No rest for the weary....

While Dustin & Natalie were here visiting the boys got to spend some good quality time together installing our new hardwood floors. They worked there little tails off and they turned out awesome (before and after pictures to come). And yes, Weston accumulated some "needed" power tools to properly complete the project.
I always love to see Weston hard at work. ;) Check out those forearms baby......Aye!
Warren was a good helper and built right along with them. Isn't this a great house?
Hanky was our little cheerleader. He is the biggest flirt EVER. I could just eat him up.
Nat helped out a ton too. She manned the kitchen, dishwasher, stairs, Warren, Hank,.....enough said. Thanks so much for all you did for us! We love you guys and miss you already.



Warren and Hank hangin out on the Boardwalk.

The Benjamin

We are happy to announce the arrival of our new son, Benjamin Weston Hall! Benjamin was born Friday, August 15th at 8:10 am. He weighed 8 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. He has been a wonderful baby so far. Very content and easygoing. Lets hope it stays that way! He was delivered via c-section and everything went well with the surgery and birth.

We had a bit of a scare with me after the surgery but all eventually settled down and I am doing fine. I had a rare reaction to the medication that the doc used for my spinal block and subsequently my heart rate dropped to 43 along with my blood pressure. A few shots of adrenaline got things back up to speed (literally) and then my heart rate and blood pressure were through the roof. After almost 5 hours in recovery they got me stablized and everything went smoothly after that. I was monitored by a cardiologist while at the hospital and EKG tests all came back great before I was discharged , so I am good to go.

Being born is rough.
Momma finally gets to meet him.....
All cleaned up...
Warren was SO excited to finally meet his baby brother and has been so sweet with him.

Family of four. Warren and Benjamin exchanged gifts. Warren picked out the green frog as a present from him to Benjamin (all his idea) and the blue train is for Warren from Benjamin.

This is a picture of the Hall Men. Dustin (Weston's brother), Natalie & baby Henry came into town on Saturday. It has been so great to have them here and we were especially grateful to be able to have family here to share this special time with us.

Benjamin flashing his charm at a mear 30 hours old....yea, pretty much the cutest newborn EVER! While Weston pulled up the car this funny old man brought me down in the wheel chair. He was just chatting away asking me all kinds of questions. He was pushing me so fast I was a little worried about having a minor collision on the way down. He informed me that there was a hill in the floor and so he had to gain speed to keep up his pace. Weston flashed a picture right at the end of the journey. We made it accident free and are finally home.

Crazy

We made it! We moved last weekend into our new place and we have been consumed cleaning and getting unpacked last several days. The heat has been grueling. I know, I know we are crazy and every day we go to bed totally exhausted. I am trying to get as much done possible before the baby comes on the 15th (I am scheduled for a c-section). That gives me 8 days before we meet Benjamin to have this place put together, which is a little difficult with this belly and swollen feet! We have already had new carpet laid and some guys are coming today to demo the rest of the floors downstairs (We are having new wood put in). Hopefully I can post some pictures soon, as soon as I find the camera!

Captain Moroni

Last fri & sat the youth in our ward had a Book of Mormon read-a-thon. They have been planning it for over a year now and it turned out really great. It included cameo appearances from many of the Book of Mormon heros. They asked Weston to be Captain Moroni and read the Title of Liberty. Just the night before he informed me that he needed to to be dressed up so....we were up late sewing his costume. Yea, I am pretty much the best wife ever. Although he wasn't supposed to be wearing his shorts and shirt underneath it. I warned him that I was going to put this on the blog because I can never get him to dress up for Halloween anymore and I was so excited he was playing along so well and he did a great job.

Notice Warren's giggle and comentary in the beginning of the video as they reveal Captain Moroni on stage. He thought it was pretty silly that daddy was dressed up like him. I edited it so its not too long but I got some close ups toward the end of the video if you want to fast forward to the end. (PS I really am not a retarded videographer...I was trying to take still shots and video at the same time so at times his head gets cut out of the video.)

Hall Family Vacation

While pretty much all of my friends are off on fabulous vacations, I on the other hand kicked off our vacation with a fabulous back packing adventure to the baby's room. I was lookin good sporting the 8 1/2 month pregnant belly, swollen feet and ankles (well, at least by 4 o'clock every day they are) and crickety hips.

So.... the weekend before last I started out doing great with packing. I packed the entire baby's room and some of Warren's toys (although, this week he started un-packing a box or two searching for his missing treasures). I guess all the bending and lifting got to me and I had a couple of intense contractions, so I called it a day....or should I say week....
The next week, we made it to the pool a few times with our friends (Janelle & Caryn) and REALLY.....I thought about packing everyday......
Warren drying off right before we were going to go home and pack.............
....(drumroll please).......packing progress last week.......(yes we have officially become alchoholics).....
My goal this week is to have these boxes filled.....or perhaps we'll just go to the pool. It is Texas in July and I am 8.5 months pregnant. Our closing date is the 29th and we are supposed to be ready to move on the 2nd.....do ya think we are gonna make it? Stay tuned.

Mi casa es su casa...

Well, I haven't been very good at keeping the updates about our house drama's BUT..... it all started last October when we decided and announced that we were building a house and we have been/were. Well, to make a LONG story short, the builders were lame and took FOREVER to even start construction on our house. They originally told us it would be done March or April '08. Well, they didn't even break ground until April. Our lease on our house we are renting was up in June and our landlord was expecting another year lease to be signed, etc. There is a whole saga in between but we have been really prayerful about it and we decided earlier last month that we would start looking at existing homes and we did. Shortly thereafter, we found this house and we put our first offer in a few weeks ago. It is owned by an oil company and is currently empty, due to an employee relocate.We put in the initial offer a few weeks ago and after much patience with corporate we finally came to an agreement and received a signed contract last Thursday! The process has been painstakingly slow and stressful. The initial offer and counter offers had to be reviewed by at least five (picky) people, etc. (deep sigh...) We are very excited to FINALLY be able to have a place of our own. We are supposed close and move the end of this month. Just a few weeks before the baby will be born! That will be a little tricky to pull off with this belly and Weston's work/travel schedule but I'm sure it will all come together in the next 3 weeks right!? Here are some pictures.
We will have a mighty comfy guest bedroom. All friends and (most) family welcome!! ;) I was trying to get a shot of some of the trees in our yard. We have a ton of huge pine & oak in the front and 6-7 huge oak in the back. Our entire backyard is shaded at all times.
Its barely in the picture but the garage is to the right, detached with a covered breezeway from the back door.
The Front entryway.

4D Baby Benjamin

I had another ultrasound yesterday and this time I got these really cool 4D pictures of our little man! The discolorations and distortions you see are normal (amniotic fluid, etc) and they are not any kind of problem with him. It is so cool to be able to see what he (sort of) looks like. He was tucked into my side pretty good so she had a bit of a hard time getting a full face shot but the sum of all photos give you a decent idea. I love the one where you can see his little hands rested up on his cheeks. And yes, the little stinker is still breech. Humph.I am getting so anxious to finally meet him! (If the pictures are too small for you to see, just click on the photo and it should enlarge it in another window).

Oh baby!

This Saturday my friend Shelly (and her mom) threw me a baby shower! I wasn't expecting to be having one since I already have a boy. It was such a beautiful party and it was so fun for me to have all my friends together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our new little son. They had a luncheon & this yummy shaved chocolate, raspberry mousse cake... and the gorgeous flowers (that they sent home with me). Oh, and the gifts were nice too. Warren was born in the middle of the Michigan winter and this baby obviously is NOT. So, I was in need for some summer clothes for the little man. They also presented me with $250 (group gift) in American Express gift cards to help me get a good nursing chair. They totally spoiled me! I am so grateful for their thoughtfulness and feel really blessed to have such wonderful friends here in TX! Here are some of them:

Me with Katie A, one of the YW I get to hang out with. She always has a hug for me.
The hostess': Shelly and Karen Jensen. (I serve with Shelly in YW)
Me (behind the baby outfit) & friends: Kari, Pam & Marilyn....
Sister Ivory and Janelle....
Melanie F, Karen R & baby Jennifer....
Jennifer, Michelle & Lara....

Aunt Julie, Mary and Annette. I didn't get pictures of everyone but am so grateful for all who came!

The Hot Tamale Train.....

Last night was another amazing episode of So You Think You Can Dance. I fell in love with this routine performed by Chelsie and Marc. I love the story and the choreography was perfect. Check it out!

Enough Already!!

Ok, so I have had several of you hounding me for a belly shot so here it is!! I am 31 weeks. I went to the doc yesterday and she did another ultrasound. Unfortunatly, I left with not so great news. Doc said that he is currently breech. She said that he could possibly turn before my due date but they will be obviously doing another ultrasound to check. Second, she said that his head is measuring in the 95th percentile for his gestational age. Just like Warren ( and thanks to dad!). I think this is a big reason I ended up having a c-section with Warren and I was hoping for a VBAC but both of these discoveries have made the outlook less promising. Oh, well...Warren is a smart little stinker so I guess that is the good part. We will have to see how things progress.

"City boy" summer kick off...

I rate this in the "best of Warren" category. Last week we were over at our friends house and the kids were running through the sprinklers. He plays in the hose and goes swimming all the time but for some reason he had a hard time getting into running through the sprinklers. I thought maybe it was because there was several other kids there and he was more captivated watching them than getting in on the action himself. Anyways, I took him to the store a few days later and let him pick out his very own Lightning McQueen sprinkler to experiment with at home. He tried it out a little but I could tell that he didn't like the idea of being squirted very much. After a few minutes he disappears into the house telling me...."just a minute, just a minute". What does he return with? He had fun after that...he just kills me sometimes! Warren had fun playing with his friend Ashira at the Houston Zoo.

Warren just after the water balloon games at the summer primary party.
Warren had a blast playing at the Little Gym at his friend Charlotte's birthday party.

My friend Kari just had her baby and I finally took Warren over so he could see what a newborn baby looks like. He was so sweet with her and kept petting her head saying "mom, she's so cute". As we visited Warren started playing with the toys of course. Just after seeing baby Adeline he picked up this baby and starts playing with her...rocking her, feeding her etc. He has never really played with dolls before. In fact, just the week earlier daddy had warned Warren of staying away from such activities. So, Kari (knowing that we are prepping him for the new babe) tells Warren that he can have the baby. He was so excited. As soon as we got home we had to put a diaper on him and pick out an outfit. He was so thoughtful and nurturing about it all. I was nervous what dad would say but I just gave him the "don't you dare" look and he was pretty good about it. Everyday he packs his new baby around and takes care of him ever so carefully. I hope this is an indication of things to come!

My Happy Place

Any other junkies out there? I don't watch very much TV but every summer I SO look forward to watching So You Think You Can Dance. I LOVE it! The new season started last week and I am totally stoked. Everytime I watch it I seriously want to dust off my dancin shoes. If you have never seen it, you have to! It's not cheesy like Dancing With The Stars or other dance shows. It is raw competition between "regular people"/dancers and they continue competing until one is voted the best dancer. Each dancer initially comes with their specialty of dance and then they are challenged to learn all other genres (Contemporary, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Pop, etc). Whoever can grow and learn the most typically stays. Thus... the title of the show. I love watching the dancers grow throughout the season and the choreographers create the most amazing routines.

Try it and you will get hooked! Its on Thursday nights, Fox 13 @ 7:00. I will be adding my favorite performances throughout the season to my blog...so stay tuned.

Below is one of my favorite contemporary pieces performed by Heidi and Travis. I think Mia Michaels the choreographer won an Emmy for this routine.

Heidi and Travis

This is a routine from a previous season by Heidi and & Travis. Check it out baby!

Hall-ywood

Ok, so I thought this was funny (thanks Nat) and so I thought I'd share. Weston will just LOVE this! ;) Can you tell that I am finally done with finals!!



I have never even heard of Shiri Appleby.....

BIG Boy Success......

Finally! Warren is totally potty trained! I am sure many other moms understand what an accomplishment this is! It has been a long journey for us. Originally, I had read and heard from so many people not to even worry about seriously potty training until your kid is like 3 because mentally that is the best time for them. However, just after Warren's 2nd birthday he showed lots of interest in going potty and so I wasn't going to deny us that opportunity!

Initially, he did really great. He was waking up dry in the morning & having very few accidents during the day so I thought....great! this will be a piece of cake! Well, shortly thereafter the novelty wore off and suddenly my perfect potty training experience turned into much frustration. It seemed the biggest issue was that he didn't like the inconvenience of having to stop playing to go to the potty. I persisted for a while but it wasn't long and any time I would remind him he would run away from me and yell "I don't want to go to the potty!" I was at my wits end with the boy. Everything I read talked about how it needs to be a really positive and rewarding experience and I could see that it was quickly becoming anything close to that. So, I just decided to layoff and drop the subject for a while. He was back in diapers and while I wasn't thrilled, it was better than fighting it 8 times a day.

In December we found out that we were expecting a new baby and so for obvious reason's I decided to introduce the topic again. Potty treats, charts, rewards, cool underpants, lots of praise etc. but nothing seemed to really motivate him to do it on his own. It wasn't the fight it had become before but it still took a fair amount of coaxing on my part.

So, one day we are at Target and I see this toy that I had been looking diligently for, for months. He always loved playing with it at his friends house. I was just as excited as he was to find it. I put it in the cart and Warren is giggling and cooing his little heart out, admiring it for the rest of the shopping trip. So, we get in the car and we are driving home and I get this mean mommy thought. I decided that when we got home I would let Warren open his toy ONLY after he started to use his potty for at least a couple of days. I was looking for his motivation to be sparked and I though this may do the trick. So we get home and he gets ready to rip into it and I put it up high and explained the deal. Well, needless to say he was seriously ticked off about that. I did feel bad because it was a bit of the switcheroo for him but he got over it and best of all, it worked!! He started to use his potty and three days later I let him open his toy.

Eventually, I bought him his own little potty (we were originally using the potty ring that sits on the big toilet). He loved it and wanted to use it all the time. It was the kind that played a song everytime he used it. Eventually, he grew tired of the song and turned that off. Childs play. He is very independant and so I think the best part was that it was "his" and he could use it without any help at all. He has been doing really well and it has been a couple of weeks with zero accidents and so I finally feel like I am safe to announce that he is totally potty trained! Woo Hooooo! That is the best mothers day gift, EVER!