Still hunting

This last weekend we headed down to Bakersfield for a family reunion at Josh's Uncle Pete's lakehouse. Noah had a blast. He got to play with a 3 month old golden retriever puppy, a full grown golden retriever, play in the lake, and even got to go on seadu with Josh. He also managed to fall on a bee and get stung right on the belly. Stupid bee if you ask me....doesn't know to move when a 25lb object comes flying at it, but whatever. He handled it really well and hardly cried at all. No allergic reactions or anything, so we're all good.

Let's see here....house hunting. Our offer that I mentioned on my last post was rejected. They tried, but couldn't get the price down low enough for us. I found a house yesterday that we were considering making an offer on, but after seeing it again we decided not to. There were enough things that we didn't like about it that I couldn't justify paying as much, or really anywhere near what the asking price was. So, back to the drawing board. Again.

An adventurous week

We've had an adventurous week here in the Brahm family. Well, actually, the Brahm family, and half of the Briner family. This past week was by brother and sister's Spring Break, so they flew out here to Fresno to see us. This was the first time anyone from my immediate family has been out here to visit, so it was pretty nifty, especially since Noah's never really been around either of them long enough for him to get comfortable with them. That problem was fixed, as you will see. So, this blog post is a guided tour of the week for those of you that can sit though an excessively long post. There's pictures though, so that'll help hold you're attention, right?

Friday

Nathanael and Chloe flew into LAX because the airfare was so much cheaper than flying into Fresno, so we drove down to LA on Friday and had dinner with with Josh's grandpa, and also with his cousin Matt and his wife Lyndsay at The Coffee Table Bistro in Eagle Rock. I don't particularly like hanging out with people I don't know very well, but this was fun. I wish we lived closer to LA so we could hang out more often. After dinner we went back and watched a DVD with Papa, and then went to bed.

Saturday

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and went with Papa on the way to the airport to see his ministry that he does every Saturday. After that, we were headed to the airport, but of course, had to stop off at a donut store to pick up some donut with a ridiculous amount of chocolate in it for Josh. :)

As of now, I'm not a fan of LAX. We quickly found the terminal we needed, but their flight

wasn't on the screen. How dumb is that? Delta is BASED in Atlanta, and they don't have their flights from ATLANTA on the screen. *rolls eyes* Anyways, we asked around and found where they would be coming to meet us, and found them without any trouble. Then we headed to find food, and go to the beach. We found the best little restaurant where we could sit on the patio and look out onto the ocean. Good food too. :)

Noah has been to the beach before, but he wasn't really old enough to do much, or really care what was going on. This time, he LOVED it. Definitely his Momma's child. :) He did have a little trouble getting used to the whole walking-on-sand thing, but he figured it out eventually. There was no hesitation what-so-ever. He went full speed into the ocean, squealing the whole time. I always have a hard time not getting completely soaked, no matter how cold the water is, and this time was no different. I was drenched up to my waist, and Noah ended up in just his diaper.

As you can see, Chloe managed to only get her feet in. I don't think the ocean has quite the hold on her that is seems to have on Noah and me. She liked watching her crazy sister, and her favorite nephew though, as long as she didn't have to get too wet. Josh and Nathanael were there too, obviously, but they stayed up on the beach and pretended to be "cool," and took pictures of us while we played.

Sunday

Sunday was Easter. Josh had to get up at the shoulder blade of dawn and go down to Visalia, about an hour away, to play for an Easter service there, so we were heathens, and didn't go to church on Easter. We only have one car, so we didn't really have a choice in the matter, because I'm not going to get Noah up at 5am. After Josh got back, we went out to TGI Friday's for lunch. I know, I know, it's Easter, what are we doing at TGI Fridays? Well, Josh is not a huge fan of traditional Easter food, so I don't bother making it since I'll end up eating it all and gaining 50 billion pounds. So, TGI Friday's it was. Besides that, Nathanael and Chloe had never been. When asked if she has any thoughts about TGI Fridays, Chloe says, "yummy." She also got her very first Jamba Juice experience on Sunday, since they don't have any in GA. Nathanael didn't want to try it though. Oh well, his loss.

We came home, and gave Noah his Easter basket, which was probably more fun for me than for him, but he really liked some of the toys in it, and we still have plenty of Easter candy that he's working on. He particularly liked the two spikey ball things. He walked around with those for awhile after getting them, and they're still a favorite, a week later. They've stood the test of time. Hehe. He really likes Mr. Froggie too, but I already knew he would since he picked it out. He just didn't get to have it until Easter. He thinks it's hilarious when I make Mr. Froggie jump and make him "ribbit."

Monday

Monday was relatively boring. I took Chloe and Noah to the mall and we went shopping at one of our favorite stores, Forever 21, let Noah play in the play place, shared a frozen coffee, and attempted to get a stuffed animal with "The Claw," and of course, failed.

Tuesday

Tuesday we went to In 'n Out since if anyone goes to CA, they must try In 'n Out. We all got Double Doubles, except for Noah, he just got a cheeseburger, and fries well done. Blah. I hate their fries. I try them every time, and every time I remember why I don't like them. Kind of like mildly salty foam. Appetizing, eh? They liked them though, so I guess they like mildly salty foam. When asked what she thought about In 'n Out, Chloe says, "Yummy. Best burger EVER."

After In 'n Out, we went to Woodward Park, and chased the geese/ducks. Well, Noah did- Nathanael and Chloe weren't too sure about getting too close since the things hiss a lot. Noah loves them though. He "talkes" the most often around any kind of animals, and around water. Maybe he'll be a marine biologist. Ugh. That sounds like an awful job, but hey, that's just me.

This was really the first time Nathanael and Noah

got to play. We played Noah's very favorite version

peek-a-boo, where I swing him up near someone's

face and then swing him down, and back up.

The last picture cracks me up every single time I see it. He doesn't know what he's doing, but I still think it's hilarious. :)

Wednesday

Wednesday we just hung out around here and went out to play on the golf course and as you can see, they guys did computer stuff.

Thursday

Thursday we went up to Millerton Lake. Noah and I have been there before, but this was the first time Josh had gone. After going in the wrong entrance, and driving the wrong way for awhile, we found where we wanted to be.

It's hard to see in this picture, but it was clear enough that day to see the Sierra Nevada's with the snow on the tops of them. I love being able to see the mountains.

I found a rock a little ways into the lake and I stood on it and did "Cannon Balls" with Noah. As you can see, he was in heaven. My arms and back were sore for three days after this. I think we will definitely be going back a few times this summer since Noah obviously liked it so much. :)

Friday

I don't really remember what we did on Friday....oh yeah. We went to the Dog House Grill for dinner and let Nathanael and Chloe have their very first taste of tri-tip.

Saturday

Saturday we went up to Yosemite. I have the worst luck up there. The first time we went, it was so foggy I never got to see half dome. The second time I went up there, it was really foggy until right when we left that night, so I kinda sorta got to see half dome. This time, it was clear, but overcast. Still the best I've seen though. The waterfalls were amazing. This was also the first time I've seen snow up there, and we definitely took advantage of that.

We hiked to the bottom of Vernal Falls first. I took the sling to carry Noah in, but he didn't want to have too much to do with that. Since he's started walking he wants to walk by himself as much as possible. He doesn't seem to mind being on my shoulders though. I was usually the one wanting to take breaks on the way up there since I had an extra 25 pounds attached to me. An example of one of our breaks is over on the left. Look at Noah...all acting like he's exhausted. :)

Once we got to the top we found someone to take a picture of all of us, and then we utelized Chloe to take some of just our little family.

Nathanael was nice enough to carry my sling for me, but he didn't realize he still had it on until after the picture was taken. Hehe. Oh yeah, and I'm the pale one of the family. At least until summer. :)

Although there were plenty of people around to take our picture for us, we had to do the classic stick-your-arm-out-to-take-a-picture picture.

Josh talked Nathanael into doing a "male model" picture. I personally, love the sling. It gives him a Roman look. Now all he needs are gladiator sandals to complete the ensemble.

After hiking back down from Vernal Falls we made a quick stop in the general store to get a snack for Noah, and a drink for us, and then headed for Yosemite Falls. Oh yeah, Chloe and I switched shoes before that little hike. I'm not even sure you can call that a hike. Anyways, her feet really hurt 'cause she was stupid and wore Converse shoes instead of tennis shoes, so I switched shoes

with her.

She was more comfortable, but me, not so much. They were too small to begin with, and then I have extra wide feet, and she does not have extra wide shoes by any means. I'm pretty sure those things were in about as much pain as I was from stretching over my massive feet. It was totally worth the discomfort to see Yosemite falls in April though. We took plenty of pictures, and let Noah run around and play for awhile, and then we headed back to the car. On the way back, we found lots of snow for us to play in....at least until we got too cold to play in it. I didn't know there would be snow, so I didn't bring proper attire for Li'l Bit. He was a big fan in spite of being slightly chilly.

Sunday

Sunday we got up and drove back down to LA to take them to the airport. After dropping them off, we headed to Santa Monica beach to hang out there for a little bit before getting back into the car for another 4 hours. I restrained myself a little better this time at the beach and only got my feet in. Noah too. We were very proud of ourselves. Unfortunately there aren't any pictures of that since it was "Hey Josh! Let's go to Santa Monica. I want to see the Pier," type of thing. It was really nice though because they have a playground and stuff so Noah got to play on the swings for the first time in a really long time. He LOVED them. He squealed and laughed for about 15 minutes straight. It was awesome. I'm totally going to find swings around us somewhere.

And that is the end of the longest blog post ever. I hope all 5 of you weren't too bored by my narrative.

Christmas, Atlanta, and the Philadelphia Chickens

Since it's been about 50 billion years since I've written my last post, I thought I'd update all five of you on the goings on in the Brahm family.

Noah's playing by himself at the moment and we're listing to Sandra Boynton's "Philadelphia Chickens" CD. It really has a lot of cute songs on it, for those other mommies out there. I even danced to one of them...although that doesn't say a whole lot since I want to dance to just about everything. I'm gonna embarrass my kids so much when they're older. I can't wait :)

Christmas seemed short this year. I decorated the apartment the day after Thanksgiving, and it still seemed like everything came down too soon. Probably has to do with us being in the good ol' ATL for two weeks. We spent Christmas with our families and Noah even got to meet his other set of great-grandparents. He wasn't really his normal happy self though since he takes after Momma and takes awhile to warm up to people. Sorry Grammy, that he wasn't quite like he is in his pictures. I promise he's usually more fun than that. :)

While it Atlanta, we got to spend a day with some friends visiting from Alaska....whom I'd never met. We had a lot of fun with them even though Josh and I seemed to be in rare form that night. I was unusually quiet and anti social, and Josh was unusually loud. Quite a combo. At least we evened each other out. We were more our normal selves the next day though, so hopefully we redeemed ourselves. ;) *waves* Hi, Jessica!

Josh and Noah got sick somewhere around Christmas. They got what everyone else seemed to have, so I was the only healthy one there for awhile. It took them 4 or 5 days to start feeling better, but they were sick on the days we were planning on spending with our friends in Gwinnett, so we felt really bad that they got neglected.

Christmas was even more fun for me this year than last year since Noah was able to participate now more than he could last year when he was only 2 months old. He had his Christmas PJ's and everything.

Noah got to stay with his Bella and Grandpa (Josh's parents) for a couple days while we went up to the mountains to a little bed and breakfast for a little get away. We had a good time, and Noah had fun with his grandparents and aunt and uncles. Here's pictures to prove it.

Noah and Bella at the Chick-fil-a

playplace after a meal of chicken

nuggets, and chocolate milk.

Only a baby can make a grown man want

to get into a playplace. It's worth it though, right Grandpa?

Our room at the bed and breakfast....with all our stuff on the bed.

Trying to feed the fishies in the pond outside.

The good picture....

Me: We should look like fishies now.

Josh: Huh?

Me: Like this!

Josh: (blank stare. Slowly raises eyebrows)

Hannah: Oh, come on, you can do it!

Josh: Oh, ok.

For some reason he also felt the need to cross his eyes.

Makes it all the more interesting. Hehe.

We were the only ones brave enough to go hiking in the 30-something degree weather.

We found it!

Me getting as close to the water as possible.

A few days after Christmas, we used Josh's Christmas present from Noah and me and we went to go see Jeff Dunham at the Philips Arena. We were close enough we didn't even have to look at the massive screen above the stage. It was pretty cool. I wasn't really a fan of Jeff Dunham, but I liked his new material a lot. :)

We got home on the 30th and Josh promptly got sick again. Death Flu Lite, I called it. He was sick for awhile, and he still hasn't quite gotten rid of it yet. He's still got a bad cough. It sounds like his feet are trying to come out through his mouth.

Noah started walking more on our trip. Now he can walk across the room, but he still prefers to crawl to get from point A to point B. I don't really blame him...he's fast. He loves walking though. He loves to just walk from me to the couch, turn around and come back, over and over and over.

He also started to love dogs as much as cats on this trip, since both sets of grandparents have dogs. One of his favorite things to do was to chase the dogs around. "Gog-gee!" His great-great uncle Eldon was visiting with his two little chihuahuas and Josh and Noah would chase them around so often that eventually whenever the dogs even saw Noah they'd start barking at him. He though it was hilarious.

We're adding more things to the list of things Noah can't touch now. For awhile we would only leave a few things out that we didn't want him to touch. Nothing that would hurt him, just a way to teach him that there are boundaries. Our latest thing is teaching him not to get out all our TV seasons of DVD's. He's very obedient most of the time, but he does like to test things. He'll find something he's not supposed to touch, and put his little finger about an inch away from it, turn around, look at me and say "eh?" It's like he's saying, "How 'bout now Mom, can I touch it now? Am I too close now? Huh, am I? How 'bout now?" After telling him "No, don't touch" he stops. It's everything I can do not to laugh when he does that. Sometimes I can't do it without laughing and have to look away for a minute. He's just so cute!

Well, he seems to be running out of ways to keep himself entertained, and it's time for Second Breakfast (he's on a Hobbit eating schedule) so I'd better be off.

Adios!

All is well

We're all still alive here in the Brahm house. I just thought I'd give a quick update. Noah will officially be 6 months old in a couple days. He can sit up by himself now for a few minutes before he tips over. He also likes to hold on to stuff so that he can stand up by himself. He's getting so big! He's very tactile. He tries to touch everything. His hands never stop moving. We just got his "big boy seat" in the mail today. He's grown out of his infant seat so we had to get him a new one. I found a good deal on one at Costco. Yay hoo! Now Momma just has to figure out how to get the thing installed in the car.

We have a pediatricians appointment on Tuesday. We'll get to see how many billion pounds this little boy weighs. He's gotta be at least 20lbs. He's also getting some more shots. He's done pretty well with the last two sets of shots, so hopefully we won't have any problems this time either.

We're planning on going to GA a week from today. I'm a little nervous about taking Noah on the plane. He was awesome last time, but he was only 2 months old then and slept all the time. Now he doesn't sleep nearly as much, and is much more active. He does seem to be a pretty happy camper when there's people around for him to watch, so hopefully he'll be a happy boy on the plane. Maybe we'll get a window seat....he loves to look out windows.

We're going to be there for about 10 days, I think. We have some family coming down from Ohio to visit us. Noah's going to meet his other set of great-grandparents, a great aunt, and see Momma's cousin Amy again. It'll be quite the trip for Lil' Bit.

Time to actually attempt to get something done.

Adios!