Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree this year is about twice as big as last year. It is actually the biggest most beautiful tree we've had yet.

Compromise

Luc has really been saying things that surprise me lately. I guess he is learning how to compromise. Here was our conversation while I was getting him dressed for bed tonight.

Luc: "poof nack?"
Me: "No, we don't eat fruit snacks before bed"

about a mintue later...
Luc: "poof nack?"
Me: "No, no fruit snacks tonight"

about a minute later...
Luc holding up one finger: "un poof nack"
Me: "No, you can't even have one fruit snack"

It's so funny how they learn things like this so young.

Christmas season is here

The weekend before Thanksgiving we took Luc to see the Macy's Christmas tree lighting. Jason Castro was the musical guest. He is awesome. Luc wasn't too interested in the music but he loved the actual lighting and the fireworks afterwords.

This past weekend we went downtown for the Chuy's Children's Parade. I'm not sure what Luc thought about it. He has never been so still and attentive for so long though.
He did enjoy the "boap" float.

This was his expression when the bands walked by. I don't think he was too sure about the loud drums.



Brian was very excited about the Star Wars characters.

And they saved the best for last. These ladies and gentlemen were great.

Thanksgiving and the Reynolds

This year was the first year that we haven't spent Thanksgiving with our families. We decided to stay in Texas since we will be going home for a long trip in December. Some of my Auburn family came to Austin though. They were nice enough to invite us to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with their family. I don't have any pictures from dinner but we had a lot of fun.

I got to know the Reynolds when I first moved to Auburn. I worked in the nursery where Jackson went to daycare. He was 10 weeks old when I started keeping him. I later became his nanny. I consider Jackson to be my first child. He was with me a lot of the time especially during his toddler years. His mom, Dawn, has been a very good friend all these years. She has been there for me through some tough times. I can't beleive how big Jackson has gotten. It seems like just yesterday I was carrying him around like Luc. I love the Reynolds so much. I definitely consider them to be part of my family.

It was fun to see Jackson and Luc play together. Luc loved Jackson.



He also loved Dawn

Brian is probably the reason behind Jackson's video game playing. I think Jackson was about 3 or 4 when this started. Here they are back in the day...

and now...

Pretending

Luc has seen me do this quite a few times lately. Now, he will be playing or something, then take off running to the bathroom, gagging, couching, etc. I will admit it's pretty funny.

pretending to throw up from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Luc always wants a wipie now after I change his diaper. He usually cleans his toys, the refrigerator, the dishwasher, doors, pretty much anything in the house. I walked in the living room the other day to find him wiping George's bottom. Oh and George usually wears diapers now. Luc brought him to me one day, pointing to his butt, saying "Dordes poop". haha Pretty good imagination.

wiping monkeys butt from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Where's Daddy?

Whenever Luc wakes up in the mornings or wakes up from nap or anytime really that he can't find Brian, he just starts yelling "DaaaDDDDDDDYYYYYYYY". Like this...

bye bye daddy from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Shout out to my husband!

I thought I should thank Brian...and brag on him a little...for everything he has done the past few months.

With my lack of energy, constant nausea, stomach aches, and so much more, Brian has had to do so much. As angry as I get at him sometimes, he really is a great husband. He did almost all the dirty diapers during the worst of my nausea. He has done more than his share of cooking, cleaning, grocery store runs, and bathing Luc in the past couple of months. He has missed work because of doctor visits. He hasn't complained to me about any of it. He also listens...or at least pretends to listen to my complaining.

On top of all these things, he willingly cleaned up Luc's first real throw up last night. It was so gross. I couldn't stomach it at all. I was gagging in the other room just thinking about it. He had it all cleaned up and better smelling in about 5 minutes. If he had not been here, I really don't know what I would have done.

Anyway, thank you for all the things you've done for me Brian. I really do appreciate it so much. I love you!

Oh and Luc is fine. It must have been a bug or something he ate. The smoothie I made is what set it off though. Maybe it wasn't good. I definitely couldn't drink it after all that.

12 weeks update

I thought I'd give a pregnancy update. I'm 12 weeks along. In a lot of ways, this pregnancy has been very similar to Luc. I have been sick up until this past weekend. I think I was a bit sicker and for longer with Luc. I'm having the same sinus and skin problems that I had while I was pregnant with Luc. By now I had gained 8 pounds with Luc. I have only gained about 2 this time though. I have had some stomach issues that I won't go into detail about. That is probably why I haven't gained weight. I am seeing a gastroenterologist later this week.

The biggest difference with this pregnancy is that I have been bleeding. Of course, both times it has scared the crap out of me. I have been to the doctor twice already for bleeding and even some cramping. Today, they sent me to have an ultrasound. They could not find a reason for the bleeding and cramping. The baby looked great. I looked great. It is just so weird. They told me not to worry if it happens again unless it is a lot and if cramps are painful. They tols me to go about my every day activities and not let this affect anything. They even said that I could keep working out....HAHAHAHA because I work out sooo much. Anyway, looks like this may be something that goes on throughout the pregnancy.

Well, with all the scariness, I did get to see another glance of this sweet baby. When we were looking around they showed a between the legs shot. I mentioned that it looked just like Luc's ultrasound. She said that they aren't suppose to say but that it definitely looks like a boy but not to hold her to that. Their office is actually doing a study to determine how early and how accurate at an early stage, they can determine the sex. I guess well see if we were right in a few more weeks. As for now, I'll call him a him.

He was literally waving his little arm back and forth.

BIG stretch

He was very active kicking his legs and waving his arms. Also, just like older brother, he kept his arms around his face most of the time.

Outside

We spent some time outside this weekend. I have to get my outside time in before it gets cold. I absolutely hate cold weather.

Yummy lemons!

Luc pitched a fit tonight to have a lemon. We gave him one. He actually wanted more. Here is his reaction.

Lemons from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Our first turkey

Brian and I have never cooked a turkey so we thought it would be fun to cook one. Well, we did...a big one. It was a delicious 16 lb turkey. We cooked that big bird on Sunday. You would think we would never finish that much turkey but it's Thursday and the turkey is gone.

So I planned on having turkey on night, turkey pot pie another night, and turkey and dumplings another night. We only got to the turkey alone because Brian loves turkey and I made turkey salad, which I love. I will admit, I probably didn't carve it correctly. Baboo, you probably could have gotten more meat from the bird. You should probably teach me how to make dressing AND how to carve a turkey.

Videos of Luc

I haven't been poting videos of Luc lately. Here are some from this summer.

This is how he says peanut butter, "dih dih duh". I have no idea where that comes from but I want to remeber it. Evidentally, I called milk "put" when I was little.

Peanut Butter from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Daddy scaring Luc

Untitled from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Dare devil

Untitled from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

And this innocent face

This is the face Luc gives me now when he is getting in trouble. Whether he is on top of the dining table or pulling everything out of the cabinet or messing with the computer. He happened to be on top of the table in these pictures...and his mouth was full of green beans. Every time I would tell him "no climbing on the table" or "get down right now", he did this...

Brian was TRYING to get on to Luc the otehr day then he started laughing. It really is quite cute when he does it and it's hard to keep a straight face. He's already trying to manipulate us.

Happy and silly faces

This is Luc's "silly face"

Having fun during bathtime

I think this is kind of creepy

Super cute

POOP!

I've been letting Luc sit on the potty for a while now. I thought, if I start early, maybe he will not be scared of the toilet later on. Anyway, usually he asks to "poop potty", jumps up there, reads one book and says "all done". Well, he told me the other night that he wanted to poop in the potty. I rolled my eyes and thought fine. He sat up there grunted some and actually pooped.

Then he said "bye bye poop"

I'm not expecting this again any time soon but gosh it sure would be nice.

Back off ladies...

This rocker is taken!


Is this a seizure?

Candy, pianos, and girls!

I love Halloween parties and haunted hay rides and haunted houses and trick or treating. We haven't really done much for Halloween since we've been in Austin...other than carve pumpkins and attending small parties that our apartments have thrown. It's hard to do the scary stuff now with a toddler though. This year we decided it would be fun to take Luc trick or treating. After all, he loves candy but doesn't get it often and he can say trick or treat and thank you.

We started out in River Place, a neighborhood down the road from our house. This is the neighborhood where we always go to the playgrounds and go for walks. This is where we would live if we were going to be in Austin long term....like after we win the lottery. We love it over there. Well, it is a great place to trick or treat...very safe...very friendly.

And yes, they do hand out full size candy bars over there. I admit, I did know that beforehand which may have been another motive for our stop in River Place.

Daddy and Luc going to find more candy.

We practiced saying trick or treat all week. When people opened door though, Luc just froze and stared at them. I think he said trick or treat two times the whole night. Oh well, he did say thank you when he got what he wanted.

When he got to a door, he would get a peice of candy out of his pumpkin and hand it to the person at the door. The only thing we could think of was that he thought he had to give a peice of his to get a new peice. Anyway, it was really cute.

As we were walking up to the third house, my doctor walked out to greet us. We visited with his family for a bit then ended up walking around the neighborhood with them. Dr Molena's kids are a little older than Luc. Luc loved chasing them. I think both Brian and Dr Molena enjoyed having another man to walk and talk with.

Oh and of course, all the adults in River Place dressed with their kids for Halloween. Brian dressed as a tired grad student/dad and I dressed as a tired pregnant mom.

Sorry for the burry picture but I had to post this. This was a costume. I think he was a tree.

We did have some trouble with him trying to just open doors without knocking. We left River Place to go see a couple of people we know. Luc loved Mrs. Susan's house because she had big dogs, stairs, and a piano. Susan is one of my supervisors...and friend. He absolutley loved her house and did not want to leave.



And our last stop was Jamie's house, another supervisor/friend. He loved Mrs. Jamie's house too because there were 20something preteen girls there (Jamie, I still think you are so brave for having that many girls at your house). Luc definitely got his second wind there. Jamie's daughter, Kelsea, has babysat Luc a few times. She usually brings a friend so Luc knew some of these girls. I actually don't even know what all he did because I didn't see him after we took him out of the car.


When we got home, we let Luc look at and eat some of his candy even though it was super late when we got home.

We had a very Happy Halloween!