Well, I've gotten to the point in my pregnancy where it's pretty obvious that something's going on in my belly, but no one is quite comfortable assuming what ☺ We still haven't announced anything on social media, but have been telling everyone we see on a regular basis about BB2. We are getting pretty excited to find out the babies gender! 

From my journal (7.13.2016): Well tomorrow morning at 8am is our big ultrasound where we find out if BB2 is a boy or a girl. I remember this with Nolan, it's such a fun and kind of nerve-wracking time! What we find out tomorrow will be the first piece of information we have about our child and the next piece in the puzzle of how our family will take shape. In a way it will establish the dynamic of our family for the rest of our lives. If you look at families whose children are grown they have a set number of children, so many boys and so many girls, that's just how it is and how it's been for a long time. But we're still building our family so who knows! Nolan could be our only son and the rest girls, or we could have all boys, only time will tell! It sure is a fun stage of life.

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Nolan is amazingly observant and has always loved keys and wants to hold them whenever he sees them. Luckily he's gotten over the phase where he just wants to press the buttons (a phase that I'm pretty sure burned out the battery on my key fob :)) and is now content to just be in charge of holding the keys while walking. However, now he loves trying to reach up and "uhlock" (unlock) the car door and the front door (he's still not quite tall enough, but don't tell him that). With some help he can get the key in and out of the lock, but even more impressive is that he knows which key goes to which door! The other day I was walking up the stairs with him in my arms. He was holding the batch of keys by the car key (because he had just locked the car for me) and I asked him if he wanted to unlock the apartment door. He of course wanted to and reached up and started putting the car key in the lock, then quickly noticed his mistake, searched on the key ring for the house key, found it, reached up to put it in the door! I couldn't believe it! Smarty pants!

He loves my friends Sara and Lis! Last movie night he was out on a walk with Justin when they arrived and when Nolan walked in the door and saw them he was positively giddy! He started laughing and flirting and running around showing off toys. It was adorable. Also, speaking of movie night, he still stops everything to listen to the theme song of The West Wing! Last week we watched Sara's very favorite episode and I didn't want to be distracted so I handed him the tablet (mom of the year over here). He was well into an episode of Super Why when the theme song came on and to my surprise he actually looked up from his tablet for the whole song! It's seriously so funny to watch.

Nolan used to perform pretty well for people, like when we'd ask him to say something or give someone a high five for instance he would always say or do it. But now he just gives you a shy smile and looks away, which is cute, but frustrating for Justin and I because we just want to show off how cute and smart he is haha! Anyway, even though he doesn't do it for a lot of people I wanted to record that Nolan can count to 10! He can do it all by himself "one, two, phree, foh, fie, sic, seben, eigh, nigh, TEN!" (he always yells TEN! ☺). He also likes to count every other number with you. If you say "one" he'll say "two," etc. 

Nolan is getting better at just holding the remote, but not actually pressing any buttons. He still changes the channel or goes back on the Roku every once in awhile though and says, "What did I do?!" But he knows if he doesn't press any buttons he gets to hold it for longer. I'm pretty impressed with his self control!

He's definitely getting closer to 2 years old. Nothing he does is too bad, but he's definitely testing boundaries. We're constantly telling him not to do something and he will then point his finger and get as close as he can to doing the thing we just told him not to do, then look back at us as if to say, "How's this?" "Do I still get in trouble for being close?" 

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So cute in flip flops, too bad he won't keep them on for more than 2 min.


He's always trying to shave like daddy. Justin took it away though when it looked like he shaved his eyebrow! (no worries, he didn't ☺)

Story time with daddy. My mom always told me that my dad was always in charge of reading us bedtime stories and I absolutely love that Justin has also taken on this role. It's such a great bonding time. Not to mention that he always reads with a little more flare than mommy haha.

One Saturday we took a trip down to Scheels to look at golf clubs. As soon as we turned one corner and Nolan saw this play structure he pointed and yelled, "side!" (slide). Of course we let him play. He's too little technically, but loves climbing up inside and looking down at mom and dad.

Putting lesson

After Scheels we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. He was definitely tired and fussy and I was getting a bit upset with him. I always feel bad when I do that because when I stop to think about it I realize, hey, I get fussy and irritated too when I'm tired and hungry!

Fun at Jeanni's house

Playing at the library

I can't get over this silly kid!

4th of July at the Cabin

We went to my grandparents cabin for the 4th of July weekend again this year and, like always, had a blast! Unfortunately my parents and Granky couldn't be there this year and it was really weird not having them!

We did a lot of hanging out, napping, reading, chatting, and let's be honest - kid watching. Justin wanted to get a hike in, but unfortunately I didn't know that before we left and didn't bring the carrier :( Nolan loved being outside, swinging, throwing rocks into the stream, and 'driving' great grandpas rhino.

The others did some fishing (of course) and even Beck got in on the action. He went out to a lake with his dad, Uncle BJ, and Uncle Andy one night and - get this - he caught TWO fish!! It was absolutely adorable how excited he was to tell all of us. I don't fish a lot, never have (I guess I'm mostly my father's daughter), but I'll probably have to make an exception in a few years if Nolan wants to go!

Speaking of Beck, he and Nolan were SO cute together. Rhett is still kind of quiet and likes to do his own thing, but Nolan and Beck seemed to enjoy playing together. In fact, Beck was one of the very few (maybe the only one!) that got a willing goodbye hug from Nolan ☺

Also, it was during this trip that I came to the realization that I am failing. 

I was dressing Nolan one day and started putting a shirt on him. He kept pointing behind me and saying something. He repeated it a few times and then started saying it a little louder. It sounded kind of like 'Steelers' so I looked behind me, saw his Steelers shirt (that his dad had packed), and picked it up. I asked him, "is this what you want to wear?" "Ya," he responded. Oey, seriously?! I put it on and he was happy as a clam so that's definitely what he wanted. You should have seen the smile on Justin's face.

I went downstairs to ashamedly explain to my family why my son was wearing a Steelers jersey and how I'm obviously failing as a mother and 49ers fan. They chastised me for not trying hard enough while Justin sat next to his Steelers shirt wearing son and beamed with pride.

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I stayed up late Thursday night and made these patriotic sugar cookies. I'm glad to report that everyone loved them. In fact they were so loved that the last one may have been hidden by Andy to avoid anyone else claiming it ☺

Beck all ready to ride the Green Machine + Justin and Nolan

BJ and Kirsten brought a bow and arrow and we had a blast trying it out!

Not bad for first timers! Mine is on the left, Justin's on the right

Once again, Nolan and the other boys loved the swing set and spent lots of time on it. Nolan and Rhett even fell asleep swinging!

Towards the end of the trip Nolan started acting a little sick. It started one night when he woke up coughing a bit. We thought he might be getting a cold, but since he acted mostly like his normal self during the day we didn't think too much of it. 

Each night though he would wake up coughing and gasping until we sat him up and got him some milk. He'd have similar trouble right after naps and he'd be really snuggly and uninterested in playing for 30-45 min after each sleep. After that hour though he'd act fine, he didn't have a fever, and only coughed maybe once an hour, so we still weren't sure if he was really sick or not.

(The day after we got home we took him to the doctor and it turns out he has croup! Poor little guy. He's been a trooper though!).

Also, notice the shiner on his left eye? Poor guy fell against the wooden corner of a window sill. He's pretty tough though!

I kind of felt bad because my poor family didn't get to hold him much or see him at his best and silliest because he wasn't feeling well, plus the fact that he just hasn't been going to other people as easily lately as he once did. He was obviously still super cute though, everyone agreed on that. 

There was definitely a lot of napping that went on

The last day, while Nolan was napping, Justin and I went on a long quad ride together (my favorite!) and asked my grandma (GG) to watch him. When we got back she said he had woken up, but "lost his marbles" when either she or Andy went in to try to pick him up. So they got him his binky and bottle and let him be haha. Sure enough, when we went in the room he was wide awake, just hanging out.

Preston was one of the few who lucked out and got some Nolan snuggles. Devin is convinced Nolan only let Preston hold him because he's my twin ☺

BJ did also finally win him over a little bit when he played legos with him (I think BJ enjoyed it too). BJ made a gun and made shooting noises, then Nolan took it and copied him! haha so cute.

Another favorite cabin activity of Nolan's is collecting rocks and throwing them in the stream.

He and the other boys loved getting in Great Grandpa's Rhino and 'driving.'

They all climbed in like this. I think all of them wanted to 'drive.' I'm surprised there actually wasn't any crying haha.

Look at all those blonde heads! With these new babies we're wondering how long the blonde streak will last or if it will be broken this time around ☺

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This cute picture also reminded me that Nolan got a haircut from his Aunt Devin (and me!) at the cabin. I've been wanting to get a set of clippers to save some money on haircuts and hoped to get a lesson from Devin. Nolan is still pretty good while getting his hair cut, but he HATES to have itchy hair all over him.

The Bailey family heading out for a ride! The Rhino is perfect for taking little ones out on rides and is much safer than taking them on the quads.

We found this fun little pond and waterfall on one of our rides 

The crew making dutch oven chicken for dinner (mmmm!!) BJ loves cooking dutch oven, and we're oh so happy to eat it (he's really getting good at it!). Uncle Andy is a pro and always a big help, and of course, grandpa is always there to supervise. Apparently GG has been requesting less pepper on the potatoes for 60 years, but to her everlasting annoyance, grandpa never listens haha ☺

 My friend Carli gave me this old framed picture of George Washington several years ago. She found it at a sale and was told that it used to hang in an old schoolhouse (my grandma says all the old schoolhouses had this picture on the wall). I liked the picture, but just never had a place for it so it collected dust under my bed for a long time. Then last year I had a light bulb go off and asked my grandma if she would like it. She loves George Washington (and knows a lot about him) so she was pretty excited and said she already knew the perfect place at the cabin for it. I think it looks great!

The BEST part of the trip though, without contest, is the surprise we got from BJ and Kirsten. One afternoon they came down the stairs and BJ said Kirsten had seen these cute pregnancy shirts on pinterest and decided to make one for Devin and I. "Aww, that's so nice! And they're so cute!" I said, thinking nothing of it. "We should definitely put them on and get a picture" (still clueless). Then Kirsten grabbed the zipper on her hoody and said, "Well I was hoping we could all wear them TOGETHER!!" and pulled down the zipper to reveal she was wearing a pregnancy shirt too!!

I seriously jumped up and down from excitement! How fun is it that we are all pregnant at the same time and that these THREE babies will be only 4 months apart?! My parents grandbaby brood is doubling by early next year!

A Fun Saturday Afternoon

We've been wanting to take Nolan to a splash pad for a while now because we just knew he would love it and it's been so hot lately that now seemed to be as good a time as any. By the time we got out of the house though we were all dying of hunger so we headed to In n Out first for a quick bite. With 'fies' involved you know Nolan was happy with the dining choice ☺

Justin talking to his dad while Nolan munches away on his favorite food.

After In n Out we headed to Mountain View Park for some fun in the sun. 

The only problem? There were A LOT of people. Sometimes at parks or playgrounds Nolan has just the best time, but other times he's over it in about a minute. We wonder if maybe he just doesn't like being around too many people? And/or maybe he gets a little intimidated by all the big kids? Anyway, it wasn't for long, but he did have fun in these little fountains for a few minutes!

This particular park has lots of fun things to do. Nolan loved this little game that involved pushing buttons. Of course.

 

I also loved that the park had several different, completely separate playgrounds for various ages. Nolan basically had this toddler playground all to himself!

This little roller thing kept him occupied him for quite awhile.

Hi mom and dad!

Once we got tired of the park we headed down to Sandy to hit up Nordstrom Rack. Overall I'd say it was a fun Saturday! Way more fun than cleaning and running errands which is what we usually end up doing☺