Happy Birthday Nico Man

Wow! Nico turns 3 today, where did the time go?? Someone told me one time, the days are slow but the years are fast and it couldn't be more true!
Nico is enjoying his new status as a BIG brother, he seems concerned when Gabe cries and tries to include him when he's playing. I think he will enjoy him more and more as Gabe gets bigger.

Gabe is doing so much better than in past weeks, we have him diagnosed with reflux so he is on zantac and feeling well. He's a huge eater so he is gaining weight like crazy, for his 2 month check up he weighed over 12 pds. He smiles and coos like his older brother did when he was a baby, you never can get enough of those grins! We are enjoying are new crazy life with 2 little boys and wondering how on earth we could ever handle another :) 2 may be our magic number!

Been awhile!

It's so hard to post right now, Gabriel has some reflux so he has been so irritable that I have little time to be on the computer. We have switched him to a hypoallergenic and super expensive formula and he is doing much better mood wise and the zantac helps the reflux feel better so I hope we are on a up hill climb and not down anymore, it's been pretty rough the last few weeks.
Nicolas is doing great, I didn't see him today and noticed he had closed my bedroom door, when I looked in he was in the dog crate with our dog Gizmo. He told me I could leave to go bye bye to his Spanish class since he was crated with the dogs, he didn't want to go.
He is super silly! I can't wait for Gabriel to get a little older so they can play!

Welcome Little Brother!

We are doing well, Nico is adjusting great to having a new little brother. Now if I could only get the baby to sleep more than 3 hour stretches we would be wonderful!

No More Naps!

Nico is on a roll trying to resist the temptation to sleep during nap time. One day he decided after reading every book on his shelf to unscrew the lightbulb and use it to draw on the walls, lovely!!

No More Vinyl In The House Offically!

Oz finished up the tile work this weekend in the 1/2 bath, now we have officially covered all the ugly vinyl left in the house, I'm so happy!
This tile was leftover from a 1/2 bath my Dad did for us in Columbus so it hardly cost anything to do this one.
I couldn't take a picture of the sink since we are having a little problem there, it's leaking every time Oz tries to put it back, a plumber he is not but I'm sure he'll figure out something. I hope!

4 more weeks!

My induction has been penciled in for October 5th. Though it seems like I've been pregnant forever, at the same time I can't believe I only have 4 more weeks left!

Fat Lip :(

Somehow Nico bounced his bottom off the front of the toilet and hit his mouth on the baseboard, don't ask us how he managed to do it but the result was his first fat lip. We are fortunate that we've had so few injuries, I have this feeling that they may start to increase as he gets crazier with age!

Congrats Oz!

Oz did his first tri this morning in Huntsville, it was a mini tri so he could learn a little more about the race and it ended up being a great way to start. I hope I can do the race next year once the baby is here. We both will need new bikes though, we are hoping to get his with Christmas and birthday money this year and mine at somepoint down the road who knows, why are the road and tri bikes SO expensive!! Yikes!

Nico and I headed to the race around 7 this morning and caught him finishing the bike part and going into the transistion to swim. It was great to be there to cheer him on!

First Day of Preschool!!

I was planning on walking him in for his first day but one of the teachers that knew him went ahead and took his things and brought him into school unexpectedly. Nico was trying so hard not to cry it was making me try not too as well! He had his little hand over his eyes but he bravely walked into school for his first day all by himself. What a big boy! I'm sure once he got in he had a blast! He loved it last year.

Thanks Dad and Ashley!!

We wanted to give a huge thank you to both Dad and Ashley, they have allowed us to fix up our home on a tight budget doing things we never would have been able to without their help.
Ashley painted a beautiful painting for us to put over our fireplace, she even signed it!
Dad came down for the week and laid tile in our kitchen and laundry room, the cost of having someone lay tile is crazy and for him to take a week to help us was wonderful. It was great to say goodbye to all that linoleum!! Things are coming together with the house but never would have without the help of our family so huge thanks from Oz and I!
Nicolas really enjoyed his D-Daddy's visit, as usual he was sad to see him go back home to as he would say Grammy's House. He will be looking forward to seeing his Grammy and D Daddy when the baby comes soon!

Gabriel

4th of July in Virginia

Nico had a blast playing with his cousins all week at Mom and Dad's. They are so patient with him.
He absolutely loved riding in the boat and watching his cousins and Aunts and Uncles wake board off the back. His Mom skipped wake boarding this year since Gabriel probably wouldn't have enjoyed my many crashes.
Oz and Nico were in the pool a lot as well, he is not afraid of the water which is nice but scary too!
After a week with Grammy and D-Daddy we left for our 9 hour drive back home. Right when we pulled into the house, Nico started crying for his Grammy's house and didn't want to come in. I felt so bad for him, I wish we all were able to live a little closer. He will see everyone again soon once the baby comes though.

24 weeks

Here's a picture of Nicolas and I; I'm getting bigger! I feel like I'm huge this time but according to what I wrote when pregnant with Nicolas I'm really about the same as back then.

The ultrasound went fine, I hope to hear something back soon. Thank you for all the well wishes!
I've been feeling really good the past week so I hope to not have another flair up anytime soon; keeping my fingers crossed!

Stripes

We have the room painted and now just need to hang the name over the crib. Nicolas was a big help getting the tape lined up for the stripes :) As usual he has no pants on, I can't wait until the potty training is over! The only way we get him to not have an accident is if we keep his bottoms off, then he will run to the potty every time. This won't work in public though so I need a plan B.

Wish me luck

With all the trouble I've had this pregnancy with heartburn and indigestion they are finally looking into what it may be. I've got an ultrasound set up for 11 today to take a peak at my gall bladder to see if that's the root of my problems.
If anyone knows me they know I HAVE to eat breakfast, even when I'm not pregnant it's a meal I won't miss. This morning has been a challenge since I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything, including water until after the ultrasound. I hope I can make it until noon!

First REAL Haircut

He decided to stay still finally for a haircut but now I'm wondering where his curls went...

Ice Cream Time

Oh boy!

It's Another Boy!

For some reason I really thought this baby was a girl, I was pretty convinced actually. Maybe because we were pretty sure we were finished if we had one of each and so it was wishful thinking on my not feeling so great pregnant days.
The ultrasound showed a loud and clear boy, at first I was happy, then a little sad I wouldn't have a little girl to spend time with, then happy again that Nico would have a little brother to grow up with. Really that will be so wonderful for them both.
I'm looking around wondering who will want to play with all the little dolls I have and my little doll house my Dad and I built, maybe down the road we will have a third and maybe it will be a little girl or maybe I'll be the proud Mom of 3 boys. I can give the dolls to their daughters one day right?

Anyway, I really wanted something different for Gabriel's room, here is a picture of our work in progress. We will be painting stripes on the walls a few shades darker than the current color and I still am waiting on the valances to arrive. We've arranged the furniture different since the picture too. It's all coming together and we are so happy to welcome Gabriel Drake to the family this fall!

Birthday Party

We are well into the world of weekly birthday parties, Nico, you have too many friends. I'm starting to learn the birthday etiquette; yes husbands are invited IF the birthday party is held on the weekend, otherwise just the Mom typically comes. I learned quickly after the first weekend party when everyone asked where Oz was; all the other husbands were there standing by themselves in different corners looking like they were probably dragged there. Now Oz comes with me and I'm glad he does, I know he doesn't really know most of the people there but it's nice for him to get to see Nico run around and act crazy with all of his friends.
Yesterday we went to Haley's 3rd birthday party. Nicolas has already decided she is his girlfriend, he went right up to her and gave a big hug and kiss. Then he followed her all around for most of the party, and sang his little lungs out at the Happy Birthday song for her. I will give Haley all the credit for coaxing Nico into the big jump and slide they had out back. This was the first time he was ever willing to go into one of those. No amount of pressure from Mom or Dad ever worked but the cute face of a little 3 year old girl begging him to come play did the trick. Thanks Haley, he loved it once he gave it the chance.

Trip To Arkansas

My parents headed into town to pick Nico and I up to drive over to my sister's house in Arkansas. It's about a 9 hour car trip so to have other people with us was great, I don't mind driving alone but the help is always great to have when you can get it. Within the first hour of the trip Nicolas started pulling at his ears a little bit and his eye was all yucky and pink. Once we got to Fayetteville, I took him in to the Doc in the box and found out he had double ear infections and pink eye! I just can't leave town without a trip to an urgent care. We got him right on meds and he seemed to be feeling better right away, it didn't affect his visit with his cousins at all and noone else got pink eye which is what I was worried about.
We had a great week, Nico LOVES playing with his cousins, they are older than him but take the time to play what he wants and give him TONS of attention. I'm sure he misses them so much now that we are back home. While we were there, I slept in a trundle bed beside his bed, I noticed how horribly loud he is at night, he's always kicking something or has little 2 am parties, he's really not the best sleeper! I never realized at home since he never seems to need me with him during his little parties. I must sleep right through them since I have the monitor turned so low. Needless to say I learned a lot about his sleeping habits but it was funny to listen to him in the middle of the night talking to himself.
For Mothers Day my Mom and sisters all went out to the spa for manicures and pedicures, it was nice to pamper myself a little since that rarely happens these days.
Thanks Stef for a great visit, see you all July!

The Little Man of the house

Nico has started to get into anything and everything lately from walking around in our shoes including my high heels, to finding him out in the garage up on a step stool trying to fix Oz's work bench with a screw driver. He carries those screw drivers around everywhere, I'm always trying to get him to put them down so he doesn't hurt himself but you never know when something will need to be fixed and so he must have one in hand at all times.
He also likes to get in my car and pretend to go places, he could do that half the day. One time I looked out and saw him in the car driving with our dog, Yzma, in the front passenger seat.
Always looking to help, he gets out the spoon and spatulas and says "stir mommy" getting his step stool once again to get tall enough to dip all his utensils in to "help stir."
That step stool made another appearance as he tried to climb into the baby bed and then took it to the kitchen to grab some bananas which he tried to eat with the peel on, gross!
We've also noticed that he climbs out of his bed when we didn't think he did. One morning I found all his shoes in bed with him, another time toys were all over but at least he seems to get back into bed and go to sleep with Mom and Dad none the wiser.

Nebulizer

Nico started getting a really bad cough the past week once allergy season hit. I noticed wheezing and whistling in his chest and decided it was time to take him in. We seem to always have a problem with him developing a bad persistent cough after any cold or runny nose. Finally the Doctors decided to start him on nebulizer treatments. Right now he has to do 3 a day but we hope to get it down to 1 a day after the allergies get better. The machine is really cute, it had stickers he got to decorate it with and the mask looks like a fish. His first treatment didn't go well, he panicked and tried to kick and scream his way out of using it. After that first time though he's done great, he just sits real still, takes in deep breaths while he watches one of his favorite movies which right now is either Cars or Dumbo. The treatments started to work right away so I'm really glad we did it. Our only problem now is the day I took him in was the day I turned in paperwork to a new Doctor's office since we don't care for his current primary Doctor. Now I'm in between the two places, I have to call the old one with questions about his treatment until the new place gets his files which they said takes 2 weeks. Customer service in the health industry around here is horrible, it was way better in Ohio.

Freezing Pool Play

Nico and Papa went for a swim in the lovely new pool that Oz bought over the weekend. I wasn't too excited since you have to get in with Nico and the water is sooooo cold! He was turning blue and shivering and still didn't want to come out, we had to force him to get out which wasn't pretty!
Over the summer it should be better once the air can warm the water better.

Easter Pictures

I wanted to post these before I forgot. They've been in my camera forever but I finally downloaded them. Just some of Nicolas at Easter, he loved hunting for eggs!

This weekend the weather was wonderful so we went to an art festival in town and had a wonderful meal and wine tasting, (I didn't get to taste since I'm pregnant but Oz enjoyed it.) On Saturday we bought a small ugly pool for our patio so Nico could get in to cool off. He and his Dad played in the pool all afternoon until Nico started to turn a little too blue for me. We had to force him to come out, it wasn't pretty but the child was shivering and turning into a little raisin so I had no choice.

Sunday after church we picked our strawberries that were ripe and washed the cars with Nico's help; then headed over to our friends for a BBQ. Nico absolutely loves to go to their home and play with their two little boys. It's always a good time when we can all get together.

Sping has Sprung

Here is a rare family picture we took at the Botanical Gardens, notice Nicolas is trying to get down and managed to flip a shoe off in the process; family pics are to come by these days since he just can't sit still for the picture.
Our time with Oz's parents here was great, Nico thoroughly enjoyed playing with them and was not so happy when they left and I couldn't just sit and stare and him play with trains all day like they were able to do. I need a maid and a chef and then maybe I'd be able to just play all day with Nico; that would be wonderful!
We are enjoying the first spring here, I love that I just put some strawberries and raspberry plants in the ground and already have fruit almost ready to pick. We are NOT enjoying the allergies in the area, all 3 of us are suffering and I can only take Claritin since I'm pregnant. I'm hoping now that everything is done blooming it will get better.
It's suppose to be in the mid 80's all week, I can't wait to get Nico outside to soak up some sun.

Chattanooga Trip

Now that Nico's Grandparents are here visiting, we decided to head over to Chattanooga for a day trip at the Aquarium and Children's museum. I guess we are doing an Aquarium tour since we just got back from the one in Atlanta. Nico loved the fish in the big floor to ceiling tanks the best.
After lunch we headed to the Children's museum, it was rated as one of the best in the country and I could see why, it was a lot bigger than the one here with tons to do. Nico was so tired by then but kept going so he could see all the fun things. One of his favorites was the dinosaur dig. He tried to put one of the big archeology hats on another boy who wasn't having it and then when that didn't work he decided to just fill the hat with sand instead.
It turned out to be a nice day trip, we'll have to do it again.

Funny Words Around The House

Nico is cracking us up with the way he says certain words. I love hearing him talk in more and more sentences and how he decides the way words sound.
Yesterday he said, Mommy, Mommy, Strawbabies please please Mommy, strawbabies!! He loves strawberries or babies as he calls them :) We make him excuse himself before he is allowed to leave the table after dinner, he says Accuse Me Peas, I love it!
I'd love to freeze this time with him, I love this little stage that he is in, between baby and little boy. Time always flies by so fast and if I could just slow this part down a little before the baby is all gone and the big boy is here I would.

Nico's Abuelos come to visit from Brazil Friday, he will love spending the week with them. We are hoping to go to another aquarium in TN since he loved the one in Atlanta so much. We really want to explore the surrounding area here since we are still so new to the area.

An update on Yzma, does anyone want a dog? She's free! The tranquilizers did not work at all so I guess Oz and I will have to start taking them to sleep at night with her storm phobias :) Now she is on phobia medication that we give her daily, it will take a month to tell if it's working so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Yesterday we came home to a smelly present right at the back door and another present in the kitchen, she also pulled all our coats off the coat rack and opened a cabinet door and pulled out a wooden basket and tore it apart, it wears you out to worry every time you leave the house and it's raining; you never know what you will be walking into when you return.

I'll try to post pictures of our time with Nico's Abuelos next week.

Yzma spent another night scared out of her mind during one of the many thunder storms that pass through here. She ended up jumping in our jacuzzi tub for safety; crazy dog! Any storms that roll through mean no sleep for Oz and I since Yzma is so loud and crazy even after the storm is gone.
I called the vet and tonight we will give her a tranquilizer to help her stay calm during a rough patch of weather that is suppose to come through overnight. I'm really hoping it helps her! If not I may have to take it to get some sleep :)

Big Boy Bed!!

This weekend, Oz painfully spent the entire 2 days putting together Nico's furniture from Ikea. Nico LOVES his new bed, he doesn't want to get out of it. The only problem is that it's turning into a place to play not sleep. We will see how this goes. I'm trying to nap him in it today, it's been an hour since I laid him down and although he took an hour to fall asleep, he hasn't climbed out at all so that's good.

I've added some pictures of the new furniture. We had to move furniture all over the house, the guest room moved to the old playroom and it's old room will become the nursery. The playroom moved to the office, I've put a picture of that as well, the office is now in the sitting area of our bedroom. Lots of shuffling around to make everything fit!

Office Visit

All went well for the 10 weeks check at the Doctor's office. They had trouble finding the heartbeat with the Doppler so I lucked out and got another quick ultrasound. The baby's heart was indeed beating at 166.
I'm feeling really good too, I've really been fortunate to have easy first trimesters. I hope it stays that way!!

Atlanta Trip

This past weekend we made the quick 4 hour drive to Atlanta for the weekend. We had so much fun! The first day the three of us headed over to the Atlanta Aquarium and the Coke Museum. The Aquarium was really amazing, it was just so big and the tanks were floor to ceiling with all kinds of fish, sharks, and even beluga whales. Nico absolutely loved it, he kept saying, " It's beautiful."

On Sunday we headed to Ikea for our big shopping trip. We ended up getting Nico his big boy furniture and bedding plus a ton of other things that are just typical cool stuff you find every time you go to Ikea. When we loaded up the car, I realized that I had let the battery die from Nico watching a movie. I asked everyone I saw for jumper cables and nobody had them, not even the security cars. I thought we were going to be at Ikea forever until we gave it one last try and the car magically decided it would turn on, I was so happy! The car was crammed packed as we headed home, I had a tiny space to sit in and nowhere to put my legs but it was worth it, I can't wait to get his room all set up.

First "real" Haircut

Nico had his first actual haircut this afternoon, he didn't exactly enjoy it so it's not finished but she got the worst of it trimmed up for him. He didn't lose his curls, I was so happy, cutting the curls is why I've put it off for so long.