Our Anniversary Getaway

To celebrate our fourth anniversary, we decided to rent a cabin in the Gatlinburg area.  We stayed for the weekend (which to-date is the longest I've ever been away from Nicholas).  The cabin was perfect for what we were looking for and even though there were others somewhat nearby, we seemed to be the only ones on the mountain.  We decided to just stay in the cabin to relax and not worry about hitting up any of the tourist attractions in the area.  Everything was nice except we both agreed that it was very hard falling asleep at night.  Everything was too quiet in the mountains - we are used to a myriad of sounds at night (trains in our backyard, sirens passing by at all hours, our fan loudly working to cool the room, our sound machine as well as Nicholas' monitor sound machine).  The weather was great!  We even got some snow the first night.  Granted it wasn't anything compared to our first anniversary snow experience (thank goodness), but it just made the mountains that much more serene.  Happy 4 years babe!

Here is a picture from the loft area of the cabin which had a pool table, dart board and basketball machine). 

Thanks so much to Mimi and Pop and Gigi and Pawpaw for watching the little man while we were away!  I know he loved all the attention.  Then this past Saturday, we had a great time celebrating Anna's first birthday party, followed by a BBQ with our friends the Spanicks and Perrys.

It took Nicholas a few minutes to warm up to everybody, but before long he was visiting/entertaining everyone. 

He wanted to wish Anna Happy Birthday up close and personal like!  So cute!

Luckily she didn't mind him testing out a few of her birthday presents.

Luckily Reagan didn't mind him testing out her toys either at the BBQ...

My Favorite Time of Year is...

Consignment Season!!  Ever since I discovered local church consignment sales several years ago (initially at Asbury UMC), I have been in LOVE!  From the beginning I have found amazing deals on baby and kids items.  Gabe likes to say that we are renting the toys until we sell it back in the next sale.

Early on, we were blessed to have all the wonderful showers that friends and family threw for us, so we really didn't have to buy much.  Granted he still receives plenty at Christmas, his birthday and for no reason at all, but these consignment sales are a wonderful place to fill in the blanks, support local church youth programs and sell what you don't need/use/want all at the same time.

My favorite by far is Trussville United Methodist Church's Growing Kids sale.  (It also helps knowing that since we go to church there this sale helps support the nursery that Nicholas goes to every Sunday.)  They are electronically superior to any others I've seen, which makes the checkout process a million times faster than other sales.  Growing Kids is also very organized, spread out and well staffed (or I should say volunteered :-).

So my deals this sale are:

• 2 polo shirts
• 3 cute outfits
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1 swimsuit
• 2 t-shirts
• 2 pairs of shoes
• 4 Mickey plates that I just couldn't resist
• Brand new Tadoodles crayon set that works in the tub (Great find thanks to my friend Alicia!)

And all this for $50!!!  I am very proud of my finds and as of tonight they have sold about half that amount of my stuff, so I am optimistic that my consignment check will more than cover what I spent.  Can you tell how much I love these sales?!?

Toddler Talk

Over the past month, Nicholas' vocabulary has exploded.  He now says (or attempts to say) anything we say.  For example, Gabe answered his phone today and said Hey Dude, which Nicholas immediately repeated in his cute toddler voice "Hey Dude".  With all the birthdays recently (shout out to Lilly, Pop and Abby) we've tried to get him to say Happy Birthday, but it comes out "Happy To" - close and cute enough to work.  He's able to count to 2.  And as Mimi said the other day, if I had a nickle for every time he says "pease" (AKA please) we would all be very rich people.  Granted it's great that he is polite, but I think we may have emphasized that one a bit too much. 

Vocabulary that he pronounces correctly:

Mickey, Minnie, Donald - he wakes up and asks for Mickey (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), which I am happy to put on for him while I fix his breakfast
Duckie - his favorite bath time toys right now
Alrighty, Hold On - He hears that second one quite a bit  as everything is so urgent for him and now he is good at repeating it
Can I?
I did it!
Juice, Water, Milk
TV - ah how they learn early
Toast, Chicken
Cracker - We have about every flavor of Goldfish in our house and I have to say that I still like the original the best
Shoes/Sock
Hand, Head, Eyes, Ears, Toes - Nicholas can tell you where all of these are
Clock - It's so interesting to see him make connections - Nicholas pointed to my watch the other day and said "Clock?"
Catch!  - his throwing skills aren't all that great (many of the throwing items end up behind him), but I'm sure over time Daddy will work with him on that

Some words that need a bit of translation:

Cudur = Color - Although he is rather rough on his crayons, he loves coloring (a Mickey Mouse coloring book of course).  I'm thinking a good toy for his birthday will be one of those "colors" that only works on special paper and therefore won't result in blue and green marks on our coffee table. 
Saby = Daisy -  Minnie is one of his favorites, but he does like Daisy as well (with Mickey of course being his all time favorite)
Set = Yes - Nicholas seems to be able to say Yea, but doesn't really try to say Yes too much.
Bankie = His o-so-special blankie that he can't live without
Nana = Banana - A good morning snack for him right now
Gape = Grape  Luckily this has been a recent snack of choice for him (along with crackuhs of course)
Side = Outside
Pay = Play - Nicholas has been a big fan of playing outside since the weather has been decent recently.  Swinging in his swing, watching the bubbles come out of his bubble machine and picking berries off the bushes and throwing them. 
Ticker = Sticker - he loves playing with these.  They have a tendency to end up all over the house (I found one in the dryer vent), on his nose, but he loves putting them on his hand. 
Buboos = Bubbles

It is rather hard to get Nicholas to stay still long enough for a picture (as Beth can vouch for at Abby's birthday party this weekend).  Here is one of him trying to put all the berries from the bushes in our back yard into a plastic pipe.  Nicholas loves putting toys or whatever he finds into boxes, bags or any object where he thinks the object belongs (and I have to say that he is very meticulous about this - so funny to watch!). 

Bugs and Rodents Stink

So this past Friday, Gabe and I were supposed to go to the Darius Rucker/Brad Paisley concert at the BJCC.  However, Friday morning I woke up with a horrible stomach bug, which caused me to stay in the bathroom most of the day (thankfully and literally after I threw Nicholas in his crib for a nap).  Also, luckily Gigi and Pawpaw arrived (originally so they could watch the little guy while we had a night out) before Nicholas woke up from said nap and was able to care for him/keep him occupied, while I was curled up and in pain on the couch.  Stomach bugs are the worst!  I was barely able to eat anything (which is great if you are trying to lose weight!) and had horrible headaches/stomachaches for almost two days.  Today, fortunately, I can say that I feel like a brand new person.  Amazing how that bug just works it's way out of your system.

I also can unfortunately vouch to the stink-i-ness of rodents as we obviously have a dead one underneath our house.  A week or so ago, Gabe heard the little scratching under the house (no doubt a rat), proceeded to put poison in the crawl space under the house and now there is a distinct smell that is just nasty in the house.  Granted I'm thrilled that the poison killed whatever it was, but I wish the smell would die as well. 

It seems that we are all finally getting over our sinus issues (Gabe, Nicholas and myself), so hopefully we can stay away from any more sickness - that is until the spring church consignment sales that always seem to get me sick (but are SO worth it because of the deals I'm able to find!). 

On a lighter note, Nicholas is funnier and crazier than ever.  His vocabulary multiplies each day, although he seems to think that "please" will get him absolutely anything and is his number one word right now.  He won't actually tell you what he wants, he will just say please.  He is saying "Hey Daddy", "Hey Mommy", "Can I?" and will pretty much try to say anything we say.  Nicholas lately has made the bedtime routine rather difficult.  He won't exactly lie still when I'm trying to put a diaper and PJs on him and then he also seems too impatient for a bedtime story anymore.  Even without the routine, Nicholas still goes down really well at night and seems to enjoy his sleep.

Even though his appetite comes in waves (and he is seemingly on a dip right now), he gets bigger and bigger by the day.  Nicholas is definitely a climber, but I would also label him a cautious climber.  Any time he hits his head (usually just a little bit) he says "Bonk!"  The other day, he was falling out of his Mickey chair in reverse and as he was cautiously lowering himself (head first to the floor), he said "bonk!"  So I have to say my climber is really aware of his surroundings.  Finally, Nicholas is completely obsessed with Mickey Mouse!  He loves Mickey and all his gang including "Minnie", "Puto", "Foofy" and "Duck".  I doubt it will be hard to decide what his birthday theme will be this year.  I just love my little guy!! 

Cruising in my fire truck that Uncle Mumbles gave me :-)

Since I don't have a ton of new pics of Nicholas I thought I would throw in some extras of the Thompson clan that I stole from Gigi's camera.  I still can't believe how big the girls are getting!!  Please continue to keep Makenzie in your prayers as this sweet baby girl has many more doctors' visits and inspections to pass! 

          
Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day and stays away from all this sickness going around!

Winter Update

Since I haven't been updating this very well, here is what has been going on with us.  Nicholas is cuter and funnier than ever.  He says "No Uh-uh" to everything (turns out he got that from mama - it's amazing how you don't realize your phrases until your son copies you).  For some reason he can't say yes, but instead will say "set".  Nicholas' new phrases are "all done" and "gone gone."  He is definitely down to one nap a day and still normally sleeps really well during the nap and at night (although the past few nights he woke up - we think he could be cutting another molar).   

He loves "playing" with Bama (he calls him beagie since he can't seem to say Bama), but not vice versa.  Nicholas tends to try to pull his tail or fur and will throw his toys at Bama. Bama, in turn, tends to head in the opposite direction when Nicholas is in the room.  We are trying to teach him to be gentle with Bama, but it hasn't quite sunk in yet.  Anytime any football game is on TV, Nicholas will say Roll Tide non-stop.  I think Gabe has sufficiently claimed him as a Bama fan.  He is a huge fan of Mickey Mouse clubhouse.  Every time Mickey used to come on, Nicholas would say "Ohhhh"!  He loves dumping toys out of boxes - either his toy box or his box of blocks.  He will usually refill the box and dump it again.  Nicholas also loves the nursery at church.  Most kids cling to their parents legs as they are leaving, but Nicholas just heads straight for the toys.  We have the independent type on our hands.       

A week ago, we experienced our second winter wonderland in a month.  Nicholas was just so excited about it that he crashed in daddy's arms (which he never does anymore, so daddy was loving it!).  Luckily we didn't lose power like everyone feared was going to happen with all the ice (especially since the Auburn National Championship game was on Monday!)

Our backyard was covered. 

There is a Grand Prix under there somewhere.

 It was nice to have the streets so quiet.  This is my favorite pic

 Slippery icy sidewalk (guess who didn't take these pictures)

Bring on Spring!  There is only so much snow these Southerners can take!

Winter Wonderland!

We experienced our first white Christmas this year!  Granted it wasn't much, but it was still a cool experience!  

Nicholas helping me make cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning, Nicholas was greeted with lots of Mickey, books, puzzles, etc

Testing out his new Mickey rocking chair.

Over at Beth and Brad's for Christmas breakfast, Nicholas is in awe of Meagan's new laptop.

Uncle Mumbles got Nicholas this great riding fire truck with working water tank and sprayer!  Can't wait until it's warm enough for him to test it out on the sidewalk!

Here is our Christmas Winter Wonderland! 

Early Davenport and Thompson Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Davenports last Friday.  We had good food and good times!  Nicholas received lots of cute clothes and toys that he has already broken in (including a sports set, a train set, etc).

This is my best consignment find yet!!  So cute!

Are we ready to open presents yet?

Beautiful tree and plenty of gifts to pass around

Uncle Brad found his tickle spot!

Nicholas in the middle of Meagan and Abby.  He enjoyed ripping the paper this year.

His new multi-sports center - fun!

 

The next morning we headed to Mobile to visit Gigi and Pawpaw.  Gabe and I gave each other a mini-vacation over to Biloxi for Christmas.  Well, unfortunately I forgot my license at home and the Imperial Palace (where we were staying) stops everyone that looks under 30.  So even though I'm almost 9 years over the legal limit, I was not allowed in the casino at the IP.  We even spoke with the casino head of security (who had the biggest attitude and was not helpful at all) to see if there was anything we could do to prove my age, but they did not allow us to do anything.  After that and a Barney Fife reference, we were probably on everyone's list.  I didn't have any problems what-so-ever getting in the Hard Rock or Boomtown, but you can imagine that Gabe and I were quite mad at how we were treated at the IP.  In the end I was able to play my favorite game (Penny Slot - Super Jackpot Party) and I have learned my lesson to have my license on me at all times (no matter how old I am).  The good thing was Nicholas did well with Gigi and Pawpaw the night we were away.

We were able to visit with my dad's brother Brian and his family and my mom's sister Catherine and my cousin Jane.  Nicholas had a blast with Jane's kid's Carter and Emma.  Unfortunately Ryan and all his girls were not able to join us as a 7 hour drive from Houston would be a bit much for a three week old little girl.  Gigi and Pawpaw gave Nicholas a great backpack, some PJ's and also contributed to Nicholas' college fund, which we are eternally grateful for!

Everyone loved Pawpaw's tennis balls

Carter and Nicholas enjoyed wrestling me - I think they won

Playing with the t-ball set Ryan and his girls gave him

Helping Gigi open her gifts

 Nicholas enjoyed riding around in a box top

We are looking forward to Santa visiting tonight.  Soon we will be making Santa cookies!