Thursday, September 24, 2009

Wendy Sue Stroman

After Beck was born, 17-months ago, my sister stayed with us to help out since I had a C-section and I'm so lucky that she was around because the recovery was very painful. After 3 months, it was time for me to go back to work and I couldn't bear the thought of leaving my precious son with a stranger. Wendy begged us to let her keep him during the day so that's what we did for seventeen months.

On Friday, September 11th, Wendy moved back to East Texas because we
decided it was time for Beck to hang out with other little ones. Brent found a wonderful couple to watch our son...Linda and Mark Ronck are the owners of Love and Lollipops. They turned their garage into a little play area and currently have 10 kids. All of the kids are so cute! They focus on one subject each month and this month is all about apples.

This is a huge adjustment for Beck and very difficult for me. Every morning he hangs on to me like a leech and it makes me so sad because I know he's scared. He screams and cries when I leave so I've learned to not put make-up on until I stop crying. I'm hoping he'll feel comfortable at the new place soon.

I want to thank Wendy for all of her help and I know Beck will miss you.

This is our first day at Love and Lollipops...this was the only day Beck didn't cry when I left.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

After the Beach...

After we had our fun in the sun, we had to do the traditional stop at the souvenir shop.Brent wanted to get Beck a shark tooth necklace which looked good on him but I was afraid he'd hurt himself with it.
On our way home, we took a nap...(actually, Beck is the only one that took a nap on the way to the beach. Noah and I were pretending to be asleep.)

South Padre Island

We couldn't go to McAllen and not see the beach...we loaded up the kids around 10:30 and was on the beach by noon. Noah had fun playing in the sand and Beck was in awe of it all.

Check out Beck's super cute feet in the sand...
Check out Noah's creation on the left...

Monday, September 21, 2009

Beck and Noah in diapers

Beck had the best time playing with Noah especially when we let them run around in their diapers...Many hugs from cousin Noah...Many faces of Beck Lee...BTW, he LOVES this chair!!!

Scenery in McAllen

While on our golf cart excursions, we saw lots of interesting things...Ginormous cactus...
Lovely homes...And, a very old cemetery...

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Beck with Geese in McAllen

While in McAllen, we saw several geese around the golf course. Beck chased a couple...We decided to take some bread to them and the geese LOVED us!!! One tried to eat Beck's shoe, one tried to take a bite of his finger and one tried to eat his pj pants. (Beck is still in pj's because this was our early morning ride on the golf cart.)Beck wanted to touch them so badly. He got very upset with me because he wanted me to put him on the ground but I was afraid they would attack him. Brent said he would help Beck since I was afraid of them. Brent gave Beck a piece of bread to give to the geese...Beck took it and stuck it in his mouth! We thought that was so funny!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Labor Day Weekend in McAllen, TX

On Friday, September 4th, Beck took his second flight this year. (The first was to Orlando, FL for Jeff and Jill's wedding.) We took a 1.5 hour flight to visit Jody, Jennifer and Noah in McAllen, Texas. The Rio Grand Valley is a lot like being in Florida...all of the palm trees and stucco houses. After we landed, Jody took us to their house on the golf course (they are located on the 10th hole) then we ate dinner at a fabulous Mexican restaurant (Costa Messa). Authentic Mexican food and they even had a Mariachi band to boot! Noah burned up lots of energy by running up and down the ramp located near our table. We started with a cup of soup and Beck ate the veggies from my soup (carrots, zucchini and potatoes) then he ate a cheese enchilada and loved it.
Our bellies are stuffed so off to the grocery store we go for some weekend food at HEB. Jennifer got cupcakes and Noah enjoyed every bite!The next morning, Beck woke up REALLY early so we took off in the golf cart to keep from waking up the entire house. It was still dark outside...Beck spotted an orange tree and picked one but it was still green...not ready yet.
There's an awesome park near the Mask's house but I think it was to overwhelming for Beck because he didn't play like he usually does at the park near our house. He sat on the edge of the slide, played with the rocks and had fun being on the swing with mommy...When we got back to the house, we decided to check out the pond near the 10th hole to discover that Nutria's live there. Don't know what a Nutria is...well, it sort resembles a beaver. Beck got pretty close to a brave one...
On Saturday morning, Jennifer was going to cook waffles for us but we forgot to get vegetable oil at HEB last night so we decided to cook them the next morning. We ended up not cooking the waffles on Sunday morning because it was too late to cook them and we wanted to hit the road to get to the beach. On Monday morning, we finally cooked the waffles. But, there was no brush to put oil on the top part of the waffle maker so the first waffle was stuck like a truck in mud. Jody made pancakes instead. But, we didn't have any butter!!! The waffles that never happened made us laugh and we will always remember this funny moment.

One morning, Beck and Noah spent so much time on the patio playing with trucks and annoying the golfers. At one point, we had to take them inside because the golfers were glaring our way.


Laughing Baby

I discovered that Beck thought it was hysterical for me to act like I was going to "get him" by pushing the popper toy towards him. He has the sweetest laugh and hearing him laugh will make you laugh...it's contagious!

Fireman???

I might have said this before but I want to emphasize how much Beck loves being outside. One evening, we hung out by the pool and Brent had to do some work on "Freddy" (the pool cleaner). Beck loves to help daddy so he quickly grabed the hose and started spraying anything and everything (even mommy!). We think he might grow up to be a fireman...

Chuck E Cheese's

On Friday, August 28th, Brent and I took Beck to Chuck E Cheese's in Plano. Brent said, "I've had better pizza from the freezer!" Although the food was mediocre at best, the entertainment was fantastic! Beck had a blast riding the little toddler rides, watching Chuck sing, dumping coins on the ground and playing skee ball. We collected over 200 tickets, thanks to Brent, and received a plastic spider, a blow up hammer and a foam rocket launcher. Beck's favorite is the foam rocket launcher. He laughs everytime we shoot it.