CARS, CARS AND EVEN MORE CARS....

Being Mom I guess I don't really understand and now thinking about it, I am not sure Bryan understands either, but I feel like my house is being taken over by cars. Now let me explain, Nico has a passion for cars whether it's matchbox cars (his favorite), Gma Beth's PT Cruiser cars or even a little paper car that came from a Happy Meal toy, Nico has to play with it. We find cars in the playroom (obviously), or in the living room under the couch, or in Athena's water bowl because cars can swim you know, or how about in the bathroom floor where Mommy steps on it when she is not quite awake. Which kind of scares me because sometimes you hear the flushing and we run in there to have Nico laughing and you think..."did he just flush a car down there?" We all have heard horror stories of kids ruining the toilet...that would just be my luck.

Then just last night it was cars all over Mommy's head, I could hear him saying "Comme Mom it'll be fun let's run cars all over your head"...fun for who is what I am thinking? Maybe it's because I am a girl and played with dolls or Barbie's or even the Smurf village my Dad gave away 15 years ago and I have never really forgiven him for...J/K Dad! But the cars have taken over my house and I wonder if at 17 months he has this many and throwing them wherever he can reach, in another year how will we be able to walk without stepping on a car? It's like Arachnophobia but instead of spiders taking over it's cars....AWWWWW!!!

OK, back to my happy place......But truly I kid about the cars taking over my life and opening the door to your house and dropping Nico off, of course with the cars in tote :) but he is my world and I adore him more than life itself. So the next time you come over, please watch your step and just think the invasion of the cars might be coming to your house soon!!!

Until next time......

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!

Nico finally got the idea of how to color eggs without throwing them!! Definitely an accomplishment after 3 dozen broken ones!!! Hope the Easter Bunny was good to everyone!!!

Deja Vu......

Can you believe that little precious Nico had another AirTran incident, but this time it wasn't because he was confined in an airplane but at a restaurant not able to run around...I know what kind of parents are we to ask him to sit for dinner?? So now not only are our pictures on AirTran's list, we now officially cannot go back to Rockne's.... See little Nico thought that he should be out of his chair running around doing what he wanted to do...we'll Mommy and Daddy had a different idea, something like it's time to sit down and eat your pizza or how about coloring with the crayons that the hostess gave you, but no we have to not only give Mommy and Daddy the most embarrassing moment, by yelling and screaming because something just wasn't going your way. As I said in previous posts, we are officially set in our terrible 2's at 17 months......

So needless to say we got our food to go and Daddy waited with the crying baby in the car while Mommy paid and tried to sliver out of the restaurant, only to go home to Nico eating his pizza in his chair, happy as a clam and Mommy and Daddy eating cold food....so as with any other adventure in Nico's life what seemed to be horrible yesterday is only forgotten with his big beautiful blue eyes and lovable smile.

Although Rockne's is definitely off the list for a while or maybe we are off their list.....LOL!! Until next time......

EASTER EGG COLORING......

Let me do it, I promise I won't throw this one!!!

Look Daddy, it's turning blue!!!

So many colors, so little amounts of eggs.......

Another first in Nico's Adventures....easter egg coloring, we'll maybe not exactly the first because last year he did carry an egg around and then broke it, so maybe that counts?? Anyway, tonight Bryan and I decided to have another Nico experience and color easter eggs. I was really excited, but Bryan just goes with the flow as he expected Nico to do what he did at the pumpkin carving experience which was running away to play, BUT.......

So it started out today while I was at work Nico and Daddy went out and bought the eggs to bring home and boil. Mommy came home with dinner and then it was coloring time!!! So Daddy got the egg dye all ready while Mommy stripped Nico down to his diaper and socks, with a white sleeved shirt and white undershirt I could only imagine what would happen if I didn't. Anyway, we put a cardboard box down on the table, propped Nico on the chair and off we were starting the process of coloring easter eggs. To our surprise Nico kind of liked the idea and even said Thank you on some of the tape we have, but not to our surprise the first egg he got a hold of he threw and then it was on dye everywhere, but luckily only all over the cardboard!!

After a few more cracked eggs, and Mommy and Daddy finished the eighteen pack and called it a night. Nico only stuck his fingers in the vinegar water twice but surprisingly didn't even make a face when he put them in his mouth. I thought that is pretty nasty but the kids gotta learn somehow, right??

So out of eighteen eggs I think we have 2 or 3 that don't have cracks in them, but hey to me that only adds character, right??

Happy Easter everyone and keep visiting for another installment of Nico's adventures......

POTTY TRAINING...

A new adventure is upon our household and I have to admit, it scares the heck out me....not only because I have NO idea what I am doing, Nico can hardly talk and it's sad to me to think my little man is growing up, but I have bought his very first potty insert to sit on the big potty.

So I take the potty out of the package and just look at thinking this thing has directions....ok, that's scary. But anyway, then I think where's the best place to put it and realize probably in Nico and Daddy's bathroom, you don't want to know for those who I haven't explained it too, and thought ok we are going to do this....

So Nico wakes up from his nap and I think ok, this is a good time as he was in a normally happy mood so I took his diaper off and sat him down. If I had my camera guys, it would definitely been one of the bigger photo moments in his life as he looked at me like I was CRAZY to think he was gonna do anything but instantly want off. He didn't want to look at, touch it or have anything to do with it. Talk about discouraging......

So we decided the next approach of encouragement, if anyone had a video camera we definitely could of made $10K off of my silliness and still he is sitting, smiling, thinking I know my real Mommy is gonna come rescue me someday :) But he sat there for another second until this time he said in his own way, "Mommy get me off this thing or else...."

So I took him off and let him look at it on his own merit, not mine which meant now not only am I chasing a laughing, naked baby but thinking he is gonna pee on carpet!!! So my adventures begin and I have absolutely no idea what the heck I am doing, but I am going to continue trying....

Until the next adventure this week of coloring eggs with a 17 mos old......I know, I know I torture myself but I just can't help it so when you see food coloring all over my walls, just be nice and don't ask :)

DISORGANIZED......

It's crazy to thing I know from the people that know me, but lately I have been feeling so disorganized.....between not knowing what I am going to find where to having Easter pop up on me next week and not even having Nico's basket in my thoughts.....what a crazy 2008 this has been already!!!

It just seems I get up every morning, wake Nico up get him breakfast get ready for work...OK time to get Daddy up. Then it's off to work, go pick Nico and dinner, bath time and playtime and then bed...is it already 8??? Where has my time gone?? Then once Nico is fast asleep in his bed, I am thinking is it midnight already, cause that's what it feels like to me???

Maybe it's my laziness or just pure exhaustion of chasing after a 17 month old after working all day after playing Mom to a 48 year old (AKA my boss). Or maybe it's the crappy weather of not having the sunshine on my skin and watching Nico play outside without 15 layers of clothes, but whatever it is I definitely can say even though my house may not be the cleanest or my laundry isn't quite caught up like it was 6 months ago, I have really enjoyed the times with Nico now that he loves to play and chase poor old Athena!!!

Hopefully one day I'll get the energy again to once again feel organized.....until next time!!!

I found this on the Internet and I guess it means a lot to me because we waited so long to have our little angel, Nico, but when I read this I thought this is me....and nothing has been more fulfilling than being Nico's Mom and I hope everyone enjoys this poem as much as I did.

BEFORE I WAS MOM

Before I was a Mom I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.
Before I was a Mom -
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Drooled on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.
Before I was a Mom I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple little grin.
I never sat up for hours watching a baby sleep.
Before I was a Mom I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put it down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.
Before I was a Mom - I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.
Before I was a Mom - I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, The joy, The love, The heartache, The wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much before I was a Mom

NO MORE SNOW......

It's pretty sad when we woke up the morning looked out our back deck and found a county snowplow stuck in the snow!!! You just had to chuckle at the thought....I have to say Steven, Kiki and Olivia even though we miss you, you are definitely not missing the 12+ inches we have gotten since 11am yesterday, and it's still snowing!!!

So I decided to get Nico all bundled up to help Daddy shovel his way out, which by any indication our next stop will be at Home Depot for a snow blower.....anyway, after fighting with a 17 mos old for 10 minutes to get all his layers we finally make it out. Only to find the wind is blowing, the snow is drifted and Nico has troubles with his snow boots walking. After a few minutes and falling face first in the snow, Mommy and Daddy tried not to laugh too hard, he finally got into it only to want to play with all his summer toys stored in the garage. So we got out the basketball hoop and the swimming pool toys, only to figure out they don't work quite as well in the snow!!!

As much as snow is pretty, I have to say I AM OFFICIALLY TIRED OF IT AND READY FOR SPRING!!!!! Although we have had fun with Nico in it, for goodness sake it's almost the middle of March!!! I am definitely at the point of having Spring Fever and I am sure when it's 90 degrees and 100% humidity, you'll all look back at this post and remind me why I love Summer so much!!!

Not a great picture, but I think you get the drift of the snowed in Snowplow!!!

Ready....Set...Cheese....

Funny thing happened last night and I don't know why I never noticed it before, but Nico is camera ready...I know it's hard to believe with the thousands of pictures I MAKE everyone watch over the last 17 months :) Everytime I get the camera out and finally get Nico's attention he knows what to do...I guess he is thinking "Another picture Mom, Hurry up Mom!!" What cracks me up is the fact that he actually (we'll sometimes) poses for the camera. Believe it or not as many photos as I have taken, most of them that turned out good which is not from my skills (none) but from my little Ham posing and knowing exactly how long it takes for the red out....

I don't know why I just noticed it because now that I think back, last Christmas when we waited and waited for our turn at the photography place.....after 5 minutes and 20 pictures we were done and she said to me, "he doesn't get his picture taken much does he?" I guess then I should of known we were going to have a Ham on hands :)

BTW, thanks Jennifer for telling me to add photos, but I think I have gone crazy with over doing it!! Although at least he's cute :)

Terrible 2's...

The terrible 2's....I know it's hard to believe with this adorable face, but I think they have begun. See being an only child allows you to get away with more as he is the "first" child for us and the youngest grandchild on both sides, but Mommy has started to notice a bit of change. Beginning with tonight, see little Nico has anything a 17 month old could ask for on the first floor, but of course even though he knows to stay downstairs, when Mommy looks away for just a second he rockets up the stairs. So Mommy notices it's gotten a little too quiet and starts the task of walking up the stairs only to find little Nico running for the computer he's not allowed to touch or the water faucet he HAS to turn on or even hiding under the computer desk just long enough to freak Mommy out! So then it's on, I pick up little innocent Nico and once again tell him No which is NOT working, so we go to a time out but on the way down he decides he going to start biting, which is definitely not something I will put up with sooooo now it's time out, the yelling, screaming and croodile tears that only last long enough to get what he wants. And throughout I am wondering, "Nico did you really think biting me was really gonna help your situation?" I know he is only 17 months old, but I am so scared he is going to turn into "one" of those kids that nobody wants their kids around.

So to all those mothers out there who have ANY advice I am definitely ready to listen for any encouragement on the terrible 2's!!!

On a completely different note, for all of those family and friends who read my Blog please add our good friends, Steven and Kiki to your prayers. They are having some pregnancy issues and we are very worried about them, so any prayers and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.