Learning the Hard Way and Adults get to Play

Nolan's only 8 months old and she already has to learn the hard way.  Since she's started crawling, she wants to go all over the place and pull up on everything, including the dog.  Brinkley is really patient, letting Nolan crawl all over her and grab her hair and paws, but that doesn't stop her from knocking Nolan over sometimes.  Nolan got her first official owie when she busted her lip trying to pull up on the shower door. There was a little blood and a few tears, but she soon forgot about it and continued on her merry way. 

 Brinkley, bracing for the worst :)

Brent's birthday was August 9th and we spent about a week celebrating.  It started with dinner at home with his parents, my parents, Lisa and Shahyan. I made french dip sandwiches, roasted fingerling potato salad, green salad with everything good, and s'more cupcakes. Yum!

 2 candles for turning 32

 helping daddy with his presents

 tasty!

On his actual birthday, the three of us went to dinner at Blue Sushi in Fort Worth and Curly's Frozen Custard for dessert.  When the weekend finally arrived we headed to Oklahoma to enjoy an adult night out at Choctaw with Lisa and Shahyan.  We had fun at the pool, a nice dinner, a lovely hotel room, great company and fun times (when we don't think about the money we lost at the blackjack table).  I don't think we'll go back for the gambling since the odds are highly stacked against us (you have to pay to play and we lost our money in no time). We also got to see some Jacob Black lookalikes (Twilight fans know who I'm talking about)!

Brent, looking like a 5 yr old smiling for a school picture, posing so I could get a pic of the Jacob lookalikes.  Soon after, casino security came by to ask me to delete all photos b/c you aren't allowed to take pics in a casino.  I managed to save this one though.

Brent and I took advantage of restaurant week last night and ate at Lanny's Alta Cocina in Fort Worth.  We had a fabulous meal and would go back if their usual prices weren't so crazy.  I'm thankful for restaurant week so we can try places like it.  We also get to try Al Biernats before restaurant week is over.



Carne Asada

It was a fun week of celebration and I look forward to the next big celebration in our family of three... Nolan's 1st birthday!  I can't believe it's less than 4 months away!  Maybe it's too early to be planning it already, but I can't help thinking about it!

More pics from the last few weeks:

 playing with her blueberries

 already obsessed with electronics (is 9 months too young for her first iPod? hehe)

 she loves drinking out of a straw and it provides much entertainment for adults

 clean baby!

 crawling through her tunnel, which she eventually tried to pull up on but it couldn't hold her weight so we had to put it away

 Brent's angry face at Brinkley for jumping over the furniture

 Nolan's impression of Brent's angry face

 not thrilled with myself in this pic, but i love it of her

 silly girl

I have to show off my new wall hanging. I wanted to do something unique with her 7 month pics so I ordered some round prints on illustration board and hung them with a plate hanger. I love how it turned out!

Our Growing Baby

Nolan has changed so much since my last post!  I can't believe how fast she's growing and changing. 

Probably the most exciting new development for me:

Mama... I know she doesn't know what it means yet and she hasn't said it much since this video was taken, about a week ago, but it really is the greatest sound I've ever heard, and I know she will say it and mean it soon!

...and then she was mobile:

She's been determined to get moving for awhile now.  For a few weeks she's been able to scootch almost anywhere she wants to go, but she's finally mastered the forward crawl.  She seems to be over it already though because she's always preoccupied with trying to pull up and stand.  I have a feeling it won't be long before she'll be cruising and then walking.  we are almost done baby proofing our house, I think. I guess our next task will be to baby proof the grandparents' houses!

Now that she's mobile she doesn't go to sleep as easily as she used to.  She likes to climb around in her crib for 30 minutes or so before she falls asleep.  She'll move around until she literally passes out from exhaustion.  I was watching her on the monitor the other day, and I saw her fall asleep sitting up. She just fell over and continued sleeping.

You hear people say all the time how sad they are that their baby is no longer a baby, but I kind of feel the opposite.  I am so excited for her future!  I can't wait for her to start school and make friends, join extra curricular activities, learn how to cook with me, take dance lessons... the list goes on. Maybe I'll change my mind when she learns how to talk back and have her own opinion that doesn't match mine, but right now I'm excited to see who she becomes.

she likes to steal the spoon from me and make a huge mess

she loves fans and always wants to pull the switch

celebrating Aunt Wanda's birthday

with G-daddy

eating a new treat

celebrating Uncle Nick's birthday

her new close-mouthed smile (she started this when her two bottom teeth came in)

daddy's old teddy bear

drinking from a straw for the first time (all the water fell out of her mouth afterwards)

lunch with Aunt Robin

at Fuzzy's for Nana's birthday

Family, Fun, Food, and Firsts

We just got back from a week in Gulf Shores, AL with my dad's side of the family. The trip was planned as a gift for my grandma's 80th birthday. It was Nolan's first vacation, her first time to the beach, and first time to meet some of her extended family. There were about 20 of us staying in a large house across the street from the beach. We split the drive up on the way there and drove it all in one day on the way back. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

The drive there:

our first stop on the way there: Subway, and Nolan thought it was the greatest place on earth

singing in the car

Nolan's first hotel stay, she was pleased

on our second day of driving, letting Nolan take the wheel

The house:

The stairs:

A three story house on stilts makes for a LOT of stairs.  Also, the house has 2 sides that can be rented separately, and the sides only connect on the middle floor, so it felt like we were constantly going up and down the stairs (at least I wasn't completely lazy on vacation).

Pool time:

 she LOVED Nemo

why use a glass when you can drink out of the bottle?

Family time:

 outlet shopping!

goofing around with Uncle Mark

 her first tooth is starting to poke through!

 walking on the beach with my love

 in her blow up rubber ducky bath tub

Lots of yummy food:

fried and grilled red snapper, caught by the family that day on their deep sea fishing trip

 poolside dining: crab and shrimp boil

 Beach time!

putting on lots of sunscreen

first time in the sand, and of course, all she wants to do is eat it

fun with Poppa Z

The drive home when surprisingly well.  As long as we stopped every few hours so Nolan could chew on a table, she was pretty happy.

First family road trip = success!