Nolan's 15 Months

Summer is in full swing and so is little Nolan. Our now 15 month old is enjoying his summer days at the park, swinging on his new swing in the backyard, swimming in our pool, zoo trips, and going for walks. This summer is by far much different than last summer. Nolan was only a few months old and couldn't be outside...but now that he can, he loves it! Every morning he points to go in our backyard to either a. the pool or b. the swing. We bought a bucket swing for him and he is obsessed with it. He cries so hard when we take him out.

At 15 months Nolan...

* Weighs 22.5lbs
* Height- 30.5 inches
* Wears size 3 diapers
* Wears 9 and 12 month clothes mostly and size 3w for shoes
* Takes a morning and an afternoon nap- roughly 2 hours each
* Eats mostly baby food STILL besides crackers, bread, cheerios, yogurt. This summer my goal is to get him to eat some solid foods....hopefully.
* Drank from a straw for the first time and had his first milkshake.

* Loves bathtime and the pool- he loves to use cups to pour out water and sit on the little stool in his pool.

*Words Nolan can say mostly begin with the letter B- balloon (his favorite word), ball, bye bye, baby (We were wondering where he heard this word...then when I was feeding him he pointed to the Gerber baby on his baby food jar and said BABY!) bath, belt, daddy, mommy, and belt. He is trying very hard to say Georgie for his Curious George Monkey...he almost has it.

* Loves to watch his 1 year old slideshow and name the people in it...he can identify mommy, daddy, Nani, and Grandma (which he says ma)
*Can follow any direction given to him...just depends if he wants to do it.
*Can identify his head,eyes,  nose, ears, belly, belly button, mouth, and toes. Apparently that's a 2 year milestone.
*Visited the zoo for the first time this summer...and can make the "ooo aaa ooo  aaa" sound the monkeys make and can also make a fishy face.

* Had his first skinned knee...but didn't cry to bad.
* Can sit and play so contently with his toys.
* Loves his balloon and carries it around with him. His favorite word is balloon and when we go into stores with balloons, he signs please and motions for them.
* Loves to put things back where they belong and to put clothes in his hamper.
* Continues to be such a good listener...I hope that continues!
* Enjoys swinging in the backyard with his new swing and cries when we take him out of it.
* Continues to bring joy to our lives each day!

Nolan's 14 Months

Nolan is 14 months old and is in the cutest little stage ever. He loves to walk around, run, giggle, and babble. I am so looking forward to summer so that I can relax, play, and enjoy the days with him.

At 14 months Nolan...

• Weighs 21.5lbs with clothes and a diaper on
• Height-not sure, perhaps on Friday when he goes for a check-up we will find out
• Wears size 3 diapers
• Sleeps roughly from 7:30-6:00a.m. on weekdays and on weekends will sleep until 7:45 a.m.
• Wears mostly 9 and 12 month clothes, size 3w shoe
• Eats only baby food, crackers, bread, yogurt, puffs, and crunchies. We try to get him to eat regular food, but he just won't do it. I think it's a texture thing...he will feel cheese and then feel his crackers and he knows they aren't the same and will not eat it. It's interesting to watch his little mind at work...he compares and contrasts things all day!
• Has ear infections ALL.THE.TIME.
• Follows directions extremely well.....he knows exactly what we are saying and what we want. Nolan can pretty much do anything we ask him to....he even walked alongside us at Jordan Creek mall and didn't try to run off.
• LOVES to be outside, go for walks, and go to the park. The other day we were driving by the park, Nolan saw it and started to point and make noises...so of course we had to stop. He is so observant.
• Can identify cows and pigs in books. He loves to read each night and pick out his own books,
• Says Mama, Dada, bye bye, mil (Milk), baaa (balloon)
• Can identify his head, ears, hair, belly
• Loves to wear shoes and brush his hair. He loves to try to put peoples shoes on their feet as well.
• Carries his little puppy (snuggle buddy that has an animal head and a blanket body) with him everywhere he goes and sleeps with it
• Has 2 bottom teeth and 4 on the top.
• Loves riding in his outdoor car and playing with his new basketball hoop
• Points at things he wants
• Can sign please, more, and all done. If you ask him if he needs help, he will say please.
• Loves to turn off the lights...he loves to push the light switch down and figure out which light it controls.
• Has recently become obsessed with ceiling fans. He points, stares, and wants them on all the time.
• Is a child of routine-he is truly my child.
• Continues to bring joy to our lives each day!

Riding along in my automobile....

Little shopper at Hy-Vee

What are you looking at?

Pushing the shopping cart around at home

Riding Mom's Playskool toy

Just like Daddy

Waving to all the cars as they go by.

Walking through the shoe store...he was in heaven!

Spaghetti?...Naw I prefer string

Real Men Wear Pink

Playing with pudding because he wouldn't eat it

Nolan is 13 Months Old

Nolan is officially a walking, babbling, giggling, laughing, and playing 13 month old. He has been walking for the past 3 months, but it is still so cute to watch him walk around with his snuggle buddies. (Snuggle buddies=dog/blanket and monkey/blanket) This past month Nolan has really started to show us just how smart he really is.....he can follow almost any direction given, point to different body parts,  and figure out how to operate and put together different toys. He loves to put his cup in the cup holder on his tray, put back his toys from where he got them, and turn off the musical monkey toy in his crib when we walk in to get him up.

At 13 months Nolan...

*Weighs 20lbs 5oz
*FINALLY is wearing size 3 diapers
*Goes to bed between 7:15 and 7:45 and wakes up around 6:30 a.m. (We have discovered the earlier we put him to bed, the later he gets up! If we put him down at 7:00 p.m. he will usually sleep until 7:30 a.m. However, if we put him down at 8 p.m. he will wake up around 6 a.m. Go figure!)
*Takes a morning and an afternoon nap-most of the time
*Continues to love taking baths...although for a while he was scared and screamed because of a musical purple octopus that blows bubbles we attached to the wall...needless to say it is under the sink and will be brought out when he is older.
*Still eats mostly baby food...the only solid foods he will eat are crackers, cheerios, puffs, and bread. We try to give him new foods and food we are eating, but he just pushes them away. Kelly at daycare is trying to give him foods that the other kids are eating, but he just pushes it off his tray.
*Drinks 2% milk out of his sippy cups and likes to place the sippy in his cup holder
*Wears mostly 9 month and 12 month clothes and size 3/4 shoe
*Enjoys riding in his big boy carseat-he loves to face forward and look out the window
*Walks all around and loves to get out his toys from him baskets.
*LOVES MUSIC-he is the only child I know that if he is fussy and will not eat, you can sing him BINGO, Wheels on the bus, or put on some music and then he will eat. He moves his head to the music and his whole body. He loves to get all of his musical toys going at the same time.
*Can point to his nose, ears, head, and toes
*LOVES to brush his hair and hand me the brush in the morning while I am drying my hair.
*Has enjoyed sitting out on our deck at our new table and chairs while Jimmy grills
*Is very alert and observant
*Is learning all about rules and timeout-he is a good rule follower and listener...Kelly says at daycare he is the only one who listens and knows not to "break" the rules..hehe At home he sits in timeout for 20 seconds if he breaks a rule and he does a good job of sitting there. (Some people tell me I am crazy for doing timeout this early...but I started at 11 months. My theory is that if he is old enough to know not to do something, he is old enough for the consequence. Nolan is pretty smart and knows what he is doing.) This also must be the teacher in me.
*Has started to drop food off the side of his tray when he doesn't want to eat it anymore. That is stopping in a hurry because I take him out of his highchair and make him pick them up and give them to me.
*Says Mama, Dada, ball, baba for bye bye
*Loves to go "OHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
*Loves to wear socks-he will lift his feet up for us to put them on...he also loves to wear shoes.
*If you say "Smash" he will squeeze his cheek up next to yours.
*He can "bump heads" with you and now when I say smile he does a cheesy grin and closes his eyes.
 *Continues to bring joy to our lives each day!

Can I Play Baseball Dad?

Big Boy Carseat

 Mega Blocks At The Science Center

Smash!

Easter Egg Hunt

 Easter

Silly Face

Baby Blue Eyes

 Walking around with my monkey snuggle buddy

Smiley Boy!

 This is what he does when we ask him to smile!

Nolan's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Nolan's 1st birthday with a Sesame Beginnings theme. It turned out great! It was so hard to come up with or find a theme that I really liked. However, I saw this theme online and wouldn't you know it, it has been discontinued. So after searching on E-bay, the internet, and local party stores here, we finally found all the pieces to put together. (They have Sesame Street themed birthday party for 1, but it's not the Sesame "babies." There was a lot of items we wanted to create/make ourselves-so his party planning took a lot of time, but in the end it was worth it. Here are some pictures from his party.
*Up above was the Happy Birthday Banner that we made. I used letters from a banner I bought and cut them apart. I used card stock and wrapping paper to match the colors of his party. I also traced some letters onto cardstock to get certain colors. This worked out great because I could pick and choose the order of the colors I wanted. We used ribbon to string them together. We found mylar balloons online and some at card factory outlet that were the Sesame Beginnings. We used helium to blow them up and then used treat boxes (which you can't see) that matched the them to hold the balloons together at the bottom. We also had the same wrap we used in the banner for some of his presents and matching tissue paper in the bags. Above we displayed a picture of Nolan we had taken for his first birthday....later we watched a slideshow of his first year.
His highchair-we created his name sign, decorate the tray with little Sesame Beginning banner pieces. We were so lucky to find a cup and plate that went with his theme!

The cake table-I painted the letters to spell out the number ONE, we made "Big Bird Punch"-everyone loved it. (Consisted of Apple Juice, Pineapple Juice, Ginger Ale, and Orange Sherbert.) Jimmy made the Cookie Monster cake, Nolan's smash cake, and the Cookie Monster cupcakes. We had matching plates, desert plates, and napkins with the Sesame Babies. The banner was great-we ordered it online and it is great quality. I am thinking we will put it up in his playroom.

Memory Lane-We took pictures of Nolan and made a photo banner. We had one picture for each month. We created this using card stock, scrap book paper, wrapping paper, and ribbon. We made the label for each month to look like the street signs. It turned out great-we loved looking to see how he has changed from birth to 1 year.

This was the door sign we created to greet our guests. Jimmy created all of the signs from poster board and cut out all the letters on cardstock paper. We had little Sesame Beginning stickers that we found to place on each sign. It was so cute!

This was the entry way. I took some of the wording we used on his invitation and used some wrapping paper, cardstock, and scrapbook paper to make it colorful. (This party is brought to you by the number 1 and the letter N.) Then I put a diaper on the tickle me Elmo and gave him some balloons. It was a super cute entry for our guests!

I created a shirt for Nolan using iron on letters. I had seen tons of cute little girl shirts for 1st birthdays, but it was hard to find a cute little boy shirt. So I came up with this idea and loved it! I did try to find a solid color onesie like blue or green to put it on, but could not find a plain colored one.

THE CAKE-Jimmy did a great job and created a Cookie Monster cake sitting on top of a large cookie. It turned out great and tasted amazing! He also made a smash cake for Nolan...that he didn't even smash, but it was super cute!
We had a great 1st birthday for Nolan. We had just immediate family because we didn't want it to be overwhelming and it was just the perfect size! Here are a few pictures from the day..