Nick's First Bike Race

3/26/11

So, Nick has wanted to do some bike races here for a while, so we packed the bikes up and headed to Glens Ferry, ID for his first race early on a Saturday morning. Nick was just getting over a cold, but was feeling much better. Yay!

Here's Nick and Nolan just before the race started

This is the group that put the race on.Here they all are at the starting line.Go Nick go!

While Nick was riding, Nolan and I tried to figure out what to do. There's not much going on in that small town, so we ended up at the local very small grocery store. Nolan found a small shopping, cart, and he was having fun. As you can see, Nolan and I found a few things to put in the cart. Cookies, Chips....All very healthy choices...Well, Nick was a bit more sick than we thought. He was pretty disappointed. He told me later he felt like he left one of his lungs in Glenn's Ferry. Not good. So, no wonder he didn't do so hot. I was just so proud that he did it. He was awesome, and he'll do better next time!

It's a...

I had my 20 week appointment and ultrasound last week. Everything looks great. The baby is growing right on schedule and has all 10 toes and fingers. It was amazing to see all the small details in the brain especially but also the rest of the body. Ultrasound has really come a long ways.

Anyhow, here are the pictures. Enjoy!

Such a cute little profile!

Cute little Face too!

Here's the gender...
So, for those that can't tell, it's a.....Boy! We're super excited! Nolan seems to be happy as well. He didn't seem disappointed at all that he was having a brother instead of a sister. I'm so happy that everything looks good, and everyone seems healthy.

And for your enjoyment, I have included some videos of the heartbeat (amazing and always makes me feel great when I can hear or see it), the profile video, and the face shot video. Let me know what you all think!

Potty Training Nolan!

The first weekend of March we decided to potty train Nolan, and he did a great job. We loosely followed a method called "Potty Training Basics: Fully Potty Train Your Child in 3 Days!". We decided on top of that that we would have a Potty Party. Nolan called it a Happy Potty Party, and we got lots of snacks and drinks to encourage him to go to the bathroom often. We also decorated with some streamers, and we got a few balloons which Nolan is a big fan of. We just wanted Nolan to know this was a big important day for him. (Also note the wonderful blankets/forts Nolan had on the floor for the occasion. We did whatever he wanted to do as long as it was in the living room where we were doing the potty training.)

Nolan needed a lot of encouragement to stay on the potty for more than a minute or two. For this I had some electronic V-Tech books he could read, and I broke down and let him play a video game. He got a Leap Frog hand held game for Christmas, and I wasn't sure I wanted him to play with it. I'm not a big fan of video games, but for potty training I decided I would make a sacrifice. Also, they're educational! Nolan can now sound out most of his letters, etc.

Below you can see the setup. He is a big fan of his Pooh Bear, so we decided Pooh Bear could wear big boy underwear too! The potty chair was strategically placed in front of the TV so he could watch "The Potty Movie" as much as he liked (he started watching this a couple of days before to get him pumped for the special day. Thanks Nicole!). He also was allowed to eat in the living room on this day to keep him close to the potty and to make him feel like it was a special day.
So, we just told Nolan that when he went pee or poop on the big boy potty, he could have some candy, cookies, and other goodies. This is good encouragement because he never gets candy or sugar unless it is a special occasion. Once he did go, we praised him like crazy and let him know how proud we were. We danced and sang and got some fun noise makers. Nolan loved it!Nolan was so great and really wanted to be a good boy. Of course there were many accidents in the 3 days of training, but I really think that this helped him to learn just when to go to the bathroom and recognize the feeling. He rarely has accidents anymore, but we do remind him often to use the bathroom if he needs to. We couldn't be happier. We are just so proud of Nolan and this big accomplishment.

March 2011

Well, March flew by so fast. Nolan is really getting to be a fun age. He says cute things and cracks us up! He has really been into keeping things clean around the house this month too. He's big on throwing away trash and putting his shoes away in pairs. It cracks me up a bit because Nick and I are not that tidy ourselves...

He was recently at his cousins house, and while there he really enjoyed playing in the mud with worms. He was very excited about this and told everyone he knew. The funny thing is, he really wanted to be clean as soon as he came inside. He will ask for a bib if he's eating messy food, and he really likes to keep a wash cloth near for his hands and face. It cracks me up a bit.

We have been getting bored in the house lately, so we played soccer in the hall way with Layla. We all had fun, and it helped to get some energy out before our naps.

They also enjoyed reading books together. Something was funny here! The nice thing about Nolan is he seems very ready to laugh. That's a good thing to keep me grounded and remember the important things in life.
We went to my parents for some birthdays, and this is what we found when we got there! THis never happens, so I took a picture. It didn't last long, but he looked so sweet...
Here he is later with his cousins Layla and Brooklan. They all enjoyed jamming on the piano together. IT is really hard to get good pictures of them when the move so fast though...

Another thing Nolan has been really into lately...building with his mega blocks. He will spend quite a while making garages for his car, robots, turtles, and houses. He usually does it by himself, but every now and again, he will ask us to help him out. He's very particular about how you build them, so watch out!

One day Nolan asked me :

Mama, are you a princess?

My response...

Ah, sure I am...Are you prince?

His response...

No mama, I'm a prince.

Ok. I thought that was kinda cute. Now whenever I wear a skirt or dress Nolan asks me if I'm a princess. Not sure where he got it, but I thought it was pretty cute. I love that he is thinking about things and seems to be putting two and two together. Kids grow up so stinking fast...

Oh, and here are a couple pictures of his new haircut. It needed to be done even though he's really not a big fan. I think it is super cute though, don't you? FYI, the car was his prize after he let us cut his hair. It was not an easy task, but we got it done. I must throw out a special thanks to Laurie for all of her help. Without you, this haircut would not have happened, and I have to say the stylist did a great job with a little boy who was upset ans moving like crazy.

February 2011

Where has the time gone? February flew by in a flash. One thing is for sure. Nolan is ready to be outside playing. He really needs it. I hope this year we have Spring and Summer come early, or at least on time.

So, here's Nick's new baby. I told ya I would post a picture of it soon. We'll get a better picture in action when Nick does his races. I think the best thing about this bike is that I can ride it too. I was thinking about maybe doing triathlons once I have this next little guy. (I guess I should really working on just my marathons/half-marathons and improving my time first. I think I need a running group to achieve that goal.)

Well, we didn't do a whole lot of anything this whole month. We were kinda lazy on the weekends and just spent time as a family. We really enjoys our weekend together now that we all have them off together. You don't realize how much time you missed out on until you actually have that time. Did that even make sense?

Well, Nick and I have made a habit of trying to have lunch together once a week or so schedule permitting. We usually meet at Quiznos just because it is close to Nick's work and he can ride his bike there. Nolan likes it a lot as displayed in the image below. He loves to be like his daddy and put his hat and gloves on. He is so stinking cute this way! I love that he's just such a happy kid!We didn't even do anything fun for Valentines day. I'm not quite sure why either. Nick was nice and brought Nolan to have dinner with me at work. He also brought a cake and sparkling cider for the whole evening crew. i felt bad because we were so busy. I didn't get to spend much time with them. He's so sweet and I love him lots. I was going to make him dinner and have it ready for him one day that week, but somehow I never got around to it. I think I just had to take a nap that day. I will have to work on that a bit I guess. Maybe next year I'll plan somehing nice for the two of us...

I believe the second Friday in February my brother-in-law came into town. We haven't seen him in a very long time, so it was nice to get the night off of work and go out to dinner with him, Rob and Tiff, and Ken and Amber. We went to a very yummy Greek restaurant called Cazba, and we enjoyed it very much. Later we went to a French bakery/pastry shop downtown. We all got something different, and it was so delicious. I couldn't decided what I wanted, so Nick told me to get whatever I wanted. All I have to say is thank goodness there were plenty of people there willing to help me eat it!

My friend Laurie was good enough to watch Nolan and his cousins Koen and Brooklan for the night. She told me that this was the best Friday night she has had for a long time. By the looks of the picture below, I would have to agree. They did art projects, played with toys and watched Space Jam (You know the Looney Tunes movie with Michael Jordan in it.) That is Nolan's new favorite movie for a week or two until he finds another favorite!

All I have to say about this is "Priceless"

Anyhow, nothing else too crazy or interesting has happened. We are all doing great, and we can't wait to see the next month come.

Now, I will just leave you with a cute picture of Nolan. He was a little upset that his nice shiny blue Boise State jersey was dirty, so he found one of my Boise State shirts. Here he is looking cute as can be. He did tell his daddy later though that it was too big. Huh.