So many updates!

Well, where do I start? So much has changed since I last posted:)

First things first....

We are expecting our third little one! We are SO super excited! Josh and I feel so blessed to have this little one on the way, this upcoming June. The boys are SO excited too. Andy lays his sweet little hand on my tummy often wanting to know if the baby is still in there. Noah talks about it all the time too. I love how excited they are and I know they will be fantastic to this little bean!

My first trimester is over. I a tad relieved. The exhaustion and nausea were a little overwhelming. On top of that Josh had knee surgery in October and could not drive for eight weeks, so I drove him a lot to appointments, work some (thankfully some sweet work friends stepped in and help a TON with that) and then to Oklahoma and Louisiana for his work. Josh can now drive and I can now go most days without feeling like a walking zombie! I still have a few major food aversions. I hope they go away, because it really limits what our family is eating in the meat department. But I just cannot handle the smell or the thought!

Andy has learned now how to write almost all of his letters. He is so proud of himself about it too. Noah's 5th birthday is next month and that just blows me away! Where has the time gone?! He has such a sweet heart. If he starts getting over excited or hyper all I have to do is just visit with him quietly about how I know he wants to be behaving and he usually starts acting nicely. It is so neat to see that change in him and how badly he wants to please me. What a good boy! Andy is so funny. He LOVES reading now, which is amazing, because he does not sit still for much. One of his favorite books is Going on a Bear Hunt. It is so sweet to hear Noah and Andy both saying the words "Going on a bear hunt. Gonna catch a big one. Such a beautiful day. We're not scared!" But my favorite is when they say the over it, under and then say with a hand motion "We've gotta go through it!" SO cute!

Andy also really loves the book Guess How Much I Love You. He ALWAYS reads along with me miling and at the end says "Mama, I love you to a cannon ball and back!" SOOOO funny and SO cute:)

Well...working on Christmas gifts today. Resting on the couch while my folks have the boys. Wishing the house was clean, but figuring someday I will get it that way again:) Happy Holidays!

Happy 3rd Birthday Andy!

Our dear sweet Andy. You are truly one of the two brightest apples of my eye. You and your brother both are so important to me. Each and every moment of every day I get to spend with you is such a blessing. I miss you terribly for the couple of hours a week you are at school and my heart swells when you run into my arms saying you missed me and are ready to go home. Each day as we get in the car you ask me "Mama, what was your day like?" You truly care. You have such a big heart and such a caring personality. It is so obvious how much you love your Mama and your Daddy. Or lately, as you have been saying your Mommy and your Dad.

The years have blown by. I look at how quickly you have reached three, how quickly Noah has reached four and realize these are truly the best days of my life. Having you two home with me. I am so lucky. I am so blessed. All because of you two and your Daddy. Thank you for that sweet pea!

Your favorite things lately are legos, anything chocolate, drawing and coloring, practicing writing your letters (A, H, T, F, X, and O) and riding on the toys in the yard. Most of all though, you love your red crab sandbox. You could stay in it all day if I let you. Your favorite foods are pizza, fettuccine alfredo, goldfish, and tiny oranges. Your favorite color is yellow. You have a yellow room, yellow shoes, yellow clothes, and you say you even have yellow hair:) I love that about you! You decide you want or like something and you stick with it! It is adorable! Tonight you were sitting on the couch with your Daddy and I. We were looking through your baby things. Your bracelet from the hospital. Your take home outfit, the sweet little hat, shirt and blanket from the hospital. After seeing the tiny diaper, you looked at me and said "Oh, I was just a little baby doll." It was such a sweet thought you had, and such a true statement. Our sweet baby doll.

When out taking your picture the other day, you saw flowers. You just KNEW your Mama needed a yellow flower. I love that every time you see flowers you pick them for me:)

You just think I am still so funny! I love that! I love laughing with you and playing with you. You have such an infectious and fun laugh!

You are so handsome!!! You have grown so much in the last year and I just love you absolutely to pieces! I wish I could pause time and enjoy this time with you even longer, but am so blessed to get to spend each day with you:)

Just thinking back to the past year, it amazes me how much you have grown and changed! Our sweet Andy at age. 2.

Age 1...so tiny!!!

We love you so much our sweet three year old! Words cannot express how much we love you and how much we love spending time with you!!! HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY ANDY!

It's Raining It's Pouring!

About a week ago we got a few droplets of rain. Noah quickly ran outside to see if he could feel it hitting his face:) A couple of nights before that we had a brief downpour, but Josh, the boys and I were at the movies seeing the Lion King. (that was SO fun!) We were all a tad sad we had missed the highly anticipated rain, but were so pleased to have a few droplets to enjoy!!!!

Last night was super exciting though! I had just put the boys in bed and heard a loud crash, boom, smack on the back porch. The boys flew out of bed and I flipped on the light to see a big gust of wind had flipped over our two rocking chairs and the hanging swing was smacking the post on our porch. The lightning was wild and the storm lasted for about an hour! We were super excited to finally have a bit of rain. Driving through the neighborhood this morning we were amazed how tall all the weeds in the yards had grown just overnight! They must have really wanted rain too:)

When brother is away Andy will play....

This fall has brought about a big change in our household. Noah has started pre-K three mornings a week. Andy goes two mornings a week, meaning each Wednesday is just a Mama and Andy day. Each Wednesday we go to storytime, then we come home and Andy plays and plays and plays. There is such a difference in his personality. He seems much more independent and has a ton of confidence in himself. He really loves driving McQueen around the yard with his Super Why cape on:) That cape has made many trips to HEB and Target! He is such a fun almost three year old!

Mr. Andy Man

Oh Andy. It is hard to believe our sweet Anderson is about to be 3. I am seriously emotional over this. H.O.W. in the world is my baby almost three? Where has the time gone? Why do I feel like it flew by and I want to slow the time down? It seriously makes my heart skip a beat to think of him as a 3 year old. I just love him so much and want him home forever. BUT I know that will not happen, but man alive I love this kid!

Our little Andy man. Man of many names. Andyman, Andypants, Anderson, Andy, And (which is the ONLY name Noah really calls him!), buster, lovebug, sweetie pie, and cutie. This little Andy man is seriously determined. I love that about him. It can be trying, but it is such an amazing part of his personality. Josh and I noticed this about him from the moment he could show us what he wanted. From the throwing up in his crib the MOMENT the door shut. No crying had even happened, it was like he just willed himself to throw up because he just KNEW I would open that door and rescue him. (he was seriously not even a year old!) Then he started talking...and anytime he would want something he would say it over and over. For example... "Milk. Milk. Milk. Milk" until he was acknowledged. Or he would repeat Thank You over and over til her heard a 'You're Welcome.' And now, this persistence is even more prevalent. A big part of that rubs Noah the wrong way, but another big part of it just amazes me. Take for instance tonight.... we had a big day. Noah had a soccer game (he scored his FIRST goal today! He ran down the whole length of the field with that ball, tripped and his head butted it right into the other teams net! It was so exciting to see him get that kind of control over the ball, I was SO proud!) we also went to lunch with my Dad, ran an errand, and did a bunch of projects and chores around the house. Andy took a nap, but even with that still falls asleep around 8:30 or so normally. Well...I mentioned Josh was coming home. He had been out of town with his Dad and he was on his way back. I slipped and mentioned his coming home in front of Andy before he went to sleep. Andy seriously is still awake at 10:58. Josh got home 15 minutes ago and Andy was waiting up for him. Singing songs, looking at books, anything he could do so he would not fall asleep because he wanted his Daddy. That is SO late for a little guy, it is amazing the will it took and the determination to stay up! Although at times I get frustrated by his persistence, I really need to focus on the amazing qualities of it. Plus, it is just an integral part of who our little Andy man is!

I love being a Mama!

All of my life I imagined myself with little girls. Frilly little socks, the white ruffled diaper covers, embroidered dresses, princess clothes, baby dolls, and my little ponies. Seriously. I am so glad I am not the one in charge of these decisions! I feel like God just KNEW our first two children should be boys. I LOVE being a Mama to two boys! If God blesses us someday with a girl, that would be fantastic, but if not, this boy thing is fun!

Here are the reasons I love being a Mama to little boys...

*Tea parties do happen in this house! We just have them with the guests of dinosaurs, Elmo, Mickey, and all our other stuffed friends!

*Bed time stories about super powers and flying through the sky, rodeo clowns and roping, and knights and their castles are really pretty magical

*Collecting sticks, rocks, and dirt is really fun

*I now have a little one to pick bugs up and put them in the trash, back out side, or flush them for me! (Thank you Andy! Noah inherited my squirmy nature with anything creepy crawly, but Andy will bring me any lizard, cricket, spider etc with no fear!)

*Dress-up clothes are super fun, Buzz, Woody, and Cookie Monster are really fun, football players too!

*A whole day spent in the sandbox is a day well made.

*Planes, trains, and automobiles. Pretend, real, you name it...makes their day.

*Little boys are so super sweet. They love me 'to the moon and back' and I just cannot imagine life any other way.

So although a lot of these things may apply for little girls too, I really do love life with our little boys. They made get super dirty, but a warm bath and some lotion and they are the best cuddle bugs on the planet. I sure thank God everyday for knowing just what Josh and I needed. I look forward to the future and seeing if we are blessed with another child, what God thinks will be the right

Dinner Time...

Tonight at dinner my heart really swelled when I heard Noah's prayer. He was praying for the firemen and all those that had fire by them to be safe. It was such a sweet heartfelt prayer and I could tell he was so concerned about the people. He then asked me....

"Mama, is Kristin's house okay?"

.... I really had to compose myself here ...

I replied, "Noah, Kristin does not have a house here on earth. Remember sweetie, she is in heaven."

Noah then said "Is that the same heaven I will go to someday?"

"Yes Noah, if you continue to be good and learn about God and Jesus. Then when you choose you should be baptized, then keep being a good person and then a good man and believing and you can go to heaven." I said.

Noah thought for a second, then said thought after thought "When I am baptized do I have to open my eyes under the water or can I keep them closed? And will the water be deep or can I stand right back up? And do you think eleven will be a good age for that?"

...I was floored. It is amazing to me how much our little four year old knows and understands. His heart is so sweet and so pure, it is such a blessing to see.

At bedtime tonight Andy was singing a little song I had not heard before, he said...

'I love you Lord I love you Lord

I sing with ALL my might'

It was such a sweet little song!

I asked Noah where they learned it and he said at their new school. I am loving hearing all the new songs and all that they are learning about. Then Noah said, Mama it was actually a prayer, not a song. He was able to remember all the words, but now I cannot remember them and he does not want to perform :)

National Celiac Awareness Day... My Story!

Today is National Celiac Awareness Day. It really has made me sit and think back to 17 years ago when I got sick. It made me think about my diagnosis and how few people probably know any of this about me. So, here is my story.....


It was my freshman year in high school, spring semester. The year was 1995. My sister was a senior and was driving me to school. I thought I was so cool! I played the alto saxophone that fall in the marching band and had started playing the baritone saxophone that spring for the concert season. I tried out for Softball and made the high school team. I worked it out with the band directors and the Softball coach to do both. I was seriously on top of the world! I was so excited to be able to do the TWO things I loved the most. One night during a softball game my parents came to the dugout. They asked me if I was okay. I said I was alright, but I felt like I was running in slow motion between the bases. Both my Mom and Dad said, "Amy, you WERE running in slow motion!" I will never forget how sluggish and gross I felt. The following day I stayed home from school sick. My Mom made me a doctor's appointment with our pediatrician, Dr Rahman. (Oh how I miss her! She was also our boys doctor before we moved!) I had a killer sore throat. I was spraying my throat with chloraseptic, which is something I do not like at all. She did some blood work and said I had mono. BLECH. I had not even had my first kiss and here I had the "kissing disease." Thank you softball and probably drinking after someone!


Fast forward a couple of weeks. I had been told I should start feeling better, but I did not AT ALL. I was still so lethargic and was starting to drop weight like crazy. I remember very vividly, I started off weighing 147 pounds. Within just a couple of weeks I weighed about 120. My sister knew my clothes were falling off, and I will never forget she went and surprised me with a new outfit. I still have it. A mauve colored shirt and an elastic waist a-line knee length skirt that was sage green with little mauve flowers on it. I was starting to have horrible stomach cramps. Through Kristin's transplant team my Mom got in touch with the head of pediatric gastroenterology at Texas Children's, Dr. Klish. I started seeing him. At this point I was still losing weight very rapidly. He put me on a feeding tube (NG tube) which is inserted in your nose and goes into your stomach. Through that they pumped in Ensure. I was hospitalized and they started running tests. At this point I had been eating very little and now my only nutrition was Ensure. With the occassional cherry limeade slush with a good friend! All blood tests for Celiac Disease and anything else they could test for came back negative. But I was showing signs of severe arthritis in all joints, my feet were quickly shrinking in size, I shrunk an inch in overall height and was losing my hair at an alarming rate. I could not concentrate. My memory was very poor and all I wanted to do was still sleep. After testing me for osteoporosis, they said I was losing bone mass too. At this point it had been months, with two separate feeding tubes. I was out of school at this point, being homeschooled by a really neat lady the school district sent to my house. Desperately wanting to stay in touch with friends and really feeling sad.


School pictures were quickly approaching, so after a talk with Dr Klish we scheduled the removal of the second feeding tube for the morning of pictures. I vaguely remember my Mom helping me wash my hair that morning, then my Dad taking me to school for pictures. At that point I realized how important it was to be around friends. I had my freshman class picture taken, then headed right back to the medical center to have my third feeding tube put in. We then decided I should maybe try to go to school half days. The fall semester came around and I was still not feeling well. A lot of this is hazy, because my memory did not ever really come back from the time I was so malnourished. Our band directors let me march, even though I could not make it to all practices, games etc. The posters, cards, and calls from all the band members just truly made every day amazing. I marched in every single game. I was homeschooled, but would occasionally try to do half days at school (which usually included band!) as often as I had energy. A lot of that time I had a feeding tube. It was so hard to be seen with it. It was a very vain feeling, but a lot of people did not know what was going on. One kid asked me in Geometry "Are you dyslexic" I know he meant to ask "Are you anorexic" but as I sat munching on my counted out amount of jelly belly jelly beans trying to keep my caloric intake up on days I was unhooked from the feeding pump I am sure I was a sight. But to me, sitting in that classroom amongst the peers I had gone to school with since kindergarten was absolutely theraputic.


During this time I had multiple cat scans, mri's, radioactive isotope tests, six endoscopies, and one horrible test where I had to eat dry chicken and they put three long tubes down my throat that had sensors and I had to sit completely still for hours while they tracked the movement of my food. The only movie they had was Dumb and Dumber. Yikes! None of these tests showed the doctors anything. They ruled out cancer. They ruled out rheumatoid arthritis. They ruled out Celiac Disease. They ruled out Lupus. What was left?


At this point I was going on Tuesdays for weekly weight checks. Slowly the weight kept creeping down til I was about 90 pounds at 5 foot 7. At this point my heart started skipping beats and I had to wear a halter monitor. They called it tachycardia.


My doctor was amazing. I will always love Dr. Klish. Seeing him each week made me happy. My Mom would drive me to him and we would try anything we could to see if I could feel better. Then he threw up his hands and referred us to Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota.


In the next couple of years I went to Mayo Clinic a total of three times. This first time though was the most pivotal. We got to town and checked in at the Ronald McDonald house. The next morning we were scheduled for an appointment. We arrived with all of my boxes of medical records. A team of doctors sat down with those records and began pouring through them. I was called back to see my doctor, Dr. Camilleri. He looked at us and said "She has Celiac Disease." We were shocked. I had been blood tested, stool tested, endescoped. How could I have Celiac? He said "I am pretty certain she has Celiac, but has been on a gluten free diet because of the feeding tubes, therefore her tests came out negative. I think she has another problem which is also masking the symptoms of the Celiac making it even harder to diagnose." WHAT?! So he started dictating in his little recorder then made me 10 or more appointments for the next week.


The tests were pretty wild. One was called a Sweat Test. I was covered from head to toe in a yellow/orange powder. They then put me in an "oven" and "baked" me for over an hour, trying to raise my temperature and get me to sweat. Anywhere that I did sweat would turn purple and they could see how my nervous system was working. I had one tiny ring of sweat around my navel and they aborted the test after over an hour. Another test was called a Radioactive Isotope study. They mixed radiactive isotopes with eggs and had me eat them. Then over the next couple of hours I would return and they would take pictures of my intestines. They learned from this that the eggs were still sitting inside my stomach after many hours of walking. Meaning my instestines were basically not working at all.


Towards the end of the week I had a diagnosis. First, I have Celiac Disease. We were given a small pamphlet on the gluten free diet and were told I needed to adhere to this for life. Second, we were told I had something that only one other person had a recorded diagnoses of... Selective Cholonergic Dysautonomia following accute infectious mononucleosis. Oh the mono, THANKS a lot! The other person to have this Selective Cholonergic Dysautonomia had also seen Dr. Camilleri after many years of problems. My diagnosis and theirs were nearly identical. Basically, the sweat glands, the gastroentestinal tract, and many other parts of the body fail to work. Here is the link for the published article from 1991.


After making many friendships from our week at Ronald McDonald we returned back to Texas. My Mom dove into a gluten free support group (without the help of the internet!) and all the books she could find. After many yucky pastas, cereals, etc she found a good knack at cooking gluten free! Within the next few months my stomach slowly felt better! Within the next few years, my problems from the Dysautonomia became better and after two more visits to Mayo Clinic my Senior year in high school I was back to feeling great! You can just say, the Celiac Disease diagnosis saved my life! It is now a huge blessing. With HEB having a gluten free aisle, General Mills having a gluten free facility to make chex, many restaurants having gluten free menus, a husband that does not mind having a gluten free home (saying he loves me more than food!) and many brands willingly labeling their foods as gluten free (for example Ore Ida!) life has become so easy and instead of Celiac being difficult it is just a way of life!

So nice...

The school year is going along well! Andy was a little hesitant at drop off last week and did not seem to happy with me at pick up either. This morning on the way to school we had a chat. We talked about how me leaving means.... I ALWAYS come back. It also means FUN with friends. And Noah sweetly added "It means I am only TWO rooms away from you at school, Andy!" I love how supportive and helpful Noah can be. Drop off was awesome. Andy ran in his class, sat down on the little striped rug and waved bye! YIPPEE! Noah takes off running and does not look back. He just flat out loves school!

This morning I left the boys and headed for MOPS. I loved every second. Sometimes I have a hard time feeling like I fit in. A ton of the ladies are super cute, with adorable fun clothes, and funky jewelry and they all know each other because their husbands are in the residencies at our local hospital. BUT then I got to thinking.... we are ALL there for the same reason. We are stay at home Mom's...we have young children, we love God, and we want to find a bond, eat snacks, visit, talk about the bible and how to make home life easier, and do crafts! At that moment I relaxed a bit and hope to have made some more friends.

We had a really great lesson today, one that really stood out to me and I wanted to remember. One of the members read this blog post... click here to read it. I definitely plan on re-reading this over the next years as the boys grow older and our lives change. It just had so many great points!

Pick up today went great! Andy was so excited and so happy. Noah was too! We are very excited that Noah's soccer practices start tonight. Andy really wants to play too. He is not old enough until next year. I did get him a yellow pair of soccer socks though, so he can at least dress like big brother!

A few cute things... lately Noah has taken to calling Andy "And" It is just a cute little shortened nickname. Andy has continued to tell him, "Noah, my name is ANDY!" Noah said today "I know And, but I like giving you a nickname" Andy then replied "My name is not nickname, my name is Andy!" Funny!

The boys got sick over the weekend. My folks were in town yesterday, because we had all just returned from a trip to Ft Worth from one of my childhood friends weddings. I woke up and ran to the store so I could get our weekly shopping done without the kids, in case they did not start feeling better. While at Wally World I picked each boy out a pair of black skeleton pj's that glow in the dark. When Noah was laying down to nap he said "Mama, my bones are hurting!" I replied "I am sorry, do they have a tag on them?" Noah then said "No Mama, my real bones, like under my skin!" Then less than five minutes later I heard Andy yelling from the closet "My bones are glowing! My bones are glowing!" I can only imagine how strange those things would sound to someone listening in but not seeing their pj's! SO funny!

Fishers of Men

I love it when I hear singing in the house. Usually the boys are playing and not even realizing they are singing. Today Andy was singing a favorite, one I knew Noah knew, but did not realize how much of it Andy could sing. He was singing...
Magnify oh magnify
Magnify our God and Father
Magnify of magnify

It just makes my heart so happy to hear him singing about God!

Just now Noah was playing on the porch singing. I did not recognize the song. I asked him what it was and he said "It is one I learned today at that new school you took me too." Then he sang these words...

I will make you fishers of men
fishers of men
fishers of men
I will make you fishers of men
if you follow me
if you follow me
if you follow me
I will make you fishers of men
if you follow me

So neat! I love that he sang it today at school and is already singing it!

First Day of School!

Such big boys.
Such an exciting day!

Running around the yard yelling - "School time!"

Being sweet and posing for pictures for Mama

(I love Andy's little legs in the background below)

Noah starting his first year of pre-school. He leaves behind him two fun years of MDO and now gets to go three mornings a week! He is super excited and cannot wait to learn to read!

Our little Mr. Andyman, he is starting his second year of MDO. He will go two mornings and is so excited to go to class with friends! He is also excited that one day a week it will just be a Mommy and Andy morning!

Time to go!

So excited!

The boys were so excited to go to their new school and had such a fun day! Andy really liked his teacher and had a great day with no accidents. He loved getting to paint and read books with Ms. Leslie. Noah was most excited about his an adorable picture he colored of an apple and a necklace he made of noodles. He said Ms. Kristie was really really nice and that he made a few new friends! All in all, a really great day!!!!

***This morning made me really stop and remember the past two years of our first days of school. I had to go back and look at my blog posts of our adorable little babies. These two have grown so much!!! Click if you want to see the posts from last year and the year before.

Daddy's Little Helpers

Josh has been hard at work getting our  new house fixed up.  He has tiled the bathrooms, kitchen, breakfast room, and laundry room.  We have new wood floors in the living, master bedroom, and carpet in the boys rooms and upstairs.  Dad, Josh, and I (and a friend) have painted every room in the house.  We have almost finished putting in new baseboards.  Crown molding comes soon.  Josh and I painted the kitchen cabinets.  We got new counter tops, dishwasher and a sink.  We refaced the fireplace.  We have a million and one other projects still going on, but NONE of them could have happened if it was not for Daddy's Little Helpers.  They have their own measuring tapes (they call them measurements) that they bring to the hardware store along with us.  Josh was measuring for the new back splash we were headed to buy for him to install and the boys starting measuring too.  It is always good to double check the work!

                           

Josh working on the board and batten a couple of weeks ago - more posts about that soon!

 

Noah "installing" baseboards.  That day Josh was running around in a swimsuit and no shirt working, so so was Noah!  I love the drink and apron sitting in the boys bathroom floor - ha!

 

Josh taping off the countertops getting ready to install the back splash!  We were finally putting on the cabinet doors that day (YIPPEE!) and you can see the board and batten a little in the background.  We LOVE how that turned out!

Rare sleepy moments...

Ever since Andy could walk, he just does not slow down.  He is one of those little boys that just goes goes goes.  I love that about him, but also it makes Josh and I really miss those sweet baby cuddles.  Andy is quickly nearly his third birthday (sniff, sniff) and he is still such a little guy, but is growing so quickly.  I miss just holding him for hours.  He has reached the age where missing a nap is okay, but it does mean he will be asleep for the night around 6:30-7.  We do not miss naps often, but last weekend he did miss his nap.  He was sitting on the couch with Josh watching a movie and just feel right to sleep.  Josh was so happy, because cuddling Andy like this is so rare.  Josh just laid back and enjoyed every moment of the cuddles.  Which then sent me running for the camera, since I had not seen this sweet sight in so long!

Andy is just growing up way too fast.  His favorite thing to yell is "Moses says LET MY PEOPLE GO!" and yells it in this hilarious little country boy voice.  He loves singing "Five little ducks went out to play, over the hills and far away.  One little duck went quack quack...."  while playing his ukulele.   He loves food, but does not eat much.  He is moving into the 3T shirts, but still wears mainly 12 month shorts and some 18 month shorts.  He can write the letter A and the letter H.  He can count to 20 and almost always gets blue and red confused.  He loves his brother, and loves pestering his brother equally.  His favorite color is yellow.  Everything needs to be yellow.  He has a yellow room.  Yellow silverware.  Yellow bowl.  And really wants yellow crocs for his birthday!  We met his teacher this morning for his new MDO and he is really excited about his class.  If he gets embarrassed (which sadly happens often) he either starts swinging like he is going to hit or spits.  He is a little riot!  Andy wants to do everything on his own.  He does a great job with going potty and loves to swim (but not put his head under water!)  He truly melts my heart and I cannot imagine not being with him every moment of every day!  I love you Andy!!!

Treasure Chests

The boys really love the new Disney show Jake and the Neverland Pirates. They walk around all day singing "yoho let's go, jake and the neverland pirates!" We have been talking lots about pirates lately and what they looked for or kept in treasure chests. The boys each decided they needed treasure chests. I was so excited. We went to Hobby Lobby for all the supplies and picking them while singing about pirates was really cute:)

Painting and decorating the pirate chests was some serious work!         

                                                  

It was more fun watching the boys paint and you can tell from Andy's "moustache" a treat of fruit punch Gatorade was super exciting too!

Sweet thoughts...

After bible class tonight the picture Noah colored blew away in the wind. First I thought it was Andy's and poor Andy in his sad pouty voice said "Mama, but I made that fooooorrrrr YOU!" Then I looked in the front seat and realized it was Noah's. Poor Noah then busted into tears. Then he said "OH! God made the wind, so maybe God can send it back to our house and we can find it?!" ... I sure wish that was possible!

We have been experiencing a severe drought and heat around here with just no signs of rain. When we stepped out of church tonight Noah said with complete certainty, "I SMELL RAIN!" I was shocked when he said it, even more shocked when I started seeing lightning! I have my own little rain sensor! I hope we smell it a lot more often in the next few months!!!

I am back!

Whew, it has been a crazy couple of months. Josh has been working tirelessly on the new house, we finally got all packed up and moved. If it had not been for my parents watching the boys, Josh having time off, and Josh's parents and brother's help it would not have happened. It feels so good to be under our new roof! We still have lots to do, lots of boxes to unpack...but swimming at the new neighborhood pool, riding bikes, and playing in the sand box have been of upmost importance. That and a few rounds of strep throat, croup, and two or so viruses. Sheesh. Our internet finally worked today! We had a couple of missing cords, router, etc...but we are finally in business and I can get back to blogging! I missed it here!

Someday...

In the car today Noah said... "Mama, when I grow up I am going to be a race car driver, a soldier and an airplane racer!" Andy then said "Mommy, I'm going to be a race car driver too!" It was so adorable to hear them talk, but I sure hope they will pick something a bit safer than race car drivers or airplane racers! (what is that anyways?!)

Later on Noah asked me "Where is heaven?" Andy piped up and said "With God!" It was so cute. I explained to the best of my abilities and Andy then yelled "I'm gonna sit with Lane in heaven!" Noah then responded "And I'm gonna sit with Kole!" It was just the sweetest thing. (Lane & Kole are two adorable little friends of ours from church, school and everyday!)

I love our little guys so much. Noah said to me earlier when talking about Kristin, "You know Mommy, when you miss her, just think of her at night when you are in bed." I thought, wow, you really gets it! Such good advice from such a little guy. Last night Andy and I were feeling yucky and he was laying in bed with me cuddling. We were singing songs and talking. He was rubbing my cheek and saying in his sweet paused way "I love you Mommy" and I started singing Jesus Loves Me, he said, "that's my song!" He asked what Noah's song was. I sang "Twinkle Twinkle." He asked what Daddy's was, I did not know so he suggested "Jingle Bells or chicken fried" and we did not come up with one for me except maybe "Goodnight sweetheart." It was such a sweet moment. One I will cherish forever!

bed time...

When Andy was born I took care of his bedtimes and Josh took care of Noah's. We had a little joke of saying to one another "You got yours? I got mine?!" Then we would boast a bit as to who's 'kid' was asleep first. Then Andy got older and quit nursing, then really just had one over on us both. We would literally stay in his room sitting there watching him til he fell asleep, because if you dare just step outside of his room he would literally throw up everywhere instantaneously. It was gross and just not fun. Fast forward til a couple of months ago. Josh and I were just worn down and Andy was winning. Finally we said, enough is enough, and we told Andy the new plan, that he would have to stay in bed in his room by himself, or we would shut the door. Period. Amazingly it immediately worked. Josh took over Andy duties and I got the sweet joy of Noah. I was so happy to read Noah stories, say prayers with him and cuddle. Noah has been a dream getting to sleep since he was about 15 months old. He goes to sleep quickly and stays there til he is asleep. He also likes to go to bed early. Andy is a night owl, takes forever to go to sleep and is a light sleeper. So... there have been some nights lately where I am the one putting both boys down... Josh has been busy getting our new house move in ready! (My Dad and I have too, but during the day!) Tonight Andy is like a jack in the box with me, up and out of bed, every five minutes. I went to check on him once and he was not even in his room. He was in my bathroom. I asked him what he was doing and he responded "Ust looking at stuff" as he meddled with my contact vials. Then I watched him sneak a piece of cheese out of the fridge then run back to his room. And just now I went in to talk to him again (because sadly shutting the door is not working tonight because he figured out how to take off the child knob) and he said, "Noah's eyes are closed, he is nice. My eyes open, I rude. See Mama I nice now" and he shut his little eyes and squeezed them tight. Sigh. Oh, I hear him in the hall again - wish me luck!!!! :)

p.s. I really love bedtime with Andy too, he gives such sweet kisses and hugs and has to say with purpose good night, I love you and loves loves loves to sing me "Goodnight Sweetheart, it's time to go, I hate to leave you but I really must say, goodnight sweetheart good night" and it sounds like "good night schweetheart its time to go i hate to leave but i must stay, good night schweetheart good night." It is one of the best moments of the day, but writing the above note I was just tired because I had repeated that part at least 20 times already:)

Eat your dinner, please!

Dinner time is usually fairly peaceful at our house. We have found that lighting a candle seems to mesmerize the boys a bit and they sit still much longer than normal. That and we have a dinner time game that is a ton of fun and makes dinnertime really enjoyable. The boys love to "read" cars to us. Each and every time Andy says "What's your favorite movie, Mama?" Noah has a great imagination with "reading" his cards...he asks questions like "What is your favorite combination of foods?" or "What was your favorite day ever?" I did not know he knew to use the word combination until playing the game the other night!

A couple of nights ago dinnertime was much different with Andy than normal. He was not feeling well, but until this point I had no idea. He was sitting there and Josh told him if he did not eat his dinner he would not get a snack later. We were not going to throw away his dinner and then make him something else. He looked Josh right in the face and yelled "BUT I WANT MY BESSERT!!!!!!!!!!!" OOoooh it was funny! We do not often eat sweets right after dinner, so it was funny to us that Andy wanted dessert, especially without having had dinner, but the clarity of the B in the front of the word as Bessert was just hilariously cute!!!!! Sadly, we then realized he was really not feeling well, because Josh said "okay, eat your dinner and you can have bessert" and Andy still did not eat his dinner. It was so cute:)

Heard in our house…

Tonight when it FINALLY started raining Noah thought the thunder was a jet!  That really cracked me up!  I opened the curtains so Andy could see the rain and he yelled “I wanna drink it!”  It cracked me up – shows we have not had rain in way too long!

One of my favorite moments of the day is when the boys are taking a bath and they want to wash their bodies.  They both stand up, side by side and sing “Wash your body, wash your body, wash your shoulders, wash your arm pits, etc….”  It is just too cute!

New house!

We are SOOOOO excited!  We soon will have a new address!  We closed on our new house last week and were so ready to get started working.  Below are a few BEFORE pictures, as we progress with the updates I will post some new pictures. 

One thing we are BOTH so excited about is the nice yard!  We cannot wait to get out there and play with the kids!!!  These photos were taken the day we closed, so no yard work or anything had been done yet.

The shed that just needs a new door and dog run we will remove….

The other side of our yard….

Looking at the fireplace from the dining room….

 

Looking at the front door from the fireplace….

 

And….the covered back porch!  I CANNOT wait to paint that ceiling baby blue!  :)

So many updates, so many changes!

I really need to make a point of blogging more often!!

First off, I have to say a couple of things about our sweet boys. It is unbelievable - they are friends! They WANT to play together. They want to wrestle, tumble, push cars, crash cars, take baths, and even nap in the same room! (when Noah does nap that is:)) It is such a blessing and something we have hoped and prayed for. Having them so close in age was rough at the beginning, but now I really see so many benefits to this age gap!

Mr Andy pants. WOW. He decided last Tuesday night that Wednesday morning he was wearing underwear. Period the end. Wednesday was a long day in the potty with him. But amazingly it was my favorite day with him ever. Noah was so encouraging and sweet. He kept talking to Andy about what a big boy Andy was and even gave Andy the special RC Drifting Lightning McQueen we gave him when he got potty trained! It was the sweetest moment between the two of them. Andy was so excited by Noah's gift and Noah was so proud to give it. The neatest thing about the day was the fact that Andy was truly the center of attention. He absolutely loved it. He was just precious. He decided he was going potty on the "potty train" not being potty trained:) And he was going in the tunnel. I LOVE that. A week later and he is doing awesome! Max 2 accidents a day since Friday - that is amazing! It was such a breeze!

The sweetest thing about Andy - he loves giving kisses, Daddy hugs and baby hugs. But his kisses melt my heart, he has to either grab both my cheeks when he does it, but it is so gentle, just placing both palms against my face. Or he places one sweet hand, which has almost lost the little baby dimples on them, around the back of my head. Then when we put him to bed if you say "Good Night Andy" you then have to make eye contact with him, so he can say "Good night Mama" or "Good Night Daddy" and know you are listening. He does the same thing when he says I love you...he has to know you are paying attention. What a better moment to give him my undivided:)

Noah is just growing up to be so sweet and compassionate. Also just so full of energy! He has given up naps 95% of the time, so by the end of the evening he is just moving constantly to keep himself awake:) He loves being Daddy's helper. Especially with Grampy's old Mater truck, but loves washing cars, painting, and really wants to do dishes for me:) I hope he still wants to when he is old enough for me to trust him with them!

I feel so blessed to have our little family. Josh and I had the best day together today. We closed on our new house yesterday and spent today putting color up on the walls so we could choose paint colors, then we tore down the wallpaper in the master bath, boys bath, and breakfast room. It was so much fun to have that time with him! We even got some lunch and ate together at the house. FUN fun fun!

:)

Target employee saves the day!

Sometimes shopping trips are really fun, sometimes they are something from my worst nightmares, and sometimes they include some really funny moments. Yesterday we needed to go to Target. The boys were very excited, because Target has toys and they like to look! When we got there they wanted the big cart, the kind that has the two seats facing each other in the front. I would rather Andy ride in a normal cart and Noah walk, but they said they would behave, so sometimes all works out fine in that kind of cart, other times, not so much. We started off towards the paper towels and the boys were just being sweet, talking to each other, keeping their feet away from each other (I mean seriously, who thought having their feet face each other is a good idea?!?) We get over by the paper towels and Andy decides he needs to kiss Noah on the arm, over and over again. At first Noah was laughing, then he quickly was annoyed. We asked Andy to stop and he just kept kissing Noah. I asked Noah to get out of the cart and walk, but he was very tired and wanted to ride. Andy said "I walk! I walk!" I decided to try it. Andy really did pretty well. He was a pretty good listener and we got the other couple of things we needed and headed for the check out. At that point I needed them both to sit still in the cart so I could pay, I put them in the cart and they both started whining "He's touching me!" "I want to walk!" "I want to touch that!" etc. etc. At that point I figured they could just whine for another second and check out more quickly, then trying to make them happy, then leave. Then a Target employee comes up, says "Shhhhhh" in a whisper, gives them each a "quiet" sticker and tells them they cannot talk until we get home! Noah started to ask why, but she quickly shushed him again and I finished checking out. They were seriously ridiculously quiet. It was awesome. We pulled in the driveway and Andy decided he could peel off his sticker and proclaimed "We can talk now!" It was hilarious, and awesome too... So Thank You Target lady named Samantha, I hope the visit I had with your manager by phone later today served you well, I really appreciated you today!!!

Snow Flakes!

After our big snow the boys came home and got to see some flakes!  I was overly excited!!!

Noah seeing the snow flakes from the porch!

I was really super cold.  The boys were perfectly content to run up on the porch out of the wind for a minute, then continue running around in the yard.  That seemed to be enough warmth for them!  We had so much fun playing outside, even though it was not even 20 degrees out!!!

MDO Parent Lunch & Program

Josh and I were invited to Noah and Andy’s Mother’s Day Out for a parents lunch and short little program.  I get SO super excited over these things and it did not disappoint.  It was absolutely adorable!

When we first arrived Josh and I found our table which had us seated with the boys.  They had Noah, then me, then Andy, then Josh.  On Josh and my plates were little crafts the boys made for us, along with adorable little tags.

The kids put on adorable performance for us!!!

Andy’s facial expression did not change much throughout the entire program!  He ended up sick that night, so I do not know if that is why he was not participating or if he had stage fright:) 

Noah was quite the little ham!

After the performance a yummy lunch was served!  Salad, lasagna, bread and brownies! The boys really enjoyed the lasagna!!!

THE PERFORMANCE:)

Texas Snow!

Having been born and raised in Texas, a ground sticking snow just does not happen often!  The week of our big snow the boys were with my folks at their house, while I frantically cleaned out closets, did laundry, sorted through old toys and prepared for a garage sale, that we thought would not happen, because of the snow!

I seriously purged our house.  The boys closets went from mayhem to a nice place for the things, without needing a hazard sign when the doors were opened.  My closet was rid of all things that do not fit, and the kitchen cabinets were purged of all things either too bulky or just not used!  It felt good! 

The night the snow came Josh and I were like little kids!  We kept running outside in the dark to feel the flakes on our faces.  It was so fun!  We even woke up at 2 in the morning to see if it was still snowing, and it was!  We woke up the next morning to this!  Josh’s work was cancelled, which was awesome, because he had already taken the day off to help me around the house.  We finished up a lot of things, and then even ventured into the garage to work in there for a bit.  BUT then the ice on the driveway started to refreeze and so did my fingertips, so we moved back inside to get more done. 

Saturday morning we woke up to ice and snow still in the grass, but a forecast that looked like it should really warm up.  We set up our garage sale out front, opting instead for a yard sale since our alley was still VERY slippery because it is in the shade.  The awesome thing – we ended up having VERY good business and made almost $500!  We still have a lot to donate, but I refused to let it all come back in the house.  We boxed it all up and this upcoming weekend I am hoping to get Josh to take it all to goodwill.  I have a couple of things to sell on ebay/craigslist, but the rest of it I just want gone!!!  Such a good feeling!  I still have one closet I have not fully tackled, but out of the 6 total, it feels good to have only one left!

Here are the fun pictures we took the morning of the snow!  I was SO very sad the boys missed it, but was thankful to be there with Josh and hopeful the boys would see at least some flakes in the weeks to come (which thankfully they did!)