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!)