It's A Boy!

We found out the great news yesterday that Baby #2 is a BOY!!! We are so excited! He's doing great and is growing and developing perfectly up to this point. It's hard to believe we're already halfway into this pregnancy, and it's so nice to finally know that this one is a "HE." We're excited, thankful, and blessed that we can look forward to a houseful of boys. Noah is going to love having a baby brother!

As for the name, I think we've decided on Peyton Manning Haag...kidding!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

Last Saturday morning, we woke up to a snow covered yard! Noah loved it and kept saying, "snow, snow!" He got to go exploring in the snow for a little while and we were able to snap some good pictures. He played in the snow a few times last year, but this year he was really able to walk around in it and enjoy it more. Hopefully we'll wake up to a snow covered yard a few more times this winter!

Sesame Street Live

Talk about committed fans...Tyra and Noah drove 3 hours this morning to Nashville for Noah to see his very first (of many, I'm sure) "Sesame Street Live" show. I used to love going to these when I was little, so it's neat that Noah is getting to see it in the same place (Nashville's Municipal Auditorium) I used to go with my Mom.

Tyra and Noah met "JenMommy" this morning for the early show, and according to Tyra, he loved it!! They had front row tickets, so luckily Noah was able to stay seated in his stroller with the help of his trusty Paci and Blankie.

As for the 3 hour drive to Nashville to see the show...at the time we got the tickets, it was the closest show to us...only to find out (YESTERDAY!) that a different Sesame Street Live show is coming to Knoxville next month. Oh well! ha!

Here is some footage of the fun morning...

Waiting for the show to start. Being in the front row means room to explore and high-five's from lots of the characters since they parade around the front of the stage some during the show.

Noah was mesmerized most of the show, like he was concentrating hard on what he was watching. He normally only gets his paci and blankie during naps and bedtime, but car "long" trips are another story. Noah does fine during them, but we make sure he has a snack/juice and Elmo DVDs. Of course getting him to give them up after a trip is another story...

Eating a fruit strip before the show. They offered him some cotton candy, but he thought it was trash and tried to throw it away :)

It was nap time during the last part of the show and Noah was ready for bed! Luckily for Tyra, he slept for 1.5 hours during the trip back to Knoxville.

Bye bye Elmo and friends!

Noah and all of his "loot" after the show--a pennant, soccer ball and Elmo jacket.

Return to the Hermitage Hotel

We had a great Thanksgiving in Hendersonville. We were able to spend time with family and ate a lot of good food.

On the Friday night after Thanksgiving, Tyra and I were fortunate enough to have a "night away" for Tyra's birthday, which was on Saturday. It was the very 1st time we'd been away from Noah for a full night, believe it or not. (Thanks to GiGi and Aunt Susie for keeping him and JenMommy for keeping Gabi!)

We spent Friday night at the historic Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, where we stayed on our wedding night over 5 1/2 years ago. The hotel is amazing, and we enjoyed a great birthday dinner at their restaurant, the Capitol Grille. Everything at the hotel is so fancy and nice, so we relaxed, took a 2 hour nap on Friday, and took advantage of a full night's sleep without the sound of a baby monitor or an alarm clock...aka Noah's peeps!

Here are a few snapshots from our stay....we love the Hermitage Hotel!

Excited to be back!

This is a view of our hotel suite!!! (just kidding, it's the lobby)

At Capitol Grille for dinner (that's ice water, not wine in the pregnant wifey's glass!!)

The sign outside of the men's restroom...which was voted Best Public Restroom in the world!




And here it is in all its teal and black glory!

Halloween

After a fun day on campus, it's Trick or Treating Time

Noah with the Eric Berry jersey

Hanging out on the Torchbearer statue

Big News and The Pumpkin Patch

It's been a very busy month in the Haag house, hence the severe lack of blog updates. We will try to do better in updating it.

The big news, for those who haven't heard, is that Tyra is pregnant again! She is almost 12 weeks along, and the due date for baby#2 is May 12...3 days before our annivesary. We are very excited, and it's amazing how much faster this pregnancy has gone by already. Tyra is feeling good and once again, has been blessed to not have any bouts of morning sickness.

Other than all 3 of us having a cold/sinus infection/lingering sniffles for the past few weeks, we're doing well.

Noah has had a lot of fun this fall, and it's so neat to see him learn more and more literally by the day. He repeats almost everything we do and say. Last week at his preschool, they had a fall show where all of the kids performed for a senior citizens group. Noah's class sang a song called "Scarecrow, Scarecrow," and Noah was the only kid in the class to actually sing or do he "dance moves" to the song...he's a HAM already. He loves to sing and over the past few weeks has really started to memorize the words to songs and can fill in the blank of almost any of our "regular" sing-a-long songs. He's almost as proud of himself as we are of him when he does this.

Yesterday, before the TN/Bama football game, we all went back out to Oakes Farm/Corn Maze/Pumpkin Patch. It's out in Corryton, TN, just northeast of Knoxville. It's beautiful out there and with the cool windy weather, it was a perfect, scenic fall day. We took him there last year too , but this year he was able to have a lot more fun and do more of the kid's activities. He really enjoyed sitting on the tractor, the hayride, playing in the big tub of corn, and navigating through the kid's maze.

Here are some photos from the day:









Next weekend, we are looking forward to another home football game on Rocky Top. Since the game (vs. south Carolina) is being played on Halloween night, we are going to take Noah to campus with us and let him walk around and see the sites (Vol Walk, Band parade) before Tyra takes him home to trick or treat. It we be fun to see Noah's face when he sees all that orange on gameday. He loves Rocky Top and loves hearing the band, so he'll enjoy seeing them parade to the stadium.

New Foods, Bleu Cheese, and The Beatles

Noah has had a fun start to the fall season. Last weekend was especially entertaining (for him and us). Uncle Andrew and Cousin Thomas let us borrow their Playstation 3 game "Rock Band - The Beatles edition."

Noah had a blast playing the instruments, especially the drums.

Last week, he also tried bleu cheese dressing for the first time, on a celery stick...and while the celery stick remained in tact, he couldn't get enough of the bleu cheese. He gladly offered Gabi a bite or two also (on a different celery stick!!).

For whatever reason, it seemed like Noah tried a bunch of new foods last weekend. Since it was the weekend of the TN/Florida football game, we continued our annual tradition of getting some grilled/blackened Gator meat from a local Cajun restaurant. Noah tried it, and loved it. He also devoured his 1st peanut butter and jelly sandwich too.

We'd been trying to wait until he was two to give him peanut butter, to stick with what the pediatricians recommend and b/c one of our nephews has a severe peanut allergy...but we gave in. By giving in, I mean I accidentally let him have some peanut butter/chocolate Chex Mix a few weeks ago, and since he didn't have any kind of allergic reaction, we figured we'd just let him go ahead and tackle his 1st PB&J...Noah was glad we did! He'd had some Chick Fil-a chicken (peanut oil) and things like that before though, so there was probably nothing to worry about all along.

Speaking of chicken, Noah helped me eat a few boneless chicken wings while we watched the TN/Florida game. And I was really proud of him, b/c he actually watched a lot of the game, and he gets so excited when he sees "Foot - Baaaaaw" on tv...which happens all the time in our house this time of year.

Noah also loves (and loves is putting it mildly) our neighborhood kids! Zach and Matthew, or "the boys" as Noah calls them, love to come over and play ball with Noah. They are so good with him, and he loves to watch them play ball outside in the cul-de-sac.

It's Football Time In Tennessee!

Here are a few photos from the first game of the season...a great 63-7 win against one of the worst teams I've ever seen us play, Western Kentucky. But, it was a fun game to watch!

Getting caught up

It's been a surprisingly quick and busy month, and it's hard to believe that August is almost 1/2 way over. Noah turned 18 mos. old last Friday, and his curiosity and strong willed personality are coming out more and more.

It's amazing how quickly he learns new things, repeats what we say/do, and remembers certain things. Over the past few months, he's become a "little boy" in front of our eyes. He's gotten 3 inches taller since his 15 mo. doctor visit and is coming in at 32 inches tall (56th %) and weighing 29.3 oz (86th%). We thought his weight percentile might be down at this visit, b/c he's gotten taller and is starting to thin out and lose some of his baby fat (sad!!), but he's hanging strong in those upper percentiles.

Sadly, Noah's great-grandmother Nanny (Tyra's mom's mom) passed away on August 1, so we spent some time in Hendersonville with family. It's joyful to know that Noah got to spend some great quality time with Nanny on some past visits, and he always enjoyed seeing her and getting into mischief with all of the non-toys on her coffee table. She will be missed, but we will enjoy telling Noah all about her in the future and showing him some good pictures we have of them together.

Let's see, what else is Noah up to these days??....Well the vacuum obsession has not gone away, and if anything, is as strong as it's ever been. I mean, this dude loves...I mean LOVES...the vacuum cleaner. Any and every one he sees! The big Oreck vacuum we have, the Swivel Sweeper, the little Wet-Jet Swiffer mop, his own little toy vacuum (although he's discovered the "real vacuums are more fun)...you name it he loves it. He oftentimes will find the little sweepers they have at restaurants when we go out to eat and start demanding he get to play with it.......

This leads to another phase we're in...the temper tantrum. Not getting to play with a vacuum is just one of a few things that triggers a "fall on the floor, arm and leg kicking, screaming fit." Luckily, we've discovered these only last a few seconds, so we rarely give into him, and also luckily, he generally only does this at home when it's just Tyra and me there.

His favorite TV show remains Elmo's World (on Sesame Street) by a landslide, but he's also fond of Disney's "Handy Manny," "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse," "Little Einsteins," and "Blue's Clues," which I think comes on Nick Jr.

His appetite isn't what it used to be, and he doesn't eat nearly as much as before. He still eats well though, and his favorites are pasta, bananas, watermelon, cheese, gummy vitamins (of all things), yogurt, and cookie/cracker snacks.

Noah loves music and really enjoys when we sing to him...he's quick to point out when we start singing a song he's not in the mood to hear by saying "No No...No No"...so it's a good thing we have an expansive repertoire to fall back on. I kid you not though, he loves "Rocky Top" and even knows when to "Wooooo" and throws his arms in the air. That's my boy! I'm helping staff an event on campus this Saturday, and I think Tyra will be taking Noah to see the UT Pride of the Southland Band parade to the stadium on their "dress rehearsal" before the home football opener. I'm sure he will love that.

Tyra has be cast as Elaine Robinson (Mrs. Robinson's daughter) in the play "The Graduate" (based on the movie) at the Oak Ridge Playhouse. She's a natural on-stage and will do wonderful! All of the almost nightly rehearsals aren't fun for us (we miss Mommy), but Noah and I have enjoyed having guy time after dinner - which usually consists of playing mini-golf around the house with his Lil' Tykes golf set, trying to convince Noah that we don't need to vacuum the house again, singing silly songs, playing with blocks, and playing the "hide the blue ball" game.

This past weekend Noah had fun at his best friend Addie's 2 year old birthday party, where he devoured lots of sweet goodies, and enjoyed the subsequent sugar rush. He was a little wild man and had a lot of fun. Then on Sunday, we had a great family day at the local park's splash pad, where Noah loved swinging and playing in all of the water fountains.

Other than all of that, it's just same ol' same ol' on Rocky Top. Here are some photos from the past few weeks:

Noah at his 1st ever HHS football practice in early August....Go Commandos!

Turning his "cuteness level" way, way, way, way up!

Making his "oh my goodness" face...a new trend.

With Aunt Alyssa on her birthday --- Mommy made the cake!

How 'Bout A Popsicle

What a fun way to spend a Friday afternoon with Mommy!

The Adventures of Noah ~ The Missing Beachball

Since there's nothing good on TV in the summer anyway, how about a sneak peak at NBC's new fall mystery/drama...(it's better viewed by double clicking on the picture below and watching it on YouTube)

Stars and Stripes

We took Noah to the Farragut 4th of July Parade last weekend. He had a really good time and enjoyed seeing the helicopters, police cars, marching bands and all the people walking by. I thought he'd get bored pretty quickly, but he hung in there for well over an hour. Thankfully, the weather has been pretty nice here, and not as humid lately.

We arrived at the parade a little earlier than expected, so we spent a good 30 minutes letting Noah run around the new Kroger Marketplace store, which I think was the highlight of his day. He knows where all the "nacks" (aka free samples) are and is not bashful about trying 2 or 3 of each. Then, since it wasn't crowded at all in the early morning, we just chased him around the entire store.