Happy Valentine's Day!!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!  The Purcell Family had a great Valentine's Day, full of love, chocolate, and toys!! What more could anyone ask for?  Nolan received a couple of new toys and movies.  While mommy and daddy received a new Tempur-Pedic mattress, KING size.

 Nolan with his new popper!!

 Nolan really enjoys stacking the rings.  He will put a ring on, clap and smile, then place another ring on.  This continues until all the rings are placed on the pole.  Nolan does a really good job with stacking them in the correct order too.

Nolan has grown up so much in the past month.  He is a big boy now.  He loves to dance, and find new things to get into.  Nolan is ALL boy.  I didn't think anyone could be so destructive at such a young age! He loves to wrestle and play with Bill.  His new obsession is his cheesy smile, he throws his head back, closes his eyes, and smiles with his bottom teeth.  Too funny!!  Nolan is also starting to use a few new words and becoming more independent.

 The Cheesy Smile

Happy Valentine's Day to my favorite boys, Bill and Pooter!!  I love you both very much and couldn't imagine my life without the two of you!!

First Prenatal Vist for Baby P

I have been very sick with this pregnancy too, hence the few posts I've made this past month.  So bare with me, as I will try to keep posting to keep everyone up to date on Nolan and my pregnancy.

Yesterday, was actually my first prenatal visit with Dr. Hulsen.  I went by myself because there was no ultrasound planned and Bill and I knew the routine.  I had the usual blood work and exam done to verify I am pregnant.  According to my calculations, I was 9 weeks and 2 days along with an estimated due date of September 4th.  Dr. Hulsen said it might be too early to hear a heartbeat with the Doppler, but we could try.  No heartbeat was found, so Dr. Hulsen ordered an ultrasound to verify my due date.  Dr. Hulsen wasn't worried in the least because of the size of my uterus and because of how sick I've been, which are good signs of a healthy pregnancy.

There wasn't an opening on Wednesday, so Bill and I went back this morning.  I didn't realize how worried I was until I saw the little flutter on the screen and knew there was a heartbeat!!  I finally breathed a sigh of relief to know my little embryo was going strong.  The ultrasound technician measured the size of the embryo and came up with a measurement of half an inch.  Thus changing my current pregnancy to 7 weeks and 4 days along with an expected due date of September 16th.  No wonder the heartbeat couldn't be detected with the Doppler, I'm way too early in my pregnancy to hear it!!  The ultrasound tech measured the heartbeat to be at 162 bpm, which is great!!  The tech printed off a picture and sent Bill and I home with an excitement of being parents again!!

 Nolan playing with the ultrasound picture

The embryo is next to the arrow

 7 weeks and 4 days

An Afternoon at the Park

Today was a great day to be off!! The weather was beautiful, it felt more like Spring than Winter.  I wanted to take advantage of the warm sunshine, so I text Tiffany and asked if she and the kiddos would like to meet up with Nolan and I at a park.  After the kids had their naps we met up for a little bit of fresh air.

At first Nolan was a little shy with all the older kids running around, but after he saw the swings he became excited.  I'm surprised Nolan remembered the swings, but when he saw them he pointed and took off after them.  Madison swung alongside Nolan and Nolan kept smiling at silly Maddie.

Once Nolan swung for a little bit, he decided he wanted to be more adventurous and tour the playground.  He was a little hesitant with the slides and bridges, but he did great for his first time!!  The older kids were being a little rough, so we decided to head over to the pond to see the fish!!

 A ton of birds flew over and Nolan couldn't stop staring at them.

The sun started to set and the air was becoming chillier.  We decided to make our way back to the cars.  The boys are so much alike! They have the same strut and make the same grunts.  It is too funny!!

Thanks to Tiffany, Maddie, and Grantie for meeting us for a fun park play date!

Down the Slippery Slopes

This past Saturday, when there was still enough snow on the ground, I took Nolan sledding for the first time.  Nolan received the sled for his birthday from Great Grandma and Grandpa Young, and we were excited to test it out.  The size of the sled was perfect and Nolan thought it was pretty darn cool.  Aunt Kelby helped me bundle Nolan up in his snow suit.  I'm glad he finally get some use out of his snow suit.

Ready for some sledding action

 Papa T leading Nolan to the pond dam.  It has a small slope, perfect for Nolan.

He was so puffy, he couldn't put his arms down!

Papa T and Uncle Jaron positioned Nolan at the top of the hill, while Aunt Kelby and I stood at the bottom to catch Nolan.  We thought we had it planned out perfect, but we didn't see the bump, literally, in the hill.  Poor Nolan, the sled hit the bump and sent him and the sled on its side.  Nolan had so much padding on he wasn't hurt, but it did scare him and MOMMY!!  

 Here he goes...... and CRASH!!

Aunt Kelby to the rescue.

Needless to say, I did not take a picture of the crash because we were all tending to Nolan.  He only cried for about 20 seconds and was good to go.  Papa T said he had to get back on the horse and do it again, so we chose a bump free hill and went again.  Much smoother, no crash, and all smiles!!

Aunt Kelby and Boog monitoring Nolan

 Mommy and Poot

I figured Nolan had enough of the snow and I was getting cold, mommy forgot her snow suit.  We took Nolan back inside, undressed him, and let him play for a bit.  Overall it was a good experience, only one crash and lots of smiles!

Big Brother Nolan

No joke this time, Nolan really is going to be a BIG brother sometime in early September.  According to the Pregnancy Calculator, courtesy of Baby Center, my due date is September 5th. Bill and I are very excited to be adding another addition to our family!!  Once again, we are not going to find out the sex of the baby or tell any names.  There are only so many surprises in life and waiting to find out the sex of the baby is one of the greatest!!

 Poor Nolan has been sick, so he doesn't look too thrilled in these pictures.

The pregnancy test did not show positive until 6 days after my missed period.  Completely different from when I was pregnant with Nolan, the pregnancy test was positive on the day I missed my period.  I wanted to be sure I was pregnant before announcing to our family and friends, so I went to my physician and asked for a blood test, this past Friday.  Since the lab is closed over the weekend I had to wait until Monday for the results.  I received a call on Monday confirming I was pregnant!!

I had to take two pregnancy tests to confirm.  This is the picture I text Bill on Thursday morning to let him know we're going to be parents again!!

So far I have not been as sick with this pregnancy as I was with the first, but again I'm only 6 weeks along.  I am very tired!!  Nolan has been clingy, but I don't know if it is because he hasn't been feeling well or because he can sense I'm pregnant.  Either way I know he will be a great BIG brother.  The two kids will be 21 months apart.  Bill and I wanted our kids to be close in age, so we are excited it will be possible.

My first appointment with Dr. Hulsen, my OBGYN, is not until February 3rd.  The Dr. wants me to be at least 10 weeks along before I can be seen.  I'll keep everyone updated on how my first visit goes.

I'll put pregnancy pictures up as I start to show, which I hear happens a lot sooner the second time around!! :)

Happy 2012!!!

On New Year's Eve Day, we went to St. Louis as a family.  Later on in the afternoon, we went over to the Keller's to bring in the New Year of 2012.  We had a fun time relaxing, watching the kiddos play, and we even made it until midnight!!  Not only did the adults stay up until midnight, but Nolan and Grant did too.  The boys were going strong the entire night.  I was shocked, because Nolan is used to going to bed at 7:00pm.

 Happy New Year 2012!!

 Nolan and Grant snacking around 10:30pm.  They were like vultures attacking the bowl!! lol

 Posing by the fireplace

 Princess Madison

 Silly Nolan with Grantie's PJs on his head

 Kisses from Daddy on midnight

First family picture of 2012!!

The year of 2011 was a great year!  Bill and I watched our adorable baby boy become a handsome toddler.  Nolan is such a blessing in our lives.  The year of 2012 is going to be just as great if not better!!  Happy New Year!

A trip to the Science Center

The weather was so nice on New Year's Eve, Bill, Nolan, and I decided to take a trip to St. Louis.  Bill has wanted to take Nolan to the Science Center for awhile now, and Saturday was the perfect day to make the trip.  Bill and I had a lot of fun with Nolan.

Nolan thought the T-rex robot was really cool! He kept pointing at it and smiling.

 In this picture, Nolan is testing the different stresses of the same material.

 Checking out the traffic below.  He wasn't quite sure what to think of the cars zooming by below him.

 217 days, 22 hours, 23 minutes, and 46.48 seconds until.......Curiosity lands on Mars.

 It would cost around $380,000 to send Nolan into space along with his essentials. i.e. stroller and diaper bag.

There are three different floors in the Science Center and on each floor there is a different theme.  We found Cyberville and Bill thought it was pretty cool.  Of course, he had to argue and say the Science Center was wrong, because he knew 30=a when using the acii table.  Bill was so adamant he was right, I had to take a picture of him.  I asked Bill to explain the process of pushing a letter on the keyboard and how it shows up as a letter on the screen in front of me.  It is actually very interesting, when a letter on the keyboard is pushed, a number is sent to the computer, because the computer can only understand numbers.  Each button on your keyboard has a number and uppercase letters have different numbers than lowercase letters.  The number sent to the computer is then displayed on the computer screen as the letter you pushed.  It amazes me there is no delay when this is all going on!!

Bill went home and found out he was wrong and the Science Center was right.  30 does not equal letter a. 

 The key

 78 = N for Nolan :)

On the Lower Level was the Dino level.  There was a Build-A-Dino store located on the lower level as well.  I am sucker for a guest shop or anything associated with souvenirs.  I wanted to buy a souvenir for Nolan, since it was his first trip to the Science Center.  Nolan did a great job making his dino.  After the dino was stuffed, we created a birth certificate for him.  It took Bill and I awhile to come up with the name. We went through the generic: Rex, Spike, Dino, and then my brilliant husband thought of Lou.  Short for St. Louis, where the Science Center is located.  I have a genius for a husband!!

 Nolan chose a golden T-rex

 Daddy helping Nolan push the foot pedal to fill the "skin" with stuffing.

 Nolan picked out a heart on his own.  Well, he actually picked out two.  Nolan chewed on one and gave the other one to the worker. The heart is kissed and then put into the T-rex.

 Daddy and Nolan with the finished T-rex.

 Nolan and I creating Lou's birth certificate

 Nolan wanted to sit at his own computer....

We expended a lot of energy walking around the Science Center, so we became hungry.  Bill and I decided to take Nolan to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch.  I have very fond memories of this restaurant.  Growing up, my family and our family friends would eat at the Old Spaghetti Factory and we always had a lot of fun.  Nolan did great! He's such a ham, flirting with anyone who would look his way.  

 Nolan waiting patiently to be seated

 One of Nolan's favorite books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear...travels with us everywhere we go.

 When I was pregnant with Nolan I could not eat any type of marinara sauce without becoming sick.  Nolan still doesn't like to eat marinara sauce, so we ordered spaghetti with parmesan cheese.  Yummy!! Nolan loved the spaghetti cooked this way, which is crazy because when I was younger I would only eat my spaghetti noodles with parmesan cheese as well.

 At the Old Spaghetti Factory you have a choice of Vanilla or Spumoni ice cream.  All three of us chose Vanilla.

 One of the beautiful stain glass windows.

Lou at home with his birth certificate!! Nolan adores Lou and laughs at his pointy teeth.