Recent Pictures

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last couple of weeks. Sorry if you saw these on Facebook too, but at least I'll discuss them a bit here.

Here's Nolan checking himself out in the mirror on his activity mat. He just kept doing this over and over again. He'd catch a glimpse of himself in the mirror and then open his mouth and try to take a bite!

This was Nolan's first time at a lake. We were at Grammi and Grandpa Dick's house on Lake Emily. I think he really didn't understand what we were doing, but he was enjoying the new experience!

Grammi had such fun nursery rhymes to sing to Nolan. He loved spending time with his great-grandma!

When Fussy Time Hits

When nothing else works, taking Nolan for a walk really does the trick to calm him down and cheer him up. Don't get me wrong, he's a happy baby for the most part. Lately he's had a cold and I think that's interfered a little with his sleep, making him a little crabbier than usual.

It all came to a head yesterday evening at dinner time. He was eating avacadoes, which he normally seems to like a lot. Poor thing was pretty upset though and just kept fussing between every bite and letting out loud yelps when I didn't feed him fast enough. I was getting frustrated with this because it seemed like he was tired, but at 5:30 pm it was a little too early to put him to bed. So, I debated a few more minutes about whether to go through the whole ordeal of putting him in the carseat and driving to the dog park. In the end, I decided to give it a go. I think the fresh air was exactly what he needed. We got the chance to get out and see other people and dogs and to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Nolan was chattering the whole walk and kept a close watch on our black lab Frank, who was running around like crazy. Our dog park is a long trail that follows the Mississippi river. It is amazing to be able to spend time at the river, since it is such an important part of American history. I can see why this experience calms Nolan. It has the same effect on me :)

Do you make spending time outside a regular part of your routine? What are your favorite things to do outside?

And the Favorite Toy Award Goes To...

For a 6 month old, Nolan sure does have a TON of toys! Most of the time, I have a hard time corralling them and keeping them organized. Some of his toys he won't look at for more than 10 seconds and others he just loves. His absolute favorite toy is the Very Hungry Caterpillar developmental toy.

This toy is guaranteed to keep his chubby little fingers busy during car trips, in restaurants, on long walks, when mom is busy making his banana cereal and just about every other occasion you can think of. It crinkles, has bright colors, has antennae and a green tail for chewing and has a squeaky strawberry. I heard from someone that a good work of art continues to move your focus from one area of the painting to the next, eliciting new thoughts and keeping the viewer interested. Although I bet you don't usually think of squeaky toys as art, this toy sure keeps Nolan interested with new things to look at and play with at every turn. Toy art! Plus, I love that this is the Eric Carle caterpillar. We've been reading this book to Nolan just about every day, and it's nice to have a connection from his book to his toy, even if he doesn't notice the connection himself.

My only complaint is that this toy is supposed to clip onto car seat handles by a plastic hook. Well, Nolan ripped that thing off in the first few days. So, maybe they could have sewn that hook on a little better. Nolan doesn't seem to mind though. He'd much rather hold his caterpillar buddy...how else is he supposed to chew and taste every inch it?!

Solid Foods

I started Nolan on solid foods over two months ago, but I limited his variety to rice cereal, bananas and avacadoes until recently. The next food that I've introduced is sweet potatoes. As with avacadoes, his initial reaction isn't a positive one. In fact, he looks more like I'm trying to poison him with every bite. Really, are they so bad that you have to gag when you taste them?! So far, he's had sweet potatoes three times and he isn't showing any signs of warming up to them. Oh well, I will continue to offer them to him and hopefully he will start to like them soon.

Rather than use jars of store-bought baby food, I am pureeing my own fruits and vegetables. In future posts, I plan on explaining my methods of preparing and storing this homemade baby food. I'll also talk about the tools that I've found that work the best for doing this.

Do you make your own baby food, buy from the store or do a combination of the two? Aside from fruits and veggies, do you make your own cereals or other baby snacks?

Magnet Hands

Nolan must have magnets in his hands! He's reaching out for EVERYTHING in his path. He grabs for my face, my coffee cup, the newspaper and just about anything I pick up. The cutest thing he reaches for though is my water glass. That's because I can share that with him. I love the little clink, clink of his two front teeth against the side of the glass as he takes his sip. Hee, hee, hee!

More On Cloth Diapering

I love Joey-Bunz!

We were having leaking issues with some of our cloth diapers, and rather than ditch those diapers, I wanted to see if an additional insert would help. We were using just one microfiber insert in the diaper and Nolan would leak through after about an hour. I'm not sure if it's just because the insert's ability to absorb was limited or if Nolan is a really heavy wetter. Either way, we were getting a little frustrated about this. I did some research, again with the help of the Diaper Jungle forum, and heard all good things about the Joey-Bunz inserts. They are hemp/cotton jersey inserts made by Baby Kicks. After using the medium size Joey-Bunz now for about two weeks, the verdict is in. They are great! I still use the microfiber insert that came with the diaper, but layer it with the Joey-Bunz. We can now go at least three hours, some times longer, without any leaking. I also love that they are so trim. They add hardly any bulk to my diapers. Next I'd like to try layering two Joey-Bunz to see if this is even more effective.

Joey-Bunz Cloth Diaper Insert

Happy, Healthy 6 Month Old

Our Silly Little Boy

Can You See Those 2 Front Teeth?!


On the 21st, Nolan turned 6 months old! We can hardly believe it. He has his two bottom teeth coming in now and he's a pro at sitting...he only topples over when he's reaching for some distant toy. We went to the doctor last week for a check up and his next round of vaccines, and the doctor told us everything looks great. He's gaining weight fine and his length is good, although he's no longer in the 90th percentile for length like last visit. He weighs 16 pounds, 7 ounces now...no wonder everyone keeps commenting on how heavy he is!! Dr. Williams said that we can start giving him some finger foods like Cheerios and that we can offer more of a variety with the fruits and veggies. Next up is sweet potatoes. Yum! The only bad news for me is that Dr. Williams suggests letting Nolan fuss some at bedtime to teach him to fall asleep on his own. We usually have to bounce or nurse him to sleep. I know, I've read that that's a no-no before, but I'm really a wimp when it comes to letting him cry. Maybe I could sleep over somewhere else and Ryan can do the whole cry it out thing?! (Update: We've since tried letting him cry some the last two nights and it's gone fairly well...I only cried a little, and Nolan went to sleep after 50 minutes the first night and 30 minutes the second night) Nolie also makes a new sound...buh, buh, buh. He really puts a lot of effort into bringing his lips together and getting that sound out. He's so entertaining!

I haven't been very prompt on posting pictures here lately, so here are a few from the last couple weeks of Nolie and the people in his life.

A Proud Grandma Teri

G-Papi and Nolan

These Cups are the Coolest!