Noah's new playmate!

Meet Hawkins, the newest addition to our family! We just adopted him this weekend. He's a shepherd mix and we got him from a rescue shelter. He's only about 4 weeks old, so we couldn't bring him home yet, but he's ours. He will come home to us on January 3rd.

I still haven't had a chance to download any pictures (the pictures of Hawkins were on the web) so I only have one of Noah to add. We got a new laptop a couple of months ago and then we just got an awesome new camera for Christmas. So it's taking me a while to get my bearings with all the new equipment. But I will get back on track. For now, here's the one pic of my cutie pie!!!

We're halfway through December already?

Can that be right? Is it really already December 16th? I don't know where the time has gone. It's been a blur since we got back from our vacation. I'm sure many of you can relate, especially with it being the Holiday season.

Anyway, we had a great time in Cancun. I don't think Noah even really missed us. He was very busy and entertained by everyone and I'm pretty sure that he didn't have a lot of time to notice we weren't around. It was probably a little rougher on me, but I wasn't bad. We got back and enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving! Noah loved every bite of his Thanksgiving meal!

Since then we have just been on the go. I can't tell you exactly what we've been doing, but whatever it is, it's keeping us busy! We did put up a beatiful Christmas tree! I have yet to download any pictures from last couple of months, so this is a pictureless post, but I will be back soon with some new shots for your entertainment!!

By the way, if you look at the picture of Cancun in the last post, we stayed at the resort where the tall building is on the left. We had a pretty nice view!!!

We're on our way!

Since Noah has turned 1 year old, we decided that he's a big boy now and that he would be fine if we left him for a little while. So... Billy and I are in the Greenville/Spartanburg airport right now waiting to fly to Cancun, Mexico!!! We needed a little R&R so Noah is hanging out with Aunt Laura, Uncle David, Marley, Chloe, and Gammy! We'll only be gone for a few days and I'm sure he'll have a blast with everyone. We're going to miss him like crazy, but hopefully we can enjoy ourselves anyway! Here's a picture of Cancun... be jealous

Noah is One!!!

My baby isn't a baby anymore! I can't believe it's been an entire year since he woke me up at 2:30 in the morning telling me he was ready to meet the world. The little guy turned 1 on Saturday, November 8th. We had a really nice party and had lots of family and friends. Unfortunately, Noah wasn't feeling great. It started last week with a pretty bad cold. He went to the doc on Friday. We gave him some antibiotics and he felt a ton better by Friday evening. We even went to the fair and had a good time. Saturday came around and he was doing okay, but I think he got a little overwhelmed with all the people. And I think his belly was hurting him too because he had some diarrhea and vomited the next day. So he wasn't entirely happy during his party. He didn't want to have anything to do with his cake, so he didn't make a mess like I expected. We tried a couple of times with the cake, but he just didn't want it. The poor little guy is still not back to normal. His belly is still bothering him, but thankfully today is the last day of the antibiotics. I'm praying that he'll start feeling better soon. Here are some pictures of my one year old!!!

Singing Happy Birthday

Noah's Ark cake

Opening presents

Riding in his new wagon

His new push wagon

Riding his "Tow Mator"
Not a happy camper

So I just took a look at the last post, and I realize that the 2nd video is more than a little dark, it's all dark. You could actually see it a little bit on the camera and I thought it would transfer like that, but I guess not. Maybe Santa will drop off a new camera/camcorder that has a function to help see at night. Either way, we'll try that one again during the day. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of Noah's love for the grill.

Noah is All Boy!!!

Here is a video of Noah throwing one of his balls. You can also see him "walking" on his knees. It's his new thing.

Noah LOVES the grill. He gets very upset if he sees Billy out there without him. I'm kind of afraid Noah will turn into a pyro, but let's hope that's not the case! The video is kind of dark, but you can get the idea.

Here's another video of Noah and his new walk.

Video Clips

Here's a smilebox with some recent video clips. Noah is having lots of fun!

Make a Smilebox postcard

Noah Belongs to God!!

We had a very special day today... We dedicated Noah to God! It was a small ceremony at church and it was great! We only took a couple of pictures. I put them in a smilebox with a few other pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Father of Aerobics!

It's been a while since I've updated our BLOG, but we've been busy (no surprise there). Last weekend we went to Spartanburg to visit Billy's family. One particular reason we went was to be there for a ceremony at the school where Billy's sister, Laura, teaches. She has recently had a huge accomplishment and we're very proud of her! She is a phys ed teacher for an elementary school and she wrote a grant to receive new gym equipment for the students. So the grant was funded and they got the new equipment, which is really cool. But another awesome thing is that Dr. Kenneth Cooper, the "father of aerobics", flew out from Dallas to the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new equipment. Dr. Cooper is an amazing man and you can check out some of his info here http://www.cooperaerobics.com/default.aspx and here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_H._Cooper. He's actually President Bush's personal physician!! Laura got to spend the day with him and she said it was great. Billy got to go to a luncheon and spend some time with Dr. Cooper also. I met him briefly and he seemed very intelligent and was very friendly too. The whole ceremony turned out really well! Here's a picture of Laura, her husband David, and Dr. Cooper and another picture of Billy and Dr. Cooper.

The rest of the trip was a lot of fun, too. We got to hang out with Marley and Chloe, Noah's cousins. We saw Marley play soccer on Saturday morning and they won!!! Here's a pic with Noah and his Gammy at the game.

A Day at the Beach

We finally took Noah to the beach. It's terrible that we live about 30 minutes away from the beach and we still hadn't taken him to experience the wind and the waves. This last week brought some cooler weather our way, so when we woke up this morning and the sun was shining, we decided we better take advantage of the beautiful day. Overall, it was fun. Noah was pretty hesitant with everything, but he sure did enjoy eating the sand.




Then we came home and got a nice, refreshing bath!



After we got cleaned up we decided to go out for pizza. Noah had such a long day and he was a trooper, but he was worn out by the time we finally got home.


He even stayed asleep while I changed him into his pajamas. Maybe he'll sleep in tomorrow morning! :)

Will it ever slow down?

Things have been a little hectic lately, but they seem to be settling down. As I mentioned very briefly, I was recently promoted. I am now a supervisor. No matter what field you're in, a supervisor usually tends to have more responsibility because they "supervise" a group of people, and it's no different in my case. I have more responsibility and I have a team of people that I supervise. Unfortunately, on the job training is the ONLY kind of training available for this new position, hence the hectic days. The upside is that the days go by very quickly. I've only begun this new position, and you might hear a lot more about it as time passes, but then again, you might not. Even though this job isn't half-bad, I'd much rather talk about Noah!

So onto my boys... Noah and Billy are both sick. They both have colds. No fun. Noah has been waking up with a snot-crusted nose and I feel so bad for him. The poor little guy. But that seems to be the worst of it, so hopefully they can kick it without it getting too bad (and without me catching it). Noah's eyes have been puffy and he's had a runny nose this week, but here are some pics from a few weeks ago to remind you how cute he is!

How 'bout them Cowboys!

Did I mention how much I love the Cowboys? I stayed up until midnight last night. I normally go to sleep between 9 and 10 because I'm up at 5:00 am and staying up until 12:00 am is not easy for me. I am dragging today... but it was worth it to watch the Cowboys win! It was a very entertaining game with an awesome ending!

"Romo took two knees and that was it, the Cowboys moving to 2-0 with a 41-37 victory in the last game ever to be played on Monday night at Texas Stadium."

A Fantasy Tragedy

The updates on us:

• Billy is home safe and sound.
• Noah just turned 10 months old.
• I got a promotion.

There will be more information to come on those things, but I have to get to the important stuff.

I've been completely excited about football season. First of all, I LOVE the Dallas Cowboys. I've loved them since I was a little girl and my older sister would sneak me out of bed to watch them when they were on late at night. A few years ago Billy got me to join a fantasy football league and I had my first fantasy team. I came in 2nd place that year and I was hooked. My team last year came in 2nd to last, but I blamed that on lack of sleep, lack of time, and my whacked out hormones (all thanks to my wonderful son!). So this year I was set to redeem myself. I was 2nd in the draft and stoked because I got Tom Brady. Who can go wrong with Tom Brady? He's an awesome QB, has a great team, a decent offensive line (so Billy says), and on top of all that, he's hot! Who could ask for more? I'm set for the season and I can taste victory. Then what happens?!?!?! He doesn't even get to finish the 1st quarter of the 1st game of the season before he gets taken out with a knee injury. And, poof, he's gone for the rest of the season. Even though, as Billy would say, "there's plenty of ball left to be played", my fantasy team isn't looking so good right now and the taste of victory has been replaced with something that doesn't taste quite so sweet.

RIP - Tom Brady

But I still love my boys!!!

5 weeks is almost up!

It's amazing how busy one little person can keep you. Noah is now a bundle of energy! I can't take my eyes off the little guy anymore. He's quick and everything is going in the mouth. No matter how hard I try to keep the floors clean, Noah manages to find it all, like food from last nights dinner, grass, dust bunnies... you name it, he can find it! There are lots of reasons it will be nice to have Billy home, but having another pair of eyes in the house is definitely one of the most important ones. He will be home this Friday or Saturday and we are excited! I can't wait to see the look on Noah's face when he sees his dad. I also can't wait to watch Billy as he notices all the changes that Noah has made in the last five weeks. I know Noah has changed in a lot of ways, but when you see it everyday, it's hard to realize just how much change has happened. It will be exciting to watch Billy's reaction to Noah and how much he's grown! So I'm definitely looking forward to this weekend! And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to sleep past 7am!

Here are just a few of the things we've done to keep ourselves busy while Billy was gone...reading, walking and jogging (napping for Noah), playing in the pool, eating, crawling, standing up, and playing with Brena!

Happy Birthday to my Husband!

Happy Birthday Babe! I hate that we have to be apart on your birthday and we can't really celebrate. I guess we'll have to make up for it when you get back. I know you're working and studying hard over there in good ol' Alabama, but I'm ready for you to come home. Apparently Noah is ready for you to come home too. I am thinking of you and missing you everyday.

I love you,

Lori

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Hi Daddy!

Happy Birthday!!! I miss you so much. Mommy's okay and all, but I'm ready for some guy time with you. I can only take so much shopping...Target, the mall, groceries; I've had enough. I'm ready to go to Lowe's. Me and mommy made you a smilebox. I hope you like it. I hope you're thinking of me. Come home soon. I love you lots.

Noah

Make a Smilebox slideshow

One week down...

We've made it through our first week without Billy. He's off being busy in school and they are definitely keeping him busy. So we've been keeping ourselves busy too. Noah is really enjoying daycare. He has a great time there and everyone loves him to pieces. We've been trying out some new foods almost every day. He always makes a funny face when I give him fresh fruit but he seems to end up liking it. He's had blueberries, mangoes, and peaches. I really need to start giving him more fresh vegetables. Maybe we can try some green beans tonight. He's also tried crackers, toast, goldfish and tortillas. I even gave him some blueberry pancake and he loved it. As soon as he is 9 months old, which will be this Friday, daycare will start giving him table food. That means he'll be trying all kinds of new food, and the way this kid eats, I think he'll be loving all of it. Ms. Chrissy (one of Noah's teachers) already says he's a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy! I guess we have a good eater on our hands. See for yourself...

Lori and only one boy for a while

It's just me and Noah for the next five weeks. Billy left yesterday for Alabama. He has to perform some of his military duties and had to go to this pretty intensive class. I will miss my hubby and Noah will definitely miss his dad, but we'll make it. Noah has recently become very attached to his "dada" (Noah's first word). There have been quite a few times that he will almost fall out of my arms reaching for Billy and you should just see Noah's face when Billy walks into the room. He lights up like you wouldn't believe. So this might be a little tough on Noah, which might make it a little tough on me, but it could be a lot worse. At least it's only five weeks.

We hoped for the best while we were traveling and we got it! Noah traveled like a champ. We had no major disasters, we made all our flights, the longest delay we had was 30 minutes and we went and came back with all of our luggage. Success!

Here's Noah looking out the window of the plane


Noah met a lot of new people!











And of course he had a great time with his grandma and aunt Kari





And here's Noah just being adorable!