Phoenix Zoo

Nolan absolutely loved the zoo today. He spent most of the time strapped to Mike or Aunt Kris. He adores Cousin Alex and watched him a lot. He also is sprouting two little teeth on the bottom.

2-Way Petting Zoo

A 2-way petting zoo is where you pet the animals, and they pet you back. Nolan and Sierra seem to like this idea.

6 Months

18 lbs and 26 inches at this month's doctor appointment. He's able to sit up on his own now, but he does fall over a lot. We're busy decorating and preparing for his first Christmas!

Swing!

Gammie put up her swing for cousin Alex, who is coming for Christmas, so we threw Nolan in. He loved it! He's been in it twice, each time with huge chuckles.

Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we went to Nolan's cousins' house, the Grecos. Cousin Tim outdid himself as always and Nolan enjoyed being held so much and of course pumpkin and sweet potato. The best part of having a baby? We took him shopping on Black Friday and he still doesn't have a clue what he's getting!

5 Months

As Nolan becomes more active and the sun is further south, the monthly picture shoot just didn't turn out as well this time.  I kept thinking I would try to get some good pictures another day, but time likes to tick on.  So, for better or worse, here's the best of what I have.

Don't we all miss being that flexible?

hhhaaaahhhhh

Nolan has his first inside joke. Nolan started doing it to his jaguar friend above the changing table. He just silently cheers "hhhhaaaaaaahhhhh." When you do it to him back he laughs. It's his own little inside joke against his parents. Here is Nolan "hhhhaaaahhhh"ing with Poppy who came over to watch him today.

Happy First Halloween

Getting his costume on.

Ahh! It's a ferocious bear!

Where's the candy?

Grabber!

Nolan had been such a grabber of his bib that Tif had enough. A quick Acco clip fixed that!

Baby Food

Remember those pumpkins Nolan was gumming up? Well, it's also his first baby food. The doctor said to wait until he was 5 months, so when he's ready to go, nearly two dozen pumpkin meals are all ready for him! Oooh, and Dad is going to make pumpkin pie and Mom is making pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Yummy!

Busy Day

Nolan discovered pumpkins.

Nolan discovered grass. I know it sounds strange, but this is the first grass he's been on. Welcome to the desert.

Mike and Sierra played together because there weren't many other dogs at the dog park.

He got some love from Grandma before she headed back to Kansas City.

Roll Over Part II

Nolan has spent so much time this week rolling from his back to his side, but he would always float right back. Tonight he did it and take a look at that happy boy. Next step, barrel rolls!

4 Month Checkup

Nolan had his 4 month checkup on Thursday and everything went very well. Dr. England said his head looked great which is a relief because we only want Nolan to wear a helmet when he starts riding a bike and playing sports not to put his head into position. He weighed in at 16 lbs., which is in the 75th percentile. As for height, we have a tall boy at 26 inches, in the 90th percentile.

The doctor told us to start water and juice and we started water today after Nolan had some cereal. When the bottle went into his mouth, he started right away, until he realized at about sip number 5 that it was water and the crying commenced.

On a sad note, I had to hold Nolan for his shots, but Nolan was a trooper. He only cried for about 30 seconds. He did spend the rest of the night with a little fever and he threw up a couple times, but now all is good. It really is very assuring that we have a healthy boy, something that we never take for granted!

Dinner

Now that Nolan can sit up in the bumbo, he is required to sit at (technically on) the dinner table with us while we eat. Maybe it's because he just woke up from a nap, but he seems confused by this new development. It's good to get him used to family dinners, because he's got eighteen years of them ahead!

4 Months

Sierra wanted in on the photo shoot, too.

Boys' Week

Nolan and I have a week to ourselves with Tif at work and me on break. We started yesterday with a Blockbuster 4 hour nap and are working on watching the baseball games today. We are letting Sierra revel in the week too taking her to the dog park. She didn't really like being in the caged area without Nolan and I and wouldn't leave the fence we were hanging out by long enough to play. Nolan did however poop on the way to the park and I was without wipes. Tissues sure are a poor substitute!

So Big!

Nolan's first week of rice cereal has been going as expected. He spit pretty much most of it out the first night. Subsequently, he has swallowed more each time until tonight when only half came back out. Needless to say, we do rice cereal before bathtime. He takes it in good humor, as he does most stuff.
We've been noticing his outfits have gotten tight. Today we pulled out the next size. Not even four months old yet, the boy is sporting a six month sleeper, and it fits well. Since the Hildebrand side isn't necessarily tall, he is taking after his dad's family. His next doctor's appointment is in two weeks, and we'll get a height and weight update then. I'm concerned he is about to hit another growth spurt soon, hopefully not too much that he grows right out of those six month clothes. I woke him up this morning to join me for brunch with a friend. He was a happy and charming boy for those couple of hours. Other than that, today he has mostly slept and ate. He stayed awake for much shorter periods of time to play. But, perhaps he's just gearing up to root the Chiefs into their first victory tomorrow! He wore a Phillies onsie today for the baseball game, and we'll put him in his Chief's onsie for the first time tomorrow. A little baby luck!

Roll Over!

F

While getting ready for the Sunday Night Football game, Nolan rolled from his stomach to his back. Tif and I were watching him do it and celebrated with him. Too bad he hasn't learned a touchdown cheer yet!

3 Months Old

Nolan turned 3 months today. He smiles all the time and loves to bat at things hanging from his play mat. He is officially out of the moses basket and in his crib, still sleeping 8-9 hours a night. He is getting close to holding his head up enough to put him in the bumbo seat, as of now, we have to sit behind him to keep his head from randomly falling backward. With Gammie out of town recently, Nolan spent some time with Grandma and Poppy. He's a lucky boy to have so many grandparents around all the time. In a couple of weeks we will make our first attempt with rice cereal. We've been letting him play with the spoon to get him used to it

Big Boy! (Week 14)

Our big boy turns 3 moths old tomorrow! More pics to come mañana!

Black and White (Week 12)

The past several weeks, Nolan has been going crazy for high contrast black and white objects. His favorites are some cards that Similac sent us for free. There are six cards and there is black on white and white on black. There is a frog, a poodle, a monkey (that looks like a scorpion), a peacock, and of course the ladybug you can see in the video. Gammie had Nolan on her colorful playmat and he wasn't even playing with the cool hanging toys. Well, here it is Gammie, Nolan going crazy on his playmat! All you need is Black and White!

Ten Weeks

In the time it took Stella to remove Ted's butterfly tramp stamp tattoo on "How I Met Your Mother," Nolan has learned some minimal hand and arm control. He now likes to stick his hand in his mouth and make a nice long spit trail from lip to wrist.

Nolan loves his walks too! We take a nice long walk just about every night before bed and Sierra loves them too. Nolan is such a good boy on walks and has only fussed a couple times.

Nolan has been going to Gammie's house for two weeks and is great despite not wanting to nap in the guest bedroom sleeper. Instead, he loves afternoon tummy naps on the couch, just like me!

This weekend we have some errands to cram into Saturday so we can have another pajama Sunday and Grandma is coming over to watch Nolan so we can take Sierra to the Dog Wash, which is quite overdue. She may have licked out the clumps of formula she got into and saved in her arm fur, but she hasn't had a bath since Nolan was born and is one stinky monkey!

2 Months

On August 10th, Nolan turned 2 months old. He had a doctor's appointment Friday. He measured 23 1/2 inches long which is in the 75th percentile. That explains why his onesies are getting hard to snap. He weighed in at 12 pounds 4 ounces making me the winner of Mike and I's over/under wager. I said he was over 12, Mike went with under. He is in the 50th percentile for weight despite the growing rolls on his arms and legs. Now I can correct those annoying strangers who feel the need to comment on his size. You'd look big too sitting in a little car seat! The pediatrician asked if he was drooling yet, and I didn't care too much for the "yet" part. Coming up next: teething! She also told us he would probably roll over soon, so it's time to stop laying him down anywhere we wanted. I'm going to miss that. When she tested his head lifting strength, Nolan performed marvously. Thank you Gammie for making sure he's getting tummy time everyday while we're at work.

Nolan misses the extra family that was in town last weekend. Great Grandma and Grandpa, Great Uncle Rick and 2nd cousin Brittany gave him lots of love, although a few were baby reluctant. He didn't poop, pee, or spit up on anyone! Uncle Trev was forced to hold his nephew a couple of times. Another of my baby shy family members. He'll be Nolan's best bud in a few years, when he's a walking, talking, toilet using boy.

Gnarly Boo Boo!

Nolan got his first boo boo today when he scratched up his schnoz. We have been trimming his claws a lot so I guess we'll have to buy a power sander.

8 Weeks

Nolan is eight weeks old today! His mom went back to work on Thursday and he has started to see Gammie during the day. Being a super grandson, he brought Gammie flowers on the first morning. He loved to dance with Gammie and was smiling and laughing at her. On Friday afternoon, he even was watched by Poppy before Mom and Dad came home. Poppy did such a good job too (even with a poopy diaper!)

Nolan is also meeting some more family this weekend! Uncle Trevor is here from Montana already. As many pictures as he snaps, he makes funny faces in every picture we try to take of him. (The jokes on him, we'll still post the pics we snapped later anyway!)

Tomorrow Great Grandma and Great Grandpa are coming from Colorado with Great Uncle Rick and Cousin Brittany. Nolan will be putting on his best clothes and there will be plenty of pictures to come!

Speaking of pictures, here are some pictures of Nolan before Mom went back to work. We love the picture of Nolan holding the black and white card!

7 Weeks

Here's the social smile we've been waiting for! Nolan has been doing a little bit of smiling this week that is not associated with sleep or toots. He has been a lot less fussy this week, too, which has made it easier to be home with him all day by myself. Mike has settled into his first week with kids at work. I look forward to going back to work next week on Thursday. I know Gammie is excited to get Nolan while we're at work. In other developments, Nolan is enjoying his playmat. He prefers the black/white/red one over the colorful one right now. He loves staring at faces, real or plush, and he is mesmerized by anything that has black against white. We are happy to report he is still an awesome sleeper, even if it takes a loooooong time some nights to get him to fall asleep. I'm also happy to report that my work pants button once again, just in time! Now, I'm just waiting for the scar to fade and there'll be no more pregnancy side effects.

He hasn't realized the bottle is no longer in his mouth.

6 Weeks

Nolan is six weeks old today and this is the most sleep he has gotten today. I went back to work this week and Tif can not wait to go back to work because staying at home is not in her veins. Nolan came to work with Dad, Mom, and Gammie and slept most of the time so they could get some work done.

Nolan has started to really track people who talk to him and even looks when you are across the room. We keep thinking he will smile at us soon, but whenever he does smile, a toot comes seconds later.

Growing!

Nolan is growing up a storm! This is most likely the last Newborn size outfit he will be wearing (of course unless he's doing a fat guy in a little coat impression). We are sad to see the old outfits go, but are looking forward to the new 3 month clothes. I guess we are lucky because some babies outgrow the newborn sizes in a week, or never fit in them in the first place. He has also moved from Newborn to size 1 diapers. They just grow up so fast!

5 Weeks Old

This is a picture of Nolan on his first staycation. We went to the Wigwam Resort (and spa for me) on the west side of town for a one night get away. It was great to have some cocktails and a nice dinner. Nolan was a trooper. We brought his Moses basket and placed it inside the hotel's crib and pushed it into the bathroom. He slept for 7 hours with the soothing sound of the bathroom fan. I don't think they get a lot of babies at the Wigwam, probably because they get a lot of conventions, so the staff doted on him whenever we went out. It was a nice mini get away for all of us!