Merry Christmas!

So clearly I fell off the blog-updating wagon! So sorry! Things got so crazy! Thankfully, we are finally in our new house and getting into somewhat of a routine, although it's busy!
Noah got himself kicked out of preschool by having one too many accidents. He is doing great now, but we are going to wait until next year to send him to preschool. Just don't want to go through that ordeal again!
Eli is doing great with his therapy appointments, but our ENT discovered his trachea is 50% smaller than it should be and is the reason he has had so much trouble with feeding, gasping breaths, and speech. We are in the process of scheduling this surgery, which will take 4 hours and 2 surgeons! Eli will have a tracheotomy, where he will have a hole in his throat and a device attached to help him breathe and will be in the hospital for 2 weeks. For 4-6 months after that, he will need constant trachea care at home and we will have a home health nurse at times, too. Not sure what life will be like for us then, but we know that Eli's life will be sso much better long-term because of this surgery!
We were able to go back to Kansas City for Christmas this year for a week! It was great to spend time with family and friends who we dearly miss! The boys got fun toys from both sets of grandparent, who clearly outdid themselves! Noah has an exercise video game AND a V-Tech video game system. Eli has an airplane riding toy and the Little People House! And we all now have new KU gear, thanks to Jason's parents. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and here's to a great new year!! We love you!

1st day of preschool

Noah had his first day of preschool and loves it! I however, wasn't so sure. We missed the official first day due to the fact that the school had told us it was AFTER Labor Day (it has been that way every year prior to this year, so the secretary had not been informed of the change when we enrolled Noah in the spring). But seriously, no letter or phone call?! I was not happy!
Noah is also almost completely potty trained, which is a big accomplishment for him! He still has accidents, but we just decided it was time to go underwear only (except at night) and deal with any messes so he would learn. We also had a visit from the potty fairy, who left great prizes for Noah to choose from when he goes #2 in the potty or when he has an accident-free day. :)
We also officially sold our house in Lee's Summit! Whoo-who! Our house being built here is moving right along...there's now a roof, windows and a front door. I think they are going to be working on the duct work, plumbing, and electrical work this week, but not for sure what order that happens in. I'll be over there taking more pics, though!
Hope everyone has a fabulous rest of the week!

pics from this summer

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Update?! What's that?

Oh my goodness...I am terrible about updating this blog! Ugh! Well now that it is halfway through August, I have a lot to report! We sold our house in Lee's Summit and I'll be going back next week sometime to see family, friends and tie up loose ends!
Eli is now climbing up stairs, which is a great feat for him, being so little! He pulls up on everything and will soon be cruising around furniture. Oh my! Noah gets him to "chase" him and boy can Eli crawl fast!
We have also been going on daily walks of a few miles each. Noah actually rides his trike (no joke) and I push Eli in the running stroller. One way to get some more exercise in and it usually does wear Noah out...as he pedals like mad around our entire subdivision. Ha!
Our new home build is going well...they are starting to frame it! Foundation is done! Good things ahead! We should be in before the holidays! Yay! It is such a dream to have been able to choose everything and get exactly what we want! I am never going to want to move again! :)
Gotta post a few updated pics of the boys, too! I'll try to be better about updating! I promise! ;)

more July!

So I had some great fun pulling weeds and doing a little landscaping one day this last week. I put Eli in the pack'n play on the front porch and Noah rode his bike up and down the sidewalk and played with his friend Jack. For those of you who know me, I do NOT have a green thumb whatsoever, so taking care of a yard with extensive landscaping is not my idea of a good way to spend 3 hours. But it needed to be done! I even bought a hanging flower pot for the front porch. We'll see if it lives for very long!

On Thursday I turned 32 and Jason brought me gorgeous flowers. J and I went out for a BBQ dinner and then went back to have brownie ice cream cake with the boys. Noah asked, "Who's coming for Mommy's birthday?" Apparently since we had a party for Eli's birthday, he though we'd have one for mine, too! Too funny!

Happy 1st Birthday, Eli!

So little man had the big "1" and boy did he have fun! Lots of great people to celebrate with and he got some fabulous gifts, too! He didn't know what to do with his cake, but he loved pulling and chewing on wrapping paper! And Noah loved "helping" him open his gifts (or pretty much opening them for him!) So fun and so cute. I can't believe I now have a 1 year old and a 3 year old. Where has the time gone? I really enjoy my time with them! They are both full of so much personality and so funny, bright and sweet. God has truly blessed us with 2 amazing boy!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! Hope you all had a safe and enjoyable holiday! We sure did! Jason's family arrived last night to a dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and sweet corn made by my fabulous hubby! Noah was very excited and Eli was overwhelmed and just wanted to be held by Mommy!
We went to visit friends in town that used to live with us in Kansas City and Noah got to hold his first sparkler, which he loved! He told Jason, "Let's do more Daddy!" Both boys fell asleep in the car on the way home.
We will enjoy our time with them all while we can!
Take care!

Busy, busy summer days!

Hi to all our family and friends who we miss so much! We are doing great here, just busy and trying to avoid the heat and humidity. Noah has been swimming in his pool and now has tan lines from his swimsuit. Eli is still a little white, white, WHITE boy...gotta slather him up with SPF 60 sunscreen every few hours. :)
Eli is now a crawling machine! We had to put a gate up in front of the lower level so he won't fall down the stairs there. His physical therapist discovered his feet are not properly aligned to stand or walk, which is why he has trouble pulling up to a standing position by himself. He will get orthopedics on Friday and that should help him out a lot! He still hates eating baby food and we now put rice cereal in his bottles. He is just a skinny baby, but has never been very chunky anyway and he's gaining weight, so we'll just keep pushing the baby food for now. We will be meeting with his pediatrician soon to discuss his progress and see what he thinks.
I have been busy with all the paperwork and coordinating of Eli's therapies and that has been a job in and of itself! We love all the incredible ladies who come to work with him, they are all fantastic at what they do and he already has them wrapped around his little finger. What a booger!
I went to my 10 year college reunion a few weekends ago and it was so much fun to see all my old college friends. It's been so long since I've seen some of them! The picture is of me with my best friend, Carrie up at our old college campus.
I also finally got my "mommy's necklace" custom engraved with my boys' names and a heart charm. Love it! I have wanted one for awhile now and it was a late Mother's Day present.
Hope everyone is doing well and staying cool in the summer heat! We love you all!

Pool time!

Hot, hot, hot! We finally got a pool and Noah has had a blast! He was the first kid in the neighborhood with a "big" pool (bigger than a small baby pool) so he enjoyed all the company playing in the water. The kids would swim for awhile, then run to the trampoline and jump for awhile, then go play on the jungle gyms and then head back to the pool. All day long they did this sort of rotation and boy were they tired by the end of the day! Our neighbor gave us a little baby "tent" for Eli (and I forgot to take a pic of him in it, but I will!) and he loves being able to see out, but be out of the sun to roll around and sit and play with his toys. The water in the pool was a bit too cold for him, so he wet his feet and then had enough.
Jason and I had a date night last night and we went running on a trail nearby and then out to dinner afterwards. It was actually a lot of fun since we don't often run together anymore since Noah is usually out playing with his friends and Eli naps so much still! We end up taking turns and with his Nike Plus running tool, we can listen to the iPod and still keep track of how far we go, pace, etc. Plus, neither of us wants to push over 50 lbs of kids while running, too and even Noah alone would be really heavy now that he weighs 34 lbs (plus the weight of the stroller!) That would not be fun for sure!
Eli has also been enjoying his Johnny Jump-Up a lot lately. He loves to hop up and down and move all around. Since it's hung in the office doorway, he can screech and it echoes through the foyer, which he finds delightful! He's quite the little character!

Learning to ride a bike

Oh how precious life is when seen through the eyes of a child. How exciting it was for Noah to ride his first bike! He was so proud of himself when Daddy got him going and then he peddled some on his own.
And Eli's therapy is going great! He is getting into the conventional crawling position consistently and may be doing more than slithering like a snake and army crawling soon! He's also eating a lot more baby food and we are now adding rice cereal to his bottles to help him gain a little more weight.
Jason will be going to the Bahamas soon WITHOUT me! He'll only be there for a few days, as Pastor Parsley is preaching at a few churches there and he is traveling with him on this trip. And I will be leaving in a few weeks to go back to KC for a quick weekend trip for my 10 year college reunion! This time I'm flying....and the boys will have a weekend with Daddy!
We're looking forward to more gorgeous weather and play dates the rest of the week! Hope you all have a great week, too!

Long overdue update!

Okay, so we were in Kansas City for a week and I am still recovering from driving the 10+ hours back to Columbus by myself with both boys! :) I promise to get some new pics and an update on what's going on with us up soon. I need to get to bed and get some rest now, though since the boys are busy recharging their batteries right now and will be raring to go in the morning!

Preschool, doctor and upcoming birthday

Hello everyone! Well we've had a busy past few days! We toured a school for Noah and enrolled him for 3 days a week, mornings only. He will love it! We also decided on a house floor plan, so we're ready to move forward another step in the building process! We are getting ready to go back to KC to visit family and friends and celebrate Noah's 3rd birthday, so we are all excited! We also have to make some decisions about our house in KC, which still hasn't sold. Lots of showings, but most people want a 2 car garage and ours only has 1, even though it has a driveway for a 2nd car. Pray the Lord brings us the right buyer and soon! Eli also had a dr's appt and we found out he is in the ZERO percentile for weight! Still a little guy...he's growing, but he's not exactly piling on the pounds! :) I am thankful he is finally EATING more than just taking his bottles of formula. Hope everyone is enjoying the nicer weather....so glad there's no more SNOW for now! I'll take a few thunderstorms over the snow and ice!

Yucky, yucky colds!

I've been overwhelmed with Jason out of town and 2 boys with nasty colds. It started with Eli and at first I thought it was just a runny nose from his teething, but it got worse and then Noah started the little cough and snotty nose. Jason has a cold, too, but lucky for me, I just get to take care of everyone else and have not had to battle it myself.
Eli is getting better and better at eating his baby food. So far he seems to like carrots and pears the best. He is also still sitting up and has really started pushing up on his knees! We have have a crawler sooner than I thought! He has learned to get around by rolling and by slithering like a snake by pivoting his body squirming and moving his legs.
I just pulled my hair back today...can't wait to be in KC and get it cut and the color touched up! But Noah LOVES hair accessories and he's always getting into my headbands and hair clips, so I finally put one in his hair. I'm sure Jason will be thrilled that out of all the clips, he chose the yellow FLOWERS! Guess I got my girl after all! Hee. Hee.

Weary from the weekend!

Well we accomplished a lot this weekend...yard work, grocery shopping, outlet mall shopping (best EVER outlet mall is here in Ohio!! I promise!!). We even took the boys to playgrounds (yes, more than one!) and played outside for hours. Not to mention church and then Jason flew out this evening for a 3 day work trip in Seattle! I really miss him already, which is rare for me! ;) Usually it takes me until at least the 2nd day! Ha. Ha.
We met some more neighbors who are very nice! Everyone has kids in this area and totally understands what you go through as a parent! Noah just loves being around so many little ones, too! And Eli just watches everything! Oh, and flaps his arms up and down excitedly, kicks his legs and squeals!
Eli hit a MAJOR milestone this weekend, too...he is now sitting up by himself for 15-20 minutes at a time! From 30 seconds to 15-20 minutes! He doesn't take baby steps to anything..just BAM! and he does it! Personally, I think he's holding back! ;) I'll have to quit taking his slacker attitude, huh? Hee. Hee. That's how little observers are...they quietly take everything in and then one day they just do it! He's the one I'm going to have to watch out for someday!
Anyway, here is a picture of Eli sitting at his music table. He can sit even longer if he's leaning a little on something with his arms. He LOVES this table and will literally roll across the room to get to it! Then he babbles loud like he's asking for help to sit up at it and play! I'm sure soon he'll be crawling across the room, then walking, then running and I'll laugh at how I worried so that he would take forever to sit up! :)

Grandparents visit!

My parents came to visit and had a great time with the boys! We gave them a tour of of our area and went out to dinner while they were here. We are working hard to get the boys back on their schedule again after missed naps and late nights! Noah talked so much about "going to Grandma's" after they left that we made a chain of the days we have left before our trip back to KC! We'll take one loop off every night and then he'll be able to see how much closer we get to our trip!
Tomorrow our case manager for Ohio's "Help Me Grow" program is coming to let us know what services Eli qualified for (physical therapy etc), so we are looking forward to getting that going! Friday we have a play date at our house with the boy next door.

Goin' the the playground

Noah and Eli had a great time on the first nice day we've had in a long time! Although I have been homesick for KC lately. I miss so many people and so many things about the city I knew so well! I think we are living in a great place, don't get me wrong. But it's not what I'm used to yet, so it is not easy. We went out to dinner in Easton last night and it is like Oak Park Mall and Zona Rosa combined. It has an indoor and an outdoor mall area, a ton of restaurants, a train and sprinkler waterfall area, and of course a Build-a-Bear Workshop, where Noah had to make a new "friend." Needless to say, we had a blast and the boys were tired by the time we got home. Hopefully we'll continue to discover new things to do, places to go and people, too!

Another cold and rainy day here yesterday, but we found lots to do! We colored, built with blocks, made train track courses, played in the ball pit, read books, danced, and watched cartoons. Eli was definitely rolling and pulling himself toward toys he wanted to play with and was very content moving himself around the living room floor from toy to toy. He also enjoyed some of the cartoons with Noah. Eli's tooth continues to make him a little fussy, but it's almost all they way through the gum now, so hopefully he'll feel better today. I took Noah shopping with me when Jason got home and I think he enjoyed it more than I did, although we didn't find much.
We are planning on taking a trip to the library and finger painting today. It is gorgeous outside already and if it warms up, we'll be playing outside, too.
Eli was supposed to go to the dr today and possible get some shots, but he's been running a slight temp with his teething and already doesn't feel well, so we rescheduled that appointment. They won't give shots if babies have a temp anyway.
We are also excited because Grandma and Grandpa will be stopping to visit us on their way back to Kansas City from New York! It looks like they will be here sometime Monday night. They will be our first overnight guests!
We hope you all have a great Thursday! Tomorrow is Friday! Yeh!

Counting kangaroos and hail

We've spent the better part of our day counting kangaroos and sorting them by color. Apparently this is very fascinating for an almost 3 year-old! We also read the book "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly" and Noah "fed" the matching animal cards to our old lady cut-out as we read the story....6 times! I really miss teaching!
I also took some pics of the hail that has been falling on and off here this afternoon and the view of the sky looking down our street. Needless to say, we are watching for severe weather warnings today, such as tornadoes with that ominous sky!
I still need to mop the kitchen and foyer floors. Hopefully I'll get to those later this afternoon! Gotta go get Eli now. He's awake from his afternoon nap!

Carrots? What?

It's been a monumental day--Eli ate carrot baby food! I've been trying to get him to eat baby food for awhile now with no luck, but today he was finally hungry enough (or bored enough) to try it and really ate it! He got to gnaw on a biter biscuit afterwards, too and was pretty happy about that! I am so proud of him! We'll get there yet!
Noah is still pooping his pull-up, though. :( One kid at a time! He pees in the potty every time, but can't seem to catch himself before he has to poop! We'll keep trying, but Mommy is not cleaning out anymore undies for now, so pull-ups it is until we improve!
More icky rainy weather here today, but it was a lazy Monday anyway. Mommy did laundry and finally managed to get it all folded (although it has yet to be put away!) Eli played with lots of baby toys today and is really moving around everywhere now, too. Noah managed to trash the play room by noon and did NOT like Mommy making him clean up some of it before he could watch "Cars" for the 10,000th time. :)
Tomorrow we will be going to the library for more books or the park to play if it's not raining!

Whew-who! We made it to the weekend! It's definitely not easy when Jason goes out of town! We had a laid-back Friday evening. Jason mowed the lawn (his lawn-mowing experience was much like my floor moping experience....so much MORE in this house than our old house!) The boys played outside and went to bed tired.
Jason went and met with the home builder this morning and we've now narrowed it down to 2 floor plan choices and 2 lots we like. Now we need to make our lists of pros and cons and weigh out our choices. Then we'll decide on more specifics (floor-type, counter tops etc. etc.) So fun!
We've been hanging out with the boys all day! Out and about and enjoying the gorgeous weather here! It is perfect!
We are going out tonight and Ashtyn is going to babysit the boys. Adult time! Yeh!
Hope you are all having a great weekend!

"Rain, rain, go away!" Noah's been singing this song for the past 3 days now! Yuck! So we had an indoor pool party in the master tub yesterday and went shopping at Old Navy and Babies 'R Us today. Tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be sunny and in the high 60's, so we should be able to get outside then. Here is what the aftermath from our "pool party" looked like and the boys in the tub. We hope you're all doing well! We miss you!

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter here! Our day started off with a visit from the Easter bunny! He rang the doorbell and left a big basket of treats and toys for Noah! (But no candy for Eli, since "He doesn't have any teeth!" in Noah's words). We went to church, of course and then had lunch at the Stacy's house. We couldn't get Noah off the trampoline and he cried all the way home, "Wanna go back!" Debbie told him he could come back anytime he wants. Thanks, Debbie....now he won't stop asking to go! :) I hope you all had a fabulous Easter and thanked Jesus for the sacrifice that allows us all to spend eternity in Heaven! As Noah says, "Jesus...he died!" Still working on the coming back to life part...

Fun day

Grandma Crabb sent the boys stuffed sheep (lambs) and hats. Eli is sporting his little plaid one. We also went to the playground up at the church and it is awesome! It's handicapped accessible, so it's HUGE! When we got home, Noah fell asleep in his beanbag in the playroom. I think all the stress from the move is catching up with me....I have been so tired the last few days. Hopefully we can catch up on sleep this weekend. Hope you all are doing well! We miss our family and friends in KC, New York, Nebraska, Arizona, Texas and everywhere else!

Why on earth did I think daily posting was going to work? Really there isn't much to say for yesterday, though. Noah and Mommy dyed eggs. Noah cracked most of them and thought that was cooler than putting stickers on them. Eli napped to try and sleep off his cold, which is making his nose run like crazy! When Noah fell asleep on the couch, Mommy went and laid down for awhile, too.

Noah and Mommy went to the "li-berry" (library) where Noah informed Mommy that "we haf ta whisper!" still in his talking voice. Mommy and Noah both checked out some good books to read. And last night Mommy went running in an effort to start getting back in shape. Ugh. Forgot what a long process that is! We do have gorgeous scenery to run around, though....outside of our subdivision is wide open countryside and it's beautiful!

Today we are going to go to the playground at Daddy's work (World Harvest campus). It is the only disabled children accesible play area in the entire metro area. I will try and take some pics and post them later. Mommy also has a ton of laundry to do and a huge kitchen floor to mop. Such excitement, I know! Don't worry, the adventures will start up again soon....just keeping it low-key for right now while we try and adjust to the new house and new area.

Welcome to the Crabb family blog!

Hi everyone!

I started this blog as a way to keep our families (and friends) updated with what is going on with us! We've lived in Columbus, Ohio for a week now it already feels like the boys are doing so much!

Eli is now rolling everywhere and sitting up more (w/some help from Mommy still) and will be evaluated by the Help Me Grow program here in Ohio to see if he qualifies for physical therapy here (the lady assured me he should after giving her his history). Eli is starting to tolerate more baby food, too, although he hates rice cereal and baby oatmeal and will have nothing to do with it!

Noah is progressing with is potty training and yesterday Mommy put him back in his Thomas the Train underwear all day long! (We took a break from them to wear pull-ups for our trip and hadn't gone back to them for daytime yet.)

Jason is busy adjusting to his new job and will start some traveling soon. Christine found it strange that he was home this week between 5-6pm most nights. But it was great to have his help in setting up the house! We are working on getting to know Pickerington. We have found play areas for the boys, the mall (cute treehouse play area...HUGE!), Cosco (Noah's favorite store!) and we are planning on going to the library this week, too.

I will try to post pictures and tell stories of our daily adventures to keep you all updated! Please post questions or comments and I will check our blog daily.

We love you and miss you all!