The Mansons Are Here!

Aunt Mee Mee, Uncle Jeff and the boys are in town for the week! We are so happy that they are here! It has been a year since we have seen Aunt Mee Mee and about two for Uncle Jeff and the boys. They rolled in from North Carolina on Sunday evening and we have been at Nana and Papa's as much as possible ever since. I think they are all surprised at how big Nolan has gotten and the HUGE personality that he constantly has on display.
They also brought their puppy,Lil Bit, much to Alabama's dismay! Lil Bit chases Bama and barks at her because he wants to play. Alabama just wants to be left alone! Nolan is also not too thrilled about Lil Bit. I think, perhaps, he has a little to much energy for Nolan? Sounds crazy, considering Nolan is like a little tornado, but definitly possible!
We are all planning on going to the zoo tomorrow and taking Nolan too. It wil be his first trip and I am super excited! I will be sure to post a bunch of pictures from the big day as soon as I can!
We will be enjoying the Manson's company for the rest of the week until we have to bid them farewell.... if only they would move back! :)

Trip "Home"

This weekend we took a family trip back to Champaign. The Medvick Family and the Stein Family packed into the Medvick van and braved a 3 hour trip with an 8 year old, a 14 month old, and a 5 month old. The babies did okay... Brody didn't really love being in his seat (he wanted to sit up so badly), so he put up quite the fuss. And for some reason, every time Brody would cry, Nolan thought he needed to pitch in too. Headache city!! We made a pit stop in Tuscola to shop the outlet malls... wahoo!!! And then finished our trip to Champaign.

Visiting with family was fun, and hectic. Josiah, who is Nolan's age, was visiting from San Diego, so the house was filled with babies. Hectic, yes... Interesting, yes... Fun, yes! And of course we were able to visit some of the Champaign food staples, Monicals Pizza and Custard Cup.

We made an earlier than expected exit this morning because Nolan didn't feel very well. For some reason he threw up five times this morning. We are thinking he was catching a bug. He looked miserable. Good thing is... Nolan and Brody both slept the first hour and a half of the trip! The trip home was much easier and less eventful than the ride up. Thank Goodness! Glad we made a trip home, but with two young babies, it definitely isn't easy.

So, we have been nursing a sick baby today. Plenty of love, rest, and Pedialyte! Until next time, so long Champaign!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful Fathers in my life! Here are a couple of pictures of the day!

Pool Day

Today was our first day in the little pool that we got for Nolan. We set up shop in Nana and Papa's front yard and Nolan had a ball! He splashed in the water, pulled out grass and was having the best time of his life. Here are some pictures of his day! So cute!

A Nolan Update!

Wow... way too long... almost a month! I am super sorry. I have just been really busy and have not had much time with a real computer to blog on! Unfortuneately I can't do it from my BlackBerry, otherwise I would post almost daily!

Anyway, Nolan is growing like a weed! He is such a big boy. He has an extended vocabulary these days and he never ceases to amaze me. He still has a favorite word, "HOT", but he has recently picked up "SIT". The 5 year old at daycare quickly pointed out that Nolan's new word sounds like the bad word... and I think I have to agree! But he really is saying SIT! He is also walking consistently too. He started steadily walking about the time of my last post, but now it is regularly. He is also getting pretty quick at it. The only bad thing is that everytime I turn around, he is gone!

He is also getting into EVERYTHING. Currently his obsession is the toilet. It is now time to buy a toilet seat lock. I am tired of fishing toys out of the toilet! He loves to pull all of his toys out of his toy boxes and will play for hours if you let him!

Everything is great, just keeping busy! I will try to blog more!

The BIG Cut!

For about two months now Gary has been telling me that we need to cut Nolan's hair. I really didn't want to have his hair cut until he was one, for some unknown reason. And I for sure wanted to be there when it happen, which Gary thought was unnecessary. I am sure all of the moms out there agree with me! So, we took Nolan up to the barber shop. And not just any old shop, we took him to Daddy's Barber Shop! Gary would not have it any other way except to have Tim and Stacey cut his baby boy's hair! So, Daddy and Nolan sat in the barber chair as Mommy tried to take pictures and Stacey worked her magic! Okay, let's be honest, not much magic needed to be done, he doesn't really have much hair! Nonetheless, Stacy did a fabulous job! Nolan sat so still, like the big boy that he is and got his hair cut. What a monumental moment in MY life! My baby boy's FIRST hair cut! Who knew hair would mean so much?

One Last Thing...

...to Commemorate Nolan Turning One! We turned Nolan's seat around this past week. Nolan is now facing forward like the rest of us and he is LOVING every minute of it! He has so much leg room now and constantly kicks his legs around. I am pretty sure that he thinks he just found Heaven on Earth! :) He also loves the fact that I can reach him from my seat. Still can't believe how fast this year went, but am looking forward to see what this year has in store for us!

Our Two Year Anniversary

Gary and I celebrated our two year Anniversary on Tuesday. I can't believe that it has been two years, my how time flies! We didn't do anything special yet, but we are planning on going out to dinner tomorrow... baby free! Two years of marriage and many more to come! Here is a reminder picture of the beautiful day that we shared two years ago!

Nolan's One Year Appointment

We had Nolan's one year doctor appointment on Monday...Again... I CAN NOT BELIEVE MY BABY IS ONE!! He did really well at his appointment. He weighs 23 lbs. 13.5oz and is 29.5 inches tall. The doctor said he was in the 50th percentile all the way around. He has a small mama and dada, so I guess that is expected. No 90th or 95th percentile here... Michelle! ;)The doctor was impressed that Nolan has 8 words that he says and knows (Mama, Dada, Baba, Dog, Cissy, HOT, Hi, and Bye). She said that most one year olds only know 2-3 words. She also stated that according to definition, Nolan is technically walking right now. I just don't think that taking 3 or 4 steps and then getting on your butt to crawl is walking! I will officially say that he is walking when he continually takes steps to get from one place to another. Nolan had 3 shots, which he was NOT happy about, which is to be expected. He also had to have a vial of blood drawn to test him for a bunch of things, including Lead and Anemia. Again, he was not happy, but he actually did extremely well. Who would have thought that a one year old would sit still enough to have his blood drawn?

The Doctor said that he can strictly be on table foods now, which is mostly what he eats anyways. I have a HUNGRY boy! She also said that we can start weaning him off of the formula. We are going to have to do it slowly though (over the next three months) because his will be changing from soy formula to cow's milk. She said the sudden change could upset his stomach greatly.

Overall, all is well! We have a beautiful and healthy baby boy that means the world to us... and many others!!

One Year Pictures

Yesterday was picture day! We took Nolan to get his one year pictures and he did such a great job. He is cutting another tooth and has been quite the pistol lately, so we were somewhat concerned with how he would act. While he was in the studio, you would have never known he was having issues. He had the most wonderful photographer, whom I will request from here on out. He smiled and laughed and really seemed to enjoy himself. Daddy was busy running after him as he was crawling away... last time we had pictures Nolan wasn't very mobile! But, as soon as pictures were done, a storm cloud rolled over and the attitude was back! Needless to say, despite a crabby baby... err... toddler, we got some wonderful pictures! I have ordered a few pictures for us and some family, if you are interested in having one, please let me know. We purchased a CD this time, so the pics will only need to be printed out at Walgreen's. Here are a few of my favorites!
Oh and we have Nolan's one year doctor appointment tomorrow. Very excited to see his stats and prepare for the next chapter in his life... NOT excited for the shots! Wish us luck!