Easter Post

Happy Easter from Nicoley Bunny!


We had a very relaxing Easter this year. Not as relaxing as last year where I slept all day because I had just had a baby, but relaxing enough.

We had Matt's siblings over for brunch on Sunday morning. We made wheat waffles and three different kinds of syrup. This was my first foray into making my own syrup and it turned out fairly well. We made cinnamon, strawberry, and blueberry syrup and they were very delicious. (except I didn't try the blueberries cuz gross.) We enjoyed breakfast and watched conference together.

For lunch we made egg salad sandwiches which felt very eastery and yum. Then, right after second session we headed up to my parent house for dinner.

Nicoley in her Easter dress with eggs


My mom had set up an egg hunt for all the grandchildren. Nicole didn't really understand the concept of hunting for eggs. The other kids caught on and found all her eggs for her. Which made hunting for eggs a lot easier for me. She wasn't interested in the eggs or the basket, but she does like the m&ms that were inside. She is a little chocolate lover.

We ate dinner at my parents and then headed home. I was one tired mommy since I had woken up at 6am and hadn't had a nap. Thus ended our Easter of 2010.

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.

And the Saga Continues

Well, Nicole threw up three times yesterday and no times today so far. But, she has thrown up her antibiotic every time I have given it to her and last night she got a rash after I gave it to her. So, I stopped giving it to her. Today she has been crying off and on all day and has been non inclined to eat. I have to assume that it is the ear infection. Called the doctor to get a new prescription but my doctor has already left for the weekend. The office said they would try to get a different doctor to sign a prescription and send it off to the pharmacy. We shall see.

I've got her on Motrin, but it doesn't seem to help with whatever it is that is ailing her. This would be so much easier if she could just talk to me.

I'm starting to get cabin fever. Two weeks of being in my house alone is getting to me. I'm so sick of tv and reading and all the things that I do in a day. I want out! I want a break. But, then I remember that I am still a mommy and sometimes mommy's don't get breaks.

She has been waking up in the middle of the night every day this week which is very unlike her. She usually sleeps 8-10 hours a night. I can't tell if this is ear pain or tooth pain or a different pain entirely. I'm tired, but I feel worse for her than I do for me.

Being a Mom is Heartbreaking

2 days of vomiting, 9 days of hives, 9 days of runny/stuffy nose, 3 days of cough, 1 day diarrhoea, 2 days ear infection, and one very tired mommy.

Nicole is still sick. Every time I think that she is getting a little better, something new seems to hit. Went to the doctor again yesterday and the doctor said she has a virus, causing the cold symptoms, she also has the stomach flu, she also has an ear infection, and one of her illnesses are causing the hives.

I can stand being tired and sick and having to take care of a sick child. What really is hard on me is watching her suffer and knowing that there is nothing I can do to make is better. After vomiting for the who knows how manyieth time yesterday, little Nicole just kept convulsing with dry heaves. I felt so bad! I would rather have me be sick than watch my child be sick. It is heartbreaking.

Every time she threw up, she just looked up at me and cried with those eyes that asked, "why mom?" I cried with her when I couldn't take it any more. I think being a mom is difficult because we love our little ones so much that we want to do everything for them and just see them happy and healthy. But, life is life and there will be hard times for my child and it just breaks my heart to see it.

I always thought the difficult part of having a sick child would be cleaning up the vomit and the other bodily fluids, but that isn't it. Those parts are easy compared to watching my baby cry because she is so hungry, but I know I can't feed her anything other than pedialite because she will vomit it up.

Lets hope today is better.

Being a Mom is Gross

Nicole has thrown up five times today. Three times on my bed. Matt and I are sick with colds and don't feel good. Oh yeah, having the best day ever.

Spots

Nicoley started getting these spots on her neck on Sunday and then it only got worse and worse. What is wrong with my baby?


I took her to the doctor yesterday and she said that it was a viral infection causing the spots and the fever that she has (100 degrees low grade fever).
She also said that there is nothing I can do and I just have to wait it out until they are gone like any virus.
Little Nicoley is so sad. She is usually a very active baby and loves to play, but for two days all she has done is lay around and whimper and cry. She doesn't even want to play. The only thing that appeases her is watching cartoons. So, we have been watching a lot of cartoons.
I just don't believe my doctor's diagnosis. I think it is bubkis, so I am going to get a second opinion tomorrow. My doctor said that this could last up to six weeks. I just can't watch my little girl be sick for two weeks and do nothing.

Poor Nicoley.

Birthday 26

Happy 26th Birthday to me! Well, technically I won't be 26 until tomorrow, but we celebrated on Saturday.

I once again decided to go with an Iron Chef theme. I have thrown myself a birthday party for many years now (ever since I went off to college). This is because when I was a kid, I only got a party every other year. Then, when out on my own, I decided that I would not wait for someone to throw a party for me ever again. I would throw my own parties and they would be amazing! And they have been. Themes from past parties include: Becky's Bestest Birthday Bash, Superheros/Villains, Prom, and ... well I don't actually remember the others. But, two years ago, I held an Iron Chef party with an Orange theme (the fruit, not the color). This party was a success and I had finally found a lasting theme.

Thus, this year was once again an Iron Chef party with the secret ingredient being Coconut! Everyone was instructed to bring a dish containing coconut to the party.

We had a ton of food! The key ingredient to every good party. Everyone was able to eat, judge, and enjoy. There were a lot of fun dishes this year. I decided to vary from my previous decision to make my own birthday cake this year and I made a savory dish instead. I made coconut crusted crab cakes with lime sauce. I thought that they were really good, but the judges did not put them in first place. Matt made coconut shrimp with peanut sauce that also turned out really well.
But, the dish that won (supposedly) were these hamburger cupcakes. They didn't actually contain any meat, but had mounds of frosting in the middle. But, upon reviewing the tally sheet the day after the party, I realized that there was a mistake! Someone misjudged the cupcakes and scored them out of 10pts for plating rather than 5pts. Thus, giving them an extra 4 pts! Aha! I was very pleased with this discovery because even though the cupcakes were very pleasing to look at, they were yucko.

So, I am proud to announce that the winning dish was actually *drumroll* Coconut Chicken with sweet sauce submitted by Anne Aguilera! Congratulations Anne, your dish reigned supreme and you ARE the Iron Chef.
We actually had a really good turn out. About 30 people and a gaggle of children showed up to the party. And, even though the chicken ranked highest, my favorite dishes were the coconut curry submitted by Laura Brockbank and the pina coladas by Marie Mecham (very refreshing).
Everyone seemed to have a good time except for Nicole who was very upset by all the people at her house. But, I enjoyed myself and I think that that is what matters most.

Cleaning

I'm not really sure if I just wasn't messy before Nicole came, but I do not remember cleaning as much pre baby as I do post baby. Nicole isn't that dirty because I'm kinda anal about her cleanliness (no jam hands kid for me!), but there always seems to be a lot of mess in the house.

The dishes always need to be done, the kitchen is always a mess, lots of things are untidy, and there is always laundry to do.

Even if I clean, that very same day, things are messy again. I just don't know how this keeps happening to me. I don't know if it is me or the baby, but I feel like it is me because the baby doesn't create many dishes.

This is what I get for cooking dinner every night. Things were a lot cleaner when we ate out all the time. Those were the good old days.

Matt is really good about helping me when he gets home from work, but I feel like I should do it during the day because I need to contribute to the family (since I'm not bringing in any moolah any more). I definitely prefer working to cleaning. But, I prefer being a mom to working. I am definitely getting the better deal.

Well, I'm off to do the dishes... again.

Spout!

It has finally happened! Nicole's hair is long enough to put in a little spout.

And she looks so super cute with her little spout. Now no one will mistake her for a boy.

Her hair has been growing longer and longer and I finally tried again to put her hair up. She only lets me do it some days, but it is is just too cute when she lets me and leaves it in.
This is definitely a very fun age. Some times I wish each month would last a little longer so that I could enjoy the age a little longer.
She is now crawling up the stairs and she is very proud of herself when she does it. But, of course it makes me very nervous because I fear that she will fall backward down the stairs. She doesn't know how to get down the stairs and is to afraid to try, even with Mommy's help.
She is still in her "momma's girl" phase, which can be annoying at times. She always wants me to hold her and is very afraid of other people. With the exception of Matt and my Mom, she cries when anyone else holds her. I would very much like her to get out of that phase.

She really loves to look at her scrapbook that I am making for her. It is all pictures of her as a little baby and she loves to turn the pages and kiss the baby. I am way behind on my scrapbooking. I think that it is possible that I took too many pictures of her in her first months because I haven't even scrapbooked past 2 months yet and her scrapbook is full.

I really love scrapbooking. I don't get to do it that often because Nicole doesn't love it as much as I do. My mom has a room dedicated to scrapbooking at her house, so I like to go there to do my work because all the tools I want to use are there. But, alas that I don't get out there that much.

Nicole hates riding in the car (another reason I don't go to my mom's too often). She cries on almost every car ride we take. I'm not sure if it is because she is riding backward or if she just gets bored or if she gets car sick, but I am so done with the crying in the car. I'm hoping that things will get better when we move her to the forward facing carseat. Which won't be until she is one and 25 pounds. But, I am pretty tired of lugging around 35 pounds of car seat and baby, so hopefully it happens soon.

9 months!

Nicole is now 9 months old! That is crazy to me. My little baby is all growing and growing so fast! Here are her latest stats: Weight: 20lbs (she has been sick and lost a little weight) Length: 28inches. She is a good sized little girl and healthy with the exception of the cold that we both got.

Sarah's wedding was a couple weeks ago and I never posted on it... and I probably never will. But, these are pictures of Nicole in her little dress that all the little girls wore to the wedding. The headband only stayed in long enough for me to take these pictures and then she tore it out of her hair. But, she looked super cute for like 20 minutes. Then we even took her out of the dress because it had glitter on it that kept coming off and getting onto everything. I am STILL finding glitter in her hair. So, I generously gifted the dress to her cousin Lucy, who doesn't seem to mind glitter everywhere.

Nicole has many new accomplishments and I often feel like she is no longer my baby; she is turning into a little girl. *sniff*

Nicole's words: Mama, Dada, Daddy, Yay!, Baby, Yah yah, and Hi.
Nicole can now crawl and she is fast! We thought she would start crawling at Christmas, but it was another week before she really started to get going. I have to keep an eye on her all the time! I've been baby proofing ever since she started to move around because she seems to get into everything. It has most definitely made my house cleaner.

Nicole has been watching the "Your Baby Can Read" videos and she loves them! She get excited and starts to bounce every time I turn on the dvd. She can now read Clap, Hi, Wave, and Baby. Or, I assume she can because she either repeats the word or does the action.

She is really good at her clapping and waving. She will usually perform those actions when asked. She also gives kisses. Kisses to her are putting her open mouth on my cheek, but she is pretty close.

Nicole one morning when she had crazy hair. I'm so proud of the amount of hair she has grown.

Nicole loves cherios and always wants to eat what I am eating. Unfortunately, most of the time she cannot eat what I am eating. I'm trying to get her to try chunkier fruits, but she gags most of the time when I give them to her. Matt gave her little carrot chunks the other day. The next day, I found whole carrot chunks in her diaper. She still lacks teeth, so most things go down the way they are given to her.

Nicole is pulling herself up on everything! Her favorite thing is to pull herself up using Mommy. I keep telling her that I am not a jungle gym, but she does not or chooses not to understand. She has started pulling herself up in her crib so we finally had to drop the mattress. She didn't seem to notice or care.

I think that she knows the word "no" because when I say it, she smiles and rushes to do whatever I am telling her not to do. But it is so cute that I cannot be mad at her even a little.

Her favorite thing to do is pull herself up, start clapping and say, "yay." She is very proud of her accomplishments.

When she gets upset, she immediately sticks her thumb in her mouth, looks at me and starts crying. She doesn't really suck her thumb, but she chews on it when she cries. I don't know why, but she likes to look at me and then cry. She will bonk her head and not start crying until she sees me, then she will cry. I must be bringing it out in her. She is very much a little drama queen. Figures that my daughter would be just like me.

Now that we are both better, I will be able to enjoy this age. She is so much fun and makes me laugh all the time. She is very independent and wants to do things herself. But, at the same time she is very much a mama's girl. I love seeing her grow up and learn new things, but at the same time I miss my little bitty baby. I think this is part of the evil plot that babies have. They make you love the "baby" phase so that you will always want more babies. Truly ingenius.

been sick

been very sick for a while now. hope i get better soon. coley sick too.