Fall Fun

We had such a fun October! Now that Nolan has gotten older he really takes part in all of our outings and it is so much fun for all of us. I am aware this is a little behind, the time has really flown!

We started out our October by attending the Scottish Highland Games in Atlanta with Wills family, this is the first year I have gone and I must say it was quite entertaining-lots of authentic games, music, food and drink and there was shopping, so it gets and A+ in my book.

 

We took Nolan to Honeysuckle Hill Farms to pick out his very first pumpkin, it is the coolest pumpkin patch I've ever seen, complete with a corn maze, petting zoo, train ride, corn pit, pumpkin patch and tons more! He will really have a blast there next year!

Then we carved Nolan's very First Pumpkin

All of that to gear up for Halloween! We went to our Fall Festival at church the weekend before Halloween and then stayed at home and handed out LOTS of candy, we get tons of Trick-or-Treaters and Nolan really got a kick out of it! He dressed up as a Giraffe and stayed that way for the three days following, he really like the costume!

Having fun in the leaves!

Vacation in 30A

In September we went to Mirimar beach with my parents, sister and bother-in-law (and nephew to be) for what seemed like our first vacation in WAY TOO LONG. I didn't realize that when you have a baby you slip into a black whole that is nursing, sterilizing, catching up on sleep and cleaning for a good year! I really almost melted into the sand when when we arrived and I'm pretty sure real tears were shed when we left. The weather was PERFECT, the water was clearer than I recall water ever being in Florida, it was like Cozumel clear. Our beach house was about 15 feet from the ocean which is also nice with a child, being able to go back and forth so easy is a luxury not to be taken for granted! Anyways, on with the pictures!

First, the scenery ... Ahhhhhh. So ready to go back.

Fun in the Sun

We lived on the beach for the majority of the trip so thankfully Nolan LOVED IT! He loved the sand (didn't eat it too bad) and the ocean, after getting smacked with a few waves I just knew he would be petrified, but nope, he went right in without a care in the world. FEARLESS! He napped in a little boat in the shade everyday and had his own personal swimming pool out on the beach, rough life, right!? He was AMAZING in the car, I was really nervous that it would be a torturous experience but he only got restless the final hour of the trip. He really is a great baby, I say it all the time and people think I'm being a "mom" but I'm serious when I say he is so content most of the time. Needless to say our first beach trip was a blast and I can't wait to go back, or go anywhere. I love all of our firsts with Nolan and feel so blessed that we have the opportunities to do such fun things with him.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the trip. 

Rocking the big boy PJs

Nolan is Nine Months Old

 

I am so overdue on this post and about three others. I am pinning all the blame on Nolan; When he's awake he expects me to be holding him, I am hoping this whiny clingy stage is just that, a stage/phase. Don't get me wrong I secretively like it when he wants me, but there are those times when I need to get things accomplished and he has a different agenda.

Nolan is growing like a weed, I think I've been saying this for the past 9 months but it is oh so true! He STILL HAS NO TEETH! He has decided that he doesn't like food anymore. He gags no matter what kind of baby food I give him (even his usual favorites), he stares at our plates when we eat and literally licks his chops, it's a little sad. I have given him a few real items (spaghetti, pot roast, etc. ) chopped up super tiny and he will entertain the idea of eating but he mostly prefers to play with it. I am relying on this being a normal thing that most babies go through and hoping it will sort itself out.

We finally have gotten a hold of ourselves and started the transition to Nolan sleeping in his own bed. It has gone pretty well so far. We are on night five and he is still waking up about once a night and we go up and rock him back to sleep then he's good til about 6:30, there are occasional nights that he actually let's us sleep ALL NIGHT!

Other things our little Nine Month Old is up to:
-Climbing Stairs
-Playdates with Friends
Watching out the window (this is one of his favorite thing to do)
-He likes to "get" people, and chuckle beyond control when they react...SO CUTE.
-Flipping Dog/Cat food bowls
-Standing and Traveling around between objects
-Pulling anything he can find over on top of him (a few eye opening moments)
-Unloading the dishwasher as we load it (all sharp objects have been relocated to the top shelf)
-Growling at us when he is frustrated, excited or mad.
-Taking baths in his big boy tub with no baby tub or inflatable duck.

We are so in love with this precious little man, he is so happy and silly and truly is a great baby. I never feel like these blogs portray how wonderful he is! But he truly is AMAZING. We love every second with him.

Hopefully I will have Beach, Pumpkin Patch & Scottish Festival pictures up very soon!

She's a HE!?

Last night Jud and Kerri had the whole family over for dinner and the baby gender reveal. Mom and I were just positive that it was going to be a girl, so sure that we had been purchasing girl clothes...ruffles, fur, pink, etc. Shame on us! ITS A BOY!

His cousins are so excited!!

We cannot wait to meet

JACKSON THOMAS CATHEY

Nolan is Eight Months Old

My little man turned eight month old right before we left for the beach so we decided to change the scenery a little bit for his 8 month photos. Nolan is changing and growing so fast I find my self jotting things down on pieces of paper around the house so I won't forget them before I put them in his baby book. He is still NOT sleeping in his bed, if we're lucky we can get him to sleep in his pack n play until about 4am, then it's in the bed he goes! I don't hate it :).

Other Eight Month Details~

- At his 6 Month Dr. Appointment ( We weren't well enough for that until 8 months) Nolan weighed 20 pounds exactly and was 26 1/2 inches long.

- He says Mama all the time and Dada when he's angry (haha)

- He has renamed Beckett, "bubba"

-He growls an blows raspberries constantly.

-He still has NO TEETH! Hopefully we will see some soon because he is really eyeballing our food.

-He give kisses, really messy, slobbery, open mouth kisses-on demand!

-He gets up on his hands and knees while idle but flattens back out and army crawls to move.

-He pulls himself  up to standing.

-He is a total stage 5 Clinger! If I walk out of the room you would think I had pinched him, he squalls! It was cute at first, now its wearing on me.

-He tilts his head to the side as soon as he sees  a camera,  such a poser!

-He is super fast and loves to play in the pets water bowls, yuck.

I love this kid so much. He is such a handful and I feel like everyday is a marathon but he is so fun and such a good baby. I really don't know what I did before him....nothing nearly as interesting, that's for sure! Beach pictures coming soon!

Nolan at Six and Seven Months

Whoa, am I behind or what!? I apologize for being a terrible blogger. We have been so overwhelmed around here with career changes, weddings and well....life. It is 10:15 so this blog is not promised to be much more that a dump site for my memory card tonight seeing as how Nolan has been in his bed for approximately and hour now and I know without a doubt that will be ending very soon. I will follow up soon (promise!) with an update on all of the changes that have been going on in our lives and with the little man.

Yep, and I'm being summoned from the nursery so I must bid you adieu. Until next nap time, here are some photos!



Kitchen Nightmare

As most of my friends know I, being the fantastic cook that I am, caught our kitchen on fire a while back (right around the time Nolan was 6 weeks old). I really can cook but this particular instance is not one I would put on a list of successes in the kitchen. Anyways, we all got out okay and the damage was recoverable for the most part...

just a MAJOR HEADACHE!

The Play by Play

We had just sat down to our TV trays in the living room with Nolan in between us in his boppy lounger when I look up into the dining room (right outside the kitchen) to see smoke...lots of really black smoke! Will and I both jumped up and ran into he kitchen to grab what we thought would be a pot of scorching beans but was instead a full fledged grease fire. I had fried chicken (healthy I know, sometime you've got to indulge-just don't catch your house on fire when you do-BUSTED!) in an iron skillet and didn't remove it from the eye when I finished (note: those continue to heat after turning off the stove) and after that we're not sure what happened - besides the fact that something caught fire, that we were sure of. We grabbed a dish towel and tried to smother it but that just made it worse so I hit the fire button on the alarm, grabbed Nolan and ran to my neighbors (who incidentally hadn't had the flu shot so she hadn't yet been able to hold him -needless to say she was thrilled) in the pouring down/freezing rain and tossed him at her and said dial 911 my house is on fire. I ran back to the house and to my surprise both pets had run out so I chucked them both in my car so they wouldn't get in the way of the 4 fire trucks that came barreling down the road. 

All the while, my husband who I had yelled at MULTIPLE times to GET OUT stayed in the house battling fire with anything he could think of, sweet tea being one of those things. All I could think as black smoke was billowing out of thehouse was, 1-Will is going to come out covered in burns, if he comes out and  2-I hope it doesn't mess up the nursery!

Skipping Forward to our Clean Up Efforts
In the midst of the clean up I must admit I had quite a few nervous breakdowns, all of our stuff was packed away to be cleaned (yes ALL of it) and some was returned damage to my dismay. Everything in my house had been removed and invaded (due to every square in being covered in soot) and it was quite a miserable experience. In retrospect, its all DONE FINALLY, with the exception of the 4 boxes in the garage I haven't yet made time for.

Here are some photos of the Bad, the Ugly, then the GOOD.

 

The Culprit



The Mess

We did take the opportunity to upgrade, which is nice considering our kitchen hadn't been updated since it's original installation in 1993.

Sorry for the blurry cell pic

Hardware has been added since this photo, I just don't have a picture.