Future Rock Climber?

Nolan has been climbing everything lately. He has learned how to climb chairs at Nana and Papa's house. He sits in them like a big boy too! He has conquered couches a time or two, but still has his struggles. He will whine until you put him on the couch most of the time. The picture below is the cutest climb as of yet... he pulled himself up on the stool at the end of the hallway at Nana's house. The stool isn't very big, so it was quite the task. After he got up there, he was so proud of himself. He didn't want to get down! Gotta love a baby boy that is so proud of his simple accomplishments!

First Ride on the Carousel

As we walked by the carousel at the mall, Nolan just stopped and stared in awe. Gary looks at me and I say “Don’t you even think about putting me on that thing!” But Gary decides he wants to take Nolan on the carousel… Thank God! That would turn out to be a disaster if I went on it! So Nolan happily rode the carousel, smiling every time he came around and saw me. So cute!

Gym Class

We have some VERY exciting news to share... we enrolled Nolan in a gym here in town called The Little Gym. (You thought I was going to say that I was pregnant, didn't you? hehe!) It is actually a nationwide gym that caters to little kids, particularly children Nolan's age. He went to his first class this last Saturday and he LOVED it! He was running around, climbing things, and even learned some gymnastics moves. The class is every Saturday for about 4 months for 45 minutes. In class, they do various things such as: ring bells, sing songs, play with balls, do somersaults, walk on balance beams, play on the mats, "rock wall climb", and much more! Nolan is taking the class with one of his best buddies, RJ. Okay, mommy's friend's son, but soon to be one of his best buddies!! We think this is going to be a great thing for Nolan, especially considering he is such a monkey at home. Hopefully Saturday afternoons will be great for naps now. If someone will come observe the class soon and take pictures so that I can post them. I can't take pictures while I am there because, as I learned on Saturday, this class is a very active class for mommy as well!

Oh Fudge... Only, it Wasn't Fudge....

It was a FUDGECICLE!!! hahaha! Nolan's absolute favorite past time at Nana and Papa's house... eating fudgecicles with Papa. That Papa sure knows how to spoil Nolan. Here is a picture of the common occurrence. Too funny!


(Oh and those of you that don't get it or can't remember... it's from A Christmas Story. It's a Stein Family tradition every Thanksgiving and Christmas to watch this movie on repeat!)

Riding a Ducky

Nolan got this rubber...err... this stuffed riding ducky from his Uncle Brad and Aunt Katie when he was still in my belly. It has been in Nolan's bedroom for months, readily available for him to play on; however, he has ignored it, until NOW! He is absolutely obsessed with this duck. He whines until I bring it into the living room for him to play with. He rides it and even gets brave... he will stand on the back of the duck and let his hands go. Please don't tell me he is going to be a rodeo clown, standing on horses backs!! At any rate, he found a new favorite toy!

Starbucks Addict Already?

He is definitely his daddy's boy!! All kidding aside... it wasn't coffee or anything! I had ordered a Strawberry Banana Smoothie from Starbucks, that I wasn't in love with. I figured since it was a smoothie, it wouldn't harm him. And then... Nolan took over. He loved it! He was carrying the smoothie around and actually drank most of it himself. Mmmmm......

15 Month Appointment

Okay, I know it has been a really long time and I certainly have some catching up to do. But right now, I have only got about 5 minutes before Nolan comes pulling on me to get off of the computer. Last weekend we took Nolan to his 15 Month Appointment. And of course, he is STILL growing like a weed. He weighed in at 25lbs 13oz. and was 31.5 inches long, which puts him in the 50-60th percentile. So, I guess you could say he is pretty average! Nolan loves to jibber jabber, and he occasionally says words that you can clearly understand. Our new phrase is "uh-oh"! And it is quite funny! He has started using names a lot more to get people's attention and he will also grab you by the hand to show you what he wants. I like the "showing" idea- I can finally get him to "tell" me what he wants! Oh and almost forgot, Nolan has been having a lot of gas issues. As we have been trying to transition him to Milk from Formula for the past 3 months, we have noticed that milk has been giving him terrible belly aches... the doctor thinks he may be lactose intolerant. So for now, we are switching him to lactose-free milk and we will try regular milk again at two.

Other than that, we have been the busy Stein family that we are. Daddy's been working a lot, mommy's been working and prepping for school to start again on Monday, and Nolan's been getting into everything! This is life when you have a busy family!

I promise that I will get some more posts up soon and some pics! I have a lot to share! XOXOXO

P-O-O-L

While on vacation we also took Nolan to the O'Fallon Pool. And he loved it! Of course, he loves anything associated with water. The pool has a kiddie pool with a waterfall and a ton of little kids for Nolan to play with. He latched on to these four little girls and tried to follow them everywhere... even into the deep end (1ft10in). Here are a couple picks of the fun in the sun!

Under the waterfall with Daddy
Splashing in the shallow end

BACK to the Zoo!

Daycare was closed this week, so Gary and I decided to take the week off and have some quality family time. As you know, Gary works quite a bit and doesn't get to spend as much time with us as he would like. It was so great to be together as a family this week. Made my heart melt! And as you also may know, Nolan is a total Daddy's boy, so he thoroughly enjoyed seeing his daddy EVERYDAY!

Since Gary wasn't able to come with us last week... we went back to the zoo. We went and saw the reptiles again, but everything else was new. We saw the seals splashing around and we went to the children's zoo. In the children's zoo, Nolan was able to pet the goats. And he actually loved it! We also went to the Build-A-Bear workshop at the Zoo where Nolan made a Panda. We named the bear "Baby Bear" and Nolan loves it! He has been carrying it around the house and giving it lots of hugs and kisses. So cute! Here are some pics of our family trip to the zoo.

Chloe is Here!

Aaron and Jennifer welcomed my new niece into the world on Friday, July 10. Chloe Lou Fletcher was born at 7:24pm weighing a mere 5lbs 12oz and measuring 17.5 inches. She is a tiny a little thing, but cuter than anything! Congrats to Aaron and Jennifer. And Welcome to the world baby Chloe!