Terrrrrrrible

I have really, honestly enjoyed all the stages of Noah's sweet life. It has just seemed to get better and better. However, I am having a little trouble warming up to the monster stage he is currently in. Every.thing. I do (or don't do) results in a growling, "NO MOMMY!" Seriously, where is that sweet boy? If I ask him if he would like a drink it's "NO MOMMY." I have made an extra effort to respond to him as sweetly and calmly as I possibly can to try to coax the real Noah Red back out. This only seems to aggrivate him even more. I might even get a "STOPIT!" He screams, hits, kicks even when I am trying to do something for him that he really wants.
Sweet, right? He is certainly asserting his independence whenever possible. Diaper changes, eating, riding in the car, baths, EVERYTHNG has become a huge battle. He has also becom pretty aggressive towards Hope. He has shoved her to the ground on more than one occasion, and cannot stand for her to hug him. This is just crazy to me as he has always been so loving to her. She has cried saying, "He doesn't like me anymore!" This monster stage has not been fun for any of us. Can I just pray that he will come out of this before, oh, I don't know, AUGUST 8th!

Love Bug

Isn't she lovely? We think so. Does she have a name? Not officially. Will I officially name her before we see her face? Probably not. Do we have some ideas? Yes. Will I share them? Some of them are Emmy, Annie, Merit. Do we have a favorite? At the moment, yes. But, it may change. Do I want opinions? Sure, but know that opinions don't phase me because I would totally name a boy Rock even though most of you thought it was awful! Actually, it kinda made me want to name a boy Rock even more! I'm funny like that. But, I guess you don't have to worry about me naming the baby Rock, at least for now! Ha! (Someone get my sister some water because she just fainted when she read that sentence.)

Our sweet love bug even waved to her big sister during the ultasound.

The kids and I just got back from Branson with my family where the littlest one scored lots of tiny pink clothing. So much fun.

It's A(nother)...

GIRL!!!!

We are over the moon excited about this soon to be new addition. Most importantly, she is perfect. Measuring a little big, but I have suspected my due date was a tad off anyway. Hope has said from day one that she knew this baby was a girl. Now, I am sure that was just 5 year old girl wishful thinking, but still, she couldn't even talk about it being a boy. We had a very long talk last night about how we would not be sad if we found out it was a boy. She put on a brave face, but right before the ultrasound lady told us what it was, she was really nervous! Then, when she said (actually, I said it first! There was no mistaking it!) you could not wipe the smile off of her face! Then she proceeded to jump up and down so much, that Mimi had to remove her from the room! It was a cute reaction for sure. Poor Noah has no idea what he is in for! As far as what did I think the baby was, well, I am 0 for 3. I thought this baby was for sure a boy, just as I thought that about Hope. I was also pretty sure Noah was a girl. John flipped last night and said he thought it was a girl. Now I can continue to say that Noah is the sweetest boy on the planet.

We continued our tradition of going to the Toggery after the ultrasound to buy the coming home outfit. My mom is always so sweet to buy the babies' first outfits. Let me tell you that this little miss will be well decked out on her way home from the hospital. I will try to put up a picture later.

Once upon a time

Once Upon A Time...

We went to Disney World for the most fabulous vacation ever.

We accomplished amazing feats....

Made a lot of silly faces...

Met some magical friends...

Discovered some amazing things....

And one day... I might just tell you about it all!

Funny Boy

Makes me laugh all. the. time. I don't remember what was happening when I took this, but just now going through pictures, I laughed out loud when I saw this. He is truly the sweetest boy on the planet, buuuuut... we are seeing this face more often these days. Oh yes, terrible twos are on the horizon my friends.

(And it can't be good that I totally think he looks just like me in this picture, can it?)

The Bad Guys

I have been so fortunate to not have many run ins with criminals in my lifetime. Hope, unfortunately had her first run in with "The Bad Guys" this weekend when my purse was stolen from me in the parking lot of a large chain grocery store. She saw them before I did and screamed and screamed. At them. She was very traumatized and went through about every negative emotion from mad, to scared, to sadness. She tells the story with great detail about what they looked like and what they did (she even tells where the guy put his hands on my purse.) Our purse snatching story has a pretty happy ending. They were arrested and I had most everything returned to me. The police in my little town were awesome! There were 2 instances of them being in the right place at the right time just for our little story. They made such a big deal about how great Hope was in helping catch them. I am very proud of my little do-gooder!