Fall 2010 School Pics

I know two boys who are competing for cutest brothers ever...and I think they are really bringin' it.

so i wasn't going to order the brother one, but jeff insisted. i like how it looks like noah is trying to escape from all of connor's love. awesome.

Low Expectations

While I find both of our boys amazingly handsome and know they are both ABLE to produce a perfect smile upon demand, I am still 99% sure that when I pick up their school photos today I'll be finding something similar to the gems below. Yeah.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

oh man, this picture is super creepy, but i love that it shows how long his eyelashes are!

Noah is getting so strong!

i found him like this...just doing a little light reading on mario kart. awesome.

happy noah

such a great big brother, turning on noah's music :)

Three Months Old

Noah Jackson is growing leaps and bounds right now. It's amazing. He doesn't have an appointment at 3 months so we did our own measurements at home. We tried to measure him but all we had in the house was one of those huge silver tool box measuring tape things. Not easy, but he came in around 25". By our scientific method (weigh me, weigh me holding noah, figure the difference) he's just about 16 pounds. Is that possible? He's not fat, just super long and sturdy I guess. He does have some delicious thieghs though :)

He's smiling more and more recently which is just so much fun. He smiles as soon as he sees that we're about to feed him which probably explains the twenty pounds :)!! We're religious to his schedule where he eats every 4 hours except overnight. He's been sleeping through the night for several weeks now thankfully. His last feeding is around 10am and he eats again in the morning at 7am. For the most part, he'll sleep the entire time overnight but sometimes he'll fuss at some point, but eventually pass back out. Yes, we're a 'cry it out' household and it works great for us. We get sleep and they learn to self-soothe. As a parent you learn the difference between a real cry and a 'meh, i woke up and i'm annoyed' cry. trust.

We're trying to get him to spend more time on his tummy but like most babies he's not in love with that idea. He'll tolerate it for a bit but then will scream until you give in and pick him up. Then he'll look at you like, finally.

He's still doing great with nursing but it's more of an appetizer for him. He eats 7oz each bottle feeding. When I nurse him, we top him off with anywhere between 4-7 ounces. i love my pig baby. I'm still going and getting him from school every day at 11 to nurse him at my office. I really love it and it breaks up my day nicely. My coworkers love that they get to see him everyday too. :)

Random thoughts for today

1. I really like my new owl ring. Yes, i know i'm obsessed with owls but this was $8 and I don't see this obsession lessening anytime soon.

2. Rehearsal dinner tonight immediately after work, getting ready for wedding tomorrow early and ceremony at 1:30 tomorrow followed by reception. HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO WORK PUMPING INTO THIS SCHEDULE.

3. the boys are staying with my inlaws this weekend until we pick them up on Sunday. I packed for them last night but I have no idea if I remembered anything. It just occured to me that this is Noah's first overnighter. Ahhh. :) We're so freakin lucky to have such amazing family close-by who love our boys and will babysit every chance they get.

4. there are a couple teachers in Connor's class who are obsessed with him...in an almost creepy way. One of them is way worse than the other. She's very sweet and I know he'll always get plenty of attention but my god...if my kid ever turns up missing remember I wrote this. :) When he leaves for the day she tells him that she loves him and shouts out 'huge & kisses' to him. Too much, right? right. she tells me everyday that he's her favorite and that she tells her mom and boyfriend about him all night and looks forward to Mondays over the weekend. Strike one - who looks forward to Monday? Should I call the authorities now or later?

5. Next weekend is ASU's Sorority Recruitment. Super excited. I liked rush as a collegiate but love it as an alum. We don't get to dress up cute and meet potential Sisters but I still really like it. Plus, once it's over a huge, huge part of my job is done and I can relax a bit - just a little bit.

6. i'm torn on whether i want it to rain tomorrow. part of me says yes so that it will be a bit cooler in my MOH dress, ugh. part of me says no since our friends are getting married and that would suck - for them. fine. i don't want it to rain as i desperately want to look sweaty in photos. oh, the wedding isn't about me you say? gotcha.

7. I am so swamped at work. overwhelmed more like it actually. there are two big parts of my job that I do...statements and ledgers. when i took on this job i was getting 10 statement requests a day and now i get 30. i was getting 5-6 ledgers a week and now i'm getting 10-15 a day! That's more than a 300% increase, right? If one more person tells me that means job security i may get violent. probably not, but it's possible.

8. it just started raining at my office and seriously there are four of us standing at the door watching it. watching rain. that's how you spot an AZ native folks.

9. I was reminded today about the amazing prize I won at the Dbacks Xmas party last year. I won two spa treatments at the Westin Kierland Spa. I still haven't used them which is so typical of me. I love gift certificates, but I hoard them. I can't say why I just do. Maybe I'm saving them in case one day we have zero money and I'll pull out my barnes & noble, target, dsw and spa certificates and i'll think, "we're gonna be just fine". yep, that's rational.

10. Noah turns 3 months old tomorrow. Can you believe it? I can't. I love this age because he's developing more and more personality. He smiles for real reasons now and he smiles a lot! He likes having his picture taken and hates when I blow in his face. He loves when we kiss him all over and hates waking up in the carseat. Loves 'standing' and hates if we're even 2 minutes late to feed him. we call him Noah Bear or Bear because he's so big and super long. :)

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend everyone!

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Lots of family stuff this week to post. My SIL and BIL Megan & Ryan hosted a game night this past weekend. We love games. There were 9 adults and 6 kiddos, including one very tall teenager. Connor, Kaden & Jacob played wii for hours while we played Apples to Apples.

Kaden, Connor and Jacob playing Mario Kart.


Noah is bored...he's not really a Mario Kart fan

Our nephew Jalen is amazing. He's a freshman at Mountain Pointe and is already on the Varsity football team. There will be plenty of bragging about him in the future, so for now I'll just post a few photos from the scrimmage we went to against Corona.

again, not thrilled

however, connor loves it :)

the lone girl of her generation, Madison...poor thing is outnumbered with 6 boy cousins!

Connor, Papa Barnes and Kaden - showing off the Mountain Pointe shirt

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

chillin in the swing

love the bath letters!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my dad's birthday. He's 68...I'm thinking he doesn't care that I mention his age since he's not a lady like that :) 68, holy crap. My dad hasn't acted 68, or his age for that matter since I've been adult enough to know him!

My dad is an amazing papa. He loves his boys so much and they adore him. I'm so happy that my boys will get to grow up with their grandparents nearby. Mine lived in other states and visits were somewhat few and far between. I think it's wonderful that my parents and inlaws are so present in their lives. My dad is there for all the big, important stuff and all the little minutia too. It's so incredible. He's a wonderful babysitter when we ask him, he's there for all swim lessons and he's never been a helicopter grandparent if you know what I mean...if you don't it's probably because I'm saying it wrong :) I mean that he never hovers over me telling me that I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I am...but my point is that he doesn't point it out which is huge!

Anyone who knows the two of us well enough, knows that I'm my father's daughter. Very much so - I get my tendency to go grey early, my sharp tongue and love of cursing, my tendency to lean right politically, my inability to tolerate idiots, high tolerance for alcohol, and staggering good looks from him. Thanks for everything dad and happy birthday!

papa and noah - just a few hours old

papa & tashi with connor - Easter 2010

Papa & Tashi - his bday last year

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!