Happy Birthday Nolan!

Hello!

So today is a very exciting day as it is my nephew Nolan’s first birthday! As far as I know, we are not seeing him today but this weekend we will be together, with both families, so that should be both chaotic and fun at the same time!

I really can’t believe it’s been a year already, I mean, it just doesn’t seem right. The memories of us being at the hospital past 1am waiting for him to make his debut is still very fresh in my mind. The day (and night) was a long one! Blondie was a real trooper though, she was definitely the one who was the most uncomfortable especially before she received the epidural, that’s for sure! I do remember she was absolutely terrified to have that done, which I would be too, but I think for her I know she didn’t like the fact that Brandon wasn’t allowed to stay in the room with her. Another thing I know she absolutely hated was how many times they tried to stuck her for the IV. Despite her love of tattoos and piercings, she really doesn’t like needles that much! So, this was not something she looked forward to by any means.

When he decided that he was ready to come out officially, my dad and I were forced out of the room. I was okay with this, because honestly somebody needed to stay with him as he was wreck for most of the night! He does not like to see us in any sort of pain, so his youngest daughter going through labor almost put him over the edge quite a few times! As we were making our way out, it finally came to me that once we leave the room, she wouldn’t just be my sister, she’ll be a mommy to a little human. It was such a profound moment for me, because I kept thinking in my head of the times we had together, growing up, and even though I quickly accepted her moving out of the house and eventually marriage to Brandon; she was literally giving birth to her son and my nephew, I realized how different things would be but I was completely at peace with it.

Once we were told he was here, we rushed to the door before telling to stay out a little longer, which was a little cruel because we could hear him just crying as loud as his little lungs would allow him. After like 20 minutes, we were told to come in, but the air suddenly felt different. Of course it did, a baby was just born! I think we were there another for 20 minutes after the birth before going home, but we were back the next day to take more pictures and hold the little guy.

Fast forward now 12 months, and he is a thriving little dude!

Nolan and I have formed a nice relationship. My nickname for him is “cutie pie” and when he was a tiny baby, I would literally sing those words to calm him into dreamland while he was on my bed . Sometimes it worked, while others didn’t, but that was okay! He still likes it when I call him that, everytime we FaceTime each other, he always breaks out a smile to me. He is obsessed with me! He likes to do things with his feet, and I really adore his hugs! He’ll just wrap his arms around my neck and just stay there a few seconds which makes me so happy considering I wasn’t able to hold him as a baby like everybody else, so this makes up for it entirely!

My dad has already told me that he sees us getting into a lot of trouble later in life. I can agree with that in some firm. However, for the most part I am pretty strict with him, especially when it comes to my wheelchair–which is another thing he loves!–I don’t want him to get hurt by tilting over his walker or “car-car” so I have to basically grow another spine and tell him “no” and that’s definitely not one of his favorite words, everytime he gets told that he’ll instantly put his hands over his ears, and make his pitiful face at the same time, so you instantly feel guilty afterwards.

Nolan is a smart cookie though. When he was about six months old he started pointing at things, that one index finger gets a good workout considering the amount of things he tries to touch and mess with, and through this we figured out he really loves the color red a lot. My seat belt has the word “PRESS” in that color and he knows if you push it, something happens. So, he already has that curious mind to discover new things. He loves a number of other stuff besides of getting into things he shouldn’t, like fruit, animals, books, and water.

When his parents first started him on solid foods, he wasn’t really into a lot of different fruit. However, he really loves bananas, blueberries and strawberries. We recently figured that whenever he says “nana” it isn’t for my mom, which she is called “Mimi,” he might actually be asking for bananas! It took us a few months but whenever we talk them amongst ourselves, he starts saying that a lot!

As far as animals go, when he was first born, I found this cute book that was about baby animals and it included spots of various textures, like faux fur on the bear, lamb, and lion cub. This is where we saw that pointer finger coming out because he loved feeling them. Since his household is basically a zoo, Chipper and the cats have grown to love their non-fur brother. Unfortunately, our dog ChiChi is still not a fan of him. She still growls and runs away when he gets too close to her on all surfaces! There are a couple of times where he has had a chance to pet her on accident when she is close to any of us, but it is always a brief moment between the two of them!

Lastly, he loves water! After he was first born, like all babies, they’re very unsure about taking a bath. He’s never enjoyed the fact that he has to take off his clothes and put on a new outfit afterwards, because he loves being a “nakkey-baby” so much, but getting into a bath is literally his favorite thing ever. Blondie and Brandon are still not very confident about letting him in a tub by himself, so someone is usually in there too. He loves to make waves and splash like crazy! He even enjoys laying flat in the water, and recently he got to go swimming in a pool and he thoroughly enjoyed that too! My sister was the same way, she loves being in the water for a couple of hours swimming and talking with friends.

This first year has flown by, but I have enjoyed seeing the transformation he’s made so far. I absolutely love him, he makes me excited for the future. He has a brought back a part of myself that I felt was fading away, so I owe him a lot for giving me my hope back. I also hope as he gets older he’ll actually want to watch basketball games, because we have yet to do that, blame Mimi because I frequently hear “he doesn’t want to watch that” on too many things I try to play on the TV. So far to her, he doesn’t like basketball, Ed Sheeran or Celtic Woman. I’m just trying to expand his interests in the best way I know how, and she is ruining our fun in that department! I really hope he doesn’t lose his curiosity and continues to be a very happy little guy!

Where’s The Fruit And Veggie Tray?

I’m probably going to regret posting this picture because I am hungry. Its 6:22am here and I got up an hour ago. I went to bed early, real early. Trust me, my sleeping habits go with this post. My Aunt Laurie and my cousin Tate are down for a visit at my nana’s. She arrived on Tuesday afternoon and will leave today at 2. I’m not happy that she’s leaving since it will be awhile til she comes back.

Whenever, we know family are coming down. Somebody goes to the store and orders a fruit and vegatable tray. When somebody goes to pick it up they have to get another type of dip for my nana and I. We don’t like the dip in the veggie tray. Diasy is the way! Somebody also has to get more celery. That’s also for me. I only eat the Celery and Carrots on the vegatable tray. Then I eat practically everything on the Fruit tray. (mostly Oranges, Grapes, Pineapples, and Strawberries!) This picture looks like what we get, except we get less celery. My stomach is growing since I posted this picture in the post.

This time we didn’t get one. Even though, when mom, Laurie, and Emily went to get Chicken on Tuesday afternoon, since they didn’t have any Mashed Potatoes, they were going to get the tray’s instead. Well, instead of texting my nana, my sister decides to call her on her cell phone. My nana is on the opposite side of the room. I’m on the right side and thankfully I still remember to work the speaker phone button. I was afraid that she didn’t use it and disabled it. Well she didn’t and it did in face work. Then I forgot to see if her volume was up because apparently my sister couldn’t hear so I had to yell. I’m surprised I didn’t scare my papaw. Anyways, they asked if we wanted the Fruit and Veggie and we said, yes. They came home without either. Instead my Aunt Laurie brought Mac & Cheese. I was okay with it. I’m not going to say no to that at all.