Extreme Baby Sports

Nolan has conquered a waterslide at only 4 months old!  

We expect him to be skydiving by his first birthday.

Happy Birthday J.J.!

Our marathon birthday month ends with J.J.'s birthday on the 28th.

JJ has always been extremely laid back, even as a baby. Mom said JJ was her easiest delivery, and beyond that she doesn't remember much, so he must have been really good. (The picture below is from the "butterball" days).

J.J. and Roo were the best of friends growing up, they loved pound puppies, Star Wars, and throwing toys off the balcony. They played volleyball in high school together too.

JJ is notorious in our family for being the most easy-going. In fact, some of our favorite JJ stories stem from his ability to achieve these extreme levels of relaxation. For example, when JJ was very young, he used to play by himself and kind of "zone out". When the older brothers would ask him what he was doing, he would say that he was "in the X-dimension".

Another good story is from when JJ was a teenager. He was working on his homework very intently. I was playing office with Mom, and we both walked into the kitchen together. We freaked out because there was a huge fire about 200 yards away in our backyard that had been going for awhile, and JJ hadn't even noticed!

JJ is more than just an easy going brother. He is known for being one of the funniest brothers as well. JJ is like Dad because he will be quiet and then just at the right moment he'll throw out the funniest comment, movie quote, or observation. This makes JJ dang fun to hang out with because you just never know what he's going to say, but you can be sure it will be hilarious.

JJ is a HUGE sports fan. He has always wanted to work for a sports team, and he still hopes that he might be able to do some kind of accounting for a sports team in the future. JJ has spent every morning since he learned how to read with his nose buried in the sports page. He knows all the players, history and statistics from every team for every sport... except baseball.

JJ loves sports, and the only thing he loves more is his family. When he found out Jennifer was pregnant, he announced it on his facebook wall by saying:

"Come this spring, it looks like only one of my top two life goals (watching the Jazz win the championship & becoming a Dad) will be fulfilled. I think it’s pretty obvious which one."

JJ is a wonderful husband and father. He is very hands-on with Nolan, and I think Jennifer is glad for that. He is so excited to be a Daddy!

He is patient, gentle and sweet. He also takes great care of the kitty cats!

We had so much fun visiting JJ a few weeks ago for Nolan's blessing. He gave his son a beautiful blessing and then he bore his testimony, which was nice to hear.

We love you JJ! We are glad that you are a part of your family and we miss you! We hope you have an awesome birthday!

North Carolina Trip

Mom, Dad and I had a fantastic week in Charlotte, NC! (Or, if you are advanced enough to handle it... Tega Cay, SC).

We were there to officially meet the newest Phillips--Mr. Nolan!

Nolan is clearly a very intelligent and fashionable young man. (Notice his shirt in the above picture). ;)

I love his "chillax" expression almost as much as his smile!

He is pretty squirmy and loves to do big, drawn-out, dramatic stretches.

Maybe he learned this stretching skill from his furry siblings...

Lizzy

Yoda

and Jengo.

Other than Nolan and the Kitties, we were also there to see J.J. and Jennifer's new house! It is just beautiful, fresh and of course immaculate. This picture is looking down into the family room from the second level "catwalk" above.

Its hard to tell in pictures, but their dark wood floors are seriously gorgeous! Their subdivision is growing everyday, and we almost saw a house go from foundation to completion during the time we were there. One of J.J. and Jen's favorite things to do is walk through the new houses to see the different floorplans. Here they are with Jen's parents out on a walk through the neighborhood. I stayed home with Nolan haha.

All of the houses are in a colonial style which Mom and I like, and no two houses are exactly the same, which creates a lot of character within their neighborhood. They have an awesome swimming pool with a slide too! We went there several times during the week.

This is Nolan's adorable whale-themed bedroom! Jennifer has decorated the whole house really cute, and she impressed us all with her creative talent and skills. We helped them plant some plants and hang some pictures while we were there too.

Dad and Nolan spent so much time together they started to wear matching clothes...

and they talked to each other in Baby language...

and when Dad decided to take his afternoon nap....

Nolan wanted to join him!

Dad wasn't the only one to enjoy little Nolan, of course...

Mom was the best at bringing out his little smiles.

And he was the best at bringing out hers. :)

Nolan got to go on a walk with Tutus!

There was a cute shopping center that we walked through and found this random phone booth...

We also went out for several yummy dinners! Nolan is still young enough that he sleeps through most meals. (thank goodness)

This is us at the Melting Pot, a fancy fondue restaurant. It was dang good!

J.J. and Jennifer are very sweet, devoted parents to Nolan. They seem to be handling all the stress and sleeplessness of parenthood very well. They are keeping a good sense of humor about the little things, and reading all the books about the big stuff. They are doing great!

This picture is one of my favorites, and it was not staged! (well, not originally) They were all holding each others hands. Such a sweet little family.

We love you guys! Thanks for hosting us for a whole week!

(More updates to come...)

Baby Nolan @ 1 month

We can't believe he's already a month old! He is very engaged whenever we talk to them on Skype. It seems like he is going to have dark blue eyes. We just can't wait to go see him next week!

He's already a little "Jedi in Training"! How darling is his outfit??

We love his little expressions!

They are always very careful to keep him modest during bathtime pictures. So cute!

Jennifer says, "I know this isn't a real smile but its cute anyway. What a funny bunny!"

He looks so snuggly!

Baby Nolan @ 3 weeks old

Here's Nolan enjoying a little tummy time. This picture is everyone's favorite...

Nolan got to spend 3 weeks with his Grandpa and Grandma Thompson!

At first, Daddy said that Nolan was on China time because he would be wide awake at night and then he'd sleep all day.

He seems to be doing a little better now...

Besides snuggling with Mommy and Daddy, Nolan likes...

Sports

and his furry kitty siblings, of course!

Nolan also got to take his first bath!

He was less than enthusiastic to begin with...

But before long, the hard part was over

...and he's right back to snuggling with Mommy & Daddy!