Talking!

Nicholas is finally starting to say some real understandable words! He says "uh oh," "doggy," "boo," and "go." It is so cute! A very random selection of words but that's okay, I'll take what I can get. We tried to get him on video today but he wouldn't talk when I turned on the camera. We also wanted to get him pretending to say "mama." He refuses to say it and only makes a popping sound with his lips! He's such a goof! Hopefully this is the start of a language explosion!


I'll have some new updates soon. I've just got to get some of my pictures uploaded and sorted out. Then I'll actually have some new posts on here!

Our first real injury :(

We've done the scrapes and cuts but today we got our first real blood drawing injury. At our mom's group Halloween party Nicholas fell. Smacked his chin directly down into something. The blood came gushing out and I was terrified that he'd knocked out some of his perfect little teeth. Luckily there is a nurse in the group who swiftly grabbed him up and ran him to the kitchen. We got the blood soaked up pretty well with some paper towels. I was shaking like crazy and apparently white as a ghost! She checked his teeth and said they were all in there still and none were loose. Thank God! He made it through lunch and then we headed home for a long nap. He was better later after a dose of Motrin. And this evening he's been back to his normal goofy self. I can handle all the scrapes, cuts, falls in the world but his teeth and eyes are my biggest things. I am terrified of him hurting them!

On a happier note, here are a few quick pictures I was able to snap of him in his costume. He wouldn't hold the sword or parrot yet so we'll try to get some pictures of him in full costume soon.

Corn Maze! Pumpkins!!

On Sunday we ventured out to the local corn maze. It was a lot of fun and we made it through the giant maze in an hour. We did it with 2 of the families from my mom's group and were lucky that one of them bought the magic glasses to see the maze on paper so he could lead us out in a decent amount of time! We also did a short hay ride, Nicholas loved the tractor pulling us! He had been pointing at the hayride all day so I know he was happy to actually get to do it. We also walked around among the few pumpkins they had and met a scarecrow.








This last picture is from the Fall Festival we went to at the local elementary. It looked like fun for the bigger kids but nothing Nicholas could do. It was nice to see the school though since someday I could be teaching at it and Nicholas could be attending it!

Learning something new everyday!

Nicholas has really mastered sign language now. He has a list of words he can sign and he uses them on his own in the correct manner many times a day! He doesn't have many real spoken words yet but he's really communicating with sign. His list includes...

More
Eat
All Done
Please
Thank You
Fish
And his own made up sign for Open

He's also really getting good with knowing his body parts. He can point to eyes, ears, head, nose, mouth, tongue/teeth, feet (stinky feet!), belly/belly button and I do believe he knows hands because when I say we need to wash his hands he holds them out for me. We are working on learning cheeks.

I love this age and seeing all the new things he does everyday!

He's so smart!

Let me brag a minute about my smart little man. Tonight Nicholas was pulling on my blanket and I kept telling him "that's not your blanket!" Scott then says "That's Not my Dragon" (the name of Nicholas' favorite book). Suddenly Nicholas stops, drops the blanket and runs away. I joked that he'd be so smart if he came back with the book. Well guess what? He did!! He went to his room, found it on the bookshelf and brought it to me to read to him. He's so smart!

What's new with Nicholas!

We've had some busy days lately so I haven't had a chance to update. We've been to Gymboree class, Monkey Joe's (inflatables place), Sea World, and well just the park! Nicholas is having a blast getting to do all kinds of climbing and running. I love our Mom's group because it gets us out of the house and active! We are looking forward to a very jam packed week next week also!

Here are a few pictures from these past week. It is hard to get Gymboree pictures because I'm having to be on constant guard that he isn't going to topple off of something! He did do a somersault off of a very thick mat because he hasn't quite mastered stepping down off of things and was too impatient to wait for me to get across to him! Ah, to be the mom of a boy!

Gymboree...

Monkey Joe's...

His favorite thing at Monkey Joe's was the $.25 horse!! He liked it even better than the slides!

Sea World...

Sea World!!

Since Scott and I went ahead and bought an annual pass to Sea World we figured we'd take advantage of it and head out today to enjoy the park. We started the morning with a pancake breakfast at Chili's. Yes Chili's! They were doing a fund raiser for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. It was excellent, we even had to buy Nicholas his own plate because he devoured it (despite having eaten breakfast at home before we left!). Then off we went to Sea World. We enjoyed a rather entertaining pirate show staring a few sea lions, otters and a giant walrus. Followed by a walk through the shark tunnel, Nicholas loved watching the fish swimming all around us. And then his all time favorite event, the splash park!! This kid LOVES water! He was a bit hesitant at first being surrounded by older kids but once he got comfortable there was no stopping him. He was darting all over the area playing with the water and kids. I've never seen him so happy! He didn't want to leave. He'd occassionally wander out of the splash area so I'd say "Nicholas are you all done playing?" Which was always answered with a giant shake of the head no and a run back into the water! Once we finally coerced him out of the splash park we went onto a kiddie ride that scared me more than it did him! I hate heights!! We then moved on to a ride more my speed, the carousel. Nicholas was notably tired so we decided our day was done and home we went. It was a fun day and we can't wait to go back!!

UCF Game

Nicholas attended his 2nd football game!! A UCF game, it doesn't get any better than that!! Despite some rain we had a great time and really enjoyed hanging out with Heather, Don and DJ! UCF won the game!! Go Knights!

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, I think there was rain on my lens.

Gymboree

On Labor Day Nicholas attended his first Gymboree class! He had a blast playing with the other kids and climbing all over the gym. We'll be going to classes there on Mondays during September.

A visit from his cousin!

Tuesday afternoon Nicholas awoke to find his house filled with new people, his aunt, uncle and cousin! After 10min of staring them down he decided this would be fun! He and Addison enjoyed a few hour of play with every toy he owns leaving a wake of destruction in their path! Afterwards we went to dinner at Oakridge BBQ and got some sleep cause the next day would be packed full of fun!

Nicholas and I met up with all of Colleen's family at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary hotel at Disney. The kids loved it! They were both dancing away to the music and enthralled by the people waving their napkins in the air (we missed you Alice!). The first character to visit our table was Donald Duck followed by Mickey himself! Both kids stared at them in total disbelief. The 3rd character was a different story. Over walks Pluto, a giant dog I thought Nicholas would love. Well he did, until I got the bright idea to move his hand to pet Pluto. Then the lip shot out and the tears welled up and he was struck with complete terror. After that, every character who approached us was greeted by Addison's smiles and Nicholas' tears! Oops. I'm interested to see how he handles Santa this year! I just won't make him touch the beard!

After lunch we loaded into cars and headed back to the house. What should have been a 10min drive turned into a half hour of Colleen, Nicholas, and me driving around Disney looking for our exit! We eventually found it and made it home to the rest of the group. Addison was already napping and Nicholas although exhausted refused. So he played while the men played Playstation Golf (I saw a lot of balls in the sand bunkers, they play like I do!). After a few hours we decided it was swim time. Nicholas loved it, floating and kicking his way around the pool. Addison enjoyed it so long as her head didn't have to go under the water! We finished the night with pizza and a long drive home with a sleepy baby! It was a really fun day!

(I didn't remember my camera so pictures will be posted when I get them from Colleen)

Don't worry, you won't get wet...

Animal Kingdom

Scott, Nicholas and me meeting Timon from The Lion King before entering the park.

Yesterday we went to Animal Kingdom. My parents joined us for Nicholas' first Disney trip! I've never been to Animal Kingdom and neither had they so it was a first for 4 of the 5 of us. We had a great time! The weather was pretty drizzly all day but that kept the temperature down (still humid as can be!) but we really had a fun time. Nicholas got to go on his first real ride, a Dino flier ride, basically the Dumbo ride but with Dinos instead. He enjoyed it!! We did the Safari tour and saw all the animals, they were all out and active which was wonderful. Nicholas got to see his first giraffe, elephant, rhino and hippo! After the safari we walked through the animal habitat section and Nicholas pretended to swim with the fish. Nicholas was a big fan of the fossil dig and play area.





Mid day Nicholas decided it was nap time so while my dad sat with him Scott, mom and I decided to venture onto the rapids ride. The only water ride in the park. We got into what claimed to be a 50 min wait line, which really meant you practically walk right up to the ride. In line we read a sign stating "You may get SOAKED" to which my mom got nervous asking if she would be getting really wet. Being the good daughter I am, I promised she wouldn't be the one to get SOAKED as the sign described. Her response "You pretty much just guaranteed I'd be the one." Proceed to the ride, we get seated in the giant circle with a group of people and their 4 kids. My mom sits next to a man who quickly remarks "I just really don't want to get too wet." That sealed the deal, we knew they'd be getting SOAKED. Up the hill we went leading the 2 people who begged not to get wet directly into the geyser. A little wet, nothing unbearable. We assure them that the next big water spot can't possibly hit them again. What happens next I swear happened in slow motion. Our raft begins down a hill, as the raft hits the bottom a GIANT wave raises up...I watch as it crashes over top of the only two people on the raft who "didn't want to get wet." As the wave dissipates it leaves them both SOAKED (just as the sign said!) dripping water from their hair and clothes. I have never heard laughter erupt like it did at that moment. Only one moment in time tops that as my funniest moment ever (Doug and Cindy know what the funniest moment of all time was! Thanks Doug for the laugh). I wish I had a video of it to share with y'all, my description will never do it justice. We then exit the ride to find my dad who upon viewing my mom cracks up at his now water logged wife! She was a good sport though and even ventured willingly back into the line (this time boasting a 40min wait that was really a 40min wait!). I got much more wet this time, although the mom of 2 beside me took the brunt of the water. Scott managed to avoid clothes soaking wet on both rides. We returned to my dad to find Nicholas awake and enjoying an iced lemonade. We completed the day with a few more animal stops and a parade that Nicholas thoroughly enjoyed. We had a very fun day and Nicholas enjoyed his first day at Disney!

Girls 2, Boys 1

Nicholas is beginning to feel out numbered. We just found out that his new cousin is going to be a girl! We're all very excited, but he was secretly wishing for another boy in the family! Good thing his play group is 90% boys!


On another note, our refrigerator died yesterday. Wonderful. Really fun to go to serve yourself ice cream and find it completely melted! The repair man came today...and shocking...he couldn't fix it. We have to call another person who is coming tomorrow, sometime, between 8 and 5. Glad he could narrow it down like that for us. I secretly hope they tell us it is unrepairable so we'll get an allowance to buy a new fridge and I can get one I really want (you know the 2 door fridge on top of the freezer). I know it won't ever work out like that for us though, Murphy's law.

Here's a cute picture of Nicholas just because!

What were we thinking!?!

Scott and I (well really more me) had the brilliant idea to begin the Couch to 5K program. We're trying to kick weight loss into high gear! Between pregnancy and a thyroid condition I've done a great deal more gaining than losing in the last two years. Yeah, what were we thinking!? We did day one today 20min of a walk (90sec), jog (60sec) rotation. I thought I was going to DIE!!! Seriously, I ran track in high school, albeit VERY slowly, but I could do 3 miles. Today I couldn't even do 3 seconds! I'm only posting this here because we figured if the world knows we're doing it we might be more inclined to continue!

"The 2nd of a diet is always easier than the 1st. By the 2nd day you're off it."
- Jackie Gleason

The next Michael Phelps?

Could it be? A future Olympian in our midst?

Not my child...

I've officially decided that there is no way Nicholas is my child. No child that spent 9m inside me could possibly love spaghetti as much as he does AND bananas! Suspicious anyone?

On the bandwagon...

I decided that I'd start a blog, everyone else is doing it! Why not me? With family living in different states and spread around what better way to keep up with our day to day lives than a blog. I'm sure it won't be the most exciting, highly read blog but everyone will get to see Nicholas grow and hear about our adventures and misadventures of parenting!