My goodness. I don’t understand it, but time continues to move more and more quickly and life with two is leaving me with little time to document it. Nolan turned 6 months old on July 22. We were in Whitefish, MT visiting Paul’s parents, his brother and sister-in-law and “Wissa and Macy” (Alyssa and Macy), Beck’s COUSINS! WHO ARE AWESOME!!! Beck followed them around for 6 days and just cannot wait to “Skype with them on the ‘puter’ mama!”
So, Nolan…the string bean - he’s 27.75 inches long (approximately the 90%) and just over 16 pounds (approximately the 25%). We started solids in the last few weeks, and he’s enjoying lots of fruits and veggies. I’ve been playing fast and loose with the recommended 3-5 day waiting period between introducing new foods, but he hasn’t had any type of negative reaction to anything so far. He has his two bottom teeth, which made their appearance within days of each other. They poked through just before we went to Whitefish, and he was also suffering from a cold, so he was a bit irritable during our vacation. We made a trip to the doctor the day we left because we were worried he had an ear infection (nope – his ears looked great and we got the go-ahead to hop on a plane), and we also visited the clinic while we were in Whitefish because we again suspected he had an ear infection (nope – after waiting for almost 2 hours, Dr. Whitefish also said his ears looked great). I think we just need to accept that he’s got an intense personality, and when he’s teething or sick, he can be *pretty* grumpy. He’s sitting up on his own, but he eventually falls over so I need to stay near him or surround him with pillows. He rolls and rolls (rollin’ Nolan), and can scoot and creep his way across the floor to reach whatever catches his fancy. Beck wasn’t really mobile until 9 months, and he never really pushed the limits with getting into things, so we’ve got some serious re-babyproofing to do.
And, Whitefish – John and Tracey’s house is beautiful and in a perfect location. Beck got to follow Alyssa and Macy around, and play with the neighborhood kids without constant adult supervision. He got to go on the boat and the tube! He got to stay up late, ride the alpine slide, and the chair lift. He had an absolute blast. We didn’t do a great job of taking pictures while we were there, but we did take some and they’ll be posted soon. Without getting into the loooong story of our botched travels, let me just say that it probably wasn’t a good idea to fly stand-by with two kiddos. We had some terrible luck with a huge hail storm just prior to leaving Denver, which cancelled several flights, and then another storm near Minneapolis on our way home that filled up several flights that should have had many, many open seats. We’re planning another trip this winter, and we purchased tickets, so we’re excited to have the Whitefish winter experience sans stressful travel.
Beck moved from the “twosies” room to the early pre-school room today. He is growing up so quickly, and becoming more and more independent. He is potty-trained…something that happened without much fanfare. Accidents are rare. He often wakes up from his naps dry, and even wakes up dry in the morning most of the time (which I find impressive, because he usually sleeps for 10-11 hours at night). He’s happy and easygoing about 99% of the time. He occasionally throws a fit when we’re busy paying attention to Nolan, or trying to have an adult conversation. We were so impressed with how well he handled traveling and a changed routine when we were on vacation.
My mom is coming to hang out with us in a week. While she’s here, we (as in me, my mom, Beck and Nolan) are going to take a road trip to Big Timber, MT for the Dribnenki family reunion. It’s about a nine hour drive. I think I’m a little bit crazy for attempting it, but I’m (crossing my fingers) optimistic that it will go well.
That’s probably enough writing for now. Pictures to come (when Paul has a chance to post them – he’s been crazy busy lately).
