Shroomin'

After eating some mushrooms at John & Rachel's on Sunday...Jake has been in need of a mushroom hunting experience. He & my brother went "shroomin'" Tuesday behind our house. Anthony said that it didn't help that Jake was color blind, he kept pointing them out right under Jake's nose! Here's what they found...I think they said they only found 40-50, but they weren't out there that long. I'm sure they will be going again this weekend.

Nora meets Noah!

Rachael, Brad & Noah were in town for Easter so they & Ellen came over Monday so we could all see each other & the babies! It was fun to catch up, see El's growing belly and watch Nora & Noah have their first play date.

I have to say that after changing Nora's diaper for 6 weeks it was weird changing Noah's diaper! He is a rather big boy wearing #2 diapers and Nora just got out of newborns so the shear size of the diaper seemed huge! Not to mention other parts Nora doesn't have that might have sprayed all over the wall-El was fast though.

A handsome little man he is & so precious to see them interact with each other. I must say we were both blessed with happy, easy going babies!

Best friends already!

Come back and play anytime Noah!

Losing Hair, Changing Colors

I think I said before that Nora's hair was changing colors, but for the past 2 weeks she has been losing some of it. Mostly the sides and some on the top...reminds me of a mullet! And, mullet reminds me of high school. I remember one spring break we tried to find and take pictures of as many mullets as we could-for some reason we were fascinated with them or think they look ridiculous. One or the other or both!

After making fun of so many mullets..this is my payback. My daughter has a mullet! The difference between her and any other mullet wearing person is that she is absolutely adorable anyway-and will probably dislike this post when she is able to read.

For all my high school friends....Mullet AKA: Ape Drape, Beaver Paddle, 10/90, Business in the Front/Party in the Back, Bi-Level, Camero Cut, Canadian Passport, Soccer Rocker, Kentucky Waterfall, El Camino, Tennessee Tophat, Yep-Nope, Shlonc (short-long), Achy-Breaky-Bad-Mistakey, Mud Flap, Missouri Compromise, Squirrel Pelt, and Neck warmer.

Nora's First Easter

Nora's first Easter was a successful one. Starting the day off with an 8+ hour sleep night-I had to wake her up so we wouldn't be late for church. We wanted to get there early so we could claim an outer pew so I could escape if needed. She was good through the service...I think Pastor puts her to sleep. I did have to nurse her at the end of the service, but that's fine with me because we were headed up to Lafayette after church so it worked out perfect. Side note-I can't wait until the nursery at church is finished being renovated-it re-opens on Mother's Day complete with an updated "Mothers Room". I finally won't have to use some random room in the church to nurse her anymore! Here we are & yes..I know we match. Did you forget my OCD-ness?!

After church, we went to lunch with my Mom, Aunt, Uncle & cousin at El Meson. Since we travel down it's easier for us to eat somewhere rather than cook and then it's less stressful for everyone. And, it was our 2nd year eating Easter lunch at El Meson so I'm pretty sure they will be expecting us next year too!

Then, we went out to see my mom's side of the family. Here's Nora with Grandma, great Grandma & Grandpa. (I just love Jake's glasses in this pic...lol)

In the car seat...one of her favorite places

He does it again...

Have I mentioned I have a very handy husband? Last week he fixed our water heater after hearing that we could either pay $250 to have a part cleaned...and hope that it lasts with no guarantee that it will last 10 hours or 10 years OR we could have them replace the part for over $550! Yikes...can't we get a new water heater for that price is all I was thinking. We found out that the thermocoupler needed replaced so Jake googled and asked around to see how to fix it.

Turns out the part at Lowe's was under $10 and he fixed it in less than 30 minutes...now I'll always question service people and how much we should really pay. $550 is just crazy! Good job Hubby!

26 Years

Wow! I can't believe I'm turned 26 this year...that sounds old considering I feel like I just graduated from high school a few years ago! I laughed at Jake when he said we graduated 5 years ago-more like 8.

I had a great time for my birthday and we didn't really do anything extravagant. Jake & Nora made me my favorite chocolate cake with chocolate icing-it was really good. For dinner we went to Grays Cafeteria (where all the old people go-haha). I was really craving it during my pregnancy, but we never made it there so it kind of carried over to my birthday. I had beef & noodles for dinner and topped it off with some awesome coconut pie.

Anthony & Beth made me brownies and mom made me cupcakes-I'm good for sweets for a while! Jake ended up getting me a hydrotherapy session and a massage-I've already booked it for May 14th (can you tell I'm excited about it?).

The best part about my birthday this year was having Nora here, starting our family, to share it with. She is already showing so much of her personality and I am totally in love with it.

Quote of the Week

By my nieces...while I was feeding Nora:

"Her eats from your body?" "Oh, her eats from your tummy!?"

My response-yeah, she eats from my body! I died laughing and was glad I didn't have to answer any questions to which the responses I had no idea what to say so I'll go with she eats from my body.

Photos by Aunt Rachel

Rachel came over to take pictures of Nora and they are adorable. I think we both learned that working with newborns is not as easy as some photographers make it look. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Thanks Aunt Rachel...I promise I won't always pee and shart on your props! Love, Nora Sue

1 Month Old!

Time flies...Nora is already 1 month old! She had a doctor appointment yesterday, here are the stats so far:

10 pounds, 10 ounces

22.5 inches long

Things she loves: car rides, walks, shopping with mom, laying on daddy's tummy, taking baths, listening to lullabies

What she is doing so far: following voices and objects, turning her head when doing tummy time, cooing and smiling, bats at the things hanging from her play gym

Weekend Happenings

FRIDAY

Brian & Megan came over with Nolan. He is a week older than Nora so this was their first "play date". Unfortunately, Nora was not in the mood for a play date. She was fussy almost the whole time they were over. I promised them she wasn't always like that. Nolan was an absolute charm. He is so handsome and well behaved! Here they are in a picture that Nora isn't having too much of a fit in!

SATURDAY

My mom came down from Lafayette to see Anthony & Beth's new apartment. They moved in about 2 weeks ago and are only 10-15 minutes from us so it's convenient for mom to come down to see all of us now. They ended up coming over and we went on a stroll around the neighborhood-pups and all. Although Chubbs (Anthony's dog) got a work out and had to be carried (somewhat like the picture below) or else I think he would have had a heart attack! Baby Hunter is less than a month away!

SUNDAY

We made it to church again! Yay! Then after church we swung by Wal-Mart to get a few things then we were back at home to enjoy the 80 degree weather. Nora & Jersey napped in the screened in porch while we did a little yard and flower gardening work. After working in the yard we took a long walk around the neighborhood trail-we were all worn out and relaxed when we got home.

3 Years in 2 Months!!

Time flies...our 3rd anniversary is in 2 months already! There have been a lot of events in those 3 years that we are thankful for. One that I'm ready to get rid of...the Bath & Body Works Vanilla lotion that was a bridal shower gift that is still in the spare bathroom. One of my college girlfriends gave it to me as a gift package for the bathroom-great gift, wrong scent. In her defense, only some high school friends would have known not to get me Vanilla Bean hand lotion scent. I use it, but prefer something different as it doesn't sit well with my sniffer. Funny that it's been around for as long as we've been married! It reminded me of 3 years ago when I saw it today.

Thank You Allison Family!

I can't find my thank you notes...so this is your written Thank You for the play mat...and adorable burp cloths, and books! When I received the play mat I knew exactly what it was and in fact it was something we were going to buy that next week with gift cards. Nora isn't sure what to do with it yet, but she's content for about 10 minutes-that's an eternity for a 3 week old! Here she is saying...THANK YOU!

Visitors!

Everyone wants to meet Nora! Here she is with Great-Papaw Stans & Great-Mamaw Karen who came over/down from Illinois last weekend to visit.

Aunt Jackie & Uncle Alex came over a couple weeks ago to spend some time with her. She showed them how to dirty and wet diapers and what an unhappy baby sounds like at bath time!

Grandma, Uncle Anthony & Aunt Melissa came to love on Nora.

Here I am (picture taken a few weeks ago) blogging...with one of Nora's favorite things...my sling. She loves to be close to me, but this thing starts to hurt my shoulder after a while so its only when its absolutely needed!