Without Daddy

Without daddy this month we've been filling our days with playdates, Y workouts, errands, and experiencing new frontiers where no baby has gone before (in our house anyway). We have to stay busy or else we miss Andy too much. Nicholas has developed by leaps and bounds this last month, learning to crawl, pulling himself up to standing, and even taking gigantic strides when holding on to mommy's hand. We've had a few adorable photos, and some not so great shoots. I try to keep Andy up on the daily little bits of life that he's missing while out to sea. Nicholas grows so fast that even in a month Andy's going to find him a completely different boy. I'm going to put an excerpt from an email to Andy below that gives you a snapshot of our day--a day in the life of a stay at home mom--such an adventure!

Hi sweetheart,

Turns out the batteries for the camera's flash take a long time to charge, so I had to use the regular flash today, which is blinding for him, thus he's not too thrilled about my snapping away--as you can tell :). I decided, although these pictures are not very good, that they would still make you smile, even at how bad they are, because they are of our little precious boy. One picture had a time delay, so he is just a faint blur, which really showcases how much he's moving around right now! Today was fun--went to church like I said earlier, then he took his morning nap and then we went out to run errands. He goes down easily for the morning nap, but the afternoon one is becoming an epic battle and the evening is often just as difficult. Guess I need to study the new sleeping patterns of this new animal--a "toddler." I believe his species is defined as "one who toddles." He is so excited about standing and all of his new found awareness that it's just TOO MUCH FUN TO SLEEP MOM!

He is having so much fun wherever he goes--people just love making over him, and he enjoys the attention. He chortled in delight today sitting on the couch and chewing on a little cloth book--I tried to capture it on video, but I think the moment was gone. Can't wait for you to just sit and watch him play. It's so amazing to see him looking at a book that we've read 100 times like it's the first time he's ever seen it. He's really starting to play with his toys and study them. He is all about trying to move from one piece of furniture to the next, although he's very cautious about his balance--I'm glad about that, don't want him taking needless nosedives! Went out to Ihopwith mom and dad tonight. I got Nicholas the kids' meal macaroni and cheese with fresh fruit on the side. He could do without the fruit--made the most hilarious and horrible expressions over cantaloupe and pineapple. Then...came the macaroni and cheese. He just about fell out of his highchair with excitement over the wonderful, delicious, best food he's ever eaten, macaroni and cheese. I wish I hadn't introduced him to this not very nutritious meal...but now I can't take it back! He had his hands out to his sides like he does when he's excited about food, almost like he's guarding an opponent, daring us to get by him with a bite of that food. He ferociously bites down on the spoon and kind of gives his head a shake, like Djinn does when he's killing his prey. Then, if anyone gets distracted while he's being fed and doesn't do it fast enough, he gives a little trumpet of frustration. He kicks his feet about in happiness while the macaroni is going down, and he stuffs as much in his mouth as it can hold. Then, when he was finally satisfied, he started to notice the other patrons and smile and make eyes at the little girl next to us. He actually leaned all the way back in his highchair to see around her dad, and then just stayed like that, staring at her open mouthed and somewhat mesmerized. Her mom teased her and prompted her to come up to him and say hi and smile, and then he just looked up at her with the biggest open mouthed smile I have ever seen. He was in love! She gave him a little kiss on the cheek. Already going after the older women! Go Nicholas ;). Of course, she was a bit mousy looking with big glasses, but she was fun and feisty too. Her mom kept making silly faces at Nicholas to make him smile, and it let me finish my food so I was thankful for that! People just love that boy, and he loves people so his little world is pretty wonderful and full of happy smiling faces all beaming love at him. Wish we all saw the world that way!

Here are some of the bad but precious pictures that I sent:

Meet Nicholas Flash: too fast for the camera

What am I thinking of?

Look mom, no pants!

said with clenched teeth: mom, please stop taking pictures! Or I'll start making weird faces....

Like this! (I've never seen this expression before!)

hopefully not a glimpse of the future! Mom, let me out (of course he has an entire living room of toys to play with, but he just wants to hold onto the baby gate!)

Now these are the cute ones: Got a grandma kiss on his cheek :)

My sweet angel

Such a joyful little boy! Showing off his two bottom teeth :)

On the move!

We have been on the move this last month, visiting friends and family all along the East Coast. Nicholas has been a trooper, my little traveling champ! He delighted everyone with his friendliness and excitement for life. What a blessing this little man has been to me, especially as his daddy has been out at sea.

Memorial day weekend we headed down to Jacksonville, FL to stay with our good friends Amy and Chris and meet Andy when his ship pulled into port. Nicholas loved watching Connor, who is a few months older, crawl and cruise about his home, chattering to everyone. Nicholas started babbling more in response and immediately wanted to stand and hold onto the table just like Connnor!

We made our first visit to the pool, where Nicholas wasn't sure about the water at first, but soon began to love splashing and bobbing in the water.

Our time with Andy in Jacksonville was precious, but it was over too quickly. Andy's last night with us was wonderful, we ate a delicious meal at Barbara Jeans, and then walked around St. Johns' Town Center, a beautiful outdoor mall. We tried to stretch the evening out as long as possible before saying a sad goodbye to daddy.

We headed up to visit our family in Atlanta, GA and Greenville, SC, and had a wonderful time catching up with the cousins who are growing like weeds! We were blessed with wonderful hospitality from our family, and it was so much fun to see Nicholas interact with his great Aunts and Uncles.

We came home for a few days and then we were off again visiting friends in Alexandria. We had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, and again, Nicholas was such a trooper and traveled so well! He loved visiting Christine and Jon and playing with their cats and dogs. He laughs out loud when he sees a dog, so of course Andy and I want to get him one now!

I feel like I have a completely new baby boy now--all personality and on the move!

All of the traveling really drew out Nicholas' joyful personality. He seems to have grown so much more aware of his surroundings and other people, and he loves exploring everything! As soon as we got home, Nicholas started crawling too! It started as a slow, Army crawl drag, and now, if I turn around for a second, Nicholas is across the room! He's already mastered the two stairs from the living room into the kitchen, and I caught him working on the big set of stairs this afternoon as we were headed out the door. Time to child proof! I hadn't discovered that Nicholas could climb and pull himself up until he climbed out of his crib and fell onto the floor :(. I heard a loud THUMP upstairs followed by a long wail. My heart stopped and for a minute I couldn't fathom that Nicholas had caused that loud noise, it was inconceivable to me that he wasn't perfectly safe in his crib. Praise God that he was unhurt; his crying turned to laughter as soon as he saw the kitty cat. Needless to say we immediately lowered the crib to it's lowest setting, something we'd been talking about doing all the previous week!

We had wonderful father's day, thankfully Andy was back home long enough to celebrate with us. Nicholas LOVES his daddy--everything daddy does is so much fun.

Can you tell we love this boy?