down the days until I can go back to school; I am going crazy at home. However, if he keeps up his personality; if he keeps this sweet-baby routine that he is in right now, I DREAD August 13th. I am LOVING my baby boy's new outlook (which is any outlook, let's be honest.)

Here is a recent picture of that sweet, handsome man of mine.

Look Who's Talking.

No, I am not referring to the movie. I have a little Ranger who is talking. I took this video this morning.

In the last few days, he has really found his voice. When people talk to him, he makes noise back. When things make noise at him, he talks back. Here, he is talking to the monkey toy in his jungle gym! How Cute is he!?!

Two Months Old...

Oh my goodness. My baby boy is two months old. TWO MONTHS OLD. I will add a picture later, but for now, here are a few stats on my little Bug.

• My baby can squeeze into size one diapers... I think we will soon give up on the idea of a size one baby.
• He loves to be held where he can look over your shoulder.
• He loves being held.
• When he sleeps, he holds onto your shirt.
• Currently, he eats somewhere between 4-6 ounces.
• He wears 0-3 months clothes - but, I think we will soon outgrow those as well.

I thought I would be sad today. I am not. Instead, I am thanking God for this sweet little miracle. We have played in his jungle gym this morning. We took a long nap, and now we are cleaning house together. What a great little helper.

We have one more month at home together. That is a bittersweet thought. I will spend it (moving into the new house) LOVING ON MY BABY!

Jennifer Jones (photograhpy)

My friend Jenni came to visit Noah when he was four weeks old. She is an aspiring photographer and I must say, she is quite good. Here are some of her pictures....

...It doesn't hurt that her subject is so dang cute. Thanks Jenni for taking these pictures. I looked through the whole disk. I can't wait to hang so many of these in our new home!

Whoopsies.

Motherhood sure puts a damper on being able to regularly blog!! :) Here are pictures for July 8 and 9th!

We will have a ton of pictures from today! I am co-hosting a baby shower for one of my dear friends, Sarah! I am so so excited!

New House Update

What? A Post NOT about the baby?? You got it....just one.

I wanted to give an update on our soon-to-be new house!! Cullen and I find that we drive past the house more than once a day. (I am not too sure this is normal - but what is fun about being normal??)

It is coming along so nicely. I get more excited to move in everyday!! I picture our little Noah's room all decorated. I see our furniture and our memories hanging on the wall. Oh I am just so excited.

When we drove past yesterday, we stopped. The builder was across the street, so he came over and let us in. We walked around, smiled a ton; talked about "what we want here" and "what we see there". I left Cullen alone with the builder and walked in all the rooms.

What is so neat about this house, is every time I walk through it I find something new. This time was no different. There was a light switch in Noah's room - this light switch was next to the real light switch. I flipped it on.... guess what?? There is a light in his closet!! I know that is no real big deal, except I didn't notice it last time we were there. It is just a small touch that makes me feel like we really made a great buy!!

14 days exactly until we move in!!

Why is it SO Funny....

Maybe it is sleep deprivation?

Maybe it is childish immaturity...

Maybe it is the fact that I am home alone all day, and ANYTHING amuses me.

BUT, when Noah toots and smiles - I laugh loudly. Today, Noah was sitting in his car seat asleep. He tooted; one of those looonnnggg, drawn out, gasses. It woke him up. He smiled BIG, looked around and went right back to sleep.

I laughed. I love my job - being a mommy. It is these moments that trump the difficult moments.

July 7th Picture

My little Bug is sick today. His tummy hurts. He will be dead asleep and wake up alarmed with tears streaming down his face. It is so sad.

Here is a picture I took yesterday....thought it was too cute not to share. I was singing to him, and this was the reaction I got. (What he should learn quickly is, I don't need an audience to sing. His faces do not deter me at all!!)

July 6th Picture

Noah was in such a good mood yesterday. I laid him on his changing pad, and said "somebody needs a new diaper!!"... and this is what I got: Smiles like this one make me so happy to be a mommy!

My First 4th!

Happy 4th of July! Noah spent his 4th of July with his Nana and Papa watching fireworks. My dad sent me these pictures of Noah watching fireworks with his Nana!

Where is Noah?

I was just noticing - there are not many pictures of Baby Bug on the blog. That surprises me since I take so many.

I was looking through my phone (where I take most of my pictures) and finally transferred some of the pictures to the computer... I thought I would share.

Also, at some point in July, both sets of parents are venturing out of the Country for work or vacation. Since they cannot see much of Noah when they are traveling, I decided to post a picture of Noah everyday during July. Bedo/CoCo, PaPa/Nana, I hope you enjoy!

Getting an IV draw for his (third attempt) at a Newborn Screen Test.

Sleeping in his car seat. (He does this A LOT!)

Hello Chins!!

Week Four - He is learning to smile at Mommy and Daddy... not just because he had to pass gas!

He LOVES his middle finger.

Exhibit #2 - the Middle Finger.

This is one of my most favorite pictures of Noah. He was stretching after being fed in his car seat. He looks like a little baby bird.

Stretching out before getting his diaper changed.