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.