Quick updates

Last week Nolan got his second tooth (still not able to get pictures!), had a laughing fit at the dogs chasing the tennis ball, and started waving bye-bye all of a sudden!! Here are a few cute videos - I know the videos of him laughing are pretty much the same, but I couldn't resist posting both of them....it just cracks me up how he kind of bounces up and down because he's laughing so hard :)

And yes, we are both video taping at the same time with the digital camera and the camcorder. We can't help it!

Exciting week!

Monday - I had a migraine and had to stay home from work. Awful! Brad took Nolan to daycare and forgot his bottles. They had extras to use in case that happens, but I thought it was funny! :)

Tuesday - I felt Nolan's first tooth!!! Woo hoo!! I couldn't see it until the next day, but it's definitely there. It's the bottom left. You can bet I'll be trying to get a picture of that sucker soon!

Wednesday - Nolan had his 9-month check-up with Dr. Zavadil. He was super active and talkative while we were there and even got into her lap for a few seconds. She said most babies she sees at his age won't do that.....our little social butterfly! He got a great report, everything looks good developmentally, he's ahead with some of his milestones and right on track with the others. Nolan weighs 19 lb. 6 oz. (30th percentile) and is 26 1/4 inches long (5th percentile). Dr. Mary's only concern was his height - he'd only grown 1/4 inch in 3 months. We're going to check it again at his 1-year check-up and if it isn't back up (at his 6-month it was in the 40th percentile) we'll have to do some 'investigating'.

Maybe she says this about all her patients, but she said Nolan made her day because he's always so happy and healthy! Made us proud :) He must have worn himself out because he zonked out in the car on the way back to daycare.

Thursday - Brad had to do some work on the rental house after work so we drove separate that morning. Good thing! Daycare called around 2pm and said our little guy had thrown up twice. Yuck. So I left work early and grabbed some Pedialyte on the way home. We played for awhile and he went to bed a little early, but not throwing up once we got home....yay! They said he'd be playing and everything would be fine, then all of a sudden, throw up everywhere! At least he wasn't really fussy....what a good boy :)

Friday - I stayed home with Nolan a couple extra hours to see how he was feeling before taking him to daycare around 9am. I was almost to work when I realized that I'd forgotten my computer at home....ugh! I drove all the way back home (about 30 minutes one way), got railroaded on the way, and headed back downtown. By the time I got to my desk I had a message from daycare saying Nolan had gotten sick again! So Brad left work early and hung out with Nolan the rest of the day. It must have been just a 24-hour bug or something because he's been fine ever since. Or else it was just a huge coincidence that he didn't throw up in front of either of us!

Nolan was supposed to spend the night with Grandma Cindy last night, so she stopped by to see how he was doing/feeling after work. He'd been fine since he was home with Brad and had even been eating like normal and keeping everything down. So Brad and I had a date night while he went to Grandma's! I still woke up at 7:30 this morning, but I guess that's better than 5am, right? And for the record, Brad's still asleep and it's 9:30! We'll go pick him up shortly but first I'm going to try and get the house cleaned.....fun!

And, also for the record, I'm finally caught up on my blog! Woo hoo!! Sorry, no pictures this time. I'm sure I'll get some good ones this week of Mr. Nolan....stay tuned!

Back to work and school!

After going to bed super early when we got back from the airport Sunday night, we settled in to a relatively normal week. Back to work and daycare like usual!

Well, sort of.....Nolan started in his new room at daycare last Monday! He began in the Purple Room and has now moved up to the Red Room. All the kids are in each room for 6 months until they're 18 months old. Fortunately, his teachers, Miss Erica and Miss Hannah move with them until they go into the preschool classes. There is a bigger play area in the Red Room and Nolan got a few new 'classmates' too. The biggest difference is that towards the end of his 6 months in the Red Room, all the kids will be eating lunch and snacks at a table together to teach them how to socialize during mealtimes. As if Nolan has a hard time being social.....haha :)

Not much exciting last week....whew! Here are some pictures of our little monster!

Bored with being handsome I guess :)

It's like I'm bothering him by taking his picture....again.....haha

This kid loves to get into things that aren't toys

Yes, I think it's ironic that I have a book called Colorado Mountain Ranges and we can look outside and see them!

He made it!

Another non-toy! He eventually needed some help getting out though....:)

Makeovers for Brinkley & Nuke

The day after Nolan and I left for Indiana, I had scheduled an appointment for Brinkley and Nuke at the groomer's. They needed a trim! Brad dropped them off at 10am - last time it took them pretty much all day, so that's what he expected this time. He told the groomer to do the same thing as last time, but he didn't remember (they hadn't been there since October!) so he asked if we wanted them shaved. Brad said yes, thinking he meant trimmed.

So the day goes on and late in the afternoon Brad starts to get a little worried. He called me to see if I thought he should call the groomer and check on the dogs. They were fine, of course. They didn't end up calling him until late that night, around 7pm! I'm sure Brinkley and Nuke were freaked out being there all day. But probably not as freaked out as Brad was when he picked them up!

Here's a 'before' picture from 12/14/07.....look how little Nolan is.......and how furry the dogs are!

And here are a few 'after' pictures.....Brad said he had to do a double take to make sure it was Brinkley when he picked them up!

Brad e-mailed me a couple pictures of them that night so I could see them. He felt so bad because they looked so funny! It's starting to grow on us though. :) Brinkley looks pretty good, but Nuke's head looks so much bigger than his body because they didn't shave his head. Apparently Chow's aren't supposed to be shaved that short, but oh well....it'll grow back! Their undercoat looks really rough, but it's actually very soft. I'm sure they're a lot cooler this summer, and it's made vacuuming a lot easier on us!

Random pictures

Front view of our cabin


































Molly feeding Collin

































Ready to get into something
































Brad and Kylie

































Kylie & Nicolas - the resort had an activity called Stuff n Fluff and they made an alligator and a horse. Kylie named hers Nolan :)






























Ryan and Nicolas

Molly and Kenzie

Nanny playing Dr. Mario on her Gameboy.....yes, it's actually her Gameboy! haha

Getting some sudoku time in

Brad, Dad, and Mom - I always have to play euchre when I'm home because no one in Colorado knows how to play!

The long road home from a great vacation!

After getting to spend some quality time with my parents Saturday afternoon/evening, we hit the sack early because we had to get an early start on Sunday. We were able to get on the road at 6am and made really good time back to Indy for our afternoon flight. Nolan was great in the car again! He's the best little traveler....it's a good thing! We ended up having a longer flight than what we expected, something about having to sit in a holding pattern because of some weather, but there wasn't any weather when we got here! We had plenty of time at the airport before our flight to let Nolan roam around, so he did end up sleeping a little on the way home.

We had a great time in Gatlinburg! We had our share of screaming kids, fighting siblings (both kids and adult siblings!), fighting cousins, arguing with parents, etc. that you could expect on an extended family vacation. But we also had our share of taking naps, playing games, swimming, swimming, and more swimming you can expect on vacation too! It's always good to get away for a few days. All in all, it was a successful 'fun family outing', and as my dad would say, "A good time was had by all!"

Shopping and.....more shopping!

Friday morning we realized that we hadn't taken a family picture, but Cary and Mark and the kids were getting ready to head back to Indiana and not everyone was awake yet! Maybe next year we'll get one as soon as everyone gets there....haha

After they got on the road, the girls all went to the outlet mall and we ended up being there all day!! The boys and Molly went out driving around and stopped a few places. Apparently Nolan didn't make a sound all day and was really good in the car. We were hoping he'd be that way on Sunday on our way home!

Saturday morning we all kind of relaxed for awhile. Then around noon or so, Ryan, Rhiannon, and the kids hit the road for Indiana. Mom, Dad, Brad, Nolan, and I took a drive to the Arts & Crafts district to do some shopping/browsing. It was nice - we found a few things and ended up finding a new restaurant we really liked. We added it to the list for future Gatlinburg trips!

Here are some pictures from Friday and Saturday:

Crazy bed head


























Not a happy camper :(































All better!

I didn't even realize the sticker on his foot until I saw it in a mirror while we were checking out the arts and crafts....haha

This is our cabin from the bottom of the hill. You can barely see us on the balcony!

Water Park pics

Here are some pictures from another day at the water park. Kylie and I weren't swimming this time, so she took these pictures. She did a pretty good job! Although she did take a picture of a cute lifeguard too....hmmmm, aren't you a little young for that Kylie?? Just kidding! :)

The stairs that go up to the 2 water slides. I rode them for the first time this year with Kylie and had a blast! Again, something I missed out on last year because I was prego!! (But I also didn't have the excuse of not doing it because I was prego! ha)


















One of the pools.


















The kids activity area. There's a huge bucket at the top that fills with water and every few minutes it dumps on a certain area. Nicolas LOVED the bucket! But anytime the water park was even mentioned, Molly would yell "No bucket! No bucket!" Hilarious!


















Lazy river


















Nicolas, Brad, Nolan, and Ryan in the lazy river


















They only had to go around twice and he was out like a light :)
























The funniest part of this picture is what's not in it. There's a huge picture of Dolly Parton with the founder of the resort we stayed at right above his crib in our room. I really meant to get a shot of that. Oh well, it's still funny to tell!

Scenic Drive

Thursday morning Brad took off to the Gatlinburg Golf Course to play a round. He had a good time, but said golfing there was a lot different than golfing here in Colorado. He didn't have his own clubs - Cary & Mark had brought a spare set for him to use - so I'm sure that made a difference. But he had a good time and I'm sure he needed some time away from our crazy family!! haha

The rest of us took a scenic drive through Smoky Mountain National Park. The Smokies are a lot different than the Rockies. The Smokies are very green and the Rockies are, well, rocky. The Rockies don't have nearly as many different types of trees, so it's a little more interesting for my dad to drive through the Smokies I think. He likes to play this game where he stops about every 10 feet to say "What kind of tree is that?" I told Kylie before we left not to ride with him....hahaha

Rhiannon & Ryan





















Of course Nolan fell asleep as soon as we started driving, but what's new. A little ways into the drive, most everyone got out to go on a hike. I don't hike. I'm just not a very outdoorsy person (plus I don't think the stroller would have made it too far). But I'm not the only one! Rhiannon, Kylie, Molly, Nolan, and I took one car and headed back to the resort until everyone else got back.



And then guess what we did???? The water park!!!!

Lost and found

When we got home from go-carting, of course we had to go to the pool! For some reason I wore one of my wedding bands to the pool that day, I normally just left all of them in the room. Anyway, I took it off to do the whole sunscreen thing on everyone and didn't think anything of it. After the pool we hit the water park for awhile. Both in one day, whew!!

We all got back to the room and changed clothes and were hanging out before dinner. I sat down to open my book again and realized I didn't have my ring. Then panic mode set in. Aghhhh!!! I checked the dresser and only one was there. I ran and told Brad and then raced down to the pool to look for it. I didn't find it anywhere, and I wasn't surprised, it had been hours since we'd been there. Then I checked with Lost and Found and Guest Services.....nothing. This whole time I'd kept it together pretty well until I got back to the room. All the kids and Brad were waiting for me on the steps and I just started sobbing!!!! It was horrible. I was so upset with myself. Brad hugged me and told me it would be okay, that he and my dad would go look for it. I just ran into my room and threw myself onto my bed and cried (I know, a little dramatic!). Then my mom came in and told me how she'd done the same thing with a gold necklace she had a long time ago. Rhiannon came in and said how she never takes hers off because she's so afraid of losing them. Just when I thought I was okay enough to go and face everyone (it was our night to make dinner, so I had to hold up my end of the bargain!) Ryan said one thing to me and I just started bawling all over again!!

I felt really bad because I could hear all the kids asking what was wrong, why was Abby sad, etc. I hadn't meant to upset them, I'm just not very good at hiding my feelings I guess. Finally Brad came back in the room and said he'd left our phone number with Guest Services in case they found anything. I was still so upset with myself. Then he said that they wouldn't need our number because he'd found it!!! He had it on his pinky finger and held it up!! I was so mad at him for messing with me, but I didn't even care at this point. He and my dad had been digging through the mulch around the pool when a car stopped and asked if they'd lost something. He explained and they held up my band and asked if that was it. They were on their way to lost and found to turn it in. He thanked them and asked if he could buy them dinner!

Cary & Mark had been gone during this whole ordeal, but as soon as they came back she knew something was wrong. I told her the whole story and she said she could tell I'd been crying. Wow, I must be totally readable!!! haha (Like I didn't know that already!)

So my trip could have been horrible after that, but it was a great end to a long couple of hours (if it was even that long). Thank God for honest people! We said an extra thank you during the prayer that night before dinner. :) I told Brad if he saw that couple during the rest of our trip to point them out to me - I wanted to say thank you too!!

The Track

Another tradition that carried over from last year is The Track - a go-cart, mini-golf, kiddie-carnival extravaganza! We headed there Wednesday morning with the whole gang and had a blast!! This first picture of Nolan and Kenzie is about the only time Nolan was awake while we were there - he zonked out shortly after we got there. I'm not sure how he stayed asleep since it's so noisy, but he definitely needed the nap that day! Mom said she was sorry it was kind of a lost morning for me, but go-carts aren't really my thing, so I was happy to watch the kids having fun and taking some pictures. Besides, last year was really a lost day for me - I didn't have the option of riding since I was prego! Gees, how fast a year goes, huh?

Playing with Kenzie in the double stroller....

....and 'checked out', as Papa would say. :)

Nicolas, Collin, & Molly on the kiddie go-carts. You had to be 4 to ride, so we fudged a little on Collin & Molly's ages. Collin did fine, but Molly couldn't quite reach the pedals yet so she had to get off before she even got around the track.

Nanny, Nicolas (who looks thrilled), Collin (can't see him, but he's in there!), Kenzie, and Molly on the train.

Brad and Nicolas on the big kid go-carts. I'm not sure who had more fun at The Track - the big guys or the little guys! I think my dad rode more than anyone!

This video is just hilarious. Most quarter rides are pretty tame, so we put Molly up on this horse and whoa!! We were laughing so hard. And you've gotta love the 80's music in the background too!

Day at the creek

Last year we found a spot right by a creek in Smoky Mountain National Park. We all had such a good time that we decided we'd go back this year. We had our 'spot-holder', aka my dad, go set up camp around 7:30 that morning because last year we got almost the last spot (apparently it's a popular place!). He showed up and sat around listening to the creek run - and loved every minute of the peace and quiet - until we all got there around 9:30 or so. He said he didn't see a car for over an hour! But if no one would have held our spot, our plans for the day would have been ruined. So, thanks Dad!! We took food to grill out and the kids (and big kids) loved playing on the rocks in the creek. The water was pretty cold, but that doesn't stop a lot of people from getting in with just their swimsuits on. Then we laugh at them shivering....haha, just kidding. :) It never fails though, at least one of the kids falls in. Last year it was Kylie and this year it was Kylie! At least we knew to bring extra clothes this year though! These first two pictures are at a lookout spot for pictures on the way into/out of the park.

Brad with Nolan down on the rocks.

This is one of my very favorite pictures. :)

Nolan getting his toes wet!

It was a little chilly, so we bundled up.

I got some reading time in while Nolan took a snooze.

And of course, after a rough morning/early afternoon of playing at the creek, we all headed to the pool when we got back! Because you can't be on vacation if you don't go to the pool or water park at least once a day!!

Brad, Nicolas, Kylie, and Nolan

Nanny & Nolan

Maybe this is mean, but Nolan didn't seem to hate it. He loves bath time and loves to swim, so we tried dunking him a few times - too cute! I don't think Uncle Ryan was ready for it! ha ha And oops!! Nolan's showing a little too much rear end on the way back up!