Happy 1st Birthday Noah

Today is my baby's birthday! I've had such a reflective morning. I got up at 5:00am for my quiet time and as the clocked ticked 5:50, I thought back to one year ago today when I met my sweet Noah boy for the first time. Wow...has it really been a year...that's so cliche, but it really is what I was thinking.

Thinking back over all the events of the year I couldn't help but fight the tears. It's been a roller coaster of ups and downs. From the joyous day of his birth...to two weeks later when he developed pyloric stenosis and almost died...to the extreme gratitude of the next several months of good health...to the disappointing news of plagiocephally...to the fun of watching my "Little Love" hitting all the first year milestones like sitting, talking and walking.

If there's one emotion that washes over me it's a deep thankfulness for this precious life that has been given to me to nurture and love here on this earth. Certainly, nothing I've ever done is deserving of the blessing of being a mother. As his name means, Nathaniel Noah, is my gift of comfort and peace. He is nothing less than a gift from my heavenly Father who loves me beyond what I deserve.

So today, I have a happy, humble heart as I remember all the miracles and blessings of the past year.

Family Fun with Nana & Seth

Let the spoiling begin!!! Nana and Seth arrived last Thursday and will be here for over a week. Luke and Noah are so excited to have them here...and so are the rest of us!! It's always nice to have an extra set of hands to play with the kids...and an extra set of eyes to watch them. Having another cook around is also a plus...esp one that makes home made Cuban food! MmmmMmmm!!!

This morning Nana made homemade waffles for breakfast...and in just a little while she is taking Luke and Seth to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. She has also come back from the store everyday with something for Luke...one day it was a Spiderman belt; the next day a Spiderman umbrella. Like I said before...let the spoiling begin!!!

We'll miss them so much when they are gone, but we are blessed they are able to come out several times a year. We love having our family visit ...the time always goes by too fast!

Batman!

Luke is really growing up and changing in to a little boy. One way he shows me this everyday is with the new toys that interest him. Move over baby toys, hello action figures.

Right now, he is obsessed with Batman...with Spiderman running a close second. He got a Batman 12 inch action figure for his birthday with wings that pop out and ever since then he's wanted to be Batman. We've tied blankies around his neck and clipped towels to his shoulders...anything to replicate that Batman cape and make him feel like a super-hero!

Recently the little boy who lives next to us started wearing these Batman pajamas with a cape that velcros to the back. Luke thought they were SO cool! Well, leave it to Ms. Sherry to drive all over town until she found some in Luke's size!! (Actually, they are almost too small, but Luke doesn't care one bit!)

Check him out in the pics. He has not taken them off except for me to wash them. He says they are not only pajamas, but also "morning clothes" that he can wear all day. And, you I don't really mind if he wears PJ's all day...he's my little super-hero!!

The Fruit of our Labor

We're growing tomatoes!! I would not have believed it if I wasn't staring at them right now. I have a terrible black thumb! This 100+ Texas heat doesn't help me either. Despite this, I love the idea of fresh veggies, so we bought an Earth Box and topsey turvey plant hanger. These claim to be fool proof on the commercials and they must be right because boy do we ever have tomatoes!!! Luke must have eaten about 10 a day for the past week. It's impressive, if I do say so myself!

We also have a cucumber plant growing with lots of baby cucumbers on it. Our original plant was pulled out by a rabbit, so this is our second plant and it got a late start. I'm not sure if we'll actually have cucumbers to eat this year, but it sure has been fun watching them grow!!

The best part is watching how excited Luke gets everyday when he goes outside to pick his tomatoes. He can hardly wait to see how many are ready each day!!

Aunt Niki

Yesterday afternoon Aunt Niki arrived! The boys were so excited to see her! I think Luke talked to her without taking a breath from the time she walked in the door until the two of us left for dinner. They watched Curious George and played with just about every toy in the toy room!

When Leo got home from work, Niki and I left to meet some of the ladies from my moms' group for a splurge at The Melting Pot...it was 1/2 price Ladies Night!! I haven't had that much fun in a while! Great food + great friends = great memories!! We didn't get home until after 11:00pm, which is late for an (old) early bird like me!

This morning, bright and early, Luke remembered that Aunt Niki was sleeping on his top bunk. When I came out of the baby's room, there was Luke...light on...crawling on the top bunk to wake her up!! I don't even think it was 7am yet! {Sorry, Aunt Niki!!}

So today I've taken the day off of work and we're headed out for some sister time. Sure to be fun and make for a good blog post later!!

BE The Church

I'm so proud to be a member of a church who is actively ENGAGED in the community.

Next Sunday, on August 2nd, The Heights Baptist church in Richardson is doing something that some might think is crazy or radical. Instead of sitting in the sanctuary and listening about ways that we can share Christ's love with others, our entire church is loading up on buses and going out in to the community to put this concept in to action.

Mothers, fathers, old and young will all participate in various service projects including repairing inner-city churches, painting houses for the elderly, stuffing backpacks with school supplies for needy children and much more.

I'll be serving in Joyland, probably teaching Luke's class, while Leo and Seth head out on the adventure. I can't wait to see what all we'll accomplish by simply making ourselves available.

Help me spread the word by clicking on the attached link and awesome video that my class put together to get the word out about this incredible event!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhN8ZoOHujw

Cousins

We took the boys to meet their first cousin today! Baby Graham is just over a month old and absolutely precious!

I don't know who was more excited, Luke or Noah. I think Noah was certainly more curious. He was so cute trying to touch Lil' "G" when he was sitting in his car seat and again when Uncle Jeremy was feeding him.

Too bad Noah doesn't understand the concept of "gentle" just yet. His touches were more like slaps, so we had to move him away from the baby, which he did not like one bit! It wasn't long before Rodney and Reggie (my brother's beagles) caught his eye though and off he went to grab their tales and pinch their noses...poor doggies!

We didn't stay long...you could just tell by the look on Jeremy and Sarah's face that they hadn't slept much. Anyone who has a baby knows that sleep deprived/glazed over expression that all new parents wear for the first 6 months of the baby's life. Oh, if only they had the perspective of us parents with older children...it DOES get better, I promise!!

So strange to think that Noah isn't the baby in the family anymore. Now that my baby isn't the baby, I wish I was closer to help Jeremy and Sarah. Is it crazy for me to have the baby itch again already? (Don't answer that!)

Sons are a heritage from the Lord...PSALMS 127:3

Sweet Messy Boy

Today I took Noah to my dear friend, Sharon Brannick, for his one year photos. What a FUN morning!

We started off wearing the same outfit Luke wore in his one year pics...a little cream Cuban style button-up shirt with khaki monkeys and linen khaki pants.

After several cute poses, we changed into blue jean shorts and a little white tank top for his birthday cake shots. Boy, did he have fun eating the frosting!! It took him a little while to get started, but once he realized what it was, he dug right in!

I won't have the pics until later in the weekend, but Sharon was nice enough to send me a sneak preview. I love her title...Sweet, Messy boy!

Check out http://www.brannickphotography.com/ for more of Sharon's pictures.

Shhhh....quiet time

It's rare around here, but once a day we do try to settle down for some quiet time.

Luke, gave up his nap long ago, but thanks to some favorite videos I can usually get him to lay down on his sleeping bag in the play room. Right now, his favorite is Curious George. (Thank you Ms. Sherry!)

I have no idea what I was thinking sneaking in to Noah's room while he was a sleep just to take his picture. True to his good-nature, when the camera flashed, the only sound he made was a gentle sigh.

Ahhh...quiet time.

Best Friends

Big Luke, Lil' Luke (who isn't so little anymore) and Noah boy.

The "Luke's" have been best friends since they were babies. This is when I realized that working from home while taking care of Luke wasn't easy and I needed someone to help watch him for part of the day.

I seriously praise God for my neighbor introducing me to Christy! She lives one neighborhood over and has always been there for us...whether that be watching the kids or driving us to the hospital....she loves my boys like they are her family...and we love her that way too!

We even have the same taste in clothing... as you can see from the pictures we LOVE Carter's!! The boys actually have several of the same outfits, so when they wore the same thing today we couldn't resist the opportunity to snap a few pics! Best lookin' boys in Texas if I do say so myself!!!

Let the birthdays begin

Post dated 7/8/09

I'm writing today's blog with a post date from July 8th, which was Luke's 4th birthday. -Since it was just last week, I couldn't not go back and recap my "honey-bunny's" special day.

This year, Luke's birthday fell on a Wednesday. Leo and I had to work, so I knew Luke would be spending the morning with Ms. Christy. Early that morning though, when he first woke up, we snuggled on the couch together and looked at pictures of the day he was born. We started with a picture of my big belly. We talked about how he was still in my tummy then, but that later in the day the doctors took him out so daddy and I could meet him for the very first time. We continued with the first pictures of him after he was born and talked about how he screamed and cried when they first handed him to me...he thought that was extremely funny!

Our morning time ticked by quickly, so I got Luke dressed in his 'birthday boy' shirt and ready for the day. Luke knew we were having a big party (in combination with Noah and Seth's birthdays at the end of the month) but we planned a small family celebration for him that evening, so he was excited. What he didn't know what how special his day was going to be at Ms. Christy's house.

First thing that morning she helped them bake birthday cupcakes for Luke. Both Big Luke and Lil Luke added the ingredients, stirred the batter and carefully spooned it into the cup cake liners. Around lunch time, they had a special birthday lunch that included dino-bites chicken nuggets, Spiderman mac-n-cheese and strawberries. After lunch all the neighborhood kids came over to sing happy birthday to Luke and share the cupcakes the boys had baked.

I think Luke's favorite part of his birthday at Ms. Christy's was when she gave him his very own Batman mask and hand sewn cape! It's a long story, but Lil' Luke has one and Big Luke wears it from the time he gets there until I pick him up...every single day! Luke was so thrilled to get his own...he even asked if he could sleep in it! LOL!!

I picked up the boys after lunch and we came home to put the baby down for a nap. About that time, Ms. Sherry called and asked if she could take Luke birthday shopping. Oh boy, did they have fun. She took him several places, but I think the highlight of the trip was a stop at the candy store!! This is a forbidden store when he's with mommy, so he was DELIGHTED that he not only got to go in the store, but also that he got to pick out several pieces of candy including a Spongebob and Patrick marshmallow treat, cotton candy and a blue and white striped candy cane stick. Ummm...can you say sugar-high!!!

Thankfully, Ms. Sherry also got him a present that mommy liked too: a responsibility chart. Each day Luke is so excited to put a smiley-face magnet next to the chores or virtues he's mastered that day. He is expected to do everything from make his bed, brush his teeth, load the dishwasher, stop whining, share with others and be respectful. I LOVE this chart...and more importantly, so does Luke!

By the time Luke and Ms. Sherry got back from the store, it was time to start dinner. Luke requested cheese pizza, so Leo and Mr. Don went to Papa Murphy's (our favorite pizza place) to pick up dinner. While they were gone, I let Luke put the sprinkles and candle on his cake, which made him very happy. (If you know Luke, you know he has a "thing" for sprinkles!)

After dinner, Luke got to open his presents from mommy and daddy. He got a batman action figure whose wings pop out with the push of a button. He also got an incredible hulk mask with glowing eyes...and the coolest incredible hulk fists that fit on like gloves and make crashing and banging noises when they hit something. Luke thought his gifts were SO cool and I felt good about what we had picked out. (Being in Toys R Us, with all the millions of toys, can be very overwhelming!)

By this time we were headed to the tubby for a bath and some snuggle time. Luke and I lay in the bed in my room every night together and watch Scooby-doo, discussing the day and the things we're thankful for. When the lights went out this night, I could hardly get him to stop telling "Fadder God" about all the things he had done that day. It's not often that I try to stop Luke from praying, but this night I had to ask him to wrap things up so we could finally get to sleep!

And when things finally did quiet down, I couldn't help think about the past four years. My life has changed so much since becoming a mom. Next to my salvation, there has been NO greater gift in my life than my children. They make me live to a higher standard and want to be a better person. For this experience, I am forever grateful!

And....we're off!!

It's official! Our baby boy, Noah, is walking!! We knew it wouldn't be long...he's been so close for quite a while now. But, over the weekend he started taking 10+ steps, so I'm calling it and writing it in his baby book!

Wow...only 11 short months ago he was born and now he's up and running...literally. It's amazing to see him grow and hit all all the "first year" milestones. What joy he brings to our lives.

His first birthday is in less than a month. Makes me sappy and sentimental to think my "Little Love" is growing up so fast.

I'm so grateful that I've been blessed with my boys. So often I wonder how I got to be so lucky that God gave these beautiful boys to me.