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.