Merry Christmas!

We had such a wonderful Christmas weekend... our favorite one so far! I had such a good time that I apparently forgot to take pictures!

We spent Christmas Eve with Dave & Cindy, and the festivities began with church service in the afternoon. Nico was nice and quiet for the first 20-30 minutes but that only lasted so long. After playing the back and forth game in and out of the church a few times, we surrendered and just stayed in a back room. Apparently all he wanted to do was watch all of the other kids run around the room, because whenever we were in there, he didn't make a sound! Dinner was amazing, as always, with more than enough great food. The majority of the night was spent watching the Cowboys and just hanging out and opening gifts. Nico refused to nap much- it's as if he knew Santa was coming soon!




 

We woke up Christmas morning and went over to my parents around 10 for breakfast. The nonstop eating and gift opening continued! The main meal was around 4, and then we played Apples to Apples for a few hours. It's a really fun game- especially if you make up your own inappropriate categories after a few drinks!

Nico didn't sleep much on Christmas Day either. There was too much going on that he didn't want to miss I guess! I couldn't help but get so excited for him as we were opening gifts, even though he didn't know what was going on. Christmas will be full of so much more meaning and excitement in the years to come as we will get to enjoy it through Nico's eyes.

I have so many wonderful memories from my childhood Christmas's... going to bed so anxiously on Christmas Eve and trying to fight sleep so that you can catch Santa, but then always waking up the next morning and realizing that he snuck in again this year... being so amazed at how many gifts were always under the tree for us... Ryan with the flashlight at 3 a.m, 4 a.m., 5 a.m., etc, saying that Santa has come and that he wants to open his gifts... the sound of my grandpa's Christmas songs on tape in the morning during breakfast where each song would suddenly be cut off as it was approaching the end... going out for a drive with the family to look at outdoor lights... opening my advent calendar every morning... Mom's sugar cookies and church window cookies... going to buy gifts for an Angel off of the Angel Tree in the mall and always being overcome with such sadness at the number of them... a fully decorated house with light up bells, a huge tree filled with memorable ornaments, and peanut m&ms in a snowman glass vase ... just having a good time with family... and obviously, you can't forget about the true religious significance of the day too, even though it sometimes seems overshadowed by everything else. I can only hope that Nico has such fond memories the way that I still do!

One of our first little traditions that we started this year is a Christmas Card!


 

 

For some unknown reason, I didn't take pics on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day (shocking, I know). So here are some of my favorite holiday pics...

 



 

Thank you to all of our family for making this our best Christmas yet!

A big week for Nico: bath, first tooth, and rolling

Nico is too big for his baby bathtub and has advanced to the real thing! Now bath time takes a little longer, but it did become more fun!


 

 

His first tooth is starting to come through! 

 

He has learned how to roll over!


 

 

 

Here comes Santa Claus...

Nico seemed to enjoy meeting Santa for the 1st time!!

 

 

 

 

Life Lately

Our little Nico has been SICK! :(   His first runny nose dates back to Dec 2, which was coincidentally the day of his 4 month check up. At that time, everything looked great. He weighed 15 lbs, 6 oz which puts him in the 55%tile, and he was 25.5 in long, which put him in the 66%tile. Go Nico go!

Over the weekend, he became very congested, started coughing, and became a lot more fussy than usual. He didn't have a fever and was still eating fine, so we waited it out a little longer, not knowing of the fun times we had ahead of us. Monday night and early Tuesday morning consisted of periods of random screaming that was difficult to relieve. It brought me back to a frustration level that I hadn't experienced since the first week or 2 with him! We knew that something had to be wrong with the poor guy. When we took him into the doctor, it turns out that he had an ear infection. It broke my heart to see him so miserable. He wouldn't eat much for a few days and was just so congested.

 

Not a happy guy.

On a more fun note, he not only is back to himself again, but he has entered a new stage of curiousity and alertness! I feel like he has really progressed and changed the most in just this last week compared to any other 1-2 week period of time so far. We are having so much fun with him!

Here's what's new in the world of Nico:

He LOVES to stand up! Most of the time if we try to hold him, he wiggles around, arches his back, and gets annoyed. He won't even sit in his chair much anymore. We hold him up some to play and talk to him, but you can only hold up 15 lbs for so long! The bouncer has definitely become the new "go to" thing. I've been amazed as I watch him actually intentionally "play" with the toys, rather than just hit stuff with his hand or grab things by accident due to the grasping reflex. He now will purposefully grab objects with both hands and also set them down, and he spins this little part of the bouncer that has little beads in it and makes noise. I feel so proud watching him accomplish such relatively little things. Last night, he was getting so distracted by all of the options of things to play with that he went from one to the next and ended up spinning himself around in a circle in a few times!

He loves to follow the dogs around the room, especially little Miley. He will get into a deep stare as he turns his head to keep up with them and then suddenly open his eyes really wide.

He cracks me up during games of Peek-a-Boo. His eyes get SO big initially and then he ends up laughing...

 

We still use the Bumbo seat a lot and he is able to entertain himself for short periods of time as long as there are toys up on the tray. He seems to enjoy knocking them off and rolling his truck back and forth.

I've come to the conclusion that he is going to be a trouble maker. Whenever I look at him from across the room and playfully ask "What are you doing, Nico" he gets this sh*tty little grin. He's also tickelish as ever, and I love it.

We are so in love with him (if you could not tell from this blog!). I can't help but post all of these pics and document all of these little moments, because I never want to forget. I'm the happiest I've ever been. Thank you, Nico, for being the best part of every day. (oh yeah, love you too David!)

 

4 months

Is he REALLY 4 months old now?!

Here is the official monthly update:

• The stats: TBD at doctor's appointment on Friday
• The clothing: He is definitely a growing boy. Wearing a mix of 3 mo and 6 mo old clothes. Sizes 1 and 2 diapers.

• The appetite: 6 ounces from a bottle. Went from 5 oz just in the last week. Sucks down each bottle like there is no tomorrow. Gotta love how he holds onto it.

• The schedule: It's becoming more and more predictable. Gets up around 6 or 7 to eat. Goes back to sleep for an hour or 2. Wakes up for a few hours and eats. Back to sleep for an hour. Up for 2-3 hours and eats. You get the idea. Bedtime is around 8-9. Gets a bath every 2-3 nights for now. Wanting to soon start a better routine of reading to him at night too now that he is more alert.
• The sleeping: Very inconsistent... up until last week! For the last 5/7 nights, he has slept 7-10 hours through the night. And that's all I'm going to say about that so I do not jinx it!
• Developmental milestones: He has hit most of them like a champ. Holding his head up well and starting to press up when he is on his tummy, sitting well with support, reaching and holding onto objects, brings hands together, kicks legs, bounces on legs when held upright. He occasionally rolls onto his side but hasn't completely rolled over yet!

• Our favorite moments are: when he smiles and makes noises! Whenever he gets going with the cute noises, David says "he can make those noises for the rest of his life!..." (Ok, so maybe that'd be creepy if he really continued to make those noises, but I get what he is saying. They melt our heart.)
• What he's like: He has developed a fun little personality. He makes tons of little squealing and babbling noises and smiles frequently. If he is crying, we know he must be hungry, has a dirty diaper, or is really tired. He makes it easy and our parents keep telling us that we have no idea how lucky we are.

His latest fun thing to do is to stand or sit up (both obviously with support). He looks so proud and happy to be able to do those things now.



He spends half of the day with his thumb in his mouth and has also started the put-everything-in-your-mouth phase.. blankets, toys, our hands, you name it! He drools all over the place. Could he be starting to teethe?

• The names: We mainly just call him Nico, but also frequently say baby boy, sweet boy, Nicobaby, chunker. We have started telling him what a big boy he is when he's standing up.


• The favorite toys: He loves just about anything that lights up and makes noise, or anything with a ring on it that he can hold onto. He has a little bear that sings songs that always grabs his attention, so that may be the current favorite. He sometimes will fall asleep holding onto a little blanket. His eyes get really big whenever we play peek-a-boo or I stick out my tongue and make noises, and that's always entertaining to watch. He has recently discovered his feet and seems to watch them a lot too!

Can't believe that he is 4 months already. Excited to see what month #5 brings!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year! Can you guess what we are thankful for most?!?! :)

On Thursday, we went over to my parents to eat too much food + watch too much football. We are always excited when Ryan comes into town so that made it extra special. Plus the Cowboys won, and David was pumped that UT beat A&M for their last meeting against each other. It was a good day! Nico enjoyed his 1st Thanksgiving by taking a nap for half of the afternoon.

 

On Friday, we went up to The Franchise in Plano to root on the Hogs. The game was close for a while and we were all excited, jumping around, and the guys were taking shots...but then got out of control. How cute are the Hogs jersey and matching wind pants that Nico has? Sometimes I think that he has nicer stuff than us!

On Saturday, we went out to Dave & Cindy's for the afternoon to hang out and have dinner.

 

 

We've had quite the busy weekend. Needless to say, we all are still in our pajamas now having a lazy Sunday.

My favorite noises

Video 1: A very tickelish boy.

Video 2: Laughing and talking to "Aunt" Regan

A nice November weekend

We went with my parents for lunch and shopping today in Downtown McKinney!

 

 

 We've had beautiful weather in the 60s and 70s lately!

 

Ok, I just had to include Daddy in a few too...

 

We went on a pub crawl in Downtown Plano on Saturday for my mom's bday! Nico was very well behaved 90% of the afternoon. As you can see below, this pic was not taken during that time!!...

 

Because I still believe you can never have too many pics...

Here are a couple weeks' worth of cell phone pics, mostly ones that Misty has sent of Nico from his days with her. Didn't know what to do with them, so why not post them to look back on someday!