This is My Forties

After such a wonderful morning in Chattanooga we were in high spirits back on the road again... for about 4 hours. Josh had been having some sinus pressure and we were masking it with lots of dayquil and sudafed, but it just wouldn't go away. We had to stop a few times to let the kids experience a taste of freedom at various WalMarts and fast food joints. Noah sang us songs. It might sound like he's saying that Old MacDonald had a "boobie", but he is trying to say "movie". Noah doesn't do F's and V's. The last couple hours of our car ride Josh was trying to sleep off his cold while I drove on towards Saint Louis. We got in at around 9pm, hungry and tired... sick of sitting. The room was decent looking. One king size bed and tons of floor space. It was FREEZING though. Most hotel rooms are when you first walk into them, just shrug it off. We cranked up the heat and ordered room service, "we're out of that... we're not makin...

I am uploading 2 videos to youtube. One of Tris and Noah running around at the train station and one of Ruby Falls... maybe I'll load one of our walk through the cave too. Keep an eye out :)

Our first stop on our way to the great midwest was Chattanooga, Tennessee. We arrived at night, got a decent hotel room, and tried to get some sleep so we could start out early. Chattanooga is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and lakes and the people there are really helpful and polite. It is also home to Lookout Mountain , Ruby Falls , and the Incline Railway . Our day began with a little rain and fog, but what we had planned didn't require nice weather. It reminded us of our Christmas in Germany 2 years ago :) I've always wanted to hike through a cool cave with stalactites and stalagmites sticking out everywhere. Ruby Falls definitely did not disappoint! The hike through the cave was a photographers dream... seriously. I think this was one of the coolest places I've ever been. We just kept saying the rest of our trip how awesome it was. There was a photographer on the way in that took a family photo for us that we ended up buying because it was adorable :) Josh...

First of all... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM !!! I hope you had a great day! We're back from our 2 week adventure to the midwest. I got caught up on everyone's blogs and I'm glad you all had wonderful Christmases. I hope you won't mind me not commenting on every entry because I am much too lazy for that right now ;) I am downloading all the pictures and I still have to edit and resize, upload the keepers to flickr! on a new set, upload any good videos to youtube. Not to mention all the fun real world things I have to do like unpack. Luckily the boys will be busy playing with their mountain of new toys from everyone. They made out like bandits yet again... and not from us, which was nice since we needed the funds for our road trip. YAY! Everything worked out really well and we had a wonderful visit with everyone and a lot of fun getting to our destinations. I will be updating!! I've been writing the blog entries in my head the whole trip hahaha. Come back soon :D

Vita uploaded a few hilarious videos of Noah pretending to play his rock guitar with his rock band (which consisted of all the characters from Spongebob). Good entertainment if anyone wants to partake in the joy ;) Also of note, Noah's been saying "Oh BARNACLES!" when something makes him mad, which is great. Thanks, Spongebob!

I tried all day today to get a good picture of Noah and Tristan, both smiling. IMPOSSIBLE! I tried different props and locations. I would say it was Tristan's fault... and it mostly was, but Noah was just as hyper and uncooperative. I had fun trying, though! I just don't think any of the shots are good enough for a Christmas present... well maybe one of the reading ones. I haven't decided yet, but I am running out of time! I am going to try again tomorrow. Here are some of the cuter ones, along with a few funny moments from today :) I am uploading a video of Noah reading "Brown Bear, Brown Bear..." to Tris right now. Look for it on the sidebar!

We went to Josh's battalion Christmas party tonight and Santa was there taking free pictures. He had a real beard and everything! Unfortunately the print quality is... well "free" so it didn't scan too well, but I'm very happy with it regardless. I had just pointed at Josh, who was behind the camera guy so that Tris would at least look up as he was howling... that explains the one weird levitating hand. Here's a pic Noah had taken with Santa at the mall. There was no way Tristan was getting anywhere near him that day and I wasn't looking photogenic enough to include myself.

Tristan is officially 15mos old (as of yesterday). He's becoming his own little person more every day. There are major differences between he and Noah. I know they look a lot alike, but they are so different. When Noah was 15mos he was interested in blocks and other mechanical type things. I have videos of him building block towers at this age. I think Tristan could possibly do it, but he's absolutely not interested yet. Instead he wants books. He follows me around with books all day long. He will sit there and let me read to him forever. Noah would NEVER sit that long... he still doesn't, actually haha. Tristan is interested in relationships... relationships of objects to other objects, people to other people. He likes to know how things work together, how they interact and react. He's definitely not as obsessive as Noah, but just as demanding! And he does NOT forget something just because you put it away or left. Tris cried for 30 minutes because he wan...

HOORAY!!! I found a little boy CPK at the "rich people" Target :) I guess they shop at the better stores hahaha. And he was much cheaper than the $42 they're asking on Amazon! I don't like his outfit too much, but Tristan won't care. He saw him and was squealing and poking the box. I'm glad Josh was with me because he could see how badly Tristan actually wants a baby :) ANYWAY... gotta help with bathtime. Thanks, everyone! OK I'm back. ALSOOOOOO!!!!! Tristan did his first real sign today! He did "all done" at dinner and then he smiled all huge and clapped for himself (with the rest of us). Way to go, Tris! Almost 15mos old and already doing some sign language :) I expect he will start with more very soon since he got so much positive reinforcement from the 3 of us.

OK I am looking like crazy for a boy cabbage patch kid newborn doll (not one of those huge ones with the humongous yarn fro). Everyone is sold out! Seriously?! I thought the 80's were over :P I guess all the 80's parents like myself are just as interested in CPK as they were back in the 80's. So, if anyone can find one that's actually available please let me know ! I tried bidding on this one , but I got to like $12.50 (plus $8 S&H so I stopped). Look how cute these are! NONE of them are actually in stock. I checked Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, KB, Toys-R-Us, the actual CPK site, KMart, Amazon, Ebay. I am going to try the "rich people" Target later to see if maybe they have more available.

Josh and I are already thinking about our New Year's resolutions and have agreed on one to do as a couple. NO MORE CREDIT CARDS (and pay off what we have now)! It's sad, really. We paid them all off with the money we made from selling the house a year ago. Then we got into this new house and wanted new stuff so we charged a bunch of things we don't need. Now we're in debt again. Not as bad as before, but still. If we didn't have all these credit card payments we wouldn't be struggling at all. So, no more buying things unless we actually have the money (barring emergencies). Now I have to come up with a modest plan for paying these dumb things off. Luckily Josh gets a raise in January, the tax return will be here in a few months, and hopefully this bonus repayment from the Air Force will finally happen. All going to bills! This was Josh's revelation. He's suddenly more frugal than me (and that's saying something). I think it had a lot to ...

We have been looking for a used car to replace my old Saturn for a little over a month now. We had very specific wants and needs that didn't seem to exist altogether in one car. It was a lot of stressful searching and number crunching... even a few fights. Then all of a sudden we happened upon this little number . It's a Suzuki Reno... never heard of it? me neither. It looks a lot like the VW Golf. I checked all the reviews on it and everything and I was satisfied. It's a 2007 with only 20K miles on it, still under factory warranty until it hits 100,000 and we got it with total tax, tag, title for under 10k. They also threw in free oil changes for the next 3 years at the dealership! YAY! This is Josh's first car he's ever been able to purchase that's NEW. I consider 2007 to still be new :) He's so happy to finally have a nice car. My Saturn is BEAT UP! I drove that car into the ground and it's been driven by so many people who all did the sa...

OK so here's my 17wk belly picture. I noticed this time I bought a lot of pink and girly clothes. With Tristan I bought a lot of blues and greens. Not on purpose! I didn't notice until I got home. I just wanted pink, and I normally HATE pink. People who know me well know how much I usually despise pink. I'm wearing 2 shirts because I was heading out to see Josh play soccer and it was cold out. Here are my boys during bathtime. I took a video, which I will not post online for all the world to see... cuz they're naked. But, I'll describe the cuteness :) Tristan will copy everything Noah does in the tub. Their favorite thing to do right now is kick their feet to splash around and make waves.

Uploaded new videos.

I finally got some winter maternity clothes... on clearance ! I even got some really cute pants for less than $6!!! I ended up with 7 shirts, a maternity cardigan, and 2 pairs of pants for a mere $70. Not stinkin' bad!!! Thank you, Target!! It's not often you can find maternity clothes on clearance that are the actual season we're currently in. So, Merry early Christmas to me :) I no longer feel like a fat person hiding behind big Wal-Mart tee shirts. I am now a cute pregnant person ;) I will have pics of the belly up soon. It got big pretty fast.

I just thought I'd mention that the baby has been kicking hard the past few days. REALLY hard yesterday. I have been feeling flutters for a couple weeks, but yesterday Josh was able to feel a kick from the outside for the first time. It always makes me giggle :) I finally feel pregnant! My tummy suddenly popped out, which means I need to buy some maternity clothes so I can stop looking like a slob hahaha. Maybe I'll do that today. I also had a dream last night that I gave birth to my little girl on a football field. I guess I couldn't wait any longer? haha I remember crossing my legs to try and stop her from coming which is always funny and stupid lol. YEAH, that'll work! My mom and Josh were there. I saw her face and she's gorgeous and I love her already (watch her be a him)... I'll love him too! She came out and I said "it's a girl. look at her! she looks like a girl!" and I didn't even check "the parts" to make sure. ...

My best friend Karrie's brother Kasey passed away on Sunday. He went to sleep and just never woke up. He was engaged to be married, she's pregnant with a little boy and due on Kasey's birthday. I feel so awful for their family. This happened the weekend after the Bubba Run, which is a memorial celebration for their other brother Bubba who passed away 4 years ago. How much more are they going to have to endure? I sure am not feeling bad for us because we're "broke" at Christmas anymore. We have each other. My thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends. I've met Kasey and he was a great guy. He and Bubba are together again.

Well it's officially the month of Christmas, which means Josh and I really need to get our butts a-shoppin. Bah humbug. That's why I love Thanksgiving... no presents, no expectations, just food and family. Speaking of which our T-day was awesome. The trip was really easy with the new van and the boys were angels. It didn't take much gas to get there so the cost didn't bankrupt us! It was great to see everyone and I was pretty busy cooking. My turkey turned out amazing! I didn't take very many pictures at all. Everyone else was taking so many so I just enjoyed visiting and cooking. We got back on Sunday in time to get Josh's cousin Lindsey from the airport. Unfortunately her flight got delayed so bad in Atlanta that Josh had to go get her out there instead of the local airport. It was only a 2 hour drive, and he was happy to do it, but it was annoying for both of them. Poor Lindsey was so stressed with her travel that she's feeling pretty ill tod...