Nicholas Maravillas’ Blog

Birthdays are usually celebrated more than once in our family. Typically we do something with just us on the actual day then party again with our families the following weekend. So last night we celebrated Matthew’s birthday. His parents and Oma are coming tonight.

Per Matthew’s request, I made Filipino Barbecue Skewers and Baked Hot Chocolate cakes. Both came out alright but the cakes were better! Grilling is not my forte. Anyways, after dinner Matthew opened up his gifts from Nicholas. He and I made a photo book entitled “Just Like Daddy”. It is a book full of characteristics that he and Matthew share, along with pictures to prove it! For example, they both have freckles on their feet and both enjoy a good video game.

It is an awesome book if I do say so myself.   Also, Ms. Irene helped Nicholas make a picture frame. He painted it and she put a picture of Nicholas with his daddy from Halloween in it. Very cute! Even Zoë helped him open up his gifts!

As a special gift, Matthew and I went out on a “real” date Wednesday night.  We went to dinner and to a Ben Folds concert.  Matthew is a fan of his music and he puts on a good show.  It was our first date in about a year! We had a lot of fun.  Ms. Irene graciously watched Nicholas that evening.  We absolutely love her and are so blessed that she is in our lives.  In addition to the adorable cards and gifts she helps Nicholas make, she is flexible, kind and takes amazing care of our son.  Have I mentioned how much we love her!    Here are some pictures of us before we headed out on our date night.

We’ll put up new pictures from this weekend’s celebration next week.  Gotta love spreading out the fun!

Dear Daddy,

I wanted to take a picture with my birthday sign for you but mommy says the camera is in your car. Bummer. I’ll just give you extra hugs when you get home from work!

You are the best daddy in the whole wide world and I love you! Mommy says she loves you too!

-Nicholas

Nicholas now has 4 bottom teeth in the front and a bottom right molar has finally broken through! He *might* have his top right molar already, but won’t let me feel because he keeps biting my finger! And he won’t let me sneak a peek.

Yes, another video! He is still perfecting this, but he really wants to feed himself and is getting pretty good!

Valentine’s Day 2008         Valentine’s Day 2009

We traveled up to NJ this past weekend for our cousin Kathy’s wedding.  It was a great time!  And it was so neat for our family up there to be able to meet Nicholas.  We left after dinner on Thursday and stopped at Nana and Papa’s house for the night.  The next morning we drove up north.  Nicholas did really well.  He took regular naps in the car, the same as he would at home.  We let him run around during eating stops and at rest stops, which was fun until it was time to get back in the car.  Then he’d get really upset with us.

But overall he did wonderfully!  He even slept really well overnight.  Usually he wakes up a lot when we travel but he slept through both nights we were away.

Friday night we went out to dinner.  It was fun but Nicholas was more interested in climbing around than eating.  Before dinner though, Bill (Kathy’s fiance) got his 4-wheeler out.  Of course everyone had to take a turn on that!  Nicholas didn’t ride, but enjoyed sitting on it.  Dad took me around and it was fun! Scary but fun!

Here are some pictures from the wedding.  He was so good!  He didn’t make a peep during the ceremony, took a short nap before the reception and enjoyed himself on the dance floor.  Stay tuned for a video of him doing the chicken dance!

He was up a couple of hours past bedtime and it took about 2 minutes in the car on the way back to the house for him to conk out.  He was so tired that he stayed asleep through getting undressed and only stirred when I changed his diaper.  In retrospect, we should have just brought pajamas and changed him before we left but it worked out okay.

On Sunday, we made the long trip back to NC.  We stopped in Delaware to see Patrick and Tina, then in Fairfax to see Fr. Peter and eat at my all time favorite place- Carlos O Kelly’s.  They make this fantastic dish called Chicken Picado.  I haven’t found it anywhere else! The trip home took about 12.5 hours between all of our stops and a bit of traffic but we finally made it home.  Again, Nicholas did beautifully!  He got frustrated about an hour away from home, but really we all were tired of the car so we couldn’t blame him.

All in all, it was a lovely weekend and we had a great time!  Congratulations Kathy and Bill!!!

Just trimming Nicholas’ locks at home wasn’t cutting it anymore. His hair was too long and out of control, especially in the back. So we took him to a local hair place and a lovely hair stylist named Dara did her magic! Nicholas didn’t make it easy for her either. He wiggled the whole time despite us distracting him with a cell phone, broom, brush and a hair dryer. She finally got everything trimmed up and he looks so handsome! We can’t get over how big his ears are!!

Here are the “before” pictures.

The “during” pictures.  The last one is of him clapping.  He claps when things are over, like a song.  We think he was thinking that if he clapped, the haircut would be over!  (Please excuse my horrendous double chin!)  Oh, and he is covered in his own hair because he was having no part of the cape.

The “after”.

We had gorgeous weather this weekend and we made sure to enjoy it! Nicholas just loves being outside and really enjoys running around in the grass.

We went to a new park on Saturday. Well, the park has been there for awhile but it is new to us! Nicholas enjoyed the slide and then we let him run free in a big open field. Today we tried to get some haircuts, but the wait was too long so we came back home. We pass a little playground on the way home, and today we stopped to check it out. While we were there, we met a new friend- Kyle. Kyle is 6 years old and lives nearby. He is a character! He and Nicholas became quick pals. He was big into slapstick which is a surefire way to make Nicholas laugh! Kyle would “fall” off of the slide and collapse on the ground yelling “mamma mia” and Nicholas would just chuckle! It was so funny! Here are some pictures from our playground adventures.

Nicholas also has some new indoor games.  He loves to have a blanket thrown over his head to play peekaboo!  He will do it on his own too but squeals when you start it.   He also had a grand time playing his car seat box with daddy.   Seriously, who needs toys when you have blankets and empty boxes?