10 Things I Think I Think, November Edition

10. I'm freaking out a little bit because Nolan is six weeks old today. HOLY CRAP. That means I only have six weeks of maternity leave left. This is going WAY TOO FAST. :(

9. To offset the scariness of #10, at least we have secured a new babysitter. I'm really excited about her, actually; our families really seemed to click when we went to meet her, she's located only 2 minutes from my employer, AND she was able to take both boys. That being said...

8. I'm a bit torn about pulling Aiden out of his daycare. We turned in our two-week notice last week, so next Friday is his last day. I love what they were able to do for him socially & speech-wise, but the financial burden was going to be too great. In the end, keeping him with his brother won out. He sure seemed to hit it off with the sitter & her little boys, though, so I think the transition will be easier than I initially anticipated.

7. SOOOOOO excited that I get a sneak peek at holiday family togetherness this weekend; my sister, BIL, and nephew will be visiting from SC this weekend! We've got a little munchkin to introduce to them...

6. How 'bout them Buckeyes?! The M*ch*gan game sure isn't what it used to be, but a win is a win (is a beatdown?), and we're back to the BCS. Another successful year for my boys!

5. LOVE having my Christmas decorations out. Aiden is really starting to "get" the holiday season (he's even been singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" randomly), and he was definitely excited to help decorate. The outcome is that we have A LOT of ornaments hung on the lower third of the tree. Oh well. :)

4. Thinking good thoughts for several folks dealing with both happy & sad news. And leaving it at that.

3. Thought the new Harry Potter movie was AWESOME; I knew it was going to be pretty dark, and it was, but they kept enough subtle humor in there to get the audience through. I'm both dreading and eagerly anticipating the final film this July...

2. Not sure how I feel about going in for my post-partum checkup tomorrow. I know she'll give me the go ahead to start losing the baby weight, and I have every intention of doing so, but geez, there's Christmas coming up, for crying out loud...

1. I'm going to be THAT person--I'm wrapping Christmas presents today. While drinking egg nog. In my pajamas. But it's only because I've only got a few days left before Aiden will be here with me. That and I need to take an inventory to make sure I'm truly finished.

Beyond Thankful

Newborn Photos

It seems like forever ago, but when Nolan was a mere six days old, we had a photographer come to the house to take his newborn photos. I had seen the work she did for several of my coworkers, and ended up booking her when I was only 4 months along. I couldn't be happier with the shots she captured, ESPECIALLY since Nolan was supposed to be sleeping when she arrived--and instead we had one wide-eyed little guy. I won't get too specific, but he also managed to poop FIVE TIMES, including once right in her hand (and as I was helping her clean that off, he peed on her shirt). Top that off with NO shots of Nolan and Aiden together since a certain two-year-old was in a horrible mood, and you get the idea of how the morning went. I think having that experience has made these shots even more precious to me. These are just a few of the images, but I hope you enjoy them.

One Month Old

This is freaking me out. Nolan has been here for a month already. A MONTH. How the heck did that happen?! It seems like we just got home from the hospital yesterday (well, it doesn't really seem that way--otherwise I would still be high as a kite on Percocet...). Honestly, though, it feels like Nolan has always been here--and maybe that's because from the moment we saw "Pregnant" flash on the little pee stick in February, we pretty much knew what to expect. I've said it before, and I haven't changed my mind--overall our transition to a family of four has been pretty smooth. That's not to say we haven't had our little bumps in the road, but I was expecting things to be much more difficult. I didn't expect Aiden to be So. In. Love. with Nolan; I didn't expect Nolan to eat so well; I didn't expect him to sleep so well; I didn't expect to have nearly five weeks of my maternity leave complete already. It's going too fast.

As I used to do with Aiden, I'll be taking Nolan's monthly picture with his bear Aiden made him & listing his stats. At one month old, Nolan:

--is a CHAMP at holding his head up; it's rare that I need to offer him support. He's got Aiden's sense of curiosity for sure.
--LOVES to eat; he sure doesn't seem to have any problem packing on the pounds. And you could set a clock to his feeding; he'll start fussing every three hours on the button!
--is chubbing up; he'll have an official weigh-in at his one-month checkup tomorrow, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's gained over two pounds since last we saw Dr. Brown.
--is a pretty good sleeper. His feeding schedule is the same overnight--every three hours--so with Mike & I taking turns to get up, each of us gets at least 6 decent hours of sleep at night. I call that a victory!
--has a few nicknames: Beanie, Mr. Bean, Grumpy Bear, Nolan-Shmolan (courtesy of Aiden), and Buddy-boy.
--is probably going to be blue-eyed and blond-haired like his brother; I can already see him lightening up. *SIGH* Neither of my kids is going to look like me. And I thought those were the recessive genes...
--is not a fan of pacifiers. I know this is a good thing in the long run, but it would be nice to be able to use the "baby plug" once in awhile, especially since he usually skips fussing and goes straight to screaming.
--already is a bit of a smiler, without gas to initiate it. :)

To sum it all up, we're pretty smitten. Being a mom of two definitely has its challenges, but I wouldn't change a thing. :) Until next month...

Football for Females

I got an early Christmas present last night. :)

My bestest bud Angie bought us tickets to the first ever Football for Females, an event hosted by former Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman. We had a blast! We planned to meet at resterant where the event was being held at 6:30 PM, but I got there a bit earlier and decided to go ahead and check in; I'm glad I did because I was able to score us front row, center seats! Not long after, Angie arrived, and we bought ourselves some wine & started chowing down on the delicious appetizers.

The presentation itself began about an hour later. For those of you who aren't familiar with him, Chris Spielman is a former standout linebacker for the Buckeyes and is currently a college football commentator for ESPN. Sadly, he is also known for the public battle his wife Stephanie fought with breast cancer--a battle she lost a year ago this Friday. Chris spoke about her passing candidly, and I admit I had to fight back some tears. He then launched into the main program, which was basically a question & answer session with the audience; someone would ask a question, and he would explain the answer, usually using the dry erase boards as a visual aid. He also picked on Angie a bit, which was hilarious. :)

Once the presentation was done, they drew numbers for the door prizes. I'm sad to report that neither Angie or I won anything--we were really hoping to get the free booking on the Buckeye Cruise for Cancer in February--but it was fun to watch other ladies win. When the drawing was complete, Chris was available for autographs & photos, which Angie & I definitely took advantage of. We were somehow in the right place at the right time again; we were second in line (out of about 135 attendees!), so we got out of there pretty quickly.

In all, it was a great evening. It was nice to know that any money we spent was going to go a good cause (the Stephanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research); we got awesome goody bags (a T-shirt, Brio gift card, free massage at a new spa, etc.), and we met another famous Buckeye. I think the best part, though, was hanging out with Miss Angie, and I thank her for the Christmas gift! :)

It was only a matter of time...

...before I got Nolan into his first Buckeye jersey, and with yesterday's showdown with Penn State, it seemed about as good a time as any. I must say he looks rather dashing. He doesn't seem to care much for the game itself yet, as he slept through the first three quarters (much like the Buckeyes themselves were sleepwalking through the first half), but his OSU fanaticism will come to him. I'll make sure of it. :)

But It's a GOOD Exhausted...

No shower until 4 PM.
No makeup.
Nothing done to my hair.
Nothing done (YET) about the excess baby weight.
No more than 12 hours sleep (total) the past three days.
The two cutest boys in the world in my lap.

I wouldn't change a thing. :)

An Afternoon with Aiden

Mimi offered to take Nolan for the afternoon yesterday so that Mike & I could spend some time with Aiden. I had a hard time coming up with something to do, but Mike spit out the great idea of going bowling. We had an awesome time! He didn't quite understand what was going on when we first arrived at the alley, but once I took my first turn & rolled the ball down the (bumpered) lane, his eyes lit up. Mike helped him out a lot, and we only had one instance of him trying to run down the lane after the ball (luckily Mike caught him before he got too far). He even carried the 6-pound ball by himself a few times! We only ended up bowling one game because Aiden started requesting McDonald's for lunch. But before we left, we crowded into the photo booth to get the pictures at the left. Possibly my favorite part of the whole day. :)

This and That

We've had an interesting week. It all started with our kitchen sink backing up on Sunday evening. Despite a herculean effort by Mike (and his extra-special helper Aiden), by Tuesday we were desperate not to wash dishes in the bathroom sink and finally called a plumber. The guy that came told me it usually only takes him 15 minutes--but ours took 3 hours, and he told me that he might not be able to fix it unless his last effort worked. I started having visions of a backhoe digging up my basement floor to find the faulty pipe, and all the dollar signs that went along with it. Luckily, he was successful, and it wasn't as expensive as I thought. I never thought I'd be so happy to load the dishwasher.

Other than that, we're just trying to settle into our new routine with Nolan. He's nearing the three-week threshold, and honestly, the kid is a joy. He's not much of a crier, he only gets up twice at night to eat, and then goes immediately back to sleep. I don't know if it's because we have more experience this time, or Nolan is just more laid back that Aiden was, or a mixture of both, but so far this has been A LOT easier than I expected it to be. I probably just jinxed myself saying so, but oh well.

Tonight, Mike & I are going out on our first post-partum date, and then tomorrow we have another date of sorts; we're going to take Aiden bowling for the first time, just the three of us. I am beyond impressed with how he's been handling his new normal, and he is honestly just smitten with Nolan; he's always asking to kiss his cheek or hold him. Now if I could just get the two of them to sit still for a photo...