I Survived.

So, I took Noah to his in-home daycare provider yesterday. This is a day I have come to dread...

...Good News. We all survived, and we are better for it. (Most of us are, anyway.) Noah slept from from 7-10 p.m., ate, and fell back to sleep from 10-6:15 this morning. WOW.

I made Cullen take him this morning. It is much easier this way on this momma.

Too Cute NOT To Post...

Noah had a VERY exhausting weekend. He played and played and played. He was plum WORN OUT yesterday. I thought he had recovered overnight......Guess I was wrong. He and I have been working on rolling over recently; he rolled over, giggled, and fell asleep. How adorable is this??

Year 26

This weekend was so wonderful. I spent the first part of the weekend unpacking. Woo. We are making a dent finally! The second half of the weekend, we went to Austin to celebrate the birthday. My mom cooked a big fajita dinner for the family, we swam in the pool and just had a great time. We ended the night with gift opening and carrot cake! How can you go wrong with carrot cake!!?! Sunday, we went on The Tappan's boat with the Tappan Family and Sara (my old co-workers). I am burned... I do not mind, red is a nice change of pace from pasty, which is the color I have been sporting since last September (when I found out I was pregnant!)

Yep, it's true. Yesterday, I turned 26. Wow, I am officially closer to 30 than 20. Gosh. That thought is a little troubling. But, look at my life up to my 26th birthday:

• I proudly hold an undergraduate and Master's degree, and actually use them in my career.
  
• I married the man of my dreams, and had his baby.
  
• I own my dream home... that still needs to be unpacked. :)
• I have a family that I am so thankful for. I can lean on them for anything.
  
• I couldn't be more appreciative and I couldn't love Cullen's family more. I am so lucky to have the in-laws that I do.
  

I could go on about how happy I am with my life. Instead, I will just live my life and be thankful for what I have everyday.

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!