Team Coleman

Bad....

2011-07-09T13:50:00.001-06:00

....at blogging! I really had higher expectations to keep this thing updated. But the last few times I've tried to post something, everything got messed up. So, I am trying to clean up/fix this here blog. I do have lots of stories and I just know that y'all want to see pictures of our newest chub, Grant. He is just so darn cute. Anyway, I'm still here, working on things, hoping to get it fixed soon.

32 Weeks

2011-03-04T09:11:00.000-07:00

Just me and Baby Coleman

Uneventful

2011-02-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

February has been a blur and pretty uneventful. This baby is killing me these days, so I feel like I haven’t been very productive. I do have a few pictures from the month, but not much. For the most part, we’ve laid low.

I’ve really been working with Noah on his letters and am so excited with how quickly he’s learned. He’s a smart boy, but I’m probably a teensy bit biased! Noah gets more and more funny each day. The things that come out of his mouth are just so funny. When we ask him about what the baby is, he usually says he wants a “giiiirrl “ or a “stister.” He still loves music and will say no to each song he hears until I find a song that is good enough for him to listen to. His current favorite songs are Notion by Kings of Leon, Itsy bitsy spider, ABC’s, How He Loves by David Crowder Band and anything with a good dance beat. Everything in Noah’s world is all about trains and dinosaurs. His current favorite dinosaur is the stegosaurus, but he could tell you all about many others! I try my hardest to get him to play with something else (mainly because I get tired of playing trains and dinosaurs), but he’s not having it. He’s now standing at almost exactly 3 feet (already over half my size), wears a size 9 shoe and still has a giant head. In fact, I went to the doc the other day and had to see a different doc than the one that I usually see. I always bring Noah with me and when this doc walked in, she looked at Noah, looked at me and said, “No wonder you had a c-section! He has a huge head!” I thought, “Wow, nice to meet you too. And yes, he has a big head.” So, I guess that attribute is not going to change anytime soon. Anyway, we are just enjoying him so much these days and love when he tells us that we’re his best friend. I’m getting a little sentimental about only having a little bit of time left with my boy. So for now, I’m just going to soak him up all I can.

Checking out some bugs at the Butterfly Pavillion

“Dory” and “Nemo” made an appearance in the fish section of the Butterfly Pavillion. This was his favorite part.

Just hanging out with his friend Taylor. He has no problem letting the lady drive!

"Taking a nap” in the laundry basket

Noah’s favorite place to hang out on the couch

It’s Rodeo Time, Denver

2011-01-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

That doesn’t have quite the same ring as it does in S.A., but it’ll do. Anyway, we took Noah to his first rodeo and I do think he was the most handsome cowboy in the entire place! I loved decking him out in his boots, wranglers and pearl snap shirt! Noah got to ride a horse perfectly named Dr. Pepper, pet some stinky goats, stare at some giant mules (one was named Shrek) and watch some great bull riding! I think Noah enjoyed the cotton candy and a bag of skittles more than the actual rodeo, but it didn’t matter because I think everyone had a great time in their own little way. I always loved going to the rodeo in Texas and I was thrilled to share my joy with David and Noah. It was a great night and I hope we started a new tradition of going to the rodeo year after year.

Seriously, how cute is Noah on that horse?

He kept reaching reaching down to pet his horse, Dr. Pepper. Such a sweet boy!

Daddy got to go in with Noah and the stinky goats!

Shrek, the mule

Sadly, I didn’t get any pictures of real rodeo action, but these old stagecoaches were really cool!

Coming To A Fridge Near You

2011-01-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

For Christmas, I gave David all the gear to start his own brewery. It’s a brewery in our own little basement, I guess. Anyway, David began his hobby/maybe future career as a brewer in January. It was quite a process to make that first batch of beer and involves a lot of science. It also makes your house smell like crazy. Let me tell you, a pregnant lady that pukes at everything and the smell of hopps and barley is not a good combination. Other than that, it’s been fun for David to experiment and he’s made some quite tasty beers. The picture below is of his first bottled beer and his first tasting. Cheers!

Rewind

2011-01-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

And we’re back! Since I have my very own computer now, I can officially begin to blog again. But, since I haven’t blogged since last summer, here is a quick review of how we finished 2010.

July 2010

July started off in Texas as we spent time in Houston with my family. We had such a great time! On July 9th, we moved into a new house that we LOVE and Noah moved into a big boy bed and drove us nuts for almost 2 months because he didn’t like to STAY in his bed. Towards the end of the month, David and I traveled to Chicago to attend the funeral of my Grandpa Drenth. It was a bittersweet trip. We missed my Grandpa but had SUCH a great time with my Grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins.

August 2010

The big news in August came when we found out that we were going to have another baby. Other than that, we spent time working on the house and going to a Rockies game.

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September 2010

David turned 34 in September and we celebrated the first of many birthdays in our new home with friends and family. Later in the month, I spent time with Noah, my Mom, Kerri and Hadley in Breckenridge. At the end of the month, Hadley turned 3 and had a Princesses and Superheroes birthday party. Hadley dressed as Ariel and Noah was Spiderman.

October 2010

Anna had her last cross country race. She finished strong and cut some time from her previous races. Next, David and I traveled to Waco for Baylor’s Homecoming with our friends Katie and Trey. It was David’s first time to visit Baylor. I got to see many old friends that I hadn’t seen in a long time and watched Baylor clench their first bowl game in over 7 years.The week after homecoming, the Bears came to Colorado and whipped up on CU. It was the last time Baylor would come to Boulder since CU will no longer be a part of the Big 12. Next, my friends Melissa and Desaree came for a visit. We spent time hanging out, shopping and hiking in Estes Park and taking fun pictures. Towards the end of the month, I went back down to Texas to support some friends that lost their twins. It was a really sad time, but that I also meant I got to spend some quality time with the Tharp family. While I was there, Noah and I went trick or treating, he rode a horse for the first time and chased some chickens. I, of course, got homesick for Texas once again!

Baylor Homecoming 2010

November 2010

In November, we celebrated Noah’s 2nd birthday. Unfortunately, he was sick on the day of his party so we didn’t get to have the train party that we had originally planned. We did get to celebrate with a few friends and family a couple of days later though. Also in November, we went to the zoo and of course celebrated Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving at David’s sister’s house. This year, we started a tradition of making funny hats. I look forward to doing this year after year.

December 2010

December was mostly all about Christmas. We had a small family Christmas with just the team before we headed to Texas to spend a week with my family in Houston. Other than that, Noah got to experience the snow some more, David experimented with making his own beer and we celebrated New Year’s.

Phew!! And that is the warp speed version of 2010. Now, onto 2011……

In Limbo

2010-07-06T20:05:00.001-06:00

Yes, we're still here. And yes, I do plan to eventually catch up on this blog. But for now, I need to concentrate on moving. We've been living in our friend's basement for the past 2 months. During that time, I have not been able to find the cord to my camera that allows me to upload pictures. Nor do I have a computer that I can use on a daily basis. So, the updating of the blog and pictures are going to have to wait until we move into our new home. We close this Friday and cannot WAIT! So, once we get settled in I'll get back in bloggin' mode. Until then, everyone is doing great. Noah is HUGE and is so smart and funny. The girls are great and are enjoying the summer. And David and I are stressed about being in limbo and moving into a new house. But, it's a good stress. We are so thankful for all that we have. So, adios for now and Team Coleman will be back and running again in a couple of weeks!

3 Days

2010-05-21T13:36:00.003-06:00

No, I'm not talking about the Pat Green song. I wish. I'm talking about the past 3 days with my naughty 18 month old. Maybe I feel like he's been extra naughty because we're in the midst of boxes and chaos. Or maybe I'm just trying to tell myself that. Anyway, I thought I needed to document these moments in hopes that I'll laugh about them really soon.

Day 1: Noah peed on the floor. Yep, peed. I saw him do it and just stood there with my mouth to the floor. David laughed.

Day 2: Noah has decided he doesn't like naps anymore. He showed this to me when he whipped his little leg on the top rail of his crib and jumped out onto the floor. I think he learned his lesson though because he hasn't done it since. Guess it's time for a bed! That will have to wait until we're in our new house.

Day 3: I couldn't find Noah anywhere. Usually when this happens, I find him in the bathroom playing in the toilet. This was like any other day and of course I found him right where I thought he'd be....in the bathroom playing in the toilet. However, he wasn't just splashing the water with his hands. I found this boy STANDING in the toilet saying, "dancin', dancin'." Yes, you read that correctly! My boy was dancing in the toilet and having a good ol' time! After my initial anger, I called David and he chuckled and asked if I took a picture. I sure wish I had now! But, that boy got in trouble! I'm just glad he didn't get his foot stuck or didn't tip over and drown. You always hear about those freak accidents where kids drown and inches of water and now I completely understand how that can happen!

Anyway, I have my hands full with trying to pack up our house and dealing with a very naughty, naughty Noah!

P.S. I do have a bunch of posts that I've been working on the past 2 months. Once we move I'll have more time to work on them and get them out.

Do you recognize this BIG BOY?

2010-04-29T10:28:00.000-06:00

David and I made the decision to chop Noah's luscious curly locks. It was a sad moment for us, but it needed to happen. His hair was always in his eyes and the back was just so matted and tangled. And yes, that is my way of trying to convince myself that we made the right decision! Because I sure do miss that crazy hair of Noah's that made him just a little more special than he already was. But, he's still cute. He's just looks like a big boy now!

Before

After

Wink, Wink!

2010-04-26T09:57:00.003-06:00

This is Noah's best trick to date! He learned how to wink a couple of months ago, but my sister Kerri was able to capture it. His winking skills are pretty impressive!

Update

2010-04-05T14:23:00.003-06:00

Hey all,

Just thought I'd pop in and give a quick update on what's been going on with team-Coleman.

Noah has been into everything. After taking a couple of falls he finally mastered going up and down stairs and if you don't keep a constant eye on him he's on the other floor of the house. He's saying a lot of words now and he still loves music and loves to dance. His favorite toy is still "ball" and he loves making baskets in the living room on his little hoop. He is a joy to our whole family.

Anna has been keeping very busy with school. We recently found out she had a condition called Candidiasis this is hopefully a temporary thing but for right now she's on a very strict diet and can't have any sugar along with lots of other good food. We are hoping that this goes away, it does explain why she is so small potentially. 14 percentile for her age. Otherwise though she's happy and healthy and doing great, she still loves to sing and dance and to create things. Reading and writing are things she does extremely well.

Sara has been doing well and finishing out middle school strong. She ended up not going on her schools DC, NYC trip which was a bummer but she took that very well. She's been doing a LOT of babysitting lately which is good for raising money. She turned 13 this March 13th.
She has been a joy to be around and I'm very proud of my young lady.

Jenny has been keeping very busy with Noah, the house and her new job. I credit Noah being so smart to having spent so much time with moma. She's the center of our family and she always keeps us running smoothly. She's got a big birthday coming up at the end of this week and we are excited to send her 20 something years out in style.

I've been enjoying my new job quite a lot and working on our house. We all have actually except for Noah who destroys it. We are hoping to list it to sell any day now and have been doing a "fix and flip" on our own home. Life is good and God has been great to us. Hope this finds you and yours living well and trusting in Him.

-Team Coleman co captain.

N-E-G-L-E-C-T

2010-02-25T10:37:00.002-07:00

What does that spell? That's right, neglect. I don't want to list a whole bunch of excuses as to why I've been neglecting this dear ol' blog, but that is EXACTLY what I'm going to do. Computer issues, sick kid, traveling, pure laziness and just getting caught up in life have kept me from blogging. However, I'm hoping that is going to change within the next week. It's not going to change today because Noah barfed on me and he won't let me let him go today. Needless to say, it has been a very miserable and gross day! Besides that, our little team is trucking along. David is loving his new job and I just got a new job myself. I haven't started yet, so I'll tell y'all more about it later. We're also hoping to put our house up for sale within the next month or so and we're VERY excited about that! But more on that later as well. So that's a tidbit of what is going on with us. Once Noah isn't clinging to me, I'll be able to update more with pictures.

A Must Read

2010-02-03T20:48:00.008-07:00

I have been following a well known Texas pastor named Matt Chandler for quite a while. I discovered him through my college roomie, Holly. His wife (Lauren) and Holly were great friends in high school. Holly always talks about the Christian influence that Lauren and her family had on her. Anyway, recently, the Chandler family has come across some devastating news that Matt has a brain tumor. What is so fascinating about this family is that despite a grim diagnosis/prognosis, they continue to find that God is good in all things...even in cancer. Please read the article below and you'll see what I mean. Also, if you click on the Dwell Deep link to the right you'll be taken to the Pastors page where Matt preaches. There are some videos posted there that are just amazing. I have no doubt that God is using Matt's evangelical gift even in his darkest hour. Please pray for the Chandler family (Matt, Lauren, Audrey, Reid and Nora) and that God will continue to be glorified in this story.

Suffering well: Faith tested by Pastor's cancer

You can dance anywhere, even if only in your heart. ~Author Unknown

2010-01-25T14:05:00.004-07:00

Does this boy LOVE music or what? It's funny how he stops to watch the Vikings. I'm sure that makes Dad very proud!

14 Things about NRC

2010-01-12T14:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've given updates on our cutest boy, so I thought now would be a good time since he just turned 14 months. In honor of those 14 glorious months, here are 14 things about Noah:

1. He is walking EVERYWHERE. He started taking some steps in the beginning of November. But, he didn't fully walk until December 4th. On that day, I watched the 4 Nielsen kids (cousins). The youngest, Bentley, is 5 months older than Noah and has been walking for quite some time. For whatever reason, having him at our house made Noah realize that he too could walk just like his big cousin. From that day on, he hasn't quit. He does look somewhat like a bobble head when he walks and people are amazed that he can keep his balance so well because of that giant pumpkin of his!

2. Noah has become quite the talker. I no longer have a quiet son. Most everything that comes out of his mouth is gibberish, but he is increasing his vocabulary quite quickly. The following are words that he says on a regular basis: Daddy, Momma, ball, turtle, Boo Boo (Anna), dootdall (football), buh-bye, dog and moo. In addition to say actual words, he has finally caught on to signing. These are the words he signs: please, more, bye bye, all done and thank you. What a smart little guy! Growling is another form of communication that Noah likes to use a lot!

3. Our boy is quite the music fanatic. The moment he hears a beat he immediately starts bobbing his head and dancing. In fact, if we play the song "Notion" by Kings of Leon, he goes crazy. It is quite a sight to behold and I'm hoping to get in on video very soon. We believe he is going to be a great musician. He has already shown us that he has an excellent sense of rhythm. And I'm not making that up because I'm biased....he truly can keep the beat.

4. In addition to loving music, we believe Noah will also be quite an athlete. He is constantly carrying around some sort of ball. His favorite is his little Vikings ball, of course! The moment he wakes up in the morning, he starts asking for his ball. We got him his first basketball hoop for Christmas and David is happy that he is already turning out to be quite the baller!

Noah's favorite toy

5. Eating is not so fun with Noah. He has turned out to be quite picky. He doesn't like ANY vegetables so I have to hide them in his food. The boy could eat an entire bunch of bananas in one sitting if I let him. Other than that, his other favorite foods are cheesy hot dogs and any kind of fruit.

6. At the current moment, Noah has 12 teeth. The last 4 came in all at the same time! The poor guy was miserable for a bit, but he's getting over that. Now if he would only put those teeth to good use and eat his veggies.

7. One of the funnest games we play is the laughing game. I like to think this is a trait that came from the Lindelsee side of my family. If you laugh, he laughs. But what he makes it so great is that he throws his head back and belts out a huge chuckle! It makes us laugh more and then he laughs more. What a great game!

Playing the laughing game

8. Noah recently learned to give kisses. There's nothing like an open mouthed, sloppy, wet kiss from that little boy!

9. Hair. Ahhhhh, this is a constant thorn in our side. Though he has a lot on the top, it hasn't grown at all on the sides. When his hair is wet, it goes down to his shoulders in the back. I have to brush my way through all the tangles every morning. That isn't fun for either of us! But, it sure looks cute when it's curly. Everyone comments on his hair and David and I just aren't ready to cut it yet. We decided we'll cut it if someone says, "Oh, what a cute girl you have." So far, so good!

This is the crazy hair that any girl would kill for!

10. Noah has FINALLY discovered books. Everyday, he brings me book after book to read. I hope that he continues to enjoy books. I love when he comes to snuggle with me in my lap and points at all the fun pictures while I read to him.

11. Going to church and Bible study have become quite a chore. Noah DESPISES going to the nursery. Often times, David and I have to go back and forth to the nursery to calm him down. I hope this phase doesn't last long, but in a way, it's kind of sweet that he misses us so much!

12. Curiosity has definitely grabbed a hold of our boy. Curiosity often turns in to mischievousness! He is into EVERYTHING! Sometimes it's fun to just sit back and watch him. He's so curious about how things work. It is not fun, however, when he gets in trouble!

13. Noah is turning into such a little boy. He doesn't look like a baby anymore. He is a pretty big kid for his age and has been wearing size 18-24 months for a while now. His feet are also giant. One of his favorite games is to take off his shoes and socks. I think he knows it drives his Momma nuts!

14. Nothing Noah does is gentle. He has definitely proven himself to be all boy merely by throwing anything he can get his hands on. The other night, David and I were eating in the living room. I usually sit on the floor by the coffee table when we do this. All of a sudden, a heavy drum struck the side of my head and almost knocked me out. David laughed (of course), I'm hoping out of shock, and said that I glared at Noah like I was going to throw him across the room! He got in big trouble! So, throwing things continues to be a constant battle. But, sometimes, I guess it can be funny!

Noah continues to be the "King in our castle." He makes all of our days a little brighter. I love that his personality is starting to shine through and I can't wait to see what he's going to surprise us with next!

Buh-bye 2009!

2009-12-31T10:30:00.002-07:00

I have to say that I am not sad at all to say goodbye to 2009. Yes, there were some good parts to the year, but there were also some very bad things that I could've lived with out. That being said, I feel very positive that 2010 will bring many blessings to my family and I. As I said earlier, there are going to be some changes this year. One of those things is David's job. He has a wonderful opportunity before him at a company called Digital Globe. The company helps create the images for google maps. Isn't that cool? He is very excited about this and thinks it will be a good move for his career. After being at Ball Aerospace for almost 12 years, he's sad to leave the people and the company that treated him so well, but thinks this is the best move for him and our family. As for me, I turn 3o this year. I'm feeling very excited about entering my 30's. I plan on continuuing to stay at home with Noah and I'm also working on bringing in some extra money. I don't have all the bits and pieces together to make that happen yet, but I'm hoping I'll get the ball rolling on that in the next couple of months. Other than that, we'll just keep trying to do and be where God wants us. Not always an easy task, but we're a work in progress. I am thankful that God gave us each and every day of 2009. Though it wasn't always easy, I am confident that God was with me and our family every step of the way. I feel blessed to be where I am. God's grace is truly a gift and I'm thankful for His steady hand and providence over my family and I.

Thinking about the new year got me wondering about goals and resoutions for 2010. I usually don't make very many resoultions, but this year I am. I'll make my own and David and I are going to make some together as well. Once I have them together, I'll post them. That way, I can't go back on what I say! So what are some of your resolutions?

Have a safe and fun New Years!

Posting the Past

2009-12-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Click on the links below to see what we've been doing the past couple of months...

Halloween 2009

Noah's First Birthday

Thanksgiving 2009

Santa Claus

Meeting Mr. Claus

2009-12-28T10:21:00.001-07:00

“Who is this scary guy?”

“Momma?”

“Maybe he’s not so bad.”

“I think I’ll try again next year.”

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-12-27T22:11:00.007-07:00

Thanksgiving was very special this year. Our family had a lot to be thankful for due to the miraculous healing of Kerri. The Tharps and my Dad came back from Texas to be with us. My Mom was still here helping Kerri. Kerri couldn't be with us on Thanksgiving, but we all thought about her a bunch. We took Hadley for the day and she had fun playing with her cousins. Also while the fam was here, we spent a lot of time goofing around and even went to Breckenridge to go sledding. It was great watching all the kids go down the mountain. But, I think that Cody had the most fun of all. There's nothing quite like watching a cowboy hoot and holler down a mountain. He was the hit of the mountain. Noah want on his first sled ride, too. I think he had fun, but there was no way of really telling. He didn't scream or cry, so I guess I can safely say that he enjoyed it. I loved having those Tharps and my parents around. I miss the kids like crazy and having Dana around is always the best. It was a great time with all of them!

Cole, Lauren, Noah and Katelyn

Huge meltdown of the 1-year-olds

The boys minus Cole. He didn't want to be in the picture :(

Mom, Hadley, Katelyn, Dana and Lauren

All bundled up for the snow

Noah's 1st sled ride

No tears, so I guess he loved the ride!

The Cowboy and his buckaroos flying down the mountain
Cole and Katelyn playing Guitar Hero
Bob and Jude hanging out on Thanksgiving

Cody, Lauren and Dana

1st Thanksgiving dinner

Our little fam on Thanksgiving

Katelyn and Hadley

Thing 1 & Thing 2

2009-12-27T21:14:00.013-07:00

On Noah's birthday, David took a day off work and we had breakfast, opened presents, spent the day in Boulder and had some cake. My Mom was there to celebrate as well. It was such a perfect day spent with a perfect boy. The following Saturday, we had his BIG party. Noah had a joing party with Brie (his future wife) and they celebrated with a Dr. Seuss Thing 1 and Thing 2 party. The kids played with many friends and family, ate WAY too much cake and opened a crazy amount of presents. Those kids made out like bandits! Anyway, it's hard to believe that one year has come and gone already. Here's to many, many more!

Click on the picture below to see all the birthday fun!

Arrrrrrrrrrghhhhh!

2009-12-27T21:08:00.005-07:00

Isn't he the CUTEST pirate you ever did see??

"Totally not diggin' this earring Mom!"

Back From the Break....

2009-12-17T14:29:00.002-07:00

Well, after a long hiatus, I decided it was time to get back to the ol' blog. I'm happy to say that I am finally ready to write again because I want everyone to know that life still goes on during good and bad times. And believe me, this year has been chock full of plenty of good, bad and sometimes VERY bad times!

First things first though, Kerri is alive and well. And all the glory goes to our gracious and miraculous God! We know that she is here today because of the power of prayer and because God is obviously not finished with her on this earth. She is now at home and is rehabbin' and trying her best to get back to a new normal. Our family is SO proud of her. Today just so happens to be her 4th anniversary with Adrian! So, happy anniversary Peech's! This day is also somewhat of an anniversary for David and I because we first met at their wedding. Without them, we wouldn't be us and we're forever grateful to them for getting married! If you want to keep up with Kerri's progress, you can go to http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/kerripeech You can leave her a message of encouragement if you'd like.

Other than that, David and I have been experiencing a lot of stress in our lives as well. The Monday before Thanksgiving I came home to a house that had been robbed. To say that it was an invasion of our lives is a HUGE understatement. Many things were taken, but the thing that I am absolutely DEVASTATED about is that they took our home videos along with our video camera. I've lost all the sweet videos of the day Noah was born and stuff like that. Ughhhhh, it just makes me sick to think about. It took a while, but I am now able to look at this situation with thanks that no one was hurt and that we still have a roof over our heads. But, shortly after that our Insurance company decided to stick it to us and still hasn't told us whether or not they are going to cover the claim! It's one thing to be robbed, but to be robbed by your insurance company is incomprehensible to me. I'm just furious over that! So, I'll keep you posted as to what's going on with that.

Besides all the bad things, I do realize that many GREAT things have been happening for David and I . I can't tell you everything quite yet, but so far, 2010 is looking up! David and I have been praying for a long time for our "luck" to change and I believe that it is. I can't wait to share the details with y'all soon. And no, I'm not pregnant so get that out of your head! :)

So, Team Coleman is back. I'm going to post later some things that have been going on the past few months. For example, we missed posting about Halloweeen, our 1-year-old and many other things. So those are coming....

It's good to be back!

Still Here...Kinda

2009-10-23T14:58:00.002-06:00

I know it's been a while, but I have a good reason. First, my computer crashed. And now, I've been living at the hospital while my sister Kerri fights for her life. Though our lives still continue, I have been neglectiong the blog because I just can't seem to get my thoughts together right now. I do have a ton of pictures to upload, but they'll have to wait for now. Also, we're less than a month away from Noah's first birthday! Can you believe it? So, to say that there is a ton going on is a HUGE understatement. I promise that I will get back to the blog once things calm down. So keep checking back!

Also, thanks to all of you who are praying for my sister. She sure needs the prayer! We're all very proud of her. And if you want regular updates on her status, check my facebook page!

Take care of yourselves and stay healthy!

Crashin' Down

2009-09-29T12:52:00.002-06:00

Yep, my computer crashed! Therefore, everything that I've worked on, taken a picture of, music I've downloaded is GONE! I am completely DEVASTATED!! Needless to say, the blog has been neglected because of it. However, I'm hoping to get it back up and running soon. We've had a lot going on and I want to share it with you, my loyal readers, very soon. So, hopefully it will get fixed ASAP! Stay tuned!

Noah's First Word

2009-09-09T10:46:00.001-06:00

Noah's first word wasn't Momma or Daddy, but of course, BALL! What else can you expect from an athletic genius?! Both David and I were there to witness it and we were both so excited. I admit, I got a little teary eyed....my boy is growing up! I'm so anxious to hear more of his little voice. Right now it's mostly grunts and growling. He's definitely ALL BOY! Anyway, here's to Noah and his first word! And he said it on 9/9/09....cool!

33 Years of A Great Man

2009-09-05T11:07:00.000-06:00

No, I’m not taking about Jesus (But yes, he’s GREAT too)! I’m talkin’ about David James Coleman and it’s his birthday today!

David, I hope that this is your best year yet! I know you will work hard, love your family and have some fun this year. But more than that, I pray that God will use you and your talents to His glory!

Know that “The Team” and I love you more than anything. Thanks for being our everything!

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Jenny

Longs Peak 2009

2009-09-01T10:12:00.032-06:00

I've always wanted to do a fourteener (there are 53 mountains in Colorado over 14,000 feet in altitude) and specifically Longs Peak. I've never done either and after living in Colorado for over 20 years I figured there is no time like the present. My brother Jonathan has summit ed once and attempted Longs twice in the past two years. He was turned back because of weather on his first attempt.
Momentum for this trip has been building for two years for me and finally the day arrived when I would attempt my first fourteener.

Jonathan and I have been trying to train for this although I'd say we weren't quite prepared for what we would face (or at least I wasn't). We hiked bear peak to warm up two weeks prior which was a great workout and a good warm up. Anyway on to longs peak.

The first thing is that you have to start EARLY to be able to get on and off the top of the mountain before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in. From my front door to the trail head it's about a little over an hour. So on this day I left my front door at 1:15AM, picked up Travis and then met Jonathan in Lyons and we all carpooled from there to the trail head. After about 15 minutes of making sure we had all of our stuff and gearing up we headed up the trail signing in the log book at 3:05AM. Starting elevation was 9,400 feet.

The trip is supposed to be 15 miles round trip and I felt mentally prepared for the journey. Everyone was in high spirits and there was a lot of talking and joking on the way up the initial trail through goblins forest.

Along the way we were immediately warned of the dangers of inclement weather on this hike/climb.

The hike was a steady climb uphill but nobody seemed to mind it much, we took breaks when needed and I was taking in a lot of water from my camelbak along the way. We passed the tree line about 11,500 feet and the ammount of stars you can see at night from this elevation is difficult to describe, I've never seem so many stars. We were able to identify some of the well known constellations as well as the milky way and some other things. I believe all of us saw at least one if not more shooting stars, it was truly amazing and a huge blessing to see Gods creation so clearly. Our first real break was at the place where the trail splits between chasm lake or heading to the summit. To that point we were about four miles up the trial heading to the summit. Our pace was brisk and steady to this point. We were also able to see the lights of Denver, Boulder, Estes from this elevation. Not long after that break and a little further up the trail we began to see the horizon lightening up, this was yet another amazing and beautiful sight to see.

Daybreak over the twin sisters.

A little while after day break we reached the bottom of the Boulder Field the boulder field marks a clear distinction between the end of the hiking section and the start of the climb up Longs peak. It was about 6:15AM when we got there and we decided it would be a good time to stop and take another break, eat some food and refill our water supplies. It was awesome seeing the sun hit the diamond face of Longs as we sat in the shade and prepped for the climbing section of our day. We had come 5 miles to this point in the hike.

After our break we headed up the Boulder field and towards the Keyhole. This section was pretty enjoyable as you climb up about car sized rocks and pick your way through towards the Keyhole. We did start slowing down not only due to climbing but also due to lack of oxygen but our pace was still steady.

Reaching the Keyhole was a great accomplishment in terms of reaching our end goal, spirits were still high and we stopped for a short break to take in the view. When you get to the top of this section the view is just amazing.

Travis

Jonathan

Me

After taking some time to take in the view we were off on a horizontal traverse called "The Ledges" that connects the Keyhole to the "Trough" this was a nice break from the climbing but upon seeing the "Trough" you really start to wrap your mind around what exactly you've gotten yourself into. When you get to the base of the trough I believe you are just over 13,000 feet in elevation and the by the time you get to the end of the "Trough" I believe you are somewhere near 13,800 it's a 800 yards or so section that seems to go straight up. We started up the section and at this point we had our taskmaster Jonathan (who was in much better shape than Travis and I) mushing us onward and telling us to stop taking so many breaks. The air is very thin and catching your breath becomes tougher and tougher. This was by far the toughest part of the climb, it tests your want to and your endurance. A great challenge! After several breaks and much of this
we conquered the "Trough"! Here are a couple of pictures from the top of this section.

Now after conquering the "Trough" you are in a section called the "Narrows" it's pretty self explanatory and it didn't really bother me as much as some from whom I've heard but basically you walk along a ledge so to speak with I don't know 2-3k ft drops on your right. If you have problems with heights this section would get you bigtime. I actually rather enjoyed it. The pictures don't come close to doing it justice.

If you look closely you can see a few people walking along the "path".

After walking the traverse known as the "Narrows" you have only one section left to complete and that is called the "Homestretch" this is the most difficult of the climbing sections due to the steepness and altitude in which you are climbing. However I found it much easier than the "Trough" because you could actually see the top and also it's much shorter than the "Trough". Still you find yourself taking a break ever 20 feet or so on the way up.

We made it up! Each one getting there slightly before or after the others but we all three made it. The sense of accomplishment and the view was amazing! 14,255 ft and we climbed up 4,850 ft. We took about 5 minutes each to regain our breath before starting to take in the view. I wish I wasn't so tired at the top because I would have taken a lot more pictures but fatigue got the better of me and I didn't get a lot.

I did it!

Jonathan did it again!

Travis did it too but I somehow missed his solo picture.

After about an hour on the top mostly spent resting and eating lunch we started back down. I knew this would be toughest on my knee so I was a bit nervous but off we went. The "Homestretch" was challenging but we managed and then across the "Narrows" to the "Trough" and again the "Trough" just kicked my butt, this section took us a long time to get down and it was mostly on hands and knees or hands and feet or hands and butt and feet but we finally got down and across the "Ledges" and through the "Keyhole" and down the "Boulder Field". We stopped here for a much needed break and to again refill our waters. This is where I made a mistake in thinking that if I made it to this point the hike portion back down would be no problem. I was wrong!

The 5 miles down from there was extremely grueling, we had used up the majority of our energy on the way up and down the climbing sections and now we were totally spent. 5 miles of one foot in front of the other and down, down, down, down, just lit into our quads to say the least. I felt like my toes were all bruised from jamming into my shoes and it just didn't end. I don't know if my feet have ever felt that badly before. But we trudged on. Nobody talked much, Travis appeared a little dehydrated and was struggling. But we soldiered on.

Near the bottom we took a short break here.

Eventually we made it back to the car and I can tell you that it seeing that car was one of the most welcome sights I've ever seen. All three of us were completely exhausted and ready to be done. We did the whole up and down 15 miles in just over 13 hours. We were all glad to be done, here are some pictures of what shape we were in at the end.

Travis puts on his game face for a "I did it" pic.

me..... not so much.

Jonathan is ready for a nap.

All in all it was an awesome experience and an amazing day. I couldn't have picked better climbing partners and I'm very glad that we were able to do this. It's certainly sparked my interest in fourteeners and I intend to do others. Incidentally I looked and Longs Peak is one of the toughest of the 53 fourteeners in the state so I plan to do an easier one next time. What a great day!

Mesa Trail

2009-08-15T11:02:00.000-06:00

David, Noah, Jonathan (David's brother) and I went for a hike up the Mesa Trail near Boulder. I huffed and puffed my way up while David carried our huge son up the mountain. It was Noah's first hike and he did great! He didn't make a peep the entire time and just looked all around. Meanwhile, I thought I was gonna die of heat stroke and from a lack of oxygen. I was slapped in the face with a huge dose of reality of how out of shape I'm in. It's so sad. So, here’s to getting in shape and many more hikes! And here’s to my awesome husband and Uncle Johnny for carrying our son!

We're In Trouble!

2009-08-15T10:41:00.000-06:00

9 months old.

2009-08-14T13:31:00.013-06:00

Noah,

Well it's hard to believe that you have already been around nine months but as of this past Wednesday it's true.
It's amazing how fast the time has gone by and yet it's nearly impossible to imagine our lives without you. You are a very fun and exciting little guy.

Here are some of your recent developments. Not only can you crawl, now but you can crawl extremely fast. If we turn our heads for one minute you are in the next room and getting into stuff in a blink of an eye.
You are talking a lot more, you are working on your consonants and we hear a lot of mamamamamamama, dadadaddadadadada, bababababababa etc. You also like to make funny pop's and girgles with your mouth and of course there is still the raspberrys that we hear quite consistently.
You are getting pretty good at climbing up to your knees against walls, coffee tables or whatever is in front of you. If whatever you are climbing is low enough to the ground you will stand up on your own and lean on it. You have a small play table that you love to do that with. You've received a few bumps on the head on your dismounts, but you are now learning how to fall into the seated position instead of falling on your pumpkin. You can also get from crawling or laying down to the seated position. A pretty handy trick to have in the bag!
You are still eating very well although you have yet to discover the joy of our table food, you very much prefer the gerber foods to the yucky stuff we eat. We think it's because you don't like the texture. You make the most hilarious faces when we give you stuff from our plates. I think you are starting to explore more of those foods but as of right now you are a gerber food man all the way. You love your veggies and fruits and eat those very well.
You love when we read you bedtime stories, that is one of your favorite times. Also you are in love with both of your sisters. Sara takes very good care of you and loves you so much. Anna has the ability to make you smile and laugh like no one else. I think she's your favorite family member, you two are hilarious together.
Your other favorite family member is Momma, she takes such good care of you and loves you so much. She's currently the only person that you'll cuddle with which makes the rest of us jealous. You are a very smart guy and we love your laid back personality. You'll be one before we know it, hard to believe.

You had your 9 month Dr. appointment today and everything was good and normal. Well maybe normal isn't the right word but you are very healthy and doing great. Here are your stats from today's visit.

Weight 21.9 lbs (75th%)
You've been in the 75th% on this at every checkup so far.

Height 30 In. (97 - 100%)
Are you going to fight off those short genes from your mom's side and be tall like dad?

Head 48 cm (97%)
This for sure comes from moms side of the family. We gave you your middle name after someone else with the same predicament. :)

So you are tall, fairly skinny and have a big pumpkin.

There are a couple other things of note that you've done in the last couple months. You went on your first big road trip and visited 8 states. On that road trip you had many firsts but some of the memorable ones were meeting tons of relatives you hadn't met before, taking your first boat ride, first jet ski ride and your first trip to my home state of Minnesota (Go Vikings).

Also you've been growing a bunch of teeth, right now you have four, two on the top and two on the bottom but we can see at least 2-3 more about to pop through.

You are getting big son. We love you more and more each day.

Love you,
Dadadadadadadadadadadada

Here are some pics taken on your 9 month birthday in your favorite chair.

We're Still Here!

2009-08-01T13:40:00.008-06:00

I've been a little slow on updating since we got back from our road trip. Though I'm not ready to post yet, here's a sneak peek of what's to come:

8 Months Old
Look What I Can Do
Longest Road Trip Ever...2009

P.S. Once all of the above are colored, you can click on them and go directly to that post.

Road Trip 2009…8 States, 12 Days, 3 Kids and 2 Tired Adults

2009-07-26T17:05:00.000-06:00

July 14, 2009 – Left Westminster, Colorado at 6pm.

We decided to take a picture at every state line we crossed. This was our first one.

Arrived in Oakland, Iowa – 2 am(We didn’t get a picture of the state sign this time into Iowa). Exhausted and tired. We spent one night at Grandma Coleman’s house in Iowa.

July 15, 2009 – Left Oakland, Iowa at 10:00 am to drive to Chicago, Illinois. We decided Noah should take a turn driving. :)

Arrived at Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Woody’s house in Illinois @ 4 pm.

July 16, 2009 – Tourist Day in Downtown Chicago

Can you find us inside the bean? We’re all in a circle.

We visited The Sears tower on the day that it’s name was changed to Willis Tower…how appropriate!

July 17, 2009 – Made the trek to Fremont, Michigan. Had to go through Indiana… …To get these…

We continued on our journey to Michigan…

…Where we made another stop at the Dutch Village in Holland, MI

We left the Dutch Village to continue onto my Grandparent’s Lake house. We finally arrived at our destination around 4 pm. We stayed in Fremont, MI for 5 days where we played and played and played. Noah and the girls also got to meet and hang out with several of my family members. This is a very special place to my family and I. My Dad and I have both been going there since we were kids.

July 22, 2009 – We drove to Ludington, MI and took a ferry across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin.

When we got off the boat, we were now in Wisconsin. We were only in Wisconsin to drive through it, so I don’t have many stories from there. However, from a distance, we did see Lambeau field where the Green Bay Packers play. I am happy to report that David nor Noah did not whiz on the stadium like David had wanted to do! Nor did we stop for any cheese…which is a bummer!

After driving through Wisconsin, we finally reached our next destination, Minneapolis, MN…David’s hometown. We arrived at the Krussow’s (David’s sister and her family) house just in time for dinner. Our whole focus of this portion of our trip was to hang with the fam and to meet the newest member, Clara Grace Krussow.

July 23, 2009 – Minneapolis, MN – Mall of America and a Slider eating contest.

On the day we were there, Ashley Tisdale just so happened to be performing. The girls were ecstatic!

And of course, no trip to Minnesota would be complete without going to the Vikings store.

After the mall, David and Pete decide to have a slider eating contest. They each ate 13.5. Nobody won because they ran out of sliders. So, the contest is to be continued at a later date!

After the contest, they decided to make a White Castle Christmas tree and pose with their creation. Then at the right moment, they set their masterpiece on fire.

July 24, 2009 – Packed up, said goodbye to the Krussow’s, went to Minnehaha Falls (nothing got stolen this time around), showed the girls David’s old house and headed back towards Colorado.

After the falls, we had one last stop in Iowa. On the way back to Grandma Coleman’s, we met up with Cousin Luke and Aunt Ila to have some ice cream.

July 25, 2009 – Left Grandma Coleman’s, saw Grandma Gross and headed home.

So there you have it. Our trip in a nutshell. We had a great time seeing all the sites, meeting and visiting with our family and spending time with our own family. Until next year…

And…He’s Off!

2009-07-13T11:52:00.004-06:00

The day after Noah turned 8 months, he decided it was time to put it all together. We were at my brother and sister-in-laws house (Jeremy and Erin) and all of a sudden, Noah started crawling like he had been doing it all along! Yay! We’re so proud!

(Please excuse my little kid voice in the background!)

8 Months Old

2009-07-12T11:14:00.002-06:00

Noah,

At the risk of sounding redundant, time sure has flown by and you have gotten so big! Each day you grow more and more into a little boy. And what a fantastic little boy you are! You are learning so much each day and impressing Daddy and I with your new skills. How did you get so smart?

When you wake up in the mornings, this is how you greet me…

…and I just love it. Look at how cute you are! It’s so nice to wake up with you so ready to see me! It starts my day off just right!

You are SO CLOSE to crawling. You get up on all fours and rock. Sometimes you do a little bit of an army crawl, but you’re not quite crawling yet. You’re almost there and Daddy and I are so proud of you!

You can officially feed yourself with your bottle. Sometimes it makes me sad to think that you no longer need me to help you with this. Speaking of eating, you are quite picky. You DO NOT like anything chunky. You gag if there are bits of veggie chunks in your food. You hate anything you can put in your mouth yourself. For example, cheerios. You despise them. Mashed bananas. You hate them. Eggs. Not gonna do it. I’m hoping someday you’ll begin to like real food, but for now, you’ll just have to keep eating the pureed kind.

Some of your favorite things to do are to go on walks, swing, play ball with Daddy, swim and you love to listen to a good book. Since you’ve discovered splashing in the pool, you love to get Momma all wet when I give you a bath. You think it’s pretty funny. You’re still a pretty great clapper and we often find you just checkin’ out your hands. You like to check ours out too. Peek-a-boo is another favorite game of yours. You giggle and giggle when we come out from hiding. You also love it when we sing to you. Daddy has a special song that he made up just for you and you love it!

Each day with you is such a joy. I couldn’t imagine my life without you. Thank you for being such a sweet, loving and chill little boy. I can’t wait to see what you’ll do next!

Love you always,

Momma

The Not-So-Many-Faces of Noah

2009-07-06T14:17:00.000-06:00

Noah and Brie are 1 day apart. Tami and I like to try to get pictures of the two of them during holidays. I took advantage of the 4th and the fact the both of the kiddos were wearing red, white and blue. The following are the results of that little photo shoot. Notice that Brie’s face changes and Noah’s….not so much.

I’ll look at the camera, but I’m not gonna smile.

I’m still looking, but still not going to smile.

Still not interested. You people are boring.

What the heck is she so excited about?

Still bored.

Seriously? Still taking pictures?

I don’t care if you show me what’s under your dress…still not smiling.

Flirting doesn’t help either…all of you are still boring.

So there we have it. The kid seriously only has 1 facial expression. But, it’s still fun to try to make him smile. One day, these kids are gonna get sick of taking pictures together! But we’ll still be the mean Mom’s that do it!

4th of July Weekend

2009-07-06T14:02:00.000-06:00

What an awesome weekend! Though it was FREEZING, we still enjoyed a very nice Independence Day weekend. Friday night started off by going to Chatauqua Park in Boulder. It’s a historical landmark that began with some Texas teachers that wanted a summer retreat. Very cool! Anyway, we joined Katie and Trey’s parents for a progressive dinner at all the old houses there. I had been to this park before, but never to all the little cottages. If you ever get the chance, you need to rent of this places! They are so cute and right next to the flatirons in Boulder.

This picture cracks me up because Noah sat there saluting for quite a while. I guess he’s just so smart, and he must’ve known that it was the 4th, so he was saluting our soldiers!

Up close and personal with the Boulder Flatirons

On Saturday, we were hoping to go to the pool. However, the weather was MISERABLE! I’m used to spending the day at the lake, but instead I was bundled up in sweatshirts and blankets just trying to keep warm. We did enjoy the day though with our wonderful friends. We had a great B-B-Q and watched some fireworks. Noah did pretty well with the fireworks. He only got scared because I scared him when I thought one of the fireworks was coming right for us. Other than that, they didn’t phase him.

Our first 4th of July together

We actually got most of the kids together to take a break from their sparklers to take a picture for us!

Watching fireworks with Momma

Trying to stay warm in Tami’s snuggie. We were sitting by the fire making smores and I was still FREEZING! It seriously was like a winter night in Texas.

On Sunday, we enjoyed some time at the pool. Noah has this awesome new float that he likes to lay back and chill in. We had a moment this day. For once, Noah made the cheesiest smile yet!

Mr. Cheese

What a fun weekend we had! I loved spending an extra day with David and hanging out with our wonderful friends!

A Day at the Zoo

2009-07-05T17:08:00.000-06:00

Last weekend, the fam and I headed to Colorado Springs and spent some time with our friends Jeremy and Sara Shafer and their kids. We hung out on Friday night and then went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It’s the most beautiful zoo I’ve ever been to! It’s built right into the mountain so you have to go up and down a lot, but it’s well worth it! This was Noah’s first trip to the zoo. I realized after the trip to the zoo that my expectation of Noah getting excited to see the animals was way too high! He could’ve cared less that there were all these awesome animals around him. He just kept the same ol’ boring look on his face the entire time! Oh well, maybe we’ll have to wait to go back until he gets older. Sara and Anna had a great time though!

“Dad, it doesn’t make a difference if I’m on your shoulders or in the stroller, I’m still gonna have this bored look on my face.”

Team Coleman

Sara and Anna, “Feeeeeed the birds.” (As sung in Mary Poppins)

The boredom finally took over.

And finally, we did actually seem some animals. Check them out here if you’d like.

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Hepatitis C and Me

2009-07-04T05:59:00.000-06:00

You’re probably thinking, “What the heck does this have to do with Jenny?” Believe me, I wish I had no part in this. But, I do. There has been a freak incident that happened when I had surgery for the kidney stones while I was 8.5 months pregnant with Noah. This incident is something that I feel only happens in the movies. It’s not supposed to happen in real life. Read here first to get the story.

Now that you know the story, here is my request. Tomorrow, (actually today, because it’s 4 am and I can’t sleep) I have to go get tested for Hepatitis C. I won’t find out the results for 2 weeks. Please pray that I do not test positive for this chronic disease. Additionally, please pray that if I do test positive for Hepatitis C, pray that Noah will test negative. Because I was pregnant at the time of my surgery, he could be at risk. It is one thing for this crazy nurse to have put my health at risk, but I do not have any words that can describe what it will do to me if Noah’s health is at risk, too. Also, if I am positive, it is highly likely that David could be positive as well. Furthermore, please pray for the patients that have confirmed cases of Hepatitis C and for those that might learn that they have it.

Potentially, the actions of that nurse could destroy the health of our family. Though I am sad about what this could do to us, ultimately, my heart is sad for this woman. She knowingly had this disease and did not care whose health she destroyed in her quest to get high. I read an article that said her myspace page said she had a fascination with needles. What kind of a sick person does this? It makes me realize that Satan is alive and well and is lurking around trying to destroy lives. My sister-in-law Laura, reminded me that Romans 8:28 says this:

And we know that in ALL THINGS God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I believe God has a purpose in all of this. Maybe these thousands of people that now have to get tested for Hepatitis C will come to know the Lord? Maybe this sick woman will come to know the Lord? Maybe this happened so that people in the medical field will be more cautious before hiring someone? Whatever the reason, I believe God allowed this to happen. No, this isn’t the holocaust or a war. But to me, in my selfish little world, it’s a big deal. And God still wants to protect me even though I’m just a blip on this earth.

I’m going to be ok….no matter what the results are. At this moment, I’m just mostly scared for Noah. I have no words for what I would do if Noah was harmed in all of this. I feel like trouble or freak accidents seem to find me. I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I’m caught in the middle of this weird, freak incident. But, it is what it is. And I’ll live. I just might live with a incurable disease. And if it comes down to that, I’ll deal with it.

Thanks for the prayers!

7 Months

2009-06-22T05:29:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately, we missed Noah’s 7 Month mark while we were in Mexico, but here are some things he is up to these days:

Noah can completely sit up on his own without one of us having to hover over him in case he falls.
He is on his 4th ear infection in the past 2 months.
Noah is starting to babble a little bit more and David is convinced that he can say “dada.”
He eats a TON! The kid can chug down 4oz of fruit, 4 oz of veggies and 4 oz of formula in one sitting. He does this for both lunch and dinner. In between those times he sucks down his bottles in no time.
He sleeps great! Noah goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 6am. It’s wonderful!
Noah is now napping 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. This is a HUGE improvement from his 20 minute naps!
Noah has discovered that by putting your hands together you can make a really cool sound. We gotta clapper on our hands!
Like always, Noah pretty much has the same expression on his face like he’s always bored. However, whenever he sees his Daddy or wakes up, he lights up the room with his smile. He has now added panting like a dog to that smile. It’s super cute!
Noah’s giggle is so darn cute. He does this high pitched squeal that is absolutely hilarious and he loves when you squeal right back at him.
I’ve had to raise Noah’s jumper 3 notches in the last month. He’s getting to be so tall and is growing so fast. I tell him to stop that, but he’s just not listening.
Noah got his first 2 bottom teeth on May 31, 2009. They're so cute, but you have to be quick to see them...he doesn't like to show them off very much!

I’m sure Noah is doing more things right now, but I just can’t remember them at this moment. I’m just so proud of him and he truly is the King in this castle!

I Love My Daddy

2009-06-20T13:35:00.001-06:00

I love my Daddy because…

…he was the first one to hold me when I was born

…he is so strong and carries me everywhere in my car seat (even though I’m a HUGE pig)

…he has taught me to love the Vikings and I get to watch football with him

….he takes really good care of me

….someday I want to be big just like him

…he teaches me new tricks

….he takes me to cool places and wants me to see the world

…

….he gives me things like popsicles even if Momma doesn’t want him to

…he sings and plays his guitar for me

…he lets me squeeze his face even if it hurts

…we are best friends!

Happy Father’s Day Dad! I love you very much and I can’t wait for you to teach me everything you know!

Love,
Noah

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6

2009-06-14T13:17:00.000-06:00

The day after we got back from Mexico, we had Noah’s dedication service. It was such a lovely day filled with support and encouragement from our family, friends and church. David’s Dad performed the ceremony which was very special to both David and I.

We were asked to share why we named our son Noah and a verse we wanted to pray over him. We told the church that we named him Noah because it means “peaceful” and that his middle name, Robert, comes from Gramps (my Dad). The cool thing about the meaning of Noah’s name is that it totally fits him. He is the most laid back and peaceful kid I have ever met. We are truly blessed. Anyway, the verse we picked to pray over Noah comes from Matthew 25, the parable of the talents. It talks about how a man was wise with what was given to him.

Matthew 25:20 - 21

“The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' ²¹"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.”

Our prayer for Noah is that he will wisely use what God gives Him and that he will continuously glorify Him in everything he does. We promise that we will do our best to make sure Noah knows Truth and that we raise him to be a fine, Christian man. We feel very blessed that God is letting us borrow Noah for his time on this earth.

Hola Senores!

2009-06-13T15:52:00.000-06:00

We are back from Mexico and wishing we were sitting in the pool sippin’ on some margaritas. Coming back, we definitely got a big dose of reality. Reality said to us, “Time to get back to normal life.” And boy did we. We spent that first day taking Sara to the doctor for strep throat and Noah to the doctor for his 3rd ear infection in a month. And yes, this is normal for us. Though we were VERY excited to see the kids, we weren’t quite so ready to hit the ground running. Anyway, I don’t want to bog all of you down with the details of our every day life, I want to get to the fun stuff….Cancun!

We went to Cancun with 4 other couples. 3 of the couples and us left on a Saturday. We had to stop in Miami before we were off to Cancun. Of course, the day we go to Miami there are torrential rains and major flooding. Thus, we sat around the Miami airport for many, many hours and didn’t arrive in Mexico until 6 hours after hour we were originally supposed to be there. Needless to say, we were exhausted after our day of traveling. What is it about sitting in an airport that just wears you out? Anyway, since we got there so late, we pretty much went straight to bed to gear up for the rest of our busy, fun and relaxing week.

Here are some of the things we did while we were there:

Enjoyed Happy Hour in the Pool

Tried to Stay Away from the Iguanas

Sang on the Bus with some Locals

Took a Ferry from Playa Del Carmen to Cozumel

Went Diving in Cozumel Twice

Sailed on a Catamaran

Celebrated our 2 Year Anniversary

Did Silly Stuff with all the Girls

Laughed at the Silly Boys

Fed a Crocodile named Pancho or Willy (can’t remember which)

Learned About Chicken Itza

Went Diving in Cancun Twice

Swam in the Beautiful Ocean

And Enjoyed Time with My Husband

All in all, it was a fantastic trip! We had perfect weather and had so much fun with each other and our crazy friends! We can’t wait to go back!

Kickin' It With Grammy

2009-06-05T22:24:00.003-06:00

Hello world. Noah here. Just wanted to let you know that my parents left me tonight with my Grammy to go to Mexico without me. My Momma cried. I know she's gonna miss me. I'll miss her too, but I know I'm gonna have fun with my Grammy and the Peech Family.

I also wanted to let you know that my 2 bottom teeth started coming in. Someday I'll get a picture, but they're not big enough to see. And I barely let my Mom look at them yet. I hate when she messes with me! Also, I went to the doc today and my ear infections are cleared...finally! But the big news of the day is that I hit the 20 pound mark. My Momma called me a Porker. She says I'm trying to compete with my Daddy to be 30 pounds by the time I'm 1 years old.

Anyway, just wanted to give you an update. I'm sure I'll have more to tell you when my Mom and Dad get back in town. Until then, I'll be hanging with my Grammy! She's so awesome for coming all the way from Texas to watch me for the week!

I Want This...

2009-06-04T17:12:00.003-06:00

I don't normally do things like this, but this bike is SWEET and I want it. So, if you post this to your blog, facebook, twitter account, etc you could be entered to win this bike. And that's exactly what I'm doing. Isn't it cool??? So, please click on the Madsen picture to the right and help me win this bike so I can stroll around the neighboorhood with Noah! :)

Little Stinker

2009-05-27T11:11:00.001-06:00

Feeding time has been a chore lately! For the time being, we feed Noah in his Bumbo chair. It worked for a while, but now Noah has figured out how to move around in it. He likes to look at everything but his food while eating. So today I was feeding him like every other day and Noah popped out of his Bumbo onto the table. It's a good thing I was right there. Did he cry? No. He laughed...hard! So, I put him back in his chair and resume feeding him and he keeps trying to pop himself out of it...smiling the whole time he's doing it. So I squeeze his hands an say, "Noah stop." Did he stop? No. He laughed....hard! Little stinker! We don't want to say "No" to him because we're afraid it will confuse him with his name. But every time I gave him a firm "Noah stop" or "Noah don't" he laughed. And then I laughed. He's just so cute when he laughs. I'm in trouble if he laughs every time he supposed to be obeying his Mom!

Guess it's time for a high chair

Go Nuggs!

2009-05-25T11:20:00.000-06:00

At the risk of getting flack from my fellow Spurs fans, I'm posting this picture. It's just too cute not to! I still love the Spurs, but they slacked this year, so I have to cheer for my #3 team (The Rockets are still my #2)! After all, I highly doubt Noah will grow up to be a Spurs fan. I'm pretty sure his Dad will put the kibosh on that! And for the time being, "Go Nuggets!" They've worked hard...and I DESPISE the Lakers! So kudos to them for making the Lakers work!

6 Months

2009-05-12T10:41:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that 6 months has come so quickly! Noah, you have gotten so big and so fun this past month. At your check-up, you weighed in at 18.6 lbs (75th percentile), were 27.5 inches tall (90th percentile) and your head was still giant at 45.5 cm (90th percentile). You're a big boy!! This past month, you really started to like eating anything and everything. Though you may make a bitter face sometimes, you still eat the entire jar. You eat both fruits and vegetables and still eat 4 oz. of formula at every meal. Little Pig! Your sleep has been kind of off this past month. Maybe it has something to do with the double ear infection the doctor discovered at your 6 month appointment. We had no idea that you were hurting! Other than not sleeping well, you showed no signs of having those ear infections. Maybe you'll be tough like your Momma and will be able to stand all sorts of pain! :)
You're pretty active these days. You love to roll all across the room. Sometimes I look away for a split second and when I look back, you're clear across the other side of the room. You're starting to scoot a little bit, but haven't quite figured out how to get very far. Sitting up has been a challenge. That big noggin' of yours is keeping you from sitting for very long. But, we're still working on it! Hopefully by 7 months you'll be sitting without any problems. You love your bouncy seat with all the toys. You can finally sit in it without flopping all over the place. I finally heard a big belly laugh from you (5/2/09)! It was just you and I and you thought I was hilarious for some reason. I was so sad that Daddy wasn't around to hear it. But, it was a special moment between the two of us. You still don't know what to think when Daddy tickles you. Sometimes you let out a little squeal. But mostly you just tighten your muscles and brace for the tickling. You love to grab our faces. And, you LOVE to eat my face. You only do it to me so I'm the lucky one that gets slobbered on. I don't mind it one bit though!

Daddy gave you your first haircut (5/6/09). That little mohawk of yours was getting out of control! Sadly, I don't have any pictures because I had to hold you while he trimmed your hair. You still have somewhat of a mohawk, but your blonde hair is growing in all over. Pretty soon, the mohawk will be gone! Speaking of blonde hair, how did that happen? You are so blonde! More blonde than your Mom ever was. Your Dad and I always look at you and wonder who you look like. We get mixed responses from everyone. A lot of people say you look like your sister Sara. You do have her coloring...very fair, very blonde, and big blue eyes. Daddy and I never had any idea that you would've turned out that way. It's a nice surprise and you sure are cute!
You're still very laid back and everyone says how chill you are. You make it very easy to take you anywhere. You're a very quiet boy except when you're hungry. And when you're hungry, you sure let us know! It's amazing how loud you can get. For someone who is so quiet most of the time, you sure do have some lungs on you. You hate being hungry and sometimes when you're screaming and the bottle is in your mouth, it takes you a minute or so to realize it's there. It's a pretty funny thing, but it makes me crazy sometimes! We have to feed you right on the dot or you let us know that it's past time. So I have to make sure I have food around at all times!Noah, you're a joy to have around. We all love you very much! You have changed my life in more ways that I can count. You're such a blessing to me and our family! Don't go growing up to fast....these past 6 months have gone by way to fast!

I love you, son!

Love,
Momma

1st Mother's Day

2009-05-10T10:29:00.004-06:00

My 1st Mother's Day was wonderful. Though it was a gloomy day, I loved spending every minute with my boy. David, the girls and Noah gave me gifts that are supposed to help me relax. They gave me things like candles, a mini massager, a gift certificate to an awesome spa for a massage and headphones. The girls spent the day with their Mom so David, Noah and I went to church together. At church, all the Mom's got roses and we all had to say something that we remembered about our own Mother's. I said that I remembered my Mom always doing her quiet time and reading her Bible. That is something that has stood out in my mind for years and has had a big impact on me. I hope that someday my own kids will see that with me. I'm not quite there yet....but I'll keep working on it. After church, we went and had an awesome brunch at the Greenbriar Inn in Boulder with some friends. Then we went home and Noah let me have a 2 hour nap! What a great gift! It was such a nice and relaxing day.

It is still surreal that I'm a Mom. I wouldn't change it for anything though. I love that little boy of mine. David, thanks for giving me the greatest gift! Mom, thanks for being a great example! Noah, thanks for making me your Momma! I love you all!

Operation 60th Birthday Surprise

2009-04-23T09:49:00.001-06:00

My Dad turned 60 this year, so my Mom wanted to do something special for him. So she flew the Colorado crew (Colemans & Peech Family) to Texas and the Tharps met us in Houston. This was all a surprise, so my Dad had no idea that we were coming in. My Grandma and my Uncle Dave also came in from Chicago for the surprise. Before this though, everytime I talked to my Dad, he would ask, "So, are you coming in for my birthday?" And I would say, "No Dad. We're broke. We can't fly right now." Now my Dad is a pretty sneaky guy so I don't know if he was just trying to find out if anyone was doing anything for is birthday or if he really was just asking if we could swing flying in for the big day. Anyway, he was fishing and I was giving up the secret. So we all headed down there the day after his birthday. We met the Tharps at a nearby restaurnt and then followed each other to my parents house. We pulled up in the driveway and my Dad met all of us in his robe. And the tears began to flow. Needless to say, we pulled off the surprise and my Dad was thrilled to see all of his family!

The weekend was great. We spent most of our time by the pool. My Dad's company had a big barbeque cookoff and so we spent Friday night there at the Galveston County Fair. It was a blast! I think Kerri, Dana and I took advantage of having the Grandma's take care of all the kids. It was great to be able to hang out with my sisters and dance all night. The kids had a great time too riding all the carnival rides. The next day, we took one big family portrait. This was the first time that all of us had been together in a while, so we took advantage of that moment. Everyone except us left the next day. Our crew went to NASA the next day and took a tour. I hadn't been there since my elementary field trip so it was cool to see it as an adult. I definitely appreciated it much more this time around.

Once again, it was a fabulous weekend at the Drenth compound. And once again, I came back to Colorado missing Texas. I was in a funk for a couple of days, but now I'm getting back into the swing of things here. There's just nothing like spending time with your family in the place that you love!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Dad! Hope you were truly surprised and had a great time! We sure do miss you!

Cole helps Gramps blow out his candles

Sisters....awwwwwww

Katelyn, Hadley and Cole playin' in the hot tub

Noah hangin' out with Momma

Sara and David take the jet ski out for a spin

Anna doing what she does best.....lookin' cute

Great Grandma and Noah. I love his goofy grin in this picture!

Uncle Dave with his Great Nephew and Nieces

Grammy and Noah

He Is Risen...2009

2009-04-13T16:21:00.005-06:00

Though we were celebrating the resurrection of Christ, it was a pretty gloomy Easter Day. However, that didn't spoil the meaning of the day and the time we spent with family and friends. It was only a party of 3 for us that day. Noah was decked out in his button down shirt and khakis. He even wore shoes for the first time. I think he looked like a little man...so cute! I did my best to stay warm in my summer dress and sandals, but I pretty much shook all day from the cold. And of course David looked handsome in his button down and khakis. Why is it that so much of Easter is focused on what we wear? I guess it's part of the fun of spring?! Anyway, we went to church where our pastor shared the gospel. Every year we have a balloon release to symbolize the resurrection of Christ. Each balloon has a verse on it so that whoever finds it may learn about Jesus. After church, we headed to Boulder and had brunch at an old dinner hall in Chataqua Park. It was delicious. And it was nice to be able to spend time with David's brother Jon, friend Dave Van Handel and the Max family. After lunch we headed home and took naps. It was the perfect day for a nap....gray and rainy. Though Noah doesn't have a clue what this day is about yet, I was sure to tell him about why we celebrate Easter. And maybe next year, when he's a little older, the Easter Bunny just might visit him.

My handsome boys

Releasing our balloon to the heavens

Celebrating in Boulder

Noah snuggly with Uncle Johnny in his jammies

Remember this guy??

2009-04-13T16:10:00.003-06:00

Yes, that is Chuck E. Cheese! On the eve of Easter, we packed up the kids and chowed down on some pizza and played games with the Olson's (Katie & Trey) and the Thompson's (Katie's sister Jessie, her husband Kyle & twins Will & Sydney). I remembered this place to be quite different. I was probably Sara and Anna's age the last time I was there. In my mind, I remember Chuck E. Cheese being dark and dingy. Come to think about it, the place might have been a little sketchy. My how time changes things! This was not the case this time around. It was bright and noisy and packed with little kids running around without shoes on (GROSS)! Katie's niece was terrified of the mechanical mouse. And after thinking about it, we adults all thought that, "Yes, Chuck E. could be quite scary to a 3 year old." So, she just kept her back to the gigantic mouse and we tried to distract her from looking at him all night. All the kids had a blast. I had a little fun myself. I sure do love that skee ball game! But, I can honestly say that I wouldn't mind if I never saw that place again. It was complete chaos!

This picture of Anna cracks me up because she was having a blast on this thing. She was pedaling so fast as the bike went up and down.
Sara was trying to entertain Noah on the big screen. Doesn't he look thrilled?

Sunday's Coming

2009-04-10T11:13:00.001-06:00

Celebrating My 29th Birthday....For The First Time! :)

2009-04-10T11:05:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I felt loved. My family and friends showered me with birthday blessings from all over the country. It feels pretty cool to be loved so much. Thank you all for wishing me a happy day.

My dear husband surprised me and took me to our favorite restaurant, The Palm. I thought it was just going to be David, Noah and I, but the Max Family and Swanson Family joined us. So that was a nice surprise. I also wasn't expecting to go to The Palm. David told me we were either going to Texas Roadhouse or Bennigans. And I would've been happy with either of those. It was a perfect evening. Sadly, I didn't take any pictures...again!

I wasn't super pumped about this birthday because I'm facing my last year in my twenties. I thought it was going to be just another day. And it was, but it was also just another day that I got to spend with Noah. And that was the best gift that I could've ever gotten! Noah Bobby is so cool....but that's another story for another post.

Anyway, thanks Mom and Dad for having me 29 years ago. I'm still 12 at heart! ;) And thanks David for making me feel special. You're so great at that! You're the best!

Happy 29th JENNY!!!!

2009-04-09T16:26:00.002-06:00

Today is Jenny's 29th and I wanted to take a moment to say how grateful I am to be able to celebrate it with her.
She has been such a rock in my life since almost the first day we met only 3 years ago. She's bright, caring, thoughtful, smart, happy, funny, silly and on and on. Meeting her has been just about the best thing that has ever happened to me. On your 29th girl I hope you get everything you deserve although I don't know quite how to make that happen.
Thanks for giving me Noah, he's the coolest dude I've ever met. You are an amazing mom and an even better wife. Happy 29th Jenny, hope it's a great year. Enjoy the last of your 20's.

I LOVE YOU!!!

Success!

2009-04-06T18:00:00.000-06:00

Noah will FINALLY eat rice cereal. He still doesn't like it so much, but at least he's doing it! You're getting so big, Noah!

Buddies

2009-04-05T22:39:00.001-06:00

These cousins are groiwng up fast! Noah, Zeke and Bentley met again at the Coleman Family Easter (we celebrated a little bit early). This time they were decked out in cool sunglasses. It was a little more difficult to take pictures of these guys since Zeke and Bentley wanted to move around. Noah could've cared less, he just sat there and watched all the action. I am happy to report that Noah is quickly catching up in size to his big cousins. They'd better watch out! :) We're all hoping that these boys will continue to grow up together and will be best buddies!

Here are the boys at Christmas Zeke (3 months), Noah (2 Weeks) Bentley (5 Months)

Noah, Zeke & Bentley. Look at all of Noah's hair! He doesn't have that anymore! :(

Here are the boys today. Noah (4.5 Months), Bentley(9 Months) & Zeke(7.5 Months)

Noah, Zeke & Bentley. Noah is going bald just like his cousins.

Fun With Eggs

2009-04-03T22:20:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Easter a little bit early in the Coleman family so we dyed and decorated eggs so that I could make deviled eggs for the big family gathering. We had a lot of fun and each of us tried to top the others with the most creative egg.

Sara contemplates what would make her egg the most unique

Anna is very careful to be precise and make her egg just perfect

Egg decorating is serious stuff to David

The results...our colorful Easter eggs

Fiesta a la Morey Middle School

2009-04-02T10:03:00.000-06:00

Sara had a fundraisher for her school orchestra...fiesta style. The kids in the orchestra dressed up in Mexican garb and served us dinner. At the same time, we got to listen to Sara and the rest of the kids play us some traditional Mexican music. David and I enjoyed being there and also realized that we are SO glad that we're not in Jr. High anymore. What an interesting time that is in a kid's life!

Senorita Sara and her String Bass

I'm Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick

2009-04-01T09:56:00.000-06:00

Is this a pitiful picture or what? Noah caught a little stomach bug and it was not fun to watch him go through. Let me tell you, it is a pretty weird thing to watch a baby throw up several times. I'm used to him spitting up, but vomit is a whole other story! The one thing I learned from him being sick is that I can handle cleaning up his puke that got all over himself, me and anywhere else that was in range. I have a very strong gag reflex and was proud that I, too, didn't throw up from watching him throw up. I guess you can do anything when it comes to your kids right?? I am happy to say that Noah is on the mend. We had a couple of days of straight pedialyte and now he's back to formula.

P.S. I'm sorry if this post grossed some of you out. My family is used to talking about anything and everything. So, I thought I'd share some grossness with the rest of you!

Mission: Rice Cereal....FAILED

2009-03-31T13:19:00.002-06:00

At Noah's 4 month check-up, the doc said we could start giving him rice cereal. I went home that night, got the cereal set up and put a bib on Noah. I went in for the kill and he spit it right out. Since that first night, I have tried 4 more times to give it to him and he ABSOLUTELY hates it! I've tried everything from making it warmer, to adding apple juice and making it more watery. But still, the boy hates the stuff. He literally gags on it like it's the most disgusting thing on earth. PLEASE HELP! I'll take all of your suggestions as to how we can help this boy start eating solid food.

On another note, here are his 4 month stats:

Weight: 16 pounds (75th percentile)
Height: 26 inches (90th percentile
Head: 44.1 centimeters (90th percentile...yikes!)

Spring

2009-03-28T15:45:00.001-06:00

Which would you prefer? I know what my choice is! Seriously, it's April, time for sunshine and lakes.

This is David shoveling for the 3rd time in one day.

If we were in Texas, we could be sitting on this dock and dangling our feet into this awesome lake!Our lovely yard....nice and brown. .

Bluebonnets in Texas. The best part about spring!

American Idol, Here I Come

2009-03-18T15:52:00.006-06:00

Top O' The Mornin'

2009-03-17T11:27:00.005-06:00

Throughout my life, I spent St. Patrick's Day hiding the green that I was wearing from my Mom. She thought it was a silly tradition and always said something like, "You're not Irish, so what's the big deal?" But Kerri, Dana and I knew that if we didn't wear green that we'd get pinched to death. So, no matter what, we always wore green even if it was on our underwear. It didn't matter if no one else could see it, WE KNEW we were wearing green. So Mom, I hate to say it, but Noah and I are wearing green today. He may be mostly Dutch (wink, wink), but he does have some Irish in him too. And I wouldn't want the poor guy to get pinched! On another note, St. Patrick was actually a really cool guy and a missionary. He was responsible for spreading Chrisitanity throughout Ireland. So while this day has turned into all things Irish, take some time to read about St. Patrick and learn what this day started out as.

And one more thing....What is funny about my Mom not letting us wear green is that she and my Dad decided to get married on this silly little holiday. So, happy anniversary Mom and Dad! You've made 36 years together look easy. Thanks for being a great example!

The littlest "Leprechaun"

Big girl

2009-03-13T16:03:00.004-06:00

Sara Megan,

Happy Birthday baby! I can't believe you are 12 years old today. Oh how the time has flown! You have been and will always be so special to me and all of us. I can't believe that you are almost a teenager. You've always been so "grown up" and such a protective and great big sister. Now that Noah is here I've seen that in you all over again. You've always had a great sense of adventure and humor and as you venture down the path of adolescence I hope that you keep your mind open to learning things keep things fun and keep your heart close to God's. You are awesome, I'm so happy that I'm your dad and so happy that we have each other. You'll always be my big girl. I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives getting to know each other better.
I love you today! I hope it's the best birthday yet.

-Dad

4 Months

2009-03-12T17:28:00.004-06:00

Noah is 4 months today. He's gotten to be such a big boy! He no longer looks like a newborn to me. He's spent the majority of this past month with a nasty cold, but you'd never know it. He still smiles from ear to ear whenever we talk to him. His hair is growing more and more sparse. I really would love to shave it off, but David won't let me. I hope his hair starts to grow in really soon because his current hairstyle is pretty awful! My favorite thing that Noah has been doing this past month is when he blows raspberries. It's his own form of communication and the louder the noise, the more the spit. He doesn't care....he just drools and spits on everyone and everything. It's really funny to see in person. He's continued to be a great sleeper which allowed David and I to catch up on some much needed rest. This past month, Noah has also discovered that his sisters are really silly. He loves when they sing to him! Reading to Noah has been a lot of fun this past month. I'm very proud of how he sits so quietly when I read to him. He's started to grab at the book and ooh and ahhh at the pictures. Here's hopin' that he'll love reading for the rest of his life! And in this past month, Noah began to roll over again and has learned how to sit in his little chair (as I mentioned in previous posts). I have a feeling that our days of stillness and quiet are long gone as Noah learns to move and make noise. Each day has become more and more fun as Noah discovers more. I love being able to stay at home with him and watch his little personality develop. I feel very blessed to have this opportunity and dread when I have to go back to work eventually. For now though, here's to many, many more months and years of our fun little boy!

In honor of his 4 months on this earth, I bought him a new toy. However, he's not quite ready for it yet. His toes barely touch the ground and it's a little difficult for him to sit and move around in it right now. But, he thought the colors and sounds were really cool. In the next month, we're gonna work on becoming a pro at playing with this toy. Stay tuned for all the new tricks Noah will learn in the next month!

Look What I Can Do

2009-03-10T13:40:00.003-06:00

Hi guys! It's Noah again. I just wanted to show y'all how big and strong I'm getting. My Momma and Daddy are really proud of me. They keep clapping and making a lot of noise whenever I do something new. It makes me smile. Anyway, here's what I've been up to this past week.

I finally learned how to sit up in my Bumbo seat without my head wobbling around!

I learned how to read! Just kidding. But, I really do love to look at my First Words Book!

And the other thing I learned how to do is roll over from my back to my stomach. I don't have a video of that yet. Mom's slacking again. Or maybe I'm just too quick for her to be able to capture it! Hopefully I'll get that on tape really soon!

Annual Ski Trip

2009-03-10T13:14:00.009-06:00

This past weekend, I went on my 4th annual ski trip with a bunch of our friends. I think this was the 8th trip for David and Kerri. Anyway, this trip is always sentimental for me because 4 years ago is when I kinda got to know David. If you would've asked me 4 years ago where I'd be today, I would've never guessed that #1 I'd be married to David and living in Colorado and #2 That I'd be bringing our son to ski trip 4 years later. Crazy how things change that quickly!

Heading up to the slopes

On Friday we got to go skiing/boarding at Keystone. Kerri was nice enough to watch Noah while David and I conquered the mountain. Thanks Kerri!! I skied with the girls in the morning and then hung with the boys in the afternoon. I was proud to be able to keep up with them. It didn't make me feel as out of shape! At night we enjoyed some hot tub time and Catch Phrase. Saturday we spent the day hanging around at the house and then went into Breckenridge for lunch and some window shopping. Breck is my favorite ski town and I love any opportunity to walk around there. On Sunday, we packed up, stopped by the outlets and headed home.

It was a great weekend and I look forward to going again next year!

Curt, Trey, David, Jonathan, Jeremy, Katie, me and Sara. We all hung together the entire day.

David, Curt, Jeremy and Jonathan ready to Board

Nighttime festivities always include the hot tub and games. Jeremy is trying to explain something to the guys during a round of Catch Phrase.

4 years from the start....our little family

Shopping Buddies at the Outlet Mall

Look Who's Rolling Over Again!

2009-03-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Yep! Noah has finally discovered to roll over again. AND...he's rolling over both ways! Woo hoo! I don't have a picture of him rolling over from his back to his stomach, but I promise, he knows how to do it! I'm so proud of him! He's not even 4 months old yet! What a genius (But I'm not biased or anything)!

My hopes of college being paid for by his athleticism have been revived! :)

Our Sick Boy

2009-03-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Isn't that just a pitiful picture? You can tell he's sick by looking at his eyes. It makes me sad that Noah is sick and there's nothing we can do about it. Noah has had a pretty bad cold for about a week now. Even though he's sick, he has still been on his best behavior. He's sleeping through the night still and not even that fussy. But, it breaks my heart when I hear his little cough. He's been so great when I put those stinky saline drops in his nose. He barely even makes a peep when I do that.

Poor guy, we hope you get better soon!

Rhinestone Cowboys??

2009-02-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

Not so much!

My husband trying his best impression of a Cowboy. He even wore a pearl snap shirt!

David and I, his brother Jon, cousin Luke and our friends Katie and Trey all headed up to the Grizzly Rose to see Pat Green (my favorite Texas singer/songwriter). This was a momentous occasion for us because we actually paid Julia and Kimmy (David's sisters) to watch Noah. Thanks guys!

David and I enjoying a night out

Anyway, the evening started out at Benny's....a Mexican Restaurant where David and I proceeded to gorge ourselves. We finished the fat flush this day so we were pumped to have some food with flavor. After that we went to the Rose. I practically had to break David's arm to go with me to this concert so I was a little nervous about him having a good time. Pat was great and it made me miss Texas so much. I love me some good Texas music. David wouldn't dance with me though....he put his foot down on that one!

Listening to Pat

Somewhere in the middle of the concert, the boys thought it would be a great idea to try their hand at the mechanical bull. Sadly, I don't think any of them have a future in Bullriding. But, it gave Katie and I some good laughs. They had fun though and even had some battle wounds to show for it. They all had bloody fingers from holding onto the rope...hilarious!

The boys before the bull...David, Luke, Jonathan & Trey

Katie and I

Jonathan vs. The Bull

Luke vs. The Bull

David vs. The Bull

Trey vs. The Bull

Flushing Our Fat

2009-02-25T13:49:00.004-07:00

David and I decided that we needed to kickstart some weight loss. We heard about this diet called The Fat Flush Plan. His sister Bekah and her husband Jeremy tried it with great results. So we drank the kool-aid (quite literally) and decided that we would also do the Fat Flush Plan. This diet consists of 3 phases. The first phase is supposed to shock and cleanse your system. Each morning we have to drink an 8oz. glass of unsweetened cranberry juice with 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds. This is known as the longlife cocktail. Then we have to drink a 5oz. glass of hot water with lemon in it. Then we get to have breakfast. Our food choice is quite limited. We can't have sugar, salt, carbs and dairy. We may only have up to 2 eggs per day and up to 2 servings of fruit. We're supposed to only eat 8 oz. of meat per day, but we kind of cheat on that part. Needless to say, it's a pretty strict diet. We started this diet 9 days ago. Already, David has lost 8 pounds and I've lost 3. So not a ton of weight has been shed, but it has helped me see that there may be a light at the end of this obese tunnel! We end phase 1 on Friday. We couldn't be more thrilled about it! All we talk about is what food sounds good to us. So hopefully we won't go on a food binge and gain back all of our weight!

Now, I have to say that I've been pretty disappointed about the little amount I've lost compared to the amount David has lost. It infuriates me that men lose weight quicker. My Dad is the same way. He can lose 20 pounds just by looking at a treadmill. Anyway, I gained over 60 pounds (If you don't remember, see picture below. It's quite scary how big the little Noah monster made me!) with Noah and have already lost 30. So, I still have a ways to go. People keep telling me, "It took 9 months to put it on, it's gonna take at least that long to take it off." I am just so impatient and want the weight off. I want to be healthy for myself and for my son. So, if you find time, every once in a while, could you pray that I stay consistent and remain on the path to weight loss? I'd greatly appreciate it! I know encouragement and support can be a big help with something like this, and I could really use it.

HUGE!!!

I don't know how my little 5'2" frame handled all that weight!

Well, anyway, here's to being back in a two piece bathing suit soon (I'm hopeful!).

I'm a Busy Guy

2009-02-18T17:02:00.005-07:00

Hi guys. Noah here.

Since my Mom has been slacking on updating the blog, I decided to help her out. It's been a busy few weeks.

On the 6th of February, I got to go on date night with my Mom and Dad. We went to a Chris Tomlin concert (my 2nd concert in my short 3 months of life). I slept at first, but quickly awoke to rock out with my Mom and Dad. It was a great concert and truly an unbelievable worship experience. I decided that I really enjoy music...just like my folks.

Catchin' a quick snoozer before the concert starts.

During the week, I discovered that I can make this cool raspberry noise. I love to do it all the time now. And every time my parents do it, I do it right back to them. It's great. Sometimes I even spit and drool all over myself and whoever is right next to me. I also learned how to squirm all around and turn sideways in my crib. My Mom always finds me sleeping sideways when she wakes me up in the mornings.

I'm a wild sleeper (like my Mom) and I always end up sideways in the mornings.

Sometimes I play so hard that I just fall asleep wherever I am.

Speaking of drool, I think I have a tooth coming in. My Momma can see this tiny little bump on my gums. Sometimes it hurts and I'm a little cranky, but the pain is probably nothing compared to when the tooth will actually appear. For now, I'm just a drooling fool and chewing on everything I can get my mouth on. I'll let you know when my tooth decides to make an appearance.

I enjoyed my first Valentine's Day this past weekend. Again, I got to tag along with Mom and Dad. My Mom was one lucky lady because she got to have 2 dates. But, she was slackin' again and forgot to take a picture. She was pretty bummed about that. However, we enjoyed a nice Valentine's Banquet at a Country Club with some members from our church. My parents played a version of the Newlywed game and didn't do some well. I told them that needed to spend a little more time together getting to know each other. The next day, Valentine's Day, we went to the CU vs. Texas basketball game. The noise doesn't usually bother me, but this time was a different story. It kept me awake the entire game and I even got a little scared. Mom and Dad said they were going to buy headphones for me so that I can keep going to concerts and games. The upside to this day was that UT beat CU in overtime. It was a VERY exciting game. After the game, we joined some other families at the Max house and had some yummy mexican egg rolls. Well, everyone, but me enjoyed them. All in all, it was a great 1st Valentine's Day. Maybe next year my Mom will remember to take pictures!

This must be when CU was losing by a lot (because it was quiet enough for me to catch another snoozer).

Here I am hangin' with my Buddy Reese at the Max household.

Well, that's all the news I have for now. Stay tuned for news on that tooth I'm gettin'. And who knows, maybe I'll decide to start rolling over again.

Noah

3 Months

2009-02-05T12:21:00.012-07:00

Wowza! I can't believe it's been 3 months since we first met you, Noah, face to face! In some ways time has crawled by, but in others, it's gone by WAY too fast! It's been so amazing to watch you grow and learn new things almost daily. Here are some of things that have happened in this past month:

*You have learned to smile and laugh a little. It makes our hearts melt and we look forward to your bright little face each day! You especially smile when Daddy talks to you. You love his voice and when he calls you his "Little Man."

*You're mohawk is standing strong! You're hair is crazy and we don't know what to do with it. You're going completely bald on the sides but you've still got a ton of hair on top and in the back. You truly have a natural mohawk. Somedays I'm tempted to shave it all off. It's just so funny!

*Sometimes you'll cry in your crib for a while. Your Dad will go in there and as soon as you see him, you smile. It's like you're saying, "Just kidding, sucker!"

*You got your first cold this month. It broke our hearts to hear you all congested. It's frustrating that we can't make it better for you. You do a really good job of staying calm when I put those nasty saline drops in your nose.

*You make it very easy for us to have a life outside of the house. Daddy and I can take you anywhere and you're always the perfect boy. Thank you for being such an easy baby!

*You discovered the TV. I put in Baby Einstein's video, "Baby Noah" and you immediately became addicted! You smiled and giggled the entire time you watched it.

*You're "talking" to us so much now. We love to hear your stories of "goos" and "gaaaaas."

*When you cry, sometimes it sounds like you're saying "Mom." It makes me anxious to hear the first time you will really say Mom and mean it.

*You learned how to grab at your toys this past month. You love to lay on your mat and swat at the toys hanging from it! I think you could do it all day long and be perfectly content.

*The biggest thing you've done this month that has been so helpful to your Dad and I, is sleeping through the night! WOO HOO! You've been sleeping a record 9 hours and we couldn't be more thankful!

*Dad and I got to have an official night out by ourselves. Aunt Meanie, Uncle Adrian and cousin Hadley watched you. They said you were a good boy. We hope they'll want to hang out with you some more. Hadley is pretty curious about you and we hope that y'all will be buddies one day.

*You got your first set of professional pictures taken. You didn't want to smile for anything. The photographer did all sorts of tricks to get you to smile, but you weren't having it. We got a couple of smiles, but for the most part, you stayed straight faced.

*Your Dad and I decided that your personality is pretty chill and laid back for most part. Because of the expressions you make, you sometimes remind us of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. You always look bored or grumpy. But when you decide that you want to smile, you light up the room!

*Everyone says how good you are. And for the most part, you are! But, you still get pretty angry when you're VERY hungry! You've got some pretty strong pipes on you!

*You outgrew your 0 - 3 month clothes somwhere in the middle of the 2nd month. You're now wearing 3 - 6month clothes and most of those are getting a little big snug. You're going to be a big boy and we love it! We love to kiss those chubby cheeks of yours. You can keep growing, just don't grow up too fast!

*You discovered your hands this past month. You love to suck on them when you're hungry or sleepy. You rarely take a pacifier. One of my other favorite things about you discovering your hands is that you hold them like you're praying. It's very sweet to watch.

We just love you so much, Noah. Our hearts grow bigger and bigger each day for you. We can't wait to see what you're going to do next. Happy 3 months son!

Love,

Momma

Happy 2009

2009-01-22T21:01:00.012-07:00

I know, I know....it's been a while. But, lucky for you, we're still here! Christmas came and went quickly and we were onto New Years. David, Noah and I spent the evening with my sister Kerri, The Olson Family and the Max Family. We played Catch Phrase and just hung out waiting for midnight to get here.

On January 1st, Noah went on his first plane ride to Texas. He was such a good boy and made it very easy for me to travel with him by myself. Dana (Aunt Dink) picked us up to from the airport and we headed to her house in Blanco. The next morning, we packed up all the kids and headed to Gramps and Grammy's house in Houston. Kerri and Hadley were going to meet us there too. It was the first time that the cousins were all together. While there, Noah went on his first train ride at the Kemah Boardwalk and got to meet my childhood friend, Kimmy.

Noah and Kimmy meeting for the first time.

Aunt Meanie, Hadley and Noah and I on the train. Of course Noah slept the entire time.

Cole, Gramps, Lauren, Hadley, Noah, Grammy and Katelyn

While in Houston, I had to say goodbye to our family dog, Meg. This was VERY hard for me. My Mom and I were the ones that got to pick Meg out from a bunch of other labs. So, I was very attched to her. But, she was old and had some medical problems and my parents made the difficult decision to put her to sleep. She was a great dog. Many times she was mischevious, but she always made us laugh. I know my Mom is very sad without her and it will be hard to go to their house knowing that Meg won't be coming to the door to greet us. We all miss her very much!After our short trip to Houston, Dana and I headed back to Blanco/San Antonio. While Noah and I were there, we got to spend some quality time with the Tharps and Noah got to meet some of my dearest friends.

Noah meeting his Texas cousins, Lauren, Cole & Katelyn

Meeting the San Antonio girs: (Top) Sarah & Desaree, (Bottom Row) Hilary, Traci & Melissa

My college roommate, Holly drove all the way down to Blanco (from Waco) just to meet Noah and to hang out with me for the day. She and her sweet husband, Jered, brought their adorable son, Parker.

My Texas tour quickly came to an end and I returned back to Colorado. Even though I missed David and the girls, it wasstill very hard for me to leave Texas. It still feels like home in many ways. Anyway, I quickly got back into the swing of things in Colorado.

I started work again. But, I am blessed to be able to work from home while taking care of Noah. Speaking of Noah, he turned 2 months and had another check-up at with the doctor. He's now weighing in at a hefty 13.2 pounds (90th Percentile), 23.5 inches tall (75th Percentile) and his head is still in the 75th Percentile. He has outgrown his 0-3 month clothes and is fitting pretty well into hist 3-6 month clothes. I don't think there is any way he'll make it to 6 months in those clothes! Also at the 2 month appointment, Noah got his shots which was very hard for me. Noah's face immediately turned purple and he screamed like crazy. He screamed for about 20 minutes afterwards. One thing about Noah is that most of the time he is pretty quiet. However, when he wants something or he's angry, he let's you know right away. There is not leading up to it....there's just screaming. And that's what he did when he got his shots. I was pretty glad to get that appointment over.

Noah is getting bigger and bigger everyday. He is starting to smile (which makes us very happy). He is also beginning to sleep through the night....woo hoo! We think he's forgotten how to roll over because he now hates being on his tummy. He just lays there and screams. We're hoping he'll remember how to do that again really soon. Other than that, we're just enjoying watching him grow and learn new things. Noah seems to like when David talks to him in a really high, cartoon-like voice. It cracks both Noah and I up! Sara and Anna are having fun with Noah too. They're great big sisters and love spending time with him. Both of them continue to do well in school and are growing up pretty quickly as well.

A little peek at Noah's smile

Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen? And yes, he's still rockin' that mohawk!

David, Noah & I at the CU vs. Kansas basketball game. Noah is practicing his "Sic "em Bears!"

Well, it's been a busy year so far. I have great expecations for this year and am looking forward to how God works in our lives. For the 2009 year, I hope to get in shape and become a better wife and mother. As for our family, I pray that there won't be anymore hospital visits, sickness or surgeries. For all of you, I pray for health, happiness and that you'll know the love of Christ. Keep keeping up with our little team and if you come to Colorado, don't be a stranger!

3 New Posts

2008-12-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Scroll down for what's been happening lately....

Side Effects May Include Facial Disfigurement and Humiliation

2008-12-30T15:02:00.006-07:00

If you know me well, you know that I am all too familiar with the hospitals and emergency rooms. Let me preface this story by telling you that I went to the urgent care center yesterday because I thought I had strep throat. My tonsils felt huge and I was just absolutely sure that I had it. Also, Sara was diagnosed with it earlier in the week so that confirmed my suspicions. About an hour after I got home from the urgent care center, my face, neck and shoulders began to stiffen up. I had no control over my mouth and my tongue and I could barely talk. So off we went to the emergency room. On the way there, I was crying and Sara and Anna were crying because they were scared too. It was horrible! When we got to the doctor, the situation got increasingly worse. The doctor asked me what meds I had been taking and it turned out that the medicine Reglan (which I was taking to help increase my milk supply) had triggered something to occur neurologically. They called it Extra Pyramidal Symptoms. This meant that my brain was controlling the muscles in my face, neck and shoulders to stiffen. I literally had no control over what was going on with me. As soon as I told the doctor that I was taking Reglan he knew exactly what to do. He filled my IV with Benadryl and not 2 minutes later, I was absolutely fine. It was the weirdest and strangest experience of my life. So now, I obviously have an allergic reaction to reglan and will never take that again.

This whole thing just made me think about how powerful medication can be. They can save your life, but in a second they can change your life, too. I am happy to report that my face will not be disfigured. David is happy that he won't have a gimp wife for the rest of his life. He told me that everyone was staring at me. To which I responded, "Well, no duh! I'd be staring at me too!" My sister Dana called me a medical nightmare. I'm beginning to think that's true with all the stuff that's happened to me within the last year! So weird. I'm glad that is over.

Christmas Firsts

2008-12-30T14:08:00.008-07:00

Well, Christmas came and went with much anticipation and excitement. Christmas Eve and the next day were filled with lots of laughs. My parents came in town and spent Christmas with Kerri and I. On Christmas Eve, we went to church and then had dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. Yum! Afterwards, we went back to our house where Sara and Anna got to open presents from the Grandparents and Aunts (Kerri and Dana). While they were opening presents, my lovely niece Hadley decides to have the stinkiest diaper of all time! I am not kidding when I say that the smell took up the entire house and lingered for about an hour. I thought my Dad was going to have a heart attack from laughing so hard about it. Who would think that something so dreadful could come out of someone so cute?! It reminded me that one day, I too, will have to deal with those nasty diapers. Anyway, we continued our Christmas Eve celebration and then the Peech family and my parents went back to Kerri's house. David and I tucked the girls and Noah in and then we got to play Santa. I had so much fun putting their presents under the tree! It really is more enjoyable to give gifts to others....especially to kids. The next morning, we all woke up and tore through our presents. Noah slept through most of it. I think he enjoyed getting his crib mobile because he loves to stare at it right before he goes to sleep. Sara and Anna raked in the goods and David and I enjoyed watching their excitiement. David got some good stuff and the kids got me GUITAR HERO! I've been wanting this game for a long time so I was super pumped to open up this present! After we tore through the presents, we took Sara and Anna to their Mom's. David, Noah and I headed to Kerri's house for a nice Christmas brunch and more presents. I brought Guitar Hero over and we pretty much rocked out for the rest of the day! Even my Mom played it. I think she wants it now, too!

It was such a nice Christmas season filled with many first with our new boy! I look forward to making more and more memories over the years! I hope you all had a great Christmas and will have a Happy New Year!

Our tree with all the presents. I think it looks so pretty!

The Peech Family on Chirstmas Eve . Adrian, stinky Hadley and Kerri! :)

Noah with his future wife, Brie, on Christmas Eve. They're even matching!! (I swear Tami and I had no idea that they had similar pants! It just proves that they're meant to be!)

The Littlest Santa with Daddy

The Littlest Santa with Momma

All the kids watiting to open presents

Sara opening her snappy new boots

Anna opening her new video camera

Noah and his new crib mobile

Noah hanging out with Gramps

David, Adrian, Kerri and Dad "Cheers" to Christmas

Kerri and I rockin' out to Guitar Hero. Notice our "groupie" in the background snoring away!

Jude is playing some serious metal!

Even Gus got in on the action of opening presents

I just wanted to post this pic just for grins. The hat alone is hilarious enough, but the mad/angry face makes it priceless!

The Littlest...

2008-12-30T13:57:00.004-07:00

Ever since Noah was born, David would call Noah, "The Littlest _________" (fill in the blank). David would pick Noah up and make him act like he was walking across the floor. If we were at church, Noah became "The Littlest Worshipper." At night when we tuck the girls in, he's known as "The Littlest Tucker." And if David was fixing something to do with plumbing, Noah would be, "The Littlest Plumber." So on Christmas Ever, our littlest man did not disappoint when he became, "The Littlest Santa Clause."

The Littlest Tucker

The Littlest Santa

The Littlest Santa in action

Date Night

2008-12-14T11:59:00.004-07:00

While David and Anna had a date night at the movies, Noah and I got to have our first date night. We got to go to the Michael W. Smith Christmas concert with my sister Kerri and niece Hadley. It was a great concert and made it feel like Christmas.

As I listened to the music, I found myself thinking about Mary and about what she went through to have Jesus. What humilty she went through! What pain she went through knowing that one day she'd have to watch her Son selflessly give up His life for people like you and me. Though I didn't quite go through what she went through, I was humbled with the thought that I had my own son. And though I know that Noah doesn't have to give up his life, I wonder what things he will go through over the years. No matter what comes his way, my hope for him is that his life will always glorify the sacrifce that Jesus made for him.

As Christmas approaches, I hope you, too, will think about Mary and Joseph and the journey they made to the manger to welcome our Saviour into this world. Most importantly though, I hope that you will remember Jesus and how he died on the cross 33 years after his birth, to save us from our sins to give you and I eternal life.

1st Date night with Mom. He was very polite and had great manners! Best date I've ever had!!!

Aunt Meanie with Hadley! Hadley danced to the music and Kerri chased her around!

Nice to Meet You

2008-12-10T13:55:00.004-07:00

While in the Hospital, a ton of people came by to meet Noah. Thank you for all of you that checked on us, made us meals, brought gifts and just spent time with us. It means the world to us. I am thankful that Noah will have a "family" outside of ours to turn to. Your kindness is a overwhelming. I wish I had pictures of Noah meeting you for the first time. But, I guess we have plenty of time to get those pics in the future.

I know others have visited or called....you are not forgotten. I appreciate all of my friends and family that have continuously called or sent cards from Texas, Chicago and Kentucky. You guys keep me going and your efforts have not gone unoticed! One of these days I'll get back to calling or writing! Thanks for being patient with me!

Thanks Grammy

2008-12-03T21:07:00.003-07:00

Dear Grammy,

I know you had to go back to Gramps in Texas, but I already miss you. I miss you rocking me to sleep when my parents got tired of hearing me cry. I miss fun trips to the mountains with you. I miss listening to silly songs in the car. But most importantly, I just miss you Grammy.

Thanks for helping out my Mom and Dad when I came home from the hospital. I'm sorry if you were bored while we all slept. We were all very tired. I promise that I'll try my hardest to be awake when you come back for Christmas. Thanks for making my parents dinner and driving them everywhere. It's nice to know that you took really good care of my Mom while she recovered from the C Section.

Anyway, thanks again for all your help. I know it meant the world to my parents! I can't wait to see you and Gramps in a few weeks!

Love,

Noah

My first trip to Estes Park with Grammy, Momma and Daddy

It was really cold when we went. I had to get bundled up in this ridiculous hat!

Noah In Action

2008-12-03T20:54:00.002-07:00

Boy Genius

2008-12-01T20:32:00.003-07:00

We have a genius/athlete on our hands and we couldn't be more excited about it! Last night, David and I were watching TV in our bed with Noah laying down in between us. I decided to put him on his tummy for a little bit to see how he would handle it. So there he is, just laying there and the next thing I know, the boy stinkin' rolled over!!! I said, "DAVID! Did you see that????" David said, "He just rolled over because he's going down hill." So, I put him back on his belly and he did it AGAIN! At this point I was super pumped. David was still skeptical. He told me to lay him on the floor and see what happens on a flat surface. I did just that and Noah immediately rolled over. Now I was exstatic!! I said, "Oh my gosh! He's an athlete and he's gonna get a scholarship!!" By now, David was convinced we had a genius on our hands and began to research when the most babies start rolling over and found that it usually happens between 3 and 5 months. However, our boy did it at 18 DAYS. Can you believe it? Just to make sure it wasn't a fluke, I put him on the floor this morning and he rolled over twice. And the best part about this morning was that not only did he roll over, but he rolled over to the left AND to the right!

This is just so exciting! I'm going to try to get a video of this momentous event and I'll post it soon!

It's Natural

2008-11-24T21:47:00.003-07:00

When I was pregnant and wondered what Noah would look like, one of my hopes was that he would end up with David's hair. Well, he did end up with a lot of hair. And, I think it's mostly like David's. But, when I imagined what it would look like, I didn't imagine it to be a mohawk from the start. Believe me folks, we do not intentionally fix his hair this way. It just simply transforms into a mohawk all on its own. I am at a loss as to how to fix it. I mean, is it ok to put hair gel or hairspray in your 12-day-olds hair? So, I guess I have to live with the mohawk for now....I don't know what else to do with it!

Week One

2008-11-21T12:08:00.003-07:00

So far, we survived our first week with Noah. We've been enjoying every second with him....even when he's sucking the energy right out of us! This parenting stuff is definitely a HUGE adjustment. For me, the biggest adjustment has been lack of sleep. I realize that every new parent goes through this. I just wasn't expecting to be this tired. I keep asking my mom if it's this normal to feel this tired. She thought that I'm probably more tired than normal since I'm recovering from kidney stones, surgey and lack of sleep from the hospital. I now realize that sleep is a luxury! Anyway, here is a recap from our week of firsts.

1. First trip to the doctor.
2. First trip to PF Changs. David and I went to PF Changs to celebrate when we found out we were pregnant. We went there again for our last date night before he was born. And then we went again when Noah turned 1 week old.
3. First trip to Babies 'R Us. Noah is an excellent shopper and didn't make a peep the enitre time!
4. First all nighter trying to calm the boy down. Noah has quite powerful lungs and we're starting to think he has a bit of a temper if he doesn't get what he wants right away.
5. David was the first to get sprayed by Noah while changing his diaper. He then proceeded to get both his Grammy's and then me.
6. First bath. He didn't seem to enjoy this very much because he was cold.
7. First ride in the swing. Thankfully, he LOVES his swing.
8. First trip to Target. Again he was an excellent shopper.

That's the gist of our week. Of course there was a lot of eating and a lot of sleeping mixed in with all that stuff. It turns out that our boy is quite the eater and a master sleeper. He won't wake up for anything! When his is awake, he looks completely different because we're not used to seeing his eyes! We're hoping that will change here pretty soon. Until then, we'll just keep enjoying our sleepy guy.

We are truly blessed.

2008-11-17T21:11:00.011-07:00

Well it's been amazing and crazy since we first welcomed our son Noah into this world. They day after he was born we got a call from our good friends the Max's and Curt said "warm up the bed next to you we are on our way in" (Tami and Jenny have the same Dr. and therefore they also delivered at Rose). The daughter they were expecting decided to make an early entrance to make sure she wasn't upstaged by little Noah (She was due mid Dec).
Later on Thursday evening we welcomed Brienne Megan Max into our little group. She is adorable and weighed in at 6lbs 2oz. Her mom Tami who underwent emergency c-section made it through just fine and everyone was healthy. Curt, Tami, Adrina and Brienne ended up getting a room just down the hall from us. It was great to spend our next two days at the hospital with friends there the whole time. Curt and Adrina and I would go and get breakfast in the mornings and we'd visit each other throughout the day. Many other friends and family gathered and visited and enjoyed getting a two for one on visiting both the Max's and us.

We finally got out of there on Saturday evening after a long day and much dreading by me while waiting for Noah's circumcision. The fear and dreading did not disappoint as that was a TERRIBLE moment in my young fragile son's life. Oh man, seeing Jenny's intestines in the OR during the c-section was almost better than what my little man went through that late afternoon. But anyway I digress.

Sara, Anna, Noah, Jenny and I made our way home together Saturday around 5pm. We were so relieved to get home and Jenny's mom who's here helping us out with the transition of having a new little one. That night Judy made the most delicious dinner standing rib roast. It was an amazing dinner and really made it so wonderful being home. Also Jenny's sister Kerri and her husband Adrian and there cute little daughter Hadley joined in on the fun that evening.

Since then we've just been trying to catch up on sleep (which isn't going to happen anytime soon) and visiting with friends.

Noah had his first Dr's appointment this morning and he is doing great. He is in the 50th percentile for both weight and head size and in the 75th percentile for height. I'm hoping he out grows me someday! :)

Noah meets his new friend Brienne only a couple hours after she was born.

Curt holding Noah and I'm holding Brienne

The proud Mama Tami with her little peanut.

Maybe he'll be a DJ. Mr boombastic...

Waaaaaaah... Take me home!

His first Sunday. Yes I'll be brainwashing him to be a Vikings fan! :)

Noah is not pleased with how Mom combed hair.

This is how he sleeps. Which is pretty much all he does.

Introducing Noah Robert Coleman

2008-11-13T07:43:00.019-07:00

Breaking news:

Team Coleman trades "Willis" for Noah Coleman and a player to be named later. Coach Coleman commented that the move was necessary to "upgrade to a player with instant impact potential." Coleman expects several weeks of non-sleep, uh, intensive training following the acquisition . . ." (reported by R. Rogers)

He's Here! Team Coleman has added a teammate and we are soooooo excited about it. Yesterday ended up being quite the whirlwind, but I'll compress it here. After making a ton of progress yesterday Jenny's body kind of stopped making progress and the little man didn't want to make his way down there. After waiting and really feeling like we exhausted our options as far as him coming out naturally we opted for a c-section. Both Jenny and I were running through a gambit of emotion but from the time we opted to go c-section to the time we first laid eyes on him was pretty brief.
I won't go into detail on what all goes on in that O.R. but it's NUTS! Anyhow Noah finally made his way out of the sun roof right at 2:30pm. I can't really express the emotions I went through at that time but once I knew he was ok and that Jenny was going to be ok the one emotion would be pure JOY.
After cutting the chord, Noah and I were whisked away from the O.R. to the nursery to get his weight and all. The tough part about that was having to leave Jenny in that room all alone with all those doctors, that was brutal but she agreed that I should go with him.
On our way to the nursery we saw the family members who were waiting and we were able to pause briefly to introduce Noah to his big sisters Sara, Anna grandmothers Judy and Pam and her aunt Kerri.
After that came the weigh in 8lbs 6oz height (I don't like the term length, this is a person not a fish) 21".
After spending about 30-40 minutes with him in the nursery I was finally able to go and see Jenny in recovery and she was doing well there, she was really wanting to see the baby since she'd just seen him briefly in the O.R. when I held him up for her. After much waiting for both Jenny and Noah to get out of recovery they were finally united. By the time they really met there was a bunch of family here and Jenny said she felt like she was at the zoo with all the camera's etc. Anyway it's been great, he's eating like a champ and everything here is well.

We are so grateful to God for entrusting us with this little one and we endeavor to take care of him the best we can.

Showing off his guns.

Within the first 5 minutes of him popping out of the sun roof.

The weigh in.

Right after his first bath. All clean.

After his spa treatment.

What I did for for an hour or so while waiting for both of them to recover.

Jenny finally gets to meet and hold Noah.

After waiting all day Sara finally gets to hold her new brother, she was so excited!

Anna was super pumped up. They had to learn a lot of patience waiting to meet him.

Grams is very proud.

My mom.... Bring back memories mom?

Our team.

Countdown update

2008-11-12T09:10:00.014-07:00

It's just before 10am here and amazingly enough we are expecting to meet our son much sooner than we thought last night. Her body really took off with contractions last night which was brutal for her but the positive is that instead of spending all day today working on getting this guy to come out. We are hoping to see him sometime this early afternoon. But as always that's touch and go. Stay tuned I'll do my best to keep things up to date. Here are some pre baby pictures.

This one is before the contractions kicked in.

Gotta get some rest.

This is going to be a wild one.

THE WAITING GAME CREW

TXT'ing to keep family in the loop.

The big sisters are ready to meet their brother!

Kerri is ready also.

STAY TUNED.............

Ground Control to little Coleman.......

2008-11-11T22:06:00.002-07:00

Commencing countdown engines on... :)

If you don't get the title and reference don't worry about it, not a lot of David Bowie fans out there that I know of. But seriously that's a great song.

Anyhoooo I digress.

We are here at the hospital tonight, we just checked in about an hour ago and we'll be here until little boy Coleman makes his appearance. My guess is that he'll be here sometime tomorrow night but time will tell. They made the decision last Friday to induce Jenny and today is the start of it. We've had the most absolutely crazy week and although I won't go into complete detail on it all now, I'll give you the nutshell version.

* Broken Water Pipes in the wall
* 4 days of frustration
* 3 different plumbers
* Flooding
* Stained Carpet
* Holes in the wrong places
* Pipes that were never broken have been "repaired"
(I'll try to post the pics of the disaster later)

Anyway we made it through a very tough week and it was very anti nesting for Jenny knowing that we were going to be coming in here tonight. Also her Mom rolled into town and we weren't able to stay at our house the first night she was here. Thankfully we have GREAT friends who took us all in so we could use their running water. Amazing how we take these things for granted. It's resolved now I believe and after a few extra gray hairs that I got I think we aren't that much worse for the wear.

OK back to the hospital.....
He'll be here soon, we came in tonight so that they could start her on her medicine and then after a nights rest on that medicine we'll get started on the contraction inducing meds tomorrow around 11am. After that who knows how long it will take but we are on our way! Stay tuned for more updates on the unveiling of baby Coleman!

Crazy Days

2008-10-30T21:06:00.003-06:00

This week has been a whirlwind....read all about it...

The Freaks Come Out at Night

Willis AKA Rocky