A Whole Lot of Firsts!!

Whew, it has been a LONG time since I've posted. Things have been incredibly busy since our move and I just haven't had a chance to write. The kiddos have had a fun summer and there are lots of new milestones to report!

Noah (5 months)...is rolling all over the place, sitting up for short periods of time and had his first bite of baby cereal (oatmeal) yesterday. He reacted better to it than his older siblings did at first. He swallowed it right of the bat and gave me a big sheepish grin as if to say "Finally Mommy! I've been watching you guys do this for months and I FINALLY get to try it!" He only ate a little bit and I'm in no hurry to push the issue but it appears that it will at least be less of a struggle than it was with Grace (who would not eat ANYTHING other than Mommy Milk until she was 7 months old). I believe he is also telling us he's ready for his own bed because he is ALL over the place in the middle of the night (which means none of us are getting much sleep!) I wake up in the middle of the night to see a little cutie staring at me and it's just hard to go back to sleep! Luckily, this coincides with one of Grace's first (to come below), so before long Mr. Noah will finally have a real room and bed of his own.

Grace (21 months)...is talking like crazy!! She is learning to say "please" and "thanks" and is using it to get just about anything she wants! It's so difficult to say no to a sweet little voice saying "Treat Mommy, peeeeeeeeeeez!" Especially when you know it will be followed up by "Tanks Mommy!" She has picked up the word "Coke" and when we go out to eat she tries to pull one over on the waitress by saying "Coke" or "Diet Coke" when we order. Of course, she's not getting THAT no matter how much she begs so she has also learned to shake her little finger and say "No Coke for Grace." Little Miss Jokester just giggles at this routine! :) Though mommy isn't quite ready for her to yet, Grace is also showing some interest in the potty. Once every day or so she'll say "Potty" and will either pee pee or poop when she gets there. Nothing consistent yet, but she is showing lots of readiness signs so full-time potty training may be in our near future. Two days ago, after putting her down for nap, Daddy found Grace OUTSIDE her crib pointing in and saying "night night." Sooooo, we've ordered a little bed for her and will give the crib to Noah when it arrives. I am looking forward to decorating her room in extreme girly fashion. When we bought the crib stuff, I knew we wanted more kids so went gender neutral, but with Noah getting that stuff, here we come princess room!! Pictures to come when we get it done!! Grace starts Mother's Morning Out next week and will say "TyTy school, Grace school."

Both Noah and Grace had their first trip to the beach in mid-August. They both love the pool and Grace was pretty impressed with the ocean as well. She was not a big fan of sand though! She enjoyed a trip to the aquarium while we were there and didn't want to leave when it was time!

Tyler (12)...had his first Classic soccer tournament over the weekend. We traveled as a family to Asheville and enjoyed three soccer games in addition to beautiful country! Considering these were the first games the team had played together, we were pretty impressed with their performance (they won one, tied one, lost one). I think they've got real potential and can't wait to see how they progress. Tyler also started middle school yesterday. The school with the HAG program is all the way across town which means he has a very early bus pick-up in the mornings (5:58 am). He and I have BOTH been going to bed early to prepare for our early wake up. Since it's still dark outside at that time of day and his bus stop is just under half a mile away, I drive him to the bus stop and wait with him until the bus gets there. He seems to be happy with school and says the people on the bus are really nice. It really seems like he just started kindergarten yesterday, so it's a little hard for me to swallow. When Aaron and I met, Tyler was nearing the end of his first year of elementary school and time has just flown since then!!

Aaron and I (ages withheld to protect our vanity:)....are enjoying settling into our first house built and purchased together. We remain hopeful that we'll experience our first home sale sometime in the near future.

In a nutshell, that's what's been going on in our neck of the woods. With things settling down a little, I'm sure I'll be back to normal blogging frequency soon!

Love to all!