We're BACK!

We have officially come back to the blogging world! I didn't add a new post all summer. The last one I did was in May...whoops! So, we've had a super busy summer, what can I say? We had visitors all of August, which was spectacular! Bill and Ruth(in-laws) came first, then Jordan(my sister), and finally Granny Alice(my grandma-in-law :). It was a super filled month!!

Now things have finally slowed down, for the time being, and I promise I will continue to keep this updated!

Now a little info about my favorite baby in the whole world. Well, he isn't really a baby anymore, more like a toddler.

--He is 13 months old! On August 9th, he turned 1!

--He officially has 4 teeth and 3 more working on coming in. He is such a cheeser when he smiles, you can see all of them :)

Smile!

--He almost weighs 21 pounds. Not exactly sure how long he is...

--He loves peanut butter toast, blueberry muffins, prunes, yogurt, steamed carrots, and ICE CREAM! Just like his daddy!

Messy eater...cupcake for his birthday!

--He can say: mama, dada, ball, dog, Snoop(ssspp), and grandpa(pampa).
--He likes to play with his doggy, his vacuum, his wagon, and basketball hoop.

--He really likes to run from daddy, try to get into Snoops water and food bowls (as fast a possible, before we catch him), explore the fridge, listen and look at books, hum while mommy is singing to him, dance, and take baths.

--He sleeps like a champ. Sleeps through the night and usually takes two 1-2 hour naps a day.

--He is going to be a class clown. He loves making people laugh and if you are laughing at something he is doing, he will keep doing it until you stop :)

--He can almost walk. This past weekend, he took a couple of steps all by himself. He will walk if he is holding mommy or daddy's finger. Almost there! He wants to do it sooo bad.

So, I was saying that things have finally slowed down, but I take that back now. In just a few days they are going to go crazy again. Billy leaves for 2 weeks this Friday. Towards the end of September, Halen and I get to finally meet the beautiful Averi Nicole. Early October, Billy leaves again, for another course. Halen and I will be going back to Iowa around then to visit family and friends, and for Abby's wedding!! Soooo, hide ya kids, hide ya wife, and hide ya husband, 'cause Halen an I are comin to town! :) If you have no idea what I am talking about, disregard that last sentence. Anyway, back to our craziness...In November, Billy will be graduating!! For real, I said graduating!! So we will be having family visit for that awesome day (he is set to graduate Nov. 19th which is also his bday!) Somewhere in there we will be finding out where we are moving to and then in December we will be moving out of Fayetteville and hopefully to Colorado!! Keep your fingers crossed for us! 

 Take care everybody!! I will post again soon!

Silly Baby :)

Funny faces Halen was making when Grandma was taking his picture...

Finally a normal one :)

Grandpa and Halen mowing the lawn

Way too long...

It has been almost a month since I last updated, booooo me. Last time I wrote, it was 2 days after Billy left. I CAN NOT believe he has been gone that long...I sure do miss him a lot. Let's see...where do I even begin??
Halen and I made it back to Iowa safely and it has been wonderful so far. The first weekend, we went to Jordan's wedding shower in DSM. It was great because, I suprised her with a wonderful gift, Amanda! It was so fun, she had no idea that she was coming :) My first big secret that I have EVER kept.

This past weekend, my big brother got married! I am so happy for him. Abby is amazing and they are so perfect together. You can just feel their love for each other. It is a pretty awesome thing. The wedding was so much fun. It was outside at a castle. Gorgeous! I loved having our whole family together. Those are my favorite times, when we are all together. Kimber was the flower girl and she did it! We weren't sure if she would actually walk down the aisle, but she did! She was throwing the flowers out as she walked and when she got to the end of the aisle, she realized she had a lot of flowers left over, so she just turned her basket over and dumped them all out. She makes me laugh.

Last night, Halen and I went and stayed with my sister in Omaha. We went to the Omaha Children's Museum. Halen and Nora (little girl Jord nannies) had lots of fun together. I don't think she quite knows what to think about him. He LOVES her, but when ever he grabs at her, she looks at him like "why are you touching me?"  Hahaha Then we went to Dave and Buster's and I loved it! We were like two little kids running around playing all the games. By the way, I beat my sister at everything. I can't wait to bring Billy there, he will love it too!

Halen is 9 months old! He turned 9 months on Mother's Day! It was a great day! The night before, I got to talk to Billy. I hadn't been expecting to talk to him, so it was an amazing suprise. He is doing good, exhausted but good. He says the hardest part of this all is just being away from us. And as long as he knows we are ok, then he is ok. I miss him a lot...so stinkin much. Everyday that passes, we are one day closer to being together again.

I can't believe how much Halen has grown in the last month. I feel like he is huge now :) He has chubby legs, and big belly. I love it!! He has been eating so good lately that I think he is finally putting on weight. He loves him some baby food, doesn't really matter what kind it is, he will eat it. He tried meat for the first time tonight, turkey, and he liked it. He loves Ritz crackers. And cheese. It is so fun figuring out what he likes and doesn't like. I haven't really come across any food that he doesn't like yet. He used to really only eat veggies, but he loves fruit now too.

Here are some fun new things Halen has learned (or is working on):
*Crawling!!
*He says Mama all the time now! If I walk by him while he is playing he will say it, or when he wants to be picked up! It is the cutest thing!!
*Waving bye-bye
* Giving high fives
*Kisses

He is such an amazing little boy. He is just the happiest little guy. If someone smiles at him, I would say that 95% of the time, he will smile back. He also laughs so much now. I can't believe that God chose us to be his parents. We are so blessed. My little family is my whole world. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing husband and baby boy. I love the life I live.

double ear infection

what the...seriously?? My poor little guy has a double ear infection :( and we discovered it by complete suprise...I took Halen to the doctor today because he stands on his toes. He never stands flat footed. So, I was worried about it; I didn't know if it could be an indication of something...I know, I know, sounds silly. Right before we left, I took his temperature and it was almost 100 degrees. Hmmm....he seemed to be acting fine so i didn't know what was going on. Because of his temperature, the dr checked his ears and found the infections. His first ear infections, so sad...On a positive note, she said that we caught it early, so hopefully the medicine will get rid of it quickly. Oh, and she said he stands on his toes now because it is a reflex. It is nothing to worry about now, but when he starts walking and continues to do it, then we would look into it. But most likely he will just grow out of it.

If Halen feels ok tomorrow, we are going to a friends house to have a playdate! They are always so much fun. And the other 2 babies, Jax and Aubrey, are around Halen's age (a little older), so it's really neat to watch him interact with others. And it's fun to have adult conversations :)

My toes are yummy!

Time for some cleaning and laundry now that Halen is sleeping. Good night everyone!!

Day 2

Day 2 of 547...just kidding, more like 90 days, but who's counting. That would be me...Billy left yesterday morning. He was up bright and early and left around 5:00am. We sure do miss him in this house. But everyday that passes is one day closer to when we will get to see him again.

Today was a really good day! Halen and I started the day off with mommies group, then we had lunch at Jax and Jenna's, Halen took a 2 hour nap!!!, and finally we went for a walk with Snoop. It has been so nice here lately and they finally opened up our pool. Mary is on top of it, she LOVES the pool. If she could she would probably be out there all day. I love that girl :) Anyway, we took Halen out there yesterday. The water was super cold, so I just dipped his feet in...he didn't cry, but I think that is because he was in shock. We didn't try any more after that. We just took a little nap together in the shade.

18 days until we are back in Iowa. Oh, my, I am excited! Jordan's shower is that Sunday when we get back and I am so excited to see all the girls! It has been way too long. She is going to be Mrs. Beynon very soon! She is going to be a gorgeous bride! 

Tulip time here we come!! I missed it last year, so I am super excited to be going and bringing Halen :) Can't wait to see all of our family while we are there! 

                         
                                                         Sweet dreams everyone!

Half of my heart is off in the woods somewhere...

Billy left yesterday morning to do his land navigation. So, right now he is out in the wilderness, trying to find his points. I can't talk to him until he gets back tomorrow, but I bet today was pretty rough. The high here was around 94 degrees. I took the trash out earlier and got the mail and by the time I got back to the apartment, I was sweating. And they have to wear their uniforms (there is a name for them, but suprise, I forgot)...hot, hot, hot. This no communication thing really stinks. He will be home tomorrow :) But...he will then leave again on Monday for 3 months :( And we can't talk during that time either. That is the hardest part for me. I obviously hate when he is gone, but I can deal with it when I get to talk to him. He is my best friend and I am really going to miss him. Halen is going to miss his daddy too.

On a positive note, we got a new camcorder! I am super excited about it! We got it so that I can record all of the new things Halen learns while Billy is gone. He won't miss a thing. I already have some really cute ones to show him when he gets home tomorrow. I am going to experiment and see if I can upload a video onto here. Wish me luck!

Halen is thisclose to crawling. He wants to SO bad. He rocks and rocks and usually yells while he is doing it. I think he is telling me he is frustrated when he does this :) Since he can't quite crawl yet, he has two new methods. For the first one, he scoots both of his knees forward at the same time. He doesn't cover a lot of ground with this manuver. He also gets into the crawling position and then gets on his toes, sticks his butt way up and then belly flops forward. LOL He covers more ground doing this, but it can't feel good on his little belly. Billy is really really hoping that he crawls before he leaves on Monday. I hope so too.

25 days until Halen and I are back in Iowa! I can't believe Christopher's wedding is almost here. I am so excited for him and Abby. They are so good together :) It is going to be a gorgeous wedding. Can not wait!! Miss you brother! And I miss my sister and other brother too :)

Joe (Billy's brother) came to visit this weekend. We had so much fun with him. The timing worked out great, he was able to spend a lot of time with Billy. He got here on Friday and left this morning. We went putt-putt golfing, (I didn't get last...that award goes to Mary haha), played tons of games, ate out a lot, watched quite a few basketball games, and even went to the beach yesterday. We were very glad that he was able to come all the way across the country to visit us :) Oh, and he is so good with Halen. Halen is lucky to have such a wonderful uncle :) We miss you already Joe!!

Counting down the hours until my hubby gets home! I love you William!

The Fox family has a lot of new things going on lately...First with Halen news...

-He can sit up all by himself now. He is such a big boy!

-Halen is now big enough to sit in his highchair to eat...which is wonderful for mommy, because now eating isn't such a disaster.

-He can do push-ups now...at least this is what daddy calls them :) He has been trying really hard lately to get into the crawling position, he just hasn't learned to put his knees down yet. He is also pushing himself backwards. He wants to move SO bad. He sees his friend Jax or other babies at Mommies Group crawling all over and he wants to join them.

-He sleeps completely through the night now. He goes to bed at 6 or 6:30 and usually doesn't wake up until 6:30 or 7 the next morning. I think he sleeps so well at night because he isn't such a good napper during the day...He will take a few half an hour naps throughout the day, but usually not more than that. I guess he just doesn't want to miss out on any of the action during the day :)

Now for Billy news...

-He finished his language course finally. He tested today and will find out in a few days how he did. I know he did great! And I am really proud of him...now on to the next step...which is good and bad...good because he is one step closer to finishing the course, and bad because he will be leaving us soon :( 

In Nikki news...

-I booked our flight home!! Halen and I will be home May 1st through June. Can not wait!

My little heart-breaker

We have had a busy couple of weeks, but they have been fun! Bill and Ruth drove down for a visit and stayed the 4th-9th. It was so good to see them again. They were amazed at how much Halen has grown and developed over the past couple of months. We miss them already, but especially Halen; they are such wonderful grandparents. We went to the beach in Wilmington for a day. The weather was really nice, but as you got closer to the shore, it got so much colder. Halen got to see the beach for the first time, but hopefully when we take him this summer it will be a lot warmer and he will enjoy it. Oh, I can't wait for those days, when he will be waddling on the beach playing in the sand :) Here are some pictures:

Halen is in there somewhere, all bundled up :)

Halen liked chewing on mommy's sunglasses.

Getting a pedicure! Halen was very interested in it all.

So here are some new discoveries for Halen...He has found out that he loves to scream. Not a mad, or upset scream, but a scream just to hear his own voice. He thinks it's so funny, me and Billy on the other hand, not so much :) It's almost as bad as listening to him cry...let's just say hopefully he starts talking soon. I keep saying mama and dada to him, in the hope that he will start to understand. He knows his own name, so now on to mommy and daddy's names. Such a funny noisy little baby boy!

He has continued to roll all over the place. Last week at Mommy's Group, he would start off right in front of me and end up all the was across the room. And he doesn't care who or what is in his was, he will roll over top of it, around it, or keep trying until someone moves the object for him. He's persistent :) We are still working on sitting up. He does really well holding himself up, but his balance isn't quite there yet. Oh, and he fake coughs a lot now. It's so funny. He will do it for like an hour straight. He sure is entertaining.

Billy leaves in 2 weeks for 3 months of training...booo. This time it really stinks because we can't have any contact during th 3 months...no calls, no letters, nothing. This will be my first true taste of being an army wife and I'm not to excited about it. But after he completes this phase, we will be one step closer to his graduation. Yeah! During those 3 months, Halen and I will be going back to Iowa for awhile. I think we will be leaving May 1st and then be coming back around June 15th. I am so excited to see family and friends. My sister, shout out to you Jord! Can't wait to see that girl. Oh and my crazy niece Kimber Ann, I love that little girl so much. My mom, my dad, Justin, Christopher, Chasidy & Abby. All of Billy's family. Oh and can't forget my wonderful friends! Amanda, Jordan, Jenn, Abby, Tara, Kati, and Kylie. I get so excited just talking about it! Can't wait to see you all!!!

One last thing, Halen and I went to church this morning with my friend Jenna and her baby boy Jax, and Halen went into the nursery during most of the service and he did great! I am so happy that I have found a good friend in Jenna! She is awesome and our babies are close in age so they can be friends too! 

My little heart-breaker :)

Sippy cup time!!

We got Halen a sippy cup yesterday and tried it out for the first time today. He did so good! He held it all by himself and he drank the whole cup (there were about 2 ounces in it). I was amazed, he just grabbed it and started drinking away.

And how cute is this? Message from Halen's friend Jax....

"Halen, im holding your toy hostage so that you have to hang out with me again soon."

That's Halen's gloworm :)

Time flys when you're having fun!

We are so amazed with Halen lately. He is rolling all over the place and he now has 2 teeth! One popped in and then like the next day, the one right next to it popped in. He now has his two bottom middle teeth. So cute! He was sick a couple of weeks ago, but I guess it could have just been part of him teething. And he kept sticking his tongue out, over and over, now I know it's because he was feeling his teeth come in! I will try to get a picture of them, so I can post it on here. We will see if he cooperates :)

Some wonderful news! Amanda and Brett found out that they are having a girl!! I am so excited for them. She was pretty sure that it was going to be a boy, but God had different ideas for them. I talked to her while she was on her way to the appointment and I told her I thought it was a girl! I guess Auntie Nikki knows best :) And now our plan for the future is to have Halen and her little girl get married so that we can finally be related, well kind of...Ahhh! I am so excited! I can't wait to buy cute girlie things! Here is a 3-D image of their precious baby girl

Bill and Ruth are leaving Pella tomorrow to visit us! They are driving, so please pray for their safe arrival. They will get here sometime on Thursday. Halen can't wait to see his Grandma and Grandpa Lubach!

Halen was able to play with his little friend Jax today. My friend Jenna came over for awhile today and the babies had some play time. Jax is nine months old and it is so fun to watch him because I know that Halen will be doing all the things he is doing soon. Halen is pretty interested in other babies and it's fun to watch him try to do some "big boy" things.

Just to show how much Halen has grown here are some pictures...

                                                                         Then...

...and now!

What a great day!

Today was such a good day! Halen was SO happy and such a great baby all day long! I feel so blessed to have such an amazing baby boy. This morning we went to mommies group, and then we had lunch with a couple of friends and their babies at Applebees. We were just enjoying ourselves, and as a lady that was sitting behind us was leaving she said, "you girls have the best babies!". It was such a wonderful unexpected comment :) Then Halen and I went for a run and he slept most of the time. I think it is soothing for him. I am so glad that he likes it. Here are some funny pictures of him after his bath.

He's so funny :)

Halen is a pro now at rolling from his back to his tummy. He is going to be rolling all over the place now! It has been so nice out lately. Yesterday Billy and I took Halen to a park near our home. We went down the slides and played on the little animal things. I don't really think he knew what was going on, but I hope he had fun. We were able to get some good home movies to show him when he grows up.

It was 69 degrees today! I can't believe it, I was in shorts, a tank top, and sandals! This makes me sooo excited for summer! I can't wait to go to the beach and just be outside all the time. Since it was so nice out, I was able to go for a run with Halen using the jogging stroller for the first time. This was a gift from some of my WONDERFUL friends after Halen was born. I didn't know how he would do in it, but he was very content. He was awake most of the time, but fell asleep as we were headed back. It was a success and we will definitely be doing that a lot more.

Billy is still sick :( He feels pretty miserable and went to bed tonight at 7:30. He was so cute, he was reading before he fell asleep and when I went in our room, he was still  holding his book with the lights on sleeping like a baby. Hopefully this will pass quickly. Halen is doing sooo much better. Just a little bit of a cough left over, but besides that he is great.

Sometime this week I have to take Halen to get his 6 month vaccinations. I tried to do it the day after he turned 6 months, but the doctor's office was closed. And then he was sick all last week, so I couldn't bring him in then either. I hate taking him to get his shots, so hopefully Mary will be able to go with me. It is just an awful experience. Poor baby. Then we have mommies group on Tuesday and Halen will get to play with all the other babies. On Thursday, I have a doctor's appointment and then I am going to a job fair. I am going to start looking for teaching positions for this coming fall. I am kind of excited about it. Nervous, but excited. So, I guess wish me luck :)

Ok well that's all for now!

Sleepy Halen...I was trying to burp him lol

He did it! He rolled over! Such a big boy!

My wishful mommy thinking (and prayers) has paid off! Halen is feeling better. Hallelujah! He is back to his vibrant, happy self. He still isn't eating as much as he normally does, but he is getting there. We had a wonderful day today. It was so nice here in Fayetteville; we had all of our windows open to let in some fresh air and it was great! I feel sorry for everyone back in Iowa, we hear there is more snow in the forecast. It's never ending! Anyway so we had a good day. Halen was happy, I went for a run with Snoop, and we went out to dinner with Colby (one of our friends from college, who is going through the same course as Billy right now...small world). One bad thing though, is that Billy is starting to get sick...not looking forward to that, he is a bigger baby than Halen...love you, honey :)

Halen is such a great baby. He is sooo smiley! It's funny because if you smile at him 95% of the time he will smile right back! We LOVE it! And his laugh is to die for; I just can't get enough of it. While he was sick, we didn't get to see our happy baby and it was really sad. He is thisclose to rolling over, I bet he gets it within the next week or so. So proud of him.

The Fox family has a lot to look forward to this year...Well, Billy will be gone for some of it, which really stinks, but I know he won't be in any real danger. He leaves for some training on April 12th and won't be back until the last weekend in June or the first weekend in July. And there is NO contact with him...seriously, how am I going to do that?? It's going to be pretty awful. We will miss him so much...Absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? In our case it definitely applies. We hate being away from each other. I guess it is just preparing us for the inevitable, when he will have to deploy. We don't like to talk about that....so anyway....about the things we are looking forward to...

Bill and Ruth are coming for a visit in just a couple of weeks. We love it when they are here and I know they can't wait to have some quality time with their grandson. Halen misses his Grandpa and Grandma Lubach. That's in March...

In April, my WONDERFUL sister-in-law bought us tickets for Carrie Underwood in Raleigh as a birthday/Mother's Day gift. Love her and I am sooo excited. I haven't been to a concert in forever.

Sometime in late April/early May, Halen and I will be traveling back to Iowa for awhile. I get excited just thinking about it. I miss my family so much. I wish we all lived in a 5 mile radius of each other. That would be perfect :)

On May 8th, my brother, Christopher, is getting married to his beautiful fiance, Abby!! They are getting married in a castle and it will be so much fun to have everyone together again (minus Billy, who will be there in spirit!).

In June, one of my best friends, Jordan is getting married! She is going to a gorgeous bride and a wonderful wife to Rhys. Can't wait to be a part of their big day!

In late July/early August, (hopefully, July for Amanda's sake) another best friends, Amanda, will be having her first baby!! AHHH!! This is the best news ever! You have no idea how excited I was to learn that her
and Brett were expecting, so when they actually have the baby, take that excitement times 10 and that will only be half of how excited I will be (does that even make sense??). They will be amazing parents and I can not wait for our babies to be best friends :)

On August 9th, Halen turns 1! Oh my gosh, that's surreal. Our baby boy will be 1 year old. Wow! For now though, I am going to enjoy his little 6 month old self.

In October, another best friend, Abby, is getting married too! So many weddings this year. It is a fall wedding so it will be so pretty and she already has a lot of it planned. She's on top of things. Can't wait to be a part of her big day too!

And finally, we will (hopefully, keep your fingers crossed) be moving to Colorado in November/December...Nothing is for sure yet, but I'm praying that we get stationed there. It would be great because we would be so much closer to home and we both have family out there.

Wowza, that was a long post...Nighty Nighty everyone!

My 3 favorite boys snuggling!

Halen James is growing up so fast! He is 6 months old already! He has come a long way. Born 7 weeks premature on August 9th. His actually do date wasn't until September 27 (same day as two of his grandpas). He weighed only 3lbs 15oz and measured in at 16.5inches, now he is almost 16lbs and almost 25 inches long! He amazes us each and every day with what he can do and how much he is learning. Oh boy...we will be hearing the pitter patter of his little feet before we know it. Let's see he can pretty much sit up on his own; he is still pretty wobbly but he's working on it. He has mastered rolling from his tummy to his back, although he doesn't really seem to like it. He has been trying so hard lately to roll from his back to tummy. He almost has it but he gets stuck on his sides. It's pretty cute watching him try. He has found his feet and finds them fascinating. He would usually rather suck on his fingers than his binky, no preference for a certain finger, any one will do :) He babbles so much now! I can't wait to hear what his first word is! (Ok secretly I'm hoping for "mama," but "dada" would be fine too) He loves music and dancing. He is such a wonderful baby. He is such a blessing.

So, now that I've told you a little bit about him, I want to tell you about our week. On Valentine's Day, Billy and I went on a romantic little date, and when we got home Halen was running a fever. Poor baby. And he has been sickly all week. This is the first time he has been sick at all, so we were a little freaked out. Long story short, we were in the ER yesterday, and today we were at the doctor's office waiting for the little guy to go poopy. Which honestly could have been hours, but he did it in about an hour. Thank goodness. Anyway, he is going to be just fine. We were told that he has an upper respiratory infection. He is really congested and has a really bad cough, it is so sad because there isn't a whole lot that we can do to help him feel better. Trust me we have been doing everything we can, from warm apple juice, pedialyte, vaporizers, infant tylenol, saline solution, and the little snot suction thing. At least we can rest a little easier knowing we are on the tail end of this sickness. And right now our baby boy is dreaming peacefully in his crib. Hoping that lasts all night and tomorrow when he wakes up he will be 100% better. Wishful thinking but that's what mommies do! Nighty night sweet baby!