A Day in the life... A typical Tuesday evening

For our Mommy and Nico day this Tuesday, we went to the park down the street to run around, play on the playground, and look at the ducks.

He is all smiles when he's playing on the slides...

The park lost his interest after a while, and he decided to throw pinecones around. Such a boy...

We came home and had a little snack. He LOVES apple juice. He asks for it every day. One of his first two word phrases.



We watched some cartoons. He loves the baby station. I took this picture from overhead, because I just love how cuddly he has gotten with me. He spends a majority of the time sitting on my lap or right next to me. Can't ever get enough of that.

He ate a good dinner. Buttered noodles is one of his favorite foods. That's the Italian in him, just like his daddy. He literally licked the bowl after the noodles were eaten...

During all of these cuddly moments, I usually end up taking a pic of us. Just can't help it. This time, when I held my phone out, he immediately said cheeeeeese, smiled, and put his face up to the phone. He cracks me up on a daily basis.

We usually go up to the playroom to wind down for the last 30 min of the night...

And then it's time for bed!...

 

 Can't think of many better ways to spend my Tuesday's...

Happy half birthday!

Nico is 18 months old today! Because we are always looking for a reason to have a good time, we celebrated his half birthday, Outback style!

Our celebrating wasn't exactly the celebrating we had in mind. Our dinner consisted of alternating having to take Nico outside of the restaurant. He usually is so well behaved and does well when we take him out. (Yes, we are spoiled.) Today was the extreme opposite. Wouldn't sit in highchair. Wouldn't sit in our lap. Wouldn't sit in booth. He was a crazy man and had to be moving!

Needless to say, I crammed in my food all alone while David had Nico run around outside. Then, he came in to cram in his food while I took him outside.

Cheers to 18 months.

 

Good food and friendship

This Saturday, we had the Lawler's over to catch up, let our kids run around, and make some pizza! We only see them once every year, at the Dave Matthew's concert, and we always insist that we are going to hang out. Well, the guys set the date about a month in advance, and we stuck to it! Glad we did! 

 

 

Ok, total side note here!...Nico was extra cute this morning. He climbed up on me, leaned his face down, grabbed my face with both hands, and put his lips up to mine to kiss me! He's such a sweet boy. It was just so out of the blue!

 

Here's Nico and Grace, who is 2 1/2! It's always fun to see how Nico is around new kids. It took a while for him to warm up to her, but then he started stealing her snacks and invading her space! Ian also came over, who is 8. He inspired Nico to now enjoy playing with his legos that he got for Christmas! He hadn't played with them much until he saw Ian playing with them. 

As the babies got tired and antsy, we found a way to entertain them both!...

Making the pizzas was easy. Transferring the pizzas was another story!...

 

They turned out well! I give them an A...

Not sure why we don't make a point to get together with our friends more often?! It was a really good time!

Ducks ducks ducks!

You know you are a mom when you are on the lookout for good parks during your workday driving through neighborhoods, and then you actually get really excited when you find a good one! This one has a Nico-friendly playground and best of all...ducks!  We took a loaf of bread to feed them. It was a first for him, and he had a blast. So did we.

Austin bound!

It's the weekend we have been waiting for... our first trip down to Austin to see my parents' new home! Nico and I made the trip by ourselves, as David had baseball and another commitment back home. We had a nice, relaxing weekend!

 

I was really anxious about the drive down there with him. In my usual fashion, I worried for nothing. He stayed entertained with toys, books, and occasional snacks. We didn't even have to stop!

 

 

 

We got in around dinner time on Friday, and just hung around the house. Grandpa came home from work early and was pumped to see his little buddy. After dinner, we watched a ton of episodes of Grey's anatomy season 1, which they had on DVD. It is beyond addicting.

 

Grandma got up with him on Saturday and made him some pancakes. He loved watching the golfers drive by and would go crazy saying "gawkers, gawkers!"

We went out to lunch at their favorite dive down the street, Waterloo Ice House, and then headed down to Zilker Park. To call this just a park is an understatement. This is a huuuuuge 350 acre area with people everywhere. Picnics, runners, pets, people throwing footballs and frisbees, and a river running alongside. Such a fun, outdoorsy place to be! Nico played on the park for a while with grandma.

 

 

The highlight of Nico's trip was definitely the train, the "Zilker Zephyr!" He became so interested in trains and making the "choo choo, woo woo" noises after this first train experience. I have to admit, it was a fun little ride. Nico pointed out all the things he knew- dogs, ducks, boats...

We ate dinner at a pizza place nearby that night, Mangeri's.

 

And since he's at grandma's and grandpa's house, he was spoiled with some ice cream before bed! We got so hooked on Grey's Anatomy from Fri night, that it continued Sat night. Such exciting people we were! Ha!

 

It was really good to see my parents. They have a beautiful home in such a cool place to live! Lucky for us, it's only a 3-4 hour drive down the road. I'm sure we will be making many more trips down there!

Just another Tuesday

As I have talked about before, Tuesday is usually my longest time with Nico alllllll to myself. We just call it Mommy/Nico day around here!

We woke up to snow! In our attempts to let Nico play with his first snowball, he decided to have it for breakfast...

 

After I got home from work, the fun began. We had a quick snack before our outing. He thinks he is a big boy now and likes to sit in the kitchen chairs.  

 

 

 We went to Petsmart first. He loves to look around at all of the different animals. Especially the FISH! We make weekly trips to the pet store.

 

 

We walked to the Toys R Us next door to see how much we could get into things. He did good at that! 

 

Nico would find something he liked and start running with it. I laughed out loud a few times.

He sat in nearly every single car/truck there. He threw a fit when it was time to leave.

  

Then we hung out at the house, watched some cartoons, and made funny faces.

 

 

That pretty much sums up our day! Nico has been so touchy feely around me lately. I love that. He climbs all over me, often sits in my lap, and just wants all of my attention. I'm trying to soak it ALL in! I love this little boy more than words can describe.

 

Date night for us!

Nico spent the night at Papa and Grandma's this afternoon and night, so that David and I could have a little us time! We had a fun afternoon playing Top Golf, and then had dinner at Shoguns. While I didn't get any pics of us (guess I'm just used to snapping pics of only Nico!), I did have to share this adorable one that Dave and Cindy text us that night...

 

 

 

 

Family fun Friday

Brisket tacos at Mia's were calling our names for lunch...

  

Another beautiful day to go to the neighborhood park... 

 

 

And because Nico didn't have enough outdoorsy fun today, he insisted on riding his car around out front afterwards...

 

 

 

It made for a perfect Friday afternoon for our little family of 3.

Impromptu photo shoot. Even got a kiss.

Night night: loving the blanket

I get these monthly updates on things to expect of your toddler, and the 17 month update was interesting to me. This is the time that your child typically develops an attachment to something.

For Nico's 17 months of existence, he hasn't really clinged to any objects. He just goes, goes, and goes nonstop! I had been hoping/wondering if he would ever have some cute little thing that he would be attached to and sleep with.

Well.... it has begun. Welcome, blanket.



Nico loooooooves this blanket. Pretty much obsessed.

His nighttime routine has consisted of him saying night night when he is tired and ready for bed, then climbing up the stairs, meeting us halfway for a kiss, and going straight into his room. (P.s. Nico, these kisses melt our heart. Best part of our day.)

Once he gets in his room, he immediately yanks the blanket out of his crib (unless he already has it with him). He keeps it close to his side, and usually gets some last minute burst of energy and decides to run around the room and hide from us. He usually chooses behind his chair.

After a few minutes giggling and finding any last minute things he can get into, he just can't take it any more and literally passes out on the floor.

 

And as you pick him up, his thumb is in his mouth and he's halfway to sweet dreams.