Noah's Musical Performance

Noah has been singing to us in the car, as he lays in bed, on the balcony, everywhere. I was telling David we need to get this recorded for all to see and really blackmail when he gets older and thinks he is way cooler than his ol'parents! Hope you enjoy the program.

Omaha Zoo with Grandma and Papa!

While we were in Iowa last week Noah and I met my parents at the Omaha Zoo for some fun.  Here are some pics.

Back to the Real World

Well we have done a lot over our spring break in Iowa this last week.  Now we have to go back to the 'real, current' part of our lives.  Work, housework, Noah to school it is all still happening even though we are dreaming and planning for our move this summer.  What a difficult time to live in the now, when we are dreaming and thinking of what is to come!  So back to the real world:
 ~ We purchased a bedrail for Noah's toddler bed, he still gets out of bed but for the last couple of nights it has only been once or twice and he just walks back to his bed with us.
 ~ Noah is testing like mad.  A lot of people say that is was the 'terrible threes' for them I am hoping this is the 'terrible twos' (if that is what this testing is) and it doesn't get worse at three.
 ~ David is back on campus working of the final layouts of the composition journal and I hope he will be cracking open that dissertation again (SOON).
~ I am back at work of course and making list and list of 'To Do' in the next couple of months.  It is usually like this at this time of year with the school year finishing up but now that we are moving I want to make sure that I leave everything nice, neat and super clear for whoever steps into my shoes.

~ The weather has been gorgeous, here in Texas!  Barefeet, t-shirts and fun with water on our balcony.

Pictures

Our House!

The kitchen

The main floor kitchen, living, dining rooms, full bath and two bedrooms.

Bedrooms are pretty much bedrooms, and I didn't get a good angle on any of them but here is one of the pics.  The second floor has two bedrooms and an open area between the two, we will probably use it as a play area.

The basement is finish with a family room, 3/4 bath and laundry room.  The basement also has the original garage as part of it that is unfinished, David and I have already been dreaming up ideas for that space (it is heated!!).

The garage, 2 stall with walk up storage above.  It is huge, our car isn't going to know what to do with a home of its own.  

There is a good size yard between the garage and house, which we will need to fence.  And the house is on a corner lot.

It's official we will become Iowans once again!

We have had one busy weekend.  In a post a few weeks ago I believe I let everyone know that David had accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Writing at Morningside College.  Well this last weekend was the start of my Spring Break and so we headed to Iowa with a list of things to accomplish!
Saturday started bright and earlier after driving 13 hours from Texas to Iowa on Friday with a list of 16 houses to look at.  We had a great realtor and never got discourage, we had a great day.  We ended up by lunch time having two top houses with five more to look at and went ahead and called for a second showing of the two.  Noah and David's parents joined up for the second showings.  We went back to the office and wrote up an offer for one with the deadline of letting us know by noon on Sunday which is when they were supposed to have an open house!  We heard around 7 pm that they accepted our offer and were excited.  Sunday kind of flew by with David and I already planning spaces and thinking about the possibilities (I know we were getting excited.)  We sent up a house inspection on Monday and it all looks good, a little work to the electrical panel but other than that nothing really -- huge blessing with a home that is 70 years old!  So we will ask the family to fix that for us and be on our way, we close and take posession June 1st!  We also met with the bank about the payments, closing costs, down payment, the money basically!
I will post pictures soon but some details:
1639 sq. ft.
4 bedrooms (2 on the main, 2 on the second floor)
2 baths
finished basement
deck on the front and back of the house
2 stall, HUGE garage with overhead storage that you walk up to
good size back yard
corner lot
a pale yellow color with brick red foundation (it is cute)
all appliances stay!!

oh and we asked for their 3 barstools to sit at the kitchen counter!  (isn't that funny, I wonder what they thought about that)

Thank you all for you thoughts and prayers through this whole process: job, house, relocating,  now I need to get on the ball and start appling for jobs!

Day 1 Spring: Rainbow

Yesterday, Monday, it poured on us here in Dallas and when I finally got home the rain had stopped and from our balcony overlooking downtown Dallas we spotted a rainbow.  Noah was pretty excited and so were we, it was very large and vivid.

Click on the button on the sidebar for others who are sharing glimpses of Spring!

Big Boy Bedtime Continued

Every night is different.  Last night we have tried the baby gate in the doorway and after the first time he got out of bed (around 1:30 am) I went and put him back in bed and just ended up sleeping on this floor.  I only remember him starting to get out of bed one other time in the night but as soon as he figured out that I was there, he just got back in bed.  We will get there eventually, it is only the first week.
The one thing we are worried about is what to do when we are at grandparents homes this next week in Iowa!?!  I think we are just going to see if he will still sleep in a pack and play like he did at Christmas.  Like I said every night is different.

Noah moving to a toddler bed is not the only other thing that is going on in our life, believe it or not.  David's Dad is in town for a few days visiting.  He was attending a conference here in Dallas and then took a few more days to spend here with us.  We have loved having Bucko (which is what Noah calls him) around and Noah has loved every moment of our 'surprise' visitor.  We didn't tell Noah he was coming and he was very surprised when he walked through our front door.

We will be looking at houses this next weekend, with the intentions of buying one of them by the end of the week!  How exciting, I have been waiting for the day for us to buy our first house.  I will be sure to post pics after we return.  Next week is going to be a whirlwind of activity, very exciting.

Night 4...

So I don't know what that says about me not being able to count how many nights that Noah has slept in a 'big boy' bed but last night was night 4 and it was a little rough.
Noah got out of bed 3 times and all 3 time he was whining!  I totally jinxed myself in talking about how the last couple nights have been great.  Even though he has been getting up every night it is worse when he gets up screaming and whining, we all just tense up.  So my sweet husband, David, didn't have the patience for it last night and Noah wanted me anyway so I was on duty for the late night waking up and crying in the middle of the living room floor.  David woke got up with him this morning, which was also a lot earlier than normal. 
The thing is I can't help but think Noah is absolutely playing me because I will let him cry for awhile and then go get him and put him back in bed.  He is fine with getting in bed as long as I stay and lay down on the floor next too him and when he falls asleep I go back to my bed. 
Noah can open doors, we usually shut his, so he doesn't even stay in his room.  We have been thinking about putting those child safe door knobs on his door so he can't get out of his room and atleast he is not wandering around our house without us being aware of it....I don't know, one night at a time I guess.

Our Big (Little) Guy: Night Two, Three, Four

Well, knock on wood, this week really hasn't been too bad.  Sunday night was night one, so far the worst.  The last three nights Noah has just gotten up once every night around midnight and either David or I get up and take him back to bed and stay for a little while, at most a half and hour. The biggy is he hasn't been screaming like he did the first night.  He quietly gets out of bed and usually just come and stand in our living room.  He doesn't come and try and get in bed with us.  We have never had him sleep in our bed from day 1 he slept in his own crib, I suppose that is why he doesn't crawl in.  The big thing the last couple nights has been that he wants us to keep his door open when we put him in bed for the night so far it hasn't been horrible because he still falls asleep and we just go and close it once he is in bed.  You all must be praying for us because like I said I know some parents have had a much rougher time with this transition.

I have been looking for some cute sheet sets for a toddler bed but all I can find in stores is character ones (you know Thomas the Train or Spiderman) we are not huge fans of character items...I guess I will have to start searching online.

Sweet Dreams!

Our Big (Little) Guy: Night One

So our little guy is growing up.  I don't know why I thought our child would be any different from everyone else.  This past weekend Noah climbed out of his crib twice, the first time successfully busting his lip, the second time without any hesitation.  So after the second time I rocked Noah, he was pretty upset we put him down for a nap, more like overly tired and David quickly converted his crip to a toddler bed.  Or as Noah would say, 'daddy fixing my bed. where is the fence?'  We explained to Noah that is was dangerous to climb out of his bed and we didn't want him to get hurt so we had to make it a big boy bed.  The first night, last night, I looked at David and said, 'are you ready for hell week?' neither of us are very sure if we are ready or if Noah really is either.  Back to last night, wasn't that bad.  He fell right to sleep after reading books, which is unusual but had everything to do with not taking his naps for the last couple of days and was exhausted.  But, as soon as David and I started turning out lights and heading to bed ourselved at 10:30 Noah woke screaming and crying and we could hear him at his door, eventually I went in and tried to calm him down.  He screamed in my arms for 20 minutes, pretty much he didn't know what he wanted, he was exhausted and probably a little confused.  I laid down with him and he fell back to sleep and I was in my own bed at 11:30.  David and I went to sleep and was woken up by Noah screaming and crying at 5:00, David's turn.  David came back into our room after about 15 minutes.  I can still hear Noah, he hasn't settled down at all.  I asked if everything was alright and basically again Noah didn't know what he wanted and just had to scream it out.  (We made a peace offering of blueberry muffins for our neighbors, we live in an apartment for those of you who don't know.)  Noah never came to our room David went back to him after a half and hour and laid down with him until 7:20, they both fell asleep.
Among other things Noah is potty training too!  Lot's of changes in our house on top of moving, house hunting, finding a new job for me....stay tuned there will be more from me.  Until then get some sleep and pray for us.