Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a nice, low-key Thanksgiving here in the city. We got up and ready early. After breakfast for the baby, and beagles and coffee for the parents, we walked down our street to catch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade live! This is my third Thanksgiving in NYC, but it is the first I've spent the day in the city. I have no idea if Nolan knew what was going on with all the music and VERY large balloons, but Shawn and I enjoyed it! The parade was a lot more fun then I would have ever though.

It was over by 11, and we headed back to the house. Since it was just the three of us this year, I did a lot less cooking and even "cheated" with the Turkey by buying a roasted turkey breast at Trader Joe's!

I clearly have so much to be thankful for this year. I'll keep it simple with a list:

Shawn

My sweet Baby Boy Nolan

Family, near and far, especially my sister who has been an amazing help with Nolan

Friends, new and old

Hand me downs for the baby!

Central Park

Health

Nolan's Stroller and Ergo Pack

Great flight deals

Trader Joe's on the UWS

8 Months

So far the 8th month has been the most challenging. As Nolan learns to be independent we struggle with not being able to verbally communicate. I'm trying to teach him some baby sign language, but he hasn't really shown signs of full comprehension! He is still a total ham, and it only takes one smile to make me forget about all of the frustrating moments.

Here are the crazy eights of the eighth month.

1. Making the "athletic" move from trying to crawl to sitting up

2. Downward dog and the two legs at a time crawl/hop

3. Becoming really good at feeding himself, he's mastered Puffs and is still loving every new food that we introduce to him

4. Pulling hair, coats, buttons and anything else he can get his hands on. I think I say the word gentile about 100 times a day.

5. Level 3 bottles, our little haas boy now downs an 8 oz. bottle in 4 minutes (this is not a joke!)

6. Rev 'em up arms. This kid is always moving his body and hands. We call them Rev 'em Up hands because it looks like he's trying to ride a motorcycle

7. Parallell play with his little buddies. We have the kids together a few times a week and it is hilarious to watch the play separately but together. When the do interact, we are constantly dealing with toy stealing! Of course Nolan is the most vocal about having his toys ripped out of his hands!

8. Daddy time. Nolan loves his dad, and is always so excited to see him and play with him. I was sick one day this week, and Shawn stayed home to take care of Nolan. They had such a great day, and it's so special to watch the father/son bond grow!

1st Halloween

Nolan's first Halloween was so much fun. Our entire street shuts down, and we have thousands of kids and parents flood the street for trick-or-treating and other fun. We hosted a party and had some of Nolan's friends and our friends drop by. It was so cute to see all the kids dressed up. Nolan has some great little friends, and their parents are great too! It has been wonderful to meet a new group of friends that are all have kids between 6 and 9 months!

YEA Giants

We had such a blast watching the MLB playoffs this year. It was extra special that the Giant's won the World Series the year Nolan was born. It was always be such a fun memory for us. His first ever baseball game was Mets vs. Giants here in NYC. It was so great to catch all of the home games in the NLCS in the Bay Area. The energy was amazing, and the Bay was filled with Giant's fever. Nolan was sporting his Giant's gear all through the playoffs. We managed to squeeze him into his 3-6 month size Lincecum T-shirt jersey the entire time.

What a difference 5 months makes!