Nicholas is 18 months!

Today, my little snugglebug turns 18 months! Time sure does fly.

He is saying so many words lately that it is beginning to be hard to keep track. Of course, maybe we are the only ones who understand him and even then, I have no idea what is saying most of the time.

Some new words are Ella (pronounced Ewa), mine (a huge favorite), kitty, cat, no (also a big favorite), down, up, uh oh, oh no, yes, there, Oliver (pronounced Ower) and more.

Funny the other day, Benjamin dropped his straw to his drink and Jon says to Nicholas that he is going to have to share his straw with Benjamin and he says "mine!" Good timing, Nicholas!

Then a couple days ago, I was in our room putting away some laundry when I hear Nicholas and Benjamin just cracking up (Ella was with me, I think), so I go out to investigate. They were in the kitchen (with Jon watching from the dining room) taking kitty food out of the bag and throwing it everywhere. They just thought that was hilarious. Nicholas was cute because when he laughed, he would cover up his mouth with his hands. I wish I had thought to take video. After a bit of that, we told them they had to stop. Nicholas was not too thrilled with that idea.

Speaking of kitty food, guess what Nicholas has tried! Yep, kitty food. I yelled at him "icky" and he started to scream. Poor guy, but I really don't want him eating the kitty food!

This little guy loves to play with the big kids and is super excited when they include him. These days, he LOVES to sit at their little table with Ben & Ella. I guess it might be time to get rid of the high chair...

One of my nicknames for Nicholas these days is "Nickzilla" because he destroys things that we put together (like our lag cabin with the Lincoln Logs or someone's sandcastle at the beach). I have a pic of the destruction at the beach on my flickr.
For that and more, go to www.flickr.com/photos/heathercim.

I think that is all for now. Happy 18 months, Nicholas!!! (18 month checkup is on 09/01).

Hello again

It's been a while...I've been not so much a blogger these days. So many things have happened since my last post.

VACATION

I took a week off at the end of July since the daycare was closed and so we did various fun things about the town (and out of town). We went to Point Defiance Zoo with Jon's mom. We went to the Greenlake wading pool (and seriously tired my kids out that day with the walking back and forth we did) with our friend Aki and her son James. We went to a petting zoo up north with our friend Steph and her son Grayson. We spent a couple hours searching in vain for a plastic pool for the kids to play in. We went to the church playgroup time and met up with Aki, Jen, and their sons and of course, Leena. It was a good week and I really enjoyed spending so much time with my children. However, it was definitely exhausting too.

Also, we did visit a friend of mine who is battling colon cancer. We brought them some dinner and went on a little playdate with her 3 year old son. We really enjoyed seeing them and I hope and pray that Amy gets better soon as well as our friend Kedra who is battling breast cancer.


ELLA HAD A SEIZURE

Then another thing that happened is that Ella had a seizure brought on by a fever (called a febrile seizure) which was brought on by an ear infection. I didn't actually see the seizure - Jon did. I'm glad I didn't see it or I would have freaked out more than I did. However, when Jon told me, I had a good idea that is what happened so I wasn't extremely concerned but still we took her to the ER (for some reason, I completely forgot about Children's and we went to Northwest since it was closer - our pediatrician told us to go to Children's should it happen again - I hope not). The time at the ER was not fun for any of us, especially Ella has she was given medicine via her butt since she had just thrown up and they wanted to make sure she got the tylenol to reduce her fever. Then they checked her temp in her butt. And they had to take her blood which meant holding her down. She cried out for papa then (as Jon went home to get a change of clothing for Ella and himself since she throw up all over them). I felt so bad and wondered if my little girl would ever like me again. Thankfully, she is all better now and hopefully, that doesn't happen again any time soon. That was on August 1.

AUNT PASSING AWAY

At the beginning of July, my eldest aunt went into the hospital. Her cancer had made a return in the last year and so she was fighting that. It was breast, then they found some in her uterine area, then they found cancer in her colon and eventually found it had spread everywhere. She came home with Hospice care on August 9 and she passed away on August 13. I had visited with her in the hospital in mid-July when we went over to Spokane for a family reunion (another topic below) and she didn't look great, but I thought she was getting better so it came as a bit of a shock to me to hear that she was going home to die. I had planned to go over on that Friday (August 13) to visit when my mom called me to tell me she passed away. I went over to Spokane anyway to be with my mom and family. This is my 2nd relative this year that has passed away. I pray to God that there will be no more anytime soon.

We are planning a celebration of life for my aunt on September 11, so I'll be back to Spokane then.


FAMILY REUNION

I can't say that this was a really big family reunion when some of the people don't even come, but I am glad that I went as that gave me the opportunity to visit with my aunt in the hospital. This family reunion was from the other side of my family - my dad's side. It seemed that each of my dad's siblings families stuck to each other and when I went over to say to the others, they got up and left. Such a heartwarming family reunion, huh? Hopefully, next year, when my aunt plans that one, it will be a better time.

NIECE VISITS

This past week, my niece Kendall came back with me from Spokane to hang out with us. Unfortunately, I could not take the time off to do much stuff with her but it was nice having her there. We did go to Richmond Beach with her one day and to Carkeek the next. Maybe next year, she can come back while I have some time off so we can actually do some things!!