Apples

Visit with Auntie

What a busy month we have had. My sister came down at the end of August for a week. We got to hangout and have lots of sister and Auntie time. This is the first time she has been here by herself. Nicholas loves to read books. He will bring books to anyone that will read to him. Well it is mostly Matt and I and the occasional visitor.
Relaxing after church reading the paper......
I am not sure if I know of anyone who LOVES the beach more than my sister. I am not sure if it the ocean, water, or just the sun, but she could spend ALL day there. She is such a good sport, we only made it there once.
My little man....looking WAY too old. We had such a wonderful time with Auntie that we just couldn't say good-bye. We got on the plane with her and flew to MI for two weeks! WE LOVE YOU AUNTIE!

Shh I'm reading

Nicholas now reads by HIMSELF! He will look at books in his room without anyone else around. What a big boy. I am not sure when he decided that he liked to play in his room alone, but that has happened too. He is looking at a book that goes with his LEAP PAD.

Funny story today:
I was getting ready for our playgroup and was brushing my hair. Nicholas wanted to use my brush, but I decided that it wasn't a good idea so I gave him a comb to use instead. He held his hand out, took the comb, and threw it on the floor and pointed to my brush. Excuse me! I tried again and he did the same thing. Okay so now he reads AND has an opinion....the books didn't say anything about this!

blogger

Little man brushing his hair with Daddy's brush.
Blurry but still sweet.
Oh Mama, you look so pretty. (Because you haven't brushed YOUR hair yet today.)
Should I hit Boo Boo with this long pointer?
Look Mama it is a big Boo Boo.

I must tell you that I have TRIED to posted several times both this month and last and every time I tried to upload photos it took me to an error screen. HATE THAT. So I usually give up and walk away. I am glad it worked tonight...I just might post another blog!

13 on the 13th

13 months old! Nicholas is just on the ball. We took him outside to play with his 'tricycle' on the driveway. He was sooo cute. We have long pine needles all over our driveway. After about 2 minutes on the tricycle he was off to pick them up. He had two big handfuls and was just walking all over. I really like the pic with Matt and Nicholas. He is even turning around to see where Mama is....my precious little boy.

Say a little prayer

More like say a BIG, FAT, LONG prayer. Nicholas is continuing to have feeding/eating problems. We have officially stumped the GI Dr here and are being referred up to Shands Children Hospital. At the last apt she wasn't happy with his growth/weight (or lack there of) so she started mentioned a feeding tube....my heart just broke. He has had such a difficult time with eating, all of the allergies. Now that we finally have that under control we are trying everything we can think of to get him to EAT. I let him play in all the food I offer and try to feed him while he plays so he is distracted. We are thinking about an ENT, just to rule that one out. Please say prayers, a 13th month old should not have all of these problems.

He is so happy and so active. He is officially walking more than crawling (has been all week) and is very happy. He finds Mr. Giles extremely funny...always laughing at him. Here is a pic....

I love YOU so much Mr. Monk!

Playing telephone

Here are some adorable pictures and a short story to make you smile!
On Sunday night we were walking around the neighborhood and Nicholas started to to get fussy. He wanted to be held and it was about 120 F. (Not really, but it was HOT and HUMID) Finally Matt gives Nicholas his cell and has it on speaker phone. Nicholas' eyes got huge and he looked back at me and SMILED. You could hear the ringing and then my voice came on....Matt called our home number getting voicemail. I figured out that I had my cell too so we called my cell then I used my cell to call Matt's cell, Nicholas was so cute. Finally we put both phones on speaker and spoke through my phone to Nicholas through Matt's phone. His whole face lit up. He would get SO excited when Matt's phone would ring and then he would hear Matt talking to him. When he gets excited he puts his fists in the air and tenses up scrunching his nose. Too sweet. This went on for a while, until we got home. I should have taken a picture of his precious face when the phone would ring....I can see it when I close my eyes. Angel baby.

It's official

Nicholas is walking. He stands up from the floor on his own and waddles around all over the house. He still crawls, but he is definitely walking ALL around. He gets this look on his face, he is so proud of himself and happy that he can do it all by himself. So sweet!
He has also cut the 2nd bottom left tooth and I can see the 'buds' on either sides of the two top teeth. Growing, growing, growing!

Life with a ONE year old

What a little sweetie. On July 18th he had more allergy tests done, a back scratch test. Unfortunately his back puffed up like crazy. In addition to ALL of the other allergies (they tested positive on his back too) he is also allergic to RICE, LEMON, GARLIC, LAMB, PORK, and BRAZIL NUTS....... So we are eating a LOT of chicken, fish, corn and potatoes. We are waiting for the RAST results for goat's milk. The Dr is out until Aug 15th, so the waiting continues.

Nicholas is really doing very well. Walking with your finger (or two) and into everything. He is squealing and jabbering like he is telling you something VERY important. Say a little prayer for him.....so we can get the tummy and allergies under control.

Celebrate with FRIENDS

Jacob, Nicholas, Konstantina, Joshua, and Sam.


There is just nothing as good as celebrating with friends. We have been VERY blessed since moving to Florida 2 years ago. Jake and Josh belong to Erin and Joe. We met them in our old neighborhood and realized that we also attended the same church. When Nicholas was baptized they stood up for him as Godparents. We don't get to see them as often as we would like, but they are such great friends! Kontantina "Dina" belongs to John and Voula. From the moment Voula and I met we have been wondering if we were accidentally separated at birth. We have so much in common from teaching to first time momming. All thanks to our neighbor Mary (Voula's grandmother) for introducing us. Sam belongs to Gigi, they also attend our church. Gigi is such a nice person....especially for listening to my ongoing BF and feeding problems with Nicholas. GREAT, great people at our son's first birthday.

Behind the scenes

This is just for you Auntie......here is how it looked. We sure missed you at the party. I know you wanted all the juicy details. We love YOU!

Birthday pictures II

Joshua and Mr. G.....one wanting out and the other wanting in!
Big hug (I mean tackle) from Nicholas to Joshua!
Playing away...Driving Miss Daisy.
Jake and Sam....doing some pirate moves.

The boys in the pool :)

Birthday pictures

Nicholas and Konstantina
The Valentine family with "1" Nicholas
John and Voula.....my wonderful friends and Konstantina' parents
Grammie and Poppie and "1" Nicholas

Happy Birthday Dad dad!

Happy Birthday to my 'other' man! 32 years old....my I feel very young! We went out to eat at Outback on Sunday to celebrate and the ity bity hostess asked if I lived in the area because I was in earlier in the week too! Lovely! Rosemary took us there last Saturday night. It is one of the only places I can eat Gluten Free! Have a wonderful day honey...... at least your got ONE manly present from my dad!
I love YOU!

ONE!!!

I am not sure what order this crazy setup is in but the first picture was this afternoon....Nicholas and his (homemade FREE) cake. It was totally okay for him to eat, I stayed away from all of the allergies...it really had the texture of really spongy angel food cake. I cut it into the shape of a star. Don't worry, for his party we are getting a real cake for everyone else! As you can see from the picture he had cake and frosting everywhere but his mouth. Smart kid it tasted pretty bad!
Happy Birthday Nicholas.....right after he woke up I took this one. He is taking steps left and right. He will walk about 5 steps from person to person and trots right along behind his fire truck. He is so sweet! He did seem to like to frosting.....LOVE that face!
Okay he looks like he is 5 years old! When did that happen? He is such a beautiful boy.....not a baby anymore.....Look at that face!

Little Buddies

Nicholas and my dad, 'Poppie', had so much fun. They would do everything together. Water the garden, the new trees, and of course drink from the hose. My dad bought a little tent and they camped, which really involved Nicholas crawling around in the tent and my Dad pointing out nature to him. They would walk around and check the skimmer of the pool, get the mail, look at flowers, birds and statues in the yard. I don't know more who had more fun. If Nicholas saw my dad he would clench his fists and give him the biggest grin. He didn't want to have anyone else hold him if Poppie was around. They are like two peas in a pod.....little buddies!

29 and 11

June was a month of getting older. I turned 29, no big deal...just the last birthday in my twenties. I can remember when I couldn't wait to celebrate my birthday. Now it is no big deal....everything is about Nicholas and I am just fine with that!
Nicholas turned 11 months......next month he will be 1 year old.....now that I am having a hard time with. Where has the year gone? I remember last year at this time....thinking there was no WAY that I would make it until July 15th. He is such a little man. He is jabbering up a storm with all of the m,d,n sounds you can imagine. He is pulling up to everything and will walk (or maybe run) if you let him hold your finger. He learned how to go up and down steps at my parents house. He points at everything and smiles. He has started signing too. Just a few here and there (more, eat, milk) but he is getting it and that makes me happy.
We are still battling the feeding issues, but I have to remember that 1. he is a happy kid all day long 2. he is healthy...never sick with a cold (runny nose, cough, etc) 3. he is ALWAYS on the move and very curious 4. he is growing and gaining weight (not losing) maybe not as much as the Drs would like, but still gaining just the same. We are still going to specialists and trying new things....hopefully soon something will click and he will start opening that mouth for more than just a few bites! Happy 11 months to you PB, I love YOU!

The month of JUNE

We had a busy month. Nicholas and I flew up to MI on June 1st. Our flight was cancelled out of ATL so we had to take a shuttle and spend the night in a hotel near the airport. I was insane, but he was the perfect baby. I got a Maya wrap just before I went, so he could be 'close' while traveling. It worked really well for us. We arrived in MI the next morning DEAD tired and without our luggage. But by the end of the day we had everything back to normal.

This first picture is of Nicholas on the 'Hot Wheels' Grammie and Poppie bought him before he was born! He loved to put stuff in the trunk...the seat lifted and he would put paper and toys in there, close it, open it and take the stuff out, way too cute!
Grammie and Poppie also got him a swing....he loved it. It was under a BIG tree so it was always shaded. You could even look at Poppie's vegetable garden grow. It was great weather and so beautiful up there this visit....sure makes me homesick.
Auntie and Nicholas......so precious!
While in MI we traveled to Chicago for Kathryn and David's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. We were so happy to be able to be there to support and celebrate with them as they started their married life together. Nicholas looked so adorable with his 'outfit' complete with bow tie.