Happy 5-Month Birthday Nicholas

Dear Nicholas,

You are 5 months old today and I can hardly believe it. This past month went by in the blink of an eye! But it was an eventful and busy month.

I started back at work earlier this month, which was really hard at first. The days and nights leading up to my return to work were filled with lots of tears (mine – I don’t think you had any clue what was happening). You’ve taken the transition in stride and are incredibly happy at daycare, which makes it much easier on me when I’m at work (especially when I peek in on you through the video feed and see you playing with all of your little friends). The thing I miss the most by far are my mornings with you. Yesterday I took it easy in the morning and stuck around until you woke up…I forgot how absolutely amazingly awesome you are in the mornings. You smiled, laughed, babbled, giggled, smiled some more…it just melted my heart. And then of course it made it so much harder to leave you and go to work. Your Daddy is a lucky man to get to see you so happy every morning.

You’ve continued to learn so many new things this month. You finally discovered your feet about two weeks ago. We were beginning to think that you would never know they were attached to your legs. But now all you want to do is play with them. You love lying on your back with your legs up toward your chest, feet in your hands, just giggling to yourself.

You also learned how to roll from your back to your tummy, and you made it look so easy! You also rolled from tummy to back in the opposite direction from the way you normally do it. And you sat up unassisted for a few seconds. You’re getting so big and strong!

I definitely think you’re teething, since you’re drooling even more than usual and sticking your hands in your mouth at every opportunity. I was hoping you’d get your two front teeth for Christmas, but so far they’re a no-show.

On that note, you celebrated your first Christmas this year with Mommy’s family in Memphis and you had a great time! You got to meet your cousins Tieren, Lucas and Alex for the first time and they had so much fun always trying to make you laugh.

You experienced snow 3 times this month – once in Atlanta, and twice in Memphis (on Christmas and the day after).

You tried out the Johnny Jump Up for the first time last night, and you loved it!

You are honestly the happiest baby that I’ve ever met, and it makes us so incredibly happy to see you smile and laugh all the time. And you’re still quite the talker, often talking yourself to sleep. It’s adorable, and we can’t wait until we hear your first words in a few months.

And one of the cutest things that you started doing 1-2 weeks ago is “waving.” You just started sticking out your left hand, and turning it while you would stare at it, and it looks like you’re waving. It’s adorable!

We’re looking forward to 2011 with you and love you more than you know!

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from this month.

(I totally think you look like a Cabbage Patch Kid doll in this picture)

(Mommy just had to torture you with another one of her crocheted hats)

(The Santa-Andrews with our little St. Nicholas!)

Happy Little Clam at Daycare

I returned to work two weeks ago, and so far so good. The first day back was awful (I couldn't talk about Nicholas or I would burst into tears), but luckily it got easier with every passing day. The thing that helped the most was knowing that Nicholas loves his daycare and seems to be thriving.

On his first full day at daycare, he was up for 8 hours straight, but apparently didn't fuss at all. I showed up one night to pick him up and thought I heard him fussing, so I asked one of his teachers if it was him and she said, "Oh no, that's not Nicholas. He never cries...he just smiles and laughs all day." Nothing can comfort a mother more than knowing her baby is happy, even when they're apart. His teachers also find it amusing that he cracks up every time he gets undressed!

This was the picture that Scott e-mailed to me on his first day:

One of the best parts of his daycare is the fact that I can watch him throughout the day and see what he's up to through the school's video feed. It's not the best or clearest video, so when I can't find him right away, I look for the little dude with only one sock on:

And he seems to really enjoy watching the other kids and learning what they're doing, because he rolled over from back to tummy the other night for the first time, and last night sat up for a minute or so completely unassisted. Love our little man!

Happy 4-Month Birthday Nicholas

Dear Nicholas,

This has been your busiest month yet and was full of so many changes. You celebrated your first Halloween and your first Thanksgiving. For Halloween, you went trick-or-treating as an adorable little bull. You were the cutest baby in the whole world!! Your brother Wingnut was a bumblebee, and you two made quite the pair.

You’ve also had a lot of really significant developments this month. At the beginning of the month, you started reaching for toys and held a toy in both of your hands and brought it to your mouth. You went from only reaching for things that I placed on your belly to reaching for just about everything, no matter where they are. You also now hold the bottle with both hands (Daddy still helps you out, but you try to hold it all by yourself).

At the beginning of the month, you lifted your chest off the ground during tummy time, and then you rolled over when you were 14 ½ weeks old!!! We could not be more proud of you. It was fun to see you figure out how to do it. You started out by bringing your legs under you, sticking your butt up in the air (a la downward facing dog), and throwing your butt off balance in an effort to roll over. As you practiced, you realized that your arms could actually help you out and you figured out how to combine these skills to roll over. The first several times you rolled over were when you were angry, frustrated, and crying about tummy time, but over Thanksgiving vacation you finally figured out how to roll over without crying and really mastered this skill! Now when we put you on your tummy, you almost immediately start trying to roll.

You put weight on your legs for the very first time when you were 15 weeks old. I was at lunch with my girl friends and held you above my lap and you actually stood up. This week you got up into a sitting position for the first time (from a semi-reclining position). Every time I would let you lean back on the pillow you were propped up against, you would scrunch forward and sit up. You’re getting bigger and growing stronger every day! Today I was holding you in my arms and you all of a sudden sat straight up all on your own.

You took your first really long car trip to Mississippi and did really well in the car…a significant improvement since last month, when you hated being in the car. You had a great time in Mississippi visiting all of your family on Daddy’s side of the family. And, of course, I had to dress you up as a turkey dinner (complete with buttered corn on the cob) for your Thanksgiving card.

You are talking even more than last month, which I didn’t think was possible. Everyone agrees that this is the one trait you definitely got from me. You babble a lot, and even like to talk yourself to sleep on occasion. You’ve also been laughing a ton recently and often squeal with delight. We do the weirdest things to keep you laughing because it’s just the sweetest sound in the world! Lately you’ve been laughing every time we start to undress you…I guess you just really like being naked!

Your Daddy also really likes to style your hair at night and see what funny things he can do with it. His favorite is giving you a Mohawk. We even took you to Mamaw’s nursing home with a Mohawk and all the old ladies loved it. You also got your first mini hair cut this month (just trimmed a few hairs around your ears that were getting really long).

You are growing so fast all of a sudden. I feel like it took us months for you to finally fit into your 0-3 month clothes, and now they’re suddenly too small on you and you’re already fitting into – and even outgrowing some – 3-6 month clothes. We went to the doctor’s office today and found out that you weigh 15 pounds (50th percentile) and you’re 27 1/2 inches long (off the charts). And your cuteness is off the charts too!


I go back to work next week, and I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’m going to miss you. I hate that I’m going to miss our mornings together when we snuggle, play, babble to each other, and smile and laugh together. And I’m going to miss getting to see how much you change from minute to minute, day to day. But I promise to make the most of our evenings and weekends together!

We love you so much and are so thankful to have you in our lives!

In the Bumbo

Nicholas is getting bigger and stronger with every passing day, and actually sat up for a few minutes in his Bumbo yesterday!!

This is a picture of him on November 1 in the Bumbo (clearly not quite sitting up):
And this was him yesterday (November 17). What a difference a few weeks (and a mohawk) make!!

Squealing with Delight!

I haven't had a lot of time to post to the blog lately, but I just had to post some videos of Nicholas laughing. He's always been super smiley and laughey, but in the past his laughing has been more random. But this month he has really started laughing at specific things that we do, and he'll laugh repeatedly at the same stimuli. Here are a few videos of him laughing and squealing at Scott.

I also think it's hilarious that he laughs at me when I make farting noises with my mouth...boys will be boys!

Happy 3-Month Birthday Nicholas

Dear Nicholas,

You are 3 months old already (3 months and 1 week to be exact), and you are changing so much every day. You bring so much happiness to our lives and we love watching you grow and change.

This month was full of accomplishments and new adventures for you. You weigh about 13 ½ pounds. You are even more smiley and you frequently shriek with delight. You have started talking a lot. Pretty much whenever you are awake and happy, you’re talking. You talk to yourself in the mirror on your swing, and you talk to us…we’re convinced you even come close to imitating us at times, saying things like “hi,” “hello,” and “okay.” I’m sure we’re just delusional, but I really do think you’ve imitated us saying these words. You talk the most when I sing to you – I think you’re trying to sing along. It’s adorable!

Not only do Mommy and Daddy make you laugh, but your brother Wingnut does too. You even recognize him now and you start to smile as soon as you see him approaching you (which 99% of the time is so he can lick you).

You’ve become a much better sleeper and make it from about 9:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. with one feeding in between around 5 a.m. Mommy and Daddy are much better rested thanks to this! And you’re even napping better during the day. You’ve even learned to nap in your swing.

You took your first trip on a plane and went to visit your Aunt Wendy, Uncle Damon, and cousins Austin and Andrew. You were a really good traveler and slept the entire flight to Colorado and a lot of the return flight…but you still don’t like traveling in the car. Maybe we’ll just have to start flying everywhere.

You turned 12 weeks old this month and Mommy couldn’t resist taking pictures of you in a fancy little outfit. I love this first one where you are showing off your little belly!

You also met some more of your family members and hung out with Tootsie and Pops, and your cousins on Pops’ side of the family.

You’ve definitely had your growth spurt this month and you’re wearing size 1 diapers now. You have outgrown several more outfits and it’s unbelievable when I look at them and realize how small you were when you were born.

You found your hands this month and put them in your mouth at every opportunity. You like to clasp them together in a way that makes it look like you’re praying. You have much more control of your arms and hands and you grab things when we put them near you. You’re quite a little kicker too – we now have to bathe you in the big bathtub because you kick and splash so much in your little tub that you get water all over the kitchen! You still hate tummy time, but you actually lift your head up well for the first few minutes that you’re on your tummy. And you hold it up well when we sit you up. You are becoming a strong little man right in front of our eyes!

You drool and spit up a lot, so we pretty much have to put a bib on you or tuck a burp rag under your chin at all times. Despite the quantity of fluid that seems to come out of you at times though, you’re still growing and gaining weight and turning into a chunky little baby!

The consensus is that you definitely look just like your Daddy, and you proved it when you made this face:

Mommy can’t raise only one eyebrow at a time; this is a gift that you definitely got from your Daddy.

This next month is most likely going to be my last one home with you and I’m going to treasure every minute! We love you Nicholas!

The Evolution of a Halloween Costume

Four years ago, for my nephew Lucas’s first Halloween, I made him a cow costume. I crocheted the hat and hooves, and Andrea found an adorable pair of cow-print pants to go along with them. Lucas, his brother Alex, and my other nephew Tieren all wore this cow costume for their first Halloweens.

They were all older and bigger than Nicholas when they celebrated their first Halloween, so the costume was too big for Nicholas. So I decided to crochet him a new one to carry on the Merediz family tradition of Halloween cow-babies (calves?).

It’s a lot easier to crochet it when I can fit it to him as I go and make adjustments as needed. Here is the progression of his Halloween costume from his first fitting to the final product. Happy Halloween everyone!

(First fitting)

(Hat is done...not sure he likes it though)

(Hooves are finished)

(Costume is complete!)

Nicholas's First Trip

Two weeks ago we took Nicholas on his very first trip, and went to visit Scott’s sister’s family in Colorado. Nicholas slept horribly the night before we left, so we were worried we were in for a terrible flight. Luckily, he was exhausted from the night before and slept the entire flight other than when he woke up to eat. He didn’t actually wake up completely until we got to the car rental place.
(Asleep at the gate)

(Still asleep on the tram)

We arrived on Thursday and drove to Wendy’s house. It was wonderful seeing her and seeing how well she has recovered! Nicholas was super excited to meet her and his cousins.

On Friday we took a tour of Schriever AFB with Damon, and Mimi and Grandaddy arrived that evening.

On Saturday we went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It’s an awesome zoo – set up on the side of Cheyenne Mountain. You work your way uphill through the zoo and the view of Colorado Springs and the surrounding area gets better the higher up you get. There is a great giraffe exhibit where you can actually feed and pet the giraffes.

After the zoo we drove through Garden of the Gods – absolutely amazing rock formations that just jut out from the earth. Breathtaking!!

Nicholas didn’t see much of it – but he looked adorable as we drove through the park.

Super Baby!

On Sunday we planned to go up to Pikes Peak but realized that Nicholas was too young to travel to that altitude, so we headed to Royal Gorge instead.

First, we took an incline railway down into the gorge.

(View of the bridge from the bottom of the gorge)

Then we took a walk across the bridge that crosses over the gorge.

And finally we took a gondola ride across the gorge.

Nicholas managed to fall asleep in the Baby Bjorn and we put Grandaddy's baseball cap on his head to give him some peace and quiet. Too cute!

On Monday we had to say goodbye, but not before we took some pictures of the cousins all together.

Here's a cool shot of the Denver airport.

Nicholas (and Scott and I) had a great trip!