As much as I'm not a huge fan of this picture, I feel it is necessary to post our family Easter picture regardless of how fat I am.
Just look at him. He's worth posting the picture. We had a great Easter with all of our family (my side).

These are my good friends who came to my baby shower. We had it at The Melting Pot. YUM!

Opening presents. I got the greatest stuff. Stuff for the baby's room as well as some essentials (diapers, wipes, bath towel, etc).

"People...........come ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Those words were uttered by my Noah yesterday. I laughed hysterically knowing that I should actually be ashamed. We sat in a car line at Fort Worth Christian school waiting to pick up Noah's babysitter from school. If you have kids in school, you may know you wait in this line--somewhat parked--waiting for your child to come running to your car. We were not in "traffic" which is what Noah thought. And he quoted his mother's famous daily lines, "Peeeeople..........come ON!!!!! MOVE!!!!!!!!!!" I seriously laughed because if you could hear his voice inflection, you know he passionately felt what I always feel....impatient, bored, and annoyed. A 2.5 year old!! Ugh, scary I know. I should be setting a much better example for him. God is revealing to me more and more each day (often in my face rather than subtly) that I like to have things a certain way. As I was diagnosed yesterday in a Bible study personal inventory I am a "Controller". Oh goodness, what a title. And it pretty much means what you would figure. Once a pattern has been established, and it's a good one, I like it to stay that way. I usually think I can make a better decision than someone else (if it's in my realm of knowledge). I can get easily frustrated with people.............need I go on? None of this sounds positive does it? So what does this mean for my marriage, friendships and parenting? It means I have to hop on this pronto and look at healthy ways of changing certain parts of this behavior. I believe this is why God has brought this to my attention so clearly the past 6 months or so. He knows I'm about to pop out kid #2 and my realm of control is going to diminish dramatically. So pray for me in this! I know God has made us all very unique and each quality has it's advantages and disadvantages. I just need to work on letting the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages right now. So I'll start with the simple task of not yelling at the stopped cars in front of me. :)

Spring is in the air.......

Good evening friends. It is so clearly Spring Break I can hardly stand it. Now, this is not because I am on a "break" of any kind (I wish!) but because me and every other working mother I know is home bound this week. The beauty that is Mother's Day Out programs has been halted for a week while the different school districts close for Spring Break. Another indicator that school is out is that at 10:03PM I can hear teenagers squealing and talking outside walking down the streets of our neighborhood. Oh joy. Did I seriously do that? Ya well.................whatever.

Anyway, to top off the fact that I cannot maintain my normal schedule this week, my hubby is in Indiana on business. So many trips to the park, lots of eating out (shameful, I know) and movie nights like tonight, are taking place. Tonight Noah and I headed out to BB and rented Open Season. We picked up some candy at Target and headed home for a mindless night of TV. I can't tell you how cute it was to watch Noah completely transfixed on this movie while popping ever so slowly jelly beans into his mouth. He kept looking at me at every funny moment with this huge smile saying, "That's silly!!" What a crack up. I truly do not want this stage to end with him. He is too dang fun and incredibly innocent. Can I really say I want the 2's to last forever??!!? Never would have imagined..............

My inlaws are coming tomorrow for 7 days, so we have that to look forward to. Noah will have a blast with them and hopefully the weather will cooperate. They always come when it's REALLY hot, or REALLY cold. So I think we should be in the clear this time.

Random movie review: Facing the Giants. I watched it alone last night. It had been recommended to me and I finally got it through Netflix. My disclaimers are: totally cheesy acting at the beginning/end and somewhat choppy. My overall synopsis: Encouraging movie with decent realistic plot lines and a refreshing bold voice about God's provision and love in the rockiest of times. You won't recognize a single actor, but I don't know that would have made any difference. I even got teary in a couple parts. I really did need the reminder about truly depending on God and how that decision alone can turn your whole world upside down---for the better. So there you go.

Well, I guess I should shoot off to bed and read for a bit. I hope you all are having a great Spring Break (if yours is now) and God is doing some neat things in your life. Please let me know about them!!

Car talk with Noah

It went like this.

Silence in the car on the way to school. Then............

Noah: I’m bigger.
Me: Yes, you are getting bigger.
Noah: I’m taller.
Me: Yes, you are getting taller.
Noah: I want to sit there (pointing to the front passenger seat).
Me: Smile. No, you aren’t big enough to sit there.
Noah: But I’m big.
Me: Yes, but you have to be like, 7 years old to sit there. You are only 2.
Noah: Yes, I’m 2!
Silence.....
Noah: I want to be 22!
Me: What? 22?
Noah: Yep, I want to be 22.
Me: No way. If you were 22, that would mean you were an adult. Being a kid is much more fun.
Noah: I’m a kid!?
Me: Yes, you are a kid.
Noah: No, I’m Noah!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, conversations with my little guy. They make me smile.

My handsome boy

I felt this was good enough to post on both blogs today............

Seriously???? Who is supposed to resist this boy? Certainly not his mama. :) This is his school picture. What a little ham. He and his girl-friend Randy like to team up and be the most irresistable kids ever. I am pretty sure he got this pose idea from her considering he had to watch all his friends take their pictures before he would go (so the teachers told us). Anyway, his sweetness is altogether real and today we had the best day together. He kills me with how perfect he can be sometimes. Yes, I know. All it takes is reading a few posts ago to understand that this is clearly a momentary fog I'm in. But I don't care. Days like today make the hard days worth it. I got lots of hugs, good talks, mostly obedience, and he ate everything I made for him. What more could a girl want? It's killing me that he's growing up so much. It's so fun, but then it freaks me out that I'm going to have to start ALL OVER in a mere few months. Can't say I'm ready for that. I suppose the first few months with the newborn sweetness prep you for what is to come. I'll just take one day at a time................sounds good anyway.
But to sum it up, Noah is a true Valentine this year for me and I love where we are in our mommy-son relationship. May it never end!

That beautiful white stuff!

I woke up to screaming outside. Unsure of what that was I ran to check on Noah and he was sound asleep. I went back to bed and lay there for awhile listening to the commotion outside. I wasn't sure why the kids would be so loud outside at 7:40am! I finally got up and as I moved by the window I noticed something white. I ran to the window and found a blanket of white stuff over everything. What a surprise! It is so beautiful. Adults and children are playing outside (even though there isn't all that much snow to play with yet). I even met my backyard neighbor that I hadn't met in 5 months! You just feel like you are in this utopia kind of world. Everyone is happy and excited and no one is worried about the roads, etc. Much unlike what is going on in Colorado I'm sure. Anyway, Brian is in Waco and I'm slightly concerned about him getting home, but other than that, we'll enjoy our day inside, staring at the gorgeous outside.

What's a mother to do............

So I just had a wonderful day with Noah. We played at the local "Let's Jump" with our good friends, The Woodwards, and then had a surprisingly relaxing lunch at ChickFilet. But I am still amazed at how quickly a good mood can turn into a sour one............oh, not mine, Noah's. :) He was doing great, perfectly happy. He even wanted to hold my hand a lot today which is rare. But all of a sudden as it was time to waltz through the parking lot over to our car (which was parked far away because there was only parking at Burger King left) Noah decided to throw a fit. The craziness of it all is that I DON'T KNOW WHY. Some of you may understand this completely. But typically I know exactly what has caused Noah to throw a fit. This time, I wasn't so lucky. He proceeded to scream and lurch his body and refused to hold my hand. Which caused me to grab hold of his arm (don't you hate seeing moms do that?) FIRMLY and drag him along. Well, it had been raining, there were lots of cars around, and frankly not a discreet place to be dragging your son around. I kept yelling at him "what is wrong!!??? Get up NOW!" I even spanked him which of course only caused him to scream louder. I finally had to put my arm around his side and pull him to me and halfway-carry him across the parking lot all the way to the car with him crying and people looking. I actually don't care much for what other people think. But this time I realized other people were thinking, "Oh look at that. Another crazy toddler with a discheveled (sp?) mother dragging him along. I'm so glad I'm not her."

Well we got into the car and Noah continued to cry and cry. He's very dramatic if you don't know him and carries on for awhile. But I offered him his Sprite and he seemed to turn it off like a faucet. As we walked in the door, I felt exhausted and downtrodden (after only 15 minutes before feeling on top of the world!). Noah seemed to be keeping a very watchful eye on me. He knew mommy was mad. He knew mommy was unhappy with him. As I finished changing his diaper in his room he stood up and flashed me this big smile and wrapped his arms around my neck. It was so clear that he wanted me to be 'ok' again. It broke my heart to see him so in tune with me and hopeful that I wouldn't carry my bitterness and anger for much longer. It made me realize that I have no right to drag things on and on hoping to teach a 2 year old a lesson. It was clear he felt bad and was ready to move on. And so I did. But it made me think about how less motivated I am to "get over it" when it comes to other relationships in my life. Why do I hang on to hurt, disappointment, or annoyance when I could simply move on? Do I give Brian the same break I give Noah? Not usually. And how important my relationship is with my husband! Anyway, it's time I go lay down as I am still feeling the effects of the emotional drain I caused myself. But I hope this reminds me to cut everyone a break and realize that staying mad does not make a person learn a lesson any better .....usually. :) Your thoughts?