Sneak Peak

Is it Wednesday already!? I am still trying to grasp the reality that we are moving this Sunday. And I also can't believe I actually scheduled myself to work this Thursday and Friday! What was I thinking? That just means the rest of the packing is in Josh's hands. Oh great! No, really everything is coming together and we are basically finished.

This week has been kind of sad because it is our last week in Amarillo. Amarillo has always been home. But it is also exciting because we are about to build a new life in Fort Worth. I believe our move to Fort Worth will be a good thing. We will only grow stronger. And I know God will be with us through it all. Lots of exciting times ahead!

So Monday was Memorial Day, and, like I said before, we didn't have much going on. It was really nice though because we were together as a family. Neither one of us had to work, which doesn't happen very often these days. We did however meet Chriselda later in the day and had our family pictures taken with her. We love hanging around with her. If you haven't met Chriselda, you need to. She is such a sweet, outgoing, loving individual, and what a great friend she has become to our family. She has been a part of our lives since Noah was two weeks old. We are so thankful for her, and she will be missed.

Anyway, Chriselda was nice enough to send us a sneak peak of our family session. We love this picture, and it was actually an accident. Isn't it funny how that happens. We were all just playing around, and Chriselda caught it at the right moment.

We are anxious to see the rest, but until then we will just enjoy this one! Hope you are having a great day!

No Longer Toothless

Guess who has two teeth!?



Noah!!!

Noah has been teething for quite a while now, but now he finally has something to show for it! Doesn't he have the sweetest little smile!?

I'm a Mommy!

Finally I am posting the pictures from Mother's Day! What a special day it was for me! That morning I thought to myself, "I am a mommy now!" It's not like I haven't realized that over the past eight months, but it really hit me that morning. I had a whole new perspective on Mother's Day. God has given ME the awesome privilege of being Noah's mother. What a blessing!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! We don't really have a lot planned except for packing and getting things finished up around here.

Sounds fun, huh?

Before I say goodnight, I want to wish Darrell "Papa" a Happy Birthday! Hope you had a wonderful, relaxing day! We love you!

Catching Up!

Oh my goodness! It has been so busy around our house, especially this past month. Last week I was beyond stressed out. I looked around and all I could see was stuff EVERYWHERE! And I'm sure Noah being sick contributed a little to my stress. Poor baby. He was sick literally all week and I could tell he was just miserable. Today was Noah's last day to take his antibiotic, and I'm so glad he is starting to feel better. By the way, Noah weighed almost 22 lbs when we went to the doctor last week. Such a big boy! Here are a few pictures of the sweet little guy. Isn't his smile contagious!?






Packing is coming along, and has actually gone smoothly. Our house is looking so empty: full of boxes and nothing on the walls.




It kinda makes me sad to see it this way because this was Noah's first home. But, the more I accomplish around here and the closer we get to moving (9 days!), I get very excited about the new adventure we are about to take. Will you please continue to keep us in your prayers as we finish up everything around here.

Before I go, I have wanted to share with you for quite some time about Baby Dedication Sunday our church had on May 3rd. It was a very special Sunday. Before God and our church family, we dedicated Noah to the Lord. Both Josh and I committed ourselves to teach Noah about Jesus, to teach him the Word, and to bring him up in a godly home where he is loved and protected. Noah has been such a blessing in our lives, and as parents, God has given us a great responsibility to teach Noah the truth and to be godly examples in his life, and we pray for God's leading as we do so. Here is a picture of us on Baby Dedication Sunday.



I have a lot of catching up to do, so keep a look out! Have a great night!

Noah's New Toy

Noah's toys are starting to collect dust. Ever since we started packing, Noah has discovered there are many other fascinating things around the house to play with. Here is Noah playing with one of his new toys.



By the way, Noah is starting to feel much better. It sure has been a rough week for all of us (especially Noah). I hate when he doesn't feel good. Thank you for all of your prayers. Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!

Poor Baby

Ear Infection, sore throat, diaper rash... what's next?



Poor Noah has had a tough week. My heart breaks for him.

Noah's First Ear Infection

Well I planned to post some pictures today from Mother's Day, but I just didn't get around to it. The reason is poor little Noah has been a sick little boy.

It all started Sunday evening when we were over at Josh's parents'. It was obvious that Noah was not feeling well, but we thought it was probably just him teething. Noah didn't feel good all day Monday, and last night I was up with him every two hours. His poor little body was so warm, and he had a fever of 103.5. He was really fussy (I would be too); I could tell he just didn't feel good. At 2 am I gave Noah some Motrin and put him in a lukewarm bath. I think it helped ease the pain, and it definitely brought his temperature down. By morning, his temperature was back up again, and we just couldn't seem to break it. What worried me the most was Noah had only 7 oz of formula by 2 pm. Every time we tried to give him a bottle he would push it away. Noah never turns away food!

I decided to call the doctor's office to see if we could get him in to see Dr. Fletcher. Dr. Fletcher tested Noah for Strep and the Swine Flu. Come to find out Noah has his first ear infection (thank the Lord that is all it was!) So we will start him on an antibiotic and continue with Motrin and Tylenol. Poor baby! I feel so sorry for him. Here he is watching baby Einstein.

Please keep little Noah in your prayers that he will feel better soon.

My First Mother's Day!

Yesterday was my first official Mother's Day, and what a special day it was! I remember last year I was pregnant with Noah on Mother's Day, and although it was exciting knowing I would be a mother within a couple months, I had no idea at that point what being a Mother was all about. Eight months ago God blessed me with Noah, and I became a mother. It has been the most wonderful eight months of my life.

Yesterday morning, we woke up late for church. Our little alarm clock didn't wake us up; I guess he was tired. Anyway, somehow we made it out the door on time. On our way to church, Josh handed me two cards. One was from him, and the other one was from Noah and Einstein. Of course Josh's card was sweet (as always), but Noah and Einstein's made my heart melt. Noah scribbled his signature, and Einstein had written me a note. At the very bottom was a P.S. saying my present was on my iPhone under the video section. There I found two videos, one from Noah and the other from Eins. I love the quote at the beginning of Noah's video.





I had tears in my eyes as I watched the memories of Noah's birth, bringing him home, and all the fun we've had together over the past eight months. Besides having Noah in my life, I cannot imagine a more perfect gift for my first Mother's Day.

What also made my Mother's Day special was time spent with family. We had the rare treat of being able to spend time with both of our families on the same day. I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

That's My Boy

Growing up, Joseph (my bro) and I always communicated with our own little Deaf language -- an exaggerated form of Deaf expressions, ASL and general Deafisms. Wait, did I say "growing up," like it was a thing of the past? We still do it to this day.

As any good father would, I've passed it down to Noah. Yes, we sign to Noah, but I'm not talking about teaching him how to say "milk" or "more" or "Da-Da." This goes beyond labeling objects with certain signs. I frequently get Noah's attention with a Deaf yell (he laughs everytime), and Joseph never misses a chance to throw some Deaf colloquialisms his way.

Well, on Tuesday night I came home from working in Lubbock to find Noah army crawling across the floor (that's obviously a whole other post; it's coming soon, Libby tells me). After picking him up and kissing his chubby little cheeks about a hundred times, I put him back down to scoot across the floor, and Lib and I sat down for dinner. A few minutes into dinner, I looked at Noah and shot him a Deaf expression. He looked at me for a second, and then something happened to make me the proudest dad on the planet. HE RETURNED THE EXPRESSION!!!

"Quick, get the video camera!" was my frantic plea to Libby. Luckily, once Noah started, he didn't want to stop. We went back and forth all night, and Noah seemed to grasp the concept, because I would do it, and he would copy me every time. Yes, Lib caught some of it on video. And yes, I know this wouldn't be worth posting without it, so here it is:



It's funny even if you don't understand the expression. But it's a hundred times funnier if you do.

Also, I'm kinda posting this on top of Libby's post from earlier today. It's funny too, so be sure to look at it as well.

--Josh

Einstein's New Beanbag

This morning I had given Noah a bottle and he was laying over by the t.v. I was at the computer talking to Josh on the phone and thought I better check on Noah. And THIS is what I saw!



Einstein, a full thirty pounds, was laying right on top of Noah. Apparently, he had discovered Noah was quite comfortable. I couldn't stop laughing. It was funny because Noah didn't mind at all, he was petting Einstein. What a pair! I'm so glad I had my phone close by to capture this moment.

Well just wanted to take a little break from packing! whew! Packing wears me out!

Nana's Surprise Birthday Party!

This past weekend Josh, Noah and I drove to Oklahoma for my Nana's 80th surprise birthday party.

Poor Einstein wasn't invited to the party, so he had to stay home. I'm sure he didn't mind though. He got to go play with all his friends at Doggy Day Care. We are really going to miss that place when we move. The people who work there love, no, absolutely adore Einstein.

Anyway, we all had such a wonderful time together. It was so nice to spend time with family and see those who we don't get to see often. Nana, I hope you had wonderful surprise birthday party! One of my friends commented on the picture of you blowing your candles out, saying, "she doesn't look 80! She looks around 45-50! She looks so young!" It's so true Nana, you have aged gracefully! We love you! Here are some pictures of the party.

The Church Showing Us Some Love

This past weekend at church we had our annual Bible Conference; what a blessing the weekend was, and it's so neat to see God at work in so many lives. Along with all the activities this weekend, our church family held a going away reception for us. The amount of support we have received from our church family has completely blown me away. We had so many friends and family, young and old, show up to show their love and support for us. God has blessed us so much through our church family, and we will greatly miss them when we move to Fort Worth in June. Here is a slideshow of all the pictures!