Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving!  We are so thankful for many things this year, but obviously we are most thankful for this little nugget that has made our lives so much more full!  Sometimes I still can't believe he is ours for life, and I couldn't be more grateful that he is!  

Nolan is thankful for his dog-dog, his toys (especially his ball he carries around everywhere... see pictures), and all the love he receives from family and friends!  

We hope your Thanksgiving is just as yummy and blessed!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Nolan's Ten Month Update

We've reached the double digits!  Nolan is ten months old, and even crazier, only two months away from being a year old.  INSANE!  My not-so-little baby is not a baby anymore, and more like a toddler!  He continues to be a joy and overall happy, giggly little guy.  He is always babbling and his favorite word, by far, is Dog-dog.  He is still overly obsessed with his dog-dog, and chases Harley around constantly.  If he's not following him, he's trying to give him his toys or throw his toys at the dog, always wants to play, and can't understand why the dog wants to sleep instead!  His favorite thing to do is playing fetch with Harley, and even though Harley rarely brings his toys back, they do genuinely enjoy playing with each other daily.  Nolan loves dogs so much, he can identify any dog in a book, on T.V., while we are out and about, or even if he hears barking.  He'll let you know by screaming, DOG DOG!  DOG DOG!  He's also learning the difference between animals, as he tends to call lots of different things "dog."  He is obsessed with reading his two doggie books every night before bed, and willingly asks for them every time.  He enjoys any toy that resembles a dog (see above picture) and laughs at the sight of any new dog-related thing! 

He has improved his walking abilities and is likely to be found cruising all over the place still with his walker, barely holding on to furniture or our hands and scaling the walls (yes, the walls!).  Nolan took his first steps without assistance on October 23rd.  He has mastered getting around pretty much every way except crawling, and still can't pull himself up on much.  Once he is up, though, he is on the go, and has learned how to lower himself down from standing position.  He enjoys a challenge and has mastered picking things up from standing, as well.  He does get frustrated quite easily, though, and if something is blocking his path, he will let you know!  Another favorite of Nolan's is playing chase ("I'm gonna get you!), as he scoots on his butt away from you, constantly turning his head back to make sure you are "chasing" him and laughing.  

Nolan learned more fun things this month, and can blink his eyes when asked.  He can tell you what sound a monkey makes, by saying "Ah, ah ah" and usually bouncing up and down.  He is learning to test his limits and learning his rights from wrongs.  He will scoot in a hurry to something he knows he shouldn't be doing or playing with (the dog bowls, blinds, wall outlets) and try to get there before we reach him.  Once we pick him up and say "No, no no", he shakes his head "No".  He definitely doesn't like being told "No" as he continues to through his little temper tantrums here and there... and boy, does he have a temper!  Although he's a very happy baby, when he's mad, he.is.MAD.  Nolan has started the toddler tantrums where he throws himself down on the floor (arches his back and throws himself, or if he's already on the floor, he will sandwich himself in half and throw his head between his legs).  He mostly does this when things aren't going his way, like when he needs to be put in the carseat, when he's taken away from an area he shouldn't be, or when we move to another activity and he isn't quite "done" with the first.

One big new adventure Nolan started this month was his first Mommy & Me class!  It is a Gymboree class held at the recreation center, and is once a week for a half hour.  Nolan is the youngest in his class of about 8-15 kids, depending on the day.  Most of the other babies are 14-16 months old, so there is a decent age gap between them, yet he keeps up!  He loves free time as he can explore the toys and gym equipment (balls, mats, hoola hoops, trampoline, hanging bar) and loves to watch the other kids.  He interacts well with them, but at this age, they don't really interact much with each other, they all just do their own thing!  His favorite part is when the instructor brings out the bubbles, and he screeches and screams happy screams for them.  Overall, I would say he enjoys the class.  He is still working on being a little more outgoing, though.  Nolan isn't shy around those he is familiar with and in familiar surroundings, but when faced with a new situation in a group, he tends to become a little emotional.  During circle time and group activities, Nolan can be found clinging to my neck and usually starts with the pout face.  Once everyone starts singing together (or clapping), he just can't handle it!  It's a little overwhelming for the poor guy.  Even more overwhelming is parachute time.  Every class, the parachute makes an appearance, and the babies are put in the middle of the parachute while the parents hold the edges and move in a circle.  Nolan screamed the first time, the second time, the third time... I'm pretty sure it will take a while to warm up to the parachute!  

Other new things for little man this month:

Height, Weight, and Sizes: 
No well-check until his first birthday, but Nolan is measuring about 21 pounds on our home scale.  His active lifestyle is slimming down his baby fat and rolls, which makes Mommy sad.  He gained another tooth, cutting his 5th tooth (bottom left incisor) on November 3rd.  Nolan has again grown through his clothes quickly, as he's moving into 18 month clothing.  He wears mostly 18 month pajamas, a mixture of 12-18 month shirts and onesies, and his bottoms are still a little smaller in 12 months sizes.  He has moved to size 4 diapers, but I can see him staying in these for a while.

Feeding:

Nolan continues the same eating routine as last month, as he eats more like a toddler now than a baby!  He is getting pickier with his purees and always prefers finger foods and to feed himself.  Instead of offering purees first, I now offer finger foods (typically a whole "meal") and if he is still hungry, will offer a container or half of a container of purees.  This kid can EAT!  He pretty much eats everything now, minus a few things that are just not safe for him yet.  He has become more selective with what he is eating, although he likes everything.  If given the choice, he will prefer one food over another on his tray, so I try to give him the better food first, and then follow up with his other options.  For example, if he is having a cheese quesadilla, black beans and avocado for dinner, I will offer the avocado and beans first to make sure he eats those, because the second I take the quesadilla out, he's only focused on that cheesy goodness for the rest of the meal!  

Certain foods make Nolan dance around like he's never eaten before... Cheerios, cheese, Puffs, and Teddy Grahams are just to name a few.  If I didn't limit his intake of these, he would turn into these foods because he just won't stop!

Nolan still gets 4 bottles of breastmilk a day (20-24 ounces), and I have completely weaned off of pumping as of the first week of November.  I had mixed emotions about when to stop pumping, but my supply had severely dropped after moving to two pump sessions a day, and realized with all of the frozen milk we had, Nolan could most likely make it until his first birthday on breastmilk.  Knowing that, I decided to part ways with my Medela.  I was SO thrilled to get a sliver of time back in my life, but I was also a little sad to end this chapter.  It's just another reminder that my baby isn't a baby anymore!  Overall, I can't believe that we started this exclusive pumping journey with a goal of making it to just a few weeks of pumping!  I went from thinking I couldn't breastfeed at all, to lengthening out each goal- three weeks, three months, six months, nine months... 10 whole months of exclusively pumping and one whole year of breastmilk later!  Total, I produced enough milk for Nolan to get his daily ounces for the first 10 months, plus over 2500 ounces of frozen milk that should get him past his first birthday.  I couldn't be happier!

Sleeping:

Nolan continues the same sleep schedule as last month, lengthening out his awake time just a little bit more and pushing his naps a little later in the day.  He continues to wake between 6:30AM-7:00AM, and still goes down for his first nap  around 9:45AM-10:00AM (hour to an hour and a half).  The afternoon nap gets pushed a little later since he isn't quite as tired until about 2:45PM-3:00PM, and again will sleep for at least an hour and a half, if not two hours.  Since his nap ends a little later, he gets his bedtime pushed back to about 8:00PM (earlier if he's cranky, though!) and sleeps through the night.   

Firsts & Milestones:

-First steps alone (10.23.14)

-Can make monkey sounds

-Blinks on command

-Gymboree class

-Can lower self from standing to sitting

-Carving a pumpkin

-Halloween and Trick or Treating

-Can pick things up from standing

-Cut his 5th tooth (button left incisor) on 11.3.14

-Identifies all dogs (in books, TV, outside, hearing a bark)

-Toddler tantrums begin

Likes:

-Seseame Street, specifically Elmo obsessed

-Watching birds

-Cheerios

-Sippy cup and drinking out of a straw

-Eskimo kisses

-"bonking" heads

-Being held upside down

-Glasses of water and water bottles 

-Any dog book (or anything with dogs, really)

-Visiting the animals at PetsMart

-Playing "chase"

-Helping Mommy fill the bathtub

-Kicking toys while scooting

-Standing and dancing in crib with the aquarium

-Tipping the dog dishes over and playing in the bowl of water

Dislikes:
-Being confined to carseat

-Filling up the tub without him

-Washing his hands and face after eating

-Pulling him away from something he shouldn't be doing / playing with

-Gymboree group circle time and songs, the parachute at Gymboree

Happy ten months, little buddy!  We love you SO much and love watching you learn and grow!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween finally arrived and we celebrated by spoiling Nolan, first thing in the morning!  Of course, Harley had to get treated with a little Halloween treat, too, so we gave him his toys first and he went to town on his squeaky pumpkin and bat!  

Nolan opened his little treat bag, since he can't enjoy candy this year.  Inside, he found a fun Halloween book to add to his collection as well as a toy lion (since he was dressing up as a lion later that day)!  He had the cutest look of surprise when he pulled the lion out and absolutely loved it.  

Since our state is awesome, Jason had the day off of work for Nevada Day.  We spent the day relaxing around the house, and then welcomed some company over to visit.  My Aunt Denise and Uncle Georges had been in town from France, and they brought eight of their friends with them to tour the US.  They all came over to visit our house and watch Nolan get dressed for Trick or Treating.     Once he was all dressed up in his lion attire, our guests snapped a billion pictures of him (because who wouldn't want pictures of the cutest little baby ever!) and we were on our way to Trick or Treat in our neighborhood for a little bit!  We said goodbye to our family and made our way over to a particular street a few blocks over.  They are known to go all out for Halloween, and throw a block party that is amazing!  Almost every house participates by intricately decorating their houses and garages, and the whole street has music, jump houses, snow cone shacks... it's crazy!  They block the street off completely and let the kids run around and trick or treat.  Nolan was so amazed by the ghosts flying in the street, and loved seeing all the different decorations.  We even went through two scary set ups and he didn't even flinch!  I wish we got more pictures, but this is all we snapped at the time.

After we trick or treated through our neighborhood, we made our way over to The Luks' house to continue our yearly tradition with them (which is about 3 seconds away from our house).  Every Halloween we have gone to their house for a quick dinner, then we take the kids Trick or Treating in their neighborhood.  They also have great houses and streets that participate in awesome decorations, so it's always guaranteed to be a good time!  It was so exciting to have Nolan join in on the Trick or Treating this year with the rest of the kids!  Of course we forgot to take pictures of everyone in their costumes, so hopefully next year we will remember so we can track the kiddos growth every year together!  We always talked about celebrating holidays with our families together, and actually doing it this year was so much fun and I couldn't have expected any less!  

Nolan did great Trick or Treating again, and loved looking at all the lights and decorations while we went house to house.  His favorite part was seeing doggies as we went to the doors of homes that had them.  If they barked, he would say, "DOG!" and was giddy with excitement.  He got an awesome amount of candy that he has been sharing with Mom and Dad... Lucky us! :)

Nolan's first Halloween was perfect and I really do think he enjoyed everything about it!  It is so much fun celebrating the holidays, but when you see your child experience it, the excitement is just on a whole other level.  We hope your Halloween was as fun as ours!  

October Happenings

Nolan started off the month by looking adorable while practicing standing and taking a few steps without Mommy's help!

He sported his Halloween pajamas to celebrate the month of October!

My friend Stacey and I held an online Jamberry Nails party, and I practiced with my first nail wrap.  I usually hate having my nails done and I'm terrible at polish, but needless to say, I'm hooked on these wraps!  They are super easy and there are SO many designs to choose from!  Newest addiction, for sure!

Speaking of Stacey... she came for a visit again during the first weekend of the month!  We love having her here and it's so nice to be able to hang out and catch up since we don't live in the same city anymore.  While she was here, we got a little crazy and acted silly together (as per usual), we hung out with our other bestie Erin and spent the day at the Forum Shops and ate lunch at Serendipity, and finally spent another day with all of our friends, eating AYCE sushi at Oyshi, followed up with some interactive golf!  On her last day, we ate downtown at Eat and spent the afternoon at Container Park.  It was a great weekend and we always love when Auntie Stacey comes to visit!  

Not the greatest picture of Nolan, but I couldn't handle the stingray in the background... haha!  He's smiling!

He really does love his aunties, I promise!

While at Oyshi, Nolan couldn't help but dance while he was eating in his high chair.  Dude loves some house music, apparently:

He got some practice with his push walker and chased the dog-dog around the house!

Nolan was adorable reppin' his Baltimore Ravens:

Nolan learned how to clap and showed off his new trick!

He also started getting more brave by going hands-free with his walker, testing his balance.  He is a very timid baby, so we celebrate the little things when he decides to try something new!

We caught up on some missed milestone cards.. Oops!  Either way, little man was proud of himself and all his new things he's been doing, lately!

He hung out with his ghost buddy that he loves to talk to and play with.

We visited Gilcrease Orchards and Nolan loved his first time there!

Nolan continued his learning growth spurt and decided he could wave!  

One Sunday, our little Raven's fan was going crazy playing on his activity table.  He modeled his football gear and helped Daddy vacuum around the house!

Nolan found a new obsession with Sesame Street and "The Letter of the Day" video.  We watched this video SO many times this month... but he's too cute dancing, clapping and singing when he sees it to not play it!  See for yourself:

One evening, I turned my back for a second while washing Nolan's helmet, and came in to find him like this in his crib.  Needless to say, we lowered the crib mattress this month!

Little bug was spent during an afternoon Target trip.  Mommy got some bonus shopping time since he took his afternoon nap like this!

Nolan turned 9 months old!

My nail wraps continued to last, even after two weeks, so I switched out my polish for some more festive Halloween nails:

I got a crazy "I'm nuts!" picture of Nolan and his teepees:

We made a fun Halloween craft with hand and footprints (that was actually a nightmare, dealing with paint and a 9-month old who doesn't hold still all by myself)  yet it came out pretty cute, and Nolan loved chewing on the handles and swinging it around.  We used this Trick or Treat bag for all of our Halloween outings and it will make a great keepsake for his first Halloween!

We carved pumpkins and visited another pumpkin patch on the weekend.

Nolan talked and gave kisses to the baby in the mirror one morning:

We made another, less messy, Halloween craft one afternoon: a felt pumpkin!  Nolan just liked to eat the felt face pieces and Harley liked to lay all over it.  Maybe next year we will get better use out of it!

Lil' man started relaxing to the max while he drinks his bottle, just like this:

Nolan can tell you what a monkey says... but only on his time, when he wants:

We celebrated Nolan's first time Trick or Treating at the Springs Preserve!

Our good friend, Bobbie, came into town and we hadn't seen her in almost a year!  She had never met Nolan so it was extra exciting to introduce them.  We got together with all of our friends for brunch at  Echo & Rig (which was delicious), and after, Bobbie had the brilliant idea of doing a "recreate" photo from the last time we were all together.  The end result was perfect:

Nolan hammed it up for the camera while eating dinner one night:

We took lots of funny pictures one afternoon, while doing laundry and playing with Daddy's underwear (a favorite thing to do).  I got lots of slobbery love from my munchkin.

Nolan played with his dog-dog and they got along for a few quick pictures:

We celebrated Nolan's first Halloween and he made the cutest little lion!  You can see all his costume photoshoots here.  

Until next month!!