Russ

Have I ever told you how much I love you? It's a whole lot. It's more than I can type. It's more than I can express. It wouldn't even fit in the back of a really big truck. Definitely doesn't fit in our Sentra. You're my babe and I love you.

Be My Valentine!

Valentine's Day is so fun! Noa spent the night at Mimi & Pops' house last night and Russ and I were able to sleep in and go out to breakfast. Of course we were ready to see her when we picked her up. Noa gave Russ a cute card (see below) and she was given way too many things! Her favorites were a Minnie Mouse balloon from Daddy, and a purse full of Valentines (which she carried around everywhere and chewed on) from Grammy.



Here's Noa's card. **You can double click on the pictures to make them bigger if you can't read what they say.**





Russ gave me a pair of slippers that I've been wanting (and needing) and a dozen pink roses. What a sweet husband! :)

Windowsill Photo Shoot

One of Noa's favorite spots is by the window in our bedroom. She usually has her cell phone in tote and puts it on the ledge, then on the floor, then on the ledge, then on the floor, then on the ledge, and so on... The light is pretty good in our room though, so it makes for some good pictures. Check out the Chicken-Chicks!!









More news: The other day we stopped at Firehouse Subs (yummy!) after my doctor's appointment and she was getting pretty wiggly while we were trying to eat. We didn't have any puffs on hand (her favorite), so I let her suck on the pickle that came with my sandwich. I thought she would be totally disgusted, but she loved it! She was fairly content the rest of the lunch and the only annoying part was the pickle juice running down her arms. Oh well. It was totally worth it.

And here's the biggest news of all: Yesterday she said "Momma" over and over again!!! Today she's back on a "Dadda" kick, but at least I had my moment!

Baby #2 news: Had another appointment this week and I'm 13 weeks along now. The doctor said everything looked great and Noa and I heard the heartbeat loud and clear. 158 beats/minute. Hmmm...fast... Maybe it's another girl. ???

Noa Withdrawals?

Sorry I have been so sporadic with my posts. We've all been sick here and my camera was also freaking out, so I couldn't download any pictures. Finally I figured out what the problem was, but realized I hadn't even taken that many pictures because it was all screwed up! So, if you're having Noa withdrawals, I'll try to remind myself to take some more pictures... Here's a few to hold you over...

Noa's been wearing pants so often because of the cold weather and because it is easier for her to crawl around in them. I miss seeing her in little dresses! One day last week when it was a little bit warmer outside I put this little dress on her and thought she looked so cute. Unfortunately, I felt bad that night when her knees were all red and worn. Back to pants for a while...


By the way... Noa's first tooth is finally coming through and her second tooth is on the way too (bottom front teeth)! I think she likes 'em. :) She's also really been into sucking her thumb lately. It came out of nowhere. She's never even like pacifiers and all the sudden a few weeks ago it was thumb, thumb, thumb. I know it might be a pain later, but we sure think it's cute now! She had a doctor's appointment last week and she's still in the 90th percentile for weight and 97th for height. She actually went down since her 6 month appointment though - so I'm sure it is all evening out. We don't want it to even out for a while though - we definitely love those rolls!!!

Reptile Jason

So, for a while we’ve wanted to get rid of our broken 55” TV that has been taking up space in our garage. We finally put it on Craigslist for free and have not stopped getting inquiries since yesterday. However, we responded to our very first, almost immediate inquiry, whom we’ll call “Reptile Jason.” Little did we know what an unusual experience getting rid of our TV would be.

Let’s start with the initial phone call, which Russ made. Russ started out by letting Jason know that the TV was still available and he could pick it up at any time. Jason, definitely very interested, first felt compelled to make sure Russ knew what he was going to be doing with the TV before he signed off on Jason’s pick-up. Russ wondered what else you could possibly do with a TV other than fix it and watch it, but Jason, the honest and interesting man he is, explained that he fixes up old TV’s and makes them into homes for reptiles, which he was sure Russ would have a problem with. Wow. How green. Russ explained that we’ve never heard of such a thing, but to Jason’s delight, we don’t have any problems with it – many questions – but no problems.

The conversation continued. He then went on to tell Russ (for quite a while) that he donated these homes (minus the reptiles) to the Reptile Foundation where they auctioned them off for a small profit. He was very committed to the Reptile Foundation. He was very committed to these TVs. Just think of how many questions this conversation raises in your mind…

1. Who is buying these reptile homes made of old TVs? Especially huge 55” TVs?
2. How much do they cost?
3. Who would have a problem with Reptile Jason picking up their old broken TV for this purpose? Has he had run-ins?
4. Why does Reptile Jason do this?
5. Who thinks these look good? Maybe an old, classic, vintage looking TV might be all right, but even that’s a stretch.
6. Does the Reptile Foundation actually want these “homes?”
7. How long has Reptile Jason been doing this?
8. Would Reptile Jason send us a picture of our TV made into a home? Who will the lucky recipient be?

We were determined to get some answers when he came to pick it up.

Russ got a call about 7:15. “Hey Boss, I’m about a mile away.” Great. Game on.

He pulled up in his Dodge Ram (after driving 45 minutes) and looked exactly like what we had thought. He was about 6 feet tall with sandy brown hair and glasses, and was wearing high tops, tighter early 90’s jeans and a black leather jacket with laces hanging down. He ran the show. He definitely knew the best way to get the TV in the truck with only the two of them lifting it (Noa and I were only watching). The whole time they were working on it, he was telling us that he used to be a snake owner until one grew to 6’4” and started to run the place. Now he just prefers to make the cages. Evidently our 55” TV was for a smaller snake. We’re not sure what you would need for a larger snake. He offered so much information without us even asking, and said that if we wanted to see a picture of our TV home, he would have it up on Craigslist under “Snake Cages” or “Living Cages.” Evidently, he’s trying to raise awareness. He mentioned a “company” that he was working with, but didn’t expound. We weren’t sure what this was all about.

It all took about 3 minutes, and he was off; a true pro. Upon leaving we asked him if he wanted the remote for anything and with a smirk he said, “Sure. I have people asking me for things like this all the time. It will probably never be used as a remote again though.” Reptile Jason…up to more tricks…