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

6 Months Old

Yesterday, Nicholas turned half a year old! It's hard to believe how big he is, which is why I waited to post until today because we visited Dr. Whitaker for his 6 month checkup today. He weighs 18 lbs, 3 oz and is 29 inches long (which puts him in the 75th and +95th percentiles respectively). He also received 5 shots today including the flu and H1N1. Nicholas was not a fan of those, but recovered very quickly. According to Dr. Whitaker, he is not constipated like we had thought. I suppose it's just a new phase in the dirty diaper department.

Nicholas is doing all kinds of new things now: rolling over both ways, sitting by himself in the tripod position (his hands helping him sit up), he sometimes will stand up assisted but this doesn't happen often. Nicholas loves Bama. If Bama would sit still (yea right), Nicholas would stare at him for hours. This should make for an interesting relationship when Nicholas becomes even more mobile.

We are still giving him baby food just at breakfast and dinner, but will probably introduce some at lunch time in the next month or so. We also just introduced water to him, which he wasn't too fond of. I am very thankful that nursing is still going well. Even Dr. Whitaker was impressed that we haven't had to supplement at all.

As far as sleeping, he is finally recovering from last weeks change in schedule and sleeping through the night again. Nicholas went to sleep around 8pm the last two nights, but woke up about 30-45 minutes later both nights. Last night was rough because we decided to let him cry it out. This lasted a good 30+ minutes. It's rather hard to ignore a crying baby for that amount of time, but we did it.

To celebrate his 6 month birthday, we took him to see Santa at Bass Pro Shop here in Leeds. We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes, which wasn't too terrible. Nicholas didn't mind sitting in his lap at all, but didn't seem all that thrilled either. Once I get the digital version, I'll make sure to upload it.

Happy 6 months Nicholas! Here is our monthly pic - can you say deer in headlights?!? :-)

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!