One of My Favorite Past-Times

The pictures are pretty self-explanatory, but Nolan loves playing in laundry baskets too! Here are a couple of pictures of what I came home from work to the other day. He was just sitting in the basket playing with his toys and talking to himself. Super cute!

Rubber Ducky You're the One...

As I have stated in previous posts, one of Nolan's favorite times is bath time! He loves, loves, loves playing in the bathtub. He likes to splash the water and make a huge mess. Usually we give him a bath in the kitchen sink because it is much easier. However, Gary recently started giving Nolan his baths in the big boy tub! And he loves it!! We give him a couple of toys and let him go to town. We have to be careful though... he tries to lay on his belly and "swim" around. I have a feeling we will be taking Nolan to the pool a bunch this summer- he will absolutely love it! Anyway, here are a few pictures of Nolan playing in the tub.

Sleepy Boy

We were at Gary's parents house late one night and he fell asleep on the car ride home. Now, he typically wakes up when we take him out of the car- and he did this night too. But when we got him in the house and put him down to take off his coat, he fell fast asleep. He was so cute that I did not want to disturb him, so I just let him take a nap there on the floor for a while. So Precious!

Nolan Meets Brody

Although we haven't gotten them too close just yet, Nolan was able to take a peek at his new cousin Brody! Whenever Brody makes a noise Nolan is right there to check it out. Nolan no longer looks like a little baby anymore. I can not wait for them to be able to play with each other!

Hospital Visit

Don't be alarmed.... EVERYTHING is fine!! Over the past couple of weeks Nolan has been sick with a cold. The cold seemed to have lingered and was sitting in his chest. We heard him purring like a kitten and wheezing a little bit, so we called the Doctor to make sure he was okay. The Doctor was out all week due to being sick, so the nurse told us to take him to the ER to ensure that he did not have RSV or pneumonia. After a long day at the ER, we found that it was just his cold being a pain in the butt. Thank goodness! Nonetheless, I was able to grab a picture of him in his hospital gown. (Much to his daddies disapproval!) He looks so stinking cute! All is good now!

Brody's Here!!!

Congratulations to my sister, Michelle and her husband, Troy! Brody Allen Medvick was born on January 11 at 1:23am. He weighed 7lbs. 14oz. and was 20 inches long. He is such a beautiful baby with wonderful complextion! I am so excited to have Nolan and Brody grow up together! Here is a picture of the happy new family!

He's on the Move!

Can you believe that Nolan is almost 9 months old? I can hardly believe it myself! He is certainly growing like a weed and it is so bittersweet. Nolan is crawling around like a mad-man. He is super fast and I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with him. He is also pulling himself up on everything... tables, ottomans, couches, walls... you name it, he is there. He stands against the furniture so proud, kind of like he is bragging to everyone about how good he is! The only problem... he doesn't know how to get back into a crawling position and he freaks out. I keep trying to show him how to bend his knees, but he just isn't having it. He has fallen a couple of times and just gives a little whine. He is going to be a tough little guy. No sissy's here!! His daddy is so proud!

On top of his moving habits, Nolan has become extremely social. He talks constantly, and to everyone! Of course it is all gibber-jabber, aside from the few "Dada's" and "Hi's" that he throws out. This past week Nolan was sick with a cold and all he would say was "Dadadadadad..." (you get the point!). Gary thought he was so special... but I reminded him that Nolan doesn't really know the meaning just yet!! BUT... he has caught on to the meaning of 'No,No'!! I have been trying to teach him 'No' because he is getting into everything. And he finally knows the meaning. When I say it, he typically turns around and looks at me. Sometimes he tries to do whatever he is doing again, and sometimes he will crawl away and do something else. I am so proud!! What a smart little baby!!

Well, here is another bath picture of Nolan. This is one of his favorite things to do, and this includes splashing in the water and making a mess!!

Teeth, Teeth, and More Teeth!

Happy New Year Everyone! Nolan now has THREE teeth with three more about to come through. He has two on the bottom, one on top, and the other three that are working their way through are on the top too. His little teeth are super cute, but watch out because they are sharp! Here are two pictures of him smiling for the camera so you can see his cute little teeth. I will never be able to say this enough, but I have the cutest kid in the world!! (I know-all moms say that!!!)

Reflections...

Wow... It has been such a great year! I can't believe all of the things we have been through over the past year.


Aside from having a few pregnancy issues, being pregnant was great. And I have got to say, I kinda miss it! We will work on that in a couple of years! The birth of Nolan was an experience I will never forget. Not because of the 12 hour labor with 3 intense hours of pushing (Ouch!), but because I welcomed my beautiful baby boy with my Husband and Sister right by my side supporting and cheering me on. It couldn't have been any better! The sound of Nolan's first cry was so touching and I was so happy to finally be a mommy. (Oh... tears are filling in my eyes!) Nolan has been a wonderful baby. He is full of smiles and laughter and just lights up the room. He is growing so quickly... crawling, sitting, cutting teeth, babbling (sometimes saying "HI!" and "Dada"), and eating big boy foods.... I can hardly believe it! We have been so extremely blessed to welcome him into our lives. He is also loved by so many... his family just can't seem to get enough of him. I could probably go on all day about Nolan and how we love him to pieces, but I will save you some time!!

Soon after Nolan was born, Michelle (Nolan's Aunt MiMi) found out that she was also expecting a little boy. Brody is due to come any day now and we are just thrilled for Troy, Michelle, and Madyson. Nolan will love playing with his cousin Brody and I know they will grow to become great friends. (They will almost have to... Michelle and I see each other at least once a week!)

In August, Gary and I moved into our very first home! Being a homeowner is a great feeling; however, we are now realizing the costs of owning your own home. It is not as easy as calling the landlord to have something fixed; although most of the time our landlord would take about 6 months to fix something anyways! We have made some small improvements/updates to our home including, updating the main bathroom, painting the walls, and removing the ridiculous ivy all over the outside of our home! All together, it has been worth it and we are loving every minute of it!

All in all, it has been a fantastic year! Thank you to everyone that regularly follows our blog. After all, this really is for you! We hope everyone had a great Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year! Until next year!!!

Nolan's First Christmas!

Nolan's first Christmas was an extremely exciting day! I was so anxious for Christmas to come. I knew Nolan wouldn't know much about it, but he sure made everyone else's day. Christmas started with opening presents at our new home in the morning. Grandma and Grandpa Stein, Shawn, and GiGi all came over to watch Nolan's big event. There wasn't really much to see... Nolan only wanted to eat the bows and tore the paper a little bit. I finished unwrapping most presents. As soon as daddy would get the presents out of their boxes Nolan did not care about the present he was currently "opening". He REALLY wanted to play with his new gifts. We ended up letting him play with each gift for a few minutes and then we would hide them so we could move on. After we were done at home, which took about 2 hours to open 4 presents, we went to Gary's Parent's house for food, presents, and family! Nolan received way more presents at The Stein's; some from GiGi, some from Grandma & Grandpa Stein, and some from Gary's Aunt MeeMee in North Carolina. Then, on Saturday, we had Christmas with my family from Champaign. It was my first time hosting Christmas at my house... and it was great! With some help from Theresa, Michelle and Gary, I think it was pretty successful. Not bad for claiming that I don't know how to cook! We opened presents at my house in the evening, but by that time, Nolan was knocked out. I ended up opening his presents for him! This weekend totally took its toll on Nolan, but it was great fun! I can't wait for next year... I have a feeling he will be way more interested!

Thank you to all who visited and for the wonderful presents! We hope you had a great Holiday!

Actually ripping open a gift!

Eating a bow off of one of his presents. Yummy!

Opening another gift from Mommy and Daddy!

Eating the book that Aunt MeeMee sent from North Carolina.