Oh, Yeah.

By the way, although most of you already know...my blog doesn't.

Nolan is going to be a BIG BROTHER!

We found out a couple of months ago. I'm 16 weeks now and finally starting to feel like a normal human being. I was so sick with his little one. I felt like because this pregnancy has been so different than my last, that this baby had to be a girl. We found out last week that we are actually having another little boy! My buddy is going to have a little brother to rough house and get into trouble with.

I'm due August 11th. Things are definitely different this time around, but I couldn't feel more blessed. I can't wait to hold my new little man and introduce him to the loves of my life at home. I am surrounded by the best guys a girl could ask for. Blessed.

One Year Old!

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy! This has been the best year of my life. Seriously. I never knew how much love my heart could hold. How hasn't it exploded by now? I'll never know.

We spent his special day as a family...just the three of us. I set my alarm and went in to wake him just before 07:23 so I could take a picture and hold him as he turned exactly one year old. After that, I took him downstairs and made him a yummy breakfast of waffles and cinnamon applesauce while he watched the Birthday episode of Yo Gabba Gabba. We spent the rest of the morning playing and cuddling.

At around 11:00, we got ready and headed out for the rest of the day. We started out at Cracker Barrel so we could order Nolan his first kids meal. He got macaroni and cheese, a baked sweet potato, a biscuit, and an apple juice box. He loved the potato and biscuit, but only ate a few bites of his macaroni. Luckily, Daddy was there to help him finish it.

Once we were stuffed full of delicious food, we hit the road to spend the afternoon at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. Nolan loved it. I kept pulling him out of his stroller so he could get right up against the different tanks. He kept following the fish around with his little hand and trying to tickle them through the glass. His favorite part was the penguin exhibit. We went back to watch them two different times because they made him laugh so hard.

We stopped at the gift shop to let him pick out a special toy (he got a stuffed penguin), squeezed in the photo booth to get our pictures taken, had a snack, and headed home. He was asleep within seconds of being in the car. He was in such a good mood all day long. I think he knew it was his day and I know he felt loved.

On the 15th, he had his well check appointment. He weighs 21.2 pounds and is in the 25th percentile. He is 30.5 inches long, which puts him in the 75th percentile. His head is finally evening out and is back down to the 50th percentile. He is absolutely perfect! We discussed how his eating habits should be changing now that he is getting older and he shouldn't be as dependant on formula. He only uses sippy cups now and drinks whole milk instead of formula. He's getting so big!

He is still in 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers. We need to move him to 18 month pajamas though...those seem to run a little small. His growth has definitely slowed down and he is growing more like a little boy than a baby. He wears size 4 shoes.

He learned so much this past month. He started waving bye-bye on January 20th. He did it really well for about a week, and then he just stopped. I know he still knows how to do it, but he chooses not to. On the 25th, he started standing on his own. Chris and I were sitting on the couch and looked down at him, and he was just standing there looking at us, like it was no big deal! On the 27th, he woke up and was rolling his r's with his tongue. I have no idea where he picked that up, but it only lasted a few days and he was done with that too. His 8th tooth came in on the 10th (finally!) This one filled out his bottom row and came in on the far left side.

He does so many things that just crack me up. On the 28th, he learned that he could "work smarter, not harder" by putting a book on the ground and sliding around on it with both of his hands instead of actually crawling. On the 5th of February, he was sitting on the ground with a toy cup and was pretending to actually drink out of it. He'd put it up to his mouth, swallow, and sigh really loud before taking another "drink." That same day, he came up to me while I was taking a nap, pulled the blanket off my feet, and tickled them. He also started screaming along with girls on TV. He doesn't even have to be paying attention, but if he hears someone scream, he will imitate them and smile. It is hilarious.

He isn't walking yet, but he is so close. I'm guessing he will just take off within the next couple of weeks. His doctor said he is right on track developmentally and to just keep doing what we're doing!

Little Boy, you make my day, every day. I wake up and can't wait to hold you. You are the last thing I think about before I fall asleep each night. You have made me the happiest mommy in the world and I can't wait to see what your next year has in store for you. You're my best buddy. Happy Birthday, Nolan!

Eleven Months.

Okay, this one might get me a little emotional. This can't be Nolan's last official month as a baby. In a few weeks, when people ask me how old he is, I'll say "one." We've started planning his birthday party and I think it is going to be so cute! It is going to be sock monkey themed. I went back and forth for a long time on whether or not I wanted to invite friends or just family, and I think I've finally decided on family only. Buddy is starting to get a little fear of strangers and this is his day...I want him to have fun. I also want to be able to focus on him and not on hosting this giant bash that he will get bored and be uncomfortable at. He will be surrounded by his favorite people and I can spend my day loving on him. It will be perfect! Next year when he knows what friends are, we'll invite his pals to his party.

He has changed so much over the last month. I looked at my calender where I keep note of major milestones and he only met one since my last post, but his personality is developing like crazy. He is turning into a little boy. He is so vocal and talks all the time. He'll attempt to hold conversations with us by responding "yeah!" to anything we say to him. He yells for me whenever he needs something or I'm out of his view. If I go around the corner in the kitchen, he'll go to the doorway and say "Ma! Ma!" until he can see me again, then he'll start laughing. He does this funny thing when he gets really excited where he'll put both of his hands up by his face and gasp really loud. He will do it over and over until we start laughing, then he will too.

He is a cheesy little one. He can be sitting on the floor minding his own business, but as soon as he realizes someone is watching him he will scrunch his whole face up, close his eyes, and smile so hard it looks like his head might explode. He flirts with everyone he sees. We were at dinner a couple of weeks ago and he was leaning around me and giving this shy smile. I turned around to see this adorable little girl in a high chair smiling back at him. This continued through our entire meal! The little girl's mom and her friend just loved Nolan. I told him that if he were older and had a pen, he would have left with all three of their phone numbers that night.

He hasn't grown much. He is still mostly in 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers. He is finally starting to become more experimental with his eating which I'm thankful for. I was starting to worry that he was going to be picky like his dad! Bananas are his absolute favorite. He loves them. He tries to take huge bites though, so when we sit down to eat one I make sure it is something I'm ready to battle over. He won't eat it if it is cut up into bite-size pieces, so I just have to help him through it to make sure he doesn't try to bite off a quarter of the banana at once.

I mentioned that he met one milestone this month, and it was a big one. On December 16, he started to pull to a standing position! Since then, I haven't been able to keep the kid down. He will pull up on everything he is able to. He has even started to let go of what he is holding onto and stand unassisted for a second or two. He is able to get on his tiptoes (mostly to look over our baby gate to see where the toys he dropped ended up landing.) I feel like he will be walking sooner than I'm ready for.

He still lets me rock him to sleep at night and I will do that as long as I'm able to. I know some people say it creates poor sleep habits, but he has no problem putting himself to sleep if I lay him down awake so I'm not concerned. I love that time with him. He will lay in my arms and look up at me with the sweetest tired look in his eyes. He loves to run his fingers through my hair. I tried rocking him with my hair in a ponytail once and he was so fidgety until I let it down so he could touch it. It calms him down and melts my heart a little.

I love that monkey so, so much. He is my best buddy. I still can't believe that next time I do one of these updates, he will be a year old. Time...feel free to slow down whenever.

Ten Months.

Double digits, buddy! Nolan is an entirely new baby this month. I can't believe how much he has learned. His personality is developing and I love watching the different ways he interacts with people. He is so affectionate with me. He will sit and cuddle with me and run his fingers through my hair for as long as I'll let him. Then the second he is in his daddy's arms, he starts playfully smacking his hands and yelling and laughing. It is absolutely hilarious.

We have a crawler. He was so close for so long, then all of a sudden on December 1 he just started doing it! He was a little wobbly at first, but he got the hang of it fast. We practiced by putting my phone on the ground and letting him crawl towards it (he loves our phones!) It took him a few extra days to figure out he could crawl on the tile in the kitchen just as well as the carpet, but he did. He started sitting up from a crawling position on December 9. On December 11 I went into his room in the morning to find him sitting up in his crib for the first time.  Now we can't keep the kid in one spot for longer than about twenty seconds. He just wants to move, move, move!

His top right tooth finally came through on December 9. That one was stubborn! His gum was swollen for weeks and although he didn't act like it really bothered him, he would squirm if I tried to lightly touch it with my finger. He is up to five teeth total now (two on top and three on bottom.) His smile is so precious with his little baby teeth. I just love it.

He seems heavier when we lift him, but he is still fitting in his 6-9 month onesies and 9-12 month clothes. We did have to move him to size 4 diapers because the size 3 diapers were leaking. He seems to be right on track for his age. He's never really had baby rolls but what little ones he did have are quickly disappearing now that he is moving around so much. That makes me sad but he is healthy and that's all that matters to me.

He is eating better. He still doesn't like chunks in his pureed food. He throws a major gagging fit if I try to give him anything like that. He is starting to really like solids though. Some of his favorites are string cheese and rice (not together.) One of his first times crawling was actually across the room to me so he could have a bite of my string cheese. He ended up eating almost the whole thing on his own. He is getting pretty good at drinking out of a sippy cup. He understands that if he lifts it to his mouth and drinks, he'll get water. He doesn't understand that if he bangs it on the wall or chair, the water will spill out. Well...maybe he does and he just thinks that is funny. I don't really know.

He is starting to grasp more complex ideas. He started clapping on November 18. At first we'd have to prompt him for a little bit before he'd do it. Now he'll clap for himself when he does something he's proud of. The other day I was helping him walk across the room and when we got to the couch he sat down. I said "Yay!" and he started clapping all on his own. He knows it is a happy gesture. He always smiles really big when he does it too.

He's "talking" all the time. So far the most obvious things he says are "Mama", "Dada", and "Baba" but the only word he really associates correctly is "Mama." He calls for me in the morning when he wakes up and in the afternoon when he is done with his nap. I'm pretty sure he is working on "Hi" and "Yeah" too. We'll ask him a question and he kind of nods and goes "Aaah!" but it is starting to sound more and more like "Yeah" every day. When he is really excited, he smiles and makes this adorable gasping sound like he just can't even believe how happy he is. It is pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

Oh, and speaking of adorable...he winks. It is with both of his eyes, but he is winking. He sighs, purses his lips, and closes both of his eyes really tight for just a second. My mom said I did the same thing when I was a baby. I hope he never learns to wink with one eye because I want to see him do it exactly how he does forever.

Little boy, you continue to amaze me. You're my best little buddy and there is nobody I'd rather spend my days with. You will be a toddler soon...I'm savoring every last second that you are my literal baby. You and I both know you'll always be my baby in my mind. I love you so much.

Nine Months.

Well, the little one has been a part of this great big world for longer than I was pregnant with him. Possible? It must be. How? I have no idea.

We took him in for his checkup on November 14. He is up to 19.8 pounds and 28.6 inches long. Both put him right around the 50th percentile for his age. His head...well...it is large. The circumference is 18.4 inches which bumps him up to the 90th percentile. I laughed when we found this out because his daddy's pet name for him is "Big Head" (in the most loving way possible, of course!) and I always respond with "he doesn't have a big head!" But I guess he does. His parents do too. It happens and he rocks it.

He wears 6-9 month onesies and 9-12 month pajamas and pants. Some of his 12 month clothes are still a little bit big on him, but they will fit him in the next week or two. He has a couple of 18 month shirts that I put him in sometimes because they seem comfortable, but we can't leave the house in them yet. He has started soaking through his size 3 diapers at night, so we moved him to size 4 while he sleeps. He still wears size 3 during the day though because they aren't as bulky under his clothes.

He is a mover! He is still rolling all over the place. He isn't crawling yet, but he will get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. When he wants to go somewhere, he drops to his belly and rolls. I still can't decide if he is going to crawl or not (as if it is up to me to decide...) He loves to "walk." If we hold our hands out to him, he starts laughing hysterically, grabs our fingers, and pulls himself up. He takes the most adorable jerky steps and will haul his little butt back and forth across the room. I really need to get it on video before he gets more steady on his feet. I never want to forget the proud look he gets on his face or the wobbly way he picks his feet up way too high.

He is up to four official teeth. He has three on the bottom and one finally came through on the top left on 10/22. His second one on top has been trying to pop through for weeks and it just won't! It is stubborn. He looks too cute for words with his random mouth of teeth. I just love it.

His hair is getting pretty long. I've actually been debating taking him in to get it trimmed because the sides are so poofy and hang over his ears. I always wanted to grow it out into a shag, but I'm thinking I might need to just cave here. Maybe for his first birthday.

We've been introducing new foods, and boy is he picky! He loves crunchy things like puffs and purees (only in baby food form), but nothing in between. I've tried giving him noodles, different sauces, soups, vegetables, lasagna...he gags and growls and yells at me like I'm feeding him Windex. The worst was when I tried to give him wild berry applesauce (I know, how dare I?!) He cried because he hated it so bad. I talked with his doctor about it and he told me to just stick with what he likes and try things with more texture every once in a while. Hopefully one day he'll just love it!

He is doing pretty well in his crib. He has started fussing almost every morning right around 3:00. This is the time I typically get home from work and I have a bad habit of going in to cuddle him for a while before I go to sleep. I think he's come to expect it. I feel torn because I don't want to create poor sleep habits, but at the same time I don't want to ever regret a moment that I didn't cuddle him or hold him when he wanted me. I realize that when I hug him at night, it is just as much for me as it is for him and I openly admit that. I think we just miss each other when I'm gone in the evenings.

His laugh is evolving. His baby giggle is gone. He started doing what sounded like a really forced cackle laugh instead. That has gone too and now he sighs and squeals like a donkey when he laughs. Each one was amazing, but this newest one has got to be my favorite. It is yet another thing I really need to get on video before he stops.

He's a talker! He has stopped saying "Mama" which I'm sad about, but it was his first word so I'm trying not to care too much. Now he says a lot of "Dada" and "Gaga" and "Baba." He screams and growls when he is angry. He cries to show emotion and not just when he needs something. He is becoming a little boy.

He is still the most amazing baby I've ever known. I was walking with him through the grocery store a couple of weeks ago and a lady stopped me to tell me he was the most beautiful baby she'd ever seen and she had 12 grandkids! I am even more in love with him than I was last month, believe it or not. He's the best. Plain and simple.

Eight Months.

Well...I pretty much no longer have a baby. I have a tiny little boy. We have had such an awesome month together and I swear he is more and more fun every day. He was sick for most of the month which sucked. It started out as a common cold. We took him in to get checked out by his doctor and found that he had a sinus infection and infections in both ears. They put him on Amoxicillan and told us to give him Tylenol and Ibuprofen as needed. I felt like I was constantly drugging him or suctioning his nose. He was so congested and miserable. After a week of antibiotics, he still didn't feel better. We went back to see his doctor and he was given a more powerful antibiotic. Tomorrow will be his last day of that (day 10) and he finally seems to be feeling better.

He is so amazing. Even when he was sick and miserable, he was not fussy. He laugh was all scratchy and his smile was under a swollen, red nose...but it was there. He is such a trooper! I'm just so thankful that he is finally back to normal and can start having real fun again!

My mom bought him some stacking cups to play with a couple of weeks ago. He loves them! He will pick two up and bang them together over and over and over again. He will also take one and lift it to his mouth as if he is pretending to drink out of it. This was hilarious to me because he hadn't used a sippy cup (correctly) before so he was just going off of what he'd seen us do with cups. We introduced a sippy cup again last week and he is slowly getting the hang of it.

As far as food goes, he is a whole new baby. We started really introducing solids on Sunday, October 14. We went to Olive Garden with my dad and Peggy and Nolan was sitting in the high chair. I broke off a piece of my breadstick and put it near his mouth to see what he would do. He took a bite, chewed it, swallowed it, and went back for more like he'd been doing it his entire life! That night when we got home, I gave him some sweet potato puff cereal with his dinner and he started pinching them between his pointer finger and thumb and lifting them to his mouth. He has also been drinking water out of a cup with no lid (with assistance.)

He typically wakes up between 8:00 and 9:00 each morning. We go downstairs and sit right down for breakfast. Right now that usually consists of yogurt and maybe a little oatmeal. Then he sits on the floor and plays with toys for about an hour or until he starts acting hungry again. At that time, he gets a bottle and takes a one-two hour nap. The rest of our day is spent playing it by ear. We run errands, meet up with friends, play, snooze a little bit, cuddle, and hang out. He isn't scheduled much again until around 7:30-8:00 in the evening when it is time for dinner. He eats a fruit or vegetable puree with either rice cereal or oatmeal mixed in. Then we do his bath, bottle, and bed.

On Monday, October 20, we moved him to his crib for the first time. Up until then, he'd been sleeping in his Rock and Play next to my side of the bed. We noticed he seemed to be outgrowing it and looked uncomfortable. The first night without him in our room was really hard on me. I cried and cried and cried. All I could think about was how he was going to wake up alone for the first time in his life and have no idea where he was at. We hadn't spent much time in his nursery before that night (besides the occasional rocking and book-reading.) He hadn't spent any time in his crib.

He did just fine! He cried a little bit, but not nearly as much as I did. The second night was quite a bit harder, but I think he was overly tired. He ended up crying for a lot longer than I was comfortable with and I wasn't able to calm him down in the way I wanted. I caved and brought him to our room for the night. Last night, I was at work and Chris decided to try the crib again. Nolan did awesome! He didn't cry going down and slept all the way through until almost 9:00 this morning. He even woke up and played with his toys in his crib until Chris got up with him instead of crying for someone to come get him. He is in his crib again tonight so hopefully he does just as well.

He is getting very good at sitting on his own and isn't as wobbly as he used to be. He hardly ever loses his balance. He started grabbing onto my hands and pulling himself to standing about a week ago. He couldn't take steps (while holding our hands) until two days ago, but now he is so good at it! He will hold our hands and walk clear across the room. It is so adorable. He isn't making any progress in the crawling department and I'm starting to think he isn't going to. He rolls like a pro and uses that to get where he wants to go. I think he'll use that as his means for getting around until he starts walking...eek!

He talks all the time. So far, his regular babble has consisted of lots of Mamas, Dadas, and Babas. He throws in a few other sounds every now and then. If I am not giving him the attention he wants, he will yell "Maa! Maa!" over and over until I look at him, then he will start laughing. I don't know if he fully realizes he is calling me yet, but it is adorable nonetheless.

We went to the zoo for the first time yesterday. He seemed to be more into the people watching than the animal watching. He had a blast though! He did have quite the conversation with a friendly gorilla through a really thick window. Nolan really wanted to make sure he knew about everything else going on in that crazy zoo.

He is still in size 3 diapers and he is kind of in between clothing sizes at the moment. His 6-9 month clothes are getting snug while his 9-12 month clothes are still too big. I'm not worried though because the kid is growing like a weed and will be outgrowing his 12 month clothes before I know it.

He laughs at everything. Seriously. He has this deep belly laugh where he has to stop and catch his breath because he is so out of control. His armpits are super ticklish and nothing makes him crack up quite like being tickled. However, he also laughs if he is sitting in his swing and I look over at him and smile. There isn't much that doesn't entertain him. He is so well-natured and genuinely fun to be around.

He is 2/3 of a year old and I literally can't believe it. I know I will be writing his nine month post before I know it...

Nolan, you and your daddy are the loves of my life. Thank you for being mine.

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.