I laugh at your "baby proofing"

I left the room for a minute to take a quick bathroom break, and came back to find him doing this....


He opened the sliding door on the TV stand, and grabbed the wireless router.

Just like his daddy...gravitates towards electronics! As more and more of Nolan's friends begin to crawl, I get a little concerned. He does not seem to be interested in the slightest. He rolls around on the floor to get where he needs to go. If there is something he can not get to, he just says whatever and picks up the toy he can reach. I get a little less worried when he does things like this. It takes lots of baby power and baby brains to figure out how to get that door opened!!!


Here is Nolan playing in his toy chest. Living in the small condo, we have to get creative with storage. You would think that he would be reaching for his toys on the other side. Not my kid... he pulls those DVD's out one at a time, and either throws them on the floor or to the other side of the chest. Tonight he pulled out an Eebee DVD. He looked at it before he threw it, as he does every time. But, when he saw Eebee on the front cover, he smiled a big smile. He looked at me as if he was saying "looky looky mommy!!!!"

Escape Artist!

**DISCLAIMER** No children were hurt in the making of this reenactment. :)


Before I begin to tell this story, I must get one thing off my chest....WOWZERS!!!!!


Yesterday was just awful. It rained and thunder stormed all day. Nolan was able to take a three hour nap (something he has never done at home by the way). We lounged around and were lazy until it was bed time. I did, however, get out between tornado warnings to buy formula. Ohhhh, I will be happy when I get to buy $3 milk instead of a $25 can of formula. Someone out there is getting rich, but we can talk about that another day....believe me I could go on and on. Today was a drastic difference in weather. We woke up to birds chirping and sunshine shinning! PERFECT PARK WEATHER!!! After picking up some lunch, we parked the car and got out the stroller. What would we do without that thing? Grandma and Papa gave us the stroller/car seat combo as a gift, and we sure have put some miles on that thing! Now, I know I am a goober, but I rarely buckle Nolan in the stroller. He has a flap that folds up so that his little feet stay in the stroller, so he can not fall out. Today, when putting him inside, I put the little flap down. He looked so squishy in there...my boy is growing! So, we loaded up the stroller with everything but the kitchen sink and went on our way. Brad spotted a sunny area with no one playing, sunbathing, kissing, eating, smoking, socializing (Centennial Park is a people waters dream), so we headed in that direction. Of course, this spot was off the beaten path. We had to go off roading in the grass to get there. I turned around for a split second...a split second I tell ya...to see if I rolled my window up. When I turned back around, there he was on the ground. At first, I stared in disbelief. Then yelled at Brad to stop pushing the stroller. Nolan had slipped out of the darn thing and landed on his face. Brad..off in lala land...was still trying to push the stroller even though he felt resistance. My poor baby!!! I scooped him up as fast as I could. There was going to be dirt, scratches, crying, boohooing. Or so I thought. He just looked at me...a mean look...but it was just a look. No crying, scratches, boohooing. There was a little grass up his nose :) Ohhh, what a moment. The one time I didn't bring my camera. Believe me I would have taken pictures of his first big accident :) Instead we came home and did a reenactment. Here is a play by play in pictures.



Nolan in his stroller. Good thing the fall didn't scar him for life! See how the flap is up.


This is what it looks like with the flap down. Guess I should have use the buckle thing instead of letting him play with it.



This is how he slid through. Memories are all coming back to him.



In Brad's defense, it is next to impossible to see with the sunshade down.

How I found my poor baby...pitiful!

I've fallen and I can't get up!

See, I am okay! One tough cookie! Thank God we were on the grass. The pavement would have torn him up.



In other news, Nolan got a playhouse today! He loves it. He put a bunch of his toys in there...even wrote no girls allowed on the outside :)

Our version of a clubhouse :)

Wanted out and didn't know how. Gotta get those pulling up skills mastered.



In other other news, I made this concoction tonight for dinner. It is called a taco ring. Brad put it best when he said it tastes like a taco hot pocket. :)

Whatever Works............

Daddy thought this was a good place for Nolan to take a nap....hummmmm. Not a place mommy would choose, but whatever. I am amazed daily at the difference between the mommy brain and the daddy brain. I guess if he rolls of the cushion it would hurt less than rolling of the couch...this is the daddy brain way of thinking. Mommy's brain says just put him in the crib and he isn't going anywhere :)

Guilty

Tonight, I was overwhelmed with the feeling of guilt. I looked over at Brad who was reading a book, and then looked at Nolan who was playing in his walker. I was on the laptop. The three of us were in the same room, but we were worlds apart. There are days, such as the one I had to day, that are beyond stressful. All I wanted to do was come home, sit down, and wish my headache away. Brad works longer days than anyone I know. He leaves the house at 6:30 and usually doesn't get home until 6:30 that night. All he wants to do is come home, shower, and sit down. When it was just the two of us, sitting on the couch and relaxing after a long day was wonderful. It was what we wanted to do, and so we did it. Now that Nolan is here, it is hard to justify that action.

Tonight, as I was on my laptop, I was reading one of my usual blogs. She had a link to her friend's blog, so I thought I would check it out. Her friend lost her husband a little over a year ago. Her blog post today was about how she and her son Nolan were going to spend more time learning how to be a family of two instead of three. Talk about a slap in the face. I had to do everything I could to not cry in that moment. Here I was wasting my time reading about how someone else was being proactive in making time for family. I was flooded with such extreme guilt. How could I choose spending time on the computer over spending time with my family? So, right then I closed the computer and told Brad to put down the book. We spent some time with this cute guy...................................

Why is he in the tub in the living room??? Well, recently he has been trying to pull himself up. He will only do it in the bathtub which is becoming a little hazardous. We thought we would try it under dry conditions, but this is all we got................................

Ohh well, at least we had fun giving it a try!

First Word

MAMA!!!!!!!! It is no secret that Nolan sleeps with me every night. I have heard it all from my mother...no need to say anything :) This morning Nolan began to stir around 7:30...far to early for me! Usually, when we don't have to get up to go to school, Nolan will sleep until 9ish. Wonderful for this sleep lovin' mama! I pretended not to notice him as he kicked me in the stomach and smacked me in the face. Pretended until I heard him say...MAMA! Right as I heard him say it, I opened my eyes. He was looking at me and smiling. I smiled back and him and he said it again! Melts my heart!

A boy after his mama's heart. He says mama first, and he loves to read. What more could I ask for?

All About the Baby......

How fun! We had such a good time in Texas with my family...hated to leave...but such is life. This trip really helped me realize something that I have not thought about before. It's alllllll about Nolan. Before we left, I heard all about how excited everyone was to see Nolan. Brad was sad to see Nolan leave for 5 days. MOM was ecstatic to see Nolan at the airport (in fact, I didn't even receive a hug). Brad Skyped daily to see Nolan. Mom was sad to see Nolan leave. Brad was super happy that Nolan was home. Are you sensing a pattern here??? I am merely the person who carries Nolan from place to place, and ensures that he stays alive. It's okay...he is pretty darn cute. I couldn't resist him either :)

Nolan in his walker. Let me tell you...he was ALL OVER THE house in this thing. At certain points I had to walk around the house to find him.

Nolan gives two types of lovin. Sweet and rough.

Nolan had fun cooking. He better get use to it. It's what we do in my family :)

He for sure got into everything. As far as he was concerned, this was his playground!

They have a cute park with in walking distance from their house. Nolan is really going to enjoy going here in a few years!

We went to Patrick's baseball game. Nolan seemed to like the action...I however did not. Boring game...he is going to have to play something with a little more action!

He loved taking a bath in the sink. Kitchen prep sink was the perfect fit!

The pool area is going to be a lot more fun this summer. If it is anything like the bath, Nolan is going to have the time of his life!

Piece of Cake :)

We made it to Texas in one piece! I got my panties in a wad for nothing. Nolan woke up this morning at 5 a.m., so by the time our flight rolled around he was exhausted. When we got on the plane, Nolan was a mess. Wallered me until they backed the plane up. I just knew it was going to be an awful two hours. But, let me tell ya. The movement of the plane is the same as the movement in a car. He can not resist the car. He was snoring before the plane left the runway, and slept until we touched down :)

Here we are waiting at our gate. He was in awe of all the people. My little people watcher...just like his mommy :)

We made it on board. No one sat next to us which was lovely!

This is what he looked like the entire trip. This was the FIRST plane ride in a LONG time that I have not enjoyed an US WEEKLY or PEOPLE. I had one...just afraid to move and wake him up. Instead, I looked out the window at this beautiful planet......................