Nolan is 8 Months Old

Today, my little boy is 8 months old!! Bill and I measured and weighed him tonight because he doesn't have to go back to the pediatrician until he is 9 months old. Nolan measured 29.5 inches in length and weighed 21lbs 1oz. Once again, we don't know how accurate these measurements are, but at least we know he is continuing to grow.

  

Nolan is now starting to become expressive with his sounds and trying to form words.  He loves to say, "Da...Da...Da" in many different tones.  It is so cute to watch him learn how to control his tongue in order to make different sounds.   Along with controlling his sounds, Nolan is learning to control his body as well.  Nolan is now able to get up on all fours and rock back and forth.  He doesn't crawl on his hands and knees yet, but he does army crawl!!   

Today Nolan really surprised me!! I went to check on him while he was napping.  When I peeked into his room he was sitting upright in his crib!!  He had a huge grin on his face and starting laughing and clapping.  I had to adjust the crib height, so he won't be toppling out of the crib!  So, Nolan can now go from the laying down position to the sitting up position on his own!!

Nolan really enjoys swinging in swings too!!  Bill and I took him to the park last weekend and he loved it.  Nana bought Nolan a swing to put on her back porch, Nolan loves swinging in it too.  At one point, it looked like he was already pumping his legs, but I think he was just excited and throwing his legs back and forth.  I also bought Nolan some older baby toys.  He enjoys playing with his cars and trucks that go down ramps. Since Nolan now has good hand-eye coordination, he is feeding himself Gerber Puffs and he is eating pureed meat.  Quite the eater!!

Nolan's First Old Settlers

Thursday, August 18th, was the Old Settlers celebration in Hillsboro.  Old Settlers used to be a huge deal when I was a little girl, my family always went all out to make floats for the kiddie parade.  I remember waiting all summer for Old Settlers to arrive.  Old Settlers was the opportune time to show off my new school clothes and shoes to all of my friends.  Old Settlers also marked the end of summer because school would always start the following week.  I decided I wanted Nolan to have the same experiences I had as a little girl, so I took off work Thursday and took Nolan to Old Settlers.  This is one of maybe three years were I can remember the weather being nice!  When Old Settlers comes around it is either 110 degrees outside or pouring down rain, but not this year!!

First Official Old Settlers Picture

Papa T wanted to make a float for Nolan to enter into the kiddie parade, but I wanted to wait until Nolan is a little older.  Nana, Nolan, and I loaded in to the car and went uptown to the parade.  We met Aunt Kelby, James, Gigi, and Papa Tub too!!  Nolan was able to meet a few people around town that haven't seen him before.  Of course the census was, "he looks exactly like Billy!!" The floats in the kiddie parade were cute.  Our friends entered their little girl in the parade as Pebbles from the Flintstones.  Nolan really enjoyed the band.  He flapped his arms and laughed with the music.  Papa T met us for lunch.  The pronto pups and lemonade shake-ups are as good as I remembered!!  Nolan even sampled a little bit of the lemonade shake-up and he loved it.

 Aunt Kelby up front with Nolan

 Kaya as Pebbles

 Lemonade Shake-Up

After we ate lunch and watched the Hillsboro Dance Team perform, we headed back home to take a nap and prepare for the big evening parade.  Bill came to Nana and Papa T's after work and got ready too.  We headed up town to find a place  in the crowd to watch the big parade.  As we were walking along, we noticed Bopi and Mary with Boo standing in an open spot, so we stood next to them for the parade.  Half-way through the parade I spotted Mimi and Poppy, along with a few other Young Clan relatives.  Nolan was able to meet a few more relatives.

Poppy and Poot

The parade began, with all of the sirens and whistles going off from the entire surrounding areas firetruck and ambulance department.  I was worried Nolan would become scared and start crying, but of course he didn't.  Everyone was so impressed with how calm he was throughout all of the noise.  The parade consisted of the usual: politicians, tractors, floats, more politicians, the Shriners, area school bands, and ended with the horses and pooper scoopers!  Nolan enjoyed the whole thing!!  On our way out, I grabbed some ice cream and Nolan ate a little of that too.  We had another fun night as a family and were able to see a few of our friends and family too!

They finally replaced the old scary monkey costume with this friendly new one.  

 Three generations of Purcell Boys

 Uncle Farmer on his John Deere 

Leaving the parade and heading back home!

Maybe next year, Nolan will have his own float in the Kiddie Parade. We shall see where the year takes us.

Nolan's First Cardinals Baseball Game

Last night, Bill and I took Nolan to his very first Cardinals baseball game.  The Cardinals played against The Brewers.  We left the house early so we would have time to eat, and it was a good thing we did.  As soon as we merged onto the interstate, I asked Bill if he grabbed the tickets, because I didn't.  Bill thought I grabbed them and vise versa.  We had to turn around and go back to the house to get the tickets.  Nolan was asleep in his car seat, so he didn't mind the short detour back to the house. I ran into the house, grabbed the tickets off of the refrigerator, jumped back into the car, and we headed out once more!!

We made it to the game before the first pitch!  Bill, Nolan, and I found our seats and Bill went to grab us a bite to eat.  Nolan did AMAZING!!  During the first inning, 2 home runs were hit and boy did it become loud! I was nervous the noise from the fireworks and cheering fans would bother Nolan, but he cheered along with everyone else.  He started flapping his arms, laughing, and smiling every time the crowd would cheer. Nolan also made friends with all of the people sitting around us.  He is such a little flirt, and everyone adored him!!

At one point during the game I went and bought some ice cream. Nolan started licking his lips as soon as I sat down.  I decided to let Nolan have a little taste..... he LOVED it!  I would bring the ice cream close to his lips and he would stick out his little tongue and wiggle it up and down, like a snake, to try and reach the ice cream.  Bill and I laughed so hard!!  Nolan had ice cream all over his face.  He would take his tongue and lick around his lips to try and eat the ice cream off of his face!! 

Bill and I decided to leave around the 5th Inning because it was way past Nolan's bedtime and he was becoming very sleepy.  We took a few pictures on the way out too.  Nolan was asleep before we left the parking lot.  We had a great family outing!! The weather was perfect, Nolan did great, and the Cardinals won!

Nolan's First Chiropractic Adjustment

Since Nolan was diagnosed with an ear infection I decided to take him to Southern Illinois Chiropractic Center to see Dr. Barry, my chiropractor.  I'm all for antibiotics if they're needed, but I would like to decrease Nolan's need for antibiotics in the future by doing preventive treatment such as chiropractic adjustments.

I first learned about Dr. Barry through my friend Tiffany.  Tiffany's little girl, Madison, had ear problems until she had an adjustment by Dr. Barry. Southern Illinois is an amazing office to go to.  I felt right at home from my first appointment and knew right away I would not trust anyone else with my family for chiropractic care.

Since having Nolan, I've noticed the last few times I've went in for my adjustment the numerous articles placed throughout the office on chiropractic care for infants and teens.  I knew I would eventually have Nolan in for an adjustment, but kept putting it off. 

As soon has he was diagnosed with an ear infection, I called on Monday to set up an appointment.  Melissa, Dr. Barry's wife, is WONDERFUL!! She was able to get us in today.  On top of being able to work us into the schedule, Melissa informed me August is Kids Month, which means NO COST INITIAL VISIT.  An extra bonus, Southern Illinois only charges a dollar per the age of a child, so Nolan's visit only cost $1.  While I filled out Nolan's paper work he decided to hang out in the Children's Corner and do a little bit of light reading.

Once Nolan's information was put into the computer, we were escorted back to the Screening Room.  The Screening Room is where Dr. Barry takes x-rays and data to measure the spine.  In order to attain the data, I had to take Nolan's shirt off.  Nolan was a little off the charts in the C1-C3 area.  Dr. Barry said this is normal in children with ear infections and sinus problems.

 Nolan being scanned

Dr. Barry adjusted Nolan as soon as he finished showing me the data.  Nolan is very ticklish, so he was a little bit squirmy at first.  Nolan and Dr. Barry both did a great job!! We have a follow up appointment on Wednesday to make sure everything is staying in place.

Being adjusted

Nolan's First ER Visit

Nolan has been battling a cold for about a week now, but hasn't shown any signs of pain.  Nolan's cold symptoms were pretty much straight forward, i.e., cough, runny nose, and watery eyes.  I called Nolan's pediatrician on Thursday, because his babysitter said he seemed irritable and wasn't eating very well.  Nolan's pediatrician is currently out on maternity leave, so another pediatrician answered my questions.  She said as long as Nolan has a clear discharge from his nose and no fever there is no need to bring him in for an exam.

Yesterday started out great, Nolan and I went grocery shopping and he was his perfect little self.  After we were back home, Nolan started to become really grouchy and wouldn't eat or go down for his nap.  I figured he was teething so I gave him some Tylenol to help with the pain.  Nolan laid down for about an hour and woke up screaming his head off.  I figured he was hungry, so again, I tried to feed him.  Nolan went down for a second nap around 3:30pm and slept for an hour.  This time he woke up screaming bloody murder.  I knew something was terribly wrong, so I called the pediatrician's hot line since they're closed on Saturday.

The nurse from Children's took our information and asked all sorts of questions.  After evaluating all the symptoms, she told us we should take him to the hospital to have an evaluation done.  We were in route to Children's when Nolan started to breathe weird.  He would take a deep breathe, scream, and then not breathe for a few seconds.  I was so scared.  I made Bill turn around and go to Anderson Hospital, since it is the closest.

Upon our arrival to Anderson's Cardinal Glennon Emergency, we checked in and Nolan was taken into the evaluation room.  After his heart rate and oxygen levels were taken, we were escorted to a room.  It felt like the pediatrician on call took forever to come into our room.  All I did was sit in the corner and pray over and over again.  The pediatrician finally came into our room.  She listened to Nolan's heart and lungs, because he had no labored breathing and his heart and lungs sounded great, she wanted to finish doing the whole body exam.  Nolan did great! He laid on the bed with his legs and arms spread out, so she could evaluate his entire body.  The pediatrician looked in Nolan's left ear first and she said it looked great.  As soon as she looked in the right ear she said, "Oh my it's red.  I need to take a closer look!!"  The cause of the screaming was an ear infection in the right ear.

 

Even though the source of the pain was discovered the pediatrician still wanted to have blood work done and a chest x-ray to rule other possibilities out.  I could finally breathe, Bill was about ready to have me admitted to the hospital for a nervous breakdown.  I have never in my life experienced so much fear and helplessness.  Bill said I was white as a ghost and sitting in the corner shaking.  I don't recall any of this, but as soon as the pediatrician said Nolan was going to be alright I calmed down.

Nolan was given his very own Anderson Hospital gown.  It was a little big, but he didn't mind.  He was a trooper through the blood work.  The nurse did a great job and Nolan only screamed for the stick, but calmed down before he was finished drawing the blood.  The x-ray went well too.

We had to wait around for about forty more minutes to have the x-ray read and his prescriptions given to us.  Nolan was exhausted and passed out on the way home. Poor little Poot Poot!!

Last night was a little rough, for me that is.  I kept waking up to check on Nolan every five minutes.  He woke up only a couple of times when his pain medicine was wearing off, but slept great other than that.  This morning he awoke, ate a little bit of his bottle, and settled in to watch Disney Junior.  I can't get his big smile out of him just yet, but a little grin will work.

 We stuck a band-aid over the cotton, so he won't pull it out.

 A little grin

Watching Agent Oso