T minus 49 days and counting...

Until Nolen turns 1! Party planning is in full swing. I worked with Emily at Emily Ann Designs to come up with the perfect 1st birthday, jungle invitations and thank yous! I'm SO excited with how they turned out.

Invitations, check!

Week 41- Happy New Year!

I have to say, 2010 has been, by far, the best year yet. 2011 is going to have some stiff competition. Thinking of how much can change in a year makes me giddy about what the new year might bring. New job, new friends, new baby?!? There's no telling whats in store for the Astor's.

With a new year comes new goals...here are a few for the new year:

1. The always popular "Get back in SHAPE" goal. I'm back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, just not my pre-pregnancy body. Things are moved around, different shapes, desperately in need of some Les Mills Step aerobics!
2. Make a budget and stick to it. I dream of being a stay at home mommy. If this is ever going to happen we need to buckle down and save, save, save!
3. Keep my fingers and toes painted, all the time, no chips allowed!
4. Sit back and take in my little man. The days fly by, he's growing by the second. I need to stop capture these moments in my head before it's too late!
5. Take a photography class.
6. Cut back on my Starbucks consumption.
7. Meet more mommies and babies.
8. Teach Nolen how to swim.
9. Spend more time outside.
10. Learn to cook just a few decent meals.
11. Throw the best 1st birthday party of the year!
12. Continue blogging...
13. Find a picture for our big, blank family room wall.
14. Get back into style... my sense of fashion has taken a back seat.
15. Shave my legs more often ;(
16. Enjoy EVERY minute with my little man, the good, the bad, the early (4am wake-ups!)
17. Support my hubby as he grows in his career, wherever it might take us.
18. Read a book.
19. Spend less time online, but more time blogging (oxymoron?!?)
20. Enjoy all the little things.
21. Start an Etsy shop that will one day turn into my dream boutique!
22. Organize the "toys-r-us" we currently have in our home.
23. Print some the thousands of pictures I've taken.
24. Sew more often.
25. Talk with old friends more.
26. Laugh at my mistakes instead of stressing.

Nolen has some new goals as well, he asked me to share:

1. For my mommy to stop nursing me and give me some Organic milk in a sippy, yumm-O!
2. To sleep through the night, every night.
3. Eat something other then purees without gagging.
4. Learn to walk.
5. Stop teething... I have enough teeth already people!
6. Learn to swim
7. Sleep past 6am
8. Figure out how to open those darn baby gates

Here is little man's first experience with cheese. Like his parents, he throughly enjoyed it.

1. 

First Christmas in Pictures

Best toy= boxes & bubble wrap

GrovePark Inn, Asheville NC

Christmas fun with MomMom, PopPop & Aunt Shannon

Christmas fun with Uncle Eric, Jojo & Papa

Christmas Eve with both families

First Christmas Morning....magical

First Xmas was a white one! First snow

10 months old!

In two short months my little baby boy will be a little toddler boy. OH how time flies when your having fun. With the holidays in full swing I couldn't help but remember Christmas just one year ago. How does one go from being big and pregnant to having a little man who already knows so much. Simply amazing...

Here's what you've been up to this month:

• You're O' so close to walking, just barely holding on to things as you run through the house. Any day now we're expecting you to let go and take off running!


• You are 28 inches long and 18 pounds...long and skinny.


• You are getting better and better at eat ting. Mommy was starting to think that she'd have to feed you purees until you were 20. Fortunately you can now eat baby puffs, avocado, cottage cheese and even baby Cheetos.


• Your talking! You can say Momma, MomMomMomMom, Dada, Baba, Bye (in a southern accent,) hi, hello...


• You celebrated your first Christmas with both grandparents and boy did you get spoiled...toys everywhere! (Isn't that what 1st Christmas's are all about.)


• You crawl with perfection, can go to sitting on your own, and have just learned to pull yourself to standing.


• Your favorite toys are your Radio Flyer walker wagon, you Wooden food cutting board, wooden spoon, Tupperware, you puzzle with doors that open, your Jeep, and your new Elmo movie.


• Changing your diaper has become insane. You insist on moving, and standing, and dancing...we're lucky we get a diaper on you.


• When we say "dance" you start bobbing up and down.
• 
  
• We're STILL nursing...I can see the end in sight...2 more months!


• When we say "how big is Nolen?" you throw your arms in the air as we say "So big!"


• You received you first passport for our Italy trip this summer. It's good for 5 years, but will still have your baby picture!

We love you SO much! As sad as it is to see you grow so fast, it's equally as awesome. Daddy and I can't remember what we did before you, there must have been so much wasted time. We love you SO much little man!

Week 39

(Please excuse the drool...but notice the necklace)


I am a complete sucker for baby products. The first time I walked into a BuyBuy baby I had a slight panic attack, good anxiety, just on overload. I was in shock that there were hundreds, thousands of baby items that I had no clue I needed. Medicine dispensers in the form of a paci, organic baby massage oil, teethers that vibrate, toothbrushes shaped like bananas, food that squirts right out of the container... ahh... so much I never knew I needed (I use the term needed very loosely.) I have a really hard time walking out of BuyBuy Baby without a cartload of goodies. I'm always looking for the next thing to get to bring a smile to our little man's face.

This week was tough because we're teething again. Those molars are pushing their way into his teeny, tiny mouth. One has broke through, and 3 more are right behind. This week I was on a mission to find some relief for him. Baby Oragel doesn't work because he just likes to eat it. Teethers would be nice, but can't reach those molars. I did a little research and found baby necklaces made from Amber. The amber stones are suppose to release something when they are warmed by the skin. Whatever they release is suppose to help ease the pain of teething! Now there's no way to prove this, but all I know is as soon as we put his necklace on he was back to his old self again! (Not to mention it looks SO cute, like a little surfer baby.)

ziplocks

I sat down to pump at work this morning and realized I was missing a key factor, BOTTLES! Slight panic, talked to boss, told her if I was going to try and make it through the day, but may look like Dolly Pardon by 3:00. Tried, oh-so-hard, to make it but I couldn't. Things were getting a little large and out of control by 1:00. That's when my great idea hit me, zip locks & rubber bands! Ahhh, relief. Now it's strange enough to have to put my milk in the staff refrigerator, even more embarrassing when it's a milk in a zip lock contraption!

While I'm on pumping stories (aren't I always?!?) I'll indulge you in another. A few weeks ago I was coming out of the employee bathroom, aka my pumping station. When I came out, our maintenance man (he's maybe 20) was sitting at the lunch table. He glanced at me, then at the bottles. He did a double take. I could just see the wheels turning in this poor kids head, "how did she, what did she, what, how..." For a brief second I thought about explaining. Instead I just smiled and waved hello. Now anytime I see him he doesn't make eye contact, poor kid!

Santa Baby