Back in MN-Back in TX

It's been a while since I've updated and that's mainly because we were in Minnesota (Iowa and Chicago) for 2 weeks!  Novaley had a great first Christmas and got about 20394823049 toys. I don't even know where to put them all. It was nice seeing everyone from both sides of her family, and thanks to everyone who sent us a Christmas card!

I have a lot to cover so this post might be all over the place...but hopefully it isn't too bad. 

We ended up leaving on 12/21 (aka the end of the world) right after Joe was done at school.  Joe and I split driving time and ended up driving all night until about 715am to his grandparents house in Iowa. It felt like the longest drive ever, and our car was super packed with a million gifts and all of novaley's things she was going to need the next few weeks while we were gone. 

We got there and I realized I forgot my coat in Houston...so that was good. It was freezing cold and there was about 8 inches of snow on the ground. Luckily I had my boots at least. 

I wish I had some pictures from our christmas in Iowa..maybe I'll have Joe try to get some from his cousins or his mom and add them later. It was a good time nonetheless, and great to finally meet the rest of his IA family!

The next day we left IA and drove back to Winona for Joe's dad's side of the family's christmas at his house......again I wish I had some pictures from that, but I don't (at the moment).

Later that night, a few of his friends stopped by to see Novaley...and us I guess haha. 

Thanks Chris for this pic :)

Changing his first diaper!

 After her bath...someone said these pajamas reminded them of Al Borland???

The next day was Stephanie's birthday, and Christmas Eve. 

This is the outfit she wore to church and for that night.....notice the boots lol. 

Novaley and her godmother Rachel

 Gwen helping push Novaley around the kitchen

She loves her!

After Stephanie's birthday dinner we decided to open gifts since Joe and I had to leave early the next morning for Christmas in St. Paul at my Aunt Connies.

Gwen really happy about her gifts! 

Novaley opening gifts......

The next day we had to get up right when Novaley gets up for her first feeding and pack everything in the car to go to the cities...........its weird that everyone in Winona says "the cities" I honestly never heard anyone call St.Paul/Mpls/any surrounding suburb "the cities" until I met Joe. Maybe that's because I live "in the cities" and everyone just calls wherever they're going whatever the town's name is...ie Edina, Savage, Maplewood, etc.

Anyways! 

We first went to my parents house to unpack some of the stuff in the car, and then we left for my Aunt Connie's.  

There were over 50 people there--all family, which was crazy! It was so nice seeing some of my cousins and aunts/uncles that I haven't seen in a year or two!

My cousin Hannah with her baby Aiyana and Novaley. Aiyana was born a few weeks after Novaley, and is the cutest little thing!!

Here's a picture of some of the cousins and their kids....lots of people are missing that were there though...bummer.

Aunt Connie and Novaley...Nick in the background haha thanks again for getting the Goldberg's there!! :)

After we got back from my Aunt Connie's it was finally time for us to open gifts from my side of the family before all of my brothers left for Chicago that same night.

Patrick bought Novaley some fake mustaches lol. 

They were pretty funny.

Anyways....opening gifts.............

So this is what she ended up with....also a $100 gift card to babies r us from her Uncle Alex and the highchair we wanted from my parents. You can see it here. It took me forever to pick after researching probably every highchair on the market so hopefully its as great as it was reviewed to be...it gets here on Friday! 

Here are some pics from that night.....

I had a lady on Etsy knit her that sweater which is the cutest thing EVER!

 hahaha the look on Novaley's face is priceless. She really is my mini-me! ;)

After the pictures my brothers had to leave back to Chicago and I got news that Dolly had her twins that night!!!!!

So Joe and I headed down to Abbott Northwestern to see Dolly.

Here I am with Bo a few hours after he was born! 

I didn't get to see Adrian until the next day since they wanted to monitor him at Children's but he's perfectly healthy so he was back at Abbott with his brother early the next morning...they also asked me to be his godmother which obviously I said YES to!! I got to hold him the night before we drove back to Houston. :)

They are both soooo cute, and I am so glad that they are so healthy even though they were born so early. They are so teeny tiny compared to Novaley!! I can't wait to see them when we get back this summer!

So the next few days Joe and I just bummed around Shakopee pretty much, 

Novaley turned 5 months!

and then early Saturday like 6am early we headed to Chicago to meet up with the rest of my brothers for closing weekend at Hawthorne. 

We went to a Peruvian restaurant to eat that night...it wasn't that good and was overpriced. 

We also went to Michigan Ave and the mall...we had to walk about 10 blocks to get there and it was freezing cold omg. It didn't help that it's so windy there. 

The next morning we got up and packed our stuff and helped Alex get his stuff packed for Hot Springs.

After we went to the track where Alex got his leading rider award! We are so proud of him!

Patrick modeling.......

We had to leave shortly after to drive back to MN, but it was a fun weekend! 

Novaley had some subway on our way home.

The next day was New Year's Eve and Joe had a small get together with some of his friends at his house.....I can't even caption some of these pictures haha.

Novaley had the cutest outfit on......I wish I had taken more pics of it so you could see it better. 

Afterwards Joe and I left Novaley at home with his parents and went downtown for a few hours.  It was fun, but I was happy to get home and see Novaley...even though she was sleeping. 

After her first feeding the next morning this is what I saw......someone was quite hungover...........

We bummed around until we left on the 2nd.....

Then we went back to Shakopee so I could see the twins and my family one last time before we drove back to Houston. 

We also took a few pictures of Novaley in the snow...which lasted about 1 minute total. 

Before we left:

We left and drove to Joplin, MO.

The next day we drove all the way back to Houston....we were all glad to be home, even though it was only 54 degrees in our apartment which contributed to me getting sick the next day I think.  Luckily Joe and Novaley didn't get sick...it was just me of course! 

2012 was a great year for Joe and I with the birth of Novaley. She is such a great baby! We are just sad that she is growing up so fast! 

My next post will probably be about her first solid foods...I have been doing a lot of research and most say not to start solids until they're 6 months, but Novaley has been grabbing at our food and pretending to eat while we're eating, so once her highchair comes and we go to the farm to pick up some pastured eggs we are going to start feeding her egg yolks and see how that goes. She's almost 6 months adjusted since she was born 2 weeks late anyways...and yeah egg yolks sounds weird, but do some research and you'll understand why we chose that instead of rice cereal or anything else. Or read "Super Nutrition for Babies," that'd be a good start. 

This took me all day to update! Hopefully I will get better at updating this before school starts again next Monday and I have even less time to do it! 

Joe's birthday is tomorrow (Jan 10th) so everyone make sure to call/text/fb him happy birthday! I know he would appreciate it! ;)

See ya later.