Merry Christmas!

This past week was a lot of fun! We went back to Houston to work around our house and took the time to do some shopping, see Santa, play in the backyard and eat gluten free pizza!

I was a bit nervous about going to see Santa. Noah's experience last year was not the greatest. This year he was so excited! After sitting in Santa's lap he ran back up to him and gave him a hug and a kiss. He is still telling me, a whole week later, "Mama, I kiss Santa." So sweet. Andy slept from the moment we left home until the moment we returned back home!
We had so much fun playing in the yard! Noah really seemed to enjoy running around and playing. His new favorite phrase is 'I fast." And he is right, he is VERY fast. He swang for a long time, played with his Grampy with a ball and bat for even longer. I took this picture while he was out in the yard. It is one of my new favorites.

Our sweet little Andy loves to laugh, coo and say "agoo." Noah loves to kiss him and say "agoo agoo" over and over to him. Or when Andy sneezes, Noah says "Achoo baby, achoo." Andy smiles when we go to pick him up now. It is one of the best feelings in the world!

And yes...I had to take a picture of this awesome sticker on the pizza box! I LOVE that it says, this pizza is gluten free!! SO danged cool. AND yummy too!
Noah is loving all the Christmas lights everywhere. We took him to the BLORA Nature in Lights in Belton and he was hilarious - he kept saying "lights, mores lights. choo choo train, santa, bear, ooooh lights." SO cute.

If I do not get a chance to post before Christmas, I truly hope that everyone enjoys their families and has a wonderful time!

"V V Hot Mama!"

Well, we are here in central Texas! It is hard to believe how much we have done and how much has changed in just the last few weeks! We listed our house for sale, moved, Josh started a new job and started looking for a new house while living in an apartment! Our apartment is much better than we all expected. Is plenty big and has plenty of storage. Allie is adjusting to life tethered to a leash and Noah has asked many times for "Out. Bat. Ball. House." Meaning he wants to go out in our backyard to play with his bat, ball and little house. We have quickly taken to water colors, markers, crayons, flashcards, and train sets to keep us busy! We have even learned some new songs! Noah's new favorites are Skidamarink a dink a dink, BINGO, and of course his old favorites of Bumble Bees, Wheels on the bus, BIBLE, etc.

Last week both boys got pretty sick and we made our first trip into town to find a pediatrician. 30 miles to the nearest pedi and 16 to the closest Wal-Mart is strange for this city girl. The offices were very nice and the staff very helpful, but not the same as Dr. Rahman...I even ended up calling her office for her opinion after getting an RSV diagnosis on both boys. Noah is doing almost 100% better and Andy is doing a lot better too. Andy is still very congested and has a huge cough, but I took him back today and they said his lungs sound nice and clear. And he is over 12 pounds and is over 23 inches!!! WOW!

So this past week has been an adventure. The first day here I decided that the 32 miles round trip to Wal-Mart would not happen often. I would stock up and then go as needed. I could use the local small store for perishables. I went to the Brookshire Brothers here in town and was SHOCKED to find GF pantry items and our tinkyada rice pasta!!! It is the small things in life that make me happy, and I practically did a dance in the middle of the aisle! I did go find the manager and said "thanks for carrying these items!" After checking out the sacker immediately started wheeling my cart out to the car. I was so surprised. Back home they only do that if you ask. So - I got out my tip money and he opened my car, unloaded the groceries and went to walk off. I stopped him, handed him the tip, and he looked at me like I had grown horns! I guess that is not customary here, but for this girl, tipping sackers is...I did marry someone that used to rely on them!!! Another pleasant surprise was at the CVS. Which I was shocked to find out this town had!!! They do not have a drive through, and the boys were sick and sleeping...so I was not going to go in to drop off the prescriptions. So when I called the lady to find out which town nearby has a drive thru pharmacy, she said she would come out and get it from me! I LOVE small town hospitality!

THEN...the mother of all amazing stories. I drive the boys to the big town 30 miles away this morning so Andy can see the pediatrician. We meet Josh in the parking lot so he can watch Noah and I can take Andy in. (since Noah was on the well side of this, we figured he did not need to go in and catch something else!) I go in and start registering Andy and the girl in front of me is doing the same. I just made small talk and asked if they were new in town. I noticed her boy was not much older than Noah and thought..."potential friend?... Through talking, I found out she not only had moved to the area just two weeks ago, but also moved thirty miles from where we were to the same small town we are in AND lives just four apartments down from us!!! UNBELIEVABLE! I was truly in the right place at the right time. We exchanged numbers and I cannot wait for our first playdate!

Now...for photos of our sweeties!!!!

Noah and Andy playing on the tummy time mat in our house prior to moving!

We have been so blessed to have visits with both sets of grandparents since we moved in! We truly enjoyed that time with everyone. I know Noah enjoyed it especially!!!

Last night we decided it was time to bake sugar cookies with Noah!!! He was such a big helper! He dumped the mix, tossed in the butter, poured in the milk and vanilla, cut out the shapes and picked the colors! We made gingerbread men, christmas trees, and stars...as Noah said "man, trees, and stars!"

I was so thankful the mix did not call for eggs! Noah decided the mix was VERY good and wanted to taste each cookie prior to baking!

Once we finished our decorating Josh and Noah went for a bath and the cookies finished before they did. When Noah got out I told him he had to wait a minute because the cookies were "Very Very Hot." Here is one of his beautiful creations. Note the finger swipe through the middle!!!

YUM! The finished product was TASTY!!!!
The best part was this morning. Josh got Noah out of bed and he came running to me saying "Cookie, Star, PLEASE!" Absolutely I thought! I have had many breakfasts of chocolate cake or brownies, so why not a cookie! The funniest part was when we took the cold container of cookies out of the fridge and handed one to Noah and he looked at me and said "V V hot Mama!" Yes Noah, very very hot:)

And a last picture of our sweet Andy to end this note. He was two months old yesterday!!! He has slept through the night four times now and is doing so well! He is laughing and cooing and loves peak a boo!

Happy Tuesday!

"Lights, Mores Lights!"

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope that you are all having a fantastic holiday with your families and friends!!! We celebrated yesterday with my folks - since they are headed to cheer on the Aggies tonight - and Noah and Andy slept right through the festivities!!!

Noah must have been tuckered out from playing in the yard in his new coon skin hat!!!

After his nap, we put up the tree - he was SOOOO excited! He tried blowing them out like they were candles! Then he yelled "Lights, mores lights!" We decorated our tree with non-breakable ornaments, so he helped put them on. He kept shouting "balls, balls!" He was so excited again this morning to see the tree!!!

Our sweet Andy....he is laughing and cooing...and just melting our hearts.

Noah gobbling up the turkey leg!!! He kept saying YUM...MMMM....HMMMM.... must have been GOOD!

We have spent today working around the house, trying to get it ready to put it on the market. We will be leaving for our new adventure to central Texas. Josh has a new job, which sounds like a very good opportunity. We are excited about the new opportunities, but are so sad to leave behind our friends and my folks. We hope for many visits at our new home...since we know absolutely NO one in the boonies where we are moving!!!

The Proud Big Brother:)

It took a month, but Noah is finally really loving Andy. He even held him by himself for the first time today!!!! He is loving Andy so much that while I was feeding Andy, Noah wanted to hold him. I asked him to wait and then asked if he would like to watch Super Why while Andy ate, then he could hold him. He shook his head no, then said "Baby?" reaching for Andy like he wanted him. Now that is love, to choose your baby brother over your favorite show!!! I was SO excited at this break through!

Noah holding Andy for the first time

Our sweet Andy this morning after his bath
Noah is really growing up - yesterday he took his own shirt off for the first time and even buckled his carseat! I just hope that does not lead to him quickly learning how to unbuckle it though!!! I am so blessed to have such a beautiful family!

Almost a month old!

Noah is doing so well the past couple of days! He has had a hard transition since Andy came home and he has been doing really great! Our new favorite game is to play "Ring Around the Rosy." He just thinks it is hilarious when Josh and I fall on the floor! Whenever we finish he says "On On!" which to him means, "DO IT AGAIN!" He says the same thing whenever we finish reading a book and he wants us to read it again. SO cute!!!

Josh had a really nice birthday! It was so funny though....Noah found Josh's stack of birthday cards and opened one of the envelopes. He pulled the card out, handed it to me and said "Cute!" Then he opened the card and looked very sad and said "BROKEN!" Silly kiddo, he is so used to everyone giving us the musical cards, because he loves them so much, that when Josh's card did not play music he thought it was broken! Ha!!!!

Josh took this photo of Noah in our bathtub....Noah absolutely loves bubble baths and the moment he has finished his dinner he tells us "Bath?!"

Here is a picture of our sweet Andy! I cannot believe this little boy will be a month old tomorrow. It is hard to believe a month ago right now Josh and I were checking in at St Lukes getting ready to be induced. That seems like both a lifetime ago and just like yesterday. Andy is sleeping pretty well. He absolutely loves to be swaddled. If we lay him down without doing so, he wakes right back up. Definitely an easy fix!

Well, I am off to feed Andy and head to bed for a couple of hours:)

Growing like a weed!

We took our sweet Andy to the doctor today for his check up - and he is growing like a weed! He is now 8 lbs 14 ozs and 21.5 inches long! He is doing great! The only thing the dr did say was for me to watch my dairy intake, because he does not seem to do well with it. No big deal, since I up until now have been lactose intolerant most of my life!!

Noah is doing great! He cracked us up on our way to the dr today. He kept yelling boona (balloon) and bus whenever he saw them out his window, then bye bye boona and bye bye bus. It was SO cute!

A funny video of Noah!

Please go to www.dropshots.com/josht to check out a hilarious new video of Noah! I tried uploading it here, but it was too big!

Happy Halloweenie!!!

It has been awhile since my last post, so I thought I would start with a picture of the newest love of our lives. Our sweet Andy was born on October 8th at 4:24. He weighed 7 lbs 3 ozs and was 19 1/4 inches long. We are so in love! Noah is still adjusting to life with a little brother, but today he gave Andy (or as he says D) a hug, so he is definitely getting used to him!

Andy is doing great! He is growing like a weed and is less yellow each and every day. He is such a sweet, good baby. We are truly blessed.

The sweet big brother, Noah and his bear.

We took this picture tonight while Noah was running around playing. He was having a blast!

Andy was so cute in his little "Baby's First Halloween" outfit!!

Noah getting on his adorable frog prince costume! Thank you Kyla, Mason and Mrs. Schorp for letting us borrow it!!!

Trick or Treat! Noah was so cute! The houses of our friends he would run up, then attempt to run in the house to play with the kids! The houses of people we do not know he was clingy and just wanted to say "Bye Bye!"



Our sweet little pumpkin!!!

We got a hilarious video too...it is not wanting to upload, so stay tuned!!!!!

Lots of updates!

We have lots of news! I talked to my doctor this morning and they will admit me tomorrow night to start the induction process! Our sweet little Andy should make his arrival sometime on Wednesday! I cannot wait to meet this little guy and hold and squeeze him!!! We have been playing lots in anticipation of his arrival. We went to the Pumpkin Patch this weekend and fishing at my folks land the weekend before. It was fun!

Here are some of the photos from our fishing expedition!

Noah sitting in the chair with his fishing rod like such a big boy!
I loved this photo - Noah is sitting in the chair holding onto his rod!
Grampy caught the only fish of the day!
We put the little guy back after showing it to Noah!

The Pumpkin Patch was an absolute blast! Noah and I rode the train and he said choo choo and toot toot the entire way around! He LOVED climbing on all the pumpkins and even got to pick one out for himself and for his baby brother Andy. Josh put two small pie pumpkins on the ground and Noah picked one for himself, then put two smaller ones on the ground and Noah picked one for Andy. He even carried Andy's out to the car!

Noah loved the tractor. He looks like such a big boy in this picture to me! I asked Noah to sit on one of the pumpkins, this is him backing up to sit on it! SO CUTE!
He was all over them!

He was also fearless with the goats! We asked him what they were and he said "Ar Arf," meaning he thought they were dogs. But then when we asked what a goat said, he did say "Maaa Maaa!"

Taking Noah to the pumpkin patch made us both nostalgic about our trip there last October! Noah has changed so much this past year! So, here is a picture from October 21, 2007!!!

He is just talking up a storm and really so much fun. I cannot wait to see what he thinks of little Andy! He keeps saying things that really crack us up. Last week he was being a bit bad and I told him he was a turkey, so he looked at me and said "Gobble Gobble!" GOODNESS! Then today we went for a walk and he said to the three year old little girl down the street "Hiya Mama!" Just the way he said it was hilarious!!!

Updates on our two boys coming soon!!!!

My own Alton Brown....

While Josh was out of town recently he was watching the food network....and learned how to make fried plantains. We absolutely love them at Churrasco's....so he came home and decided to attempt Alton's version - and WOW were they tasty! So of course...I had to document it:)



It was fun to try them! It was funny though - it was Friday night and we were cooking dinner at 9 pm....after Noah had gone to bed...we had food for him for dinner, but not for us, so we decided to wait until after he went to bed. Amazing how things change once you have kiddos!!! And I LOVE it!:)