Nicholas Maravillas’ Blog

We had such a great time at the farm yesterday morning and the weather was perfect!  This wasn’t your typical farm with just chickens and goats.  It had the usual animals, but also a bounce house, rabbit village, fort, corn play pit, a huge slide, swing sets, a maze and best of all- a train.  Nicholas had a blast!  He talked about chickens, pigs and cows the entire drive there, but once we got there and he saw everything else, he didn’t care about the animals!  We think his favorites were the corn play pit and train for sure.

The corn thing was by far the coolest thing we’ve seen in a long time.  It was a small octagon shaped building with about 2 feet of dried corn kernels thrown in.  Picture a rice table that you can sit and walk in but with dried corn.   Awesome!  It was so funny to watch Nicholas try to walk in it because you sink down to your knees when you stand up, but he did great.  When I changed him later, he had corn kernels in his diaper, stuck to his back and in his shorts pockets!

We played there until it was time to ride the train.  He ran over to the station, handed the conductor his ticket and sat right down.  The conductor, Mr. Dave, was so nice and could tell Nicholas adored trains.  So he handed him his hat for Nicholas to wear and took our picture.  He let him blow the whistle afterwards, but Nicholas didn’t want to do that.   All in all, it was such a fun morning!

We hope you have a great day! It was nice talking with you, even though I was being a turkey for most of it.  ;-)  Love you, Oma!!

Nicholas is a few inches taller than the recommended height for transitioning to a big boy bed.  I had been putting it off for awhile now figuring that he had never tried to climb out of his crib before, so there was no rush.  Why he never tried is beyond me.  I know he could have done it easily months ago!   Truth be told, I was also afraid to do anything to interrupt our sweet sleep!  Well, after doing okay in a toddler bed (since he is WAY too tall for a pack and play) at Grandma and Grandpa’s house over Mother’s Day weekend, I decided that I was ready.  Yes, I was ready.  I think Nicholas was probably ready months ago, but I didn’t want to do it!

So yesterday afternoon, Nicholas helped Matthew take the front off of the crib to turn it into a day bed and added a bed rail to keep little boys from rolling onto the floor at 2am.   At that point, Nicholas called it his “treehouse” like George.  (We had just watched an episode of Curious George where he built himself a treehouse!)

We had Nicholas pick out new big boy bedding at the store too.  Then I drew some cars and trucks that match the bedding to put on the walls.  We laid in the bed together a few times in the afternoon and had him spend time up there to get used to it.

When bedtime rolled around, I got nervous!  But Matthew insisted that we try it, so we did.  After his bath, Nicholas climbed right into bed and laid his head on the pillow.  Matthew and I sat on the floor next to him and read stories.  After some sweet talk and a song, I kissed him and reminded him “no jumping and stay in bed until Mama comes to get you in the morning”.  Little did I know that he’d actually do it!   I left the room and he did not make a peep!  No sounds like he got out of bed.  No crying at all.  I shed a tear or two but he was fine!   We checked on him an hour later and he was sound asleep.  Matthew said he was restless around 3am and he sat up when Matthew cracked the door open to take a look but never got up or cried.  Then I heard him at 6am (his usual wake up time) pointing out all the trucks on his sheets.  He sounded happy so I left him there.  When I went in at 6:30, he was laying in bed reading book content as could be!  So the first night was a great success.

I had heard from many people that bedtime wasn’t so bad.  It was naps that were the harder transition.  Well, Nicholas surprised us again!  He asked to go to his “big boy bed” after lunch, so off we went.  It was earlier than usual but I didn’t want to say no.  He went to sleep without a peep and took his usual 60+ minute nap.  I cannot tell you how proud we are of him!! And how much we hope he keeps this trend up…  Here’s to hoping potty training is this easy!

And yes, I know what you’re thinking.  I did go in and take lots of flash pictures in the dark of my sleeping son!  Luckily, he is a hard sleeper like his Daddy.  ;-)

We had a great visit with one of my best friends and Nicholas’ g-mama, Kathy.  She drove all the way from Richmond to see us and it was SO nice catching up.  We made cookies, Nicholas taught her about choo choos and then she helped him do jigsaw puzzles.  Which I might add he is so good at now!  He can put together a 12 piece jigsaw puzzle all by himself!  We are so proud!  Maybe its because he stood at his toy shelf for 90 minutes doing them last night!  He would put one together, cheer for himself, take it apart and do it again.

We were sad to see Kathy leave today but we’ll see her again in a few months for Girls’ Weekend!

We all had a lazy afternoon after Kathy left… Nicholas decided to put his feet up and lounge on his truck.

Aunt Jen came back to the east coast for a job in NY but got to take a break to visit VA and us here in NC.  We were so glad she could come down to see Nicholas!  It had been way too long.  He had a blast and loved dancing around with her.  It was a short but sweet visit with Grandma, Oma and Aunt Jen!

We all had a great Easter weekend this year!  Lots of wonderful food, awesome family and lots of laughs.  Plus the weather was simple spectacular all weekend long!  Mother Nature even decorated everything with lovely pastel yellow dust!  We could definitely do without all this pollen, but it was still gorgeous outside.

Nana, Papa and Uncle Matt arrived Friday afternoon.   Papa’s birthday was on Tuesday and he requested lasagna for his family birthday dinner.  After dinner, Nicholas helped him open his gifts… when I say help I mean he basically tore into them like they were his own!

Grandma and Grandpa arrived later Friday evening and we all got up on Saturday ready for a fun-filled day!  After a long walk with Grandma and Grandpa, Nicholas dyed Easter eggs.  I was so nervous to do this because I figured we’d end up with a technicolor kid.  Luckily he was very careful using the spoon to lift the eggs in and out and didn’t try to touch them.  They came out pretty well!  One of my favorites was Uncle Matt’s purple one that said “I Came First”!

We also decorated Easter egg cakes.  Nana made yummy ones and brought all sorts of neat sprinkles.  Nicholas loves sprinkles!  He did about 3 and declared he was “done” so we had to finish them up.

After a nap and another walk with Grandma and Grandpa, Nicholas had another egg hunt.  He is really into it and knows there are goodies in those plastic eggs!  Grandma brought sports eggs the looked like footballs, soccer balls and basket balls.  Whenever Nicholas found one, he threw it like a ball!  At one point he threw one and treats went all over the drive way… but he still ate them!  He was shoving them into his mouth faster than Matthew could pick them up.  Oh well, what’s a little dirt, right? He had a lot of fun!

We went to church on Sunday and Nicholas did alright so long as his yogurt bite and fruit snack supply was constant!  We came home and after getting our ham with all the fixings lunch going, he dug into his Easter baskets.  Its just not Easter without ham, potato salad, baked beans and deviled eggs!  Nicholas got all sorts of goodies in his baskets.  The Easter bunny brought him new bath crayons and Thomas train tub squirters.  He also got baskets from Nana and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa and Oma.  He loves all of his new things! Especially his dump truck and chocolate Thomas train from Oma!  His whole face lit up when he realized he had a chocolate train!  He has been eating with the new Thomas plate and fork from Nana and Papa and launching eggs with the bunny-in-a-box from Grandma and Grandpa.

Oma wasn’t able to come down because of her back so we did a Skype call so she could see Nicholas open his basket from her.  It was great! Modern technology is so cool.  We sure did miss Oma this weekend though.  Nicholas owes her a big ol’ hug!!

He also got the new George movie from Nana and Papa.  I think I am just as excited for something besides Thomas to watch!  He was too hyped up on sugar to nap so he chilled and watched his new movie.  We’ve watched it 3 times since yesterday afternoon….

We take a family picture every Easter so of course we did that this weekend.  Nicholas was pretty content on Grandma’s lap watching Thomas, so we decided to just go to him!  It is a pretty good picture considering his spaced out expression and that Oma and Aunt Jen aren’t there.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend!  Now we have to deal with grandparent-withdrawal… it can be rough for a day or two!   Thank you guys for everything and for such a fantastic weekend!

Happy Easter everyone!

love,

Nicholas (and Mommy and Daddy!)

Nicholas is one lucky little boy.  He has some of the best grandparents around!  All of them would run to the moon and back for him and just adore him.  He’ll never want for anything with them as they shower him with love, hugs, kisses, cuddles, toys and goodies!  And make no mistake… he knows it!  He just loves them all and gets so excited when we tell him he will see any of them.  He is really starting to remember them and seems to look forward to our visits.  Which is neat but also makes leaving those visits harder.  Maybe one day soon we can just leave him at their house and we can run away!

We all had a good time.  He loved the easel that was waiting for him at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  And of course the George stickers! He studied them like there was a quiz later.

Saturday morning we went to the temporary home of the Children’s Museum.  It wasn’t much, but they did have several train tables which is all Nicholas really cares about anyways.  It was alright, but definitely not worth the hives that Matthew got.  It was housed in a really old building and he is allergic to mold.  You do the math.  Poor guy spent Sunday under the spell of Benadryl but is doing much better now.  We went to lunch after the museum where Nicholas ordered for himself… “chee-burger”.  He is such a character.

After a much needed nap, we visited Aunt Dee at Nana and Papa’s house.  They played trains together for awhile then we met Grandma, Grandpa and Oma for dinner.  Nicholas was getting a bit antsy at the table so we gave him the sugar packets.  Probably not the best idea, but it wasn’t that messy and only a few ended up on the ground.  Again, he told the waiter what he wanted to eat.  ”Hot Dog!”.  Luckily there actually was a hot dog on the kids’ menu.  The waiter seemed to get a kick out of that.

On Sunday, Nicholas dozed the driveway with Grandma for a bit before we headed back home.  We always have such a good time going to VA.  Thanks for everything guys!  Love you all!

Matthew got to celebrate his birthday two weekends in a row this year!  His parents and Oma came down last weekend and we all went out to dinner.  We went to Lucky 32 and it was so good!  Nicholas and Matthew patiently waited for their food by coloring and playing with stickers.

Then Nicholas helped Grandma open her birthday gift.  It was a few weeks late but the dumb snow kept postponing our visits.  He wasn’t too impressed with it since it wasn’t a train or truck, but she seemed to like it.  

By that point it was way past bedtime, so Nicholas went to bed.  Then we cut into a delicious apple spice cake with caramel sauce.  It was so very yummy!  Of course, Grandma and Grandpa couldn’t leave without some outside play that weekend.

That last one was when he was pushing his wheel barrel with sand that he insisted belonged in the front yard.  It really wasn’t that heavy.  He was just being dramatic!

Matthew’s actual birthday was the 26th and my parents and brother came down.  We went out to dinner at a local pizza place and despite waiting a long time, we had a good time and Nicholas was so patient!  He passed the time eating goldfish and sprinkling cheese, salt and pepper in my water.  He added some cheese to Papa’s beer which surprisingly he still drank.   I decided against finishing my water because it was pretty gross by the time Nicholas was done.   Then we came home for cake.  The heating element in our oven blew out just the day before so I couldn’t bake the cupcakes that Matthew requested, so I bought a small cake.  A birthday boy needs something to put candles in!  When I said its time for cake, Nicholas climbed into his chair, put his hands in his lap and patiently waited for us to cut it.

The patience didn’t last long.

Nicholas got a good bit of frosting before we lit the candles and cut the cake.  That seemed to be his favorite part as he only ate one bite of actual cake!  He really didn’t want to help blow out the candles.

Fortunately my dad was able to fix our oven and I baked the cupcakes on Saturday.  Matthew and I also got to go on a real date Saturday night!  Nicholas had a blast at “eat and play” with Nana, Papa and Uncle Matt while we went to a Japanese steakhouse and Hibachi restaurant and a movie.   Dinner was fun and delicious!  Certainly a neat experience.   After dinner, we went to see Avatar.  It had been so long since we last saw a movie in a theater!   Avatar was so cool.  Awesome technology and gorgeous colors.

All in all, I think (hope!) Matthew had a great birthday!  :)

You are the best Daddy ever! You do so many cool things with me and make it so much fun. I love you!

Your kiddo,

Nicholas