A few updates

Whew! It's been a busy couple of weeks but wanted to share some BIG news and some other updates. Nolan is now a walker! He took his first few tentative steps around the Fourth of July and within two weeks became a full-fledged walker. Every once in awhile he'll break out in a crawl, which makes me realize how much I'm going to miss that little speed demon when he stops crawling altogether.

Nolan also just cut tooth #6 - now he has three in a row on the bottom. And FINALLY the other top middle tooth is now showing signs of popping through, so he will soon have 7 teeth!

Last week we went on vacation to Massanutten in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with Nana and Papi. We had a blast at the pool, the indoor waterpark, playing tennis, going on walks, and just relaxing. Here are a few pics from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

5, 10, 15 steps!

I took my first two steps on the fourth of July when we were up visiting Memere and Grandpa, but Mom didn't get to see them. Since then, I've taken a few steps here and there but nothing regular. But I really started to get the hang of it this week. Since Thursday I've been taking as many as 15 steps at one time before dropping to my knees and crawling. The funny thing is, since I've been working on walking I've forgotten how to crawl. I used to be Speedy Gonzalez but now I'll crawl really fast a bit and then sprawl flat on the ground. I, of course, think this is hilarious!

In other news, I also started saying my first "word." We have these touch and feel flash cards with pictures of animals and cars and things on them. When someone shows me the dog flash card, I start barking softly "woof woof." Everyone gets a kick out of this.

Tooth #5 is finally here!

Nolan's front-left middle incisor is finally coming in, to join the two top "fangs" that came in a month or so ago, making Nolan look a little like a vampire bat. The tooth first showed signs of coming down a few weeks ago and the entire length of the tooth finally popped through this morning! No word yet on when this tooth's friend, the other top middle-right incisor, will be joining it.

"I see a fire truck, a big red shiny fire truck ..."

One of my favorite new toys has got to be this ride-on/push fire truck. I haven't figured out how to make it go myself yet, but I love getting pushed all around the house on it. I also love pushing it myself using the push bar on the back. The songs it plays are fun, too. Mom says it's not bad, as far as kids toy songs go, and has a dramatic Broadway-esque crescendo that she and Dad like singing along to ...

I see a fire truck, a big red shiny fire truck

I see a fire truck, coming 'round the bend ...

[cue dramatic music]

... and ... there's ... a ... noisy siren wailing on that truck!

Birthday par-tay!

Well, my birthday party on June 7th was lots of fun. We had so many people come from all over to celebrate - Aunt Carly came with a broken hand from California, Mom's cousin Lynn and Uncle Dave and Aunt Marci flew in from Boston, and Mom's cousin Heather drove up from North Carolina. And of course Memere and Grandpa drove down from Connecticut.

It was a really hot day but we all kept cool with ice cold drinks ...

... and frequent trips inside to soak up the a/c. I was having fun running circles around this giant stack of gifts (you can also see the beautiful rocking horse Grandpa made me in the picture) until I tripped and fell and cut my frenulum. I got blood all over my adorable custom-made birthday onesie :( But I was OK after just a few minutes.

After that unfortunately incident and a quick wardrobe change, it was time to eat cake and sing birthday songs. And I noticed it was that dumb cupcake again, this time in cake form. When will Mom get the picture that I do not like her healthy chocolate cake!?!?

Quiet birthday at home

That night, we ate dinner with Memere and Grandpa and those cupcakes showed up AGAIN. Once again, I tossed it aside.

Birthday at daycare

So finally, birthday pictures! Mom brought cupcakes in to daycare to celebrate my actual birthday on June 5th. I wasn't a fan.