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.