Nicolezilla and Megerina

Oh she looks so cute...
so innocent....Until you realize her abilities...
Her ability to wreak havoc wherever she goes... Oh yeah, she thinks she's so cute! And she thinks it's funny that mommy has to follow behind her everywhere she goes to try to keep a path open. Seriously, I leave the room for 3 minutes and I hear - crash, bing, bam, thunk, ring, etc... and walk into to this....

What is it about a "clean" area that just calls to her? How is it that she can reach about anything - just to pull it down. It's not like she's going to sit and play -she just wants to make a mess!

Megan is learning all about helping mommy clean up! The other day I heard Megan say (right after a mini "crash"), "On no, Nicole-e-oly (that's her nickname) look what you've done - a big mess to clean up. thanks a lot." Oh my sweet girl!

Not to leave her out of the blogosphere - she's been practicing so hard on her dance moves for her recital... still many months away, but much anticipated!

So much girly fun to be had over here in our household!

Keep reading for a belated post....

11 Months

Once again another month passes and I think - how on earth is it that my baby is almost a year old? 11 months... really? What a full 11/12ths of a year it's been with this little blessing in our lives!I've been so bad about keeping up Nicole's baby book - truly this blog is my record keeping... so excuse all the "mommy stuff" as I document all those important happenings of this milestone.

What you are doing: Well, my little pumpkin, you are crawling with gusto! It's a cute little crawl on one leg with one foot. A scooch really - but every efficient - you are always half way between a sit and a stand. You can pull yourself up on about anything and have started to cruise around some furniture. I have a feeling you are not going to be in any hurry to walk.

You are talking up a storm. Mostly it's cute little baby sounds but you actually purposefully say a few things.

Ma-Ma (your favorite thing to say!)

Da - for Daddy

bye bye

Mo (more)

And occasionally you'll answer me. Like I ask you if you want more (trying to get you to use sign language for more) and you'll say, "ya" Now at 11 months, I'm not sure if you are actually answering me, but it does happen a lot so ????? perhaps you are.

Eating....food has been our nemesis for such a long time. I must say you are doing pretty good with eating. You will always try a new food - you already seem to have some preferences. Like your sister (and mommy) you do not like leftovers. I find this so amusing! How do you know those carrots were from yesterday? This week we just started introducing some diary foods back into your diet to see if you have "outgrown" some of your milk issues... and so far, so good. You will tolerate yogurt - which is huge since it's eaten with a spoon and you pretty much pitch a fit with any other food that someone else has to feed you. Baby food.... mostly a thing of the past. Occasionally I try to give you some just to make sure you are getting a variety of foods, but if I can get 10 bites into you, it's a big deal. I think I may actually start letting you try to feed yourself with a spoon.... oh how I see huge messes in my future. You can drink out of a straw and a sippy cup. That's nice. And in the bathtub you'll drink out of a "real" cup.... and you about drown yourself trying to master that one.

Schedule... oh wow.... You are fighting to drop a nap and just have 1 nap a day. I must admit this is killing me because it's very hard to get it coordinated with your sister's naptime. But.... yesterday you took only 1 nap and it was 3 hours. If everyday were that way - I'd go for it. But that seemed to be a fluke. Normally it's about 1 1/2 hours. You are good to sleep about 11 hours at night. We have a good routine - but you don't like going to sleep alone. If you had it your way, mommy would rock you to sleep for every nap and nighttime. And boy when you cry - it is a serious ear piercing scream. I have a feeling we will be fighting this out for awhile. Letting you cry it out doesn't work so much..... You have an uncanny ability to "cry it out" for hours - and not going to sleep... hence the dropping a nap. :^/ We get near your room and you start to fuss because you think we are going to make you go to sleep (which means we leave you alone)..... oh my.

What makes you giggle and smile..... oh you have the best little giggle. It makes my heart just light up! You love it when I tickle your face with my hair. And you are very very very ticklish on your legs and under your arms and chin. You love animals and bark at dogs and cats. When you get really excited, you wave your arms and it looks like you are trying to take off. You LOVE bathtime and the BIG bathtub (which is delightfully different from your sister at this age) and you think it's soooo funny to stand up and "sit down" to make a splash. Mommy gets very nervous at this game, but your giggles and smiles somehow charm me into letting you do it... over and over and over and over (with parental spotting of course). You love your sister and even when she's about to get in trouble for being too rough, you somehow still seem to smile and laugh at her. You light up whenever you see mommy, daddy, or Megan come into a room. And in this house - tummy zerberts rule!

Your personality.... You are still experiencing some severe separation anxiety. But we are slowly working through that. I have come to some conclusions about how your personality is very different from your big sisters.... we are learning by trial and error for sure. For example... you don't like things like train tunnels and carousels (found that out on the train and carousel at the zoo), and you don't like when strangers get too close or are too loud (the mariachi band yesterday brought that to light). But you love riding in the stroller (you'll kick back and prop a foot up) and you can dance with the best of them. It's so cute to see how you immediately react to music and start bobbing your head. You had a lot of people giggling over it yesterday --- before the mariachi band got a little too close for comfort. It's also very apparent that you are inquisitive... you love to try to get objects in and out of toys, holes, etc. You hear a noise and MUST find it. But, you also have a quick temper - if things don't go your way IMMEDIATELY, you let us know. You would rather have someone else do it for you, than you have to work at it (like standing up). It will be interesting to see how that plays out as you develop more independence.

What you don't have.... a lovey! I think that I am your special lovey. When you are sad, scared, worried, upset, tired, happy, lonely, awake.... you want mommy. I would LOVE to find something for you to "love" - a bear, a doll, a blanket... but no. Mommy and your fingers is really all you want. No blanket seems to fit the bill and even when I try to give you dolls and bears and lambs.... you hug and kiss them and then throw them down when it looks like mommy is about to leave. I really think finding a special lovey would help in transitions when mommy has to leave... but so far, we've had no luck here. (any suggestions, parent friends?)

We have a mere month left before we'll be celebrating your 1 year birthday. It's so hard to believe and such a time to treasure. I am giddy with anticipation as I enjoy every second of your development!Here's Nicole at 11 months

And Below is Megan at 11 months....

I was struck at how much longer Nicole is at this same age.... It's the same carseat and Nicole has to stick her legs out to the side. wow.

Date Day at the Farm

Today I had the honor of going with Megan on her first field trip (wow, how wierd it is to be a parent on a field trip instead of the teacher in charge). It was special treat to be able to go with her - without a baby sister. My parents stayed with Nicole so that I could spend some special one on one time with Megan.



We had a great time on the hayride....

And looking for the "perfect" little pumpkins...
(Megan with her 2 best buddies from her class - Avalon and Elizabeth)

She made sure she picked out a special one for me and Nicole...

The 3 amigas were inseperable during the field trip...

This was one of my favorite shots - it cracks me up because I took it as Megan was falling over a pumpkin and I was falling over a pumpkin... definitely a shot in motion!

Megan had a great time in the big pumpkin patch - they had some HUGE ones.

Of course, what is a 3 year old field trip without an attempt to get a shot of all the kids?

Then after our pumpkin fun, we had another hayride back to the main farm area

Then we got to enjoy some farm made apple cider!!!

And another attempt to get a shot of the kids....

We crossed paths with the 2 other 3 year old classes (they have 2 classes that are 3 days a week and 1 class that is 4 days a week), and Megan got to spend a moment with her friend Macie.

Then Megan decided to work on her farming skills...

She is a cute little farmer!

It was a great day at the farm and wonderful to finally be able to enjoy being outside. Fall is definitely in the air!

The Event

It started out as a relatively normal Saturday..... Fun being had by all (at a little friends birthday party).

But little did I know... these 3 cuties were being a little sneaky!!!

Because my "after party date night" turned into a 40th Birthday surprise party.....
SURPRISE!

Thankfully it was a little breezy so all 40 candles wouldn't stay lit. But I did have help with the ones that did.

Then Natalie, the host and co-conspirator, gave me a stick to whack my 40 year birthday agressions out on a pinata!

So I gave it the ole birthday wack (or 3)....

Let's just say..... I won!

And candy was had by all!

Even Nicole had a great time and let Grandma and Granddad enjoy her company.

Thanks to my dear husband and our special Natalie for a fabulous surprise birthday celebration!

The Harvest is Here!

WooHoo.... It's that time of year again - the Scarecrow Harvest!!!! The girls were both very excited to get out and about this weekend and enjoy some cooler temps and have lots of fall fun!

We ran into some friends there and Nicole got some hang time with her little buddy Owen.

Megan got into some arts and crafts...

She decorated a little pumpkin for herself and for Nicole.

Nicole loved her little pumpkin!

And I got to snuggle up with my little pumpkin for her first hay ride.

Megan kept Natalie company.

And what is a fall fesival without some refreshments????
Cotton Candy anyone?

Megan even offered some to her little sister (wow, that's a willingness to share).

We had lots of fun with all the pumpkins!

And of course, it was the scarecrow harvest... we had to check out some of the awesome Scarecrows. This was one of my top favorites.... It's the If You Give A Mouse A Cookie scarecrow.

I have to say my favorite was the Fancy Nancy Scarecrow - but it was too far to walk to see if with 2 very tired girls... .but you can drive by and check it out - really, you can't miss it! Just look for lots of pink!

We topped off the day with a great story time with the Scarecrow Storyteller.... Megan was exhausted, but entranced. And Nicole fell asleep on the walk back to the car.

It was a lot of fun to keep up our little tradition of heading to the Scarecrow Harvest - it was our 3rd annual trip!

Happy Fall from our family to yours!