A weekend full of friends...and then my heart melted.

Having fun playing at Aunt Ginnie's! 

This little guy is getting so big! 

On Friday, Nolan’s little daily sheet from daycare came home and said that Nolan is crawling! I guess he is finally starting to show off for everybody! Although, he still doesn't crawl on his knees. He just kind of pulls himself along with his arms. I think it’s cute!

Friday night Nolan and I met up with my friend and co-worker, Matt, and his adorable little girl, Phoebe, at the My Gym open house. Phoebe is about a month and a half older than Nolan. I sit next to Matt at work daily. The poor guy has had to put up with being surrounded by pregnant women and now baby talk since the day we discovered that both his wife and I were pregnant at the same time. He is a good sport though! I am the crazy, take a picture of every milestone lady and he is the if I have a camera nearby I’ll capture it (for Tessa) and if not it isn't the end of the world. I am fairly certain he thinks I am nuts. That’s alright though. Anyways, our babies had their first play date and Phoebe was the only one who came ready to play. Nolan was scared of Matt, overwhelmed by the amount of children and noise and pretty much only happy if I was holding him or when he was hanging out away from the crowds. The poor kid has a mommy and daddy who were super shy growing up and I can only imagine he will be the same way. Little Miss Phoebe on the other hand was exploring everything and happy as a clam. Adorable.

This picture sums up the night!

On Saturday, Nolan had his My Gym class again. At this class Ryan and I learned that those stupid gymnastics rings have traumatized our baby from enjoying the pleasant motion of the swings. We put him in the swing and no lie, he clenched his tiny little fists, squinted his eyes and shook. It was heartbreaking. I am so upset about ever having him go on those rings. We are taking a break from swinging and hopefully he will forget about it soon. I am looking forward to trips to the playground in the swing and would hate for Nolan to be scared of swinging. 

We met up with my 2 favorite pregos, their hubs and Quinners for lunch. Nolan ate more food than he ever has which resulted in him spitting up when we were about to leave. Parents of the year (insert sarcasm). Seriously though, he has finally started to like food which is great, but if it is in sight he wants it. The lunch was fun and it is crazy to think that it will probably be the last time we are all out to eat together for a very long time. I cannot wait to meet those little babies and kiss those baby cheeks!!  Saturday evening we relaxed at home and it was glorious. Nolan ate chicken with veggies for the first time. It looked like a tub of mustard. Ick!

I took Nolan to see his Pop Pop on Sunday. He played over there for a little bit and got to hang out with his cousins and show off how well he is standing. He stood for about 20 seconds this weekend and is learning to catch himself and stay balanced well. He will walk with his push toy, but we have to hold onto the toy otherwise it goes too fast for him on our hardwood floors.



We finished off the weekend meeting up with Aunt Kim, Uncle Brent and Colby at the gym. The boys went swimming and watched their daddy’s play basketball. Nolan was not too excited about the pool at first. Thankfully, Aunt Kim brought Nolan’s favorite toy with her to the pool, rings. After he grabbed one of them he was very content. It was great to get the boys together for a quick play date. Colby is cute as can be and was cruising all over the place. It is hard to believe that he will already be 1 next month! Watching Nolan and Colby play on the basketball court was fun. Nolan was cracking up whenever Ryan would dribble over to him. It is crazy to think that Nolan and Colby will eventually be playing sports together!


Nolan got a little battle wound :( He somehow got the tiniest little cut on his itty bitty pinky toe.


 
 Some other cute pictures:

Standing proudly!

Drinking from a sippy cup! So big!

Busted.

Then when I thought that it doesn't get any better...

                                           
2/11/13 Nolan said his first word. "Mama" and he said it a lot!!! Ryan was looking out the window with Nolan for me. They do this daily and it is the best feeling in the world to watch Nolan's face when he sees me coming home. I was still at work when he sent me a video of them looking out the window for me and then another video was sent to me "your heart is going to melt". I immediately clicked on the video, heard Nolan say "mama" and stormed out of work. He went from never even making the "mmmma" noise, to full on saying "mama"! Coming home and hearing him call me mama is the best feeling in the world! Yes, I shed a tear. What an amazing husband to capture that on video for me. I will forever cherish this moment and the feeling I felt when I first heard him say it to me.

What a weekend!

Nolan is officially 8 months old. Taking those monthly pictures has become quite a challenge. It seems that every time we go to take his picture he decides that he does not want too. In order to keep him semi-happy a “paci” (pacifier) is then put in his mouth. Then we snap a pile of pictures in hopes that maybe we catch 1 smile. Most of the pictures are now blurs because Nolan is a little wiggle worm these days (and because we can’t seem to locate our good camera!!). Then once the photo shoot is over the little stinker goes back to his happy self. I guess a modeling career is not in his cards. That’s ok, Nolie, we will stick to sports! J

We started off Saturday morning at My Gym. Nolan was a cranky little boy because he didn't fall asleep the night before until 9pm. He was too excited about the cupcake decorating going on in the kitchen and he didn't want to go to sleep. He still did well in the class, but was pretty attached to me (which I will be honest, I didn't mind it at all). He went in the ball pit and this week he actually crawled through the tunnel. He still seemed to enjoy the swings, but wasn't too fond of the slides or trampoline. I will also never put him on the rings with the teacher again. They swung him so fast, he had such fear in his eyes which made my heart sad. All I wanted to do was snatch him off of them so fast and I did. You would think that she wouldn't swing an 8 month old the same way she was swinging an 18 month old. I wish the baby that was in front of Nolan would not have been so uncooperative because then they would have gone first and we would have opted out. Aside from that, I still like the place but will just never put him on those again.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of surprising my best friend with a baby sprinkle! Colleen was the mastermind behind the whole idea. After all the planning and prepping, we actually pulled it off! My sneakiest friend of all had no idea! :) What an accomplishment! Aun went shopping with her mom and Quinny on Saturday and we swooped in, decorated, set up and shuttled everyone to her house (thank you husbands!!) during that time. When they came home, Quinn appeared to be sleeping on Aun as she walked through the door. This may have been one of the quietest “surprise” shout ever, but Quinn quickly awoken and was happy to see a party before her eyes! Aun was showered with adorable gifts to help prepare for the arrival of baby Harper. Now we are just counting down the days until we get to meet her! Love you Aunnie!

Baby Lily!!! 

Look at those chubby little cheeks!!!

Sunday was a big day! We changed Nolan's car seat from the infant carrier to the convertible seat! I am going to love not having to carry the heavy seat around, but it is also kind of sad. 

Nolan's new ride

Ohhh yeah, and the Baltimore Ravens played against the 49ers on Super Bowl Sunday!!! Nolan stayed awake for the 1^st quarter of the game and was able to watch (or had no interest and was just playing with his toys) part of his first Super Bowl. My dad and sister came over for the game. We made lasagna with my mom’s homemade sauce just like she used to for the big game! As I have done the past Sunday’s, once Nolan was asleep I put the Raven’s shirt and socks he was wearing on the table and faced his baby monitor at the t.v. as though he was still “watching” the game. I am not superstitious at all, am I? J The Raven’s came out ready to play but then during the 3^rd quarter the lights went out at the Superdome in New Orleans and the 34 minute delay really threw their momentum. Talk about a heart attack! This game was down to the wire, but it fared well for Baltimore as they took the WIN 34-31! SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS!!!! 

There were fireworks, loud cheers and car horns outside! Chuggins was going crazy barking from all the noise and Ryan and I just started at the monitor in hopes that Nol would not wake up. He slept through all the excitement! I informed him that the Ravens won on Monday morning. The parade was today and it looked awesome! Aunt Barb, looks like we won the bet!!! Baltimore is on a high!!!!!

A few more cute pictures! 

                       Baby Mohawk                      Messy face                             Nolie and I

Nolan eating a puff

Mommy taught me to shake things off my head! 

My Gym

On Saturday Nolan participated in his first structured class! We took Nolan to My Gym (courtesy of the Hastings family) for 4-weeks of free classes. The class was adorable. The teachers were all super nice. Nolan was able to experience a variety of different activities at the class. We stretched, clapped and danced. We did some core building and balancing activities. Nolan bounced a little bit on the trampoline. He went down the slides, on the swings and bounced a lot this inflatable slide looking thing (his favorite!). He did great in the class. We are looking forward to going back next Saturday.

The class worked great with his schedule and by the time we pulled out of the parking lot Nolan was sound asleep taking his morning nap. He slept the whole time we grocery shopped at Wegman’s. Saturday night we went to my dad’s to celebrate Lainy’s birthday. It was a nice, relaxing evening spent with the family. Nolan had a good time playing with his cousins, Hayden and Lincoln.

Nolan turns 8 months this Friday. My baby is getting so old! I cannot believe how fast time is flying and how old he is starting to look! Last week Nolan finally started to crawl (or army crawl) and this week he is really moving around. He crawled for the first time for Aunt Ginnie today!

"Goo" and "Ga" are Nolan's 'word' of choice right now and he is quite the little babbler. He has always loved to babble and he defintely has a lot of personality. I love listening to him and hearing the "goos" and "gagas" have got to be the most adorable baby noises ever.

Baltimore Orioles Fanfest 1/19/13 

"What do you want ma? Can't you see that I'm playing!"

 

Precious.

David is teaching Nolan

Nolan looks sleepy at his Saturday morning class

Having fun at his first class :) 

He was so curious and made sure to check everything out

This place was adorable and I am anxious to take Nolan back! 

Aw, sleepy boy. My Gym wore him out!

We bought this onesie right after we found out we were having a boy!

Such a handsome little guy! 

Nolan and his buddy on a walk in January....mid 60 degree days makes for very confusing weather!

 The camera flash was a bit too much for these two, but it was cute having them ride side by side! 

Aun, just 4 more weeks (5 max) until little Harper is sitting next to Quinny!!!!!

Splish, splash Nol was takin' a bath!