Our garden, week 3

We are having some limited success with our garden. The peas are coming up nicely, one okra seed we planted outside has come up, and a handful of the other inside seedlings appear to be taking root outside. There have been some failures but we may yet get something out of it all.

Nicholas' first try at the walker

This is Nicholas is first try using his new walker. It took him no time at all to figure out how to move all the way across our tiled kitchen. He has always liked to stand up when we hold him, and now we don't have to hold him for him to stand up. We think that it will be as nice for his parents as it is for him.

Saturday at Grapevine Lake

We took a fun Saturday outing  to Grapevine Lake just north west of Irving. The wind was blowing hard at the lake but it was beautiful and we wanted to share it with you.

Random Pictures of Nicholas

Nicholas will actually swallow his rice cereal. It still is a messy process to feed him, but it is a lot of fun.

Nicholas's favorite toy last week was the Tostidos bag. He was entertained by it for a half an hour and actually cries when I take it away. It was hillarious to watch him play with it. He loved the noise the bag made.

Nicholas just sitting in his bumbo with Papa's hat. He is working on sitting without support.

A Visit from Grandmother and Grandfather Muhlestein

When Nicholas gets fussy and only wants to be held, I tell him he needs one of his grandmothers! Well, his Grandmother Muhlestein came to Texas to visit and Nicholas was in seventh heaven. For three days, he had three people (Joseph, me, and Grandmother Muhlestein) to tend to his every fancy. He had three different people to rub his gums, help him stand, and give him smiles.

I was a little worried about Mother and Father Muhlestein visiting, because Nicholas has been developing stranger anxiety. While we were in San Antonio, he didn't want to be held by anyone except Mom or Dad. He was happy to smile at other people as long as he was being held by one of his parents. When we picked up Mother Muhlestein on Wednesday night, Nicholas was tired and not in the mood to make a new friend. In the morning, however, he was completely won over and loved his Grandmother for the rest of her visit. We had a wonderful visit that included driving to Arkansas to visit Aunt Martha, watching basketball, and relaxing at home with Nicholas. When Grandfather Muhlestein came on Friday night, Nicholas was all smiles and instantly allowed him to hold him.

Here is a picture of us eating at The Keg on Friday night. While the name of the restaurant makes it sound unappetizing, we had a remarkable meal. (The best meal I have probably had since Indonesia!!!) The top sirloin I had was FABULOUS!

Grandparents are the best because they think your kid is as cute, wonderful, and talented as you do!!

We all want to live in a YELLOW refrigerator!!!!

My parents were kind enough to let us take their downstairs refrigerator when we moved to Texas. Needless to say, its mustard yellow color didn't go with our decor so I have had big plans to paint it since we got down here. For those of you who never had the privilege of seeing it in its former yellow glory, you can see it in the background of the Week 0 picture in the last post. Thanks to a patient husband who was willing to move the refrigerator and four cans of appliance spray paint, it now looks like this:

It is far from perfect, but it is definitely moving in the right direction. I have to do a few more touch ups and put the handles back on, but the bulk of it is done!

Our Little Garden

We love having a house down here in Texas because we can do things like learn to plant a garden. We planted our seed about a week ago. We planted a little of everything to see what would survive and almost everything sprouted!!

Week 0

Week 1

Week 2 (Some of the bigger plants were moved outside.)

Joseph LOVED working in the yard after being trapped indoors studying so much. He created a small raised garden plot on Tuesday and we filled it in with dirt. Joseph has been like a little kid with these sprouts. Each morning, his favorite activity is to check on his seeds and to see if any new plants have sprouted.

We were surprised this morning, when we woke up to about a 1/2 an inch of snow on the ground! Lets hope that our plants survive to week 3.

We also picked up some other new additions to our yard. While visiting Aunt Martha in Arkansas, we picked up some Jonquils (a small daffodil type flower). They add some bright, cheery color to the front of our house. Mother Muhlestein also bought us two hydrangea plants to put in our backyard by the shed. I absolutely love hydrangeas. I have always dreamed of living in a house with big hydrangea bushes. I even had blue hydrangeas in my wedding bouquet. We luckily didn't plant them yet and they are safe in our glassed in front porch. I am working extremely hard not to kill them.

Spring Break in San Antonio

We went with a bunch of LDS med school couples to stay in San Antonio for three days. We left Saturday morning and arrived in time to see the outside of the Alamo and tour the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk was packed due to Spring Break and St. Patrick's Day. They had dyed the water green for St. Patrick's Day. We had to wait in line for 35 minutes to eat at Saltgrass Steakhouse along the river.

The next morning we went to church, toured the Alamo, and visited the San Jose Mission. The San Jose Mission is one of five old Catholic missions in San Antonio (the Alamo is another one). It is an active church that has mass every Sunday. I wasn't prepared for how warm it would be. The nursing shield became a sun shield for the day and Nicholas wore shorts for the first time in his short life! That night, we went back to the hotel for dinner and to play games.









Monday morning we headed back. We stopped in Lockhart, the BBQ capital of Texas (and hence the world). We had fabulous ribs and brisket at Black's BBQ. They were the best ribs we have had in Texas so far. You can see Meleece and Jake who carpooled with us. We had a full car. They brought one small bag and the rest of the car was filled with Nicholas's stuff.




Next, we toured the state capital in Austin. Nicholas figured out how to make a great new noise on the trip. It was something between a growl, clearing his throat, and a cough. He decided to practice it non-stop during the guided tour of the capital. Joseph put his hat over his head and that made his stop for about a minute while he tried to figure out why it was suddenly dark.

Tummy Time (aka Nicholas NOT rolling over)

Nicholas is not a show off. He is refusing to roll over on tape; however, this is a cute clip of Nicholas just being his happy little self.

Rice Cereal

Since Nicholas came home from the hospital, Joseph has been trying to feed him different foods (i.e., pickles, carrots, rice, sugar). Yesterday, I had to tell him that I didn't think it was a good idea to feed Nicholas part of the lemon bar he was eating. I don't think Joseph was convinced, but he didn't do it. (It will be thanks to Joseph that Nicholas will be indestructible when he grows up because daddy doesn't allow him to live a sheltered life.) Nicholas is almost five months old, so I thought I would finally pick up something that Joseph could feed him. Hence, we bought a small box of rice cereal. Here is a video of Nicholas's first few tastes of rice cereal. He still doesn't know what to do with it. He just tastes it and lets it drool back out of his mouth.

Picnic in the Park

I wish I could say that I have been bad at posting lately because I've been leading a super exciting life, but I have had quite the opposite problem. This past week has been amazingly boring. Joseph has been studying and Nicholas has been going through a big growth spurt. He has been sleeping as much as he did as a newborn. He no longer naps well when I take him out, so today is the first day I have been out of the house since Sunday. I love being a mom, but sometimes the stay-at-home part of being a stay-at-home mom is hard. Don't get me wrong, life is great but when your big outing for the week is going to the grocery store you start to get a little stir crazy.

The weather hasn't helped much either. When we moved to Texas, I seriously thought I wouldn't have to deal with the cold. Instead, it has been one of their worst winters ever. Things are looking better. It is finally warming up, so Joseph suggested that it would do us both some good to get out of the house and have a picnic. We brought our little grill and had hot dogs and hamburgers. Lately, Joseph has proven himself to be a master griller. We tossed around a frisbee and flew some kites. Near the end, Nicholas threw a little fit because we were cutting into his nap time, but he fell asleep in his stroller when we took a spin around the little lake. It was a fun outing. It was something Joseph and I both desperately needed!!!

On a side note, we can't wait until spring break. We are going down to San Antonio for a few day and then Joseph's parents are hopefully both coming!!!! I can't wait for them to see Nicholas. He is at such a fun stage! I find myself wishing that he would just stop growing and stay at this stage forever. He is so happy (as long as he is well rested and fed) and so snuggly. He isn't mobile so he can't get into trouble. He has simple needs and they are easy to meet. I just love my little boy!!! Being a mom is the best thing! I am so grateful that I have this time to watch him grow and learn. He is such a source of joy.