Nicolas Learns to Slide

Nicolas has definately inherited the Woodall 'climbing gene'. He climbs on everything, and most of the time I let him because I feel he has to learn his limits. He learned to use his slide yesterday and was very proud of himself. He's been climbing on the slide for a week or so, but yesterday he learned to pull his leg out from under himself when he gets to the top, so he can slide down.
As always Leo is in the way, but he provides another challenge to climb over!

The hosepipe still provided hours of entertainment

On Sunday we went to my friend Katrina's little girl, Emilee's birthday. It was such a fun afternoon and the rain held off. Nicolas had his first animal crackers, which he loved.
and we found out he shares his cousin Nicole's fear of clowns! Everytime the clown came near him he was very worried and would try to climb on Adam's knee!
In the end he let the clown paint a heart on his cheek, but he wasn't happy about it.
Katrina, Birthday girl Emilee and Katrina's husband Bryan.

My cute boys!

My Best Moment as a Mom

Yesterday I was sitting on the deck watching Nicolas play when he came over to me and climbed on my knee. He put his arms around my neck and kissed my cheek!! Then he matter of factly climbed down and went back to playing. He's given me plenty of kisses when I've asked for them, but he's never come over to me and kissed be out of what seemed like genuine love before. It just made my heart melt!!

Nicolas at 16 Months - I just love him more and more each day!

We've had a fun couple of weeks but because I've been trying to finish up all my commitments, so I can relax, the blog has suffered. We had a visit from Carmen and her little boy Jase, who is just adorable. Carmen is my blogging inspiration, along with Yvette, so it was great to catch up in person, not just via email. Jase is 3 weeks older than Nicolas but speaks much better so I've got an appointment with a speech therapist so she can assess Nicolas and give me so exercises to do with him. I'm not really worried, but it can't hurt to try to help him as most of his words are DA or OO sounds. He's trying really hard to speak and babbles all the time, so if I can spend the next couple of months really focussing on his speech, before Pumpkin arrives, it will definately help him.

Nicolas also got a new pair of shoes. I wanted to get him a cheap pair of play shoes, but no such luck. He has inherited my wide feet and high instep, so none of Walmart's shoes fitted. I ended up getting these sandals which flash when he walks and because they have velcro so I can adjust them to fit. I just have to accept he will be an expensive stride rite baby, as they have the extra wide fittings. He does look really cute with his little toes sticking out of the sandals.
We had the kids two weeks in a row and the first weekend it was really warm. They really wanted to get in the pool which is green and covered in pollen, so we compromised and got out the sprinkler! It was colder than the kids thought in the sprinkler, so they didn't last long, but they had fun.
Nicolas wasn't sure what to make of it, he's not keen on being splashed in the face with cold water! Jaden decided he needed to go through the sprinkler.....
.....but Nicolas HATED it!!
He was soon happy and giving me kisses. He loves giving kisses but as he just opens his mouth and presses it against your cheek, it can be a bit wet! I love the sentiment behind it. His new panda is his current favorite toy and he hugs and kisses it all the time which is so cute.

We went to the park with the kids and Nicolas just followed them around. He loves the park as they have a little playset which is the perfect size for him. He loves to climb and I have to stop him going on the bigger playsets as there are some pretty big drops, but we go down the slide as a treat.

Now Nicolas is in shorts most of the time, he has started to get hold of the bottom of the shorts legs and pull them up to show off his legs. He does it with t-shirts too. It looks kind of funny, but it's his new move to show the ladies his sexy legs or belly!

Nicolas is now strong enough to spray the hose pipe. This picture was taken early in the morning before we went for a walk when it was still quite cold - hence the thick jacket he's wearing. As you can see from his face, he loves the hose pipe. I can now leave him playing in the back yard or on the deck with the hose, or just exploring for at least an hour before he gets bored and comes to find me. As long as I can see or hear him I can tell what he's doing. I do have to check on him every few minutes though as he loves to climb on everything. We have the gate to the pool padlocked and he's too small to climb over the gate, so he's very safe.

Last weekend was my friend Megan's little boy, Donovan's 1st birthday. Jaden and Kirsten came to the party too and had a great time playing with Megan's neigbor.

Donovan was very excited about his cake, and so was Jaden. Jaden will do almost anything for cake!! Jaden fed Nicolas a huge piece of the blue icing and he did a bright green pooh the next day which was worrying until I worked out what Jaden had fed him!

I went away with my Disciple group on Friday night for the last session of the bible study I've been doing for the last year. Adam looked after all the kids and I really enjoyed spending time with my study group. The work load was too much for me towards the end, but I'm glad I did it. I still can't recite any bible verses, but I do know my bible better.

We met Woody and Stephanie and went bowling with the kids on Saturday which was fun. I've never bowled more than 100 but thanks to the bumpers they had up for the kids, and a lot of luck I managed to win the first game, much to Adam and Woody's horror. I had to photograph the score as I doubt it will ever happen again.

This week has been spent been seeing friends and catching up with cleaning and Newborn Ministry stuff. I did nothing today except sort bills, email and tidy and then I went for dinner with some friends which was really relaxing. Life is good, except I treated myself to Dr Pepper at dinner and now the caffine is keeping me awake, hence the fact I'm blogging at midnight! At least it is one less thing to do tomorrow.

Pumpkin at 29 weeks

I am finally starting to look pregnant and I've given up on non maternity clothes as they just cut my tummy in half when I sit down. I've still only gained 10lbs which I'm glad about, but it hasn't been too hard as I've wanted fruit and healthy food, and Tori and Katrina walk me very fast for 3+ miles most days. I do have 'bump envy' when I see women who look pregnant as I've yet to have a stranger ask me about my bump. I was 32 weeks before anyone asked about Nicolas, so maybe in a few weeks people will comment on my tummy and offer to lift things for me.

I do feel very tired at the moment (not just because of the walking!) but I also feel a bit overwhelmed about whether I will cope with Jaden and Kirsten for the summer and a new baby. To deal with those feelings I've gone into planning overdrive and tomorrow I'm putting together a 3 week meal plan that I will just keep repeating over the summer. It will help me budget our shopping bill, make shopping easier and take the thought out of cooking. I've also got lots of meals already frozen for the summer as I've had several new babies at church to cook meals for, so I just made extra.

Pumpkin moves alot, but like Nicolas, she isn't uncomfortable. I like feeling her kick and move around, although sometimes I can't tell if she's just pushing my belly out or if I'm having a braxton hicks contraction. I'm at the stage now where I get really bad cramp at night and I also wake up stuck on my back. My hips really hurt and I've got no stomach muscles, so when I'm on my back it takes real effort to roll over, but luckily Pumpkin doesn't keep me awake kicking. I'm moisturizing twice a day in the desperate hope I don't get stretch marks, but if I do, at least I know I did everything I could to stop them.

I'm trying to make the most of being pregnant because it really feels like I was never pregnant with Nicolas, I was always too busy to relax and enjoy it. I've got 2 more dresses to make and then I'll start knitting for winter for her. I've really enjoyed sewing for her, but I've got rid of that nesting instinct now as I've made her about 6 dresses already. It just works out so cheap to sew and knit, if you don't count the hours involved.

Nicolas on His Trike

Beautiful Weather in GA

April is my favorite month in Georgia. It's like the best summer days in England with everything flowering and best of all, no bugs. We have been outside lots, either at the park with friends or just playing in the garden. When I'm cooking dinner I put a bucket of water outside the front door and Nicolas will play with the water for about 20-30 minutes, which is just enough time for me to get food ready.

He loves his trike and finally will put his feet on the pegs so I can push him on it. He'd still rather climb on it though.
When he's not playing outside with water he loves this boat toy I bought before he was even born because it was such a bargin - $5 and it has four little boats and a crane. It's supposed to have sand in it too, but that is just too much mess.
He also loves the cupboards and has certain things he gets out of each cupboard to play with. I find all sorts of things lying around the house now. He also loves to hide down the side of the chair in his bedroom and jump out at you - very sweet!
He loves being held upside down and will lie with his head off the bed or any raised surface so that his head is dangling. Very strange child!!
My favorite thing he does at the moment is give kisses. He's been doing for a few months now but he would have to be in the right mood before, but now he gives everything kisses. He just opens his mouth and puts his mouth against you, which can be a bit drooly, but it's cute.

Our Soon to be Amazing Back Yard

I've had a lovely week this week catching up with my friends who teach as they are on vacation. I didn't have to make tea at church or have any meetings to go to, so it's been wonderful to relax. My biggest excitement was our neighbour giving us a great price to level and reseed the bottom of the front yard. He's also cut down the poison ivy and all the vines and sprayed to kill them, so it will look amazing once the grass grows. We never realized how big the yard actually is because it was under so many bush, vines and wasteland!!

We had cleared most of the big bushes, but the ground was uneven with lots of holes and big bare bits of dirt.

Adam had to take down the fence between the front and back yard, which was mostly held up by ivy and vines! Then they could really level the whole of the yard without the fence being in the way.

Woody is the best father in law I could have asked for, but most places where I try to dig in the yard I'll find gravel that he laid when he lived here. The gravel around where the old pool pump was, would fly up and hit me whenever I tried to mow, so I couldn't wait for it to be gone!

The guy with the bobcat created a HUGE mess and had to dig an 8-10 foot hole to try to dig out an old tree stump. I was worried he'd never get the yard level again, but he did.


I wasn't expecting them to go all the way along the deck leveling, but they did which is wonderful. I'm saving for some rock to edge my flowerbed with as the wood keep warping and moving, which drives me crazy.

I love Adam so much for paying for this (what else are tax rebates for, except credit card debt!!) because it's not something he felt needed to be done, he was used to the yard being a moto cross track when he was growing up, but now it's done I think he likes it. Also he won't have to hear me bitch and moan about being hit by rocks while I mow the grass or how the lawn mower gets stuck in all the holes. Nicolas and the kids will have a great place to play and we have made the house look nicer. He does have to put the fence back in to stop Leo escaping and trying to eat the neighbor's baby chicks, like he did this week, but once that is done I can take care of everything else. I want to plant flowers everywhere, but we have no money for that, so I will just enjoy the 2 hours a day it takes me to water the new lawn to make the seed grow! I think we will be buying a sprinkler for the hose!!