4 Month Update

Yesterday Noah went to the doctor's for his 4 month checkup. It was supposed to be considered a "well" visit and Noah was scheduled to get some shots but that didn't happen. Over the weekend Noah caught a cold and hasn't been feeling like his old self. Therefore the docs decided to hold off on the shots and gave him some medicine for his cold instead. They did weigh and measure him. He is currently 18 lbs, 9 oz and 28 inches long. He is a big boy and growing like a weed. The doctor gave me permission to start him on solids. We will keep it a secret that Noah started on rice cereal a month ago. I wonder when we can start giving him pizza?

A Very Merry Christmas!

This past week raced right by us here at the Hickok home. Seriously, when I left room 48 on Tuesday I had much left to do on my Christmas list and wondered if it was possible to complete.

I love Christmas. I love the anticipation of Christmas morning and I love giving gifts and get excited about reactions. This year was really exciting for obvious reasons. Even though Noah doesn't know what's going on it was still beyond great to have him with us. What a gift he is.

So in honor of Christmas I will give you the low down of our busy days, Christmas Eve included.

I love Christmas Eve. Yes, I usually wait until the last minute so Christmas Eve is crazy but it's my tradition to stay up extremely late on Christmas Eve to finish up what seems to be an endless list of things that need to be completed by Christmas morning. And somebody has to be up to tell Santa where to place the gifts under the tree and to also make sure he brought the right stuff.

On Christmas Eve we went to an awesome service at Temple Baptist. The music and message were great. And Noah looked so cute in his Christmas Eve outfit. He thought the music was fantastic!

After the service we enjoyed a very delicious meal at John's mom's house. After stuffing ourselves we headed home to do the annual Christmas Eve pajama swap. That's where John and I buy each other pj's that we wear on Christmas Eve. This year I asked for something that I could wear in the living room. We don't have curtains in the living room and I don't want to scare anybody off with the whole me in skimpy pj's post baby body. I think you can understand that. I was a little nervous when I saw the Vicky Secret's box but was pleasantly surprised to open up and find nice lounge pants with a cute shirt. Unfortunately the pants were not my size. Oh well the thought was nice.

On Christmas morning Noah was thrilled that Santa brought him new clothes. Noah is growing out of his 3 to 6 month clothing. I was thrilled that I received a Wii. I love my new toy. I was also shocked to find a new watch under the tree. Wow, is all I have to say about that. John liked all of his gifts too. One gift won't be in until a little later.

In no time at all my parents, grandfather, brother, sister-in-law and nephews showed up. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast compliments of John and many wonderful gifts. Then it was off to John's parent's house for another yummy dinner and more wonderful gifts. Noah is so blessed to have very generous people in his life.

Looking back it is kinda easy to get lost in all of the busyness of what the holidays bring. Every year I feel like I lose focus on the real meaning of Christmas(time to start some new traditions). But I am truly thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ. After all He is the reason for a very Merry Christmas.

True Story

This morning I selected a warm comfy outfit for the annual fourth grade ice skating field trip. I love this field trip because it is quick and easy and the kids get really exicited about going. However I am shocked to learn that every year there are a handful of kids that have never skated before. Hello people we live in the northeast; there is not much else to do in the winter. Noah will know how to skate before fourth grade or at least he will have been skating before fourth grade.

So back to what I was saying about the warm comfy outfit; John did a double take when he realized I was wearing jeans. Here's how the conversation went...

John: "Jeans, on a Monday?"

Shell: "Yes, we are going skating today." (very matter of fact)

Pause for a moment...

John "Figure skaters wear skirts."

Leave it to my conservative husband to say something about my wardrobe.

Baby It's Cold Inside!

If you asked Johnny who moved into the house this past weekend he probably would tell you that the Grinch moved in and that would be in reference to me. Yes, that's right I was pretty miserable this past weekend but I think it was for good reason. With Christmas days away you think I could find some joy but that wasn't the case. We had no power. Now before I get any further I should be honest and say that we had some power because John did buy a generator for the house to keep us warm but come on, it's not nearly the same as the luxury of electricity. We were blessed with a beautiful ice storm early Friday morning. Never have I seen my husband pace back and forth worried that a tree might decide to take a dip in our pool. I am pleased to report that the trees in our yard stayed in their upright position.

Never did I think that we would be out of power for 60 long hours. I was totally looking forward to my day off from school on Friday but was quickly dropped off of cloud 9 when I realized we were in for the long haul. So a lot of people have been asking, how did little Noah do with this storm? He really did great. We didn't make him do too much around the house because he's still so young. Just kidding!!

Here a few highlights...

John hurried to Home Depot to get in line for a generator at 5:00 am on Friday morning. He managed to get one. Thank goodness.

Noah screamed through his first cold bottle on Friday morning. I tried to tell him to pretend it was a milkshake but he wasn't loving it. Maybe I should add chocolate syrup next time. He doesn't know what he is missing.

He did however enjoy wearing his mittens all day on Friday. Baby It's Cold Outside has a whole new meaning.

We got to eat out a lot. I love not having to cook and then to have an excuse not to cook is even better. Now shedding the extra five pounds I put on this weekend should be fun.

Lots of family time. With limited electricity there was no doing laundry and we didn't have the Internet so we had lots of time for us which makes it all worth it. I can't believe I just wrote that.

With the ice behind us I have decided to let my icy attitude melt with it. Christmas you are so welcome in our household even with laundry that is piled a mile high.

Exhausted to say the least!

I am not sure why but it has been an exhausting two weeks which probably explains why I haven't been so faithful with my blogging. Everyday seems to be just as busy as the day before and I am so looking forward to Christmas break.

People often ask how school is going and my answer to that is great. I love my students and my coworkers. However there has been some minor stress at work lately, nothing I can't handle though. My principal decided to start a contest on who can come up with the best window display that captures the holiday season (each classroom has a window and an area where you can display items). Well everyone who knows me knows that I love competition and can't stand losing. For two weeks I have tossed ideas around in my head trying to decide what my class was going to do. Well I finally decided and will post a picture of it soon. I like to call the window, The Day After...

Noah is doing well. I am in the midst of getting the Christmas cards printed so look for them in the mail.

Over the weekend we decided to get the Christmas tree. After driving around town for an hour and a half we ended up in Galway and purchased what we thought was a nice tree. Well after getting it home and giving it a little trim it turned out to be a not so pretty tree. So we did the only right thing to do, we purchased another one. We will be giving the first one to Charlie Brown.

Here is the first tree. Noah wasn't loving the cold weather. Maybe he will turn out to be like his mom and want to spend his winters down south.

Pictures!