The tradition lives on...

The year Gabe was born, Alabama won the national championship. So, it's only fitting that the year Nicholas was born brought number 13 for the Crimson Tide. That being said, we will leave it up to the Tide to produce 14 next year because a little brother or sister for Nicholas just isn't in the plans just yet. Gabe and Pawpaw were able to experience the Rose Bowl in all it's glory and luckily came home with a "W" as well. Needless to say that experience tops Gabe's all time favorites besides the day Nicholas was born and our wedding of course... :-)

While daddy and Pawpaw were out having a blast in Vegas/Pasadena, Nicholas and I were doing our best to stay warm (AKA stay inside). All week it did not even get above freezing, which is extremely unusual for us. It actually snowed here on Thursday and even though it stayed below freezing the whole time, none of it stuck. However, we can say Nicholas experienced his first snow (by watching his cousins catch snow flakes in their mouths).

The most exciting thing that happened to us occurred just before the national championship on Thursday. Nicholas and I joined Mimi and Pop for dinner. Pop was feeding Nicholas and at the bottom of his Gerber jar he discovered a large piece of glass. It wasn't from the jar itself, but looked like it came from another jar in the factory. It was very bizarre to discover and didn't really sink in for awhile. After a few minutes, we decided to make a call to our pediatrician's office to see what they recommended. Granted Nicholas hadn't coughed or made any signs of choking/swallowing anything out of the ordinary, but we just wanted to make sure. I ended up talking to the on call nurse and she said to just observe his dirty diapers over the next day or so and call back if he gets sick in any way. Thank God nothing ever happened and he is still as happy as a little clam. Mimi did report the problem to Gerber, so hopefully they are taking all the measures necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again.

They don't make a national championship hat small enough, but plenty of other items are just his size I'm sure...


What is it with males and their remotes?



Is it game time yet?

Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens

Happy New Year everyone! We ate the traditional black eyed peas and collard greens yesterday for good luck and money (actually I just had a few bites of each and let Gabe try to give us luck with his eating them). My New Year's resolution is to not stress over Nicholas' rate of development or focus on what is the "correct" way of parenting. Ever since Nicholas was born (and probably even while I was still pregnant) I constantly read books/blogs/internet about the best parenting techniques of newborns, etc. After 7 months I'm not even close to being an expert, but I have learned that things will happen when they happen and that all those parenting books aren't necessarily the right thing for you and your child. I feel that Nicholas is doing wonderful despite not following all the "experts" advice.

We have another first - Nicholas is crawling! (Sort of) He's actually going in reverse. He pushes off and slides back and can really go in reverse all the way across our living room. Stay tuned for a video clip. So does this count as crawling or do I wait until he goes forward to record this in his baby book?

7 Months Old!

Today Nicholas is seven months old! We still can't believe how big he is. He is too big for 6 month clothes and some 9 month as well. I'm not sure what his length/weight is, but I'm sure he's still at the top of the charts. Today I took him to Greenvale for his second dose of the seasonal flu vaccine. Nicholas was a champ and cried for only a few seconds before calming down. Hopefully we can continue to keep him healthy.

The biggest change this past month was the bottom two teeth that appeared. It seems as though his top two central incisors aren't far away because he is more fussy than usual and can't keep his fingers out of his mouth (still upside down of course). Because he likes to suck on his fingers, he doesn't (and hasn't for a few months) take a pacifier. I'm happy about this since we won't have to deal with the issue of taking the pacifier away from him down the road.

Just recently Nicholas has started to scrunch up his nose when he's happy (sometimes resulting in a snort, which is the cutest thing!) He also is finally able to get his toes in his mouth, which he has been working on for awhile. Nicholas is able to sit by himself, but will end up falling sideways/backwards after a little while if we don't watch him. It also looks like he is in the beginning stages of crawling. He will pull his knees up underneath him, but he ends up going in reverse.

We have recently started him on Stage 2 baby food. He is happy about this because the serving sizes are bigger. Nicholas likes all food and hasn't had any bad reactions since the green bean episode. His mouth is always open and ready for more when he's in the high chair.

Up until the week of Christmas, his schedule was pretty consistent - go to bed at 8 and wake up around 6:30. Now we are working on getting him back on that schedule.


Here is his scrunched up nose face - he looks mad but it's so funny!

Jolly Ole Saint Nick!

With all of our Christmas festivities, it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. We all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed spending time with our families!

Christmas eve was spent with the Davenport clan. There Nicholas received lots of cute clothes, toys and a very cool time capsule box that contains magazines and papers from the week he was born. Nicholas wasn't quite sure what to do with the wrapping paper, but of course everything he could get his hands on went straight for his mouth.

Santa brought Nicholas a swing, Leap Frog learning table, a lion riding toy, blocks and more! His favorite is the swing, which we put up in the sun room right now until the weather gets warmer. Daddy's gift is a trip to Pasadena to see his Crimson Tide play in the Rose Bowl. I'm also working on a scrapbook for this years football season for him (this was supposed to be done by Christmas, but I'm not even close). I received some gorgeous diamond earrings and a great pedicure/massage tub for my feet! Can't wait to test it out! Gigi and Pawpaw drove up Christmas day to join us. Unfortunately Gigi didn't feel very well, but she couldn't let a cold keep her away from her only grandson!

The day after Christmas was spent with the Martin family. We had some delicious BBQ along with plenty of tasty snacks and desserts. Next Christmas will be interesting... All of those girl cousins better watch out!

Here are a few pics of our wonderful first Christmas with Nicholas!

Baby and Beagie!

Nicholas apparently gets a kick out of Bama. I can't say the feeling is mutual for Bama...

Say Cheese!

Last night, while celebrating my friend Elizabeth's birthday, we felt a little something in Nicholas' mouth. Then this morning we could really feel and see both of his bottom central incisors. According to his baby book, he is right on schedule for this. I'm really going to miss those gummy grins! Also, we believe Nicholas is entering the early stages of crawling in that he has started to stick his butt up in the air and pull his legs underneath. For now he is content rolling over in order to get anywhere.

Apparently Nicholas has brought daddy and the Crimson Tide luck since they are headed to the National Championship in Pasadena. Daddy says it's only fitting since they also went the year he was born.

I finally ordered our Christmas cards. Hopefully I can get them, address them and send back out before Christmas gets here. We had contemplated putting the following picture in the card because we both thought it was too funny, but in the end I decided to go with the traditional Christmas sweater/Christmas tree pic.

Santa's Helper