February...I didn't forget about you!

It has been forever since I have posted something on here...and I kindly got reminded from my good friend angela today that my blog is so far behind, so I better catch up!! =)

This month has kind of flown by!!  We are staying pretty busy with Halle's activities, work, church, and slowly trying to get our house ready to sale!  We finally rented a storage unit and are going to start moving some stuff little by little to actually make room for people to walk through during an open house!!!  I think we have accumulated too much junk!!  I am at the point where I never want to shop again!  I never want to buy anything to clutter up our house ever again!!  Not sure how long that will last!   I did, however, give up recreational shopping for lent.  I know it's a strange thing to give up, but I love to shop!  I don't really enjoy the mall, or going with other people.  I just like to go to Ross, or preferably TJ Maxx or Marshalls by myself and walk around and end up with a cart full of stuff that I don't need!  It's kind of therapeutic to shop.  So that is exactly why I decided to give it up!  I think that it is even more refreshing to drive by where I usually stop and just keep on driving!  I don't need any more stuff!!  Now I say Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!! 

Halle and Noah are both over their ear infections and seem to be feeling great!  Noah is doing well with his medication increase and we will see his GI doctor March 9th to see if we need to do anything else.  My fingers are crossed that we will be able to stop using the monitor.  Wouldn't that be great!?!!!!

My male boxer Booze has been in the "doghouse" this month!!  He has started chewing on things and then urinating on them!!!  So far this month he has chewed up noah's diapers from his trash, chewed up my living room rug and then urinated on it (or that may have been January), and vomited (from chewing up the diapers) on the play room rug.  I'm not even close to done!  Last Friday I was feeding the kids breakfast and getting ready to take Noah to the dr.  Halle complained of her neck hurting and wanted to get down from the bar.  When I got her down she vomited everywhere.  I cleaned it up and put all the nasty clothes/towels, etc in a sack to deal with when we got back from the doctor.  I walk in to see that the clothes were spread all over the living room and there was the empty target bag...with piss all over it!!!!  And how do I know it's Booze....because he darts towards the back door and just shakes like he knows he is in trouble!  Oh I forgot to mention, he even managed to make time to chew up Noah's golf club!  (granted, it was plastic, but still!)  So you would think he would learn his lesson.  Nope!! And neither did I!!!  I walked out the door today and forgot to shut the bathroom door.....with a target sack full of diapers (all wet!!), pull-ups (which were mostly dry), etc!  So when I walked into my room today, to my surprise, I find the trash all over my entire room!!!!  I think, okay I need to leave to go get the kids in just a minute...so I can shut the bedroom door and clean it up later (secretly thinking Seth will be home before I get back and he can clean it up)...and I walk by the living room to see that Booze wasn't satisfied enough with trashing my room, he wanted to trash our living room as well!  Deep breath, count to TEN very slowly......BOOOOOZE!!!  I am really not that mean, he spent the next hour outside in the cold.  BUT, he is going to see the nice vet Thursday morning and is getting neutered!!!!!  The vet said the dog next door may be in heat and his hormones might be going crazy and if we aren't breeding him by the time he is 6, then we should neuter him to cut down the risk of cancer.  He'll be 5 in May, but I need a change in behavior.  I desperately need the dog whisperer to come pay me a visit.......plllllleeeeeaaaaasssseeeee!!!  Here is a pic from this afternoon!!!

On to a happy note....this was Valentines day month, which means Seth and I got to go on a date!!!  

Halle wanted to take my picture...

and our picture together....

and another of me.  I really don't need the top of my head anyways!

Seth and I went to eat at Texas Roadhouse and to see the movie Valentine's Day.  We had a great night and the kids got to spend some time with gramma and papa!

Halle was really into Valentine's day and making valentines for her friends.  I had every intention of helping her make homemade cards, but we didn't get around to that, just like we didn't get around to making the princess cookies that she wanted to make.  She wrote her name on her Ni Hao Kai Lan and Princess and the Frog Valentines.  She also put together gift bags for her cousins and her friends at gymnastics and ballet. 

Noah on Valentine's Day.  "mom's lil' romeo!"

Future olympic skier! 

There is just something about my kids and posing!!  Halle was giving me her "this is how you pose for soccer, right mom?" kind of pose.

Then she decided she wanted me to take a picture of her sitting on the floor!

But aren't they so sweet?!

 I am trying to teach Noah that he needs to kiss with his mouth closed and Zoe isn't helping my case any!

My sweet valentines!!

My family was unable to come up for Noah's birthday because of the weather so my mom came up last weekend to celebrate!  She brought both the kids a book that her and my dad recorded for them!  They just turn the page and can hear my mom and dad reading to them, with some interjections from their dog, maizie!  Mom brought Noah a car and a train to go with his silly town play center!  He loved them!  

open it...eat it...whatever gets the job done, right?!

Noah loves his car and wants to be pushed around the house at least once a day!  Fortunately, in this crazy winter, we've had a couple of days this month where we were able to go for walks around the neighborhood! 

This is Halle's new thing....she points at me and yells something about how I can't catch her...and then....

She's off!  

We almost had a meltdown when Halle wasn't able to ride in the car like Noah, but mommy came to the rescue.  What in the world could make a broken hearted 3 year old happy after being told she can't ride in noah's car.......FAIRY WINGS!

And here are a few more random photos from this month:

Noah has started running and keeps his hands behind him.  Buddy, we need to change this!

Halle had a sleep over with her cousin, Emmerie.  They love bath time and COULD stay in for hours until their little fingers turn into raisins!

Noah playing soccer, making daddy proud!

Halle playing in the snow!

Noah trying a sucker for the first time!  He loved the sucker and kept slurping and jumping up and down and squealing!  And yes, he has a little mullet...but I can't say much, with the way my hair is looking!  I am not sure what to do with his hair, so I'm just leaving it alone for now.  

Halle playing with her "doodle" (caboodle) and doing ladonna's makeup.  Halle loves to play with makeup.  She likes to pretend to do her babies makeup and always wants to play in it.  This is very strange since her momma is lucky to leave the house with the right shoes on, let alone makeup!  Halle did her eye makeup as well and said, "close your eyes ladonna and look in the mirror!"  Classic!!  

Halle would put a little on herself, then ladonna, then herself!  What is it with opening your mouth when putting on eye makeup?!  Thank you Ladonna for playing with her, she talked about it for days!!

Noah sitting in a big chair!  He didn't want to get down!

And that wraps it up for the month of February!

Recap on a horrible, no good, very bad week!

This past week has been a very tiring, stressful week.  Noah had his 12 month well check Monday.  The "fill-in" nurse tried to give him a shot standing up without warning Seth or myself.  This resulted in a mess, to say the least!  Monday night was the highlight of the week.  Our friends, Chad and Ladonna came over with their baby girl, Finnley, for a nice dinner.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night, Noah's monitor went off more times than I can remember.  I think every time I finally fell asleep I heard the monitor again.  After it went off Tuesday night (4 times) for tachycardia the doctor wanted to see him.  He said if it continues to go off for tachycardia he would order an EKG but at the present time we shouldn't worry about high heart rates, we are mainly worried about his heart rate dropping with the apnea events.  Noah did end up having an ear infection in his right ear.  This makes for his 5th ear infection and the doctor asked if we wanted to see an ENT now or wait until his recheck.  I want to wait.  I think his ear infection will heal and his ears will be clear.  I would like to avoid tubes if at all possible.  Noah has been on omnicef now since Wednesday night and I think he is feeling much better.  The doctor also said watch for RSV symptoms because a lot of babies are getting that.  Noah did have some cold symptoms Wednesday, but they are getting better each day and I don't think we have to worry about RSV.  Wednesday night, Noah's monitor went off for bradycardia......ahhhh.  Thursday was a very bad day for me.  As much as I try to stay positive, I kept thinking, "great, this has set us back two more months!"  The doctor said that Noah has to have two 30 day monitor downloads that are event free in order to d/c home health and the monitor.  So after being "absent" at work...meaning my mind was always somewhere else, I was able to call my mom and vent and have a little "moment."  I just kept thinking about Noah getting RSV, and when babies are sick, reflux acts up more, and apnea events happen more often, etc, etc.  I think at this point I was just exhausted and delirious.  I think about 20 minutes after my little "moment" or breakdown, I received a call from the nurse saying that they received the results from the download (from Monday)..(which I might mention was supposed to be done January 14th...just a few weeks behind...uggghh).  She said that he had an episode 12/19 at 5:56 am that was over 19 seconds but since we increased his medicine (double the dose) he has made significant gains!!  He only had six episodes that were seven-seconds long.  That was music to my ears!!  Just what I needed to hear!  Thursday night the alarm went off like crazy and I was starting to think the leads were bad (and I just put brand new ones on Monday...so it would make sense for the crazy week!).  I changed them out, and we haven't had a single episode in two nights!!  I am not sure if it was the leads or if he was having a bad week with the immunizations, cold, reflux, etc.  Right now I am choosing to believe the leads were bad.  I missed a call from the nurse at around 5:20 Friday afternoon saying that she had some news and I could call her back Saturday at 10:30.  I was able to get ahold of her yesterday and found out that his GI doctor wants to see him around the 2nd week in March and wants to have another download completed March 2nd.  He is hoping to review the past two monitor downloads along with the newest one and hopefully take Noah off the cardiac/respiratory monitor at that time since the last download showed improvement with the change in meds!!  I am so looking forward to March!!!

On another note, Halle had a wonderful day at ballet yesterday and is learning the routine for a Mickey Mouse dance for the June recital.  It's always nice when she decides to watch the teacher and try to imitate her moves rather than dancing to her own tune in the mirror, although that's pretty cute too!  I love watching her.  She definitely loves to dance!

As if Halle isn't staying busy enough with ballet and gymnastics, we also had a parents meeting at the YMCA for soccer Saturday.  The time has come that Seth has been looking forward to....Halle is old enough to play soccer!!  He is so excited to kick the ball around with her!  At least soccer season doesn't last very long, at least at her age.

Thank you to my 5 or so readers.  I think this blog is more for me, than for others, but I am thankful I at least have a few followers! =)  I hope that each of you have a wonderful week ahead!!  Now it's time to go get ready for church!

just some randomness about my Halle Kate!

At the doctor with Noah on Monday, Halle was having a hard time sitting still.  She opened the door to look outside our little room we were in.  Sometimes she feels it necessary to have a little attitude!  She looked at the doors (where the numbers are) and with one hand on her hip and one hand doing a valley girl kind of point along with the rolling of her eyes and a valley girl voice, she said, "ONNNNEEE, TWWWOOOOO, THREEEE.......SEEEEEE MOM, I know MY 'letters'!!"  

Halle has a behavior chart that we use for rewards and to encourage good behavior.  She pretty much has the chart (14 objectives) memorized.  Everyday, I hear something to this effect:

"Mom, your welcome for not interrupting you on the phone!"

"Mom, your welcome for putting away my dirty clothes."  

"Mom, your welcome for being a good listener."

"Mom, your welcome for brushing my teeth."

She received 50 stars the other day so we took her to target to get her reward.  She looked all through the toys and wanted this really cheap makeup set (by all of the dress up stuff).  They wanted $14.99 for something that looked like she'd be interested in it for oh about 10 minutes!  I finally talked her into going to look for something to put all of her "make-up" and jewelry in.  She loves to play dress up with makeup, jewelry, and heels!  We finally found the perfect reward...a caboodle for $9.99.  I didn't even know they still made caboodles!!!  I had one forever ago.  It was purple and pink and I thought I was pretty cool I must say!  So she loves her "doodle" and when anyone comes over she loves to do their make-up!!

Today, I got a call from Lauren and she said she had the following conversation with Halle.

Halle:  "Lala, do you love Noah?"  Lauren said she told her she loved her and her brother.

Halle:  "Then can you keep him so I can have a sister?"  Lauren told her that she'd miss her brother.

Halle:  "no, I would see him everyday when I come to your house and once I get my sister, we can get him back!"

Halle has been asking me lately if she can have a sister.  I tell her she has a brother and she should enjoy playing with him.  For some reason she is always trying to pawn her brother off on someone else!  Silly girl!!  

Noah Ryan, it's already been a year!

Noah Ryan, I love you so very much and am so thankful God has brought you into our lives!!  I remember one year ago on January 30th, 2009, your daddy and I went to the hospital anxiously looking forward to your arrival!  The night before we went to chili's and I could barely eat because I kept having pretty intense contractions.  Later Nana and Grandpa arrived to stay the night and take Halle to childcare for a while until they could bring her up to meet you.  We were supposed to arrive at the hospital at 7am and we didn't make it until around 7:20!!  It was very hard saying bye to Halle that morning.  I was so worried about her knowing she was loved and still our baby even though we were having another baby!

When we walked up to the nurses station, my doctor was there and looked at his watch and laughed!  He said, "let's get this started!"  He told me to get my gown on and he was coming in to break my water!  Talk about your heart dropping!!  I was thinking, I don't have an IV in....seriously, this quick???  I remember the progression with Halle and breaking my water was not the first step with her!  I was basically freaking out!  The doctor came in oh about 3 minutes after I got my gown on and was ready to go.  However, he discovered that you were not head down!  After getting a quick ultrasound, it was confirmed, you were breech!  He scheduled the C-section for 11:30 and left the room.  That was that.  Mixed feelings were running through my head.  The anticipation of labor and delivery and how my body would handle it.  Every thing you think and consider during the entire pregnancy about how labor will go was now out of my control.  I made a few phone calls...."change of plans"....and rested, prayed, and visited with family until it was time to walk to the operating room.  It was very cold, very sterile, and different.  I had the most amazing nurses and physicians ever!  The procedure went by so fast!  I heard one nurse say, "your right, it is a boy...."  and I said, "how do you know?"  She replied, "because he's out honey!"  Amazing!

Proud daddy!  Welcome to the world Noah Ryan!!  1-30-09 11:47am. Weighing in at 8lb 2oz and 19"long!  (exact same stats as sister!)

Your sister was so happy to see you!  She kept wanting to hold "her baby!"

This may be my favorite picture of Halle!!  Look at that smile!  She received a big sister gift (a baby doll) from her baby brother!!  I have documented every milestone and special moment in a calendar for you!  During your first year, your daddy and I have collected different news articles and memorabilia to put in a time capsule for you!  We'd love for you to look back and see what the world was like when you were born!

THREE MONTHS

The hat is from one of daddy's coworkers!  They knew that daddy wanted to name you Rufus (seriously, no joke).  Rufus Charles was your daddy's papa's name!  He loved him dearly and wanted to pass the name Rufus on to you!  I couldn't get past Rufus, and so we were trying to decide between Gabriel Ryan  and Noah Ryan.  Noah is perfect for you!  Noah, meaning "rest, comfort, peace" and Ryan, meaning "little king."

SIX MONTHS

NINE MONTHS

TWELVE MONTHS

These past twelve months have been so wonderful!  You are a true blessing from God and we pray over you and thank God for you every night!

You had your twelve month well check today!  You weigh 20lbs 8oz (10th percentile) and are 29.5" in length (50th percentile).  Your doctor told me to start feeding you as much as you'll eat.  Your pretty energetic and are all over the place!  The doctor said that your last monitor download (nov 15-dec 18th) showed 12 central apneas over 16 seconds.  I keep getting different information from nurses and the doctor.  I guess it doesn't matter.  I know your perfect and safe and you won't remember anything about the monitor and tests!  You will know love, safety, and security because we show that to you every day!  The doctor did say as soon as we have two months without one single episode we can take the monitor off!  Home health came by today to record information from your monitor so we are praying that this will reveal one month of perfect uneventful sleep!  

Your favorite snacks are yobaby yogurt and gerber veggie puffs!!  You would snack on those puffs all day long if I let you!  You also like cheese, raviolis, waffles, turkey hot dogs, cooked carrots, broccoli, turkey meatballs,  pasta, bananas, and green beans.  You have always loved veggies and haven't been very big on fruit.  You are starting to like it more and more. 

Your now walk everywhere and love to kick the ball all over!  Daddy says you'll be his little soccer player!  You love to play with soccer balls, baseballs,  and basketballs.  You love to throw the balls around so mommy, daddy, or sister can go get them and bring them back to you!  You also love to play with cars and trucks and even make the raspberry sounds while you're pushing them around!  You love your little yellow and green plastic golf clubs and have pretty good hand/eye coordination if I do say so myself!!  

You wave and say "haiiii" (with a very country twang) and wave and say "baiiii baiiii" (with the same twang!)  You say:  "ma ma" "dada" "Boo" (for Booze), "ba" (for bath), "ba" (for ball), "mo" (for more).  You point at everything and make the cutest facial expressions when your upset, can't get something, or are surprised!  You sign: more, all-done, water, bath, milk, play, cheese, banana, thank you, please, and ball.   We encourage these signs, but you love to imitate them in your own little way!

You have two teeth on bottom, and just in the past two weeks your top two teeth broke through.  You have two more that look like they're fixing to break through anytime!  You had a very gummy smile for about the first ten months of your life!!  

You currently wear size twelve months in clothes.  You can wear some 18 month shirts, but they are still a little long in the sleeves!  You are still wearing size 3 diapers.  

You stay with your aunt Lala, cousin conner, Aunt Ashley, and sister Halle everyday while mommy works!  She loves you and teaches you new things everyday!  Most of the time you take two naps a day, around 10am and 2pm.  You also love napping in the car!  

You love bath time.  Every night after dinner I ask you if your ready for a bath, and you immediately perk up and sign and say "ba ba ba ba."  (while squealing with delight!)  You would stay in the bath for an hour if I let you!  On the other hand, you know when you get out of the bathtub at night you have to put the monitor on.  You try to do everything you can to get away from me when I lay you down to dry you off and get you ready for bed.  We thought that we'd be able to say goodbye to it by your first birthday, but just hold on buddy, because we'll be done with it before you know it!  After bath time you get a bottle, usually from mommy, and we rock.  You are a wonderful baby!  I lay you down in your crib after you finish your bottle and you only fuss for a few minutes and your asleep!  You still wake up at least once at night, but hopefully that won't last too much longer!

We love you and have enjoyed you so much!  You are a true blessing and I am looking forward to watching your little personality grow and develop!  I hope that you will always know what a blessed, loved little boy you are!!!