My Counter

Last night I was bored because "So You Think You Can Dance" was a rerun (anyone else feel robbed?). In my boredom I convinced Jerel to add a counter to our blog to track how many times it gets visited. On a good week we will have 3 or 4 comments posted so I had really low expectations. However in the past 24 hours we have had over 40 visitors to our blog. Two thoughts have come to me as a result. 1) Who the heck are you people?? :) I mean, I was not aware that 40 people even knew about our blog let alone took the time to visit it. 2) Since I am more popular than I thought I need to do a better job updating it! So, as long as there is a fan base I will aim to deliver! Warning, my life is fairly boring- or at least routine- right now, so you are going to see a lot of pictures of my kid. Good thing he is cute!! 

Here are today's pictures. Nolan is trying to drop is 3rd nap and so from 3-6:30 I try to find anything to entertain him. Today when I had run out of all my usual tricks I just put him in his crib to look at his mobile and took a million of pictures of him. When that got old I propped him up in the corner. I think he feels a new sense of independence when he can sit up. Here is the progression of "crib time". Happy viewing. 

Crib time begins. This is one happy baby! Sad that the picture is a little fuzzy!

Sweet profile. He loves his plane mobile.

We move to sitting up. He is still pretty engaged.

Getting bored but fairly interested in his shorts. He never gets to see them

 because he's always laying down.

And he's done! Dear Lord, please let 5:45 get here so I can give him a bath and put him to bed!!!

Good News...Bad News

Well, the good news is that Nolan is now sleeping through the night. The past two mornings I have woken up and praised God for the 7 uninterrupted hours of sleep that I had just experienced! Have I mentioned that I LOVE sleep??? However, there is bad news...

Nolan is now teething. Oh just shoot me! He is only 13 weeks old but is showing all the signs. Drooling, gnawing on his fist and fingers, low grade fever, loss of appetite, really grumpy for no apparent reason, NOT sleeping through his naps. Need I go on?? All this, and yet no tooth in sight. I am thinking that this could go on for a while. Just when I think I am getting the hang of this mommy thing it all changes on me! At least, to my knowledge, no baby has ever died from teething!! :) 

We love bath time!!

The neck is getting strong!!

Slacker

Sorry to all of my fans for the absence of posts! I have become a slack blogger this past month. Actually, we have been busy traveling. We went to the beach the end of April for my last hoorah with Crusade. It was go great to see everyone at our regional conference at Sea Grove Beach. I had mixed feelings throughout the weekend. I have loved the 11 years that I have served with Crusade and yet love the new ministry that the Lord has allowed me to have in my marriage and as a mommy!

We were home a few days from the beach recovering from 2 all night drives (there and back...just easier to drive through the night with a infant) when my mom called to tell me that my grandmother who is 94 was failing rapidly in health. We flew out the next morning for Iowa. I was able to spend 10 days with my family there and so thankful that Nolan was able to meet his great grandmother. This past Wednesday our little man turned 12 weeks old and we are no longer allowing him to "get up" in the middle of the night. He hasn't actually slept through the night yet, but I am hoping that is right around the corner. You will be the first to know!!! :) Hope you enjoy some pictures!

This past weekend at the park. The weather was perfect!!

Nolan chilling in the couch in Iowa

4 generations on Mother's Day

Grandma Lucille

Sea Grove Beach. Everyone in this picture has served with CCC at the University of Alabama at some point! Roll Tide!

Big!

When people see Nolan one of the first things they say (after they gush about how cute he is -of course!!) is that he is just big. Yesterday he had his two month check up and it was confirmed, he is a big boy. He now measures out at 24" long (85th percentile) and weighs 12 lbs. 11 oz. (73rd percentile). I am daily putting away outfits that no longer fit him and he is wearing 3-6 month clothing! Maybe a future football player?? This Mama can only hope!! :)

Below are some pictures of a few of our favorite things.

Love the play yard. I get a good 30 minutes of entertainment out of this each day!

This is Nolan flirting with the shelf above his changing table. He LOVES this shelf. I often dream that he would laugh and coo at me half as much as he does at this shelf. If you could zoom in on this picture you would see the sheer delight on his face!

I swore that we would not have a ton of big toys in the house, we just don't have room. I have eaten my words, and I will do it again. Nolan and I equally love his swing. I can usually squeeze at least 20 more minutes of "happy" awake time with this swing.

He loves his zebra passi and giraffe blanket. We dream that after he plays college football he'll be a missionary to Africa!! :)

I love dressing him while he still has no opinion! We'll see how long that lasts!

Tagged!

I have been tagged by my friend Rachel, and since Nolan is napping but I don't have enough time (or energy) to start a household chore, I will enlighten you all. Enjoy!! :)

What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was finishing up my year of STINT in Romania, which I often refer to as my year from hell!! At this point in the year I was skipping down the street because there were little buds on the trees. I hadn't seen anything but cold gray skies and communist block housing in months!!! The hope of green leaves was giving me great hope!

5 Things on my To Do List:
-take Rocky to get groomed
-take Nolan to his 2 month check up for his first round of shots :(
-contact Birkman
-pack for our trip to the beach on Thursday
-call my grandma

5 Snacks I enjoy:
humm...only 5?
-hummus
-triscuts
-string cheese
-dark chocolate
-coffee (does that count??)

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:
-pay off the South East Region's (with Campus Crusade) debt
-support everyone I know...A LOT!
-build a guest house on our property so people who needed a place to temporarily live could stay with us
-go to China at least twice a year
-put our kids through college (it's going to take us being billionaires for this to happen!!)

5 Bad Habits:
-Watching TV
-making mail piles and never really getting through it
-not eating leftovers and then wondering what was in that container
-throwing Tupperware in the cabinet without the lid attached
-seeing how much trash I can shove into a trashcan without taking it out.

5 Places I've Lived:
-Muscatine, IA
-Naples, FL
-Tallahassee, FL
-Tuscaloosa, AL
-Greenville, SC
(there's more, but only 5 was asked for! :))

5 Jobs I've Had:
-proctored tests at the Assessment Resource Center (the ARC for short :)) at FSU because we had classes of 1,200 students
-Check out girl at Publix...least favorite job EVER!!!
-room attendant (maid) in Yellowstone
-staff with CCC
-Mom of Nolan

Ok, nap time is almost over so I gotta get that bottle ready! I now tag Sandi Glidewell(whenever you get the chance since your baby is 5 days old!), Teresa Poole, Ashlei Warren, and Kelly Noonan (when you are not getting ready for some chemistry test!) Just cut and paste and fill us all in!

Friends and other fun pics!

It is hard to believe that Nolan will be 8 weeks old this Wednesday. Yesterday as I was getting him ready for church I realized that I have truly enjoyed him for the first time. I have loved him since I found out I was pregnant, but the past several days I have actually liked being his mom. He started smiling at me and when he does I think, I can endure a lifetime of 3 am feedings! :) But then 3 am rolls around and my eyes are too bleary to know if he is smiling or not and I just want him to sleep through the night! One day...Our second sunday at church went slightly better than last week. Again, what does it matter that he screams when he is this cute??

Bath time is so great! We have been washing him in our bathroom sink but he is now getting too long! I think that we will have to upgrade to the kitchen soon!

They are going to be the best of friends as soon as Nolan can do more than squirm.


This weekend my best friend Kelly trucked up to Greenville with her daughter Lucy. It was great to be with them and so crazy that we are moms!! Unfortunately Lucy started to get sick and they had to leave early. 24 hours is better than nothing! :) Thanks Kel, I love you!!

Little Man

Yesterday was Nolan's first time to church. I had dreams of taking him and worshiping as a family while he snoozed away during the sermon. No such luck. He sat peacefully while everyone filed into the church and began to scream the second Andy, our pastor, gave the welcome. Needless to say, I spent the service in the lobby listening to sermon piped in over the PA. The good news is that he looked really cute!! Who said they don't make cute clothes for boys?? He looks like a little man in his oxford and khakis. He doesn't look overly grown up with the passi, but nap time was approaching and I was trying to avoid a major melt down. (I didn't avoid it by the way)