Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving the whole family was able to be together. We've all been able to see each other at different times during the year, but it's rare that all the siblings and the husbands can all be together at the same time. I don't think Thanksgiving could have been any better! The food was delicious, the weather was great, and I can't think of better company to spend Thanksgiving with than family. I love my sisters, their husbands, Chelsea's kids, my brother and parents so much and I love the time I get to spend with them. I'm thankful they could all come down to be together. I hope everyone else's Thanksgiving was as good as ours!

Noble's Going to Have a Little.....

SISTER!!!

Our little baby is a girl! We're so excited to have her come to our family! Marcin and I got to see her on the the ultrasound last week and it was really great. She's a little stubborn and wouldn't move well for the tech doing the scan so we'll have to go back in a month to get the rest of the measurements. But so far she's growing right on track and is a happy and healthy little girl! I'm still on "modified" bedrest. I actually hardly understand what that means so I try and take it as easy as possible. Other than constant contractions, she seems to be doing just fine!! We're so excited and it's just what Noble had been telling us, that he was going to have a sister. We'll see if he stays this enthusiastic when she arrives :).

My Thankful Post

I feel like jumping on the band wagon with everyone else that's been doing thankful/grateful November posts. I'm really thankful for a MILLION things right now, but I have to say most of all is Marcin. I've been on bed rest for a few weeks and I have no idea when it will end. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will soon, but we just don't know. Baby is fine and I'm just fine, it just seems my body thinks it's time for lots and lots of contractions :). So while I've been a little more out of commission these days, Marcin has stepped in done so much for us!!! He's been super dad and I know Noble is loving all the attention from him. He's done all the laundry, vacuumed, dusted, and the dishes (a lot). And all while acting like he's just happy to help (I don't think I'd be so nice...). I know it's hard to come home from work and immediately take over at home too, but I'm just so thankful he does and still likes me. And I wouldn't feel right about leaving out a big thanks for my friends and my family that have been stepping in too. I'm certainly feeling the love!!!

16 weeks and counting...

I know it's not like everyone's asking about my pregnancy because they see my growing stomach or anything like that, but I definitely feel like it's growing and I'm so thankful to be in my second trimester at this point so I can just breathe a little easier. This pregnancy does not by any means feel like it's flying by, but I don't mind it. We're just really grateful to be adding to the family!!

Happy Halloween!!

From Dog the Bounty Hunter and Beth

and some random homeless kid we picked up along the way :)

Choo-Choo!!!

Noble is two! I seriously cannot believe it. Noble had a super fun time at his choo-choo train birthday party. We invited lots of family and some close friends to come to his party. I loved planning the party and it was really fun this year to get to talk with him about it and get him really excited about it all. He saw some of the decorations long before the party so by the time his party actually arrived he couldn't wait! We did some games this year at the party. We did a "coal" toss and an obstacle course that was supposed to be train tracks, a "mountain" (slide) and a "tunnel" for them to go through like they were trains. They actually just tripped on the train track made out of rope the whole time so it was hilarious!! We had a good time though.

Some things Noble loves at 2:

trains

trucks

fire trucks

cars

mo-mo's (motorcycles)

Papa Mike's bus

Papa's shop (my dad's car repair shop)

grapes

chick fil a (I probably shouldn't tell everyone that)

chocolate milk

fruit snacks

rice and beans

peanut butter and jelly sandwiches

Toy Story

Finding Nemo

Cars

Tangled

He's talking more and more everyday and cracks us up. He is such a sweet boy and he loves to see his friends and family. I don't know what we did to deserve such a great kid, but we're sure glad he's ours!!!

Sydney or "kee" as Noble likes to call her :)

uncle "why-ley"

Lovin' that cupcake

"the train track" obstacle course

This is where they threw their "coal" to try and get it through the hole in the coal car.

We love you, birthday boy!!!!!

Growing Up

Noble turns 2 at the end of this week. While I've tried my best to stop him from growing up, it's happening anyway. I'll have more to add about this after his birthday party this week, but for now I had to post about him starting "school". I put him in a mother's day out/preschool program this year. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 5 hours. It feels like FOREVER. It's been a huge help for me to be able to get my work done though and he's loving every minute of it! They have a big train table there and every time I pick him up and ask what he did at school, all he says is "Choo-Choo train". He runs right in when I drop him off and never looks back. It's bittersweet to see him so happy to leave, but mostly I'm just glad he loves it so I can feel guilt free : ).

So, we're also doing some growing around here with baby #2 on the way!!

I just passed the 11 week mark and should be expecting this little one mid-April. We could not be any more excited about this. While I feel like I couldn't have planned the age gap between these kids any better, this certainly was anything but "according to plan". The same month we found out I was pregnant I had been to my fertility doctor to hear the results of the last blood work I needed done to qualify for an IVF study sponsored by a drug company (so a virtually free IVF cycle for us). He told us we didn't qualify and that we should go ahead and start planning for that anyway since the chances of us getting pregnant on our own were slim to none. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't heartbroken. It was tough news to get, but of course we decided we'd do whatever was necessary to have more kids. About 3 weeks after that appointment I decided to take a pregnancy test; not out of necessity, but because I'm addicted to them. Seriously. I think I keep First Response in business. I took one and immediately began cursing myself for my own stupidity and really just thought I should throw it away without looking (yeah right). But sure enough, that dang test had TWO perfect lines. And then I ran into the living room like a crazy person to show Marcin who proceeded to tell me that if I was showing him yet another negative test that you had to hold up to the light in the perfect angle to see what could possibly be maybe a positive, don't bother. He saw it too though, so I knew I wasn't imagining things. I know how incredibly blessed we are to be able to add to our family. I know that our struggle with having kids is not the worst situation there is by a long shot, but this really has been another long round of 22 months of doctor's visits, surgery, miscarriages, disappointment, and heartache. I am glad it wasn't any harder than it was and I'm so thankful for all the support the last few years. I think I might have had more than my fair share of pity parties, so I'm just thankful to have such great friends and family that love me regardless of how negative I got over this. We're so happy, thrilled, excited, nervous, ready but not-so-ready for this little one to be here with us!! And glad to 'officially' announce it. I think it might be one of the world's worst kept secrets.

Bromance

Best Buddies Forever. Noble's got some pretty dang good friends, and we're glad this one lives right down the street.

Family Fireworks Continued

My brother-in-law, Russ, made this video for our family from some pictures on the 4th. Couldn't resist showing off my great family just a little more :)

baby, you're a firework!

Annual Vaclaw Family Fireworks were AWESOME this year. We love being with our family and the show was the best ever. I'm pretty sure we all say that every year, but seriously, it was the best ever. Here's a video of the grand finale and some cute cousin and family pics.

All the cousins minus Kelsi

Our family

Grandma Robbie and Noble

The Playroom

I am not much of a crafter, baker, cleaner.... pretty much anything having to do with being domestic is not really my forte right now. Maybe after I'm done working one day I'll be able to ramp up my homey skills, but for now mommyhood and working full time take just about every minute I've got. I did however manage to start and (mostly) finish one large project: the playroom. Now, I had A LOT of big ideas for this room of our house. All of which were unbelievably unachievable or ridiculous. One that did manage to stick though was a "Rockstar" theme. Noble loves, and I mean LOVES music. This kid can hear a tune from miles away and drop anything to listen to it and dance. He loves hearing daddy on the guitar or mommy playing the piano and will even play a little tune of his own every once in a while (Beethoven in the making, folks). So I wanted his playroom to reflect a little of him and a lot of what mommy wanted (let's be honest, he could care less what I do in there). So the dream of the ultimate "Rocker Room" was born. This project took way too long and caused way too much marital conflict, but in the end I'm really proud of it and glad it's finished, for now. I got the decals on the walls from dalidecals.com and they have some pretty cool ones if you're looking for any. I couldn't ever find a toy box that matched my theme, so I built the boxes and then just made them look like speakers. Eventually I'd like some kind of valance for the windows and a few other little things, but this will have to do for a little while. Thanks to Marcin for not shooting me down immediately when I told him I wanted the room grey, hot purple, and hot green. And I'm so thankful for the late nights he did stay up with me to help (and putting up with my grumpy self the next day). He's a trooper and I love him :).

Cousins

Chelsea, Cali and Ava are here right now and I couldn't resist posting some cousin pics (we actually had a visit from some other cousins, Brian, Amy, Ellie, Sam, and Owen but somehow I have zero pictures of that). Doesn't everyone have bath pictures with cousins?? I love them!

And yes, my child loves to swim in just his undies. Thankfully Mamaw (you're welcome, Mom) doesn't have neighbors close. I'll spare everyone the pictures of Noble peeing in the yard.

Playing Catch-Up

Whoops, I've neglected my blog.... again. I seriously have a million things I could update about, but for now I'm starting with Hayley's visit to Houston!! I couldn't ask for a better friend!! She flew all the way from Youngstown, OH with her two kids AND she was pregnant. What a trooper!!! We had the best time with them. I miss Hayley a bunch and even though we don't live by each other it's nice to know we're only a plane ride away :). Unfortunately somehow a BUNCH of pictures got deleted from my computer so I'm missing some (sorry Hayley), but here's a few from our visit to the park!

And thanks to Hayley being here, I started the long and much-harder-than-I-thought process of refinishing my kitchen table and chairs. Had she not come, I probably wouldn't have had the guts to ever do it. I absolutely love how it turned out! Thanks for coming Hayley, Mally, and Reid (and baby Lindy, sort of). We love you guys and miss you!!

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

I remember going to the rodeo when I was a kid and loving it and I have been wanting to take Noble this year. We got some tickets from one of Marcin's co-workers and debated about bringing Noble after a few accidents that morning and because the tickets were for a concert there too, but in the end we thought it would be worth it. We were right!!! He couldn't get enough and potty-wise he did awesome with no accidents at all! We actually went to the rodeo part and watched some of the events (there's basically a million things to do there and I didn't think Noble would want to be sitting watching from the nosebleeds). Noble was laughing, clapping, jumping around, and watching everything the cowboys were doing and the horses and cows were a big hit. It was so fun watching him have a good time.

Noble and I watching the rodeo events

What's a rodeo without a little funnel cake? Not a rodeo at, that's what.

There was also a petting zoo and pony rides. Noble has definitely inherited my severely embarrassing love for animals. For him it's cute, me not so much. If you remember from before, Noble loves Lila and Rufus and loves to give them kisses. A "Noble Kiss" consists of him coming at you mouth wide open until it's reciprocated by a big fat lick on the mouth. Gross, but cute. So naturally those kisses aren't reserved for just Rufus and Lila; he thought they'd be a big hit with the goats too.
and hugs for the llama of course.
He didn't actually have any food to feed them, but he tried anyway... with every single animal in there.
Post petting zoo :). One happy camper. As if he couldn't get any happier....


Ride 'em cowboy.
Seeing him this excited made me a little worried about when the ride was going to be over. I had good reason to worry....

This sad face came very quickly after getting off. And the poor man trying to unbuckle him from the saddle might have gotten hit a few times. All in all it was a big success! We'll definitely be heading back there next year!!

SUCCESS!!

He did it!!!! Noble is on his way to being 100% diaper free! Thursday was our first day out of the house since Monday and I felt like that was my real test and he did it! No accidents and went on the potty twice and once in the grass (the joys of being a boy). And we were at the park so I was super impressed he didn't just forget and let it go on the park equipment! I could not be prouder of my little boy who is growing way too fast for me. I'm sure the next few months will have their fair share of a few accidents here and there, but I feel pretty confident saying he is a potty trained 18 month old. I wouldn't have even attempted this if he didn't act like he wanted to take it on, but I'm glad I seized the opportunity. I'm just so happy for him and love watching how proud he is of himself. It was a rough few days being cooped up, but well worth it!!! Yea Noble!!!!!

Big Boy

Noble has started potty training. Yes he is a year and half and yes, he's a boy (those seem to be the first two things people have reminded me of since I've said I would start this). But for the last little while I've put him on the potty before his bath and before he gets dressed for the day and he got excited to sit on it and would always go. Then yesterday morning he #2-ed :) in the potty before we "officially" started. If I had been questioning if he was ready before that, he solidified my answer: YES. That one time I did not have to change his diaper was one great and defining moment. NO MORE DIAPERS!! So why change another diaper if he can do it?! So far he's done great and only had 3 accidents 1 1/2 days. It may not work or stick, BUT I'm trying. Plus he looks so dang cute in his big boy undies!! That he absolutely loves to wear, might I add.

BFF

Noble has two BFF's: Lila and Rufus, despite the fact that the only interaction he has with Rufus is with Rufus's teeth. He loves these dogs. Most mornings when he wakes up he immediately says either "Da-da" or starts making kissing noises and patting his leg while saying "Ri-Rah". No "Mom". Of course. So I usually put the dogs in bed with him and he LOVES it. Lila tolerates him much better, but he always wants Rufus for some reason. Oh, and he loves the park. Can't you tell? :)

Marcin's 30th

My husband is THIRTY!! 3-0. Why does that seem so old?! :). I'm sure 10 years from now I'll be laughing at that. So all week he told me how this was the worst birthday ever, and to be fair to him the day of (a Wednesday might I add) was pretty bad. He woke up and went to work (which is usually around 5 so there was no breakfast waiting or anything), and then I had to bring Noble in to see him so that he could remove Noble's big toenail. I could hardly stay in the room to watch. Then we had salad for dinner because like everyone else our New Year's resolution is to be healthy and lose some weight. Yum. Little did he know I had a surprise party just around the corner. On Saturday night we went to dinner and came home to a few of our friends waiting with some signs I had made about his last 30 years. We played games and wrecked the diet idea (it was only 8 days into the New Year :) ). Happy 30th Birthday to the best dad, husband, friend, doctor around! We love you!







And just because...