Nolan is 11 months old!

Our Nolan is just one month shy of being an entire year old. He's walking all over and loves to waddle over to his Daddy when he walks in the front door. He loves to "share" his food with his puppy-dog Lucy and apparently he also likes to share germs. Garrett and Nolan both came down with strep last week and had matching fevers for a few days. Isn't that sweet? Ha! I completely forgot to take Nolan's 11 month pictures with Airborne Bear yesterday so we did it today. Call them his 11 month + a day pictures. :) I was lucky to get him to sit still for the few that I got!

This is his "wow, that flash was WAY too bright" look.

He's been doing this a lot lately, stretching as far as he can. He does it on the floor, in his high chair, in our arms...he's a bit dramatic. But cute. :)

I know that this is a side shot but he just looked so adorable that I couldn't not post it.

Nolan is walking!

About a week and half ago, Nolan decided one morning to just go ahead and start walking. And he hasn't stopped. He still likes to use a wall or a chair to help pull himself up to standing position, but once he's there you can't stop him. :) Until he falls over. Which he still does quite a bit of. Here's a video of our little walker taken bright and early in the morning (we're talking about 5:30ish here) which is why he's wearing his super-cool Handy Manny pajamas.

10 Months Old

 Nolan is 10 months old today and as squirmy as can be. I'm posting a bunch of pictures because it took about 3 times that many to get a decent shot of our wiggle-worm. :) And I even took a little video to show just how busy he is. PS: I realized, as I plugged in the camera to upload the photos to the computer, that the lens of the camera had a Nolan-sized fingerprint right in the center of it. That explains why I kept thinking all my pictures were blurry as I was taking them. I was ready to blame the camera itself. Sorry, Sony Cybershot, it was my baby's sticky fingers that ruined a bunch of pictures, not you. I think a lot of these are still good, they just look like they belong in a dream sequence or something. Ha!

And STAY down!

He's learned from big brother...must...climb...everything...

Always on the move!!

A glimpse into our 10 month photo attempt.

This is just one of the ways I find Nolan after he wakes up from a nap. Garrett loves to get to him first and entertain the little guy for awhile.

When Grandma Comes to Visit...

Doesn't that sound like a great title for a children's book?? Hmm...something to keep in mind for the future. :)
Actually, this post is about my mom coming to stay with the boys and me while Russ was out of town on a missions trip. Less than a week after arriving home from our travels, Russ set off again with the young adults from church to minister to some folks in the heart of Denver, a forgotten population. This would have left me alone with my two dear, sweet, BUSY boys for an entire week. When I mentioned this to my dad and said how very very nice it would be to have a Grandma close by to help out, he put her on a plane to Dallas and said, "Have fun!" Thank you, Grandpa, for sharing her with us. It was MUCH needed and MUCH loved. We went to the zoo, played with play-dough, went shopping, played at the park and even went potty on the toilet for the first time (Garrett I meant...just in case you were wondering). Grandma's Visit = Success

Driving Miss Julie...

  He was so excited to feed the giraffes! What a difference a year makes because last year he wanted nothing to do with these guys.

 Everything is climbable to this boy.

This picture is for you, Daddy. We know how much you looooove ostriches and emus. *Insert sarcastic twang here.*

The water feature of the kids area was such fun! Both boys got completely soaked and had to be changed but it was worth it on such a hot and sticky day.

He was pooped. This nap only lasted about 30 minutes though and he was ready to roll again. 

Garrett asked about the carousel every single time we walked past it, so we had to give him a turn.

He loooooves his froggy umbrella that Grandma got him at the gift shop.

Garrett had to show Grandma how we cook for Cookie Monster and feed him. I think she picked it up pretty quickly.

He actually got to use his froggy umbrella while she was here! We had a round of stormy weather the day before she left and Garrett was quick to ask about using his umbrella and rain boots.