Country living

I'm liking this farm living (Mama is glad I'm enjoying it). I'm collecting thoughts and will share them with you as we venture through life on the farm. Here goes -

You know you're a country boy if...

• Your mama has cooked more meals shot by your Uncle than bought at Walmart (wild turkey and deer)


• You take your mama out for her birthday ... to Walmart ... and the whole family goes (yes, Walmart is always a generational affair - atleast three generations at a time)


• A trip to town requires a bath and "church" clothes (Anything with a collar is a church shirt to me)


• A tractor, Monster truck, or construction truck siting is the highlight of your day!

"Green acres is the place for me --- Farm living is the life for me!"

Here is the Mixer that came to pour concrete at Uncle CC's house - I was excited to see it but boy was it a hot day! Mama and Uncle CC worked hard to get the concrete in while I played in the yard with my tractors.

Beach babies

I am a beach baby. Several weeks ago when we went to see great mema and papa we went to the beach for the morning. Mama thought I would be a timid (why would she think that about me?) in the ocean and stay in the shallow water - not so. I loved to let the waves pour over me and come up sputtering and coughing...and laughing as mama almost lost it - she seemed to be a little nervous!

We had the opportunity to go back to the beach last week and had a wonderful time again. It was such a great week BUT Mama is even more nervous because I am fearless around water and walked into the ocean up to my neck and didn't want any help. I think Mama is in for a fun filled next 16 years (I turned two at the beach last Monday!).

Building sand castles ..... Not so much fun

Destroying sand castles ..... More fun than building them - AAARRRR!

Playing with my tractors/trucks at the beach ..... Loads of fun - of course

Playing in the ankle deep water or small tidal pools ..... fun for a short while

Trying to swim to Africa ..... Lots of fun - I just couldn't resist

Enjoying serene beauty of the beach ..... no way - too quiet

Loudly greeting all who passed by ...... Certainly, why not?

Wearing enough suncreen to drown in ..... not so bad and quite effective

Laughing, smiling and enjoying life ..... always and especially at the beach

My brown eyed girl

Here are some more recent pictures of my sweet Oo-cy. She is smiling so much, laughing, cooing (she cooed all through church yesterday), gnawing on her hands, blowing bubbles, kicking her feet and she loves to sit up (we still have to help her but she does not like be on her back for long.)

You know you have lots of chub when you have a forearm roll. Mama loves the rolls.

Upclose and personal with Lucy in the baby Bjorn. Mama carries her everywhere in that thing as she plays with me!

My sister and me AND my new red wagon

My great Mema and Papa gave me this wagon for my birthday and I have had so much fun in it. Thanks Mema and Papa! I enjoy it so much - I don't know whether I like to ride it or pull it better. I do like to share it with Lucy - and she likes to sleep in it.

Cousins!!

My cousins, Tori and Jordyn, and my Aunt Jackie came all the way from Germany to visit me on the farm this week. We had SOOOO much fun. I got to show Tori and Jordyn the cows and the horses, we played in the water hose, dug in the dirt, played with my tractors and LAUGHED. I really liked having Jordyn around - she is only 2 weeks older than I am and we are the same size. I like playing with people my own size. Cousin Tori was great too - she sprayed us with water, rode us around in the wagon and helped us play all afternoon. Here are some pictures of our exciting afternoon.

Jordyn and I playing in the dirt near the tractor. She likes dirt as much as me!

Coloring on the porch. We liked the stickers best!

I got a free shampoo from Shiloh - I liked his shampoo better than mama's - mama uses soap!

I showed Jordyn how to feed the horses hay. Jordyn like the horses but she liked the cows best!

The Great Ones Visit

My great Mema and Papa (aka, the Great Ones) came to visit this week. Great Mema brought me a trash truck. I have played with it every day and every day I tell mama over and over again what is in the back of the truck "mama, trash truck - bat, trash, pizza, box, uh-oh it broke - I fix it" I like to say it over and over again to make sure mama hears me!

Here is Lucy with mama, Dandah (Mama's Mama) and Mema (Dandah's Mama). Lucy has no chance but to have a streak of independence with a line of women like this.

Papa's House

People are always guessing who Lucy looks like - I think Lucy looks a little like Papa - especially in the neck/chin area.

Lucy and I are having a great time at Papa's house. I LOVE playing with Papa - he makes me and Lucy smile alot. I also like playing outside, feeding the goats, watering the plants and playing in the rocks with my tractors. If you don't know by now - I LOVE TRACTORS! I also like to "Go Walmarts with Papa?" (Mama says I am a true country boy in the making)

Several other phrases now that I'm talking up a storm -

"Boots on, go outside?","my shoe hurts me", "I need help", "watch monster trucks mama?", "Night-night baby cows (pronounced cows with a 't' instead of 'c') night-night box; night-night shoes; night-night ....."

I am talking so much more and mama likes to help me learn - One recent conversations with mama went like this (I think she smelled something before she even asked)

Mama: "Buddy, do you need your diaper changed?"

Samuel: blank stare

Mama: "Buddy, do you need your diaper changed?"

Samuel: "I go outside?"

Mama: "Samuel, use your words - say "Yes" or "No".

Samuel: "yes or no, Mama"

and one more conversation one night a little later than usual-

Mama: "Guess what time it is (with a relieved look on her face)?"

Samuel: "I go Walmarts with Papa?"

Mama: "No, but maybe tomorrow (with a smile on her face)"

Samuel: "I go church? I wanna see baby cows."

Mama: "No, buddy it's time for a bath and bed."

Samuel: "I NEED tractors"

Mama: "Go get your tractors and hop in the tub"

Samuel: "I hop, mama, I hop"

updates

Here is little Lucy at 6 weeks old. She still doesn't do much but she does wave her arms around. This weekend she started smiling and I think I'm going to like having her interact with me.

She's 1 month old

Today my little sister is 1 month old - boy, time goes by fast. OOhhhhhh!!! AAAAhhhhhhhh!!! She loves to make this face
She can even look at her nose with both eyes!
And for comparison - here I am at 1 month old, August 2005

Little "dear" in the headlights

Most of the pictures we have of Lucy are when she is asleep. Here are a few during her awake time this week - she looks a little surprised by the camera with this "deer in the headlights look".
showing off her dance moves
profile shot
here's me again - this is a better one for grandma to print off!

Tractors

I love trucks and tractors - "tractors" and "trucks" were two of the first words I ever said (even before I said mama) Here are my latest tractor friends. Each tractor has a different name and mama is doing quite well keeping up with them - "Mit-ser" or Mixer, "Truck", "Ba-doser" or bulldozer and Tractor.Mama was curious when Lucy was born if I would take to dolls and want to be parental for a while (she heard that wasn't uncommon for big brothers) but I've never really been too interested in dolls or stuffed animals and it remains true for now. BUT I have become attached to these tractors and take them everywhere (oh, don't you like my boots? I put them on all by myself this day before mama even knew it)
I take them for walks in my bucket and like to dump them out and pick them up making for extra long walks...
They eat lunch with me - mama had to clean the apple sauce off of Mixer the other day because he was a messy eater...

We play in the leaves and the dirt - and boy do we get dirty. I especially like when we get to play in the mud and the water hose. Of course, after we get so dirty mama has to give us all a bath before she puts us all to bed. The tractors aren't so good at being still at night so I put them on the table next to my crib so that I can see them and get to them first thing in the morning when I wake up - I love my tractors.
Mama and Lucy go with me on my adventures outside. Lucy doesn't seem so interested yet (here she is yawning)- she just doesn't know what she is missing!

Lucy's long days

So far I haven't been able to convince Lucy to play tractors with me but she seems to be surviving each day without them - how does she do it?

Even though mama isn't into ruffles for herself - she seemed to get pretty excited about these ruffles.

Lucy enjoys baths like me - here is her first bath.

After a long day of sleeping and eating she was at it again - more sleeping.

Grandma and Baba were here!

I sure do miss having Grandma and Baba around. I can't wait to visit them in Florida soon.

My Baby Sister

We caught Lucy with her eyes open several times in the past few days. She likes to sleep - mama calls her sleeping beauty!

I have decided I'm going to keep her - I was considering the refund option on Lucy for the first few days but now I kind of like having her around. She doesn't cry much, she sleeps alot and mama can still play with me when she is around. I get to hold Lucy sometimes and I like to pretend to go "night-night" when she is asleep.

It's been a little chilly around here the last week and I haven't been able to get outside and play a whole lot - this shot captures the spirit of the last few days!

Look at those lashes! I'm not sure what color Lucy's hair is going to be but I hope she gets these lashes.

Drumroll please ....

Here she is! Introducing my new baby sister Lucy Hope Noonan. She was born on March 28 at 3:42 in the afternoon in Atlanta, GA. She weighed 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. I think she is beautiful. Here are some pictures of her and our family.

Here is a picture of me when I was born on July 16, 2005. I was long and lanky and weighed only 6 lbs 8 oz.Here is Miss Lucy on the day she got home from the hospital. She likes to snooze so it might be a while before you get to see her eyes.

Here is another picutre of her snoozing. Look at those cheeks!

Here is our first family photo the day we all got home from the hospital. The redheads.

This is when I first got to see the "baby". I like her name and mostly call her oo-cy - I'll work on saying the "L" later. I wasn't so excited to see her in the hospital because I wasn't sure what they had done to my mama but I really warmed up to her once we got home and mama could give me hugs.

I'll keep you updated as my little sister grows. I can't wait to play with her outside - that might be a while!