Big Willy Style

On Tuesday my friend Emily and her son Will were in New Martinsville for a visit. Nic and I went down to spend the evening with them. Emily and I were pregnant with our boys at the same time and they are just a week apart! (Nic is a week older than Will) It was so fun to finally have the boys meet! They quickly bonded over "boy stuff" like banging on things with sticks, tearing stuff out of cabinets and dancing with Barney! (you'll notice Nic isn't wearing any pants in some of these pictures, he made himself right at home!)

the trip down hugging his favorite balls :)


My favorite "cheese" smile!


Will!!!


Boys will be boys...




Bustin' a Move with Barney






We had so much fun during our visit and hopefully we won't have to wait another 17 months! :)

Conquering Fears!

A little while ago Nic really started taking off! Once he realized he would be ok and it wasn't so scary, he was unstoppable! He is so completely pleased with himself and now, just takes random laps around the house all day long! He is so happy to finally be able to keep up with the other kids, on 2 legs! He thrilled with his new perspective on life and has become the biggest ham in any room!





Here is some video of the early walking stage. He was so cute trying to get the hang of it :)

Highlights from the past few weeks...

Nic made his first build a bear. He made a Panda named Petey wearing tennis shoes. He was so excited! I handed him many animals to choose from, and once I handed him the panda, it was love at first cuddle.


I decided to put only tennis shoes on the panda because Nic is really in to putting shoes on his feet, so I thought he would appreciate the shoes on his bear. He really did! As soon as the bear was stuffed and ready to go, he strolled through the mall holding the bear up on the tray of his stroller making it dance! Thats he favorite thing to do with his build a bear, make it dance so he can hear the shoes "clomp" on hard surfces.

Its too cute! :)

These 2 are still buddies....


They kinda look like they are making the same expression in this picture!

Abby still takes great candids!







You can, in fact keep a baby in a cage! They like it!

(fyi, he did crawl in there himself and closed the door. i didn't lock it, I swear!)

Fletcher and Nic are "bringing sexy back"(I know, that is sooo 2006)...



Nic looks really cute dressed like a tiny little hippie....

New baby friends....

Lately there have been many new babies popping up at Nic's door. He handles it much like you would think. They are fine until they 1. touch his stuff or 2. are held by his mommy for more than a couple of minutes.

For example....

Nicolas was never into the Bumbo seat. According to everyone I talked to, I had to have one. So, I got one and he hated every minute he was in it. He was a strong little guy very early, so he would try to back bend out of it. It just became a head injury waiting to happen. Now, at 17 months, he sees this...





Other babies enjoying HIS Bumbo seat! So this is what Nic does....


All of a sudden, the Bumbo seat seems pretty cool! This is now a daily occurrence in our house.

Sylvia was thoroughly enjoying Nic's puppy that moves and plays music, Nic was extremely upset about this.


However, when I moved the puppy close to him....



Peace and happiness return to the room!

I wish I had some pictures of Nic suddenly running over to me with his blanket in one hand like he NEEDS to cuddle the moment he realizes I am holding a baby, but I am normally too busy trying to keep my balance and not drop a baby due to Nic hanging off of my legs. None of this behavior surprises me, it just makes me laugh. :)

CHEEEEESE!

Nic has finally decided he wants to smile for the camera. He still plays hard to get, occasionally, but when you pick up the camera and say "Nic, cheeese!" he does this!





I discovered this new trick the other day when Kurt requested cupcakes and Nic eagerly walked over to his high chair as soon ad he realized he would get one if he got in his high chair. He is such a ham!

What a Character!

Each day I am seeing so much personality come out of Nic! He cracks me up! I just wish I could constantly carry around a video camera to catch all of the funny things he does, says, even his facial expressions! He has decided that we need to buy a mini seedless watermelon every time we go to the store. He points to them no matter where we are in the store. We could be on the other side of the store and he sees them and we absolutely have to get one. So I walk over pick it up and hand it to him. Before he grabs it, he stretches his arms straight out, clinches his fists, and giggles with delight. Then, he grabs it and slaps it like its a bongo all through the store and even on the car ride home. The other day at Target he said hello and waved to everyone we passed in the store. When they smiled and said Hi back, he giggled and clapped his hands. He's a dancing fool! When we hear music, of any kind, he has to move! He loves to hand you food and take it away real fast before you can take it. He thinks that is a great joke! I always fall for it, too. He has decided he wants to watch the movie "Over the Hedge" everyday. He goes to the DVD tower and brings it back to me. He is relentless, too. He will just keep patiently handing it to me until I play it for him. He doesn't ever watch the whole thing, but he loves the first half hour of it. After that he just drifts in and out. He will usually go over to his couch and lay back to watch it, such a little man :) Then, the other day Sophia and Colton came over to play and Nic was in his plays house and the other 2 were next to him at the sand and water table. Nic flung open the shutters to the playhouse and yelled "Colton!" ,plain as day, then started laughing! Had I not seen him do it, I would have sworn it was Sophia who is almost 3! Sometimes, he just amazes me with the things he says. He doesn't say "real" words often, but when he does you know exactly what he is saying! Makes me think he is holding out on us! ;)

In this picture, Nic had just come in from playing in his pool and I had layed him down on the floor to change his clothes but refused to let me put a diaper on him. He was so happy to be walking around the house naked eating his baby "cheetos", petting his Osacr dog. ( Who was only sitting with because he was hoping for a dropped cheeto)

(I did some cropping of this picture for obvious reasons)

The other day during dinner Kurt had out the tongs and Nic had to have them and he started doing this with them

He kept putting them up to his ears like they were a stethoscope.

Then, after a long day of playing outside, he came in still wearing his spiderman sweatband. I put it on him thinking he would rip it off, but he loved it! I tried to take it off and he put it back up to his head grunting for me to put it back on! Too cute :)


There are so many little stories like these. He is just growing so fast, its hard to keep track of them all!

No girls allowed (accept mommies, of course!)

This afternoon Abby and Fletcher came over. The boys had some good male bonding time playing in the pool, the playhouse and with the sand and water table!






Real men don't need swim trunks! They just jump in with whatever they have on!

Congratulation, John!

My "little" brother John is now a high school graduate! This very minute he is enjoying his freedom with 7 other guys crammed into a hotel room in Myrtle Beach. Way to go John!

New Edition

Last week as I was driving home from New Martinsville, I saw a sign outside of the pet shop in Moudsville for something called a pocket beagle. I was curious, so Nic and I stopped to check them out. Turns out, they are just extra super small beagles and they were all sold by the time we got there! Which was fine, we don't need another dog! Well, I scanned the cages and noticed a little Pomeranian, the exact color I have wanted for years!!! I went home and did some reasearch on Poms as a family pet. They got mixed reviews as a family pet to a family with young children. I went back to the pet shop with my friend Abby and her daughter Sophia and Nic, of course, to get their opinion of the Pom. We got him out and played with him and was the sweetest little thing, but very nervous of the other dogs and the children. He just cuddled on my lap, shaking. I have wanted a Pom for as long as I can remember, but they just didn't seem like the right pet for us. (Maybe when I am suffering from empty nest syndrome, I'll get one!) I was really upset, but decided it was the best thing for everyone involved. I would hate for him to be miserable in our crazy house or worse, be so scared into biting and child! In my research, I read about Shih Tzus. Turns out they are fantastic family pets and love children! They just happened to have a little girl there. We got her out and she immediately ran over to Nic and started playing! He was giggling and playing with her, I knew she had to come home with us! :)

Meet Izzy!










Izzy's home and everyone is excited!!!




Kurt claims he doesn't like animals, but this picture was not staged!!!!



Its just too hard to resist her charms! She is a good cuddler ;)

Nic is having a complete blast with her! She is playful and energetic which is right up Nic's Alley! I do have to watch him, he tends to play rough. With Izzy only weighing in at 2.65 lbs, she could really get hurt. I sometimes get flashbacks of the incident when John(my brother) was little and decided that our brand new puppy, Ralph, needed to do a Power Ranger move off of our front porch. There is nothing more pathetic than a tiny puppy walking with a cast! For the most part, Nic plays nice and I often catch him watching TV or eating a snack while petting Izzy. Its really cute :)

Here are some good shots of a boy and his puppy...









This move got a little scary for Izzy...


Nic just really wanted to sit on it!


Not to be forgotten, Oscar got a hair cut!!! When he came out from the groomer Nic was totally confused! Usually, Oscar brings a huge smile on Nic's face sometimes even a, "Oker", but this time Nic looked completely puzzled. Was it "Oker"? It wasn't until about 5 minutes after we got home that Nic realized this practically hairless dog was "Oker"!

This is Nic going in for a closer look. I think this was his "light bulb moment". What you don't see is the huge smile on his face and Izzy bouncing around the house barking! It took her much longer to realize this hairless wonder was Oscar! Poor Oscar, he had such a long, traumatic day at the groomer, all he wanted to do was relax and he couldn't because these 2 kids wouldn't stop bothering him!



So, thats the story of how we came to have a fun little new edition to our happy little family! She is such a sweetheart. Now if we could just get her housebroken! :)