Adventures Outside

In the spirit of celebrating the small things, we had an adventure outside with Nolan yesterday.  Not so much of an adventure as we went outside.  Mom was inside trying to figure out our central vac and I thought that it would be not big deal to monitor Nolan outside by myself.  WRONG  Within a few seconds e had a hand full of dirt in his mouth and he was trying to spit it out.  I thought we would ply with the soccer ball, but no, he wanted to play with Annie.
Annie and Nolan are quickly becoming best friends.  She had a tennis ball in her mouth, a dirty slobbery one that she had drooled all over earlier in the day.  I found a dry one to "minimize" the amount of yucky germs that were being shared.  Nolan plopped down in the grass and had fun ripping up blades of grass and throwing them over his shoulder covering his little back with bunches of green.  He has figured out how to sort of chuck things in front of him.  I wouldn't quite call it a throw yet, he doesn't have the sense of  hold and release.  It's an open palm with a ball balanced on it that when shot forward might send the ball in some direction.
We walked and he threw the ball and he picked up speed...right toward the edge of the lawn and the steep ten foot drop toward the road.  I had to move faster than I wanted to try and stop him from ran/walking right off the edge.  I called to Mom to come and help me since I am still on very light duty from my back surgery.  luckily she was done so she came out and helped corral the little one.  We wend down to the front yard to discover the front yard and the pile of rocks in the french drain by the little pond he looked at them funny for a few seconds then they wend straight into the mouth.  Nolan threw a few while I snapped some quick photos and just as I was finished a ton of ants came rushing out of the rocks and onto Nolan's leg.  Mom picked him up as fast as she could and we batted them off of him.  Enough adventures for one day.  Dirt, Grass, Rocks, and Ants.  Sounds like a great adventure for a little boy discovering the outdoors.

Celebrate the small things

I decided today that the only way I can stick with this blog is if I just Celebrate the small things.  It shouldn't take a huge achievement to get a blog post.

Today we went to Wal-mart to get a few things.  I was driving the little cart and Nolan was in the child seat in a cart that my Mom was pushing.  His birthday is in a week and a half so I need to find something for him.  We went by the toy isle and I immediately was drawn to the popper that you walk bekind and push.  It shoots the balls dancing around inside the little dome.  Classic toy.  Nothing else seemed that great.  It all looks generic and just like the toys he already has.  And he has a lot!

We rounded the corner to see tennis balls the size of 4-square balls.  Nolan loves to carry his soccer ball around and drop it and chase it.  He also loves Annie giving him attention.  Anyway, he turned in the cart, stuck out his pointer finger at the rack of balls and clearly said "Ball".  My heart leaped with excitement.  He has been saying "Ball" for a few weeks, but there was never a definitive "yes that thing in you hand is a ball"  It was more like that is Annie and she likes balls.  He has been calling Anne, Ball.

How Cool!  Of Course I had to get it for him.  Most likely it will be a dog toy and get popped quickly.

Today he also began answering the question "What does Annie say?  with a "whoo whoo"  there isnt really an "f" at the end of his woof's but he is responding to the question which is amazing to me.

Every day there is so much change in him.  It is amazing to watch and a privileged to be his mommy and get to nurture him. 

New posts coming soon

Apparently it has been 5 months since I posted last. I'll try and fill in the details of Nolans first year soon.

Epic Fail

We are spending the weekend at young life's breakaway lodge. It is in seaside Oregon, and as you can imagine,the coast is not at it's finest in February. I decided I needed to go for a walk and get a mocha and take nolan to see the sand and the waves before we leave in a couple of hours. There was a light mist (other places might call this rain). We had a nice walk to the coffee shop and as we left the rain picked up and kept getting worse, and worse, and worse. I do want to say that Nolan was in his "bubble" waterproof stroller cover so he wasn't experiencing the elements quite like I did. We did find the water, or a path that led to the water. I could see the waves a couple hundred yards away. They were pretty enough. At this point the wind was howling and my "winter" pants were soaked through. I walked down the road that I thought would take us back to the lodge, but we were on the wrong street. Luckily Keith pulled up in the car after a few minutes of walking and gave us a lift back.

Epic fail trying to see the waves.

Hopefully when we are here for a month in June the weather will be a little nicer.

Back Update

I am six weeks out from having back surgery, and I would love to report that I feel 100%, but I can't quite yet.  I was doing great, incredibly well up to 4 weeks out, but then, like everyone who has had a surgery, I tried to do too much and spent an entire day at work then went to coach a soccer game and kicker a few balls at the goalkeepers (by a few I mean 5)  It didn't hurt right away, but I have been fairly stiff ever since.  The Doctor said that everyone does that and to take it easy for the next four weeks as well.
Keith is still doing as much as he can, and as much as I ask him to do.  The for me is just to ask, I am a do it my self type of person.
Today i am going to go and re-join the gym we belong to so I can start swimming Yeah!  I am very excited to get back into the pool, swimsuit not so much.  Rebuilding my core strength gradually is important, and swimming is a great way to start off slow. 

Nolans half birthday

I can't believe that six months have gone by already. What an amazing adventure parenting has been. I've learned, loved, and grown more in the last six months than any other time in my life. Being a mom had definitely changed my perspective on life. Happy half birthday Nolan!

The scariest moment as a parent so far

Tonight just like every night we put Nolan to bed in his crib. I wasn't very tired so I was still awake looking at facebook on my phone exile Keith was asleep. Nolan had been in bed for about 2 hours when he started screaming, not crying, screaming. I rushed in there to try and calm him but realized right away that there would be no calming here I scooped him up and immediately stared a shushing rock but he screamed and screamed. I couldn't get him to wake up he was crying so hard almost to the point of hyperventilating. Keith can running in he must have heard me saying "wake up Nolan wake up" through the monitor. I set him on the changing table and started to quickly take off his pajamas, now trying not to start crying myself I felt very helpless. My mind started to think about the emergency room and all the possibilities. I took off his diaper that had just ben wet and that seemed to help. That's when we realize that he has a small cut or crack on his (sorry to be crude) sack. He is still sobbing. I ran and found the aquaphor while Keith held comforted him and shushed him. What could we do? We found a spare of the old kind of diaper we used on him since we just switched to a new brand today. As I was running around looking for the diaper bag he peed again all over him pajamas but settled down a bit.
We are all in bed now. Keith asleep Nolan asleep. I'm wide awake terrified he's going to wake up in that pain again and knowing there really isn't anything I can do about it. Is this what they meant when he was born, " congratulations, you'll never get a good nights sleep again"