Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

This morning the boys and I woke up and decided it would be a great day to go to the zoo.  We called Aunt Nini and Eggroll (Evan) to see if they wanted to join us...they did.  We picked them up around 9:45 and drove to Niabi Zoo.  Nash and I enjoyed the zoo last year but this was Nolan's first zoo experience.  It was a warm one, around 90 degrees I think, but we had so much fun.

Nash, Nolan and I hitch a ride

The giraffe exhibit is one of our favorites

Nolan seemed to enjoy the day

but all the excitement tuckered him out!

Nini and Nash monkeying around

Nolan and I made our way to the car while Nash, Nini and Eggroll enjoyed the train ride.

We finished the evening with a cookout at Eggroll's house.  What an awesome day...and the weekend's not over yet!

While Daddy is away, Mommy and the boys will play!

Jason is in Montana playing with his college buddies this weekend.  The boys and I have been staying busy and having lots of fun.  Friday afternoon we went to Tipton to spend some time with family.  Nolan is about the same size as Brennan...who will be a year old in a few weeks!

Nash jumped in the balloon with Garret, Delaney, and Dane.

My Mom enjoyed time with her sisters, Pat and Cynthia.

Before leaving town we surprised Great Grandma Phyliss.  Nash ate all of her watermelon.  Nolan was jealous.  :0)

Road Trip!

Last Saturday, May 22nd, we set out on a road trip to Rochester, Minnesota.  Jason's Grandma Erna is staying at a rehab facility there after breaking her leg earlier this year.  MapQuest estimated 4.5 hours but when you have the bladder of a two year old on board, it takes a little longer!  Actually, both boys did very well!  Nash watched movies and Nolan slept most of the time.

Grandma Erna was so excited to see us.  The weather was nice so we sat outside with her for a while.

We took her out to dinner Saturday night to a place called Whisky Creek.  On Sunday morning Jason and Nash went for a quick swim at the hotel.

Then we picked Erna up again and went for coffee at Caribou Coffee.  Nash wanted to help push Great Grandma Erna in her wheelchair.

We had a great visit and we plan to go again soon.  Hopefully after some therapy, she will be walking next time we see her.  Listen to your therapist Grandma!  :0)

Quotes from a 2 year old

"Uh Oh.  Nolan spit up.  He need burp rag."  (As he runs to find a burp rag for Nolan.)
"You crackin' me up!"  (I've said this to him a few times.)
"Wipe Nolan bottom." (Nash said this to Jason while he nearly emptied the wet wipes container and piled them up on the floor.)

There is a new procedure now when Nash gets an ouchie.  First I have to kiss it to make it better.  Then he wants me to blow on it.  Then he says "Blow really fast." So I do.  Then he says "Now blow really slow."  So I do.  Then somehow the ouchie is all better.  If it's really major then we also need a Handy Manny or Cars band-aid.

Last night Nash took a pen and paper and sat on the sofa to draw.  I took Nolan upstairs to get him ready for bed.  The next thing I know Jason is saying, "Nash, what are you doing?!?  My first thought was, "Oh no, he wrote all over our leather sofa."  But this is what actually happened...a tummy tattoo!

I took Nash to the doctor on Tuesday to check out a couple of spots he had on his chest and back.  We had a play date planned with the Salvador twins and a trip planned to see Great Grandma Erna so I wanted to make sure it wasn't anything major...like chicken pox.  It turned out to be nothing.  He did get an official weigh in though...28.2 pounds! (2 years and 2.5 months old)

Congratulations Uncle Will and Aunt Daniele!!!

On Friday May 14th, we drove to Walnut, Illinois, for Will and Daniele's wedding weekend.  Jason, Nash and I were all in the wedding party.  We made it through the rehearsal then drove to the reception hall for dinner.

We stayed at a hotel in Rock Falls, IL where a lot of our friends and family were also staying.  The next morning we woke up early to get ready for the BIG DAY!  I was so worried about Nash getting a good nap and worried he wasn't going to want to put on his tux.  The boys stayed with Jason at the hotel in the morning while the girls gathered for hair and makeup.  Jason brought the boys to me around noon and much to my delight, Nash and Nolan were both sleeping in their car seats.  I hung out in the van with them so they could get as much sleep as possible.  We all met up at Daniele's parents house to get dressed and have pictures taken.  The boys both woke up happy and Nash was willing to put his tux on like all of the other guys.

We had some great pictures taken then drove to the church.  Nash had only one meltdown about 10 minutes before the wedding started because he wanted to stay in the nursery and play.  I had bought him a stuffed Woody doll for just this type of incident.  Woody seemed to do the trick.  At 4pm we started walking down the isle of the very packed church.  Whitney went down first, then me, then a couple of the other bridesmaids.  All of the sudden I heard "YAY!" while Nash, Woody and Callie the flowergirl came running down the isle.  Everyone laughed.  He stood up front and ate the fruit snacks that Daniele had left up front for him while the bride and groom said their vows.  It was a beautiful wedding and the boys did great.  Nolan got a little fussy so Evan took him into the other room during the ceremony.  Thanks Evan!   After the wedding we all hopped on a bus to the reception.

Nash and Nolan went back to the hotel with our friend Samantha around 9:00 to catch some z's.

The rest of us celebrated until about midnight then rode the bus back to the hotel.  It was so fun to catch up with friends and family.  The day turned out perfect.

Congratulations Will and Daniele!

Happy Mother's Day!

May 9th was Mother's Day...I told you I was behind on my blogging!  Jason, Nash, Nolan, Whitney, Daizy, Memphis and I drove up to see Nana and Papa.  Will, Daniele and Great Grandma Phyl met us there.  It turned out to be a gorgeous day!  We grilled out and played Bocce ball and Horseballs.  I just want to say that I am so blessed to be called "Mommy" by two of the greatest little boys God could have given me.  I am also fortunate to have so many wonderful ladies in my life including my mom, my grandma and my mothers in law.  Happy Mother's Day!!!

Time flies!

I am WAY behind on my blogging!  So sorry!  Let me get you up to speed...
Nolan is getting more and more interactive.  On May 11th, he started splashing in the tub for the first time.  (This just happens to be his Uncle Than's birthday as well.)  He's reaching and grabbing for things.  He rolled from back to front for Nana the other day (May 12th) but has not done it again since.  He's still very shy about showing off his tricks.  He teases us by grabbing his toes and rolling over to one side but doesn't roll completely over on a regular basis.  We've been practicing sitting up and he will sit for a few seconds then decide to push himself backward.  He really likes being upright so he can see what his big brother is doing!  Today he ate applesauce for the first time...big smiles!

Oh, and I almost forgot.  This is pretty exciting!  Just a little over a week ago, he dropped his 9pm feeding.  Here is an example of our schedule on a day that I work...Nolan wakes up sometime around 6:30 or 7.  He nurses around 7:30 and has a little bit of oatmeal.   (Lately we've been skipping the oatmeal and giving him prunes though.)  He takes a good nap in the morning.  He has a 7 oz bottle of breast milk around 12:30 along with some baby veggies.  He naps again in the afternoon.  He nurses again around 5:30 and eats rice cereal or another vegetable.  Then he goes to bed around 8pm or so.  He might wake up one or two times during the night but I just give him back his pacifier and his little blue blanket and he goes right back to sleep.  On days that I don't work, the schedule is the same except he nurses for his noon feeding instead of having a bottle.  Nursing is still going well.  I am starting to get a little tired of pumping while I am at work.  I have to find a secluded parking spot somewhere and set up shop in my van and hope that I remembered all of the necessary equipment including the cooler and ice pack.  I also have to remember to leave a few extra minutes in my schedule which is difficult to do sometimes.  It's worth it though and I'm still trying to make my goal of 7 months.  I have a freezer full of extra bags of milk that I have stored up too so that should help.  I have even looked into donating breast milk for premature babies through the University of Iowa.  They have a drop off spot in Davenport where I could take it but I would have to donate a minimum of 200 ounces of milk during the first year of lactation.  That sounds like quite a bit of milk but I'm sure it would add up quickly.  They also have other rules that I'm not sure I have followed including no over the counter medication.  I was taking tylenol cold medicine for quite a while at one point.  We'll see.  200 ounces!?

Quotes from a 2 year old

"Kids, be careful up there!" (We were eating at Chic-fil-A and Nash was concerned about the kids playing on the jungle gym.)

"That would be great doctor." (I forgot this one last time.  Nash said this to the nurse during Nolan's 4 month checkup.)

"You can't do that." (Nash says this whenever he doesn't like what we are doing.)

"Mom, you hear me?"  (He says this if I'm not paying attention to him. I wonder where he learned this one?)

Nash asked Nana to put the boppy on his lap the other day because he wanted to feed Nolan.  She put the boppy on his lap and put Nolan on the boppy to see what he would do.  Nash said, "I feed Nolan boo boo." He then lifted his shirt up and pushed Nolan's face into his tummy.  He smiled at Nana and was so proud of himself.  Nolan started rooting around thinking he was really going to get fed.  Oh dear.

Nolan Jace - 5 months

Where have the last 5 months gone?  Nolan Jace is still such a smiley baby.  He's decided to keep all of his rolls for now which is fine by me.   He loves to chew on whatever he can get into his mouth and he drools like crazy.  I keep waiting for a tooth to pop through.  He's still loving breast milk and has sampled a variety of veggies now.  I think his favorites are squash and peas.  We had to throw in some prunes a couple of times to keep things moving, if you know what I mean.  He is reaching for faces and toys but has only rolled over a few times.  I love to hear him giggle!  He sounds like a baby goat.  He smiles at nearly everything but he especially loves to watch his big brother.  Happy 5 month birthday Nolan.  You are such a blessing!

Quotes from a 2 year old

Jason and I are amazed every day at how fast Nash's vocabulary is growing.  He went from putting a few words together to putting together full sentences in what seems like a very short amount of time.  It's great that he can express himself but it also gets him into trouble sometimes.
Here are some recent quotes...
"Why you do that?" (Usually after he is disciplined for being naughty.)
"Uh oh Dad! Your jacket wet.  You better take it off. (After he dripped pineapple juice on Jason's coat.)
"The trees are knocking on the window." (After the wind picked up during yesterdays storm.)
"I wanna go home." ( I haven't figured this out yet.  He says this when we are already at home.)
"Nolan, stop eating Momma's boo boo." (Nash wanted to go downstairs to get his chocolate milk but I told him he had to wait until I was done feeding Nolan.)
"My knee hurts.  Kiss it Mommy."  (After scraping his knee.)

He says some pretty hilarious things sometimes and I keep meaning to write them down.  I will keep sharing quotes as he keeps cracking us up.

Nash is doing GREAT with potty training.  He has not had an accident for several weeks.  Now all we need is target practice!