December 27, 2010

Many expression of Nicholas - month 7



We have approached another month. Nicholas is now 7 months old. I am amazed how fast each month is flying by. It's bittersweet.

Milestones:
This past month Nicholas got his first two teeth. They appeared a few days before Christmas. He has spent most of the past few weeks sucking in on his bottom lip, I think it makes his bottom gum feel a bit better.

Nick is loving table food and has moved onto breads and yogurt. His pincher fingers are not quite working yet, so he leans towards my fingers with his mouth ready to receive little bits of bread. He loves spaghetti and I have found that it grinds up nicely in the food processor.

Nicholas is getting stronger by the day. His desire for mobility is evident. Last night he had turned himself 180 degrees in his crib. I woke to find him smiling back at me from a different direction. When he sits he rocks forward and tries to move forward. He has face planted it a couple of times but no tears, just startled. No crawling yet but movement for sure. His strength has allowed us to loose the baby bathtub (yeah, one less piece of baby gear). He can sit just fine in the tub and loves to splash.

His hair is longer and needs a cut. I must put a leave in conditioner on his hair every night or he wakes up with a major rats nest in the morning.

He loves his brothers and Lucy (our Dog). His face lights up and gets extremely excited whenever any of them enter a room. He is so much fun to be around. We love to cuddle and hug him, maybe too much. We are so lucky!!!



December 26, 2010

All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth!



All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth! Literally. Two nights before Christmas Nicholas' two front bottom teeth made an appearance and poked through his gum. You can kind of see two white specs amongst all the drool on his bottom gum. You may also notice this boy needs a hair cut, bad. I might cave and trim up those bangs...

Lego mania!



Benjamin love legos!!! He enjoys reading the step by step instructions, finding the pieces and assembling. One of his Christmas gifts was a large pack of space legos. Last night he set to work assembling and this afternoon he finished. He is quite proud of his creations, this is the largest lego project he has completed.

Christmas Morning






The boys had a fabulous Christmas. They received some great gifts and were very excited to watch and help Nicholas open his presents. Nicholas was thrilled and entertained with the wrapping paper and enjoyed tasting all of the new toys. The best part is the morning started at 7:30. Whew, not too early.

We hope you all had a wonderful day. Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Eve


We spent Christmas eve up and Geoff and Ky's house. We had a wonderful dinner and were able to visit with family. Tradition serves and all the boys got to open a present on Christmas eve, a new pair of pajamas! It apparent Kylene and I shop at the same store for our baby jammies (costso).

December 21, 2010

Santa visits the Malletts


We got a surprise visit from Santa this evening. The boys all got another opportunity to sit on his lap. Three Santa sightings in one year is a Mallett family record. Whew!

Family Christmas party




Saturday we got together for our annual family Christmas party. Much fun was had by all. Santa paid the party a visit and Grandma Great and all of the kids (babies were asleep) got a chance to sit on his lap and receive an early present.

We all enjoyed great food. Kelsey made these amazing cupcakes that tasted like Everything Bundt Cakes, recipe here. We played tons of games and most went home with many prizes. We also had a present/white elephant exchange. Alex got a wig as his gift and a few of us took turns checking out how we'd look in a new hairdo. Turns out Alex is the cutest in a wig, go figure.



It was great to see all the family! We can't wait to party again next year.




December 8, 2010

Santa



We took a trip to visit Santa tonight. Nicholas had his first opportunity to sit on Santa's lap. He did not cry but was kind of zoned out (visit was a little too close to bedtime). I tried to get a family photo but was met with much resistance from the bigger boys. Andrew and Benjamin felt they were too old to sit with Santa. Benjamin would not tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. He stated "that's just a guy in a red Santa suit", and "it's inappropriate to sit on Santa's lap". Andrew felt it was weird because of how old he was. The family photo, as you can see, is missing Benjamin (he is cropped out, head down, sitting on the floor). That's what you get when you ask a 14 year old to snap the shot. It is also not the most flattering photo of me and so it has been censored.

HO HO HO - Merry Christmas!!!

Many expression of Nicholas - Month 6



Milestones:

This month is all about the chatter and yelling. Nick recognizes his voice and likes to talk. He is so happy and rarely gets fussy, however, when he is unhappy he quickly lets us know with one or two wails.

Nicholas had his first bought of high fevers and illness (double ear infections) that required antibiotics. He has been a real trooper and likes the bubblegum taste of the medicine.

He is thoroughly enjoying solid foods, with spaghetti as a clear favorite. He prefers food on the spoon to the bottle.

On the tired side, he waking 1-2 times a night. The nurse and doctor said he is milking me and I need to let him cry it out, but that is hard for me to do. He wakes quickly, wants a bottle and changing and then heads back to sleep. He is also napping twice a day anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

He can sit without aid. Enjoys time on his belly and attempts movement by arching his back and reaching with his arms. Wrapping paper is a good motivator for movement.

His face lights up the second he sees one of his brothers. And he gets excited when they are excited.

He weighed in at his 6 month appointment at a whopping 21 lbs and is considered 94% for height and weight. Big boy!!!

Couldn't be happier or more blessed. We love him so much!

December 7, 2010

Package prepared!

I love all the projects to do around Christmas. It's stressful but I feel so good once each task is checked off the list. Check one, New England package ready to mail. Woohoo!

December 5, 2010

Brighton today

The boys and a friend enjoyed skiing Brighton today.

November 27, 2010

Nicholas is 6 months old

It's crazy to think our little Nicholas is 6 months old today. He is so sweet and such a delight.

We visited Grandma Great and Grandpa Van yesterday. They adored Nicholas and he was fascinated with them.

November 26, 2010

Four Wheeling w/Grandpa

The boys and I enjoyed a great day four wheeling with Grandpa. We rode a few river washes, hiked to an old rock walled fort, and found dinosaur tracks (yes, real dinosaur tracks!). Charlet asked me to send a few pictures to her blog.

November 20, 2010

Harry Potter party







Today we saw Harry Potter 7 and we were finally able to have Andrew's friend birthday party! He had wanted to take a few friends to see the new Harry Potter movie which opened this weekend. I reserved seats a few weeks ago and we set to making invitations. Andrew help me created and burn these invites, we thought it made them look more authentic. I think they turned out pretty cool.

The movie was great, the best Potter yet. You should all see it if you are into Harry Potter. After the movie we brought all of the kids to our house for cake, ice cream, presents, and an unplanned Nerf gun war. Nicholas sensed all the excitement and had a great time yelling along with the crowd.

Andrew's Family party






Last weekend we had the family over to celebrate Andrew's birthday. We played a simple game of guessing the number of jelly bellies in the jars. Whoever guessed the closest got that jar of beans. Every kid left with a jar. Given the noise level when the bean numbers and winners were announced, I deemed the game a hit. We also enjoyed a corn chowder dinner, Texas sheet caked, presents and lots of visiting.