Mama's BACK!!!!

I just wanted to say that I am feeling SO much better! Not quite 100%, but able to be a mom and get the house work done. I never thought I would take so much pleasure in cleaning up the kitchen or doing laundry. I owe my parents so much for all of their help over the past 7 weeks, yes 7 WEEKS! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
I will post pictures soon. Baby is doing fine and I am 15 weeks along, still in between really showing and looking like I put on a few extra pounds in the middle section!

Fires

The "Airport Road Fire" (formerly named the "Hunter's Ridge Fire") of 2007 has now consumed more than 6,500 acres of forest. We live just off Airport Road in Hunter's Ridge (yes, that Airport Road, and that Hunter's Ridge). The fire originated just under a mile from our house. We are just lucky that it moved north and west.

Our house is located between the "B" and the "e" in "Ormond Beach" in the map below...

Credit goes to the Daytona Beach News Journal for the graphics...
http://www.news-journalonline.com/

Learning to Swim

Nicholas is getting very brave in the pool. He can swim the length of the pool (with the help of his floaty outfit) and will even jump in from the side.

Word of the day

Every day Nicholas is learning new words. Today's word was "hot dog" (okay, so that's two words). Here are a few of his favorites (or maybe they are our favorites, so we don't forget the list at 21 months).

"Truck" - he LOVES trucks. There is a lot of new construction around our neighborhood and he loves to watch all the trucks go by.

"Wipe" - he loves to clean anything in site with his baby wipes.

"Sweep" - he loves to sweep the driveway with the brooms from the garage.

"Block" - he loves to go for walks around the block, and let's you know when he's ready. He also likes to play with his mega blocks (not quite Legos, but close).

"Boo Boo" (our dog, Mr. Giles) - he loves Boo Boo, especially tormenting him and chasing him around the house on his car.

"Bike" - he LOVES to go for a bike ride and see the horses and cows at the nearby farms. He greats me at the door each day after work waiting to go on the "bike! bike! bike!"

"Helmet" - of course we have to get our helmet's first.

"Bump" - we find all of the bumps on our bike rides.

"Me-Me" (his version of Grammie) - he love's his Me-Me.

"Pop" (his version of Poppie) - he love's his Pop, too.

"Dina" - his best-est girlfriend.

"Ya-Ya" - Dina's great-grandmother lives next door to us.

"Aba" (and sometimes "baba") - he still wants to have his pacifier when he's tired.

"Juice" - when he's thirsty, only his "juice" will do.

"Ammee!!!" - not quite sure what this one means, but it seems to mean come with me, now!

"Elmo" - seems to be his favorite character at the moment.

Other favorites include...
Wet, Blue, Yellow, Duck, Book, Door, Dark, Light, Up, Down, Sit, Car, Happy, Socks, Shoes

And of course "Mom-mom" and "Da"

Washing the car

Some of my best memories with my dad are washing the car. I've been waiting a long time to take these pictures. Nicholas won't remember his first car wash with his dad, but his dad will.

Painting the house

My mom used to "let" me paint the porch with a bucket of water and a paint brush. By the time I got to the other side, it was dry and time to start again. Nicholas was having a good time painting his house with water, but he got a little side tracked using the paint brush as a hair brush...

Just because I can...

Mr. Potato Head's glasses don't quite fit, but I'm going to wear them anyway...


I don't know how he does it, but he always manages to log in to the computer with his username that takes him straight to Disney. (the Disney part I set up for him, but he does always manage to click on his name to log in...)

Excuse me, dad. I have to send an urgent instant message to Dina!

Easter Bunnies

The Easter Bunny came and went without much fanfare at our house this year. But Nicholas had a good time on an Easter Egg Hunt next door at Ya-Ya's house with his good friend Dina. And he really enjoyed making a big mess with the artificial grass from his baskets.

Daddy's Turn

Momma is still suffering through those first trimester nausea blues, so it's daddy's turn to try out this whole blog thing. The side-effects of the medicine are nearly as bad as the symptoms. Momma is pretty out of it, but seems to be getting better slowly.

We went back to the doctor's office today for a follow-up and everything was a-okay. We got to hear the heart beating fast with the Doppler. The official due date is now November 17th, which makes this week #10 or so...
http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/110.html


Hopefully that means the end of the nausea is getting closer.

Grammie (aka "me-me!") was here for the past two weeks to help out, and Poppie (aka "pop!") is here now for a while. I'm not sure what we would do without all of their help.

Meanwhile, Auntie is apparently out gallivanting around Tennessee with some motorcycle gang. But that's a whole other story for another time...

Brush, brush, brush

Nicholas loves to brush his teeth. Matt got him all set up with the top to a bottle of water and his tooth brush at the kitchen table. He sat there dipping and brushing for almost 15 minutes! Voula - notice his feet....he had them crossed the whole time! He is soo sweet!

The Crew

Here we all are.....my parents are the tannest ones, don't they look great? They like to mention that when they have Nicholas at the condo everyone comments that they are the parents.....their heads are getting bigger everyday!

Follow the Link

http://www.babycenter.com/mybabycenter/105.html













Well, if you are still reading and haven't clicked on the link yet, I am pregnant! I am due Nov 23rd. (the day after Thanksgiving) Matt and I are so excited and it was really fun to have the family here to share the news with. I had my first OB apt last week and everything seems to be going as planned, Over the weekend the nausea started and hasn't stopped. Please say a prayer for a healthy baby, mama, and pregnancy ...... and for the nausea not to last until 16 weeks prego like it did for Nicholas! I will try to post links every so often so you can see the baby develop!

The Condo

Nicholas is having so much fun with Poppie at the condo. They go up and down that stairs and He loves the Owl, "who-who" as he says. I am sure the conversation of Poppie and Nicholas in the chair went something like this..."Hey which way did Dad go?"

Gramie and Nicholas

I think Poppie has started a craze.....a house craze. Nicholas now wants EVERYONE to come into his house and play with him.....Gramie had no problem getting in and entertaining him!

Playing House

Okay so now that Poppie, aka Papa, can fit in the house Nicholas wants everyone to get in the house with him. They always have so much fun together. Two peas in a pod.

Tool man

Last week Nicholas was trying to get one of the kitchen drawers open. He was trying to tell me something and then he went to the gate and pointed to the part you tighten. A few days before I tighten them and he was helping. I used a special tool that I keep in the drawer, I guess he thought he needed to double check our work. He went to every corner and then to the gate in my doorway. So sweet!

Random

He looks so grown up here....just hanging out watch Baby Signing Time.
There are a few things that Nicholas LOVES and I am not sure why.....belts and measuring times. He will ask for them, he knows where I put them and how to ask for them. I am not sure how all of that happened but it is really cute to watch him walk acting like he know what he is doing!