So much chatting, so little time

I can't believe that we are just a little over a month away from Nolan's 2nd birthday.  We have already been struggling with the terrible two's, and I'm loving that everyday Nolan is able to verbally communicate better.  He's really starting to form sentences, and it is so cute when he puts something new together, and you can tell just how proud of himself he is.  He's pushed back both his wake up and nap time!  He's normally up at 7 a.m. and goes down for a nap at 1 p.m.  He is still very into his schedules, and I swear some days he knows what day of the week it is and what activity we have.

The Newest Nolanisms:

• Roll Call.  Nolan likes to shout out names at about 5 a.m.
• "Mama, Dada, Papa, Tatie, Uncle!"  He saw a pic from Mexico on my dad's wall and was totally into yelling out our names!
• "Ummm, Mama, wh is dis?"
• "Uh oh, es hot dog? Der de dis!!"  translation: Oh no, where is Mickey Mouse.....here he is.
• "Mama peeeese ouside is tolla"  Mom can we please go outside and can I run with my stroller
• "Peeeeeeeeeeeeeese, hume, hume" Please can I watch TV and eat
• "oh no, is ouside."  After he dropped a car out the window, he says "Oh no mom, I dropped the car out the window into our neighbor's back yard."
• Ges Geese =  yes please
• Thank too
• "ahhhhhh sis juuuuuu" It's apple juice
• "ahhhhhhhhhhhh buzz peeeese" Please can I watch Toy Story
• AHHHHHHH Caaaaa (a car in a Boston accent!)
• HOOOO< HOOO = trains
• ninne = Minnie Mouse
• wata, wata, wata = milk
• bah, bah with one finger in the air = more please

He says a tons of other word, but I love that he is trying to create sentences.  I know there are so many other things he says, but you would all be super bored with them, and this is a good record of where he is now!  Also, the biting and hitting have decreased a lot.  I'm glad that we're coming out of that phaze! 

Congrats Kyle and Renee

We are so happy to have Renee officially join our family. In early January, we went out to CA for my brother's wedding. It was in Napa and a B&B. It was 65 and sunny, and the bride and groom were very happy to be able to have their wedding outside. The ceremony was so sweet. They wrote their own vows, and I thought it was such a great thing to do......just speak from your heart!

I love the look on my brother's face as Renee places the ring on his finger :)

The Bride and Groom just after being announced for the first time as Mr. & Mrs. Yeend!

After the ceremony there was cake and champagne. Nolan had to get in on the action by celebrating with "Uncle and Nee." He ran up to them with his sippy cup and yelled, "Cheers." The look on every one's faces is totally priceless!

Nolan has been obsessed with Toy Story.  My mom bough him a Buzz Lightyear toy.  He was so confused when he first opened it, but once he realized it was a toy he could keep and play with he was on cloud 9.  For some reason Nolan started calling my mom Nana Buzz when we were having a Skype call.  It was so cute, and he continued to call her that the entire time in CA.  It's so hilarious, and it was very appropriate for Nana Buzz to give Nolan a real Buzz!

After the ceremony and Champagne toast, we headed over to Fish Story in downtown Napa.  We had a  great room off the back with a view of the creek.  The food there was so good.  I had the butterscotch pudding for dessert, and it was seriously the best pudding I have ever had!

Another round of congrats to Yogi and Renee.  I am so happy for the two of you and your many new adventures together. 

Christmas 2011

Shawn and Nolan on Christmas eve before we headed to our annual Christmas Eve Seafood dinner. This year we went to Ocean Grill and had lobster, oysters and seafood chowder. It was delicious. After dinner we headed home to make cookies for Santa. Nolan got a kick out of frosting the cookies and kept saying "coocoo, coocoo."

Nolan started to understand Santa a little this year, and he really understood opening presents!! We put him in his Santa PJ's and let him open one gift on Christmas Eve. This year it was Mickey Mouse. He loves the Mickey Mouse ClubHouse on Disney, and he calls Mickey, HotDog. It is seriously so cute. He took Mickey right over to the couch and started to hug and kiss him. It was so sweet to see him so excited about his new stuffed animal.

The Knicks had their season opener on Christmas Day, so we didn't open the rest of our gifts til the late afternoon. This is Nolan Christmas a.m. with Mickey.....good thing at one he didn't understand that Santa had been there to deliver more gifts!

My dad flew in on the red-eye from CA to celebrate Christmas with us. Nolan was so happy to have his Papa here. Papa takes such great care of Nolan and they have a beautiful bond.

After the game I cooked a big Christmas dinner. It was the perfect ending to a great day, including a Knicks win over the Celtics!

Santa...not so much!

We went to see Santa at Macy's. We went on a Wed a.m., so we really didn't have much of a line, but as you can see, Nolan wanted nothing to do with Santa. Last year we got off so easy. I had a feeling this year would be more of a challange. At Macy's they have a bunch of huts, and each one has a Santa. I think it is a great way to keep the line moving. I do have to say that Nolan was not into Santa, but Santa was ot into Nolan!

Yea for 21!

I've been counting down the days until Nolan turned 21 months.  We had a rough go with 20 months, so I   am truly hoping that 21 will be better.  As we deal with a lot of fun things like new words, more adventure and gearing up for the holidays, we were also dealing with Nolan's frustrations.  He was dabbling in some hair pulling, pushing, hitting and worst of all biting.  When I say biting I don't just me Shawn and I, but other kids in his classes and playgroups were becoming victims.  Normally I can see the look in his eye and stop him before he makes contact, but sadly that was not always the case.  I was so upset that I bought Toddler 411 in hopes of some much needed guidance.   Luckily that book is filled with good advice, and I was able to start disciplining in a more effective way.  If he was mean once, he was removed from the situation, put in time out, then back to the kid to say sorry.  The second time we left.  As for biting and other physical things at home we were putting him in a time out chair, and it just didn't work.  We started to put him in his crib, because we really have no other safe place in our small apt, and that has been very effective!

So here's to 21 months and more of the cute stuff and less of the stuff that puts this very tired mom in tears!

Chicago Thanksgiving

Miles and Nolan loving the "ball pit"

OK, Now you sing Uncle Phil

Bath Time

It was a little cold, but the boys had a great time at the playground

Yum, Thanksgiving Dinner

Bennett Album Cover. Downtown Chicago

I love the boys in matching PJ's.  Clearly getting a posed shot of the together was out of the question!

Fall Pics

The leaves this fall have been extra beautiful. I finally remembered to bring my camera out a couple of days in a row. Here are some pics of Nolan. Please not that I have pretty much NO pictures of his face. He doesn't look at the camera and is always on the go.

Oh Yea, Today is also Nolan's 20 month birthday.  Good bye teens, hello, 20's :) Also, a shout out to my mom, because it is her Birthday today!  We love you Grandma Peggy!

Happy Halloween

We had another great Halloween here in 69th St.  We had a fun party filled with lots of super cute kids and their parents.  I made my first batch of Chili for the season, and we so much fun hanging out and listing to Halloween music!

Here are a few pics of our NYC Turtle:

 NYC Turtle with 80's rock groupie and a newly retired Tony La Russa

Nolan was not in a very good mood this Halloween, but we still managed to hit up a few apartments for trick or treating!