Nick Is Finally Crawling!

Nick Playing Catch!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Thirty-Eight Weeks!

Today Nick is thirty-eight weeks old! Merry Christmas to us - we gave ourselves a family :) We know this Christmas isn't a big deal to Nick, but it's a big deal to us. Our first Christmas with our own child! He's old enough to participate to a certain extent - sit up, hold presents, play with wrapping paper - but we don't expect him to actively participate. Hopefully we'll just get some cute pictures out of it! :) We put him in his special "My 1st Christmas" 'jams last night - so cute! Reindeer feet and everything :) More about last night later . . .

This week was busy! Last Saturday was the Pingle family Christmas party. It didn't start until 7 pm, which is after Nick's self-imposed bedtime of 6:30, so we went to Aunt Cindi's during the day to visit with Great Grandma Pingle and exchange presents. We headed out during Nick's usual naptime, so he napped in the car. He didn't fall asleep until we were halfway there, so to let him keep napping we stopped at Sonic to eat. He slept right through! We arrived at Aunt Cindi's house around 3 pm. Great Grandma Pingle was already there. We gave her the gift Nick bought her - a special ornament commemorating Grandma Juarez - and she gave Nick a cute personalized ornament and a turtle tambourine/washboard toy. It was so cute - he loved both and both immediately went in his mouth (well, one at a time) :) We hung out until Nick started to get fussy for bedtime - around 6 pm. Nick was very intrigued by their two dogs, Tigger and Deuce - two pretty big dogs. He hasn't been around pets very much at all, let alone two huge dogs. He wasn't scared at all! We put him on top of Tigger and took pictures, and even took a video of him fake-riding Tigger. He was laughing and smiling the whole time. At one point, he was sitting on the floor, and the dogs were walking back and forth around him - not touching him, just going by him - and he was just laughing and smiling the whole time. While he was sitting down they were about twice his height! We were shocked that he wasn't scared.

Over Friday, Saturday and Sunday Grandpa was working on Nick's playroom. He put on three coats of magnetic primer and two coats of chalkboard paint. We tested the magnetic primer - it works pretty good! It won't hold up heavy stuff, of course, but it will serve its purpose of holding up magnetic ABCs and 123s and some pictures Nick makes. We are really happy with it and so grateful that Grandpa was willing to take the time to do it for us. It would have taken us WEEKS to do, since we could only work on it while Nick was sleeping.

Sunday Melissa and Jim Madden came over for a visit and lunch. They got here around 12:30, and Nick went down for a nap around 1, so there wasn't much time to visit with him. He slept a long time - until about 3 pm. We read that between 9 and 12 months, babies will drop their morning nap - we've noticed that his morning nap is getting shorter and shorter, and his afternoon nap is getting a little earlier and much longer. When we woke up, he visited with Melissa and Jim, showed them his gymini and some other toys, and generally acted cute :) After Melissa and Jim left, Grandpa came over to do a coat of chalkboard paint. While it was drying, he sat with Nick while we ran up to Home Depot and bought the paint for the rest of the playroom. We selected Russian blue by Behr. By the time we got home, it was just about Nick's bedtime.

Monday was back to work and daycare. This week we started sending two solids, homemade cheerios and 14 ounces of milk. We quickly saw that with solids, 14 ounces of milk was too much, so by Wednesday I was only sending 12 ounces. I think more like 10 ounces will be sufficient. Nick ate sweet potatoes, bananas, avocado, and broccoli this week. He also drank some of his milk from a sippy cup instead of a bottle while at daycare. Still nursing the same amount at home. Monday Grandpa finished the chalkboard wall, and Tuesday he painted the rest of the walls. Wednesday was clean up and touch up day. And here's the finished product! We are so happy with it. The blue is the perfect shade of blue - not too masculine, not too feminine, not too young, not too bright, not too light.

Yesterday Nick was acting normally. We hung out at home pretty much all day. Grammie and Grandpa came over for lunch - unfortunately, they came over right when Nick went down for his afternoon nap, so Grammie didn't get to see him at all. Grandpa stayed longer and got to see him when he got up. They brought Nick a Christmas Eve present - two pictures to hang up in his room or his playroom. Jeff took Grandpa home, and by the time he got back, Nick had nursed, ate a solid food snack, thrown up, and was nursing again. He nursed to sleep this time, even though it was pretty early - before 6 pm. We thought maybe he was just extra-tired, so we let him sleep. But he was up within 2 hours. I nursed him back to sleep, then he was up within 2 hours. This time he was crying. This went on and on all night :( Poor guy, we don't know if it was his teeth or what, but he woke up crying several times and sometimes he wouldn't go back to sleep.

So, needless to say, this Christmas is starting out pretty roughly! We hope he has a better day and that whatever was going on last night has resolved itself. We want him to have a great 1st Christmas!

Later on we're going to Grammie and Grandpa's house. Tomorrow we're cleaning the house and shopping, getting ready for the Bradley reunion at our house on Sunday. Monday we're back to daycare and work for another short week. Thursday we're having a playdate with Nick's friend Emily, and then we're hosting a family-friendly New Year's party for all of our friends with kids. Friday we're taking Nick to his first New Year's celebration at the farm - we're a little anxious about the car ride. The other two times he's been to the farm he was much smaller so he pretty much slept the whole way. We don't think that'll happen this time :( But we'll see!

Nick is almost 9 months old, and he is busy acquiring new skills. He has mastered pulling up, and is proficient at going from his tummy to sitting up. He's working on standing on his own - he's holding on with only one hand when he pulls up now. Hard to believe he was a tiny lump just 8 months ago! Jeff and I always joke about how we thought he was so cute when he was first born, but he's way cuter now! He has so much personality and is so curious and loves doing new things. It's very exciting to see the whole world through the eyes of a baby, experiencing everything for the first time. We bought him a snowsuit, so we're hoping to take him out in a sled in February or March maybe.

Thirty-Seven Weeks!

Today Nick is thirty seven weeks old! Wow! It's going by so fast.

Last weekend we went to a Christmas tree ceremony for my mom at the cemetery. It was very nice - a lot of my family came. Nick stayed in the Moby during the service and barely made a peep! He is very observant and I think he just enjoyed looking around at all the different people and taking everything in. After the service we came home and just hung out.

Sunday we went to Baby Baby, a consignment store in Northville, and found Nick a snowsuit. It's a 9-12 months snowsuit - we don't anticipate letting him play in the snow until he's closer to a year old. Then we all trekked to 12 Oaks to try to get my MacBook fixed. They did not fix it, but Nick was hanging out in the Moby and got a lot of attention :) After he was asleep that night, Grammie Lundberg stopped by to watch him while Jeff and I ran out to Home Depot to get the chalkboard paint for his playroom! We got there only 20 minutes before closing time though, so we just grabbed the paint, a cord we need to make the diaper sprayer work on our toilet, and came home.

Monday was back to work and daycare. Tuesday night Nick didn't sleep very well - he was up a couple times, we think because of his teeth. Wednesday we had a bad surprise - our furnace went out :( We put a space heater in the bedroom and all snuggled together under the covers for the night. It didn't get that cold, thankfully. Jeff worked from home Thursday and a service was able to come out and get it fixed - just in time for Jeff to make it to TLE for their holiday concert! He held Nick while Grandpa recorded the concert - it was so cute. Then Nick got to see Santa for a second time - this time he didn't like him though, he started to do "the lip" so Jeff picked him back up pretty quickly :)

Thursday night was interesting. I put Nick to sleep at his usual time of 6:30, and around 7:30 I ran out to Trader Joe's and to pick up a toy I bought for Nick on Craig's List. Around 8:30 Jeff texted me that Nick was up. I didn't get back until 15 minutes later - and Nick was wide awake. I tried to nurse him back to sleep twice, rocked him, walked him - nothing worked. He didn't go back to sleep until almost midnight :( I felt terrible - he was obviously overtired. I think if Jeff had tried to give him a bottle, he might have gone back to sleep right away, but I guess we'll never really know.

Today during the day Grandpa started on the chalkboard wall, and he found the greatest thing - magnetic primer! So Nick's chalkboard wall will also be magnetic. Jeff and I were so excited - we were just talking about how we could get something metal into the playroom to put ABC magnets on, etc., and this magnetic primer solved that problem for us!

Tonight we went to a surprise 30th birthday party for a friend of Jeff's, and Nick's primary caregiver at TLE came over to baby-sit. It was so amazing to know that someone who watches Nick every day when I'm at work was with him while we were out. He didn't even nurse to sleep before we left - he wanted to stay up and play :) It did make me a little sad - does that mean we're too boring?

Tomorrow is my family Christmas party. We're going to stop by Aunt Cindi's in the afternoon to exchange gifts with Great Grandma Pingle. Sunday we are working on the playroom, cleaning up around the house, and possibly having lunch with Melissa and Jim. This week is a short week - I only work through Wednesday. Jeff has to work on Christmas Eve, but I'll be home with Nick :) TLE is open until noon but I'm going to spend the day with him. Christmas Day we'll wake up and hang out here, and then go over to Grammie and Grandpa's for dinner in the afternoon.

Next weekend should be fun - we're having a Bradley reunion here at the house on Sunday. One of the couples from our class is in town over the holidays, so we thought it would be fun to try to get everyone together.

Jeff and I have decided to start giving Nick solids on a regular basis. We think he is trying to tell us that's what he wants. I hope that he will continue nursing when we are together, but with giving him solids I anticipate him drinking less milk while at daycare. I am concerned about keeping up my supply though - only 3.5 months to go until he's a year old and I can put away the pump until the next baby! I hope I can make it!! :)

Thirty-Six Weeks!

Today Nick is thirty-six weeks old. He cut his seventh tooth this week! His eighth probably won't be too far behind - he's been cutting them two at a time.

Last weekend wasn't terribly exciting. Saturday I went to a LAA retreat at the Law School while Jeff and Nick stayed home. Grandpa came over to play with Nick and help dad out a little. When I got home, Nick was ready for a nap. After he woke up, we decided to go do some Christmas shopping at 12 Oaks. Bad idea! The mall was PACKED (um, I thought we were in the middle of a giant recession?) and we struggled to get in and out of the stores. By the time we left, I should have known Nick would be hungry and I should have nursed him before we left - he cried almost the whole way home, poor little guy. Once home, we nursed and he went calmly to sleep. I love that babies are so forgiving of our poor planning! Sunday we just hung out at home.

Monday it was back to work and daycare. Tuesday night Nick had a rough night, and a rough day Wednesday too. We weren't sure what was going on, until that 7th tooth popped through :) Nick had an exciting day at daycare this week - something happened to the sprinkler system, causing a flood, and the daycare had to be evacuated to the local coffee shop! They wheeled the babies out in their rolling cribs, three to a crib. Miss Amanda said Nick took it all in stride, enjoying the ride and looking all around at the coffee shop :)

Tonight we did parents' night out again. Nick stayed at daycare and we went out to dinner at Mexican Fiesta in Canton. Then we stopped at Target to buy a Christmas ornament for my mom and then we went to Lowe's to check out the chalkboard paint. When we went to pick Nick up, he was fast asleep - we felt so bad, of course he woke up when we put him in the car. He was a little fussy but nursed back to sleep at home.

Tomorrow is the Christmas tree ceremony at Grandma Juarez's cemetery. The three of us are meeting my Grandma and some other family there. Sunday we are meeting Azita for lunch in Dearborn, and then hopefully taking my Mac in to the Apple store to get checked out and to finish up some Christmas shopping.

Nothing exciting happening this week, until Thursday - Nick's daycare is giving a Christmas concert, where the preschoolers will sing, and then all the kids get to visit with Santa. Jeff and his parents will be attending. Saturday is my family Christmas party, so we're going to Aunt Cindi's during the day to give Great-Grandma Pingle her present and visit a little - the party is officially at 7 pm, which is too late for us, since Nick has a self-imposed bedtime of 6:30 and he doesn't sleep well outside of daycare and home.

Nick's legs are getting so strong, and he is taking guided steps. He climbs all over us and pulls up constantly. He still hasn't crawled on his hands and knees yet, so maybe he'll just skip that and go straight to walking in a few months. We are trying to figure out how we can set up some stuff for him to cruise on - our house isn't really cruise-able right now. We want to think of some stuff to set up for him in his playroom, because as soon as we have that set up, we'll probably be spending 90% of Nick's awake time at home down there. So that's what we're working on now!

Thirty-Five Weeks

Today Nick is thirty-five weeks old! We can hardly believe how fast the time has gone by. He is getting bigger and stronger and has more personality every day! As you can see from the video I posted earlier - he's now pulling up! He will even take some tentative guided steps on his tip-toes - so cute!

Last weekend was full of fun. Aunt Krystyn was still visiting. Saturday we all went to Somerset for Nick's first visit with Santa. What a great Santa experience they give you there! You have a private setting with Santa - there's no big huge line snaking out behind you. Instead of getting prints, you get a disc of pictures and then you can print as many as you like - although a couple prints of each picture from Ritz are included in the price. Then, after your visit is over, they give you three silver coins to "spend" at a certain list of stores. We had our visit with Santa, and they let us do what we wanted - so we each had an individual picture with Santa and Nick, then we had a picture of Nick and parents and Santa, then Nick had two pictures with Santa alone. He didn't cry or anything - but he didn't smile either :) With his coins he got a koala finger puppet from Pottery Barn Kids, a compass from North Face and an elf pass (whatever that is) from Build-a-Bear. Afterwards we want and visited Great Grandma Pingle for a little while. She was shocked at how big Nick is getting! Then we drove out to visit Grandma Juarez's grave. Nick napped while Aunt Krystyn and I had a good visit/cry with our mom. Sunday Aunt Krystyn left bright and early for North Carolina. The rest of us spent a lazy day at home. That day Nick got a lot of practice pulling up, but his legs were very wobbly and sometimes his knees would seem to buckle. That night we took Nick to see the Wayne County Lightfest - but he fell asleep about five minutes into it. Maybe next year he'll enjoy it :)

Monday was back to work and daycare - always tough after such a long weekend! Monday we stuck with the 4 oz - 6 oz - 4 oz feeding pattern for Nick. This week was definitely hit or miss with Nick and bottles - sometimes he ate a lot and sometimes he didn't. Tuesday was the six month anniversary of Nick starting daycare/me going back to work/pumping. I can't believe it's been six months! And so far so good - so hopefully we can make it another four :) Wednesday we received the disc of Nick's pro pics from Mod4 - they were take on Halloween. I wanted to include some in our holiday cards so I sent them to Costco to be printed. Nick got progressively better at pulling up all week, so Thursday night Jeff made the video of him pulling up - as you can see, he stands tall and strong! Amazing what a difference a few days makes to a baby. After Nick went to sleep Jeff and I signed, stuffed and stamped all of our holiday cards. Of course I did not print enough pictures - so if you want a printed picture of Nick and didn't get one, just let me know :)

Today I put the cards in the mail after dropping Nick off at daycare. I got home a little late from work today, so Nick nursed right to sleep as soon as I got home.

Tomorrow morning I'll be at my LAA retreat, so dad and Nick will have some alone time. The rest of the day we don't have any plans. Sunday we don't have any plans - maybe we'll get some Christmas shopping done. This week is a normal week too - nothing exciting going on. Next weekend there is a Christmas tree ceremony at Grandma Juarez's cemetery, and then we might go to the Greenfield Village Christmas display. Sunday I am hoping to have lunch with our friend Azita and her daughter Lucy.

Only three weeks until Nick's first Christmas! We actually have no special plans for Christmas Eve. Nick will be asleep by 6:30-7, so Jeff and I will probably just spend some quiet time at home. We did agree not to buy Nick presents, but I think I'll buy him some stock stuffers at least - he'll probably like playing with his stocking :) Christmas morning we'll wake up and hang out at home, then later on we'll go to Grammie and Grandpa's for the gift exchange and dinner. Nick is big enough to sit up and kind of participate, but we're sure next Christmas will be much more exciting for him :)

Nick Pulling Up!

Thirty-Four Weeks

Today Nick is thirty-four weeks old! Nick is so mobile now, we really have to be careful :) He is not quite crawling yet, still army-crawling, but he's getting quicker and quicker!

Last weekend was relaxing before the big event - Nick's first Thanksgiving! Saturday Jeff went to The Game with Chris, and I stayed home with Nick. We watched some of the game, we napped, we played - it was a nice, relaxing day for us. Sunday we all went to Costco to do some shopping for Thanksgiving. It seems like Nick likes shopping - he is a big-time people watcher, just like me! We bought a turkey that *might* weigh more than Nick - we're not sure because Nick hasn't been weighed since early October. The turkey was 18.91 pounds, and last time we weighed Nick, he was 17 lbs 10 oz.

Monday was back to work and daycare, but for a very short week. Monday, once again, Nick did not eat very well at daycare, so I decided to try a different eating schedule to see if it would help. I bought some 8 oz bottles on Tuesday and sent 3 six ounce bottles on Wednesday, for Nick to eat every three hours. It seemed to be a little better for him. Wednesday night Aunt Krystyn arrived, but not until long after Nick was asleep.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! Nick's first Thanksgiving and our first Thanksgiving in the new house. Nick and I woke Aunt Krystyn up. We came downstairs and made cinnamon rolls while Nick played in the kitchen. After he went down for his first nap, I made the stuffing and put the turkey in the oven. Grammie and Grandpa and Uncle Jim and Rachel came over around 1 or so. Everyone played with Nick, chatted and snacked until dinner was ready. Nick woke up from his second nap just in time to enjoy dinner with everyone. We put him in his high chair at the head of the table and he dined on turkey, green beans and sweet potatoes. It was his first real serving of protein and he seemed to enjoy it, stuffing his mouth as full as he could :) After dinner we all played with Nick for a little while until it was time for bed. Hopefully it was a satisfying first Thanksgiving for him :)

Today we mostly hung out at home. During Nick's first nap Krystyn and I ran out to Carter's and bought him some of the most adorable clothes in 12 months. We also bought him a cute bib that says "My Auntie is the Best." We put up Nick's first Christmas tree, and were careful to hang all the ornaments on the upper 2/3 of the tree, so Nick can't reach them. He's never playing alone in the room where we put the tree anyway, so we're not too concerned about it, but better safe than sorry! After Nick was asleep Krystyn and I ran out to Old Navy. I literally had to be pulled from the children's section! I bought Nick some more fleece pants in the next size up, a new fleece snowsuit-type thing (this one has built in foldover mittens - yay!) and two adorable onesies. One says "wild about mom" and the other says "I make my mommy smile." How could I resist??

Tomorrow we are going to visit Santa at Somerset, and Great Grandma Pingle, and Grandma Juarez's grave. Sunday Aunt Krystyn is leaving and we are hanging out at home, recuperating from such an exciting week and getting ready for December! This week we don't have anything exciting going on, but Saturday Nick and Jeff will be alone for a few hours while I go to a retreat for the Law Alumni Association.

I am starting to get a little concerned about Nick's eating habits changing. Solids are only supposed to be experimental at his age - he is still supposed to get his nutrition from my milk - but when I send solids to daycare, he hardly drinks his bottles, and sometimes outright refuses them, and he's not nursing more at home either. This doesn't happen on the weekends when he's nursing instead of being bottle-fed. Is this Nick asserting his independence already, because he self-feeds but doesn't feed himself his bottles? I don't know, but until we figure it out, I'm not sending solids to daycare on a daily basis.

Nick's daycare caregiver told me he'll probably be moved to infant B in January, because he's mobile. It's so exciting to see him learning and growing and changing, but at the same time it's sad because it's happening so fast, and he's our first baby! We're enjoying every moment with him, every new experience and every new skill.

Almost Crawling!

Thirty-Three Weeks

Today Nick is thirty-three weeks old! He is getting to be such a big boy - and by that I mean old, not huge :) He now has six teeth - two on the bottom, four on top. He's got a mean bite too, but we still let him put our fingers in his mouth. What can we say - we're indulgent first-time parents ;)

Last weekend we had fun. Saturday we watched some of the UM v Wisconsin game, but gave up and met Grammie and Grandpa up at the park in our subdivision. Nick had so much fun swinging by himself in the bucket swing, going down the slide with dad, playing in the grass and then going for a short walk in the stroller. Sunday Nick and I met his friend Emily and her mom at the outlets in Howell. What a great outlet center! They have every baby outlet imaginable - Carter's, Osh Kosh, Baby Gap, Children's Place, Gymboree . . .I didn't go crazy but I easily could have! Nick sat in a public high chair while I ate lunch. I gave him a little of my grilled chicken to try. He napped in the stroller and finished up his nap in the car on the way home.

Monday it was back to daycare and work for us. Tuesday and Wednesday I picked Nick up from daycare because Jeff was having work done on his car again. It's pretty tough for me to pick him up, because as soon as he sees me he wants to nurse, so he gets pretty fussy when I just put him in the car. Luckily we don't live very far from daycare. Thursday was pajama day, so Nick wore his UM pajamas to daycare. It was so cute to see all the kids - and caregivers! - in their pajamas.

This week Nick decided he'd rather eat his solids than drink his milk. Two days he refused two bottles, and the other two days he ate very little of two bottles, while drinking all of two other bottles. So today I didn't send any solids to see if his milk consumption went back to normal - and it did! I am not sure what to do. I might just let him eat solids on the weekend for now and just send bottles to daycare. He seems to like the solids - but maybe a little too much? Milk should be his main source of nutrition for his first year - so not drinking his milk in favor of eating more solids is just not acceptable yet. And since I'm not there, I don't know exactly what is going on. What I do know is on the weekend he nurses a lot and eats a little bit of solids. But nursing and bottles aren't the same to babies, so it might be different at daycare.

Tomorrow Jeff is going to The Game, and I'll spend a nice day at home with Nick. Nick is so active lately, I feel bad taking him anywhere if he won't be able to be active. The park was nice, a kids' play area would be nice - but I don't want to take him anywhere if he'd be confined to a stroller mostly. He did ok last weekend at the outlets, but I want that to be the exception, not the rule. He can really get around, and loves to play with toys. It's so cute to watch! Sunday we don't have any plans.

This week is exciting - Nick's first Thanksgiving! Aunt Krystyn and Uncle Zack will get here Thursday morning. We're hosting Thanksgiving at our house, so sometime after noon Grammie, Grandpa, Uncle Jim and his girlfriend Rachel will come over for dinner. Nick gets to eat with us :) so we'll eat whenever he wakes up from his second nap - sometime between 3 and 5. Friday Nick might spend some time with dad and Uncle Zack while Aunt Krystyn and I hit up a few Black Friday sales, then we're all going to put up the Christmas tree together - Nick's first Christmas tree! Saturday we are going to try to take Nick to see Santa at Somerset - it's by appointment only, so I don't know if it's too late to get in or what. Then Saturday night or Sunday Aunt Krystyn and Uncle Zack are leaving :( We are SO EXCITED for Krystyn and Zack to see Nick - they just saw him two months ago, well, almost three I guess, but he is a totally different baby and we just know they're going to have so much fun!

Thirty-Two Weeks

Today Nick is thirty-two weeks old! He is continuing on his baby-led weaning, self-feeding adventure. This week Nick tried green beans and asparagus for the first time. Fresh green beans are really the perfect food for BLW - easy to steam and the perfect size for baby fists!

Last weekend we had a relaxing weekend at home for the most part. Saturday we hung out at home and watched the UM game. After the game, Nick's Grammie and Grandpa stopped by with Great Uncle Pete and Great Aunt Peri. Sunday we went to Costco, bought a few things and enjoyed a pizza lunch, then went to Buy Buy Baby. Nick fell asleep in the car on the way home, but didn't go back to sleep once we arrived. Definitely the biggest downfall of switching to the convertible already - no way to bring him in the house without waking him up. Jeff decided to rake the backyard, so Nick and I went outside to play in the grass and leaf piles. Nick wasn't really sure what to think until we started lightly throwing leaves on him - then he started to have fun!

Monday it was back to work and daycare. This week Nick's daycare had a book fair. It was all set up on Monday but his caregivers didn't know how I could buy books. This week Nick went to sleep pretty early every day - usually by 6:30. I think it must be daylight's saving time. He's up at 5:30 am now too, instead of his usual 6-6:30. I finally bought books on Thursday - I just picked out what I wanted and left them on the desk for the daycare owner to total up for me. So we didn't pay for them until today - I bought three for Nick and one for his classroom.

Tonight Jeff went to the UM v MSU hockey game with his parents and brother, so they stopped by before the game with pizza and to hang out with Nick. Nick stayed awake for them. He was very active, doing his army crawl and playing with toys. It was a little tough to get him to sleep after all the excitement but it's always fun to see him interacting with his grandparents!

Tomorrow we're going shopping with Nick's friend Emily and Emily's mom. We're hitting up the outlets in Howell - there's a Carter's, Children's Place and Baby Gap outlet there! Sunday we don't have any plans. This week we don't have anything going on either, except Wednesday Nick and dad are on their own because I have an LAA meeting.

We're getting so excited for Thanksgiving. Krystyn and Zack will be here, so we've decided to put the tree up with them the day after Thanksgiving and take them with Nick to see Santa. It will be such a fun family weekend :) Our first Thanksgiving with Nick!

Thirty-One Weeks!

Today Nick is thirty-one weeks old! He is cutting two top teeth - his left front tooth and the next one over. He is drooling and chewing like crazy! He is also enjoying some solid food now - he's tried banana, apple, broccoli, snap peas, mango, pears and sweet potato. So far the pears were the only miss!

Last weekend was Halloween. During the day we went and had some pictures taken by Mod4. After the session, we took Nick to visit Great Grandma Pingle and Aunt Jeanne. They thought he was adorable in his monkey costume! Then we went home, and Nick enjoyed a long nap. Lisa and Donnie and Nick's friend Emily came over to help pass out candy and hang out. Well, we did not need any help - we did not have one single trick-or-treater! We all agreed to take Nick and Emily to Zoo Boo at the Detroit Zoo next year instead - what a disappointing evening. Nick's Grammie and Grandpa live in our same subdivision and they had at least 30-40 kids!

Sunday was daylight's saving time. Nick did not abide by the extra hour of sleep, however! We were up at 5. This threw off his whole day - he took good long naps but at odd times. Jeff and I decided to take Nick to Ikea for something fun to do and to get out of the house. Also, we wanted to check out cribs - we've been talking about getting him a crib, but we still aren't ready to do the nursery, so we thought about getting an inexpensive crib from Ikea for now, until we do a nursery for him. He loves being in busy places like Ikea, with so much to see! We decided to eat at the Ikea restaurant. We put Nick in one of their high chairs and I fed him some of my steamed vegetables - broccoli and snap peas. We gave him a carrot but he wasn't interested in that. We bought him some plastic plates and cups - open-topped cups - both to play with and to help start teaching him to eat from a plate and drink from a normal cup. The cribs at Ikea were too low to sidecar to our bed, so we decided to go to Buy Buy Baby and look at their cribs. After I nursed Nick in their comfy nursing room, we went to the back to check out their crib selection. We decided on the Status Furniture 400 Richmond Stages 4 in 1 crib in espresso. It will be here in about 12 weeks - sometime in January.

Monday it was back to work and daycare. Tuesday Nick turned 7 months old! We sent mango to daycare with him - and he loved it! We also sent a new sippy cup with Nick - a two handled cup by Nuby. It has a silicone sippy top that is more like a bottle nipple than a traditional sippy cup. Wednesday we sent some pears and those were not a hit. Thursday we sent sweet potatoes and he enjoyed those immensely! Today we sent banana, which he's had and enjoyed before. This week we didn't have very much playtime at home - Nick hasn't been napping well at daycare, too many exciting things to do, so he's been going to sleep around 6:30 at home - just enough time to nurse him and listen to some adorable babbling!

This weekend we have no specific plans, which is nice! We are trying to give Nick plenty of tummy time right now, because he is so close to crawling - we want to give him every chance to keep trying! He loves his new jumperoo too, which is a good way for him to build strong legs for walking in a few months. I am going to cook some asparagus for him, and maybe some squash.

Nothing is happening this week. Hopefully Nick's teeth pop through so he can get some relief until the next ones start coming in. He might be having a growth spurt too - he seems to be sleeping a lot, and deeply. We can't wait to see the pictures we had taken last weekend!!

We are feeding Nick using a process called baby led weaning. We are not giving him purees or cereals. We are giving him finger foods only - we give him fruits and vegetables in match stick pieces that he can feed himself. We can hand him the food but we aren't supposed to put it in his mouth. He has shown us that he is ready for food by picking up the pieces and feeding himself. He isn't digesting the food yet but that's not unusual - he might not digest anything for a few months. We are very excited to share Thanksgiving dinner with him - I'll be careful to set aside a portion of each food before we add any fat to it for Nick. We've already talked about how to set up the dining room - we are going to put our kitchen table at the end of the dining room table so everyone can sit together, with Nick in his high chair at the head of the table!

Happy Halloween!

Happy First Halloween Nicholas!

Waiting for his friend Emily to come over in her monkey costume!

Thirty Weeks!

Today Nick is 30 weeks old! Nick had a great week. He received his first development report from daycare - the possible marks are "not evident," "developing," and "evident" - and he got all "evident"s! His first great report card :)

Last weekend we took Nick to Costco on Saturday and he sat in the cart for the very first time! Our cart cover doesn't quite fit the oversized Costco carts, though - so his bottom was cushioned but his hands weren't protected. Sunday I worked on his costume a lot. He played with dad and took some good naps while I sewed away. Around 3 I stopped, we took a nap together, and then we went to buy Nick a jumperoo! He absolutely loves it. He has been trying to bounce in his exersaucer for a while now but it obviously is not made for that. The jumperoo is exactly what he wanted and he loves to bounce bounce bounce :)

Monday was back to work and daycare. Tuesday at daycare Nick played with - and ate - some canned pumpkin, and apparently, he loved it! I worked some more on his costume that night. Wednesday I almost finished it and he had his final fitting of the suit. Wednesday night Nick didn't wake up to nurse between midnight and 6 am! Thursday I finished the hat and sewed on the tail, and Nick was back to night-nursing. I really don't want him to night wean yet because I think his night nursing is what is keeping my supply steady - if he stops night nursing, he'll only nurse twice or three times Monday-Friday, and I'm concerned that's not enough to keep up my supply.

Today was Nick's Halloween party at daycare. I had to be in court in Shelby Township by 8:15, so Jeff took Nick and his costume to daycare. We couldn't make it to the party, so his Grammie and Grandpa Lundberg went and hung out and took pictures. They had a costume parade and snacks for the visitors. Grammie got to give Nick a bottle, although she said he wasn't too interested in it. After daycare, Grammie and Grandpa came back to the house to spend a little more time with Nick, then later on came back with Uncle Jim and brought a pot roast for dinner - can't wait until Nick is old enough to eat dinner with us!

Tomorrow is Nick's first Halloween. During the day we are going to have some more pictures taken by Mod4, then we're stopping by Aunt Cindi's to show off Nick's costume, then we're coming back to the house. Lisa, Donnie and Emily are coming over to hang out and help pass out candy - Emily has a monkey costume too! We can't wait to take pictures of our little monkeys :) We have been told not to expect very many trick-or-treaters - I hope we get a lot, because we bought a lot of candy, and Nick is so adorable, I want people to see him in his costume :)

Sunday is a catch-up day here at the house. We don't have any plans at all. This week should be an easy week too - the first week of November, holy cow! Nick will be seven months on Tuesday. It's so hard to believe we've been parents for seven months already! It's been an amazing seven months - and the best is yet to come :)

Nick Eats Banana!

Twenty-Nine Weeks

Today Nick is twenty-nine weeks old! He is getting bigger and stronger every day. We can already tell he is independent and determined. If he pushes a toy out of reach, he'll figure out a way to get it back, and if we try to hold something for him, like a teether, he'll take it out of our hands so he can hold it himself. He soooo wants to crawl, but can't quite get his knees up underneath him. It'll happen sooner than we want, that's for sure! What happened to our little newborn??

Last weekend was so fun! Saturday we ran out and ran some errands. Nick had a very tough time in his bucket, so over the weekend we decided to switch to the convertible seats we bought from www.elitecarseats.com - the Sunshine Kids Radian XT. It rear faces to 35 pounds and will hold Nick until he's 80 pounds! It's black and gray so it looks great in both of our cars. Sunday was a blast - the whole family took Nick to the pumpkin patch at Three Cedars Farm! What a great place. We had cider and doughnuts, and took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch. They have a kitschy general store, a corn maze, a big wooden train for the kids to play on . . . it was so much fun, and it's right in Salem Township, so we hope to make it an annual tradition! Sunday night Jeff installed the new car seats.

Monday was back to work and daycare. It was Nick's first morning in the new car seat and he LOVED it. He looks so "normal" in the convertible, I can't even picture him in the bucket again! Mondays at daycare are "Start to Art" class - we took in a t-shirt of Jeff's for Nick to use as a smock. It's so fun that he's already working on art projects! So far he made a "stained glass" window and a snake. His everyday caregivers also do art projects with him - like painting paper apples for fall and black cats for Halloween. Tuesday night I had an LAA meeting - Nick didn't do very good without mom :( It seems like as he gets older, he realizes when I'm supposed to be home, and when I don't meet his expectations, he has a hard time. It makes Jeff very sad that he can't comfort Nick when he wants me, but we know this is just while he's so young - someday he'll want just dad dad dad :) Wednesday I was supposed to work on Nick's monkey costume, but instead I fell asleep when Nick did! Thursday was just Nick and mom while dad went to the Pistons game with grandpa.

Today I'm working on Nick's costume for sure! Although I have decided to switch from the faux fur to fleece - that way I can skip the step of making a lining. I originally had fleece picked out at the store but went for the faux fur when I saw it. Joann's doesn't carry very high-quality faux fur anyway - just taking it out of the bag left a bunch of pile on the floor! I am going to have to power through making this costume - I really am a novice sewer. I should have given myself a LOT more time. As long as he has something to wear that I made, I'm happy!

This weekend we don't have any specific plans. We hope to go to Costco and possibly the grocery store. I'll be working on Nick's costume as much as possible. This week we don't have anything exciting planned - but next weekend is Halloween! Yay! Nick's very first Halloween :)

Twenty-Eight Weeks

Today Nick is twenty-eight weeks old! He is getting so big. This week his sleep pattern was a little off - not sure if it's a new sleep pattern or if he's still getting back to normal from being sick. We'll see this week!

This week was rough. Jeff was very sick with the flu all week - so it was just me and Nick the whole time, plus I took care of Jeff as much as I could. All I have to say is, I was definitely not cut out to be a single parent! Or at least not a single parent who couldn't afford a nanny. I was exhausted every day. It's crazy how much I took Jeff for granted - I won't anymore!

Saturday we all just hung out at home. Jeff realized he was sick so we tried to keep him away from Nick as much as possible. Sunday Nick and I went out and ran errands while Jeff rested. We went to Block's and bought Halloween decorations. We came home, then went back out and went to a mom to mom sale, Costco, Joann's and Buy Buy Baby. It was rough on Nick - he's not used to having to run errands with me. Usually he stays home with Jeff or all three of us go so one of us can play with Nick while the other does the errand. He made it through though :)

Monday was Nick's 6 month appointment. He is 17 lbs 10 oz and 26.5 inches. The doctor checked to see if he's grabbing at things, asked if he's sitting up, checked his vision and his ears. He has some fluid in his ears but the doctor said that's probably from his illness, it's not an infection. He doctor said his growth has slowed, and that it will be much slower now, from a combination of being breastfed and from his genes. We're ok with that!

This week is such a blur, I can't really remember anything specific. I dropped Nick off at daycare and picked him up every day. We kept him away from Jeff until this morning so he wouldn't get sick again. Wednesday I went to the Carter's store at lunch with Karen and bought Nick some adorable new clothes - I just love that store!

Today I have a hearing in Grand Rapids, so I was hoping to get home and pick Nick up earlier than usual, but unfortunately I was called at the end of the docket, so Jeff picked him up and I got home at about my usual time.

Of course, the one day I don't pick Nick up from daycare, he got his proofs from his school pictures! They are terrible. I don't know what happened, but he didn't get both backgrounds we picked. There are three poses - he's not smiling in any of them, in one he is sucking in his lips so it looks like he has no mouth and in another he has so much drool on his chin it's ridiculous. The class picture is hilarious - the one teacher looks like she's on crack and the other is not even paying attention to the camera! And school pictures are so much more expensive now than they were when we were growing up. I don't know if we're going to order any of them :(

This weekend we have some fun plans. Tomorrow I'm hoping to go to a thrift store to buy some brown t-shirts to use as the lining for Nick's costume - I don't want to go to Joann's again and this might save some money. Sunday we are hoping to go to the pumpkin patch. There's one right in Northville - Three Cedars Farm. We're excited and hope to turn it into a family tradition! We don't have any scheduled this week, and I hope it stays that way. I need to work on Nick's costume every moment he's asleep!! I'm excited about it though. Even if it doesn't turn out perfectly, it's being made with lots and lots of love!

Twenty-Seven Weeks

Today Nick is twenty-seven weeks old! He is over his most recent illness and back to his "normal happy active" self, as his daycare teacher put it!

Last weekend we just hibernated in the house. It was great. Nick turned six months old on Saturday - wow, that was a fast six months! Nick took some good long naps and played with us as much as he could, given his condition. He was very congested and still had his fever all weekend. He had difficulty nursing and we kept paying attention to his drool and fontanelles to check for possibly dehydration. On Saturday we gave him a sippy cup of water - we aren't using traditional sippy cups though, just ones with straws, so I'm not sure if he drank any water or just chewed on the straw! We also gave him banana again, but this time in a mesh feeder. He seemed to like it a lot better that way, so we're going to keep giving him new foods in the mesh feeder. It's still self-feeding, so we're ok with it.

Monday it was back to work for mom, but dad worked from home so we could keep Nick home from daycare. Grammie came over to help dad out, and so did Grammie's friend Nancy. Nick had a rough day and dad thinks he missed mom, which made it so hard for her to stay at work! When she got home though he had a huge smile for her, and giggled as she put him into his pajamas. His fever went away on Monday, so Tuesday he went back to daycare. He was still congested but eating better and almost back to his cheerful self. Wednesday he was definitely back to his cheerful self, and eating and sleeping normally again. At daycare he painted a pumpkin and all the babies' pumpkins are on the window as Halloween decorations - so cute! Thursday Nick had another great day - he ate almost all of his bottles at daycare, so we're going to start sending more milk! He's a growing boy!

Tonight is parents' night out at daycare - the daycare teachers stay late and parents can pay $25 for them to watch the kids for a night out. We are taking advantage of this opportunity - it will only be the THIRD time we're away from Nick for an evening! We are probably just going to go to dinner and a movie.

Tomorrow Nick and I are going to some mom to mom sales, and at some point this weekend we plan on taking Nick to the cider mill for the first time. There is a cider mill right here in Northville, and another one in Plymouth - not sure which one we're going to yet.

Monday is Nick's six month well-baby visit - more shots :( That's all we have planned this week!

I have decided to make Nick's Halloween costume and he is going to be an adorable little monkey (minus the white fringe). I'm so excited! My mom made our costumes when we were growing up - Rainbow Brite, genies, a witch - and I bought my sewing machine last year with the intention of using it to do the same for my children. Growing up we always trick or treated in Ferndale and Pleasant Ridge. There was one house on Pinecrest that always had hot cider and coffee for the kids and parents - I want to be that house in our neighborhood! I want the kids to say "oh mom, we have to go to that one house where they always have cider and full size candy bars." :) Starting next year we plan to decorate too - one house in our neighborhood has a display that includes what looks like a skeleton crawling out of a grave. Super cool!

I have to spend every minute Nick is sleeping working on his costume to make sure it's ready for Halloween - only 22 days away!