Thumbs Up For Two!

Nixon is at such a fun age! I just want to bottle up all of the cute things he does and save them for a rainy day!! He is just getting over a cold and for those 10 days it was ROUGH! But he is back to his normal self and I just keep thinking “Were you always this happy? You ARE a nice boy after all!” I feel like such a bad mom because my documenting his growing up had lacked a lot lately! I just want to remember all the funny things he does! So here’s a list, mostly just for me.

-He is quiet. This could be for many reasons, but most people just comment on how quiet he is!
-He isn’t speaking much, but we are leaps and bounds from where we were! He actually was just approved for Physical Therapy (so random) along with Speech Therapy! I couldn’t be more excited about it!
-His first word was Shoe. He’s been saying “dada” for a long time, but he used it for EVERYTHING! I couldn’t say that “dada” was his first word because it wasn’t specific enough. He always look at family pictures and point to everyone in the picture. There’s one picture that he would bring us and go through the family and then point to his feet and say “Shooooooooooooe?” Everything ends in a question, but he’s not actually asking a question if that makes sense.
-His vocabulary lately have really taken off! I’m so proud! We have been working so hard to get him talking more! He says, daddy, doggy (those two sound the same, it’s all in the context) Cheeee (Chief), Cheese (also interchangeable with Chief) ch ch ch cheeee (no no no Chief) uh oh, gagarooooooooooo (kangaroo), uhoooooooon (ballon), poooooop, and shoe. He can say hot, but its more of the sound you would make if you didn’t like something, like EH! I need to get it on video, it’s pretty funny.

-He really knows his animal sounds and it really just kills me! He will randomly start saying “ha ha ha” and I’ll look around and sure enough he’s spotted a monkey. He knows the sounds of a monkey, dog, snake, bear, lion, owl, bunny, guinea pig, and bird. He’s pretty hit or miss when it comes to cat and dog. The easiest ones!

-We got him a scooter for his birthday, and he doesn’t exactly understand it. He mostly likes to push it around instead of riding it.
-If he sees something flying like a plane he will make a woosh sound and fly his hand through the air. It’s pretty cute. How many times have I said that now?
-He is still a good sleeper for the most part. He goes down at 8:30ish but doesn’t usually fall asleep for awhile. I can count on him waking up after 8:00 95% of the time. Sometimes the landscapers come early, or the garage door will wake him up. He also takes a nap from 2-5 everyday. We like sleep in our house!

-He loves his doggy. Loves him. He loves to sit and feed him, and follow him around the house. His extra favorite thing to do is go in and out of the doggy door, and play in his water. It’s probably one of my least favorites.
-He’s a pretty picky eater, no surprise. He goes through phases of what he’s willing to eat, especially with fruit! I can always count on him eating apple sauce and usually mac and cheese. Right now he will not eat strawberries, bananas, apples, and he’s never really liked oranges. Every morning he eats two pieces of toast! So if he’s willing to eat, he will eat a toooon!

-Last week he figured out how to open the fridge. I even caught him climbing in the fridge to get his sippy cup. Ugh.
-He’s completely iPhone savvy *facepalm* We only have ourselves to blame. Not my proudest moment.
-At his two year appointment he weighed in at 29lbs, (50%) and 50% for height. His head however, it’s up there in the 75th still! He’s no longer above average, but everyone comments on how big he is!

-On Tuesdays and Fridays I can always count on an extra happy baby because that’s when the recycle man and trash man come! He loves to run over to the window and watch as the trucks drive past our house!

-He loves to read books, especially if they are a lift the flap book! He loves the book “Where is spot?” and “Where is babies Belly Button”. We read those two every night before bed!

-He loves to cheer for himself after he’s done something. He will finish reading a book and close it and clap. Or he will stand on the bottom stair and “count” to three (he just makes three sounds in a row) and jumps down and he will clap.

-Nixon LOVES his dad. LOVES him. This last weekend I sat back and watched how every time he would get upset or hurt he would run right past me who was doing nothing, and run to his dad. It’s no surprise he will say daddy and hasn’t ever muttered the word “mama”.

-He loves to play outside. He opens the back door and just comes and goes all day bringing all the toys back and forth with him. And yes, he is hitting Chief with a spatula and thought it was the funniest thing ever. And no, I do not use that spatula when I cook anymore, it’s for projects only!
-He loves to get out of the house and go. If I say “we’re gonna go buh bye” and I’m not ready he will run to the garage door and if I’m not there in fast enough he may or may not throw a fit. Last week he opened the door to the garage probably 10 times so Jim took him outside to play and he just kept going to the cars and trying to get in! He really wanted to go for a ride so for a ride we went! He clearly wears the pants in this house.

-He’s a pretty good traveler! I can’t remember how many flights hes been on in his short two years, but He is totally comfortable with the process. He knows we get on the plane and then it’s a free for all with the light button over head. He also knows not to push the stewardess button!
-He is the cutest little arm folder and head bower in the world.
-When we get to wherever we are going like the store he always waves at everyone as we walk in and then after we check out. I know people are waiting for him to actually speak “hi” but we are working on it! He started saying it last week but I really have to work it out of him!
-He is the boy that cried wolf with poop. I think anytime theres action in his diaper he points to it and says “pooooop”. It’s pretty funny but also helpful because when I know he actually did poop he will only say it once hes completely done.

-I can’t believe I’ve made if this far without mentioning his LOVE of Toy Story! All day, everyday! He got Woody and Buzz for Christmas and Its been the best ever. He makes Buzz fly, and loves to watch the movies with them by his side.
We Love this little guy of ours! I feel so lucky to be his mom and that I get to stay at home with him all day and hang out! He really is so funny, and he’s my little buddy! Seriously, Nikkins Monster, you’re my favorite!

This picture was taken in July, when he was about 17 months, but it’s still a favorite

10, 11, and 12 Months!

You could definitely say I’ve been a terrible mom in the blog category lately and I would not fight you on it. I’ve updated Nixon’s baby book for month 10 and 11, so I’m just going to skip to 12 months. My BABY is 12 months. He is so much fun, but as we watch videos of the little tiny baby he use to be I find myself aching to hold and love on that little guy. Let me make it clear, I want to hold THAT tiny baby, not have another baby. So here is what my baby is doing at 12 months!

-We are off everything baby and onto real food. He loves toast, mac and cheese, grilled cheese, and quesadillas. Pretty much anything with cheese, except actual slices of cheese. He’s picky and it’s ridic.

-Nixon has a very specific nap schedule. Wakes up at 7:45-8:00, nap from 10:00-12:00, and again from 3:00-5:00. There’s been a few times that I’ve tried to skip the first nap and go down early for the second and he does totally fine all morning. But the second nap is rough, he wakes up a bunch and only sleep for about an hour and a half. If he has the first nap he will sleep for a total of 4 hours during the day. Take a guess at what I prefer?

-He’s started to really crawl. I thought he’d be an army crawler forever!

-We survived a road trip to Utah over Christmas. And I truly mean survived. On the way up we drove through the night, and it was really hard. A Strom hit as we were pulling into Salt Lake making the last 30 minutes take much longer. The way home we drove through the day and it didn’t take as long but we were sure happy to finally be home!

-Pulls himself up on everything and walks along the furniture, but will not stand on his own! He can, but he just buckles his knees and squats down. He’s just goofy like that.

-We now have a forward facing baby in the car. Holy moly it is so nice. I love being able to see him, and hand him snacks and water when he gets cranky!

-He has figured out how to open my makeup drawer, and loves to feel around for something to grab and drop on the ground. It’s one of my least favorite games.

-We had our first real babysitter on Valentines day, the day before his birthday and he did great! Say hello to date nights again! (I was really sad that I wasn’t going to be the one putting my baby down for the last time though)

-Jim has started to read Nixon the “Where’s Spot?” after the bath and he looooooves it! As soon as we go in the guest bedroom for lotion and jammies he looks around for the book and says “da”! Can’t be sure if it’s for “Dad” “dog” “book” or just the only sound he can really make. Either way, I’m impressed.

-I still give him a bottle of milk twice a day. Mostly I’m just holding onto the fact that he’s still my baby. I can’t let it go! STOP GROWING!!!!

-We’ve been going to the park a lot with this nice weather and we’ve discovered that Nixon isn’t the biggest fan on the grass. He just doesn’t love it on his legs, but it doesn’t stop him from exploring.

-First hair cut! Nixon’s friend Porter’s mom offered to give Nixon a little trim because lets be honest, he was looking a little homeless. He did SOOOO good! He just sat there and watched videos of himself and before I knew it my baby was not so much a baby anymore! We did put some of those baby hairs in a bag and I’ll keep them forever and ever.

-He learned how much fun it is to throw the blankets over the edge of the crib. He thinks it’s so entertaining but then when he is ready to go to sleep he get’s mad because they are on the floor. He loves those dang blanky’s so much.

-Speaking of blanky’s, Nixon REALLY love them. I was upstairs cleaning the bathroom and Nixon was playing in his room and his blanky was in the crib. Then I heard his sweet voice of “ohhhhhhhhhhh, awwwwwwwww, ohhhhh” and he had pulled the blanket through the rails and I was hugging it and rolling around with it on the floor. That’s what he does when he really loves something. I had the dryer open a little one day and he loves to open and close the door but when he saw that his blanky’s were inside he got so excited and pulled them out and cuddle them and roll around on the floor with them saying “ohhhhhh”. Where does he get this stuff??

-We had a small party at the park to celebrate Nixon’s birthday! Who would have thought that February 15 it would be 85 degrees outside? We weren’t exactly ready for that kind of heat! It was good to see all our friends, and the babies had fun playing with the ice in the cooler. When it came time for cake Nixon wasn’t so sure about it. The frosting was sticky and he’s not a real fan of that. Once he got a taste of it things got better.

-I love just sitting and watching Nixon play and discover things, but one of my favorite things is when Nixon finds something, like a tube of toothpaste that he’s pulled off the counter, and he puts it in his mouth and just crawls away. I don’t know what about it is so amazing, but he just has to take it with him across the room, take it out of his mouth and examine it, and then repeat!

-In January We can down with a case of croup. It was so sad to give Nixon breathing treatments every 3-4 hours, but luckily he LOVES watching videos of himself on our phones. So he snuggled right in for a 20 minute movie shesh and just like that we were over it!

-The other thing he loves to do is crawl with something in his hand! Its usually a car or a remote and he will hold it in his hand,  and just take off. The cars are the best because its just like he is rolling them across the house!

-We went through a phase where all he wanted to do was climb the stairs and play upstairs. I am so glad that phase is over! He can climb like a champ, but he doesn’t understand that he will fall and kill himself on the tile.

 

All in all, we just love our big guy!! We can’t image what life would be like without him, but I’m sure it would be boring!

9 Months Old!

I think we can all remember when I was so excited to hit that 9 month mark in pregnancy, but the same can’t be said now. STOP GROWING! Nine months has been really fun!

-Just a few days after Nixon turned 9 months we were lucky enough to have my parents come to town! We had so much fun while they were here! We did everything you can imagine! We went to Schnephf farms (again), got predicures, shopped like crazy, fixed many things around the house, went to the park,  and got some Christmas shopping taken care of. Nixon loved all the attention and we were both in a depression after the left.

-Nixon got to meet one of his cousins for the first time! Kali was in town for a few days so we got together for a delicious breakfast and caught up. It was so fun to get these babies together!

-It was a big month as far as food goes. We moved to stage 3 foods because he would easily eat 2 size 2! It was time to upgrade. We also started him on finger foods, and he LOVES them! Puffs are our lifesaver! I was shocked at how fast he was able to pick them up and get them to his mouth. Such a smarty pants!

-We had our first Halloween with a baby and it was so fun! Mid September I started putting Nixon’s skeleton jammies on him and pretty much never took them off. I mean have you seen anything cuter? Then when Halloween came we made sure he had a late nap, woke up around 6:15 and he was ready to party all night as the cutest baby elephant. Our neighborhood is apparently a HUGE hot spot for trick or treating. We thought we were prepared with our 8 bags of candy… we didn’t stand a chance! We were cleaned out of candy in 45 minutes! It was insane! But we were happy to pack up and head over to our friends house to party with them!

-Nixon was pretty ambitious in the teeth department this last month. On Oct. 27ish he got his top right tooth, and a week later, about the 3rd, the top left popped through! He now has 4 teeth! YIKES!

-Someone decided that a nice three week cold would be a great way to celebrate our new teeth! It’s been really fun *not* but we are on the up and up and I am still alive.

-Chief and Nixon have taken their relationship to the next level. Nixon loves watching and giggling at Chief, and loves when he licks and sniffs his belly/legs/feet. Chief loves Nixon, Nixon loves Chief, and we are a happy family.

-And if all of that weren’t enough, we have a crawler/scooter. It’s entertaining to watch because he hasn’t figured out how to use his limbs in unison. He kind of army crawls, but uses his frog legs when those toes are lucky enough to catch on the ground. Does this make sense? Just know that it’s cute. (and I write all this for me to remember, lets be honest)

-The least favorite trick that he’s picked up, grinding his teeth. I mean what the hell. 

And because you haven’t seen enough baby videos by now, here is Nixon’s personal favorite to watch