Leaps and Bounds

In a matter of a few days Nolan figured out that he can pull himself up in to a sitting position from laying down, and made his first official crawling lunge forward. Last night Adam and I were playing with him before bed. Nolan was just rolling around in his diaper, having a grand old time. He got himself in to his "model pose", which is when he lays on his side with his arm on his leg, like he's going to work out. From there he planted his hand on the ground and pulled himself up. I think he was in shock after that happened, so he fell forward on to both hands and knees. He really had no idea what to do so he lunged forward and literally fell on his face! He thought it was funny! When I picked him up from daycare today Julie said he pulled himself up to a sitting position for her, too. It really is the little things in life that get me excited:)

Yesterday when I picked up Nolan from daycare he was sitting on the floor playing with some trucks. Kielbasa (what a great name for a cat!) was in front of him, and Scooby, the other cat, was behind him on the couch. Nolan thought Kielbasa was so funny - he kept slapping his hands on his legs and making noises at her. Julie said it was really funny to watch him when Kielbasa came closer to him - his hands would back off his legs and he would immediately stop talking! I'm sure at some point he will show no fear in chasing those cats around the house!

Turkey, squash and broccoli - all foods Nolan has eaten this week and liked! After he gets through the round of food I just made I'm going to try some new recipes for him that include some spices. We'll see what he thinks of that!

Adam's new job is going well so far. We're adjusting to his new schedule - he usually works 8 - 5. By the time he gets home Nolan is fed and is playing. Adam is taking the morning shift for the most part and getting Nolan to daycare. Today Nolan was still sleeping when I left for work at 6:50! It was hard not to see him this morning - his smile is a great way to start my day!

Double Duty

Adam and I babysat Chris and Sasha’s little boy Jackson on Saturday while they attended a class in Bloomington. Jackson is 9 months old and is a busy little boy! He was so good, though. He’s really laid back and is very happy. He and Nolan weren’t too interested in one another, but every once in a while it seemed liked they were trying to talk to each other! Luckily Adam was around this weekend to help out. Even with 2 good babies I’m not sure I could have done it on my own – or at least as well as I did with the 2 of us! It was really fun to hang out with Chris and Sasha Saturday night after the boys went to bed, too. The crappy weather even let up enough so we could have a bonfire!

Adam’s last day at Park Nicollet was last Wednesday. He is moving on to bigger and better things at UnitedHealth Group in the internal audit area of their Ovations program. I'm really excited for him, but selfishly I'll miss having him across the parking lot. I really enjoyed our lunch "dates" and walks around Wolfe Lake! To celebrate being in betweeen job he spent Wed – Fri in Deerwood at Gina and Eric’s house duck hunting. He loves to hunt, so he was a bit disappointed with the lack of ducks he saw. He sure made it interesting, though – first by poking a hole in his boat and then by losing his cell phone in the woods. While one side of his boat was taking on water he figured out that if he sat on the other end his weight balanced it out enough that it wouldn't sink. He did stop at a boat repair shop in Aitkin and was able to put some stuff in the hole to seal it. Hopefully it still floats! The bad news is he spent an hour and a half looking for his self phone but didn’t find it. Yesterday morning we went to the Eden Prairie Verizon store and he bought a new phone. They were able to transfer all my phone numbers in to his new phone so he has a few phone numbers, but it’s significantly less than the contacts he had in his phone! If you’re reading this and Adam used to have your phone number, please e-mail it to him so he can add it to his phone!

Nolan and I spent a lot of quality time together last week. He is a very content and happy baby, but it’s so much easier when Adam is around to help out. By the time I get home, pick him up, feed him, play with him, bathe him and put him to bed I’m exhausted, and then I have to do my chores around the house! Oh well, it’s nothing new to all the working moms out there, just something I need to get used to! Nolan is getting closer to crawling every day. We don’t have that much time left of being able to leave him alone and know he won’t go anywhere! Yesterday I pureed a bunch of new foods for him to try, so we’ll see what happens. I was feeling domestic so I made a turkey for me and Adam and then pureed some for Nolan. I also made squash, cauliflower and nectarines, and a few weeks ago I made pears and beef. He hasn’t had a reaction to any of the foods yet, so I hope that’s a good sign.

On Friday when I got home from work I noticed the house felt chilly. I checked the temp and sure enough it was quite a bit colder than it should be. By this time Nolan was home with me from daycare so I put a few more layers on him, turned on the fireplace and turned the furnace off and then on again. It started, but didn't kick in. And then I smelled natural gas. To on the safe side I went outside with Nolan and called Centerpoint. After a series of questions the representative suggested I not go back in the house and wait outside for someone to come and check for a gas leak. It's a good thing I have nice neighbors who welcomed us in their house to wait - Nolan and I would have been outside for over an hour! Just as I went back over to our house to get Nolan his dinner the guy showed up - and of course it didn't smell like gas anymore. He figured out that the furnace was starting and the gas was trying to light but the igniter wasn't lighting it. I called a nice heating repair guy around 6:30 Friday night, and by 8:30 we had heat again. The bill wasn't fun to pay, but with Nolan around we figured we best keep the house warm!

There's not a lot going on this week, other than dinner with some friends. I worked out tonight and plan to again on Thursday. Hopefully I can keep my eating habits on track, too!

The video post is of Nolan eating puffs. We started him on that 2 weeks ago, and he gets better at it every day!

PS If you look closely at the picture of Nolan in the highchair you can see his little tooth in the bottom right. No new teeth yet, but he's drooling up a storm so that means something will be happening soon, right?

Rub a dub dub . . .

Nolan crapped in the tub!

Well, talk about a way to end the weekend. After a nice weekend in Browerville at Tricia’s parent’s house with the rest of her family (minus Brian cuz he had to work), Tricia was at home yesterday going through Nolan’s bedtime routine, which happened to include a bath. Well, I was just getting in from running around outside (getting a bunch of the yard stuff and pre-snow fun taken care of) and as I come in the house I hear Tricia talking to Nolan really excitedly… I soon would know why! Well, the youngest member of our family was relaxing in his bath, a little too much! Apparently, as his face turned red Tricia didn’t know exactly what was happening…come to find out Nolan had “dropped the kids off at the pool”-while he was still in it!! Ah, yet again, the phrase “I didn’t expect that” has been use in our house. Call it luck, or just strategery (I love that made-up word), but I hadn’t changed a #2 diaper in about a month. So, I stepped up to the plate and went in, but I should’ve been wearing the clothes pin on my nose that my mom had given me on my diaper changing tool belt at our baby shower! Without getting into too much more detail, I’ll just say I was impressed with the smell that our little guy is capable of producing!

Other than that little incident Nolan continues to impress us, not only is he rolling around on the floor with the greatest of ease, he now also has started to pull his knees up under himself. Our little guy is going to be mobile before we know it! So, thanks to our friends Tammy and Andy we inherited a couple of sections of Plexiglas that we’ll be putting up to cover the areas between the railing spindles next to the stairway heading downstairs. Next we’ll be covering the edges/corners of coffee tables and moving all the breakable items and plants out of little arms reach. If any of you have advice for things you’d recommend or things you don’t think were very necessary you’ll have to let us know!

Our little guy continues to grow and eat like a champ. So far every type of food we’ve put in front of him has disappeared, even the asparagus after a few days of trying!. So, he either can’t taste anything or he might actually like the variety of pureed fruits, vegetables, and meat…mmmm! We are in the process of transitioning the morning feeding to Julie (our daycare provider), so we started that this morning. Nolan gets up at 6 o’clock and is ready to eat, so holding him off for an hour wasn’t the easiest. We’ll have to see how things go, but so far it’s nice to have a little extra time in the morning.

The below pictures are from this weekend. Nolan, just hanging out by himself; Nolan "beating" Lola up by rolling on her; and the kids all dressed up for the Halloween trick or treating at Tricia's parent's house. Yup, they trick or treated in 6 different rooms of the house!

I'm a morning person, but . . .

5 AM on a weekend is just too much for me! Don't get me wrong - we think it's great that Nolan goes to bed so easy sometime between 6:30 and 7 every night and sleeps all night. However, he is developing a nasty habit of an early morning wake up sometime between 5 and 5:30. During the week it's not too bad, but on the weekends it's a killer! We're going to work really hard this week to keep him up until 7 each night. It will be hard, but hopefully it will help in the long run!

Last Thursday Nolan had his 6 month check-up - and it was only 2 weeks after he actually turned 6 months old! He now weighs 17 lbs, 4 oz. (50%), is 27 inches long (75%), and has a head circumference of 17 1/2 inches (70%). While he did gain 2 1/2 lbs since his 4 month check-up he actually went down % wise. The only thing that grew was his head. The rest of him might slow down but his face will keep getting rounder! The rest of his appointment went really well. The only time he cried was when he got 4 shots - 2 in each leg. It's just so sad to hear him cry because he's in pain. He wasn't quite himself all day on Thursday, but I guess that's to be expected. I have to bring him back to the dr. in a month for his seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine. *SIDE NOTE: Working at Park Nicollet certainly has advantages, and one of them is all the information I can access to make an informed decision. Based on everything I've read both Adam and I agree it's in our best interest to have Nolan immunized for H1N1. I'm sure we're not the only parents struggling with this decision. However, if we have the opportunity to protect him as best we can we're going to take it.* Nolan recovered nicely from his shots and other than a bruise on his right leg is fine. The dr. suggested we add a lunch feeding for him, so today we took pureed apples to Julie's. He liked eating with the other kids! He ate pureed chicken for the first time tonight, and seemed to think it was okay. I also started him on some finger foods on Saturday. He knew what he had to do, but you could see that his brain and hands weren't working that well together! By yesterday, though, he figured out how to get some puffs and veggie sticks in his mouth. He's getting better at using his sippy cup, but still has a ways to go. It will be nice when he consistently picks it up himself to have a drink. Nolan also mastered the art of rolling all over the living room, as well as sitting unassisted this weekend. He's making more and more noise and sounds, and this weekend discovered he can say "da da" and "daddy" - but he doesn't quite get the association to Adam yet. It sure is fun to hear him say it though, especially because I think it really means Adam needs to help him out!

I was super productive this weekend. Adam left for a 4 day hunting excursion up north Wednesday night, so I decided it would be a good time to paint the basement. My intent was to paint the area at the bottom of our stairs. On Thursday night I did the first coat of paint at the bottom of the stairs, and got done so fast I decided to add in the hallway. I didn't have a chance to paint again until Saturday morning, when I put on the 2nd coat of paint. Since I had the paint out I decided to continue on and painted the drop part by the ceiling. That wasn't enough for me, and after a short visit to Greg and Ellen's to see Adam's aunts and cousins I came home and painted 2 more walls. Since I was that far in to the project I decided I should just finish it, so yesterday I finished the 2nd coat on the 2 walls and finished the remaining 2 walls and a wall coming down our stairs. Adam helped me put all the furniture back and helped hang all the pictures on the wall last night. I have to say the basement looks so much nicer. I painted it tan, which looks really good with our red wall. It's amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do! You could just say I'm lazy because I don't like to wash walls. It's easier for me to paint! It took me 3 days to finish because the only time I could paint was when Nolan was napping or in bed for the night. Yesterday I also managed to start and finish a few loads of laundry, puree some baby food for Nolan, and pick up the house a little bit. It felt good to be productive, but I was exhausted and ready for bed at 8!

We don't have a whole lot going on this week, other than Adam's farewell to Park Nicollet happy hour on Thursday. Erica generously agreed to pick up Nolan from daycare for us so I can drive us home after happy hour. Adam starts his new job at United Health Group on the 26th of this month. We're not sure if we'll be able to car pool together anymore, but I think we'll give it a try. We save a lot of money by carpooling!

On a lighter topic last week was a great week to be a MN sports fan. The Gopher's played tough against Wisconsin and came up a little short, but made up for it Saturday against Purdue. The Vikings beat the Packers in the highest rated Monday night football game ever on ESPN, and our Twin's played in the most exciting baseball game I have ever, and will probably ever, watch last Tuesday against the Tigers. Despite the fact the Twins lost to the Yankees in a quick 3 game playoff series I am still in awe of the comeback they made to win the American League division. To be back 3 games with only 4 games to play and win the division is a miracle, and proof that hard work (and a little luck) pay off!

This weekend we're off to my parent's house for only the 3rd time since Nolan has been around. Should be fun because on Saturday my sisters and their families will be there as well. The only thing I really need to do this weekend is to sit down with Paulette and figure out when we can have her bridal shower and bachelorette party. June 2010 is coming up faster than we think!

One step closer to a toothy grin

Last week was an exciting week at the Bleck house. Thursday morning I got a call from daycare Julie at work. I answered the phone, and right away she said "Tricia, it's Julie and Nolan's fine." She went on to tell me that he was cutting his first tooth! Adam and I had noticed he's been drooling a little bit more, and Adam kept feeling his gums (and even did so Wednesday night before we put Nolan to bed) but never felt anything. So apparantly he got his first tooth overnight! Nolan also started scooting himself in a circle this week, and he continues to get better at rolling and sitting. As every parent already knows, it's simply amazing what kids do that make you so excited. Nolan added peas to his diet last week, too, and like everything else so far loved them. We'll see what he thinks when we make him eat broccoli in a few weeks!

Friday night we went to the Twin's game. This was part of the tickets we bought for the home opener with a bunch of our friends and co-workers. Ellen and Greg were there, too. Nolan tagged a long with us, and he was so good. This is a picture of him at the game. Jackie was holding him and Keith was making duck noises at him. Nolan thought it was the funniest thing ever and laughed for about 15 minutes. He was laughing so hard his shoulders shook up and down! He fell asleep at the end of the 6th inning, and we ended up leaving in the middle of the 8th to try and beat some of the traffic home.

Saturday morning Adam got up early to go duck hunting with Jared. They didn't get anything, but had fun trying. I stayed home with Nolan. I got up with him around 7 and he went down for a nap at 8:15. He slept until about 10:30, and in between that time I cleaned the house and showered! Nolan and I headed over to Greg and Ellen's around 1. Nolan spent the night there so Adam and I could enjoy ourselves and Nicky and Scott's wedding. Other than being a little crabby because of his tooth he was good - slept for 11 hours for them last night! Adam and I got over there about 10:30 this morning, and Nolan had been down for a nap since 8:50. He didn't wake up until 11:20! We fed him his bottle and then the 3 of us headed to the Minnetonka Apple Orchard. We had a great time making Nolan pose for pictures! The food was fabulous - we each had a brat with apple and onion kraut, and shared some apple donuts and hot cider. We were there for about an hour when Nolan started getting tired as we were waiting in line for the hay ride. We brought him home and he napped for an hour and half while we watched the Twin's game. Greg and Ellen had a fish fry for dinner, so we headed back over there after his nap. I got home with Nolan around 7 and he went right to sleep. I think all the fresh air tired him out!


Tomorrow night and Tuesday are shaping up to be exciting for MN sports fans. Go Twins and Vikings! On Wednesday Adam is heading out of town until Sunday to go deer and duck hunting. He'll be at the farm until Thursday night and then is heading up to Gina and Eric's for duck and/or goose hunting with Eric. Nolan and I are going to be spending a lot of quality time together! I'm hoping to get up to Foley to see my grandma on Saturday or Sunday, and on the opposite day I'm taking Nolan over to Greg and Ellen's to see Adam's aunts (Ellen and her sisters are having a girls weekend). Should be fun!