Katie's engagement party

Eric and I had a great time with friends while my parents came over to babysit Nolan for the weekend. We enjoyed a yummy Italian meal with our new friends Lauren & Crosby and Allison & Brandon at Salute Friday night, and headed down to Panama City on Saturday for an engagement party. It was nice to have 2 date nights in a row (a rare occurrence these days) and Eric and I really spent some great quality time with each other. Love you so much hon!

Chris & Katie at their engagement party

After the party, one more quick shot before the night was over

Happy Easter!

We had a really nice Easter weekend with family. Eric's mom came up on Friday and Saturday to visit and we went to my house for a few days after. Nolan however, has been sick since Friday with another double ear infection. He also had a reaction to the medicine they gave him and has had trouble keeping anything down since Saturday night. We went to the doctor this morning and Nolan received a shot and they scheduled him to see an ENT tomorrow to discuss getting tubes in his ears. We're so ready for our little man to be well and feel better!

Nolan was excited about the Easter bunny bringing him lots of goodies on Sunday morning, but especially liked spending time with his grandparents who he loves so much and asks for all the time now :)

Nonna & Pa-Paw on Easter Sunday

Nolan's Easter baskets (Eric's is in the center)!

Nolan trying to open his Dora the Explorer DVD

Nolan and Nommie at the Easter Egg hunt at Trinity

Family pic with our little bambino (25 weeks)

Hunting for Easter eggs

Thanks Nommie for my basket! Can't wait to use my swim diapers when I'm feeling better :)

Nolan loves Spring!

Eric took Nolan t the Southern Miss scrimmage game in Ocean Springs this past week. It was Nolan's 1st football game with daddy. he had fun cheering and playing with his friend Sam in the bleachers!














Nolan worked on a few Easter projects at our play group on Tuesday. He had fun playing with play dough and eating sugar cookies (of course)! We also had an Easter Egg hunt for the kids in the backyard, but Nolan was more interested in playing with the outside toys than searching for eggs.














We spent last weekend in Hammond with my family and Nolan liked riding in Zach's wagon with Jayden while the parents enjoyed eating crawfish!













My sister's dog Doodle was tricked into taking Nolan for wagon rides up and down the driveway. That was hilarious to watch!

Nolan was a little too big for this riding toy and soon after I snapped this photo, he fell backwards and hit his head on the concrete. Scared us all...but he was okay. Nolan is a tough kid!

Surprise Mommy! I helped myself to the whole box of goldfish while you were cooking dinner. You didn't even notice the mess I was making until it was too late!

Goldfish in one hand, sippy cup in the other. Hat & sunglasses in place while I'm watching Elmo's World in the car. This is the good life!

We took Nolan to the Strawberry Festival and it was his first time to ride rides. He LOVED it!!! Daddy however, is a little too big for the teacups!

63 words

Last night Eric and I were discussing how much Nolan's vocab has increased lately and we decided to sit down an make a list of all the words he knows how to say. I'm sure there are more, but here's 63 we knew of:

1. Momma
2. Dada
3. Nonna
4. Pa-Paw
5. Pap-Paw
6. dog
7. cat
8. duck
9. bath
10. hat
11. water
12. juice
13. roll
14. on
15. down
16. hot
17. teeth
18. ball
19. bat
20. Oh no!
21. tee-tee
22. George
23. Elmo
24. that
25. hi
26. hey
27. bye-bye
28. shoe
29. sock
30. boat
31. car
32. truck
33. bike
34. stop
35. book
36. hello
37. Dora
38. baby
39. blue
40. milk
41. no, no
42. stuck
43. bird
44. wet
45. dirty
46. stinky
47. door
48. plane
49. wow
50. Whit
51. moon
52. Zach
53. why
54. yay
55. please
56. more
57. Amen
58. I know
59. All done
60. All gone
61. thank you
62. night, night
63. choo-choo

Nolan at 20 months

Nolan turned 20 months old today. He's 33 1/2 inches long and weighs 33.5 pounds. Eric and I have noticed how chatty he has gotten and how quickly he is learning new words and increasing comprehension skills. He loves to mock anything you do or say in the same tone (ex. Oh no! Thank you, Stop, stop!) ...immediately afterwards, and has really gotten to be a pro at bringing you whatever you ask him to (ex. Nolan bring me your guitar, go give this plate to daddy, throw this away). He has recently started to identify the letter N and O (practicing in alphabet books and pointing to the N and O on the Sony TV!).

Last night he was jumping on the sofa and I started singing the "No More Monkey's" song and he ran to his room and brought back his book on 5 little monkey's jumping on the bed! Eric and I were so proud that he associated the two and knew exactly what book that song was in. Nolan has also started playing better on his own in his room. I can often find him flipping through his books babbling, racing his cars and trucks across the floor, and pretending to eat the plastic fruit in his kitchen set saying "um mm good"!

He has also increased his love for Elmo & Curious George. He wants me to play the Elmo DVD every time we get into the car and will point and say Elmo until I press play. He also watches Sesame Street everyday at 4pm and gets so excited when Elmo's World comes on at 4:30pm. In the morning, he is glued to the TV for Curious George as he slowly drinks his milk & eats breakfast. He also has replaced his lovie with Elmo and wants to snuggle with him before going to sleep.

Overall, Nolan has gotten more active everyday and really enjoys being outside...especially at the park where he can climb, climb, climb!! This morning I had to fuss at him for standing on the kitchen table holding our crystal vase saying, "Oh, no" as he's about t drop it! I must say Nolan has really broken us in for baby brother on the way. Our next step is putting Nolan in his toddler bed and starting the basics of potty training.

The Sneaky Chef

Another resource to getting your kids & family to get more healthy is The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: More Simple Strategies for Getting Your Kids Eating Right. This book includes 101 recipes and sneaky tricks for creating healthy meals your family will love. Missy Chase Lapine, the author, has several other NY Times bestselling books on this topic and I'm looking forward to reading her latest book & getting inspired more! Her website www.thesneakychef.com.

Deceptively Delicious

The last few months I've had a hard time feeding Nolan his veggies and he's gotten very quick to look at them and say "no" as he swings his head away. Now that he's doing really well feeding himself at mealtimes, he will eat everything except the vegetables on his plate. So, last year I saw Jessica Seinfield on the Today Show promoting her book Deceptively Delicious and thought at the time...I need to go buy that! Like most things I see and like, I forget about it until I see it again. Well, I came across her book the other day and snatched it off the shelf!! I couldn't wait to get home and start reading through the recipes and getting inspired to cook healthy for Nolan without him even knowing. Not only has this book taught me how to be sneaky with getting veggies in, but Eric and I are eating it too...not even tasting the difference! I really enjoy cooking and this book has gotten me so excited about our next mealtime and developing my own shortcuts/recipes along the way. It's funny now when we sit at the table as a family to eat and Eric asks, "so what's deceptive about this?" It just makes me smile as I know I'm feeding them with healthy ingredients and doing something really great for them in a small way :)