Opening Doors....

Our little cutie pie has just recently become proficient in opening doors periodically. Uh oh. It was two days ago that he opened his first and I just watched him open another today. Goodness gracious are we in trouble and yet, at least we'll be relieved of the whole "I've shut the door, I'm trapped, come save me!" screams that we've become accustomed to. That will be nice.

Another nice thing is that I can shave again! Yippie! I've been having my legs waxed for the past few months since Nicholas just wasn't having the whole shaving thing. It was quite surreal the first day I was able to take a shower without him screaming through the whole very abbreviated thing. I didn't know if shaving would be pushing the envelope, but I decided to give it a try and happy day, he was cool with it and I LOVE having completely smooth legs again....and I also really enjoy not having to feel hair ripped out of my legs. That seems to be a big plus.

Since I haven't mentioned it elsewhere to my knowledge, Nicholas also has a new friend named Charlotte. This is Mark's new guide dog. She's a sweet and very smart black lab and though he originally was rather indifferent to her, Nicholas now adores Charlotte. He follows her around and plays the drum on her back and then laughs and laughs. He's quite a trip.

Also, I am so behind on Nicholas' pictures on his website...partially because I can't access a lot of the recent ones because my computer died on me again. I hate computers. So, hopefully a friend of our family will be able to recover most of them so I can share again. :)

Size 7?!

We bought Nicholas his first official pair of tennis shoes on Sunday. Nothing overly fancy...primarily just nice and functional.

I was a bit surprised to learn via the process that his feet fit in size 7 shoes right now. What?! He was just wearing size 5s at the beginning of the summer. Wow. He is growing like a little weed...a cute little weed, if there is such a thing.

He does such a great job toddling around in his little (but not as little as I'd like!) shoes. He's really becoming quite a little boy. How I miss my little baby. And yet, I love watcing him discover the world. It is truly a wonderful experience. I would love to go through this over and over again...it's too bad I didn't get to start having children until later in life. I envy those who start in their twenties.

Perhaps once things calm down with our businesses and life in general we'll have another little one to enjoy. Or perhaps we'll just have Nicholas. Either way, I plan to cherish as many moments as I possibly can beause I can't imagine anything better in life.

Halloween Antics

The little guy will need supervision on Halloween it appears. He's already causing mischief. My son has discovered the joys of unrolling the toilet paper. Beware! Your house could be next! Or not...he's only 15 months and can't get there very easily. I guess you may be safe...for now.

This morning was a busy morning for me. I think Mark even wondered at one point if I'd up and forgotten how to get back home. I hadn't. I just had two back-to-back meetings...one was BNI for the candle biz and one was MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers...which Nicholas isn't yet, but they let those of us with younger kidlets have fun, too). I had a good time at both and I have a little money (one of the restaurant staff wanted some candles...I only had one for sale so she took it) and a new nifty "Mommy Diary" which I made in MOPS. It's perfect - pink with an M on the front, a green ribbon that's both decorative and useful (as a bookmark) and some pink and green flowers. It rocks. :)

At any rate, the upshot of all this is I was away all morning. The boys weren't up when I left. So, I think Nicholas must have had a blast with the TP while daddy was showering (because the rest of the time, we keep that bathroom door shut!). Naturally, Mark wouldn't notice the mayhem unless he needed to blow his nose...apparently, he didn't. Which is why I found it when I came home and went into the bathroom after taking Mark to work.

I wonder what our next little "milestone" will be...

A Bath Without Sceaming...and Ice Cream!

We've had a few firsts here this week. The most notable is that Nicholas had his first taste of ice cream last night (as an ice cream lover, this is the most important thing out of our list - ha ha!). He made the funniest face since it was cold. We tried to record it, after he did it two times in a row, but on the third and fourth time, nothing. On the fifth when the video camera was stashed again...there was that cute scrunched up face. :) He's too cute, but then we already knew that!


He also treated me a couple of days ago to a lovely shower. It started out as any other...with me jumping in planning to wash myself as quickly as possible to avoid upsetting him longer than necessary. Strangely, though, after about a minute of fussing, he left the bathroom to play with his toys. Could it be that my little man is growing up? Say it isn't so...

Since I didn't get to finish this several nights ago when I planned to, I'll share another "wonderful" development in little Nicholas' amusement with the world. The little guy has discovered that throwing things away is almost as exciting as shutting doors. Of course, I have to disagree...especially since I spent a good portion of my evening on Monday laboring. Specifically, I was hunting down the pieces to what we call "Farmer Tad." This is Nicholas' fridge farm which he adores...but apparently he doesn't know that if you throw toys away they don't come back...unless Mommy digs for them in the garbage. When all was said and done, I'd found all but the back of the pig. Who knows where that is, but it is probably around the house somewhere. In my search, I found 2 balls and 2 animal halves in the trash gook...I think I'll try to look a little more often now so that I don't have to dig through goo again. It was so gross.

Of course, I've also put all the animal halves but two up out of reach. I figure I am well within my rights by decreasing the number of pieces I must keep track of and hunt down!

Thus endeth another bath...

Nicholas has recently become fascinated with the drain cover at bath time. The house that we rent has a grate over the drain so we have to use one of those plastic disk things to keep the water in. He likes to pick it up, feel the rush of the water as the tub empties and then put the cover back on...multiple times.

He gets into trouble when he puts the cover back on upside down for the current disk has a "handle" if you will. He can hear the water still going out and it drives him a bit nuts! So, he takes it off again...puts it back...takes it off...puts it back. Eventually there is no water left and the bath ends. I have on a frequent basis tried to help the little guy not end his bath prematurely, but it always seems to be in vain. So I've just given up...sometimes we have a nice long bath and sometimes we don't.

Either way, he comes out cute, clean and cuddly! :)

Piano Pleasures

My son has a love for our piano....which is good. He enjoys tinkering on it from time to time which is quite cute. However, his habit of shutting the lid everytime I am playing is quite annoying. I rarely get to play an entire tune. Makes me want to growl sometimes.

Tonight Nicholas seems to have more teething pain. Joy. And we tested the teething tablets and it looks like they were the culprits that led to the little guy breaking out last week. So, we went straight to Motrin. I am suffering from a lack of patience this evening and so Mark had to take him and put him down after I'd spent about an hour doing so only to sit down on the couch and here him start crying.

Sometimes being a mother is difficult, but I wouldn't give up my kidlet for the world!

Baby Blue

My absolute most favoritist ever color to dress Nicholas in is baby blue. For some reason, that color just suits him so well. Maybe it's me and the fact that he's my baby boy. It could be a mental something, but I really do believe that with his adorable red hair and light skin baby blue is one of his best colors. He was wearing it today...until no one noticed that his diaper was extraordinarily full...and then there was a puddle on the floor. Oops.

I do have my laptop back but haven't been using it much. I kind of like it not being readily accessible because it makes me focus more on the important things...like Nicholas. :)

My business is going pretty well. I received my 2nd commission check today and it was great. It will cover most of a show deposit I need to send in this week. By next Tuesday, I need to sell another $400 of product to qualify for level two. I am hopeful that the event I have scheduled in Lamar on Saturday will yield a good chunk of orders and that I can then just order a little bit of stuff for my inventory or myself to enjoy and call it good.

I'd originally hoped to reach the level three goal they offer, but it is quite lofty - either 6 new recruits plus $2500 in sales in 60 days or $5000 in sales. That's a lot of candles and with a baby and another business to be mindful of, a bit unreasonable. I'm not too sad though because, well, the pin for level two is purple and the pin for level three is blue. I'd rather have purple since I'll be wearing it rather than Nicholas...

Have a great evening - I'm off to give Nicholas his bath complete with a new stacking toy for the bath with flashing lights and music and some rockin' fun squirters (including two penguins!).

All-Nighters

We have been putting in quite a few lately. Tonight is probably a great chance to make up for them and here I sit blogging instead of sleeping. *sigh* I just really wanted to catch up on everyone's week and also post a little about ours.

Teeth, teeth and more teeth is still the drill. It has been pretty tricky lately trying to deal with a very unhappy and in pain cutie pie. The fact that he also reacted to something and had hives all over his body also is just not so much fun at all.

I'm certainly hopeful that some of the temper tantrums we've experienced lately are totally teeth related. Tonight he was a real bear - not being at all accomodating. Anytime I set his food bowl on the table he screamed at the top of his lungs...with his eyes closed so he couldn't see there was a spoonful of food right in front of him. I just shoveled it in and prepared for the next round. I hope this doesn't become a habit.

Okay, now I'm off to bed...I hope you're all doing well. I'll try to do better about posting next week. It's a little tricky now that I don't have my laptop. I hope it comes back soon!

How He's Measuring Up

Since I forgot to do it on Saturday for his 14th month day, I did a little weigh in and height check in today. The little goober is measuring a healthy 32 inches and a whopping 24.5 pounds. Apparently, he's between the 75th and 90th percentile for length and the 50th to 75th for weight....which if you were a reader of our family blog last year has you shouting a big woo hoo since he was in the 10th for weight. This boy can eat. That's all I'll say.

As luck would have it, I believe he's hungry now so I have to run, but yea for results, eh?

Fourteen Months....

And never slowing down. What a blessing it has been having this little guy to amuse me. He's such a doll.

He's been working on his walking/running again lately. We're still doing about 8 steps and then a boom on his bum, but they seem to be a little more sure. He's also just a little chatter bug. I wish I could understand all of what he's saying because I just know it must be amusing as all get out. I don't want him to grow up too fast, but I know I'm going to love it when he can speak a little more clearly. :)

We took a few pictures this morning of him in his surf shorts and aloha shirt (which will no doubt be posted to his site in say six months - LOL!) and I got a couple of super cute ones of him giving me a kiss. He now gives kisses on cue...it is THE BEST EVER! Even more so given the recent kiss drought I was subjected to. I love being able to say "Nicholas, can Mommy have a good morning kiss?" and then having him plant one on me! :)

So this evening we're going to take more pictures. The photographer that took pictures of him the day before his first birthday is going to give us another session since he was hoping (as were we) for a few more great shots than we ended up with. We're going to go to the Broadmoor and do some indoor and outdoor shots. It should be fun...especially since this time around, I know exactly what I'm going to dress the little tyke in! :)

Big Boy Bathtime!

Nicholas took his first bath in the big boy tub without me this evening. Ever since he moved from his small tub to the big tub, I have jumped in and enjoyed in his water play antics. Tonight, though, I thought we'd try things without me in the tub and it didn't seem to even phase him so we may just keep on this path.

It's yet another sign that my little guy is growing up. It really does happen too fast! Now if he'd only sleep all the way through the night...

Kisses!!!

Nicholas is back to being my loveable (well, he's always been loveable!) kissy boy. I was beginning to suffer from withdrawal symptoms as he'd gone through a kiss strike or something. But last night it came to a close at dinner time when he decided that it would be a great time (when he had food all over his face, of course) to give Mommy a ton of kisses. It was too cute and I didn't even mind the mess. ;)

This morning he treated me to another kiss fest. I can't think of a better way to spend my time than being kissed by a super cute and loveable baby!

Other than that, got a little bad news today since one of ladies who was supposed to do a party for me had to cancel. She's maybe still going to do a catalog party which would be just fine.

We also tried some stuff last night (Calm's Forte for kids by Hyland's) to see if it would help Nicholas sleep better. We'll give it another night to make sure, but it seems to have (of course, it might be also that his teeth have calmed down some) since he slept until 2 a.m. instead of the usual midnight. Keep your fingers crossed...this kid needs to sleep through the night again!

Teeth, Teeth and More Teeth!

My son is an impatient boy. He seems to be like his father and rush into things head first...and he's suffering because of it. You all know he's teething...no surprise there since I've mentioned it countless times. But imagine my surprise when I discovered on Monday evening, when cleaning his teeth, that there was a lower canine tooth that had pushed through right next to his first molar!

Ay Carumba! No wonder the poor little guy has screaming fests at night...I'd be screaming, too. I think he has a right to scream. Ususally a bottle and a couple of teething tablets do the trick, but we did try last night (without success since we'd already pulled out the sippy cup) to give him a teething biscuit. Those little buggers seem like they would be quite effective if not terribly tasty, but they don't smell too bad either (we got the Heathy Times wheat free ones). I guess we'll wait and see just how fast all those chompers are going to come in!

And now we're going to discuss another of Nicholas' quirks...pre-waking. Man, this kid is a *thrasher*! In the half hour before he wakes up he just moves about - kicking, tossing, turning...he does it all. When I am very tired, it is WAY annoying... It's times like these that I think "What have we done" with respect to letting him sleep with us at night.

I never imagined I'd be a "kid in our bed" kind of girl...I like my space (which we solved to some extent by upgrading to a king size bed). But, when you have a kid that really won't sleep for more than 1/2 to 2 hours at a time in his own bed, you finally give in. And so we did...and most of the time it's lovely.

Nicholas is a warm cuddly little snuggle buddy and especially in winter time it is nice to have that little warm body snuggled up to you. In the summer it's a little less so, but primarily it is lovely...except in those waking hours when I'm being beaten to a pulp by the cutie. So, as soon as he's able to be conversed with that little guy is going to his own room....or at least on a pallet on the floor in ours like I did when I had nightmares as a kid.

Last update is on the whole walking thing. He's getting it. If I could only say that I had beena ble to get it on the video camera. Sooner or later I'll catch him in the act, but it seems to be later...

The Life of the Party

Nicholas is a little socialite...and he might garner the name LL Cool Nick if he doesn't watch out. Ladies Love Cool Nick. It's very true.

Tonight we went to check out a young adults group starting at our church...not sure if it is our "scene," but it was nice to chat with a few people we've seen there our age and get to know them a bit better. There was a little BBQ at one of the couples' houses and we, of course, brought Nicholas along. He proceded to woo each and every girl at the party, but he had a couple of favorites...my son is a blonde lover. It is already apparent. I guess if I ever decide to bleach my hair, he'll approve. :)

He's still working on the walking thing. In some respects he has decided it is for the birds...crawling is still more efficient. But he still tries his feet out every so often.

My little grand opening in my home town was fun. I did make around $300 in sales which is enough to cover the cost of the room I rented and the stamps I used to send out all those postcards to tell people about it. I'd say they were actually successful, too...I had four people come because of the post cards. Not too shabby.

That's it for now...more tomorrow with any luck!

Who Knew...

Diapering and dressing a baby could be so much fun? I'm guessing other mommies and that is about it!

I chuckle as I write this because my little brother Doug and his girlie Lea came and watched Nicholas during my grand opening last weekend (Daddy had another class to attend). I only got to see them for a couple of seconds as I was rushing out the door, but my brother made sure to show me the "implements" he'd brought to ensure diapering would be tolerable....rubber gloves. If I had given him any advice, I would have suggested that hands are washable...noses are not. Bring the gas mask...leave the gloves, but I digress.

At any rate, despite the sometimes most awful smells that accompany the process, I actually enjoy changing Nicholas' diaper. And I like dressing him, too...and not just because I get to put him in cute outfits. ;) Now I can't say that I have any desire to change any other child on the planet. I'd rather not...at all. However, I am now a believer that you are desensitized to just how icky the process is when he/she is yours...the big man upstairs doesn't miss a beat!

The reason I love changing Nicholas is simple...he loves being naked. At his age, this isn't a problem. It was when he was younger and didn't have much control over his bodily functions. It may be when he gets older if we don't do a proper job of instilling morals in him (yes, I'm already thinking of strategies to ensure I'm not a grandma before my time), but right now, it's awesome.

Whatever the reason, he loves it and there's no mistaking that fact. You take off his diaper and he squeals and giggles. It's pretty cute. He has actually started throwing fits lately when I try to put his clothes back on. This kid definitely knows what he wants...and he wants to be naked. He also likes just being in his diaper which makes dressing a fun time. He loves tummy raspberries, tickles and such.

I am also reminded, though it isn't quite on topic, of something someone told me the other day. I think it may be true...and I'm sure it will be for Nicholas. She said "there are two kinds of people in this world - red heads, and the people who wait on them." I like that...especially since I have a decent amount of red hair myself. I'm actually contemplating dying my whole hair a nice reddish shade. We'll see if I ever go through with it. ;)

No More Panera...

Every Wednesday for some months, Nicholas and I have jumped out of bed (more like crawled unhappily) to take Mark to Panera Bread for his weekly BNI meeting. After this morning's meeting, we discovered our trips to Panera on Wednesdays have come to an end. Praise the Lord!

One of the members of Mark's group has graciously offered to pick Mark up in the morning and take him to the meeting then drop him off at the office. In some respects I'm a little saddened by this as I have met a few people there that I see fairly regularly, but I think I should be able to get over it pretty easily! :)

Apparently, this angel determined after watching me chase Nicholas, try to corral him and get him to avoid banging on the meeting room door, pester other patrons, escape to the great outdoors and scream when he doesn't get his way (i.e., Mom reroutes him), that Nicholas shouldn't be subjected to such torture any longer. Yea!

In other news, Nicholas tried out his chompers today....on my shoulder! The little bugger bit into it really hard. I was completely shocked and gave him a good reactive swat. He knew he was in trouble, I think. He just sort of looked at me like "oops." I was really quite surprised that he hadn't broken through the skin with the force of that bite...

Well, that is it for the moment in the happy fountain of my life. We (Nickels and I) are now going to trek over to the farmers' market for our weekly share of raw milk and vegetables. This is a rather difficult time to go since I have to drag Nichiolas with me, but waiting until later in the day has proven quite ugly on several occasions so I guess we'll just bit the bullet and give it a try! Oh goodness, I also have to go to the bank to get their candle orders. I better get jumping!

And So It Goes...

Yep. We're in trouble. The sprout has become a creeping weed. He is enjoying this new trick that makes Mommy squeal with delight (despite her knowledge that she soon will have even more of a handful on her hands)...walking. We've had several instances of him giving it a shot now. I would love to get it on video, but I have this funny feeling that the moment the camera is on he'll abstain. Maybe I'll try it anyhow...I suppose I have a better shot at getting video with the camera than without it.

In other news, I had another tack onto my grand opening orders today and I believe I am now (yea!) past my introductory commission threshhold. That means I'll be getting another 5% for my commission checks, but the next one will be a bit smaller. I guess I sort of got an advance on this first one (as I suspected) since they sent me a letter today saying the amount was in error. At least I don't have to go crazy wondering how on earth I made more than double of what I was expecting!

Back to Nicholas, we had a fun bath this evening. The new game is "you hand me the toys, Mom, and I'll toss them out while you try to make sure the water stays in the tub." Doesn't that sound fun? I'm getting better at it. The first time we played the rug in the bathroom had a few very wet spots. Tonight I think I managed to keep the water poured out with cups and such to less than 1/4 cup.

Well, I suppose that is all for now! Hope everyone is doing well...

Literal Baby Steps

Nicholas took 3 steps yesterday. They were tentative and tiny, but I saw them...my life is very close to changing and it frightens me a bit! It doesn't help that our dear Daddy is suggesting to the little guy that he should start running...forget walking. Ugh. No running, please...how shall I keep up?

I just remembered a funny little discovery I made when I arrived home from my grand opening Saturdsay. Nicholas has discovered the joy of...toilet paper. Egads. There was toilet paper everywhere. Everywhere. I think I just today finally swept up the last few traces...but I may find more.

This is, I believe, forshadowing of what's to come. My husband can't see his son doing onery things...as long as he's quiet he can get away with anything. Tell me you actually believe he won't exploit this when he's older. Egads. I'm in trouble. Has anyone found a way to clone humans yet? I think I need ten more of me.

I've had a couple of great emails today from "pass along" customers for my business. They didn't get the note about the grand opening until today and they want to get a catalog or go online so they can order. Coolie. And I should have some orders from the bank by Wednesday. Maybe things will pick up after all!

Giggle Fest & Pteradactyls

Nicholas had great fun in church today during the announcements. I'm not sure if the priest said something fun, if I made a funny face or if an angel whispered a funny joke in his ear, but he started giggling like crazy! I failed miserably at trying to keep a straight face...and I wasn't alone. There were people all around us who were trying not to giggle along with my jovial boy. What a silly goose!

As if that weren't enough entertainment for one service, Nicholas later decided to express his displeasure with being made to sit still while the sacrament was blessed. We have, at times, dubbed Nicholas the pteradactyl baby...and he was in full dinosaur mode today. We even had someone else come and make a comment about how he sounded just like a dinosaur. Never a dull moment with Nicholas around!

We had our date last night and it nice...just dinner, a stroll and some ice cream/slushie thing after, but it was nice to get to converse and just be.

Today I received a surprise in the mail which was, of course, from yesterday...my first commission check! It was actually a bigger surprise than I expected...about double what I calculate I should have received. I'm perplexed by it, but not complaining. And yet, the accountant in me must know what the discrepancy is for...but the family bill payer in me doesn't want to ask because we need the money and I'd hate to find out it was a mistake! I imagine the CPA will win out...

I also received some prints of pictures from when Nicholas was a wee little newborn. Man was he cute...he still is, but he was SO tiny! It's hard to imagine that now when he's taller than some 3 year olds! It reminds me that soon I'll have to get some more pictures of him up on his website, but first I have 50 prints I need to have made before my credit expires!

Six More...

This is the number of pounds I have left before I am my pre-pregnancy weight. Not too shabby. I am noticing I'm looking much better in a lot of my clothes again.

I definitely do miss having Nicholas "on the inside" sometimes. I barely remember all of the bad stuff about being pregnant (I'm not going to rush and read any of my posts from those days when I was having a tough time of it either!), but I remember some of the nice things. I loved those little flutter kicks and even the big ones toward the end there. They were fun. I liked seeing my belly grow and blossom into a first rate "baby hotel."

As many of my friends are blessed with babies on the way, I am reminded of these things. I am thankful I was able to experience the joys and pains of pregnancy first-hand. I am blessed to have such a darling little boy as a result of the process.

A part of me longs to start the process again, but things in our lives just aren't where they should be right now. We need to get a few things in order and then we can contemplate whether growing our family is the right thing to do. Even if we decide against it, I have Nicholas and he has me. I am one lucky mommy.