Nicholas' Pictures

Here area Nicholas' Official On-Year-Old Pictures!

What a big boy!

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

Today was Nicholas' first birthday! So crazy it's been a year! It went so fast, much faster than Hannah's first year seemed to go. Perhaps it had to do with sleepless nights or that he was a bigger baby or an early walker. I don't know, but it was a terrific year getting to know this little guy and I'm so very glad he's part of our family!

As you know from my last post, we celebrated Nicholas' birthday a couple weeks ago at the joint party. But today was our family's private celebration. We woke up singing Happy Birthday to the happy little boy (who woke up with a VERY stinky diaper today!!!) I took the kids to daycare and headed to work. I watched the clock this morning and smiled fondly around 10:20 remember when Nicholas arrived a year ago!

I picked the kids up early to take them for their well-child doctor visits today. Tony met us up there. They're both doing terrific and I was proud of Hannah who didn't cry as she got her last shot for a few years!!!

Nicholas weighed in at 23.5 pounds today and measured 30-3/4 inches long. He's at 75 percentile for weight and 90th for height. He grew almost 2 pounds and 2-1/4 inches from his 9 month visit - again, more up than out!!!

At 12 months, Nicholas is now running, but still falls down alot. I asked the doctor if we should worry about all the head bumps he gets (he said no). He is on 100% table food and now drinking whole milk from a cup. We only give him a bottle at bedtime, which is purely part of the routine. He still hasn't cut any new teeth, but his gums look super swollen, so I'm guessing they're coming. He is wearing 18 month clothes and a size 4 shoe.

He's starting to say real words - hi, dad, mama, hannah, cracker (his favorite word). He knows what a duck says and also a cow! He waves bye bye and signs more and will raise his hands up when you say "touchdown"!

He likes to suck his binky, enjoys splashing in the bathtub, plays rough and likes to dance to music. He's funny.....and knows he's funny and likes to do silly things. He can throw a serious fit, like a throw yourself on the ground, scream and kick and act like a fool fit! And he can be so sweet and cuddly too, like he grabs my arm to hug on it as I change him in the mornings. He likes to give kisses - the open mouth ones! Sleeping at night is better, but he still wakes several times fussing, but usually falls back to sleep quickly.

He's awesome!!!!

Here are a few pictures from tonight.

One of those "full-on fits"

Happy after dinner with a spaghetti face!

drinking from a cup

talking to Grandma on the phone

Happy Birthday Cupcake

After that birthday cupcake

Opening a couple gifts

Playing with his new shape sorter

Just being cute!

This is how he plays peek-a-boo, hiding behind the chair and peeks out to look and laugh at you!

And some high-flying fun with daddy!

Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you!

THE Party

Saturday was Hannah and Nicholas' birthday party. It was fun!

We went to Freaky Family Fun, an indoor miniature golf place. We invited the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, Godparents and a few friends.

I think the kids all had a nice time. We ate pizza and salad first, then the kids golfed.

After golf, they got to take turns on the roller coaster simulator - that was a huge hit!

Then we sang Happy Birthday - Hannah first

Then Nicholas.

He wasn't very into the whole party, being naptime and all. I was so shocked he didn't make a huge mess with his cake and devour it all. He really wasn't so happy about it and would rather be held.

Then we opened gifts. So many nice things from all our family and friends!

Thank you all for celebrating this special time with us! We love you all

Happy 5th Birthday Hannah!

Happy 1st Birthday Nicholas!

We love you to the moon and stars and all the way back!!!

And lastly, here are Hannah's 5 year old pictures

Back to the Bedroom

So way back when, I started redoing our bedroom. That project was put on hold to do Hannah's new big girl room since we were going to need her room for the new baby....geez, that was a long time ago since Nicholas is almost a year old already!

So I picked up where I left off in June of 2009 this past month. A few weekends ago, I was bored, so I decided to finish ripping off the border that was in our room. It was amazing that one and a half walls took me 5 hours...that was some serious wallpaper paste! I worked on patching the holes and ripping out the woodwork on Martin Luther King Day when I was off work.

I took a couple vacation days yesterday and today to get some more work done. I feel like it's finally coming together! I got the ceiling painted yesterday and then the walls and woodwork done today. I also changed out all the outlets to white outlets and covers. I'm at a place that it feels like a new room enough to finally put on the new bedding that's been sitting on top of our amoire for a year and a half! It looks really nice and the room is very warm, maybe a little dark, but I think I'm going to like it!

I've still got to redo the closet - that will be the next step of this project. I'll probably take a couple days off again in the next week or two to do that. I also need to order new blinds, buy and paint the new woodwork and door and order new closet doors. Then we'll get new carpet and it'll be finished.

So at least for the time that we're going to be in this house (until we can build our new one that we so badly want to do soon!), we'll have a nice newly updated bedroom!

We have a 5 year old!

It's unbeliveable that it was 5 years ago when this wonderful little girl came into our lives.

And today, she's a smart, funny, sweet and lovable 5 year old!

Hannah's 5th Birthday was Sunday, January 30th. She had been counting down the days almost all month - so excited for her birthday to get here

She helped me make her cake Saturday afternoon.

I got it decorated later that night the way she had asked - a snowman holding pink and purple balloons.

We went to get her pictures taken on Saturday night....I'll post those when they come in later this week. Then Sunday morning, she woke up and was so excited for it to be her birthday. She and Daddy played some games in the morning and then we had french toast for breakfast.

She got a couple phone calls to wish her Happy Birthday from Aunt Susan and Aunt Dawn.

We just hung out most of the morning and then Hannah went grocery shopping with me. It was fun to hang out with her! She had fun too. She brought along her baby doll and stroller and pushed it around the store as we shopped. She was excited to get a piece of cheese from the deli for her birthday and then oh, so excited to stop at the party store for a birthday balloon - she picked a giant Princess Castle balloon!

Then that evening, we had her favorite dinner - salad and spaghetti with meatballs.

And then of course cake and ice cream

And a couple presents!

She got a fur-real pet dog

And a guitar so she can act a little more like Taylor Swift!

She gave her brother some lovin - she's so thankful for him!

We all played in Hannah's room the rest of the night. She tried her new guitar out for us!

And there you have it, Hannah is the greatest 5 year old daughter in the whole world! And the best thing that she tells me is, "but I'll still love you when I'm 5 Mommy" and "but I'll always be your baby, Mommy"! Yes you will!!!!