Memorial Day 2015!

I don't feel like a timeline-style type of post is all that exciting or original, but with the way my brain functions these days (i.e., it doesn't), timelines are the easiest way for me to remember what actually happened!

I do know that we had a GREAT Memorial Day weekend, filled with lots of laughter, fun and food.  We also celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary of being in our home, and I just can't believe that!  I really remember this time exactly last year.  We were moving in, and Nolan started running a fever and got another ear infection.  I was so stressed and exhausted that I just broke down when my family left.

But, we managed and now celebrated a beautiful weekend in our home with a happy little boy.  I am so thankful for this past year because it really taught us a lot about faith and perseverance, but also just made us closer and made us appreciate every little bit of this life.

But back to my timeline :)

My office was open on Friday, but luckily Anthony had the day off.  He spent some time relaxing and doing yard work, and Dad and Leslee left Hickory to come stay with us for the weekend.  Traffic was beyond insane by the end of the day, so we finally all made it home around 5:30 - 6:00.  I can't even begin to describe how beautiful the weather was this weekend, so we spent most of our evening outside just playing with Nolan. After Nolan went to bed I made an awesome new pasta dish, and we just caught up and went to bed reasonably early.

We had lots on the agenda for Saturday, but it was still nice to not have to rush to do anything or complete any projects, which is typically on the docket for our weekends together.  We took Nani and Papa to Jones' Café in downtown Clayton, which is our Saturday morning breakfast tradition.  Papa was excited to try one of their world famous hotdogs that he had read about in a magazine, even if it meant ordering one for breakfast at 8:30 in the morning!  Anthony followed suit and ordered one too - ick!  We had no problem stuffing ourselves with yummy breakfast food, and then meandered through the Clayton Farmer's Market for a few minutes.

Like IKEA was for us in Atlanta when we lived there, Cabela's has thus become the "go to" spot for visitors since it opened!  I must say I prefer IKEA, but it was fun to roam around and let Nolan go wild :)  We spent some time checking things out there, and had just enough time to run to Wal-Mart to get a flag pole for the house before Nolan's nap.

While Nolan napped I prepared a pork roast in the crock pot for us to have for dinner that night, and may have snagged a 30 minute nap too :)

After naptime we headed out to a park in Garner for a family friend's little boy's birthday party.  It was a great place for a party, since it was slightly shaded and right near a playground.  Even Spiderman was there, although Nolan was not quite sure if he wanted anything to do with him!  After the "threat" left, he spent the rest of our time going up and down and up and down this huge slide.  I was amazed that after the first ride down with Anthony, he wanted to do it over and over again by himself!  He would squeal each time I came down after him (I may or may not have loved it myself!)

We ended our outing with ice cream from an adorable ice cream shop on the athletic side of our neighborhood.  You get a free ice cream cone until you turn 2, so this is a great place for Nolan!  He hasn't quite figured out exactly how to eat one yet, but I am sure he will learn quickly :)

The rest of Saturday night was spent hanging outside and eating some great pulled pork burrito bowls.  I had never cooked pork quite like this before, and it was excellent!

Sunday morning was nice and easy, and we let the guys hang out and get a little bit more sleep while Nani and I took Nolan to get some breakfast.  The plan was to let the guys get some more rest, so that the girls could shop a little bit while Nolan was napping :)  It worked out perfectly and we had some time to shop and get some things to finish up a couple of floral arrangements Nani was helping me with.

The best part was Sunday night when Ollie and G joined us for dinner and we grilled out kabobs and sesame noodles.  I could have eaten the entire bowl of the noodles, but I made sure to save some room for our strawberry shortcake dessert.  My dad put some lights up on the underside of our umbrella on the back porch, so we all sat outside and talked after Nolan went to bed.  The lighting was perfect and the whole weekend had the most gorgeous weather you could have asked for! 

I wish I had gotten a picture of all of us; I was too busy hanging out to think about it, but I am so thankful that BOTH sides of my family get along so well and that we can all have fun together.

Mother's Day 2015

Mother's Day this year was a bit of a rollercoaster, but sweet and just what I needed nonetheless.  We didn't get to celebrate with the mom's in my life since G was in Hawaii and Nani was in Hickory, but we made some sweet phone calls to connect. 

My Grandma Vance is in the hospital again, and it's becoming apparent that her Alzheimer's/Dementia is worsening.  I wanted to take the opportunity to visit with her as much as I could, so I drove to King early Sunday morning to meet my Dad and spend some time with her.

Thankfully, she was in a great mood and although she didn't know exactly who I was, she was still excited to see me and would talk as much as she could.  It absolutely breaks my heart to watch her and this horrible disease, but I am thankful that Sunday was a good day and at least I know I spent that special day with her (she doesn't remember hardly anything at this point, and would not recall me being there at all).  I still brought her some cupcakes and mini roses, so I hope she at least finds some joy in looking at them.

We spent our time telling her stories, and pushing her chair up and down the hallways.  She would keep saying, "Yeah, let's just get up and go!"  So we would take another stroll around, come back to her room for a bit and then repeat.  She doesn't want to eat much, but we have found that she is happy with sweets and bread.  It's actually really funny, given that she was THE healthiest person I had ever met and would never touch sweets or bread when I was younger :)  I say eat whatever the heck you want, Grandma!

After arriving back home, my boys greeted me with lots of love and a house turned upside down :)  I fully expected that, and went about getting the house in order for the week.  We then took a trip to the grocery store and just spent time in the yard and tried to avoid some of the rain.  Anthony's side job last Saturday provided me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and I got two perfect cards from my boys.

 

 Don't judge the hair - I had been in the car/rain all day :)

 

Even sweet Vegas joined in the celebrations!

Reading my cards with my sweet boy.

 

I put my sweet boy to sleep and just rocked and stared at him.  There may have been a few sentimental tears, but that doesn't surprise anyone :)  It never gets old to put him to bed, and each night I am able to still do it brings me so much joy.  I ended my night on the couch cuddled with the hubby, a movie and take-out Chinese food.  No glamour or fancy stuff here - just the type of day that reminds me that there is a whole chain of life that ties us all together.  There are the women that set the example for me, and then I have that chance to impact my son's life in the same way.  So much responsibility, but SO much room for love and joy.  Even in the sadness of my Grandma's health failing, I still have my memories and am able to keep making many more.  Blessed isn't strong enough of a word...

19 Months!

I haven't been very good at taking pictures this past month...the days are flying by and I usually have my hands full!  Thank goodness Anthony takes at LEAST 15 pictures of our little man a day, so I had to use some of his phone pictures :)

It makes me cringe that we are only about 4 months from having a TWO year old.  We are starting too see more and more of some of the "Terrible Two's" characteristics, but thank heavens they are fleeting - for now ;)

 

His "what are you talking about, mom?!" face...

 

With the most chocolate-y brown eyes you could imagine...

Speech:  It's getting more and more exciting to be able to interact with Nolan and understand what he wants.  I am getting pretty good at figuring out what he is saying, even though they may not be complete words just yet.  A lot of things he wants sound like "bubble" or "doggie," but I can figure out if those mean other words.  He will also say "yes" if you ask him if he wants something, or will nod if you show him something that he wants.  "No" is also becoming a staple, although I am not so fond of this one :)

 

Late evening stroller ride, just chillin'

 

Mobility:  There is NO stopping this little man now, but he still has his fair share of tumbles and bruises.  Probably at least once a week we get an accident report at daycare because he tripped/fell/bit/was bitten.  Thankfully, nothing has been too serious, but I am just bracing myself for the years to come!

 

Showing the neighbors his belly as they drive by...

 

Hair:  I suppose this deserves it's own topic!  I still have not gotten up the nerve to cut his hair.  I told myself a few weeks ago that I was going to make an appointment just for a trim, but then we got busy and I never made it a priority.  This drives Ollie crazy, which probably means I will just let it grow out of principle, now :)  The curls would make any girl jealous, and the struggle is real with tangles - ha!  I should probably invest in some detangler, but as a boy, he doesn't like me brushing his hair anyway.

 

 

Social:  We attended a friend's little girl's first year birthday party the other weekend, and had a good time.  My cousin  Bryson joined me for part of the day while his parents attending his step-brother's graduation.  Nolan loved having a big boy around, and Bryson was so sweet with him.  Nolan never ever meets a stranger, and is just as warm and friendly to anyone he meets.  He gets this from his daddy :)



Eating:  He is still eating like a champ, and I still am making all of his foods and stuff.  I have recently started making "our" food out of what we feed him (as opposed to the other way around where "he eats what we eat").  I refused to feed him what we ate for a long time, since most of our food was more convenience and not as healthy as I wanted to feed him, but I am slowly cooking for us all (win-win all around!)  There hasn't really been anything lately that he hasn't liked, although potatoes are not his favorite.  He is also getting into "dipping" his foods into anything.  I try to only do this every so often so that he will still like the taste of foods without dips, but it's so cute to watch him eat that way!

 

This was a little front porch picnic one [rainy] Saturday afternoon...

Other:  He is doing very well at daycare, and is learning so much.  I have started a pretty good system of organizing the crafts and artwork he creates at school.  I would love to save every piece, but it's just not feasible.  So, I save everything that has a little hand/footprint, plus any special mother/daddy-related items.  I loved this lion he made at school last week - he is finally starting to use the crayons to color rather than to throw!

 



Teacher Appreciation Day + Wacky Day

This past Wednesday was Teacher Appreciation day at Nolan's school.  It's so fun coming up with/stalking Pinterest for fun crafty things to make!  I saw these flower pots at Michael's, and did little potted plants for each teacher.  I tried my hand at some new fonts, and used a chalkboard marker for the first time.  Those things are awesome!

Anyway, they turned out really cute (even though Nolan ripped the flowers off of every.single.one while we were planting them!)

 

I had to help Nolan sign them (duh).

 

 

They each said "Thank you for helping me Grow."

 

 

It was also "Wacky Day" that day, and so I actually liked getting him dressed because it didn't take too much effort :)  I should have taken one picture without his hat on, because his hair was the wackiest part!  Gah, I love this little boy so much...



Like Father, Like Son

I think one day my house will be overrun with hats... :)

Around the House - Picture Dump!

It has been forever since I have done one of these, and there are surely pictures I am missing, but these are true "around the house" pictures :)  We did a good bit of yard work the other weekend, and spent lots of time outside.

 

Blowing bubbles on the front porch (with sweet Vegas begging to come outside!)

 

 

Helping me water the plants with his own watering can!

 

Our new "rail/window" boxes.

 

First flowers I have ever planted IN the ground!  They are still alive and well to this day, even though I had one eaten by a mole and had to replant it :)

 

All of that hard work deserved a couple of bites of Daddy's blizzard!

Shoot for the stars, my little man!

18 Month Appointment

Thankfully, Nolan's 18-month checkup was a quick one, without any shots this time!  It still took forever to get in (even though our appointment was at 8:20 a.m.), but that was okay.

 

The look he most likely gave me when I told him NOT to throw the train off the table :)

 

The look he gave me when he was most likely thinking "OK, all I have to do is smile really cute and I can get away with anything..."  Haha - my stinker :)

I actually didn't have that many questions for his pediatrician, since it seems like most of our questions nowadays are for his specialists (ENT, and asthma doctor).  Nolan was NOT in a mood to be in there this morning, which was very weird since he is normally fine at the doctor and also awkward because I was trying to talk to the doctor and hold him/keep him from crying at the same time.  I was glad to be outta there when we were done!

His ears were clear, which was good news, since we are still having drainage and stuffiness/cough issues about once a month.  I am not really impressed with our ENT at this point, so the next time an issue comes up we are going IN to SEE the doctor and not just settle for another bottle of $50 ear drops!

Back to the point at hand: Nolan is doing great developmentally and is perfect.  He is/always will be on the smaller side, but given that he is such a good eater, the doctor wasn't concerned.

Here are his current stats:

Weight: 19.8 lbs. (the same from his 15-month appointment, and 3rd percentile)
Height: 30 inches (he has grown a LOT here, but is below the 1st percentile)
Head circumference: 18.78 inches (56th percentile, and I never noticed he had a big head - ha)

I can't believe we are done with well-baby visits until he is TWO years old - crazy how time flies.  I am not saying that I will miss them, but it's just another sign that he is growing up and that's hard on this mama :)

A Big Milestone (for me, anyway!)

This past weekend marked the FIRST time I have spent the night away from my little babe since his birth - yup, almost 19 months have gone by without being away from him overnight.  And you know what?  I have been fine with it!  There of course were times where I just wanted "a night out" at least for dinner or something, but never a moment where I wanted to just get away.  I really wasn't sure how it would go - I was actually nervous!

But this past weekend it worked out for Anthony to take Nolan with him to Nani and Papa's house, which served two purposes: Anthony was able to help them out with a lot of big house projects that they needed done (and that my Dad can't do due to his back surgery), and I had a free weekend to get some major projects done at our house!  It took me a couple of weeks to warm to the idea, but once I started my list of what I wanted to get done while they were gone, I was excited!  Spoiler alert: my "list" contained nothing exciting to most folks (aside from dinner with my Mom!)

Nolan, on the other hand, had a blast and was perfectly spoiled and entertained the whole weekend :)  I got lots of picture and video updates (which I watched each night before going to sleep).  Everyone ended up having a great weekend, and we survived!

 

 

 Nothing like a little front yard surfing!  I was jealous - that looked like fun!

 

Hey...where did all the bubbles go?!  Tio Cade ate them it looks like!

Getting the perfect hairstyle for Ollie...his first ponytail - ha!

 

I think it was perfectly practical.

I can also see why some people mistake him for a girl at this point :)