His 1/2 Birthday! Happy 6 Months Nolan

Our sweet baby is now officially 6-months-old. Has it really been 6 months?!? He is changing daily and I love to see him figuring out his world. He has started rice cereal and some veggies and likes it, he just doesn't know how to keep it in his mouth very well. We will keep practicing and I bet he is eating like a champ in a few weeks. He sits up on his own and is already on all fours rocking and rolling, just about to crawl. I am not ready to have a crawling baby AND Mallory in the house at the same time! This is going to get interesting :)

Nolan is the best baby. He sleeps 11 hour stretches at night, take 3 little naps (with a little bit of protest), and loves to drink milk. Which leads me to my next point.

He is rather large. Nolan is wearing 12-18 month clothing and wears the same size diapers as Mallory who is almost 2, they are both in size 4's. He is currently wearing the same clothing that Peyton wore at 14-months-old. He is a heavy load to carry all day but those big fat kissable cheeks make all the heavy lifting more fun.



Here are his 6 month stats from his appointment earlier this week:
Weight- 19 pounds, 5 ounces- 90th percentile
Height- 29 Inches- Greater than 95th percentile (or off the charts)
Head- 17 3/4 inches- 75th percentile


Here is Peyton "stretching" Nolan out to give you an idea of his length.


I thought lying him next to our tv remote might help you grasp his size at 6 months.

This shirt is kind of an oxymoron, like the phrase "Jumbo-Shrimp", or "Minor Crisis".


Our "little" brother has been the perfect addition to our family. We wouldn't be the same without him and we all love him in our own special ways. Happy 1/2 birthday Nolan Mark Yates!

Back to Childhood........

I have a big brother so growing up I liked playing with matchbox cars almost as much as I enjoyed Barbies. In fact, one of my favorite toys was my brother's 1980's Hot Wheels service center. It was so incredibly awesome. I bet some of you remember it.

My Mom still has it at her house and we realized Peyton loved playing with it there as much as I did. So this Christmas I found myself going head-to-head against professional collectors on Ebay trying to buy one for him. I lost quite a few auctions but finally" won" one that we gave him on Christmas. Ive been watching him play with it a lot more recently and just can't get over how similar our playing styles are. It takes me back 25 years in an instant! I half expect to close my eyes and find myself back in my parent's house at age 5, hovering over my service center with all my little cars around me, sitting on the cold floor in the entry way- with Candy the cocker spaniel close by, and hear my Mom talking on the phone while cooking dinner-which was probably spaghetti and meatballs (my Brother's Favorite :) )


Instead I open my eyes to see the most beautiful little boy in the world playing just like his Mommy did. It touches my heart to share this toy with him.





I know his little sister and little brother won't be too far behind him wanting to play with it too. I just hope they can share it, Im not sure my competitive nature can afford another online ebay auction!


Happy Car Playing Peyton! I hope you never stop playing!

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You....

The Mark Family's Beach Vacation- The Movie!

Our family just had 2 family vacations back-to-back. I think Nolan thinks that the only thing we do in our family is sit in our car but I love little adventures. We just drove to Port Aransas, Texas to be with my family, and then 2 days after returning home went back to the lake to be with Marshall's family. Both trips were well worth the drives. I will post pictures from both trips soon but in the meantime wanted to post a little video I made from the Mark Vacation. I finally explored the movie software on our Mac and I am pretty proud of myself. (it is pretty easy to navigate) It is a really short clip set up like a movie trailer but makes me laugh out loud.

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew currently live in Belgium so we were thrilled that they could visit and could spend a few days together in Port Aransas. My brother and I grew up vacationing there so it was special to bring all of our children there. Such joy all around!

5 Months with Roly Noly

Five Months post partum may be one of the best months of a new Mom's life. Nolan is now sleeping through the night most nights, falls asleep unassisted, naps three times a day, and is all smiles and laughs. He is mellow, happy, easily entertained, and pretty much a dream baby. I love this age so much. At 6 months he will start on solids so for now I am just enjoying how easy it is to feed him and take care of him. :)

We are working on sitting up and he has shown some interest in trying to get up on all fours and go places, but he is just so big that I think we may take awhile on our milestones. I could be wrong though. For now he is just super content and happy and we all still adore him. Mallory has gotten MUCH better with him. She loves to "ickle, ickle, ickle" him (Tickle), gives him tons and tons of kisses, and brings him toys to play with. Peyton still loves him and gets so excited to wake him up in the morning and wake him from naps. Nolan babbles and babbles and coos all day long. He loves to look in mirrors and play with his exersaucer. He also loves the red bird from his play mat and is already pretty attached to sleeping with his lovie. He is most ticklish on his chubby, fat legs and can turn into a giggle box.



And a little side note- we have something to celebrate. I have lost almost all of Nolan's baby weight (65 pounds). Now I just need to lost the last 10 of Mallory's :) But I am excited, this is the fastest I've ever done it!

Yes, Baby boy- you put 65 pounds on Mommy. But every pound was worth it and then some!


"Me cause 65 pounds? Hardly. I was only 10 lbs of it. You really should be taking this victory picture with a box of Central Market Muffins, Mom."



Good Point, Happy 5 Months Roly Poly Noly!