The fun just never ends...

We tried out a new restaurant nearby our house, Matt's Rancho Martinez, for this week's Tuesday lunch adventure. The food was great, and Nico was able to run around on the outdoor covered patio. We followed that up with climbing on the playground, feeding some ducks, and coming back home to run around in the sprinkers!


Cheeeeeese!...

Who knows what these goofballs are laughing about...

Mr. Independent on the playground...

He still loves those slides...

Love it when he crinkles his nose up and laughs...

Yep, stick a fork in him. He's done...

Tooting my own horn...

Ok, I am one of those people that totally does NOT like to brag on myself, but I had to share some pretty cool news. (And I have to document this so that when Nico is older, he may possibly believe that I didn't completely suck back in the day!)

I was pumped to find out this weekend that my pic is on the back of the La Tech softball bleachers! They did a bleacher wrap with all of the All-conference honorees which is visible to people entering the complex. Wahoo!

I get to be on there with two of my closest friends too, Regan and Rochelle.

Check it out...

Austin. Part IV

Nico and I took another trip down to Austin this weekend! The primary reason for this one was so that I could have some girls' time with my best friend from college, Regan! It worked out great where we could spend some time with my parents and also have some time to go off on our own.

Friday, we all went down to South Congress to Guero's for some good mexican food and then nextdoor for some live music.

Saturday's main plans involved walking around downtown Austin for Pecan Street Festival! Nico enjoyed watching all of the weird people walking around down there.

We stopped at Bikini's for a few drinks. It was hard to find a place to stop that didn't have blaring music!

My dad nicely volunteered to come pick Regan and me up after our night out...

After that stop, Regan and I split from the group and did our own thing. We went to a few different bars in the afternoon and walked around. A bucket list item was checked off this weekend...... I rode a mechanical bull!

We spent a majority of our night at Pete's Piano Bar. Always a good time there! We got lucky and landed front row seats. It was so good to spend some time with Regan! We definitely need to do these kinda trips more often!

Lunch with the ducks

My work has been a little slow lately, so we have tried to take advantage of our afternoons as a family! Today, we landed on the patio at Mi Cocina. 

 

After a few minutes of eating, we had 6 baby ducks wander over to our table from the nearby pond. It was such a nice surprise! By the time it was all said and done, a handful of adult ducks and birds were over by us as well. Nico was in heaven.

Even though we have gotten stricter on Nico not throwing food, we broke the rules today and let him do his thing. When else do you get the chance to have cute, little baby ducks walking over your feet and eating your chips?

It was a really fun afternoon! So happy that we have the opportunity to do things like this during the week!

A fun, busy week!

We have been on-the-go this past week and have done something fun just about every day!

Last weekend, Nico spent the night with Papa and Grandma. He always loves going over there to help with yardwork (Literally, he has his own "jobs" with his own little shovels and yard equipment. He can be pretty helpful at times!), play in the pool, go on morning walks, go out to good restaurants, and get spoiled!

 

In our usual baby-less fashion, we went to Top Golf for the afternoon. I just love that place. Uncle Neil and Amanda also had a going away party that night, since they are moving off to Alabama. Will be weird not having them around. Nico really liked playing with Caitlyn!

 

 

 

 

We have been spending a majority of our afternoons and nights outdoors. It's that time of the year where the weather is perfect- not too hot yet. Nico would live outdoors every minute of the day if we would let him! 

 

 

 

So I had to capture some of the less than perfect moments as well. Check out the reaction we get when we tell him that he has to go inside. Priceless...

 

 

 

It's hard to get mad at this cute face for dumping his buttered noodles over. This is a classic Nico look as well...

 

 

 

I took Nico to Willow Bend Mall on Tuesday. We hadn't been to their play area before, so I was trying to mix things up. He ran around and climbed for about an hour and was worn out. He threw another temper tantrum when it was time to go. So embarrassing! I am totally "that" parent during those moments, feeling like all eyes within a 100 yard radius are watching and judging. I went with the walking away approach while telling him "bye," and he got scared and came running. I felt bad but hey, whatever it takes, right?! We met another Nico there- not a name we have come across too often!

 

 

 

Thursday morning, Nico woke up repeatedly saying "pancakes," so he had an outing with his da da to IHOP. They are close buddies.

 

 

Our main family time for the week was Friday, and despite our busy week of doing a lot already, we took Nico to the jumphouse and then out to dinner! He has warmed up to it each time we have taken him. David has started taking him here every Thursday morning, when they reserve the place for toddlers 3 and under only, and Nico just looooves it. He has gotten enough confidence that he will say, "Slide, SELFS!" and then climb up the high slide, determined to do it without help. (And this would be another one of those times where I realize he is so NOT a baby anymore.)

 

 

We went to Ra for some sushi afterwards. Nico ate 2, I repeat 2, orders of potstickers as well as an entire order of edamame. What a pig! Mr. Independent was determined to use his chopstick like us, so he stabbed his food and ate it that way. He's been all about giving out high fives and knuckles lately. It's pretty much the cutest thing, especially when he catches strangers off guard.

 

 

This weekend, David had a baseball tournament just down the street, so Nico and I went to the Saturday morning game. He ran around the park like a wild man, and then I contained him for a few innings in his stroller, so I could watch a few innings.

 

 

 

As a sidenote... Later this morning, Nico put on his backpack, walked toward me, and said, "kisses." He gave me a kiss on the lips, and then he started walking towards the front door. When I asked where he was going, he sternly stated, "Work." He cracks me up. He's really been picking up on things lately! 

 

So David got done early with baseball on Saturday, so we took a family trip to Walmart. We went to get just finger paint (he has been painting some at Misty's house, so I wanted to make some effort to try different things at our house), and came out with a tball bat/tee, tons of bubbles, a crayon book with crayons, and a few food items. I stand by the statement that it is impossible to go into Walmart and only come out with what you intended to get!

 

 

 

 

And here come the bubbles.............. (Warning: picture overload. I can't help it- he is just so cute.)



 

 

 

 Here is his usual throwing balls/toys to try to hit the birds. He is slowly getting closer. Ha!...

He thinks he is cool that he is walking down the slide. He thinks he is testing his limits, based on his facial expression...

Love his laugh...

Not too bad of a golf swing...

Aaaaand... drumroll please. This was a big day in the Biagini household, as Nico got his 1st tee and started learning to hit a baseball! Like any stereotypical sports parent, I already think Nico has a great swing! :)

The finger painting ended up being minimally successful. After smearing it around for a minute or two, he threw a fit that I wouldn't let him hold the paint container. Typical. That concluded that activity!

 

Can't imagine life before Nico! What would we have done with all of this free time?!

First haircut

It's funny how something so routine and relatively insignificant can be a big deal to a mom. Today marks the day of Nico's first haircut! I had been procrastinating with getting it done. I just loved the way his hair curled behind his ears. It was time though, as the back was getting too long.

 

We had to wait a good 30 min before, so he ran around like a crazy man and played in all the cars...

 

And here he is, all ready to go!...

 

 

He stayed distracted with bubbles and toys for a little while...

 

 

He wasn't a fan of the coverup and after a few minutes, he started trying to take it off while dictating, "off!"

The process became fairly amusing with the amount of effort required to distract him. He doesn't like to sit still for very long!...

He was terrified of the trimmer at the end and rushed up into David's arms...

 

 

The before and after shots...

 

 

 

We went nextdoor to Chick-fil-A for some playtime and icecream afterwards...

 



He looks SO much older to me now, like such a boy and no longer a baby. I was sad to see those cute, little curls that would poke out behind his ears go. I looked at him differently the rest of the day...