Nolan's First Christmas

We had a great Christmas even though Nolan is under the weather. Nolan passed his cold to me, so we're in the process of trying to get everyone healthy! Nolan had a lot of fun seeing so much family these last couple days. Everyone was so generous to Nolan. He has lots of new fun toys to play with!

Bob and Laurie asked the three of us to be in their wedding! We feel very honored and we're excited about the big day! Nolan and Laurie's nephew Trey will be ring bearers. They're going to look so cute in their little tuxes!

Two Weeks Until Christmas!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is only two weeks away! We have a Christmas party this Sunday at my parents' house for the extended Hamman side of the family and we'll spend Christmas day with my mom's side of the family. On 12/28, we'll drive to Owensboro, KY for the Hurter Christmas party, then on January 1st we're going to Cancun with my parents, Bob, Laurie, & Ryan to celebrate my parents' 30th anniversary! I can't wait! Their 30th was actually last December, but we had to postpone the trip because a certain someone ended up being pregnant, due January 17th, and couldn't fly. =) It'll be Nolan's first plane ride, so I'm really hoping that he travels well. So we definitely have a busy and exciting few weeks coming up!

Nolan turned ten months old a couple weeks ago. He's doing really well. Dave and I were noticing last night that he's getting to be an extremely fast crawler and is getting very adventurous as far as where he will crawl and what he'll pull himself up on.

Nolan had the stomach flu again last week, but is feeling great now! I think he got it from a little boy in his daycare class. That's definitely a negative about daycare. If one kid gets sick, it's almost inevitable that all the other kids will get sick.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Laurie babysat Nolan last Friday while we went to Dave's company holiday party. They took him to see the lights at Lincoln Park Zoo and Nolan even went on his first carousel ride!

We wish all of you a happy and healthy holiday season!

It's the Holiday Season!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Michigan. Dave's cousin Michael and Michael's girlfriend Tonia hosted a fabulous dinner - Nolan loved the sweet potatoes!

We put up our Christmas tree yesterday and Nolan was mesmerized with the colored strands of lights as we put them on the tree. Now we'll just have to avoid him pulling the tree over! We purposely put the non-breakable ornaments on the bottom half of the tree.

Nolan is going to have an aunt!

My brother Bob and his girlfriend Laurie got engaged on Saturday! We're so thrilled for them! I'm excited to be getting a sister-in-law and Nolan is excited to be getting his first aunt! Laurie is such a great person and I've never seen Bob happier.

Ireland Trip

Dave and I had a fabulous vacation! We saw a ton in five days. We landed at Shannon Airport, then immediately drove to the Cliffs of Moher, then drove back towards the aiport to tour the Bunratty Castle. We crashed really hard the first night (slept 12 hours). It's tough adjusting to the six hour time difference that first day. We spent the second day driving the Ring of Kerry. Dave drove the whole trip and did a really great job driving on the left side of road and dealing with the ton of roundabouts (aka rotaries) in Ireland. It was refreshing not dealing with many traffic lights. The roundabouts weren't bad at all after getting used to reading the signs. The Ring of Kerry is beautiful. We had fun stopping at a couple of cute towns along the drive. We stayed at a B&B in Killarney that night. On the third day we drove from Killarney to Galway. On the way we stopped at my good friend Lora's grandparents' house. We had a really nice visit with them...I had never met them. They live in a really small town out in the country about 45 minutes outside of Galway. They were so hospitable. Lora's grandma made us an Irish "fry" consisting of scrambled eggs, bacon (reminds me of what we think of as ham), sausage, and black pudding (aka blood sausage??!!). The black pudding kind of freaked me out, so I took one bite to be polite. Lora's grandma also insisted that I have some Jameson whiskey...pretty funny!

The last couple days of the trip were spent exploring Galway and Connemara. We saw a lot of countryside and the driving got interesting. We're talking roads that are 1.5 lanes wide. So basically when you came head on to another car, one person had to pull over to let the other pass....especially if you came head on to a semi-truck...kind of scary! We got stopped a few times by sheep and cattle crossing the road. There were sheep practically everywhere you looked in Ireland! It surprised me how big the homes are in Ireland...no matter where you were. We stayed at a castle in Connemara which we enjoyed a lot. We somehow managed to score a corner "tower" room, so the room was rounded and huge!

I did better than I thought being away from Nolan. By the time we were on the flight home though I was getting extremely antsy to see him! Nolan had so much fun with Grandma Becky and Grandpa George. Grandpa took him on two stroller rides a day and they did lots of playing and laughing! Dave and I are very grateful that they were willing to come out for the week to watch him.

Nolan is doing great. He says "ma-ma, da-da, and ba-ba" but no real correlation to what they mean. He's starting to learn how to wave hi and bye. He's really enjoying table food and we keep trying new things.

It's hard to believe that next week is Thanksgiving already! We're heading to Michigan to visit Dave's Aunt Linda, Uncle Lou, and his cousin Michael.

That's all for now!

Nolan's 1st Halloween

It's been fun dressing up Nolan the last couple days in his giraffe costume! We visited Grandma Jeanne's 1st grade classroom yesterday and the kids got a kick out of meeting Nolan. Then we drove over to Great Grandma Hamman's house and she made a fabulous lunch for myself, Grandpa Bob, and Uncle Ryan. Great Aunt Beth also stopped by Great Grandma Hamman's house to visit.


I had to work on Halloween, but Nolan got to be in a costume parade at daycare and he finger-painted a spider! We went trick-or-treating at our next door neighbors' houses when we got home. It was a fun day! Nolan crashed hard...he fell asleep for the night at 7:00.

Nolan amazes us each day with how mobile he is becoming! He is a really fast crawler now and is getting the hang out of cruising along furniture. Anything in Nolan's reach is fair game in his eyes and we really have to be careful as far as what he is grabbing! He really seems to love electronics - whether it be our laptop, power cords, remotes, or the TV!

Less than a week until Dave and I leave for Ireland! We're really excited about the trip! I'm trying not to think about the fact that I won't see Nolan for almost a week. The longest I've been away from him is 24 hours. I know he'll be in great hands though.

Long Week

It's been awhile since I updated the site, but the Hurter household has pretty much been out of commission this past week. Last weekend, we all ended up catching the stomach flu. It started with Nolan who I'm convinced got it at daycare and then he gave it to us. Four of the six babies in Nolan's class got the flu the week prior, so I guess it was just a matter of time. And then in addition to me puking and being nauseous, I pinched the sciatic nerve in my lower back on Saturday and by Sunday, I could barely walk and definitely couldn't pick up Nolan. Dave was great and took care of Nolan and everything else while I laid on the couch reeking of Icy Hot! And poor Dave was achy and nauseous this whole time but was in the best shape between the two of us. So Dave and I both took sick days on Monday and sent Nolan to daycare since he seemed to be doing ok. I went to the doctor and she prescribed me Flexeril (muscle relaxer) and Naproxen (for pain) and by Wednesday morning I was feeling much better and went in to work. I pinched my sciatic nerve a couple years ago out of nowhere and I'm really hoping that this isn't a frequent occurrence. Dave and I are completely healthy now, but Nolan is now fighting a cold. It's just one thing after the next!

We were still able to get in some laughs last weekend. On Friday, I asked my mom if she would cut Nolan's hair. She had always cut my brothers' hair growing up and she cuts my Dad's hair to this day. So I thought this will be great. Nolan had another agenda. He was very squirmy and uncooperative. To make a long story short, Nolan ended up looking like he got in a fight with the clippers and the clippers won! He had 80's style "steps" in several different spots. Basically just visible lines all over the place. Plus he ended up having a nearly bald spot on the top of his head! Against my mom's wishes, I had her go back a couple different times to see if we could make it look any better and it just ended up making things worse each time! Looking back, it was pretty funny! So the next day, Dave and I took Nolan to KidSnips and they were able to make everything uniform. So that's why it looks like Nolan has a buzz now! He looks like he should be signing up for the ROTC! It'll grow back...that's what I keep telling myself! =)

We took Nolan to Sonny Acres pumpkin farm today. It was a gorgeous day. We went with our good friends Kevin, Susan, and their son Andrew. Nolan was too little to appreciate the trip, but I think he had fun going in the petting zoo and looking at all the animals.

The fun news around here is that Dave and I booked a trip to Ireland! We found a deal that was just too good to pass up. We're going November 6-12 and it'll be our first trip away from Nolan. Grandma Becky and Grandpa George are coming to our house to watch Nolan. We're really excited about the trip! Dave and I will also get to enjoy a night out next Saturday for my 30th birthday. Anne is coming over to babysit.

Nolan is doing great and he's going to turn 9 months old this week! We have a check-up on Monday. I just noticed a couple days ago that teeth 6 and 7 broke through. Over the last few days all Nolan has been saying is "ma-ma, ma-ma" which of course I'm loving! =) Not that he has made the connection that I'm "mama", but I'll still take it! Nolan is pulling himself to a standing position on pretty much anything that he can get his hands on. And he's starting to "cruise" along furniture.

I'm excited for Halloween...Nolan is going to be a giraffe. Do you think the neighbors will be on to me if I take Nolan trick-or-treating and collect candy? Will they realize that I'm just getting the candy for myself? =)

We hope you're all doing well. Take care and hopefully we'll see you soon!

Watch out world!

It's a lot of fun watching Nolan each day as he discovers more about the world around him. Over the past week, he's gone from learning how to crawl to being very close to pulling himself up on furniture and his crib. Looks like we need to move the crib mattress down to the lowest setting! We just recently moved it to the middle setting and I thought that would be fine for awhile. Little did I know! And just over the last couple days, Nolan figured out that the crib is a great teether!!?? Agh! Not the nice new wooden crib! So I bought a crib rail protector that is made of this gummi material specifically for babies to be able to chew on. We'll see if it works. Where is the time going? Nolan is definitely more of a little boy now vs. a baby.

Nolan is on the move!

Nolan turned 8 months old today and crawled for the first time last night (check out the video clips)! Dave and I were so excited...we were both on the ground playing with him when he did it! So that was fun that we both got to see it. Looks like we really need to finish babyproofing the house! We bought three gates, but just need to finish installing them.

Nolan tried his first finger foods this week (Gerber Banana Puffs)...kind of like Cheerios, but they melt in your mouth so he can't choke on them. He's not sure what to make of them. He can pick them up no problem, but doesn't really know how to put them in his mouth to chew. I have no doubt he'll learn very quickly. If I put one in his mouth he'll chomp down on it no problem with his five teeth and will then just sort of gum it for awhile.

I have a feeling that life's about to get a lot more interesting now that Nolan is mobile! He continues to make us laugh each day and he is such a happy boy! Each day definitely brings something new!

Nolan's Baptism

Nolan was baptized today and Grandpa George who is a retired minister helped out with the ceremony. That really meant a lot to us. We were thrilled that so many of our family members were there for Nolan's big day! He is a very loved little boy. Nolan held up really well throughout the day even though the festivities occurred over what is normally naptime. He didn't make a peep during the actual baptism. He amused himself by pulling his shoelace undone from his shoe and playing with/chewing the shoelace the entire time we stood up in front of the church. Everyone was pretty amused by it. Hey...whatever works!

Nolan is lucky to have two wonderful godparents. His godfather is my brother Bob and his godmother is my cousin Anne. Nolan was excited to get lots of kisses today from both sets of grandparents and also both great-grandmas!

Nolan wore the same baptism outfit that Dave wore when he was baptized. Becky made it from the train of her wedding dress! So that was fun!

After the baptism, we had brunch at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. Nolan crashed the moment we hit the car for the ride back home. He took a two hour nap when we got home. George and Becky will be here on Monday and will watch Nolan while I go to work. It works out great that he'll get to be at home with them and not have to go to daycare. They're heading back to Cincinnati on Tuesday. It's been a great visit. We also had a nice visit with Dave's cousin Michael, his girlfriend Tonia, and her two girls who all came in from Michigan for the baptism. We're really glad that they could be here.

We couldn't have asked for a more special day!

Wisconsin Dells Trip Cut Short

All I can say is that the Hurter household has had more drama than I care for these past few weeks! We went to the Dells this past Friday for a three night getaway with our good friends Kevin, Susan, and Andrew. After a few days of diarrhea, Nolan scared us by vomiting four times in the course of 30 hours culminating in a trip to the Lutheran General ER at 4:00am on Monday morning because we didn't like his coloring and were afraid that he was dehydrated since he wasn't able to keep down Pedialyte. The ER gave Nolan a Zofran pill for the nausea which allowed him to keep down Pedialyte. After three failed attempts at an IV stick to hydrate him, Nolan was screaming bloody murder and the nurses saw that he could produce tears which eased everyone's concern that he was dehydrated. So they decided to skip the IV and told us to stick with Pedialyte (2 oz. every couple hours). That's all he had on Monday - the doctor told us to hold off on formula and baby food. So after doing that, then half Pedialyte, half formula yesterday, Nolan was really hungry today and is back to his normal eating pattern. I took a vacation day today so he could rest up and I would say that's he's pretty much back to his usual self. It was a stressful few days. It was quite the nasty stomach flu and it seemed to come out of nowhere. None of our family or friends have it and none of the kids in his daycare class had it. Hopefully it's just making his little immune system that much stronger!

Other than Nolan getting sick and having to leave a day early, we were able have some fun at the Dells the first day. Nolan loved splashing around in the kiddie pool with this buddy Andrew and we had a great time grilling out and catching up with our friends Kevin and Susan. Hopefully though our next family vacation is a little more relaxing. Dave and I feel like we need a vacation from our "vacation".

Nolan is still rolling all over the place. Not crawling yet, but trying to pull up on practically everything. He tried to pull himself up on the fireplace today which quickly prompted me to buy something online to babyproof the fireplace. Nolan has five teeth and has been a real trooper with the teething.

Dave bought Nolan his first Cincinnati Bengals jersey and he's excited for him to wear it for Monday's game.

Rough Week

So if I said that we flooded twice in four days, most people wouldn't think I was serious. But no...we really got flooded twice this week. Plus on top of that we didn't have power for 2.5 days. It's been a true test of patience. The really frustrating part is that the second flooding literally came four hours after we finished getting new padding, the carpet cleaned, etc. in an attempt to recover from the first flooding. Mount Prospect got nailed. Our yard is fine, but there are huge trees down everywhere. My dad was a HUGE help this week. He was here three different days helping move furniture, rip up padding, dry carpet, etc. He also got a generator for us at a Home Depot by his house which was fabulous because there wasn't a generator to be found at stores around here.

As far as Nolan, he just rolled with the punches this week. He's such a trooper and such a mellow baby. In his mind, it was a party this week...he got to see Grandpa and Grandma, plus Dave stayed at home twice this week. Nolan was loving it! He even got to have a candlelit bath! =) Fun stuff!

Nolan's rocking back and forth a lot on all fours, so I have a feeling that crawling is just around the corner. We really have to get the ball rolling as far as baby-proofing the house. Nolan loves to bounce these days and has a great time in his Jumperoo. He's grabbing at everything and especially likes necklaces, eyeglasses, and strings. He says "ga, ga, ga" a lot and is making new sounds all the time. He'll start Stage 2 baby food tomorrow. He did great with the Stage 1 foods. He liked all the fruits and vegetables with maybe the exception of peas. He'll eat them, but you can tell they're definitely not his favorite. And we won't be giving him anymore prunes for awhile. He had a few episodes at daycare one day after eating prunes for breakfast. Let's just say that they went right through him!

Have a good week!

Cutting a Top Tooth

Nolan enjoyed spending time with Grandma Becky and Grandpa George this past weekend. George's first cousin Ilona and her husband Joe also came to visit. They live in Germany and are in the US for vacation for three weeks.

Grandma Becky was the first to notice that one of Nolan's top front teeth has broken through. Earlier in the day we heard grinding noises coming from Nolan's mouth, but we were stumped as to how that was possible since he only has two teeth so far and they're both on bottom. Turns out he was grinding the bottom teeth against the top tooth that had just barely came through.

We installed Nolan's big boy car seat today. He outgrew his infant seat and is now in a convertible car seat. He's still rear-facing and then when he's a year old, the seat can be turned around.

Raspberries

For the past week, Nolan's favorite new trick has been blowing raspberries....constantly! He is so proud of himself when he does it and gets this cute grin on his face. He laughs when I imitate him doing it. And just yesterday (while eating squash) he figured out how to stick out his tongue while blowing raspberries. It was a pretty funny site. Squash spray everywhere...I practically needed a face shield just to feed him! =)

Grandpa George and Grandma Becky are coming to visit us this weekend. Nolan can't wait to see them!

Six Months Old

Nolan had his 6 month check-up this afternoon. He's still a big boy measuring in at 29 inches (97+ percentile) and 21 lbs, 11 oz. (97th percentile). We got the green light from the doctor to start baby food. So Nolan had green beans for dinner tonight (along with rice cereal and his bottle) and he loved it! He scarfed down the green beans in no time flat. No funny face, no mess...it was a piece of cake. We'll try applesauce next.

Nolan's still drooling like crazy, grabbing at everything, putting any and everything in his mouth, and is enjoying seeing the world from a whole new vantage point now that he can sit on his own.

Nolan Update

The latest on Nolan is that he can now sit on his own unsupported!

Nolan can also roll over both ways now - back to stomach and also stomach to back.

He has a third tooth that's about to break through on the bottom. Still no teeth on top yet.

Healthy Boy

Nolan's lingering cough is finally gone! It turns out that what started as a cold turned into a sinus infection at some point which is what caused him to have a cough that just wouldn't go away. Nolan's been on amoxicillin for the last week and he's now cough and congestion free!

Nolan had his first swimming lesson today. There are five kids in the class. Nolan is definitely the youngest - the other four are between 1-2 years old. So Nolan couldn't do several of the activities since he's not crawling or walking yet, but we still had fun splashing and kicking in the kiddie pool and playing motor boat! =) Nolan's definitely not afraid of water.

We had Nolan try out a sippy cup yesterday just for fun. He actually did pretty well with it. He instinctively grabbed both handles and put the spout to his mouth. He was able to drink some of the water, but a lot of water also ended up down the front of his shirt! We'll keep practicing!

We hope everyone had a great holiday.

Big Weekend

Nolan sure has done a lot in the last four days! We drove to Cincinnati last Thursday morning to visit Grandma and Grandpa. Nolan also got to meet most of Daddy's high school friends that night. Then on Friday we drove down to the family farm in Paris, KY for the Hurter reunion which was on Saturday. Nolan got to meet lots of family and he didn't lack for attention that day!

And if that wasn't a busy enough of a weekend, we drove back on Sunday morning to go to Great Grandma Hamman's 90th birthday party. It was a great day and a fabulous tribute to a wonderful lady! There were about 170 people there! Nolan was a hit...continually getting passed around throughout the afternoon while meeting several family members for the first time. He was definitely a trooper this weekend and did really well with it all. He was a tired boy by the time we finally got back home yesterday. He slept almost 13 hours last night and took two good naps today on top of that! I think he's fully recovered now! Speaking of sleeping, when he's in his crib, Nolan will without fail roll over and fall asleep on his stomach. Sleeping on his tummy is definitely Nolan's favorite sleeping position right now.

Nolan's still enjoying rice cereal and is now having that twice a day. In a few weeks he'll start baby food.

We hope you're all doing well. Have a great 4th!

Busy Weekend

Nolan had a busy last few days. We went to St. Joe's, Michigan on Friday with Laura and Luke Honda to visit the Marsh Family. We had a great visit and it was fun to see the three boys together.

On Saturday, we went up to my parents' lake house. Nolan had a couple of "firsts" - his first boat ride and his first time swimming! I think we have a water baby on our hands! He really liked the water and had us all surprised. He was kicking and splashing away. I signed up for "Mommy and Me" swimming lessons which start on July 10th at our local park district pool here in Mt. Prospect. I have a feeling he's going to have a lot of fun with it.

Just checking in....

Nolan is really starting to like rice cereal. I don't think he liked the texture when he first tried it. But I'm diluting it a little bit more now which seems to be helping. Now that it's a little bit smoother and thinner, he's like a little bird when I feed him...opening his mouth and wanting more. It's pretty cute.

I was able to get a video clip of Nolan rolling over yesterday. You can tell that he's so proud of himself when he does it. And when he's laying on the ground, he'll keep doing it and doing it...pretty funny!

Have a good week!

Four Month Check-Up

Nolan had his 4 month check-up tonight and also helped Dad celebrate his birthday! The appointment went well and the pediatrician said Nolan is doing great. He said we could start giving him rice cereal once a day. (UPDATE: Nolan had rice cereal for the first time today. Click on Video Clips to see what he thought of it.) I have a feeling Nolan is really going to enjoy that! Nolan is still off the charts for height and weight. He's in the 97+ percentile for both. The doctor's growth chart only goes up to 97% and Nolan is above that!? Nolan handled the 4 month vaccines much better than the 2 month vaccines. Dave made the comment that you know you're getting old when your son gets "shots" on your birthday and you don't! =)

Starting today, Nolan has been rolling over like crazy from his back to his stomach. Just on the exam table alone tonight he rolled over three times!

Nolan is hopefully at the tail end of his cold. He's had it almost two weeks, but the pediatrician said that despite all of Nolan's coughing and congestion, his lungs sound good, ears are clear, and he doesn't have a fever. So we're hoping that he shakes this cold very soon!

Summer is here!

Nolan has been busy this past week. We had a great time up in Lake Geneva last weekend. It was Nolan's first time up there. And Grandpa George and Grandma Becky are in town this weekend. We spent the day downtown today and had fun showing Millenium Park to Nolan.

Nolan is fighting his first cold. He's had it for a little over a week so hopefully it'll be gone soon. Nolan is still drooling like crazy and chewing on any and everything...he has two teeth with two more on the way. He has his four month check-up on Monday.

That's all for now.

Nolan is a rollin'!

So this afternoon during Nolan's naptime, I was downstairs doing some work on my laptop. All of a sudden I hear this bloody murder scream from Nolan on the monitor. I rush upstairs to the nursery to find him face down in the crib. Looks like Nolan can now rollover from his back to his stomach! I think he really scared himself in the process, so I'm not sure when he'll try it again next. I felt so bad for him. He was easily consoled once I picked him up. Nolan did 180 degree turns in the crib during both naps yesterday. Basically his feet ended up where his head was?!

Both of Nolan's bottom middle teeth have broken through. He is a drooling machine!

We're taking Nolan on his first trip to Lake Geneva this weekend!

Enjoy the holiday weekend!

First Tooth

Nolan cut his first tooth yesterday! It's one of the bottom middle teeth. And the whites of two more on the bottom are showing, so I'm guessing those will come through pretty soon. This explains why Nolan has been drooling so much lately and gnawing at everything in sight! They don't seem to be causing him any pain. I've got the cold teething ring ready to go!

We had a very nice Mother's Day today. We grilled out at my parents' house. Back to work for me tomorrow.

Have a great week!

Busy Week

It's been a busy week for Nolan. He did great on our road trip to Cincinnati and KY. He slept about 75% of the time we were in the car. I'm thinking that will definitely change as he gets older. Nolan got to meet lots of new people including a bunch of family on the Hurter side.

Nolan started daycare this week and is doing great with it. It's so cute to watch him closely observe all the other babies. The only difficult part with daycare so far is that Nolan isn't napping very well when he's there. Too many new sights and sounds I guess. They said it's very normal for babies to take awhile to get used to their new surroundings. I go back to work on Monday.

As far as what's new with Nolan....he has now officially found his thumb. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing? It makes the bedtime routine much easier. He hasn't put up much of a fight at night now that he has his thumb to suck on. Nolan is now pretty much able to support his head when sitting. He'll be ready for that high chair in a few weeks when we start him on rice cereal!

We're going to spend Mother's Day at Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Bob's house.

Sunny in Chicago!

We're taking Nolan on his first big roadtrip this week. We're going to Cincinnati on Wednesday to visit Grandma Becky and Grandpa George and we'll stay through the weekend. Dave is excited to have Nolan watch his first Kentucky Derby on Saturday! It'll be some quality father-son bonding! =) They'll have to settle on watching it on TV. I don't think Nolan is quite ready for the infield at Churchill Downs!

Nolan starts daycare next Monday. I think it'll be harder for me than it will be for Nolan! =) And I head back to work the Monday after that.

We're enjoying the weather and are ready for summer!

Three Months Old

Nolan is three months old today!

Snow in April!?

I was going to run a bunch of errands today with Nolan, but my plans got changed when we woke up to lots of snow and ice! We've got about 3-4 inches at our house so far and it's still coming down. What happened to the nice weather?

Nolan had a great Easter and enjoyed spending time with so much family. He made out like a bandit if you ask me - he got four Easter baskets! Grandma Becky and Grandpa George left on Monday and now we're back to our normal routine. He's still sleeping really well and seems to be doing much better with tummy time. He'll tolerate it for a few minutes at a time which is a big improvement! He used to hate it. And now he's able to push his head and chest up with his arms.

I got some great news last week...turns out that I have more vacation time than I originally thought, so I'm going to use some of that now which delays going back to work. My first day back at work will be Monday, May 14th. And when I go back, it'll just be on Mondays and Wednesdays. I'm really enjoying getting to be at home right now with Nolan. He's growing so fast!

Two Months Old

Everything is going well on our end. Time sure is flying - Nolan will be 10 weeks old on Friday. Everyone always says to enjoy it because it goes by so fast. It's so true!

Nolan is looking forward to spending time with Grandpa George and Grandma Becky. They're coming to town tomorrow and staying with us until Monday. We're all going to Grandpa Bob and Grandma Jeanne's house on Sunday for Easter brunch.

Happy Easter!

Eight Weeks Old

Nolan will be two months old in a couple days. We're excited that he's sleeping through the night. He's been sleeping about 8 hours a night for the past week.

Nolan enjoyed meeting his Great Grandma Hamman for the first time yesterday. She's back home after spending the winter in Fort Myers Beach, FL. And Nolan is looking forward to meeting his Great Grandma Betty and Joe at Easter. They spend the winter in South Padre Island, TX.

Nolan is going to help his buddy Andrew celebrate his 1st birthday tomorrow.

Have a great week and enjoy the warm weather!

Seven Weeks Old

Nolan had his two month check-up today. He was a trooper with the three shots he had to get. He screamed for about a minute afterwards, then fell sound asleep. Go figure. The doctor said that he's doing great and seems like a happy and content little boy. Nolan is definitely topping the charts...95th percentile for height and 97th percentile for weight.

Nolan is getting more of a personality everyday. It's so much fun to see him laugh and smile. And he's very close to sleeping through the night. He went down at midnight last night and slept until 7:00am! Hopefully he'll keep that up!

Happy Spring!

Six Weeks Old

Nolan is six weeks old which means my maternity leave is halfway over already. It's all going so fast. When I go back to work I'll be part-time which is good - in the office on Monday and Wednesday.

Nolan is smiling more everyday and is now going 6 hours between feedings at night which we're excited about!

Hope to see you all soon. Enjoy your weekend.

Nolan has started smiling!

Dave and I are loving that Nolan is starting to smile! It's a lot of fun to be getting some feedback from the little guy.

Nolan is looking forward to playing with Grandma Becky and Grandpa George this weekend. They're coming to town tonight and staying through the weekend.

That's all for now!

One Month Old

We can't believe how time is absolutely flying! Nolan was four weeks old yesterday and will be a month old on Monday. It was fun taking him out a few times this week. We went to Grandma Jeanne & Grandpa Bob's house and we also went out to eat a couple times. For the most part, he did great. We found out that he seems to love car rides and has slept pretty much the whole time he's in the car. Hopefully that means he'll do well on future roadtrips to Cincinnati and the Hurter reunions!

It's extremely cold here in Chicago and we're getting a bunch of snow and ice as I write this. The forecast for the next few days doesn't look any better. So it looks like Nolan and I will hibernate for the next few days and Dad will head off to work.

We hope you're all doing well. Stay warm!

Three Weeks Old

Nolan is three weeks old today! Dave and I are having a lot of fun with him and he constantly keeps us on our toes. I'm excited that the weekend is here so Dave can watch him for a little bit while I go run some errands and venture out to the outside world. I'm looking forward to it! =) We're anxious for the weather to get nice so we can start taking him out for walks. We're going to take him on a "mini-road trip" on Sunday to Grandma Jeanne & Grandpa Bob's house for lunch. We'll see how he does! Take care and have a great weekend!

Two Weeks Old

It's hard to believe that Nolan is already two weeks old! We're starting to get into the swing of things at home. Nolan loves his crib and is a great sleeper! He's going 4 hours between feedings during the day and 5 hours at night. So Dave and I have managed to get a decent amount of sleep...knock on wood!

Nolan had his first pediatrician check-up at 10 days old and the doctor was very pleased with how he was doing. We feel so blessed that Nolan is such a healthy little boy. And speaking of healthy...Nolan has an incredibly healthy appetite and digestive system!! =)

Take care and have a great week!

Welcome Home Nolan!

Our little guy finally made his arrival this past Friday night, 1/26/07 at 8:39pm. I was induced because I was nine days late and he wasn't giving us any signs that he was ready to meet us. After 13 hours of labor, I ended up having a C-section because he was just simply too big and wasn't dropping at all. Nolan is a very healthy little boy and we're all doing well. We came home on Tuesday afternoon. We really appreciate all your kind words, e-mails, and phone calls. We'll keep this website posted with recent photos and Nolan updates, so please save the link and feel free to check out the site at any time. Nolan is anxious to meet all of you!