Trying this out

Just seeing how easy it is to post to Blogger from my phone!

Gosh, they're cute!

Nolan enjoying his book.


Sorry for the bright light, but I wanted to capture the way Nolan is so focused on Tyler. He is always looking around for Tyler and seems fascinated by him. It's so cute.



Tyler was the one that thought of propping up the book for Nolan. Nolan really likes it and now I will do it for him. Tyler is such a great big brother!

The Boys

Tyler holding Nolan. Love Nolan's expression.


Rarely do we get pictures with me in them. Here we are enjoying the zoo. Nolan's first time there!




Nolan really loves it when people talk to him. He will smile at almost everyone.




Nolan showing his support for Iowa State.

We're back!

Things have been busy around here. In case you didn't hear, we had a baby. Nolan was born on December 8th. He is a very good baby. He likes it when you talk to him and he doesn't like it when you put him down and walk away. He has really been studying his hands lately. He seems quite fascinated by them. He is just starting to reach out towards toys and will sometimes get his hand wrapped around it. Sometimes he will talk...it's very cute.

Tyler is a great big brother. He loves to talk to Nolan and will try to entertain him if he's crying. He doesn't show any signs of jealousy and seems to really enjoy Nolan. I am enjoying this while it lasts. I'm not sure if Tyler understands that Nolan will become mobile at some point and will want to eat/play with/destroy Tyler's toys.

Tyler has been taking swimming lessons and is enjoying them so much that we signed him up for the next level of classes (granted, he did start with the youngest class). I really hope he continues to enjoy swimming and becomes even more comfortable with water. We have also signed him up for T-Ball this summer. We will have to see how that goes. He can be very shy/timid about trying things for the first time. I hope he will end up loving it and I'm sure his former-baseball-player-in-high-school-daddy hopes so too!


Our first family picture!


Nolan's one month picture.


Nolan at two months.


Nolan at three months (the kid will not smile for these pictures!)


Finally caught a smile on camera!



Saying goodbye to Aunt Holly and Uncle Johnny as they head off to their new adventures in Oregon!

July!

In July my friends from back home came out to Iowa to visit family. While they were here we were able to meet up at the zoo. It's so weird getting together with people you went to school with but now you're all adults and have kids! It was a fun time.


One day Dan discovered a nest of baby bunnies under Tyler's picnic table. We had a fun time watching them. Every time we went outside after that, Tyler always had to run over and see if he could see them.

Tyler go to experience his first fireworks in July. I think he liked them but I also think he thought they were too loud.

This is Tyler being "normal" at the 4th of July party.

Some friendly competition between brothers.

June!

I haven't forgotten about updating the blog month by month. We had a slight setback when our old computer got fried by lightning and we've been slightly busy with selling our house, buying a new house, and starting preschool. I'm ready for things to calm down!

Looking through the June pictures it seems like it was a slow month. The first three pictures are from the Better Homes and Gardens test garden that is in downtown Des Moines. Sometimes it is open to the public so Tyler and I went down there and had some lunch with some friends.

The next pictures are from a race (the Indy Corn 250) that Dan won some tickets to from work. He went with his co-worker (I declined to go with him) and it worked out well for me because it was on Father's Day so it was a great present for him that required no money and no shopping for me! Aren't I thoughtful?

First day of preschool

Tyler did great with me dropping him off today. He didn't seem overwhelmed or sad at all. Made it easier for me! I am looking forward to picking him up later and seeing what he thought of the whole thing. I'm not sure if he realizes he'll be doing this for many more Tuesdays and Thursdays. =)

Baby Boy

We found out yesterday that Tyler is going to have a little brother! Below are some pictures we got from yesterday. I am sparing future humiliation by not posting the one showing it to be a boy. =) By the way, we have decided to name him Lightning McQueen.

Arms!

Skinny little leg!

Profile!

May!

Okay, now we're up to May. In May we went on a week long vacation to St. Petersburg, FL. It was just the three of us on a family vacation. We had a condo that was right across the street from the beach. It was in a great location. Our plan for the week was to go the beach a lot and then take a trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa.

Tyler and Dan on the plane. The last time Tyler flew he was 18 months old, so this was more exciting to him. The excitement didn't last too long though, which is why God made portable DVD players.

Tyler wasn't too excited about the water. He was way more interested in the sand. He played in the sand for hours.

Dan with some bird friends.

Tyler and I after a visit to the St. Petersburg aquarium, located in the oddly shaped building behind us (way out on the pier).

After much consideration, we decided to go to Busch Gardens instead of Disney (we flew in to Orlando which was a couple hours away from St. Petersburg). I am very glad we did that. We were close and able to do it all in a day. Plus, they had just opened up a Sesame Street section that was perfect for Tyler. He absolutely loved the rides and had no fear about them. He's just like his mommy and daddy! It will be fun when he is older and we can take him on the big rides. Although, at that point he probably won't want to hang out with mom and dad anymore!

The very first thing he did was ride the roller coaster. Even though it was a short ride, I was surprised at the speed and steep banking turns. He went on it with Dan first and then came running off of it saying, "Again! Again!" Luckily, it was not crowded so we were able to do it multiple times.

Riding the carousel with daddy.

He seemed excited about this ride until it started it moving. Then you could tell he thought it was pretty lame. I mean, after riding a roller coaster this thing was for babies! =)

This was the first ride he went on where he was by himself. I expected tears but he didn't seem to care at all. In fact, he had quite a serious expression on his face while driving. I think he didn't want to be a distracted driver (and I suspect he wished it went faster). Doesn't he look like such a big boy "driving" that car?

Dan and another friend of his.

Tyler riding his motorcycle.

That's it for Florida pictures. Later in the month we took Tyler to his first minor league baseball game in Des Moines. I'm glad I got this cute picture because he was not a fun kid for most of the game and we ended up leaving early, vowing to never leave the house with him again.

Remember us?

You may not remember us. We're Dan and Megan. I know we've been MIA for quite awhile, but we did not forget about our little blog here. I finally transferred pictures from the camera to the computer and we have so many that I will have to do many posts to get us caught up to July. I might do it month by month.

First up is April! April is one of the best months. It is the month I was born in, and this year it was the month that we found out we're expecting baby #2 in December! On July 30th we will have an ultrasound and find out the sex of the baby! Tyler seems excited about being a big brother but I'm 99% sure he does not grasp the concept. He sure will come December!

So, heading back to April of this year, many things happened. First up is Easter!

Here is Tyler hunting for eggs.

In his cute little Easter outfit! I don't know why the sweater was so long. I'm hoping it means we can get another year out of it though!

Dan and I went to a Casting Crowns concert with some friends. Casting Crowns is probably my favorite Christian group. The concert was awesome! It was a fun night out.

Here we are looking cute.

The opening band was 10th Avenue North which is another band I like.

Casting Crowns

We finally visited the Science Center with Grandma and Grandpa. It was okay. Tyler seemed to enjoy most of it.

Tyler racing some tennis balls.

Petting a snake. Tyler refused to do it at first but once he saw all the other kids doing it, he had to do it too.

Look what we did! Not only can we count, but we can build an arch too!

Coming soon....a post for May that includes pictures from our trip to Florida!