4 Years Ago Today

April 30, 2005 Pat and i got married. Since that day we have moved twice, had a collective 7 jobs, said goodbye forever to family members and a few friends, been in a total of 3 car accidents, had our car broken into twice, bought a house, had our house robbed and a surprise pregnancy.

Despite all these bumps in the road we have stayed strong, moving forward, one day at a time confident that whatever tomorrow brings we will get through it together. Happy Anniversary Bunny!

My Favorite Time

Nolan is not the cuddly type of baby, he likes to be held when he is playing and wide awake but when it comes to sleeping he wants to be in his crib or swing. But every so often (usually after he has a big screaming fit) he will take a nap with me on the couch and those are my most favorite moments. Pat took this picture of our most recent nap time.

Happy Anniversary!

Just in time for our 4th wedding anniversary (April 30th) I had a little drama with my wedding rings. I had to take my rings off when I was 5 months pregnant due to all the swelling. Well I think I had hit my limit of explaining to people that I am in fact married but can't quite fit in my rings yet. Plus granny had my rings cleaned and re dipped so they looked sparkly and new for their big debut. So i tried for the 10,000th time to get them on my finger. Luckily this time it worked, it slid right on. Unfortunately when I woke up the next morning my finger was a little puffy and tingly so I thought I should get it off. This is where I got into trouble, it wouldn't budge. I did what any rational person does when they encounter a problem like this...i got online and googled stuck ring. There were thousands of sites so I figured I would find something on there that would work. Before you give me all your stuck ring tricks here is my list of attempts:

olive oil

baby oil

conditioner

dish soap

butter

olive oil and butter

spit

ice

dental floss (this was the most promising as you wind the floss over your finger to push down the swelling but still nothing)

Windex (an old jewelers trick, this got it the furthest but it got stuck on my knuckle which really hurt so I pushed it back and this is when it really swelled)

After I did the Windex and practically dislocated my knuckle it really started to swell and so I loaded Nolan up for his very first trip to the fire station.

We got up there, and the fireman pulled out this very archaic little saw thing that one piece wraps around the ring and then they have to hand crank the blade to cut through the metal. We were there for 30 minutes when the sirens started and the entire firehouse cleared out to deal with a real emergency, they instructed me to come back later.

I waited an hour (how long does a fire really take to put out?) and returned sans Nolan (Pat came home to help me deal with this little emergency) to get the job finished. They worked on it for another 45 minutes before calling the other firehouse to see if they had a sharper blade. Not even 5 minutes later a fire engine rolls up (sirens on) and 8 fireman come out, one carrying my new blade and another one carrying the jaws of life just for giggles. They all stood around while they worked their magic and with 3 turns of the new blade my rings cracked apart...what relief. They commended me on not crying over my mangled rings and i told them I was mostly embarrassed that I so stubbornly put my rings back on when I still have quite a bit of baby weight to lose plus I was happy to not lose a finger.

Since I figured someone would think that I overreacted I took a picture to document this occasion

Note the swelling around the ring and the deep red coloration of the finger. And here is the end result of my rings
I guess I know what my anniversary present will be this year.

Arts & Crafts

YaYa came for a visit this weekend so I decided to push my shopping luck and head out for a day of errands. We went to Michael's for some painting supplies for Pat T. so that he can paint some pictures for a naked walls. While there I was pressured into making a spring time wreath instead of buying one.

I hate my own crafts as my perfectionist side rears it's ugly head and i am always dissatisfied with the end result. But YaYa assured me we would make it look great. We brought home our supplies and got started. Everyone got in on the fun!

I kept injuring myself with the hot glue gun so I let YaYa take over while I attempted to do an artistic spread of Nolan...

It didn't quite turn out as I had planned. Luckily our wreath did and is now hung proudly on my door.

Not a Newborn Not Yet a Man

Nolan turned 3 months old yesterday which means he is officially not a little newborn anymore...he is a whole 1/4 of a year old! Time has flown by and yet I can't remember what our lives were like before him...cliche i know but seriously we are tired over here and I can barely remember what I was doing an hour ago.

I sometimes forget that he is already here. I blame this on my never ending pregnancy where I seriously thought in that last month that I would be pregnant FOREVER. But he has brought so much into our lives in the last 3 months that I can't even begin to explain how incredibly fulfilled I feel as a mother.

Based on my pregnancy where I was calling my doctor regularly, I thought I was going to continue this neurotic behavior, checking on him every 5 seconds. But Nolan has actually calmed me down, brought me into the present instead of worrying about the future and he has softened my cold heart and made me sentimental. I don't know what it is about babies in general that do that to a person but I find myself cherishing every moment we spend together whether he is screaming or laughing.

I'm incredibly happy to be out of that fragile newborn stage without a single emergency trip to the hospital or midnight pediatrician calling and I look forward to what the future holds. But for now I am loving my 3 month and 1 day old.

Feeling Beachy

Last weekend was the first nice weekend in Seattle since October. Since I was already huge in October I wasn't getting out too much and therefore I have been aching to get outside and not have to wear a heavy coat, gloves and hat. Therefore our little family (and all of Seattle) got outside for a little sun. We finally went to Lincoln Park which is right down the road but we have never ventured over there. It was beautiful, people were happy, flowers were in bloom, I even broke out my pasty legs and wore some shorts! We had a picnic in the park and then walked along the board walk. This was also our first time using the Bjorn and as you can see Nolan loved it. It was a lot of work carrying him and walking up hill to get back to our car. I had to stop at least 3 times to catch my breath but I didn't mind...the sunshine was all I needed.

Grocery Shopping

Before I was a mom I swore that I would not be that mom that walked through the isles of the grocery store with a screaming kid...no one likes that mom. So when I needed to get groceries we either had them delivered or would leave Nolan at home. Well this week I finally ventured out to the grocery store with Nolan, completely prepared to abandon my full cart and head for the door if he as much as whimpered.
I put him in his front carrier as he seems to really like that thing and got started in the produce section. We are working on language development so I am explaining everything you do and see. Example: Let's wear your brown pants today; look at those green apples, etc. So we went through that entire section identifying every veggie we passed. By the time we got into the snack section (the next isle) he was completely conked out. He slept the entire time we were there and woke up just as I was checking out. What a relief. Hopefully all shopping trips will be as successful. Oh and a double bonus was that by using coupons and store sales I saved $50! Now if only he would let me eat in restaurants...one thing at a time I guess.

BFFs

Pat and I joined a parents group for West Seattle parents of newborns, we meet for 12 weeks to share our challenges, funny stories and questions. Last night was our very first meeting. There are 7 babies from 2-4 months old and of course their parents. It was really fun to see other babies Nolan's age or just a bit older and watch them interact. There are 3 boys: Henry, Nolan (in the monkey shirt) and Logan plus 4 girls: Annabella, Laila, Kia and Cara.

Running Man

Nolan started doing this little maneuver the other day. He really gets going when I'm trying to get him dressed which is a fun challenge for me to get him in pants. But I've fallen in love with the sound of rustling diapers and his "look what i can do!" face.

Humpty Dumpty...

Doesn't he look so happy to be sitting in his big boy chair? Immediately following this picture he threw up on it. I've learned that this is Nolan's way of marking his territory. The first time we put him in his beautiful car seat he threw up, if i have a new outfit for him that I'm super excited for him to wear, he'll throw up on it before i even get him off the changing pad, and of course the first time he was in his swing was the first time I witnessed projectile vomiting. If this is in fact his method, then Pat and I are definitely his.

Blackmail #1

I realized the other day that I didn't have any super embarrassing photos that I can later show to girlfriends, guy friends and future children so I made it my mission to capture these moments. I know that my most embarrassing photos are from bath time so here is photo #1 that I will be sure to have printed and show to all his guests...but only because it's my rite as his mother!