The most photographed non-celeb child alive

Or, my love-hate relationship with Picture People where you can get great shots but there's no option to buy them digitally. Boo. I bought a few cropped enlargements for the living room and they turned out just amazing. He is such a good sport.

Nick FFF (Friday Fast Facts)

Age: 15 months on June 30 (Monday)
Weight: 22 lbs
Height: need to measure
Clothing size: 12 months, he's a teeny bean
First word: Dada
Current favorite word: Daya (prounounced Die-a, we think it's Nickspeak for Bella)
Least favorite word: NO
Favorite food: Fries with ranch dressing, hamburger meat
Least favorite food: Any baby food
Current occupation: Mama's court jester
Number of teeth: four on top, four on the bottom, molar or two on the way
Temperament: Mellow but prone to tantrums
Nap time: Noon to 3 p.m.
Bed time: 9-10 p.m.
Wake time: anywhere from 7:30-9 a.m. depending on bedtime previous night
Favorite pasttime: Cat chasing
Shoe size: 5 1/2 Stride Rite, 5 See Kai Run

Is he ...
Walking? yes
Running? check
Screaming when people don't pay enough attention to him? also check
Funky? absolutely
Crazy? occasionally
Obstinant? check
A lot like his mama? yes
Obsessed with animal fur, particularly the pulling of said fur? much to our chagrin
A good dancer? depends on what you think good looks like
A sweet man? oh yeah
An opinionated man? on certain things
A good eater? not of fruit, but otherwise yes
An affectionate peanut? all the time
A mama's boy? to the extreme
A flirt? yes and his dad loves it, even helps him work the room sometimes ...

The things we do for love

Moms do crazy-wonderful things for their kids that are often not appreciated until those kids are much older (if they are ever appreciated at all). Like the 300-page book I've written for Nick that if I'm lucky he'll read maybe once when he's 30 and expecting his own child. But we do things because we love our babies, not for the thanks we'll get or the rewards that may or may not come.

Such is the case with my mom, too, who collected depression glass for me and my sister for decades without knowing if we would or could ever appreciate how hard she had to work to find each piece, or how much money she spent securing a collection over the years. She collected pink for me, green for my sister. And now we both love our depression glass sets. Who wouldn't? They are beautiful! It's virtually impossible to find complete sets these days.

This week when they came down for their weekly visit, mom and dad brought me my set - service for 8 in pink Block Optic with the pitcher and 12 glasses too. Unheard of. And I have it because she loved me.

Here are pics of the pieces in the sink being cleaned (except for one plate that I deliberately did not clean well because it still had the worn price tag on it and I wanted to save that). I dream of having a tea party with my sister one day where we combine our collections and have a table overflowing with pink and green sparkly glass dishes and cups and glasses. Wouldn't it be beautiful?


Thanks, mom. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

When what you have is what you need

I am struggling lately with finding balance in my life, with determining when enough is enough. Setting limits for myself has never been my strong suit. And in many ways, if I'm honest, I don't think enough ever is enough. I wish I had more of so many things. Take photographs for example. I swear to you that I took 1,000 pictures of Nick when he was newborn and yet I feel like there are about 10 good ones and I could just slap myself for not working harder to get the perfect shot in the perfect light. I need to remind myself that I was T-I-R-E-D and that I barely showered or slept, let alone worried about light and camera angles. It's so easy to be critical after the fact. But now there are other things I feel like I want more of in my world, and I am realizing that setting limits may be my big lesson to learn in life. Sometimes enough is enough. Sometimes what doesn't seem like enough to me is way more than other people could ever want or need. Sometimes the universe knows better than I do how much of stuff I need. So today I will stop pushing, wanting, asking, and just be with what I have where I am.

One month apart

Nick and Mattias are a mere 30 days apart in age; Mattias was born 3/1/07 and Nick was born 3/31/07. They play so nicely together! Especially in Mattias' beautiful back yard with the fun frog pool on hot summery days like today (which Nick hogged the entire time we were there - but Mattias didn't seem bothered ... such a generous host). Nick returned the favor by trying to push Mattias around on his cart later in the afternoon, which may have been difficult because Mattias is about 7 pounds heavier than he is :0).

Nick's 1st year in Flickr

As you know, I am cataloging Nick's 2nd year in Flickr and am finally getting around to adding the pics from his first year in a separate set. Follow this link to see them. I'll be adding and arranging for a few days until it's fully organized. Enjoy! Comments on the pics are appreciated!

Hangin with Mia & Mikyle

Today was fun - we caught up with Mia & Mikyle and spent lots of time with Jacque, too! I snapped some cute pics, which I've posted below with captions. I swear you can just read their little minds sometimes. I can't wait 'til they can talk!

Hey, little lady - whatcha got there?Wait, Mia can have one but I can't?Don't worry, Nick - I'll share mine with ya!First though, I'm gonna slap ya on the head for no particular reason. Ha! Gotcha!Uh oh ... I made you cry! Sorry!But I do like his hat. It suits me, no? Okay, I feel better. The cracker lady gave it up. And Mia got tired, too - she passed out on her mom, wearing my hat of course.Look! In the end I got to take the whole box of crackers just for myself!

When food is love

I'm Greek, so I know a thing or two about eating. In fact, I've never been a skinny-minny because I love food. I love eating out, but I also love dining in. What I've realized since having Nick is that 1) home-cooked food makes babies (and hubbies) happy, and 2) I am like my mom in that I have an arsenal of five things I make really well, and I tend to rotate those recipes, most of which are hers. What are my five, you ask? Lasagne, chicken enchiladas, Greek chicken and rice, chicken and dumplings, and Nick's favorite, chicken stew which is pretty much the same base as chicken and dumplings with a variation on the starch. I just realized that all my specialities are composed of one meat and starch or another. Hmmm ... no Atkins dieting around here, I guarantee!

I usually cook for him once a week, a big enough portion to last until Wednesday or Thursday by which time he is tired of whatever I've made (unless it's lasagne - there is so tiring of lasagne he told me). So yesterday I made chicken stew with his favorite wide egg noodles. He is learning to eat with a spoon though he really just plays with the spoon while I feed him or cut up pieces he can pick up himself. Here are snaps from yesterday's lunch. He loves picking up the egg noodles out of the bowl with his hands and slurping them up.

Cleaning the aftermath is so much fun.



Oh, and yes his shirt does say My Mom Rules, 'cause I do.

Cat Bongo

He loves it, she hates it. I'm sure in her cat dreams she fantasizes about the peaceful days before Nick arrived on the scene. Poor Wee.

Sierra's 1st birthday party

Was so much fun! Here are pics with captions.

Ooooh ... we're at a park with lots of grass and concrete I can run on? I'm outta here ...Sierra loves her daddy!Wasn't her cake beautiful?I'm all about a good piece of cake ... and this one was delicious!Sierra's mommy is so nice.Mama says I'm a flirty birdie.I just like pretty girls! And Sierra is especially sweet ... can she come home with us?Yeah, she gave me her number...We had so much fun.And Sierra got so many goodies. It was fun to share her special day!All that fun really wore me out, though; I fell asleep the minute mom and dad drove away.

Justification

I can't resist a pretty orchid. I just can't. For some people the weakness is shoes (ahem, you know who you are), for others it's jewelry (and I'm there, too) but for me, it's all about orchids. I pretty much stick to one kind, phalaenopsis, but this dendrobium nobile almost reached out and bit me yesterday when I went to Trader Joe's! It's called "Kahala Sunset" and I'm telling you, it's a little slice of magic.
Be honest now, you would have bought it too, right? If my husband asks, I'm just going to say, "Oops! It fell into my cart and what was I going to do, leave it there?"

Hat, shmat

I know you say it makes me look handsome, but ...I think it makes me look like a girl.

Farewell to Month 14

Nick turned 14 months old today, May 31. Tomorrow starts the first day of his 15th month of life. So what milestones did month 14 hold?

1) Mastery of the Sippy Cup (and the end of my search for the perfect leak-proof SC, as well).2) Ability to walk steadily on his own as long as he wants. We are getting him used to walking in his Robeez, which is taking some practice. He just prefers to walk barefoot.
3) Distinct speech in the form of of "mama" and "dada" said to the appropriate people (not all the time, but sometimes) and mastery of some sign language, including the sign for "more".
4) Addition of some dance steps to his walking routine (mostly in the form of bending at the knees and bouncing up and down).
5) Replacement of his Snugride carseat with a super-plush Britax Decathlon that he loves, not only because it's soft and comfy but because he's now facing forward! So much to see!
6) A new skill acquired just two days ago - if you raise your arms up, he'll raise his too. It's pretty cute. I have fun making him do it over and over and over.

Today we celebrated the end of this month by having lunch at Estancia in La Jolla. Nick loved the goat cheese appetizer we ordered and shared my brie-coated hamburger with me. Gone are the days of babyfood, I tell you. If I even show him a jar of baby food he starts crying. He's a big boy now. He washed his burger and goat cheese down with apple juice and was as happy as one little man can be. We let him roam the grounds, under close supervision of course, and stretch his walking legs. It was such a beautiful day, and a wonderful way to welcome this next new month of his life.