Happy shop 'til you drop day!

We just had to post the pictures below. The first one is Tessa when she was six weeks old. My dad is holding her when we went to the Circus World in Baraboo. The second picture is Nolan last night, 9 weeks old. Kind of crazy how much they really do look alike! After we took the picture last night I swore we had one like that of Tessa...and sure enough we did!

Gotta love the day after Thanksgiving! I woke up this morning with a text from Jess at 3:20am saying, "I'm on my way. Call me." Oh boy, let the day start. I better get my butt out of bed and get shopping! So each year we love to go right away. Right away used to be around 5:00am when the stores opened, but stores opening at 4:00am...really!? Or even stores opening at midnight!? That's ridiculous. Ridiculously crazy and fun enough that we'll be there. I could have come home this morning at 8:00am with most of my Christmas shopping done. But instead I continued to shop and shop just because that's what everyone else was doing. If you went shopping this morning I hope that you didn't get trampled, sworn at, or broke. The day after Thanksgiving can be a dangerous day.

Nolan snuggling with Uncle Bryan. We love when Bry comes home to visit from San Diego but it's always so hard to have him leave again!

Tessa and Sadie holding hands in the car on the way to the holiday light parade last week. So cute...

Anyways, everything in our household is going really well. Nolan continues to grow bigger and bigger and Tessa has been a big sweetie-pie. We continue to keep Nolan away from crowds of people. It was suggested that we keep him home until February. I'm not sure we will be able to do that but we've been pretty good for the last month so really what is another 2 months?! He does have a little cold but so far it hasn't turned into anything worse than that. Last night he had the longest stretch of sleep that he's had yet. He slept from 9:00pm until 3:45am this morning. I guess he wanted to go shopping with me so he set his internal alarm clock! I'm heading back to work next Wednesday so I will be busy snuggling with Nolan and chasing Tessa around until then. The time that I have to go back to work came up so quickly!

What does the word cousin mean?

Too cute not to share! Yesterday evening Tessa, Nolan, and I went to play with Jess and the kids. Jess graciously offered to have us stay for dinner. I had already made something at home for dinner but that was no big deal. I'd just put it in the fridge when we got home and save it for another day. We were playing away in their toy room (which is like heaven for any kid) and I thought to myself "did I turn off my burner on my stove". I had to run home and check because my postpartum brain wasn't able to figure out if I had turned it off or left it on. No use in worrying so home I went to check. Mason and Marah joined me for the ride while Mitchell, Tessa, and Nolan stayed back to play. We were gone for about ten minutes while Jess got the camera out and Mitchell snuggled with Nolan. By the way, the burner was off! :)

While we were gone Mitchell had a heart to heart with Nolan. Mitchell asked Nolan what he thought the word cousin meant. Mitchell responed by saying that a cousins are "best friends that just live in different houses". Too cute. We are so lucky to have our kids grow up with Jessie and Beau's kids. Instantly, they have become best friends. Mitchell is such a great big cousin. (Mason and Marah are too!! Marah tends to have evil eyes when we are around with Nolan but she is warming up to him!!)

Two Month Weigh In...

Who needs a "gaga" when you have a thumb. A rare moment of thumb sucking caught on tape.






















Mommy and Daddy's little helper!

















It was hard work getting poked three times this morning at the doctor!


Tessa is such a great big sister! She helped take Nolan to the doctor this morning for his two month appointment. She did a great job helping out but a bit nervous when it was time for Nolan to have his shots (3 of them...so sad! He had a difficult time getting our breath back a few different times today at the appointment which was SOOOOO scary. The nurse didn't seem too concerned but I was about to scream). Tessa hid in the corner until she came running over to hold his hand saying to him "you are okay buddy". She was a very good mommy's helper today at the doctor!


Nolan weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds 1 ounce!! Go Nolan! Unfortunatley, his weight and height are off of the charts but his head is on the charts in the fifth percentile. We are used to being off of the charts with Tessa...but now we are off of the charts in the other direction. :) He is very much acting like a newborn, which is expected. We had to say no to a majority of the questions that were asked today regarding what Nolan was doing at 8 weeks of age. I'm going to keep working on that smile though. I'm going to get one someday soon. We aren't worried about him catching up so don't get me wrong when I keep saying that he is acting like a newborn and not doing what an 8 week old should. Even full-term babies have a difficult time always doing what they should at a certain age. I'm just giving the details, that's all. If he does have a difficult time catching up to his age, we won't talk about it when he can understand what is going on. Until then, I think it's okay to verbalize what's going on. He's perfect in our eyes (or course Tessa too) and so proud of him and how far he's come. This little guy has been through a lot in his eight short weeks of life. Not to mention that for one month before he was born that the "water in his swimming pool was constantly being drained out". No one wants to swim in a pool with a leak at the bottom! That would be hard work. :)

It's hard to believe that it's been a week since we made a post! Everyone is doing really well in our household. It seems that the germs have escaped our house without getting Nolan...YIPPEE! He does have this little eye infection that doesn't seem to want to go away but it really doesn't seem to bother him. We went into the doctor again last week and he weighs 8 pounds 11 ounces. In my eyes he is getting really big but in reality he's still a little munchkin! He is definitely still acting like a newborn rather than an 8 week old. He is still sleeping a lot and is starting to have some awake periods. He's starting to have some fussy periods in the evening but during the day he is content as can be. My mom said that he cooed at her two times last week but I didn't see it. Karen was her proof that it happened but maybe mom paid Karen to agree. :)

We went on our first official outing yesterday. We've ventured to Grandma and Grandpa's and Aunt Jessie's, but that is about it until yesterday. Nolan, Tessa, and I packed up the car and headed to Hartland to the Lodi football game. We thought it would be an okay place to take him since we were outside the entire time and the temps were in the 50s. It was nice to finally go somewhere with him. Once the temps drop we will be once again spending a majority of the time at home. We are still a bit hesitant to take him around large groups if we are inside. Too many germs around to risk it right now. I'll be heading back to work in a few weeks and he'll be spending his days either with my mom or my sister. We are soooo lucky for that! It will be an adjustment to get back into the routine of things but it's reality. Back to the real world where my brain hasn't been for 6 months!

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall and that you've been able to get out and enjoy the weather like we have.

Wow the weather was great today! We finally were able to get out of the house with Nolan because it was so nice. We made sure to not take him in anywhere and to just stay outside in the fresh air. We went to the park in Baraboo to visit the animals, play in the park, and have some ice cream. Of course we took the ferry to get there which Tessa was SOOO excited about.




















Here is what our little guy looks like with his leads on. He has to wear this belt with the leads and be on the monitor for at least one more week. Hopefully they will give us the all clear by next weekend. We can't wait for him to be completely disconnected. He's been such a great baby. He cries when he's hungry, when he needs to be changed, when he's tired, and when we have to change his leads and put his belt back on. We can't wait for the monitor to disconnected from Nolan...soon!




















Here's Tessa just playing outside in our backyard enjoying the weather. She loves jumping in the leaves and she went down her slide about 100 times into the pile of leaves. We love being outside enjoying this great weather!

A fun fall day at the park. Tessa loving swinging on her belly with Marah and Mason while Nolan just hangs out (once again in the background). We can't wait to get out this weekend to enjoy the 60 degree temps!


It's almost been one week since I've done a post. Time flies when you're having fun! It's been a great, uneventful, quick week here in our household. Nolan went back to the doctor on Monday for his first RSV shot. He will be getting a total of two shots. The shot lasts for about 30 days. He was given one for the month of November and will be given another one to last for the month of December. When Tessa was 6 months old she had RSV. She was a very healthy baby and when she had RSV it was quite scary. Many sleepless nights for Derek and I as we just watched her sleep making sure she didn't struggle to breath (which is exactly what happened when Nolan was born). I don't even want to picture Nolan getting it. For a little munchkin who is still on a monitor because of the lung disease that he had, it would be a very scary sickness. So much to worry about this winter...RSV...Influenza...H1N1... I'm sure he'll dodge each sickness that comes his way. He's already proven to us how resilient he can be and how strong he is.


He continues to grow and grow. On Monday when we went to the doctor he weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce. I know he's even bigger than that now. He has to be at least 8.5 pounds. He's starting to get the cheeks that Tessa always had (or still has). It's so great to see him putting on the weight and to see the rolls forming on his body. He's going to be one healthy boy in no time. Let's hope it doesn't take him long to catch up. He is still in the 3% for his weight and if he keeps growing like he is, that number will go up quickly!


Tessa is doing so well. She has been a bit quiet lately but I think she still isn't feeling 100%. She is such a sweet girl (with some spunk) and it's been so fun to be home with her while I am on my leave. I'll be returning to work on December 2. While I'm looking forward to heading back it will be difficult to leave the kiddos. The good thing is that Christmas break will only be three weeks after I return where I will have another two weeks off.


Enjoy the great weather this weekend!