Seven Months.

What a month it has been! Nolan has had so many firsts this month that I'm going to have to try hard to remember them all. He has been a busy little nugget.

On September 6, we took our first family vacation. I'll write more on the trip in another post but it was Nolan's first time on a plane, his first major road trip, his first time sleeping in a bed other than his own, his first time to the ocean, his first time off-roading...the list goes on and on. He was awesome! He is such a great traveler.

While we were on our trip, his third tooth popped through. This one came in on the bottom on the right side next to his middle two. He's growing a whole row of bottom teeth with no top tooth in sight! We noticed this tooth on the evening of September 8 so I'm pretty sure it came in that day.

On September 7, he started sitting up completely unassisted. He had been sitting with help for a while, but all of a sudden he could do it on his own! He was so proud of himself and couldn't stop smiling.

On September 11, he woke up at around 3:00 in the morning and started babbling. I was laying in bed listening to him and all of a sudden he started saying "mama! mama!" I was half asleep so I kind of wrote it off and didn't think much about it. Then the next morning, he was laying on our bed and started saying it again. It is the absolute cutest thing I have ever heard. I was able to get a pretty good video of it and I think I have watched it about 7,000 times since then.

He is officially mobile. He is not crawling yet but the kid can roll. He gets where he wants to go by rolling like it is nobody's business. Gone are the days that I can lay him down and expect him to be in the same spot for longer than three seconds.

He is wearing 6-9 month clothes, but he is going to have to move up sizes pretty soon. This is the first time he has been on the large side for his clothes. He is in size 3 diapers and will continue to be for a while. He eats two solid meals a day. He usually has oatmeal or rice cereal with fruit in it for breakfast and rice cereal with a fruit or vegetable for dinner. He drinks about 40 ounces of formula a day as well. He holds his own bottle but lately he has been getting distracted while drinking so it gets pretty messy. He would much rather look at what is going on around him than focus on getting the milk in his mouth.

He is outgrowing his infant car seat and we will have to get a bigger one for him soon. It is so hard to carry him around in it. I have tried putting him in a high chair at restaurants and in the front part of the shopping cart, but he is still pretty wobbly. This in-between stage is rough but I'm not ready for him to be big yet so I can deal with it a little while longer.

He is an amazing baby. He hardly fusses and only actually cries one or two times a week if he is in pain from teething or really hungry. He laughs at everything. I use the nose-sucker (what are those things called?) and he cracks up. When we took off on the airplane, he laughed. I look at him and he laughs. He has the most awesome sense of humor and watching it develop has been so much fun.

He is beautiful. I can't take him anywhere without people stopping me so they can look at him. I feel weird saying that because I feel like I'm bragging, but he is the gorgeous one...not me. So I can brag about him, right? He gets compliments on his eyes and his cheeks all the time. Today, I was walking out to my car after getting lunch with my mom, and people were yelling from across the restaurant "beautiful baby!" I'm not even kidding. I'm sure it helps that he flirts with and smiles at every single person he sees.

I was going to do a "Nolan Loves, Nolan Doesn't Like" post, but there isn't much he doesn't like. He is so relaxed about life. He loves baths, eating, playing, people, phones, rolling, toys, Paisley, getting his nose suctioned, flying on a plane, riding in a car, going for walks, being outside, being inside...he loves it all. I guess he still isn't very fond of peas...so, yeah.

We are past the half-way mark and well on our way to his first birthday. I get choked up just thinking about it. It is going by so fast but this is the most incredible thing I have ever done. I love being his mommy.

First time sitting up!

Cheese!



I'm blessed.







Six Months.

I swear, this month has been the most fun yet. Nolan is learning so much...he is like a new baby every day. He is drinking five 6oz bottles a day, along with a fruit or vegetable and rice cereal at dinner time. His doctor said we can start him on two solid meals a day, so we'll probably give that a try this weekend. He is wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes right now but it is about time to switch him to 6-9 month. He is in size 3 diapers. His second tooth should cut through any day!

His growth is right on track. At his doctor's appointment on Wednesday, he weighed 16.6 pounds and was 26.6 inches in length. That puts him right around the 50th percentile for both. I keep waiting for him to get some baby rolls, but he hasn't really yet.

He is gorgeous. I try to not to say things like that because I'm his mother and obviously I am going to think he is cute. He really is, though. People tell me all the time that I'm going to have my hands full with him when he gets older. I need to start working on my kung-fu skills to fight the ladies off!

He recognizes his mommy and daddy and is starting to show his affection and love for us. To love me, he strokes my hair or arm as he eats and stares into my eyes. He'll also grab the sides of my face and pull mine to his so he can give me a slobbery kiss. With Chris, he is more playful. He will wrap his entire body around Chris' shoulder and laugh if Chris even talks to him. I swear, Chris can get that child to laugh at the drop of a hat in a way that I couldn't if I tried for hours. He acts totally different with each of us. It is so sweet to see him start to show us how much he loves us and see how our relationships with him are developing.

He is such a laid-back baby. We get comments all the time on how calm he is. He is fine going anywhere and hanging out with anyone. He hardly ever fusses in public. He is content just about anywhere as long as someone talks to him every once in a while. He is very social and loves to just be with people.

My absolute favorite time of day is first thing in the morning. He loves mornings so much. He doesn't cry when he wakes up. He'll just make little noises until I wake up and look over at him. I'm always greeted with a giant smile and flailing arms. He kicks and squeals and smiles and laughs until I pick him up and hug him. Then he gets all sweet and snuggley until I give him his bottle. I freaking love it. I don't care how tired I am from working until 3:00 in the morning...I wouldn't trade all of the sleep in the world for those times with my boy.

Baby Bird: You, aside from your daddy, are my best friend. You make my days so much more incredible than I ever thought possible. I never knew I could love someone so much...yet every single day I love you more than the day before. You are more than I deserve. I promise to do everything in my power to make sure you never go a second without knowing how cherished you are. You are safe and so loved, little one. Thank you for loving me back.

Nolan Loves:

• Jumping. All. The. Time. In his jumper, on our laps, on the floor...doesn't matter!
• Paisley. If she is in the room, nothing else matters.
• Orange Veggies. Carrots...sweet potatoes...squash...
• Mommy's Singing. It is one of the few things I do that will make him smile and laugh every time!
• Rolling. Only from his tummy to his back...he has a way to get out of tummy time!
• People. Bird is social like his daddy.
• Electronics. I swear, every single picture we have of him is goofy. He makes this super curious face and grabs for the camera or cell phone...

Nolan Hates:

• Being Hungry. There is no warning! He goes from 0 to 60 in about two seconds flat.
• Being Ignored. If he wants to talk, he wants to talk. There is no way around it.

Chomp.

Nolan cut his first tooth yesterday. He grabbed my finger and shoved it in his mouth. I wasn't paying much attention since he normally does this a million and a half times a day to gum me to death. This time, I felt something sharp poking through his little gum. Sure enough, little buddy has a tiny sliver of a tooth! Where is the time going?

Five Months.

He's almost at half a year, people. I know every mom says this, but I seriously have the coolest kid. I wake up every morning to his sweet face smiling at me. He has stopped crying when he wakes up. He'll just stare at me and wiggle around in his little rocker until I roll over and look at him. As soon as we make eye contact, he'll start kicking his legs, swinging his arms, smiling, and squealing. I love that he gets that happy just at the thought of getting out of bed and starting his day with me. It melts my heart...

He is my best little buddy. When he was younger, I wanted to spend time with him because he was my baby and I was his mommy and I loved him so much. Now, I want to spend time with him for those reasons, but also because he is such a blast to hang out with. We can sit and laugh at each other for hours at a time. Seriously. His sense of humor is developing like mad and the things he thinks are funny just crack me up. He is really ticklish (especially his tummy, his armpits, and his butt...haha!) He still adores Paisley and laughs really hard whenever we help him pet her.

We bought him a jumper a few weeks ago and now that he can touch the ground, he goes crazy in that thing! He can only tolerate it for 15 minutes or so at a time because it has a lot of lights and sounds, but for those 15 minutes he is a jump master. I'll sit on the couch and watch him play. Every once in a while he'll look up at me to see if I'm still watching, smile really big, then go back to jumping away.

He still hates tummy time and screams his little head off whenever I try it with him. I don't know if he is ever going to crawl. He much prefers standing. I think he might skip right to walking...yikes!

We're still giving him solids every night before his bath. So far he's loved everything but peas and pears. He gags when we give him peas and the pears are too sour for him. His favorites are sweet potatoes, green beans, bananas, and carrots. He's showing a major interest in food. We've had a hard time taking him to restaurants lately because he wants to eat what we're eating but can't. He doesn't realize he isn't big enough yet! He'll be fine until the food comes out...then he just yells at us until we finish. We actually had to leave 1/2 way through our lunch at Red Robin a few weeks ago because the little stinker was causing such a fuss and did not want his bottle. He wanted french fries and a chocolate malt, duh!

He's growing like a weed. He's still wearing mainly 3-6 month clothes but wears some 6-9 month depending on the brand. This is the first time in his life that he's worn a larger size than his age (which I know is not unusual...just sad.) He can still fit in size 2 diapers but we have a lot less leaks in size 3.

I really need to try to post more. I know I didn't even do a post with his four month pictures. I want so bad to remember all of the little details in his life but I don't want to miss them while sitting behind a computer either. I will try to do better...for my sake and for his.

Disturbed.

Warning: This post may be very disturbing to some of you. I'd advise those of you closest to Nolan (Mom-I'm directing this at you) to probably skip this post.

About an hour before I left to work tonight, I was overcome with the feeling that Nolan was going to die. Normally I'd be fine to let him play with Chris as I did my hair in makeup for the day, but I kept him wrapped on my chest the entire time. I couldn't put him down. Chris was headed to his parent's house for dinner as I left tor the evening and I kissed Nolan about thirty times before I could put him in his carseat. I left out the front door and the boys went out the back. I felt like throwing up the second I shut the door. I hurried up, got in my car, and sped around to the back of the house before Chris got Nolan in the car. I fought the urge to get out and kiss my baby again, but I wanted to...bad.

I've never felt this way before. I've had the normal new mom fears. I do my research and take the steps needed to be sure he is safe. I worry if he seems sick and I probably overthink a lot of what I do. I'm doing the best that I know how. He isn't sick right now. He is growing and healthy and strong...I have no specific reason to feel the way I did earlier.

Last night I had a dream that I was staying in a large bed and breakfast with my family. I left Nolan with the lady that owned the house as she was baking cookies. She was so sweet and loved him and I felt completely safe with her. I went upstairs to grab something and when I went back down to her, she handed me Nolan's burpcloth. It had been washed and ironed and was on a hanger. His blue sailboat binkie was hanging around the hook of the hanger. She didn't say anything to me.

All of a sudden, I heard Chris screaming my name. He was down another flight of stairs. I dropped the burp cloth and ran down the steps so fast that my feet barely even touched them. I already knew. He was holding Nolan...and he was blue. Chris had his face burried in Nolan's chest and was screaming. I fell to my knees and that's all that I remember. I woke up shortly after that with my hand on Nolan's chest (he's still sleeping next to our bed) and he was smiling up at me.

I have a hard time shaking dreams and feelings like those. I know in my heart that Nolan is safe. There is still that tiny part in the back of my mind that believes that since God works in such strange ways sometimes, maybe I'm being prepared for something horrible. I wish I could get that part of my mind to shut up. The part that says I'm having these feelings so that I stop and give him an extra kiss before I leave for work so that if something happens, that won't be one of my regrets.

I had Chris bring Nolan in to see me at work on his way home from his parent's house tonight. I held him and loved on him and kissed him before they went home. I felt physically sick as Chris drove away with him in the backseat. Right now, I'm going to credit my dream with my horrific feelings. Nolan is just fine. I just haven't felt this way before and felt like I needed to get it out. I'm sorry if this bothered any of my readers...I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow. I just love that boy so much. He is my world right now and I really think I would die if anything were to happen to him.

Four Months.

Okay...so this post is a little late. Nolan turned four months old over a week ago. Life has a tendency to get a little nuts while working 40 hours a week and caring for an infant. He is so worth it though. He is amazing.

He started sleeping through the night a couple of weeks ago. He was waking up at around 3:00 every morning for a bottle, but we switched him to a new formula with rice cereal in it and *BAM*! He slept for eight hours the first night, nine hours the second, and twelve hours from there on out! He's had one or two  nights that he's fussed a little, but for the most part he sleeps all night long. It is so wonderful. I get off work at 3:00 in the morning and I'm still able to get 5 or 6 hours of sleep before we're up for the day. Also, he's stopped crying when he wakes up in the morning. He'll just sort of grunt and turn over in his bed to watch me until I wake up. Chris said that he got up for work the other morning and I was fast asleep but Nolan was wide awake just staring at me with his mouth wide open like "Wake up, Mommy!" He's so funny.

Speaking of rice cereal, we gave him solids for his first time on Father's Day, June 17th. He'd been showing an interest in food for a while and grabbing at our plates, so we figured we'd give it a shot once we got the go ahead from his doctor. Dr. Hawks told us we were clear to start at his appointment on the 14th but we wanted to wait until my night off so Chris and I could both be there for it. The doctor warned us that Nolan would probably only take a bite or two and he'd probably spit most of it out. He said that Nolan wouldn't know what to do with a spoon. Obviously he doesn't know our family because, like us, our kid is a natural born eater. He took his first bite like he'd been eating off a spoon his whole life! He knew exactly what to do with it! He ate a small bowl of cereal that first night and we've given it to him every night but one since then. He's still getting the hang of it and it is a little messy, but mostly because he likes to put his hand in his bowl and play with his dinner. He's starting early.

His four month appointment went really well. He's up to 14 pounds and 3 ounces! He's right in the 50th percentile for his weight. My tall little love is over 25 inches long now which puts him in the 75th percentile for his length. He has such long and skinny legs. He barely has any chub on his entire body! How is he our child? He got his vaccinations and that always breaks my heart. He was staring up at the nurses and smiling and all of a sudden they jabbed these needles in his legs and he started screaming. They ruined his day. I got to run to the rescue though and hug him and make things better which is the only part of the whole thing that I actually enjoy.

He laughs and smiles all the time. He is such a happy baby. The only time he ever cries is if I don't get him a bottle in time and that is my own fault. He's taking between 6 and 9 ounces at a time and has started spacing his bottles out to only 4 or 5 a day. I'm trying to adjust to his new schedule which means I don't always have his meal ready when he wants it. I'm getting the hang of it though.

He has rolled over from belly to back a couple of times and from back to belly once (he was not happy about that one.) He hasn't shown much interest in rolling since then. He'll roll to his side to get a better view of things but he just stops there. He's much more happy if we help him stand up. He can support all of his weight on his little chicken legs and just needs help to balance. He smiles instantly the second he's in a standing position. I really need to get him a jumper.

He's comfortably fitting in 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers. We've stopped swaddling him at night because he outgrew the one he had. I didn't want to spend money on a new one and have to worry about him since he started rolling. We tried putting him in wearable blankets for bed a couple of times, but that didn't work out. He hates having his feet covered by blankets. It was okay when he was swaddled because it was tight on his feet, but the wearable blanket really frustrated him. He would wake himself up trying to kick the blanket off his toes, but obviously he couldn't because it was zipped around him. We switched to footed cotton sleepers and he started sleeping through the night again. My strange little love...so particular.

He plays with toys now. I mean, really plays with them. He'll grab at things he likes and stare at them and pass them from hand to hand. His favorite toy is this little crinkly fabric Winnie The Pooh book. I took him to Babies R Us a couple of days ago to get him a highchair and there was a small toy giraffe that was made of the same material. I picked it up and showed it to him and he got the most serious look on his face like "Mommy, I need that...now." I gave it to him and he hugged it, then shoved it in his mouth. He loved it so much! I had to buy it for him. He has had it with him for two days straight. Giraffe buddy is his new best friend. We'll have to come up with a better name for him than that...

Time is flying. I can't believe he is 1/3 of a year old. I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday at the hospital where he was born. I hadn't been there since the night we took him home. I got so emotional walking through those doors knowing that the last time I did I was pregnant and ready to meet my baby. Now he is here and perfect and I can barely remember life without him. Between Nolan and Chris, I'm one blessed girl. I don't deserve either of them, yet I go home to both every night. I love my life.

I'm still working on getting his four month pictures uploaded and edited. I'll do a photo-dump when I get them done...promise.

There's This Boy.

He has completely and utterly stolen my heart. I don't think about much other than Nolan. Every day he is growing and changing. He is so smart and clever and incredible. He laughs and smiles all the time. He loves life. Watching him discover the world is such a privilege. That sounds cheesy, but honestly it is. I get to watch a brand new person see and experience everything for the first time!

His first laugh was to die for. Chris had just got home from work on 4/27 and we were sitting in the living room together. I'd been tickling Nolan's neck and chest most of the day to try to get him to giggle...he was so close! Finally, out of nowhere, he busted up laughing. Loud, adorable, belly laughs. Cute doesn't even begin to describe it! Chris started recording and we were able to get about a second of the end of the laugh on tape.

There are so many more things that he has learned, but I want to save those for his 4 month post next week (what?!) For now, I wanted to drop in and say how in love I am. Weird, huh?