Nicky turns ONE!!!

Never thought Nicky's first birthday would happen so quickly, but it did!  I took Nicky's birthday off from work, which I think I will do every year until he is in school. We celebrated with breakfast at the Breakfast Joynt, just Mommy and Nicky.  Then we met up with playgroup and went to the splash pad!  Nicky LOVED it!  Leaving the splash pad was tough.  Then his friends gave him books and sang happy birthday to him, and he gobbled up his birthday cookie!

The birthday week started with his Lolo and Lola flying in from Austin to spend the next 5 days with him - they had not seen him since November.  Nicky slowly warmed up to them - at this stage he freaks out if either Dan or I leave the room... but by the their last day in Phoenix came around, Nicky loved being spoiled by his grandparents!  His CAZ (crazy Auntie Zel) flew in from Seattle on Friday and every time Liezl went in for a hug or a kiss, Nicky gave her the stiff arm - it was funny!  Nicky eventually warmed up to CAZ

At this age, all Nicky wants to do is run around and not be held by anyone!  One thing we decided to do was take away Nicky's bottle, cold turkey.  I had been anxious about it for a while now, since it soothes him early in the morning and allows me to put him back to bed for another hour or two.  And on weekends, it helped me because we would both sleep in since he had a full belly of milk.  Then when I asked my sister-in-law what am I gonna do when I take away the early morning feedings, she said "that means your day starts when he wakes up."  Boo!!  But surprisingly he did very well - he has moved on to his cup and drinks 100% milk - it was SOOO NICE to finally put away the bottles, nipples, and the formula!  And, he is able to sleep from 7pm to 630am!  Getting up at 630am versus 5am makes a HUGE difference!

Having a moment with Cousin Maya

My little man.

Waiting for my guests to arrive!

Grandma and Poppa, Nicky's cousins, and Uncle Steve and Auntie Sandy came up on Saturday afternoon for the big part-tay.  Nicky had a jungle themed party (we are practicing animal sounds, and right now his favorite is the lion... rooooarrr!).  Nicky invited his closest friends and everyone had a great time! Even Auntie Marie and Uncle Derek traveled all the way from Vegas to celebrate it with him - I hope they make it a tradition..hint hint :)

The weather was perfect - overcast skies with a bounce house set up, and a sand and water station for the toddlers, and all kinds of toys inside the house if the kiddies needed a change of scenery - there was fun for everyone!  Then we also had a pinata for the kids, with all kinds of goodies inside - I got "thanks a lot" looks from the parents knowing their kids were about to eat lots and lots of sugar, ha!

I also got the same look when I handed out favors to all the kiddies, which included an annoying whistle.  As CAZ would tell me, karma is a bitch! 

My new dog cousin - Ivy Michelle

Proud parents!

Nicky LOVED his birthday cake! He couldn't get enough - eating it by the handful!  I did notice later that day he was on a sugar high... this will only be allowed on special occasions!

They couldn't do a jungle theme, so we went for a prehistoric jungle themed cake...

Nicky with Lolo and Lola

First birthday in the books!!

Overdue Nicky post!

The past couple of months have been so crazy that with the house nice and quiet, I thought I'd finally put up a Nicky update.  Around his 11 month birthday, Nicky came down with a case of strep throat :(  The only reason we knew something was up was because Nicky wanted to cuddle with us!  For those who know Nicky, he is not a cuddler.  But when it happend two days in a row, and not anywhere near bedtime, we knew something was up.  Once he started antibiotics he was feeling better, and then he came down with a case of scarlett fever (a rash all over his body).  There wasn't much we could do about the rash, but that went away in a couple of days.  So, with him recovering from strep and with us both busy with work, I never got around to taking his 11 month picture!!  So here is his 11 month-ish picture:

Other than that, Nicky is doing great! He really enjoys his music class, which we attend every Saturday.  He is much more interested in dancing in class than he is in playing the instruments! The past couple of weeks the babies have been playing the drums, and Nicky will either stand up and dance for everyone, or sit in my lap, kick back, and rest his foot on the drum.   He is such a ham! 

Dan loves to throw Nicky up in the air, and it wasn't after I took these pictures of them that I noticed Nicky was looking at the camera the entire time!

Now that Nicky is walking everywhere and the weather is beautiful, we've been spending a lot of time outside ...and getting Nicky used to his golf club set from Poppa, not sure who will get more use out of that putting green, Nicky or Dan!

Nicky and Daddy checking out the green

Sandbox/sandtrap for Nicky in the background

Big brown eyes

Nicky's favorite person these days is Dan - he is constantly saying dada, even if Dan isn't around..on our drives to Auntie Mattie's house, we talk about what he's going to do today, and I even ask him things like "How big is Nicky?" and in response he will sometimes (not always) throw both hands up and I say "so big!", and if I ask him "What does a lion say?" he sometimes (not always) responds with "rooooarrr!".  Then I just start saying "mama" and he responds with "dada" (always!).  I'll keep trying!

One of Dan's favorite gifts Nicky got from my baby shower was this terrycloth robe...at 2 months old, we knew it was still too big for him to wear, and then now at 11 months, we thought to ourselves maybe he can wear it now - boy were we wrong!  We couldn't even close the robe!  The first year has flown by!

Yep.  A little small. 



 He loves bathtime and now when we get the bath ready, he loves to run around nudie!

Catch me if you can!

Before bedtime we read a book, and lately we've been reading "Does a Kangaroo have a mother?" (Thank you Auntie Deepa!)  We have a basket of books next to the recliner in his room, and he has been pulling this particular book out of the basket, even when it's in the middle of the pile!  And I know he's really listening because when I ask a question like "Does a lion have a mother?" he starts to nod his head, then I turn the page and say "yes! a lion does have a mother!"  It's the cutest thing!

No real story for this picture, I just think he is so so cute in this one:

Nicky turns ONE on Wednesday!! I can't believe it - his music class sang happy birthday to him today and I teared up.  Lolo and Lola, and Auntie Zel are flying in this weekend, Grandma and Poppa, Auntie Sandy and Uncle Steve, and cousins Maya, Sarah and Tess are driving up from Tucson...then Nicky's friends are also attending his party - we are expecting a good size group, it will be a fabulous weekend!  I promise to be good about posting pictures from his birthday party!