Socialization 101

Why is it that each week seems to go by faster than the last? I guess if I really stop to think about it, it’s typically because Adam and I are so busy during the week! Last week was a particularly busy week for us, as we were both busy doing something after work every night of the week! Between dinner with friends, happy hours, softball games and working out I really didn’t have time to do a whole lot else during the week. That explains why our house is so dirty right now!

Before I get in to anything else, I have to let you know that Nolan went to bed at 6:15 last night and we woke him up at 6:30 this morning! It seriously is incredible how much this kid sleeps, especially since he took great naps at daycare yesterday.

Nolan got to go on a couple of fun outings last week. On Monday night he went with Adam to his parent’s house for dinner, on Tuesday he was with me in Maple Grove for dinner with my friends from the Monticello hospital, Wednesday he was with me running errands, Thursday he was with Adam at home helping him work on the motorcycle (I was at happy hour), and on Friday he was with Adam again for a boys night in (I went to the Shout House with my girlfriends and then picked up my parents from their Wine and Food Tasting at the new Gopher football stadium). Nolan is at a great age – he’s sitting better on his own and rolling both ways, but when you take him places he just sits still and hangs out. It’s fabulous! We finally got through the 4 different cereals we wanted him to try and have moved on to include green beans in his diet. Adam and I both keep waiting for him to not like a new food, but so far he’s gobbled up anything we’ve given him. Oh, and he’s making more and more sounds that sound like words, for example “hi” and “mama”. We know that he really doesn’t get what it means, but it’s fun to hear him say things that sound like real words!

On Saturday we had Nolan’s 6 month pictures. It’s fun to go, but it’s so hard to know in advance what his reaction and temperament are going to be when we get there for the appointment. His naps are still a little bit all over the place, so we scheduled the pics for 11 am. Nolan didn’t smile and didn’t cry – he just sat there and dealt with the fact he was getting his picture taken by a stranger while his parent’s and Grandma Paula did goofy things to try and get him to smile! After his pictures we headed down to Mankato for our brother-in-law Brian’s 30th bday party. It was so fun to see my family – we hadn’t seen most of them, including our nieces, since the first weekend in August! Sunday on the way home we stopped to see some friends in Prior Lake. We were lucky enough to be there to watch the 4th quarter of the Vikings game!

This week is a little less busy. Adam might go hunting tonight and he has softball on Wednesday, and other than my Monday and Thursday night workouts we’ll be around all week. On Friday night we’re going to the Twins game. Nolan is coming with us – hopefully he’ll make it longer than the 7th inning! On Saturday we have a wedding here in the cities, and on Sunday we’re hoping to get out to the apple orchard, weather permitting.

Nolan is 6 months old!

That's right. 6 months ago today Nolan entered the world. Our life hasn't been the same since - but we don't mind at all! Happy 1/2 Birthday to our babycakes!

He's got skills

No, I'm not talking about Adam. Nolan seemingly overnight developed the ability to sit by himself - with a little support from his boppy. Over the last month he's developed better control of his core, so I thought I'd let him give it another try by himself yesterday. Low and behold he sat there for about 5 minutes! I am so impressed. It's so funny how fast they seem to just pick up a new skill, when in fact they've probably been working really hard for a long time to master it! Nolan also thought it would be fun to start rolling both ways this week. Adam picked him up from daycare on Wednesday and Julie told him that when she went to the kitchen he was laying by the couch, and when she came back he was by the chair! Nolan turns 6 months old tomorrow, so I guess he's probably right on track with his new skills. His 6 month check up isn't for 2 more weeks. I would guess that he'll weigh almost 17lbs. He still fits in most of his 3-6 month clothes at this point.

Adam had planned on going deer hunting this weekend, but the weather was just too warm. Yesterday he spent most of the day fishing, and did get out to his parent's place in the evening to try a little hunting. He saw a very active pheasant and a doe with 2 fawns. Speaking of deer, on Friday night Adam and I had a bonfire. Right after we got it started a yearling came walking up between our house and our neighbor's. We thought it would see us and run away, but instead it saw us and kept coming closer. It came within 15 feet of us, and then turned around. I think we figured out who's been eating the hostas around the fire pit! Nolan and I spent all day yesterday hanging out. Between his wake up time at 6:15 and when we left to run errands at 1 he slept for 3 hours! I managed to get in about a 45 minute nap, too. We went to Eden Prairie Center to run some errands, and he was perfect - just hung out in his stroller.

Today Adam and I had a very early wake up call from Nolan. He bumped his head in his crib and was up at 5:15. Adam brought him in bed with us at 5:30 in hopes he would fall back asleep, but that wasn't going to happen. I got up with him at 5:45, played with him and fed him, and Nolan was back in bed at 6:45. I also went back to bed and slept until 9:20. Adam got up with Nolan around 8:30 and let me sleep a little bit longer. I really needed it, even though I went to bed at 9:30 last night! It was gorgeous out today, so Adam, Nolan and I went on a 3 mile walk. Adam and Nolan pretty much hung out the rest of the afternoon. I went grocery shopping, made dinner, did laundry, and made cupcakes for Nolan's 1/2 birthday tomorrow. The only other thing I need to do is make my lunch for tomorrow. I need to be at work around 6:20 tomorrow for orientation, and if I don't do it tonight it won't get done!

How sweet it is

Nolan has officially made the transition to "big people" food. Last night we took one cube of the sweet potatoes I pureed, warmed it up, liquified it a bit with some formula, and fed it to Nolan. Adam and I were both shocked that he liked it - especially since he wasn't a fan of the rice and oatmeal cereal the first time! Hopefully that means he'll like all the other foods we're going to introduce him to . . . but I doubt it:)

Last weekend we were pretty busy. On Friday night Adam, Nolan and I met up with Paulette and Ryan at Buffalo Wild Wings in Plymouth. Nolan did really well, especially since it was way past his usual bed time of 6:30 or 7. On Saturday Adam was golfing, so I took Nolan to Becky's family cabin near South Haven to spend the afternoon with Tammy, Lori, Nikki, Becky and the kids. It was super relaxing - the older kids played together and the younger kids took naps. That meant that we got to hang out and relax, which was awesome. The bummer of the day was that Nolan very suddenly developed either a cold or allergies. He had green gunk coming out of his eyes, was sneezing up a storm and had a constant runny nose. I felt so bad for him! This is the first time he's been sick. I did manage to get him over to Erica and Dave's house for a little while to see Adam's cousins/spouses. Nolan and I stayed until Adam got there, and then I took him home. Getting lots of sleep always tends to make me feel a little better, so I thought I'd try the same with Nolan! On Sunday Nolan seemed to be doing a little bit better so we went to church at 8:30 and then headed off to Buffalo Lake to see Adam's grandma. We had a really nice visit with her. She is an amazing woman. She's 95, walks on the treadmill or rides the excercise bike every day, and still drives. And she beat Adam at pool in 2 out of 3 games!

Adam is at the Twin's game tonight so after Nolan went to bed I finally had a chance to clean the house. I don't have time to clean nearly as often as I used to, and that's been a hard adjustment for me. I do try to keep it in perspective - where would I rather spend my time, cleaning the toilet or hanging out with Adam and Nolan? Yes, I do choose hanging out with Adam and Nolan!

Tomorrow afternoon Jackie and I are heading up to Fargo for a job fair on Thurdsay. Because it's so darn far away we're staying overnight. It will be fun to hang out with Jackie. It's not something we get to do as often as we'd like!

Unplugged

I picked up Nolan from daycare on Wednesday and all Julie said is "he doesn't need more apple juice." Good to know it works!

The plug

I had my first true case of mommy guilt today. No, it's not because I'm working. It's because somehow over the course of the last week Nolan became constipated and woke up this morning at 6 AM crying while he tried to do his business:( He hasn't woken up crying since he was a tiny newborn! He finally did the duty, but not without a lot of tears of pain. I felt sooooooooo bad for not doing anything. Adam and I had talked about giving him some dark corn syrup if he didn't go by today, but I really wish we would have done it yesterday morning. There is nothing worse than watching your baby cry because he is in pain - and knowing there's not a single thing you can do about it! I had to leave for work early today so Adam took care of getting Nolan ready and off to daycare. Adam called me when I was almost to work at 6:30 to let me know Nolan was fed and happy. I did call the nurseline to find out what we could do, and the nurse assured me I wasn't the first mom to call with these questions, nor would I be the last. Good to know, but certainly doesn't make you feel a whole lot better when it's your kid! We gave Nolan a few oz. of water this morning, and he had a few oz. of 100% apple juice at dinner tonight. We're also going to make sure he's getting 32 oz. of liquid everyday in addition to the 2-3 tablespoons of cereal. If that doesn't work we can give him up to 2 teaspoons of dark corn syrup to get things moving. I feel like this is something Adam and I should have known, but then again Nolan is our first kid and it's not like you sit around and talk about baby poo with people very often!

A funny thing happened in the bath tub . . .

After a rough start, Nolan adjusted really well to eating rice cereal. We got in to a nice routine of feeding him first and then having him drink his bottle – until tonight. We introduced oatmeal cereal in to his diet, and he was not at all impressed. So we went back to what worked at the beginning of last week – eat, then bottle, then finish eating. Hopefully things will go more smoothly for Adam tomorrow morning, cuz he’s on his own! (I’m facilitating new employee orientation so need to leave before Nolan wakes up)

It’s crazy to think that summer as we know it is done, as another Labor Day has come and gone. We spent the weekend at the Bleck family farm. We didn’t do anything too strenuous – after all, Labor Day is a full weekend for rest, right? The weather was fabulous so we spent most of our time outdoors. Nolan was a super good boy – he took really good naps and went to bed by 7 each night. In between naps and sleep he spent a lot of time outside hanging out with everyone. Claire found him especially amusing. She is quite a talker, and she made sure to say hi to Nolan every time he was near her, and made a special point to bring him all of his toys to play with! Nolan experienced his first time in a sandbox and got to sit on a 4-wheeler, too. He wasn't too excited about the 4-wheeler, but I'm sure that will come when he's older! He continues to amaze everyone with his personality. This morning at breakfast he spent about 15 minutes laughing at a yellow rubber duck while Adam made funny duck noises. Seriously, we haven't heard him giggle that much at any other time! Nolan and I did have a chance to spend Saturday morning with my mom and dad at my aunt and uncle’s cabin on Fish Trap Lake. What a fantastic place! It was so nice to spend a little time with them, as they hadn’t met Nolan yet.

Adam and I gave Nolan a bath before bed tonight. While in the bath tub a funny thing happened - Nolan “discovered himself” and started playing with his wedding tackle! We’re pretty sure it was by accident, but we were totally unprepared for it this early! He thought he was hilarious and was just laughing and giggling away. I’m sure other things are going to happen when we least expect it, so we’ve just gotta roll with the punches:)