Nolan's first trip to the beach . . . and a sleep update!

Nolan had his first vacation last weekend. We spent Saturday to Tuesday in Dauphin Island, AL beaching, sunning, and visiting with The Powers family from Seattle and St Louis. It was a lot of fun as always, but Nolan seemed to be the star of the weekend. Nearly everyone took turns babysitting, and I actually spent quite a bit of time on the beach (my skin thinks maybe a little too much.) Nolan spent the weekend sleeping in his grammy's room so Ryan and I could have a night time break. A few days before we left, Nolan started sleeping 6 straight hours at night (!!!) This continued while we were there and one night he even slept 8 hours straight which is his new record. Unfortunately for me, upon returning home he is back to sleeping for only a few hours at a time . . . I'm hoping this was just due to the long car ride home, but we shall see how it goes tonight . . .

hermit crabs on the beach

Carol with Nolan

Brooke with Nolan

Nolan on the swing with Bob, G and Scott

Joan with Nolan

Dauphin Island ducks

Some new pics . . .

I just wanted to post a few recent family pictures . . .

Sitting with Daddy

Sitting with G

Daddy thinks he is a comedian

With Mommy after bath time

sleep . . .

We seem to have entered a new and exciting phase with Nolan that I really hope I am not jinxing . . . For the last three nights Nolan has slept in his bassinet for the majority of the night. Some of you may know that since his birth, we have not been able to get Nolan to sleep on any flat surfaces and he has spent his nights cuddled up with a very tired mommy or daddy on the couch. After a few suggestions from friends, we have come up with a nightime routine. We turn on his sound machine, swaddle him in a stretchy blanket (but leave his legs out so he can't kick out of the swaddle) then feed him until he falls asleep. Once he is out I have been able to lay him in his bassinet and he has actually slept there. He is definitely waking up a little more frequently than before, but being able to sleep in my own bed is definitely worth it. Yay Nolan . . . Here's hoping for our next sleep milestone which will be for him to sleep 4 hours straight in his bassinet . . .

Nolan's big weekend

Nolan had quite a weekend, and he is now at home relaxing in his swing . . . He had his first trip to both the mall and a restaurant (he mostly slept through both) and he attended his first Johnson family function. Ryan's sister Sheri hosted a "June birthdays" party at her house on Saturday afternoon in honor of all the family June b-days . . . Ryan turned 32 June 3rd, our nephew Phin turned 7 June 4th, our niece Reagan turned 11 June 6th and I will turn 33 (yikes!) June 16th . . . Nolan was awake for a lot of the party, and though he had his cranky moments, he did pretty good . . . It was a really nice afternoon at Sheri's that everyone seemed to enjoy!

Nolan and Aunt Pamela

Nolan and Mema

Birthday boy Phin posing with his new sunglasses

Nolan and Aunt Sheri

Birthday girl Reagan holding Nolan for the first time

Cody

Cody was a pretty cool cat . . . He was my mother's cat, she got him about 7 years ago when he was a very small and adorable kitten. Cody had the best cat personality, he liked people, dogs (even mine) and other cats. Sadly, he recently came down with FIP which is a terminal, and untreatable feline disease, and he had to be put down this morning. We will all miss him very much.

We survived!

Ryan spent the last week in Tampa for work, so Nolan and I spent our first week without daddy . . . Spending the week by yourself with a baby who rarely sleeps for more than 3 hours at a time is no joke . . . Luckily, Susanne came over one afternoon to watch Nolan while I did some chores and my mother came over every evening to give me a short break. Whew . . .

Obviously, Nolan was very happy to see his daddy and the two of them were happily napping together within an hour of Ryan's arrival.

Susanne and Nolan