Christmas Day

Seeing Christmas through the eyes of your own child is an absolute blessing. I know there are only a few years in which a child really believes in the magic of Christmas so I hold these memories very dear to my heart and want to never forget them. Watching Nico's eyes light up when he came down the stairs was an experience in itself. I loved see his excitement as he discovered the cookies and milk were gone, that his stocking was full, and something special had happened while he had been sleeping. We had a wonderful day overall filled with lots of playing, cooking, eating and laughing, but most importantly, the house was filled with love. It was a perfect Christmas, and I am thrilled for next year when Nico's little sister joins us.

Here is a video of Nico coming down the stairs on Christmas morning:


Here are some, actually a lot, of the pictures capturing Christmas 2011:

Christmas Eve

The anticipation of Christmas certainly had been building up for Nico. Christmas Eve was almost as much fun as Christmas day itself...almost. To start, Gigi came into town, which is always a cause for celebration around this household, then we made lost of cookies, cakes and other goodies to get ready for Santa's arrival, as well a new decoration to hang on the tree.





One of the treats we made was a Christmas tree shaped birthday cake for Jesus. And what do you do at every birthday party? Sing "Happy Birthday" of course! Nico was given the privilege of blowing out the candle on Jesus' birthday cake, but we told him Jesus was watching and smiling down on him for being such a sweet caring boy.



The evening of Christmas Eve we of course went to church for a candlelight service to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior. In order to keep the service a "family celebration," there was not child care provided. So we braved church service with Nico in tow. However, instead of being bored and obnoxious during service, like I know my brother and I were whe we were kids, Nico sang and danced, participated and enjoyed the overall service.



When our pastor asked for all the kids to come to the front to hear the Christmas Story be told, Nico joined the other children (all whom were older than him) at the front. Ed and I were so taken by surprise that Nico not only went up there with other kids, but that while walking down the aisle he turned around and waved at us! He was completely comfortable in this new situation and we could see as we watched Nico from a far, that he was listening and paying attention to the story being told. At one point, our pastor told the children about an angel coming to see Joseph in a dream, and Nico, who had to be the youngest child in the group, spoke up and said something (we could not hear him) about his own dreams! The pastor recognized what Nico was saying and Incorporated it into the lesson!
I tired taking a picture or two of Nico during this, but kept the flash off as to not disturb others, so excuse the gritty picture.


At the end of the service candles around church were lit for Jesus' birthday. Nico had his own candle and held it while singing like such a big boy. He even waited until the end to blow the candle out with everyone else. Needless to say, this Momma was very proud of how respectful and understanding her little guy was at church.

After church, we all loaded up in the car drove around looking at Christmas lights. This of course has been one the most fun parts of Christmas for Nico, and thankfully that night, although drizzling, Big Tigger was up in action for use to pause and look at. Everyday he has wanted to take a walk around the block or even a drive throughout the neighborhood looking at the Christmas lights and fixtures in every one's yard.

Before the night's end, we had to get ready for the jolly old St. Nick to pay us a visit.


Santa came quite promptly, eating the cookies and milk Nico left him, loading up the Christmas tree for a very special little boy and leaving Daddy with a job to do.

Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

My name is Nico, and I have been a very good boy this year. I would really like a chipmunk toy, Lion King the movie and a bike. My mommy and daddy love me and I am very excited for Christmas.

Love,
Nico

Two Big Changes for a Big Boy

In the last couple of months Nico has had two major changes in his little life. In preparation for our family's new arrival, Nico moved from the nursery to a big boy room upstairs. This is a pretty big deal, as Nico has been in the same bedroom downstairs just 50 feet or so from Mommy and Daddy's room. Now he is sleeping upstairs in what used to be his playroom. I was worried he would have a hard time transitioning, knowing that he was further away from our room, but instead, Nico surprised me. He did wonderfully with the transition and loves his new big boy room. I think the preparation of the room helped eased him into the change, so when it happened, he was able to go with the flow. Something else that has helped him was that we purchased an intercom for his room. While the baby monitor is still in the room and we can hear him, he could never hear us...even when we wanted him to. So in order for this very pregnant Mommy from running up and down the stairs in the middle of the night, we can now talk to Nico over the intercom; we can hear him and he can hear us...only when we want him to.

Here are some pictures of Nico's new big boy room.







Another major change for Nico has occurred in the last couple of weeks. I received notification from Nico's school that he is academically ready to move up into the Preschool I class! This is a major step! Of course, the kids have to be potty trained, in which he is, although we have been having some issues during nap time, but they also have to be intellectually and academically ready. Primrose is known for their rigorous academic program and their preschool curriculum is actually the state of Texas' pre-kindergarten curriculum and the pre-kindergarten uses the state's kindergarten curriculum, thus staying ahead a year. Not only is Nico's new class more academically demanding, but it is structured more like a kindergarten class. There is structured center time, whole group as well as small group instruction, and all content areas including science, math, literacy, writing, and social studies are taught on a daily basis.

Nico had a difficult time with the new class for the first week or so. Every morning at dropoff was quite a struggle...probably more for Mommy than Nico. Nico would cling to me and cry not wanting me to leave. He would tell me in the car that he wanted to go to Mrs. Short's class (his previous teacher), but I had to keep explaining to him that he is so smart and because he is such a big boy now that he is three years old, he has to go to the big kid class. Thankfully, a couple of Nico's good friends, one of which he has told us is his "best friend" moved up to the Preschool I class with Nico. This has been a big help with the transition. What helped me was that his teachers did inform me that Nico would only cry until I was out of sight and then he was immediately fine wanting to begin playing. However, this morning was quite different when dropping Nico off at school. As I was talking to his lead teacher for a few minutes, I felt tugs on my arm...I looked down and Nico was starring up at me and told me, "Go to work Mommy!" He actually wanted me to leave and as I walked out the door, he yelled, "Bye Mommy!" I think the transition period is over.

Maternity Pictures

I am still trying to catch up with all the latest happenings here on the blog. It seems like this time of year is such a whirlwind with the holidays, and Nico's birthday, but this year I had to add "getting ready for Natalee to the mix." Unlike, when I was pregnant with Nico, we decided to have maternity pictures taken this time around. In order to multitask, we had them taken when we did Nico's 3 year and family pictures. I was really exited about them because this was an opportunity to involve Nico and capture some very sweet moments, which is exactly what we did.