Nicky is 7 months old!

This month really flew by!  Nicky is growing so fast, Christmas will be here before we know it.  Nicky has become so active the past few weeks, it keeps us on our toes - he is easily pulling himself up to stand, crawls with a purpose, and sometimes just holds on to something and wants to grab something else with the other hand:

Okay, now what...

We put away the baby swing today, he's still enjoying the exersaucer in the mornings, but he really enjoys being on the floor and playing.  He even knows how to entertain himself - earlier this evening he would crawl to this little toy, pick it up, throw it, crawl to it, pick it up, throw it again, and crawl...one of these days I'm going to attach swiffer dust cloths to his knees so he can keep the floors clean!

Time for Nicky's monthly growth picture with Cookie Monster:

Besties

Nicky is now eating solid foods! He's had apples, pears, peas, pumpkin, just to name a few - luckily he has no allergies just yet!  I'm making his food now, so that's been fun - finally an excuse to get the Magic Bullet!  He really loves sweet potatoes and pears.  Dan can feed Nicky much easier than I can - seems like every time I put Nicky in his high chair, he starts to fuss- but I've noticed when Dan does it, Nicky doesn't mind!  We might have to keep Dan on dinner duty...

Nicky is interested in everything we eat, even toy cookies!

Gimme!

Nicky is also FINALLY growing in some hair - more on the sides than the top (kind of like his dad - ha!) and his hair is wavy, I can't wait for it to all grow in!  Dan is ready to shave his head but I want Nicky to have a full head of hair as long as he can! 

Not sure how much longer he'll be able to wear this Packer onesie, but I had to get a picture from behind:

Go Pack go!

Nicky has become a great running partner - we try to run twice a week after I pick him up from Auntie Mattie's, and he sits back and has a bottle while I listen to my ipod - it's great!

He is so close to sleeping through the whole night - since he was 11 weeks, he would sleep from 7pm until 3am...then it would creep up to 4am, and just recently he gave me a couple of nights where he slept from 7pm until 6am, although I really don't mind getting up at 4am to feed him - never thought I'd be able to sleep more than 5 hours at a time during his first year, so I consider myself very lucky!   But I'm sure that will all change once his teeth start coming through...

Dog days of summer

Can't believe summer has come to an end..although I am looking forward to the change in weather (along with every resident in AZ), and can finally sleep with the windows open!

The past few weeks have been fun-filled.  Nicky spent a week with his Grandma and Poppa, who were generous enough to watch him while Dan and I went to Napa for a few days, and then also spent time with Lola a week after!  During those two weeks, Nicky started crawling, and now pulling himself up to stand!  He really is growing like a weed:

Look at all these toys

Have a feeling mommy will be taking a  lot of these shots!

Skyping with Lolo

He moves around a lot in his crib - once the monitor showed "out of range", I knew we were in trouble.  I went into his room, and the camera attached to his crib was now hanging.  So, we had to move the camera to a higher location, so now we have an aerial view from his crib.  And because he likes to pull himself up to stand, he has now been able to pull himself up in his crib:

Move the mattress down?  Check!

We baby-proofed the living room and kitchen today, and now are changing Nicky on the floor because he moves around so much.  He keeps us (and his babysitter Mattie) very busy these days!

Nicky's favorite time (I'm sure with a lot of other babies) is in the morning - it definitely makes it worthwhile getting up so early to see his smiling face:

Good morning!

He loves taking baths - I must admit, we didn't start giving him real baths like this until he was 5 months old - we just didn't know!!  We were giving him sponge baths all the time, until we were talking about the kinds of baths we gave him and my sister in law said "You don't give him baths?  He would love it!"  Guess it's still a learning experience.  And Sandy was right, he does love them!

Rubber ducky, you're the one...

Nicky went swimming this afternoon, probably the last time until next summer, and today it was even a little chilly (100 degrees out):

Then we ended our day with a walk outside (FINALLY!), which we haven't been able to do all summer.  Nicky now sits forwards in his stroller and absolutely loves it - when I go running, I notice how upright he sits and grips the bar because he is so interested in what is all around him.  Looking forward to more walks with the cooler weather:



Weeeeeeeeeee!

 Goodbye Summer, hello Fall....

Nicky is 6 months old!

I can't believe it has already been 6 months since little Nicky was born (I'm sure I'll update this sentence as each month passes by).  So much has happened in the past few weeks - including the fact that Nicky is crawling!  He is getting better at it every day, so we've already warned Auntie Mattie that he's a little mover and a shaker, so watch out!  He is now eating peas and/or sweet potatoes during lunch and he LOVES it - smacks his lips after each bite (rice cereal, not so much).  He is also learning how to drink water out of a sippy cup - today at dinner Nicky was focused on trying to drink water out of the straw, and was able to do it with Dan's help.   Now we gotta start babyproofing - we tend to be more reactive than proactive when it comes to Nicky!

Nicky spent the past week with Grandma and Poppa (Dan's parents) while Dan and I were in Napa.  They took Nicky on walks, car rides, the library, and nowadays Nicky loves playing on the floor -- either with his toys, or trying to grab Bentley's tail!    I'm sure Dan's parents are biased, but they said that Nicky was a great baby and they had so much fun with him!  Nicky had his 6 month appointment today and is in the 75th percentile in length (27 inches) and 50% in weight (16.8 lbs). 

Here are some of our favorite pics from the past month:


Smiles



Waiting for the Packer game to come on!



It's hard to get Nicky to sit still during his growth pictures:

He's either ready to get off the couch..

or not.

Nicky and Bentley, partners in crime:

What's this?

Next week Lola (my mom) is coming into town for a week!  I'm so excited, she hasn't seen Nicky since he was 2 months old!!  Nicky is getting lots of love from his grandparents this month!

Visit to Napa

Dan and I had our first vacation without little Nicky  - it was bittersweet for me, excited to spend time with Dan but also sad to be away from Nicky for a long 3.5 days! We were fortunate to have Grandma and Poppa stay at our house to watch Nicky along with Dodger and Bentley.

Highlights of our trip:
Our first stop was Silver Oak - and for those who know me, I am a white wine kind of girl (not sure how many times I asked Dan "Do they have Riesling here?").  But, I must say, this was some really good red wine - I told Dan that if he wants me to start drinking reds (to cut down on the bottles of wine we drink), then it has to be Silver Oak (hey - it's on sale for $67.99 at Fry's!).  We definitely got our money's worth at Silver Oak.

Silver Oak signature building (I don't know what you would call that)

Standing in front of $24M of inventory!

Second day we went on a tour with 9 other people, and spent most of the day in Calistoga - it was fabulous.  Visited 5 wineries:

• Sterling Vineyards - took a little ride up the hill to get to the winery, had spectacular views!

View from the lift we were in taking us to the winery

Sterling Vineyards

• Twomey Winery - I can't really remember anything specific that stood out about this one.
• Dutch Henry Winery - took a cave tour and even got to drink a 2008 Merlot right out of the barrel!

Delicious!

• Laura Zahtila Vineyards - met the owner and winemaker - one of the few female winemakers in Napa Valley (former Cisco Executive, then had another calling).  Apparently 90% of wine in the Napa Valley is made by men.  You go girl!
• Envy - The last winery - we had a lot of wine by this point, and wouldn't you know it, I bought two bottles from here.  We'll see how it tastes when I open up a bottle.

Spent a day in Sonoma - first stop was at Ravenswood - we even met the winemaker who asked us our opinion about which label we liked better - they are changing it up a bit and wanted to get feedback from customers -so when you see the new label, just know that the Boncels had a say in it!

Then we went to Benziger (great tour!) and their sister winery Imagery.  Sonoma definitely has a different feel than Napa, we enjoyed them equally.  Topped off our vacation with dinner at Bottega, Michael Chiarello's restaurant.  Dan and I are huge Top Chef/Top Chef Masters/Food Network fans, so we had been looking forward to this dinner for months now - the food was fantastic!  And Dan surprised me with a chocolate souffle for my birthday - so sweet!!  We ate that dessert so fast that the couple next to us even made a comment of how quickly that dessert disappeared.

Bottega

Delish!

We had an amazing time in the Napa Valley, and will definitely return for another trip.  As great as our vacation was, I was very anxious to come home to Nicky, considering he turned 6 months old today!   Stay tuned for his 6 month post! 

Summer in Seattle

Nicky had his first plane ride on August 11th, visiting his Auntie Zel and Uncle Vinny (who are also his godparents).  I was sooo nervous, just thinking there would be Nicky meltdowns on the plane ride but he exceeded my expectations (maybe I should have better expectations!).  Although the flight to Seattle was almost an hour delayed, it worked out and he slept the whole way.  I was also worried that while being in Seattle he would not be able to give me good bedtimes or naps, but he slept like a log, just like being home! 
The first day we went to see the Seattle Seahawks in training camp - it was a beautiful day, with Lake Washington in the background.  Once we got there, we realized that although we packed it, we forgot to bring his hat.  And God forbid Nicky wear a hat that belongs to another football team, we had a makeshift one..his bib!  Still did the job:

Nicky even met the Seagals - their autographed picture is already in his nursery:

Seahawk's cutest fan

We also hit Pike Place Market.  For everyone that knows me, I love my Starbucks - so I had to visit the original.  However, there was a line going out the door, and it was almost a 30 minute wait just to put in your order.  So I just had my picture taken in front:

I wanted a chai tea, but not that badly.

In front of one of those fish-throwing shops..and Nicky has a real hat on this time!

Nicky and Auntie Zel

Bathtime in a Seattle sink

A rare family photo!

We had a great time in Seattle (despite a day of 95 degree weather, thank god for oscillating fans!), and can't wait to visit again!

The Boncels with Uncle Vinny and Auntie Zel

Random list of recently acquired skills

I'm wrapping up my 3rd week back at work, and it seems like Nicky is doing something new every day! Here is a list of what he's doing nowadays:

• Laughing. Sometimes even at funny stuff. We've also noticed that he laughs at almost anything when he's really really tired.

• Sitting up. He is doing such a great job of this - just put toys around him and he's in heaven!

• Getting up on hands and knees. He hasn't started crawling, but you can tell he is soo close - he starts to rock back and forth, he's ready to go somewhere, but hasn't figured that out just yet. Although he has figured out how to move backwards. Gotta start baby proofing!





• Watching CNBC Squawk on the Street. Wait, that's not a skill...unless you're Dan when he is out of ideas of how to entertain Nicky.

I love RICE...cereal that is...must be the filipino in me!

Nicky is 5 1/2 months old now and had his first taste of solid food on Saturday - we started with rice cereal.  I was expecting him to try to smack the spoon out of my hand as I fed him, but he reacted the complete opposite - he even wanted to feed himself...he is becoming an independent little boy!  We won't start feeding him real food until he's 6 months, but thought we'd introduce him to solids a little bit early just to help him get used to different textures..and he loves sitting in his high chair :) 

He's growing up so fast!

Not only is rice cereal edible, it's wearable!