Things to be thankful for...

There are quite a few things we are thankful for this year. Among them are our health, the continued health of our growing children, the blessings we have received from our Lord, our families, and more. As usual, I haven't updated in a while because I haven't really had too much time. I've been working a lot, but it's been great because the extra income has been really helpful. Adam has also been working quite a bit , which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for "together" time, but we make do when we can.

My mom has been coming to visit frequently, which has been nice because for the past 7ish years that I've been down here, I haven't gotten to see her a whole lot; mostly twice a year, once for Christmas, and once in the summer. She has been a big help with Noah when we need an extra hand here and there and I have to say, it's just nice to have my mom around more often. :) Funny...While I was growing up, I NEVER, in a million years, thoug

ht those words would be coming out of my mouth.

We have been a very busy household as usual lately. I feel like the months keep flying by and I honestly still can't believe that it's almost Christmas. Noah is going to be 19 months in the next few days, I can still remember last year at this time trying to keep him out of the tree and trying to keep him from unwrapping the presents so he could simply play for the wrapping paper. This year, it's more about trying to teach him the meaning of Christmas....and also, trying to keep him from getting into the tree and getting to the presents! Some things will never change I guess.

Noah never ceases to amaze me when it comes to his vocabulary. He'll come home from daycare singing songs and answering questions I don't expect answers to. He's such a mimic, so you have to be REALLY careful what you say around him, otherwise you may hear it repeated in a matter of seconds. Sometimes, it's really funny, but sometimes....like when you're trying to discipline him and he starts talking back to you....it's NOT so funny. Ahhh....the joys

of parenthood. I can't wait until I have another one to throw into the mix.

The pregnancy is going well, however, I am more tired than I think I've ever been in my life. Chasing around a toddler, while slowly gaining weight in the front, which in turn throws off your balance, is not the easiest thing in the world to do. Somedays, Adam and I look at each other and wonder what we ever did with our "extra" or "free" time back in the times before we had children. Adam's great Aunt Darlene does the string test to determine gender of the baby and we had her do it at a family dinner last Sunday night. If you are unfamiliar with the string test, I will explain it to you. You take a string and you tie either a needle or your wedding ring around the end, then you dangle it over the pregnant person's wrist or belly and if it goes in circles, it's a girl, and if it goes back and forth like a pendulum, it's a boy. Well, when Aunt Darlene did it, it went in circles, and she's never been wrong, so we'll see. I still think it's a boy, but all we want is a

healthy baby. :)

I've included some pictures from Halloween for your viewing pleasure:

P.S. Adam's brother, Geoff, got married last Saturday! Exciting stuff! Her name is Bethany and she's wonderful. We are so happy for them. Noah can't say Geoff, but he tries and it comes out like "Chuck." He calls Bethany, "Nee Nee." Needless to say, during the wedding, all he did was yell out, "Hi Chuck, Hi Nee Nee!" Funny doesn't even cover it.

PREGNANT??!! HUH?!?!

Yes, that's right. I am indeed pregnant again. At first, Adam and I were very freaked out and nervous when we discovered I was pregnant for our second child. After all, we had planned on waiting at LEAST another year before starting to try again. We both wanted to spend more time with Noah, make sure he got potty-trained, etc... God obviously had other plans. Now that we have had about a week to grapple with the news, we are doing much better. We're both getting excited about the possibility of having another child that's just as awesome as our first around the house. I have tried already to explain it to Noah, but I don't know if he'll really start to understand until I start to really show. He LOVES babies, so I'm hoping he'll be good with his new brother or sister. I have a feeling it may be a bit hard for him at first because he will have been an only child for over 2 years and will have had all of our attention up to that point. Some jealousy may take place, but I hope eventually, he will be grateful for someone to play with and someone other than us who will be there for him for the rest of his life. I always wanted and longed for siblings, so I sincerely hope Noah feels the same way.

As for Adam and I, we are taking it one day at a time. We are thinking about the possibility of buying a house and we are already starting to budget for the extra expenses of another child. Adam is still looking for a job, but has not had any luck in securing one. He has had a phone interview recently with Whirpool, but they are looking for someone who has a CPA lisence. More and more we are finding that Adam is probably going to have to go back to school to get his Masters Degree so he will have enough credits to sit for the CPA exam. While grad school is not exactly what we want to start up right now, it may have to be one of those necessary ends to a means. We are currently working on his "personal statement" and other things for his application to grad school.

Noah has been going through quite a few changes lately. His vocabulary has expanded to an enormous volume for a child his age. He understands pretty much everything we say and any questions we ask him. He definitely has a firm grasp on, "no," and he doesn't say yes, other than to nod his head, but he does say, "ok." He's babbling away in long strings at times and most of the time I have absolutely no idea what he's saying. Noah's also starting to put words together. He says, "daddy's truck," "momma car," "hi (insert name here)," etc... He knows how to say his name too. He surprised the girl at the pharmacy the other day because she said hi to him and he said hi back and then she said, "what's your name?" and he said, "Noah." She was astounded. She asked how old he was and I said he was 16 months and she couldn't believe it. Since Noah is our first, I have absoultely no idea how fast language should develop in a child, but she seemed pretty impressed, so I guess that's good!

Noah also got his first haircut on my birthday last month. He didn't cry at all. He also didn't really sit still, but for the most part, he did a really good job! He went from my little baby, to my little boy in about 15 minutes. Never thought that was possible. :)

Our kind and loving little terror

I know I haven't been keeping up with this as much as I was previously, but I plan on remedying that right now. This is the big update that should hopefully get everyone caught up and then I'll update more regularly after this. I haven't updated that often lately because I don't have a battery charger for my camera and haven't been able to take any recent pictures. I like to include pictures with my posts, so you guys can see how he's been growing and changing.

Well, we had Noah's 15 month Dr.'s appt. last Wednesday and he's doing really well! He's 31" tall (48th percentile) and weighs about 25 lbs (43rd percentile). He's still got a big head (83rd percentile), but Adam and I know that's because he's so smart! Ok, we're a little biased, but what parents aren't? Noah's doing a LOT of new things now. Some of them awesome, like his greatly increased vocabulary, and some not so awesome, like his decisions to climb on things that are fragile or could fall or are ELECTRONIC and not meant to be stood on, even if you're only 25 lbs! :) Ah well, discipline is a harsh mistress, but we often find that it's not really the disciplining that's the hard part, but finding the balance between what's too much and what's not enough. We don't want him to keep doing stuff he's not supposed to, but we also don't want to feel like we need to spank him or put him in time out every 5 minutes (which we don't, in case any of you were worried).

Noah is still very sociable, but I find that he clings to me a lot more now in unfamiliar situations. He used to talk to everyone when we'd go anywhere, but now, he'll talk to people first, but if people come up and talk to him before he's said hi to them, he curls right into me and hugs me until he feels comfortable. It's cute, but it's something I'm definitely not used to, especially since he's running everywhere now and doesn't usually want me to hold him for any extended period of time because he'd rather be off playing somewhere. Ahhh...the carefree days of childhood, how quickly they are forgotten when you are constantly plagued with things like a roof over your head, groceries, gas in the car, and other misc. bills.

Speaking of bills, Adam's looking for a job again. He's coming to the harsh realization that he may have to go back to school so he can at least have enough credits to be ready for the CPA exam. Unfortunately, the Bachelor's degree program at most colleges only require you to have somewhere in the 120 range of credits to graduate and you need 150+ to sit for the exam. What he's going to have to decide is when he's planning on going, and we also need to figure out how we're going to pay for it. Student loans are an option, but as I have a mountain of those already and he has some as well, they are obviously not the most desirable option. Sometimes though, you have to do what you have to do!

Both of our birthdays are coming up within the next couple of weeks and my mom will be here again that week, so Adam and I are hoping to get a night out together to celebrate our birthdays. I really like that my mom can come down about once a month now until she moves down here. It's so great to see her on a regular basis, although it does make the time apart seem really long (even though it's only about a month). Noah sure misses his Grandma too!

It's about time....

It's about time for a new post....It's about time we finally get the apartment organized for REAL...It's about time we get grown up furniture...It's about time. It's all about time, isn't it? I pause to think, "Oh, I wish I had more time for this, or I wish I had done this when I had the time, etc..." Honestly, life is measured in minutes, but I think in ACTUALITY, life is measured in moments. Like the moment when you realize that you are happy and that you can admit to yourself that there were days when you never thought this day would come. The day when you finally open your eyes and realize that God is saying to you, "See what I've created for you? Can't you see how much I love you? I'm looking out for you every day. I never left you."

Good things have been going on here in the Warner household. God has truly been blessing us with heaps lately! Our new furniture came and we got some table lamps and a floor lamp that match. I had a review at work that went pretty well and I got a raise. They didn't do raises at all last year, so I'm feeling really fortunate that I got one this year! Also, Noah finally seems like he's finally growing and coming around to the idea of eating "big people" food for each meal. We've added apple cinnamon oatmeal and macaroni and cheese to the menu. Also, he likes most vegetables! YAY!

More to come!

Furniture and Family

My mom graciously gave us some money recently for some new furniture. We had a budget and did very well keeping all that we needed within that budget. We ended up getting a queen sleeper sofa, a loveseat (both with custom fabric), a coffee table, two end tables, and four throw pillows (also custom fabric). We're pretty proud of ourselves because we really did shop around and we ended up finding the best deal at the place that has the best quality! Yay! I will post some pictures when we receive our furniture. We purchased it on Memorial Day and we're supposed to get in 35 days or less, so we're hoping for less since my mom is coming to visit soon and she's going to need a place to sleep. :) We'd like to let her enjoy our purchase that she so graciously helped us get! Thanks again Mom! We really appreciate it!

What's nice about holiday time (I mean, summer holiday time, i.e. Memorial Day/4th of July/Labor Day) is that we get to spend time with family...and I get paid for it! FINALLY! The important part really is getting to spend time all together. Osceola (where Adam grew up...about 15 minutes away from us) has a Memorial Day parade every year, which is tradition for Adam's family to attend. We all got to go together, Adam's grandparents, parents, his brother, Geoff, and his girlfriend, and Adam, Noah, and I. We all loved it, especially Noah. We thought he might be scared by the firetrucks and sirens, but he just pointed and looked awed. It bodes well for future years which I'm sure will be full of parades, maybe even some he might be in someday!

"Uh oh"

As per the title of this post, Noah's newest word is "Uh oh" and it seems to define whatever he does lately. He drops a pacifier and the next thing you hear is, "uh oh;" he drops pretty much anything (including things he REALLY SHOULDN'T BE DROPPING and things we're secretly wondering how he got his hands on) and all you hear is this little, "uh oh." Although this is very cute, it is also somewhat troublesome in that Noah does not realize that "uh oh" does not solve everything. It does at least give us a warning that something has just happened and we need to look around...especially when we're out on the balcony and he's pointing downward.

Noah is really starting to change a lot. As I mentioned in previous posts, we have had to deal with some toddler temper tantrums as of late, mostly involving food. I am happy to report that things seem to be getting better (knock on wood). He has been eating more lately and he's up to two full large sippy cups of whole milk and down to only two 1/2 bottles a day. He is also eating more "big people food." He has been eating carrots and peas that are VERY steamed. He also likes macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and hamburger...if it has cheese on it. Noah got his love for cheese from his father, who puts cheese on JUST ABOUT everything.

Noah and Adam have been enjoying the warm weather and taking advantage of the pool we have here. I go along to take pictures. Noah LOVES the water. He's a fish! Everytime you get him out, he points down to the water and grunts a whole bunch, which in Noah language, means he wants to get back in. When I get my next paycheck, I'm going to get a floaty device for him, so he can be on his own in the water. I think he'll really like that. Enjoy your warm weather too!

All work and no play makes us very dull people

Both Adam and I have been working very hard. Adam works 7 days a week every week, although, it's not necessarily serving. He is also doing other work at the restaurant, which I think I mentioned in previous messages. I have also been working every day to pick up extra hours. Every little bit helps...I guess. Lol. We miss seeing each other, as we often work opposite schedules, but it'll all be worth it in the end.

Noah is doing really well, although I think he may be going through the terrible twos a wee bit early. He's been throwing small and even big temper tantrums lately. Most of the time, it happens when we're out, which stinks because it means we pretty much can't go anywhere. We tried to go furniture shopping for a new couch and chair the other day and all Noah did was scream, run around, and try to knock over expensive things. *sigh* Oh well. We're working very hard on disciplining him and trying to help him understand good manners.

I'm working on uploading a video that shows you the cute side of our little guy. He's getting so big! I wish he was getting taller though. I feel so bad for him. People keeps saying he's really small for his age. :( Sometimes I feel like a bad parent. I feel like there's more that I should be doing, but I suppose I'll probably always feel that way a little. Hopefully I'll get it up and running by the next post.