Nolan's First Halloween

Happy Halloween!!  Today was an ideal day for Halloween, with the beautiful sunshine and a little hint of chill in the air.  Since it was a little chilly, we didn't dress Nolan up for the parade.  Instead, we put on a cute little Halloween shirt, courtesy of Nana, to celebrate the festivities in.  Of course, I had to take some pictures of Nolan before we left for the Halloween Parade uptown.  Thanks to Carol for the light up Jack-O-Lantern!! Nolan pushed it around the house all afternoon.

Sticking out his tongue.....

I bundled Nolan up in three layers, poor guy won't know what to do once winter hits.  Bill and I loaded all of our stuff into the car, and we took off uptown to find a place to sit and watch the parade.  We met up with the Kellers and settled in for some free entertainment.  Nolan and Grant were mesmerized the entire parade.  I don't think either one of them made a sound and Madison picked up a load of candy!! YUMMY!!  Since, Nolan is still too young to have candy I made sure to properly dispose of all the goodies. :)

 Moms and their kiddos

 My Family!!

Poot received some beads, so he was ready to P-A-R-T-Y!!

I think half of the fun was seeing all of the different costumes.  Bill, Mark, Tiffany, and I decided with a unanimous decision whom won Grand Champion of the Parade this Year.

Drum Roll, Please...........

And the Grand Champion of the Parade goes to..................

 Lizard Woman!!

Trick or Treat

What a busy weekend!!  We started out with Miss Madison's birthday party on Saturday.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Madison had a princess themed party and dressed as Snow White.  Nolan had a fun time playing with the other kids and hanging out with his daddy.  Nolan is a little shy around others, so he mostly sat back and took everything/everyone in. Nolan has this new thing he does with is tongue, so in a lot of the pictures you will notice his tongue sticking out.  He sticks it out and sucks on it to make a loud popping/clicking noise.

 Brooks, Nolan, and Grant

After the big party, Nolan went home and crashed.  Today, Bill, Nolan, and I ventured back over the The Keller's home to carve pumpkins and take the kiddos Trick or Treating.  Edwardsville has Trick or Treating on Halloween Eve because the town has a HUGE parade on the evening of Halloween.  Bill and Mark took to cleaning out the pumpkins, while the boys were put into their pack n play.  Madison, Tiffany, and I worked on her pumpkin since it only required stickers, no mess!! 

 This containment lasted maybe 15 minutes before the boys wanted out!!

 Busting out the hardware...

 Bill's Jack-O-Lantern

 Mine

 Princess Maddie's

Tiffany and Mark's

I might add Tiffany carved her pumpkin in about 10 minutes. She took the award for the master carver of the group.

After we finished carving the pumpkins, we sat down for a quick bite of delicious Taco Soup, compliments of Mark, fed the kids, and had them dressed in their costumes.  Once again, the boys took some persuasion to get theirs on, but in the end they all looked great!! Nolan was a sack of potatoes, Madison was Snow White, and Grant was Dopey. 

Nolan with Snow White

 Its hard to tell, but Nolan's sack says, "Purcell Tater Farm"

Grant, Madison, and Nolan dressed and ready to go...

Bill, Nolan, and I said our good-byes to the Kellers and went to visit the Martinez family. Poot fell asleep in the car on the way to their house, but he was happy to play with Miss Ali and Sam once he arrived at their house.  Nolan is used to being in bed by 7:00pm and the last couple of nights have been late ones.  He doesn't know how to cope with all of these late night adventures.

 Trick or Treat

 Ali, Nolan, and Sam

Passed out and ready for his nice warm bed.  Tomorrow night is the parade, which I think Nolan will really enjoy!!

Nolan's First Pumpkin

At the beginning of October, my family and our good friend's, the Kellers, went to Eckert's Pumpkin Patch to pick out the perfect pumpkin for Halloween. 

We were all packed up and ready to go.  I asked Bill if he grabbed the camera, so we could photograph Nolan's very first trip to a pumpkin patch.  Bill said he grabbed it.  To make a long story short, Dearest William grabbed the camera bag, but not the camera.  I do take part in the blame too because he thought I put the camera in the bag, but I did not.  Thanks to our techno savvy iPhone's and our great friend, Tiffany, we were able to capture a couple of pictures of Nolan's first trip to a pumpkin patch.  Thanks Tiff!!

Despite the missing camera we all had a great time.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous and almost felt like summer.  The kids enjoyed the wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch and through the apple orchard.  Bill bought a gallon of Apple Cider and some honey butter.  What a fun trip we had.

 Nolan and Grant trying to roll the pumpkin

Nolan and Madison

We have been too busy to even carve the pumpkin we bought.  I decided to take a couple of pictures in the backyard with Nolan and the pumpkin we picked out.

Nolan with his warty pumpkin

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures! We are so excited to go Trick or Treating and to watch the Halloween Parade.

The Lonely Blue Helmet

Today was the deciding appointment for Nolan. The appointment let us know whether Nolan needs to wear his helmet for a longer period of time.  Both Bill and I took off work a little early today, so we could go to St. Louis for Nolan's helmet appointment.  Nolan had two separate appointments today, one appointment with the prosthetic lab technician and the other one with the plastic surgeon.  Each appointment went great!! Both the lab technician and the plastic surgeon agreed Nolan no longer needs to wear his helmet.  He can stop cold turkey!!  Bill and I are more than pleased with the results Nolan obtained with his head shape while wearing his helmet for only 3 months.  Since Nolan is part of a study, he has to go back in 6 months to have the same measurements taken to see if his head shape has improved any on its own.

Nolan didn't know what to do without the helmet on.  He kept looking at it and trying to put it on his head.  It was too cute.  Nolan really enjoys chewing on the velcro strap too.  No more stinky, sweaty head for my little Pooter!! 

 Silly boy!!

 Nolan being silly and playing with daddy under the blanket.

Nolan is ready for Halloween!! He has on his "Mummy Loves Me" pajamas.

Nolan is 10 Months Old

Today, my little boy is 10 months old!! Bill and I measured and weighed him tonight because he doesn't have to go back to the pediatrician until he is 12 months old. Nolan measured 30 inches in length and weighed 22lbs 3oz. Once again, we don't know how accurate these measurements are, but at least we know he is continuing to grow.

Nolan recently wore his first pair of Nike shoes.  These are his first pair of big boy tennis shoes!!  He thinks they're pretty cool, but he likes the shoelaces even better.  I have to double knot his laces every time he wears them because if I don't, Nolan will untie his laces and chew on them.  One of Bill's favorite colors is orange, so he thinks Nolan's shoes are pretty "slick." 

Nolan has started to cruise furniture, which means walking from one piece of furniture to another while holding on.  He has figured out a way to get around every room without crawling too far.  Nolan will even take the kitchen chairs and push them across the kitchen like a walker!! Bill says, "Nolan is rearranging the kitchen furniture again!!"  If Nolan has to crawl he carries objects in his mouth like a dog.  Nolan has a silly habit of taking off his right sock, putting it in his mouth, and crawling around the house.

Since he has mastered his sippy cup, Nolan wants to be a big boy and drink out of daddy's cup.  Nolan will sit next to Bill and watch TV, whenever Bill takes a sip of his cup, Nolan pats Bill on the arm to let Bill know he wants a drink too.  This cycle will go on all night......

 

Eating out is one of our favorite things to do.  We recent quite a few restaurants in our area.  Here Nolan is hanging out at Peel, a delicious fire oven pizza joint.  I have yet allowed Nolan to have a taste of any restaurant food.  I'm so nervous about him choking!!  He hangs out in his high chair, while eating his Puffs or Crunchies we bring along for him to snack on. 

Happy 10 Months Pooter Boy!! I love you so much....