Tickle me Nicholas!

After hearing that Nicholas giggled for Mimi and Pop last Tuesday, we were determined to hear it ourselves. So Saturday morning, Gabe starting tickling Nicholas on his changing table (where he always seems to be happy) and he giggled a few times in a row. It was the best thing ever!

At this point, I'm trying to keep my distance as much as possible since I have a cold and don't want to share it with the little guy. So far I think it's working, but I still have symptoms, so we aren't in the clear yet.

Here are some recent pics...

Can you tell it's football season


Love my cousins!


Tummy time!


Daddy's starting him early


Sleepy guy

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.

3 months old!

We celebrated Nicholas turning three months old by having his pictures taken at Portrait Innovations. They turned out so great! Feel free to make your picture request of one of the four below.









We aren't sure of his measurements at this point and he won't actually see the pediatrician again until he is four months. The biggest change this past month was his ability to sleep through the night. Right as daddy was about to put cereal in his nightly bottle, he proved us wrong and started sleeping until around 5am. When he gets a bottle, we generally give him 5-6 oz at a time. The funniest part is when we take the bottle away to burp him mid-bottle, he will let out this really high pitch cry, burp and then calm down. His spitting up is not quite as bad as it used to be, so hopefully that trend will continue.

Nicholas constantly has his hands in his mouth, which made it interesting to get the pictures done (as you can tell from two of the pics they were headed for his mouth). He is able to hold his head up really well now. We love hearing him squeal in delight and can't wait until he really starts to giggle. He is still wearing 3 month size clothes, but they are getting tighter and tighter.

Happy three months Nicholas! Thanks for being such a good sport for pictures!

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.

Beach Bum

On Saturday morning August 8, we loaded down the Corolla with just about everything we could think of we would need and headed to Mobile. Nicholas was awake for the first hour and then slept for the next two hours. We were only about 20 miles outside of Mobile and I heard the little stinker create a very dirty diaper. Right as this happens we are stopped on the Dolly Parton bridge due to a wreck. After a few minutes of debating, I decided I would change him while we were stopped. Well as soon as I get him unfastened, the traffic started to move. We stopped off on the side of the road at the next exit and changed him and then hit up McDonalds for lunch. All in all the ride down was a very quiet and peaceful one.

Later that day we visited Mamaw at the nursing home, which she thoroughly enjoyed. My best friend from high school Aimee stopped by the house later that night with her daughter and boyfriend. Ryan, Nancy and the girls arrived about that time as well and we were so glad to finally introduce them to their one and only nephew/boy cousin.





Sunday Brian, Cindy and Drew brought us muffins and bagels for breakfast and then we left Mobile around lunchtime and headed over to Loxley to visit Catherine and Tommy on the way to the beach. It was nice to visit with them and also helped to break the trip up in half.



A few hours later and we were at the Beach Club in Fort Morgan. The condo was awesome - very spacious for the growing Thompson clan.

Nicholas experienced his first time in a pool. Because swimmy diapers don't come in his size, we put him in a regular diaper, covered by a swimmy diaper and then his bathing suit (thanks to Gigi). He enjoyed sitting in this amazing floaty that Ryan and Nancy bought for us. I know we will get lots of use out of it in the future as well. Nicholas also was introduced to the beach, but I don't think he was very impressed.

Our week at the beach can be summed up very easily - lots of pool time, delicious food, Sudoku puzzles, long and mostly ethical Uno games, and endless hugs and kisses from Gigi and Pawpaw to their adoring grandkids.

The trip back home was even better than the visit down. We stopped only once (just before getting on the interstate to change a diaper. I fed Nicholas a bottle on the ride home and other than that, he again slept the whole time.

Thank you Gigi and Pawpaw for our wonderful week-long beach getaway. I hope the withdrawls aren't too bad!

Fingers are good!

So the new thing for Nicholas that just started this week is to chew on his fingers. At first I thought he was just hungry all the time as I have read that is an early sign of hunger. The fact that he was doing this so often I attributed to a growth spurt of some sort. Well apparently mama was wrong about this one. Either he is starting the teething process (which I believe is rather early for his age) or he just likes the taste of his fingers. My guess is the former of the two. He hasn't been fussy at all, but we will have to see how this progresses.



Another first just around the corner is his first trip to the beach! Saturday we head to Mobile (which will be our longest road trip with the little guy - so keep your fingers crossed) and then Sunday we will head over to the Beach Club on Fort Morgan. We are so excited to see how he does in the water and to finally introduce him to his cousins and aunt and uncle on my side of the family!

2 Months Old!

Nicholas is officially two months old today! It seems like so long ago that we were walking down to labor and delivery at Brookwood.

So many things have changed over this past month. He is actually smiling in response to us and not just because he was dreaming or had gas. We still don't know what in the world he is smiling about sometimes, but it doesn't matter because that smile is so sweet! He has recently started sticking out his tongue at us. There is no rhyme or reason for this but I'm assuming it's rather normal.

His neck muscles are getting stronger and stronger. Although I still call him a bobble head at times, he is definitely working on control and I know will have this mastered by 3 months. Nicholas also recently discovered his feet after daddy put some socks on him (which we have never done) and he couldn't stop lifting his feet up.

When stretched out, this little guy takes up most of the crib!


Nicholas doesn't have a real schedule yet, but is in the process of creating one. We normally put him down for the night between 9:30 and 10:30. He will wake up for his first feeding around 1-2am and then his next feeding around 5. He is very good at sleeping in between those feedings and for the most part will go back down rather quickly. We are still putting him on his stomach, which seems to be the preferred position. Nicholas is a morning person because most every morning we will kick back in the recliner and he will smile and talk to me for awhile. This will also normally happen in the early afternoon.

He easily fits into the three month old onesies and I can see him moving up to the 6 month clothes before too long. He is still wearing size 1 diapers but also fits into the size 2s. God bless Brad and Beth for throwing us the diaper shower and to everyone who bought us diapers or wipes! This boy can go through them in a hurry!

According to the pediatrician, Nicholas is "thriving," so we hope he continues on that path...