July 7th, 2010 by Overallgirl
Nolan’s Great Aunty has been babysitting him a bit lately. Nolan took to her right away- he liked her the instant he saw her.
And she’s really talented too because she made these beautiful hand-embroidered bibs for Nolan- which are the only ones big enough to actually contain the mess Nolan makes when he eats….
July 7th, 2010 by Busy Mommy
Wheww! That was a killer. A few weeks ago I took Nolan on another hike at Lake Chabot- there’s a loop that I used to jog with the family dog- a huge Doberman named Tracker. He was over 100 lbs. He was my jogging partner and of course I never had to be worried about safety with him by my side. He loved our jaunts. As soon as I put on my jogging sneakers he would know what was going on and he’d start barking and running around excitedly. These were the days of me being 16 years old. These were the days of weighing 104 lbs. and being extremely muscular and fit. So the other day when I started out on my hike with Nolan I got to this crossroads where I could turn right and go up this very steep hill that headed in a direction I used to go. I thought, hey why don’t we just go up the hill for a little bit to get some good sweat time in and then come back down? Some of my competitiveness (with myself) is coming back because somehow I just kept going up and up and up. I thought, hey I should try doing that 6 mile loop that I used to do with Tracker.
Things I forgot: I was 16 last time I did it. I was jogging last time I did it. I weighed a lot less last time I did it. I didn’t have a 21 lb. baby on my back last time I did it. It wasn’t really hot outside last time I did it.
Somehow in my mind 6 miles up a lot of steep up and down terrain was shorter than in reality. I remembered each phase of the loop in my mind and as I hiked them, those phases were wayyy longer than I remembered.
But the cool thing was, in the end, I did it! It took me 3 hours, and we took a 10 minute water break to make sure Nolan stayed hydrated, but we did it! That really felt great.
One portion of the steep grade:
Nolan obviously had it really easy as he was sleeping while I sweated and strained up this hill. The least he could have done was been cheering me on!
June 16th, 2010 by Overallgirl
I don’t know where the time is going! I really wish I had more time and brain capacity to devote to writing stories about Nolan and what he’s up to in a clever way, but the few little ideas I get when Nolan is doing something cute leave my brain the second after they appear as Nolan is already on to the next thing and I’m up to my eyeballs in keeping him safe and happy at his current stage.
A couple quick things I can say- Nolan is still a totally social little guy.  Just today at the post office while waiting in line he gave big smiles and excited breathing and chortles to the woman behind me while pumping his arm up and down in excitement. He reaches out to strangers to be held by them. When he is having fun and is excited he opens his mouth really big and wrinkles his nose and pumps one of his arms up and down over and over. It’s so darn cute!!
