Happy Halloween!

From Alexis "The Duck" and Noah "The Monkey"

Totally cute? Right? Well, these pictures had to be enough for everyone who wanted to see Alexis on Halloween. She didn't get to "Trick or Treat" since she was quarantined to the apartment with H1N1.

She came home early from day care on Thursday with a 102 temperature. We took her to the doctor and, sure enough, she tested positive for Influenza A, so they're treating it as H1N1. Doctor put her, Bill and me on Tamiflu to try to keep Noah from getting it too.

But really, she's been doing rather well with it. Has the fever, which was lower today, a cough, runny nose and has been taking an extra nap. I guess it's probably a good thing she got it while the strain is still mild. Doctor says most kids are getting over it in 2-5 days instead of 7-10. Here's hopin'!

The New House: Week 1

St. Joseph did his job and we closed on the house. As of 2pm on October 30th, we no longer own our first home. There was a little hiccup though that delayed our closing scheduled for 9:15 am.

The purchase of our home was contingent on our buyers selling their home. And their buyers didn't get their loan paperwork signed in time by the end of the day Thursday. So they had to push things back a bit waiting for the bank to approve everything first thing Friday morning. I guess the banks and loan companies are swamped with paperwork right now.

So I finished cleaning the house on Wednesday, dug up St. Joe in the back yard and took some final photos as I said good bye to Hughes Avenue.
Then I headed over to our future new home on Paddington Trail. Our builder's making progress! The footings & foundation are in and ready for the plumber and some floors.
As you can see, we're one of not many homes in the area... and are actually the farthest to be built in the northeast part of our new neighborhood and only have a neighbor to the south of us right now (the house in the photo below).
The plan is for the house to be finished in February, so it's another development in our lives we'll be sure to keep you up to date on!

Great Dzia Dzia's Chili!

Got a bit ambitious in the new apartment and decided to make a batch of my grandpa's chili for Alexis. Just was sure to check all the canned ingredients to make sure they didn't have anything she was allergic to and went from there.

Well, she LOVED IT! See for yourself!

Alexis Or Noah?

One is Alexis.
One is Noah.

Which is which?























Okay, so the blue in the blanket gives it away a little. But still, it's interesting how much they look alike!

Baby Nay-No

Alexis is doing a very good job helping Mom with her little brother. She was a little hesitant at first, but now when we wake up in the morning, she's very excited to see the baby right away. She also was sure to test out all his toys/her former toys, to make sure they still worked.

At first she called him "No-No". Now he's baby "Nay-No". She's getting a little closer to pronouncing his name and is already trying to pick him up out of his chair (Yikes!).

So to catch up on the last couple weeks...
Noah weighed 5 lbs 15 oz when he was discharged from the hospital... down from 6 lbs 5 oz... but was able to get back up to that weight on day 6! His bilirubin levels (he was a little jaundiced) started to subside on day 4 too, so that was good to hear.

As for any allergies... so far he's been holding down his food better than Alexis was at this point so we're keeping our fingers crossed. She was throwing up by the time we left the hospital but we've barely seen spit ups this time around and his diapers are much different... for the better, I believe. Whew!

Other than that, the similarities between the two are very interesting! Facial expressions, sleeping habits, feeding schedules, even the noises they've made as infants are so much alike! ... Except Alexis never had any interest in her thumb.

What Sent Mommy Into Labor...

It was a windy, chilly September Sunday. But we weren't going to let the weather keep us from our second annual trip to the Apple Orchard. The tractor pulled us back to the trees and away we went!

It really doesn't get any fresher than this!

Once we got our fill of the "Paula Reds" we went in search of other apples... figuring the tractor would catch up with us on the backside of the orchard and we'd ride it back. So we started walking...

And kept on walking...

And wouldn't you know it, the tractor finally caught up with us once we got all the way back to the parking lot! Mommy was behind the camera, which was also behind the rest of the group, trying to keep up.

Then it was time to check out all the rest of the stuff around the Orchard. Alexis found the barn animals and was able to speak their language... a couple sheep (baaaaa), donkeys and, her favorite... ducks (quack quack)!

So, I was a little sore the next day after all that walking, which I give credit for me going into labor four days later and giving birth to little Noah. So, moms-to-be, if you're ready to meet your little one, I'd suggest a trip to the apple orchard!

(MORE NOAH PHOTOS TO COME SOON, I PROMISE! HAVE A LOT OF CATCHING UP TO DO!)

Happy Birthday Daddy!

From your two little Munchkins!

Noah William

Alexis would like to announce the birth of her baby brother, Noah William!

Born: October 1, 2009 2:22pm
Weight: 6lbs. 5 oz.
Length: 18 3/4 inches

Now a family of four!
Aleixs arrived just minutes after the delivery to meet her new brother.

Look who I get to bring home!

Things went very smoothly and the delivery went even better than Alexis'... which I didn't think was possible.

I started having contractions Wednesday night around 6:30 but they weren't close enough together. They lasted through the night & into the morning. We walked the Mall to get them closer together until 10am, when they got pretty intense so we decided to go to the hospital.

The problem was, if I sat down, they'd go away. And once I was stationary in the Triage room, they nearly went away. But since the baby's heartbeat was dropping with the contractions I did have and I was dilated to a 3, they decided to admit us at Noon.

The walk to the next room was enough to jump start things again and after about an hour and a couple contractions, I was at a 5. 15 minutes later it was a 7 and we decided to have a little pain reliever. After 2 more contractions we were there and so was my doctor!!! She was out of town today but got back in just in time to notice I was in delivery and walked in the door just as the backup doctor was getting ready to scrub in. She sat down, and I pushed through the next contraction and there was Noah!

If it sounded easy, I'm sorry, I can't lie. That's really how it went. Hopefully it's comforting to others who may be having anxiety about an upcoming birth. The idea was to go about it as natural as possible with the best attitude as possible and this is what we got... again!