She's One!

Even though her birthday isn't until tomorrow, we celebrated Nicole's first birthday this weekend. It was a very exclusive guest list of siblings and parents only (mine, not Nicole's). I attempted to make a lady bug cupcake cake. It didn't turn out like the picture I had, but it turned out good enough. I am still refining my decorating skills.


Nicole seemed to like the cupcakes well enough but she didn't want to get dirty at first. But, she got over it when she discovered how yummy the cupcake was.




Neither did she want to blow out her candle, but I helped her out and we made it in the end. It is funny, she wouldn't blow out the candle, but she will blow on her food before she takes a bite.

Nicole got a bunch of different gifts including summer clothes and a couple of toys.

She didn't grasp the concept of opening gifts, but her cousin Lucy (who is 1.5) was very eager to open gifts.

The following are pictures of some of our Nicoley celebrators.

Sarah and Mark
Anne and Carlitos
Lucy
Johnny
We played a couple of Nicoley games at the party. Meaning that I asked questions about Nicole (what words she knows, nicole nicknames, nicole songs) and the people who got the most right got snacks. My sisters won, not shockingly.

Overall, everything went really well and it was just a low key kinda party. When she gets older and actually knows what is going on, I imagine that the parties will be more crazy.

Grandma Chipman gave Nicole her Easter dress this year. And, since Easter falls on conference this year, she wore the dress yesterday. It was a little big, but she looked super cute!
Nicole's hair is getting so long that it has been fun to style it while she is in the bath.
Stats to come later in the week after we see the doctor.

Coley Two Tooth

Well, Nicole is sick again. She has a cold, which wouldn't be so bad except that she is also cutting her second tooth (front right). It is just under the surface, but hasn't cut quite yet. She will be my little girl with two front teeth and no others yet. The first tooth is still not all the way in, it is just barely below the gum line.

So, I have been dealing with an upset baby who refuses to eat and has a runny nose all the time and wants to nurse even though I am done. (yay!)

Matt and I had a relaxy weekend. Matt fixed some stuff around the house and watched the baby so that I could go to Sherlock Holmes with Sarah and Mark. I finally got to see it after I missed it when Matt and I went (Nicole freaked out and I sat outside the theater with her until it was over). It was pretty good, very interesting.

This is a big week for us, it is Matt and my third anniversary and Nicoley's first birthday. Stay tuned for recaps.

Tooth

Last week after many days of being a fussy eater, Nicole's first tooth finally broke through. But, it wasn't the tooth we were expecting. It was her top front tooth that first broke through. We think the other teeth are not far behind because her fussiness continues.

I'm just excited that it has finally happened. I was starting to think that she would never get teeth.

Nicole is getting more and more brave all the time which is a good and a bad thing. It is good because she seems to be socializing with other kids a little more and is less clingy to mommy. She is still skittish around adults though. But, her bravery is also a bad thing in some cases. A couple of days ago, she decided she needed some keys that were on the counter and attempted to lean out of her highchair to get them. It resulted in her with one leg hanging out of the chair and one hand gripping the counter while the rest of her was in the high chair that was slowly moving away from the counter. Luckily, Daddy caught her before she could fall.

Matt taught Nicole how to go down the stairs this weekend. I had tried to teach her in the past to no avail, but he spent a few hours showing her how it was done and she can now turn around and go down the stairs. I don't know if this releaves my anxiety about her and the stairs, because she is getting very brave and careless.

Many new developmen ts as she approaches the year mark.

Ugh! I Hate Picky Eaters

So, Nicole has recently decided that she doesn't like eating. Of course, she does this while I've got her down to nursing only twice a day. Maybe she is on to my scheme.

Nicole used to eat baby food quite well. It would take some coercion at times (airplane distractions), but she usually ate it. She even went back to eating it after the stomach flu. But, last week she decided that she didn't want to eat baby food anymore. She wanted what we were eating. She is still toothless and can't always eat what we are eating. Not to mention that some foods are just not baby appropriate (meats and citrises).

So, I tried to make baby friendly meals. But, the last few days, she has even been rejecting what we are eating. She also does not want her chocolate soy milk anymore. She fights me on eating it.

All she wants to do is nurse. But, then when she is nursing, all she wants to do is pull my hair, scratch and pinch me.

It is so FRUSTRATING!

Today as I tried three different things to feed her she threw goldfish on the floor, refused to open her mouth for noodles, and gagged and threw up the carrots that I put in her mouth. She literally put her fingers in her mouth to get the carrots out and gagged. Ugh!

I just don't know what to do. I can't continue to nurse, she is too big and it is just to frustrating and painful for me, but she is refusing other foods. Do I just keep trying new things? Do I let her go hungry until she is so hungry that she will eat what I am offering? I'm at a loss.

Drama in Farm Country

Yesterday, Nicole and I went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with Anne and the kids. It was not a warm day and it was fairly windy, but we bundled up and went.

Nicole is not a fan of the cold. She is definitely a girl who likes to be warm and loves to have her blanket with her at all times.

Little Lucy and Carlitos love Farm Country apparently, but Nicole was not so much a fan. She was fine at first just sitting in the stroller, but then we went over to the ponies for a pony ride. Dun dun dun.
Ah yes, there it is, the dreaded, docile, attached to a circle pony.
I put Nicoley on the pony and was still holding on to her, but she screamed like someone was torturing her. I walked her around the circle a couple of times hoping that she would get used to it, but it only made her scream louder. So, I pulled her off the pony and put her on my hip while we watched Carlitos and Lucy enjoy their pony ride.

While standing there, I felt my side slowly start to get wet. I took Nicole over to a bench and set her down and sure enough, she had blown out of her diaper onto me and onto herself. I proceeded to clean her up right there on the bench, but it was everywhere and I only had two wipes. Luckily, Anne came prepared with more wipes. Nicole was screaming and crying and she hated the whole ordeal because no one likes to get their diaper changed outside and then get totally stripped down and redressed. I always carry an extra onsie for just such occasions, but I didn't have an extra set of pants, so she had to go pantsless the rest of our time there. I don't really think she recovered from this tramatic experience though because she hated the rest of Farm Country.

She didn't want to touch the animals and screamed if I prompted her to do so. She was okay for a little while when we went to see the chickens and the goats, but then we saw the ducks. One goose stuck it's head through the bars and honked at her and it was all over. She couldn't stop crying. She had been scared enough.

What kind of mother am I that I would bring her to a cold place of terror? We left early and Anne and the kids stayed for their second pony ride. Nicole was much happier in the warm car and was all better by the time we got home. No more Farm Country for a while I think.

Later that night, Matt tried to giver her a ride on his shoulders, she didn't like this either. I just don't think she is the baby who likes rides. I don't know why I am surprised. She won't let people hold her, I don't know why she would let a horse hold her. Oh well.

11 Months

Well she is eleven months old and finally not sick *crosses fingers*. The month of February was a tough one as Nicoley or Me or Matt were sick almost the entire month. But, we survived, we made it.

I know I say this every month, but I can't believe how old she is. She is just a month shy of a year, but I still think of her as my little baby. Matt and I still refer to her as "the baby" even though I know she is nearing toddling age.

I know I didn't do a ten month post, so I will just have to group her accomplishments from the last two months.
Coley is crawling up a storm! She loves to crawl up the stairs. She doesn't know how to get down but if I take my eye off of her for a second it is most likely that she has crawled upstairs and is in the bathroom. I don't know why she likes the bathroom so much, but she crawls in there whenever I leave the door open. I don't get it. Walking has not yet occured, but she does walk while holding onto things and walks around from thing to thing. I have a feeling she will be a late walker just like she was a late crawler.

No teeth yet. I'm starting to think she will never get teeth. We thought for sure they were coming in this week because she was super whiny and waking up twice a night and oragel seemed to calm her, but no such luck. I need to just stop believing that the teeth are coming in and then perhaps they will appear.

Many of you know that Coley is allergic to milk. Well, pre stomach flu I had her on the soy formula. But, after a week of throwing up formula, she will no longer take it in any form. So, I switched gears and bought soy milk. I figured she was fairly close to the age to upgrade to milk, so I just did it. But, I add vitamin drops for nutrients. Also, I am a total cheater. To get her back on the bottle again, I resorted to putting ovaltine in her milk. Yes, I feed her chocolate milk. But, she is finally taking the bottle so that I can FINALLY ween her. I am very ready to be done nursing. I figure I will slowly reduce the amount of chocolate I put in her milk until she is just drinking the milk.


Nicole has gotten a few new words... or two rather. She still says Momma and Daddy, but she also says Oley Oley O, which is what we call her at home. It is super cute to get her to say her own name. She has also picked up "No." Which is not my favorite, but it was inevitable. She pretends she doesn't know what it means when I say it, but she has no problem saying it to me.

Nicole is as shy as ever. She still hates to going to strangers or members of the family that she doesn't know as well. She still just likes Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma. I am really hoping she grows out of this because sometimes I need a break and it would be nice if she would let others hold her. Ugh.

Nicole's favorite food is bread and cookies. She loves to eat little bits of bread and little bits of cookie and is always crying for it. She cries about pretty much everything now and I have to guess what it is that she wants. There has to be a better system.

Even though I don't want my little baby to grow up, I love to watch it.