16 month photos - nature walk

I took Nolan down our street the other day to capture a few photos and I think they turned out really nice! I love his expressions.

FIRST STEPS!

Hooray!!  Late yesterday evening Nolan decided he would finally take his first steps.  It was so, so cool to see.  I'm so proud of my big boy and really excited about this milestone but also a little sad about this new independence.  I don't have time to write much more, but I'll include a few videos of his first steps so you can see it first hand  :)

More Feb/March News

A quick little update on what's new with us and Nolan...

I can't believe we have a 16 month old little boy!!   It's surreal and so much fun.  He's growing like a weed and was 34 inches long at his last appointment (still 99th percentile, so taller than 99% of kids his age!!) He's not walking by himself yet so he's definitely a late walker, but the pediatrician isn't worried since he cruises so well and is starting to take some steps.  I guess tall kiddos tend to walk late because there is a lot of them to lug around, ha!  He's so, so close though and I'm not sure I'm ready.  I have a feeling our lives are going to get a lot crazier when he starts walking!!

*** NOTE: I started writing this post a few days ago and Nolan has taken his first steps now!!  Oh my!  I'll do another post with a few videos of him walking after I finish this one. ***

He's becoming really expressive and is trying to say new words every day.  He is signing a TON!  He's using about 50 signs now and adding new ones weekly.  It is honestly amazing.  Through signs he can tell us what he needs ("up please, milk, food, help, bed, thank you, water, all done, etc") but also what he's interested in and sees out and about in his world ("music, play, dog, cat, fish, bubbles, trees, baby, car, hat, ") I cannot even imagine our lives without sign language.  I know I'm biased ;-) but I just feel like we are so in tune with what he needs, wants and likes and Steve and I both feel like our relationships  are so deep because of that communication.  I'm sure we've avoided many, many tantrums thanks to our ease of communication.  Of course that doesn't mean he never has tantrums...quite the opposite...we have definitely entered the toddler phase and if I tell him "no" or take a toy away his little heart is just broken.   Melt downs are a fairly frequent occurrence these days!  

Here are some videos of him at 14 months showing some of his signs:

Steve and I are doing well.  Steve is working hard and keeping long hours as always.  I'm working a lot too.  Thankfully my business is doing well and I've been out teaching 4-5 mornings a week.  I'm really thankful for my schedule and being able to do the majority of my work from home.  Now that Nolan is older I've been able to take him to more classes with me which has been fun too.  

We enjoyed a trip from my parents in February.  It was so nice to have them here!  We just did every day things like cooking, running errands and what not, but it was soooo nice to have their company and help!

And with that, here are some of my favorite photos from February!

mmm!  spaghetti is SO good it requires TWO spoons!
toddler meal time is turning out to be a lot messier than I had hoped.... ;)

check it out...I can SEE you through my oatmeal bowl!!!  Cool!

taking Elmo for a ride

at the Children's Museum playing with a giant Light Bright

with Nana & Grandpa

looking for fishies

 

splashing in the water, YAY!

Nolan LOVES splashing in water, SO excited!

sign language for "WATER"

hmmm, now he's all wet and isn't sure what he thinks about that!

let's get Messy!!!

Quick Catch Up

I know I'm pretty behind on the blog.  So we are going to play catch up real quick!

We headed to both Wisconsin and Texas for the holidays again and while it was a whirlwind, it was awesome!!  We had so much fun visiting our families and sharing such special times.  Lots of memories were made!

Since then we haven't been up to anything too exciting - just watching Nolan grow from baby into boy way too quickly.  Here are some of my favorite photos from January and February so far.

We had our one obligatory snow fall - it was SO beautiful!  This is our street just past the house.

Nolan loved watching the snow come down.

These days he's climbing ALL over - on the fire place, the sofa, the ottoman, you name it!

Sliding at the park one sunny day.

Best buddies.

Look at those chompers!!

Playing with daddy at the Play Cafe

Washin' dishes ;)

Hmm, making a pie?

Happy Valentine's Day!!

This year grandmas and grandpas and daddy will receive a "hand"made Valentine from Nolan.  They turned out pretty cute I think!  (I got the idea online)  Nice and neat....

But the behind the scenes of making the Valentine was anything but nice and neat!

Here's a little video of Nolan making his Valentines.  Enjoy!  :)  (oh - it's come to my attention that I should point out that the "paint" is the non-toxic, washable, it's-ok-to-put-in-your-mouth kind)

Birthday Shenanigans!

whew!  the last few weeks have been a great whirlwind of birthday fun  :)

On Nolan's actual birthday, we just kept it low key - opening gifts from grandma, grandpa, aunties and uncles.  It was a nice, simple day of just remembering this time last year.

The following weekend we had friends over for a baby birthday party!  It was a mix of grown up friends and baby friends and was such a great time.  Thank you SO much to those of you who came to celebrate Nolan's special day with us!!  Unfortunately, Nolan woke up that morning with his first winter cold  :(  so he was pretty snotty and red-nosed through the party, but that didn't stop him from having fun!  Here are some pictures from the day.

The theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar - thanks Uncle Kev, Autumn and Logan for the book and stuffed caterpillar!  The foods served were all from the book and I made cute little tags for them.

I made a little caterpillar banner with my favorite pictures of Nolan newborn-12 months

This is Nolan's very best buddy, Owen.  Owen's mom, Angela is one of my best buddies.  We met in mom's group when the boys were just a few weeks old.  Oh and Nolan is WAY into hugging other little kids now (not so much mommy and daddy) but he LOVES hugging other kids! 

This is another one of Nolan's best buddies, Tabitha.  Tabitha is a friend of mine and she watches Nolan 2 mornings a week while I teach.

 mmmm, cake!!!  Unfortunately this is about as much cake as he would eat.  He did not like it!  Shocking!!  Is he not his mother's child??!  Guess we should have practiced for the big cake-smashing day...

the bows and ribbons on the other hand were a big hit!

here mommy, you try it!

hugging his big boy friend Marshall

more hugs for baby friend Nathan!  (though Nathan isn't too sure about all this hugging)

a boy and his balloons

Then this past weekend we hosted a big birthday celebration for all of the babies in our mom's group.  All of the babies are right around the same age.  

Playing peek-a-boo with Owen under the table

we did a book exchange so all of the babies got to open a gift

 whew!  getting the hat on for 20 seconds to take this picture was a big deal!

 he ate some cupcake!  

and finally here is a youtube video of us singing Happy Birthday to the babies.  I did not take it so it kind of focuses on one of the other babies, but still cute nonetheless.  Enjoy!