Monkey See, Monkey Do

This picture might be one of my all-time favorites: I looked down at Amelia the other day, and she was actually trying to put on my bra!  She has been imitating us so much more this past week . . . she’ll hold the phone up to her ear and babble, she’ll get a tissue and try to wipe her nose, and she’s started to try and put on shoes.  Speaking of shoes, she learned to say “shoe” this week and “turtle.”  I’ve started this thing of every time I take her downstairs,  I stop at each framed picture and say the name of the person in it – she has learned to expect it and she starts pointing and saying the name… either bubba (Noah), mommy, dada or doggie.  Last night she was flipping through a family photo album taken at Christmas, and she looked at each picture and would point out “Bubba.”

Noah started first grade last Monday and is really enjoying his new school.  After he came home the first day, I asked if he made any friends, and he said, “Oh yeah!  I made two best friends!”  So I asked what their names were; he said he didn’t know… Noah’s never been so great with names!  When his teacher asked each child in his class what they like to read, Noah responded with “The Wall Street Journal”; I got a pretty big kick out of that one.  I’m so excited to be able to help out more at his school this year; I’ll be going to the library and P.E. with his class every week. 

Noah’s been asking me if he can start playing football.  I’ve never been a fan of the idea of him playing tackle football, so we compromised and I signed him up for flag football.  (Before it starts, I really hope it cools off from the 107 degrees it’s been every day this week!)

Amelia is officially walking!  The thing that finally got her to do it was French toast made from banana bread.  That girls LOVES to eat . . . since moving to Texas, we’ve discovered some of her favorites are biscuits and gravy, cinnamon rolls, and BBQ sausage.  We went to this awesome BBQ restaurant called “Dat’s Good BBQ” last Friday and they had a blues band – Amelia was probably their biggest fan!

Whoops-a-daisey

I had a big “Mommy blunder” this week!  Since Mike started his new job on Thursday, we wanted to do something fun with the kids on Wednesday, and we thought a day in downtown Dallas would be fun.  We decided we needed something specifically Texan, so we looked up the best-rated BBQ restaurants close to where we were.  When I skimmed over the reviews, I was looking for how people had reviewed the food… forgetting about the “atmosphere reviews.” Well, I picked what looked like a promising place and we headed over.  Upon arriving and being seated, we started to notice the attire of the ALL-female staff, which to say wasn’t much.  The top of the menus read: Bone Daddy’s House of Smoke, THE OTHER REASON YOU’RE HERE.  The place opened at 11am and by 11:30am, the place was packed . . . yet I was the ONLY female there who wasn’t dressed like in a similar manner!

However, the food was amazing and, all in all, it was a fun lunch!  Noah didn’t seem to notice what the waitresses were wearing -- at least he didn’t comment on it.  I guess it’s not much different than what he sees women in at the pool every day.  It definitely made for a good laugh!

It has been a rough week for Amelia; my poor baby got Hand-foot-and-mouth disease (I’m guessing from the childcare center at the fitness club).  Luckily, it sounds a lot worse than it actually is -- she had a low-grade fever and a rash around her hands, feet and a little around her mouth.  The rash is almost all gone, and she’s back to her cheery little self.  She’s been trying to communicate much more lately; it’s so fun to watch her explore her surroundings!  She points at everything, especially dogs and lights.  Whenever I change her diaper, I give her a book to look at to distract her.  This past week, the book had a ladybug named Louella.  When I hand her the book, I always say, “Louella, Louella” and I swear she’s started repeating it.

Amelia having fun with tissues when Mommy wasn't looking!

Noah starts school this coming Monday and he gets to meet his new teacher tonight.  Mike and I went to the 1^st grade back-to-school night yesterday and got to meet her -- she’s very nice!  I think it’s going to be a great year for Noah!

The last piece of furniture we bought was delivered this week, so the house is really coming together.  I took a few photos to share (sorry for the quality… I took them on my iphone).  I also worked really hard spackling, taping and painting Amelia’s room; it’s a little more pink than I had planned, but I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Amelia's room is almost finished!

We're Back!

I apologize for how long it’s been since my last blog post, but believe it or not we have not had internet since leaving my parents’ house.   As you can imagine it has been a VERY busy few weeks!  The rest of our drive from Park City to Dallas was nice and we got to stay with one of my best friends, Christina Saunders, and then with my grandparents for two nights in Medicine Lodge, KS. 

Turns out that the week we moved here was record breaking heat!  Our car thermometer was reading up to 115 degrees for the first five days.  It wouldn’t have been so bad because our house has great A/C, but we had to run errands all over the place to get the house set-up.  The upside is we made it through the hottest week of the year so it can only get cooler…right?

We are continually pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone is here; it truly is already feeling like home!  We joined a local club that has an indoor/outdoor water park, health spa, fitness classes, exercise equipment, basketball and racquet ball courts, even a rock climbing wall.  The best part is that they have an amazing childcare center that is ONLY $6 for both kids and they can go for two hours every day, so needless to say we have been there every day since signing up!

Noah loves it here so far; he has a great playroom and a play structure outside that he can play on at 5am ;).  He started an art camp this week and really seems to be having a great time.  He’s also made some friend in the kid’s center at the club.  Amelia had her first taste of childcare when I dropped her off to go work out. I was so happy because the next day when I brought her back she couldn’t wait to get down and start playing with the other kids!

It’s been fun unpacking and setting up the house.  The first week we had to do some furniture shopping to help fill-up the house and we’re eager to have it delivered, once it’s all set-up I’ll post some pictures.  Noah’s room colors matched perfectly to what I had in mind so we won’t need to change anything.  However, Amelia’s room is two shades of blue, so our project next week is to paint it and make it fit for a little girl. I am very excited about this project!

Here's some pictures from the last few weeks:

Noah with some of his favorite ladies.

Mike's lab goodbye lunch.

With my niece and nephew, Aria and Kia.

Our new house ; )

Noah with his great grandpa Gary and great grandma Dorothy.

I just love this picture!