"Look at He Go"

Nicholas woke up from his nap and ran to the window to check if it was windy.  He loves flying his Thomas the Train kite.

Highlights of the Week

 Nicholas loves my sewing machine.  He will sit on my lap for a whole hour asking which buttons he can push.  My favorite part of our little sewing lesson is that he named the presser foot lever the "airplane button" because it made a loud noise like an airplane and "we must not push it."

 Why I don't attempt to keep my windows clean?

 We planted roses earlier this year and they are actually blooming and adding some color to our yard.  On Tuesday when it was seriously taking 20 minutes to convince Nicholas to get in the car, I decided to stop and smell our roses and take a quick picture.

 Nicholas thinks his bug catcher lid is a camera.  The funniest part is what he says when he takes your picture.  "Okay.  Mom say cheese.  Great.  Now say cheese again.  Okay now look at me and say chocolate pudding.  Great.  That is a really nice picture."  Can you tell he has had his picture taken a couple of times in his life?

 I'm so glad when Papa comes home.  He came home and started giving the kids horsey rides.  They were both giggling so hard.

 Nicholas enjoyed kicking up the dirt.  He kept on saying he was making "smoke."  I couldn't convince him that it was just a cloud of dirt.

 My favorite is this devious look that he give when he is going to spray you or get you.  Those big blue eyes shine the brightest when he is up to some sort of mischief.

 Joseph had Nicholas' fishing pole and was playing around with Lexi.  Her reaction was hilarious as she tried to get the bracelet off her head using her uncoordinated arms.

 I had to capture this moment.  Lexi had been playing on the carpet with some toys.  She got tired and just fell asleep right in the middle of the living room rug.  I am SO LUCKY to have such a good little girl.

 We had our first trip to the splash park.  Nicholas liked getting other people wet more than he liked getting wet.

Nicholas LOVES Bass Pro.  We made his day by going to the "boat store" on Saturday.  He is so happy driving his yellow boat to Monkey Island and pretending to catch gooey fish and hunt for treasure.

My sweet crew right before my Mothers' Day dinner.

Joseph made me teriyaki Beef served on an onion roll and corn on the cob.  He also served fried green beans, squash, zucchini, and mushrooms.  For dessert we had key lime pie and vanilla bean Blue Bell ice cream.  For our drink, we had raspberry lemonade.

Nicholas hanging out in Lexi's chair.  Nicholas calls himself Woody Nicholas.  I am Jessie Mama.  Joseph is Papa Buzz, and Lexi is Slinky.

Nicholas posing by the baby gate Joseph made me for Mother's Day.  I can't express how much I love it.  I'm sorry we didn't build it a year and a half ago!

Happy Mothers' Day

Photo Book of Nicholas' Second Year FINALLY Finished

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Lexi at 6 months

Weight: 19 lbs 13 oz  (96%)

Height: 27 inches (85%)

Head Circumference: 17 inches (67%)

Lexi is such a wonderful, happy, sweet, smiley, patient, and even tempered baby.  She is such a blessing!!!  I don't know how I would be handling this stage of life if she wasn't such a GREAT baby.  Yesterday, Nicholas landed on her and she just laughed.  What 6 month old kid does that???  She doesn't require a set schedule.  She will nap on the go and is happy to just be in the same room where the action is going on.  She loves anyone who gives her the least bit of attention.  She is the greatest little friend.  I hate it when I have to leave her because I am enjoying this stage she is in so much.  My only complaints right now are the blow outs, the fact that she stays up until 11 or 12 at night, and that when she starts to get unhappy she will make very loud and very unlady like grunting noise.  (She had half or Relief Society laughing last week with her funny noises.)

Sleep Schedule:

• She usually takes one nap around 10 for about 30 minutes.  Then she takes another nap around 1 for about 2 hours.  (Usually I can get both my kids down for a nap around 1, which is wonderful.)  Then she takes another little 20 minute nap around 7.  She then stays up until 11 or 12 at night.  I don't really mind because she is super happy at night.

Eating:

• She is still getting the hang of solid foods.  We have only done rice cereal.  She is a good sport about it.  Half goes in and half comes out with each bite.
• She took two bottles this month!!

Favorite Activities:

• She loves her toes and is constantly trying to get them in her mouth.  (I gave her a pedicure and the bright colors seemed to catch her interest.)
• She is happiest in her walker with a few toys on her tray.  She is amazing in the walker.  She can back up and turn around even in our tight hallway.  
• She loves toys.  Our favorite pass time is watching her try and figure out how to use her hands to get what she wants.
• She loves singing.
• She loves little children.  She will sit and watch them and just laugh like a giddy school girl.
• She loves being thrown in the air and loves kisses on her chubby checks!!  

New Tricks:

• She learned to roll over this month!!  She hates being on her stomach and will roll onto her back.  I have only seen her roll onto her belly once.
• She is close to being able to sit up.
• She LOVES blowing raspberries.

 I started to dream about giving Lexi this perfect little pedicure.  I waited until Nicholas took his nap and then I got to work.  She ended up looking like she had bloody toes.  Oh well!!  Luckily, she got most of it off because she chips it off in the walker.

 I love her little chubby face when it lights up with a smile.

 She LOVES looking outside!  She will wheel herself up to the window and just stare outside as she eats her toys.

One Monday Lexi was super cranky and just wanted to be held.  I had to get some food ready for a party so I turned on a Mickey for her.  She was captivated.  She doesn't watch most TV, but there is something about Mickey that interests her.  She will even stop eating to watch Mickey.

Nicholas at Two Years and Seven Months

Weight: 37 lbs
Height: approximately 37 inches

 Pirate Nicholas

 We visit the "footprints" at the school next door on Sundays.  We often blow bubbles and play pirates.

 Big Fan + Balloons = One Happy Entertained Boy

 Pirate Nicholas in his Lexi Boat.

 This drinking fountain is Nicholas' favorite thing about the park. 

Nicholas spotted some ants.

Funny Things About Nicholas:

• He will have conversations with himself and talk like Dora and Diego.  In other words, he talks to a pretend audience.  His conversations go something like this: "What am I holding?"  Then a long pause like he is waiting for someone to answer. "A (insert object here).  That's right."
• Favorite Question: "Where are we going?"  He only asks this when he knows where we are going.  I tell him and then he will say, "That right Mom."   A few seconds later, this same conversation begins again.  This keeps on going until I tell him we are going some place different.  Then he giggles and tells me, "No, we are going to (the first place)."
• He is starting to hate going to bed.
• He loves his Wall-e and Spiderman shirt.
• He still doesn't play well with or around others.  He always plays on the opposite side of the park from everyone else.  We are working really hard to have him learn the joys of sharing and not to yell, "MINE" in his mean voice.  We had a chocolate chip lesson.  I showed him all my chocolate chips and we counted them.  When he went to eat some, I grabbed them away and yelled, "MINE."  He was so surprised.  I asked him if he thought that was nice/a good choice.  He didn't think me keeping all the chocolate chips was nice at all.  He then asked nicely for some chocolate chips and we shared them.  He talks about this little lesson a lot.
• I attempted a new good behavior incentive program with Nicholas this month.  (I got the idea from Pinterest.)  He had six "stickers"/large cutouts pictures of his favorite cartoon characters.  He lost a sticker when he made bad choices.  He got them back when he made good choices.  If he lost all six stickers, he lost electronics for the day.  If he had all six stickers when he went to bed, he got a dollar store prize.  We tried this for about two weeks, but he started doing bad things just to lose a sticker and he had a breakdown a couple times because he wanted his prize "RIGHT NOW."  We are back to time outs.  
• We played a lot of pirate this month!!  Mama got to play Captain Hook and Nicholas played Jake.  Mom also played a lot of crocodile.
• We attempted 24 hours of potty training.  It was not successful.  He didn't recognize when he was going potty.  We will wait another month or so until we are both ready.  It was not a fun 24 hours.  There was a total of 8 accidents  We are back to giving him chocolate chips if he will tell us if he has a dirty diaper.  Even that is pretty unsuccessful.
• Nicholas is VERY afraid of bugs.  He hates them and is fascinated by them at the same time.  I don't blame him because mosquitoes LOVE to eat him.

Nicholas at 2 and 1/2

Weight: 32.4 lbs

Height: 36.25 inches

 Nicholas picked me a blue bonnet.

 Joseph and Nicholas posing at the Alamo.

 My parents with us at the Alamo.

 We borrowed a "leash" from our friends to see how it would work with Nicholas.  He had a fit.  He kept yelling, "I don't want to wear my costume.  Get this costume off me."

 Nicholas and Joseph in front of the state capital in Austin.

 Nicholas' favorite part of our trip to Austin was the fountains near where we parked our car.  His Grandma Wells helped him touch each of the streams of water.  

Nicholas loved Sea World and talks about it all the time.  

Nicholas is so much fun. He is a constant source of entertainment.  Here are a few funny stories:

• Nicholas met Bert and Ernie at Sea World. They were huge and he was kind of scared of them. He did pose for pictures with them. About a week later, Joseph was putting him to bed and he told Nicholas that sometimes Bert and Ernie visit Nicholas' closet. This turned out to be a big mistake. We soon heard lots of crying. Despite reassurance that Bert and Ernie only lived on Sesame Street, he cried so hard he threw up. We ended up taking turns sleeping with him. (Something we will also NEVER do again.) We got him a nightlight the next day and he hasn't had any problems since.
• Nicholas loves the book Are You My Mother?. On the cover of the book is a picture of a dog with a bird on his head. I asked him, "What would you do if a bird landed on your head?" He responded, "I would give it swats."  I'm constantly impressed by how caring a child I am raising.
• We have a game called cut the rope on the Touchpad. There is a level where a spider will steal the candy if you are not fast enough. This spider scared Nicholas so bad he threw the Touchpad. I explained to him that the spider could not come out of the Touchpad. He then told me, "Yeah, it is okay Mom. The spider will not get me and throw me in the garbage can so that I am all gone. Yeah, Mom that's right."
• We were visiting the San Antonio temple and Nicholas was dipping his hands in the foutain. I asked him, "Is the water cold or warm?" He thought about it and said, "How 'bout wet."  
• At the condo we were staying at while we were on vacation, there was a large bowl full of lemons and limes. Nicholas became highly interested in it as soon as he walked in. Grandma quizzed him about which ones were lemons and which ones were limes. We then left to get dinner. Nicholas finished dinner quickly and then informed us all that he wanted to go back to the "Lemonade house." We called it the Lemonade house for the rest of the trip.
• Sometimes he tells me that Super Mama and Super Nicholas need to do certain things, like play in the pool or on his bed. What mom can refuse a request like that?
• We have tried every punishment in the book with Nicholas. Taking things away doesn't work because he will just find something new to do. Time outs don't intimidate him, because he knows they will end and then he can just keep doing what he wants to afterwards. So we have tried spanking or "swats" as Nicholas calls them. They don't really work either. The other night I told him that I would have to give him one swat if he got out of bed. When he got out of bed, he told me he wanted "two swats." I told him I was only going to give him one and I held up one finger. He raised the finger next to it and said, "I want two swats." I shouldn't have done this, but I laughed. He kept on insisting he wanted two swats. We ended up giving him one swat and putting him back to bed.
• Nicholas tried grits for the first time.  His response, "That is NOT yummy.  They are NOT my favorite."
• Luckily Lexi is a very happy baby, because if she cries then Nicholas gets scared and starts crying.  
• Nicholas still has a few phrases confused. For example, when he wants us to stop doing something like buckling him in or changing his diaper he will yell, "Stop me. Stop me. Stop me." It makes me laugh so I don't correct him. He also will tell me, "Mom sit on my lap." He does this when he wants to sit on my lap.
• Nichloas loves "snuggles." He will request them A LOT. He likes to snuggle with Mom and warm laundry.
• I lost Nicholas for about five minutes at the Children's Museum.  He had slipped out the door while I was maneuvering the stroller around a line of people.  I finally found him when he came running back telling me, "I did chase all the birds."  I then launched into a lecture about running away and how worried I was about losing him.  Then I told him he had lost the right to walk and carried him to the car.  I didn't think the lecture had done too much, but now every time I go somewhere without him he will tell me, "I was so worried Mom.  I did lose you.  Don't you ever run away again."

Favorite Foods:

• Chocolate Pudding
• Juice