Precious moments

Yesterday was a spectacular day! Not only was it Mother's Day, but Nolan took his first official steps; 4 completely on his own to be exact!! He is getting braver with letting go of our hands and trying to walk. He also ate with a spoon last night! It is such an amazing feeling to see his little face light up when we clap for him and say "yay" when he's reached another milestone. I wish I could freeze time because he is growing up way to fast. I have a hard time remembering when he was that little, helpless baby who depended on us for everything. I can honestly say I miss the nights where I was up every 2 hours with him. It makes my heart ache because time is flying by and he is becoming more and more independent, although I know he will always need his mommy and daddy. I can only hope that we will give him the confidence and courage he needs to grow into the amazing man we know he will become! I am so proud to be your mommy Nolan!! Love you my little man!

Boys will be boys

I recently started taking care of my very good friend's son Cole. He is only 5 months older than Nolan and it is so amazing to watch the two of them interact with one another. Nolan will sometimes follow him around to see what he is doing and other times Cole will get down on all fours and crawl around with him, it's really cute!



The other morning after breakfast I had the boys color; Cole did but Nolan thought it would be more fun to eat the crayons. At this stage of the game, everything Nolan touches goes in his mouth. We practiced our colors and I just talked about what they were drawing on the paper. It was a really nice moment with the boys.

Firsts

We recently celebrated Nolan's first birthday; it was a happy time but also bittersweet because it is unbelievable to me how fast the past year has gone. Family and friends came to our house for a big birthday celebration and needless to say, Nolan was not all that into it. He is a definite mama's boy and has to be with me at all times no matter who is around. Other than a few meltdowns and some tears, we had a great time opening gifts, visiting, and having cake!



Nolan wasn't to sure about what to do with the cake. At first he stared at it, then when we put the cake in front of him he eventually got the idea. It definitely didn't settle well with him because when he woke up from his nap, the poor little guy had puke all over him.



A couple of my very good friends also chipped in money and we all bought a new swing set for Nolan, and for his friends Cole and Conley when they're here! He absolutely loves it!! We usually go for walks to the park and he is beside himself when it is time to leave, now we won't have that problem!

These past few weeks with Nolan have been so much fun and I'm soaking up every minute of it! Time is so precious and goes by too fast!! Being a mommy is more than I ever could have imagined!!

Last-First Holiday

This past weekend was sort of bitter sweet. Not only were we celebrating Easter with family, but it was also Nolan's last-"first" holiday. It was a jam packed weekend, but a lot of fun.

Nolan loves playing outside and one of his favorite things to do is play on the swingset. It was a beautiful day for playing outside and Nolan really enjoyed it. I love seeing him smile and watching him explore new things. I love seeing the world through his eyes and watching him learn to do things on his own.



It was also Nolan's first time dying Easter eggs. At first he wasn't sure what was going on, he actually thought it was time to eat. Eventually he got the hang of it and just threw the egg in the cup of dye, he didn't want to bother with the metal egg holders.

Nolan wasn't quite sure what to make of the Easter egg hunt, he was just happy to be walking around outside. My sister hid the eggs and put some right out in the open for Nolan to find. When I pointed them out to him, he'd bend down, pick them up and shake them, and then show them to daddy. It was so cute and he had so much fun!

All in all it was a great weekend! Now it's time to gear up for the big birthday bash!!

I'd rather be naked

The other day it took Nolan at least half an hour to fall asleep. I could hear him tossing, turning, and being a little chatter box, I couldn't help but smile! When he woke up, I went to get him and this is what I found when I opened his door...


His sock was on the floor, which I know wasn't there when I laid him down for a nap, so I peeked in his crib and found this...



Nolan's pants were off and I
thought,
"this is new for him, he must've
been really bored."
And then I just started laughing.



Nolan was just like "Okay mommy, it's really not that funny now please get me dressed and get me out of here!"

You gotta love a day in the life of a mommy!! :)

Little Linus

People have always asked me, "does Nolan have a comfort item?" He never took to the pacifiers, we tried them but he'd always just spit them out, and he doesn't have a stuffed animal or a blanket that he clings to, until recently. There's this blanket I put in his crib with him at night because it's the perfect size to cover his little body and I don't have to worry about him suffocating himself. It's brown on one side and the other side is white with jungle animals all over it. Well, I went into his bedroom to get him the other morning and in his little hand is this blanket. I thought "hmm... that's new." He had it in the livingroom with all of his toys all day. Last night, Nate decided to cover himself up with the blanket and Nolan didn't like it at all. He stopped playing with his toys, looked at Nate, frowned and grunts. He crawled over to him so fast and ripped the blanket out of his hand. Needless to say, he now has a comfort item. It's so cute!!

These boots were made for walking (in this case, shoes)

Recently Nolan started walking while holding onto his dumptruck, it's one of those toys that help them learn to walk, so we decided to take him to get him his first pair of walking shoes (*TEAR). We went to the Shoe Department and got the last pair of Buster Browns in his size, a size 3 (so small), and on top of that they were on sale for only 8 bucks!! I immediately put them on but he wasn't really into it, he kicked them off. Later that day we decided to let him play with them to get used to what they are.


Here I had just put them on him and he was not into it at all. He was like "Mommy, what are these things?? Get them off me!!"


When he finally got the shoe off he showed daddy and acted as if he was saying "here daddy, I don't like these things on my feet!"

It was a fun day!

Don't you just love a bargain?

Just like every other American in this country, money is tight right now. I started panicking a little bit when I realized we had no spring-summer clothes for Nolan and trying to budget a couple extra hundred dollars towards new clothes just didn't seem possible. One night while I was out for a walk with Nolan, my neighbor mentioned to me that she just bought her son, who is only a month younger than Nolan, a whole wardrobe for only 15 bucks and she found it off craig's list. I thought, "my prayers have been answered!!" The next day I immediately got on craig's to see what I could find and sure enough, I found it!! I'm actually going to meet the woman today and look through the clotehs to see what will work. So thankful that we don't have to spend a fortune on "new" clothes; and let's face it, how many times to babies and toddlers really wear an outfit?? Another great alternative are consignment shops and thrift stores. As long as you don't mind buying gently used items for your little one, or even yourself, this is really the way to go!! Happy shopping!!

Spring is in the air

The weather is finally nice enough that I can take Nolan outside and get some fresh air, he was starting to get a little cabin fever from being couped up for the last 4 months. I decided to take Nolan for a walk and go to the playground, which he absolutely loved!! He laughed and laughed while he was swinging and he absolutely loevd going down the slide, mommy had to stop though because it was starting to hurt my back. Needless to say I think we have to invest in a slide for our backyard, swingsets are too expensive right now! Nolan also has his own fleet of vehicles, a red flyer wagon, a four wheeler, and a dump truck; we may have to build him his own little garage! We spent at least a half an hour just riding up and down the driveway, but when it was time to come inside, he pitched a fit! He was in his glory, outside riding his cars with his mommy! It was such a nice day!