Happy Birthday Nolan

It's days like today when I wish I was a really great writer! How to express what Mark and I are feeling today is just impossible! On this day 1 year ago at 4:08 a.m. Nolan Bradley Jansen was brought into this world. And our life was changed in the most incredible way! He has given us indescribable love, joy, and happiness! He is tons of fun, silly, stubborn, and so bright! We can't wait to see where God leads him and our family in the years to come! Enjoy the movie of pictures and video from his amazing first year. It's long...but how do you put 365 days of memories into just a few minutes! Nollie we love you!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I thought our life would slow down when I was off track for five and a half weeks, but it has been just the opposite! We have been SO busy! I can't imagine how we would have been able to make it if I was teaching full time right now! With Christmas shopping, wrapping, and countless parties we have definitely not slowed down! I posted some pictures below from our busy life around the house and out and about!

Playing with his favorite stuffed animal- "Monks".

Yes, it's only 6 degrees outside, but Nolan still loves being naked!

Family photo at our annual egg nog party!

The Bosch Kids with Oma

The Pickle Game: For those of you who haven't heard of it before, it's an old German tradition where Santa hides a pickle ornament on the tree. The person who finds the pickle will have good luck for the year and an extra present from St. Nick! Colleen found the pickle!!

Ernie was the winner in our "friends" round!

Our friend D.J. hosts an annual formal Christmas party at his house every year. It's always a rockin' bash with approximately 100 people, great snacks, good wine & beer, and fun dancing! (See below- don't ask.) It was a nice night out for Mark and I. Thanks Oma and Opa for watching Nollie!

The next morning we woke up bright and early to 1 degree temperatures. We bundled up and headed over to Washington Park to walk/run in the "Jingle Bell Walk" for the arthritis foundation. Each participant is given jingle bells for their running shoes so that you can hear the jingle jangle throughout the park as you run. Everyone dresses up in their holiday gear for the walk. You see dogs dressed as reindeer, women in Santa suits, and children with elf ears. Aunt Sue is always up for some fun- she's the one who provided us with the ever so fashionable eye wear you see in the photo below. Despite frigid temperatures and frozen nose hairs we had a great time!


This week at home has been much slower. Just running a few errands, wrapping the last few gifts, and starting to prepare for our trip home to Chicago. We are looking forward to Aunt Jayne and Uncle Brad coming next weekend and Jansen family Christmas celebrations before we leave! We will leave on Tuesday and come back on January 1st! So we are enjoying our last few days of relaxation before the craziness of travel sets in! We can't wait to go home!

Ho Ho Ho

*** SANTA UPDATE: Check out the quick slide show of pictures from the professional photographer at the NCM Children's party! He really captured the sheer terror on Nolan's face!

This morning we woke up bright and early to go visit Santa at Mark's National Cine Media Children's Christmas breakfast. It was a great event with a continental breakfast, Santa, his balloon artist elves, goodie bags, and a free screening of Bolt in 3-D for the older kids. Nolan had fun with the kids in line, enjoyed his bits of doughnut, but DID NOT like Santa himself! He screamed and cried when we put him on his lap. Maybe when he's a little older he won't be so scared of a jolly old man with a big white beard!

Practice Makes Progress

That's what I always tell the kids in my class. No one is ever perfect, but the harder we try and the more effort we put in, the better we'll get at something. That's what I've had to tell myself about Nolan's mobility these days. It's easy for me to worry about why he isn't crawling or get frustrated when he is totally content to sit and play in the same place. Only now I think he's starting to get a bit bored playing with the same old toys. So I try to mix up his day with things like outings, reading, tummy time, standing and playing at the ottoman or Playschool interactive table, playing basketball at his mini hoop, and emptying and putting toys back into his basket.

Nolan has a busy schedule and homework each day! Our hard work and practice must be paying off, because, however small this may seem, he is making some progress in movement. He is now sliding and pushing backwards with his hands on his belly- mostly on the wood floor, a bit on the carpet. It is very slow going and he gets a bit unhappy when it doesn't come easy, but he does discover fun things along the way, which keeps him pushing. Like the heat register or the curtains...really fun stuff!

I know that he has a lot of weight to haul around and that the doctor tells me that crawling really isn't a milestone, but as a mom, I guess you just really want your child to do what most other babies their age are doing. So we'll just keep practicing and praying and praising God for health and for all the amazing stuff Nolan is doing! Like copying me, pointing to things that I say- the Christmas tree, lights, the clock "tick-tock", waving bye-bye, and whispering back and forth. He is such a fun boy and I am LOVING being a stay at home mom. I guess I just can't shake the teacher in me- or maybe I'm just a bit of a control freak! I'm learning to let go and trust that God is in control.

The video below is of Nolan's slow and steady progress. A few clips of the half an hour it took him to move about 10 feet total! I didn't get a lot of the action because every time he knew I was filming he would stop moving and start fussing for me to help him. So it's not terribly exciting, but I'm so proud! We celebrate the small things at our house!

blessed

This year more than ever have we felt so incredibly blessed! Nolan has brought such joy to our lives. And over this Thanksgiving weekend we have had a lot of time to relax, spend time as a family, and reflect on all of our blessings. We were visited by my brother Tyler for the holiday and have spent the past few days watching a lot of football, eating good food, and trying to stay warm! I'm sitting here now in my cozy family room with my 10 foot Christmas tree glowing and the Bears game mumbling in the background reflecting on all that I am thankful for.
Here's just a few:

* My funny, handsome, and self-sacrificing husband. Thank you for giving up your Sunday's of football for shopping and outings with Nolan. You make us feel so loved and important!

* NBJ. He's happy, silly, and so dang cute! Even when he's screaming. (Side Note: We found out all the shrieking was because not only is Nolan getting in all four top teeth, but he also has a double ear infection! So now I am also thankful for Amoxicillin.)

* Family- near and far. We have learned so much from all of you about love, faith, and fun! Thank you for your support, encouragement, and so many good times!

*Friends: Mark and I both still have close relationships with our friends from high school and college. We have been blessed by lasting friendships with those who truly know our hearts. We are so thankful to have people to talk to, laugh with, and lean on.

* Our church and Small Group...we love having a place to go to be challenged and fed, to learn more about God and to serve others. We enjoy worshiping, serving, and having a caring place for Nolan to grow up to learn about Jesus.

* I could go on and on...our jobs, our house, our day care provider, etc. etc. etc. But I'll stop there for now. But, oh, one more thing...I am so thankful that I have the next 5 weeks off!

I can't wait to sleep in, chill at home with Nolan, run errands during the day, have time to bake Christmas cookies, go Christmas shopping, and have a few night outs with Mark! I'll be able to blog a lot more and keep you up to date on all of our busy-ness!

Check out our video below to see all of our adventures from the past weekend- Thanksgiving, and pre-Christmas fun! (Hence, the music...Charlie Brown.) Thank you Uncle Tyler for a very fun visit! Nolan LOVED pointing at you, cuddling with you, and laughing at your crazy faces! See you at Christmas!

Counting Down

We had our first official snow today! I woke up, got ready, walked down the stairs to start my day and looked out the window to see what looked like a blizzard outside! It didn't snow for long, but when it did, it fell hard! The kids at school were super excited to wear their snow boots and play in the dusting that was left at recess. Mark said that Nolan was mesmerized by it as they drove to Vickie's house for the day. It will be fun to watch him experience all the joys that Winter brings! And it definitely helped us get in the spirit...yes, I know it's early, but I found myself listening to Cozy 101 today- all Christmas music, all the time, until Christmas day! We even headed out to the mall tonight to do a little browsing for ideas for Nolan for both Christmas and his birthday. That didn't last too long though- it was nearing bed time and he started to get fussy, and it was COLD! 27 degrees! So we ducked into a few stores, bought him a new pair of mittens, and were on our way.

It has been a rough month of teething and a bottle and bedtime routine are necessary at exactly 8 each night! Nolan already had his bottom front teeth, his top right tooth popped through on Halloween, and now he's working on his top left tooth! He has been a pretty easy baby, but boy, does he have it rough with these teeth! His new favorite activity seems to be screeching and screaming like a girl when he's in pain! He just wants to be held and attended to at all times! So, hopefully this is just a phase, and it will pass soon! Pray for his teeth to come in, and to come in quickly!

Despite the crankiness, we have still managed to make time for a little fun this month! I posted some pictures from the past week or two. Playing in the leaves, wearing his new and first pair of Nike's, and trying out his new front facing car seat! What a big boy! We are anxiously awaiting my next track off. I teach 7 more days and then will be off from Thanksgiving break until after the New Year! It will be a great time of year to have some down time and to get to experience all that the Holidays bring with Nolan!

A glimpse of the girlie shriek!

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful evening celebrating Nolan's first Halloween! Growing up, my mom always made us the best, most creative costumes: the statue of liberty, a skunk, lotto ball, rubix cube, Wonder Woman. She always took the time to make sure that we didn't look like everyone else trick or treating! We were unique...and that's exactly what Nolan was this year. Keeping with the Johnson tradition, Grandma helped us make his first costume this year- a Dutch boy! To honor Mark's family heritage and to remember our good ol' times in G.R. Thanks Bing Bong we loved it!

We had a busy night hopping around from Oma and Opa's house, to our street, to Ernie and Kim's and Nolan loved wearing his costume and kept his hat on all night long! His wooden shoes were a hit and we couldn't have asked for better weather! We trick or treated with family, friends, and neighbors. Then Nolan went to bed at Uncle E.'s and we broke out our costumes. Enjoy the show!

The Incredible Scooching Boy

For some reason Nolan in COMPLETELY content to stay in one spot! He sits and plays with a basket of toys, "reads" books, or makes baskets on his mini basketball hoop. He can stay in the same place entertaining himself for a long time. No crawling. He stands, waves, claps, says Ma Ma and Da Da, pushes up on his hands, feeds himself smalls bites, rolls over- all of the developmental milestones have been met. But yet he just doesn't want to crawl! Maybe he's lazy- like his Daddy! Or maybe he doesn't want to do it unless he can do it perfectly- like his Mommy! Who knows! But for some reason over the past few weeks he has figured out his own method of movement- the scooch! He goes all the way across the floor on his bottom! Check it out!

Dedication

This morning Mark and I had the pleasure of dedicating Nolan at church. We had been wanting to do this for awhile now, but our church only does it on certain weekends during the year, and none of the previous dedication Sunday's had worked with our schedule. So today we stood before God, our church community, family, and friends to say that we are so thankful for the precious gift of Nolan in our lives. We dedicate our lives to raising him to know the Lord. We pray that he would grow up to love God and serve others. We are so blessed to have been given Nolan, he is such an easy going, happy, silly, and sweet little guy! We dream of what his future holds and can't wait to see him grow! Thank you to all of the loved ones in his life who care for him and pray for him, and will encourage and support him throughout his life.

Below is the video of parts of the dedication service for all our dear family and friends who live far away to see! We missed you and wish you all could have been there!

After the service we came back to our house for some yummy chili and fellowship! I really didn't get very many good pictures of Nolan. He stayed up for the little party when he should have been napping, and wasn't really wanting to pose for the camera. It's a shame too, because he looked so cute in his new outfit. You'll have to see it in the video I guess! Enjoy!

Murder at the Underwood Estates

Thank you Leensvaarts for an awesome night full of mystery, intrigue, and wine! Who would have known my husband was a murderer!

Busy, Busy, Busy

The past few weeks have been nothing but running from one place to the other with very little down time in between. Work, daycare, Oma's, home, shopping, errands, Bible Study, out to eat, church, and few fun outings thrown into the mix. We definitely enjoy our few quiet moments at home to play and cuddle. Good thing Nolan is such a low key little guy. He pretty much has a fun time no matter what we are doing! Fortunately, in just 6 school weeks and 2 days, we'll have 5 1/2 weeks off to relax! Not that I'm counting down or anything! Here are a few random pictures of the past week or so!

Babysitting Payton and Brady

Reading...This first grade teacher is SO proud! Nolan LOVES to read. He had just woken up- if you were wondering about the whole bed head look! And did you notice the pool of drool around his collar- yep- he's been working on his top teeth for too long now!

Playing at Small Group...standing is his new favorite past time. Don't you just love his new jeans? I'm so excited for him to be able to wear all his new winter clothes since it has gotten cooler.

Take a closer look to see what Nolan was playing with as we adults were making Hobo pies for dinner. What's a Hobo pie you're wondering? Leftovers from our rained out camping trip.

Thanks for my cool sweatshirt Uncle Tyler! Sorry if I jinxed the team yesterday!

All bundled up for the pumpkin patch. How could you not want to squeeze those cheeks? So loveable!

Nolan's favorite face these days! The crinkle nose.

Nolan looking like such a big boy in his khakis and shoes!

"My mom made me sit on all these lumpy orange things...I did not want to pose! This was the best shot she got! Ha Ha!" Nolan

Road Trippin'

This past weekend I flew to Chicago on Friday night, stayed up until 3 o'clock in the morning talking to my oldest dear friend Kerri, woke up early, hopped in the car with my besties from highschool, drove 5 hours to the good ol' town of Oskaloosa Iowa, spent an amazingly fun day with great friends and a new, especially silver one, attended the wedding and reception of my highschool hand holding friend Keith and his stunning new bride Hannah, got down on the dance floor, slept in the immaculate ? Red Carpet Inn (at least we had 2 double beds instead of our usual sleeping arrangements in highschool- 3 girls, 1 twin bed), woke up Sunday morning (early again), drove 5 hours back to Streamwood- thanks for driving Beck, Skyped with Mark and Nolan, had dinner with my family, visited my grandma, baked cookies with my mom, went to bed late, woke up at 3:30 a.m., rode to the airport with Mal, flew out by 6 a.m., arrived in Denver by 7:30, drove home with my boys, jumped in my car, sped to work, worked all day setting up my classroom and planning, left school at 3, went to class until 6, and then FINALLY made it home to cuddle on the couch for an hour and then go to bed! It was fast, furious, and a LOT of fun!

Almost 9 months! Wow!

This morning we took Nolan in for his 9 month well check at the pediatrician's office! It was a few days early, but we wanted to take care of it while I am still off track. Today is my last full day at home with Nolan. Tomorrow and Friday I have meetings and then I'm off to Iowa for the weekend for a high school friend's wedding. Mark and Nolan will be on their own! That should be fun and interesting too! I'll fill you in on Monday when I'm back! Then Monday I have a day to work in my classroom and Tuesday the kids come back and we are on track for 9 straight weeks!

I have absolutely LOVED my last 3 weeks at home with Nolan. He is growing and changing so much each day. He is now standing at a coffee table or ottoman, eating turkey and yogurt, practicing his sippy cup, waving, and saying "Ma Ma" and "Da Da" all the time! He is not on the move yet, which is actually nice for us, he will sit and play in the same spot for up to an hour!! However, when on his stomach he can turn in circles, reach for toys, and is starting to push off! He is a very happy boy, despite a few cranky moments- the doctor said all four top teeth are on their way in! Yikes!

So here's the break down of our BIG boy from his appointment today. He is extremely healthy and is meeting all his developmental milestones! He is now 30 1/4 in. long (96%). He is 24 lbs. 7.8 oz. (93%) Woah! (Why aren't my arms more toned?) And his head circumference is 45.1 cm. (50%) He is in the exact same percentile ranges as he was at his 6 month well check!

Now that I'll be back at school I'm sure my posts will be few and far between as I try to keep my head above water. Thanks for checking in!

Nolan's 1st Hair Cut

Nolan was born with a full head of hair. The nurses at the hospital said it looked like he had highlights. He lost a bit of it over the following 6 months, but from 24 weeks on, it's been growing like crazy! He has always sported the spiky look, not because we put gel or hairspray in it, but because no matter how hard we try it just sticks straight up! We finally found it too hard to manage- it stuck up so high, was starting to fall over his ears, and blew in the wind! We started with just a trim over the ears with a scissors, but that proved to be hard because boys who are 9 months old don't tend to sit still. And because this mommy was making blunt cuts! So Mark braved the clippers and Nolan loved it. We played a Baby Einstein DVD to keep him entertained and gave him his paci to comfort him despite the buzzing noise. Everything was going well until the very last section over his left ear- Nolan made a quick jerk and ended up with a little Vanilla Ice style racing stripe! Not too noticeable, and doesn't distract from the overall look- a cute buzz cut, still able to be styled with a little water- his Dad's favorite look as well. He looks like such a little boy now.

Camping Adventures

No bathrooms, beauty products, beds, or babies, just four wheelin', friends, food, and FUN! Check it out!

P.S. Special Thanks to the Syers Fam for our camping gear! And to Oma and Opa for taking great care of N.B.J.

Because I told Mark I would

Here's a little video from Monday! Nolan got to cheer on his second favorite football team...the Broncos! He fell asleep shortly into the game, being that it was a Monday night, but his extra clapping must have been enough to help them pull out the win. Yes, I may be a bit biased, but for some reason we just couldn't seem to get a great picture of him in this jersey...it must have been that he was uncomfortable with "Bailey" across his back. So enjoy this small glimpse into our lives. When Nolan's old enough we'll have to see who HE really chooses to root for.

Planes, Tanks?, and Automobiles

We spent the past weekend back home in Illinois! My dear high school friend and college room-mate, fondly known as "DAVIS", got married and I was honored to stand beside her. One of the greatest perks of being in her wedding happened to be that we got to spend the long weekend with my family, high school friends, and college roomies! It was a busy weekend of driving around the Chicago suburbs, but it was great for Nolan to get to spend time with so many people who love him more than words can say! He had a blast visiting Soo-ja at Streamwood Florist, stopping by St. Peters to visit Grandma in her classroom, laughing at Grandpa's beard, being super silly with Auntie Mal (you'll see in the video), clapping at the pretty bride during the wedding, strolling through the gardens at Cantigny, and sitting on Great Grandma's lap! We, on the other hand, enjoyed delicious food from Portillos, laughing and staying up late with my parents, relaxing pedicures (yes...even Mark- a little mother in law, son in law bonding), dancing with old friends, and taking in a bit of God's beautiful creation! Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful weekend! Congratulations and blessings to the new Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hart! And to Jiw, John, and Trey...we missed you deeply!

The Simple Things

Early Wednesday morning as I got my bags ready to go to school, I grabbed my keys off the hook in the kitchen to rush my way to school at 6:45 a.m. and I screamed at what I saw! There on my keychain was THE BEST early birthday present Mark could have EVER gotten me! A keyless entry remote control installed in our Honda Civic!

You see, things have changed now that I have a 20 plus pound baby to lug around. No longer am I screaming at the sight of new cute Puma running shoes or a Tiffany bracelet...no, now I am screaming for joy at the simplest of things...something that makes my life 2000 times easier...something we should have just had installed when we bought the car brand new 5 years ago. But you see, we were broke college graduates with only one job, about to move across the country and start our new married lives together and at that point the couple hundred extra dollars for keyless entry just didn't seem necessary. But now it absolutely is!

Imagine me, Nolan in arms and shopping cart full of groceries, trying to bend down to get the key in the hole without the shopping cart rolling away. And then, over the years, the key has slowly started to not fit very well in the hole and you have to jiggle it and position it just right to get the lock to open. So here I am struggling with all the weight and bags and trying 15 to 20 times to get the lock to open, only to have to run around to the other side of the car to open that lock and crawl across the seat to pop the lock open from the inside! (and don't forget I still have all 20 some pounds of chubby cheeks and chunky thighs and the loaded shopping cart) So after sweat, tears, and probably a few not so pleasant words, I would be in the car and driving home. As soon as I would get home, I would burst through the doors and complain to Mark day after day about this horrible situation!

For once, I think he got the hint! And I have my most awesome birthday present. It is amazing how such a simple thing has blessed my life so incredibly much! I love you babe! And now I hope you all can understand why I have found this to be blog worthy!!

Here are a few other shots from our weekend and pre-birthday celebrations!! Thanks so much to everyone who helped make my birthday so much fun so far...and it hasn't even really come yet!!


This is a picture from a fun game our super creative Aunt Sue played to help celebrate her new sprinkler system at my birthday party at her house! Yes...we are wearing goggles!

And the winners are...gold medal: Wes, silver medal: Ernie, bronze medal: Mark! I'm so proud! Nolan even joined in on the festivities!


Payton created her own artwork for my birthday card!

Swimming at Jess' Pool! Such a handsome little dude!

My Birthday Chair...a wonderful Johnson family tradition...the family decorates a special chair for the birthday person to sit in and open up their presents. It's a different theme every year. This year, Mark decorated it in a Beverly Hills 90210 theme. I am the shows number one fan...I love the DVD's and am spending my real birthday night tomorrow watching the new series.

For my birthday celebration Mark and I went indoor skydiving! I was reluctant at first, because if you know me, you know I don't like my feet to leave the ground. I'm talking no skates, skis, nothin'! But it was a fun experience- 110 mph winds shooting out and blasting you into the air. I would never do the real thing, so this was a nice way to simulate the free fall experience, have your cheeks flap in the wind, and to see your boogers fly from your nose. Video to come!

Birthday dinner at Happa Sushi Bar

Labor Day at the cabin: Nolan's first tractor ride!

A Busy August Weekend

What started out as a weekend with not much planned turned out to be a fun filled few days with friends and family! We spent time on Friday night relaxing at the house, celebrating Nolan's 2 front teeth, watching the Olympics, and enjoying our yard.

But, we were gone most of Saturday - Mark reveling in the joys of his Fantasy Football draft and poker, and myself spending some quality time with Nolan, Cara, Gwen, and the kids: Payton, Brady, and Rylan. We had a "peaceful" dinner at Firebowl, followed by a fun evening at the park. Nolan LOVED his first experience on a park swing and laughed hysterically! Only to scream in fear a few short minutes later when three moms were screeching and making loud silly noises in order to attempt to get one, nice, smiling photo of 4 kids under the age of four.

On Sunday, we hiked Devil's Head with our great friends Rick and Mandy and their awesome pup- Murphy. The weather was perfect at this point, a bit of sun and a cool breeze. The hike wasn't too rough, 1.4 miles up then 200 some, steep steps to the look out tower. It was a beautiful view and it felt so good to be active! Thank goodness for Mark- he carried all 20 plus pounds of Nolan up and down the mountain! Our timing was excellent, we finished and headed back to the Leensvart's for excellent chicken enchiladas, Arnold Palmers, the closing ceremonies, and funnel cloud viewing. There were tornadoes touching down in other parts of Douglas County and we watched them from their street!

Right about now we are exhausted and dreading work tomorrow! Good thing we have a 3 day weekend to look forward to!

Lazy Days

We had a lazy, rainy weekend...and it was wonderful! We are all fighting colds, so we ate out, slept in, cuddled with Nolan in bed, took naps, and lounged around in sweats watching hours upon hours of the Olympics. And in the midst of not doing too much, Nolan had two, new, small accomplishments that, to us, made our weekend monumental!

1.) He now says "Da Da". We aren't sure if he totally knows what it means yet, but Mark is pretty pumped. And it is so cute to hear! And, 2.) He started clapping. How fun to see him celebrate and show excitement, or possibly, just do it to make more noise! We haven't been able to catch either of these fun new milestones on video, but see below for a glimpse of our big boy this weekend. We are constantly reminded of how blessed we are to have such a happy, healthy baby! He brings more joy to our lives then we could have ever imagined!

Bear Down!

Daddy's working tonight...so... we have free reign to...root for the Bears!!! We thought we would help kick off the Chicago Bears first preseason football game, which is tonight, by trying out Nolan's most excellent Bears track suit from Uncle Tyler! Nolan sure looks like he could be their star line backer some day! Or the next "Frige"! Bear down!

Gimme More

"Gimme More"- the title of this post and video...it also happens to be the title of a Britney Spears song that we sang over and over again this weekend as we fed Nolan. It just seems like that's what he's thinking as he opens his mouth so wide wanting more plums, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, or anything else you put near his face. If you couldn't tell, we can't quite shovel it in fast enough! But, it's also what we're thinking as my sister and Billy left today! "Gimme More"!

We had a wonderful week of laughing, cooking, eating, driving, game playing, watching t.v., taking care of Nolan, and dreaming of a future for them in Colorado! We so wish they lived closer so we could spend quality time like this whenever we want! Thank you Mallory and Billy for coming out and for watching and spoiling Nolan all week! Nolan loves you and so do we! You are missed already!

P.S. "My Lip Gloss Be Poppin" I apologize in advance for my stellar rapping abilities...I wanna give a shout out to Lil' Mama!
(By the way, did you know she's only 18?)

Like Father Like Son

Mark LOVES baseball! He records every Rockies game and stay up until all hours watching them after we have watched our plethora of Reality Shows each night. He has started from an early age to introduce the sport to Nolan. His room is a baseball theme, he has numerous baseball outfits, he attended his first game at Coors Field in early Spring, and he has even joked about tying his right hand behind his back. You know, to strengthen the left arm, because left handed pitchers are a hot commodity! Nolan got his first baseball cap this week, and we think he is quite cute wearing it! Just wanted to share his new look!

Meeting Mylie

Last night we went over to Kim and Ernie's house to meet their new puppy...Mylie! We have been awaiting her arrival for quite some time now. And Nolan was so excited to meet his new friend. When we got there Mylie came right to me when I called her name and she let me hold her for a long time! She loves to cuddle! See, I can handle dogs when they are tiny and sweet, and love to snuggle, and especially when we can say goodbye and leave them at someone else's house at the end of the night! We had a fun night relaxing with great friends, playing with Mylie and Nolan, watching "America's Best Dance Crew", and laughing a lot! Check out Nolan's first interactions with the pup! Kim and Ernie, we hope you got more sleep last night! We love your little girl!

Randomness

So I've been in a bit of a blogging lull. I dove head first into my new teaching year and have been spending every single second of down time hanging out with the very awesome Nolan. We have so much fun every night playing and snuggling on the couch until bed time! He is very active right now- bouncing in the exersaucer, weighing down the swing, rolling over and pushing up onto his hands, reaching and raking things closer to him, teething and fussing over sore gums, and almost mastering sitting up. I put together a quick video of some things we've been up to around the house!

On another note, my very dear friend Jill tagged me a LONG time ago on her blog. I was to write 5 random things about myself on my blog. So here goes...

1. I HATE ONIONS! Yuck! Their texture and flavor is disgusting. I literally barfed in my mouth once when Mark secretly slipped one onto my McFish sandwich at McDonalds!

2. There's glass in my elbow. I had glass embedded deep into my tissue after a roll over van accident. Once in awhile I feel the glass work it's way up to the surface and rub against the bone. I've had some removed awhile ago, but it is kind of hard to locate exactly, so I just live with the rest.

3. I have Scoleosis. If you look at my back...it's very jacked up! I had to wear a back brace for 12 hours a day, in 7th grade. What a great time for that fun, huh? But I mostly wore it at night so, it wasn't that bad! It was this hard plastic thing, so not the most comfortable to sleep in, but better than wearing it to school. Zits and glasses were bad enough!

4. I think purple is a wretched color! I had this purple Disney character shirt, you know the ones where the characters pop out of the buttons. I wore it to Student Impact at church my freshman year of high school and I walked into the basement bathroom. The lighting wasn't very forgiving in there, I looked into the mirror and could not believe how terrible I looked in that shirt. Don't know if it was the fact that Winnie the Pooh was peeking out of my buttons or if it was the particularly bright shade, but ever since then, I have despised the color purple.

5. I make a really funny noise in my throat when it's itchy or when my ears are itchy! It kind of sounds like a frog. Anyone who has lived with me has grown to love and adore this beautiful sound!

And that's it! Now I have to tag three people to do the same.
I tag: Cara, Brad, and Gwen. Have fun!

4th of July Fun!

We have had a wonderful, relaxing, long weekend full of food, fun, friends, and fireworks! Take a look at our 4th of July adventures at Mark's family cabin in Indian Hills!

6 Months!

Nolan Bradley is now officially 6 months old! It's crazy how fast the time has flown! It has been pure joy being home with him for the past two weeks! He is at such a fun stage...standing and playing in the exersaucer, sitting up with his pots and pans toy, rolling over and over, and screeching and gasping at the top of his lungs just to hear himself talk. At our 6 month well check with our pediatrician she stated, "He's all boy!" And that he is! A BIG boy! He is now 20 lbs. 9 oz. (93%) and 28 1/2 inches long (96%). So needless to say, Mark and I will have some buff arms after lugging him around everywhere!

Nolan's New Buddy

What have we gotten ourselves into? Check out Nolan's new best friend...Puppy! Yes, a dog has entered the Jansen household. For those of you who know us well, you know a dog is merely something we look at, occasionally pet, not cuddle, play with, or let slobber on us! But, somehow Nolan is surrounded by dogs... Auntie Sue's precious Sammie, D.J.'s buddy Tucker, The Leensvaart's pup Murphy, and soon to be the new Krauth addition- Miley. He LOVES them. So it wasn't a surprise when he became attached to his new pal...a blue stuffed animal puppy. Puppy goes with Nolan everywhere- in the car, outside, for naps, and especially to bed. He sucks on his nose, grabs his ears, and stretches his arms out to hug him close. Apparently Puppy is also hilarious! Nolan laughs and laughs as his ears fly back and forth. So here's to hoping that this new found affection for four legged friends will stay in the plush kind.
But we have a feeling we're doomed!