Christmas 2009

The Saxton's hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a very relaxing day enjoying our first Christmas with the little one. We started the celebration out with the children's service on Christmas Eve. We got there at 3:15 for a 4 pm mass and got the last 3 seats in the church. Phew. We'll be leaving even earlier next year! Noelle was much better behaved than the rest of the children there (especially the 3-5 year old ones that clearly don't go to church except for Christmas and Easter) and we sang both O Holy Night and the First Nowell, so it was a very special service!





Christmas morning I woke up and played with Noelle for awhile while Bryan enjoyed a short sleep in. When he got up, Noelle was about ready for her morning nap so we didn't do presents until about 9:30. Noelle loved the wrapping paper and looking at her stuff for a little while, but like any little one, after about 10 minutes of the same thing she is ready to move on to the next activity. Of course, the 5 million pauses for pictures and video recordings probably didn't help her patience level! She got some great stuff and spent the afternoon and evening playing with her new toys! Well, it was actually more like Bryan played with her toys, but she got in on the fun a little bit!









Noelle hasn't been sleeping well recently so we were surprised to find that Christmas really took it out of her! She definitely napped the majority of the day - and in whatever position she happened to find herself in! I was worried she wouldn't sleep at all during the night, but she actually slept almost 7 hours before eating and going back to sleep for another 3. We are hoping that this is a sign that she has decided seeing me every 3 hours during the night is no longer necessary! That would be a great Christmas present for me!







It was nice to have a quiet Christmas at home but it was definitely weird to not be with the Hayhoe crew for the holiday. It was our first Christmas apart! But we are definitely excited to start new traditions with the little one and look forward to many Saxton Christmas celebrations to come!

The Blizzard of 2009!

So last Saturday we got some snow. A lot of snow! In total we had about 20 inches, by far the most since we have been back in MD! My mom, Noelle, and I were planning to head to Philadelphia and New Jersey for some Gidjunis family fun but thought better of it when watching the weather forecast Friday night. So we were snowed in with my mom for the weekend and had time to relax and play with the little one!

The worst thing about snow is the shoveling. Just ask Bryan! As you may be surprised to hear, he is quite a little perfectionist. Therefore, he spent 3 hours Sunday morning shoveling our walk, our neighbors' walks, our three parking places, etc. This was in addition to spending a combined three hours of shoveling on Saturday to "keep up with the snow as it fell" so that he could actually shovel on Sunday. Then he salted for about 2 hours. I swear it was more exercise then he did the rest of 2009, but gosh darn it, our part of the street looked awesome. And since JHU and Tydings decided we needed to work Monday despite every other company in Baltimore staying shut down, we appreciated all his hard work when we left in our cars that morning.



The funniest thing about getting so much snow was watching Maddie go outside. This was the first time since we have had her that the snow was actually taller than her little body. As you might imagine, this caused her significant problems when it came to going outside to do her business. Thankfully she can hold it for quite some time, and she had a little spot out back under the deck that got less snow then everywhere else, but the whole thing was kind of amusing. She did enjoy her time outside as long as she stuck to the partially plowed streets and shoveled walks.



We also took the opportunity to bundle Noelle up in layers of snow clothes that were way too big for her to get a few pictures. Ellie didn't seem to mind the cold, but she was pretty angry at how bright it was outside. I guess I never thought about how blinding the snow really is when it is sunny outside but the little one took it all in for about 10 minutes before letting us know she had really had enough of this fun. Here are a few family pictures of the snowy event!



Noelle also opened her presents from the Hayhoe side of the family while my mom was in town. Since she is sitting up now, she was really able to get in on the wrapping paper fun!



Ellie is also really becoming vocal. I'm pretty sure she'll be speaking sentences next week, but in the meantime, she sings and chats a ton, particularly in the morning when she gets up and in the evening when Bryan gets home from work. She learned how to shriek when she is happy last weekend during the storm. We aren't loving that new trick as much as her previous ones, but at least she seems proud of herself!

We'll post again in a few days, but in the meantime we want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Blessed 2010! We certainly know how lucky we are to have each other and you all in our lives and we are thankful for all your love and support! Best wishes!

Failing to Blog Regularly

We are continually amazed at how hard it is to keep up with blogging these days! I would like to think that we will get better, but realistically, I should just apologize for our lack of updates. So, we'll make this a mega-post and update you as much as possible about what is going on in our lives.

Even though it has been a few weeks, we are still recovering from Thanksgiving - or at least the trip home. We went to my mom's house in Chattanooga, Tennessee for a whirlwind couple of days. On Thanksgiving morning, we got up early and headed to the airport to experience the joy of flying with two extra suitcases, a pack-n-play, a stroller, a car seat, and a beautiful little baby! Overall, things went well and all of the other passengers were super excited at how calm Noelle was on the flight. We were pretty proud of the little one as well. Now, if I could have stopped crying for a few minutes, it might have been more peaceful . . .

Anyway, we got to my mom's house and Noelle got to meet her great grandma, three uncles, two aunts, and cousin Rubie. I think that Ellie was confused more than anything else, although she took to meeting all of the strange new people in stride.

We had a good Thanksgiving dinner and even played a little football until we realized that Raymond is in much better shape than the rest of us. It was the first time that all four boys had been together in a couple of years, so it was good to see them.

On Friday, we forewent the Black Friday shopping for a trip down memory lane. My mom lives 45 minutes from the town in which we grew up, so I got to show Laura our old house, my high school, and numerous other places in the town of Calhoun, Georgia. To cap off the day, we went to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, El Pueblito, and enjoyed some wonderful food.

By Saturday, it was time to head back to Maryland and Noelle was again extremely cooperative on the plane. She did keep looking at me strangely as I cried non-stop, however. I caught a cold on the plane that made its way around the family over the next few days, so we are still trying to kick the last remnants of that. The trip definitely took it out of us, Noelle included, as you can see!

Since returning from Thanksgiving and trying to kick our colds, we have been getting back into the non-stop swing of things. It seems that every weekend is something new, although mostly time spent with good friends.

Noelle is growing non-stop and looks bigger to me by the day. She is starting to get more and more of a personality and likes to show us that she is really the important one in our house.

Ellie got to see her first snow recently. She was pretty mesmerized by the white stuff falling from the sky. She spent most of the time just lying by the door looking out.

If I knew it was that easy to amuse her, I would have put a snow machine outside months ago! Going out into the snow and cold is another matter, though. We, of course, want to keep Noelle warm, so we bundle her up every time we go out, even if she will only be outside for a few seconds on the trip to the car. She tolerates it pretty well, but definitely has started to give us some dirty looks when we start the process.

Last week Ellie started what I call her new "trick." I suppose I shouldn't think of it like that, but every new development continues to amaze me. A couple of weeks ago her "trick" was rolling from her back to her front. That doesn't seem too interesting until you see her do it. Ellie kicks her legs in the air, grabs her toes, flops her legs to the side, and then rolls onto her front using the momentum. You gotta love that the kid is already using physics! Anyway, this week's "trick" is staying in a sitting position when I put Ellie down. Now, if she would only start changing her own diaper, we'd be set!

Noelle and I did have a traumatic experience this weekend when I slipped and fell down the stairs holding Ellie. Fortunately, I was able to hold her in front of me as I fell on my back, but it did inspire a few seconds of crying from Ellie. Once I started rolling around on the ground in pain, it inspired some laughter from her as well. I hope I will not have to hurt myself too much in the future to amuse my child.

We also took our Christmas card picture this weekend, which was a feat considering we have two people with short attention spans taking the picture and Noelle and Maddie in it. We finally got a shot of both of them looking at the camera. We'll be sending out the official holiday card soon, but here's a preview for those of you who just cannot wait.

It should be an interesting week this week. On Thursday, I get sworn into the Maryland bar! Yes, I did get my bar results in early November. No, I am not a lawyer yet. Yes, it is a long time to wait. (Can you tell I've had this conversation before?) My ceremony is Thursday at 11:30 am. For those of you out there that are interested, you can watch the ceremony live online, or an archive later at: http://mdcourts.gov/coappeals/baradmissionwebcast.html. After Thursday, I will officially be a lawyer and can put Esquire after my name if I so choose and Laura doesn't veto it.

We also get a visit from Grandma Carol on Friday. Laura, Ellie, and Grandma will then head up to Great Grandma Gidjunis's house in Philadelphia for a tour of family holiday parties. It should be a fun time for all!

We hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season and we will try to do better with posting, even if we don't succeed!

The One Year Anniversary of a Big Day

Well we thought it was hard to stay updated with the blog before. Now with being back to work, getting ready for the holidays, and everything else going on, it is practically impossible to remember to do our updates. But we'll really try to get at least one on their a week. Stay tuned for a recap of Thanksgiving. But first, we just wanted to acknowledge the anniversary of finding out that Baby Amoeba was coming to join our family.

Yes it took four pregnancy tests (I was pretty sure that the cheap Target brand tests couldn't possibly be accurate so I made Bryan go with me to Costco to buy name brand tests), but finally I was sort of convinced that we were growing a child inside me. And 9 months later, out popped Noelle so I guess the tests were right! We are so excited that we have been blessed with our little one. Now that she is coming up quickly on her four month birthday it is hard to remember our lives without her. So happy pregnancy anniversary!

A Busy Week and a Half

Sorry for the lack of posts lately but the last week and a half have been crazy! It all started with a little Nor'Easter we like to call Ida. Noelle, Maddie, and I had driven down to NC to spend a few days and to pick up my mom before heading up to Philadelphia to pick up Grandma Gidjunis for a big weekend down at the Saxton house. Well, thankfully we left Wednesday morning for the trip up north because we stayed just ahead of Ida's winds and hit the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in only 40 mph winds and heavy rain. I gripped the steering wheel tightly over the 20 plus mile bridge/tunnel, thanked God we had the Elantra and not a vehicle that rides higher up, and tried not to stare at the crazy waves we could see below. But we made it, and we wouldn't have been able to go that way if we left later, and after a nice stop at my dad's cousin's house for the best crab cakes I've ever had, we arrived in Philadelphia without major event.

My dad, Michael, and the dogs had a bit more fun with Ida. We were worried they wouldn't make it up for the weekend festivities but thankfully the waters receded, the road was uncovered, and the winds died down a little. So Friday night began our adventure with 6 adults, 1 baby, and 3 dogs hanging out in a 2 bedroom townhouse. Not a lot of sleeping went on, but it was nice to see family.

Saturday we spent the afternoon celebrating Grandma Hayhoe's life. One of our favorite priests came out to the cemetery for a memorial service and we buried Grandma's ashes in the Hayhoe family plot. It was great to see so many relatives come out to say their final goodbyes. Most of the family and friends came out to our house after the service to share memories (we saw some great pictures!) and eat some food. It was a long but good day and it was great for Noelle to meet my grandmother's best friend, Mrs. Noel. We didn't name Noelle for her, but she was always a special person in our family, especially at Christmastime.

Sunday was another long day filled with family and friends. Noelle was baptized at the 11:30 mass at our church, St. Paul's. We were excited to have Michael and Catherine serve as her godparents, and we were so proud of our little girl who was, as always, on her best behavior at church. Fr. Matt gave a great sermon tying the baptism in with the readings and current society, and it was great to have family and friends at church with us. Noelle was baptized after the homily, and despite being asleep before they anointed and poured the water over her head, she just looked up and smiled without crying. We look forward to raising Noelle in our Christian faith and love the prayer books and other mementos we got to help remember the special day. Family and friends headed to the house again Sunday to celebrate the baptism and have a fabulous Thanksgiving type meal. Thanks to my mom for making most of the food for both days!







On Monday morning I said goodbye to my dad and brother, and then cried somewhat hysterically as I left little Noelle for my first day back at work. I did breakdown one time at work, and teared up whenever anyone asked me about my little one, but I made it through the day. And, surprisingly enough, I made it through the next three days as well. It was great to have my mom babysit the first week I had to go back, and with next week being Thanksgiving, Noelle will only have to go to daycare two days, a great way to ease in to our new routine. I have to say the getting up at 5 (really 4 since that is when Noelle usually wakes up to eat during the night) is less than pleasant, but I am excited to work longer days so that I can be off Fridays. Here is a picture of Noelle learning her new trick - holding her bottle!



So we are getting our lives in order for this new, post maternity leave phase of our lives. On Thursday we get to head down to TN for Thanksgiving with Bryan's family. We look forward to seeing everyone and to introducing Noelle to most of the family. We aren't super excited to put Noelle on a plane (and I'm pretty sure the people sitting near us won't be too excited about it either) but we'll report in next week about our trip!

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!

Congrats B!

Just a short note to tell Bryan how proud we are of him. If you haven't heard yet, he got the news last Friday afternoon that he passed the bar! He was so nervous that he left work early to come home and stress here instead of at the office. When he walked in, we were still with a group of moms and babies from our Mommy and Me group in the living room, so he had to jump over toys and Maddie to get in the house! After the group left, the family sat together updating the computer screen every 5 seconds to see if the results had been posted for about 30 minutes...after finally getting actual information on the page we checked, double checked, and triple checked Bryan's bar number to learn that he passed. After one more check to make sure we had the right number, we did a celebratory dance around the living room!

People say having a baby changes everything. For us, maybe not so much. We celebrated the news by ordering pizza, putting champagne in the fridge, and falling asleep on the sofa before we had a chance for it to get cold and drink it! Not that different from the time before we had Noelle sadly enough!

On Saturday, Bryan got the official letter in the mail telling him again that he passed. Another small victory cheer occurred and then we got on to the business of the weekend. For those of you wondering, B is actually not a real lawyer yet. In early December he will take a required ethics class that everyone who takes the bar in MD has to go to, and then in mid-December he will go to Annapolis to actually be sworn in. But all the roadblocks are now passed and in just one short month he will officially be Bryan K Saxton, Esq.

Sleep, Glorious Sleep!

The past week or so Noelle has been giving us a wonderful gift: sleep! She has consistently slept about 7 hours a night, and even slept Sunday night through the entire night! Right now she gets up around 4 usually to eat and goes back to sleep. Since I go back to work in a week and a half and will be getting up at 5 to get to work by 7, Noelle just needs to get about one more hour in and then we won't have to get up at all during the night. We are so proud of our little girl! Here is a picture of the little one sleeping on the couch with her daddy - her little hands around him are so super cute!



Besides that, we enjoyed a lovely visit from our Miami friend, Nate, his wife, Jen, and their dog, Oscar, on Sunday. They stopped in to meet Noelle, watch some football, and eat some food, and it was great catching up. Maddie loved playing with Oscar - the two of them ran circles around the house for hours (and Maddie learned she doesn't fit under the living room tables).



Noelle loved the adult Leopards!



We hope to see more Miami friends soon!

Mommy and Me

Noelle and I have started getting out a little more often. Before this week, our main journeys were to the park to walk with friends or just with Maddie, and while that is fun (and definitely helping me get into pre-pregnancy shape) it was time for some different adventures. So what did we do? We joined a mommy and me group. Our first event was last Wednesday, and while Noelle had fun, I learned I am in way over my head.

Let me preface everything by saying how nice everyone was. But, these moms (or at least some of them), are out of control. One said she had finally gone 3 days in a row without calling the doctor's office to ask any questions (her baby is 4 months). Another has already taken her 4 month old to 5 different series of classes - music, dance, baby sign language, swim lessons, and I can't even remember the other one. A third has a $1000 diaper bag. Now there are a lot of things I could do with a $1000 dollars. Buy diapers for the remainder of Noelle's childhood. Buy Bryan and I 100 good bottles of wine. Pay for the great majority of a trip to my favorite place, Disney. But a diaper bag? You've got to be kidding me. By the way, this playdate was in an $800,000+ house (I know, I looked up the neighbor's house that was on sale - yes I am still a stalker). So, I left the date thinking I am either a slacker mom or these other moms are seriously crazy. I am going to go with the second one since so far my child hasn't had any real problems, is sleeping and eating better than these kids, and is certainly more attractive. And yes, I might be prejudiced, but seriously, have you seen her? She is super cute.


Addicted to the internet already...I guess we need to figure out how to add those parental controls soon!


Still loving my playmat!

So we will still go to some events, but we are going to pick and choose a little bit based on who we see will be there and try to remember that just because we aren't totally over the top millionaires doesn't mean we aren't doing just fine as parents.

Here are a few shots from last night - Noelle didn't trick or treat (and she actually slept through us giving out candy), but she still dressed up for the occasion.

Weekend Mornings

Noelle and I are sitting here while Laura sleeps in, so it is probably time that I come back to the posting game. Laura is having a much deserved morning of sleeping in since Noelle decided to wake up 4 times last night, not the normal 2-3 times.


Laura and Mom hanging out when Laura is actually rested.

Of course, now that I am up with her, she is sleeping soundly next to me. Oh, the life of a 2 month old! Lately it is becoming our routine on weekend mornings to hang out downstairs while Laura sleeps in a little and builds up her energy for the next week.



Outside of our weekend morning daddy-daughter time, things are going well in the Saxton household. Although we would rather have not had to all get together in the a week and a half ago, the funeral for Grandma Hayhoe was very nice. She will be interred in two weeks which coincides with Noelle's baptism. It will be good to again celebrate Grandma Hayhoe's life as well as Noelle's baptism with family and friends.


Celebrating Grandma Hayhoe's life.


Spending time with Grandma Carol.

Last weekend was our scheduled free weekend (yes, we had to schedule it). With everything that is going on with Noelle, my new job, and finally having time to reconnect with some old friends, we are trying to take one weekend a month to relax, spend time with Noelle and Maddie, nap, and watch all the shows that were piling up on the DVR. The monsoon-like weather last weekend enabled us meet those goals splendidly. After the weekend off, I really did feel a lot more refreshed, but also a little lazy considering I didn't do anything productive for two days!


Taking a walk and loving looking at the world.

This week we had the mild excitement of going to get our seasonal flu shots. Laura had received her first flu shot last year because of planning for Noelle, but this was my first experience. Laura's work had been telling folks for weeks that they would provide shots for employees and their spouses. However, when we arrived to get our shots, they had just put up a sign saying they were limiting the shots to only employees. I was upset about this since I had taken off work for the morning and driven well out of my way to get the shot, but I became even more upset when I found out that the powers that be made the decision the day before and failed to tell anyone about it. You'd think that it would have been easy to send an quick email to save people hassle and frustration, but apparently that would have made sense. However, one of my coworkers, upon hearing my frustration at Laura's employer told me that she had just received her shot at a Walgreens up the street. Apparently, inner city drug stores can plenty of shots, but major medical research institutions have problems with logistics and communications. So, a big thank you Walgreens for doing something that a medical system apparently cannot accomplish and give me my flu shot.

Last night we had a mini Miami reunion and had dinner with some friends we met in grad school. They all live within 20 minutes of us now, so we look forward to many more fun evenings together. It is always fun to reminisce about which establishment had the "stump game." This marvel of entertainment was a test to see if you could hit a nail one time and get it to go all the way into a, wait for it, stump. However, many of the nails just went flying around the room rather than solidly burrowing their way into the wood. I always wondered if it was a good idea to give people a hammer, nails, and beer at the same time, but who am I to judge?

Well, that's about it from the Saxton household. Tomorrow it is back to the grind of work, entertaining Noelle all day, and trying to make Maddie feel like she gets enough attention (even though she still gets more than she did before Noelle was born!). Although we keep saying it, we will really try to do better about updating y'all about our lives. And now, a couple more gratuitous pictures of the little one.


Noelle lecturing Uncle Michael.


Hanging out like a big girl.


Reaching for the camera.


Satisfied and with a full tummy after eating.

Goodbye, Grandma Hayhoe

Noelle and I have been visiting family in the Outer Banks the past few days. Unfortunately, last night Grandma Hayhoe had to be taken to the hospital and at about 1 am we got the call that she had passed. It was quite a shock since we had been to visit her on Thursday (and mom and dad had just seen her at the hospital and she had seemed ok) but it seemed her body had been slowly shutting down over the past few months. We are of course sad for this huge loss, but know she is no longer in pain and is now in a better place. We are all happy that she got to meet her great granddaughter and that we were able to visit her this week as well.

Here are some pictures of Grandma Hayhoe over the last few years...