want, need, wear, read

As per my previous post, we have decided to limit our Christmas gifts to four items that fit in the categories: something you want, something you need, something to wear, and something to read. Below are some of the things we want that fit in each category!

WANT:

Scott is really excited to get the last game in his favorite video game trilogy!

Since  laptop died about a year ago, I've been having to wait until Scott gets home if I need to use a laptop. Since I started my new job, I really need access to a computer more often. ...AND it would be really nice to have a new laptop! :)

Nolan gets excited about any new toy. I get excited about these colorful wooden toys. I'm all for getting Nolan something wooden instead of plastic so that it has less chemicals and will last longer! I love this cute little crane and block set from Ikea. The blocks have magnets on them so they can be picked up by the crane.

NEED:

I have started cutting Scott's hair to save a little money. We have some clippers but no shears. We've been using regular scissors and to be honest it's just not cutting it! Scott needs some real shears!

I need a foam roller to help me stretch out my leg muscles. My brother Nathan has one that I tried out and it is so much better than the stretches I learned in physical therapy!

Nolan has just about outgrown his infant car seat...and we will be returning it to my sister-in-law who is having a baby in January. We will be getting him a convertible car seat so we can keep him rear facing hopefully until he turns two.

WEAR:

Scott would like some new dress slacks for work.

I would love this cute necklace engraved with Nolan's name. And I can add more when I have more kids!

Scott picked out this superhero shirt for Nolan to grow into!

READ:

Scott is looking forward to reading the final book in the Wheel Of Time series!

I'd really like to read this book by an American mother about the great ideas she learned about French parenting.

Nolan loves lift the flap books. I'd love to get him any flap book about Christmas.

 SANTA:

This year, Santa will be bringing Nolan this cute little rocking moose! :)

simplifying christmas

I LOVE Christmas! It is one of my absolute favorite times of the year. I love all of the Christmas decorations, all the Christmas music, all the feel good movies (even the Hallmark ones!). I love baking and I love all of the treats I only make at Christmas time. I love getting the perfect gift for someone and I love doing service for others. There are so many opportunities to do good this time of year, but I think there are also so many opportunities to give in to commercialization and to turn the holidays into a time of greed.

I am SO excited to have Nolan around for Christmas this year! Something about having my own "tiny tot" has made the season even more exciting! Scott and I have been talking a lot about trying to make the Christmas season about getting rather than receiving. We don't want to spoil our kids with presents; we want to teach them the true meaning of the season.

So... we've decided on a few things we want to do to minimize the worldliness of the season. We want to start by setting a limit on gifts. We decided that each year our kids will get a stocking and one present from Santa. As parents, we will give them each four gifts: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read. We will probably also to a Christmas Eve family gift box every year that will include pajamas, a Christmas book, maybe a Christmas movie, hot chocolate, and maybe another fun treat. We will probably make these different every year. We feel like this will be PLENTY of gifts since they will also get things from their grandparents and cousins.

We also want to make sure that we do some sort of service project every year. We really want to emphasize how important it is to help others. Scott and his siblings decided last year that instead of getting gifts for each other, they wanted to donate the money they would have spent to a good cause. We ended up buying gifts for a family in my sister in laws ward. I'm not sure what we're going to do this year, but I would really like to help out some of the families in our ward as some sort of service project.

Anyway, I'm really excited about the ideas we've come up with although they will probably change over the years as we adapt to our growing family.

the eighth month

Nolan turned eight months old yesterday! Part of me can't believe he is already eight months and the other part feels like he's been a part of our family for so much longer! Here are a few things that have developed over the past month:

Nolan has become SO mobile. He loves to crawl all over the place and usually follows me wherever I go. Most people talk about how awful it is when they become mobile, but I like that he can get around by himself and find things to play with - except when he gets into things he shouldn't. :) We're learning to always keep the bathroom doors closed and to keep anything we don't want him getting into off of the floor.

Not only is this little guy crawling like a champ, he is also pulling himself up onto his feet on anything and everything. He will take a few steps while holding onto furniture, but he usually gets down and crawls since its faster. He loves to walk if we hold his hands though!

The past couple weeks have been rough around here. Scott brought home a cold that I got from him and then gave to Nolan. Just as that was clearing up, Nolan caught another bug during Thanksgiving. He ended up with a fever for a few days and is now left with congestion and a cough. I think he might have croup so we've been keeping him away from any other little kids. He also gave me this cold so we've both been home sick.

Despite his illnesses, Nolan is a pretty happy guy most of the time. He has been babbling up a storm over here! He says "dada" all the time, but I'm not sure he knows what he is saying quite yet. He is always repeating the sounds I make though and it sounds like he is trying to say different words like "okay" and "alright". I can't wait for him to start talking to us!

Chasing Pookie around :)

 Nolan has learned to give kisses! It is my favorite thing! All you have to do is pucker up and say "can I have a kiss?" and he leans in and gives you a big sloppy open mouthed kiss! Its the best! :)

Nolan also got his first two teeth this month! Two little ones on the bottom. We definitely have to watch out now because he likes to bite our fingers!

Trying to see himself in the mirror

This month we moved him from three naps to two and it has been so much better! He used to take 3 naps that were 30-45 minutes. Now he takes two naps a day that are at least an hour if not 1.5-2 hours. It is SO much easier for me to get things done when I have two hours at a time!

Napping in mom's bed!

We have also been making SO much progress in finding out what Nolan is allergic to so that we can eliminate them from his (and my) diet. As I have started to eliminate things, his eczema has finally started clearing up! Yay! Nolan is definitely allergic to tomatoes. I actually think that he is allergic to an antioxidant in tomatoes called Lycopene. It is what makes tomatoes red. Lycopene is also in some other foods like watermelon, apricots, guava, red grapefruit, and asparagus. So...although its limiting our diets, at least now I know what to avoid. Here's to hoping his skin gets a lot better and he starts sleeping better!

Playing with dad's tape measure!

the seventh month

Apparently I'm pretty bad at getting these posts in on time! Nolan turned 7 months on the 5th. He has had quite a month developmentally. Things that are new to him this month:

- He has started eating 2 meals of solids a day

He loves colorful leaves!

- He went from scooting to rocking on his knees (then falling forward on his belly), to arming crawling, to actually crawling. He is now getting all over the place! - and getting stuck! After about a month of only being able to go backwards, he can now go forwards and has forgotten how to go backwards! He is always getting stuck places (like under the dinning room table!).

When I'm in the kitchen and I leave him on the floor in the living room, he can see me through the cubby hole in the wall. He tried to crawl over to get me, but instead of going around the table and into the kitchen, he always tries to go under the table and he gets stuck and hits his head on the chairs. Poor little guy!

- He is learning to pull himself up onto things. He will go from crawling to sitting back on his haunches. He has no succeeded in pulling himself up by the couch and on our TV stand.

- He still loves to eat paper and we have to work really hard to make sure there is never any in his reach. If he sees it, he will bee-line faster than I've ever seen him crawl! It's like he knows he isn't supposed to get it! :)

- Nolan doesn't care much about TV, except that he LOVES commercials. We don't have cable so we watch all over our TV either on our computer or on Hulu through our Xbox. So our commercial breaks are short. But as soon as they come on, Nolan stops whatever he does to watch them. We can't do anything to get his attention while they are on! What a silly boy! His favorites are ones that have catchy music and the gecko commercials.

First time playing with a ball!

- Nolan saw snow for the first time! It snowed for a couple days this past weekend and we got about 10in of snow. One of the trees in our complex was broken down and two others lost massive branches. But on the bright side, we took Nolan out the next day. He was curious and liked touching the snow, but he wasn't so sure about eating it. :)

After he ate some snow!

On a more negative note, Nolan's eczema has been getting worse lately. I think its probably a combination of the dry wintery weather we have been having and the new foods he has been trying. We found out (by trying it out as a skin treatment) that he is allergic to olive oil. Poor little guy started scratching like crazy and his skin turned all red and then he broke out in hives within 10 minutes of us putting olive oil on his eczema spots! Luckily my mom was here and she helped me clean him off quickly. Scott had just come home from work for lunch and we sent him out to pick up some baby Benedril. By the end of the day, Nolan seemed like he was back to normal. We're glad it didn't end up being more serious! Although he hasn't had a huge reaction to any of these, I think he is sensitive to mango, bananas, and tomatoes.

[=]

^This was Nolan's contribution to the post :) Did I mention he LOVES laptops??

Reading a bedtime story with Dad!

Nolan the Gnome! His first Halloween costume! All the kids at the ward Halloween party kept calling him Santa Clause :)

the sixth month

This is a picture of Nolan from last weekend, so he is a little older than 6 months, but it was so cute I had to include it! :)

I can't believe little Nolan is already six months old! Well - he's not so little anymore! I waited to post this until he had his 6th month check up. We keep getting farther and farther behind. He had his check up today and he's six and half months already. His stats this month were:

Height: 27 in (75th %)

Weight: 18 lbs 10 oz (75th %)

Head Circumference: 18.5 in (95th %)

Needless to say, he is getting so big! He even fits into some of his 12 and 18 month clothes. While I love having the chubbiest baby around, my back is ready for him to slim down a little! :) His cousin Carter who is 8.5 months came out to visit and we realized Nolan is now heavier than he is! But I think Carter is still a little bit taller. We'll have to see how they compare when we see them again in December!

This month, Nolan has continued to roll more and more, but he prefers to stay on his tummy and scoot around. I'm not sure that he means to go places, but he definitely gets all around the room during tummy time. He can get up onto his hands and knees and he rocks back and forth before lunging or collapsing onto his belly. Poor little guy gets so frustrated! He usually ends up going backwards and getting farther from whatever he is trying to get! :(

Nolan is becoming a little chatter box. Especially in the evenings when Scott and I are talking during dinner or just hanging out, he chats a long with us. He is super smiley and has started laughing more and more. He will now laugh at things we do instead of just when we do things to him. He loves it when we put him on our shoulders and walk around. He laughs and laughs as he bounces around (and hangs on to our hair). I'll definitely have to get a video of that soon! He is also super ticklish.

Nolan is getting better at playing on his own for longer. But he is starting to get into things he shouldn't. He loves cords of any kind and he will eat any paper/tissue left on the ground or the couch. I also loves anything that crinkles - especially plastic bags and wrappers. He has also decided that he loves his little bath toys so I let him play with those even when he isn't in the bath.

I heard Nolan yelling for me and I came and found him like this!

Another new thing for Nolan this month is that we started feeding him solids! I had originally decided to wait until he was six months old before feeding him any solids. But his appetite seemed insatiable! He would eat every 1.5-2 hours all day long and then get up a few times at night to eat. He was also super interested in anything and everything we were eating. It is also suggested that at about the time babies can sit on their own, they are also ready to begin eating. Nolan is now sitting like a champ! He will go for 10-15 minutes without falling over.

This is before he was sitting for very long on his own... I put the boppy around him to catch his falls.

Anyway, once he could go about 5 minutes or so I decided to try out a little food. It took him a couple feeding before he really caught on, but he loves eating now and doesn't like it if we are eating and he isn't he is eating first and second stage foods and his favorite so far was apple, blueberry, spinach. His least favorite are peas. He still ate them, but he would make a face after every bite! I think he might have had a reaction to mango so we won't be giving him that for a little while. His face got a little blochy after eating it.

Nolan's Great-Grandpa Butterfield also passed away this month. We were able to be there when it happened on 28 September. We then attended his funeral on Nolan's 6th month birthday, the 5th of October. It was nice to see Katie and Rory and Carter and many of my other relatives. I'll have to write more about the weekend in another post.


We love you little Nolan! You are the sweetest little guy. Even though you have been fussy the past month (we think you're teething), you are still a pretty happy baby (until about 6pm :)). I can't imagine my life without you and I am so glad I get to stay home and take care of you every day! We love you so much!

the fifth month

I can't believe Nolan turned 5 months old on 5 September! The time is just flying by! Before I know it, he will be running all over the place! It has been so much fun watching Nolan grow and learn. We love him so much and we can't imagine our family with out him! He is such a fun smiley little guy - at least most of the time!

A few things about Nolan this month:

- His favorite things to play with are paper, remotes (especially the x-box controller), and anything electronic (lap tops, cell phones, iPods, etc)

Trying to share dad's otter pop

- Smiles and laughs at people he knows - he laughs all the time when we tickle him and make funny noises! Its so adorable! :)
- He loves to play peek-a-boo

"I found you!!"

- When we're holding him, he loves to stand up and "jump" (we have to help with this one..)
- He wants to sit up so badly! He is working on it, but still can't do it for very long before he bends in half or falls over.

- He started rolling from his back to his tummy. He has pretty much stopped rolling from his tummy to his back. He'll just start yelling at me when he gets tired of his tummy. So I'll eventually help him roll over. Usually I'll come back over to check on him in 5 minutes or so and he is back on his tummy playing happily with his toys. :) I think he has realized its easier to play with things when he is on his tummy and can see them better!

Here he rolled off of the blanket I had him on!

- He loves to look at himself in the mirror. Sometimes I give him a mirror to entertain him during tummy time.

- He has become kind of clingy lately. He cries if someone he doesn't know holds him for longer than a couple minutes. He really prefers mom or dad to hold him when he is somewhere new/unknown.
- He loves to blow raspberries
- Nolan got ringworm this month - this combined with his eczema made for an itchy situation! Poor little guy! :(
- AND he will finally smile for the camera! Yay!

Our little Cougar!

An update on the sleeping situation: 

Nolan is not what you would call a good sleeper. He doesn't like to take his naps. A lot of the time I have to lay with him or hold him while naps. Which is hard on me since I can't use that time to be productive! He usually goes down pretty well at night (as long as I nurse him or rock him till he is mostly asleep), but he still wakes up every 2-3 (or maybe 4, if I'm lucky) hours. We can sometimes get him back to sleep without eating, but a lot of the time he just wants to nurse before he'll go back to sleep.

We moved him out of our room this month to see if it would help him sleep better if he weren't so close to me. It has helped me sleep better, but not Nolan. His sleep patterns have pretty much stayed the same. I know we need to teach him to fall asleep on his own, especially at night, but we live in a townhome complex and our walls are pretty thin. His nursery wall is shared with the neighbors baby and I can hear her crying sometimes. So I hate leaving Nolan to cry it out at 8pm when I know the neighbors are probably trying to get their baby to sleep as well.

I've just started taking some vitamin and mineral supplements to see if it will help. I know (from my energy levels) that my body has been depleted and I've had a hard time rebuilding since I'm still nursing. Hopefully this will help! If nothing else, it should help me feel better! I'll have to write a post about what I've been taking in a few weeks if they seem to be helping.

 Some other fun things that have happened this month:

Nolan has been able to get to know my family a lot better this month. My mom went to Education Week at BYU. She came down and stayed at our house for the week while she attended. It was fun to have her here to play with Nolan in the mornings and at night. By the end of the week, he was loving having her here! He would give her the biggest smiles whenever he saw her.

He loves sucking on his toes!

We also decided to go spend Sunday/Monday at my family's house for Labor Day weekend. We were driving up to have dinner with Scott's family anyway so we decided to spend some time there as well. It was great for Nolan to spend more time with my Dad and get to know him as well. AND my parents were kind enough to take Nolan in the morning so BOTH Scott and I could sleep in. This was SO nice. The night before, Scott and been working until 3am because of the mud slides in Saratoga Springs and Nolan had decided to get up ever 30-60 min so I hadn't gotten any sleep either. We had fun playing lots of games with my parents and my brother Nathan.

...He also loves sucking on my face...

Nolan and I have also enjoyed having my sister Megan come over a few times since she has started school at BYU. Its so fun to have a sibling close by again! :)

I trapped him behind some sheets so I could get the laundry changed...

I think he enjoyed it...

"Oh hey mom!"