First Hair Cut

I was finally able to convince Gabe to let me trim Nicholas's hair today.  So after lunch, we sat Nicholas in the bumbo seat with Baby Einstein on, toys in front of him and daddy also trying to distract him while I cut.  It actually wasn't that bad.  He did turn his head a few times but no crazy cuts for me to ruin the cut.  I mainly trimmed the area around his ears and along the back.  It looks much better and although it is slightly crooked in the back, I don't think Nicholas will care.

We of course saved his hair for the baby book.  Now he really looks like a little boy instead of a baby.  I still can't believe how big he is!  

Now mama needs a haircut!

TGIF!!

This week has been a LONG one!  In my last post, I spoke too soon about Nicholas feeling much better.  Yes his fever went away on Monday, but he was not well just yet.  Tuesday he started to get a bad rash that covered pretty much all of his torso, neck and some of his face.  He wasn't itching, but was still pretty fussy and not eating much.  After doing some research online, we found out that he had Roseola - it described everything he had to a "T".  Again, the solution was to just wait it out as the rash should go away in a few hours to a few days. 

I would say that today was really his first day back feeling better.  Nicholas is eating well, playing and even laughing.  We are SO thankful to have our little booboo back to his old self.  On another note, we discovered that not only does Nicholas love Baby Einstein, but he also loves the Cosby Show.  We went out to grab some ice cream tonight, came back home and turned on this classic TV show.  Nicholas stopped playing walked up rather close to the TV, sat down and just watched.  Who doesn't love the Cosby Show?!  What was funny was as soon as a commercial came on, he was back to playing with his toys.  Gabe tried to get a picture of him watching, but unfortunately we were too late.  Thank goodness for TV Land that plays the classic sitcoms!  They just don't make 'em like they used to... 

Fever Pitch

Saturday morning when Nicholas woke up from his morning nap, he seemed very fussy and a bit warm.  I took his temperature and it was around 100.  Well that evening, it ended up going up to 102.5.  He started to not really eat much, was REALLY warm and just didn't feel good.  We gave him some acetaminophen (not the Tylenol brand -so nobody worry).  When we put him to bed that night, he woke up an hour later fussing and inconsolable.  Enter the ever wonderful Baby Einstein DVDs.  It was almost reminiscent of when he was a newborn and we had no clue what to do to calm him down.  He would go back to sleep but wake up an hour later.  Finally he went down for the night and woke up around 6am Sunday morning.  And we basically repeated Saturday.  He wasn't too warm during that morning, but his temp continued to increase as the day went on.  He looked so pitiful and we felt so helpless.  (Keep in mind that this is really the first time Nicholas has been sick, which is amazing since he is over a year old, but it also made us that much more upset over our sick child).  I ended up calling our pediatrician's office to see what they recommended after getting another temp of around 102.7.  They said to schedule an appt and bring him in Monday.

Monday morning was not a fun time for mama or Nicholas.  He slept until 7am, but again woke up fussy and not eating.  I called Greenvale at 8am when they opened and was told that they were overwhelmed at the moment and would have a nurse call me back.  Then when the nurse does call me, she proceeds to tell me that today (of all days) they were switching to an all electronic system and therefore had to cut back on their patient load.  The nurse would tell Dr. Whitaker what was going on with Nicholas and he would decide if we could come in that day.  At this point Nicholas was doing ok, but mama was not.  I just wanted someone, anyone to fix my baby so he wasn't sick anymore.  Luckily I got a call back saying I could bring him in today and I asked for the earliest appt available.  So 9:30am a very ragged mama and sleepy/fussy toddler sign in at Greenvale.  It was a good 40 minutes later before Dr. Whitaker even saw Nicholas.  To top it all off, he said Nicholas had a fever virus and they couldn't do anything for him except for what we were already doing.  Granted I should have been happy that it was nothing more serious, but at this point it was almost 11, I had wasted 2 hours and had an EXTREMELY tired and fussy child.  I put Nicholas in his car seat to head home and before I could turn around, he was passed out.  My poor baby.

There is a happy ending to our bad morning...  Nicholas seems to be doing MUCH better now.  He did not feel warm at all after getting home.  He took close to 4 hours worth of naps and went down without any bit of a fight tonight.  I just don't know how parents of cronically ill children do it...

Are you ready for some football?

Nicholas is...

We took advantage of Nicholas raising his arms a lot today to teach him to do it when we say "Touchdown".  Daddy was so proud of his future Bama baller! 

Shoes please!

Since today wasn't unbearably hot, we decided to take Nicholas to Leeds park.  It turns out that he is still a bit too young for the park, but will probably love it in about a year.  We also discovered that he is still not a fan of grass. 

What is this stuff?

How do I get away from it?

Daddy reassuring him that it's ok

Fool me twice shame on me!  He was not going to put those feet down again!

It will be interesting to see what he thinks about sand when we head to the beach this summer...

13 Months

Yea! Summertime! 

Each day Nicholas improves his walking abilities. It's amazing the difference 3 months makes...  He went from not even sitting himself up to pulling himself up, crawling, cruising, and walking.  Now he can even bend down to pick up a toy and then stand back up.  Nicholas loves to push things around the floor while crawling - it can be anything from a cereal box, to books, to toys.  I have a feeling he will love having toy cars and crashing them into things.  Another big thing is pulling toys out of his toy basket and putting them back in.  It's so crazy to watch him comprehend how toys work - which buttons to push and how to reassemble things.  Nicholas also loves his books.  I read to him several times every day and he will bring me the book he wants me to read.   

Nicholas "talks" non-stop.  Nicholas and his daddy have interesting conversations daily.  One thing I've also noticed is that his teeth grinding has stopped.  Hopefully this will not come back again (knock on wood).  Nicholas says things that sound like tickle, but said with a "d" and not a "t".  It also sounds like he says cheese sometimes.  He definitely knows what dog is, but he mainly says it without the "g".  Whenever daddy leaves in the mornings and gives mama a kiss goodbye, Nicholas will also give us a kiss.  It is the cutest thing ever!! 

Nicholas is completely weaned from bottles and is now good at holding and drinking out of the sippy cup on his own (until there is just a little milk left and he needs mom or dad to tilt it up a bit more for him).  By the way, I highly recommend the Playtex Insulated Sippy Cups.  They are great because he is actually able to get the milk out (compared to others that are either too hard or the milk just pours out everywhere).  His meals are whatever we eat along with regular helpings of yogurt, applesauce, bananas, graham crackers and Cheerios.  The funniest is when he is done eating, Nicholas will scrunch up his nose and turn his head.  There is definitely no ifs ands or buts about it!

   

I couldn't ask for a better sleeper.  I can put Nicholas down during nap time or at night without rocking him or a bottle.  He doesn't hardly ever fuss, but just sucks on those two fingers (upside-down of course) and cuddles up with his blankie that Uncle Mumbles gave him.  Nicholas averages a total of  2-3 hours of daytime naps, while at night goes down between 7:30 and 8pm and averages waking up around 6:30am. 

I know I've said this before, but I just can't imagine life any better than it is right now.  Our hearts melt every time he gives us a kiss, laughs or just smiles as us.  What a blessing this little guy is!!!

Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all father's - and especially

my husband

Pawpaw

Pop

Granddaddy

Brad

and Ryan

a Happy Father's Day!  Hopefully everyone had a great day!