Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we woke Nicholas up at about 6:15 because Tyler couldn't wait any longer and because we figured we needed to get started if we were going to make it on time to 9am church. Nicholas usually needs a little bit of time before he is willing to socialize, but we figured the excitement of presents would override any grumpiness. He got distracted by a gift he had opened the night before though, on his way to the tree and so since we were trying to usher him to the new presents he thought we weren't going to let him play with Thomas train. You'll see his reaction. Eventually though we got the reaction we were hoping to see, it just took about 3 presents to get there!





Here are some other pictures from the day as well.

This is the face he made when I said "Smile!!"

After church both boys were so tired that they fell asleep on the couch! It's normal for Tyler, but Nicholas never does that! :)

Christmas Eve

This year Christmas Eve was chore day. I did more chores than I had done in the last month. That's not saying I did a lot... my contribution was pathetic really. But I did stuff. :) Nicholas and Tyler cleaned up the back yard. Nicholas had so much fun "helping" Daddy rake and shovel. You can tell how hard he's working by how much his tongue sticks out!

Tractor!!

We stopped by Tyler's work today and Nicholas "helped." He was in 2 year old heaven!

Terrible Twos

I recognize and appreciate the fact that I have one of the best behaved two year olds in the world. I know we are so lucky. Every once in a while though we are reminded that he is a pretty normal two year old. Sometimes he gets an attitude, i know he sometimes pushes in nursery, and goes into all out war mode when someone tries to take his toy away. Today we sort of bonded over one of the worst tantrums I have ever seen him throw. Definitely in the top two.
For this kind of meltdown there are a lot of factors that come together and create little baby chaos, and today had a lot of those factors. But they were masked by the fact that he was with his best friend and his mom, so I was taken a bit off my guard. And of course the melt down came when I tried to pry him away from his best friend and his mom so that we could go home and take our respective naps. It started with the normal protests and turned to screams and hitting. I tried to talk him through it but he was having none of that. So, I dragged him out to the car kicking and screaming, without shoes on, and let him calm down in the car while I went back for my purse and both our shoes.
When I got back to the car though, he was still crying! This totally surprised me, he should have calmed down by then but instead he was crying out for "Lyndsey! Jakey! No night night! Lyndsey! Jakey!..." So I gave him kisses and explained again that we were going home so he could sleep and rest his little body, and when he woke up everything would be better." he sniffled an "ok" and we drove home. During the drive though, he would randomly start to cry again and kept sniffling, so I thought maybe talking to Daddy would help. We called Tyler and I handed Nicholas the phone so they could talk man to man-cub. Tyler asked him why he was sad and he said "Lyndsey... Jakey... Mommy... Night night..." there you go, the whole explanation in 5 words. It calmed him down though and helped enough to keep the sniffles at bay so I could get him home and into bed. Whew!
But before he went to bed we had some snuggles and some kisses, and I think he had forgiven me. Which shouldn't really be my main concern but I love my little boy and am glad that he was willing to forgive and forget after such apparent trauma. <3

Christmas Ornaments

This year when I was decorating our tree, I was enjoying some of the ornaments we've collected since we've been married. Some were gifts to each other, some were gifts from friends. Some were passed down from our family's trees, and some were found on our family adventures. All of them tell a little bit about who we are. Here is just a little sampling:

10 week belly

Shenanigans

This is mostly just a picture dump, but there are some fun ones! We went to the park today, which is one of my favorite things about the winter time in this area. It's cool enough that we don't get sweaty and gross, but warm enough that we don't freeze our fingers off. It's not as cold as it will get, but it's never too cold for the park. :)

The other day we had spaghetti for dinner. I LOVE SPAGHETTI! My son didn't inherit Tyler's or my love for olives, but he sure does love spaghetti. Don't judge me for using paper bowls, I don't do dishes these days. :P

And... one last thing. I've mentioned the bug thing before, but this is the final project:

ew.