The Santa picture

Disney part 1

Videos!


Disney 2007 from eachoc on Vimeo.

Nolan walking with my mom at the petting zoo in Animal Kingdom. I was trying fancy stuff with the camera, just turn your head to the side and everything will be ok. Don't worry, I won't try that again.
Nolan was trying to pull the lamb's ear. He also sat in the dirt a couple of times- that's why he has a big dirt mark on his shorts.



Disney 2007 from eachoc on Vimeo.

We went to Chef Mickey's our last day at Disney for Ian's (Nolan's cousin) first birthday. He was waving a napkin, but he kept dropping it. You can see in the video how easily he is distracted by food.
(see the other baby head? The one by sister? That's Ian.)

3 days

In 3 days Nolan and I will be in Disney World.

My sister and her herd are picking us up at 6:00 am Saturday morning. We will load up her minivan and start the 8 hour drive with 3 kids. My other sister and her herd are picking up my parents and driving down in minivan #2. My brother and his herd are driving a camper/trailer down and camping out at Disney (they're crazy!). We come back next Saturday.

I'll have lots of pictures for you when we get back.

Nolan's added 2 more words - tickle and cookie. He has so many words now, I've lost count. He is finally starting to show interest in walking. If we make a lot of noise, we can distract him enough for him to take a step or 2 on his own.

I need to do some laundry and start packing 'cause we're leaving for Disney in 3 days!!! jealous?

I've been tagged

Moo tagged me.

Here's the meme:
- Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
- Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

You people already know everything about me, so this will be hard.

1. I am the "1 out of every 500 people tested..." I get that reaction. The cotton mouth with zyrtec. The drowiness when medicine wears off (not when I first take it, but 4 hours later when it's leaving my system). The whole preemie thing. I am a freak (and proud!).

2. I'm working with my sister to start making and selling diaper bags and accessories.

3. I'm building a website for the diaper bag company (the name's a secret until the website is up and beautiful) and for Cary to sell "designer inspired" sunglasses.

4. I don't know anything about the web or how to build websites.

5. I was addicted to Rock of Love with Bret Michaels.

6. When I was going through boxes of my junk my parent's had in storage. I came across a poster I had of Bret Michaels. It's now on the fridge. Cary thinks it's funny. (he was also addicted to the show, but I'm sure he won't admit it)

7. I don't think I know 7 people with blogs to tag.

The tagging:
for fun
1. Alyson
2. Heather

To help the NaBloMoPo suckers
3. The Princess
4. Becci

For a distraction
5. Catherine
6. Sarah
7. LagLiv

Now I have to go leave these people comments to let them know they've been tagged.

Our Little Puppy Dog

I tried to get a cute still picture of him. It didn't work.

hi

I'm still here. Been busy.

Nolan's still not interested in walking. He will cruise on everything. He will stand on his own for a few seconds. But, no walking. He is the master crawler. He is fast. Very fast. He gets to where he wants to go, so I'm not worried about the not walking. Just something to pick on him about. Every time I see another 13-month-old walker, I point them out to Nolan. Then Nolan will look at me and say "I'm talking and crawling. Beside, it takes a lot to stand and walk with all this chub."*
His new favorite hobby is reading books to mommy and daddy. I will try to post a video of him reading soon.

What happened to fall? Did I miss it? It went from 80 degrees to 40 degrees overnight. I went from wearing shorts to digging out my winter jacket. But, now Nolan gets a new wardobe**!

Oh, and YoBaby does not think Nolan is cute. He wasn't a finalist in the photo contest. On to the next contest...



* ok, so he doesn't talk that clearly yet. But he does read and he does have words and he does have a lot of cute baby chub.

** all hand-me downs thanks to my sisters and Hedda! I have a stash of winter clothes for him up to size 24 months.

another birthday without my baby

Caleb's 2nd birthday was yesterday.

We survived. Mainly because I avoided everyone. Sometimes that's the best (or easiest) way to deal. I stayed off the computer to avoid all the emails and the few people I did call, we talked about other things.

I am grateful for everyone's thoughts, prayers, emails, text messages, and the flowers my family sent. It helped me get throught such a hard day.

Who knew it would get harder every year?

Nolan and his cake

Most of his cousins' heads are also in this video.

It's a long video... be patient.



Nolan and his cake from eachoc on Vimeo.

Nolan's 1!

Nolan turned the big 0-1 yesterday. Everyone was being sad about 9/11 while Cary, Nolan, and I (and everyone else with a 9/11 birthday) celebrated.

We had Nolan's birthday party Saturday (on Cary's birthday). Nolan did great. He was in a great mood Saturday. He did awesome with all the people (we had about 20 adults and 10 kids).

He is now talking all the time. He says mommy, daddy, cat, and book very clearly. His favorite word is book. He will see a book and say "book, book, dook, ook, book, ook, book.." over and over again. His birthday present to me was to look at me and say "mommy." my present to him was a big bruise on his forehead. (he slipped in the tub and hit his head. I held him and cryed while he looked over my shoulder and laughed at a cat.)

He is still walking with help. He's crusing the furniture. He's pulling up on everything - cats, other babies, couch, tables, legs...

He's 12-month well baby check is tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to find out how much he's grown!

Anyway I know you really came here for pictures, so here you go:

Video to come...

Happy (almost) Birthday, Cary!

Cary's birthday is Saturday.
He'll be 32.

Happy Birthday!

The countdown

Do you see that ticker at the top of the page? The one that says Nolan will be one soon?

Can you believe that?

Time flies.


BTW: He's starting to walk with assistance.

back to the stroller talk

A long, long time ago in land right down the street I borrowed my sister's kids and went stroller shopping. Sarah (8), Sam (5 in Nov.), Nolan, my sister, and me met at Babies R Us and tried out strollers. Here's a quick review on the strollers we tried (I didn't try the $329 strollers):

Combi
pros
easy to steer
folds down to nothing
can steer with one hand
carryng strap

cons
Sam's legs were too long to fit on footrest
when he put feet on footrest, his knees where in the bar (bar is removable)
not as easy to steer with a 5-year-old in it
don't like the basket

Chicco
the inexpensive Chicco
pros
lowest price
carrying strap
comes with rain sheild

cons
steers ok
recline does nothing. Sam couldn't tell any difference when I reclined the seat.
lower weight limit
tiny basket

Graco Ipo
pros
carrying handle (after playing with a carrying strap and carrying handle, I think the carrying handle is easier)
reclines flat
can un-recline with one hand!
50lb weight limit
easy to steer with *little* Nolan and Sam
easy to fold
big basket

cons
kind of on the heavy side for an umbrella stroller

None of the strollers we looked at had cupholders and they all had removable canopies.


I've used our new Graco Ipo a couple of times and I love it - well worth the $70. The Graco is similar to the high-priced McClaren's, but is much more affordable. More importantly, Nolan likes it.

Speaking of Nolan:
Did you know he will be 1 in less then 1 month?? Time flies.
He's pulling up now. He is just starting to cruise the furniture. He now says "cat" instead of "kaka."

I had new pictures of him taken over the weekend at Picture People. While there, I entered him in the YoBaby photo contest. See the pictures here. The second picture - the one were he's in just a diaper with the blanket around him and a BIG smile - is the one I entered in the contest. If you look closely at the one with the black background you can see a little bruise under his eye. I love it. He looks all boy.

Dancing King

dancing king from eachoc and Vimeo.

Sometimes it's just so hard...

to have the cutest baby in the universe.

got stroller?

We got the Graco Ipo.
But now it's 8 pm Sunday and I haven't started the laundry. Either I tell you about the stroller now and skip laundry or I tell you later and Nolan and I wear clean clothes tomorrow.
I'll tell you all about it later.

By popular demand...

another video...


Untitled from eachoc and Vimeo.


Nothing new on the stroller front. I have a 15% off coupon for babies r us for this weekend. I'm going to look at the Graco and Chicco Saturday morning.

The stroller post

It's time for big boy to start riding around in a smaller stroller.

I need your advice. I don't want to pay a fortune, but I want a good quality lightweight stroller that will last a long time.

I've heard good things about the Combi. This model is right at $99. I also found a store with the model up from this one in last year's color for $99.


I've also heard good things about the Chicco - $59 for the first one, $89 for the second.



I came across an article in Parent's magazine about the UppaBaby G-lite - $99. Only 8.3 lbs!


While reading the reviews on these, I came across another stroller. The new Graco Ipo has great reviews - 4 1/2 stars at babiesrus.com. It's on sale for $79.


Here's what I want:
lightweight
high weight capacity - I don't want Nolan to exceed the weight limit in 2 weeks.
easy to fold - preferably one-handed
easy to steer
taller handles then a cheap umbrella stroller
room for storage - the more the better
did I mention lightweight?
recline

things I'd like, but don't need
carrying strap
machine washable seat liner
cup holder
stand when folded
iphone

I want all that for under $100. Nolan and I are going to Disney in December with my family. I want a stroller that will be easy to load on and off the buses to get from the hotel to the parks. And something he will be comfortable in all day and something I will be comfortable pushing around all day.

Right now, Combi and Chicco are in the lead. UppaBaby was in the lead, but the only place in Georgia that sells UppaBaby does not have an UppaBaby G-lite to try. If I'm going to spend $100 on an umbrella stroller, I want to test it first. I also don't think it reclines. My sis and E both have Combis and love them. The Chicco is less expensive. I don't know anything about the Graco.

So, what's you opinion? Any more strollers to add to my list? Any suggestions or comments on these strollers?

Crazy baby

Nolan was in his exersaucer the having a blast the other day. He had his head back looking at the ceiling bouncing like crazy having a great time. So, I got out our little digital camera and videoed him.

Enjoy




Exersaucer from eachoc and Vimeo

(co-star in the video - the tail, the meowing - is Oscar)
(click on the video to start it)
(be patient with me, this is my first blog video)

Fireworks

You know how there are the babies who cry at fireworks and the babies who don't. You never know which one you have until the first time you take them to see fireworks.

I took Nolan to see the fireworks by my house on July 3 (I live in best city! 3rd of July fireworks is such a great idea.) with my sister, her husband, their 2 kids, my neighbor, and her dog. I was nervous about Nolan's reaction. I had no idea which baby is was going to be - the screaming, crying baby or sleeping baby. He was neither.

Nolan is the baby who laughs at fireworks - big baby giggles. He was laughing so much he had all of us laughing, too.

He had such a great time at the 3rd of July fireworks that we did it again the next night. This time with Cary, his parents, and his grandmother. (Cary had 2 softball games Tuesday night, so he wasn't able to make it to fireworks round 1. He plays softball in a stupid, stupid city.) The fireworks started and Nolan starting laughing again. The second time, his attention span was much shorter. He was done with the whole fireworks thing after about 5 minutes.


July 3rd


I have the best baby.

Rubber ducky

Nolan's outgrown his infant bath tub. Now, he gets his bath in a giant rubber ducky. He loves rubber duckies. At bath time, I'll gather his rubber duckies in put them in the ruber ducky tub with him. He loves it. His first bath in his "big boy" tub, he washed the rubber ducky's head. Now, he lays back all relaxed with his feet kicked up on ducky's shoulders.

I loaded up his infant carseat, bouncey seat, swing, baby bjorn, bebe sounds, and boppy pillow and took them over to my parents house for storage. Nolan's outgrown all of that stuff. We lowered his crib this week. He's gotten so big.

pictures of the big boy in his rubber ducky bath tub

Really, it's time to call Mensa

Based on research, senior boys are smarter their younger brothers.

Senior boy: the first born or, if the firstborn had died in infancy, the next oldest.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070621/ap_on_sc/birth_order


Another reason why our next kid needs to be girl.
That and the fact that I'm going to dress the next baby in girl clothes
and we're out of boys names

and no, I'm not pregnant! No new babies for me in 2007!!

back from the dr

Nolan's head is still in the 25th percentile.
He is now in just the 50th percentile for length.
He got a promotion in weight! He is now in the 80th percentile for weight.

He is 28" long and 22 1/2 pounds.

He got a clean bill of health today. No shots. They did take a toe-prick to check his iron, which is excellent.

The doctor was very surprised that he is talking. She doesn’t consider that he isn't sitting up from lying on his stomach yet. He's doing great with all of his other motor skills, so she's not considered. He even showed off some of his fancy skills - like a passing an object from one hand to another, standing assisted, sitting without help, babbling, and reading. (He read his "who loves baby" book. We have 2; 1 with pictures and 1 without. He read the one without pictures at the doctor's office.)

For the past almost 2 years, I have always said Caleb was a great baby. He was a great baby. He was very easy-going. He rarely cried or was upset. But, I'm just now realizing how sick he was. When I was right in the middle of it, I rarely thought of him as sick. He was just not finished growing yet. Now when I look back, I realize he was sick. It's just a different definition. He didn't have a cough or runny nose or a fever, but he was never 100% (or even 70%) healthy.

I've seen this poem a lot lately:
If tears could build a stairway
And memories were a lane
We would walk right up to Heaven
And bring you back again

I wouldn't bring him back. He's healthy now. He's wireless. As much as I miss him, I know Heaven is the best place for him. I'll see him again one day. And that day can't come soon enough.

Time to call Mensa

Nolan's not pulling up on anything. He's not going from his stomach to setting up. But, he's talking.

We've been working on "momma," "dadda," and "bye-bye." But, he has choicen to say "yeah," "hi," and "ka-ka."

We went to store a couple of weeks ago. Nolan was tired and cranky. The lady in line in front of us looked at Nolan and asked "Are you tired?" He stopped whining, looked at her and said "yeah." Cary and I looked at each other in total shock. That's the first time we heard him say something that was unmistakenly a word.

A few days ago Nolan smelled very bad. I looked at him and asked "Do you need a clean diaper?" He looked at me and said "yeah." (maybe this means he'll be easy to potty train. maybe. hopefully.)

He says "hi" to me every morning when I get him up for breakfast and every evening when I get home from work.

Every time he sees one of our many, many cats he says "kaka." Not sure if it's kitty cat or kitty.

He is trying to crawl. He'll get up on his hands and knees and knock back and forth. He should start crawling any day now.

He's standing assisted. He will stand for about 1 second without any support. He loves to stand.

His new favorite toys are rubber duckies. He gets a huge smile everything he sees one. Then, like everything else, he will put the ducky straight into his mouth.

He goes Tuesday afternoon for his 9-month well baby check-up. I'm guessing he's close to 25 lbs. I saw a 1-year-old at the store today. She was tiny compared to Nolan. I can’t wait to find out what percentile my tiny 5 lb, 5 week early baby is in now.

Look what I have...

Pictures!!!

why did you wake me up? We left for Callaway Gardens way past Nolan's bed time.


Vacation time!!


Butterflies at the Butterfly Garden




Nolan at the Butterfly Garden


Sleepy Nolan


Nolan and me (check out those chubby thighs - Nolan's, not mine)


day 2 - Nolan could barely contain his excitement





WalkAmerica - April 28 (1 year anniversary of Caleb's memorial service)


Cary walking


Nolan "walking" in his "I'm the little brother" shirt


Nolan and me crossing the finish line.


Thank you to everyone who donated. We raised over $500. Not bad for our first time.
Next year, all of you will walk, too. Right?

any one miss me?

What a crazy couple of months!

Where did I leave off?

We took a trip to Callaway Gardens in April. Neither Cary nor I wanted to be at home for the anniversary of Caleb's death, so we went to Callaway. It was nice. Nolan loved the butterfly garden. We have great pictures of him in his fishing hat at the gardens, but they're on the dead computer. I hope to get them off the dead computer very soon.

Mother's Day was great. I finally got to have a Mother's Day with a living baby. Cary made me breakfast. Nolan gave me smiles. It was great.

I got Nolan's 6-month pictures taken the day before Mother's Day (I know I'm 2 months late).
Here's a link to Nolan's pictures: http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=ebe25e1e-1b22-481b-a15b-c4fdf06f3e7e
You can see his teeth. He has almost 3 on the bottom and 1 coming in on the top.

He will be crawling very, very soon. He will rock on the his hands and knees and end up going backwards. He hasn't quit figured out how to go forward. He loves to stand up. And he LOVES animals. When Nolan sees a cat or a dog he will get a huge smile and squeal! Oscar will let Nolan pet him. Our other 2 cats are still deciding if they like Nolan.

Time for Nolan to go to bed. I'll try to add the pictures soon!!

I'm still here

and the computer's still dead.

Will update with pictures, soon!

computer crashed

I had a new post with pictures almost ready when the computer crashed. I'll try again tonight.

WalkAmerica is TOMORROW!

I've been trying to post about donating to the walk, but April has been an insane month!

All of you know my stories, but here's a quick recap:

When I was 26 weeks, 2 days pregnant with Caleb I went to the specialist for regular check-up. The checked my cervix length. It was pretty much gone - it was measuring almost .75 cen. They sent me directly to the hospital. With the help of medicine and strict bedrest, I was able to carry Caleb 4 more days. He was born October 10, 2005 at 26 weeks, 6 days gestation. Research from March of Dimes helped develop the medicines that helped me carry Caleb those 4 extra days. I can't even begin to tell you all the things MOD helped develop that Caleb used during his life.

Story #2: MOD's research helped stop my contractions with Nolan at 32 1/2 weeks. With both babies they gave me a shot to help speed the development of their lungs by one week - again from MOD! I strongly feel that shot is what kept Nolan out of the NICU. MOD also help develop the shots I got weekly with Nolan.

Please donate to WalkAmerica.

I am walking in memory Caleb and in honor of Nolan.

Help save babies!

Donate online at http://www.walkamerica.org/preemiehood. (there's link to this site in my links section)

There's still time to join my walking team!


(and if you donate I'll post pictures of our trip to Callaway Gardens!)

You've got a friend in me

countdown to 30

You would think I would do something special for my last few hours in my 20s. Instead, I'm doing what most people older then dirt do. I'm going to bed.

Here's something for you to think about until my next post:
I want a light weight stroller for Nolan. We're going to Disney in December and I don't want to take his huge, heavy stroller. I want the seat to recline enough for him to nap comfortably. I want a basket and cupholders. And I need to be able to fold the stroller with one hand while holding Nolan in the other arm. Most importantly, I don't want to spead a fortune!


To celebrate my birthday tomorrow I'm going to the tag office to renew my car tag then I'm going to work. Exciting, isn't it?


Goodnight. The next time I post, I'll be old. I may need bi-focals and a cane.

stuff

Sorry I haven't updated lately.

Here's run down of what's going on:

Nolan's 7 months old today.

My boss was killed in a car wreck April 1.

I will turn 30 Friday the 13th.

It will be 1 year since Caleb died on April 24.

I will be out of town part of next week for work stuff.

I'm not going to work April 23, 24, 25. I'm going to stay home and be sad.

I'm walking in WalkAmerica in honor of Nolan and in memory of Caleb. There's a link to the walking team in my links. Please donate money or join the team and walk with me. I was going to do a big long post about this, but I don't have the time or energy.

2 trophies

Nolan won a trophy for runner-up voters choice precious catagory (all the babies who recieved the money votes won this).

He also won runner-up judges choice for comical (this one only a few babies won).

Over $13,000 was raised for CHOA! Last year they raise around $7,000.

Thanks for voting!

I have pictures of the trophies, but it's dinner time for me. I'll try to finish this update tomorrow night (didn't I say that last night, too?).

I started my day by stepping in cat puke

Cary's out of town this weekend. It's just me, Nolan, and our many cats. One of the many cats puked last night - a couple of times - and didn't bother to clean it up. Always fun to start your morning by stepping in cat puke.

Nolan's 6-month well baby check was yesterday. He weighs 19 pounds, 11 ounces, and is 27 inches long. He is in the 75th percentile for weight and height and 25th percentile for his tiny head (he gets that from me and Cary). He is rolling over both ways now and is starting to scoot around.

He just realized it's lunch time. Got to go.

I'll try to finish this update tomorrow after he wins the baby contest.

Remember to go vote for Nolan!

Vote for Nolan!

The voting is today and tomorrow at Discover Mills for the photo contest I entered Nolan in earlier this month.
He is in the comical and precious categories.
If cost $.50 for each vote and all the money goes to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (where Caleb spent many, many months).

Here's how you vote fo Nolan:
Go to Discover Mills today or tomorrow between 10 am and 7 pm.
The pictures are displayed at the end of the food court in front of Sketchers.
Nolan's pictures are on the end by the custom imprint kiosk.
Go to the voting table and tell them you want to vote to Nolan Locke.

All the money goes to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta


Here is what you're looking for:

up to 21 lbs?

After Nolan's bath last night, I decided to dress him in his robe until bedtime. I checked the size on the robe. It said up to 21 lbs. Great! That should fit Nolan with no problems. He barely ate while he was sick. He's probably down to a tiny 18 lbs now.

So, I put the robe on him. The sleeves ended up being 3/4 length, I couldn't tie the belt, and the robe was barely long enough to cover his diaper.







Nolan's holding his own bottle now. He's going to start driving next week.