Doesn't every child have these??????

This post was a must. Some folks out there might be freaked out by the beer drinkin' nakie baby, but I think they are standard. My favorite pics of my brothers, sister and I are ones like these. Since this is basically my version of a photo album, THESE HAD TO BE INCLUDED:)


I am not a bad mother. There is ZERO beer in the bottle. I even washed it before I let him have it. He did not crawl around with it, stand with it, or move with it. He took a picture with it...thats it!!! :)


And then there is the nakie baby booty. Not sure what the protocol is for nakie baby pics on the Internet, but there is nothing showing except for the cutest little baby bubble butt you have ever seen! :)

Shoes

It was time. Time to cover those sweet little baby feet. Nolan is approaching one year old and has never had on a pair of shoes. If I were a stay at home mom, I may have even waited a little longer. Who needs shoes in the summer time anyway? :) Daycare is starting up in a few days and he is moving out of the nursery and into the toddler room. I assume he has to wear shoes, or at least bring them :) I should also note that his first pair of shoes were purchased at Stride Rite by his Great Grandmommy. When the nice sales man tried them on, Nolan didn't know what to do. He would not stand, walk, or act like a normal child. He wanted them off!!!!

Our Week in Pictures

A little taste of our past week......


Still proppin' that foot up :)


You may not care about my husband and baby in the shower, but I think this picture is awesome :)

This is what our weekend mornings look like. Notice I am not in the bed with them. Daddy/Son time :)

We tried ravioli

And loved it :)

We went to the zoo, and looked at Macy more than the animals :)

This is as close as they got at the tot mat. Nolan explored everything and Macy found some girls to play with. I had to follow him around so that he wouldn't fall out, and Alissa got to sit and feel the breeze. A male in my gene pool with attention issues???? Really???? ;)

Told ya so.......

I mentioned in the previous post that Nolan was a determined little boy. He knows what he wants and will occasionally throw a fit in order to get it...yes hard to believe I know :) I thought I would give you a little taste of what my summer has been like. Laptops, fireplaces, blinds, etc....it doesn't matter...if he wants it....he fights to get it :)

11 Months Old

I love this age. Of course, I think I have said that once a month for almost a year :) Nolan's little BIG personality is really beginning to shine through. He is so much like me it is scary. Hard headed, stubborn, and determined. He knows what he wants and THINKS he knows how to get it done. Example: The fire place is a thing of enchantment. Nolan wants so badly to be able to crawl up onto it and grab as many of those pebble thingys that are inside. We battle this numerous times a day. When he thinks I'm not looking...off he goes. I grab him, pop his little hand (not spank...you can yell at me for that later), and tell him that we don't go near the fireplace. I take him and put him near all of his toys. Two seconds later...off he goes. You get the picture. The blinds in the house are also a thing of beauty. I have to keep them pulled up about a foot so that he won't destroy them. Looks ridiculous from the street.

While he gets these lovely qualities from me, he gets some other great ones from Brad. Daddy is an observer. In new places and situations, Brad takes a step back to see whats going on and take it all in. We are people watchin' fools and Nolan is going to fit right in. He LOVES to watch everything. Cars, people, animals, the man pushing all the carts in a Kroger. He is an observer...just like daddy. He is also a funny little kid. Something else he gets from daddy...maybe a little mama too. Daddy is a goof. After 10 years, he made me a goof. And we have passed that on to our guy :) Just like his daddy, once he gets comfortable he is the life of the party!

Here are some things that have been going on with Nolan:

~won't eat fruit. When we first started eating table food, Nolan loved bananas, blueberries, grapes, baked apples. Now, he won't touch them. I think it's the texture....something he gets from mama :)

~Is in between sizes. This is something that is driving me nuts. Nolan has a long torso....something he and his Aunt Elise have in common. He can not wear 12 month rompers. The just are not long enough, but fit everywhere else. Try 18 months you say??? Nope....SWALLOW him. They are about 2 inches too long and he looks silly. What is this mama to do??

~LOVES HIS DADDY!!! Poor thing. He crawls around the house saying "DA, DIDI, DADDY". I thought boys were suppose to be in love with their mama???

~Sleeps in his own crib for almost 12 hours!!! Enough said :)

~Takes only one nap a day for about 3 hours.

~Loves a laptop and Skyping with the TX folks.

~Still loves Eeebee, but has branched out a little to Yo Gabba Gabba

Here are some pictures of Brad and Nolan doing what they do best...being goofy with one another :)

I was reminded......

That just because they are gone...they are not forgotten :) Today I ran in to Publix to get a chicken for dinner tonight. It was an in and out kinda trip. As I was walking away from the deli section I noticed this orange box...............

As soon as I saw the spelling and windmill, I knew was it was. SPECULAAS....an almond spice cookie eaten at Christmas!!!! I am sure hundreds of people walked by these cookies today and did not even stop....the ones who did were probably thrown off by the burnt color of the cookie. These cookies are hard to find at Christmas...forget July! Speculaas have been in my life since my mother married my step dad. Gary's parents immigrated from Holland where these cookies originate. Mom and Pop brought us these cookies every Christmas. They were fun, old, Dutch people....the best way to describe them. Mom Wortel grabbed you buy the face, and Pop greeted you with a hug. They were beyond thrilled when Patrick came along, and I know they would be thrilled with Nolan too. While the Dutch culture is not in my gene pool...it is in my heart :)

Here are the different shapes. My favorite is Sinter Klaas (a version of Santa) on the horse :)


Nolan loved his first Speculaas!

Can Someone Please Get This Kid A Toy?????????

Jammies

Jammies....the one thing that changes as my baby grows. We started in those cute, sweet, easy to change at night gowns. I remember washing Nolan's clothes before he was born and putting them away in his little baby dresser. One day I received some help from daddy. I will forever remember the look on his face when he held up one of the gowns. He was beyond confused about why I was making our boy sleep in a dress. After his first late night diaper change he understood why!



After his legs no longer fit inside the gown, we went to the footie sleeper. Nolan lived in these things...forget just sleeping in them :) I loved to snuggle him when he wore these. In fact, he wore them up until he was about 10 months old. The only reason he stopped is because I had a hard time finding them in a 12 month size :) As you know, Nolan slept with me until VERY recently. I loved feeling those footie feet snuggle under me as he slept. In this picture, Nolan has on a zipper sleeper. I only had a few of these and for a very good reason. You see, when poor Bradley was a baby he was accidentally zipped up in one of his zipper sleepers. No, I don't mean that the zipper stuck...I mean his skin got stuck in the zipper! He still has a scar right where the zipper stops right under the neck.




In the past month or so, Nolan has transitioned to separate jammies. I had a hard time with this at first. He seemed so big...plus I had not seen his feet at bedtime in about 6 months :) This picture is a perfect representation of his sleep habits. I have never seen him in the middle of his crib, he ALWAYS has his head up against the bumper, and his legs are crossed at all times (asleep or not).

Love at First Bite

Nolan has not had many sweets in his day. Maybe a bite of ice cream here and a piece of cookie there, but nothing on a regular basis. He is already fun enough without the sugar! Last night we took a family trip to Logan's Roadhouse and to Dancin' in the Park. Logan's has some yummo little bucket treats that are the perfect size for me. Because two of the three had nuts in them, I decided to get the trio which included a strawberry cheesecake bucket so that Nolan could "taste". Well, one bite and he was hooked. The look of pure love on his face after that first bite was priceless. I didn't remember that I had my camera until the third bite or so. The funny part was after every bite he squealed and banged his hands on the table demanding more. The people around us got a kick out of it I'm sure :)

Nolan's 1st Independence Day

We had a great 4th of July full of fun, family and fireworks :) We spent the morning hanging around the house and then had some of the Smith family over for dinner. Nolan just loves being around people...he was hammin' it up alllllllll evening long. Towards the end of the night, we noticed some great fireworks that seemed pretty close to our house. This was no back yard show. The neighbors knew about it...lots of them sitting outside watching them. We decided that it must be a near by country club that has a show every year. Next, year we will be more prepared! We also we down town, as we do every year, to see the Nashville show. Nolan was up wayyyyyy past his bedtime, but he was a little trooper. He seemed like he enjoyed watching all the pretty colors flashing, but then again he may have just been deliriously tired :)


Of course, I had to do a little July 4th photo shoot. Couldn't resist to dress Nolan like an all American kid :)

Nolan is a goober. He would just sit in the grass all day long. However, he WILL NOT crawl in it. Snapped a few pics of him trying to get around without using his knees :)

Nolan loves his daddy

He learned how to wave this week. So stinkin' cute!

Our family downtown. We tried to get some fireworks in the background...didn't work very well.

Nolan loved the flashing colors

Just like his daddy

"S" stands for SMITH

The smiley faces were his favorite

Nolan and Mommy