Babies Don't Keep

Our son has been a good sleeper since he was a newborn.  Truly, we are blessed.  (Mommy is a fan of naps, too, so he gets his honest.)
Lately he has wanted to rock and snuggle before bedtime, and I won't lie, it has made my heart swell.
He is getting so big so fast and it truly is going like a blink of an eye.  Everyone told me that it would, but I had no idea just how fast.
So instead of being annoyed or "put out" that he wants to snuggle and rock, for up to an hour sometimes, I am relishing it.  I am soaking it in.
We sit in the glider that has been in his room since before he was born and I hold him just like I did when he was a newborn.  This lasts approximately 27 seconds, but it is the sweetest 27 seconds of my day.
I hold him, caress him, pray over him, sing to him and just snuggle him.  I've been told to always be the last one to let go of a child's hug and, I will hold to this for as long as he is giving me hugs.  
He is so independent already, in just another few blinks, he won't want me to hold him or snuggle him at all.  (Which, I hope isn't completely true.)
My heart absolutely melts when I am tickling his back and take a break and he reaches his little hand over and moves my hand to tickle him again.  Or how he leans his head over for kisses every now and then, just to make sure I am still there.
I want to bottle this time up.  I want to keep it forever.
I pray I am always this close to my little man.  That he always wants to hold mommy's hand and will always reach out for me to be sure I am still there.
I tell him over and over that I will be and I hope he knows that I mean it as much as I possibly can.
This little man has made my world and he is the reason I wake up everyday.  So, if I have to take a few extra minutes of laying on a hard wood floor at night to help him sleep better, it's a small price to pay for memories I will look back on when he is an adult and has a little Monster Man of his own.

"Babies Don’t Keep"

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Author: Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

So true.  Babies don't keep.  However, I can keep these precious moments in my heart forever.  This little man has no idea how happy and complete he makes our lives.  

Influenster

Influenster.

I've been seeing a lot of cool,kings with #influenster so,thought I'd check it out.

<a href="http://www.influenster.com/profile/mrsnoller"><img src="http://widget.influenster.com/8c819943cf87a0f0aac178eb2148d389.png"></a>

We went to Cottage Lane Pumpkin Patch in Ellis on October 3, 2013 and had a FABULOUS time.  I took so many pictures, I had to make a photo book at shutterfly.com!

<object width="425" height="425" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-ui.swf"/><param name="flashvars" value="configXMLURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/config/config-share.xml&slideshowModuleURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-module.swf&projectGUID=0Abs27No3bM2mPWg&swfName=slideshowFlashContent&showReplay=true"/><param name="menu" value="false"/><param name="quality" value="best"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><embed width="425" height="425" align="middle" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="wrapper" quality="best" menu="false" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="configXMLURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/config/config-share.xml&slideshowModuleURL=http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-module.swf&projectGUID=0Abs27No3bM2mPWg&swfName=slideshowFlashContent&showReplay=true" src="http://images-community.shutterfly.com/flashapps/slideshow/slideshow-ui.swf"></embed></object><p style="width:425px;margin-top:0;text-align:center;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Abs27No3bM2j0I&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET&eid=118">Click here to view this photo book larger</a><div style="margin-top: 10px; width: 425px; text-align: center;">Shutterfly <a href="http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books" style="color: #6666cc;">photo books</a>  offer a variety of layouts and cover options to choose from.</div></p>


Well, that didn't seem to work.  Let's try this.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0Abs27No3bM2j0I&cid=SFLYOCWIDGET

How Blake is/has grown/growing

Weeks 3-4: he was the size of a poppy seed

Week 5- he was the size of an apple seed

Week 6- he was the size of a sweet pea

Week 7- he was the size of a blueberry

Week 8- he was the size of a raspberry

Week 9- he was the size of an olive

Week 10- he was the size of a prune

Week 11- he was the size of a lime

Week 12- he was the size of a plum

Week 13- he was the size of a peach

Week 14- he was the size of a lemon

Week 15- he was the size of a navel orange

Week 16- he was the size of an avocado

Week 17- he was the size of an onion

Week 18- he was the size of a sweet potato

Week 19- he was the size of a mango

Week 20- he was the size of a cantaloupe

THis is also when we had our sonogram and our little "cantaloupe" was chillaxin' in there with his feet crossed at his ankles, sucking his thumb the WHOLE time.  He looked incredibly cute and after having freaked out his mother because she never felt him, gave the ultrasound tech a run for her money trying to catch a good shot of him.  This is also when she (u/s tech) was able to determine he was in fact, a "he". He did NOT enjoy when she pushed a little harder on mommy's tummy to get a good profile picture.  However, we walked away seeing our little man moving and grooving up there and that's all I needed.  The 7 pictures are pretty cool too, though.

Week 21- he was the size of a banana

Weeks 22-24- he was the size of a papaya

Weeks 25-28- he was the size of an eggplant

Weeks29-32- he was the size of a squash (the squash picture that thebump.com uses looks more like a small pumpkin thatn this one, but I think this one is more relatable to the previous fruits)

Weeks 33-36- he was the size of a honeydew

Weeks 37-40- he was the size of a (small) watermelon

You never know what you will see or do that will totally change the way you look at an everyday item, like a fruit...

Rules for Blake

I just saw this online and wanted to share.

http://rulesformyunbornson.tumblr.com/

Save the drama for yo mama

I am apparently on a roll today.  I am so over drama.  One of the things I LOOOOOVE about my husband is his ability to just let things slide.  It's almost annoying sometimes. However I envy him being a dude and being to just let stuff go. 
I am a softie.  Yes.  I am big hearted as well. However, I will only take so much before I break.  When I break, it's not pretty, and it's even not prettier (huh?) being pregnant. 
I really haven't played the pregnancy card throughout the first 8 months (holy crap, when did I get here???) but I will now. 
I will be ugly if I have to and if you're unconcerned with my feelings, then I will be the same way back to you.
Consider yourself warned. (I know, scary, right???)

Black Friday Shopping 2011

So, my bestie, Sarah, mentioned Black Friday shopping several months ago, and I thought nothing of it.  Or what I did think was, "Ummm, yeah, I'm pregnant, I want/need my sleep". 
However, the closer it got, the bigger my tummy got and the more I bonded with my son, the more I thought of how economical it could be.
Her hubs ending up not really wanting to go again (lemme tell ya, my bestie, is a BF vet!!) so I said I'd tag along.
We left my house at 8:30 on Thanksgiving night and headed to WalMart.
All I can say is wow.
People were laying out on blankets, pillows and chairs from the home furnishings department.  There were huge balloons marking where certain sale items were, there were dvds and video games in the produce section for crying out loud. 
So after standing in line for a ticket for an xBox 360 with the kinect feature, we roamed the store for the next deal.  (Thankfully, she was able to coerce her husband into bring their son and they stood in line for 2.5 hours to get my family the xBox-God Bless Them!).
Sarah had a map of the store and where the goods were and we both had our lists of desired items.
The first stop was for a frame set for Sarah.  For the past three years she has not been able to get this particular frame set and she realllllllllly wanted it this year as they are re doing their living room.  While we were waiting for the friendly Wal Mart associate to cut into that great shrink wrap I meandered over to the toys to look for a few random gift item for my step daughter.  Luckily, with no injuries, she was able to finally get the frames! YAY.  Score one for the night.
Meanwhile her husband and son were still standing in line with my ticket for the xBox. Which, I guess, technically would've been score one, as they only hand out as many tickets as they have items, so as long as you can stand in line and wait (they do give you 20 minute bathroom breaks, however) you are guaranteed the item.
So we proceeded to make a perimiter round of the store.  We found some excellent deals on little kitchen gadgets, some tupperware (which I still need to wash...oops) and pj's for my step daughter. 
We made our way to the dvds and movies, yeah, the ones in the produce department, and even though they were very picked over, we were able to find a few good deals each. 
I had been eyeing a particular camera and was more than willing to stand in line for 2 hours to get it.  The lady next to me said her husband had researched a lot of items before heading out and this was a really good deal.  I also got a memory stick and a carry case for it. 
While I was waiting, Sarah went around the store again for other miscellaneous items and on our way to the check out, she picked up a great deal on a printer/scanner/copier and I snagged a BluRay player. 
We got done at about 1:30 a.m. and headed to IHOP to refuel. 
Next stop was the mall. 
We hit JCPenney first, and of course, were one of the first 250 people so got a Mickey Mouse snowglobe.
Didn't necessarily hit the jackpot, so to speak (I was reallllllllly wanting some great deals on clothes for Blake) but found a few good things and moved on.
Next stop was Bath & Body Works and I don't know what they had given those girls for breakfast, but I pray they never do it again.  They were entirely too chipper for 5:15 a.m. Again, no major deals, but I blame myself as I was EX.HAUS.TED by this poitn and didn't even know what I was looking for or at.
This is the point in which I tapped out.  My poor bestie.  I bailed on her.  She still wanted to go to three more stores, but they didn't open till 6 a.m. and I just couldn't do it. 
So she took me home and proceeded on her way.  She later said she found some good deals, but none of them seemed worth the sleep I gained.
We briefly discussed doing it again next year, on a bigger scale, in a bigger city, but I will have a 9 month old at home, and my husband will inevitably have to work the next day, so I am thinkign this may be out.  Even staying here in town may be as I slept until 2:30 p.m. on Friday. Yeah, I am thinking that isn't going to be conducive to properly caring for an infant.
My husband still thinks I am nuts.  He tells everyone what time I left and got back and gives me flack for it.  But I think seeing how jazzed his daughter is at Christmas that we got the xBox for a family gift, which will be totally unexpected for her will quiet him down.
Overall, it was a great time (especially after the Thanksgiving dinner we had at my in laws, but that's a whole other story) and I had fun with my best friend.