A smile for today

 

 

(I can't look at this picture without smiling or laughing. He is one funny little guy.)

Man's best friend

Nico loves his dog, Morgan. It's a daily occurance for him to grab her tail, throw her the ball, attempt to ride her, and lay all over her. She's such a good girl and doesn't mind any of it. They are cute together. (Now Miley is a different story!)

 

 

He has recently started hugging her. One of my favorite shots of them so far...

Happy meals

We generally are not fast food people, but lately we have been taking Nico to get a happy meal about once every week or two. Not the best habit to get into, but it gets him out of the house, allows him to run around the playground, and makes it quick and easy on us too. Today, we went there for dinner in order to stay out of the house, because we are having hardwood floors put in!

 

I love those little lips and puffy cheeks.

 

 

 He's into double fisting his food.

 

 He was very excited and surprised when David showed up shortly after we got there. 

 

 

Nico has continued to seem like such a little boy to me, instead of my baby boy. He sat there eating his meal all by himself, from opening his nugget container to drinking out of his straw. No help necessary from mama. It's times like this when it hits me how fast he is growing up.

Hockey, hockey, and more hockey

Nico is obsessed with hockey. Obsessed may be an understatement.

He will chant "hockey" in the mornings and whenever he gets ahold of the remote control. He has been to various games and practices. And, he has a little hockey stick that he loves to swing. He gets his fill of hockey these days.

He took his little hockey stick to David's last game. Kyle's boy, Finn, was there and brought his stick/ball to play with too. Nico was either watching David's game or running around hitting the ball with Finn. Nevertheless, his stick never left his hand the entire 2 hours. (He is so cute.)

 

 

Today, David took him today to watch the Dallas Stars open practice just a mile down the street from us. Just another one of the perks of being home during the day with his daddy!

And here is our hockey fan playin around the house. He is such a happy guy.

Lucky for me, baseball season is just around the corner :)

Happy Valentine's Day

 

We had a nice Valentine's day and weekend this year. On the actual day, Thursday, David surprised me with a package sent to my work. It included a dozen roses, chocolate, a bear, and bubble bath. It was an extra surprise this year, since I only work at that clinic on Thursday afternoon. Didn't expect to have anything delivered there! Very sweet.

 

 I came home to a romantic setup with music playing and the table set for a great dinner- steak, twice baked potatoes, green beans... and a big, fat piece of cheesecake. He definitely spoils me on a daily basis, and I am lucky to have him.

 

I arranged for Dave and Cindy to watch Nico on Saturday, so that I could plan a little belated Valentine's celebration. In my usual fashion, we started our afternoon at Top Golf.

 

 

I didn't have any fancy dinner plans, so we just decided to pick a place around here for dinner. Joe's Crab shack was the winner. Can't beat shrimp and crab for dinner after an afternoon of golfing and beer drinking!

Another Sunday Funday at the park

We have been going to parks and playgrounds a LOT lately. Nico loves to be outside. Today, we actually went to THREE different parks AND had ice cream afterwards. Major mom points for me.

We threw goldfish at the ducks at the first park. Not sure if ducks eat goldfish, since they all stayed in the middle of the pond and didn't swim towards us. Nico still had fun since it involved throwing things.

 

We then went to a few playgrounds that were next to eachother. He slid down all of the slides and said hiii to just about every person there, all while playfully running from me since he stole my carkeys and thought he was funny.

 

We got home and had an ice cream cone. Love his crinkled up nose when he laughs.



And to conclude our afternoon, Nico persistently tried to ride Morgan.

 



Grapevine SeaWorld Aquarium... take 2

We took our 2nd visit to the Grapevine SeaWorld Aquarium on Saturday. Nico just loooooooves to look at the fish, so how can you not want to take him again?! Dave and Cindy came with us and then took us to dinner!

 

 

They have a little play area at the end for the kids to use up some energy. He went running towards the slide and loves going down it backwards.

We went to a really nice restaurant called Bonefish. Their food was awesome- some of the best food we've had! Nico crammed in entire appetizer serving of edamame, and proceeded to take off his shirt. He ate the rest of his meal shirtless. This was a first.

Needless to say, he passed out on the way home.

18 month update

In my usual cliche fashion, I gotta say, this is the cutest age yet!!!! I love his desire to be clingy/cuddly with me, his constant talking, and his ability to learn. He doesn't seem like a baby anymore. He's my little boy.

His personality has been consistent all along- easy going, funny, always smiling and laughing, and giving us this mischievous smile. He's very busy. He doesn't sit still. He is always doing something. And while he's doing something, he's babbling. He is such a talker! Most people that are around him say he's very advanced for his age with the number of words he knows and can say. He's now starting to repeat things easily and I can honestly say, he learns a new word every day! We love the way he says turtle- it's our favorite.

He cracks me up on a daily basis, but also finds a way to frustrate me on a daily basis. He is much more well behaved around David, and when I get home, all hell breaks loose. He will immediately start getting into something that he didn't touch the entire day with David. Just trying to get my attention, I suppose. He has taught me so much patience already. (I know I still have a looooong way to go though!)

He's very social. He says hi to everybody! He has this flirty, drawn out "hiiiii" that I will never forget the sound of.

He loves sports. You name it- hockey, baseball, football, basketball, soccer, golf. He can name them all on tv and know what equipment goes with what! He loves throwing things- at us, at the wall, at anything. He has a pretty good arm, I do admit!

He loves two different movies- Cars 2 and Finding Nemo. He will also watch tv shows briefly that are on this specific baby channel.

He loves trucks and cars. If we ask him if he wants to go in the car, he comes rushing up to us with his arms up high to pick him up, saying vroom vroom.

He loves dance parties. If he hears music, he usually starts dancing. Mumford and Sons is his favorite band. (You can tell he hangs out with his daddy all day.)

He loves his doggies. He is usually instigating Miley and laying on Morgan. He throws their balls/toys around to get them to play with him. He often keeps tabs on where they are.

He runs away from us when we ask him to change his diaper or clothes. We pretty much have to chase him down. Still unsure why he would choose to sit in a dirty diaper?!

He has a very consistent schedule throughout the day. Sleeps 12-13 hours straight. Wakes up babbling random words in the happiest, little voice. He is his most fun in the morning. He still gets his gourmet breakfast of omelettes, hashbrowns, fruit, etc. He plays and plays until naptime around 1030. He usually sleeps a few hours, and has lunch around 1. We are in a transitional phase with his naps. Some days he skips the afternoon nap (if he slept longer in morning), but most days, he still needs that shorter nap in the afternoon, or else we pay for it! He is very obvious when he is tired, and he usually lets us know by just saying "night night" or "playroom" (meaning he wants to go upstairs).

He eats really well. His favorite foods are buttered noodles, apples/apple juice, edamame, scrambled eggs, and cheese! Can't think of any foods he won't eat. He's starting to use a fork and spoon some of the time. When he becomes disinterested in eating any more food, he starts throwing it. Thankfully, his two doggies are right there and ready to lick it up.

He got a good report at his 18th month checkup and continues to be tall and skinny! I will have to find the papers to record his official stats. Height was around 80% and weight in the 30%s.

 

"You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

 

Love the lyrics to this country song by Trace Adkins. Been hearing this song on the radio a lot lately. They really put things in perspective and remind me to soak it all in, because Nico is growing up TOO fast! I love this little boy with all of my heart.

 

 

Austin, part 2!

The three of us made the hike down to Austin this weekend! With the Super Bowl on Sunday, I took off of work on Monday to make is a nice, little 3 day weekend!

 

We were very lucky again to have 2 smooth rides with Nico. No stops needed! We got McDonalds on the way down there. I must say, he ate all of his apple slices before getting into the french fries. That's my healthy, little eater...

 

 

 

 On our first night, we went to dinner at Salt Lick for BBQ. It was a fun, laid-back, Texas country kinda place.

 

 

 On Saturday, we hung around the house in the morning and ventured down to Home Slice Pizza in the afternoon. That's one of the top local spots. Nico helped keep Austin weird with his sunglasses and his crazy flinging of water everywhere. He had us all cracking up a few times. 

 

 

 Because Zilker Park was such a huge hit with Nico last time, we decided to go to the park and ride the train again. Choo choo...

 

Nico enjoyed looking out on the golf course behind the house. He would get so excited every time he saw a golfer or golfcart. "GAWKERS, GAWKERS!"

He liked something about this bed. Love this picture because of the scale of him compared to the bed. Brings out how tiny he is in his little monkey pants.

After dinner on Saturday night, just David and I headed out for a beer at my parent's go-to spot, Waterloo Ice House. It was fun to have a few hours of us time. Sunday was the Super Bowl, so we stayed at the house and had our own little Super Bowl party with Plucker's wings, jambalaya, and a few dips.

Nico enjoyed hanging out with his grandpa during the game.

 

 

 It was a really nice weekend! Always good to spend quality time with family.

 

Nico missed his doggies over the weekend, especially Morgan. He gave her some extra loving before he went to bed Monday night.