Phone Pictures

Here are some random pictures I found on my phone today when I was procrastinating. I just thought I would share!

This is Nolan on the ride home from the babysitter on his birthday. He must have been so worn out from playing and eating cupcakes that he passed out. There's nothing better than a good post-cake-birthday-nap! I just thought it was cute so I took a picture :)

This is Nolan eating pizza... as you can see you don't want to mess with him while he's eating pizza. He takes this job very seriously!

And here is Nolan in a trash can... don't ask;)

Party Time!

I think it is safe to say that while he probably won't remember it years down the road, Nolan has had a pretty good 1st birthday. He had multiple parties and TONS of presents. This is one spoiled child! :) It has been fun to see him explore all of his new toys. He has lots to keep him entertained now!

Here are a few highlights from the birthday festivities:

Loving the balloons:

 Sharing a birthday cake with Jacob:

Not really sure what to do with the cake:

 Was too full from dinner to eat it so he mostly just played in it:

Checking out a new ball:

 Checking out a new baseball toy:

 Licking the cake batter :)

 Riding on his new scooter (more to come on this later - he loves this thing!):

Playing outside in his new car:



Happy Birthday Nolan!

I remember last September like it was yesterday. Saturday afternoon, September 12, I was laying on the couch watching college football when my water broke. I called the doctor and he convinced me to wait to do anything until I started feeling contractions. I guess he didn't realize it would be another 2 days before that happened. FYI - it is generally considered a horribly bad idea to go for longer than 24 hours with your water broken. Somehow I managed to go over 48. oops! But luckily it all turned out well. That Monday (9-14) my mom and Jack convinced me that i really needed to call the dr again. We ended up at the hospital this time (around 5pm) and at 3:11am our precious baby boy was born! The first time I saw Nolan I was in awe. I didn't think it was possible to love anyone or anything more. But here we are 1 year later, and that love has just grown and grown! So, I'd like to speak on behalf of everyone and wish Nolan a super special 1st birthday! Happy Birthday Nolan!

Here are some pictures to recap the past year! Look how he's grown!

0 months:

1 month:



2 months:

3 months:

4 months:

5 months:

6 months:

7 months:

8 months:

9 months:

10 months:

11 months:

12 months:

(This is Nolan checking out a cool new toy. You can see his hair is sticking up from getting icing in it earlier :)

A cardboard present?

Would I be a bad parent if all I got Nolan for his birthday was a cardboard box? Perhaps... but here are the reasons why I'm actually considering it:

1. It is a well known fact that the more expensive a gift, the less time kids will play it. I also believe the inverse to be true - the less expensive, the more appealing for them. Earlier today I took Nolan into a toy store to get an idea of what toys he would like. Do you know what he was MOST interested in? A piece of a cardboard tag that was on the floor. Yep, that's right. All of those toys at his disposal, and he chooses to go for the trash. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. At home he has plenty of toys to play with, but he would usually rather play with pots or pull DVDs off the shelf or dunk my deodorant in the toilet. It doesn't take mega bucks to entertain this kid ;)

2. Boxes can be fun. When I was little my dad used to bring home huge boxes from work. We would turn them into the best play houses! Nolan is probably a little too young for that, but I still think he would like it. As I was walking Boomer this weekend I noticed our neighbors kids were out playing. They have a pretty big hill in their front yard. The kids (who were probably between the ages of 3-6) were having the best time - what were they doing you ask? They were using a flatted out piece of cardboard as a sled to ride down the grassy hill. Seriously, they were having a BLAST!  And I've seen them out there for the past 3 days in a row. See, cardboard isn't complicated, but it's fun!

3. (and most importantly) I actually think Nolan would really like it. Sometimes when I bring home a new box of diapers he amuses himself for quite a while by just pushing the box all around the room. And he loves putting things inside drawers or boxes and then taking them out again. And boxes often make a good size "table" for him - perfect for putting toys on top of to play on - or his favorite - using them as a snack table.

Anyway, I've got 2 days before his birthday to figure it out. I guess you'll have to stay tuned to see what fun presents he gets :)

Go Hokies!

Tonight is the first game of the Virginia Tech Hokies football season! I am SO excited! Last year I didn't really get into football season very much (I had a few other things on my mind - like having a baby!). But this year I am really excited - both for the Hokies and for the Redskins. I hope it's a good year!

In honor of the Hokies playing today, here are some pictures of Nolan in his VT football jersey. He originally got it as a gift for his 4 month birthday...

And here is Nolan wearing it at 9 months:

(I LOVE this picture :)

And here is Nolan wearing it at 11.5 months:

(I couldn't get a picture of him sitting still so this one will have to do)

**With Nolan's 1st birthday just around the corner I have been getting nostalgic. I like to go back and look at old pictures and look at how much he has grown. Stay tuned for more!

Best Buds

Remember a long time ago (January to be exact) when I posted something about Nolan's future best bud? Here is a pic to jog your memory:

This is Nolan and his friend Zach. At this point their idea of "playing" was rolling over.

Since January they have both grown a lot. They've gotten to play together a few times in the last month. It's been fun to see them interact with each other more and more now that they are much more mobile. Here are some pics from their last few times of hanging out:

It's so fun to see them grow up together! Who knows what they will get into together in a few years!

Play Ground Fun... And Other Random Thoughts

Life has been busy (hence the blog-hiatus). But it is good. Last weekend we went to Blacksburg for a friend's wedding (ever been to a Quaker wedding? It was...different). But while we were in town we got to hang out with family and visit with friends. It was fun! Nolan got to play on the play ground lots while we were there. He really liked going down the slide! He also liked throwing/rolling the ball down the slide and having Boomer chase after it. Here is another pic from the play ground... I couldn't get Nolan to look at the camera, but you can see how happy he is! You can also see that Boomer didn't want to get left out of the play ground fun, so he is right up there too!

Since it's been a while, here are some other random thoughts:

• 
  
  Nolan has finally started enjoying reading books. Before he would hardly sit still long enough to get through a page or two. His favorite book seems to be The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He LOVES it! He probably asks to read that book 10 times a day. Maybe he likes it because the caterpillar is a pig just like him? He likes to point at all of the different foods (probably wanting to eat them).
• 
  
  I splurged and bought us a new trash can. Now we have one with a lock on it! Try getting into that Nolan and Boomer!
• 
  
  The other day Nolan walked (rather purposefully) into his room, grabbed a diaper, and walked right back to me and placed the diaper in my lap. I figured he might be trying to tell me something, so I checked his diaper and sure enough, it was sopping wet. So my conclusion is this... either it was merely a coincence, or Nolan is a genius and is ready to start potty training before he even turns one. I'm hoping it's the latter ;)
• 
  
  Nolan has discovered how much fun splashing in the bath tub is. I can never come out of there with dry clothes anymore.
• Nolan got another tooth this week. He now has 8 - 4 on top, 4 on bottom. Hopefully we will get a break from the teething for a while, but you never know!

That's about it for now. I'm going to go try to find something refreshing and easy for dinner...

Hopefully it won't be so long before the next post!