Barclay Broadcast Co.

We Are the Dinosaurs!

2012-02-04T19:23:00.004-06:00

If you've never had the pleasure of seeing "We Are the Dinosaurs" you must be missing out because it is all the rage at our house. Here is Noah jamming out.

Sorry its a little long. He has really gotten into it lately, watching himself in the mirror while he watches the video on the ipad and perfects his performance. I think the odds of Noah being musically gifted are pretty slim genetically, but he sure does love it! I'm afraid that someday we'll be that family, waiting backstage to console him when he doesn't get his golden ticket to Hollywood. ;)

Practice Makes Perfect

2012-01-30T18:38:00.008-06:00

Thus begins a new era of blogging in The Barclay Broadcast! My new camera, my Canon EOS Rebel T3, arrived last Friday, just in time for a big weekend. Of course that left only a little bit of time for practice, but I still got a few good ones.

My parents, brother, niece, and her mom, stepdad, and grandmother all came down to Austin and we went out to see "Wicked" together. My mom and I had never seen it and it was fun. I can't even remember the last musical I have seen, so it brought back a lot of memories and a little nostalgia in that sense. We had a nice weekend with all of them.

Now on to the pictures with my new Rebel! My old Canon Powershot died a few months ago and I really lost interest in photographing things with Jeremy's camera, so I'm hopeful to get back on the wagon.

Mimi always brings money for Noah to put in his piggy bank.

I almost caught some really cute pics of Noah snuggled up with Scott but the kid is faster than me.

My mom will love this.
Today, I got out with Noah at the park and got some good ones. Still a lot to learn though!

Gotta get my skills ready for Anguilla in March!

Come One, Come All!

2012-01-24T11:49:00.005-06:00

The Shrine Circus came to Cedar Park and since we live in close proximity to the Cedar Park Center and scored some discount tickets through the hospital, we headed off to take Noah to see The Greatest Show on Earth for the first time. :)

This is the day before, on our way to go to the Elephant Brunch. Noah is sporting his super cute owl hat from Aunt Linda. Please ignore the boo-boos on his face throughout these pictures. He had a clumsy week. :)
They paraded out the elephants and presented them with a table full of apples and bananas. Next two pictures are courtesy of Samantha, whom we bumped into at the Brunch.

Watching the "effants" with Mommy.

They look like we were at a funeral. Solemn boys.

The ringmaster!

We attended the 11:00 show, which ran into lunch time. Packed a little lunch and problem solved!

Tigers...oh my!

Sorry, some of these are blurred. So thankful my camera is being delivered tomorrow! I don't like Jeremy's and the settings never seem to be right. Here come the elephants, probably Noah's favorite part!

A handsome boy, excited for church on Sunday.

A little circus fun for your entertainment. This was the second try after they missed the first ;)

Ringing in 2012!

2012-01-23T08:17:00.002-06:00

For New Year's this year, we cowboyed up and headed to an early, family-friendly holiday party, hosted by a co-worker of Jeremy's. Jeremy was especially excited to use his gift cards at Allen's Boots, a famous Austin store. Also, happens to be the place where we bought some boots for Noah last summer, so the boys got all dressed up together. (You may notice Jeremy's vampire-like eyes, leftover from his Lasik procedure on the 28th.)

And here is Noah's first picture taking experience. Daddy helped him capture a fabulous shot of Mommy. What you cannot see here is that I am wearing my boots too. :)

When I thought of all the things I need to resolve to do in 2012, I came up with an insurmountable list. (You know, be a better mom, be a better wife, book my blog, become excessively physically fit, blah, blah, etc.) I decided that most simply, and definitely most needed, is focusing more on my time with God, and everything else should improve along with that. Well, I don't know about the book part....So, my not-a-resolution this year is spending time in His Word as daily as possible, which will be quite an improvement. My hope and prayer is to need it, in the same way that I need food and water. Like oxygen. And to love and crave it.

What's your 2012 "not-a-resolution?" :)

Tidings of Comfort & Joy!

2012-01-22T13:36:00.000-06:00

This is what happens when you get so far behind...this Christmas post pretty much covers the month of December. :)

First, a cute pic of Noah and his buddies riding their bikes.

The first weekend in December, my parents came down for the weekend and had lots of fun with Noah. Especially playing in the tunnel!

We went to the Cedar Park tree lighting, where the oldest tree in town, a huge, 400-year-old, beautiful live oak gets all blinged out.

Next up was the Christmas party at my house the following weekend. Here are a couple shots of what Kelly and I baked up. Sugar cookies and Brownie-dipped Oreos.

This year, there were many gifts to be wrapped, as usual. Even Jeremy wrapped some gifts. Just mine though. And only because I said that I would like that. ;)

One of my gifts was the Twilight series in hardback. He thought this would be cute.

I added a second tree to the house this year. One for Noah's room! Here it is, though not pictured in his room. His favorites this year were a train, two airplanes, and a Thomas the Train ornament.

My tree in the living room, as mostly decorated by my mom.

Christmas morning! Oh no wait...this was December 23. We opened our gifts early, since we were bound for Paris and Fort Smith this year. Trains were definitely the big hit this year, and I feel like we probably acquired about 25 new ones.

He got to play with his new train track for a little while, then we headed to Mimi & Papa's house.

Showing off his guitar skills.

Stopping to return a few calls.

His new John Deere hat from my cousin Kent and his family.

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Mamaw and Papaw's house, to be joined by Aunt Mandi, Dominick, and Sophia, whom we hadn't seen since they moved to Illinois last summer. Noah had such fun with everyone, despite coming down with another fever and cold on Christmas Eve. I am sad that we did not take any pictures there other than a couple Jeremy snapped with his phone, over at his grandparents' house. I guess it was just a hectic few days with a sick child, not enough sleep, and a lot going on. We did manage to have a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas night, which I hope to put a lot more planning into next year!

Noah loved playing piano at GG and Dubby's house.

We broke up the 7 hour drive by stopping to spend the night at my parents' house on the way there, then on the way back as well. The second trip, we were able to celebrate with Scott & Madison too.

Noah playing with his new Little People nativity set we got this year. I tried to give him one new piece per day to add to it, as a little advent activity, hopefully he'll be able to understand it better next year.

Hope all of your Christmas holidays were filled with tidings of comfort and joy from the Savior!

Happy Turkey Day!

2011-12-25T21:03:00.004-06:00

Hahaha, only I would update my blog with our Thanksgiving celebration on Christmas night!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving in 2011. I think Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. Although, it's hard to beat Christmas.

This year my brother generously opened up his new home and welcomed all of us over, including Jeremy's parents, over for dinner on Thursday and Friday. We had lots of good food and enjoyed our time together. This was my first Black Friday since returning to Texas and I enjoyed going out shopping the next day with my mom and niece. Noah even enjoyed his fist sleepover with his grandparents that wasn't at his house--even if it was at their hotel! It is so fun now that Noah really remembers each of them and gets excited about seeing all of his grandparents.

Playtime at the park!

Playing with uncle Scott.
Cousin love!

This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings of all time. Hope that yours was just as blessed! And please remind me next year not to spend December cramming in so many things that it takes me a month to post about this wonderful holiday! ;)

Christmas Grace

2011-12-17T11:11:00.004-06:00

This past weekend marked our dear friend Stacie's 40th birthday and my sweet husband was so generous to send me to help celebrate while he did full-time daddy duty with Noah over a long weekend! We were busy shopping, getting manis and pedis, and celebrating with a birthday dinner. So fun and relaxing amidst the hustling and bustling I've been doing all month!

Besides the usual frantic shopping (I don't know why I always wait until after Thanksgiving to start. I guess I have to get in the mood first.), decorating, etc, things picked up at work again, so I picked up shifts almost every day of the week, and had a couple of Christmas parties to attend.

I also decided to start a new tradition this year. We invited everyone we knew to a party at our house and asked them all to bring donations for a great cause: Christmas gifts from Bath & Body Works to be donated to the teen moms who are a part of the Young Lives program, an off-shoot of Young Life. We needed to collect enough to serve an estimated 40-50 teen moms. We had some sweet friends who gave generously and were so kind as to grace our party. Kelly, of course, helped me do everything and I couldn't have pulled it off without her. I spent 3 days cleaning house and baking. It really never crossed my mind that we wouldn't collect at least most of the amount needed. Before the party on Sunday, I prayed that God would multiply lotion, shower gel, and lip gloss just as he once multiplied loaves and fish. :)

And you know what? He didn't. We came nowhere near my lofty goal. I was completely deflated. By the time I was on my way to my Moms group Christmas party, where the other ladies had generously offered to help me wrap these hoardes of gifts I was collecting, my attitude was flat out bad. I was done. I decided that nothing could possibly rectify my mess and that Young Lives would have to take my meager offering and just do some door prizes. But, the party was great anyway. And, as we were winding down at 10:00 that night, the other ladies gathered around me and divided up the work. They decided that one full size product per teen mom would be perfectly fine. Kate offered to make a few returns so we could squeeze out a few more tubes in matching sizes. Shelley offered to go purchase the amount of products still needed and deliver them all to the Young Lives party the following evening. Everyone wrapped. Katrina and Jackie spoke words of encouragement and soothed my wounded spirit. And, Jackie even laughed at my grandiose planning that got me into this mess in the first place. We also learned that we were only shooting to serve 35 girls, not 50.

The next night I learned that the teen moms were so excited just to receive a gift for Christmas this year. I honestly expected them to complain, be annoyed, be indifferent, anything but grateful. And, just like that, He did it. Just like the fish and loaves.

Forget the teen moms that I sought to "serve" this season. Because I was, hands down, the one who gained the most from this experience. His grace was so strong and deep and clearly evident. And I have been privileged to join the most beautiful, amazing group of women, who simply drew me in and wrapped their arms around my shoulder over the past 6 months.

However, next year, maybe we'll just stick to the Angel Tree! ;)

The Weight of Advent

2011-12-14T14:48:00.004-06:00

I don't know about you, but this December is the seemingly the most insane December of my recent memory. Which is odd (and maybe a bit of a stretch), considering that the last 2 Decembers were spent either moving in or preparing to move out of a house.

And how like the enemy to want to steal my joy and keep me frantically busy and anxious so that I cannot enjoy or focus on the Advent season. I don't know how, this year in particular, I let myself get so overwhelmed with things to do.

This year I have desired to get serious about Christmas. I really want my work, energy, and celebrations focused on preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. I can only imagine what an American Christmas must look like from the vantage point of heaven. How ridiculous our pursuits. The trading in of the worship of of the greatest Gift ever given for the worship of the idols of Santa, toys, food, sparkly things, holiday parties, you name it. I will confess that for most of the Christmases of my life this has been me. In my adult years I have enjoyed attending candlelight services on Christmas Eve and am ashamed to admit that these one hour worship events were all of my heart and mind that I gave to Him during a season that it is meant to be all about Him. I offered Him these tiny "Happy Birthday" moments, and literally turned and went back to doing Christmas my way. And I will also tell you, that for every Christmas in my memory, I have always felt the sting of disappointment following a Christmas celebration. After a month of hustle and bustle (in my case, hustling and bustling in idolatry), leading up to one single day, has always left me cold and empty, this despondent feeling that begins to creep in as soon as the last gift is opened. In fact, as a child I distinctly remember always trying to stretch out the opening of my gifts for as many days as possible to avoid that very feeling! And, finally, 31 years in, I understand why the emptiness starts by nightfall on December 25. And I want to right my wrongs, be pleasing unto the Lord, and raise my son to do the same.

I have been reading blogs and articles, looking into both sides of the debate on how Christians should handle Santa Claus. Let me tell you, there are strong, valid, and convicting points on both sides. And I would like to preface this by saying that I am not going to judge or scorn anyone who wants to do Santa Claus for their children. I have no problem with that. My problem comes in my own convictions. Santa is just like chocolate cake. There is nothing in itself wrong with chocolate cake. The cake only becomes a problem when you have too much of it. This can be said for so many things in our world. The real problem occurs when the seemingly harmless object or idea becomes an idol for us. I don't know exactly what Santa is going to look like at house. Noah may help determine that himself. I read several great suggestions on how to include Santa in our celebrations while keeping him small and Christ large. We will definitely read the true story of St. Nicholas, a man who loved Jesus, and demonstrated this by his generosity to the poor. We will still give gifts, though a limit might be added in the future. We will still decorate and bake and gather with loved ones.

Mostly we will prepare to celebrate the birth of a Savior whose arrival signaled the defeat of death and sin. The service we attended at church last weekend was so beautiful and powerful. Our pastor really summed up what we are celebrating and how much easier and more quickly a child is able to grasp the concept of Christmas being all about toys before they are able to understand the birth of the Savior in a barn.

My intention for this post was to write about my wonderful Moms group and our Christmas celebration, which goes along these lines a bit, but it seems I digressed! :) I guess all of this has been swirling around my mind and needed to come out first!

I pray that all of you get more of Him than ever before this Christmas season. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year!

The Latest

2011-12-01T09:07:00.005-06:00

Well, I managed to leave my laptop and my Nook at my brother's house following our Thanksgiving celebration. (Whenever I travel, it is not a question of whether I will forget something or not, rather how great the importance of the item I have left behind.) This means my blog from Thanksgiving will have to wait. Thankfully, my parents are picking up said electronics on their way down to our house tonight! You never realize what a dependent technology nerd you are until it's not available to you. Yes, I am working right now. Our data system just happens to be down. :)

Wow, things are getting super busy! I cannot believe December is here. Somehow I am still stuck at Halloween. Let's see, Noah recently got over his third illness in a month. Yes, that's THIRD. In a month. He had some type of viral thing with high fever and sore throat. We are so weary of sickness. When the third bug came along, we all became concerned (and Mommy flat out worried) so we were sent for xrays, blood draw, urine collection, strep test, the works! And, by the 5 day maximum the doctor gave us (5 days of fever lands you in the hospital), the fever ended. He is still battling a mild cough, but finally feeling better and not overtired from being sick and our Thanksgiving travels. This makes for a much happier boy and a happier mama!

Now, I have most of the shopping completed, the decorating started, Christmas cards ready to go as soon as I get my address list back, a house to clean, and tons of baking to do! :) We are hosting a Christmas party next weekend and asking the guests to donate to a local Christ-centered teen moms program. This party is a tradition I want to keep going every year. Anyway, I may need to call in reinforcements for the food prep! Getting a little nervous...

Thought I would share this neat prayer calendar a friend sent to me. It has 31 biblical virtues to pray into your child by day:

Happy Advent! Hoping to go out and buy some things that I can use to teach Noah about Advent throughout the month! I bought him his own Christmas tree yesterday and put it up in his room, complete with new ornaments: Thomas the Train, an airplane, and a light-up snowman with his name on it. Now, if I can just convince him to leave them on the tree....

Whale Tales

2011-11-18T20:06:00.002-06:00

The theme for this weekend would be "unprepared." Ha!

We have the car loaded and are ready to head out the door. I am online getting ready to print off some showtimes and such, when I realize that Sea World is closed on Veterans' Day. I had been planning this overnight trip to San Antonio, centered around maximizing our paid-for Sea World passes and they aren't even going to be open for the majority of the time we planned to spend there, not until 12:00 on Saturday! Jeremy suggested that since we had a hotel reservation, we should go and make the best of it. It is San Antonio, after all, and there are plenty of things to do.

First stop, the San Antonio Zoo. Only, it was late in the afternoon, so we didn't actually pay to go in, we just rode the train, which was all Noah cared about anyway.

Waving to the adoring fans...

Cute little train. Cute little boy.

We checked into the Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk for our free night's stay. (Yes, I was proud of how cheap this little trip was supposed to be. I am sure they will get their money's worth out of us, as we keep going back. Great service!

Next stop, Casa Rio for dinner on the Riverwalk. Noah really liked the river and the ducks. I held on for dear life.

And some hand-dipped Blue Bell for dessert in an ice cream shop.

Day 2! Since we had to wait on Sea World to open, we decided to kill the morning at the San Antonio Children's Museum downtown. Great find, JB! Noah was able to pretty much run anywhere, touch everything, and push all the buttons he could find!

This was like a giant Lite Brite.

Bank managers get to answer the phone and push buttons. Great career choice.

There was a bubble area and water table.

Father and son cow milking.

No, really, you can actually milk this cow.

Shopping the "HEB" grocery store. Complete with checkout lanes and working scanners.

And the piece de' resistance. (I am too lazy to look up the correct spelling right now.) The Airplane exhibit. His favorite part of the whole museum. Didn't think we were getting him out of there without some tears and kicking. He insisted on being buckled in.

This exhibit, complete with cockpit (more buttons) and storage area (with suitcases), was maybe the size of one of those tiny commuter jets. The kind that only seats maybe 8 passengers.

Super excited.
We finished the morning off with another train ride, grabbed an early lunch, and headed back to the hotel for a quick nap. Bless them, they let us keep the (free) room until 2:00 so Noah could get a nap before the wonders of Sea World.

The Bay of Play was open for business in November, spray and all. Gotta love Texas! It was really a perfect day for this. I believe 80 was the high.

Noah was terrified of Big Bird, but okay with Bert and Ernie.

The "Azul" show was a hit again.

Next, we headed over to Dolphin Cove, bought a couple trays of fish, and had a great time feeding the dolphins their 4:00 snack.

Noah even got to feed one! He did it but I think it scared him a little.

Then we hurried over to catch a performance of Shamu's new "One World" show.

Watching the whales.
My planning disaster turned out to be a really fun little trip for us! We kept saying that Saturday was probably "the best day of Noah's life!" since he got to do so many things he loves all in one day. :) In fact, we are planning to head back after Thanksgiving to take Noah to the Sesame Street holiday brunch! He will be so excited. And, yes, I looked. I am aware of Sea World's operating hours for the weekend we are planning. ;)

The Down Low

2011-11-10T15:50:00.007-06:00

Pictures courtesy of Samantha, who sends me plenty of great ones!

So what's been going on in our day-to-day grind lately? Sickness! For 3 weeks straight, either Noah or I was sick. It started with the old hand, foot, & mouth, and switched over to this weird cold/allergy thing with a cough. After basically 4 days of fever, I requested from our pediatrician that we go ahead and try some antibiotics, feeling like a sinus infection made the most sense. The next day, the fever was gone! So relieved because being at home was really getting to both of us. We are ready for some fun...and good sleep!

Two cute buddies hanging out.

We also held a cookout at our house last Saturday evening and invited everyone we know around these parts to come out and meet our friends, Ross & Kelly, who just moved to the area. Fun was had by all but Noah, who was just not feeling his best. Sadly, I did not take any pictures.

The gang at Samantha's house, adorned in Froot Loop necklaces.

I must blog about our latest mishap from this morning, even though I'm pretty sure there's no way I could ever forget it. This morning, Noah and I headed out of the house to go to Wal-Mart. I hit the button on the garage door opener, as I have done a hundred times, and we go out into the garage. I go over to the fridge and get a drink out. This couldn't have taken more than 5 or 10 seconds. I hear screaming, look over, and see Noah dangling from the ceiling. Yes, dangling. Apparently, he caught hold of the door as it went up and just never let go. I rush over and lift him down, thinking his poor fingers must be trapped. Talk about a moment of sheer panic. But, no, he is just holding on for dear life, hanging like a little monkey from the garage door. He cried and I think was just scared, but then on the way to Wal-Mart I started giggling, which made Noah start laughing, and we both laughed the whole way. It was hard to decide if I should keep shaking or just laugh. That was truly one of the funniest, and initially scariest, sights I've ever seen. Too bad there wasn't time for a camera! :)

Tomorrow we head out on a quick overnight trip to San Antonio. I have been dying to take advantage of our already paid-for Sea World passes and a free stay at the Hyatt Place on the Riverwalk, compliments of my Chase Freedom card! Cheap, mini-family vacations rock! Wish us luck and safer adventures. :)

Trick or Treat Fun

2011-11-07T19:54:00.004-06:00

Here are some of the pics from Monday night trick-or-treating and a few pre-Halloween ones as well.

As previously mentioned, Noah shared his hand,foot, and mouth disease with his best buddy, Adam. As promised to Adam's mommy, we invited them over to play since there is no where you can get out of the house to for several days while trying to avoid the spread of the contagion. :)

The boys had a great time playing together and painting pumpkins!

The finished products.
And now for the trick-or-treating. This was Noah's first time going out. I think he thought everyone had lost their minds but he seemed to enjoy himself anyway. :)

Ross, Kelly, & baby duck Madison joined us!

Such cuties!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-06T18:20:00.007-06:00

We had a fun Halloween weekend this year. My parents came down and brought Noah's Halloween costume. He had a great time showing it off all weekend. My mom made this terrific train costume from the description we found on someone's blog! He was not crazy about putting it on the first time but once he saw himself in it, he was hooked!

Here we are arriving at the hospital's fall festival on Friday night.
So excited to show Daddy his train!

Riding the tractor/train with Mommy, the only one with short enough legs to take him on the ride :)
Counting his wealth. Mimi brought change for his piggy bank.

On Saturday morning, we headed out in search of a pumpkin patch!

Hanging out with Mimi and Papa while Mommy & Daddy went on a date night! (Sidenote: if you haven't seen the movie "Courageous" and eaten at North by Northwest, you must.)

Dressed up so handsomely for church on Sunday morning!

Trick or treat pics to come later! The boy just can't get enough of that train!

Hoof & Mouth

2011-10-26T09:47:00.005-05:00

Okay, so it's not really "hoof & mouth" (which I think might be a cow disease?) but it is "hand, foot, & mouth disease."

Ever heard of it? It's a tricky one. First of all, it incubates for 3-7 days before symptoms arrive on the scene and they can spread the virus during this time, not knowing that they have it. Last Wednesday morning, about 15 minutes before we were due to leave for Kindermusik , Noah became very fussy and I decided we'd better skip since he just didn't seem well. Good thing for those kids! He ended up passing out on my bed mid-morning (never happens!) and woke with a 102 fever. Two days later, after ups and downs of fever, a trip to the pediatrician who found ulcers in his throat, he broke out with this on his mouth and backside. I will spare you the pic of his bottom, suffice it to say, it is a bit gross. Nothing really on his hands and feet though. 7 to 10 days of contagion! Enough to drive us both crazy with boredom since we need to avoid other children and mostly stay home. Generally, adults do not catch this or do not show symptoms if they do. So glad my little boo is getting better now.

Sadly, we shared the bug with Noah's best buddy Adam, so the two boys are toughing it out together today while I'm at work. Noah's blisters are almost gone but poor Adam is just getting started. Beware!

Motivate Me

2011-10-14T16:54:00.002-05:00

I need to get my blog booked. Ha! My intention since the day Noah was born (if you'll remember, a couple of friends actually made books out of my pregnancy blog for me...still thankful!) has been to put them into a book. I'm just not talented enough to use the do it DIY programs and too frugal to use the more expensive ones. So I plan on doing just a plain Shutterfly book but that seems a little boring...

Anyway, the time-consuming part is searching through old pics, not just copying and pasting the blog...but maybe if I commit myself to doing 5 posts a week, I will eventually book my entire blog! It's only getting worse right? ;)

Wish me luck!

30 Month Stats

2011-10-13T13:42:00.003-05:00

We visited the pediatrician this morning for Noah's 30 month well-check and flu shot.

Weight: 29.2 lbs (50th percentile)
Height: 36 in (55%)
BMI: 35% (whatever that tells us)

He had a good check-up, despite getting that nasty shot. Luckily, dumdums make everything better.

In speech therapy, we are now working on how to answer questions, or converse, rather than just parroting everything someone says to him. We are continuing to work on pronunciation, of course, but Noah has done well with all of his initial goals and is making progress. He is also learning colors and trying to get the hang of counting and identifying letters.

For the most part, he is a great sleeper and is still enjoying his crib tent. :) I see no good reason to make the switch to the toddler bed just yet. Jeremy wants to work more seriously on potty training, but I don't think Noah is really ready and I don't want to begin and have to stop because he isn't quite mature enough yet. But it's coming...

Noah is loads of fun and keeps us laughing. The other night I was gone to my Moms Night Out with my moms group from church and Noah cried at bedtime when I wasn't there to put him to bed. And who can blame him? I spend lots of time reading and cuddling and put on a great bedtime routine. Daddy rocks him for 2 minutes and puts him down. However, last night, Noah insisted that Daddy be the one to change his poopy diaper! I think I got the better end of the deal. :)

Two and a Half!

2011-10-12T14:38:00.006-05:00

We had pictures made on Saturday to commemorate Noah's half-birthday. :) These are all the rough shots, except for a few black-and-whites edited by Jeremy. I even included some of the funnies.

The last 6 months have really flown by!

Grandparent Day

2011-09-30T09:27:00.002-05:00

For me, September 30th is a day to remember my grandparents, all of whom have gone on to heaven now.

September 30th was my Grandma's birthday, and it was also the day we laid her to rest six years ago. She died just a couple of months after her sister, my great-aunt "Dopey", who might as well have been a grandparent too. From time to time, these ladies come to my mind, and I think of all the questions I would like ask them now, in my somewhat more mature state. Whenever they wander into my mind, I imagine that they must be praying for me at that moment. :) I know they did their fair share of that on earth and I am always thankful for it. They gave me my first church experiences. My aunt visited my Sunday school teacher at work to pray in joy after I first believed. I think about how many hours they lovingly and selflessly cared for their silly, rambunctious bunch of grandkids. I immensely wish I would have spent more time as an adult getting to know them better. They loved us all equally and sacrificially. They loved us just as we were. I am forever grateful. My Grandpa on my dad's side passed when I was about two years old and unfortunately I have no memories of him.

This day is also the one year anniversary of my Pop's passing. He left us just a couple of months after my grandmother, his wife, Nanna passed. His mission was over. So this day ends up bringing all of them to mind. They all had their strengths, as well as weaknesses, and all had such an impact on my life. I eagerly look forward to seeing them again one day!

This & That

2011-09-29T09:38:00.009-05:00

This was Sunday's outfit. He actually wore his Ariat boots out in public for the first time. (We bought these at the end of May.) They are probably about to be too small :( Of course, when we picked him up from his class after church, he was the only barefoot child in the class. It seems he insisted on removing the boots and socks. He was definitely the only cowboy at church on Sunday and I loved it. :)

The following are pictures taken by Samantha. She always manages to catch him just right!

My sweet boy. He has been such a joy lately and I am trying to soak it up. He never minds giving a hug or kiss when asked, and sometimes when not asked. He adores his daddy and starts asking me around 5:00 everyday when Daddy will be home from work. He is always so excited to see Jeremy and is looking for different ways to engage and interact with him. He loves all that rough-housing and teasing that boys do. Two is so much fun these days! (If only you could just skip over that whole baby stage, I might be more inclined to have another! Ha!) Noah also loves being around other kids his age, usually running right up to them to say hi.

Fall is a busy time for families, and I am definitely feeling it for the first time this year. Between my random work schedule, Noah going to the sitter on Fridays (plus other days that I might work), Kindermusik, our MC group, occasional playdates, I am considering taking on some other activities as well. I have offered to help co-lead the Moms group I attend with other ladies from church and am praying about working with Young Lives, as a mentor, or some sort of assistance, ministering to teen moms and their kiddos in the area. And, I am trying to coordinate with another mom from church, a more "seasoned" lady :), to begin mentoring me. Sometimes I end up biting off more than I can chew, so we will see how God lays all of this out!

I am excited for October to arrive and usher in some cool breezes and see how the Lord will use us and direct our steps!

All Aboard!

2011-09-24T21:00:00.007-05:00

Today we took Noah to "A Day Out With Thomas" in Burnet, TX, about 45 minutes away from us. I think he really enjoyed himself!

This $4.99 Thomas whistle was the MVP of the evening.

Noah getting his first tat. What precious memories.

Waiting to board.

I thought they might just decorate one of their engines to look like Thomas, but this seems to be the real deal.

As luck would have it, we ended up on the only air-conditioned car. It made the the 25-minute ride to nowhere a bit more fun.

And we ended our adventure with dinner in Bertram at the Tin Star. Tasty!

Nose to the Grindstone

2011-09-22T13:42:00.002-05:00

A group of people can't really love you until you've bled in front of them, right??

So last night, Noah and I head off to our new "missional community group", also known as "life groups" or "home groups" by other churches. Our church is really focused on living life together and living on mission. I guess the Lord brought a little of the blood and guts of living together to last night's gathering, so to speak.

Anyway, this was the second meeting we had attended (Jeremy was working late last night and not able to come). The leaders put on a cookout in their front yard. This was great, except for trying to keep Noah away from the street. Toward the end of the evening, Noah is chasing some other kids around the yard and I turn to look at someone for about 3 seconds. When I look back, he is standing at the street corner calmly observing the SUV turning the corner right in front of him. I yell his name in my very best panicked mama voice, rush over, and lead him by the hand back into the driveway, deciding that it is time to go home. Already apprehensive about going by myself to a front yard cookout, I fed Noah and myself in advance, knowing I would not be able to take my eyes off him to worry about food.

So I lean over to pick Noah up and he jumps up at the same time, ramming his head into my nose. I hear my nose "pop" and blood comes gushing out, the likes of which I have never seen from my own body. Noah starts to whine about bumping his head and I think, "Oh no, kid. You are not going to complain about this one when you just broke your mother's nose!" I drag him by the hand over to our group leader, say her name, and she says, "Oh!" when she sees me and leads me into the house. As I pass, people are saying "Oh my gosh." I drip blood everywhere, while trying to corral my two-year-old, who refuses to leave my side and go play with the teenage babysitters. And all the while, my husband is texting and calling me, trying to properly assess the situation and determine whether its logical for him to come pick up Noah or not. My text stating "Come get Noah now, I think he just broke my nose" was not evidence enough, mind you. Ha! I can laugh now. Christy was extremely gracious helping me mop up, filling me with ibuprofen, and insisting I take one of her holey dishrags home with me to bleed on, giving me a "mom" hug, and walking us to the car. Noah and I made it home safely and I managed to dry up the tears and bloodshed at about the same time. :)

I am thankful and relieved to report no swelling or bruising, and though my nose is still a bit sore, I do not think it was broken! Most of all, I am thankful for God's protection of Noah, besides my nose!

In other news, I think my Canon Powershot, right at 3 years old, is officially down and out. I think I have a few pictures and videos that I need to download from the memory card before I toss the camera. We never got a good case for it, and I think my tossing it in my purse with Noah's milk cup and whatever else that lives in that hole has been its downfall. Boo. While I do want a new camera, with a real zoom lens, I do not really want to pay what one of those costs right now. Any recommendations?

Beauty for Ashes

2011-09-19T09:05:00.004-05:00

1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

Isaiah 61:1-3

A friend posted on Facebook last night that she spent the day helping a neighbor shift through the ashes of her home, looking for treasured pieces of jewelry. Through this, she was reminded of this verse in Isaiah. In turn, this passage reminded me of the lives of so many in our area right now.

Lately I have been feeling like I live in Abilene again. I remember how I used to long for cloudy days, sick to death of the sun shining endlessly. (Alternately, in WV, I longed for the sunny days, particularly in wintertime, where we might only see the sun twice a week.) This weekend was gloriously cloudy. And humid. There were peals of thunder. And then...it sprinkled. All the conditions were perfectly set up for thunderstorm after thunderstorm to roll through. And yet, we remained dry, for the most part. Other parts of Austin did have some significant amounts, thankfully. We'll take what we can get, especially to recharge the lakes, river, and aquifer.) It seemed clear to me that God is at work. He has chosen this time for record heat and drought. He will allow rain when he sees fit. And we will continue to pray earnestly for his blessing.

We had a pretty quiet weekend. We were all excited to head to The Stone on Sunday. Noah grinned and repeated, "I going to church!" Jeremy and I were looking forward to the second of the current 4-sermon series our pastor filmed while in Israel this summer. The cinematography is incredible. The messages simple, beautiful, and powerful. Last week, Matt read aloud, in its entirety, the Sermon on the Mount from the Sea of Galilee. Yesterday, he spoke about Jesus' grief from the Garden of Gethsemane. Please watch these if you get a chance, they are only about 20 minutes or so apiece.

Aside from that, our only eventful happening was at 4:00am on Sunday when Noah woke us up crying. I went in and asked what was wrong, and he was rubbing his nose frantically and told me he had a "googer." When I went to blow his nose, I noticed that the wipe had something dark on it so I turned on the light. He had blood everywhere! Jeremy had to come in and help me change his pajamas, bed sheet, and wash his face and hands. I still don't know if he banged his nose or if it was just a completely random nosebleed.

Hope you all have a fantastic week! I am trading childcare with another mom from my mom's group so I was able to work this morning while she watched Noah and I will have 4-month-old Emmylou two evenings for a couple of hours this week while her mom tutors. So far, so good!

Pictures that Samantha took on Friday of Noah and his sweet buddy, Adam.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

2011-09-16T09:22:00.004-05:00

I stepped outside to head to work this morning (Yes, I am working quite hard. No, really it's just dead around here.) and found the air to be cloudy and humid and full of potential for RAIN! It has not rained yet, but I am praying and hopeful. The weatherman says it has not rained in nearly 3 months here and we are desperate.

I dropped Noah off at Samantha's house this morning with his cool, new Thomas the Train backpack in tow! He was so excited about it. We went to Target yesterday and I held up the Thomas backpack side by side with an Elmo backpack and he immediately chose Thomas. It even has wheels, so he had fun pulling it around yesterday. We are taking Noah to Burnet next weekend to ride Thomas on the Austin Steam Train and I'm excited about that for him.

Here is Noah with his best bud Adam this morning. They are so cute. They always hug as soon as they see each other.

I am starting to purchase fall/winter clothes for Noah, collecting them in hopes that cooler temps will befall us soon! I am really missing WV right now. Shocking? I LOVED fall there. I loved having seasons, winter being the only exception. It is just so gorgeous there in fall.

That being said, it is a trade off. Sometimes you have to make concessions. And while we just lived through the hottest, driest summer on record in Austin, I still wouldn't trade it. I love it here. We love it here. We have a great church and are starting to get plugged in, finally. I am making some really neat friends. Jeremy loves his hospital, boss, and co-workers. Our friends from DFW, Ross & Kelly, and their newbie, Madison, are moving here soon so that Ross can work with Jeremy again. God is always good, but life is really good right now as well. I know the day will come when we are called to move on again, all in God's time, but for now, I am content, and pleading to stay put for a long time!

Summer 2011 in Review

2011-09-12T15:26:00.007-05:00

Well, hello. You may remember me. My name is Amy and I'm a blog-slacker. I am also a picture-taking-slacker, because I just realized that I pretty much stopped taking pictures this summer, and all I have are some my mom took during a couple of visits over the summer. Well, I do have some snapshots taken with my phone and uploaded to Facebook, but really, that's about it. I'm not sure what happened.

We have been busy, but that's no excuse. I worked a good bit. We had some fun trips. Noah has learned and grown so much.
We spent a lot of time in the east-facing backyard this summer in the late afternoons, playing in the water, and eating sweet treats that are best consumed outdoors.

When the heat is this ridiculous, who cares if your clothes get a little wet.

It starts like this...
And goes to this...
And ends up here!
Lots of bubbles were blown. Noah has learned to blow them himself...and is sometimes successful about it.
There was some homemade ice cream, of course.

Swimming at the neighborhood pool.

Lots of jumping.
"Kick, kick, kick!" I am so proud of Noah. When he finally revisited a swimming pool at the end of March this year, he cried and wanted nothing to do with getting it. He now LOVES the water, and is quite a daring, if not proficient, little swimmer.

Mmmm...popsicles on the back porch. Though not pictured here, my mom sent us a Zoku Quick Pop Maker and I made yummy, yet nutritious, popsicles for Noah this summer. :)

And Mimi gave him a DumDum too. His first actual candy. Also known as "yumyums," these handy little dandies are now a regular distractor for Noah's haircuts. They are quite popular. ;)

Eventually, the water hose became far more entertaining than the actual wading pools.

And then there was all the watermelon. I will surely have a vine spring up next year along my fence where I have thrown out rind after rind this summer.

Noah's first snow cone, eaten at the park by our house. Of course, he dumped it all down his front. Oddly enough, he loves sweet things, just not when they are cold. Ice cream, etc. is not a huge deal to him, which is a very odd concept for me.

The first 2 weeks in August, we did swimming lessons through the city of Cedar Park. They were a bit of a joke. I mean, would you want to be still and patient, kicking at the floating toys and blowing bubbles when this wonderland was just behind you?

He climbed up by himself and went down the slide, over and over and...

Showing off his skills. He likes walking around the pool with water up to his chin and does NOT want any help...until he starts floating away and inhales a big gulp. :)

You can see this is one of those great zero-entry, or whatever you want to call it, pools that you are able to gradually wade into. Amazing invention for the little guys.

He likes to lay down in the water (wah-yay) on his belly and walk along on his hands, saying "I going swimming!"

So that is our record-busting, hot, hot, HOT summer in Leander, Texas, in a nutshell. Hopefully, I'll get back on the regular blogger train soon and take some new pictures. It's almost time for finding Halloween costumes and a photog to shoot us for the annual family portraits/Christmas card photos. Yikes!

Catch up!

2011-07-16T20:36:00.006-05:00

It's been a busy summer! I've been working more, and Noah has been having a blast at the baby-sitter's house with his friends. He talks all the time about Adam and Madison, who are Samantha's kiddos, and Noah's very best friends. And they love all love Noah too.

One day we had a friend from the Kindermusik class and a friend from church over to play and the three boys had a great time.

Noah is doing great with speech therapy and is making some strides. Nikki, our therapist, is very impressed with his memory and ability to sit still and focus when they are working together. He is adding lots of new words to his vocabulary and is doing better with asking for things and is starting to try more 2-word sentences.

When he figured out how to climb out of bed, I bought a crib tent. :) With all the sleep issues, we just weren't ready to add that to the mix. It works so well, I see no reason to switch beds anytime soon!

Also, Noah is back on the pacifier for sleep. After 10 weeks of little to no napping and very early mornings, I couldn't take it anymore. It took awhile before he even wanted to use it again but he has since resumed napping and is doing pretty well. Not sure that he is getting a lot more total sleep per day but this is an improvement and I am hopeful that he will eventually start sleeping til at least 7:00am again! And I don't care if he sleeps with a paci till he's 20. :)

We had several days over the last week with Jeremy's mom in town and it was wonderful having Mamaw around to help out. Unfortunately, this is the only pic I took but I did get a couple of cute videos too.

Noah has developed a love for whales and dolphins since we visited Sea World. We watch the Shamu show on youtube pretty frequently. This is the part where the audience waves their arms and shout "Shamu, Shamu!" along with the trainers and the whales splash everyone. Cracks me up.

Noah has also developed a love for Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy after seeing a little bit of Kermit on one of his Sesame videos. So Mimi bought him some DVDs and he begs to watch "The Muppets Take Manhatten" all day long! I love that he chose Kermit on his own. Most 2-year-olds love Elmo, but how many have an addiction to Kermit? What a little individual. :)

Our boy is too sweet these days. He gives lots of hugs and love and recently learned to do the "smack" when giving kisses. I personally think they are the best kisses ever.

Let Freedom Ring!

2011-07-10T13:38:00.006-05:00

We really did the 4th of July holiday weekend up big this year, at least as far as traveling goes. But first, here are a few pics from the previous weekend, when we visited Williamson County Park on Sunday afternoon, and enjoyed riding the train and playing at the Quarry splashpad. The Quarry is Cedar Park's new million-dollar splashpad and it is pretty cool, in both senses of the word. :) Sorry, we didn't take the camera out there, so no pics. I am excited for friends/family with children to start visiting us so we can take kiddos to all the fun places around here! (Hint, hint!)

Waiting for the choo-choo train to arrive.

All aboard the Cedar Rock Railroad!

Boys just love trains.
On to the 4th of July weekend. The three of us headed out to ABIA on Thursday, after Noah got a good nap in, and flew out to Tulsa, where we were picked up that evening by the Nutt's and driven out to Grand Lake. (Side note: air travel with a 2-year-old is not nearly as easy as it was with an infant. Noah was not at all pleased that the flight attendant told him to sit in his own seat, with his belt on, at all times when the fasten seat belt sign is on. I recommend avoiding the anal retentive flight attendants at least. He did love seeing the airplanes and I think he understands now that he actually flew on one and that we went "up, up, up!" in the sky. :)

Anyway we arrived late at this amazing house at beautiful Grand Lake that was loaned to us by a friend of a friend of the Nutt's. It was a big party with us and several members of Brian, Stacie, and Rylie's family. And I think everyone had fun. Noah and Rylie got along great and gave each other lots of kisses. :) Unfortunately, we did not take too many pics out there and are hopeful that Stacie will send some our way. ;) There were some really cute ones of the 2 little ones and this was really their first time spent together.

No, he is not naked here, just looks that way!

Saturday, we drove to Fort Smith, AR, to visit with Jeremy's parents and grandparents. Mandi, Dom, and Sophia happened to be there too and the kids had a lot of fun together.

On Monday, we headed back to Tulsa for the night and flew home on Tuesday morning. As usual, it was one of our whirlwind trips but we all had a blast. Noah even did a good job sleeping! And everyone spoiled us with all the food and accomodations. :)

My only disappointment is that Noah's 3rd 4th of July has passed us by and he still has not seen a fireworks show! I've always been afraid he wouldn't make it staying up so late and this year he probably could have done it but we couldn't manage to fit a show in our schedule. A must for next year!

Happy Independence Day!

Up from San Antone!

2011-06-20T17:22:00.013-05:00

Finally, I finished uploading the pics and have a few minutes, hopefully, for narration! This blog needs some updatin! Plus, we leave in 2 days for Adventures with the Nutts in Oklahoma/Adventures in Arkansas. Hmm, another trip with the Nutt's that I will procrastinate and never blog about? We shall see...

Anyway! The first weekend in June, the Erwins and the Barclays ventured out to God's country for a few days, also known as the Hill Country of Texas. One of my favorite places. Well, really, we ventured to Sea World, but we also made a swing through the one and only Utopia, TX on the way home.

Here we are the first night, eating at the famous Casa Rio Mexican restaurant on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Noah was furious with us for putting him in his stroller and not allowing him to dive into the river. Fortunately, he settled down inside and loved the food!

I love that in this picture, Madison looks like "la-tee-da", Jeremy is bored to tears, and Noah is doggedly attacking a quesdilla with a knife.
After dinner, the Barclays retired the tired young man and missed out on most of the Riverwalk action. Too bad because I love it so.

Scott and Madi did the boat thing.

Random pic of Papa and Noah playing remote-controlled car on the back porch of the house we rented. Sorry, there are a couple of random pics throughout and its just too laborious for me to rearrange them into the correct order.
This tree outside the Alamo is awesome. It was transplanted here, at the age of 40, in 1912.
The Alamo. You haven't aged a bit.
Saturday afternoon, we all ventured out to Sea World. I got a one year pass with free parking and Jeremy got a Fun Card for 2011. Noah is free. Glad we did this because Noah LOVED it and I can't wait to take him back.

Here we are at Dolphin Discovery, feeding the dolphins. $6 for 4 sardines has never been so priceless. Noah went from angry, tired, hot boy to absolutely delighted when he saw them.

So cute.

Growing up, I dreamed of being a dolphin trainer. Then I met Chemistry 101. Maybe Noah will share this dream and I can live vicariously through him.

Saying bye-bye to the "poppins", as he sort of calls them.

We then were being roasted alive, so we headed for the water park and found a great place for Noah to splash, the Lil' Gators pool.

Yes, we were hot enough to sit down in the toddler pool (AKA peepee pool). Feel sorry for my parents, who were very fully clothed.

The Shamu "Believe" show. Noah loved it and yelled "Wooo!" everytime the whales jumped. (This show was much cooler when the trainers actually got in the water, mind you.) He sat almost completely still and watched everything. It melted my heart to see him so thoroughly enjoying this.

After this, we called it a day and headed home with my heat-stroked mother in tow. It was still great fun, despite the heat. Thinking September or October will be great! :)

Monday morning, my dad, brother, and myself took Madison and Noah to the San Antonio Zoo.

Taking in the sights. Noah most loved the train, I think. He has become a bit of a train fanatic these days.

Random pic. Reading "The Goodnight Train" with Mimi. Best bedtime story. Ever.
Madi and Noah eating lunch and watching a DVD together.
Another random. We headed back to Sea World (minus Mimi) on Monday afternoon and Noah just had to have a souvenir. Well, maybe his mom just had to get it for him.
A little spaghetti dinner.
Back on track. Sea World, Monday afternoon.

Madison beckoning Noah to join her in the Sesame Street Bay of Play, a glorified spray park. He was having no part of it.

Ah, much more his speed. We finally found an "under 3" section. However, it meant Madi was not allowed to play with him, so she was a little sad.

Watching the Azul show. Beluga whales, porpoises, and acrobatics. Noah loved this show even more.

On Tuesday, we were all supposed to journey to Utopia to visit my great-Aunt Elaine at her ranch. However, I didn't realize quite how much car time would be involved, and Noah was completely exhausted by this point (he got up at 4:45! one morning and would not go back to sleep, plus naps were not good), so I sent him home with Jeremy and the rest of us journeyed on.

The place where time stands still. A little bit at least.

So beautiful. I am enchanted by this place.

Sweet Elaine. So good of her to entertain us. She is fit as a fiddle and sharp as a tack.

I came home and told Jeremy that one day I want to have a ranch in the Hill Country too. And we can keep animals there and just have someone tend them for us, while we visit on weekends. He thinks that is a jolly good idea. ;) However, I also want a beach house, so we'll see what wins out!

We all had such a fun time, despite the weary Barclays. Thanks Mimi and Papa! Next year, maybe Padre Island? :)

Happy Summer from blazin' hot Texas, y'all!

Happy Four Years!

2011-06-12T20:05:00.002-05:00

Though our actual anniversary is June 2nd, Jeremy and I celebrated early this year. Terry and Debbie came down for Memorial Day weekend and were kind enough to watch the little one while we snuck off for an overnight in downtown Austin.

On Saturday afternoon, Jeremy and I headed down to South Congress Ave to do a little shopping...or maybe just doing our part to Keep Austin Weird. I made out like a bandit. :) Jeremy bought me a necklace, Amy's Ice Cream t-shirt, and a silver and peridot (our birthstone) ring and earring set from a little jeweler set up in his tent. We walked, sweated, shopped, sweated, stopped for a drink, sweated, and settled on having dinner at Moonshine Grill.

We had a great time. Unfortunately, these were the only pictures we took all weekend. Jeremy woke up Sunday morning with Noah's stomach bug, so we delayed our cookout for another day. Then, Debbie became sick with something even worse late Sunday night, so they hurried away Monday morning. Our house was a contaminated zone!

We still had a lovely anniversary and were so thankful to be able to get away for a little while and enjoy it! Thank you Mamaw and Papaw; we all loved seeing you and Noah had a wonderful time with you!

Wherever you are, enjoy some ice cream!

Sick Puppies

2011-05-26T10:02:00.002-05:00

Noah woke up in the wee hours of Monday morning with his first stomach bug. (First one to cause the vomit comet at least.) I know that we are lucky to have made it this far without him catching one. And if you know me very well, you know of my very great fear of stomach viruses. And it was pretty mild, as far as these things go. He threw up a few times and then it was like nothing ever happened. How do little ones do that? He was smiling and attempting to play in between dry heaves, like he didn't feel bad at all.

Then I woke up with it very early Wednesday morning. Jeremy couldn't stay home, so fortunately Noah was able to go to the baby-sitter's house and give me a break. Top the bug with allergies and a little chest congestion, and I was barely able to drag myself to the living room to watch TV, much less chase after the busy, up-to-no-good Noah all day.

Noah has been going to bed by 7:00 almost every night since we got back from the beach. It's the only way he can actually get a good night's sleep, however inconvenient it may be. He still wakes up around 6:00am and takes short naps, or no naps at all, if he's somewhere other than his bed at home. But he does that no matter what time he went to bed the night before. My hope is that once he gets over being "overtired" I'll be able to readjust bedtime and he'll sleep later and nap longer. Right. Also considering hiring a sleep consultant, or just going to Wal-Mart to pick up some more pacifiers. We have some plans this summer that I'd like him to be able to handle without going to bed immediately after dinner, but we'll see.

So excited for this weekend! Jeremy's parents are coming in for the holiday weekend and one of the nights, Jeremy and I are planning to celebrate our upcoming anniversary with an overnight date in downtown Austin. We still haven't really experienced much of that area of the city. I'm excited for the break and for all of us to be germ-free , well-rested, and feelin good for a while!

Happy Memorial Day!

Life's a Beach

2011-05-16T16:20:00.006-05:00

Warning: please be prepared for lots of pictures! This past weekend we took Noah to Rockport, Texas for his first trip to the beach! It was about a 3.5 hour drive for us, which was not bad at all. We rented a little 1 bedroom cottage near the beach and had a nice little family getaway.

First introduction to the beach on Friday evening. I think he's a fan. Maybe even as in love with it as his mommy. What is it that draws us to the water, like mosquitos to a bug zapper?

This beach would be just about perfect for Noah. The water is only 1 to 6 inches deep, going out at least a couple hundred yards. Ideal for toddlers. When we arrived that evening, the water was warm and "high tide" was in, filling the bay with baby jellyfish. Loads of them. Dead, but still nervewracking to try to keep Noah out of them.

On Saturday morning, Noah decided to wake at 5:45 (yes, that's AM), and despite our best coaxing, would not go back to sleep. We ended up at the beach by 8:00. The beach was deserted, probably because the locals are aware of the cool, early morning temps and the problems that are presented on the baech at this time of day. :)

First, Jeremy and I were attacked by wicked mosquitos, which ate my arms alive. They were reproducing in the parking lot, I guess, and chased us almost all the way to the water, sparing Noah, thankfully. Then we realized that the water was ice cold instead of the pleasant bathtub feeling we got the night before. And then we saw the jellyfish. Yes, there were more of them. And big ones too. We had to be really careful. This series of small disasters had to make me roll my eyes at least. Or look for the humor in the situation. We didn't stay long but agreed to come back later and give it one more shot.

Noah didn't care too much about playing in the sand, so I built the obligatory sand castle for him.

One of the icky jellyfish.

Luckily, the afternoon experience was much better! The sun warmed the shallow water right up and the jellyfish disappeared.

This was about how long he was willing to leave the shades and hat on. Just long enough so we could take pics for the Nutts.
Hermit crabs were everywhere! Remember when people used to wear them on a chain around their necks?? Heehee. We put some babies on Jeremy's leg.

No dunce jokes please.
"Now where did I leave that sand pail?"

Noah is chasing the ladies already. He was mesmerized by this little girl, who was very pretty, and charming with her sweet smile.

We happened to be in town for the annual "Babes on the Bay" all-women fishing tournament. All women, all fishing, over 1000 of them. Interesting ladies.

Jeremy took a patriotic photo.

There were some cute shops we peeked in down by the pier. Well, I peeked while Jeremy entertained Noah.

We had dinner at Charlotte Plummer's, a local seafood place on the water. Can you see the exhaustion in these eyes? This was because the child who got up at 5:45am, refused to nap, and was tuckered out in time for our 5:30 dinner.

We made another early morning beach run on Sunday (yes, we were able to sleep in until 5:50 this morning), with plans to feed the seagulls instead of swimming this time. These birds weren't flying at us, more like hovering in the air right in front of our faces. If you enlarge this pic, you kind of get the eerieness of it. :)

Noah loved it. He was a little scared of them hovering (but who's kidding, so was I) but was thrilled with chasing them on the ground.

Now, I don't know much about hunting, but if you want to catch something, it's probably best not to yell "GITCHU!" (get you) at your prey, while running towards it.

Needless to say, we were all totally exhausted Sunday but made it home fine. Still a lot of catching up to do! This was a nice weekend getaway and now I am craving a "real" beach experience. Something a little less lake-like, where the water actually smells like ocean. And hopefully is jellyfish-free.

Night-night! This mommy needs some rest!

Let's Hear It For the Moms!

2011-05-10T18:44:00.004-05:00

After church on Mother's Day, we stopped by the Zilker Botanical Gardens on our way home. It was awfully humid but we managed to snag a few pictures anyway.

Sorry my blogging has been cut short lately. This is due to my stunted amount of free time, tiredness, and my own general crankiness. We have had some small improvements (no more screaming, for the most part, or 3 am wake-up calls) but after 3.5 weeks, Noah is still not getting enough sleep to satisfy either of us. We started his speech therapy this week, and while I like the therapist a lot, it was really kind of a downer for me.

I'm thinking of running away to a spa in California where someone will serve me drinks by the water and feed me grapes. Or...maybe we will just get to planning our trip to Rockport Beach this weekend! I'm excited; Noah absolutely loves bodies of water and I can't wait to show him this one. Let's pray for good health, Jeremy is feeling a little under the weather today.

Progress Report

2011-05-01T20:19:00.002-05:00

Noah has decided that he does not want a sibling. More realistically, I think I decided that early one morning last week. :)

We are 2 weeks and 1 day into giving up the paci and I have to say that things are not better. What, at 2 years old, does it take 28 days to break an addiction? Because I think that is all I am going to be able to give to this project before I break down and buy another paci. Then he can sleep with it till he's 20 for all I will care! that particular morning, he woke up at 3:00am, and after over an hour, we could not find anything wrong with him, so we just left him in bed and he screamed until 6:00, when I had to get up for work. Yes, we turned off the monitor and closed all the doors, and I could still hear him across the house.

We got past nearly 2 weeks of diarrhea, and a couple of days of fever. Since then, I have spent the week basically starting all over with sleep training like we did at around 9 months, except that it isn't taking quite effectively this time. There is only so much screaming a person can take. I am feeling irrationally angry and frustrated half the time, and so is Noah, as evidenced by his foul moods, whining, and shreiking when he's not in bed. Most days, he is waking up early every morning, taking a short or no nap, and taking his time falling asleep at night. He is sleeping around 2-3 hours less now some days, which makes for a very grumpy boy who is not fun to be around.

I guess you should either take away the paci by the first birthday so they will forget more quickly or just wait until they are closer to 4 and more able to rationalize the loss.

Hopefully, things are going to get back to normal one day soon. Until then, Mommy needs a child-free vacation! Oh wait, nobody else will volunteer to listen to him scream either. ;)

Our Resurrection Weekend

2011-04-24T18:31:00.007-05:00

Jeremy was able to leave work a little early on Good Friday (been a long time since we've had that treat!), so we headed out to an early outdoor dinner.

There's not much cooler things than having chips and salsa at The Oasis on the balcony overlooking Lake Travis--while wearing your Winnie-the-Pooh shades.
Hot salsa makes you thirsty. It also might make you drool a bunch.

These shots are part of my attempt to tempt the Nutt's to come visit us soon! And anyone else who might enjoy the lake. :)

Might be the prettiest lake I've seen.

I thought this was pretty funny. This guy has the trademark apparently.

We stopped in a little cove to let Noah check out the water. Sorry for so many pics, I really liked these!

He loved the water! I am so excited to take him to the real beach!

Saturday morning, we attended the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. It was Noah's first official hunt.

He actually managed to pick a few up and put them in his basket before they were all gone.

This morning, we headed down to the TU campus to the Frank Erwin Center (a relative? no idea.) for the big Austin Stone Community Church Easter Sunday service. It was awesome. There was a boys choir from Uganda there and the worship was such a blessing. I think we will stick with this church. Unfortunately, Noah woke up early this morning with a little fever and was really feeling poorly by the time we reached church. He slept on me throughout the whole sermon, which has never happened. It's been a rough day (week, for that matter) for him, so we are heading to the doc tomorrow!

The boys looked so handsome this morning!

I was a bit late with the Easter basket (it was more of an after-nap thing) but here is the actual basket Jeremy purchased on Easter two years ago that we bundled our little Easter baby into!

I bought some Easter activities to do with Noah (such as dyeing eggs) but we only got as far as making cards for his grandparents. It was just a crazy week.

Happy Resurrection Day! Sing praises to our Risen Lord!

Operation Bye-Bye Paci

2011-04-20T20:46:00.003-05:00

Here's what has been up around here lately. I have been avoiding the blog like crazy since I have an overwhelming amount to get posted! Yes, I need to post about our cruise, but there's only around 1100 pictures to wade through, so I've been putting it off.

Things have gotten a little busier for me with work the past 2 weeks (really starting to love the job!). I was supposed to work 3 days this week but tomorrow has been derailed by a little man and this run of diarrhea he has been having since at least Saturday.

Also, we have been intending to eliminate the use of the pacifier for some time now but the timing kept not working out. Saturday, Jeremy said, "We need to git 'er done" and so we snipped the tips off his paci's. (We restricted paci use to bedtime long ago.) This produced much anger and screaming in our son. He would not use them. He kept throwing them out and screaming. Since then, we have less screaming but lots of waking up too early. Naps have mostly been too short, it takes him longer to fall asleep, and he has been waking up between 5:30 and 6:30 every morning instead of the 8:00 hour we had been achieving prior to Operation Bye-Bye Paci. Help! My hope is that either this has something to do with the upset tummy or that he will learn to sleep well again very soon. Anyone else have this trouble? I know it must be hard since we have been pushing a paci at him since he was about 4 months old to try and help him soothe himself back to sleep. I guesswe have to start over with sleep training again!

Anyway, that is all that is new with us, I believe. Just praying that after putting the paci's in the trash with him today, they will soon be erased from memory!

Grab Your Boots and Get in Gear...

2011-04-16T18:37:00.006-05:00

Because Noah's 2nd birthday is here! We hosted the party from our home and Noah was pleased to celebrate with both sets of grandparents, aunt, uncle, and three cousins. Unfortunately, the night before the party, Noah came down with a little cold and fever, so he wasn't feeling his best, but managed to have fun anyway. This cracked me up. Not his name, just that he felt the need to add the "A." In case other Dominicks came to the party. ;) The chefs. I made lasagna and conned Mandi into making the salad and Debbie into freezing the homemade chocolate and banana ice cream recipes. The sandbox from Mamaw and Papaw and sand toys from Mandi, Dom, and Sophia were a hit. His favorite thing has been the tractor from Scott and Madison. He sits on top of it and says, "Whee!" Thanks everyone for all the gifts and to those die-hard Noah fans that made the trip down for a quick weekend! We love you!

2 Years Old!

2011-04-16T16:53:00.004-05:00

How can it be? On April 10th, our delightful boy turned 2 years old. Now we have to count him in years. It's so hard to figure out where the time goes. I guess you just go to bed one too many times and they change on you. I have been snuggling him at bedtime, trying to squeeze him hard enough to keep him little.

These days Noah is boisterous, busy, energetic, enthusiastic, loving, affectionate, determined, friendly, always on the move, and needs constant activity. Not much has changed with his adjectives over the last year. He still loves most any fruit, hates most any vegetable, and has become quite the picky eater. He loves Elmo, Baby Einstein, tractors, and stars. He is definitely an outdoorsman and thoroughly enjoys going to play at the park.

Yesterday, Noah had his 2 year checkup. Here are the stats.

Weight: 26lbs, 13.5 oz (50%)

Height: 34.5 inches (55%)

They also measured his head but did not write that down for me. His BMI was 30%.

Everything is fine except for his speech. He has around 35 words, when he should have 50. A stranger is supposed to be able to understand 50% of what he says, and I feel this is probably not the case. Dr. Sperling gave us an ECI referral to have him evaluated for speech therapy, which I will call to schedule on Monday. I'm excited about that because Noah's baby-sitter's son also has used these services and is doing very well. I'm not upset about this because I know that Noah is smart, I just feel guilty because I am a poor teacher. Noah did great on the autism checklist, something that must be in the back of every parent's mind these days.

Here are his recent portraits. I included some of the bloopers because they are funny and show a little bit of what our session was like. :)

And here is our sweet Easter baby, on his DOB 2 years ago.

Party Like a Five-Year-Old

2011-04-07T18:45:00.006-05:00

The weekend of March 26, we celebrated So-So's 5th birthday in Arlington. Noah had a great time playing with his cousins! It was a princess affair. With lots of fun on the playground.

Some girly group hugs.

Tasty Cupcakes. This young lady was hard to pin down for a picture.

Patty-cake with Mamaw and Papaw.

Lots of presents. The boys had some fun of their own during the girly stuff.

Lions, Tigers, and Bikes...Oh My!

2011-04-06T18:44:00.003-05:00

With the the Big Boy's Birthday Bash weekend rapidly approaching, I need to try to squeeze is some blogging and catch up on a few things. Over the weekend, we visited the Austin Zoo. It's a pretty good drive, and really more of a petting zoo, so we may not venture there again. But, Noah was able to enjoy a few tigers, squirrel monkeys, a jaguar, a lion, and some peacocks anyway. He wasn't crazy about touching the goat but didn't mind watching Daddy feed them.

On Sunday, we bought a couple of birthday presents and put this one to work. Well, it's kind of a present for us too, since we can now resurrect our bicycles and haul Noah along with us. And he LOVES it! So stinkin cute riding around in there.

This is a busy, long week around here! Here's to fun weekends!

Loads of Catching Up!

2011-03-20T18:23:00.006-05:00

After 2 weeks off, the blogging is starting to really pile up around here! I don't have all of our pics from the cruise yet (ahem :), so I'll post about that later. To sum it up, the cruise was an absolute blast, we can't wait to go again, but are happy to be back with our favorite little boy. The following week was Spring Break, so I took Noah to visit my parents in Paris, and swung by my aunt Patti's on the way home. We also stopped by to meet Baby Beau at the Chamblees!

For now, I'll post pictures from this weekend, which was the end of spring break, and some much needed family time at home! Mandi and Sophia came down on Saturday to spend the night. She never made it to South by Southwest, as planned, and Jeremy and I never made it to Cirque du Soleil, but we all had a good time anyway.

These kids got pretty dirty playing in the backyard after dinner, so a cousin bubble bath was necessary.

Sunday morning we headed out to explore downtown Austin and all its hippie wonder.

Lunch!

Dessert from Sugar Mama's :)

She thought they were pretty good.

By the way, we closed on the sale of our West Virginia house this week and are so thankful! Couldn't remember if I posted about that or not. Eventually, I'll get the 1000 pics from the cruise and visit to my parents' posted! Busy week ahead!

Evening Silliness

2011-03-02T18:57:00.003-06:00

OK, just one more. Then I'm out. For real.

Our evenings are sometimes full of general silliness such as this. Sorry for the poor lighting.

Whew!

2011-03-02T18:47:00.001-06:00

The Barclays on the move! All of us. In all directions.

Well, our branch of the family is not literally moving again. (No way!) But, Jeremy and I are leaving on our big cruise in just a few days! We will leave on the 5th, pick up the Nutts at the Houston airport, drive to Galveston, spend the night, and board the ship on the 6th. From there, we cruise to Cozumel, Roatan Honduras, and Belize City, returning to Galveston on the 13th. We are so excited. And so ready for a vacation. Other than our short trip to New York, we have not had a real vacation since the BBC (Birthday Bash Cruise) of August '08. You may remember that as the time we got on the boat and found out I was pregnant. Not this time, buddy! Jeremy affectionately coined "KAH" for the name of this cruise (Kids at Home). It's kind of funny, right after we got home from the BBC trip, I headed over to meet Jake & Mallory Chamblee for the first time. This trip, I will just miss the arrival of little Beau Chamblee on the 10th. Funny timing, Alli!

Debbie will be staying at our house with Noah. All by herself. Poor Mamaw. But for a good reason! Terry got a job! We are thrilled for them. However, the job is moving them to Fort Smith, Arkansas. A long drive from us. Although, I am grateful its not Milwaukee, which was the other option, we praise the Lord for this gift! Jeremy's sister, Mandi, also has some new job opportunities in the works and we praying that the closer opportunity is the one intended for her! :)

I am a little anxious about leaving Noah for 8 days. That's the longest amount of time ever! I am going to miss him. And I'm a little concerned as to what the fallout may be when we get back. Not sure if he's going to be angry at us for ditching him for so long. But we'll all be just fine I am sure! Please send up a prayer for our health, safety, and relaxation if you get a chance! I am also a little concerned about my motion sickness, which only seems to be worse since being pregnant. (How does that happen?) So I am packing lots of Dramamine! Jeremy immediately stated that "we all" need to make "pact" not to hold each other back if one gets sick. (I'm sure Stacie & Brian have not heard that we need such an agreement. In other words, Amy, don't screw up my vacation.)

Anyway, we are very excited and many plans are in the works! We are prepared for snorkeling, snuba, zipline, shopping, beautiful beaches, LOTS of eating, and whatever else comes our way! KAH!

In more ordinary news, I have been training for my new job as an hourly counselor at a local community college. It is an overwhelming overload of information but I am hopeful it will start to make sense soon and I will be of some use in my position. Noah and I love his new baby-sitter and he is doing great there. In fact, she took these pics for me!

I could swear that Noah is sleeping 1 to 2 hours less per day than he did in WV. I have been working hard to get some balance and he is doing better. When he gets overtired, it is downright UGLY!

Now, we just have to get everything packed and wrap up the last minute stuff (pedicure, waxing, spray tans...) and we're outta here! Sayonara! I am officially on blog hiatus!

Will You Be Mine?

2011-02-14T20:22:00.006-06:00

You may notice a few pictures of cookies in this post. Maybe in every picture. I apologize for that. But it's because this is the Valentine's Day 2011 post!!

I love Valentine's. It is one of my favorite holidays. I love all things pink and red, chocolate, roses, cupids, jewelry, you name it! So I say "Boo!!" to all the haters! Love it up! :)

I made dinner and some homemade sugar cookies. I really made the cookies because I wanted Noah to help decorate them. Well...he tried but just isn't there yet. Here is the finished product and they are mighty tasty.

Here is Noah decorating...the table. The closest he got to sprinkling on the cookie was to plant the jar of sprinkles in the frosting. Oh well. He seemed to really enjoy shaking sprinkles out all over the table. I will continue to look forward to the days of craftiness together in the future.

Some of you may have seen the Smilebox I sent out this year because I never got it together and made Valentine cards. Kind of like my intention to make some "Happy New Year/Thanks for the Christmas Gift/We Moved!" cards and send those out. Anyway, these pics are from Noah eating a red velvet cake cookie on our front porch last weekend. I tried to leave out the ones with obvious crusty nose issues. :)

And the Mama scored big! Jeremy gave me this beautiful amethyst ring from James Avery and a pair of amethyst studs AND some white roses!

Finally, enjoy some smooth moves brought to you by our own Dancing Diapered Dude. (Sorry about the blurry lens, but the content was too cute to pass up.) Happy Heart Day!

Happy Hour!

2011-02-07T16:17:00.005-06:00

We had such a great weekend! Jeremy's parents decided to drive over on Thursday and stayed until this morning. We had fun and got enormous amounts of stuff done around here! Except for a few things left to hang on the walls, the house is ready to go and open for business! I was also able to get a ton of errands taken care of too. Noah was a Papaw groupie all weekend but finally said "Mamaw" this morning before they left.

The only downside was Noah developing a yucky cough and cold over the weekend. We had to take a hiatus from the church search. I had an interview for a part-time counselor position with a local community college today and even found a lady who does child care out of her home that I really like who agreed to watch him while I was gone. Luckily, Jeremy was able to leave work and keep him.

So what do you do when you are sick, snotty, coughing, can't sleep more than 45 minutes at naptime, and generally grouchy, tired, and cabin-feverish? Head out for your first Sonic drink, of course!

Cranberry slushes are pretty darn good! And I guessed maybe the least of all the Sonic evils. :)

Mmmm!

Until you drop your cup and it busts everywhere. Hanging out on the front porch was a smart idea.

Sticky feet to follow.

Now we are snuggling in bed watching videos... lots of Elmo and Baby Einstein around here lately! I hope you have a great Monday and stay well!

Fiddle-Dee-Dee

2011-02-01T14:06:00.004-06:00

More of what we've been up to lately!

Naps are better! I took the above photo to document my having to wake him up yesterday from a long one. :)

Noah's Kindermusik course is called "fiddle-dee-dee" for this session and it's pretty cute. I think he's really going to love it, as much as he enjoys music and dancing. And I think he's going to get the hang of this "social interaction" thing too. :) It might be a little pricey, but I think it will be worth it the end. Check it out if you've got a little one and are interested in some fun time, just the two of you, learning and interacting with other little guys.

I found a group on Meetup.com for moms and kids born in 2009. So far we went to one playdate at the park and plan to go visit someone's home tomorrow for another. There are usually 3 or 4 different meetups scheduled each week to choose from, and I'm hopeful we'll have a lot of fun with this.

Up until today, when the Great Arctic Blast of 2011 hit Austin, we have been living up the outdoors as much as we can. Noah has always loved to swing and has been unabashedly finding joy in the baby swing at the park. Even after 20 minutes of swinging, he still puts his head down and cries, or throws a fit, when time is up. He enjoys the slides and running around, but once he knows there's a swing there, forget about it.

Waving bye-bye to an airplane passing over. Have I mentioned this boy loves airplanes too? He hears every single one when we are outside and searches the skies for them.

There it goes!

Listening.

Where is the airplane, Noah? *He points.*

Finally, Mommy let him get in the swing.

I still almost can't believe God has blessed us so much and brought us back home so quickly! I still wonder what my purpose was in WV because when we went, I thought there must be a big something I was supposed to do out there. But I guess not. Maybe none of it was about me. I hope to find one here, aside from any personal happiness about being here.

Oh! Please continue praying for our house in WV! A couple looked at it Sunday and are trying to decide between making an offer on our house or one other they looked at.

Stay warm this week, Texans...and the rest of the country too, I guess!

What's the Word, Thunderbird?

2011-01-29T13:56:00.002-06:00

I love Google. I wanted to use something to title my post about the latest everyday happenings of the Barclays that was a little more original than my "Morning Glory" title. So I googled "What's the word..." and came up with the rest of that saying (I guess) that I could not recall. Smile.

So we survived the move and I'm back with an update to entertain the masses, since I have been reminded that people need something to do to fend off boredom. Not naming any names but...ahem, Terry.

We got out of the hotel and into a rental home just north of Cedar Park, in Leander. If you are thinking of DFW, and Austin is like Dallas, then Cedar Park is like Plano or Frisco, and Leander is like umm...Wylie. There is a Kohl's, Lowe's, and humongous HEB Plus. There are a few fast food places, but mostly we end up driving the 10 minutes into Cedar Park everyday so far. We think the house is great. We're happy to be back in a one-story (no more two-stories, I'm over it!) and we were relieved to find a place that was clean, freshly painted (not white), with brand new carpet, and new appliances, all within the price range we were shooting at. And it's got 4 bedrooms. None of the other places we viewed shared these qualities. Anyway, who knows when I will get pictures posted.

We are pretty well settled in except for finishing up the decor. I still have pictures to hang and we are waiting on reinforcements to hang the curtains, since neither Jeremy or I can stand that. It is challenging with a toddler who gets bored easily to get everything done quickly. I really miss his baby-sitter mornings! We have visited a Mother's Day Out program and I made contact with another lady who does child care out of her home but I am holding off since Noah seems to be adjusting a bit slowly here.

You know how toddlers are. Or maybe you don't. Let's just say that a new sippy cup (he chewed through the spout in his beloved silicone Munchkin cups) or a new brand of oatmeal (can't find his Earth's Best Maple & Brown Sugar with Elmo on the box anywhere--if you see some, drop me a line) are both reasons to have a meltdown in the morning. The kind where you intentionally hit your head on the tile or wall, throw yourself backwards, etc. Life is frustrating when you are 21 months old. So, I should have expected this transition might be harder than past ones. But even in September he bounced back well from our week of travel to Texas. He is doing better now but I still haven't seen him go to bed at 8:30pm and sleep until 7:30am AND take 3 hour naps. Most of those naps have been an hour and a half lately with him waking up in the morning at 6:30am or so. Which used to cause him to sleep later the next morning when his nap was short, but no more. I am holding out hope that everything will return to its former glory one of these days. All I can figure is that it's noisier here with street noise, so I am trying out a fan today in addition to the sound machine. :p

I have been hitting the gym as much as I can to get ready for our big cruise coming up in March with our friends, the Nutts. Although Noah hates the day care and it seems to be traumatic for him, we saw a little improvement during our last visit. We also started Kindermusik last week and he loves it, once he realizes that I am not going to leave him. That is our Wednesday morning activity. I went to meetup.com and found a local playgroup for 2009 kiddos that meets for various activities during the week and we tried that on Friday. We went to a park and had fun meeting some new folks. That's a great thing around here, parks everywhere! Noah is really enjoying that aspect.

We are LOVING the mild weather and get outside everyday that we can. This morning, the three of us went to check out Brushy Creek Park. We did some running on the trails around the lake and let Noah swing for a while. We are already scoping out Craigslist for a BOB jogging stroller and bike trailer. Going to live it up in Austin! (Until the 100+ degree temps arrive, then I'm out for a while.) We also drove out to see the "entrance" to the Hill Country. Not so unlike WV, just a little smaller mountains. And we are visiting a new church every week now until we find The One. Hopefully that will happen soon. I am excited to get involved. We are really happy to be home. Jeremy tells me every other day how much he loves it here. We are going to try to stay longer than the average 18 months to 3 years that a COO typically spends at a hospital. We are in no hurry to go anywhere this time!

Whew! Sorry, I haven't taken too many pics lately and I'm all out of steam now. Enjoy this wonderful weekend!

Hello, Texas!

2011-01-13T18:55:00.002-06:00

And welcome back! We are SO glad to be here. Jeremy loves his new hospital and co-workers. He keeps saying how much he loves it here. Especially following dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings.

I also am going to love it here. I know it. I have spent most of the week hating moving, however. I HATE moving!!! Whew. Glad to get that out. Unfortunately, moving is going to be my life. It has been a little challenging living in a hotel suite, since Noah gets "hotel fever" pretty bad. And when you don't have an end in sight....well, I got a little antsy during the first part of the week. How many times can you say "No!" in one day? Really?

But, GREAT news! After struggling to find the right rental home, and losing out on one we really liked, the perfect place came up and we jumped on it! Tomorrow we are moving in. This has been a relatively speedy transition and I am super grateful. God has it all laid out for us.

Noah and I occupied ourselves by attending our first Kindermusik class this week and plenty of shopping at Target. (Can't tell you how thrilling it is to be surrounded by so many options again!) I have signed us up for 12 weekly Kindermusik classes at $245. Yikes! But it was painfully obvious while we there that Noah has never been in a structured environment before and I decided that it will be really good for him. (i.e. he was pushing the other kids and pulling their hair. But smiling and being friendly at the same time. So embarrassing.) It was apparent that the other kids were either really good, or used to the gig since it was their last class. So we'll see how it goes.

Jeremy's parents are arriving tomorrow to help us with Noah while we get settled into the new place. So excited!

Saying Good-bye Part II

2011-01-12T13:27:00.006-06:00

Here are just a few of the jewels I will miss from the great city of Lewisburg, WV!

The Wild Bean.

Everything is vegetarian, organic, local stuff. They have the best. coffee. ever. I brought 2 little bags of it to Texas with me and will miss it when it's gone, though I probably could order more. I especially love their Peppermint Hot Chocolate. They make the best "Fakin' Bacon" burritos around. Walk inside, and you come out wearing a semi-permanent cologne of coffee and grease. ;)

The Irish Pub.

I only went in here once maybe, but its still a cool place.

Honnahlee.

The toy store. I have purchsed several gifts here, along with things for Noah. They carry some unique toys, and a nice selection of Melissa & Doug.

The Hardware Gallery.

One of my favorite shops. My Blenko pitcher and Fiestaware spoonrest and butter dish came from here. (Did you know that Blenko glassware and Fiestaware are both made in WV?) I also have a "Cinda B" purse and messenger bag from here. The messenger bag makes for an awesome purse/diaper bag.

The Sweet Shoppe. :)

Site of much mountain jigging on my 30th birthday.

The Bakery.

My special place. It was hard working right next door. Best pizza and bagels in the world. I liked to buy fresh eggs from the farm from here too. Somehow, eggs are a million times better to me when I know they were laid by some local hens. I like them in various colors and sizes, not all white and equal in size. (How can those sorts of eggs be real?) I digress...

Studio 40.

Owned by Mary Chappell. She opened this store 2 years ago and opened the other store in the Art Colony at the Greenbrier 30 years ago. She is kind, generous, and has more energy and determination than most people I know. It was a delight to be a part of the store for even just a little while. And I was able to puchase some really neat American made items at great prices!

A map of Greenbrier County hanging in the beautiful new Visitors Center.

I never bought any shoes here, but here is the Yarid's Outlet. The "real" Yarid's is in the Greenbrier and I cannot afford it. I believe Jeremy bought my "something leather" here for our 3rd anniversary. It was a Brighton bracelet with charms.

Harmony Ridge Gallery.

Probably my favorite shop of all. Such cool and funky things! Jeremy bought me a beautiful pottery veggie steamer here and I bought plenty of gifts here as well.

This concludes our tour of downtown Lewisburg. I also have taken plenty of pictures of the Greenbrier, Carnegie Hall, the River Trail, Beartown State Park, and the Farmers Market along the way.

Noah had to say good-bye to Freda, the baby-sitter that has taken care of him since he was 7 months old. I think she was a little sad. Noah is a particular kid and not one to follow the crowd nexessarily, so they had their moments but ended up with a sweet relationship. I am most feeling guilty about taking Noah away from her. She is the only baby-sitter he does not mind being left with. :(

The morning before we flew out, Jeremy and I took Noah to the John Deere store, just for fun. He totally would have gotten this tricycle for his birthday! He cried when we took him off.

Lewisburg, you will always hold a special place in my heart!

Sandstone Falls

2011-01-10T16:18:00.007-06:00

I realized that I neglected to post some pictures we took on our trip to Sandstone Falls on November 14. I believe this is the New River.

Saying Good-bye Part I

2011-01-05T19:05:00.005-06:00

Why is it so hard for me to let go of houses? I have been so sad about leaving both of the houses we have owned, each time we've moved. Really, they are just buildings. Imperfect buildings at that. So many things I have changed or would change about each one. (I suppose all houses are like that, unless you are able to customize every detail of the place before it is build.) But, they are still home and endear themselves to my heart like a close friend. Let's take a little tour of our latest residence, shall we?

102 Mackle Lane
Lewisburg, West Virginia 24901

So cozy in the snow, with its new black shutters, don't you think?

We prefer the warmer spring weather, personally.

A formal dining room, though mine is more on the casual side.

Great kitchen.

Probably the best room in the house.

The back living room, as we called it. It is joined, completely open with the kitchen. And we added a ceiling fan since this photo was taken. :)

Noah's little room.

Our master bedroom.

Master bathtub, which I found to be a fine selling point.

Much to my chagrin, I don't think I ever took formal pictures of the guest room, "playroom", guest bath, front living room, entryway or powder room. Too late now! That place is empty, as of today. It sure is nice having somebody else pack you and move you. However, it is also like a brief migraine.

I am declaring my prayer here, before all 5 of you that might read this. :) I have asked the Lord for a miracle. Houses tend to sell very slowly in Lewisburg and I have been regretting our decision to purchase this home for a while now. I wish someone had knocked some sense into me and told me to rent! It was all just pride anyway. Lesson learned. We will be renting in Cedar Park. However, I am asking God to sell our house and do it quickly! We won't be in a bind, since the company helps with these expenses, but it will be wonderful to have the burden off our backs, just the same. So will you pray with me?

Anybody need a house?

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-30T13:08:00.007-06:00

I'm back on the blog! At least for a little while. My parents flew in to spend a week in Lewisburg over Christmas and they kept me busy. That, and we are getting ready to move next week! Not that we have to do much packing (just clothes and things we want at the hotel). But we did have the first showing of our home today and frantically cleaned and straightened and went for the best possible "model home" look we could give the place. I must admit, though it is a pain, we are pretty darn good usually at showings. Someone should hire me for that stuff.

Anyway, back to our little Christmas celebration. It was pretty quiet this year, with just the 5 of us here. I forgot to upload all the pictures from my mom's camera, and since I rely on her so much for photo taking, I don't have quite so many. But here goes.

My nativity scene. Not sure if I've ever posted this before, but it might be one of the coolest things I own. Someone brought it back from Africa to my great-grandmother, who gave it to me when I was a baby.

The Christmas Morning Biscuit Trifecta. Apple butter, blueberry jam, and honey. Did you hear? I totally made these from scratch. :) It's so fun for me to make special breakfasts on holidays. Ones that you don't eat very often and are usually not very healthful.

Noah playing with his wooden shape sorter I got from FAO Schwarz.

This shot is here so you can fully view the Christmas PJs that we picked up at the outlet mall in Round Rock. It's supposed to be Santa, not Mr. Incredible.

Trying desperately to get some good shots in the Santa suit.

Proof that my mom was here. Just a hand though.

What are we doing, Mom? It's cold outside!

First Spritz cookie! Think he liked it.

Of course, we took my parents out to see the lights at the Greenbrier. Beautiful!

Noah received a size 2T tuxedo from his great-aunt Brenda and great-uncle Tony for his birthday and we needed an occasion to dress him in it. We thought he'd fit right in at the Greenbrier.

Mostly it was a lot of wrangling but we did manage to get a few pics.

Noah and his Papa.

He learned to say "Pop Pa!" while he was here and laughed everytime Papa answered him. He finally understands that the big people have names! It is just about the cutest thing ever. Nevermind, that he says "Da Dee" all the time, just not directly to Jeremy. And forget about Mommy or Mama.

So handsome it hurts me!

Where's your nose?
Without all the pictures, it is difficult to narrate! The day after Christmas I took my parents back to the Greenbrier for the bunker tour, lunch at Draper's, and a little shopping. We also did some shopping downtown in Lewisburg, but mostly hung out at the house all week. I did a lot of cooking and dishes it seems! It was so cold that it made getting out not as much fun, especially with Noah. The day Mom and I went shopping it was 21 degrees, with snow flurrying, winds gusting the breath right out of you, and wind chill around 5 degrees. Murder! We did make it over to the Wild Bean for peppermint hot chocolates one morning and went to the toy store, where I spent Noah's Christmas money from his great-aunt Susan, and Mimi bought him his first tractor. The boy is all about the tractors! It's so cute when he says it. Sounds sort of like "Dack dur!" I have got to get some videos of him talking. His Mamaw and Papaw gave him a book of farm words for Christmas and I found him, with the page open to the tractors, pointing at them, saying "Tractor, tractor!" over and over. He is putting together puzzles like a pro and Jeremy realized yesterday that Noah is able to pretty much able to identify and say all the farm animals. That Baby Einstein is good for something!

I hope that everyone had a blessed Christmas and kept the reason for the season near to their hearts! See you soon!

The Barclays Are On the Move...Again!

2010-12-21T19:31:00.003-06:00

In case you haven't heard...

Cedar Park, Texas, here we come! We are very excited to announce that Jeremy interviewed with another CHS hospital, located near Austin, and will be transferring his position as Chief Operating Officer effective January 10, 2011! I am so proud of him. He has crossed the lines into a new division, and will have the opportunity to work in a new, larger, and prominent hospital within the company. We are so excited to be close to our families again. And excited to miss out on the rest of the winter! God has blessed us yet again.

But, there are people and things we will surely miss in West Virginia. It has been a great learning experience for us. Before we leave, I must blog about all the wonderful places I will miss, and make sure I have pictures of all of them. We have made some dear friends and experienced so many neat things here.

Life is never dull when you're a Barclay! At least things don't stagnate around here. ;) More to come!

Playing Catch-up

2010-12-08T14:55:00.006-06:00

Since it took me forever to get all the New York and Thanksgiving visit pictures, there's been some small "events" I have missed out on blogging about lately. Here we go!

It got cold! This day was our first snow, December 1st. It was just a dusting but I wanted to take Noah out to touch it. His hands got cold from picking up a frozen ball and he was not happy!

I stuffed him into his new snow pants and his warm coat.

Feeling adventuresome in the cold at first.

Which turned into a nice little tantrum. He was so ticked off! If only he would keep some mittens on!

So December 4th we got about 4 inches. We decided to take Noah out to try the sled again this year. You might recall the happy baby in the sled pics from last year. Not so much this year. From the time we started getting him dressed, he was screaming. I guess he was remembering the trauma from earlier in the week. :/

He only stopped crying for the 2 minute pull around the yard.

Poor buddy.

"I want to go inside! Did you not get the message?!"

Jeremy has equally warm and fuzzy feelings toward the snow. ;) I, however, was determined to make the best of this first dump of snow.

So I made snow ice cream. Pretty yummy!

This has been Noah's latest favorite game. Yes, putting these rings on his head. It's even more fun putting them on Mommy or Daddy's head though.

Little angel! 0;-)

The other day I found this little pile on the floor. Noah frequently makes careful little piles of puzzle pieces or lines of cups, etc. Wherever did our baby boy get this OCD-like behavior from??

And the pièce de résistance. The other day I looked down and noticed that Noah's diaper was not where it should be! The diaper was not too wet but his socks sure were!

A sweet boy posing with the Christmas tree. Oh, wait. What's that hanging out of his pant leg?

This is especially for my mother. :)

Lastly, the shutters that Jeremy and his dad built are all hanging, adding such a great touch to our house! Love them!

Stay warm out there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-12-05T11:38:00.007-06:00

For Thanksgiving this year, we had Jeremy's parents come to visit us. They stayed from November 18 through December 1st, so I think they got their fill of West Virginia and us! We had a wonderful time and Noah had lots of fun with his extra companions!

Thanksgiving Day was to be the last pleasant day of the year, I think. After watching some Macy's parade, Daddy and Papaw even took him to the park so that Mommy and Mamaw could finish getting lunch ready.

Our Thanksgiving table.

The apple pie.

The night before Thanksgiving, it is always the tradition that Debbie makes chicken and dumplings. This year, I found a chicken farmer from Renick who agreed to kill his "lazy hen" for us to use in the dumplings. Renick is a little bit of a drive, so these were some very special dumplings!

After naptime, it was over 60 degrees so we headed up to Beartown for a little hike around the boardwalk.

Here is proof that Papaw has actually changed a diaper in his life. Wet ones anyway. ;)

We celebrated Papaw's birthday while they visited! For some reason, Blogger keeps flipping this photo, even though it is correct when I upload it.

Mamaw and Papaw spent a night at the Greenbrier while in town and we joined them for dinner. This is Noah watching a video on Papaw's cell phone. He was a mess that night.

A lovely time was had by all. I even got my Christmas decorations up. Minus the stockings I can't find.

New York, New York! [Day 3]

2010-12-02T18:17:00.008-06:00

Have I mentioned that I love, love, LOVE New York?! Because I do. Seriously, this was the most fun trip to the coolest city ever. I have read books, watched movies, and seen it on TV but you really can't experience New York like that. The smell of nuts roasting and sewer wafting up through the grates, the roar of the subway, the honks of frustrated drivers, the hair-raising, shut-your-eyes cab rides, and the walking through masses of people. I think the city could feel very claustrophobic after a short amount of time. And pretty lonely considering how many people you are surrounded by.

We started Monday off by heading up to Rockefeller Center to check out the Today Show. I have literally been watching this show every morning since I was about 5 years old, if I had to guess. At 30, I am a huge fan. However, Jeremy read that you need to be there no later than 6:00am to get into the plaza. We were already wearing out by this point so I agreed to sleep in and head down there around 8:30 instead. I wish I had just gotten up and gone! We did get to stand outside the window of the studio where all the goofy people stand and wave and watch a little bit of happenings on the inside though. Next trip, I am totally there, holding my sign, cheesing and waving for the cameras.

You can see the Christmas tree in the background a bit.

Covered with scaffolding, being prepared for the tree lighting.

Bad picture, but you can see Natalie Morales at the newsdesk! The studio is a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

Bruno Mars was performing on the plaza.

Lenny! I don't know the story behind this guy, only that he is there everyday for the show! Jeremy shook his hand and talked to him for a minute.

Closest thing I got to having my picture made with these guys.

We went the the 2nd floor of the Nintendo store so we could get a better view of the plaza.

After they cleared everyone out and allowed people to pass through the plaza.

The skating rink.

Pretty sure this is St. Patrick's cathedral. Unfortunately, our pictures from the inside didn't turn out so well. Beautiful though!

Ah, a New York bagel from a deli we stopped at for breakfast. with cream cheese and egg. Best. breakfast. ever.

Next, we walked all the way down 5th ave to Central Park. Beautiful, peaceful place in the midst of the concrete jungle. Loved it.

Alice in Wonderland statue.

We were pleasantly surprised that there were still some leaves on the trees. Remember this bridge from, like 100 movies?

Lunch at Serendipity 3! It was decorated beautifully. You know the movie Serendipity from 2001? It was filmed here. I'm about to re-watch it. Jeremy endured this place for my sake.

The reason we came: frozen hot chocolate. Oh yes. It was delightful.

We spent the afternoon shopping on 5th Avenue!! :) We went in Bloomingdale's, Tiffany's, and FAO Schwarz. I bought a few things for Noah in the toy store and had to go in Tiffany's just to say I'd been. Remember, when Reese Witherspoon gets to "pick one" in Sweet Home Alabama? Well, it wasn't exactly like that for me, but they did have a tiffany blue carper rolled out on the sidewalk to welcome me. ;)

We ended up back in Little Italy, craving some more Italian, that night. Sofia's Ristorante.

With my new phone that was great help to us on the trip thanks to its Google Maps feature. Love my Droid 2 now!

We needed to make one last Macy's run for some surprises! And, surprise, they were getting ready for Thursday's parade! Here they are laying the big green square that everyone performs on in front of Macy's. Maybe someday I will get to watch the parade in person.

The windows are decorated with scenes from Miracle on 34th Street.

One last stroll through Times Square.

The next morning we drug ourselves out for one last New York breakfast and headed for JFK. I have never walked so much in my life or been so sore from just walking. Well, walking fast as Jeremy drug me by the hand through the town. There were times we could have fit in an extra activity but the thought of putting one more foot in front of the other was killer.

We were super thankful that Jeremy's parents were willing to keep Noah for us while we were gone. We kept realizing how hard it would be tote him around him around the city.

We are already making plans to go back next December with the Nutts! I have to see a Broadway show and really do the Today show. And definitely have more Crumbs cupcakes. And more of everything else. I really do love New York.

I can hardly wait.

New York, New York! [Day 2]

2010-11-27T15:28:00.010-06:00

The morning of Sunday, November 21 dawned clear and cold in New York City. Heehee. I decided that early morning is my favorite time of day in the city. There is fresh energy and purposefulness in the air. So we layered up and headed out promptly at 8:00am in accordance with Jeremy's itinerary.

I had to have some coffee from Dean & Deluca first. It is highly overrated.
We passed the Times on the way to the subway.

My first ride on the subway. I thought it was cool.
We took the subway down to Battery Park and took the ferry to the Statue of Liberty.

Not as big as I thought she'd be. But still impressive.

Miss New York? Why yes, I do.

After walking around the outside of the statue and scoping out the gift shop, we took the ferry from Liberty Island to Ellis Island. As it turns out, the movie "Hitch" lied. There is no big book of signatures of immigrants that you can look at.

I liked this.

Check out this handsome tourist.

This is the most awesome view.

After getting back from Ellis Island, we walked over to Ground Zero.

There is a museum, but you really can't see anything from the site. There is scaffolding and canvas up everywhere that prevents you from looking in. This was disappointing because I really wanted some place of mourning to be left.

This is what it is suppsed to be look like when finished.

Next, we took a cab over to Mulberry Street and had lunch in Little Italy at this hole in the wall where Jeremy has eaten before.

Since Little Italy and Chinatown kind of melt into one another, we walked around and explored both.

I laughed at Jeremy for wanting a foot rub. Little did I know, we would each get one. And a back rub. Two nights in a row. :)

We walked to Soho, shopping street vendors along the way, and finding some delightful little treats too.

There were selling the mini-cupcakes out of this window. Mouthfuls of wonderment.

We went into so many stores in Soho. I really dug the area. This was the neatest shop and I didn't spend long enough here. I also regret not buying the book I was looking at for Noah and some other cute babies I know. :)

At some point around 2:00 or 3:00 that afternoon, we were worn out. We headed back to the hotel for a break, but went back to Chinatown by subway that evening to have the Chinese food I was craving.

We shared a table in this restaurant with a couple of Mexicans from Montreal. We laughed and told them we were Texans from West Virginia.

I bought a few cool accessories in Chinatown, we had massages in a dark basement ;), and then hitched a cab up to Herald Square. We intended to check out the Empire State Building but ended craning our necks up at it from the base, then going over to Macy's. THE Macy's.

Here is one of Macy's windows decorated for Christmas. The camera setting made the people look really funky.

Old building decorated so nicely!

Me riding one of the last working wooden escalators.

And we wrapped up the evening with this on our walk back to the hotel.

New York, New York! [Day 1]

2010-11-26T19:44:00.004-06:00

What can I say? I am hooked. I love New York. I heart NYC. I have wanted to visit since I was a child so I guess you could say I waited 30 years for this vacation. It was awesome. You really can't grasp what it's like until you've been there, no matter how many books you read or movies you watch. It was worth every penny. I have to give props to the hubs cause I never could have navigated this one by myself. He's savvy like that. ;) I also have to thank my in-laws for taking great care of Noah while we were gone. At first, I was anxious about leaving him (longest time since he was born) and missed the little guy. Funny how I can be so excited about a break and then immediately start missing him! But then we were busy and having fun, so I was really able to enjoy the time away!

We took a direct Delta flight from Lewisburg to JFK on Saturday, November 20, arriving just before 5:00pm. Here are two kids totally pumped about arriving in NYC. I was so excited to be traveling childless that I actually dressed up and curled my hair, and insisted on reading and listening to my Ipod, just because I could for once.

Waiting in line to get our cab to the hotel. My first cab ride! Loved it.
After checking in at the Holiday Inn Express Times Square (39th St between 8th and 9th), we headed out for Times Square, which was 3 blocks away. Great location.

We had dinner at a brewery and worked our way through the crowds and explored a bit. Here is the ferris wheel inside Toys R Us.

I would not want to be here on New Year's. No way.

Isn't he funny?

Somewhere, somehow, there are very rich Barclays in the world. Just not the ones pictured here.
Next, we headed back to the hotel and crashed. We still have a bedtime, regardless of vacations. :) This concludes Day 1. I have to split this trip up into several posts because it's going to take me quite a while to get it all done!

The Ginkgo is Falling, the Gingko is Falling!

2010-11-15T17:18:00.008-06:00

Okay, so things are looking up since last week! I am blaming it on the time change (give me a spring forward any day! extra hour of sleep, my foot!) and the multiple teeth that joined Noah's mouth in recent days. He always has gotten them in groups, and it looks like last week his mouth became much more full.

Here are the recent pics I promised from the ginkgo tree. Supposedly, this tree will lose all of its leaves in a single day. Meaning that they turn bright yellow and quickly rain down from the tree. Word that the ginkgo in front of Carnegie Hall is losing its leaves spreads quickly around Lewisburg. However, it didn't really go that way this year, so I cannot verify the accuracy of the legend of the gingko biloba. (How's that for a little Honors Biology, Mr. Culbertson?) It actually took several days after this particular morning to completely dismantle the huge tree. The downside: this tree drops berries at the same time it is dropping its leaves. And if you step on the berries, you are stuck with an aroma resembling old motor oil and manure. Nice.

The Download

2010-11-11T12:28:00.002-06:00

I've been feeling stressed out all week and I'm not sure why exactly. It's like there is a cloud hanging over our house.

Noah has been a challenge, to put it nicely, all week. Not sure if it's the time change screwing his schedule up and me making him tired by trying to push everything an hour ahead, or if it's new teeth coming in, or what. This week we've had a lot more fits and whining than usual and a new air of defiance. He has started hitting Jeremy and I whenever we do something he doesn't like and loves to give us the evil eye while he does something he knows he's not allowed. How many times can you say "no" in one day, really? I think the "spankings" that we've been giving are not only completely ineffective but maybe the reason that he hits us. His babysitter told me I'm just not hitting hard enough. Ha! So, we've been having some "time-ins" where I hold him on my lap and he jerks and screams like he's being murdered after he hits or deliberately does what we will tell him not to do. Gotta get that pack n' play set up for timeouts. He's got grandparents coming for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'm already embarrassed.

Plus, Jeremy has been gone working a lot of hours this week and is worn out. I'm feeling a little emotional for no particular reason. So we're all just a bit out of sorts somehow.

Not sure why, but I've been thinking a lot lately about us adding another member to our family and think I need to just let it out. Probably because I have friends who are expecting and because Noah is getting to the age where people expect you to get to it. In theory, I want to have another one. But in practicality, I don't. I would like to have a bigger family and find it hard to see us just as three for forever. But I am selfish, wimpy, and a complainer. Pregnancy was not fun for me. And then I was pretty miserable for months after Noah was born but didn't want to tell anyone. I love him to death and would do it all over again for him. I just wanted myself back. Jeremy probably gave me the best advice when he said that when the time is right, I'll be ready. I want to be that great mom really bad.

Thanks for letting me air out, if you're still reading! Confession is good for the soul, right? I am a believer in not painting a pretty picture all the time.

We've got so many positive things to look forward to. Next week, Jeremy has an important business trip to take (not that I look forward to him being gone) and he will get back the same day that his parents arrive to spend almost 2 weeks with us for Thanksgiving. While they are here, just he and I are taking a 3-night trip to NYC that I have looked forward to for my entire life!! I am a little anxious since we've only been away from Noah overnight 3 times in his life and this is the longest but I'm still excited that we are able to do this anyway. And my parents are coming for Christmas, since we decided to wait a bit on our return trip to Texas. We've even thought about heading up to Hershey Park in PA so Noah can see the Christmas lights sometime next month.

We've had a temporary upswing in the weather this week and it's been great to be able to get out in the afternoons. God is good and does good. Enjoy the weekend!