thaoie Posts

Yay! Nolan is back to his old playful, fun-loving, whine-free, happy self. The 2 weeks after we got back from Europe were so rough. Super whiny, wasn’t eating well and caught a cold but now he’s all better and luckily, just in time for his birthday party this Sunday! We still have lots to do to prep for the big event. He’ll have about 45 friends (kids) at the party and many more adults than that. This momma is scrambling to make it a memorable event. I know he won’t remember it but hopefully we’ll get some great photos and video footage in so he can relive it when he’s older. This will be his one and only party, the rest will be small gatherings with the immediate family. Once he turns 16 or 18 or 21, he can decide what kind of party he wants, if any.

Here’s a sneak peek of his birthday party theme, can you guess what it is??!!

Nolan got his first professional barber haircut at a salon today. I was not there to witness it but from the photos he looked to have been well behaved. Another “milestone” of sorts this week is his accomplishment in using a straw–he can suck up his own water now! He really enjoys it and has the biggest smile on his face after every sip–he’s very proud of himself! Nolan’s confidence in walking is progressing quite well too. He doesn’t hang onto things as much and if he does it’s with one hand to just help with balancing  in between steps. He likes to push his own stroller and cruise furniture holding one item in one hand and the other to help balance–like a boss! And of course with all that comes the stage of getting into everything and pressing all electronic buttons. Will open every cabinet, every drawer, grab the highest thing he can reach, throw all the shoes off the rack, toss all the clothes out the drawer and repeatedly turn on/off the receiver, computer and NAS. Man, he’s becoming quite a handful

I leave you with these images taken before he got a haircut.

The many funny expressions of Nolan.

My lovable baby boy!

After haircut shots courtesy of his dad:

We’re almost at the finish line! Just 2 more weeks til Nolan’s 1st birthday. Whoopee! He’s been a tiny bit less whiny despite having a fever the last 3 days mulling around 100-102 degrees. His first fever ever. This morning it seemed to have gone back down to normal. Saturday and Sunday night were no fun with him keeping us up. If baby ain’t happy, ain’t nobody in the house happy either. Ain’t that the truth?!? We tried feeling his gums to see if he was teething, but no signs of any teeth from what we can tell. He already has 8 so that’s plenty for a little guy under 12 months.

Noly continues to watch baby signing time and picks up on a few new ones every week. Just this morning he sat up on our bed, looked out the glass sliding door and signed “day”. He knew it was a new day with the sun shining outside! What a little smartie pants. He smiled immediately when I asked “day?” His way of confirming that that was exactly what he was signing. Keep in mind that I also have to watch these episodes to learn what he’s learning so we can sign and communicate with each other. A lot of learning for this momma to do, too!

Pushing along his walker, climbing up the stairs, pretending he can read books and getting off the bed are a few things he’s mastering the last couple weeks. The hardest one is getting off the bed. Most the time he lands a bit hard on his butt. Luckily our bed isn’t too far off the ground so it’s easy practicing. I think he’ll have this under control in no time, probably in time for his birthday even. As far as walking, I’m thinking he’ll do it after his 1st birthday. I don’t mind if he’s a late walker just so he can stay out of trouble longer. Speaking of which, we started baby proofing outlets and cabinets yesterday. Anticipating the wrath of Nolan for the next couple years.

Well, I hope you enjoy these last few weekly blog posts–only 3 more! The ending couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ll be busy shooting and editing during the busiest time of the year with wedding season in full swing. Hoping to do monthly updates from there on out, but we shall see.

He LOVES books!

There are many times where I’d catch him quietly sitting there flipping thru one of his many board books. When we read to him he sits thru til the very end, quietly listening to the story, looking at all the images as we flip the pages. Certain points in the story he would glance up at us with a huge grin on his face. Warms my heart to see his growing love for books–just like his mommy!

I was playing around with a couple of new photo editing apps and came up with these 2–loving the 1980’s vintage film feel.

Cry baby alert!! Ever since we got back Nolan has been SUPER DUPER whiny. He’s never been this whiny, EVER! I guess we can now officially call him a “cry baby”. Ugh. Does it make me a bad mother that I am annoyed being around him when he’s like this? Seriously, he has an entire 2nd floor to explore but he insists on crawling up to me (whining while he’s at it), pulls himself up to a standing position and begs (whines) for me to pick him up. Then 3 seconds later he wants to be put down. Repeat in 2 minutes. It’s been driving me up the wall the last few days that I can’t seem to concentrate and concentration is what I desperately need. His 1st birthday party is in less than 3 weeks (lots of planning and things to do) and I am at the cusp of the busy wedding season again. Oh and our TiVo is completely maxed out with shows we have not watched in the last month. I guess that will be put to the back burner til Labor Day. =/

We’ve been home for almost a week now and on reflection, I’ve come to find a brighter side to lugging the kiddo around Europe for nearly 3 weeks. I can seriously say that any day trip in SoCal with him along is now a piece of cake. I’ve done arguably the toughest thing with this kid, I can now do almost ANYTHING. A day at Disneyland, bring it on! I’ll even take 2 other kids along. I knew there had to be a bright side to all that pain + suffering. For now, enjoy these images of my little cry baby.

Here’s your cry baby.

This smile makes all the whining worth it.

His playful and serious look. Reminds me of…ME!

Our silly little guy eating pho earlier today.

One day this summer I will try my best to backlog the missing dialog/photos/videos from our EuroTrip. At this point, I’ll have to say that August/September looks promising. Let’s hope I don’t get sidetracked and never post the photos.