Family Vacation

A weeklong vacation, what could go wrong? Well, everything started out great. We arrived on Sunday and hung out around our place watching football, unpacking and playing on the golf course behind our place in the evening.

Then Tuesday came; we were on our way back down from the overlook at the top of the mountain and the next thing we know we are watching a deer buck roll down the road. The car was pretty smashed up, but everyone was ok. We were very hopeful that the car would be fine to get us home.

The week went on and we had multiple trips to the pool, gym, mini golf, playing on the golf course in the evenings and playgrounds. Nolan loves the pool! We thought he would be very excited about playing mini golf, but after about 5 holes he was over it.

On Wednesday evening Callie, Dylan and their 6 month old daughter, Cader, came to stay with us. We went on a hike, swimming, to a cute little family farm and the playground.

Saturday we were planning to head home. In the morning the boys went to play basketball and Callie and I took the babies to the playground. We both drove to avoid moving the car seats and when we were driving back from the playground my car decided to break down. Thankfully Callie and Dylan stayed with us all Saturday while we waited to get it running. It made for an adventurous day with 2 overly exhausted munchkins that just rolled with the flow. They took cat naps as we spent the day in town waiting to have the car fixed.

Overall, it really was a great semi-relaxing trip. Every afternoon we all seemed to take a nap when Nolan napped. Nolan was obsessed with his trucks and his belly button. I taught him to make the Pillsbury dough boy sound when he presses his belly button. :)  He also learned how to show his muscles!

And now for far too many pictures,
 
Playing on the golf course:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Obsessed with his belly button.

 

 

 

 

 
One of many playground trips,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, that belly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Hanging around our place:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
More playground:

 

 

 
Mini golf:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over it.

 
Hanging around the place some more:

 

 

 

 
Overlook and hike:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Typical.

 

 

 

 

 

Some creepy bug that Ryan and Dylan found and took a million pictures of.

 

 

Deer under the neighbors deck

 
Farm trip:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Haha, Callie!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pig races!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are far more, but this was probably far too many!

Dear Nolan - 16 Months

Dear Nolan,

Time is just flying bye so quickly. We are currently on vacation at Massanutten in Virginia. Aside from the fact daddy hit a deer today, everything is going great. Thankfully, we were only going about 25 MPH but the deer ran down the hill out of the woods before we could brake. Everyone was ok. The deer did run off, but mommy's car is going to need some work. :(

Today you asked to take your nap and you asked to go to bed. You even said "please" tonight because you were so exhausted. We are so lucky!

You are saying "please" and "thank you" very well. You are even starting to say them on your own without us having to tell you. You continue to amaze us.

You have started to say "oh no" whenever you drop (or purposely throw) something. You used to say "uh oh" but now it is almost always "oh no".

You love to walk everywhere now and to be outside. If we even mention outside you grab your shoes and say "outside" continuously until we are out there.

I wish you loved vegetables. Between soups and pouches that is the only way we can seem to get you to eat veggies.

I think you are left handed. You almost always eat with your left hand and you usually always throw your ball with it.

You say "hi" to everyone. You also say "see ya" to them. It is very rare that you say bye byes now because you love to say see ya. You will also turn to dada or I and wave bye and say "see ya" and then walk away to go play elsewhere.

You are hilarious. When I ask you what your name is you normally tell me "Emma" (your girlfriend at daycare), but occasionally you will say "Nol Nol". Today we asked you if you were having fun with mama and dada and you also responded "Emma". Apparently, you miss your girlfriend.

I love that you will say "I love you" and you give the best hugs and kisses. You are my little snuggle monkey and I can not believe how big you are getting. You make daddy and I so happy. Even today, when we saw the damage to the car we still had smiles on our face because of you. You are so lovable!

I love you so much Nolie Polie!! Or as your cousin, Lincoln calls you Nols Poles and sometimes just poles. :)

Love,
Mommy

xoxo

Parties Galore

We ate far too much pizza and cake this weekend.

It seems like every child we know is born in September. We have had birthday parties nonstop these past few weekends and we have another one coming up next weekend. It is so much fun going to all these kiddie birthday parties with Nolan running around! On Saturday we celebrated my niece, Hayden’s 6^th birthday. I cannot believe that she is already 6 years old. Nolan played with all his cousins at the birthday party. He did very well considering he skipped his morning nap and was woken up after an hour from his afternoon nap.

Owl themed birthday party! My sister made a pineapple owl!!

And owl smores!!

The cheese and crackers were an owl too! And Aunt Peggy made the owl bags and toothpicks!!

 

The birthday girl!

Nolie with a pile of his cousins!

Kendal teaching Nolie!

Having fun! :)

 

Nolan and Taylor were not excited to get their picture taken!

Ham.

Kendal helping Nol again :)

Opening her present from us! I love all of their reactions!

Singing to the birthday girl!

On Sunday, we celebrated my cousin’s daughter, Eliza’s 2^nd birthday. They had her party at the largest playground I have ever seen. If it wasn’t an hour away from us I would seriously take Nolan there every weekend. The playground was called Annie’s playground and it was amazing. I think Nolan did the most walking he has done yet wandering through that play ground. He loved it!

Playing together!

 

Love this!

 

Swinging together!

 

Playing music!

 

Little monkey!

 

She can be a ham too!

 

I love the look Ry is giving me!

 

Being a big boy on the big kid swings!

 

Seriously, look at the playground! Nolan was running back to it because it was huge!!

 

Boo!

 

Adorable :)

 

Happy 2nd birthday to Eliza!

And Nolan's latest obsessions:

CHALK.

CHUGGINS.

 

Can I have some advice?

I don’t know what “milestone” comes next at this point. Maybe running? Does that count?

Dating? Nolan has a little girlfriend at daycare named Emma and she is 3 weeks younger than him. We will be driving in the car and all of a sudden he will just say, Emma! I keep telling him that I am his only girl right now, and he is too young to date. He doesn’t seem to want to listen to me though. Nolie insists on playing with Emma the days he is at daycare. His teachers always tell Ryan and I about how they follow each other around, play together and how if they are on opposite sides of the room, Nolan will look up, find Emma and yell her name. Oh boy!

This little boy is Mr. Personality these days. He is such a lovable little boy. I seriously am wondering how I am ever going to discipline him. He cracks me up. He talks nonstop. I mean nonstop. Ryan and I still think it is clear, but I am sure it isn’t to others. I have no idea how many words he has because he learns at least 1 new word a day. Just this morning he walked over and grabbed Chuggins leash and then walked over to him saying, “walk”, “walk”! He is obsessed with Chuggins leash (and the car keys). I’m not going to lie, Nol Nol can have a bit of a temper when he does not get what he wants (the dogs leash and car keys), but thankfully he gets over it pretty quickly.

Lastly, let’s talk about bath time. Nolan has always loved bath time. We did have a random spat a few months back when Nolan decided to cry during every bath until randomly one day he decided he was over it and we were back to having a happy baby during bath time. But lately, Nolan will NOT sit down in the bath tub. During bath time he is content playing with his bath toys, splashing around and tolerating being washed but he is standing up the entire time. I constantly sit him down and he will fuss and then immediately stand back up. I feel like I am spending more time having him sit than I am letting him play in the bath. I really wish he would sit because I am scared he will slip and fall, but thankfully he has not at this point. Any suggestions???

Bye, bye bottle!

We tried to transition between the bottle and cup a few weeks ago, but Nolan loves his bottle so much that Ryan and I always caved. After his 15 month appointment the pediatrician scared us that if we don’t crack down on it now then as he gets older, we will have a little boy that refuses to drink milk from a cup. And so that night Nolan drank his last bottle. Cue the tears from both Nolan and I.

The next morning, Nolan said “baba” with excitement as he always does. We gave him a cup and said “milk”. He took it and drank from it with no problem. Ryan and I looked at each other with relief as if we had already conquered the hurdle.

Ryan was off work for a holiday last Thursday, and I was able to leave early. I made it home just in time for when Nolan woke from his afternoon nap.  After Nolan’s nap, we brought him downstairs and it was the same thing…Nolan said “baba” with excitement. I opened the refrigerator and handed him his milk. He immediately cried, threw his body around and shouted “baba!!!” …for a solid 10 minutes. I wanted to break down and give him his bottle, but I didn’t. We let him flail and he eventually calmed down. He had worked himself up and was thirsty at this point and grabbed his cup and drank his milk. Since the minor tantrum the cup transition has been smooth. He isn’t drinking as much milk, but at least he is drinking from a cup!

If 10 minutes was the worst of the transition, I think we are in good shape. Fingers crossed that this continues.

Yes, I snapped a picture during his tantrum.

This was right after he got over it. Having a snack and his milk with mama!

Nolan's first Orioles game this year!

And he got a baseball!!!

Family picture!

Nol looks a little more excited this time!

Notice that he is drinking out of his cup! :) And thank you Aunt Jamie for the book, Nolie is obsessed with it!

This cup thing isnt so bad!