Week of Christmas

Making a gingerbread house....

I'm not pointing any fingers but it appeared that as much candy was consumed as what was actually put on the house.

Auntie Serina came in for a visit and got to meet Noel for the first time....

She is expecting her own little girl this coming April =) We are so excited!!!

Got to watch some Christmas movies....

And of course, the presents....

All the cousins....

Baby Lincoln and Noel....

(Thanks Aunt Julie for this shot)

And I can't leave out (though I have no pictures) that Harvest held its first Christmas Eve service. It was awesome! We had a great week!

December Days

Just some pics of the happs over the past week.... Aaron got to go with Daddy to a Phoenix Suns game and he had a blast. Someone had given us a hand-me-down Steve Nash jersey so he got to match Daddy....

Our friends had a bday party for Jesus that we got to go to....

Here is Aaron showing off his green cupcake mustache....

I took the kids out for a run for the first time. Kids did well and Mommy has a LOT of work to do.

Took the time to get some pictures of Noel smiling. And I couldn't just pick one picture so you get several shots.... =)

And just like her shirt says, she really loves to smile for Daddy....

Visitors

We managed to get our Christmas decorating done after Thanksgiving. I'm always glad to get it up quickly so I can enjoy it longer!

Aaron is still doing a great job as a big brother. Noel is beginning to take a little more notice of her surroundings and I know that she will soon find Aaron fascinating to watch....
She has started smiling now, which is always special. It seems that most of them are for Daddy though we have all managed to get a few.... I haven't been able to capture one yet on camera....

I think it's so cool of God that one of the first developments for a baby is smiling!

Gi Gi S and Papa Tim came in from Florida this past weekend to meet Noel and visit.

We had lots of fun with them and stayed very busy. When Aaron was a brand new baby, we all took a trip to Build-A-Bear and Gi Gi and Papa got him his first teddy. They decided Noel needed one also....

Aaron brought his along also and got a guitar for him.

The finished product:

They had the outside area all set up for Christmas and fake snow falling - Aaron thought that was awesome!

We had Harvest's first Women's Christmas dinner and it was a really nice and fun evening out.

Noel came too and was very well behaved....

One bummer of the past few weeks is that we have been battling a terrible fungus known as thrush. Noel and I seemed to have kicked ours, but unfortunately, Lee got it very badly and is still dealing with it. It has been super painful, expensive, and frustrating to fight off. Amongst this, we've also had to fight off some colds, deal with my back, and an injury to Lee's knee - we are definitely ready to have our health back.

And for fun - a picture from one of our playdates with Brynn and Owen.....

Oh dear =)

Family Pictures

Our dear friend Rilie took some pictures a few weeks ago of our family. Here is a link to her blog post if you would like to check them out. She has wonderful talent!

http://riliedeephotography.blogspot.com/2010/11/meet-baby-noel.html

Our first week

Lots of sleeping, pooping, and eating for Noel.....

Aaron has seemed very proud to be a big brother....

There have been of course, occasional moments of naughtiness.... Lee began incorporating "putting your nose in the corner" and I don't know why, but I have a quiet laugh attack every time.....

But maybe the most traumatic event of the week.... (the next two sequence of videos)

Like both of his parents, He hates to lose! =)

Birth and Homecoming of Noel Joy

Our sweet Noel Joy arrived November 5th at 3:04 P.M. weighing in at 7 lbs, 7 oz. For anyone who is interested, I will tell the delivery story at the bottom of this post.....

Aaron meeting Noel for the first time with Papa Bob. He couldn't wait to hold her BY HIMSELF.

Family of 4!

My cousin Julie had her baby boy Lincoln on November 2nd.....

So fun to have these babies together and introduce them to each other!

Okay, the delivery story.... On Thurs. night, I had contractions on and off all night - nothing hard core or consistent. I was awake and lying in bed Friday morning still having a few, and around 6:30 am, I felt a little pop and a trickle. I popped out of bed pretty sure my water had broken and ran to the bathroom so it wouldn't get everywhere. I woke Lee up and we packed up and left for the hospital, while my mom came and got Aaron. At the hospital, they confirmed that my water had indeed broken, so they admitted me. But I wasn't really dialating very much or quickly so they decided to put me on potocin to keep things moving. As the potocin did its job and the contractions intensified and got more painful, I went for my epidural, which was great. At about 2:30, I was complete so they called the doctor and after about 5 pushes, she was out! I couldn't believe how easy it was! Compared to my labor with Aaron and all the pushing I had to do, I looked at Lee and said, "that was it?" =) My body has recovered quickly and easily, which has been a real blessing....

We are loving our family of 4 and easing into new routines. Aaron seems to really love his baby sister - I asked him one night when putting him to bed if he was sad at all to have Noel at home and he replied, "No mama, I'm happy! I love Baby Noel!"

Halloween and the rooms

Aaron insisted upon being Spiderman this year. He has never watched it, but just thinks he's cool....

Spiderman and Dr. Brynn....

Also, I thought it would be fun to post some pics of the kids' rooms. They have both been works in progress over the months as the baby stuff came out of Aaron's room and the guest bedroom was cleaned out for Noel....

Here are some of Aaron's room:

Grandma Nussbaum (Lee's Grandma) cross-stitched some cute sports pillowcases for Aaron and since he only needs one pillow, I framed the other one.... I love it.

Here are some pics of Noel's room:

A wonderful woman in our church came over for a morning and painted a few accents on her walls to match the bedding....

This shelf is by me. =) I'm not very creative but I enjoy little projects like this....

My friend Tirsa made these letters...

A close up of her bedding (from my sister in law Tanya)

What I really love the most about my kids' rooms is seeing all the wonderful things people have given us, either as hands-me-downs or as gifts. Seriously, most of the stuff in both of their rooms were from people blessing us and being generous - everything from furniture, clothes, decor, etc. It is both humbling and fun to be mindful of everyone's kindness as I look around. I cannot tell you how blessed we feel seeing the end results of their bedrooms.

And NOW, we are ready =) COME ON NOEL!!!!