Noah's 1st REAL Haircut

Well, I did the first major cut.. the cutting of the baby curls, but my sister, Heather, shaped it up and made him look like such a handsome little man yesterday.

I know most of you can't believe I did this so early, at only 9 months, but he has so much hair! It was hanging in his eyes constantly and I just couldn't take that. I'm really glad I did it now, because it really looks so good!

Noah with Aunt Heather...

"Hey, Mom, whatcha doin back there??"

"500 pictures... REALLY, is that necessary?"

I LOVE this one.. if you click on it to make it bigger, you can see the little snips of hair flying out from the scissors!

All the ladies in the salon just loved him!

I couldn't beleive how well he did! He sat right there for her the whole time. Never fussed or moved at all! I wonder if he'll always be this cooperative for his haircuts...

9 MONTHS!

Noah has officially been on earth as long as he was in my belly. Well, almost, anyway....

He was 9 months old last Sunday (the 15th) and his 9 month appointment was supposed to be last Monday, but when we went, he was so sick, running a fever, and cutting a tooth, so we just made that a sick appointment and yesterday we went back for the dreaded shot. UGH! I hate those so much!

Anyway...

He was 20 lbs. 3 oz. and I think 31 inches long... I could be a little off on that length... Emma was supposed to carry the papers for me to the car and when we got down the road, I asked her for them and she seemed to have no idea what papers I was talking about! grrrrr....

On another note.. This past weekend, his hair hanging in his eyes was driving me NUTS!!!!

So, I wet it....

And CUT IT!

No more huge curl wings on the sides of his head...

NO more 3 inch wisps ( not really, it just seemed that way) framing his hairline right by his shoulders....

He seems to like it.. :)

There's his little baby hair.... :(

He's growing up so fast. Makes me want another baby. :)

Life's Lessons

My friend Amy posted a blog this past week on this topic, so I hate to steal it, but it's so appropriate for the week I've had.

I've been such a horrible blogger this week, but it has truly been a week like no other.

This week I:

1. Discovered what a "true" friend is and how even when you think people love you and care about you, that they often have other, sinister motives festering against you in their brains, regardless of what they say to your face.

2. Because of the above, I have realized how much I love the friends who are genuine, loving, and caring... the ones that will pick you up when you're at your lowest of lows.

3. Got to spend THREE days with a genuine, true friend, who I absolutely adore. She let me take 5 million pictures of her (she does love being the model, though), some of which are a late Valentine's present for her hubby, some of which were just purely for fun!

4. Had my heartbroke a million times over, BUT received so much love from those who care that it was actually a good thing. It showed me... oh, yes... it showed me...

5. Because of this week... I will ALWAYS be ecstatic for all the accomplishments of my friends and family members, regardless of any extenuating circumstances...

6. And, no matter how positive and wonderful you may think something is, you can always count on someone making it into something ugly and negative. Gotta just look past those!

Here are some pictures of my GORGEOUS friend Michelle...

It almost feels like cheating when you get great pictures of someone who just naturally radiates beauty and kindness...

I'm so thankful she was here for me when I needed my friends the worst.. I love you, girl!

On another note... I'm still trying to name the BLOG that I'm going to use to post PICTURES!

What is in the front of my mind is... GRACIE JAMES

I love it... I think it sounds very trendy, which is my goal for anything I do... I love it, because its' Emma's and Noah's middle names.

My only issue with this is that I very much intend to have a third baby, and I don't want to immediately give this child a reason for needing therapy as an adult.

SO.... do you love it or hate it?

PLEASE tell me... even if you don't know me... I need as much feedback as I can possibly get!

Chicken Noodles

This is one of Emma's favorites and something I made up and so simple, I'm almost ashamed to put it up here...

I buy a rotisserie chicken to use to make this, but you can also buy a whole chicken and boil it, if you'd prefer...

1 Rotisserie Chicken
2 Boxes of Chicken Stock, plus 2 extra cans
Large bag of egg noodles
Can of Cream of Celery soup

Put all the liquid/soup in a pot, bring to a boil. Add noodles, tear the chicken off the bone, throw it in.. Add salt and pepper to taste and WA-LA... it's done and it's soooooooooooooo yummy!

My Little Artist

You are so adorable, Emma. You love drawing on your white board and regardless of what you draw.. be it a bunch of scribbles or a person without a body (as pictured), you say, "Look what I did, Mommy!".

You are so full of excitement and enthusiasm about absolutely everything and I just love you so much.

This is how you always draw your people, by the way... I love it!

Love you, my little best friend....

Tickle Butt

You love to be tickled and I love to munch on your little belly. It's so sweet and you have the cutest little laugh!

Sick Boy

My sweet love, you have been so sick lately. You turned 9 months old yesterday and today you weighed 20 lbs. 12 oz. at the doctor's. You were supposed to get your nine month shots today, but you didn't, because I didn't want them poking you when you already weren't feeling very well.

As a part of this virus that you currently have, you also got a full body rash. I have felt so sorry for you. Which means that you've been getting lots and lots of kisses.

That's nothing out of the norm, though...

Little Sleepwalker

Emma,
You scared Mommy half to death last night.

I fell asleep sometime around 12:30 last night. You were in your bed. I was in my bed. I fell asleep with the tv on, which is really not the norm. Well, I woke up around 1:30 am and was disoriented, but I saw that there was a glow coming from the bathroom, so I looked up. The bathroom light was on and you were just standing in the middle of the bathroom. Just standing there.

I got up and went in there to you. I asked you what you were doing and you just kind of looked around like you didn't know where you were or what you were doing. So I asked you again and this time you just said, "I don't know". So, I led you to my bed and we both went right back to sleep. I woke up this morning wondering if that really happened, but when I looked over and saw you laying beside me, I knew it really did.

This is not the first time this has happened. When I was pregnant with Noah, I woke up in the middle of the night one night and you were just standing beside the bed staring at me. The doctor told me today to make sure I always set the alarm, so I'll know if you try to leave the houes in the middle of the night.

I will definitely be on top of that! :)

Love you, my sweet girl, even if you do scare me to death...

A Little Preview...

...of the boudior shots I'm doing for my friend, Jackie, this weekend! We're doing more today and there are lots more to edit, but here are three...

...isn't she beautiful????

Happy Valentine's Day!

Tony spoiled us very rotten this Valentine's Day. Emma and I both got huge boxes yesterday. Hers had this ginormous teddy bear and little red roses, which she LOVED. She loves getting flowers so much. Everytime she walks by them in the kitchen, she talks about how beautiful they are.

Admiring her roses...

Aren't they gorgeous?

I also got this beautiful star Tiffany necklace that matches my star drop earrings I got for Christmas. Isn't it so pretty? I love stars...

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!!

Playin with Photoshop

Emma looks kinda sad, but really, she was just sleepily watching The Goodnight Show.

Noah was not cooperating. I was taking these on the new black background and this is pretty much the only one where I could get him to look at me...

Too Excited for Words

I cannot contain my excitement, so I must write an entry about this...

You already know (well, you should) that Tony got me my awesome camera for Mother's Day last year and since, at the time, I had a brand new baby and was getting used to now having two children instead of the one, I've just been piddling with it ever since.

Well, I am now ready to learn more about the actual art of photography. I've joined the Mission 24 blog on here and I've also joined a forum called Clickin Moms. Carrie told me to join that and I'm really learning a lot from reading what those girls do everyday. Not to mention how much I've learned from talking to Carrie about it everyday. I am so thankful to her and my friend, Amy, as they have definitely been my inspiration for wanting to turn this hobby of mine into something more.

NOW I am so happy to report that I have my FIRST photoshoot scheduled. My friend Michelle wants me to do boudoir shots of her for her husband for Valentine's Day. We're actually doing them the weekend after Valentine's Day, but they're still going to be his present.

My hope is that we will be able to do them without laughing. She's a person who laughs a lot and I know if she starts laughing, I'll start laughing and lord.. it could end up taking a while... LOL

I am so glad that we're doing it next weekend, though, and not this, because my new lens (that is actually my birthday present) is due to come in Friday. I ordered it last night and I am so super excited about it! I hope that I do a good job for her, because I know I'm going to be so scared of doing something to screw it all up! LOL

If there are any of them that she wouldn't care if the world saw, I'll post them, but odds are, she won't want me to post them, so the first shoot will probably be a secret. :)

First Climb

There you go again, doing new things. This morning, I was on the computer checking my email when I heard you doing your grunting and groaning from behind the couch. I got up to go see what the source of your frustration was and this is what I found....
You had climbed into your old bouncy seat and gotten yourself stuck there. :)

And being the good Mommy, I didn't immediately rescue you, I grabbed the camera to document the moment. You didn't seem to mind too much...

love you, boy

Yesterday was a very momentous day for you, my boy. You ate pizza all by yourself for the very first time. I was pinching little pieces of it off for you and you just grabbed it right out of my hands and started eating it right by yourself! You amaze Mommy every single day!

I think you were wondering why I was documenting you eating supper... you do it every day, afterall!

You are making a face just like your Mommy here! :)

I love you so much, my sweet baby boy...

Such a Proud Big Sister I Am

My little sister, Heather, and two friends of hers just opened a salon in Dunn called ...

She does such an awesome job and they've made this place so gorgeous, I'm just SO PROUD of her and her accomplishments! She's only 21! And she does an amazing job on my hair. I love having such a talented, smart sister!
I couldn't get a great pictures of their waiting room, because I didn't want to totally freak out the family that was sitting in there!

She was about to put the color on my hair here...

I just LOVE the colors of their walls! Turquoise and Apple Green... love it! And I love the black fixtures... and see the cool towel holder... LOVE IT!

We Should be Quarantined and Other STUFF!

According to Tony, our whole family (well, the members that are currently present in the house, i.e. Me, Emma, Noah, and Marley) needs to be quarantined. Reason Being-- In the past month, we have suffered the following:

1. Emma waking up on a Saturday Night sometime around the middle of January.. let's just say the 10th (I'm pretty sure this is accurate, I just looked at a calendar)... throwing up her insides and a sky-high fever. This turned into a bad cold... and I woke up that Thursday morning with the same thing, only about ten times worse (thank GOD I got it to this extreme and not either of my children). I thought I was dying. It was so bad that I didn't blog for about two weeks **gasp!!** The dying part of this funk that I contracted from my little beauty lasted about two days, after I was done dying, I was just really sick for about two weeks... and even now, I still have congestion lingering from this funky funkness. Emma's all well, I'm happy to report.

2. I forgot to mention that the BEST.. oh, yes, BEST... part of this funkness was that we both had horrible sores in our noses with scabs so massive, they took up the entire area of our nostrils. Isn't that a nice visual?

3. Now, during this time, thank goodness, my little love muffin (Noah) steered clear of all our funky germs. Not sure how, he makes a point of sticking his tongue in my mouth during at least two or three kisses a day. However, he did randomly spike a few fevers and have a few snotty days throughout.

4. Sometime in January, I also started getting these little tiny, itchy bumps on my right elbow. I showed them to my doctor when I went in during my dying and he told me to just put cortizone on there.. I did that, it didn't help and only continued to get worse.. and I finally got some steroid cream today.

5. About two weeks ago, our dog, Marley, got beaten up by some wild animal in the woods behind our house to near death. I really wish I knew what did that to him. If you read my old blog on myspace, you may remember that it could have been anything from a wild dog to a coyote, a bobcat, or even a bear.. yes, we have bears back there.. but they've never appeared outside the woods...

6. Last week.. Noah's eye.. you all already read about that.... then this past weekend, he developed a little rash on the bottom of his belly that I took him BACK in for today after my appointment.

7. Then yesterday... I was sitting at my computer (of course... it was NAPTIME!!) and I heard the chime go off that signals me that one of the exterior doors has been opened. Well, since I wasn't expecting anyone, it alarmed me. So I stopped. "Mama??" I yelled out. No response. So, I got up from my seat and hobbled across the bonus room... my right foot was asleep and I was trying to wake it up to get ready to go down the stairs. No such luck. So, I start hobbling down the stairs. I had a really bad feeling about this, I could FEEL that something was about to happen, but I kept going.. I didn't know if there was an AXE MURDERER in my house with my baby sleeping down there, so I must go DEFEND my household... right??? Whatever, I would so scream, grab the baby and run... So, I kept hobbling.. two steps after the bad feeling.. my leg gave out, foot rolled to the side, and BAM! I SPRAINED MY ANKLE.

I almost passed out.

A wave of nausea rolled from the top of my head to the tips of my toes.

My vision went black with little white flecks of snow spotting up sporadically in front of my eyes.

Emma was behind me and I went limp. She immediately jumped to my rescue. Thank goodness there was no Axe Murderer in my downstairs, because I was completely unable to fight anybody off.

She literally held me up as I regained my vision, gasped for breath, and grabbed a Ziploc and filled it full of ice for my now crippled ankle.

She was so sweet. She helped me to the couch and made sure the ice didn't fall off my leg. This is the end result... Isn't that egg on the side of my foot just so attractive? I really think so...

So, because of all of this, Tony told me today that he thinks we should just be quarantined for a while to prevent us from contracting any more funk or being involved in anymore catastrophes.

What do you think?


And today, I had my yearly appointment with my OB/GYN, so thank goodness school is not a mandatory activity for Emma at this stage. She went with me to help her handicapped mother out with the baby brother. Very good. She is the biggest helper... really, she is...

I had the hardest time cramming her feet into her shoes this morning, so upon leaving the doctor's office, we went to Shoe Carnival (where it's always buy one get one half off, that's what I'M talkin about!) and got some new kicks. She is in an 11 1/2!!! She's only four!! These things look like boats on her feet, but so super cute!


And she is so on top of her chores! In her daddy's absence, she takes out the trash AND she feeds the dog!

Now, this is the best.... Noah (8 1/2 month old NOAH) ate his first piece of pizza right by himself tonight... the WHOLE piece! I have pinched off little pieces for him in the past, but tonight he kept reaching for it, so finally I let him hold it and he just tore it UP!

Gosh, he's the cutest thing ever...

He looks so much older than 8 months to me here...

I think he's tired of me taking pictures of his messy face.... that is SUCH a Candace look he's giving me...

As a side note: I'm sure my cousin Carrie ( you remember, the super fab one) probably wishes I would get quarantined... without a phone.... I have to be verging on driving her INSANE with all my camera and editing questions... holy cow, they're just never-ending....