Nolan strikes again

Today I hosted a playdate brunch for a few of my friends and all of our kids. We had so much fun! There were 9 kids (8 boys and 1 poor girl!) ranging from the age of 5 to 14 months. They all had so much fun and played incredibly well together. And all of us moms had a great time visiting and getting to know each other.
Well right before everyone got here, I was cooking in the kitchen and the boys were playing so nicely in the living room, or so I thought. Nicholas had asked me if he could take a quick video using the flip camera and I had said he could. He then comes back to proudly show me the video he captured. I pressed play, only to discover that he captured Nolan as he wrote all over the ottoman with a pen. Needless to say, I was not happy with either my artist or my filmographer! Here is the lovely video for your enjoyment: http://youtu.be/YLRROWACO7s
On a side note, on Sunday while at Aunt Ashley's house after a quick swim, I went to change in the bathroom and little Nolan had to join me of course. As I was washing my hands, I turn to find him throwing all of my clothes that I was about to change into, into the toilet! Had to add another toilet story for the blog. I sure hope this entire blog isn't going to turn into nothing but misbehavin' Nolan stories!

Boys will be boys...

Lately I have been feeling like Nolan has made it his personal calling to indoctrinate me into life as a Mom of boys. It almost feels like I didn't have a boy until Nolan came along. Don't get me wrong, Nicholas loves cars, trains, Transformers, and trucks as much as any other boy, but he's such a sweetheart and a pleaser and doesn't like to get messy, so I really don't have any crazy "boy" stories with him (that I can think of). Essentially, he's a first-born to a T. Now along comes Nolan and I feel like I have a new crazy or disgusting story each day! It started probably 7 months ago, when Nolan was just 1, when it was Nolan who started to loudly pass gas and then laugh, teaching his older brother the art of the fart joke! In fact, Nicholas didn't even know the word for passing gas (or farting, toot, bottom burp, or barking spiders as some have been known to refer to it). All he knew was that whenever that would occur I would say to him "Say excuse me". So I cracked up when one day, sitting at the lunch table the boys entered into a contest if you will, and Nicholas laughed and turned to me and said, "My excuse me was louder than Nolan's excuse me!"
Now I have mentioned on here how Nolan likes to keep me on my toes and is always into everything. Well about a month ago he added the toilet to that list! It started out with him playing in the water--gross!! And one time I caught him at the last second before he dunked my hair brush into the toilet! But the grossest thing yet happened the day after we got back from the beach. We were all hanging out in our bedroom when Nolan went into our bathroom and closed the door behind him. He was in there for a mere 30 seconds before coming out and coming over to me. I touched his head to realize that he was soaking wet. I couldn't imagine how it happened and went to investigate, only to find water splashed all over the toilet seat. Somehow he had managed to dunk his head and shoulders in the toilet!! Thankfully he has not touched the toilet since then and I hope his interest has waned.
Last week I added yet another wonderful story to my list as I was changing his diaper. As I was putting some diaper cream on him, he loudly passes gas (I promise this is not the only thing my child does, it just happens to be incorporated in all of these wonderful stories) and thought it was the funniest thing ever. So of course during the next diaper change he decides to recreate the humorous moment. He strains to do so but is unsuccessful, instead he manages to force himself to pee all over me! I start screaming and telling him no, which only makes him laugh and try harder. He peed on me 3 times before I managed to get a dry diaper on him! He continued to try to do this at the next few diaper changes but thankfully I was able to avoid the spray ;) I can only imagine the stories that I will add to this colorful list as he grows!
Over the weekend, Nicholas fully embraced his boyhood on his special alone weekend with Grandad and Kaki. He had such a wonderful time swimming in the pool and the hot tub, playing at their house, and going to Chuck E. Cheese. But the most exciting parts of the whole weekend were catching toads in the pool and going walking on a trail with Grandad where he taught him how to shoot a BB gun and they even saw a cow skull (and shot at it). I know he made so many wonderful memories during that special time with them. And back at home, we enjoyed our rare one-on-one time with Nolan. We had a low key weekend but Graham did enjoy taking him to Catch Air while I hosted a baby shower at the house.
Despite the craziness, or probably even because of it, I love everything about my wild boys!

Sensational Summer

Well summer is halfway over now and we sure have had a blast! The first month of summer Nicholas had a very busy schedule. First he had a week of Space Camp at his school that he loved. He loves his school so much that he doesn't understand why he has this silly long break called Summer and many mornings he still asks me if he gets to go to school that day! That first weekend in June, Graham and I escaped for a wonderful weekend up in Dahlonega. The boys had a blast at Mimi and PopPop's while we relaxed at a Spa, visited winerys, hiked to waterfalls, and enjoyed shopping and delicious meals. It was a much appreciated getaway!
We returned home to start the very busy week of Mt. Pisgah's VBS. I was a crew leader for Nicholas and 13 4 year olds. Nicholas had a little bit of a difficult time handling the loud music at first and the jam-packed activities, but he did better as the week went on and ultimately loved it! It was totally exhausting for me but I have some wonderful memories and it was great to be able to share the experience with Nick.
That weekend we celebrated Nicholas' 4th birthday! It was truly a wonderful birthday party, I could not have asked for a better experience. The party was at Farmhouse in the City and the kids had a great time with the animals, playing dress up, painting pottery, getting their face painted, hunting for candy, and of course enjoying a delicious Transformers cake. After the party, all of the family enjoyed a great pizza birthday dinner. I cannot believe my firstborn is 4 years old! I also can't believe how much Nicholas has grown up in this year. He is truly a boy now, no longer a baby, and he reminds us (and everyone he comes in contact with) of this every day. He is constantly pointing out "I'm 4 now, I'm a kid now" and he'll frequently ask, "Is this for 4 year olds?" about anything and everything I might offer him like toys, books, movies, even food sometimes. He lights up my world and I am so thankful for the wonderful, loving boy he is!
The following week Nick enjoyed yet another VBS, this time at the church where he goes to preschool. He enjoyed this one as he got to be with 2 of his closest friends from school. And I enjoyed not having to work at this one and getting to spend some one-on-one time with Nolan.
That next weekend was spent celebrating all of the Father's for Father's Day as we spent the weekend with Grandad on Saturday and then PopPop and Papa on Sunday. We are so blessed to have such amazing Daddy's and Grandpa's all around!
Other fun things that we've been doing this summer include spending lots of time with our great neighbors. I started a walking group and we get out almost every morning with our friends to get some exercise. I have also been watching our neighbor's little boy Brandon every Monday which has been fun for all of the boys.
Then last weekend we traveled to Tybee Island with Grandad and Kaki, Lauren, TJ and Trip and Mady. It was such an amazing trip--I wish we were still there! Grandad and Kaki rented a fabulous beach house that we enjoyed so much! It was just a short walk to the beach and we spent every morning at the virtually private beach. The house had a great porch with a hammock and dining table, a terrific living room/kitchen area, 5 bedrooms, and a rooftop patio complete with hot tub. I think the best part of the trip was having all of the kids together for so many days to play. Nicholas and Trip were inseperable and got to share a room and never fought once the whole trip. Mady enjoyed lots of cuddle time with each of the adoring adults and jumped right in to the boys playing when she wanted. And Nolan was his normal self, getting into everything and being a total ham. In spite of Nolan's major sleeping (screaming) problems, it was a terrific trip. We really never needed to leave the beach house/beach, which is a good thing because we discovered that there is not much to do on the actual island. The restaurants weren't very good and the shopping was downright horrible. The guys did enjoy going to a museum one day and taking the kids to the lighthouse/fort another day. We enjoyed watching fireworks from the roof each night as we could see them from all directions and one of the most magical moments was 4th of July evening when we went out to the beach and saw what must have been 20 dolphins swimming very close to shore. With the beautiful shrimp boat and birds just behind the dolphins and the sunset in the backdrop, it was breathtaking! This trip was truly memorable and we are so thankful to Grandad and Kaki for making it happen!
P.S. I love the picture I included here of Grandad and Kaki trying to wrangle up all of their grandkids into one smiling picture for the photographer--Classic! "Like herding cats!"
(Sorry for all of the pictures! There were just too many good ones to pass up!)

May musings

So while most of May has been spent sick at home, I do have a couple of things to post for May. The biggest event being the end of the school year complete with music program and class parties. I can't say enough wonderful things about Nick's teachers and class this year. He loved every minute of it and learned and grew SOOO much! He made so many close friends and his teachers, Ms. Shefali and Ms. Jami are so special to him. I am so thankful for such a great year! Thankfully Nicholas was feeling well enough to head back to school on the day of the Music Program. He did so great up there singing 5 songs! He loves music and singing so much and he sings these songs all the time at home but it was wonderful to see him up there singing so loud with all the hand motions included. They sang "His Banner Over Me is Love", "My Father's House", "Happy, Happy Easter", "I am wonderfully made", and "The Goodbye Song". I have never been able to upload videos directly to this blog for some reason so I decided to post the videos to youtube so check out these two links to see Nicholas singing. The first is a short song that his class sang to the parents before his Easter Egg Hunt and the second is the music program. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip2GfvtQqHg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TogK3cfdA0
The next day we threw an end of the year field day party. It was lots of fun with all different games and outdoor stations. I manned the bubbles and then the face painting. It was super messy but tons of fun. The hardest part was managing Nolan during this entire time. He spent the entire time running from the field back to the school and it was a group effort with all the parents who helped me to chase after him and keep him corralled while I sat painting kids faces. After the games all of the families were invited for a picnic lunch. It was nice to spend some tine with all of the different families that I have gotten to know this year. Sadly, Nicholas missed his last day of school because he was sick but I'm glad he got to participate in the party and program.
I also wanted to post a picture of our house makeover and the sweet baby cardinal that was born right outside our back deck. Unfortunately it was a very bad nest location and Baxter spent his days tormenting the nest and Graham eventually had to move it but I got some good shots with my great zoom on my camera. And just a few minutes ago I discovered that they have laid a new nest full of 3 eggs in my hanging ferns out front so hopefully those babies will make it out all right.
Lastly, I have to share pictures of precious Mady at her 3 year old birthday party from last week. She was the perfect princess and we had so much fun at her music party! I can't believe she is already 3! How time flies!

April 2011

Let me catch you up on what I've missed blogging about these months... For Spring Break, Mom, Ashley, Carol, Kristin and myself met in NYC for an amazing girl's trip!! It was such an incredible trip, just nothing but fun--great food, shopping, seeing the sights, great Broadway shows, an amazing hotel room, and wonderful memories with my favorite girls! I was so thankful for the opportunity to go on the trip. Graham, Butch, and Kathy were so kind to have the boys while I was gone and I know they all had so much fun too! Nicholas started Weeball (Tball) and was a natural! He loved the game and was so good at it too! Even though he was one of the youngest on the team of 3, 4, and 5 year olds, he was probably one of the most focused and into it. We were so proud of him! We were excited to celebrate Grandad's birthday in April by meeting everyone in Athens for the G-Day Spring game! The day would have been great fun except poor Nolan got sick with a fever so I had to leave early and come back home with him (he turned out to have Roseola). But everyone else had a great time at the game (Nicholas' first time to Sanford Stadium!) then having a picnic on North campus and ringing the victory bell! Easter was a wonderfully blessed occasion again this year as we celebrated our Risen Lord. Nicholas had some fun Easter activities at school and we did an Easter Egg hunt with our Sunday School Class. Our church service and the time spent with family were very special as well. The best part of Easter this year was how much Nicholas understands and sharing the story of Christ's resurrection with him. His favorite song that he continues to sing everyday even now is "Happy Happy Easter, Jesus is Risen". We also made big changes to our house in April and had repairwork done and had the house painted! I love the changes and think it really gave the house a makeover! Graham has worked so hard on getting the yard to look beautiful and I've even gotten into planting flowers and a small vegetable garden. As for the boys, Nolan definitely entered into a challenging phase! I know I ate my words from my previous blog in March about how wonderful things were. He is in to absolutely everything and his most favorite thing in the world to do is to terrorize his brother! He beats up on Nicholas all day long and sweet Nicholas never lays a hand on him. Nolan pokes him in the eye, hits him, bites him, takes his cups, etc. He's also a climber and has learned how to climb on our bed and all the living room furniture. He learned how to open doors and he loves getting into all of the things in the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. He is the biggest ham too! He has the most adorable smile that he is always flashing at us and is always trying to get us to laugh. He loves finding any clothes around the house and putting them on his head and walking around laughing (this includes underwear and my bathing suit!!). He loves bags and baskets, anything with a handle that he can put on his arm and shoulder and he walks around the house saying "Byebye Mama" over and over--it's adorable! But even with all this craziness he remains to be my cuddlebug and is still always wanting me to hold him so he can lay his head on my shoulder. I spend every evening cooking one handed with my 28 pound cuddlebug in my arms! Nicholas is in an amazing phase these days. As he gets closer and closer to 4, it just gets better. He talks and talks nonstop about everything and just loves all that he has learned at school. It's been incredible watching him grow and learn along with him!

Where do I even begin...

Well it's been two months since I've posted anything on the blog and I've had good reason--it has been nuts around here!! After Spring Break and our fabulous trip to NYC, life went into hyperdrive with all of the end of the year activities for school. Being room mom to Nicholas' class I had a lot to do. Multiple parties and programs to plan, teacher gifts, and the most time demanding were photo albums that I had to make for all of the kids plus the 2 teachers--13 in all. Well I believe the stress of all of it caused us to get sick. We are now entering into the 4th week of the boys and I being sick and I'm about to go insane!! It started with Nicholas getting a cold that turned into an ear infection and pink eye for him. Nolan got his cold and then I did. My cold turned into the worst sinus infection I've ever had (and I've had a lot). The pain was so great throughout my sinuses and into my jaw and teeth! I had to go to the doctor 3 times and finally the second round of antibiotics and shot gave me some relief. (I'll still be on the antibiotics for a while and I'm not 100% but much better. I'm going to an ENT doctor as soon as possible to get my sinuses checked out.) During the midst of my pain and on Nick's last day of school, he woke up with what I thought was a 24 hour stomach bug. The next day, Nolan spiked a high fever that lasted for 2 days and was a pitiful sick little boy. Ever since then, Nicholas has continued to complain of head aches and stomach aches so I took him back to the doctor today to learn that what he is really suffering from is Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease!! Are you kidding me??!! So thus begins our fourth week of solitary confinement in hopes to get rid of these very contagious germs and not spread anymore to our friends. I am mortified that we went to Mady's 3rd birthday party on Saturday and church yesterday, unaware what we were carrying around with us! I pray that no one else will get sick.
I have to say that dealing with these illnesses like this is one of the hardest parts about being a mom to me. You just want to make your babies feel better immediately and so often there is so little you can do. It also always takes SO long for everyone to recover and when I'm so sick too on top of everything (which is always the case) it just makes it that much harder. But the one thing that being sick forces us to do is for us to hop off of the busy train of life and do nothing but stop and rest and take care of each other. There's nothing like the cuddles and hugs that you get and knowing that the most important things in my life are lying in my arms.

March moments

March has always been my favorite month, being my birthday and anniversary month, but this March has been really special this year. Graham and I celebrated our 7 year anniverary yesterday and tomorrow brings my 30th birthday. As I enter into this new decade in my life, I am overcome with gratitude for the life I lead and the blessings God has given me. My twenties were wonderful--I fell in love, graduated college, started my career in social work, got married, became a mommy twice over, made many wonderful friendships, and had so many wonderful memories. Of course there were hard times too, but it was through those times that God's love shined even brighter, and I am thankful even for those hard times. But I am looking forward to my thirties with great expectancy of what God will do in my life and the life of my family during these years. I have to say that I have felt God's hand on my life more so in these past three months than I can ever remember. It's not in one particular way that these 3 months have been different, but rather in a million different ways that God is showing me that he is transforming me in ways that I don't yet understand. The wonderful thing is that I see this in Graham's life too and it is so exciting to be a part of. I'm living in a state of expectancy now, excited for what He has in store for us.
Life with the boys has been particularly sweet these days. Nolan is just so much fun. He's not yet at the point of tantrums and other challenges that come as you get closer to 2, but yet he's not a "baby" any more either and he's just plain fun! He and Nicholas have so much fun playing and laugh all day long at each other. He's into everything and I can't keep the house clean, but that's the stage he's in. I love that he is still so cuddly and loves to snuggle up with his head on my shoulder. I pray that lasts for a long time!
Nicholas is in such a great stage now and it just keeps getting better the closer we get to 4. He has such a sweet heart and really tries hard to do the right thing. The poor guy was really tested last week though! At home, Nolan twice came up to him with a golf club and banged him on the head. Nicholas cried but did not do anything back to him in anger. On Wednesday while playing in the church nursery while I was at my "Growing Kids God's Way" class, a little girl bit him! It was just about time for the mommies to come so Nicholas told the other little girl, Katie, that it was time to clean up and they need to stop playing with the train table and get ready for their moms to come (is he a first born or what?). Well Katie didn't like that one bit, so she bit him on the arm. Thankfully it didn't break the skin but it did leave a bad bruise in the impression of Katie's entire set of teeth. Poor Nicholas was so scared and upset by this but he never did anything back to hurt her, instead he went up to her sobbing and told her he was sorry! Then on Friday at school, his two little buddies hit him in the stomach and scratched him. Again, he never did anything back to them in anger and was very proud to report that he did the right thing and was a friend to them. We are so proud of him for the little boy he is and how much he's growing and understanding. I think one of my favorite things of parenting is sharing our faith with him and seeing him start to understand biblical concepts and God's love. He has a heart for God and I can't wait to see what God will do in and through him.
So here's to March and the blessings it brings (if only it didn't come with pollen too!)