Nolan's Shadow

I have a funny shadow, it is bigger than me.  It has blond hair and bigger clothes but it thinks we are a team.

When my shadow gets me up from nap it likes to hop right in, but the best part is it usually brings all of my toys with him.

Sometimes I think there isn't room for anything but me. But my shadow always finds a way to squeeze right in you see.




I love my funny shadow, it makes me laugh all day.  My shadow Peyton is the greatest thing to ever come my way.

Love,
Nolan



Peyton would do anything for Nolan. I am so glad that God gave him a brother to love and to grow up with. As Peyton says, "God knew I wanted a brother, so he made Nolan a boy."  And we are all so glad!

7 Months and on the Move!

Nolan turned 7 months old on October 28th.  The biggest accomplishment since last month is that he is crawling!  About 2 weeks ago he went from rocking on all fours to full on crawling and now he is a pro and can get everywhere.  He crawls around the house looking for me and his siblings and is doing a great job sitting on his own and is starting to try to climb onto things, not far from pulling to standing.  He has only had one major incident, when he crawled straight off a small step in our living room.  I heard Mallory say "Uh Oh Baby!" and seconds later he starting bawling and I found him off the step.  Other than that it has been pretty smooth crawling :)

Nolan also started eating baby food in his 6 month but we are still working on that.  So far he only likes things that involve meat :) I jumped straight into the 2nd stage mixed blends after he flat out refused the real baby food. We are kind of working backwards :) Bananas, Apples and Chicken, and Sweet Potatoes and Turkey are his favorites.

Nolan also got his first tooth and is now up to two teeth, both on the middle of the bottom gum.  He loves chewing on things to help with the teething.

At a recent doctor's appointment he weighed 21 pounds and is ridiculously tall.  He is still wearing 12-18 month clothing and is just a chunk of love.  I adore this little muffin and kiss on his chubby cheeks all day long. He is mellow, happy, loud, loves blowing spit bubbles at Peyton, loves laughing at Peyton, crawls to keep up with Mallory, and is a precious, precious boy.

It has been a busy month with new teeth, eating food, and crawling! He has grown from an infant to a sweet baby boy. I want to slow time down so I can keep him in my arms forever. Love you Nolie Noo!

Halloweenie with 3 Teenies

Foofa, A Garbage Truck, and a Giraffe.  That was our Halloween 2011.

I'll start with Peyton. Peyton loves garbage trucks.  He loves to tear up piles of paper and play with his 2 garbage trucks and his landfill toy (Toy Story 3) and will happily create garbage scenarios for hours.  He enjoys watching garbage truck videos about how they were made and can tell you all about side loaders, front loaders, and rear loaders.  I never knew the sight of a garbage truck could bring me so much excitement but my heart actually leaps when I see one on the road. I get so excited to point them out to him.  It made perfect sense to me when he told me that was what he wanted to be for Halloween.  I am not crafty though so I spent hours online looking for a way to make or buy a garbage truck costume.  I even posted an ad on Craigslist :) I finally emailed the craftiest friend I have asking for advice and she decided that she could make one.  And make one she did!  It was absolutely unbelievable and above and beyond any expectation I could have had. It had head lights that actually worked, tail lights, personalized license plate, a front loader that held candy, and she even dressed him as a garbage man.  Thank you Whitney! I think only a mother of boys could understand how important this was to Peyton, and Whitney definitely understood.

Mallory was Foofa. Foofa is the pink character from her favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba.  By favorite I mean it is really the only show she will watch.  She loves Gabba so much that sometimes she will just yell  "GABBA!" for no apparent reason. :)  I pulled some Mommy authority and ordered her the pink girly Foofa costume instead of the little green Brobee monster that she probably really wanted to be, but she loved being Foofa and still puts that costume on every chance she gets.

Nolan was a Giraffe.  It was hot outside and the giraffe was the best for him with the weather plus he looked adorable. :) And it made perfect sense to put our TALL baby in a giraffe costume, the tallest animal in the world.

The kids had so much fun at school that day and then loved trick or treating through the neighborhood. Peyton ran from house to house with his friend Reese, and Mallory slowly ambled up and down the walk ways, would say "TEEEET" and then immediately ask me to "OMEN" it.  She was covered in chocolate by the end of it.Nolan loved riding along in the baby bjorn.  Such a fun Halloween!

"Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?"

See this Yo Gabba Gabba Boombox?  Funny story about what was happening back home while I was out buying it.

2 weekends ago Peyton did not want to play in his soccer game. He asked for the phone and asked how to call his Bebe. I instructed him on the numbers and how to connect the call and he talked to Bebe about going to her house instead of his soccer game. We all told him that he did not have to play soccer, but he had to go to the game and support his team by sitting on the sidelines. He was not happy about this. About 20 minutes passed and we heard a knock at the door and repeated ringing of the doorbell. I heard Marshall in conversation with 2 men. I then heard him say "Did you call 911?" I ran out there and found 2 Dallas police officers at our front door.

Turns out- after talking to Bebe, Peyton had called 911 because he did not want to play in his soccer game. Let me repeat, Peyton called the POLICE because we were making him go to his soccer game. (Which Marshall coaches) I guess he hoped the police would side with him and make us let him stay at home. In his mind they were the only people with more authority than his parents. The police were happy to know there wasn't an emergency and soon left, and we spent a long time trying to explain when is the appropriate time to call 911. He seemed to get it.

The next day I went to a consignment sale where I found that gem of a boombox at the beginning of this post. While I was there Marshall was at home with the 3 kids and received another frantic knock on the door. Yes, it was the Dallas Police Department -Again. Repeat of the above scenario. When asked why he called 911 (while he was happily watching Toy Story 3 mind you) Peyton replied that he "was just a little angry." So clearly the 911 explanation wasn't working. After really talking to him I decided that he didn't know that just dialing without talking and quickly hanging up will still send the police to your house. It hasn't happened since. And good thing because they may actually have to take someone away next time!

Lessons learned:  1) Some 4-years-old may be a little young to understand the concept of 911. I thought it was important that he know what to do since we have 2 other babies in the house, a skill he will hopefully never have to use but clearly I needed to do some more explaining.   2) Don't leave the phones where your children can call people without you knowing.  3) Don't expect Peyton to not try to solve his own problems.

The police handled it very well the first time, pretty well the second time, and there will not be a third time!

And in case you wondering:  Peyton ended up playing some of his soccer game, his choice. Go figure!

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!

You Never Even Call Me By My Name

(Mallory with her big Dallas hair)

Lately I've found myself wondering what Mallory thinks her name is. Pretty much everyone close to her calls her something different and she has yet to refer to herself by anything other than "Mine!"
For example:

Her Daddy calls her "Mal-Mal"

Peyton (Her Ba Ba) calls her "Souci". Souci is a Peyton made derivative of Sister and it cracks me up.

Gigi and Dandy call her "Rumple" or "Rumplestiltskin"

Bebe and Papa call her "Mal Mal"or "Mallory"

Her Mother's Day Out teacher calls her "Mallory"

I call her "Sissy" or "Sis" which is crazy because I swore I would never be one of those people that called her daughter "Sister", or son "Brother". But we have referred to her as "Baby Sister" since she was in utero for Peyton's sake and the name just stuck. So much so that now our babysitters even call her Sissy. It is a habit I will eventually try to break.

It is no wonder the child doesn't refer to herself by name.

But as for what we will eventually call her, I kind of think we should let this guy be the decision maker and wait to see what comes out of his mouth. We all know he has put up with enough from her to have earned the naming rite!

That's right Sissy, you'd better start being more gentle to Nolan, Dar-lin.

Top 5 Funny Moments as a New Mom of 3

Summer is coming to a close and things are getting a lot easier around our house. We have had some crazy moments but even with the crazy there has been laughter. In fact, some really funny things have come out of the crazy and i wanted to record them. Here are a few things that come to mind as being funny now. Hindsight is great that way!

1. The Organ
About 4 weeks into my C section recovery I developed an incarcerated umbilical hernia. I went to the surgeon expecting him to say we should do something about it in a few months for cosmetic reasons only, but I ended up in a emergency CT scan to make sure it wasn't life threatening. This quick appointment turned into an all day affair and I had left the baby who was still nursing every 2-3 hours with my neighbor Mimi. I frantically called Marshall at work and asked him to bring me a breast pump to the hospital where they were trying to work me in for a last minute CT scan. He didn't know how long I would be there and how long my milk would keep so he decided to pack me a cooler to put the pumped milk in. So I am sitting in a hospital hallway when I see Marshall,dressed in his professional work clothes, racing down the hall carrying a RED small cooler. I'm sure people thought he was transporting a live organ through the hospital. He looked like he had just flown in with someone's new heart! This made me laugh out loud as I sat in a little hospital closet and pumped while drinking a disgusting huge bottle of barium in preparation for my scan. Breast pumping while drinking Barium, that was pretty gross but made easier by Marshall the organ transporter.


2. The Pantsing
During a subsequent surgeon appointment (the CT scan led to emergency abdominal hernia surgery) I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to pick Peyton up at school in time. The surgeon was running very late and I couldn't find anyone to get him so thankfully had the phone number of one of his classmate's parents. She agreed to drive him home to her house and I could pick him up as soon as the appointment was over. Peyton had gone through a lot of changes lately and me not picking him up was a first, so when I went to get him he was a little out of sorts. He refused to leave her house and I literally had to drag him on his back through the house to the front door. When we got outside I turned to say goodbye to this classmate's mother and FATHER and Peyton in an last minute act of desperation PULLED MY SKIRT DOWN to my ankles. Now, I had just had abdominal surgery and a baby and was about 60 pounds still overweight so this was not a pretty sight. The worst part- they lived on the corner of Colgate and Boedeker, a very busy street in Highland Park, so cars were driving by and saw my hiney. But even worse, yes it gets worse, his classmate's FATHER saw me in my maternity underwear and abdominal compression band. I barely knew these people. I quickly pulled my skirt up, got Peyton into the car, and called Marshall where I proceeded to laugh and cry at the same time. My Three-year-old pantsed me in Highland Park. Awesome.

There will be no picture to go with this!

3. The Sprain
On Peyton's last day of school I got great news. I was finally cleared to lift babies after the C Section and the Hernia surgery. I was in high spirits that morning! I took a shower and got dressed with makeup on (rare feat with a newborn!) and was all ready to attend Peyton's end of year school party. I had had to miss his Mother's Day Tea because of the surgery so had PROMISED him I would be there. I went outside to put the dogs in the dog run and missed a step and rolled my ankle and heard a loud POP! I couldn't move, put any weight on it, and crawled back inside. Well, I couldn't miss his end of year party so I called my amazing neighbor Mimi and she had a plan. My ankle was going to hurt whether I went to the party or not so she agreed to wheel me around the preschool in a wheelchair that she had at her house. I popped a vicodin, crawled to the car, and Mimi took me to his preschool. Once there she wheeled me to the party, with ice propped on my foot, and tears streaming down my face. But by golly I was there for it! Im sure the other Moms thought I was certified crazy, wheeling around, crying, and holding a huge ice pack on my purple foot. Im sure the vicodin on an empty stomach made me say some interesting things too. After the party I went to the ER where we realized it wasn't broken but sprained. Oh the things we will do for our children! Even after they pants us.


4. The Elaine
A couple of weeks ago I was driving the kids to school. It is usually chaos trying to get out of the house in the morning so I use the car ride to reconnect with them, sing songs, talk,etc. We were jamming to Laurie Berkner and I was trying to teach Mallory how to dance with her thumbs. Very reminiscent of the way Elaine, from Seinfeld dances,

So at red lights and while carefully driving I am also enthusiastically waving my thumbs from side to side, while Mallory imitates from her car seat. I was flapping my arms like a bee during the bumble bee song too. All of a sudden a car comes up from behind and passes me on this neighborhood road near the preschool! I was going the speed limit so I was so confused. I was so angry that it would dangerously pass me and my three babies and couldn't figure it out. Then it hit me. From his view all he could see was a woman frantically waving her thumbs and arms ahead of him, giving him the universal "pass me" sign. He must have been so confused when he passed me to only find a string of traffic ahead of him. It took me a few blocks to figure this out and when I did I just DIED laughing. Elaine strikes again!

5. The Mark
And finally, I'm pretty sure my pediatrician has had my emotional state on high alert for a few months now. I wanted Nolan to have his ears rechecked after an ear infection (I cried in my pediatrician's arms when she told me my 3 week old had an ear infection), but even more alarming to me was this strange green vein that poked out of his head when he got upset. I took him to the doctor and showed the nurse beforehand the vein- telling her it seemed to get much darker when he cried. She agreed that it was weird looking. My pediatrician came right in and I asked her if it was normal, she said "No, that is definitely not normal." I panicked! What was wrong with my baby?!? She then grabbed an alcohol wipe and wiped that green MARKER right off his head. Yes, the other children in our family had marked his head with a green marker right where his vein happened to be. I spent the next 5 minutes making sure she knew that I wasn't crazy. Oh well, we both shared a really good laugh over that one.
The Coloring Culprits?

Such funny little moments in our family's life. Usually at the Mother's expense but that is motherhood for you. Stressful at the time but a little perspective goes a long way. I can laugh at all of these things now and hopefully you did too!

4 Months

He was more interested in chewing than having his picture taken.

Nolan had his 4 month appointment today. They confirmed what we already know. That he is huge.

Here are his stats:
Weight, 17 lbs 12 ounces (almost 18 pounds!), 95th %
Length, 27 1/2 inches, Off the Charts. We have to move him out of his infant seat at 29 inches.
Head, 17 inches, 75th%

He is now wearing Peyton's old 12 month clothes. At 4 months!
Nolie is a happy, happy boy that lights up when he sees his family. He loves to chew on Sophie and drools all over himself. He is loving the exersaucer and being able to finally reach up and pull the toys on his playmat. He is becoming more social, interested in toys, songs, and doing pretty well with his sleep training.

We adore him. Can you tell?



We like to dress him and put bandaids on him.

He is a great sport.

Happy 4 Months Nolie Noo!