Pumpkin Pickin'

After a long, hot and sweaty summer, fall is finally here! People living in Texas can now venture outside of their houses without the concern of getting 3rd degree burn! I can not say that the leaves are changing here, mostly because I think they were already scorched from the summer heat, but the air is cool, the birds are everywhere and the pumpkin farms are ready for visitors. This past weekend that is exactly what we did. We took Nico to Hall's Pumpkin Farm and let him not only enjoy the fabulous weather, but pick out his own pumpkin or two, see some farm animals, ride on tractors and play around in the hay! The little man had a wonderful time investigating the pumpkins, but his favorite thing to do was feed the goats pieces of hay. At the end of the day we brought home three different sized pumpkins and very soon the three of us will be getting our hands messy with some family fun pumpkin carving.

A New School and a New Start

This past Friday was Nico's first day at his new school. And when I use the term "school," I actually mean "school." Primrose School is far from being a day care. When Ed and I toured the school, we were in awe and very impressed with what we saw and learned. Over my years in the education field, I had heard of Primrose, but had never been through its doors or observed the classrooms in action. The structure, the routines, and the uniformity amongst the teachers were all great to see. But it was a breath of fresh air to learn about the academic and character building centered Balanced Learning Curriculum, and see the children, even at the young age of 2 years, transitioning between the many centers, being exposed to both small and whole group instruction, and basically functioning like a Pre-kinder classroom.

Enrolling Nico into Primrose, was a big decision for us, because the tuition is quite a bit more than what we had been paying; however, Primrose is an accredited private school not a daycare and we made the choice that Nico deserves this because it is the best. His education is something that both Ed and I hold dear to our hearts, which is why it did not take us long to decide Primrose was the way to go.

Nico's first day went well, and he looked so adorable wearing his Primrose backpack, which he has to bring to school everyday. His teachers reported that he did better than they thought he was going to do. It typically takes kids up to two weeks to adjust to the structured schedule and routine of the classroom, so we will see how our little man progresses over the next couple of weeks.

Boats, beach, and birds=FUN

Since Daddy had to work this past weekend, Nico and I headed down to visit Gigi, do some major shopping and hit the coast! Although it was a short 2 day visit, we had a great time, especially on Saturday when we headed to Galveston. It had been over a year since Nico had experienced the beach, so we took advantage of the cooler weather to let Nico have a truly fantastic day.

After a great lunch at Gaido's, both mine and Gigi's island favorite, we took a ferry ride over to Bolivar's Peninsula. Nico seemed to be in awe that he was not only on a boat, but on such a big boat! Too bad I couldn't get Nico to focus on one spot on the water, because every now and then the dolphins could be seen jumping around. He, however loved yelling "hi" and bye" to all the boats we passed!


For those of you who have never experienced Bolivar's Peninsula, it is basically an empty piece of land. There is a scattering of beach houses, all of which I am sure have been rebuilt since Ike because the entire peninsula was flattened. The beach here is very empty with just a few people here and there, but this is the best place to really relax and enjoy your surroundings. We found a nice quite spot, spread out our stuff and let Nico run wild!


Nico took to the sand and water with ease! I thought he would not want to go near the water, but boy, did this brave little boy prove me wrong! Nico loved getting in the water and playing. "Jumping the waves" was a game in which Gigi and I would count to three and swing Nico over the waves. This was apparently so much fun that when Gigi and I did not continue the game, Nico imitated counting to three and would hop over the waves all by himself!



The sand, although it stuck to every little crease and crack, was great fun for Nico. With bucket and shovel in hand, Nico scooped up wet sand, dry sand, water and whatever else he could find.




When we left Gaido's earlier that day, we had in hand extra bread and crackers. This was so we could feed the seagulls and add to our beach experience! Nico is intrigued by all animals, but birds were his first passion, so we knew this would be exciting for the little man. Overall, the seagulls seemed a little more scared of us than usual, but Nico still had the chance to see them up close and chase them to his little heart was content.


The day was one of the most fun days we have had lately, especially since the weather was so great! I am glad Nico had the chance to enjoy the beach before it got much later in the year. Next time we will just have to drag Daddy to get all sandy and dirty with us!

One thing after another...

Lately, and I use that word loosely, it seems like there has been one stressful event after another occurring. Besides all of the "medical" issues I have been dealing with for the last...well, let's see...6 months, the hiring and firing of the live in nanny, going back to work full time, Nico starting back up at "school," both myself and Nico coming down with the ultimate bad cold, and then recently my grandfather passing away, we now have encountered a new problem.

This is a problem I would really rather do without...biting. Last week while I was out of town, Nico was bitten by another child in the classroom. Then on Friday, he decided to take matters into his own hands and bit back..the same child who had injured him the day before. What happened yesterday? Nico got bitten again, by the same child!!! This new phenomenon of behavior is not ok in my book and unfortunately the director and owner of the school are not handling the situation as well as they should. Although Nico is finally acclimated to his school, has no problem leaving me in the mornings, and demonstrates that he enjoys going, it seems like there is now a safety concern. So stay tuned because the search for a different and better school is on the horizon.

Besides getting bitten, and being sick recently, Nico has been great. Just as cute as cute can be and growing into such a fun little boy with a great sense of humor. Here is what everyone has been waiting for...recent pictures.

Life and Death

It has been longer than usual since last blogging, but life...and death certainly has gotten in the way. Nico lost his only living great-grandfather a little over a week ago. John Pennington, my maternal grandfather was a good man and he will be missed. Although death is difficult no matter what the situation is, God called Grandpa home at what seemed to be the right time. He was ill and I can say that he was honestly suffering towards the end of his life here on Earth. Fortunately, we were told that he did not appear to struggle or endure much pain as he passed away.

While Nico is very young and will not remember, I am glad he still had the chance to meet his great-grandpa. We at least have pictures of Nico and Grandpa to show him when he gets older.





The memorial service was this past weekend in Houston and Nico stayed home with Daddy while I went south to pay my respects. Unfortunately, the boys were unable to have much fun because the day I went out of town, Nico came down with my ultimate horrible cold. Even through the lack of sleep, runny noses, coughing and chest congestion, my boys survived, but were happy to see me come home.

I, personally had the privilege of honoring my grandfather during the memorial service by saying a few words. Although, we were all sad for ourselves in the fact that Grandpa had left us, we rejoiced in the fact that we know Grandpa is in a MUCH better place than we are here on Earth and that we will see him again someday in the Heavenly Kingdom. Even though the overall occasion was a sad one, it was very nice to see the family altogether. Since it is very seldom that we are in the same place at the same time, we of course, had to take advantage of the situation and snap a couple of pictures.

End of the summer updates

The summer is drawing to an end as Labor Day rolls around again. Hopefully, some cool air will blow through and allow Nico the opportunity to play outside more. This little guy absolutely loves being outside even if it is to do nothing but sit in the front yard and wait for Daddy to drive up from work (which is something we now do everyday). Nico occupies himself searching for airplanes, scouting out birds, collecting rocks and flowers, creating beautiful art work with sidewalk chalk or chasing down bubbles.

In other news...Nico seems to have adjusted well this past week to his new school. I am not going to lie, the first week was tough. Partially because Nico does not want to separate from me and partially because he did happen to get sick. Perfect timing as usual. After getting attacked by ants in Houston and just days after starting at school, Nico came down with a fever, an eye infection and a bit of a runny nose. Thankfully, I already had him on antibiotics due to the ant bites. Thus, this past week Nico was feeling great and his teachers said he did very well each day! On the other hand, it is possible that whatever infection or cold Nico had, he passed it on down to his dear old Mommy. I have been miserable, barely making it to work and back, but am very happy that my little man is adjusting. What can I say? My world is not my world anymore; it is Nico's world and if Nico is happy, then I am happy.

Finally, some updates on the speech therapy. Nico has had 5 sessions of therapy and it is going very well. Our big obstacle was determining if it was most productive for me to come in with Nico or leave him alone with the therapist. After he started school, I decided I thought it would best to go in with him. There was already too much separation anxiety going around; why create more? Nico has made lots of progress. He is not about to recite the Emancipation Proclamation, but he is now imitating words or at least approximating them when asked and he has started to say more functional words!

Here are some cute recent photos. Enjoy!

Nico and Daddy, both wearing their Chicago 1/2 Marathon shirts.

First lolipop! Not sure about this.

Just goofing around and being super-cute and awesome...as usual.

Such a happy boy! Life can't get much better than this.

Sitting on an AIRPLANE! Someone was in awe!

Even the small things

Lately, even the smallest things about Nico make me smile. The tiny "o" his mouth makes when singing along with any song, every time he laughs out loud at the same part in Toy Story, the way he hugs his Woddy doll to him with affection, when he says "uh-oh" at the most appropriate times, and the spontaneous hugs and kisses both Mommy and Daddy get from this precious boy. It seems like Nico does something new, something even cuter, and something even more brillant every day.

It amazes me to watch Nico try to help Daddy fix things around the house. His own screwdriver in hand, he is always right there next to his Daddy attempting to be handy. Nico always wants to have the same two books read to him every night before bed, I love how he takes my hand now and leads me to where he wants to go and how he frequently wants to hold hands when walking. It's the small things. I love this little guy right down to his first freckle!

Splash Day at School

Today was the final, but Nico's first splash day for the summer at school. He went to school all decked out in his swim wear ready to have some fun in the sun. Since the little man is still apprehensive about his Mommy leaving him, I stuck around for a bit in order to make sure Nico actually had fun during the activities. Little did I know that Splash Day was not going to start until well after snack time! Lucky Nico had his Mommy with him at school for over two hours! I had some fun reading and playing with Nico and his new friends, and I am hoping that Nico seeing his Mommy in his new school environment for such a long period of time will help his transition even more.

Here are a few pictures from Splash Day.

School Days

Summer has come to end. At least it has for those of us who work in the glorious field of education. With the start of the new school year, it is the start of me going back to work full time. I have mixed feelings about this, but I have to do what is best for my family. In the long run, this is going to be so incredibly great for us financially, but it is just going to take some adjusting.

Plan A was that Nico was going to stay home with a live-in nanny while I went to work; however, that plan did not go quite as well as I wanted it to go. The nanny is gone, and for the first time EVER it is just MY family in MY house. It does feel very nice.

Plan B is now in effect. Nico started last Thursday back at the "school" where he attended when he was an infant for about 4 months. Nico is in the older toddler room now and starting in just a few weeks it will be just him and 7 other children. I really like his teacher, and I love that I can choose to watch my little man all day long if I like on the Kiddie Cam.

Nico is not too sure about this new arrangement yet, but the more I watch him in the classroom environment, the happier I am about making the change from Plan A to Plan B. Although there are quite a few kids in the room, Nico tends to gravitate towards the teacher. Instead of playing with the kids, he wants to be with the adult in the room. In addition, our precious son is not a champ at sharing toys. I can't imagine waiting to put Nico in a school environment until PK or even K! Nico needs to learn make friends and socially interact appropriately with other kids his age, and he is not going to pick that up by being at home with me. I think this is going to be good for him...and hopefully for me too.

I wish I had some photos to post of Nico at school, but I don't think it would be very appropriate of me to take pictures since other people's children would be in them as well. So, here is a couple of picture of Nico in the car right before we went in on his first day.

Ride'em Cowboy

Nico is a true Texan! Mommy is so proud. Watch this video of my little Nico riding his new pony that Gigi got him.