Dance Show

Just got back from Noah's first dance show. He had a bad experience a couple of weeks ago because he had to wear and funny hat. Apparently the other girls laughed at him. Of course his hat was completely different from the others. Maybe that's because he is the only boy. We going to be on a break for awhile so I hope he continues to like dance class afterwards. I guess it won't be the end of the world if he doesn't keep dancing - he just looks so cute. I think it teaches him discipline too.

Ultimately, he did go up and dance. He didn't quit! And he was brave! Plus we bribed him with lots of cookies if he danced.

Made Blogger Easier

It is very late, and I have become the expert procrastinator. I figured out how to change the background finally. Well, blogger also made it easier. Blog for dummies! Thank-you.

My first semester of grad school is almost over. Unfortunately, I started off good, then the s... hit the fan. I've been keeping up with the things that I need to. We'll see.

Noah is almost, almost potty trained. It is a long process, and still not perfected. He trashed his room yesterday, took all his clothes out of drawers. Geez! He also was peeing on the carpet a couple of times. Don't know why, I'm guessing he enjoyed the designs he could make with his wee. He stopped doing that when we threatened to take away all of his toys.

Today we did crafty things. I need to plan a craft for everyday after school. At least while the weather is cold. We made a Hannukah wreath and a dreidel decoration. We had fun.

Eli is getting better at sleeping. He's been asleep for about six hours now. Wow! That's a first. As soon as do lay my head down, he'll probably wake up. That' kind of why I stay awake, because inevitably he's going to wake me up right?

He's already 14 pounds and super cute. He coos and smiles. He has a very different disposition than Noah, seems more content with his environment.

Things are plateauing for the moment. We are getting the hang of two kids and our crazy lives. Now we have to get ready to change everything with a big move. But that's not for a while.

okay...sleepy...sleepy....

Welcome

Eli Josiah
Born October 2 at 8:32 am.
71bs 12 oz, 19 and 3/4 inches long

And I thought life was crazy before October 2.

Arrrr...Matey

We be havin' awesome weather today. It's almost chilly and strangely fall like. Sigh, the sun is coming out.

We had fun this weekend doing free stuff. We built a pirate ship on Saturday and Sunday was Free Museum day, so we went to the Bob Bullock Museum for a little while, it was a little to dark and scary for Noah. Then we went to the Lady Bird Johnson Wild Flower Center, which is full of gorgeous flowers. It is also really calm and peaceful, and Noah got to run around, another plus.

We hope to put some of these flowers in a our yard some day, Snow on The Prairie.

Apparently, these days there is only one space between sentences. I have to really concentrate to break the habit of two spaces. Why doesn't this info make the news?

Arrrrr!

Dancin Shoes

(getting ready for dance class)

Dance class went well, he seemed to really like it. He is the only boy, hopefully, he won't notice or mind that for a while. He doesn't really get the moves, but he is watching and trying, which is something. And he gets to wiggle around and go nutso.

We have been telling Noah different names that his brother or sister might be and asking if he likes the name.

He keeps saying, "No, I want a brother (sister) named Mickey Mouse." We are no longer asking for his help in naming the baby.

Happy Grandparents day

to Mimi, PawPaw, Bubbe, Zeitie.

We had a busy weekend - We went to tot Shabbat on Friday, and Noah started doing some of the sign language for the Sh'ma for the first time, which was pretty awesome. Went for a run Sat. Noah is loving running and we need to find some kids 1ks to run. Also, went to b-day party for a fellow Pony (that's Noah's classroom) at The Little Gym. Oh yeah, and before went running we went to Gymboree - what a busy Saturday!
(the runner in training)

So today, I was tired, and we stayed up too late last night playing games with Kelly, Abram, and Jared. Which explains why we didn't do much today except recycling and a Goodwill trip. And tomorrow begins a new week, and classes start for Noah. We have a dance class tomorrow - new place, new teacher, hopefully it will go well. I had to deal with a tap shoe debacle this weekend - bought girl tap shoes when we needed boy ones (it's a tap/ballet class) -had to go exchange them, and now we are waiting for the boy tap shoes to come in -
oh the woes!

Above is what I will conquer this year! I will organize the dang garage. It would be nice to use,instead of parking our car in the sun. Slowly we are getting rid of crap. That's why I'm giving myself a year.

I'm looking forward to getting my Debbie Meyer Green Bags, which is going to save all my fruit and veggies!

I should be studying, but my husband is playing computer games and inspiring me to be lazy! Goooo lazy!

Must Blog More

or else I can't remember what I've been up too. I was looking at Noah's baby, baby pictures and trying to remember when he did what, first smiles, laughs, coos, etc. so I could scrapbook. I probably have it written down some where, as these days I start and journal and don't keep up with it.

Then AHA! I remembered I had a blog that I used to write more regularly on, and then I started think, well there's one way to start documenting things again.

Right now I can't remember if I'm 35 weeks pregnant or 36. See what I mean?

So to summarize what has happened over the past half a year -

--Baby 2 due Oct. 2. Don't know if it's a boy or girl. Will definitely need something to manage both kids great moments.

--quit my teaching job - YAY!

--taking graduate classes to work on Masters

--Noah talks a lot more, doesn't behave sometimes, spends time out in his room (not too much), he's very agreeable most of the time.

--spent our summer in San Antonio and Houston, many, many adventures there.

--now just chillin', well mostly studying.

So I guess I didn't miss out on too much...sigh...not sure where to focus.

Right now feels like the eye of the hurricane, until Baby Souflee arrives and then we'll see how life rearranges it self.

And tonight we are playing hide the night light with Noah. Well he is playing and we are annoyed by it. He yells and screams that he can't find his night light. We go in try to find it. Then Kyle says, well too bad, guess your going to have to sleep in the dark. Shut door, go back a couple minutes later....lo and behold Noah has found his night light. He just doesn't want to go to bed, and it's way past his bed time.

Gatti Town

What is it about winter and eating? I start off the day good, counting my points, then blow it all by going to Gattitown. I must need more fuel because I am freezing and need to create heat to stay alive. I must be resorting to living off my poor, lonely fat cells. Lonely fat cells need the companionship of fatty pizza cells.

Gattitown was fun. You have to pay the buffet price to even enter and then it is eat, eat, eat. Take a break, spend money on video games, and go back and eat some more. I like their set up over Chuckie Cheese. At Chuckie Cheese, the games, the food, and the singing cheese gang are all in one big room. At Gattitown, there are seperate rooms, a tv room, a dining area, another tv room, and the game room. Some peace can be achieved every now at then. Noah loved the bowling. I loved their desert pizzas. Kyle would have loved to eat more salad.

I am taking a break from my GRE cramming. Going to bed early tonight (hopefully).

To celebrate my finishing the GRE, we are going to Washington on the Brazos - a state park. We are very into state parks since we went to the Bentsen State Park in Mission. There are so many of them to see.

(Bird watching at Bentsen State Park)

Here's to hoping I do satisfactory on the GRRRRRRREEE tomorrow! Grrrr.....

Chicken Watchin'

Today we went to the Boggy Creek farm to watches some chickens. It was too cold, so we didn't stay long. Then we went to the Blue Hanger Goodwill for the first time. Wow, it's like a giant Ropa Usada but with more stuff like books, toys, houswares. The other shoppers were aggressive. That's Noah's new truck.

I think Noah ate grapefruit for the first time today, and ate it up. I found a recipe for broiled grapefruit in Cuisine at Home. You take half a grapefruit, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon of coconut, then broil it for 1-3 minutes. Delicious! I just find the recipes, Kyle does the actually cooking. I think we'll be having that for breakfast tomorrow, and Noah get his own half instead of half of my half.

One more day until I take the GRE. I just don't think I can learn all that much more at this point. I've refreshed my math, and still suck at analogies, and my vocab. is too limited. Oh well! Wish me luck.

HAPPY 2008!

*The cousins watching the parade.
* Rocking in the new year.

I will try to write more.

We went to First Night and watched the parade. It was rather cold, as the day had been deceptively warm. There were some interesting floats and dancing bibliophiles with their carts.

Then we went to Charlie and April's to eat, drink, and play Guitar Heroes. I'm feeling like I want to play some more. I can learn how to play this game! It's quite taxing on the hand, eye, brain coordination. Noah went to bed, way past his bedtime, crying "rock out, rock out" because he wanted to play the game.

Here comes 2008 - may we all "ROCK OUT"!

Been busy...

...doing a little of this....

...saving Noah from this...
...some more of this...

...and of course this...and this...
Gotta love the lifestyle!!!

Happy Birthday!

to Noah!!! One year ago this sweet, wonderful boy was born, and we haven't sleep since! Oh well! We went on another photo shoot today. Put your order in for any of the above pictures!

11 months old

You at 11 months -

+ we can no longer block you into one area. You are everywhere, into everything. Especially the cabinets in the kitchen. I don't even think dropping a pie plate on your foot made you realize you shouldn't be in there. Hurrican Noah has made landfall.
+walking like crazy. Not the suavest, but you can't get enough.
+realizing cause and effect - playing with the glow worm and dancing to the music. Turning the tv off while we are watching it....grrrr....
+words are trying to be formed...ba for bottle...pa for puffs...dada...for mom and dad...you go brrrr when you are playing with your airplane or see a moving vehicle.
+you are pretty friendly. Smiling at strangers, handing people golf balls at the Children's Museum.
+want to eat everything thing...EVERYTHING...carpet fuzz, paper punches, grapefruit, chocolate pudding, green beans, granola bars, yogurt, turkey bacon...and yet you still want us to give you water in a bottle. A sippy cup is too tedious.
+you like reading, and know which page you are looking for when we are reading Wild Animals (the frog with the sticky feet).

The future: I've decided, you will only wear diapers and a t-shirt during the summer. It's much easier to change you that way, and we'll even throw on a paper of shorts - if we have too. We can go to the Children's Museum all the time, because now we are members. More experimenting with food, because we bought this neat contraption for veggies and fruits - The Fresh Food Feeder, but it has this mesh so you won't choke. We'll see.

Today we went to Oaxacan Tameleo - which was very good. The tamales are different. She doesn't use lard - she uses banana leaves. They were healthier tasting. This place also has a nice red mole. We'll probably be going there a lot - it's also extremely affordable. The tamarindo tea and fried plantains were all fabulouso. I also practiced my spanish - which is pretty poor - but it was fun to try. What is "to buy" in Spanish?

More fun at the Children's Museum.

Taking Steps

Noah took many steps yesterday. He started off early in the morning with a two stepper. Then later in the afternoon he took about 8 or 10 steps. I couldn't catch the excitement with a photo because my stinkin camera is broken and in need of repairs. I have to hold it a certain way in order for it to work. It was very exciting to watch, I don't think he knew what he was doing. He looked very excited to be doing, and may have actually just been falling forward and his feet happened to be in the right place.

He's also been trying to feed himself.It's kind of messy. He did this all to himself. I took no part in painting he face with food - fer rizzle.Also on the menu, a pair of socks.Fun in a bowl...whee!!!

Our baby

...won't go to sleep at night.

Maybe he just wants to keep on rocking in the free world.
Off to research how to make baby fall asleep.

Apron Swap

I received my beautiful apron today. I might have received it yesterday, but we were running here and there, so I did not check the mailbox.
It is everything I imagined it could be. Sarah drew me - she is one of the hostesses of the apron swap. She's got some skills. My apron sparkles, is blue, and has the neat snowflakes sewn in which make a happy tinkling sound. I also received a bag of gelt and homemade tea. Thanks Sarah!

I drew Melissa. This was my first apron to make. Rather than go with something simple - I decided to make a reversible apron. The pockets really tripped me up on the red side. I have learned and know better what to do for next time. I sent a bunch of goodies to Melissa - cookies, hot cocoa, a holiday coffee cup, some candle holders and candles, a toy for her doggie, pot holder, and dish towel. I think that was it. I went with a santa theme.
Can't wait for the next apron swap. This was fun. Maybe I should go into the professional package making business.

9 Months Old

Another doctor's visit, luckily no shots. But today was a yucky day, is there a full moon tonight? The day started out well. Then at noon it went into to super crap mode. I got another ticket, right outside my neighborhood, at the doctor Noah fell and cut his lip open (Kyle's fault - do have him tell the story), Kyle ate all this really good cheese I wanted to eat --- and well that's why my day was crappy. Okay, it wasn't so bad, but it sure felt that way.

9 month developments

• He will almost certainly be mobile one way or another by now; either crawling, bottom shuffling or pulling himself up on a firm object and ‘cruising’ - walking around hanging onto the furniture
• He will be able to pick up and put down toys at will, as his fingers are now a little more under his control
• Your baby will be able to help feed himself and will enjoy picking up finger foods
• If he is crawling he will want to explore everywhere
• He may become shy of strangers and people he does not see often
• Shape sorters: simple posting and sorting games which encourage him to match shapes or increase his dexterity
• Activity toys: toys with buttons to press or turn that make sounds so he can learn that doing one thing leads to another thing happening
• Bath toys: now he can sit unsupported he will enjoy filling and tipping water from a container and watching it splash

Gosh 9 months has gone by fast. I was reading someone else's random blog, and he has been equally alive inside and outside the womb - freakish. He's standing every now and then with out holding on to anything. He also really likes for us to chase him. He moves very fast, then he'll turn around to make sure we are still chasing him.

He does not go to bed on his own yet, which could become a problem- or I should just plan to continue rocking him to sleep at least until he goes to college. The nurse said we could start giving him more table food. Apparently by the time he is one we should start weening him off a bottle. I should read up more on this.

He's a lot of fun - busy body, strong, yeller, sweet smiles, happy, laughing, stubborn, persistent, charming, sooo curious --- and we love him so much!!!

Here is the fabric I bought for this apron swap I am doing. I ended up not using the decals. I'll probably just send them with the package. I hope my pal likes what I made, I'm nervous and in perfectionist mindset - even though I know what I made is not perfect ---which makes me even more anxious.

We been berry busy...

--Dressing up for Halloween.

--making baby Renaissance costumes.

--going to the Renaissance Festival

--walking for the cure.

--trying on more funny hats.

Enjoy the photos!