Poor Blog

Poor blog has been so neglected!  Here we are almost finished with the month of January and I haven't even updated how our Christmas went.

A few days before Christmas we did our annual cookie making for Santa.  Nolan was a big help and did really well.  He measured out the flour and was a great dough roller.  Henry also helped cut out a few cookies.  He tried to eat some flour so we made a bit of a mess.   

Christmas was a great day.  Nolan was excited about Santa coming and had his list of what he was hoping for.  Santa brought him everything he asked for, Buzz Lightyear, a cape, and chocolate.  He also got a Leapster computer which he has mastered using so quickly.  Henry also got some fun things.  He got a backpack with his name on it, an Elmo shirt, a few books, and some candy.  I am sure they both got more but since it was already a month ago I can't remember.

The rest of the day was spent with family.  First the entire Brock clan came over to our house for brunch and more gifts and that night it was over to the Neville side for dinner and more gifts!

New Years Eve we went to our neighbors house for a little party.  There were quite a few older kids there so the boys had fun chasing them around.  We didn't stay all that late because Henry was going up and down the stairs and we couldn't really trust him to leave him alone.

Since the new year we have just been doing the daily grind.  We had a pretty good cold snap so that meant a lot of time indoors with probably too much TV.  The past week has been warmer though so we have been back outside in the evening. 

Nolan has been able to attend 2 gymnastics parties.  The first was for Julia and then for Sophie.  Sophie also had a Spiderman come to her party so Nolan was pretty excited to meet him.

Henry is still super smiley guy and is talking up a storm.  He has more and more words everyday.  He still speaks a lot of gibberish but you can tell he is trying so hard.  He still loves his Elmo too.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

December has been a fun month filled with lots of parties and trips to see Santa!  Now we are in the final countdown until the man in red comes.  Nolan is excited and asks questions about how he will get in the house, how the reindeer fly, etc.  Henry doesn't really care for Santa.  He will grab onto us when we get close.  He does say Ho! Ho! Ho! though which is cute.

We started out December 1 by having the annual picture taken with Santa at the local real estate office.  That evening we had a little cocktail party for Kevin's work group.  Nolan had fun playing with Faith, who is just 3 weeks older than he is.

The next weekend we went to a Santa party at the house of Kevin's coworker.  This was a lot of fun with a big bounce house, a gift from Santa, and lots of cupcakes and cookies.  Nolan did well with Santa once again but it took a little convincing to get him to go see him because he kept saying that he had just seen him the week before and already told him what he wanted :)

Finally we had the boys Christmas program at school this week.  Henry was supposed to have a little performance but he wanted no part in it!  Nolan's class had a snowman craft that he had fun with and then his performance.  He did really well!  The school also had Santa come so Nolan told him one more time what he wants just so he won't forget.  Henry clung close to us!

Here are some pictures from the festivities.  They aren't the clearest because I have reached my photo limit for the blog so I have had to find a way to get around it without paying for more. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving and other things

I meant to write a post about Halloween but here we are almost a month later.  Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we are starting to pull out the Christmas decorations. Where has 2012 gone?

For Halloween we went to a little neighborhood block party before TOT.  They do a little costume parade and prizes are given out for each age group.  Nolan won for his age group!  He was a boxer.  When we left the house he was wearing his Spiderman mask and said that he was a Spiderman boxer but when we got to the party he was just a plain boxer.  He won a $2 gift certificate to Baskin Robbins.  Henry was dressed as a skeleton.  It is really just a pair of PJ's but it is super easy for his age.  We only did about 2 1/2 blocks of TOT but Nolan had a blast.  He was so good about saying "Trick or treat!" and at the end he knew to say "thank you!"  Henry had no interest and stayed in the wagon.

The month of November has been pretty quiet.  With the time change we don't play outside quite as long in the evening but the boys both still love being out there and playing sports.  We have been playing a lot of blocks and cars inside.  Nolan is obsessed with Spiderman and the Avengers and constantly asks to watch them on TV.  Henry has become obsessed with Elmo and will say Elmo and over again when the TV is on hoping that he can watch and episode of Sesame Street.  Just like Nolan he really doesn't care about most of the show and only wants to see the Elmo's World portion.

Nolan has started playing so well by himself.  It is so nice that he can do some independent play!

Thanksgiving was nice.  Thursday we did the Neville side of the family.  We didn't go over there until 4 so we had a really lazy day up until that point.  Nolan and I watched the Macy's parade and then after that the exciting Texans game.  After that the craziness of all the cousins together got started.  Nolan kept up with being a bum choosing to watch a movie with Margaret and Julia instead of running around with Kyle and Wade.  Finally we forced him outside and he had fun with them.

Friday we went over to Kasey and Brian's house for Thanksgiving #2 with the Brock Brood.  We had a nice time here as well.  The boys played football outside for a while and then we had another big feast.  Nolan got to play with an old Wolverine figurine of Brian's that he loved.

Finally, on a sad note, our Molly cat died unexpectedly on Saturday morning.  I found her "sleeping" under the bassinet in our room.  She was a good, sweet cat.  She put up with the boys laying on her etc.  She was relatively young...probably about 8 years old.  Kevin and I decided to get her around Christmas time 5 years ago before there were any kids in the picture.  She was a few years old already when we got her.  Not sure if she and Seamus were friends or not.  They loved to chase each other around the house and growl at each other.  Seamus does seem a little sad that she is not around.  We explained to Nolan that she was gone.  He probably doesn't really understand but he has brought her up a few times. 

Fall is in the air

Ah Fall!  That wonderful time of the year when temperatures drop into the mid 80's instead of mid 90's.  I do love Fall.  I wish we had the leaves changing colors etc. but I love all of the fun activities that come up with the change of the season.  We made our annual trip to the pumpkin patch.  Henry had fun picking up pumpkins and throwing them.  Nolan did a lot of saying "cheese" but that resulted in a lot of funny faces when it came to pictures.   



Funny face by Nolan



I will throw you pumpkin!



The Brock Boys



Henry enjoyed playing in some puddles.

We made a trip to the zoo. Zoo Boo is going on right now. Many kids go in costume and there are candy and craft stations set up throughout the zoo. We didn't bother with costumes (too warm out!) but the boys did like getting some candy.



An orangutan eating a pumpkin at Zoo Boo

We also went to the SJV annual bazaar. Unfortunately it rained again this year! Luckily it didn't really rain while we were there. Nolan got his face painted and spent about an hour in the bounce house. Henry went in the bounce house for a little while too but he was a little unsure about the whole thing. We also played a few rounds of Bingo.  

Nolan's longhorn



enjoying a sucker

This past weekend Jersey Village had their annual open house of the police and fire station.  Nolan went all decked out in his fireman costume. He got a lot of compliments on how cute he was. He kept calling his axe a taxi which was pretty funny. There were so many cool things to see and do!  We were able to take a ride in a real fire truck with lights and sirens (2x's!).  Nolan was able to try on some of the gear that firemen wear.  We saw a police robot; sat in a holding cell; had fun with a police line-up; sat in a SWAT team truck; sat in a helicopter; saw a life flight helicopter take off (so much wind!); got a lot of freebies and so much more!  Pegby and AB both came out too so it was a fun morning!



Henry liked the Dalmatians they had.



Brock family in a holding cell!



Hopefully this is the only time they will be in a police line-up!

 Mr. Henry is doing well.  He is learning to say a lot more words.  His new favorites are "mine" and "no"!  He is silly and knows ways that he can make us laugh.  Going to bed at night has been pretty easy, knock on wood, he likes to read a few books in his crib and then I just turn out the light and leave.  He might cry a little but for the most part he puts himself to sleep.  Most nights he is sleeping soundly without a peep but if he does wake up he likes to go downstairs for a little bit of milk.  After his milk he will just lay back down and go back to sleep. 

After we got back from FL he went to the doctor for his 18 month check up.  A few days later he had a cough and was running a fever. We initially thought the fever, which was low grade at the time, was a result of his shots that he received.  Within a day or so his fevers were running really high.  Just like he was a few weeks before he was running fevers close to 105.  First trip to the doctor just said it was probably a virus, we did a breathing treatment there and were sent on our way.  The fever continued the rest of the weekend and his cough was bad.  Back to the doctor we went where he was diagnosed with pneumonia.  A prescription for antibiotics and instructions to do breathing treatments from here to kingdom come got him back to himself again.  Poor little guy! 


Wearing daddy's shoes.

 Nolan is doing well too!  He is still in love with all things sports.  He is also getting into superheros now and really likes spiderman.  We have made a couple of trips to the library and he loves reading the books we checked out as his bedtime stories.  Over the past two weeks or so we noticed that he was having a hard time hearing.  He would even ask us to say some things louder.  At first we kind of laughed it off thinking that he was too engrossed in other things to hear us but then we started to become a little worried.  Kevin brought him to the doctor and we found out that he has some fluid in his ears from a recent cold so that was hurting his hearing some.  We were told to do Nasonex for a few weeks and that should clear everything up.  If he still seems to be having issues we need to bring him to the ENT.  I think his hearing is already improving though.


Spiderman face paint from a birthday party.



Henry doing his breathing treatment.

Florida Part Deaux

A few weeks ago we made our second trip to Florida this summer.  This time we went to Pensacola for Tom and Mecklin's wedding.  We have never both been away without the boys before so we went back and forth about whether we would leave them behind for the wedding.  We really wanted to enjoy the wedding without having to worry about chasing after the boys and not having to leave early because they were tired but on the other hand we thought it might be fun to go on another beach vacation with them.  After much going back and forth we came up with the best of both worlds!  We brought Aunt Kasey with us.  It worked out really well because we were able to enjoy a little vacation and we were able to have a good, child-free, time at the wedding!

Once again the drive went pretty well.  Nolan pretty much watched movies the entire drive and Henry is content to just chill out in his seat.  This time he had a little more human interaction with Kasey being in the back.  On the way there poor guy only got out of his car seat at lunch time so when we arrived in FL he looked so stiff when he first started walking around.

We stayed at a nice little condo right on the beach.  Like earlier in the summer we found a little sand bar to hang out on when out on the beach.  Nolan didn't "swim" too much this time around but he was happy to run in and out of the really shallow water.  Henry was happy to sit in the really shallow water but he also liked it when we would carry him out into the waves.  He kept pointing out farther and farther.  He also was very brave walking right into the surf.  We had to scoop him out of the water a few times.  He didn't like getting the salt water in his eyes though.



Our little play area



The boys



Family picture

We played putt putt one afternoon.  It was fun but really hot!  Nolan would do his first hit of the ball and then go pick up his ball, place it a few inches from the hole, and hit it in!  He probably ended up with the best score because of his cheating!  Henry just liked to hold onto the golf balls.

There is a zoo not too far from where we were staying so we made a trip there as well.  It looks pretty rinky dink but it ended up being pretty cool.  There are a lot of animals that you are able to touch and feed.  There were even 3 giraffes that would eat right out of your hand.  The only negative was that we kept telling Nolan that we could see a gorilla, as the website for the zoo really promoted that they had one.  Well, as it turns out you can only see the gorilla from the train which would have been an extra cost per person.  Luckily Nolan didn't really know any different and believes that we saw the gorilla.

18 Months

Henry turned 18 months last week.  He is such a happy little guy.  He is into everything and seems like he might be a little more of a trouble maker than Nolan was.  He is a decent eater and will eat a few fruits and vegetables.  Just like Nolan he loves dairy.  He eats a lot of yogurt and cheese.  He uses a fork and a spoon pretty well.  Sometimes he ends up with the food all over him though. 

He has started to make some silly faces.  He makes his mouth into an "O" when he hears a loud noise.  He knows that this face makes us laugh so he has started to do it more often.  He also likes to dance.  Sometimes he will just spin in a circle until he gets dizzy and falls down!  He tries to wrestle with his brother. He also tries to bite when he doesn't get his way...this is not a good thing!  He likes to color but usually ends up eating the crayon.

Henry has at least a dozen words but he still hasn't had a language explosion just yet.  At his 18 month appointment Dr. CS said he is a normal 18 month old though.  He babbles all of the time and most definitely understands what we say to him.  There are a few words that he says pretty regularly like "bye bye", "bubbles", and "ball" and then others that he can say but is stingy with.  He is just learning banana and when we ask him to say "Nolan" he sometimes says a word that could pass for that. 

For a while bed time was going great.  He would just lay himself down in his crib and we could walk out without hearing a peep from him again until morning.  Ever since our trip to Florida last week it is taking a little more effort to get him down again.  Hopefully he will go back to putting himself to sleep because that was so nice!

Henry is a big boy.  I think he weight is actually a pound or two heavier than what the doctor said the other day.  Kevin said he was 27lbs when he went in for a sick appointment a few weeks ago.  I certainly don't think he lost weight.  The nurse seemed to have a hard time getting the scale to balance and I think she finally just went with something.

Henry @ 18 months:
Weight: 25lb 11oz (71%)
Height:  32 3/4" (62%)
Head: 49.5 cm (94%)

Nolan @ 18 months:
Weight: 23lb 8oz (20%)
Height:  33" (75%)
Head:  50cm (90%)


Enjoying a crayon on his 18month b-day!



Friday Night Lights

Last night was the SHS vs. MHS football game.  Katherine had mentioned about a week ago that they planned on going if we were interested.  I was supposed to have plans with some friends but after those fell through we thought it would be fun to take the boys to their first football game.  Since the stadium is so close to home we just decided to walk up to the game.  The boys had a great time!  We only stayed through half time because Henry was starting to get pretty tired.  We promised to go to another game once temps have cooled off a bit.



At the game.  I couldn't get a picture of both looking at the camera.

This was probably my first game to go to since I was in high school.  It was fun to watch the Spartanaire's and reminisce what it was like when I was one.

Other than the game, summer has just been trudging along.  Nolan is still in love with sports and seems to be focusing more on baseball lately.  I just bought him his very own batting helmet on clearance at Target.  It is a little big, but he can grow into it.  He has also created his own catchers mask as seen in the picture below.  He got a new bike from Nonnie that he has been riding on the block as well.

Henry had a week of scary high fevers last week.  He went to the doctor 2 times and we were originally told it was viral and would just need to run its course.  After he continued to reach temps of close to 105 he went back again for bloodwork which determined it to be bacterial.  Luckily a round of antibiotics has him back to normal again.  He goes in next week for his 18 month appointment.  I am interested to see his stats because he is a big boy!  Unlike his brother he will eat some fruits and veggies.  Currently he loves grapes!  I am happy that we have at least one good eater!



Nolan on his new bike that Nonnie found for him!



At another Skeeter's game with the Carrigan boys.



Playing in the rain with Uncle AB



Cool Dudes



The black in Henry's teeth is from a crayon :)