10 to 5

We had a momentous night last night.  Nathan didn't sleep hardly at all during the day and was a bit fussy at night.  I fed him around 9pm but he still wasn't content until 10pm, which is when I put him down.  Gabe woke up at 4:45am and checked the video monitor to make sure he was still breathing and of course he was.  Nathan ended up waking up around 5am.  We are super excited to see the sleep progress.  Because we slept great that night, we ended up just getting an early start to the day, even though Nathan went back to sleep.  It's amazing what can get done before 7am when you wake up at 5!

He even had a good night the following night where he slept for 6 hours straight.  Woohoo for sleep!

Big Boy Bed

We have considered moving Nicholas to the double bed that is currently in his bedroom.  On occasion we would lay down with him in it (if he gets up early in the morning or something) but he's never been there for an entire night or nap time by himself.  He even received some Toy Story sheets from Santa this Christmas.  The only reason we've been a bit hesitant about this transition is because he does extremely well going to bed and we didn't want that to change.  It had to happen sometime so we tested the waters today during nap time.  Nicholas went down with no problems and even took a 3 hour nap.  Hopefully tonight he will do just as well.   

Here is Nicholas after his nap with his Toy Story sheets and all his "animals."

On a different note, Nicholas' commentary can be so random and funny.  Here are a few recent LOLs:

I was driving him to Mother's Day Out one morning and out of the blue he says "Good driving Mama!"  He told me again on the way home that night.  I do pride myself on being a good driver, but didn't quite expect a 2 year old to notice that... 

Then recently as he was saying his bedtime prayers, he threw us a curve ball.  Normally his nightly prayer is "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything.  I love you.  Amen"  Well one night recently his prayer went:  "Dear Jesus, thank you for everything.  I want some milk."  Even though this was way out of the ordinary, I will say that he will usually ask for milk at some point before bedtime as a stall tactic.  I just love this boy! 

One unfortunate thing recently that I'm sure everyone wants to know about is the decision for Nicholas to stick his hand down the back of his diaper after he has "dirtied it".  Just today he walks in the living room, shows me his hand and says "I have poo on my hand."  I really hope this is not a trend that sticks.  Gigi, ever the optimist, thinks that potty training might not be far away.  I'm going to hope that she is right, but we shall see.  Our favorite is when we ask Nicholas, "Do you need a new diaper"  He replies:  "No, I feel better." 

And I need to give a special shout out to "Uncle Bumbles."  His gift of Rocket from his favorite TV show Little Einsteins made an impression on Nicholas.  Just this week he was playing with it and said "it from Uncle Bumbles."  I was very impressed that he remembered who gave it to him.  Although his all-time favorite gift from Uncle Bumbles is blankie.  It will be a tough day when he will have to give that up. 

Rock-a-bye Baby

Last night Nicholas woke up after being asleep for a few hours.  We think his teeth are bothering him -as they have been for awhile and continue to cut through (he is up to at least 14 now).  I have to say that I LOVE rocking Nicholas at night.  Granted I probably wouldn't say this if it was a nightly occurrence, but I also know (in the immortal words of Brad Paisley) "it won't be like this for long..." because before I know it he will be too big to snuggle up with mama and his blankie in the chair.  When I rock him in the la-z-boy, his feet almost dangle off the chair because he's getting so long.  I just savor these moments so much!

Now with that said, I pray that the rest of these teeth break thru soon because Nicholas has not been eating hardly anything.  Hopefully once these next few come in, he will be done with the pain and constant drooling for quite a while.   

Thanksgiving Week

This past week has been rather hectic and frustrating. Tuesday morning, we loaded up and headed to Mobile for Thanksgiving. Nicholas slept for about an hour and a half, but that wasn't near what we had hoped as the 4+ hour drive can seem even longer with a fussy/squealing baby. Actually starting Monday evening, his schedule was WAY off. He didn't go to bed until late (around 10pm). In Mobile, his naps and bedtime were completely off - not going to bed until close to midnight one night and that was after Gabe and I took him for a drive around Mobile. We ate Thanksgiving lunch with all the Thompson's and then had to leave in order to make it home in time for Thanksgiving dinner with the Davenport/Martin families. On the way home he slept again around an hour and a half. We had to resort to the portable DVD player and Baby Einstein, which go figure worked great.

It's nice to be home, but unfortunately his sleeping habits are interrupted by more than just the travel. Nicholas has pretty much gotten the rolling over thing down, which is great, just not in the middle of the night when he rolls over and can't go back to sleep. We also think he has been more fussy due to constipation. Even after giving him several jars of prunes, he still isn't back to normal and I'm sure doesn't help things. I am definitely going to bring this up with Dr. Whitaker on Monday for his 6 month check-up.

Regardless, we are very thankful to have this little guy in our lives. It was good spending time with all our family! Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Here are a few pics from our time in Mobile

Whatever was on TV must have been good...


Who says you can't put a bumbo seat in the tub?


Mamaw loves those great-grandbabies!


Now we get to look forward to Nicholas getting his picture taken with Santa!

Georgia on my mind

So Nicholas had his first out-of-state experience this past weekend when we visited our friends Ben and Jamie in Georgia. Gabe went to the Bama/VA Tech game on Saturday with Mumbles and the rest of us watched the Auburn and Bama games back at the Tortorice house. We had a great weekend except when I upset Nicholas by yelling at the Auburn game. I was holding him when LA Tech scored and apparently I was louder than I realized. Nicholas made this horrible face and started crying. Luckily he quickly calmed down. Gabe says that no one would have guessed that of the two of us, I would be the one to upset Nicholas by yelling at a football game. Thanks again to Ben and Jamie - we had a great weekend! We can't wait for Ella to arrive and give Nicholas a playmate!

Nicholas is still doing really well with sleeping at night (with a few exceptions where I think mama drank caffeine that day). Mimi and Pop reported that he laughed yesterday, so mama and daddy are anxiously waiting to hear as well. He loves sitting up now (with assistance) and is still amazed with those things we call feet.

Tomorrow I will get to shop at our church's childrens consignment sale. This is the first one they've had since Nicholas was born, so it will be interesting to see what all I find for the little guy. He already has plenty of clothes, but I have a feeling a few more will be added to his closet.

Truly Sleeping Through the Night

So the past 4 nights Nicholas has been a champ and slept until 5am or so. Granted we have had instances of this in the past, but never this consistent. Mom and dad are keeping our fingers crossed that this trend will continue. He has also been a bit better about spitting up, but we will have to see about that one as well.

Monday was his first day away from Mama. Mimi and Pop are watching him on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays while I work from home. This is such a wonderful set-up and I can't thank Mimi and Pop enough for watching him for us. So far we have received good reports on his behalf. A few people have asked me if I missed Nicholas terribly, and luckily I've had so much work on my plate that I haven't had a chance to think about it too much. Once things slow down, I have a feeling he will be on my mind constantly. The good thing is that he's just down the road and if I ever need my Nicholas fix, I can go visit.

Sleeping like a champ!

This weekend Nicholas slept like a champ. Friday and Saturday evenings were spent at Mimi and Pop's house while we had a friends wedding festivities to attend. Whatever they did to him worked! Friday he slept for about 5 1/2 hours, which was a first. Then Saturday night, I put him down at 10:30pm and he slept until 5:45am! Of course we woke up in a bit of a panic because he had never come close to sleeping that long, but he was just fine.

I don't think we will be this lucky on a regular basis, but it is good to know that he can go that long sleeping in his crib! Our little guy turns two months old on Wednesday! Time is just flying by!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there and especially to the newest dad in the family! Gabe you are doing a wonderful job with Nicholas. I can't express how thankful I am for all you do around here - from the burping, diaper changes, laundry, etc. I couldn't do it without you. I hope you have a wonderful first Father's Day.

Saturday we had a rather interesting day as Nicholas experienced his first tub bath. He was so good and didn't fuss at all. When we first placed him in the tub he arched his back (first pic) as if saying "What is this wet stuff I'm in?" He did however give us a good laugh as we heard him making bubbles in the water to discover he christened the tub with a present.





As we have said over and over, Nicholas is already extremely strong. Each day his neck muscles are improving and he can hold his head up longer and longer. We both expect him to crawl rather early as he is already testing out the waters in the crib. We have reverted to putting him to sleep on his stomach as he does not like sleeping on his back. We will place him in a sleep positioner and by the time he wakes up, he has wiggled from the middle of the crib all the way to the bumper on the end.