Hi!!!

So after David's long weekend of being a Master Chef and my lack of desire to unveil my hidden talents in the kitchen, we decided to go to Chili's for dinner on Monday night. I gotta brag on our little guy, he is so well behaved in restaurants. He sits in his highchair throughout the meal, isn't too loud, and stays fairly well entertained. (If we keep food in front of him at all times, he just continues to cram it in. That's ultimately the plan we go with. We are so lucky.)

 

Today, in my usual, biased parental opinion, he was extra cute. He felt the need to say "hiii" to everyone that walked by. Literally, every person. A few of the lucky ones even got multiple, loud pitched hiii's as they walked by, if they chose not to promptly respond.

 

Gotta love his cheery, social personality.

 

 

 

Thanskgiving break

Thanksgiving was looking a little different this year! My parents' home of 27 years was no longer home. My parents made the move down to Austin a few weeks ago, after my dad received a job offer that he couldn't pass up. Sooooo.... the party was at our house for a handful of days!  

 

 

My family arrived on Wednesday, and we did some celebrating for my mom's 59th birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following day was Thanksgiving, so we (and when I say we, I mean David) did alllll of the cooking! He actually wouldn't let anyone come near the kitchen. He deep fried a turkey and it was delicious. The turkey situation was a little stressful at one point since the oil took an extra few hours just to heat up. Not sure if it was the wind or what. It ended up being worth the wait though!

 

 

  

 

Great Grandma Phyllis was our guest for today, which made the holiday a little extra special. Nico warmed up to her well, and she got to spend some quality time with the little guy.

 

 

We spent the day watching football, eating, watching more football, and eating some more. My mom had made a few pumpkin pies the day before, and that is always one of the things I look forward to most about Thanksgiving. Well, and the hanging out with family part too, I suppose. :)

 

We continued the fun on Friday, and a handful of us went out for a few beers early that afternoon at the Londoner. The big plan of the day was to go to Uncle Neil's house for a family get together. Nico and Caitlyn play pretty well together and are cute to watch. 

  

 

What started as a family get together turned into a surprise going away party for my parents, planned by us! It was very informal, and guests came throughout the night. I think about 10-15 people came all together, including a handful of my dad's work friends, some of Neil's friends, and a few other couples that they had known through the years. It was hard to find a good time to get all of their friends together with them moving near the holidays, but this turned out to be a nice little surprise! Dave and Cindy came over for a little while and then took Nico back to our house so we could stay a little longer.

 

On Saturday, my dad, Ryan, David, and I started the day out at Top Golf. I just love that place. My golf came is improving! It just happens to be at a very slow pace. Then, we mainly just hung out at the house and had Uncle Neil and Caitlyn over for dinner. As if David hadn't cooked enough awesome food this week, he grilled steaks and made TBP's! 

 

My parents and Ryan went home on Sunday and our little Thanksgiving break came to an end. It was cool all being under one roof again! Looking forward to the same at Christmastime!

Parenting fail with paint

In an attempt to be one of those crafty, creative moms, I actually made Nico homemade finger paint using flour, food coloring, and water. He's all about making messes with food, so I figured that this idea would be a hit! Well, I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking when I decided to do this, but in retrospect, I now know that it was a ridiculous idea. I don't recall his hand ever touching any of the poster board that I had ever so nicely taped to the sidewalk. Instead, he wanted to spill it all over (which only created a slippery mess for him to fall on) and run down the sidewalk with it.

Anyway, I get an A for effort, right?

Our Friday afternoon


We had a fun little lunch at Mi Cocina today with a nice view by the pond!



 



He was so excited to find these ducks! "Duh-duh-duh"



15 month old Nico

Nico had his 15th month checkup earlier this week, and Dr. Menchaca confirmed that he is indeed a perfect little angel.

Height: 32.25 (81%)
Weight: 23 lbs, 6 oz (33%)
Head circum: 18.5 (44%)

As you can see by his stats, we have a tall and lean guy. Who's child is this, anyways?!

The appointment was brief. We were encouraged to wean him off of his milk bottles and switch to sippy cups, which we already knew we were supposed to, but had just been minimally trying. It's hard to want to fix something that's not broken, since he does so well with the bottles. Much to our surprise though, he drank out of a sippy cup right after the appt and has since. We do have a milk snob on our hands though, as it must be warmed. I still have the fresh image of Nico looking at me with an attitude and abruptly handing back his milk after I gave it to him cold a few weeks ago.














15 month old Nico is so much fun. I am starting to notice more and more how excited I get over the littlest things. They are things that a non-parent would not understand how someone could get so excited over. Some examples that come to mind include...

• His ability to communicate "more." He will repeat "mo mo mo" while he flaps his arms and bends his knees. 
• His cute little animal sounds and recognition. Ooooh for cows. Hoo hoo hoo for monkeys. And the funniest pig impression that cannot be communicated by words. He recognizes a few other animals like duck (duh duh duh), brown bears, and doggies. 
• His eagerness to fist bump and high five, which are very important in our sports oriented family.
• Occasionally saying ewww when he goes #2 in his diaper.
• His sleeping positions. Normally he is sprawled out, but I had to go in and take a pic of this one with his little booty in the air. 

I say this every time I talk about him but one word describes him.. happy! He is always smiling and laughing! He has such a loving, easy going personality that I hope sticks with him all of his life. He loves books, carrying his broomstick around the house, anything to climb on or put in his mouth, being outside, and rides in the car (now that he can finally see the world in his new carseat.) We say that he is always very busy, because he will play with his toys for seconds at a time, and then he's on to the next thing. Did I mention he has nearly ALL of his teeth. Yep, a total of 16.

Couldn't be any prouder or love you more, Nico.