New pics!

What could possibly be more exciting than new Nicky pics?! JM took some wonderful photos when we were over to her place for dinner last week. I just got them yesterday and they're awesome! I had a hard time choosing which to put online, so there are quite a few. Nearly 40 actually. Well, I can't help it! He's adorable and I'm seriously missing having a working camera at my disposal. I must do something about that soon.

Anyway, the photos are up, and here's a nice sample:


Told you he's adorable!

Well Friday was my *gulp* birthday. I'm 29 (again). I have considered possibly not being 29, but it doesn't feel very good when I start imagining higher numbers, so I won't think about that today. Maybe next year.

Tom, Donna and I went out Friday to see Harry Potter's 5th movie. It was great! Of course they had to leave out TONS of stuff. But I was careful this time and didn't reread the book till after watching the movie so I wasn't too upset by the changes. I just reread the book today and I must say the book is lightyears better than the movie. No surprise of course. My main birthday present was actually the last Harry Potter book. I got that the day it came out and read it in just over 24 hours or so. Amazing! Incredible! LOVED IT! And there is no way I'm spoiling it for anyone. If you read HP, enjoy it! And if you don't read HP... well why the heck not? I can't imagine anyone not liking the books. Aw well.

While we were out at the movies, Tom's dad and JM came to watch Nicky for the evening. On the way home I was a little worried that he'd be trouble going to bed and that they might not be able to let him cry it out and he'd still be up and overtired (it was nearly 11pm when we got home). But apparently Nicky was an angel for them. JM described how Nicky basically showed them exactly how to put him to sleep. She described it thus:

She took Nicky in to brush his teeth, which he didn't like much. And then into the bedroom. Turned out the light, but then she was having a hard time seeing how to turn on his music so she went and turned the light back on. She was looking at the stereo trying to figure out how to turn on the music when Nicky pointed at the button for her. She pushed that button and the music started.

So she turned off the light again and was swaying with him to the music when Grandpa came in. Nicky pointed to Grandpa and JM handed him over. Grandpa held Nicky for about a minute and then pointed to his bed. They laid him in his bed and Nicky pointed to his binkies (which hang on the side of his crib). They gave him his binkies and he laid down to go to sleep.

I can't believe how GOOD he was! We're so lucky!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Nicky-Update

To bring you a link to Toddler Planet. WhyMommy is a lovely lady with two adorable young children. I read her blog over at Toddler Planet. She was just recently was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC).

This is an incredibly aggressive form of breast cancer that does NOT start with a lump. NO lump is involved at all. Please read her post I linked to above, and take it to heart. If you notice some of the following symptoms or detect any changes in your breast please contact your GYN and ask if they know about Inflamatory Breast Cancer and tell her/him you want to come in to be seen:

redness
rapid increase in size of one breast
persistent itching of breast or nipple
thickening of breast tissue
stabbing pain
soreness
swelling under the arm
dimpling or ridging (for example, when you take your bra off, the bra marks stay – for a while)
flattening or retracting of the nipple
a texture that looks or feels like an orange

And pass the word along.

COLOR in his cheeks!

Yesterday was a big day for Nicky. His Nana bought him his first pair of big-boy sneakers that really fit his feet perfectly. So we put shoes and socks on him and I took him outside with his Aunts and my mom to walk on the driveway. I'd been keeping him mostly inside up till now because we have so many fire ants in our yard and they're just everywhere. His sandals don't offer much protection, and up until recently he'd have been dropping down to crawl anyway. Not a good idea with fire ants everywhere you look.

But yesterday he learned how to walk fast downhill and slow uphill. We have a very slight incline in our driveway down to the street, and it was a lot of exercise for him compared to walking inside on a perfectly flat surface in the air-conditioning. After about 5-10 minutes he was worn out, sweaty and had rosy cheeks. So we waved bye-bye to his Grandmomma and Aunts and then I took him inside, gave him water, laid him on his changing table and ran a cool wet washcloth over him to help him cool off. I also woke Tom up from his nap telling him to come make sure Nicky wasn't having heat exhaustion or something. I mean, he had COLOR in his cheeks for God's sake! Tom officially things I'm a wacko in case you were wondering.

Nicky took a nice nap after cooling down, and shortly after waking we took him over to Grandma and Grandpa's for Sunday dinner. We had spaghetti on the porch, which was messy (mostly because Tom and I totally forgot to bring his highchair-oops) and then Tom, Nicky and JM went out to walk around in the grass and look at the horses. He had such a good time looking at the horses, and Spice let Nicky pet her.

I haven't seen the photos yet, but JM already called me to tell me she got some really good ones on the porch after dinner. And she took more while they were outside. The grass was high from all the glorious rain we've been getting lately, and I can just imagine how cute Nicky looks walking around in it.

Of course walking around in the yard also meant he once again had color in his cheeks, which meant I met them with a wet paper towel and a sippy cup of water the second they all came inside so I could cool Nicky down. I swear, I'm not really a freak, I'm just a little cautious about all this sweat and stuff. :)

Speaking of dinner, we ended up using one of Grandpas old belts to lash Nicky into one of the barstools and pulled him up to the table. That put him up a bit too high, but it worked pretty well. Once the spaghetti tossing commenced we figured he was full and cleaned him up a bit. And then turned the seat around so he could watch Mocha. Mocha is their new kitten. She's so adorable, and she was in her crate behind Nicky's chair. She's a new, rescued kitty, and she's blind in at least one eye, but she was having such fun playing with the newspaper and toys in her crate, and Nicky was just fascinated by her. He actually watched her happily while Tom and I ate dinner. It worked out really well.

And a side-note about teeth: I saw them yesterday, so it's official. He's got four teeth broken through and two more just about to come in. They're coming in in an interesting order with the left top eye tooth first, then the front right tooth next, and the other two coming soon. As soon as I can manage to get a photo (somehow, maybe with the cell phone or Nana's camera when she comes next weekend) I'll put it up for you.

And speaking of photos, JM gave me a CD of a ton of beautiful photos she took for the 4th of July this year. I'll get them up online soon!

Nicky's first playdate

Well sort of. Nicky and Tom went down to visit with Nana for a few days. While they were there Nicky got a chance to play with a cute little boy who is a few months older than he is. They had a great time! Pics are up!

Oh this is a SAD day!

We knew this day would come. We'd hoped to avoid it, we've had nightmares about it. But alas, it has happened....


Nicky broke the camera.

I have not a clue what to do! Arghhh!!!

We have THREE teeth now!

Ok, it's finally official: Nicky now has 3 teeth. He's now 15.5 months old and has 3 teeth. Is that weird?

Well probably not as weird as this.



My child actually sleeps this way. Constantly. He wasn't sleeping here, just resting I suppose after exerting himself in THIS fashion.



Any suggestions on how to prevent him climbing on top of the tv? I suppose the repetitive NO is a viable option, and we'll probably have to resort to it. I think our days of the den as giant safe playpen might be over.

If you hadn't guessed, Nicky and I are not in Alabama. We were all geared up to go, but Friday afternoon Maryellen got really sick. Well, actually she'd been sick for a few days with a headache, but Friday afternoon she went to the doctor and he said she was REALLY sick. Like "contagious, can't see anyone, especially a baby" sick. We debated what to do until Saturday morning when we found out Maryellen was in the hospital with possible menengitis. Now that is SICK! Poor Maryellen!

Luckily I have the whole week off and so I'm staying home with Nicky and Tom and his mom drove to Alabama Saturday morning to help Scot and Maryellen. So while it does suck to miss out on visiting them for the week, mostly it just REALLY sucks that Maryellen is so sick. Hopefully she'll feel much better and be out of the hospital early in the week. We're thinking of you Maryellen!



So I'm actually being the mom for a change and spending all day with Nicky. It's kind of fun in a OhmyGodIhopeIdon'tscrewuhimuptoobad kind of way. He's pooped three times today and had fish sticks with cocktail sauce for dinner. Is that wrong?