Days Go By

Not a whole lot is new in our house. Nolan had adjusted to the cast as much as possible. He can roll over and army crawl on the floor. We bought a mechanic glider and he glides around on the floor with it. Watch out, though, because that thing hurts like crazy when it bangs into you or rolls over you! 

Nolan's sleep never improved as he adjusted to the cast, so we are giving him Melatonin before bed (with pediatrician's approval). It took a little trial and error, but it seems that 3mg works for him to sleep well. Once he gets the spica cast off we'll stop giving him this sleep aid. 

William is doing well, although he misses playing downstairs (Nolan does too, but poor Nolan misses doing a lot of things right now). If Nolan takes a nap, and William is awake, we'll take him downstairs to play. He loves having free rein of the toys! Nolan is still having a hard time sharing his toys with Liam, but is slowly learning to share with him. The other say he asked Liam to come play with him, which was so cute.

Liam is pulling up on everything now. For the first time today, he was standing up in his pack n play when I went to get him after his nap. He was so proud! His funny personality is also showing more and more. He is a little ham, squinting his eyes and making silly noises to make us smile and giggle. He gets the biggest grin on his face after he makes you laugh. It's the best. 

I am officially done with school! It doesn't seem real yet that I won't be going back next year. It probably won't until late August or after Labor Day. I am excited to spend more time with the boys though! I'll be even more excited when we can actually get out and enjoy our days. 

We take Nolan to the orthopedist on Monday for X-rays. Keep your fingers crossed that the doctor will decide to take this cast off and put a leg cast on the following week. That will make a world of a difference! 

Pretty eyes... Brown middle, greenish outside? Look close and you can see it!

Optical illusion... Liam looks chubby here!

Ready? Weeeeeee

Loving the swing

Leaning forward

Nolan pressing the button to take the selfie

William kissing Nolan while he naps. He did this about five times. Nolan's hair was soaked. :)

Late third nap for this tired boy who didn't nap well this day.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go... Taking a leave of absence to spend more time with these sweet boys

Last day of school selfie 

Crawling to Momma

Snuggles with my baby love 

Nolan dressing up Doc McStuffins

Kisses for Momma

Love this cutie pie

Last day of school selfie! Hard to believe I'm done for awhile 

Happy 9 months to this sweet boy ❤️

Obsessed with walking with the Dino 

Excited about his new microphone toy from Gavin and Jenna

Hey big guy standing!

Playing with play-do, a gift from my job sharing teacher Michelle and her mom. Thanks to the Special Ed dept. for the tray!

Buddies

Fractured femur

Our poor Nolan fractured his femur over Memorial Weekend. He was running down a hill, fell, landed wrong and broke his femur. Nolan and Jason were at a grad party outside of Mankato, so he was admitted to a hospital in Mankato. He was put under anesthesia and put in a full body cast. I was in Boston with William, my parents, and siblings for my uncle Philip's celebration of life. My dad switched my flight and William and I flew home the next morning. I was a wreck not being able to be with Nolan while he was scared and in pain. It was a nightmare.

The good news is Nolan will be just fine. His leg will heal completely and he will walk, run, climb, etc again. For that we are so thankful. 

But in the meantime (one week down, five more to go) Nolan is miserable. It is heartbreaking. The pain is gone, but Nolan is feeling so down. He doesn't quite understand what is going on and why he's in the cast. He is having such a hard time sleeping. He is beyond exhausted. As are we. He also isn't eating much. The main (but big) problem during the day is that he can't be in a sitting position. So it is hard for him to eat and play. He can't sit upright enough to do puzzles, Legos, anything. It's so frustrating. We're trying to figure out a way to get him upright. No luck so far. But we need to for the quality of his life for the next five weeks. He is depressed, not wanting visitors, crying a lot. Hard to get him to smile a lot of the time. We need to figure something out for this guy. 

We go to the pediatric orthopedist tomorrow, so we're hoping to see his bone mending nicely. We're also hoping the orthopedist can help us out with his sleeping issues and give us ideas to help get him upright. 

William is doing well. He's such a happy, fun baby! He's been our light during this difficult time, making us smile. He has mastered stairs, is pulling himself up all the time, and is clapping, waving, and dancing. It's so fun to see him learning so many new things! He also has two teeth now. Liam was a fantastic traveler. He did pretty well on the plane rides and was amazing during Philip's celebration and throughout our entire time in Boston. 

My little buddy

Someone didn't want to take a selfie...

Stop being so cute!

Ok don't stop.

Weekend walks

So William mastered the stairs.

He is so quick!

Liam and his best friend spatula. They go everywhere together.

They play with the barn.

And they also play with this barn.

And They chew.

It has been hard to get a smile out of this guy.

Maybe Liam's smiles will be contagious?

Wagon walks

Brushing teeth with sunglasses on. Cool guy

Smiley guy

Why are we green?

Oh, hey, just gonna sit in this box for awhile.

Eating lunch.

Poor baby.

Playing In the airport before the flight home.

Heartbreaking.

Witches' Memorial Tree in Topsfield, MA. Topsfield used to be a part of Salem. "Witches" were hanged here.

My baby's fracture.

Pre-cast.

The tree that Uncle Philip's colleagues planted in memory of him

The Commons

Stone wall - these were built by the colonials to mark territory. The residents of Topsfield keep them intact.

More stonewalls. 

Looking out the window. Skinny guy. 

Super happy, despite being up half the night

Sleeping baby on plane = happy momma 

Creepy of me. But happy baby. Pre-flight

Weee

Weee

Nolan got his hair sprayed white and yellow at my school's spring carnival. 

Reading books together :)

Big boy waking with the Dino 

Momma's arm tastes good. Nom Nom 

Shh, momma, don't speak