Nolan 8 Months & Rockport Trip!

It is hard to believe that our sweet little boy is 8 months old! The other night Brandon and I were looking at pictures from his birth and were blown away by how fast the time has gone. Nolan is a very chill, but outgoing little one. He loves meeting other babies and will be the first to try and get a little closer. He "talks" and will straighten his arms and legs and grunt when he wants to get even closer to other little ones. He started crawling over the weekend and is so proud of himself. He loves to be able to get to what he wants. Today he crawled to the coffee table, pulled up, sat back down, and clapped and said yay. It was too cute! He pulls up on everything and has been even been trying to climb on some of his toys.
We spent the long weekend in Rockport with my parents, Brandon's brother and wife, and Brandon's mom and grandmother. I was happy that Nolan waited to crawl until they were all around. --We wish Nathan, Hannah, Autumn, Josh, and Ava would have been there! I promise to get a video up soon-- It took about 4 hrs to get there, which was twice as long as any trip we had taken with him. Luckily, I had Baba--my mom-- to help entertain him! We got to Rockport at around 11pm on Thursday and Nolan woke up and checked everything out and then went back to sleep. He did great while we were there. I wasn't sure how he would act or if his "schedule" would be all out of whack, but he did great! He slept until 8:30ish like he always does and napped around 10 and 3 for an hour and a half. Around 8:45 he would start acting sleepy and went down really easily! He didn't cry the whole trip, unless he wanted out of his car seat. B's brother--Z and sister-in-law-- M have a black lab named Shadow. Nolan wanted to play with him so badly, but Shadow wanted nothing to do with him. Shadow pretty much acted like Nolan wasn't there and just ignored him. It was so funny, but sad at the same time. A few times Z would hold Shadow and Nolan would get to touch him, but would scare S because Nolan would scream in excitement. We are trying to talk Baba and Pops into getting a Lab for their house next summer, so Nolan could have a puppy that wasn't scared of him.
We finally bought Nolan a highchair when we got back on Sunday and he loves it. I bought some Happy Baby--gluten and dairy free-- puffs and he does a great job at picking them up and eating them. He only wants a few though. He is still just eating for the taste and hasn't had a real meal. Over the weekend he had pinto beans, green beans, and baked sweet potatoes sticks and loved all of them.
Nolan is also very talkative! He will repeat mama, dada, ball, bath, deer, bear, bye bye, and pretty much anything you say a few times. He will study your mouth and repeat! He jabbers all the time. He is still sleeping in bed with us, which is fine with us! He naps in his co-sleeper instead of our bed now, since he is crawling now. He used to wake up and let out a little fuss just to let us know he was up. Now he just rolls around and I am afraid he will fall out of our bed. It is taking him a little time to get used to napping in the co-sleeper, so his naps aren't always 1.5 hrs long, but they are getting longer and more consistent every day.
Yesterday I started a class called Stroller Strides. Let me say, it isn't exactly a striding and strolling along kind of class. It is pretty intense. I was happy to hear some of the women, that had been doing the class for a few months, that they were in better shape than they were in high school! We did a lot of running, sprints, lunges, squats, and too many other things to list. The class has about 20 moms and they have kids ranging from 8 weeks to 3 years. The class is from 9am-10am and so I thought Nolan would do great since he would be happy and awake. He did okay, but didn't act like he usually does in the stroller. I think it is because he wanted me to keep moving, but we had to stop for different exercises. All the moms said it takes a few weeks and then he will get used to it! I would stop and comfort him and he would let me continue the workout. I will hopefully make a good friend in the class and also get in shape. This momma needs some friends! The weight part of having a baby hasn't really been difficult, feeding a 20 lb baby will take that off. For me it is just being tone again. Before I got pregnant with Nolan, I would go to the gym a lot. I kept working out during my pregnancy, but stopped doing weights and the elliptical around 34 weeks. Now I have lost most of my muscle and my pre-pregnancy clothes fit, but I just want to be a bit more tone! The class is also a great alternative to the childcare at a gym. I am just not comfortable with that at all!

 Chewing on his baseball hat

 Playing with daddy while I cook dinner

 Feeding the Seagulls at Zach and Marla's house

 Playing with Pops

 Playing in his pool! This kid love taking baths and playing in the pool!

 Swinging after pool time!

 Silly boy!

 We found a cabbage head

 Eating sweet potato sticks!