Sleeping Habits

When Nico was born, his sleep patterns were to wake up everythree hours at night to eat. During that time, Mommy was pretty sleep deprived, but now things are a bit different. For the past three weeks Nico has been consistently sleeping for a consecutive six hours at night. There have even been a few nights here and there when he has even slept for eight and nine hours straight! Hopefully soon enough this will become the norm, but until then Mommy is at least less sleep deprived than two months ago. In addition, Nico has also proven that he is becoming a big boy and for over a month now he has been sleeping in his own room and in his crib. This, of course, is all done with the use of soft music, swaddling, and a bed time routine that Nico looks forward to everynight. The best part of it all? Going into the nursery and looking over the crib, where I see an angel smiling up at me.

Toys are Fun!

Since birth Nico has been able to grasp our fingers quite tightly and lately my hair has been added to that list; however, now he now has the desire to hold toys. In addition, when he holds the toys he now is showing interest in them by exploring them with his senses. In the past I have attempted to put toys in his hands to see if he could hold onto them, especially since he is able to firmly grasp fingers and hair, but alas, he immediately would drop the toy given to him. So now, Nico sees and shows interest in various toys, can hold onto them and explore/play with them some. What progress, and he is not even three months old yet! We may just very well have ourselves a little genius baby!

Home at last

Nico and I have been traveling quite a bit it seems, but as of tonight, we are back in our own environment. We had a great time visiting Pops, Mops, and Ninny while in the Valley. Nico was able to spend some great quality time with his Great Ninny, who is going on 94 years old now. It was amazing seeing my 94 year old grandmother hold, talk to, and spoil my two and half month old son. Here is a picture of the four generations from my dad's side of the family.


The drive back to North Texas was quite an adventure. We decided to stop and rest a while in San Antonio. Of course, any Texan knows that when you stop in San Antonio you go visit the Alamo and walk along the Riverwalk. So that is exactly what we did. Nico went to his first historical site with his Pops, which was very appropriate. While at the Alamo, I picked up a little souvenir for Nico: a Davy Crocket coon hat. As you can imagine, Nico received lots of attention as we walked along the Riverwalk and the streets of San Antonio. I was probably stopped over 20 times in just one short hour and told by strangers how adorable my baby is! So for your enjoyment, here are some pictures of Nico in San Antonio with his new Davy Crocket hat.

11 weeks old!

Nico is 11 weeks old now! My, how time flies when you are having fun. Before you know it, I am going to be crying my eyes out as he leaves us to go off to college. So in the meantime, I am going to take lots of pictures and enjoy every second I have with him! This week Nico, Uncle Jason and I traveled south to the Rio Grande Valley to visit Pops and Mops, and to meet Nico's Great Ninny (great-grandmother) for the first time. It was a long ride down here, but we made it in one piece; however, after two road trips so close together, Nico now has an aversion to being in the car unless someone is sitting in the back with him. Since arriving, we have been enjoying each other's company and everyone has been getting thier fill of Nico. Uncle Jason and I took Nico on a little field trip today to a local park. Although Nico is still too young to run around and play on the equipment, he did enjoy being outside having the sun and wind on him some. Here are a few pictures of today's adventure and I added a couple of cute recent videos of Nico being quite the Chatty Cathy.

Playdates

Although only being 10 weeks old, Nico already has made friends. Not only do we have our weekly Mommy and Me yoga class but we also participate in a Mommy-play- group with other mommies and little ones from church. In addition, we are now getting together with our yoga class friends for a play group. Hopefully as our little ones grow, they will begin to actually play together and interact with each other. Until then, they will just have to enjoy the walks, shopping and occasional lunching that the mommies do.

Nico and two of his friends from our yoga class: Nico, Jason Jr. and Matthew (became friends while inutero)

Bath Time is Fun Time

Scrub-a-dub-dub, Nico's in the tub! Nico's new favorite activity is bath time, which is now a time for smiles, tickles and lots of cooing. He loves being in the water and feeling the sensation of the warm water being poured all over him. When we soap him up, it appears to tickle him and he wiggles himself all over the bath hammock in response! After Nico gets a bath, we always give him a full body massage; arms, legs, little fingers and piggies, the cute fat tummy and even the baby bottom. This also produces lots of smiles and soothing expressions, especially as he stares at himself in the bathroom mirror. Maybe in a month or two Nico will show interest in playing with his bath toys and bath time can become one with squirting animals and rubber duckies.

Welcome Mason

Today we welcomed to the world, baby Mason. Mason is Nico's first cousin, and with their ages being so close together, hopefully our visits will be filled with the two boys playing. Mason weighed 8lbs 7oz and was 19 in long. It seems that we grow big boys in our family! Thankfully, mamma and baby are both doing well and are expected to arrive home later this week. Welcome to the world Mason, hopefully we will get to meet you soon.

Continually Learning

Nico is continually learning. It is amazing to watch him make new discoveries and get excited about them. Lately, Nico has learned to purposely bat at his toys. He was able to do this unintentionally before, but now he is able to focus on what he is doing and take a swing at his animal friends repeatedly. Not only can Nico now accomplish something he sets his mind to, but he shows his excitement when he is able to get the job done. And anything which brings a smile to my baby boy's face brings an even bigger one to mine.


This week Nico, Pettie (our furry friend) and myself traveled by ourselves to Houston! With Daddy going out of town again, we decided to go visit Gigi and have some relaxation time. It was an interesting ride to say the least, with the multiple stops to feed everyone, change diapers, take short dog walks and clean up spit up. Gigi is so great when we visit, and she lets Mommy sleep ALL the way throught the night! For that, I did not hesitate to drive the five hours with just myself, the baby and our dog. With being in Housotn for only 24 hours, I have already been able to pamper myself a bit. Besides getting a full nights sleep, I got a haircut, a manicure and a pedicure. Typically, I would not think that those things are news, but now it seems that they are since they happen so seldom. Yea, thanks for your help Gigi!

Nico Withdrawls

Today Nico and Mommy ventured into the church nursery, this time with the purpose of Nico staying in there during the service. This was scary, more so for Mommy than Nico, but we both survived! The last couple of weeks during the church service, Nico has been making his presence known. His cute cooing and eating noises are not so cute during a sermon about parenting when both Ed and I know Nico could easily be in the nursery instead of sitting with us. Thankfully, we are friends with many of the nursery workers, and I knew Nico was in good hands. Of course, that did not stop me from sending Amber to the back to check on Nico half way through the service. The report was that Nico did very well, so hopefully this small step will prepare both Nico and Mommy for when Mommy has to go back to work and Nico starts day care.


Other things that have been happening..Gigi came into town for a few days while Daddy was traveling. While Gigi was here, we made a small road trip to Granbury. The plan was to show Gigi around the town with hopes that maybe someday in the next couple of years she and Grandpa Dan could move up here. Nico got some fresh air and sunshine as we strolled around the town square window shopping and soaking in the small town atmosphere.

So This is What Hands Are For!

Nico has discovered his hands and what he thinks they are for. Although we saw him suck on his fingers in various ultrasounds, Nico is just now frequently and purposefully bringing his entire fist to his mouth to suck on. There have even been a few occasions when I have spied my angel sucking on his thumb! When I told my mom this she had a small panic attack. For those of you who do not know, I sucked my thumb far past an appropriate age for thumb sucking. So while the thought of trying to get Nico to quit this habit somewhere down the road is overwhelming, watching him actually suck on it is so incredibly cute. Here is a video clip of Nico discovering his hand and talking to me simultaneously. I added a couple of cute pictures too.

Happy 2 Months!!!

Surprise! Nico is now 2 months old. Boy, does the time fly by. I can't believe my newborn baby is no longer a newborn. He has changed so much and so quickly over these past 2 months. I am excited to see the upcoming developmental milestones be met and to continue to watch our little man grow into a big man. With the 2 month mark we decided to celebrate...by going to get some shots. This was very sad for both Mommy and Nico. Poor Nico. Although he did not get as many vaccinations as the typical 2 month old gets, Nico still screamed at the top of his lungs when poked with the multitudes of needles. Throughout the rest of the day Nico also had a rough time, which in turn caused Mommy to have a hard time. The shots seemed to really affect his overall demeanor and he showed that he really needed his Mommy to hold and love on him. Good news Nico...no more shots until next month!