Greetings From a Deadbeat Blogger

 
I know.  It's been over a month.  Somehow life just gets in the way of blogging sometimes I guess!  We have had a very busy month - enjoying the spring weather and celebrating Easter.  Nicholas had a great Easter.  He loved searching for eggs and eating mouthfuls of candy of course.  Honestly, I'm not sure I've ever seen that much candy in one place in my life!  In fact, there is a Target bag filled to the top with candy now hiding on the top shelf in the kitchen.  I often hear it calling my name, but I try not to listen...

We celebrated Easter twice in our family actually.  Our first Easter was a week early at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Nicholas colored eggs and searched the backyard for goodies with his cousins.  The second celebration took place on Easter Sunday at Auntie Gail's house.  More goodies and more eggs!  Man, this is one lucky kid.

We also recently made our annual pilgrimage to Hubbard Park to sit in the daffodils.  Because of the warm spring, the daffodils were out really early this year.  I was afraid I was going to miss them, but alas... they were in full bloom when we got there.  Of course, I immediately pulled up all of his other daffodil shots to compare when we got home. Somehow we must've missed the first year - he would've been about 6 months old in April of 2009.  Major bummer.  But this is his 3rd daffodil picture - so darned cute.

2010

So, the general update on Nicholas is basically that he's now 3 going on 25.  I don't know what is happening, but he is growing and changing so much lately, it's hard to keep up!  Todd and I find ourselves looking at him with our mouths hanging open on a daily basis, and saying things like, "What did you just say??!!"  He's hilarious.  I think one of my favorite things though is his new found love for music.  When driving in the car, he would always want to listen to those hideous kid's CDs.  I swear I was singing Farmer in the Dell in my sleep!  But lately he'll say, "I want to hear your songs, Mommy."  And then - to our surprise, he proceeds to belt out the lyrics and bob his head along to

2011

2012

the beat!  It's hard to focus on the road it's so funny.  I can't even imagine what he'll be like by the end of the summer - perhaps we should start looking at colleges...

My Guys

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Nicholas and Todd ran in a road race in Hartford. Actually, Todd had planned on running this race for quite a while. When Nicholas saw Todd getting dressed in his running gear on Sunday morning, he said, "I wanna run in the race with Daddy!" The next thing we knew, we were packing up and heading off to Hartford - all 3 of us.

Nicholas ran the 100 yard dash. He was unbelievable! He found an opening up the side, flew past the people in front of him, and left Todd in the dust! And he was smiling the whole time. In fact, after he was done, he was whining and saying he wanted to run more. Next year, we're definitely doing the half mile course. Tonight we walked downtown to get an ice cream cone, and on the way home, I'm sure he ran at least a half mile on the trail. OK, he had just plowed down an entire chocolate ice cream cone... but still, the kid is only 3! He continues to amaze me every day.

And then there's my other guy... who also amazes me every day. Todd kicked that race's butt! This is a picture of him running past fire headquarters - looks pretty good, huh?! I was thinking about it after the race. I usually run these races as well, and I'm often so wrapped up in putting myself down for my crappy performance, I often forget to congratulate Todd on his. Watching him and cheering him on from the sidelines was kinda fun. He is getting really good - I am so proud. What a lucky girl I am. Life is good.

Bright Lights Big City... Big Germs!!

Last weekend, Todd was working non-stop so Nicholas and I headed off to Boston to visit Auntie Mary, Auntie Jenny, and Susanna. First of all, what a difference a winter makes in terms of how the monkey takes a car ride. Last summer it was all about getting through the drive without a major meltdown. I had a bucket full of toys, books, snacks, and play doh, but by Worcester, my bag of tricks was completely tapped out. Granted, Boston is a shorter drive than Maine, but the ride was a piece of cake! He sat back there singing along with his CDs, playing with his fire trucks, and writing on his little laptop computer. Nice.

The city was a complete hit with my son. He's so cool you know. He loved the T ride. I, of course, was a complete nerd mom snapping flash photography and taking videos the whole time. Who cares - it was a big moment, and I had blogging on the brain. We went to Quincy Market and Nicholas and Susanna got these hilarious balloon hats from a street vendor. The guy was hysterical (in a good way), and the balloon hats were awesome. Nicholas's had this crazy smiley face dangly thing coming off the top of his, which made walking through the crowded food court interesting. We bopped more than a few strangers in the face. Tee hee!

Nicholas and Susanna are like two peas in a pod. He is so smitten with her. And she is so very patient with him - which is saying something considering the fact that he is a 3-year-old boy with a mind of his own! She was willing to watch Bob the Builder and let him play with her iPod Touch - pretty good for a 10-year-old I'd say!

So... here's the rub. We are home about 20 minutes when I notice the cough. By Tuesday afternoon, Nicholas has a 103.6 fever. Good grief. I'm wondering... if we zoom in on the picture of him on the T - do you think we could actually see the germs on that pole that somehow got into his body and gave him bronchitis?? It's been a tough week, I have to admit. This is not a part of parenthood that I enjoy. Apparently, I am a worrier - I HATE when he's sick. My mind always goes to that bad place. Thank goodness for Todd and his stethoscope. I made him check Nicholas's lungs at least 10 times this week. There was very little sleeping in this house, but tonight we are fever free and Mommy is happy.

You know, as I was downloading all the pictures from the weekend, I got a nice warm feeling looking at all the pics of Nicholas with Susanna and I'm so happy that they have each other. Todd has said to me more than once, "I think Nicholas and Susanna are going to be very close." I think he's right. They already are! We love you Susanna!

Busy Busy Busy

Whew... what a busy weekend! It started on Friday night when Nicholas had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house while Mommy and Daddy hit the casino! It was lots of fun for everyone. Then, on Saturday, Nicholas went to see Sesame Street Live at the Bushnell! Apparently it was a big hit. He walked into the theater and said, "Whoa, it's beautiful!" He came home SO excited and saying things like, "Guess what, Mommy! I saw Cookie Monster at the show!" He even broke out into a rousing rendition of "C is for Cookie" at the dinner table. So cute.

Today we had a Valentine's Day brunch at our house with some friends. The kids had a great time playing together, and ate enough sugary treats to last the week. I planned on taking a group picture of the kids, but somehow getting all of them to sit together and stay still for 20 seconds seemed impossible.

And the big news of the weekend is this - Nicholas slept for the first time in his big boy race car bed. We are trying it at naptime for now and just transferring the crib mattress back and forth. I don't think it will be long before he's in the bed full time though. He is really liking it. Falling asleep is a little tough, but he'll be used to it in no time I'm sure. It was such a bittersweet moment for me - I was so proud of him for reaching this milestone, but I was sad to think that yet another one of the "baby" things is going away. You should have seen me - the fool taking flash photos of him while he was trying to sleep. Hey... I needed that picture.

He is getting so darned big. I'm pretty sure he's going through a growth spurt right now. He's eating everything in sight and the other day, we were driving to daycare and he said, "Mommy, my feet hurt." That night, Todd bought him new sneakers a full size bigger than the ones he's been wearing. He's also been saying that his legs hurt and when I ask him where, he grabs the back of his knees. Growing pains I think. Most of his pants are looking like highwaters now. I can't wait for summer and shorts. Honestly, he'll probably still be wearing 2T shorts he's so skinny! Growing growing growing. I wish he'd knock it off.