19-23 Months

I know, I know, I say this all of the time, but I'm going to get caught up and stay that way! Guess what...my mac is fixed and I don't have to wait on Michael to bring his laptop home anymore!!!  Now the issue will be finding time to actually blog.  I'm also going back public, but we will see how long I stay that way, we will see if that helps me stay motivated! Ha!

Anyway, where oh where to begin???  Let's see...

Nicholas is now 22, almost 23 months old.  WHERE DID MY BABY GO???  He is 30 pounds, almost 38 inches and according to his dr, almost the size of a THREE year old!  He talks non stop and his thing now is to ask "what's that?" about EVERYTHING and to make animal sounds.  My favorites are pig which he snorts or a monkey "ah ah ah"!  He is so funny these days!  Everyday is a new day with him.

He will still eat just about anything, but chicken spaghetti, hot dogs, and pizza seem to be the overwhelming favorites with a banana as his favorite morning selection.  He has 16 teeth as of this week.  He now has his painful eye teeth. He got his 1st set of molars at 17 months in December and these FINALLY broke through last week.  He enjoys brushing his teeth with his Cars spin brush and will say "ahhhhh" while you brush his teeth!

His favorite toys are any of his ride on toys, but mostly his tricycle and his swingset (more on that on another post coming soon!).  He loves his dogs (Spencer and my parents Beagle, Beasley) and loves to try to ride them.  I spend a lot of time saying "we don't ride the dog".  Mickey Mouse is his favorite thing in the world.  He will run from across the house if he hears Mickey coming on TV (look for an Oh Twodles birthday extravaganza coming your way soon!).  He yells "Ickey" as soon as he sees or hears Mickey.  He also renamed my Dad Pawpaw from Grandpa in April.  Cracks me up!  He now calls us: Mama, Dad, Gigi, Pawpaw, Nana, Gadad (granddad), Melmo (mamaw), and Specer (spencer).

We moved up to size 5 diapers at the end of March.  4s still fit, but 5s fit better because of his height.  He is just tall and skinny.  He wears 24 months or 2T depending on the fit and brand.  He wears 24m in Polo,  Carter's, but 2T in Gymboree and Gap.  He now has a size 7 wide foot!  CRAZY!

We found out on May 1 in the ER that he probably has an autoimmune type disorder called erythema nodosum (basically a skin rash reaction to who knows what).  We aren't planning to have him tested until he is much older.

Yes, it does look like hand foot and mouth, but three different doctors all said it was definitely not that.

He still loves school.  We went through a rough patch for about a month at 21 months, but now he seems to really enjoy it again.  He went without a single tear this past week! PTL!  He goes right in, sits down to eat, turns around and says "bye Mama!"  As soon as he sees me in the afternoon he screams "MAMA" and comes running to me!  Melt my heart!

I still find it hard to believe that his 2nd birthday is just a few weeks away.  Where did my little baby go?!

Springtime Makeover, Front Yard

Two weekends ago (week before Easter) we spent the weekend working in our front shrub bed.  We've got a lot of plans for our yard over the next month or so and this was just the first phase.  Our shrub bed had not had any attention since the Spring BEFORE Nicholas was born (pitiful, yes).  

We spent Saturday afternoon trimming back the shrubs and pulling weeds.  Sunday we got up early and went to Lowe's.  We got a couple of hibiscus shrubs, rose bush, and some annuals to plant.  We also got 20 bags of mulch that I think made a huge difference.

Here is the final product!  I'm beyond happy how it turned out!  I LOVE how much lighter and springy it looks.

Nicholas even got into the spirit and mowed the yard for us.  :-)

Providing we have good weather, the next project is a swing set/play area for our sweet boy.  Of course, this monstrosity came in about a million pieces and it is estimated it will take 20 hours to assemble.  Not sure how that is going to go! Ha!

31

Tuesday was my 31st birthday. How in the world am I already 31?! It seems crazy to me that I'm that old (not that it is old at all!). I had a fabulous day and my family and friends at work made sure it was special!  I got to work that morning to find an envelope on my desk from my boss with a spa gift card!  I immediately called him and told him I would keep working for him for another year (kidding...kind of)!  My coworkers brought yummy snacks and a German chocolate cake (my favorite).  They always know how to make my birthday a good day!

Tuesday night we went to dinner with my parents at Chop House and them back to their house for dessert...of more German chocolate cake!!! I am such a lucky girl.  I have been blessed by God with wonderful parents, a great husband, and the biggest blessing of all, my sweet  boy. Michael took these pictures right before we left for dinner and it just made my heart smile (and wonder why in the world my kid's jeans looks so short???).

I always remember on my birthday (honestly, every.single.day of my life) how sad I was those years I was waiting for a baby.  It seemed everyone around me was having a baby and all I was having was another month of disappointment.  It still seems so raw and hard for me when I hear of someone that gets pregnant quickly or without any effort or when I hear someone complain about how they are fertile myrtle.  I spent two birthdays crying the entire day, sad that yet another year had gone and I was getting older and older without a baby of my own.  For some reason Mother's Day and my birthday are the two days a year that I am even more thankful for my sweet baby than any other. I want those of you still waiting to know that I am still praying multiple times a day for you to have the same miracle.

Because He Lives

Easter has always been one of my three favorite holidays.  I love Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I LOVE what Easter is all about.  It means so much to me that I have a Savior that died for us and rose on the 3rd day to be a LIVING savior!  This morning, like any good Southern Baptist girl, I was singing Because He Lives in my head at 7:30 while getting ready for Easter services.  There is no better song to have stuck in your head on Easter!

I felt like there was a really thin line this year on how I dressed my little Southern Boy.  Given the fact that he  is the size of a three year old and has a head full of hair, it looks too old for smocking and shortalls, so I decided to go with the next step of a seersucker suit.  I'm a sucker for a man in seersucker and I DIED at the cuteness of these two sporting there seersucker this morning...

Seriously, I DIE!

 I had a wardrobe malfunction in that my dress from last year (that I love and wanted to wear again this year) had a huge black stain on it.  I pieced this together at the last minute.

The Easter Bunny also came last night! He brought some Fruties, fruit snacks, bubble bath, foam soap, and even a Car's ice pack (yes, I'm a crazy trauma nurse!). 

 My family came over at 2:00 for lunch of ham, pineapple au gratin, potato casserole, deviled eggs, green beans, squash, and even a pink lemonade cake from pinterest!  After lunch, my cousin Lindsey hid eggs for Nicholas and helped him find them.  He loved hunting eggs!

 We all went outside and enjoyed the patio and warm weather.  I am so blessed with an awesome husband and family.

Nana came with my parents.  We can tell a huge difference in her since she has gone to live at her new home. It was wonderful to spend another Easter with her!

 I wasn't blessed with sisters, but I was given two cousins that are close to me.  Lindsey is 5 years younger and Katie is 8 years younger than I am (and we are told a lot that we look alike).

 I just had to show you my centerpiece.  I realized at 1:00 that I forgot to buy flowers for the table, so I ran out to the shrub bed we redid last week and picked a few roses!  It's been a miracle that they have lived for an entire week!  Usually flowers come to my house to die.

Hope everyone had an equally as fabulous Easter as we did!  

Because He Lives
I Can Face Tomorrow
Because He Lives
All Fear Is Gone
Because I Know He Holds The Future
And Life Is Worth The Living
Just Because He Lives

Wordless Wednesday

Early Spring Fun

We have had several good weekends of warm weather and we have taken full advantage of them.  We've been grilling outside quite a bit and Nicholas has developed a love of warm weather and being outside.  He LOVES going to the playground and playing on the slide.  

He was so tired after his day outside that he came in, turned on Mickey himself and kicked back.  Melt my heart!

Unfortunately, my heart didn't stay melted...he is also showing signs of the terrible twos and was quite upset that there was no more fish sticks and mashed potatoes!

St. Patrick's Day Ledford Style

We had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day.  Nicholas sported his Kiss Me I'm Irish shirt to school the day before and I think he is quite the cute little Irishman!  My mom is almost all Irish with the exception of an American Indian great grandmother, so his shirt is kind of true.  Cracks me up!

On the actual day, I shopped the Just Between Friends presale and Nicole scored this AWESOME tricycle for me the night before when she shopped.  Nicholas has rode it 100 miles in the past week!

I wanted to cook a traditional Irish meal, but couldn't find any corned beef, so we just had pot roast, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.  Oops!  Ha!

IPhone Photo Catch Up Post

I'm so behind...yet again! Life is just too busy for me sometimes and something has to suffer for it. Unfortunately, it's the ole blog. Nicholas is becoming more and more fun every single day. However, with that comes more and more busy. I'm not even sure where to begin to get caught up, so here is the past month in iPhone pics.

Lets see... N had a little run in with a classmate and had a nice little bite to the face.  However, I think he is just the cutest little lion EVER!

PTL!  Nana has realized she really enjoys and loves her new apartment.  We went to see her the week after she moved in and Nicholas spent the day using her vacuum.  :-)

He also missed his nap that afternoon, so this is what happened at dinner that night.

Nicholas has developed a love of hats.  Here he is sporting his monkey hat with his monkey pj pants the night before Valentine's Day (no fear, he went to bed with his shirt on.)

Valentine's Day was a good one for us.  N wore his Little Heartbreaker onesie and red pants to school.  PRECIOUS!

My boys also gave me a necklace for Valentine's Day.  They are the BEST and I am very lucky to have such a wonderful husband and son.

As you all know, I have developed quite the fear of storms/tornadoes over the past five years.  Well, on March 2, this is what I saw on my phone...

Our area had a few tornadoes that day, but the worst one occurred around 1:00 in the area I grew up in.  Thank goodness my parents no longer live in our old house, but this is a picture I stole from a news site of the scene less than 200 yds from our old house.  Thankfully, no one was killed, although there were a few injuries and a lot of destroyed homes.

I just find this funny.  He is wearing a makeup bag as a hat, a piece of his foam mat as a tutu, and his sleeper.  I was getting dressed and came out to find this...

My hug magnet and I

Sweet baby had a bad sinus infection and bronchitis on March 8.  We stayed home from school and work and spent the day being lazy and going to the doctor.  Bless his heart, this weather is NOT for him.

That is our past six weeks in a nutshell.  More posts coming this week, so be sure to check back often!

Jack and Jill Sale = HUGE Success!

Our town has two sales that I LOVE. There are several others, but these two are my personal favorites. The presale for sale #1 was on Saturday and let me tell you, I racked up! Michael had to work, so I dropped N off with my parents at 8:30, ran through Dunkin Donuts for a coffee, and got in the line around 9. I was somewhere near #20 in line and that was great considering it had over 150 by the time the doors opened at 10! I spent my wait with my friend Courtney who was buying for her little boy Jake. When the doors did open I ran to the tricycles, but sadly, they had already sold the one I knew they had during the volunteer shop Friday night. :-( From there I went to the clothes. I couldn't be any happier with my deals!

 I ended up with 17 outfits! All of which were under $5 except for one and all are Gymboree, Gap, Carter's, or Polo. I am also looking for vintage race car items for N's room during this consignment season.

I stumbled upon this and matching bookends right before I left. It looks AWESOME in his room! This week is dropoff and the presale for my favorite sale. I can only hope I do as well there! I am working dropoff on Wednesday, so I can assure you that I will be checking out all of the 24m-2T stuff coming in! :-)