The Actor's Studio

So this weekend was pretty fun.  We had a good time!  Dave was starting to get sick on Friday night, early Saturday, so we got out of the house so he could sleep in.  On Saturday, I took Nico up to Thomasville to watch some of our high school girls play soccer (they are playing for TUFC now).  Among them was our soon to be baller goalkeeper.  She did pretty well, made some big saves.  Until about 5 minutes left, when she gave up two.  But the other team (a Georgia team) was impressed and invited her to play State Cup with them.  So that is pretty cool.

Saturday afternoon, I ran some errands while Nico and Dave hung out.  Before dinner, Nico and I worked on an art project/experiment.  You see, I dont have a window in my office and I got the idea from someone I work with to get a big painting of the sky or the grass or something.  What I want is this:

But since not even I can justify 300+ dollars for a painting.... I may have to DIY this.  I think I could live with this:

In any case, I dont want to buy a 40 or 50 dollar canvas and not have it work out for me, so I bought some of the materials and did a little experiment with Nico.  Here we are putting the modeling paste onto a small canvas.  We are using actual modeling paste and some cheaper "texture paste" from Martha Stewart.  Nico was a big help!

Saturday night, Dave and I watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo."  I had recently read the book.  It was good.  Gruesome... but good.

Sunday morning, Dave and Nico let me sleep in (which was nice).  Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party (our little friend Zoe turned 1!!).  We had a good time at their place, playing ball and snacking.  Sunday night, Dave and I played soccer.  After his bath, Nico called me into our room to show me this:


Hilarious!!

I'm gettin ya!

One of Nico's funny things that he is doing lately is saying, "I'm gettin ya!"  Where in he throws himself on the unsuspecting mom, laying across her face.  But then he starts thrashing about, wherein I usually get a forearm to the face, an elbow to the neck and a knee to the stomach.  I don't know where he got this, but its really funny.

He is also insisting on using his play keys to open the car door.  Which is pretty cute.  

He is also doing this other really funny thing when he gets mad or is about to cry... he is really starting to work the lower lip... big time.  I am hoping to catch it on camera.  I saw it on Sunday when I was explaining to him that Jessica the babysitter was coming to hang out with Nico when Dave and I went to play soccer.  You'd think it was the saddest thing ever.  

stuffz

Happy Thursday to you all!!  Hope it is a good one. 

Not much new to report.  With practice starting last week, things have been crazy.  With practice starting that means that we leave Wakulla at 8-830 and are home between 9-930.  Seems like it was so much easier last year... I'd get to practice and nurse Nico and he would nurse after practice we'd get in the car, come home and he'd go to bed... now its just crazy the amount of orchestration that goes into practice.  Making sure I have lots of food to feed myself and Nico, so I dont get forced into making bad life choices with a stop at the new BK in C-Ville... and so that Nico doesnt really have to eat-eat when we get home... because usually he needs a bath. 

Plus, there are workout bags and soccer bags, plus soccer gear (balls, pumps, pinnies, etc.)  Thankfully, my desire to help our girls become mature responsible people by making them responsible for this stuff works out... sometimes they will take a bag of balls, the pinnies, etc.  (Actually I think that they take the pinnies because they know that they may not get washed if they come home with us -sadface).  It's pretty crazy. 

Last night, Nico did something that was so absolutely adorable, it almost broke my heart.  So... despite the advice of others, who said that we were setting us up for some throwdowns around this age, we have from day one rocked Nico to sleep.  And because that usually meant sometimes dozing off in the act, Nico is mostly asleep by the time we put him into the crib.  This is bad, according to all the baby lit... because it doesnt teach them to go into the crib on their own.  It can sometimes be annoying, but I have found that now I am working and sometimes dont see him all day (like yesterday), it can be kind of nice. 

Except, that he has gotten to be rather squirrely at night... fusses a lot.  Cant get comfortable.  Tosses and arches his back and is generally kind of annoying.  But he is rubbing his eyes and his face, yawning.  So you know he has to sleep.  In any case, it has been a little bit of a challenge.

So last night, I get home late (he was with the sitter) and he is ready for bed.  I go to start rocking him to sleep and he starts the routine again.  I put him in the crib and try to think for a few minutes how I want this to go.  He gets up and goes to look out the window...babbling.  I kneeled next to the crib so that the top of the rail is about chest high.  He comes over to me, puts his head on my chest, gives me a hug and lays himself down in the crib.  He was pretty still.  I put a blanket over him, and he kicked a foot for a few minutes while I patted his back.  Then he was asleep.  It brought tears to my eyes... like this kid is ready to grow up already. 

And suddenly I realized that there would be a lot of moments like that... when he doesnt need to be walked to soccer practice anymore, and grabs his gear out to run down to the field "his own self".  When he goes off to school and insists on being dropped off at parent drop off, running off to class like he'd be doing it his whole life. 

It was very cool.

Walkin' his own self...

As my mom would say, "Nico walkin' his own self up to the door!!"

Walky McWalkerson

NICO TOOK HIS FIRST UNASSISTED STEPS THIS WEEKEND!!  YEAH, I KNOW!!!  OMG!!

We were at soccer practice on Saturday finishing up.  The girls were kind of sitting around taking off their gear, we were gathering up equipment... etc.  I was talking to Joe or someone and looked down to see Nico standing unassisted, with a bunch of the soccer girls calling him and trying to get him to walk towards him... he took a couple of steps and stopped and I yelled for Dave to throw me my phone, so I could record it.  I was nervous that he would fall down or be done with the walking before I could record it... but luckily I got it!!  I am so stoked.  So while these are actually like his 4,5 and 6th steps, they might as well be his first ones!! 

Here is a video of how it went down:


Throughout the rest of the weekend, he snuck in a couple of unasssted steps here and there.  I think it won't be long at all before he is running.  Whoot!!!

What is not awesome is the fact that the NicoBeast who had been pretty much sleeping through the night has been replaced by this guy who is up all night.  But, this is what I have come to figure out with babies- that you take two steps forward and one step back.  Meh. 

So, I started on Nico's curtains this weekend.  Wait, let me back up... remember how I had a sad because I went to buy the fabric for his curtains and it was all gone... (that really cool blue and green and white swirly paisley fabric?) and how I bought blue, green and brown stripes?  Well, I went into Joanns for some supplies to finish off his quilt when Lo and Behold, I found two practically new bolts of the fabric!!  ZOMG!!11!  I couldnt believe it.  You better believe that I bought 6 yards on the spot.  So... the good news is, that I am going to have the curtains I wanted for Nico's room.  The bad news is... I have several yards of brown,blue and green striped fabric... I guess I can always buy more and make it into curtains for another room.  Who knows? 

I had to postpone completion though, because I need to get a new cord for the sewing machine- it had been patched with some electrical tape. And Nico tore it up...

So we moved onto painting one of the shelves for his room.  I am pretty stoked about them.  I picked up a can of mismixed light blue paint to paint the dresser and the shelves in his room.  Turns out its pretty much perfect.

That is all.  Guess I need to get to it.