All I Want For Christmas...

...is my Two Front Teeth! Mimi discovered Noah's first tooth on December 23 and for Christmas today, I found I believe the second one right next to it. Bottom front teeth, first one was just left of center. Sorry, no pics. We really can't get even a decent glimpse of them, but you sure can feel the sharp little things!

More posting to come one of these days...when I have my house in order and my sanity back!!

Happy Holidays from the Barclays!

Photos courtesy of Stephanie Judy of Lewisburg. :) Taken outside the Greenbrier Hotel.

P.S. I am not posting any pics of the new house yet because I am paranoid. I want to make sure that it is off the real estate websites before I post them. I will take some before we move in and post them as soon as possible!

Eight Months Old

As you can see, pictures have not been easy to capture lately.

On December 1, I took Noah to meet his new pediatrician, Dr. Ryan. He got his wonderful H1N1 vaccine too! What concerned me was that he has only gained about 4 ounces in the last 6 weeks and has fallen into the 5th percentile on weight. The doctor wasn't too concerned and told me not to worry, that we would just watch it. He weighed in at exactly 16 pounds.

Until recently, Noah has been all about the daddy. I guess we have entered the separation anxiety stage because he has become quite the Mommy's boy lately. He still loves to play and laugh with Daddy but if I hand him off and walk away, you would think I had abandoned him forever. I'm trying not to play into it too much and know that it will pass before I know it. One day, I'll be begging for hugs! :)

Noah and his babysitter are getting along great these days and I am enjoying my two mornings to myself. I can't imagine how I'll get anything done once I have a whole (larger) house to take care of! We are working on him being content to play by himself for a while.

He continues to be very friendly and flirts with anyone he sees. He looks confused when strangers do not acknowledge him. I don't understand it either, seeing as how he is the cutest boy I've ever seen. Noah is starting to pull up on all fours and rock a bit, and sometimes drags himself forward by putting his hands together and pulling. I'm sure the crawling will begin just in time to explore his new house! Still no teeth! He is currently recovering from his first cold. Since finger foods are still a little difficult to coordinate (he can't figure out how to get the Cheerio or puff from his fist to his mouth), I bought him some Baby Mum Mum bars after a friend told me about them. They are so cool and funny to watch him eat.

Our New Hometown

While out driving around today, we saw a couple of interesting sights. Jeremy snapped pics with his phone so that I could share them with the world at large.

There was a gang of five deer hanging out at the entrance to our soon-to-be neighborhood. And they weren't afraid of us stopping to look at them at all. I'm guessing someone feeds them there regularly because they were looking at us like, "This show ain't free. Where's the grub?" Too cool. (Oh yeah, sometimes we drive by our new house just for fun...)

This guy was parked outside the furntiture store we visited today. What else can I say?

....Welcome to West Virginia?

The Weekend Review

Friday night Jeremy and I attended the doctors' Christmas party sponsored by the hospital. We had a good time getting dressed up and hanging out with some fun people while Noah hung out at his babysitter's house for a couple of hours.

Here is Noah dressed in his bear suit giving his best "What you talkin' 'bout?" look. Shortly after going to bed Friday night, he woke up with his first snotty nose, which has turned into his first cold. Sucking green snot from his nose is one of those joys of parenthood that we are enjoying right now. :)

We awoke saturday morning to a gorgeous, wintery fairyland! Probably four or five inches of powdery snow, the likes of which we rarely see in Texas. So much prettier here. It really looks like Christmas here now!

this is our family snow picture. Some lady insisted capturing my morning beauty. :) And yes, we are the parents who took our sickly baby out in the snow. He is no worse for it.

We've been pretty busy, had a couple of great meals (I LOVE Sunday brunch buffet at Blackwell's!), and I went to a baby shower today while Noah napped with Daddy. In less than 2 weeks we'll be moving into our house and our parents will start arriving for Christmas! We are so excited!

You got some smooth moves, baby...

This kid LOVES music and will "dance" to any repetitive sound. Obviously. :)

The really funny part was a few minutes after this when he started singing along. Too bad my camera was full!

What I Have Learned...

...since moving to West Virginia.

Noah is napping and after that we are headed to Khristina's house to bake muffins for her muffin exchange tomorrow morning. Jeremy laughed at me because I am baking muffins to do a holiday exchange with a bunch of other ladies. So what. I can be a Betty Crocker and a Housewife of Greenbrier Valley (all while residing in a hotel) if I want to. Anyway, I am in the mood to blog it today.

Since moving to the wee town of Lewisburg, I have noted a few, charming things:

*Everybody knows everybody. And their business. Luckily, we don't have a lot of "business" in our lives, but I'm sure something about us has spread like wildfire throughout the town. :)

*We now know a couple of restaurant owners by name and can greet them when we go in to eat at their place. Never thought of that while living in the big D.

*We also know all the stories of why So-and-So does not eat at Such-and-Such-Restaurant. Either the owner dropped the F-bomb and told So-and-So to get the "F" out of his restaurant, or perhaps another owner was jealous of one of her patrons dating the ex and suggested a physical altercation. Seriously.

*You can get anywhere in 5-10 minutes. It's funny how travel distance becomes relative to where you live. The other day Jeremy did not want to accompany me to check out the local Kroger because "it's way over in Ronceverte" (the town next to Lewisburg). It takes about 10 minutes to get there from our hotel.

*Nobody has anywhere important to be. No matter the time of day. Going 10 miles under the speed limit is a regular occurence. This is fine, unless your baby is screaming to get out of the carseat or you are feeling particularly hormonal. In either case, I usually scream profanities at them in my head and resist the urge to ram my CRV into their rear. (Note to self: next time buy a big truck with one of those cattle pushers on the front.) I wonder how long it takes Dallas road rage to fade away?

*Police officers do not have to use a turn signal here. But then, no one else does either. Maybe they just gave up and said, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

*Maybe its a good thing that everyone drives slowly and leaves 20 yards between them and the car in front of them, since people tend make complete stops before easing into the turning lane, or may stop suddenly and turn without notice.

*People even move slowly in Wal-Mart. I try to get my business done and get out as fast as possible. Maybe I even push the cart a bit fast. One old gentleman today jumped and shouted, "WHOA" as I headed in his direction. I would like to point out that I was at least 6 feet away when he jumped and shouted.

*It is possible to visit Wal-Mart 5 or 6 times a week. Really.

*People in this town are the most warm and welcoming bunch I have ever known, period. We are "just south of the Mason-Dixon line", and it shows.

*God always takes care of us, no matter what Valley he sends us to live in.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Noah's first Thanksgiving! We celebrated our first holiday in West Virginia without any of our family and did pretty well for ourselves, I must say. The only tears occured because we ate way too much!

I spent the morning trying to feel the spirit of things by watching a little Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, much to Jeremy's chagrin. We also watched the dog show, and Noah enjoyed seeing all the puppies.

Our new friends, Paula and Colin, were kind enough to invite us over for dinner, and then completely spoiled us with the best meal ever! We had turkey, green beans and mashed potatoes from their garden, and homemade bread. I made my favorite sweet potato casserole, and a pumpkin pie for the first time. Of course, I burned both of them, but just a little. Different cooking temps and all. :) We also brought a can of the traditional cranberry sauce that I must have. Noah enjoyed a little pumpkin from the can, sweet potatoes, green beans, and mashed potatoes! For dessert, I ever gave him a taste of my pumpkin pie! We had a great time.

I'm in a little bit of mourning today for Black Friday. It is, after all, my third favorite holiday. Since we are limited to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, and Lowe's here in Lewisburg, and because there is no way I'll wake Noah up at 4am, we skipped the crazy shopping this year.

Now that we have lived in our home sweet hotel for one month, I am becoming increasingly anxious to move into our house. We can hardly wait!

Seven Months Old!

Noah celebrated his seventh month birthday as a West Virginian...well sort of. As much as living in a West Virginia hotel counts.

No stats this month. No teeth either. And if you had asked me a few months ago, I would've sworn our busy bee would be crawling by now. He sure tries hard to fly though...or swim. Eventually he'll figure out that he is not going to sprout any wings or fins and will take off crawling. He is very ticklish on his sides and gives hugs around the neck and open-mouthed kisses. :)

Everyone who meets Noah always comments about what a happy baby he is. And he is very happy. He is such a cheerful, social little guy, unless he's really tired or something doesn't feel good.

Noah has started with a new babysitter a couple of mornings a week to give his mommy a sanity break. :) She was recommended to us as "the best babysitter in town." Each time after I picj him up, she tells me, "He sure likes to be held!" Meaning that she has to let him cry a lot so that she can take care of other kids, which is inconvenient. I wanted to say, "Don't you know he's a precious angel!" but what I really said was, "I know. He's a little high maintenance." Hopefully it will work itself out.

I will leave you with a little ray of sunshine:

Mad Mommy Moments

I think I need to start a series of posts with the aforementioned title.

Today's Mad Mommy Moment (brought to you by the harebrained Amy Barclay and son Noah): Tuesdays with Fran.

Today I was invited by my new friends to go to Carnegie Hall in downtown Lewisburg at noon to hear a lady play piano.

We started off the day great since I had to wake Noah up at 7:10am! Yay! Except that maybe this threw him off somehow because it turned out to be one of those rotten, "no nap" days where its difficult to get him to fall or stay asleep.

To preface our little adventure of the day, Noah was spitting up everything he ate, fussing (tummy trouble I think), clawing at my face, digging his nails into my skin, and yanking my hair. I spend 30 minutes getting him down for his morning nap, which lasts only 20 minutes. Because of all this, I decide not to meet my friends for lunch because we cannot possibly arrive on time and in two complete pieces. I finally get us ready and out the door. No time to grab my bag lunch.

I drive downtown, and thinking that I am a smart Texas driver, decide to turn the empty parking spaces on the corner into my own personal turning lane. The problem was that so did two other cars in front of me. Oh wait. No. They aren't using my turning lane. They are parking in these spaces in front of me. After I finally get out of the little traffic jam I have created, we arrive at Carnegie Hall and dash inside, just in time. (Really, can I ever just be on time for something? Khristina will never invite me anywhere again since I am late everytime!)

I have to stop and mention that piano-playing Fran is a very small, hobbit-like, possibly Jewish woman with lots of wild, gray hair. She was dwarfed by the piano. She explained the history of each piece she played. Fran was accompanied by an elderly couple dancing the tango. Seriously. It was oddly cute.

As soon as we sit down, I realize that Noah has "dropped a deuce" as we like to say in the Barclay household. I decide to wait since its only a 30 minute program. However, after 15 minutes I can't stand the embarrassing smell anymore and look for a place to change him. There are no places to change a baby in Carnegie Hall. Go figure. I head to the car, only to discover I am out of wipes and will have to wait to until I get home.

Top it all off with a hungry, overtired baby who screams while I try to clean up his poop, make his lunch, and get him down for an afternoon nap that only lasts about 40 minutes. Right now, I am laughing at him laying on his tummy, chuckling and grunting, and he tries to figure out how to swim toward the balls in the distance that he cannot reach. It doesn't help that he is somehow managing to go backward.

You win some, you lose some.

Homeless and Unemployed

The search for a new home continues....

The Barclays have visited pretty much every house in Lewisburg that is for sale within our price range. After expanding that range a bit, we found a place we loved: great neighborhood, easy access to work for Jeremy, plenty of space, nicely updated...

But the owners took it off the market after receiving our offer. (I believe they were so discouraged by Jeremy's lowball offer, which I repeatedly argued against, that they gave up on selling the place.) I suppose it's not meant to be, but this is what I HATE about trying to buy a house. Falling for a place and then not getting it. It happened more than once before we bought our last house. Then you end up buying something out of desperation, that isn't exactly what you want. Sigh. The fun part is getting to tour so many houses and point out all your likes and dislikes. Unfortunately, I have yet to see a place that is absolutely everything you want.

We are surviving the hotel pretty well, it just gets a little boring. We are blessed to have made some new friends who are sweet to help entertain and keep us busy! Every morning I go down to get a coffee (I have long since given up on the breakfast buffet) and to steal cartons of milk to re-stock my mini-fridge. I am putting all those lost pounds back on with the eating out for lunch and dinner everyday. :( Although we are considering joining a gym that has child care and yoga classes, so there is still hope for my waistline.

Being unemployed is not too bad. If I come across a part-time gig, I might just take it. I think I have found a new babysitter to watch Noah a couple of mornings a week and give me a break. My sanity needs it! Noah has been doing better with his naps, sometimes going for an hour and twenty minutes by himself, or even two and a half hours if I lie down with him. Still hit or miss though. Sometimes its only twenty minutes. :)

This has been the latest report from Camp Barclay. Over and out.

Happy Halloween

...Last week :)

We attended a carnival put on by the hospital and introduced Noah to a few new friends! It was sort of wet and cold but he made the cutest glowworm ever!

Hello, West Virginia!

We arrived! We are officially here, cramming everything we thought we'd need for the next three months into a two-room hotel suite. :) It is a nice place and we are discovering all sorts of creative storage solutions!

We've already been out on two house-hunting expeditions. We have narrowed it down to two candidates. One is very new with stainless steel appliances and hardwood floors. The other was built in the 60s, great neighborhood, big trees, and a ton of space. It has a finished basement with an extra family room, kitchen, bath, laundry, and two extra bedrooms. It just needs some renovations, so we are meeting with a contractor to check on the possible cost and see if the owner would be willing to factor that into our offer. I really like this house and want to have a place for our families to stay when they visit. The other house is great but not so appealing when you think about cramming in relatives for several days at a time. And I would hate to send them to a hotel for much of their visit! We also have to consider resale within the next three years possibly.

For future reference, for $85 you can check a 60 gallon ice chest full of dry ice and frozen breastmilk! It made the trip, fully frozen. :) Now I just have to keep lactating for a while so I can handle the amount of calories I am taking in with us eating out every meal!

So far, I am loving it here. So charming and beautiful. We've explored some downtown shops and eaten some great food. Noah is handling it all well, although he does not want to let us out of his sight. This week Jeremy starts work and Noah and I have to get used to him being there a lot more! This week I am going to try to find a Mother's Day Out program for Noah and get him set up with a pediatrician.

We had a little fall photo shoot while out exploring the town.

Moving halfway across the country is exhausting!

First taste of sweet pickle! He liked it!

Good-bye, Texas

We had a lot of good-byes to say and with an inadequate amount of time (we knew about this move for about 6 weeks before we actually left, but where does the time go?) we did not get see everyone we wanted or spend the amount of time with them we needed. But here are a few parting shots and thoughts:

Talk about huge truck! Yep, the entire contents of our house and our car fit onto this bad boy. The movers boxed up and loaded everything in about 13 hours. I got a little choked up as we did the final walk-through but I made it. It was just a starter home that was too small and poorly laid out in some areas, but it was our first house and Noah's first home. His room got me the most. I actually felt guilty about taking him away from his security in being there.

So, we had over 20 showings in 8 days. (Word to the wise: trying to sell the house you are living in with a baby to tote around and clean up after is not recommended! It was a pain.) But God is good! On the 8th day we sold the house for the asking price. We were able to recoup about 2/3 of the money we put into updating the house. Jeremy also sold my Civic in about three days, since the moving company would only transport one car for free and he wanted something new anyway. We visited with most of our family before we headed out. Here is Noah with his favorite (and only) aunt, Mandi. Mamaw (Jeremy's mom) came to stay the last night at our house and she was a huge help. We stayed our last two nights in a really cool hotel suite in Lewisville while we were being packed. It was basically a two bedroom apartment with a full kitchen. Would have been perfect to live in while we find a place in WV!

Noah and visited my parents in Paris for a couple of days. He had a great time playing with Papa and Mimi and entertaining all the other family members that visited!

First time in the tree swing!

Papa took him for walks in the stroller and out to visit the friendly neighborhood cows.

A little visit with Pop and Nanna (Amy's grandparents).


Hangin' with his cousin Madison.

Waiting for our plane in Charlotte, NC to take us to Roanoke, VA. Both times I have visited this airport, our flight was delayed. Noah was a great traveler, eating and sleeping through most of both flights. I think the drone of the airplane just knocks him right out. Then he slept through our one and a half hour drive from Roanoke to Lewisburg. We left our hotel about 7:30am Central time, and arrived about 7:30pm Eastern time, after a flight delay of one hour and some issues with getting the rental car set up. Long day!

More to come...