Mom's Latest Do

I got a haircut a few weeks ago and wanted to document it as well as show off my 14 pound lighter figure. Since giving birth to Norah I have lost all my pregnancy weight and 11 pounds more than I had before I got pregnant with Ava.

This picture is not only sweet, but I think it is pretty dang flattering.

Family Photo

We all looked so good for Halloween, and with Cass, an able-bodied photographer, around, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a family photo! I think it turned out great.

More Fun With Family

Last year we were in Illinois for Halloween and when Cassie said she was coming to visit for the holiday again this year, we were so excited, especially Ava and Jack. They kept talking about her upcoming arrival and how they would go trick or treating with her. It was so fun to see them greet her again after six months.

This visit reassured my earlier assumption, everything is more fun with family!

Costumes Revisited

Ava and Jack weren't the only ones sporting costumes found laying around the house, Norah wore the 2005 Butterfly costume Ava also donned on her first Halloween. Another big thanks to Grammy four years later!

Batman & Princess

Last year for Halloween, Ava was a beautiful princess with a long velvet dress, so long in fact that she was able to wear it again this year, much to her enjoyment. She was so excited to don this outfit a few more times in her life!

Jack also went happily low budget for his costume and just wore his Christmas pj's from Nana and Papa with a Batman cape from Six Flags safety pinned to his shirt. Though Kyle was skeptical, Jack and I thought it looked great and so did so many of the people whose homes we trick or treated at!

Halloween Pizza

For dinner we decided to make our favorite homemade pizza. Cass and I were at Ross trying to find her some interview clothes while Kyle whipped up this masterpiece. Chicken Alfredo Pizza with more alfredo sauce for dipping, even Ava likes this food. YUM!

Slightly Overdressed

It has been some crazy weather around her for Cass's visit. One day would be rainy and cold and the next would be sunshine and sweaty. I figured Halloween would be a mix of the two and dressed Norah accordingly. She was obviously overdressed for the 60 degree day, but I thought she might need something to keep her ears and hands warm while we played at the park.

Not so, she was sweaty pretty quick once we got outside, but she was sure happy before we left.

In Her Blood

After her last class I wanted to get a picture of Ava and Kyle showing where the line of swimmers in our family all started.

Super Swimmer

Ava has been a superstar swimmer since last summer, but with winter around the corner and Ava in need of some tips on her strokes from someone other than her parents, we signed her up for swim lessons.

She was lucky enough to get a ride twice a week to swim with her friend Guilia. I think she liked the rides as much as liked the lessons.

Well, after a month of these twice a week, 30 minute lessons, the time came for her final class and the chance for the parents to sit near the class and watch the kids do their thing.

Ava was the best in my opinion and even seemed like the class was a waste of her time. She had a blast each time, but next time we are planning on putting her in a class that challenges her a little bit more.

Aunt Cassie's Here

For graduation, we bought Cass half of a plane ticket to come visit us sometime before Thanksgiving. Lucky for us, she booked her trip to coincide with our date to see Brian Regan on October 24th at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Dallas. We needed to leave Norah in someone's care that was SUPER forgiving of her crazy needs. AUNT CASSIE TO THE RESCUE!

We left around 5:30 to hit up Carrabas before venturing downtown for the show. We had a blast sitting in the second row in the middle of the section, mere feet from our favorite comedian. Kyle and I felt like rock stars and were even gutsy enough to start shouting out requests during his encore.

By the time we got home it was about 9:30. When we walked in the door, everything seemed right until Cassie went on to tell us the tale of her woeful evening with the three "kids."

Hearing how badly things went at bedtime made me feel horrible, but when the story didn't stop there and then got worse and worse and longer and longer, it was obvious that Norah should not be left with anybody but us EVER!!

Poor Cassie, what a trooper to not call us crying, I would have if it were me.

THANKS FOR STICKING IT OUT, YOU ARE THE BEST!

Boo Shirts

For Halloween Grammy sent us another awesome package with tons of gifts for everybody, even Kyle got a first-aide kit we put in the Armada. The kids were super happy to get more books and coloring books, but their favorite items were the matching Boo T-shirts they all received!

The shirts were dresses for Norah and Ava, but Jack's fit perfect. When the kids start asking to wear an item of clothing, you know it's one they like! Thanks Grammy!

Halloween Cupcakes

We decided to spend one of our evenings making Halloween cupcakes with some friends. Ava loved the activity and made the cutest orange frosted beauty I just had to take a picture of her with her prized cake!

Sitting Up

The day before Kyle left for Germany, I decided it was time for Norah to move out of our closet. It was an emotional day and I felt like making a drastic change in hopes of securing more sleep from our, now, 5 month old.

We moved Ava into the guest room with the attached bathroom and made her old toddler bed back into the crib. Ava was a little gaffed at the abrupt change while she was at swim lessons, but was still pretty excited about her "new bed."

The amazing amount of sleep I was hoping for never materialized, but the fun transitional time was the entire time Kyle was gone. He missed out on that one big time (lucky guy).

Among other things Kyle missed out on during the weekend, was Norah's first official day of sitting up. She had been falling over for a few weeks now, but somehow this weekend proved the time she chose to start sitting up. It was so fun to see her in this new phase, which happens to be my favorite milestone!

When the Daddy's Away...

While Kyle was in Munich, Germany for an interview, the kids and I partied it up. I made a promise to myself that I would eat out as much as possible. This meant every dinner and some lunches were spent out of the house. One evening I was feeling overly confident in myself and took all three kids to Mimi's Cafe for an impromptu dinner of pancakes. Norah was screaming the whole time putting me on edge, but Ava and Jack enjoyed their chocolate chip pancakes more than imaginable.

It was fun for Kyle to visit his mission homeland, but he missed us as much as we missed him. International calls were more difficult than we thought, allowing us only 3 measly conversations the entire trip.

The exchange rate wasn't so great, but Kyle managed to bring home a number of German candies and chocolate bars as well as some scarves and a purse for me, a German soccer ball jersey for Jack, a snow globe of the Neuschwanstein castle that sang Adelvice for Ava, and a musical mouse for Norah.

It was a tough weekend for us all, but one we're all glad to have had.

Good-Byes

The last night my Dad and Barb were visiting, they made us an awesome porkc hop and stuffing dinner with washed dishes for dessert. It was so nice to have the help with dinner and while Barb was cooking Papa Grandpa played an awesome game of cars and hide the ball with the kids.

It was fun to see them for a few days, but as usual, their visit was not long enough.

Car Show

The last stop on our State Fair tour was the car show. We originally ducked inside from the rain, but ended up staying for a bit.

The kids loved jumping in and out of all the various cars that reminded them of the movie "Cars." Their favorite one was the blue version of Lightning McQueen. It was a corvette, not a Mustang, but who really cares anyways.

At the very end of our stint at the car show, we watched the Ford Robot interact with the crowd. I'm not sure if the robot had ever seen a baby before, because he was super interested in Norah and I and even asked us questions and gave us an air high five!

Pee Wee Stampede...

Just before lunch we stopped by the free petting zoo and fed some animals. The kids loved it and were sad to go, especially after we hyped up our next activity, the Pee Wee Stampede, that Jack ended up being too young to participate in.

Ava decided she would sit out too, there was too much mud for her liking.

State Fair of Texas

Being the tourists we are, we made our yearly stop at the State Fair of Texas on canned food day Wednesday (it is normally $13 for adults, but with a can of food admission was decreased to $1). It was a cloudy day and even rained on us at one point, but we had more fun this year than last!

The food highlights were fried grilled cheese, fried cheesecake, fried cookie dough, candy apples and corn dogs with curly fries-YUM!! It was so fun to eat so many junky foods, the kids were in hog heaven.

We only paid for enough tickets to go on two rides. Funny enough, the rides were representative of my Dad's favorite past times-motorcycling and boating!

"I Love Them"

My dad and Barb didn't stay at a campground with their coach in a nearby city, making our visits on the short side each day. As a result, the kids' first words each morning were, where are they?

"Big Cat"

The last stop on our aquarium journey was to see the famous water cat, or just a leopard caged up in some glass at a fish museum-go figure!

Penguins Outside

With the enjoyment the first penguin exhibit gave, we were super excited to see the outdoor one as well.

The pictures don't show many penguins, because there really weren't very many to see, but the guard rails made for such interesting photos.

Group Shot

What a cute family, Papa Grandpa and crew.

Octopus Tank

I'm not sure if I have ever really seen an octopus up close, they are so crazy looking-I think I was more enamored with the creature than the kids!

"What is That Thing?"

One of the tanks had the hugest fish sitting on the bottom of it. Jack was so enamored, he just stared and stared in total disbelief at its shear size!

Ava was not as impressed with giganto as she was the sea turtle, another Finding Nemo reference.

Picture Perfect

Ava was checking out the duck pond and smiling all the while, what a sweet face!

Keep Out

I'm not even sure what the kids are looking at here, but the photo opportunity was too good to pass up, what cute kids!

"Mr. Ray"

One of the first exhibits was the sting ray tank, Ava immediately recognized the creature and quickly referenced the teacher in Finding Nemo!

Gramma Barb

The kids are super bad at remembering people they don't see or hear from very often, so it took some reacquainting on everyone's part, but after a short time at the aquarium, both kids knew Gramma Barb was family.

Opening Act

Right when you walk into the aquarium, there is an awesome penguin exhibit, so while I payed the steep $30 admission for Ava and I (Jack and Norah were free), the kids checked out one of their favorite animals.

Waiting Around

We lent our GPS to my dad and even with its help, they still got lost, so we ended up chilling outside the aquarium for a bit. The kids loved looking into the giant outdoor fish tank almost as much as the fire station across the street.

Dallas World Aquarium

Since it was scheduled to rain all week Dad and Barb were visiting, we were forced to abandon our park/pumpkin patch ideas and settle for some indoor fun.

The aquarium popped into mind, so we made it happen. The kids were super excited to see the fish and I was up for some walking-so was Norah!

"Papa-Grandpa"

My dad and Barb came for a visit this week.

It has been almost a year since they have seen the kids, and you could totally tell. There was definitely an awkwardness lingering in the house.

It was such a shame, too, because our visits with family are so short, it stinks to waste a day or two getting reacquainted, just to say good-bye a few days later! If only we lived closer!

By the end of their visit, though, Jack and Ava loved their grandparents and Jack donned a special nick-name for Grandpa - "Papa Grandpa!"

Rainbow Daze

It has been raining like crazy around here, leaving a bit house-bound and stir-crazy, but because of the downpour, there was a beautiful surprise outside!

Rainbows are so beautiful, and so rare it seems. The kids were in total awe and didn't want to go back inside for dinner.

We took advantage of the fun backdrop and got some overdue pictures of our sweet Norah Pearl. Kyle loves blowing in her neck roll and apparently she does too!

I was feeling the love too and decided to pose for a picture even though I was looking quite wind-blown!

Thoughts

So, we are still waiting for our sweet baby to stop being so reflux-y, but to date she is still "sick" and we are all still trying to handle it, especially me.

I think knowing she is as uncomfortable constantly spewing her lunch as I am being showered with it, makes me feel a tiny bit better about the whole ordeal-but not always! Most days I am pretty fed up with the process and find myself trying to control my emotions about it.

It WILL get better and she WILL grow out of it, but until then I am convinced it is causing her to be a less stellar sleeper (not sleeping till dawn without waking up at least once) and less happy than she would be normally. Poor thing-poor us!