Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone! Nate's parents were able to come out and spend Nolan's first Christmas with us. We had fun eating good food, opening presents and most importantly spending time together. Here are a few pictures from Christmas:

Opening a present with Mommy

Opening a present with Daddy

Opening a present with Grandma and Grandpa Lynch

More interested in climbing through the presents than opening them

Enjoying the swings during a walk on the beach Christmas afternoon

So happy!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas...

We have been busy getting the house ready for Christmas! Last week we got our Christmas tree. Since moving to California we have had to spend a ridiculous amount of money on our tree every year. This year we found a lot that had them 50% cheaper than we were used to spending, which was wonderful! I love to get the tree up early and enjoy it for as long as possible each holiday season and it seems that Nolan likes it as well. We knew he would be interested in it, so we didn't put ornaments within his reach, but we did put lights around the bottom. I think the lights need to be moved though! He is always crawling over and playing with them!

Since it is Nolan's first Christmas we wanted to find an ornament or two for him. We checked out Target and other stores, but were having a hard time finding something we liked. I decided to check out Etsy, a website devoted to handmade, DIY things. Quickly I found a little "shop" called gifts define. In the shop I found adorable bird ornaments that celebrated a baby's first Christmas. I was able to pick out the colors, and have his name and the year put on the bird. It arrived a couple of days ago and I LOVE it!! It quickly found its way onto the tree.

Looking for the perfect tree with Daddy

Still looking with Mommy

In front of the tree, which you can't see well because I used the flash

The tree is up and decorated!

By far my favorite ornament on the tree!

Exersaucer

Nolan has figured out that there is more than one way to use his exersaucer! He loves crawling into the bottom of it and looking around. He will stay in it for 5-10 minutes at a time, which is way longer than any other place at the moment.

It's even more fun when Molly comes over to play!

Sisters Trip To California

It was so good to spend time with my mom and sisters a couple of weeks ago! It was especially great to see them with Nolan; he just ate up all the love and attention! They arrived on a Wednesday and went straight to their hotel right near Disneyland. I met them there with Nolan and we spent the day by the pool! (One of the nice things about Southern California in November.) In the evening, we walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner. That night Veronica came back to our house and we geared up for Day 1 at Disneyland.

Nate was able to take Thursday off, so we all drove to the hotel and met up with the family for our first day at the park. Disneyland was decorated for Christmas and it was beautiful. Thankfully, it wasn't very crowded so we were able to go on a lot of rides! Nolan went on quite a few and the ones he wasn't allowed to go on we just did a baby swap, which worked out great. After a few hours at Dland we headed over to California Adventure. The girls (and Nate) had a great time on Tower of Terror and other rides that were way too scary for me! After a long day we headed home, this time with Sarah and Veronica with us for the night.

I'll admit I was a little nervous about day 2 at Dland. Nate wasn't going to be with us and I wasn't sure how Nolan would do with a second day of not being able to crawl and move around so much, but he did great! Plus, my mom and sisters were so helpful, holding him and entertaining him throughout the day. My Grandma Marie, Aunt Elaine and her daughter Amber came and met us for the day as well. We spent the first half of the day at Dland and then headed back over to California Adventure to end the day.

That night everyone was at our house...11 people in all! It was a little crowded, but a lot of fun! The next day Grandma and Elaine drove back to SB and the rest of us headed out to explore. We went for a walk on the beach and let the little ones play for awhile. While they played Nate and the twins had the pleasure of taking Cooper to the vet, because of her bout with explosive diarrhea (sorry- that's probably too much information, but there really isn't another way to put it) the night before that woke us up. She is fine now, thank goodness! I'll tell you though, one of the few nights Nolan sleeps great and the darn dog wakes us up! I'm starting to go a bit loony from the seven months of sleep deprivation. Anyways, after time at the park we headed to The Grove in Los Angeles, so the little girls could visit The American Girl Doll store...according to my mom it is one of only three in the whole country! After the mall we came home and watched the Oregon Ducks beat Arizona in double overtime...what a game!

The next day we headed to Venice Beach to see all of the colorful people, and let me tell you it didn't disappoint! We walked around and let the kids play on the bars and swings. That night be headed to another mall near our house to walk around and do a little shopping. Sarah and I first went to Borders to hear The Pioneer Woman speak!! I was going to get my cookbook signed as well, but there were so many people we decided to head out and meet up with the rest of the family.

All of the sudden it was Monday, the day they were heading home. Thankfully they didn't leave until the evening so we got to spend most of the day together. The trip went by so quickly, but it was so so so good to see them! Hopefully we will be making a trip up to Bend to see them again soon!

Mom with all her girls and grandbaby

Twinies

Nolan with Daddy on his very first Disneyland ride

Sisters and Nate on the teacups

Nolan sleeping through a ride on Peter Pan with Aunt Sarah

Nolan on the carousel with Daddy...I think he likes it!

Nolan and Sarah making funny faces...something they are both good at!

Another ride with Daddy

After a soaking wet water ride at NIGHT

Telling Santa what they want for Christmas

Look at all the girls...Nate must be glad we had a boy!

Auntie Callie and Nolan

Jenny "hanging" out in Venice Beach

7 months

On his seven month birthday.

His expressions are starting to get pretty funny!

I can't believe our sweet baby boy is already seven months old! It's going by so quickly! Nolan is so much fun right now, well he always is, but especially now. Here's what he is up to:

• The biggest news of the month is that he is crawling! On November 9th, he army crawled a few feet and since then he keeps moving farther and faster.
• He is now consistently eating two meals of solids a day and we are going to be working our way up to three meals a day in the next couple of weeks.
• New foods: mangos, pears and blueberries, applesauce and carrots.

On Thanksgiving, after the drive home

• He got FOUR new teeth this month! He now has a total of six, three on top and three on the bottom. It looks like one more will be through any day. He is a champ and has been a happy baby even with all those teeth coming in.
• He is really starting to respond a lot more when you talk to him. Obviously, he isn't talking, but he seems to know when you are talking to him and will give some sort of response, normally a loud squeal or a big smile.
• He finally met his Grandma Teri and four of his aunts! We had a great time when they were here and he loved all of the attention and love.
• He spent two days at Disneyland and did a great job! He went on a lot of rides and slept pretty well while we were on the move.
• For his first Thanksgiving we went up to Santa Barbara and saw Grandpa Rick and Great Grandma Rosa and then went and ate with my mom's side of the family at Aunt Elaine's house. He did excellent on the car ride both ways...I think it was the first time we didn't have to stop either way!
• We are so excited to celebrate our first Christmas with Nolan and now that he is crawling I'm sure he will love exploring the Christmas tree!

The months seem to be flying by and we are loving every minute with him!

Crawling around the house and finding new things to play with

In less than a week...

My mom and sisters are coming to town next Wednesday! We are so excited to see them and to have them meet Nolan. We will be spending the first couple of days at Disneyland before heading back to our place for a few days.

Sarah

V-Dizzle

Callie

Jenny

About to go running

All the sisters

Sarah, why is it I have a million pictures of you acting like a goof??

6 months- in words

Here's what Nolan is up to at 6 months:

• You weigh 17 pounds 6 ounces, which is at the 50 percentile
• You are 27 1/4 inches long, 87 percentile
• You are wearing size 2-3 diapers
• Depending on the brand you are wearing 3-6 mo, 9 mo, or 6-12 mo clothing right now
• You have perfected sitting up! We don't have to guard you with our hands nearly as much and if you fall over you are starting to catch yourself.
• In just the last couple of days you have started to army crawl/scoot. If you see a cell phone, remote control or a water bottle you take off after it! You aren't moving too far or too quickly yet, but I am sure it is only a matter of days! Mom and Dad need to start baby-proofing the house quickly!

• You took your first plane ride (to Colorado) and did a great job!
• You went to your first wedding (two of them!)
• Sleep keeps getting better and better. You rarely wake up 3 times a night now (thank goodness!) and the last few nights you have only woken up once!! Hopefully I didn't jinx it by writing that.
• You now have 3 teeth! Your top right lateral incisor came in and you have four more (3 on top and 1 on the bottom) coming in anytime now. Even with all those teeth coming in you are still a happy baby! It doesn't seem to be bothering you.
• You have now tried many different baby foods. Likes: sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, bananas. Dislikes: pears, prunes, green beans. Most days you are eating 2 meals of solid food.
• You have completed your first 5k! Mom and Dad pushed you in the Santa Monica 5000 while you slept.
• For your first Halloween you were a giraffe. You got a lot of use out of your costume by going to the pumpkin patch twice, the Robinson Elementary Halloween parade (where Mom used to work) and on Halloween we took you out to dinner and for a walk around Manhattan Beach!
• We love you so much and have the best time with you! This month you finally get to meet your other Grandma and your Aunt Sarah, Veronica, Callista and Jenny!

Nolan at 6 months- In Pictures

Pumpkin Patch

This past week Nolan went to the pumpkin patch twice. The first trip was with our Mommy & Me group and all of the babies dressed up in their Halloween costumes. Nolan was a little tired that day, so smiles were hard to come by. We went back to the pumpkin patch this weekend with Nate and snapped some more pictures. We also picked up some pumpkins to carve. They turned out pretty well! I will post pictures soon. I know there are a lot of pictures from the pumpkin patch; I had a hard time picking only a few!

Nolan posing

Our Mommy & Me group

Dressed up babies

Falling over

More babies

With Mommy

And Daddy

Happy boy!

Such a brave boy!

Mommy again

Daddy Again

Could he be any cuter?