Winter Fun

What a busy week! I had my first snow day with my guys this week, and it was so great. We stayed in our jammies until noon! Nicholas loved looking out the window and seeing Todd running the snow blower. They are so darned cute together.

We also had a firehouse Christmas party on Saturday. He had the greatest time running around with the other kids in his little Santa hat. He made a gingerbread man with Grandpa, and ate pizza, ice cream, and cake. (No wonder why he was running around with the other kids!) Unfortunately, though, we didn't make it 'till Santa. He was just too pooped out, which was a bummer, because we were anxious to see how he'd react to Santa. Oh well!

We also got our tree this weekend. It's definitely a Nicholas-sized tree! But, with the construction, we really don't have much room. We, of course, haven't put it up yet, but hopefully this week sometime we'll get it up and decorated. I think it's going to be a cute little tree!

And speaking of the construction... we are feeling a little frustrated right now because we were supposed to get sheetrock on Friday, but guess what?! No sheetrock! We're keeping out fingers crossed for this week! Patience, patience, patience...

Home Sweet Home

Well... the siding is finally done! You know that page in Highlights Magazine that says "What's Wrong With This Picture?" I must admit, I can't help but think of this when I look at this picture. It's not exactly what we were planning, but we love it anyway. We are still waiting on shutters, which are on order, but the front of the house, where the door and new window are, was supposed to be all stone. Apparently, it can't be applied in cold weather, so we would have had to wait until spring. Yeah... there was no way that was happening. If I had to look at that Tyvek wrap for one more day, I was going to lose my mind as it was! So... hopefully someday down the road, we will conquer that project. I think it would look great, but for now... we're very happy with our new house! Insulation is in, and sheet rock is planned for the end of the week. I was really hoping to be in for Christmas, but unfortunately that's probably not going to happen. Oh well... what's another couple of weeks?! This is certainly a lesson in patience!

All is well in Nicholasland, although today was a tougher day than most. He was SO cranky and difficult to please today. Todd and I are exhausted. We actually had the discussion of "when can we start time out?" tonight. Seriously, how do you stop a 1-year-old from having a temper tantrum? Right now - it's all about the power of distraction.

We are having fun getting ready for the holidays, although it would be nice to find some time to decorate the house a little more! Hopefully we'll get our tree sometime this week. Man, that puppy will have to be nailed down, tied up, and wired to the walls! He's into everything these days! He is loving my dad's Santa collection, too. We're not so sure the real thing will go over very well, though. We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

Nicholas had his first real cookie this week - Arrowroot. He LOVES them! (Duh... thery're cookies for goodness sake!) I swear he gets cuter every day!

Gobble Gobble!

What a difference a year makes! Last year at Thanksgiving, all Nicholas did was sleep! This year, he was running all over the place, and even had a real turkey dinner. What a great day we had. We started off on the DeBisschop side, and finished the day on the Cutler side. He saw SO many relatives in one day! It was so much fun watching him warm up to everyone. He is so shy lately when he first sees people. By the end of the afternoon, though, people got to see the real Nicholas - screeching at the dinner table and all!

He looked so darned cute in his sweater and little dress shoes! We certainly have much to be thankful for this year.

Oh, by the way... Nicholas's new favorite thing is dancing. My parents have these dancing flowers at their house, and he can't get enough of them! He is just too funny...

Our Little Genius

It's official. the boy is a genius! I swear he understands everything we say. For instance, tonight I was on the phone with Todd and he was telling me about how he and Nicholas were dancing today. So I said to Nicholas, "Do you love to dance?" And he started dancing right there in the kitchen! Then, he walked into the living room and pointed to the iPod. It totally freaked me out! Oh, and by the way, this kid has the moves! He does this sort of disco move where he puts both pointer fingers in the air and bounces up and down. It's so funny. I have to get it on video.

So, all of this growing up business is making me so emotional lately. I need to know if anyone out there knows how to make him stop! I want him to stay like this forever, and never to grow up. I swear he's perfect just like this, and I'd be happy if he'd stay like this forever. Any ideas?

Anyway, since I just posted the other day, I don't have any new pictures to post. So instead, here are some oldies but goodies. As if I wasn't emotional enough...

Greetings From the Mud Pit

Lots of progress is being made here - it's looking like we are finally in the home stretch. The bummer of it is, most of the work being done right now is stuff you can't see. Lots of plumbing and electrical work, and heating and air conditioning - important, but not very fun to look at.

The one thing that we can see though is the siding, and it looks great. It reminds me of my Nan and Pop's house in Milldale. I think of that every time I look at it. I love the color.

Next step - insulation and sheetrock. Then it should really feel like it's almost done. We're even thinking about flooring and paint colors! Hard to believe that we'll be in by Christmas. We are so anxious to start living in these new rooms. But most of all, we're anxious to be settled.

Nicholas is doing great. He's walking all over the place now, and trying really hard to communicate. He points to everything and "talks." It seems most everything is a kitty, but we can live with that. He's so darned cute...

This is so embarassing!

So, I had to post a formal apology to everyone who gave Nicholas a birthday gift because you STILL haven't gotten a thank you note. Of course, I wanted to get fancy with them, so I ordered them online over 2 weeks ago - basically right after the party. And they have STILL not arrived. I'm thinking they may be a lost cause. Anyway, I feel awful about it, and plan on working on Plan B this week. Conferences are next week at school, though, and I am buried in report cards. Can't anything ever be easy????

The monkey is doing great. Here's another Halloween picture!

Trick or Treat!

Nicholas's second Halloween was definitely more exciting than his first! (Mostly because he didn't sleep through the whole thing this year.) He was dressed as a parrot, and Todd was a pirate, so he carried Nicholas on his shoulder. They looked absolutely adorable!

We went trick-or-treating at Nicholas's grandparents' houses, Auntie Gail's, where he met up with his cousins Jenna and Jacob, and his neighbor's house, aka "Little G's" house. Although he didn't eat any candy, he had fun playing with it while it was still in the wrapper.

We tried to keep him up late tonight to make up for the time change, but he didn't make it very long! He was one pooped pup. Hopefully we won't be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning.

I say this every year at school when I'm changing the decorations in my classroom. I can't believe it's time to say it already! "Goodbye pumpkins and hello turkeys!" Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

Look Mom... No Hands!

So... I think we're there. The monkey is walking! Check it out! It's not the best video, but he's tough to catch on film these days. He's so quick!

And this picture was just too hilarious not to post. Todd wanted to save it for a future girlfriend - to embarass the heck out of him, but I just couldn't resist.

Looking forward to seeing the little guy in his costume tomorrow. Will post some pictures as soon as I can. Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday, Nicholas!

It only took a week... but here they are - birthday pictures! Things have been so crazy around here. And to top it off, Nicholas woke up Monday morning with a terrible cough, which was later diagnosed as a double ear infection. Apparently the little dude partied just a little too hard! Not bad, though. This is the first time he's been sick. Preemie shreemie!!!

The party was so great. What a lucky kid to have so many people that love him. And, we were able to raise over $600.00 for The March of Dimes. I can't think of a better way to celebrate our little guy making it to 1 year as a strong, happy, healthy boy. Thank you so much for all of your wonderful gifts and donations. We are so touched and humbled by everyone's generosity.

On a completely different note - the addition is coming along fantastically! Lots of changes lately. I'll try to post an update soon.

Fall Family Fun

Today we spent a beautiful Fall day with Nicholas's Auntie Shianne, Uncle Tim and four cousins, Cody, Tyler, Kristi, and Cassie. We went out to lunch and then went pumpkin picking at Lyman Orchards. I mean, this was the real deal! This was no patch of dirt where some farmer had laid out a bunch of pumpkins for us to pick from. These puppies were still growing on the vine! It took us a while, but we all found our perfect pumpkins.

The deal was that the kids had to be able to carry their own pumpkins to the car. Well, Tyler won the prize hands down for the biggest pumpkin - 49 pounds! You should have seen this kid trying to drag this thing to the road. It was hilarious! In the end, he needed a little help, but he got it home. Todd says it was about 40 pounds of stem, and 9 pounds of pumpkin - tee hee!!

It was such a beautiful day - much hotter than we were expecting! Nicholas loved the pumpkin patch. Kristi picked him a white pumpkin, which he proceeded to lick - yuck! Everything is going in the mouth lately, though. The teeth are coming in fast and furious now - we're at 4 and counting. 1 on the bottom, and 3 on the top. And only 2 of them are the front teeth. That's my boy! He likes to do things his own way for sure.

We're doing well on the addition - this should be a big week. We're expecting windows on Tuesday, and for most of the framing to be done by the end of the week. We're certainly keeping our fingers crossed! After the framing, the mess will move indoors - oh joy!

Progress...

It's a mess, yes, but if you look closely, you can actually start to see what this thing is going to look like when it's done! In fact, there's been even more progress made since these pictures were taken. The roofers put about half the roof on today, and they should start to frame the garage this week. Things are looking good!

A Weekend in Baltimore

Last weekend, we took a roadtrip and followed the Sox to Baltimore! It was a great weekend for a lot of reasons. We got to spend time with the Dickinson side of the family, and, the Sox were on a winning streak! I think Nicholas brought them good luck. He was such a good boy - we made it to the 6th inning on Saturday night before he konked out in the backpack. He loved all of the noise and cheering. He also did really well at Sunday's game, but we had to get on the road, so we didn't make it very far into the game.

This was Nicholas's first stay in a hotel, and I have to say, it was a little stressful. He did not sleep very well, and I was sure our neighbors would be knocking on our door in the middle of the night, but thankfully, that didn't happen. He loved checking everything out, though. And, he got to have a bath in the big boy tub! We're still using the sink at home, so this was a treat. It won't be long that we'll be switching at home too. He doesn't really fit in the sink anymore!

Todd and I try to get to at least one game at Fenway each year, and we have been so excited to bring Nicholas to his first Red Sox game. I suppose it won't be long before he's plowing down the Fenway Franks in his baseball cap, waiting anxiously with his mit for a foul ball to come his way. Bring it on!

Things have been SO busy around here, it's taken me a week to get the Baltimore pics up. I'll do an update on the house next time. Things are really moving now!

Welcome to the Mud Pit

Well... it's official - we live in a mud pit! We have been lucky so far because we've had a long stretch of dry weather. Unfortunately, however, all good things must come to an end! After the rain last week, our yard got pretty ugly. As you can see, they began digging for the garage/master bedroom, so things are moving along. We're hoping that some of the framing will be completed this week, and it will really start to look like something other than a giant pile of dirt. Keep your fingers crossed for dry weather!

Nicholas had an exciting day today - he got his first pair of shoes! Nana and Papa took him to Stride Rite and got him a pair of sneakers. When my sister and I were little, my Nanny Dickinson always bought our shoes at Stride Rite - so... the tradition continues! He looks like such a big boy in them. He is getting very close to walking on his own and he seems very comfortable in his new kicks!