It's a good job I love him or I'd have been mad!!

I have never been thrown in a pool fully clothed before, but Adam managed it....after a lot of effort!!

Memorial Day Celebrations

We had 20 adults and about 15 kids to swim today and BBQ. I was worried that is would be too many people, but it was great. The new deck seperates wet and crazy kids from adults who want to relax and eat, and the gazebo was definately one of our best investments. It was one of my most enjoyable get togethers because I've given up trying to be the perfect hostess and everyone has been here often enough to know to to just help themselves. I got to relax and really enjoy having everyone around. I can't wait for the next reason to get together! What Dad's shoulders were made for and making a whirlpool!

My sexy husband looking his best!!

Nicolas at 21 Weeks - Rolling Over!

This picture was taken a couple of minutes after Nicolas rolled over for the first time. He was trying to get to a toy Jaden was holding for him. Jaden is so sweet with him and is always talking to him and shaking toys for him. I talk to Nicolas all the time and call him silly names without really thinking about what I'm saying, but the kids pick up on what I say. It sounds so funny when they call him 'baby pickles' and 'choochie baby' and talk to him like I do.
Nicolas also loves the toy above which plays tunes for him. It calms him when he's crying, as does lying on his changing table or on the bath mat before I bath him. Adam thinks it's weird that he enjoys having his diaper changed and that he enjoys kicking on the bath mat before his bath but I think he just likes being talked to and getting to kick without a diaper on.

Leo loves to bring his toys to Nicolas, especially when he's in the baby walker and right at Leo's level. I know they are going to love each other so much when they are both a bit older. I loved our dog Toby who was a puppy when I was a baby because we grew up together.
Nicolas went in the pool for the first time on Saturday. The water is still a bit cold, but I think he enjoyed it. He loved being naked on the towel afterwards and I felt very redneck having my naked baby on the table!! I just love his little bottom so much as it's just a miniture version of Adam's (but I'm not supposed to put comments like that on the web blog - Adam will get mad!!)
The older Nicolas gets, the more fun he is. I'm so glad that Jaden and Kirsten are with us at a time when Nicolas is old enough to realize what a great brother and sister he has. We've worked so hard to make sure they aren't jealous of him and it seems to have worked. They are just so cute with him and really love him.

Nicolas Has His 4 Month Immunizations

Although Nicolas is nearly 5 months, he only had his 4 month vaccinations yesterday. I didn't want him to have them earlier as he was still recovering from his lip repair. When he had his 2 month vaccinations he was fine and never got a fever, he just slept for most of the day. This time he cried whenever he woke up yesterday afternoon and had a fever of 101. He slept most of the afternoon and evening yesterday and then he slept right through the night. I went to check on him at 5:30am and he still has a fever of 101. He fed OK so I'll just leave him to sleep. I hate having to have him immunized, but I know it's important.

He weighs 15lbs 12 oz and is 26 inches long. He is totally average for both, in the 50th percentile and 53rd percentile respectively. I do hope he makes it to 5'11". Dad keeps reassuring me that he'll be taller than me as boys are always taller than their Mothers, but I'd like him to have an extra couple of inches too!

Our neighbours were playing really loud Mexican and rap music as usually on Monday night and we found Nicolas lying on the floor like this. We like to think the music bothered him as much as it bothered us!! There are times when I hate living in a neighbourhood and would love to have the privacy of Cote Bank because our neigbours are awful. They play loud music at all hours and their kids run wild. I'm just so glad we built the big fence!

Fun with Papa Woody & Mama Teffi

We had a great day on Saturday with Woody and Stephanie. We went to practice bow shooting with the kids. They are both really good, especially Jaden. After that, Stephanie and I took Nicolas for a walk and Woody and Adam took the kids fishing. They caught two really big bass which we ate for lunch on Sunday. The kids love being on Woody's boat and they love to fish with Daddy.

Jaden with the fish's head!

My American Baby!!

I bought Nicolas a cap for the summer as the little sun hat Woody and Stephanie bought him is too small. I just felt with his surf shorts on and the cap he looked like the ultimate American baby!

Our New Gazebo

Adam and I have wanted a gazebo on the deck since we moved in to the house as it gets so hot in the afternoon on the deck with no shade. We are outside all the time and Nicolas can't be in the sun for too long, and now we have so many people over to swim, that we really needed. I found a bargin last week that came with built in mosquito netting (essential for me in summer), so we treated ourselves.

Sam and Russell came around to relax and swim on Friday, but ended up building the gazebo! They did get to relax and enjoy it once it was built

Russell reads the instructions
Adam and his assistant get started
Sam looks after Nicolas (the hardest job!)
Cocktails in the finished gazebo

Squishy the Frog

Jaden has spent the last couple of weekends trying to catch the tree frogs that live around the pool, and this weekend he succeeded. He named the frog Squishy and he and Isaac, Lilli and Kirsten spend Friday night making a home for Squishy in our old fish tank. All Jaden wanted was to have Squishy in his bedroom, but I have a 'no wildlife in the house' policy, so I told him if he cleaned up is extremely messy room, and kept it tidy all summer, Squishy could live inside. Within 10 minutes I've never seen Jaden's room so clean!

Jaden's hair is wet on top from bending over the pool to look for frogs under the edge, and stays like that for most of the weekend!Adam meets Squishy.

Squishy kept Kirsten entertained on Sunday and we drew a picture of a pond with lilies and reeds for him to sit on, so he was definately a good addition to the family, and I became slightly less anal about animals in the house!

Jaden and Kirsten's Field Day

On Friday Adam and I went to Jaden and Kirsten's Field Day. It was a morning of races, tug of war and various other non competative events. The kids were so excited that we were there but sad that Leo couldn't come to. They are always disappointed if Leo can't come to everything with us!

I always love going to things like that and Nicolas was an angel. The kids in Jaden and Kirsten's classes all wanted to touch him and get him to hold on to their fingers, so I think Jaden and Kirsten were proud of him.

They both did well at their various events, but of course no one wins anymore.

Kirsten and her class wait for an event
Jaden (the only child in white on the green team) waits to put the ball between his knees for a relay race
Kirsten waits to go in the relay to fill a bucket of water with cups of water
Jaden watches as the winner of the bucket of water relay race is decided.

Nicolas at 20 Weeks - In his Baby Walker

We had a lovely week last week with friends. We met up with lots of other Mom's on Tuesday at the park and then I took Caroline out for lunch on Thursday for her Birthday. I'm trying to get everything done before the kids come for the summer, so I spent time cleaning and organising the house and doing some gardening.

Nicolas is just so alert now. He will still fall asleep if he's left in his stroller for more than 10 minutes, but if there are things going on around him he will stay awake for 3-4 hours. Because I've only just started to put him on his front since the operation, he's forgotten how to roll and crawl, and all he wants to do is stand up. We bought him a baby walker on Thursday and he loves it. He can stand up by himself if he's holding your fingers for balance, but he loves the walker as he can roll his toys around the tray while he's standing. Because he's quite little to be in a walker, his feet only just touch the ground and he can't move himself forward yet. Kirsten spent ages this weekend pushing him around which he loved.

He looks so much older in the walker, almost like a tiny toddler and not a baby.
He loves to sit under the fan and watch it spin.

I'm still amazed that Nicolas has chubby legs because they were so skinny when he was born. They are just an miniture version of Adam's legs (Adam has lost the chubby creases though!), as it most of the rest of him. We think his eyes will stay blue, so his eyes and his ears are the only part of him that is like me, the rest is all Adam, which is just what I wanted.

He also loves playing aeroplanes with Adam but it makes us laugh because he doesn't bend in the middle when you hold him up, his legs just stick out straight. He is drooling a lot, so Adam has to dodge the "spit bombs".

I had quite a good week of sleep as I can pretty much be sure he'll go from 9pm to 3am, and a couple of nights he made it to 5:30am. I know it only gets better from here, which I'm glad about as I can't cope with sleep deprivation and Jaden and Kirsten!

My First Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day was wonderful. I honestly love Adam more and more each day and he continues to suprise me with how amazing and thoughful he is. I didn't think he would have time to get me something for Mother's Day as he's been so busy at work, so I wasn't really expecting anything. I dropped hints about plants he could get me, because he had to drive past a nursery to drop the kids off on Saturday and I thought he could get me something last minute if he needed to. When he got back he sneaked into the bedroom and then came out with a card (which he had just bought) and the most beautiful silver bracelet. He had been specially to the Mall (which he hates) to chose it for me last week. I was so touched and I love it. He always gets me the most wonderful gifts.

Nicolas spent a lot of Mother's Day asleep, but we had Woody and Stephanie, and Sam and Russell over to celebrate how great a Mom/Mother-in-law/Step-Mom Stephanie is. I feel so lucky to have her in my life as it makes being away from my Mom just a little bit easier to deal with.
Wooday helped me get the last of the leaves and pine straw out of the pool so it is now perfectly clean for summer. The tree frogs will drive me crazy through as they keep laying their eggs in the water, but I've got used to the huge noise they make at night. It's kind of like being in the jungle!!
Russell, Isaac and Lilli

Isaac was making Nicolas laugh by pulling silly faces at him. I wished we had had Jaden and Kirsten, but Lisa gets the kids for Mother's Day. I'm really looking froward to summer with the kids now it's only a week away.

The Pool is Open for the Summer

I spent about 3 hours this week freezing to death in the poll scooping out leaves and vacuuming up sludge so the kids could swim. They were very grateful and as soon as I picked them up from school they were in the pool. Luckily is was quite warm, so they had fun.


I actually got in the pool with them on Saturday and after the first couple of minutes, it felt fine. Adam then decided that as he wasn't going to swim, Leo could instead. We are paranoid that the dog will rip the liner with his claws, so the kids know he's not allowed in the pool, so for Adam to let the dog in the pool was a big treat. The dog is hilarious to watch as he looks so serious when he swims. I can't say he actually enjoyed it, but the kids loved having their "fluffy brother" in the pool with them.

Kirsten is Leo's favorite treat to chew on, so when she had arm bands on, it made her is ultimate treat as she had plastic on her arms, which is his second favorite thing to chew on!

Nicolas at 19 Weeks - Sleeping Through..Most of the Time!

After my awful week last week, Nicolas has turned the corner and is now sleeping through most nights. I feel amazing for having more sleep. He goes to bed between 9pm and 10pm and will usually make it to 4 or 5am before he wakes up for a feed and then he'll go back to sleep until about 7 or 8am. One night he went to bed at 9pm and didn't wake until 5:30am which was wonderful. He's also still sleeping well during the day, so he's regained his status as 'Angel Baby'!

Nicolas has decided that standing up is his favorite thing to do. He will stand supporting his own weight while he holds on to your fingers for balance. He looks so cute because he just looks too little to be standing up. Adam and I were listening to music on Friday night with Kirsten and we had Nicolas dancing on the counter which he loved. He will also sit in his bumbo seat quite happily now where as before he would scream after 5 minutes in it.

I think Nicolas is starting to teeth because he's dribbling a lot more than he used to, and when he holds his toys he will put them in his mouth straight away. It may just be that he has so much more control over his hands and movements now that he can put stuff in his mouth when he wants to. He is definately going to be a thumb sucker and when he's really tired he will even suck both his thumbs together which looks so cute.Nicolas has also started to splash when he's in the bath. Before he would just lie there and relax, but now I think he's realizing he can make the water move. I still can't pour water over his face because he doesn't blink, so the water just pools in his eyes. Everyone always comments on how alert he is and it really is just because he only blinks every couple of minutes. His eyes seem fine, so I don't think it's a problem.
Now his lip is healed and most of the stitches have dropped out, I've started to put him back on his front to play. If he bangs his mouth is obviously still hurts him as he'll cry, but his neck control is better, so he holds his head up really well. I've started to massage Vitamin E on his lip today and I have to do it 3 times a day for at least 5 minutes each time to soften the scar. I hope he'll get used to it because at the moment he just tries to suck my finger!
Nicolas and Leo just love having the kids here because life is just busier and more interesting for them. Nicolas sat in his seat at the side of the pool on Saturday, with Leo beside him, as Jaden and Kirsten jumped about in the pool and kept them both entertained. The heat is making Leo calmer so he's less annoying, but I'm still sure that Nicolas' first words will be "No Leo" as that is what he hears the most!!