Baby Boy Haircut= Bye-Bye Baby

What is it about getting a baby boy’s haircut that instantly turns them into big boys? It’s. So. Sad.

So, Nolan has had one haircut in his life. It was not a fun experience for any of us. He cried the whole time and I was a nervous wreck thinking that they were taking too much off and transforming my baby into a toddler. 4 months later and his hair was, well, according to others, in need of another trim….

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After much nagging on the part of his father, I had to admit that Nolan could stand to have his hair cleaned up a bit.

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Even though, it felt like we were taking away his mojo, we went for it…

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Where’d my BABY go?!?! Yes, he’s still adorable, snuggly, and sucking his thumb, but there’s just something about those haircuts that’s such a game changer. Sigh!

It should be noted that the hair cut was going fine until they brought out the evil squirt bottle and all heck broke loose! Poor Bubba screamed “All Done!” throughout the entire haircut. Meanwhile, big brother Brady sat like an angel for his!

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The Life and Times of Nolan Smith

It’s been 3 months since we celebrated Nolan’s 1st birthday (eek!) and it occurred to me that when Brady was 15 months old, I did a blog post to document what he was up to at that age.

http://www.ourblessedadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-life-and-times-of-brady-smith.html

I thought I’d do the same for N-Dawg to help myself remember some of his baby (although less baby-like every day) quirks.

First off, he has just recently mastered walking within the last month. He still has a little drunk man technique at times, but is trying so hard to keep up with his big brother. He always has the bruises to prove it.

Since he took his time getting the hang of being mobile, his focus must have been on language skills because lil’ man has lots of words he likes to use. Some of his favorite words include; ball, balloon, “all done,” “I did it,” bobba (bottle), wawa (water), Brady, momma, dada, pup-pup (puppy), up, down, Gato, moo (cow), foffle (waffle), night-night, vroom, airplane, monkey, moodic (music), outside, spoon, bite, wow!, hot-hot, bubble, pop, bucket, button, book, banana, and the ever so lovely “poo-poo” and “burp.”  Just to name a few…

He’s already fascinated by anything that Brady likes- trains, trucks, airplanes. He even knows the characters from the “Planes” movie…yesterday he brought me a  “Planes” sticker he found and kept saying, “Dusty,” which is he main character from the movie. He loves to make sound effects when playing with anything that has wheels. He gets great delight from coming in the room and destroying Brady’s train tracks and stealing one of his “choo-choo’s.”

The thing I will probably remember the most about Nolan from this age is his love of music. I know, I know, all kids love music. Brady loved music too, but this is like, whoa, demands music anytime he sees an I-Pad, speaker, or radio. He takes his music and his dancing very seriously. There’s a whole repertoire of moves that he uses for different types of music. He loves Hip-Hop and 80’s hair bands. His very favorite song, the one he actually requests by name, is the “Happy Song.” (Happy by Pharrell) If he sees my mom with her Kindle, he makes a bee line for it, saying “Happy Song” and does not give up until she has the music video playing on YouTube. He likes to watch and imitate any dance moves in the video. I can’t make this stuff up….

Since day one, Nolan has been bursting with personality. He is quick to laugh, and quick to freak out and cry. He is always “on” and rarely has quiet or down time. Despite his “on the go” personality, he still likes a quick snuggle with mommy every now and then. His signature move is to snuggle in my neck, pull my hair and suck his thumb. I’ve lost quite a bit of hair thanks to him, but have gotten quite a few cuddles to make up for it.

Nolan keeps us on our toes, but brings us unimaginable joy. He couldn’t be more different than his big brother, but they are still best buds. We have so much fun watching Nolan and being a part of his little world!

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Mouth full of snacks…this is oh-so-Nolan.

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Nolan is a constant sweaty, disheveled, messy-faced kid. Love him!

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Still just rocking the same few teeth he’s had for forever! I think we’re finally up to 6 now…

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My smart, sweet, silly boy!

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Momma’s boy!

Nolan’s Hole In ONE Par-tee!

We had a busy, busy weekend full of family, friends, and celebrating Nolan’s first birthday! This year has truly FLOWN by. I can’t believe our baby is now a one year old…a one year old who had an absolute blast at his party! He loved seeing all of his little friends, eating cake, and most of all, balloons! Or as he called them, BALLS!

His party was a golf theme that was put together with the help of Pinterest and Etsy. Seriously, what did we ever do without those sites….wander the craft store, trying to muster up inspiration?? Psshh! Here’s a little glimpse of the party set up, decor, and food…

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We were so thankful that so many of our playgroup friends were able to make it to Nolan’s big day. The kids had a blast running around, decorating hats, and of course, eating!

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Nolan was also blessed to have his Grandma, Uncle Charles, Aunt Gift and cousin Chloe at his party. We did our best to get group shots with everyone looking!

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Not surprisingly, Nolan was a fan of his birthday cake.

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Thanks to our friends and family who sent messages, cards, and gifts to our littlest man. His birthday was so special thanks to all of the people who love him. Nolan is such a sweet, fun-loving, little guy who is bursting with personality and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for him!

 

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Nolan’s First Year

What a year it’s been! This time last year, we were anxiously awaiting the birth of our littlest man. My due date came and went and we started to wonder just how long this little guy of ours was going to make us wait for his arrival. Then, in the middle of the night (going into the day after my due date) my contractions started. Chris and I were up all night timing my contractions, eating peanut butter sandwiches AND peanut butter crackers (it’s what my loving husband whipped up when I requested a snack) and we watched some awful Jessica Simpson movie on TV. Apparently there was nothing else on at 3AM. My contractions slowed down around 5AM and we figured it must have been a false alarm so we went back to bed. By 9AM we were back up and on our way to the hospital. Our baby boy was on his way!! After a pretty uneventful day of labor that turned into a quick, rushed, scary emergency C-section, we got to meet the little guy that had, and would continue to, always keep us on our toes!

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From finding out that we were pregnant two weeks after moving 6 states away from our family, to the full head of black hair that he was born with, I’m constantly surprised/amazed by our lil’ Bubba! He’s been a character from the beginning and has never lacked in personality! He’s the little brother that Brady never knew he wanted, but now, couldn’t live without. He completed our family in the best possible way and solidified my very proud status as a “BOY Mom.”

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It’s hard to believe that we’ve had Nolan in our lives for an entire year now. I’m partly in denial as he makes his transition from an infant to a one year old…he’s had his last weekly picture, nursed for the last time, is cruising around the furniture (desperately trying to walk to catch up with Brady), is out of his infant car seat, and got his first hair cut. As much as I would love to freeze time forever, we are having more fun than ever as a family now that Nolan is becoming his own little person.

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To celebrate Nolan turning one, I did a little make-shift smash cake photo session for him. His little buddy Elliot got in on the action too…they’re just 5 days apart! After a little Pinterest research, I made a paper bunting banner, rearranged my couch so I had a blank wall for my backdrop, and Elliot’s momma Lauren brought two cakes for our little guys to indulge in. I’m not gonna lie, it was messy. We really could have used a third adult to help corral the kiddos, and it would have been great to do it outside (temps in the 30’s didn’t allow for that!), but all in all, we got some really great shots!

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His face says it all!

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There was a lot of excited grunting going on here!

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I just love this shot with the frosting covered feet and hands…

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Yea, that frosting was EVERYWHERE.

Tomorrow we’ll celebrate Nolan’s big day with a golf themed birthday party (expect a blog post on the party soon) -Chris couldn’t think of a better way to kick off Masters Week! He’ll officially be ONE. As usual, this milestone will be bittersweet. My little guy will be even less little, but he’ll always be my forever baby!

Check out the video below for a glimpse of Nolan’s first year through the weeks…