Life with Nico

New pictures...Finally!

2009-11-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

Since I've found out I'm pregnant I have felt pretty lousy so I haven't been spending much time online. Little time online=no blog updates. Sooooo, I thought it was time to share a few new pictures of the Nico-man. These were taken while we were decorating the house for Christmas. Nico was getting into everything, of course.

And now I'm realizing that we didn't actually get any pictures of Nico WITH any of the Christmas decorations. Guess that's my next challenge.

And here he is with Santa! He would sit on his lap, so this is the best we could do.

BIg boy eating at the big table

2009-10-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

Nico has decided he's too big for his high chair. He much prefers to sit at the big table. When I ask him if he's ready to eat, he signs eat and climbs up on the stool at our kitchen table. So, now he has his own Batman place mat and eats at the big table, too. When did my baby grow up?

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-15T11:31:00.000-07:00

We took Nico to the pumpkin patch last weekend since we're going out of town soon. I'm really glad we went as early as we did because it wasn't near as crowded as it was last year. Nico had so much fun. When we first got there, John wanted a bite to eat. There were wood shavings all over the ground in that area and Nico had a blast playing in those.

And here he finally slowed down long enough to get a bite.

After that, we went to look at the animals. Nico actually petted the goats voluntarily. He wasn't quite as excited about feeding them. He let one take some food from his hand and then he was done.

They had a big slide there and of course, he loved that. The man taking the tickets was nice and only took two tickets at a time since Nico was riding on someone's lap so he got to go twice.

And then there was the tractor that took us out to the pumpkin patch. He had so much fun on the ride over.
Here he's intently watching the driver.

When we got off to look for pumpkins, he was so upset that the tractor was leaving him. Here he is chasing after it.

So we had to find pumpkins really quickly so that we'd be ready to get on the next tractor. I don't think he would have let another one leave without him.

Here he found his.

And our little family of pumpkins.

Now that Nico's actually old enough to understand a little bit about holidays, it's so much fun to do things like this. I'm sure next year will be even better!

Cookie day!

2009-10-09T16:00:00.001-07:00

I let the kids decorate Halloween cookies today. I must be crazy. They were a mess! But I think they had a good time. Neither of them really ate much of their cookies, just licked the icing off. Charlotte wasn't too messy. Just a little icing on the hands and face. Nico on the other hand, was covered in the stuff. He hit the tub as soon as he was done. Yay for Halloween!

Pumpkins!

2009-10-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Today I decided to do a little craft with Nico and Charlotte. I really didn't want it to be anything too messy (because I'm planning to let them decorate cookies tomorrow! Yikes!), so I just cut pumpkins out of contact paper, taped them to the table sticky side up, attached some green for the stems and jack-o-lantern faces, and then let them have at it. I had some different orange items (feathers, paper, felt, fabric, etc.) for them to use to decorate their pumpkins. Nico did a pretty good job of sticking things to his pumpkin.

The feathers were his favorite!

Charlotte on the other hand, liked to take the stuff off the pumpkin. Holly arrived before she was able to finish hers, so I sent it home with her with some extra orange stuff. She was not ready to go.

Here's a picture of Nico's final product in it's place of honor on the inside of the front door.

Fair Days

2009-10-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago, we took Nico to the Puyallup Fair. He had a blast! He got to see some animals up close and personal. I think the goats were his favorite. He was even brave enough to pet some of them.

He even got to milk a pretend cow!

He got to play a fishing game where he won a stuffed tiger. Perhaps his favorite part of the day was when he got to play the drums. There was an exhibit set up that tried to show the daily life struggles of children in Africa. At the end, there was a place where the kids could play some African drums and other instruments. Nico loved it and was not ready to leave when it was time.

He also got to ride the big slide with John. John said he just giggled and squealed with delight the whole way down. He had a huge smile on his face when they reached the bottom.

I'm already looking forward to the fair next year!

Little Drummer Boy

2009-09-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

Nico was running around the house with his drum on his head today. Sometimes we think he's gifted. Then days like today, we're not so sure.

Kitchen fun

2009-08-26T14:00:00.000-07:00

While I was fixing my hair today, Nico was playing by himself. He was being very quiet so I went to check on him. Usually when he gets quiet, he's up to no good. But today I walked into the kitchen to see two little feet sticking out from under the curtain of his play kitchen. He had pulled the sink out (as usual), dumped all of his toys down there and then crawled in after them. He was just talking to himself and eating a snack. It was way too cute not to snap a picture or two.

A camping we will go

2009-08-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went camping in Sequim with John's cousin and some of his friends. This was Nico's first camping trip. The kid loved it. He loves all things outdoors, and sleeping in a tent was no different. We didn't arrive at the campsite until late Friday night because John had a softball game that evening. When we got there, it was WAY past Nico's bedtime and he had been asleep in the car for most of the trip. Of course, once we got the tent set up and everything, there was no getting this kid back to sleep. He was far too excited. It was after 1 a.m. before he finally fell asleep. The next morning we got up and took the kids down to the water. Nico was totally fearless. He took off and would have walked right into the water if I hadn't stopped him. And that water is COLD!!! I guess maybe he was remembering Florida and how much fun he had at the beach. We spent quite a while down there throwing rocks in the water and looking at crabs. We ended up heading home that evening because John had a brunch scheduled with one of his clients on Sunday, but I'm really looking forward to taking Nico camping again.

Here we are down by the water.

And here are the kids playing by the campsite.

And Nico by the tent.

We saw some really funny signs.

And just because I thought this series of photos was funny

The New Do

2009-08-18T16:49:00.000-07:00

We took Nico to get his first haircut this weekend. There's a kid's salon over by the mall that's actually open on Sundays, so we decided it was time. We've been discussing if for a while now, and knew that we were going to do it some time before Pam's wedding Labor Day weekend, but John decided Sunday was the day when he went to pull a fuzz from Nico's lip and realized it was connected to his head. It definitely was getting scraggly looking, but John and I were both so torn about cutting off his curls. So....we didn't! Everyone always says how beautiful Nico's hair is (even if he does get called a girl more than half the time), and I was just afraid he would look too grown up with a real little boy haircut. I'm just not ready to let go of the curls. Anyways, he did great at the salon. He was super excited when we got there because there were all kind of toys in the waiting area. There was a big slide and school bus he could drive. And when he went back to get his haircut, he got to sit in a boat. The stylist tried to give him some toys to play with but he kept pushing them away because he just wanted to play with the steering wheel. He was a little squirmy during the haircut, but he didn't cry or scream or anything. And he wasn't really ready to leave when we were done. I think the haircut turned out really cute, although to the casual observer, it might not look like he really got one.

Here he is before.

During.

And after.

He's just getting so grown up I can't believe it.

In the Pool with Gramps

2009-07-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Nico's been enjoying his time outside since we've been in Texas, but it's just been so hot! The little pool is a great solution because then he can be outside while staying cool. The only problem is, he wants someone to get in the pool with him. The first day he played in it, Hannah and Micah were over. Nico had so much fun! He went down the little slide over and over. He just loves Hannah. Whatever she does, he wants to do.

The next time we played in the pool, Hannah wasn't here. So Nico didn't want to get in the pool. My dad decided that he would try getting in with him. That worked! Nico got in and played and played. They had so much fun. Nico would climb up the stairs to the slide and go down on his belly over and over. And he kept throwing his ball at Gramps' head. It was really cute.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-05T07:38:00.001-07:00

We went out to Uncle Frank's house for the 4th of July. It was a perfect day for it, nice and warm. We took Nico down to the water and let him play for a bit. There was a lot of algae out there but he didn't seem to mind.

And here he is in his 4th of July red, white and blue.

He didn't make it for fireworks. We ended up leaving around 8 because he was just so tired. He hadn't had a nap all day! When we got home, he went right up to bed.

July 3rd Hiking

2009-07-05T07:23:00.000-07:00

John had the day off on Friday so I convinced him that we should go hiking. Well, apparently that's what everyone else in the universe decided to do that day, too. We went up to Denny Creek and couldn't even make it to the trail head that I was wanting to hike because there were so many cars on the street and in the parking lot. So we settled for a different trail leading up to Franklin Falls. It was still a nice hike with a beautiful destination. I just wish there hadn't been quite as many people there. But that's what you get for going to an easy, kid friendly trail on a holiday weekend. Nico had so much fun. He loved playing in the water and throwing rocks. He was none too happy when we packed up to hike out.

Here we are getting ready to start out.

Nico found a little spot that he kept going back to. There was a little pool that he would stand in and then throw rocks down a little drop into the stream.

Picking up rocks was the activity of the day.

He fell down into the water a few times, but it didn't seem to bother him a bit. (That water was COLD!)

He wasn't real happy about stopping to eat lunch.

Here we are in front of the waterfall. This was as we were about to hike out. Nico had a wardrobe change to something dry!

And here's all three of us.

Nico's gourmet kitchen

2009-07-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

John and I have been working on making a play kitchen for Nico for the past few weeks and it's finally done! It turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself. We went to Home Depot and bought some wood, had it cut down to size and then put it all together. John's dad was a great help and let us use lots of tools. He cut a nice round hole in the top so we could drop the sink in. I sanded and painted and stained the whole thing and made a back splash. John attached a little towel rack and knobs (which are really just drawer pulls) and I finished it off by sewing a curtain to cover the bottom. All in all, it was pretty easy and pretty economical. Much more so than buying a pre-made wooden kitchen. And I think it actually turned out much nicer than those you can buy in the stores. Nico really enjoys playing with it, too. Of course, his favorite thing to do is remove the sink (we didn't glue it in yet because we're hoping to find a stainless steel bowl that will fit) and drop all of his pots/pans/food down the hole. He even brings things in from the playroom to drop down there. I found a deck of cards in there the other day. Silly boy.

Nico's new doll

2009-06-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Pretty much from the time Nico was born, I have been looking for a boy doll for him. They are pretty hard to come by. All they have in the stores are pink plush girl dolls. No boys. Anything blue is a dog or a monkey or something else. So I finally decided to have one made for him. (Buttercup.Mama) It arrived yesterday and I love it! Nico does too, as you can see.

This morning I found him sitting quietly watching Thomas and cuddling his baby. It was so sweet.

Cousins!

2009-06-27T08:40:00.000-07:00

Now that Charlotte's a little older and much more mobile, she and Nico have really started playing together. It's so fun to watch. One of their favorite games is to chase each other around the dining room table. It's really cute. Nico will start running and Charlotte crawls after him as fast as her little arms will carry her. Nico stops and looks back at her and just giggles and then keeps running. She giggles the whole time, too. I'll try to get it on video next time they do it.

Another thing they love to play with is Nico's water table that we have set up on the porch. I was worried that Charlotte wouldn't like it because she hated the pool. And the water in this thing is C-O-L-D! But she absolutely loved splashing in it. It has a little waterfall type feature, but for some reason, Nico refuses to leave it up. If I set it up, he immediately takes it down. So he had the cup part of it in the water playing and he would dip some water and then pour it on Charlotte. She thought it was so funny and would just giggle. They were both dripping wet by the time they were done.

And of course Nico had to play in the milk box. He just loves that thing!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2009-06-16T09:16:00.001-07:00

Friday was John's birthday and Nico helped me get things ready. I decided to let him decorate the "wrapping paper" for the gifts. I just gave him a few sheets of construction paper, his markers and let him have at it. Almost as much ended up on his face as went on the paper.

Nico also had fun helping Daddy open his presents.

John's first gift was a new Wii fitness game. The other gift was a blanket that I made for him. Nico recently got a new bedding set that a friend of mine made for him. When it arrived, John joked that he wanted a blanket like Nico's because it was so soft. So I found some fabric that John really likes (it's the same print as Nico's diaper!) and sewed him one. He loved it. Nico, on the other hand, was not so into posing for pictures.

This seemed to be the facial expression of the day for Nico.

Big boy pants

2009-06-11T14:09:00.000-07:00

Nico has become just too comfortable in diapers. At least, that's my opinion. The boy would literally sit in the same diaper from morning to night if I let him. He never complains about being wet or dirty. That's one reason we do so much time running around in just a diaper; because then I know when he wets, at least. So I decided to see what would happen if I put him in some training pants. I found a great pattern online and ordered it. For my first pair, I just used some fabric that I had around the house. I didn't want to invest too much into this little project, in case it just didn't work out. I spent a couple hours sewing them up one afternoon and then we gave them a try. (Pictures to follow.) He wore them for a good hour and half to two hours before he wet them. And when he did, he came running right to me! So, I'm really hoping that wearing the trainers every once in a while will at least get him to recognize the sensation of going.

Today, I decided to take it a step further. Before he went down for a nap, I checked his diaper. He was totally dry. So we went to the bathroom, pulled out the stool and stood in front of the toilet. (He refuses to sit on either the little potty chair or the big potty. Go figure.) He stood there for a while and I made "pssssss" noises. I even turned the water on for him because that's worked in the past. Nothing. He was getting a little fidgety, so I decided just to put him back in the diaper. Of course, right after I take him off the stool, he stands in front of the bath tub and pees! I think my child is a little hard headed.

And now for the pictures. (I know that's the real reason you all come here.)
First, my handy work.

And now for the model.

Look at that cute little tushie!

Is the milk here yet?

2009-06-04T22:53:00.002-07:00

AI better take a look and see if the milk has been delivered yet.

There. It's open.

Hmmm, I don't see it.

Are you sure it's not here yet???

And just because he's so stinkin' cute.

He's so cool, he's got to wear shades

2009-06-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

Nico has become a fan of his sunglasses lately. Mostly he likes for me to put them on him, then he walks around a bit, pulls them off, brings them back to me and says, "More." More is his word for anything he wants. So I put them back on him and we repeat. Over. And over. And over. If there's a mirror in range, he immediately walks over to the mirror to check himself out. I think we're raising a little narcissist. Unfortunately he doesn't always want to leave them on when we're outside. But we give it a good try anyways.

And off they come.

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-01T20:18:00.001-07:00

We've been having some really nice weather lately, so I decided to buy Nico a little kiddie pool for the back yard. I got up early and filled it up because I knew the water would be really cold. I was hoping the sun would warm it before I put the kids in. Unfortunately, it didn't warm it quite enough. When I first put Nico in, he wasn't too sure about it. But after I got him some toys and splashed around with him for a minute, he had lots of fun. Charlotte, on the other hand, was another story. When we first went outside, I sat her down on the grass. Well, that angered the little miss. Apparently she doesn't like grass. Who knew? Then I put her in the pool and that made her even more upset. She screamed her little head off til I took her out. So I brought a blanket and some toys out and she sat there perfectly happy while Nico splashed and played in the pool. I can't say as I really blame her for not wanting to get in the water. It was rather cold. Later that afternoon, I took Nico back out and the water was much more pleasant.

Here they are, enjoying the sunshine! Oh, he had to bring the rake into the pool.

And here's Charlotte all nice and warm in the sun on her blanket.

The latest bump

2009-05-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Nico has a new bump. On his head. People must think I beat the child the way he's always banged up. Deedo and Jim bought Nico a water table and they brought it over last night. This afternoon I decided to fill it up for him. I had to walk out into the yard to bring the water hose up onto the porch and Nico decided to follow me down. He got all the way to the bottom step, and then some how took a tumble. He cried for a few seconds and I went and hugged him and made sure he was okay. I didn't even realize he'd bumped his noggin til we went inside to change. Poor little booger had quite the bump.

Letting him sit at the computer was about the only way I could get him to let me take pictures of him. He looks so intent, doesn't he? Like he's doing some really important business.

Sharp dressed man

2009-05-18T22:18:00.000-07:00

Maw Maw sent Nico an adorable outfit right around Easter but it was just a bit too big at the time. Last week I decided to give it a try and see if he had grown enough in the last month. Well, he had. And he looked adorable! Look how grown up he is.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Nico made a very special Mother's Day present for his grandmothers. He got to play with markers and paint and he had a really good time with both. Of course, his first instinct was to put both markers and paint right in his mouth. Luckily, they're child friendly and non-toxic. And they were surprisingly easy to wash off. I thought for sure Nico was going to have blue ears and brown mouth for days. And here he is in action! (For some reason Blogger keeps cutting off my pictures and I just don't have the time or energy to worry with resizing them all.)

First, coloring with markers.

And now for the paint!

And here's the final product.

Happy Mother's Day!

Yard Work

2009-05-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

Nico loves to be outside in the yard. We had some really great weather last week, so he was able to get out and help in the yard a bit. Here he is helping dad with his shovel and rake.

And here he is just running around like a wild man.

And a couple more for good measure.

A Day at the Park

2009-04-23T14:52:00.000-07:00

We had some really beautiful days last weekend and earlier this week so we spent lots of time at the park. Nico had a great time swinging and just running around. These were taken on Sunday. We had spent most of the day working in the garden and Nico had been such a good boy that we took him to the park afterward. Look how much fun he had!

New Boots

2009-04-19T14:17:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Mike got Nico some boots last week. Those things have been on his feet every single day! He finds them, brings them to me and says, "More." This is what he says when he wants something. So we've had some interesting fashion statements lately.

In the entry way.

In the kitchen. (with Babylegs, no doubt!)

And even in the highchair!

Easter fun!

2009-04-19T14:05:00.000-07:00

Nico had a wonderful Easter this year. It was so much fun dying eggs this time around. My dad kept saying that Nico wouldn't really do anything, that I'd be the one doing all of the dying. Well, he was wrong! Nico had a blast! He would drop his egg in the dye, then pull it out and stick it in his mouth. And at one point, he was even sticking his spoon in the dye and putting it in his mouth. Yuck! I know vinegar doesn't taste good, but he sure acted like it did. He was totally yellow by the time we were done. His hands, his mouth, his diaper. Luckily it washed out of the diaper, and his face was nice and clean for Easter Sunday. But his hands and belly were still yellow the next day. And I found a yellow streak on his leg still on Monday. But it was totally worth it.

Getting it ready.

Into the dye.

And into the mouth.

He was so proud of his eggs!

It's Official!

2009-03-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

We're moving! We found a really cute little house in north Tacoma. It's got a great porch and three bedrooms. And a nice yard for Nico! Here's a picture of the place.

He's Batman!

2009-03-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

Nico got a pair of Batman jammies for his birthday from Grams and Gramps. With the growth spurt he's gone through recently, he's now fitting into them. Look how cute the are!

Just some pictures

2009-02-27T14:45:00.001-08:00

So I've been hearing lately about how I haven't posted any new pictures for a while. (Sorry Dad!) So here's a couple of his royal cuteness.

Valentine's Day!

2009-02-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

Nico got a Snoopy Valentine's day shirt from my mom when she was in town last week. Here he is wearing it on Valentine's day. We just hung around the house that so he's just in a diaper, but I think it looks quite festive! He wasn't too excited about taking pictures though.

Today we had our Valentine's party for my mom's group. One of the girls in our group owns a piano bar here in town and she and her husband were generous enough to let us use it for our party. It was really a lot of fun. There was music and the kids got to get on the stage and dance. We had pizza and cake and all kinds of goodies. I made some Valentine's for Nico to take to his friends. I made heart shaped sugar cookies and iced them, put them in baggies and attached a homemade Valentine's day card. They turned out really cute. Nico crashed on the way home. He was all partied out.

Cute kids!

2009-02-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

It turns out that Nico and Charlotte both have the same Goodmama diaper. It has yellow serging and baby blue snaps (it's name is Teacup), and it's one of my favorites. Well, Holly packed it in Charlotte's diaper bag the other day so I decided to do a little photo shoot. Some of the pictures turned out really cute! They really are the two cutest kids ever!

Here they are just laying around.

We're working on having gentle touches.

He *loves* her belly button!

Nico was getting bored with pictures.

But he came back for the belly button again.

Here they are reading a book.

This one came out really cute.

Nico's turning the page.

Nico took off again, so I got a shot of sweet Charlotte.

He's back!

Here he's telling her about the book.

Charlotte looks like she's not quite ready for Nico to turn the page yet.

Charlotte was much more cooperative for the pictures. Nico's just a little wild man. He doesn't sit still for long. It's a good think our camera can just click, click, click!

Look what Nico got!

2009-02-04T13:44:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine knits the cutest little bunnies and I got her to make one for Nico. It's the cutest thing you've ever seen. She even knit an "N" onto the bunny's sweater! I'm in love!

He's also figured out how to climb into his little chair all by himself now. This morning, he was climbed into his chair and just sat and watched Jack's Big Music Show. So sweet!

Helping with the dishes

2009-01-27T14:47:00.000-08:00

The dishwasher is Nico's favorite thing in the kitchen. He would love for me to do dishes 24/7. As I was rinsing dishes this morning, he crawled up onto the door that was down. I thought it was funny so went to grab the camera. Well, then he took it one step further. He was standing in the dishwasher! But I snapped some pictures first before I made him get out. I figured my readers would appreciate it.

We also played with our drum this morning.

And our blocks.

Totally random find

2009-01-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

So John, Nico and I were at the grocery store the other night. We were walking down the baby food/cracker aisle to get a few things for the Nico-man when John says, "Oh my gosh! Look at this!" And what does he pull off the shelf? A Monchhichi! Yep, you read that correctly. A Monchhichi. So of course we had to buy it. We took it right out of the package when we got home for a little play time.

This past weekend, we went to a local cloth diaper store. I've been there many times, but they recently moved to a new location. Plus, I had a gift card to spend. Fun! I've been wanting to try a bamboo prefold so I was hoping they would have some, and I lucked out. There's a local mom who makes them and sells them at the store. I had seen her stuff online previously and really liked it, so I was excited to see it there. Here's Nico sporting his new prefold. (Please excuse the pinning job. It's been awhile since I've actually used them.)

Isn't it cute?

Silly Seating

2009-01-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Nico is loving the chairs that we bought him. First up is his silly monster chair, Kiko. He loves this thing. Not so much sitting in it, but dragging it all over the house. I find pieces of it everywhere! Here's what it looks like before Nico gets a hold of it.

Isn't it cute?

And here's Nico doing his thing.

He really does love it.

He loves his little leather chair too. He can't quite climb into it by himself yet, but he'll go lean on it and then turn and look at me or John wanting us to come put him in it. He thinks it's just the funniest thing to be in his own chair.

And here he is doing his best impression of Gramps.

Overall, I'd say both of those purchases were winners.

Brusha, brusha, brusha...

2009-01-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Since Nico's finally got a few teeth his mouth, we've added a new step to our night time routine. Brushing his teeth! He's actually done really well with it. I bought him two tooth brushes, because I figured he'd want to hold it himself. So I give him one to hold and then I'm actually able to brush his teeth with the other one. I'm trying to teach him how to hold it properly and which end to put in his mouth, but he doesn't really seem to care about that. He seems to like the toothpaste we use. I tried it the other night and thought it was pretty yucky. It's cherry flavored. Or maybe strawberry. Some flavor that toothpaste should never be! We took some pictures of the little tooth brusher last night.

And this was after I took the toothbrush away.

Isn't my husband talented?

2009-01-13T22:15:00.000-08:00

John did a drawing for me of Nico nursing. I thought it turned out beautifully.

His bum really isn't THAT big

2009-01-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

See? Here he is wearing a disposable diaper. Doesn't he look skinny? So you see, his bum isn't really that big, it's just his diaper!

And here he is in some of his fabulous fluff.

So it's been awhile....

2009-01-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

And lots has happened! There was Christmas (sorry, the pictures are still on a CD and have yet to be uploaded), and New Year's (again, on the CD), our whole trip to Texas

(I thought that was a good Texas shot)

and of course, Nico's 1st birthday!!! Nico is one lucky boy. He got to have three birthday parties. We had one in Texas before we left, then we had a party at our house the Saturday after his birthday and that night we did another one at John's parents'. There was a lot of cake and a lot of presents, to say the least. And, without further ado, here are the pictures (because I know that's why you all read anyways).

We'll start with his Texas party. This was 2 days before he actually turned 1.

Here he is blowing out his candle. Okay, so Hannah's really doing it....

And digging in!

Here's all of the kiddos helping him open gifts.

And now for his party at our house!
First off, the food.

And a close up of the cake. I baked it, John decorated it.

Nico got a cupcake all his own. (That way he didn't get any black icing!)

He was having a great time!

Here he is playing with some of his new stuff.

That little chair is what John and I got him. It's so cute. When it's put together, it looks like a little monster. Then it comes apart and can be used as a chair and table. I'll have to get a picture of it put together soon so ya'll can see it better.

Here he is sitting in it again wearing the slippers that Aunt Barb made for him.

And John and I also got him a little leather chair to match daddy's. It was just too cute to pass up.

I'll have to post pictures of the other party later. It was a lot of fun too. He had an adorable Cookie Monster cake that was super yummy, although Nico didn't do the whole cake thing again. And he got lots of fun new toys, too. All in all, Nico had a super first birthday!

Nico's new thing

2008-12-23T23:15:00.000-08:00

We keep all of Nico's toys in a fabric box in the living room. I normally keep it in front of the TV because it helps to keep his little hands off of the DVD player. Well, lately he's decided that this box is lots of fun to climb on.....and then in! It's so cute. He just climbs right into the box and sits on his toys. Here he is in the act.

He's such a silly guy.
So this past weekend we were supposed to go to John's family Christmas party but we decided not to go because of the snow. At the party, one of the family members always dresses up like Santa and gives each child a gift (provided by the parents). Since we didn't get to go to the party, John wanted to let Nico open his gift anyways. I tore the paper a little bit to help Nico get into it. He tore it a little and then put it in his mouth, of course. He's my little goat! He finally got the paper off and found his very own Glo-worm. He carried it around for a while and he really liked to see it's face light up. He kept giving it kisses. It was really sweet. And now some pictures of the action.

And not long after that, he headed to bed.

Snow, snow go away!

2008-12-23T23:10:00.001-08:00

It's finally quit snowing and hopefully it won't come back until after Christmas! We've got a plane to catch on Christmas day. But it snowed pretty much non stop this weekend. We had about 8 inches of accumulation, which is huge around here. It's definitely the most snow I've seen since leaving Boston. Here's what it looked like around our apartment this weekend.

It was really pretty, and it didn't bother me too much because I had no where to go! But it sure made it rough on people trying to get to work.

Another snow day!

2008-12-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

Well it snowed again. John got off work early because of the yucky weather so we decided to take the kids out. Nico still wasn't real thrilled with the snow. Charlotte didn't seem to mind it at all! Of course, she was safe up in my arms. Anyways, here are lots of pictures for your enjoyment.

Babywearing!

2008-12-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

This morning I decided that I wanted to try wearing Charlotte in the mei tai. I usually wear her in the Moby, so I wanted to see how the mei tai would work with a smaller baby. I love it for Nico! Anyways, when I tied it around my waist, Nico came over to me and wanted me to put him on. So I grabbed the Ergo and threw him on my back and put Charlotte on the front. It was actually a more comfortable combination that the Moby and Ergo. Well John came home for lunch while I was still wearing them so he snapped a few pictures.

This afternoon while Charlotte was napping, Nico decided that he wanted to sit in the Bumbo chair. He's obviously too big for it, but I still use it for Charlotte. Needless to say, I got the camera out and snapped a few pictures.

He lost interest before he actually figured out how to sit in it properly.

Snow day!!!

2008-12-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

We had our first snow of the winter this past weekend. Poor Nico didn't even have a real winter coat yet! So we went to Target on Sunday and found the LAST boy's coat in size 12 month. And it was on sale! So when John came home at lunch yesterday, we all went outside to play. At first Nico wasn't real sure what to think about it. He finally started walking in it, but after about 5-10 minutes, he was ready to go back in. But we were able to get some really cute pictures anyways!

And here he was ready to go inside.

When we got inside, I immediately took his wet shoes and pants off. John thought he looked cute like this so he took another picture.

We're supposed to get some more snow tonight and tomorrow so maybe we'll try to go out and play in the snow again to see if he likes it any better.

Christmas party

2008-12-16T11:00:00.000-08:00

We went to a Christmas party last weekend up in Seattle. It was just a bunch of friends, some of whom had yet to meet Nico, so he got to come a long too. I told John it would have been kind of nice to have had a night without him, but oh well! Everyone was really glad that we brought him. And a lot of the girls there work with kids, so they even had some toys for him to play with! Here he is playing with dog....or the dog's ball anyways.

And then chasing after the puppy.

He learned to climb the stairs. Don't worry, he was well supervised.

And he made some new friends.
Here he is climbing up to Shauna.

And hanging with his buddy, Ty.

And here's the whole group.

We ended up having a really good time and Nico got to stay up extra late! Merry Christmas!

Getting ready for bed!

2008-12-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

The other night we took some pictures during Nico's bed time routine. It was a little different this night because we were trying to get some shots for a gift for Miranda, but they turned out so cute, I wanted to share them with everyone. First off, the naked baby getting ready for a bath.

And here he is in the tub.

He was having a good time that night!

After he got dried off and all dressed in his Christmas jammies, we brought him to the living room to take some pictures. Look how cute they turned out!

Then we went to his room and read a book. The only book he'll ever actually sit and listen to is Good Night Moon, so we read that one a LOT!

And then it was bed time! And if we're lucky, he might stay asleep for three or four hours before he wakes up. Guess we still need to work on that!

He's a pirate. Argh!

2008-12-10T10:59:00.000-08:00

Nico got his new pair of longies this week, and I must say, they are my favorite! They're a beautiful color of green with an awesome pirate ship appliqued on the leg. He looks adorable in them!

They just perfect. And so is he.

I must be a goodmama...

2008-12-10T10:47:00.000-08:00

....because Nico made the site again this week! Yay! This is the third time his picture has been up there. Unfortunately, we still didn't win, but oh well! Here's the link if you want to see. After looking at that picture, I immediately went and cleaned out my fridge! I even tried to take a few more pictures with a nicer, neater fridge, but this one was hands down the best. So I submitted it anyways. Good thing I did! I love seeing him up there. Okay, go admire him now.

Build-a-Bear!

2008-12-07T21:59:00.001-08:00

Nico had a birthday party to go to today. They start early, don't they? One of the girl's from my mom's group invited us to her son's 2nd birthday at Build-a-Bear. We all got to pick an animal to make. I wanted to do the Moose, but Nico latched onto this dog, so that's what we got. When it was his turn to stuff his dog, Nico stood there by the stuffing machine and he held the button to make the machine go (with my help, of course). Mostly he wanted to run all over the store, but I think he had a good time. I wasn't going to buy any clothes for it....until I saw the Batman suit. I knew John would love it! So I splurged (the whole thing ended up costing me $8) and got it. Here's Nico playing with Woof (that's what we named him) when we got home.

Isn't it cute? It really was a lot of fun. I'm sure he'll really like doing that again once he gets a little older.

My litte monkey

2008-12-07T21:42:00.000-08:00

We have rearranged the furniture in our living room to accommodate our Christmas tree. Isn't it pretty, by the way?

Anyway, it has opened up the fireplace and sliding glass door that were previously blocked off by the love seat. The fireplace isn't such a big deal because the hearth is only one brick high and Nico's pretty sure footed. I know there still a chance that he could fall into it, so we've covered the edges with a blanket. I've just decided that I can't constantly worry over it. The problem is, Nico has realized that if he crawls onto the hearth, he can get behind the Christmas tree and unplug the lights. I've put the Bumbo chair back there to try and keep him out, but it's not really working. First he pulled the chair out. So I put it back. Now he's realized that he doesn't even have to pull it out, he can reach the plug just by leaning over it. Ugh! When I'm finally able to deter him from the plug, he starts going around to the other side of the tree. That's even worse! We have his bouncy play gym thing stuck behind the love seat (mostly because we have no where else to put it!), and that was keeping him from going into the kitchen. But yesterday he realized that he could climb under it. So I tried to block it with the baby bouncy seat and a kitchen chair. Nope, that didn't work either. He got down on his belly and army crawled under the kitchen chair. I truly didn't think he could even fit under it, especially with his big cloth diaper bum, but he did! Anyway, after he got into the kitchen this morning, I decided I'd just let him hang out in there. I was trying to make a birthday card and didn't feel like chasing him in and out of the kitchen. After a few minutes, I looked over what did I see? This.

That little booger some how crawled under his high chair! I thought for sure he was stuck, but he was able to get out....and then he tried to get back in there again! Silly boy. He was having a ball.

Babylegs

2008-12-04T13:52:00.000-08:00

Here is Nico sporting some of the babylegs that I have made for him.

Play time!

2008-12-02T16:04:00.001-08:00

Nico has really been enjoying our playdates lately. Since he's learned to walk, he just takes off when we get to a playdate. Today we went to Angela and Ava's house. They have a great play room with a lot of open space and tons of toys. It's also super baby proof so us moms didn't feel like we had to constantly chase babies around telling them no. Angela has this stuffed dog wearing antlers that plays music, lights up and dances when you push it's hand. Nico LOVED that thing. The other kids would just look at it when it was playing, but not Nico. He had to grab it and carry it around. And every time it stopped playing he'd give this look to the nearest adult begging for it to be pushed again. It was too funny.
Here he is playing with a little boy named Madden who is about a month older then Nico.

And here are some of the kids making a big mess!

And here he is playing with a wagon.

Still playing.

He wasn't quite happy until he turned it over. He's such a brute!

He had a really great time with all of the kids.

Nico also likes to play with his mommy. John got these really great shots of us the other day.

Aren't those good? He's such a sweetie!

A few more pictures....

2008-11-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

....with the new camera! Isn't he the cutest???

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T12:39:00.000-08:00

We went to Uncle Frank's and Carrie's house for Thanksgiving this year. We had a really good time and lots of good food! Nico was able to taste his first turkey and dressing (although it wasn't cornbread dressing. He'll get his first taste of that at Christmas, maybe). He also ate sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and green beans. Quite a yummy feast for a little man. He was so funny. Carrie turned some music on and he would go right over to the stereo and dance. And then he would turn around walk over to the dog bed and flop right on top of it. (It's one of those big pillow type ones.) I did wear him for a little while because we got tired or chasing him. Their house isn't totally Nico proof like ours is! Anyways, here are a few pictures from the night.

All in all, I think Nico had a pretty good first Thanksgiving.

Decorating!

2008-11-30T12:24:00.000-08:00

While my mom was here, we also decorated our apartment for Christmas. She wanted to see Nico with the tree and everything, so we put it all up the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We bought a bunch of plush ornaments to go around the bottom of the tree for Nico to be able to touch and hold. Of course, he wanted all of the shiny balls. So pretty much all of the decorations are at the top. It looks a little silly, but I don't have to worry about Nico touching the tree. He's really enjoying the plush ornaments now too. He loves to take them off and carry them around. Here he is with the Christmas tree box. He LOVED that thing!

And decorating (more like UNdecorating) the tree.

My mom also bought an awesome Nativity set for Nico (and me). It's made by Boyd's Bears and it's so cute! Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus are plush bears so it doesn't hurt for Nico to play with them. He's been carrying the camel around for days.

Isn't it adorable? Nico just loves it.

And here he is with the decorated tree.

Those last three pictures were taken with our fancy new camera. Aren't they great? It takes such clear shots. We're in love! So expect to see lots more pictures of the little man. It's awesome because you can take shot after shot with no delay like the old one. Now we're able to get tons more action shots. I can't wait to play with it even more.

Grams came for a visit!

2008-11-30T12:07:00.001-08:00

We've been super busy this past week. My mom came for a visit before Thanksgiving, and then of course we had all of our Thanksgiving festivities, so I'm just now getting a chance to update.

Nico and I had a great time with my mom while she was here. She got here last Friday night a little later than we had expected. Her flight was delayed leaving Houston and then when she arrived in Seattle, they had to circle the airport for quite awhile before they actually landed. We brought Nico to the airport with us because Grams was really eager to see him. This was him before we left the house.

He crashed right in the living room for about half an hour. His sleep schedule was a little off the whole time she was here, but that's okay. He doesn't get to spend time with her too often.

While she was here, we had some really great weather. She needs to come more often, because every time she's here the weather is nice. Before she came and since she's left we have had yucky, rainy, cold days. But while she was here it was nice and sunny. So we took Nico to the park and let him play. In Fircrest, they have a park called the Tot Lot. It's really nice because it's totally fenced in so the kids can run around without the parents having to worry about them going too far. We've been there for playdates before during the summer but Nico was really too small yet to do much. He's still a little young for it, but he enjoyed some of the stuff. He really liked the swings. They have this one swing that's like a big chair. It's kind of like swinging in your throne or something! Nico loved it!

He just laughed when I pushed it. It was so cute! He also liked the regular baby swing.

Look at that happy guy! He also enjoyed the tire swing with Daddy.

And they had a little car that he liked playing in, too.

And of course the bouncy horse.

What a silly guy!
I can't wait to take him back next summer when he's actually old enough to play by himself. I know he'll just love it!

Silly mommy

2008-11-22T17:55:00.000-08:00

John and I bought Nico a new sippy cup last weekend. He has a Kleen Kanteen that I'm sure we'll love when he becomes a little more adept at sippy drinking, but for right now, it's really hard for him to drink out of. I like the idea of a stainless steel cup because they're easier to clean and you don't have to worry about all the yucky stuff in plastics. Not to mention I can't seem to get a plastic one that is Nico proof. He always manages to make them leak. So, when we found this one, we bought it! It works pretty well and Nico seems to like it. The other day I handed him the sippy cup and got my camera to take a few pictures. It seemed to be dripping a lot and I was getting a little frustrated with it. He turned the cup over right as I took a picture and water just poured onto the rug. (Luckily it was just water!) See?

Well, when I went to examine it, I found the problem. I forgot to put the valve in! Silly me! Needless to say, it works MUCH better with the valve inserted properly.
Here he is carrying it around.

And he found a new toy the other day. My wallet! He played with that thing for a good half hour.

Of course, my mom says he looks like a girl in this picture. It must be because he's so pretty.

Ahh, the joys of parenting

2008-11-17T08:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went up to Southcenter to do some shopping. They've opened a whole new section of the mall and John hadn't been there yet. After doing some shopping, we decided to head up to Seattle to get some fried rice from Judy Fu's Snappy Dragon. Yum! When John ran in to get our order, I brought Nico up to the front seat to nurse him. While he was nursing, he pooped. So when John got back to the car, I told him I needed some help to change the diaper. I laid Nico in the passenger seat and stood outside to change him. John was sitting in the driver's seat holding Nico's legs over his head. It was pretty messy, and as I was leaning down putting a dirty wipe in the wet bag, I hear John saying, "Oh no!" My first thought was that Nico had stuck his hands in the poopy diaper, but then John says, "He's peeing!" When I looked up, Nico had a stream of pee going right into his face! Poor baby. He had to ride all the way home in a wet shirt with pee in his hair! Needless to say, he got his second bath of the day when we got home.

And because I know the real reason you all come to this site, here's a couple of pictures of the little man.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

2008-11-11T21:16:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I know it's a little early, but we took Nico to see Santa Claus today. When we were at our play date yesterday, I saw that Santa was already at the mall. So I told John that we should go ahead and take Nico to get his picture made before the crazy lines start. I did not want to stand in line for hours with a squirmy baby. So we went today and walked right up and got it done. We dressed Nico in his Christmas outfit that his Aunt Pam bought for him while we were in Texas. He looked adorable! When I first sat him down on Santa's lap, I thought he was going to cry, but the photographer was able to get his attention and take a few good shots. He didn't really smile. I think he was just a little unsure about the big, hairy man in the red suit that was holding him. But look how cute it turned out!

Doesn't he look so mature? I can't get over how old he looks!
After doing Santa pictures, we went to JC Penny and got some more photos done. We ordered some Christmas cards and then got some other pictures too. They had a really great backdrop for Christmas. They had a little couch with a fireplace and Christmas tree behind it. We took those with Nico in his Christams outfit. Then we changed him into the same diaper and hat that I took the gumball machine pictures in. We also added his red and white striped babylegs. It looked really cute. For those, they just had a white background for some and others they put him in a giant gift box. They all turned out so good! I can't wait to get those back next week!

Photo shoot

2008-11-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

I was taking some pictures of Nico for the Goodmama photo contest again. The theme diaper for this coming week's submissions is any OBV diaper. Well, the only OBV that we have is his red one, the same one that he made the site in last time. Anyways, I decided to get some shots of him with the gumball machine that we have. I got a couple cute ones. I also tried to get some of him with Radar, but wanted nothing to do with the bear! Crazy, huh? This is the one that I'm going to submit.

I thought it turned out pretty good. I doubt we'll win though. There's always such amazing pictures submitted for the contests.

This is the only decent one that I got of him with Radar. Every time I would sit him down beside Radar, he'd push him off to the side and immediately get up. Oh well, I'm sure he'll love that bear someday.
I did manage to get a shot of him standing himself up. He puts his head and hands on the floor and then pushes himself up. It's so cute!

Such a big boy!

2008-11-11T20:56:00.000-08:00

We had a play date at the Tacoma Mall yesterday. They have a neat little play area right near the food court. Well, Nico had such a great time. He took off after all of the big kids and wanted to do everything they were doing. It made me a little nervous because there were a LOT of big kids playing in there. But Nico had no fear. It's been a while since we've been to a play date so a lot of the moms hadn't seen Nico in a month or two. They couldn't believe he was walking! And they all commented on how old he looked. Part of it might have been his big boy outfit that he was wearing. We got lots of compliments on his new brown loafers (thanks for picking those out, Gramps!). Doesn't he look cute?

When we got home, I was taking some pictures of him in my new favorite diaper. It's name is Maui Wowie. Isn't it adorable?

As you can see, he was having fun carrying around some of his other diapers.

I just love this kid!

New jammies!

2008-11-07T21:06:00.000-08:00

While we were in Texas, Aunt Pam and Grams bought Nico a new pair of pajamas and a robe. Boy are they cute! He slept in them for the first time last night and this morning, he wore his robe. He looked just like a little man. Holly said all he needed was a pair of slippers and a rolled up newspaper. Check it out!

His hair was a little unruly this morning. Can you tell he just woke up?

And here's a shot of the jammies underneath the robe.

I just love this kid!

So for those who don't know, Nico has now cut one of his top teeth. The other front tooth is trying to come in, but has yet to make an appearance. Hopefully it'll show up any day now. His poor little gums have just been so swollen!

Oh, and Nico is now able to stand up all by himself. Up until the last day or two, he's had to pull up on a piece of furniture, the wall, Mom or Dad's leg, etc. But now he had figured out how to do it all by himself. He kind of puts his hands on the floor and pushes his bum up into the air and then pushes himself upright. It was kind of funny to watch the first few times, because he'd sometimes get off balance and just fall on his face. But he's a determined little guy, and he finally figured it out. Yay, Nico!

Halloween!

2008-11-05T21:42:00.000-08:00

On Halloween night, we went to Mike and Carol's first. We decided not to dress him before we go there. I was kind of worried that he'd get too hot. Plus, I didn't want to make him mad any sooner than necessary. Here he is knocking on Grandma and Grandpa's door.

Holly and Charlotte were arriving at about the same time. She was dressed as a pea pod. It was so adorable! While we were there, John got his Oscar the Grouch costume. He and Nico looked really good together.

After spending a little time with Grandma and Grandpa, we headed over to Deedo and Jim's for the rest of the night. Their neighborhood is crazy with trick-or-treaters! The doorbell rang non stop. But I have to say, ours was one of the two cutest. Here he is ringing the doorbell.

And here he is with the other cutest trick-or-treater.

Charlotte wasn't too happy to be in her costume by this point. Nico on the other hand, was still doing pretty well.
He couldn't keep his hands out of the candy.

And here he is with his treat from Deedo and Jim.

We finally took him out of his costume and then he helped Uncle Jim answer the door and pass out candy.

Jim said he followed the kids out the door once and made it almost to the end of the porch before he was able to grab him. I think Nico had a really great time, but he crashed by the end of the night. I think it was a pretty good first Halloween.

Just in case you were wondering.....

2008-11-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

My mom rocks!

Pumpkins and Cookies!

2008-11-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

Every year we have a pumpkin carving and cookie decorating party. It's grown pretty large over the past few years, mostly I think, because we don't live there anymore. When we were kids, it was just the cousins over at Aunt Alida's house. But either way, it's lots of fun.
Rebecca bought these really cool pumpkin decorating kits for Hannah and Madison. They were like Mr. Potato head pieces. All the kids had to do was stick the pieces in and voila! cute pumpkins!
Here's Micah's.

Hannah and Micah and both of their pumpkins.

Nico loved these pumpkins! We couldn't keep him away from them.

Micah was really funny. He didn't want to share anything with Nico. He kept saying, "That's my pumpkin, Nico! That's not yours, Nico!"

I think Nico's favorite part of the night was decorating cookies. I put him in the high chair next to me and gave him a cookie covered with icing. Yum!
This was before I put the icing on.

Then I put some icing on. At first he wasn't too sure about it.

But eventually he dug in.

Boy, was he a mess!

He got a bath right after this, or course.
The other kids had fun decorating too.

And the big kids had fun too.

Nico also tried on his Cookie Monster costume for everyone that night. He wasn't real happy about it, but he sure looked cute!

He also wore his Halloween jammies that night.

Tired of the pictures yet?

Our trip to Texas

2008-11-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

Nico and I went to Texas at the end of October. You're probably wondering why I'm just now updating then, right? Well, we got back to WA late on the 30th only to realize we had left our camera cord at my parents' house. So, we couldn't upload any photos. My mom was good enough to send it me and it arrived today! Yay! So here we go. A little about our trip!

On the night that we arrived, we went to eat dinner at Jason's Deli. Aunt Pam always orders their broccoli cheese soup, and Nico wanted to try some. He LOVED it! See?

He also had his first taste of ice cream. Now I know that my parents would not have given ME ice cream at 9 months, but they sure thought it was funny to watch Nico eat it. And I guess it was. He dove right into it and wanted the cone and all.

While we were there, Nico got to hang out with a couple of friends. We went over to Teresa's a couple of times to see her and little Lexi. What a sweetheart she is. And she looks JUST like her uncle John!

Check Nico out sporting his Rockets jersey. John says that he can be a Rockets fan since there's no longer a basketball team in Seattle. But that's kind of a touchy subject.
And just one more because he's so cute in his jersey.

He also go to play with Amanda's little girl, Emma, a couple of times too.

She looks like she's telling him something really serious in this one.

I'm not sure she was real happy that he was following her around.

He also got to spend some time with Aunt Pam

And Aunt Becca

And Hannah and Madison

and lots of other friends and family.

Day at the pumpkin patch

2008-10-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

Since Nico and I are leaving for Texas tomorrow, John and I decided we needed to do something pumpkin-y with Nico this weekend. We found this really cute farm down in Olympia to go to. It was really neat. They had animals, like goats, llamas and donkeys. There was a carousel, which was really cool because it was powered by a guy pedaling. I'd never seen anything like that before. They also had a little train for the kids to ride, a corn maze and a hay maze. There was also food to buy too, so you could just make a whole day of it. A tractor took us out to the pumpkin patch where we found the perfect pumpkins for all of us. We let Nico walk a little in the pumpkin patch. He found a pumpkin he liked and sat right down with it. And then he decided to eat some dirt.

You can kind of see the dirt around his mouth in this picture. I tried to get it all off, but he really didn't want me to wipe his face. When I tried to put him back in the Ergo, he was really ticked off because he wanted to walk. But he was having a hard time because of all of the vines.
We also went to look at some of the animals. They had some baby goats inside a barn area with a a mama goat. The babies were so cute and sweet. I let Nico pet one of them, but he wasn't real sure that he actually wanted to touch it. One of the bigger goats sure wanted to see Nico though!

Oh, and they had those big wooden cut outs where you can stick your head in the hole for pictures. Nico was a farmer

and a cat in a pumpkin.

It was really a fun day. It's definitely something we'll do again next year!

Another bit of walking

2008-10-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Here's another clip of Nico walking. You can get a better idea of how well he's getting around these days. He's pretty much cut out all crawling except to get to a wall or couch or chair, etc. to pull up on. It's amazing how quickly he became a full blown walker! You'll also see what a mess Nico can make. Just look at all the toys on the living room floor! Yikes!

And here's a still picture of him walking.

He really is all over the place, which makes me a little nervous about our flight next week. I'm not sure how I'm going to keep him on my lap for 4 hours. I am not looking forward to it.
Oh, I decided to try Nico's Cookie Monster feet on him today to see what kinds of adjustments I need to make. Of course, he just wanted to play with them. I tried and tried to get him to stand up for a picture, but that was not happening. This was the best I could get.

As you can see, he was NOT happy with me. But I think that with a little trimming, the feet will work out fine.

Cookie Monster is coming along!

2008-10-14T10:44:00.001-07:00

Nico is going to be Cookie Monster for Halloween so I was sewing all weekend. It looks like we killed a smurf in here or something! There is blue fuzz everywhere! But the costume is coming along pretty nicely. Pretty much all I have left to do now is hem the legs and arms and attach the eyes. It has to be done by next weekend so I can bring it to Texas with us to show everyone. I took a few pictures the other day after finished attaching the arms to the jumpsuit. Here's what it looked like.

As you can see in the last one, the legs are definitely too long right now, but I had to make it that size for the rise to fit him. I think my boy has some stubby little legs! But I think it's going to turn out pretty cute.

Nico had his 9 month doctor's appointment yesterday, and I must say, the doctor was quite impressed with him. He couldn't believe how well Nico is walking . He kept saying what a great kid he is and that I must be really happy to have such a super baby. I mean, we already knew he was great, but it's kind of nice to hear the doctor say it too. All of the nurses were just in love with him too. They loved the little hat that he was wearing and of course his squeaky shoes. Although I think some of the other parents in the waiting room were getting a little annoyed by them. I guess those are probably shoes we should leave for home. But they're just so cute and they matched the shirt that he had on yesterday! Anyways, the doctor said that he can't wait to see Nico at his 1 year check to see what he's doing by then. Oh, and we didn't have to have any shots yesterday, so it was a good visit!

Halloween is coming!

2008-10-10T19:13:00.001-07:00

We've been getting ready for Halloween around her this week. On Monday, Nico and I decorated the house as best we could. I'm little more limited this year as to where I can put things because Nico's little hands are quite grabby these days. Nothing can be within his reach, which is surprisingly big! But it gives the house a nice, festive look. Then on Tuesday, we baked some yummy cupcakes. What's Halloweenish about that, you ask? Well, they weren't just any cupcakes, they were vampire cupcakes! See?

Cute, huh? I sent them to work with John and he said they all loved them. I must say, I was quite proud.
Then today, Charlotte came over wearing her Halloween jammies! They were too cute. And the outfit that Holly packed for the day was also a Halloween outfit, so Nico had to wear his Halloween outfit too. Charlotte looked so precious all decked out in orange.

And of course I had to get some of the two of them together.

I promise, he wasn't really trying to hit her. He was reaching for the pumpkin behind her. He is loving the stuffed pumpkins, that's for sure!
Don't I get to hang out with the two cutest kids around? I sure think so!

Getting ready for winter!

2008-10-04T18:08:00.000-07:00

We've been getting Nico's wardrobe ready for winter over the past couple of weeks. That involves getting him some wool longies. These are great because they serve as both pants and a diaper cover all in one. Last week we got this lovely blue interlock pair. A girl from my diaper forum is making testers in hopes of getting a WAHM business started soon, so we got a really great deal on them.

They're a little long on him now, but that just means they'll last all fall/winter/spring. I just love the color. They're so vibrant!
And today a pair of knit longies arrived. I am in love with them. They fit him like a glove and they're so soft. Not to mention the colors are fabulous.
Here he's trying to untie the drawstring, of course.

And he's posing nicely in this one.

And here's he's walking away. A good action shot though!

We also got a pair of recycled longies this week but I haven't taken any action shots of those yet. And we have two more pair of interlock ones on the way. I'd say we're set for the winter! Now I need to get busy washing and lanolizing so we can start enjoying them.

Walking Tall

2008-10-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

My mom has been begging to see some footage of Nico walking so I took our dinky little camera today and caught him in the act. He doesn't do a lot of walking in this video, but it's enough to get the idea. I never seem to have the camera when he does his jaunts across the living room. So here he is. Enjoy!

Battle Wounds

2008-10-02T16:23:00.001-07:00

Nico had his first "walking" accident yesterday. He's been getting more and more confident and trying to take more steps in the last few days. He actually took 9 consecutive steps last night! He's well on his way to being a biped. But he's still pretty wobbly and takes lots of tumbles. Yesterday afternoon he took a spill right into the edge of the entertainment center. He hit is face right under his eye and down by his mouth. He was a real trooper though. He only cried for a few seconds and as soon as I picked him up and talked to him, he stopped. But he did get a little battle wound. Here's a look from a few different angles.

That was just a few minutes after he did it. I thought he might end up with a black eye this morning, but it actually looks a lot better. There's still a small bruise, but nothing too noticeable. I know this is just the first of many bumps and bruises to come.

Which one?

2008-10-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

My new favorite diapers are called Goodmamas. They're made from organic bamboo velour and wow! are they soft! And super absorbent too. Anyways, they have a weekly photo contest where you can submit photos of your baby in one of their diapers and the winner goes on the front page of their website and wins a new diaper. Anyways, I'm thinking of submitting one this week but haven't decided which one yet. So help me choose.

Which one?

In the Driver's Seat

2008-10-01T10:07:00.000-07:00

We went up to Seattle this past weekend for a party and before we left town, we stopped off at the gas station to get some snacks and try to feed the Nico-man. John ran into the store and I brought Nico up to the front seat with me. He of course didn't want to eat. I can never get him to eat in the car. I think it's all of the buttons and things that he wants to play with distracting him. So, while we waited for John, Nico jumped into the driver's seat.

He had lots of fun playing up there. I had a hard time getting his attention for a picture. But he finally looked at me.

When John came back, he decided he needed to get some shots from the outside. Several people went by and looked at him like he was crazy. I guess it might look a little strange to be taking pictures of your car in the parking lot of a gas station if you couldn't see the cute baby in there! But the pictures sure turned out cute.

Needless to say, Nico was not happy when we put him back in his car seat. I think HE wanted to drive to Seattle!

On another note, we have begun to wean Nico off of his pacifier. For about the past 5 or 6 days, he's only had it at nap time and bed time. The first day, he had a small melt down and I broke down and gave it to him in the afternoon, but other than that, he's done really well. I think we'll wait awhile though before we take it away completely. Let him get used to not having it all the time first, you know. So you'll probably be seeing a lot less pictures like this.

Look at those beautiful blue eyes!

Down on the farm

2008-09-26T09:12:00.001-07:00

Nico and I went with some friends to a farm in Olympia earlier this week. It was a lot of fun. They have lots of animals that you can feed and a neat little store where they sell their fresh produce, cider and baked goods. Lots of yummy stuff! The kids really had a good time feeding the animals. There were chickens, turkeys, peacocks, sheep, a pig, goats, both big and small! They had two really adorable baby goats. They were so sweet and gentle. And there was the biggest turkey I've ever seen there! His name is Tom and apparently, he's the main attraction in November. During October, they have an apple festival and they do hay rides and other fun things for the kids. I think John and I might go down one weekend.
Here's Nico looking at the baby goats.

And looking at me.

Here he is standing in front of the pig pen.

And this was him looking at the GIANT turkey!

And just one more because he's such a cutie pie!

Nico really did enjoy looking at all of the animals. I can't wait til he's old enough to actually feed them!

He took a step!

2008-09-26T09:08:00.001-07:00

Nico took his first step on Monday! He did it three different times. He was standing up all by himself, then he picked up his foot and took a step. Then, of course, he promptly fell on his bum. Then on Wednesday he took three steps together. He went from the chair to the ottoman. And now he just cruises along the furniture, taking a step then planting one hand for stability. I really don't think it'll be long before he's really walking. He's growing up too fast!

He's an addict!

2008-09-18T10:23:00.003-07:00

Addicted to pacis, that is. Last night there were two of Nico's pacis sitting on the edge of the entertainment center and one more on the floor. He found all three of them, of course, and put one in his mouth and one in each hand.

Because one is never enough! Silly boy!
And this morning he had one in his mouth and then found another on the floor. He'd take the one out of his mouth and put the other one in. Then a couple seconds later, he'd take the one out of his mouth and put the other one back in. He did that over and over. I guess he just couldn't decide which one was better.

While my mom was in town, she bought him some new big boy pajamas. His footy ones were just getting too short in the rise. The snaps kept coming undone! So we bought him a size 18 month. He should be able to wear these all winter. Look how cute he is!

I think these are my favorites.

Just look at my little chunker!

He's getting so big!

2008-09-18T10:23:00.002-07:00

I'm sure it won't be too long before the little man is walking. He's started maneuvering around the furniture, walking from the entertainment center to the couch to the love seat to the chair. Every once in a while he must forget that he can't do it without holding on, and he takes a tumble. But just yesterday he let go of his safety net at least three times and stood all on his own for a few seconds. He's definitely getting stronger. Where did my little baby go???

On another note, we won a small battle with Nico's sleeping habits. John has never been able to get Nico to go to sleep. This is probably my fault because he often nurses to sleep, but none the less, I pretty much always have to get up with him in the night. Since I've been keeping Charlotte, I have to get out of bed around 6:3o in the mornings. John doesn't usually get up until about 7:45. Nico is almost always in our bed at that time. With me getting up so early, Nico started waking up early too. No fun for Daddy, because I'm in the shower and getting ready so he just has to deal with a fussy boy. But for the past 3 days, John has gotten Nico back to sleep! Yay! He's slept until about 7:45 or 8:00 which is great! It allows me to get Charlotte fed and changed before he wakes up. I snapped this picture the other morning because I thought it was just too cute.

My sleeping boys.
Oh, and the other night Nico woke up around 1 am. I decided to let John see what he could do. Nico cried for quite a while, but I just left them in there to work it out. After about 10 minutes or so, Nico gave it up and went back to sleep! He didn't wake up again until about 3:30 to eat! John was so proud and so was I!

Into the box

2008-09-18T10:23:00.001-07:00

We bought a cloth storage box to keep Nico's toys in. They had begun to take over the living room. He sometimes has a hard time reaching down into the box to get his toys so I usually turn in on it's side when he's playing. Then of course he pulls EVERYTHING out!

See? He's a mess maker, for sure! But what's really cute is after he gets most of the toys out, he'll climb into it to get those last few.

He's got to make sure there is absolutely nothing left in there! What kind of mess maker would he be if he didn't get all of them into the middle of the floor?

Bet you've been wondering.....

2008-09-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

Where have we been? Just super busy, that's all. I've started watching Charlotte, Frank and Holly's baby, during the work week since Holly has gone back to work. Keeping up with two infants is pretty hectic! Although I must say I'm really lucky. Nico entertains himself really well and Charlotte is a pretty easy baby. She sleeps a lot! Way more than Nico ever thought about sleeping! But we're having a good time. Nico loves to play with her when she's on the floor under the play gym.

I have to keep a close eye on him though. Sometimes he's just too rough! I also have to make sure he doesn't steal her paci! He's done that one a few times. Luckily, Holly bought pink and purple ones for Charlotte, otherwise I'd never know who's he had.

See? He's sucking her pink one and his is on the floor. He had his in his mouth until he saw hers laying beside her and he just had to have it! Silly boy!
And here they are both happily sucking away.

He's seems so huge compared to her. She's so light and dainty. Nico was never like that. Guess maybe that's just the difference between boys and girls! She sure is a sweetheart.

I think it has nails

2008-08-31T09:33:00.000-07:00

Nico's crib, that is. After almost 3 weeks in our bed, he doesn't seem to want to sleep in his own room anymore. He goes down just fine at bed time, but he seems to wake up between 10 and 11 for some reason. I can usually get him back to sleep at this point but not for long. Last night he was up again around 11:45. I got him back to sleep, but as soon as I laid him down in his bed, he screamed. I'd pick him back up and he was out cold. I laid him down again and the screaming ensued. This is what I've dealt with for the past 3 nights. I try, I really do. But after an hour of this in the middle of the night, Nico's will seems to be a little stronger than mine, and I give in. I need sleep! Especially since starting Tuesday, I'm going to have Charlotte during the days. We'll keep trying. I just really hope that we get it figured out soon.

We finally got it!

2008-08-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

We finally got our new crib! Yay! We went and picked it out last night. We ended up spending more than our voucher was for, but it was totally worth it! We were kind of limited with our choices as it was because we wanted something that some what matched his other furniture. Once we picked one out, the sales person told us they would have to order it and it would be about 2 weeks before it got there. No way! We needed a crib right then! So we looked around some more and asked about a gazillion different cribs and they didn't have any of them. We finally found one that the South Center store had in stock so we would have had to go pick it up tonight. But it wasn't really one that we liked very much and I didn't want to settle. So we asked about one last crib. It was actually one that we had both liked initially but we thought it was a little too pricey. But we decided it would be worth the extra $100 if we could have it right away. And what do you know, they had it! I was so happy. We went right home and put it together. Nico wasn't able to get to bed until about 9:30, and it was a pretty rough night. He was up at least 3 times. I think its just going to take us a little time to get him back into his normal sleep routine. But I was able to keep him in his crib all night. He didn't even get in bed with us this morning. And he's napping right now! This is the longest nap he's taken in a long time. He woke up after about 30 minutes, but I went in and rocked him back to sleep and he's been asleep for about 45 minutes since then. So that's an hour and 15 minutes total!
So here are some pictures of the new crib.

It's a little darker than the rest of his furniture, but it doesn't look bad. It also seems to be smaller overall than his other crib so we have a little more room. We put the mattress on the lowest setting so we don't have to worry about lowering it again in a few months.

Here's Nico standing up in it. I think the lowest setting was the right choice.
So, here's hoping we have a good night's sleep tonight!

Like father, like son

2008-08-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Looks like Nico wants to go to work too!

But it's just too darn heavy to pick up.

Put your hands up!

2008-08-27T14:01:00.001-07:00

I caught him red-handed! I finally got a picture of him like this after many attempts. I tried to get one of him "kissing" the wall, but I just wasn't quick enough. I'll keep trying.

Here he is opening up the entertainment center.

I guess he was wanting to find a good movie to watch.
I've decided that we're going to have to put latches on the doors because he just won't stop opening them! This side's not such a big deal because all that's in there are DVDs, but the other side has lots of extra wires and what not. And of course he wants to pull them all out.

And as you can see, I have to keep his music table right in front of the TV because the DVD player sits on a shelf right under it. When the table's not there, he goes right for it. He even sometimes slides the table over and grabs for it anyways! He's a handful, that's for sure!

So Nico helps me cook quite frequently. I put him on my back and we make bread, cookies, dinner, pretty much what ever I need to cook. The other day, he decided to help me pick out a recipe.

The cookbooks sit in that basket at the edge of the kitchen. He's always over there messing with them.

He actually did pick a recipe. He tore it right out of the book! Guess that's what I get for letting him play with it.

A day at the zoo!

2008-08-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

This weekend John, Nico and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We met up with some other families from a cloth diapering forum that I belong to. It was a lot of fun to talk cloth with other people who love it as much as I do! When I told John the night before that we were meeting at the zoo at 10:30 am, he said, "That early?" I wanted to know what time HE would have chosen and he said that 1 pm sounded like a good time. Ha! He's obviously never been to the zoo with kids before! So we got to the zoo at around 10:30 and didn't leave until 5ish. By the end of the day, John understood why it was necessary to get there so early. He decided that parent time is about 2 hours slower than regular time. It just takes us so much longer to do anything. Especially when there are 5 families with small children trying to make their way through the zoo. We were constantly stopping to change diapers or feed babies. But we all had a really good time!

Here's Nico and me looking at the flamingos! Apparently it was a big deal for the flamingos to be there. They had signs everywhere saying, "The flamingos are here!"

When we stopped for lunch, we got the guys to change the babies while we looked at each others diapers. Now I've got some new things on my wish list!

Here's Nico and me with our new friends Justine and Bo. Bo is almost 3 months old. Isn't he a cutie?

And here are all of us mamas! From left to right: Rachel with Cooper, Meagan and Hannah (with her back to us), Justine and Bo, Me and Nico, Beth with Elias and Anna, and Rochelle with Tristin and Tattem.
We all decided that we'll have to do this again next year when the penguins will be there!

WOW!

2008-08-20T17:57:00.001-07:00

John was laying in the middle of the living room floor playing with Nico this evening. Nico was standing up with his hands in John's face to support himself. John was on the phone, so he pulled Nico's hands off. Well instead of just falling to the ground, Nico stood all by himself for about 3 seconds! John and I were freaking out! We've got a super baby!

Escape from the chair

2008-08-20T17:51:00.001-07:00

Nico has learned to escape the Bumbo chair. This morning I had him sitting in it beside me at the computer in our bedroom so I could print a recipe for our picky eaters mom's group today. I guess Nico had other plans, though, because he did not want to stay put. Here's the action sequence.

Sitting in the chair

Making the escape

And on the floor

Looks like I'm going to have to find something new to entertain the little man when I need to do things!

Updates on the Nico-man!

2008-08-20T15:38:00.000-07:00

We still have no crib! *sigh* It's really getting old! Luckily he's been sleeping pretty well at night. Of course, he seems to want to eat more at night since I'm right there beside him, so I hope that doesn't become a habit! Okay, on a brighter note, Nico is doing some new things. When we got our new furniture, we rearranged our living room. Now the fireplace is pretty much blocked off, which is a good thing. Nico always made a bee line straight for it. Now he heads for the entertainment center. Unfortunately, the shelf for the DVD player is open and he can get right to it. For now, I've put his music table in front of it which seems to work pretty well. But sometimes he'll just stand and stare at the TV.

In this one you can see the little finger prints he's left behind.

I guess maybe I shouldn't leave it on all the time, but I just like to have the background noise.
His other new thing is standing up against the wall.

He'll crawl up to the wall and put his hands up on it like he's being held up. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get a picture of that yet. Every time I grab the camera he turns around to look at me. He also likes to lick the wall. What a silly guy!

Last weekend Uncle Mike and Aunt Barb had us over and gave us a TON of fruit. They sent us home with a bag of apples, a bag of pears and a bunch of rhubarb. So I decided to make a rhubarb custard cake. I've never worked with rhubarb before and wasn't exactly sure how it would turn out, but I must say it was delicious! And I think the recipe would be just as good with strawberries or raspberries or blackberries or blueberries. Pretty much any kind of berry. Now I just need to go make some applesauce!

MIA

2008-08-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted lately and believe me, Nico is up to all kinds of new things. But since we have no crib at the moment, Nico has been napping in our bedroom, which means I can't use the computer in there to upload pictures and what not. His nap time is usually when I get a chance to update the blog. He's such a little busy body these days that it's almost impossible to get it done while he's awake. Hopefully our crib voucher will come soon so we can get back to our usual routine and I can get back to blogging!

New Furniture...Yay!

2008-08-12T16:39:00.001-07:00

We got new couches today! Yay! We went and picked them out last Thursday night and they were delivered today! We could have had them the next day, but we really needed to get rid of our other furniture first. We listed our couch, chair and coffee table on craigslist and got rid of the couch and chair really quickly. So we've been living with just the leather chair in our living room for the past couple of days. Oh well, it's all here now and I really like the new lay out. I tried to take a few pictures, but it's kind of hard to tell much about the couches. But here they are anyways.

And Nico's already learned to pull up on the couch.

And just because he's so cute....

Standing tall

2008-08-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

Nico has been pulling himself up on the bed rails on our bed for a while, but this weekend he pulled up on the coffee table for the first time. Now that's all he does! Here he is in action.
First he starts out on his tummy.

Then he pulls himself up to his knees.

Then all the way to standing!

He's such a strong guy!
He also figured out how to stand up in his crib this weekend, too. Sunday morning he woke up at about 3:45 am. I rolled over and told John to go get him. Apparently he kind of dozed off again and about 5 minutes later I told him again to go get him. Nico was being kind of quiet by this time but I had a sudden feeling that he might be up to no good. When John got in there, he said Nico was standing up looking over the edge of the crib. Good thing he didn't decide to take a dive. Anyway, we decided we needed to lower his mattress. While John was working on lowering it, he somehow broke one of the support beams on the crib. Ooops! Luckily for us, the crib is under a voluntary recall. We had been debating whether or not we were going to send in the parts to get our voucher, but this little turn of events made up our mind for us. So, Nico's been sleeping in our bed for the past few nights. He's done really well so far at night, but he does not want to nap in there! He hasn't had a nap that's lasted more than 30 minutes in 2 days. Ugh! They said the voucher should be here in a week or so. I sure hope so, because I miss having a crib!

So I can stop stalking the mailman...

2008-08-06T14:36:00.001-07:00

My (or should I say Nico's) Kiwi Peel finally came! Yay! I ordered it way back on the 12th of July and it just came today. It was back ordered so I was really glad when I received my shipping notice on Saturday. I was a little worried when I first opened the package because it looked kind of small.

But it fits like a glove. So nice and trim. He can even wear it under clothes, which is a big plus. And isn't it a beautiful blue? I'm in love.

Here's Nico trying it out. He wasn't' being very cooperative for pictures. But I did get a good one of his little bum so you can see the great fit.

AND they sent a doubler along in the package too! This thing could easily go all night. I might give it a try with the diaper I made.

On another note, check out what my friend Laurel brought me today.

That's one big zucchini! And in case you can't quite tell how big it really is, here's a picture with a reference point.

That's my toaster being dwarfed by it! So, now I need to find a good recipe for zucchini bread. Yum!

Keeping busy

2008-08-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

We've been keeping busy lately with lots of crafts and cooking. Monday was the baby shower for Holly and Charlotte, so I made a blanket for them. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures of it before hand so you can't see my handy work. It's kind of a bright pink background with bright colored flowers on it. My sewing wasn't the best I've ever done, but it turned out okay. I've also been working on some new diapers for Charlotte. I'm making pocket fitteds that have a small soaker pad sewn in as well. I think they'll work out pretty well. The first one I made using the size small pattern. I figured it would work. Well, it turned out WAY too big. The diaper actually fit Nico!

And yes, that is the same Don't Mess With Texas shirt that he was wearing at 4 weeks. That thing has amazing stretch!
So anyways, I had to make a new diaper for little bit. Now she and Nico can match!

It's not quite done yet. I still need to sew in the velcro tabs and top stitch it, but it definitely looks like it will fit her. MUCH smaller than the other one.
The outer fabric is a knit print. Then I did another layer of flannel with a terry soaker sewn in. The inner fabric is a nice soft fleece (which will keep her feeling dry). When I tried it out on Nico, I stuffed the pocket with a microfiber towel, and that diaper held up great! I pretty much always change Nico's diaper at LEAST every 2 hours but I kind of wanted to see how long this one could go. He was in it for probably 4 hours before it even felt damp on the outside! I'd say I did a pretty good job this time around.
I've also been busy making some new wipes.

Aren't those fun prints? They're made of flannel and terry. They're nice and soft and have worked well so far. I've only gotten about 8 done as of yet, but I've got plenty more fabric and they're super quick to make. I figure when Charlotte starts staying with us, I'm going to need more wipes. I've got fabric all over the living room and kitchen. It's starting to drive me crazy so I just need to get it all sewn up. Have I mentioned that I love staying at home with Nico so I have time to do this kind of thing?

Party time!

2008-08-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Anthony's 1st birthday party. They had it out at Uncle Lou's beach house on Fox Island. There were so many little kids there! Everyone in the family has been having babies lately, you know. Nico got to wear his first party hat.

I think it looked pretty good on him. And he didn't try to take it off at all. They had this really cool battery operated airplane there too. It's like those cars that kids can drive around, except it looks like an airplane. It was so cool! I totally would have loved one of these things when I was a kid. Anyways, we let Nico play in it for a while. He's getting so strong, he pulled himself up to standing. He did that for the first time a couple of days ago on the bed rail on our bed.
Look how much fun he had.

There were all kinds of buttons and things he was trying to figure out.
And here he is standing all by himself!

He's growing up so fast!
Not only is he pulling himself up now, he also sat himself up all by himself the other day. I was in the kitchen sewing and he was crawling around on the living room floor. He went over on the other side of the coffee table where I couldn't see him so I got up to check on him. When I went over there, he was sitting up! I wish I had seen how he did. I know he's been really close to doing it a lot lately, but I just wanted to see it, you know? He hasn't done it again (that I know of!), so I'm still waiting to see it.
When we got home from the party yesterday, our apartment complex was having a party of it's own. We stopped by for a few minutes before we took Nico up to get a bath and ready for bed. He even won an award for being the youngest resident. He got a neat little certificate and a teddy bear too! He must have been pretty worn out from all that partying because he went to bed at just a little after 8 and didn't wake up to eat until about 3:30. Then he went right back to sleep and woke up around 6:45 or so. John got up with him for about an hour, I guess, but Nico got fussy so he brought him back to bed. Nico slept until almost 10!!! What a sleepy head! But mom wasn't complaining because that meant I got to sleep in too!

My first pocket

2008-08-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Monday night some of the girls from my stay-at-home moms group got together to do some sewing. We all made a pocket diaper. Laurel, one of the girls in the group, has sewed her entire stash, so she brought some fabric and all of her expertise and helped us all make one. Now I've made a few diapers before, but only fitteds (meaning they still need a cover). This one is more like my BumGenius diapers. It's got a waterproof outer layer, a stay dry inner layer and I stuff it with an insert to make it absorbent. It actually turned out pretty cute! Here's Nico modeling it for me.

(See how happy he is to have Cookie Monster back?*)
And here's the side view.

I used a blue stitching to go with the inner fabric. It actually looks better in person than it does in the picture.
And here's one of his cute little bum!

See? It's a pretty good fit. And it's actually nice and trim under his clothes.
Now I'm working on making some diapers for little Charlotte when she stays at my house. And I got some super cute flannel today to make some more wipes. I'll have to post some pictures when I get them all finished.

*When we were in Texas, we found a new Cookie Monster at Babies R Us. My mom, Nico and I were looking at some clothes and Pam and Amy went to see if they could find a new Cookie Monster. Well they did! Nico was so excited when he saw it. The look on his face was priceless. He reached out and grabbed him and put him right in his mouth as if to say, "Hey, where have you been?" He was happy the rest of the day.

A tooth! A tooth!

2008-07-25T12:50:00.001-07:00

He finally has one! He cut one of his bottom teeth on the 2oth! How exciting? I think he may be going to cut the other bottom tooth soon too, because the gums seem to be swollen. He hasn't been sleeping very well the past few nights, and I'm really hoping it has to do with the new teeth and not just a new sleeping pattern. I can't wait til it actually comes all the way in so I can get some good pictures of it.

First taste

2008-07-25T12:45:00.000-07:00

The day after we got back from Canada, Nico had another first. We gave him solid food for the first time. My baby is growing up!

He just got cereal mixed with a little breast milk the first day. He did okay with it, but wasn't really crazy about it. He liked the carrots we mixed in much better the next day. A couple days later, I tried to give him avacado mixed with breast milk, but he REALLY didn't like it. He made the yuckiest face and wouldn't open his mouth. I ended up just giving him carrots and cereal again. I'm definitely going to try it with him again though. It's so healthy! He had peas for the first time today and seemed to like them pretty well. I think we're going to have a good eater on our hands!