All The Little Things

I think one of the best things about being a parent is getting to experience all those "little things"- the way he smiles at you, the funny things he does, the funny noises he makes, his toots, his giggles, his frustrations, and even his naughty tendencies (which are still cute at this age by the way)  May this be a reminder to Jeff and I and to Nolan when he's older about all the little things he does everyday that make us smile--- :-)


You love to play with toys!  Love your hands-In fact, if we asked you, you would say they are the most amazing appendige that you own!

 You are TICKLEISH EVERYWHERE!  We love to torment you because you let out the biggest belly laugh!

 You look so cute in hats and you don't pull them off-----YET!

 You become mezmerized with Baby Enstein's!

 You LOVE your puppy!!!  Rudy can do no wrong in your eyes and he is sooo FUNNY to you!  One time Rudy was standing up in the car looking out the window and you laughed because he is so funny!

 You love swinging at the park!

 Waterslides make you cry :( but you do love the water- when you are in the water you get those hands and feet moving with excitement and you kick and chirp like a little birdie!

 You roll to your left side when you sleep and hold your monkey tight!  You also have a new game of playing "peekaboo" with your monkey and or blankie when mom and dad check on you- You are supposed to be sleeping but instead are hiding under your blankie waiting for someone to uncover you and give a big toothless grin!  We laugh at this and can't hardly be mad that you aren't napping!

 You love bike rides and usually fall asleep during them- Overall, you are a great little traveler and LOVE being out and about- You really do get bored sitting in the house, taking after your mommy always on the go!

 You do this funny thing with your throat we call you "toadie" sometimes- Also, you get shy when momma gives you mugga mugga's (nose kisses) and daddy throws you up in the air and you laugh- Nobody can make you smile like Rudy does though! 

 You can sit up on your own now and are even starting to "scoot" around- You are finally sleeping through the night (the entire night) no cries at midnight, 2am and 4am- Although you do like to snuggle in bed with mom and dad when you wake up at 6am.  You are a fussy little eater and need to be entertained while eating- dinner theater at our house every night!

 You LOVE being outside- love feeling the breeze on your cheeks and blow through your once long dark locks!  You are starting to mimick and love funny faces.  Love stroller rides and the car- a real "ride" enthusiast!  Love singing in the bath tub and baby lotion massages.

It's the little things that everyday make us feel so proud and love you even more!  Love you little buddy!

New Faces and Places

This summer has already been quite an adventure for Mr. Nolan.  He's met so many new faces and seen a lot of new places.  Included and pictured below are:

Castle Rock, WI

 Visit from Great Grandma and Grandpa Salzmann

 Batavia Quarry Park for Swim Lessons

 Pool date with Miss Nevaeh in Minnesota

 Meeting two of Mommy's dearest friends Heather and Heather (and Lola and Sylas)

Wisconsin Dells!

Lake of Isles Minnesota

 Meeting Auntie Laura

First time at the park on the swing!

Meeting Cousin Alexis!

 Meeting Great Grandma Done from Arizona

Meeting Great Gram and Grampa Doblar!

 Meeting Uncle Smitty and wanting to pee on him! :-)

And this is only the beginning of where, what and whom you will encounter in life!  Here's to always making new friends, going on many adventures and seeing and being all you can be!

These Magic Moments....

Okay so, I'm getting really bad at my blog and that makes me sad because I LOVE this age where Nolan is at and I want to remember every little fun thing we did or every cute little thing he did I am committing to doing better!  Let's start here. 

This past weekend we took a little trip to Lake Geneva.  Our little Nolan is a GREAT traveler!!!  We kept saying the entire day how lucky we were!  No tears at all on this two hour trek...Only smiles and laughs as Nolan, Mommy, and Daddy had a picnic by the Lake and what better way
to show our best picnic behavior than to play with bowls!

 
 And listen for waves....

After our lunch, we headed off to the beach.  This was Nolan's first time ever touching sand...and of course it was mounted with frustration as he could not quite figure out how he could get all of these tiny grains into his mouth!

After getting all dirty, we all jumped in the lake, Nolan and daddy practicing the backstroke Nolan has been practicing all summer from his swim lessons! 

Nolan also brought out his summer fashion sense with this thongs, as no tot at the beach is fully dressed without them. 

And as sappy and cheesy as I've become this past 6 months, I just truly could not stop kissing my adorable little guy!  Can he stay this little and cute forever?!  I will remind him of this moment when he is older ;-)

After our busy time and marina inspired day, Mommy and Daddy had a craving for some seafood, Red Lobster style- You were soooo good for us!  We got to unwind with some crab legs, coconut shrimp and a glass of wine, nighty night! 

1 Year Anniversary!

A lot has happened for us in 1 year and we are all still standing ;-)  And I am especially proud to be standing next to my "forever friend" and husband.  For our first anniversary we decided to kick things off at the Herrington for a night getaway.  When we got to the front desk for checkout mommy asked "So, you get a lot of babies staying here?!"  Nolan just might be the first 3 month old baby to stay at this five star hotel and live it up high class!  It took no time at all for this aristocratic baby to nestle in on the California King bed and watch his baby Enstein DVD- And Nolan wasn't the only one getting special treatment!  We had strawberries and champaign and a dinner for two set up in our room, AND our Herrington helper even offered to make a trip to Blockbuster for us, now that's what I call customer service! 

And along with remincing about all our old memories of dating and our wedding day, we thought best to introduce new tradition as well.  In our sand ceremony on our wedding day, we poured sand from Lighthouse Beach where we were engaged as the base, then combined our individual sands (blue and green) representing our unity in marriage.  We now have brown sand to represent Nolan (and room in the vase to add other colors for the other 6 children I want ;) Oh and we did discuss this- "But Jeff I don't think you are leaving enough room in the vase for The Others. haha!  This may take some compromising!  Each of us poured a portion of Nolan's sand in the vase along with a wish for him and a wish for our family.  I just had to think of the most perfect thing to say so I thought..



And thought..

And thought

And well

Finally came up with the perfect wish- Jeff was a lot quicker than me and well, his wish was pretty good too!

And when it was all said and done we had a beautiful vase and one lucky little guy!

On Sunday morning we had coffee and breakfast and caught some views of the river on the balcony.

After checkout we stopped at Fox's on the River in Batavia to have lunch, only to find that it had been shut down!  But the gazebo is still standing and the river was as pretty as ever.

Happy First Anniversary!







Here and there..

So, it's been a while since the last post, since then, Nolan and I and daddy made another trip back to Minnesota and the Easter Bunny showed up at Gammies a week late!  Silly ol' bunny- Nolan couldn't help but wonder if his ears would grow to be that tall!

This past few weeks, Nolan has started laughing more, he gave mommy his first big belly laugh on one particular occasion when daddy was at work, we had to call him to share the exciting news!  We also put Nolan in his jumparoo for the very first time, he's still a tad bit too little and looked like a little prairie dog poking his head out- not quite sure what to do with his arms, he just sat and looked at his toys- then daddy put in the batteries and wah lah let the fun emerge!  Laughs and smiles all around at the singing and light up giraffe!

Bunnies and Baskets

This past Easter Sunday was Nolan's first Easter and our first as parents!  Naturally we started this holiday off the night before by dying Easter eggs- Of course Uncle Ty had to give us a "how to" lesson via skype beforehand!

After patiently waiting for Daddy to come home, Nolan got his first "crack" at dying eggs-

We had the pleasure of Nolan's Papa coming to visit us and helping out on the Easter egg and basket hunting.

Daddy took a while but finally found his egg and basket! 

The fastest of them all was Rudy who prematurely found his egg before the hunt and wasted no time in finding and eating his bone!

Then our little prince got to open his basket while basking in the grass on the beautiful morning

The bunny was so generous this year!  A ducky rattle, bath tub rubber ducky's a new hat and onesie for Nolan's upcoming summer travels, the Velveteen Rabbit book just to name a few!  He even got to try on a pair of bunny ears, a treasured photo that will be used in his future highschool graduation slideshow!

What a sweetie pie and all this time Mom kept saying "We have the cutest boy ever!" 

"Hey Dad let's wear our matching hats!"

Dare we say we skipped out on church again?!  Off to Aunt Sarah's house for an egg hunt and dinner!  Nolan's Mimi and Papa got him some Easter treasures in daddy's Easter basket as a boy- Nolan especially loves the Baby Einstein DVD!  I think we have a baby genius brewing ;-)  And lots of love from his cousins Trevor and Owen!

Aunt Sarah made a great meal and was kind enough to have Nolan's Papa over too before he headed back to Minnesota!

Nolan also caught some snuggles on the couch with Uncle Mike!

Happy Easter!