It's Football Time In Tennessee...Almost

I wish it was almost football time, but for a little while today we pretended that it was.  We braved the COLD, cloudy, 55 degree (forecasted to be 65 and sunny!) and sat through the Orange and White game at UT this afternoon in Knoxville.  We decided at the last minute to go last night as part of Michael's birthday gift.  It was fun despite the cold.  I did get to sport my rhinestone UT sweatshirt that I haven't got to wear to a game yet!  It was comfy and I didn't see anyone else in rhinestones!  Haha!

We had pretty decent seats on the 35 yard line.  Too bad we can't get them this good in for real games!

 During halftime I was mega excited to find one of my favorite foods of all time that we can't get in Chattanooga, a Petro!  If you haven't had one of these goodness in a cup, run, don't walk to the nearest Petros!  It is a cup of Frito's, chili, cheese, sour cream, and tomatoes!  It was worth going just for that! :-)

We got back to Chattanooga around 7:00 and I was ready to see Nicholas.  I missed him so much today. I saw so many babies and it made me miss him.  Too bad sweet boy didn't miss us!  He cried for 10 minutes wanting to stay with his Gigi and Grandpa!

All and all it was a super fun day, but I'm glad to be home in my warm house.  I think tonight calls for a hot bath, glass (or two!) of Cabernet, and a movie!

Happy Birthday Michael!

 Happy Birthday to my best friend, the wonderful dad of my baby, and the rock of our little family!  Today is Michael's 30th Birthday!!!

In the past 9.5 months since he became a dad, there have been several moments that I've loved more and more than I did a moment before...

The first time he held Nicholas...

 When I saw how he looked at Nicholas the night he was born and how much love he had for our baby...

 How quickly the bonded...

And how much they love each other...

Nicholas and I love you very much!

My Next Thirty Years

Yesterday I moved into a new decade...30!  Michael and I have birthdays 3 days apart so we decided to have a party Saturday night for our friends to share in our birthdays with us.  It was so fun to spend some time with our closet friends and we even let Nicholas hang out for awhile before we called his Gigi to come get him!

(that picture makes me laugh because we were both dressed nice, but SOMEONE spit up all over Michael! Haha!)

 I'm sure you were wondering if we had our own cake, well of course we did! I LOVED our cake!  Becky did another great job for us!

 We wanted something that represented both of us, so we had a tier with chocolate cake and pink zebra print and a white cake with bright blue for Michael!  It was such a fun cake!!!

 Yesterday was a fabulous day!  Nicholas and I took a nap together and then we went outside and played, and played, and played in the water table!  He LOVES this thing and I loved spending my birthday with my wish come true from so many past birthdays!

 I always said my kid would NOT play outside in just a diaper, but sometimes it just has to happen!  He got so soaked that I could wring his outfit out! Haha!

 Last night my parents had our family over for dinner to celebrate both of our birthdays.  Nicholas had fun getting a LOT of attention (of course!).  I love this picture of him and my Nana.

 He helped me open my gift.  He is just so helpful! :-)

 My cousins got me a frame that had all of Nicholas's monthly pictures in it!  I LOVE IT!  It will be perfect for his birthday party!!!

 He played with the paper for a while!  He loves anything he can tear up!  Such a boy!

 Me and my sweet boy!  I am so thankful that I finally had a baby to spend my birthday with.  It was definitely the best one yet!!! (even if I am 30 now! Ha!)

 My aunt made my favorite cake for dessert, my Nana's recipe German chocolate cake! YUM!!!

 After dinner we gave the wildchild a bath in Gigi's big bathtub!  I'm afraid we may have started something!  He loved it!

It was by far the best birthday I've ever had.  I've spent the past few sad that I didn't have a baby yet and this year was so much better because of my sweet boy!  I spent some time while I was lying down with him thinking about those sad birthdays and I thought about those of you still waiting.  I pray that you will be blessed soon!  I know your pain and your desperation and I pray for you daily.  

The Lord has blessed me so much in the past year and I am so thankful for a wonderful year, and well, quite frankly a wonderful thirty years.  I can't wait for the next thirty!  The past thirty have been filled with both many happy and many sad times, and I am thankful for all of them.  Each of those experiences have made me who I am.  I said a lot this weekend that it seems like I JUST turned 21, now I'm 30!  I also remember when the song, "My Next 30 Years" came out and how far off that birthday seemed.  Oh well, here it is!  I'm hoping these next thirty are even better than the last thirty! :-)

Sunny Sunday

We were given a GORGEOUS weekend this past weekend and we took full advantage of the day on Sunday afternoon.  Nicholas was on a nap strike, so I decided to pull out his last Christmas present.  His Granddad and Mimi gave him a water table and toys.  I filled it up with lukewarm water and turned him lose to play in it.  HE LOVED IT!!!!

Such concentration!

 Probably my very most favorite of all of these pictures.  I laughed so hard because he knew exactly what to do with a cup. He filled it up with water and drank it! Hahaha!

 Taking a little break to see what Spencer is doing...which was staying as far away from the baby and water as possible!

 He had such concentration and determination while playing that I could NOT get him to look up at the camera.  He made me laugh so hard while playing with his table.

 Gigi and Grandpa stopped by to say hi while we were outside and here is Nicholas and Gigi playing with his toys.  He had so much fun!!! I can't wait to get it back out again this weekend!  Needless to say he was SOAKED when we went inside.  Even his diaper was heavy it was so wet!  Haha!

We ate a bottle and then went over to play at our neighbor's house with the big kids for a little while.  When we got home around 6:00 he seemed tired, but no more than usual.  Well, after a jar of food and half of another, this is what he did...PRECIOUS!

I hated to wake him up for a bath, but he was down by 7:00 and slept hard until 7:10am when Daddy woke him up!  We are pretty sure that our all-boy will be VERY busy this summer when he can spend time outside.  I can only imagine what our weekends at the pool will be like!  Pray for me with this busy boy! Ha!

Feeding Myself

The past couple of nights Nicholas has insisted that he feed himself!  Here is what happens when you give in and give a 9 month old a spoon full of veggies! Haha!

We both needed a bath and a washing machine when we were finished!  There were also two different spoons on the floor, veggies on Spencer, and who knows where else! 

Happy 9 Months Nicholas!

 Happy 9 months sweet Nicholas!!!  

This month we chose a bad time to do your cake.  You were tired and had a bit of a meltdown when we first put you with your cake.  You wanted it BAD!  Haha!

 We did let you have a little, then you were happy.  Bless your little heart, you are serious about food!

 So cute!

 Then you got a little wild (which is your new normal!).  You decided you would just stand up in your chair and look out of the window.

You are doing so many things now!  You crawl FAST!  You pull up on EVERYTHING and cruise around one handed.  You are just about to let go completely and start walking.  I'm thinking that might be coming in the next month update!  You also got your first pair of "big boy shoes" this month!  They are size 4 New Balance.

You are 18 pounds, 14 ounces, and 29.5 inches!  We moved you over to your convertible car seat (but still rear facing of course!) last weekend on March 25.  You seem to really like your new seat!

You still sleep 12-13 hours a night, but still not a big napper.  IF we are lucky enough to get a nap out of you, it is just 1-2 hours long usually and that is it for the day (and that is a BIG IF!).  You do nap a little bit better sometimes at school.  Ms. Carla (your teacher, who you LOVE) can sometimes get 2 decent naps out of you.  Most of the time by the time you get home from school you are exhausted and we barely get you fed and bathed by 7, when you start to crash.  Last Sunday you played hard all day and only had one, 1 hour nap and this is what happened during dinner...

 You love all of your toys, but I'm thinking that your water table is going to be your favorite toy as the weather gets warm.  You played in about 5 inches of warm water on Sunday and LOVED it (that will be another post soon!).  You also love your musical table, Pal Scout, ball popper, and your swing.

 You are still eating stage 2 foods.  You have started eating the fruit and veggie served at lunch at school if you can eat it.  Last week we steamed some carrots for you.  You enjoyed feeding yourself.

We saw your GI dr a couple of weeks ago and we now only give you your Axid 2.25ml twice a day, morning and night!!!  That definitely makes things easier when packing for school!  He also told us we can start your milk challenge when we see him on June 16!!! That was the best news I had heard in a long time!  You also got tubes last month.  We are still having a little trouble getting them to drain, but we are going to check on that tomorrow.

You are growing up so much and I can't wait to see how much fun we have with you in the next month! This past month was definitely a lot of fun watching you explore, grow, and spend time outside!  We love you so much!!!

Easter Shopping

For the past couple of years I've had an exact idea of what I wanted my baby to wear for his (or her) first Easter.  I knew for a boy I wanted something bright, a shortall with knee socks and white shoes, and smocked.  HAD to be smocked!  I saw tons of cute things online and even at the mall.  Last year I posted this post of my ideas for this year.  Well, fast forward a year.  There was almost NO bright colored smocked shortalls without an Easter smocking ANYWHERE!  Strasburg only had an aqua color (which I didn't care for), I couldn't find anything online I liked, I was starting to think I wasn't going to find the exact thing I wanted.  Then, I ran across this ADORABLE thing on bestdressedchild.com...

 I LOVE IT!!!!  It is pretty much EXACTLY what I wanted!  I think the bright colors will look fabulous on my little cutie!  I came home from work to find it on my front porch and I am in love!!! I can't wait to try it on him tomorrow!!! However, I am afraid it is a bit big based on the size chart, so I may have to get creative.

Of course, with the perfect outfit comes the perfect basket for the Easter Bunny to leave our goods in.  I decided to go for something that would last for a few years, so I got the small chestnut basket and liner from Pottery Barn Kids.

I am so happy with the way it turned out too!  It will be great to grow with him for a few years, then we can upgrade to the larger basket and liner.  

I am going to start the search for a dress for me tomorrow.  My mom and I are hoping to go shopping tomorrow afternoon, so maybe I can start looking then.  I think I want something in the blue family.  I've never been a big fan of blue, but I thought it would look good with Nicholas's outfit and Michael's navy suit, white shirt, and blue and lime green tie.  I saw this in the Belk sale paper today and thought it was pretty cute.

Have you started thinking about your Easter attire?  Any suggestions for me?  I need ideas on where to look other than the mall or Ann Taylor Loft.

(Come back tomorrow for a post on Nicholas's 9 month birthday!  We are having cake tomorrow, so I'll post about it then!)