Writer's cramp

Well, it’s been a long time since I’ve sat down to write in the blog. No excuses – just laziness! A lot has happened since I last wrote. Two weekends ago Nolan took a turn for the worse with his ears again, and we had to get him another prescription to help him get better. He was in such rough shape that he was up every hour and a half that Friday night! Adam and I haven’t had to pull an overnighter for many, many months, so it was tough on us. With both Nolan and I recovering from being sick, we totally took it easy – with a 4 hour nap on Saturday and a 3 ½ hour nap on Sunday! It was wonderful. Needless to say we stuck close to home that weekend.

It’s pretty amazing, but Nolan is still going to bed sometime between 6:20 and 6:50 every night. He sleeps until about 6:30 on weekdays, and sometime between 6:30 and 8on the weekends. This past weekend he slept until 7:30 on Saturday and 8 on Sunday –what a treat! I’m someone who requires lots of sleep, so the more the merrier! He’s still doing well at daycare – so well that Jane told us again last week what an asset he is to her daycare. It’s such a relief to know he’s well behaved while he’s away from us! Last Friday he was the only kid at daycare, so he made his first trip to McDonald’s with Jane. She told us he marched right in to the building, looked around at all the people and said hi to everyone while he was waving at them. He is such a friendly kid – not afraid of anyone (yet). He’s still imitating us like crazy, too. It’s so funny to hear him try and repeat what we say! In the last week or so he's gotten really good at playing with his kitchen. He even pours coffee in to a cup and drinks it - pretend, of course. He's also really good at "cheers" with his drink. That's a skill that will come in handy for the rest of his life! He’s gotten very good at pointing to what he needs, and he most certainly knows where his “treat” cupboard is in the kitchen. That’s a good and bad thing!

We had a great 4th of July holiday weekend. On Saturday we spent a few hours at Adam’s aunt and uncle’s cabin near Willmar. We were there for about 4 hours, and Nolan had so much fun. He loves being in the water, and really enjoyed walking around on the sand. He also got to sit on top of a jet ski, which he thought was pretty cool. He only napped 45 minutes on the way to the cabin and another 45 on the way home, and he was in a surprisingly good mood! Christianne, Brian and the girls got to our house around 4:30 Saturday evening, so we grilled out and then hung out in the evening. Nolan is getting much more interactive with his cousins, and Lalayna and Lola played with him very nicely. On Sunday morning we headed up to Albertville for an all day pool party. We got there around 10:30 and didn’t leave until close to 11 that night! Nolan swam in the morning, took a 2-hr nap after lunch, played in the playhouse/sandbox and with Murphy the dog in the afternoon, and went to bed after dinner at 6:30. Adam and I were busy with him when he was awake, but we even got to enjoy some time with just the adults! Albertville didn’t have any city fireworks, but we were able to watch the neighborhood fireworks while relaxing in the pool. We had such a great time that we’re actually heading back for another pool party in August. We’re even going to try and tent it! Yesterday we headed down to Buffalo Lake to visit Adam’s grandma. We brought some lunch with us so we didn’t have to go out in the heat. Nolan took a good nap in the afternoon, and Adam and his grandma played pool in the basement. We got home just in time for dinner, and Nolan was in bed at 6:45. It was a very busy weekend, but we did such fun things that it felt just right!

This week we have plans to paint Nolan’s new bedroom. We moved the office furniture/computer/printer/etc. to the downstairs bedroom last week and we prepped the room for painting last night, so on Thursday or Friday this week we’ll paint. Nolan is moving in to his new room at the beginning of August. We want to give him as much time as possible to adjust to his new digs, and his new big kid bed (a mattress on the floor). It’s hard to believe but this baby is due in 8 ½ weeks. I think both Adam and I will feel better when the new room is done and we can make sure the nursery is ready to go for new baby! The other thing we need to do relatively soon is rearrange the furniture in the living room, again. Nolan is getting more and more daring, and one of our couches is next to the railing to the basement. It's a bit too risky to leave it there, so we're thinking of new ways to make the furniture work. No matter what we do it will be worth it. We don't want him launching himself over the edge!