The Wedding

We had such a great time at Paulette and Ryan's wedding. Adam, Nolan and I headed up Friday morning with Ellen. We dropped off Ellen and Nolan at the farm, and from there headed to Alex to pick up Adam's tux, and then back to B'ville for the rehearsal. After that it was back to Alex, or close to Alex - Nelson. Adam made me so proud that night - he shot the minnow! Yep, you read that correctly. He, along with 8 other guys, took a shot that had a minnow in it. It was probably one of the grossest things I've ever seen, but he got a really cool t-shirt out of the deal! Adam stayed at the farm Friday night, and I stayed with Paulette. I started losing my voice a little bit that night, but I had no idea it would lead to the worst I've felt in 4 years!

After Paulette and I got our hair done in Alex on Saturday morning, we headed to B'ville for the big wedding. Greg, Ellen, Adam and Nolan came to my parent's house around 11 so we could help feed Nolan before getting to the church at noon. Poor Nolan was so tired, primarily because he got up a 4 AM for some reason! Needless to say he wasn't too smiley in any of the family pics! Greg and Ellen brought him to the church for family pictures, and then Greg took him back to my parent's house for a much needed nap. Both Adam and Nolan looked very handsome in their tuxes! The wedding went off without a hitch. I could tell I was probably starting to get sick, as I was very hot at the churuch - which is unlike me. The ceremony was beautiful! After the wedding Greg, Ellen, Nolan and I headed back to Alex to check in at the hotel. Adam joined us after he helped clean up the church. Ellen and Greg took care of Nolan so Adam and I could enjoy ourselves a little bit. We are so thankful they were able to come with us! The next thing I knew dinner was done and I was giving my speech! I was hoping Nolan would last until the dance started, but he was starting to fall asleep on Ellen's shoulder before 7, so they took him back to the room and put him to bed. The dance was super fun, and we even managed to pull in some extra energy to go bowling next door at Fat Daddy's after the dance was over.

Adam and Nolan spent an hour at the pool on Sunday morning (Father's Day), before the gift opening. I was starting to really not feel well, so we left a little before 1. By the time we got home I was achy and had the chills. That turned in to a diagnosis of bronchitis, sinus infection and an ear infection on Tuesday morning! Today is the first day I'm not achy, and my voice finally sounds a little bit better!



Nolan had his 15 month check up on Tuesday morning. 15 months - my, how time flies! He weighs 25 lbs, 13 oz. (55%), is 31 inches long (50%), and has a head circumference of 18 3/4 (70%). I guess he's top heavy! He's developing just fine, which is always reassuring to hear. He had a slight reaction on his leg to his chicken pox shot, and that's finally going away. He also got 3 other shots, which he wasn't a huge of, but needed to be done. No more shots for 3 more months!

Nolan has increased his vocabularly again this week, this time with "no thank you" when he doesn't want something. We are really working hard on his manners. As soon as he was born I told myself we'd have a nice, polite little boy - and so far we do!

Our little sponge

It's amazing how quickly Nolan is picking up things we say and do these days! In the last few weeks he's become really observant, and does his very best to verbalize and imitate what we're doing. A few examples: rub the belly (his, not mine), blanket, please, outside and goodnight. He's also mastered the art of shaking his head "yes" when he wants something, and "no" when he doesn't. I have to say that skill is really coming in handy! Today at daycare Jane taught him where his nose is, too. I guess we really need to start paying attention to our words and actions, otherwise they will come back to haunt us!

The poor kid is getting to be more and more like me - he loves his routine! In the morning when I get him up, the first thing he does is hand me his blanket, stand up so I can take him out of the crib, and then he walks over to the bathroom door to knock on it and yell "hi dad". As soon as Adam opens the door he does his surprised look and runs in to give him a hug! At bedtime we let him pick out 2 books to read. Yes, I said we let him pick them out, because he has a very strong opinion about what books we read to him, and if what we pick isn't to his liking he needs to pick them out himself. His favorite book is a Santa book from Christmas, and after reading it every night for a week we finally decided the book had to "take a vacation" from the bookshelf. It was pretty sad last night as Nolan looked and looked for it, but couldn't find it. Oh well - he's found a few new favorites! As soon as we turn out his lamp and start to say prayers, he grabs his blanket, sticks his thumb in his mouth, and is ready for bed. His parting words to me now are a version of goodnight. Oh - I don't want to forget to note that one of Nolan's favorite foods these days is tuna noodle casserole. I know, really random, but we can't feed it to him fast enough!

We had our 28 week dr. appointment on Monday. Everything's looking good. In fact, I'm measuring "big" - which means 1 week early. I measured that same way with Nolan, and I went a week late, so I don't put a whole lot of value on that! Starting with our next appointment I'll be heading to the dr. every 2 weeks.

I feel pretty good about getting everything ready for the wedding this weekend. The speech is written, the dress fitted, and Nolan's pants are hemmed. I made a list this time, so I don't forget anything. It's amazing how much planning needs to be done for a weekend!

At what point do you just give up?

I don't mean being a wife, mom, friend, sister, daughter - or anything like that. I'm referring to picking up Nolan's toys. Seriously, when did he inherit so many toys? I literally have given up, and have decided that once a week is plenty. Why pick them up every night when Nolan just brings them all back out again to play with when we get home from daycare? I don't like the mess, but there is only so much I can do.

Last week was a big week for Nolan. We discovered he's getting 2 more molars, bringing that grand total to 3. He is a drooling machine, and everything is going in his mouth for him to chew on. We really need to watch him, because he also likes to walk around with those same items in his mouth. Not too safe if he falls! On Tuesday when Adam dropped Nolan off at daycare, he found out from Jane that her grandson (who is at daycare part-time) had chicken pox. Nolan hasn't been vaccinated yet (we were waiting for his 15 month check-up), so there is a chance he might get it. Bad timing, with Paulette and Ryan's wedding only 6 days away! Ellen did some research for us, and based on that recommended we get Nolan in to be vaccinated. Adam took him in Thursday, and apparantly Nolan handled it like the trooper he is - squawked a little, and was fine once Adam picked him up. I felt guilty not being able to be there for him, but I worked a lot of long hours last week and couldn't get away. Here's hoping he doesn't get the "pox". I had them when I was 10 yrs old, and I remember how bad they itched and how uncomfortable I was! On Friday when I picked up Nolan I found out that he received his very first kiss. That's right - only 14 months old and he's already a ladies man! Aubrey, who is 1 month older than Nolan, tracked him down, stared at him for a few seconds, and then went in for a big open mouth kiss on the lips. As Adam said - "that's my boy!".

We were actually around all weekend, and it was wonderful. It rained all day on Saturday, so we stuck around the house and played with Nolan. We did make a quick trip over to Greg and Ellen's so Nolan could get his pants hemmed for the wedding next weekend. We left with the cool red recliner Nolan is sitting on in the above picture (it was Adam's when he was little!). Nolan has a new kitchen to play with, courtesy of Ellen and Greg, and he just loves it. Both Nolan and I took a nap Saturday afternoon. I haven't taken a nap for a while, and I forgot how wonderful it is! Today we stayed around the house, too, and played all day, except for Nolan's 2 1/2 hour nap. I did manage to get to the grocery store and finish all the laundry. Adam got the ice maker working again, mowed, trimmed and raked the yard, cleaned the AC unit, and went through a bunch of old high school and college stuff he brought back to our from his parent's house. He seemed to really enjoy the trip down memory lane!

This week is going to fly by, as we get ready to celebrate the big wedding on Saturday. I have a pedicure and hair appointment on Tuesday, Adam has softball on Wednesday and happy hour on Thursday, and we're leaving Friday morning around 9:30 to head up to the farm to drop off Ellen and Nolan. Ellen and Greg are being very generous with their time and are taking care of Nolan for us all day on Friday and Saturday, since both Adam and I are in the wedding. Hopefully he'll be really good for them!

A day at the beach

Adam arrived home from his 5 day vacation to the Boundary Waters and Deerwood yesterday afternoon. As you can see in the picture, Nolan was very busy taking care of the yard while Adam was away. Nolan was pretty excited to see his dad (and so was I!), and didn't want to be too far away from him. We took advantage of the nice weather and took Nolan to a beach on Lake Minnetonka for some sun and sand fun. Nolan is walking really well, but the sand was a bit tough for him to walk on his own. Adam did a great job helping him out, and took him out to "swim". Nolan thought it was great, splashing and watching all the big boats drive by us. He also like the feel of wet sand on his hands and feet. I took advantage of the my time in the sun to work on what little tan I have for Paulette and Ryan's wedding in a few weeks! After we were done at the beach we went to pick up the sandbox we bought on Saturday. I'm super excited for him to use it. He loves playing in the sand, and it will be nice that we don't always have to go somewhere else for him to play in it!

This morning's wake up call with Nolan was pretty darn funny. I heard him start talking early, around 5:30. We ignored him and he fell back asleep, until 6:15. I went in to his room to get him out of his crib. He looked at me, smiled, stood up and in the process of handing me his blanket, he said "here you go" to me. Seriously! It is so weird to have a very little person talking to you! I told him thank you while I was laughing, and he said "thank you" back to me. It's amazing what he picks up on without us even realizing it! I certainly do realize how often I must say some things, though, as he repeats them back to me now.

Nolan has been waking up from his sleep sometime in the first 1-3 hours for the last 3 nights, and we couldn't figure out why - until tonight. I finally had him giggling on his changing table tonight after a rough dinner episode. Adam was changing him in to his pj's and looked in his mouth. We discovered his 2nd one year molar is breaking through his gums. Poor kid! Teething is a tough thing. But, it explains why he's waking up in the evening, not napping real well, and has a runny nose. Hopefully it will just break through and stay down. We don't want to prolong it!

The art of imitation

Nolan is saying more and more words, and every time he does it catches me off guard! On Thursday I asked him a question when we got home, and he answered "yes", which was the right answer. Then later on, after dinner, I told him "I love you", and he said it back to me! It hasn't happened again since then, but it was sure nice to hear! Today he was doing his laps from the kitchen to the living room, and then around bathroom in to the bedroom. When he went in to the living room I told him to come here - I was in the bathroom. What did I hear next? Nolan saying come here, and walking over to me. It is so funny to see him toddling around, randomly saying things!

Jane (daycare) called me at work yesterday to tell me a funny Nolan story. The older kids got teddy bear tatoos, so they put them on their arms. They were running around saying "grrrrrrr". Nolan was having a snack in the kitchen, and Jane said it was pretty funny - he was eating, and then started saying "grrrrrrr", and then he would smile. Jane again told me this week how much fun he is to have around.

Today Nolan slept until about 7, and then we got up and made strawberry pancakes. After we got ready we headed out for the morning. First we went to look at a sandbox for Nolan - and bought it! I'm really excited to go pick it up tomorrow. Nolan loves playing in the sand. I don't always love it, because he gets so dirty. But I need to adapt:) After that we met up with Jackie at Ridgedale. Nolan and I got there a little early, so we got to spend some time at the play area. This was the first time Nolan actually branched out and played on his own! He was fasinated with the other kids that were playing. He did pretty good as we shopped around, but by the time we got home at noon it was lunch time and then nap time. He's been sleeping since 12:30! Hopefully the rain will let up so we can go play outside after his nap.

Party time

We had a great Memorial weekend with both of our families. We celebrated my dad's retirement from 37 years of teaching on Saturday with my family, including my aunt Louise. We kept it small, and dad loved it. All the grandkids wore awesome shirts-the girls with "I have a rockin Grandpa", and Nolan with "My grandpa rocks". On Sunday after lunch we headed to the farm, and left there on Monday during Nolan's nap time. He fell asleep about a mile down the road - he was exhausted!

Nolan is as busy as ever, and the things he comes up with these days is amazing. For example, we gave him applesauce for dinner on Monday, and he looked at it and said "applesauce". We had no idea he could say that! He's imitating more and more, too - like when I say "hey you" to him, he says it back to me. I guess it's time to start watching what we do and say, to avoid issues later on!

Adam is in the Boundary Waters until Saturday, so it's just me and the little man. The last 2 nights he's gone to bed at 6:20, so I have lots of time to get things done around the house. Now if only I had the motivation! Ever since we got DVR about a year and a half ago, I find myself having to catch up on my favorite shows in blocks of time. Tonight might be one of those nights. On my list of things to do, though, is to measure the desk in the office to see how it will fit downstairs in the bedroom. At the end of June we're turning the office in to Nolan's room, in prepration for his big move in July sometime. We want him to be as comfortable as possible before new baby arrives!