the twelfth month

Nolan turned one about two months ago! I can't believe how old he is getting! I've been so busy lately and haven't been able to update the blog as often as I'd like to.

Nolan had a great birthday! My brother Nathan was on spring break the week of Nolan's birthday, so my parents were able to come down with him and celebrate with us! We had a great time with them swimming and expolring some of Phoenix.

For Nolan's actual birthday, we decided to go to the Zoo. The Phoenix Zoo is huge and has tons of animals! It was so fun to show Nolan around. He either growled or barked at every animal. My parents even gifted us a zoo membership for Nolan's birthday. It only costs about $5 more than it would cost for 4 adult admissions -- and you get two free passes. Now we get to take Nolan to the zoo all year!

After the zoo, we came home for naps while I made dinner and Nolan's cake. We had baked ziti for dinner because I promised my mom a birthday dinner (she asked for lasagna) and Nolan loves pasta with any kind of red sauce.

Nolan's cake was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. This was about a week before my suspicion that Nolan is allergic to milk was confirmed. So, unfortunately, this was probably his first and last experience with cream cheese ... at least for the next few years. (hopefully he grows out of his allergy!). Anyway, he LOVED the cake and ate every last bite!

We then opened presents. Grandma and Grandpa B. got Nolan some cute outfits and some books, uncle Nate got Nolan a mini soccer ball, and we got Nolan his own mini laptop, a giant animal book, and some magnets for the fridge. He loves all of his gifts! He even got a card with a puppy on it from his Nana and Pap pap. He loved the card and ran around giving the puppy kisses all day! The card came with a check which we opted to use to open a savings account for him. He doesn't really need any more gifts and we wanted to start a tradition of giving him money to save every birthday.

The best part of the whole evening was probably when we brought out the balloons. I had wanted to get them filled with helium, but we didn't end up having time to find a place to do it for us. But, I'm glad it turned out that way because Nolan was so funny when he saw them! He tried to grab one but it bounced away, so he started chasing after them and trying to tackle them. Of course, they'd always pop out of his grasp so he'd have to keep going after them. It was so hilarious to watch! He was so serious about the whole thing! It didn't even look like he was having fun! Luckily my parents got it on video. I'll have to see if I can get a copy to upload. 

After all of the festivities, we put Nolan down for the night and I ended up going to bed early as well with a migraine. Too much heat, sun, and stress for one day! But, I'm so glad Nolan had a great day!