Nose Pickin' Trouble?

As some of you may remember....I have had a little trouble with Nick always picking his nose. It started shortly after we enrolled him into daycare. When I would ask him to quit he would giggle thinking it was a joke. Now I can say, "Thank you Shel Silverstein for letting my child know why he should not dig for gold!"

Warning

Inside everybody's nose

There lives a sharp-toothed snail.

So if you stick your finger in,

He may bite off your nail.

Stick it farther up inside,

And he may bite your ring off.

Stick it all the way, and he

May bite the whole darn thing off.

Shel Silverstien

Conversation with Nick in the Car

Nick: Mommy, I can't reach dat ting ober dere.

Mommy: Well Sweetie, I'll get whatever it is you want when we stop.

Nick: Boy I sure wish I had monkey arms.

Sushi and Balloons

A couple of weeks ago Ryan had a member come into the golf shop and hand out some gift certificates to his new restaurant. It is called Sakura. It is one of the newest Hibachi grills/sushi bars in our area. We had been there once and it was fantastic. This time however, we would get to eat for free and we could take Nick. We warned Nick about the fire and overall thought he would probably enjoy the experience. He liked everything until the "fire". That kind of scared him. We had a great time, but will probably not sit at the hibachi next time we take Nick. When we got home Nick and Ryan started playing with balloons. Nick is obsessed! He has been ever since I can remember. I can't even begin to tell you about the laughter we heard for the rest of the night over a $3 package of balloons!

Ready for the "fire".

Testing out the chopsticks.

Being brave once the fire was out!

Ready for some balloon action.

Does this shirt make me look big?

Nick and his potty

I think it is official that Nick is finally potty trained. He is not longer pooping on the floor. He tells us now every time he has to potty. I am very impressed. He even has dry pull-ups when he wakes up in the morning. Is it time to try under ware at night time?

We Have the Bug

The last couple of days have been...well, lets just say filled with way too many bodily fluids. On Wednesday I started to have a really sharp pain in my stomach. I couldn't get comfortable in any position. By Friday I could barely stand the pain so I called the doctor as soon as I woke up. I ended up having a cat scan because they were worried about my appendix. Thank goodness that was not the case. I have a cyst on my ovary that is causing me pain. I also had a touch of the flu bug. FUN! The in-laws offered to keep Nick on Friday night so I could rest. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

6:30 am Ryan's phone rings. Nick has been throwing up since midnight. GRRRR! The in-laws bring him home and even though I am not well myself I get up to care for my little man. I offered him fluids, but as soon as they would hit his stomach (I mean instantly) up it would come. He could not keep anything down. He was beginning to look quite dehydrated. I called the physicians exchange and they suggested he be seen at Children's. So we made the trip to STL. After a bag of fluids and some anti-nausea medicine, Nick was a whole new child. All was good through the rest of the evening and he even slept in his own bed. No more episodes. I was thankful for that and thought the worst was over.....WRONG!

Nick came into our room at about 7am with the same symptoms. Thank goodness the Doc sent home some of that fantastic medicine. All is well with Nick, but now I have a bigger baby to care for...Ryan has the flu!

The newest member

Hello everyone...meet Sushi, our new pet beta fish!

Probably not the greatest name

in the world for a fish, but hey a little humor is always welcome!

Nick loves him...he was so excited to get him that he shook him up at pet smart and made him throw up. Didn't know that fish could throw up, but let me tell you they do!

Here's to Sushi!

Our Advent Calendar

I saw this idea in a magazine and had to try it out. I have looked for Advent calendars everywhere and they are either too expensive or extremely cheap. We took Saran wrap, Hershey's kisses and ribbon and made our own. Everyday Nick gets to cut a kiss off and help count down the days till Christmas. He thinks it is pretty cool that he gets candy everyday, but hopefully in a few years he will understand the true meaning behind it....

The Santa Claus Parade

Belleville has an annual Santa Claus parade the day after Thanksgiving. This year Nick and I attended with my friend Jessica and her twin daughters Maya and Finnley. It was a really fun time. They even threw out stuffed animals. Nick loved it. He didn't seem to mind the cold at all.

Anxiously awaiting the parade.
Maya, Finnley, and Zoey

Nicks favorite part: the fire twuck

The Grinch

Wheres my candy?

The Big Guy himself....

Trip to the ER

This is Nick. Accident prone Nick. Poor guy gets it honestly from his mommy. Yesterday while I was cleaning the house this happened. I walked around the corner from the kitchen to the living room. Noggin is on, but a little boy is missing. As I scan the floor I find a trail.....dirty pull up....pants.....socks.......shoes. I follow the trail to find Nick on the potty. Little man got himself on the potty and was in the process of finishing up i suppose, although by the looks of the diaper there was not much left to finish. Anyway...I congratulate him on being such a big boy but remind him he needs to go before he does so in his pants. He asks me to please leave the bathroom. (Guess he needs his privacy too) As he is waving me off he leans too far forward and takes a face plant to our ceramic tile. As I pick him up blood begins pouring out of his mouth. I inspect it but cant see much. Well off to the ER we went just in case. I was mostly concerned with his two front teeth because they would not quit bleeding. Well needless to say all is well and we escaped the ER once again with no stitches or missing teeth. Very lucky we are!

Turkey Day Cookies...Created by Nick!

Nick and I made these cookies today for tomorrows big feast. His daycare instructor sent home the instructions and I just had to try it. It was so much fun. Gobble, Gobble and a Happy Turkey day to all!

Daycare

Nick started day care a few weeks ago. It has been too much for me to keep him at home while I try to study. I am not making the grades I would like and am missing out on family time. With much contemplation we have decided that quiting my part time job is what is best for our family at this time. I will be able to study more and Nick will be building a very secure structure for school in the future. Unfortunately, Nick does not like school. He cries when his dad or I drop him off and seems way to excited when we pick him up. It has been very hard to make this transition. We have decided that we need to look for another school to make sure it is right for Nick at this time. I really hope that what we choose is in the best interest of our child. Any suggestions? Remember he is only two years old.

Two Year Check Up

Although it has been almost three weeks ago, Nick had his two year check up. It is so hard to believe that this little man is two already. Time really does fly by. I absolutely love our pediatrician Dr. Young. Not only is she very professional, but she has children of her own. this make me feel much more comfortable when she can tell me things that are up with my child. Nick loves her. She gives him a new book every time we see her. Nick had lost a little weight since the last visit, so Dr. Young suggested spicing up his potatoes with a little sour cream and butter as well as a few other tips. She also said it is time to switch toothpastes and start introducing Flinstone vitamins. I am very excited about that. I was a little sad to learn that we will not see Dr. Young until Nick is three years old, unless of course Nick is sick. This really saddens me to think my little boy is that old already. Thanks Dr. Young for the great pointers along the way!

The Next Michael Phelps?

The upside of living in a hotel seems to be the fact that we are able to go to the pool when ever we want. Nick is not afraid of the water what so ever. As you can see I am afraid for him. We bundle him up in all his swimming gear and let him go. He does NOT like for us to help him or be very near him in the water. I think I am going to try to get him into some swimming lessons this winter at the Y. He is a little fish. I am glad he is not afraid of the water, but wonder what it will be like next year if we don't keep him in touch with water throughout the winter.

gearing up
making his way down the ladder

Gotta love the goggles! He put them on himself.

Birthday Fun

Random birthday pictures from Nicks birthday at Chevy's. There is a tradition in the Martin household that the entire week of your birthday, if you go out to eat you are going to be sang to. This is the picture from PaPa taking him out to eat.

Happy Birthday to My Little Man!

Seems like just yesterday I was bringing Nick home from the hospital. Now he walks, talks and has a personality all his own. I wonder where the time went. We had a very small party for him last night with just Ryan, my mother in law and I. With all that has happened there was just not time to plan a party. I feel really bad but on the other hand am thankful he is only two. Next year there will be a blow out!

Happy Birthday baby boy! We love you!

Nick's new ride

This post is waaaayyyy over due, but Grandma and Papa bought Nick and early birthday gift. He loves it so much as you can see he even rides it naked.

Chinese Food???

I can't believe I forgot to post this earlier...

My mother in law called a few weeks ago and asked Nick and I to go to lunch. We said yes and met her at Applebee's.

The waitress delivered Nick's plate and he looked and her and said... Pu Pu Platter.

He apparently picked up on this when we ate Chinese months ago. I laughed so hard I almost choked on my drink.

The other day Nick and I went into STL to pick up our shirts for the Susan G. Komen Race. While we were there we decided to take a little trip to Union Station. It was a beautiful day. We ate on the patio at Landry's so that Nick could watch the fish. Thank goodness we were the only people on the patio! Anyway, Nick proceeded to feed the fish all of the crackers that the waiter had so graciously delivered to him. (Probably to shut him up) He was not in a very good mood this day. After lunch we went down to the dock and bought some fish food and feed the fish a little something besides crackers. It ended up being a lot of fun. Next time I think I will make sure he has had his afternoon nap first!

Some crackers and ketchup. I sure wish they would just make ketchup a veggie.

The crazy fish that wanted Nicks crackers.

Underoos

I am so proud of my son. He is not even 2 and he tells me almost every time he needs to go potty. He has been doing this ever since we bought him the seat that fits on the big potty. I thought that he would enjoy the musical potty seat, but boy was I wrong. He LOVES the big boy potty. I got a seat cover that looks like a basketball. I have a very hard time getting him off of it. I put a jar of MnM's by the sink, and when he goes potty he gets one. This has seemed to work wonders. I decided it was surely time to try out the old underoos and see how things would go. My husband thinks this is just not right and he is way to young. I on the other hand feel that if he is coming up to us and saying potty and following through, it is definitely time. What do you think?