Mouse Party

Last week we had Nick's second Birthday! Since we are going to Disney World right after Christmas, we decided to throw him a Disney Mickey Mouse themed party. I must admit the night before the party, I was a little burned out on party preparations and decorating. But when Nick got up the next morning he went around saying "Mouse Mouse...Mouses Everywhere!" It made the hard work of his party definitely worth it. We had a great turnout and an even better time. We had a bounce house in the back yard which was great for kids of all ages. Oreo mickey mouse cupcakes and a ton of food. Memories like this are so precious. Here are some Birthday pictures

 
 
 
 

The Nativity

Last week at school his class got to open a little people nativity set. The teachers were explaining to all of the kids about the Christmas Story, and describing each person in the nativity. Later that day, they returned to the nativity scene to recap what they had learned earlier. The teachers would point to a sheep and the say "what's this?" the children would reply "PEEP" and hold up another, "whose this?" The children all replied "Mary." When they got to baby Jesus the teachers were prompting them, "and this is baby ..." and Nick screamed out "Bennan!" She is the only baby he has ever known...who new Brennan was present at the birth of our lord? His teachers loved it.

I Don't Know

Despite the attitude that accompanies the two year old age, I have to say that we are having a really fun time with Nick. It reminds me of the Bill Cosby Show Kid's day the Darnest Things..but they really do. With Nick, we catch ourselves saying...I wonder where on earth he picked that up. My favorite thing he is doing right now is shrugging his shoulders and say "I Know Know" (translation "I don't know") like Me: Nick where is your Grady Dog? Nick: "I know know" we even caught a picture of him doing it. 

Christmas Tree

I am a little bit of a nut about Christmas. I would probably decorate at the beginning of November if Jeremy would let me. This year was the first year Nick was really able to "help" with the tree. We had so much fun. Jeremy's parents each gave him an ornament or two every year of his life so between those and my ornaments from childhood we had a great starting point for our tree when we first got together. Since then we exchange ornaments with each other, our kids, and his parents each year. Most of our ornaments are Hallmark so the box of them looked like a giant box of toys for Nick. He had the best time bringing me and Jeremy the boxes and saying "Open it, PEEEASE!" Once the box was open he would exclaim what it was, "mouse, dog, house, book, etc." Surprisingly he knows what most of them are. Some of the funnier descriptions are that he calls all the Santa ornaments "Sam" reindeer ornaments are "MOOSE" and any of the ornaments that have fake ice/igloos with eskimos, penguins etc. He call "Ice people."

Here is Nick Trimming the tree

 

 

And Brennan supervising

Manners

As Nick's vocabulary expands I have realized it is the opportune time to try and shape him into a little gentleman or at the very least not into a brat. ;) Since Nick attends Mother's Day Out, he came home about a month ago and had picked up the "mine" and "no" phenomenon. For those of you without kids or whose kids have not reached this point, this phenomenon is when the only two words they seem to use are "NO" and "MINE" usually accompanied with kicking and screaming. The "Mine" phenomenon was the one I really couldn't handle. So Jeremy and I took it head on, any time Nick said mine we told him it was a bad word and that whatever it was is "ours." A few days later I went to pick Nick up from MDO and the teachers told me a little girl took his toy he was playing with and he screamed at her "BAD...OURS!" I think mentally he still meant "MINE" but at least he was "trying" to be nice. Fortunately this phenomenon seems to have passed.

My project with Nick right now is to say please anytime he wants something and Thank You afterwards since these are both words he knows. He has gotten really good at it and people always think it is so cute, it eggs him on. This past Monday Nick had a bad fall at school and cut his forehead pretty badly, right in time for his Birthday, just like his first shiner last year. Jeremy picked him up and the cut didn't look that bad. Later that night, he bled through 2 band aids so I decided to take him to the doctor the next morning. Fortunately it wasn't anything to worry about and we just need to keep neosporin on it and it covered for a week. When Dr. Amy got ready to put the new band aid on she got close and he said PEESE (please) and when she was finished he followed up with TANK TO (thank you)...maybe I have taken this a little to far

Brennan's first two months!

Our little family has had the best time with Brennan over the past two months. She has already celebrated two holidays and a wedding with us. Halloween was spent at the Gulas's house. While Brennan slept the whole time, she did get a chance to sport her tutu made by her Deenie and Nick had an amazing time! He was a dinosaur for Halloween and had the best time telling everyone in attendance what a dinosaur says...ROAR! Nick asl got to trick or treat for the first time.

Here is Nick in his Halloween costume:

He has also learned to say "cheese" for pictures.

We also went down to Camden for my cousin Sarah's wedding. Brennan was a doll baby and let everyone pass her around at both the wedding and Gaines Ridge for breakfast the next morning. Nick also had a great time playing with and chasing all his cousins. If Eliot got out of sight, Nick immediately said "where Yeliot?" His cousin younger cousin Sarah, not the bride, did a great job of watching him while he explored. His only melt down came when he had to be removed from the dance floor for the Bride and Groom's first dance. What can I say he likes to be the center of attention. Here is a picture of the cousins the Sunday after the wedding.

Brennan has been a very busy baby she gained two pounds from her birth weight when we went to her one month check up and had grown over an inch in length. She has also celebrated her first Thanksgiving. Actually two Thanksgivings. She went to Decatur Thanksgiving morning and to Deenie's house Thanksgiving night. She and Nick had a wonderful time at both places. What a great start the holiday season!!!

Nick the Explorer

Nick's independence and vocabulary has expanded by leaps and bounds in the last few weeks. I have learned toddlers are very resourceful and to watch what you say around them! Nick has giant toy box in our living room where most of his toys live, except the riding/push toys. A few Saturdays ago, I had Brennan in the nursery and Nick and Jeremy were in the living room. Jeremy came back to tell me he was going to get breakfast. I told him to either take Nick or close the gate in the living room so that Nick would be contained while I nursed Brennan. After I finished nursing I went into the living room to check on Nick, he was no where to be seen so I went to take a shower. About 20 minutes later Jeremy comes through the door without Nick. I immediately ask Jeremy (a little panicked) "Where's Nick?"

Nick's head pops out of the toy chest saying "Nick Nick" and pointing to his chest. He scared the beejubus out of me. Since then one of his favorite "tricks" is using his riding dinosaur to climb into his toy chest, hang out in there with all his toys or throw them out and then use his toy drum to climb back out of the chest.

The other night Nick put together his first sentence. He had entered the chest to retrieve a toy he couldn't reach and proceeded to throw EVERY toy out of the chest, including the drum he uses as a step stool. After a few moments of contemplation, Nick lifts his arms up and screams. "Help....I stuck...PLEASE"

At least he said please ;)

Nick, its for you

As with all kids in this day and age Nick is obssessed with cell phones, both his play phones, mom and dad's old cell phones, and when he sneaks them, people's current cell phones. His phone "use" has really developed his vocabulary. Here is what transpired a few weeks ago:

(Nick picks up dad's old cell phone)

Nick: Helyyo?

(dramatic pause)

Nick: uh huh...uh uh 

(very long pause followed by an explosion of laughter)

Nick: Okay Bye

It cracked Jeremy and I up, partly because he was careful to pause in between his comments to hear the response from the person on the other end.

Brennan Elizabeth Upton

Our beautiful baby girl arrived September 27th at 4:56 pm. She was in a hurry to get here! I was only in labor for about 5 and a half hours and only pushed about 4 minutes. Brennan weighed 6 lbs 7 oz and was 19 3/4 inches long. She has a beautiful full head of brown hair. Everyone on Team Upton is adjusting to her arrival very well. Nick and the dogs love her! I am starting to get more sleep and she is a great baby.

At her one month check up she had gained 2 lbs and weighed in at 8 lbs 7.5 ounces! Her beautiful navy eyes are beginning to focus and she is beginning to be able to identify faces. Nick is very sweet with her and aside from a few jealous moments he seems to really like her. Here she is just a few days old! I will post her one week old picture soon!

Back to School

This fall Nick is going to Mother's Day Out Monday through Friday from 9-1. He really enjoys going, and it gives me an opportunity to get school work done. Plus it will give me some good one on one time with Baby Girl Upton once she arrives. He has a great teacher at IPC, Miss Julie. Not to say I didn't like Nick's teachers last year, but she is amazing. She is very into artwork and has them doing some really amazing stuff. Especially considering how full her hands must be, there are 5 little boys in Nick's class and I can only imagine how crazy that can be. She is great about emailing us picture from their day. Here is an impromptu class picture.

Here is a picture from his first day:

Going all out all the time doesn't come without consequences, last week he did get a pretty good shiner while at school. Here is a picture of him on the playground where you can really see his boo boo! Not to worry, his nickname at school is Nick "no tears" Upton because he never cries when I leave. They also said he barely cried at all when he blackened his eye!

Creme Brulee

A few weeks ago we celebrated Aunt Kim's Birthday at my mom's house. One of the great things about celebrating your Birthday at Deenie's is you get to pick your Entree and dessert. Kim decided that she wanted Creme Brulee. Nick had never tried this delicious custard, needless to say he loved it, the downside is he is still mastering using utensils and we he realized that he could shovel the brulee into his little mouth faster with his fingers, the spooning was over.

Several minutes after this photo, I went into the kitchen to get a dish towel to wipe Nick down before he left the table. The next thing I know, the entire table is erupting in laughter. When I waled back into the dining room, everyone had their hands on their head. This motion was egging Nick on to pat himself on the head, resulting in creme brulee hair lathering. Needless to say Nick had to take a second bath at Deenie's before he could get in his jammies to go home. While it was very funny, I told them all next time you encourage a brulee shampooing, someone else is bathing Nick ;)

Begee

My mom, Deenie, has a precious little dog named Nora. She is a small black rescue schnoodle and her nickname is Boogie, don't ask me why sometimes nicknames just happen. Nick is currently fascinated with playing with our dogs! (Let me tell you how much they are enjoying that or how many times I have to say, "Nick, BE GENTLE") Most of the time, our dogs prefer to go to another room to avoid playing with him all together. Nora is staying with us for a couple of days, as she often does, and she is generally really good with Nick. However, unfortunately for Nora, Nick has learned how to say Boogie (although it comes out more like Begee) and chases her furiously around the room. Last night, Nora got stuck in the living room with Nick while all the other dogs were napping in our bedroom. Nick began the Begee! scream accompanied with a dead run straight at Nora over and over again. Finally Nora decided she would just run laps around our living room as fast as she could to avoid the screaming Nick. Nick was so perplexed, he just stood in the room and watched her zip around in figure 8s around and on the furniture. Needless to say they both went to bed early and slept hard.

BeBe

Lately Nick has a lot of new tricks, I am trying desperately to catch them on video so I can upload them. He had learned several animal sounds and will usually perform them upon request. The two he gets every time right now is "what does the cow say?" to which Nick replies "moooo" with so much excitement he grins from ear to ear and Jeremy's favorite "what doe the pig say?" which I have taught Nick to respond to by snorting! I don't know which is cuter, his gasping for air to prepare for the snort, or the snort itself.

The other series of tricks Nick is learning is the typical toddler, where is your _____? and having them identify the body part. Some of our favorites are where is Nick's nose, and where are Nick's ears. He almost always responds to your question with the correct answer unless he is tired of your game in which you get the typical toddler "no" accompanied with a shaking of his head.

Yesterday I decided to teach him something new. Where is the baby? It took a little while, but now Nick responds my lifting up my shirt and patting (sometimes hitting, we are still perfecting it). The whole time he pats my belly he goes BeBe BeBe BeBe! It is pretty stinking cute, now I just have to be sure he knows there is only one in mommy's belly so someone else doesn't ask him only to have him lift up their shirt, that would be pretty embarrassing! ;)

Baby Girl's World

We are just one wall, and some bedding away from Baby Girl Upton's nursery being complete! I am so excited about this serene tranquil place we have created for her. Sometimes when things get crazy with Nick (who is entering the phase of no and pushing every boundary he has ever known...more on that later) I go in there and rock in her glider and pretend like it is my room.

One thing I learned from my first go round with Nick's nursery was to get everything you can and want to do done as early as you can. One is exhausted at the end of pregnancy and once the baby is here, you really don't have a lot of time to "finish" the nursery. Nick had a really cute Dr. Seuss nursery, with bold primary colors that I really liked, but I just had this feeling like I never got it "finished" exactly the way I wanted. So I was determined with BGU to get everything in her nursery just right before she gets here. When I originally began looking for little girl bedding I hated everything! It was really discouraging when I would like part of one thing and not all of the collection, etc. I knew I wanted to paint her room a lavender color and use pink, green, and yellow as the other colors. Enter Deenie with an amazing solution, she would make the most beautiful bedding in the world inspired by a butterfly collection I really liked but felt like was not what I wanted.

Here is a picture of the quilt that Deenie made for her, I decided to hang it on the wall so it could be a focal point and also it would soften the room.
                                                     

Here are the curtains, I was so happy we found the matching butterflies to go on the end of the curtain rod

 This is her bookcase, with toy storage and room for lots of books, dolls, and other things!

 This is the crystal butterfly night light for her room. I learned night lights are a must when you have to get up with babies in the middle of the night, so much better for everyone than turning on a lamp or overhead

This is a shot of her rocker with the sham that Deenie made and her new lamp.

This is a wide shot of the quilt over the crib with the butterfly mobile, all that is left for her crib is the bumper and crib skirt which Deenie is finishing. The bumper will be similar to the quilt with handmade butterflies for her precious eyes to focus on as they develop.

This paper butterfly chandelier was a bit of an afterthought because I felt like one corner seemed empty, but it is actually one of my favorite things in the whole room.

This is her changing table with the butterfly mirrors overhead!

And here is a close up of the mirrors

This is a wide shot of the whole room.

All that is left is the wall over the rocker and table, I am going to but four picture frames in a square to fill with shots from her newborn photo shoot and these three dimensional white tin butterflies! I cannot wait for her to move in!

31 weeks

I am officially 31 weeks pregnant and in what I like to call the 4th quarter. We are also only 26 days away from football season. Jeremy and I will be making the trip to Dallas for the Alabama vs. Michigan game in Jerryworld. It will undoubtedly be our last child-free getaway for a long time. I will be 35 weeks at that point so we are going to drive. I realize I will probably not be super comfortable during the drive, but I have really wanted to check out the new Cowboy Stadium and Jeremy and I hate to miss the kick off of Alabama's season.

Baby girl Upton is doing really well. She is much more "aggressive" than Nick was. Baby girl Upton moves constantly for I would say 10 hours of the day while I am awake. Nick moved a lot too, but it was more like soothing somersaults and delicate movements. BGU's are more like roundhouse kick and right jabs, with an occasional left cross thrown in there. We can actually see the outlines of her hands and feet in my tummy when she really gets moving!

Overall though, this pregnancy seems to be easier for me than being pregnant with Nick. We are so busy with our active toddler that the time waiting for baby's arrival seems to be going a lot faster, there isn't this big unknown about what labor & delivery is all about at the end, and just about anything is easier with experience. Here is a picture of me @ 30 weeks.

Mischief Managed

Each stage of Nick's young life has been both a joy and a challenge. There are aspects of each stage that are so amazing you wish you could have time stand still forever; while at the same time your skills as a parent and a person are constantly being challenged. This toddler (pre-terrible-two) stage with Nick has been no exception. His vocabulary and communication skills have exploded in the last 2 months. He now has a very distinct personality, knows what he wants, and does his best to communicate to you what that is.

Parts of the communication exploration are amazing. Nick loves to say " 'ellow" (read: Hello) and "Bye" even to perfect strangers. My favorite part of his "Bye" is that it is almost always followed by "muah" (with any elaborate hand swoop from the mouth outward). Having your baby blow you a kiss when you have to leave them, makes parting less of a sweet sorrow and more of a funny, precious moment. He also runs excitedly to you leaping into your arms when you return home which is quite possible my favorite moment of every day.

However, this new personality Nick is developing most definitely comes with a mischievous side. He is getting into any and everything and LOVES to play tricks on mommy and daddy. We try hard not to laugh when he does it, especially if he is pushing the buttons of the other parent, but it is almost impossible to not at least snicker when he makes this face that screams "Gotcha" (maybe the cutest face ever). Here are some highlight of Nick's pranks and jokes:

The other day Nick decided it would be hilarious to rip apart his bag of Pepperidge Farm pretzel goldfish. He went to the center of the living room, surrounded by the pups, grunted extravagantly and ripped apart the bag Hulk style. The puppies began gobbling up pretzel fish as though a giant pinata had been busted  before them. The real down side came when the dogs began trying to lick up all of the salt and almost choked to death from lack of water close by.

One of his favorite new tricks is to get on the sofa and turn the light on and off. It is like we have some kind of toddler rave going on in our living room, accompanied with explosive bouts of uncontrollable laughter. This prank results in Jeremy pulling the chain on the light to ruin Nick's fun, but actually the joke is on Mommy because later that day or the next she is too short to turn the light back on by the chain due to the vaulted ceilings in our living room.

Other antics are those just to get a rise out of mommy, which is pretty easy to do. Last night, we went to dinner with Aunt Kim, Uncle Brian, and cousin Eliot to celebrate Kim's Birthday. Nick ate and emptied all of his grapes out of the styrofoam container and began wearing it on his head, he quickly realized this trick was upsetting mommy so after I wrestled away the container, he began wearing anything within his reach as a hat, including his cheese slices. Despite the laughter by the entire table, Jeremy informed Nick that we are not packers fan, and that cheese as a hat is not appropriate :)

One Step Closer

I have been teaching the entire month of July at the University and have not had very much time to update about team Upton. We are just a little over 2 months away from the arrival of our baby girl! I could not be more excited about getting to hold her and meet her. Not to mention, getting to not be pregnant anymore is a pretty exciting prospect as well. I have been very fortunate this pregnancy with no complications, and a fairly enjoyable time overall. I think the second time around doing anything is always a little easier.

The crib and almost all of the furniture for her nursery has arrived and is put together. The last piece, her changing table, should be delivered next Tuesday and then I can get everything hing on the walls once we are certain about which layout is best for the room. I cannot wait to get it finished and post pictures for all of you. It has been so much fun designing a serene room for our little girl.

We still have not decided on a name for Baby Girl Upton (and no we don't know the name and have decided to keep it from everyone); we simply have not been able to come to a decision.

Camden Town

A few weeks ago I took Nick down to Camden to play with his cousins! He had the most fun, he is currently the youngest of a gaggle of cousins that rand from 5-16 years of age. Since he is a bit of a novelty he was flooded with attention. His 7 year old cousin Sarah followed him around allowing to have free reign of his MiMi's house for what must have been hours. He was fascinated by all the big kids and they were equally fascinated by him! They treated him like a king, he would sit down somewhere and then sort of point where he wanted all of the other kids to sit. He did some of his legendary dancing for them when he first arrived, which was also a big hit. My favorite moment probably came when he was coloring (one of his favorite new activities, sometimes he colors for an hour!) and he had Sarah sitting by him, and his cousin Forrest on the other side. Sarah got up and he was very distraught. He immediately pointed as his Deenie and then pointed at the chair, communicating to Deenie that he needed her to come sit by him. Meanwhile in the kitchen, Sarah told my cousin Deborah (her Aunt) that she came to get a drink while "those grownups were watching him!" She is so cute, I guess she realized chasing an 18 month old is a full time job and you have to get your breaks when you can get them ;)

WOW

As I have posted before, watching Nick get a grasp of the English language has been one of my favorite experiences of our 2nd year. Finally experiencing your child form words and associate their meanings is priceless. It also opens up their ability to follow directions and communicate with you on a level they have note been able to before. My favorite new thing that Nick says is WOW. I think he picked this word up from a show on Nick Jr. called Wow Wow Wubbzy. Hearing his little voice articulate WOW is cute enough as it is, but he even says it in the correct context, i.e. when he opens a drawer he knows he is not supposed to get into in the bathroom, or when I bring in groceries and put them on the floor to unload and he pulls out the goldfish, etc. It is awesome. My favorite WOW instance is when I recently rearranged his room into his big boy toddler room. I removed the glider which went into the nursery and I put the new table and chairs in there. He had been playing in the living room while I renovated his room and when I finish and let him come back there, he walked into the room and threw his arms out exclaiming WOW!! It was the perfect reward for me!

Nick the Zookeeper

Santa brought Nick the Little People Zoo for Christmas this past year. It is a really neat toy where you can place the animals on a platform and it will tell you what type of animal it is and what sound the animal makes. You can collect animals lost of animals to live at the zoo and Nick has about 15 animals. He plays with it all the time. The other day Jeremy and I were on the couch and Nick wanted us to play with him. Being almost 6 months pregnant I really wanted to find a game we could play where I wasn't going to have to get up and down off the floor or be crawled on by a toddler. Nick had begun to be able to retrieve his ball or car when you asked him to get it. So I decided to ask him if he could go and get his lion cub. To my surprise, Nick walked over to a pile of about 10 animals and on the first try picked up the lion cub and immediately brought it over to me. Jeremy and I clapped and made quite a fuss over him getting it correct and Nick was very pleased with himself. We thought maybe it was just a lucky guess, so we asked "Nick can you go find the hippo?" Low and behold he walked back to the pile of animals and brought the hippo, boisterous applause ensued. We continued this game and Nick went 6 for 6 on guessing the right animal, at the end when there was 2 animals left and he was unsure as to which one was correct he smartly just brought both ;) We have been playing the animal game a lot lately and he now can get all 15 right on the first try and with most make something resembling the sound the animal makes as he brings it to us! It has made us very proud of his intellect and also very aware of how much he is understanding about the world around him even if he can't fully communicate. It is time for all of us to mind our Ps&Qs so Nick doesn't pick up any bad habits :)

Do you speak toddler?

Nick is very ready to communicate with the world, and talks a lot (I wonder where he gets that from?). The only problem is that most of us don't speak toddler. Nick finds it very frustrating that we all don't understand exactly what he is trying to say all the time. Below are some words Nick has mastered of the English language, along with some words from his own toddler language, Nickenese.

Ball- This was one of Nick's first words and most definitely his favorite. He uses it to refer to anything spherical, not just traditional balls. For instance mommy's pearls are balls, watermelons are balls, grapes are balls, etc.

Shoe-It is not surprising given my affinity for shoes that Nick has mastered this word. This word began the day we made a big fuss over getting him his first pair of big boy tennis shoes from the New Balance store. He not only says this word every time you put his shoes on, you can also request that he get his shoes and he will retrieve them.

Dog- Team Upton has three full-time canine members along with additional part-time dog members so Nick latched on to this word pretty quickly, plus the D sound is fairly simple to make for children. We still have to work with making him say the g sound at the end, but every morning when Grady and I go to get Nick up he points at her and says "dog." He also begins saying dog as soon as we get to Deenie's house and he hears Nora barking.

Cow-Recently while reading his Farm Peekaboo book from Aunt Kim, Nick was pointing to all of the animals and calling them dogs. I realized we should begin trying to identify the animals for him and have him try to say what they are. Cow was difficult because of the cah- sound, but he got it. Now he runs to his little people cow at Deenie's and says cow. The only problem is the cow at Deenie's and the little people giraffe he has at home are the same shape so he often calls his giraffe a cow, but giraffe is outside of his linguistic grasp right now.

shi shu- This phrase is usually accompanied with a pointing finger. We have determined that it roughly translates into "what's that?" since the point finger usually indicates Nick wants you to tell him what he is point at. This is one of his favorite "questions" to ask. We are well on our way to the 500 questions a day asked by most toddlers :)

tsk-This word translates (to the best of our knowledge) into this. He points of hold something he wants and when you ask him, Nick what is that? He usually responds tsk. Either that or he is constantly disappointed in something I am doing and saying tsk tsk.

Ah-Oh- This precious phrase of Nick's definitely corresponds to "Uh-Oh." When Nick spent some time with Aunt Betty last week, he would dump out his crayons on the floor and Aunt Bet would say "Uh-Oh, Nick lets pick them up." Now Nick will go Godzilla on his toys or a tub of crayons immediately followed by "Ah-Oh." He thinks this game is hilarious...thanks Aunt Bet ;)

Team Upton Takes Pepper Place Market

The outdoor farmers' market held on Saturdays at the Pepper Place is one of my favorites in the city! It is where I went last year for all of the locally grown food I used to make Nick's baby food. My mom often going with me, but we always end up seeing a lot of friends. Nick and I are regulars to the market, but this Saturday Jeremy was off work and decided to join us. He also decided it would be a good idea to take Grady (the market is very dog friendly and always has a large canine presence). I have to admit I was very skeptical about taking Grady. She is a really good dog, but at age 4 she can still be very rowdy...

When we arrived Grady was very excited and doing about how I expected on the leash, which is not great. She has never had to walk on a leash and so she is not really accustomed to it. But to my surprise after about 5 minutes and the market, encountering a lot of people and other pups, she bacem very calm, she was letting lots of kids pet her and dogs sniff her out. She even made friends with a 130+ lb Shiloh Sheppard. By the end of the day we even heard other people remarking about how beautiful and well behaved the Airedale was being, and they were actually talking about OUR Grady. I was very impressed with her!

Jeremy ate his way through the Pepper Place market. The market is great about having samples set up at all the tents. Jeremy had some delicious Canebreak Gouda, goat cheese, and Monroeville sausage. They also have several breakfast options, Jeremy had BBQ pork and grits from Jim & Nick's, I had a grilled croissant and Nick and Jeremy shared a cinnamon sugar scone from the coffee shop. Finally Jeremy tried out a Popsicle from the new Steel City Pops. They create gourmet Popsicles that are all natural and delicious, Jeremy had the Strawberry flavor. We met up with Aunt Glo (a part-time member of team Upton) at the market. When we got over to the musicians, she got Nick out of the stroller. He made a beeline towards the music. I think she was surprised by how fast he has gotten. We all danced a bit to the music before grabbing our produce and heading home! This was the first stop on our family Saturday Funday.

Team Upton returned home to take a group nap. When we got up, we had leftover BBQ for lunch and I fried up some green tomatoes (they have been on my Southern Woman bucket list). They were really good considering they were my first attempt. We went to the zoo, complete with Splash Pad time for Nick. We also got to see the new elephant who is joining our herd of elephant bachelors, we will now have 4 African Male elephants. We finished up the day picking up Davenport's pizza for dinner. The perfect end to a perfect day!

Nick Rides Grady

Since before Nick was born, we have jokingly talked about how Nick would one day ride Grady, our Airedale, much like I rode my Airedale, Stella, growing up. Since Nick was born Grady has been extremely protective, loving, and patient with Nick. He has pulled her hair, chased her around the house, and even used her head as a stepping stool to reach the sofa. So it was only a matter of time before Nick mounted Grady for riding. That happened today. The first time he straddle the Grady she was patient and simply laid very still, Nick lost interest and moved on. However a few minutes later, Nick remounted and grabbed her ears as though to say "Giddy Up Grady." Grady was less than pleased and bucked Nick off. No one was hurt and a valuable lesson learned, perhaps when Nick is a little older the riding will be more feasible :)

The Target Meltdown

Nick has hit the age where we have Chernobyl like meltdowns over the slightest things. We now often experience a screaming fit complete with writhing around on the floor because Nick cannot have the remote control, cell phone or other item he wants. While unpleasant these events at home are one thing, but it was only a matter of time until something like this was going to happen in a public venue. A few weeks ago we had our first event of this nature. Nick and I were out at one of our weekly shopping trips to the target (they have amazing deals on diapers) when Nick began the meltdown process. For those of you that have been through an experience like this, you need little more description, but for those of you who don't have kids or they haven't hit this stage yet, I will try to paint you a picture. All of a sudden your child begins uncontrollable screaming, on lookers begin shooting you nasty looks, or worse begin talking about you and your child to whomever they are on the phone with or with in person. You try to pick your child up out of the buggy to comfort them when they become completely limp. It is like passive resistance. They suddenly they begin flailing their arms and legs erratically. I always said I would never be one of those mom's who has to leave an establishment because of their child pitching a fit...needless to say I was WRONG.

I pick Nick up on my hip, he is in a Superman like positions still kicking and screaming the whole way out of the door. We get outside to the sidewalk and put him down (we are both crying at this point). I look at Nick and say "Team Upton needs to pull it together! We only have two diapers at home and have to go back inside to get more. We are on the same team, Team Upton! Please, please, please stop crying!" I don't know if it was the shock of seeing me crying but with a few quivers of the lower lip, Nick stopped, reached his hand up to hug me, let me pick him up and head back inside. FULL DISCLOSURE: In addition to the diapers and other items, Nick did get a cookie and a new ball, but importantly we were able to check out at Target.

Nick the Dolphin

Nick and I took Mommy and Me swim classes over the last 8 weeks. It has been really fun for Nick and informative for me. He is a natural in the water and squeals with excitement the entire time we are at our lessons. He has been learning to reach and pull, kick, float on his back and tummy, as well as getting out of the pool via the sides and jumping back in to mommy. He is one of the few kids in his class who has no reservations about going all the way under (probably because Jeremy has been pouring water all over his head while washing his hair since he was several days old). The lesson that Jeremy came to in order to snap some pictures he even said, "Nick certainly seems to have the most fun while he is out there." 

Swim lessons isn't the only place Nick has been exhibiting his love of water. Nick adores the splash pad at the zoo. He will run to the center of all of the flowing fountains, throw his arms out and scream as though he is saying "Here I am world!" We are also really fortunate to have a great pool in our community with it's own splash pad as well as a great baby pool. He will stay in the baby pool as long as I will let him. One day we were making so many friends we ended up staying for 2+ hours. He moves through the baby pool really well and even when he falls he just pulls himself back up! No tears at all! What can I say our little dude may be the next Michael Phelps ;)

It's a Girl

A couple of weeks ago we found out that Baby Upton 2.0 is definitely a girl! We are all really excited, granted we all have different reasons for being excited, but we are all thrilled. One of the only things I have really wanted to do, that I haven't been able to with Nick is shop for little girl clothes and now I finally can!!! I am doing my very best not to go crazy but I have already bought her a swimsuit for next year. It is white with cherries all over it and ruffles around the bottom! I kind of wish I had a matching one for myself ;)

We have decided to go with a butterfly theme for the nursery. The wall will be a shade of lavender, the primary color for the nursery, and we will be accenting with pinks and yellows! Oh and my mom has already begun finishing little girl smocked outfits that have been in boxes for years now. Not to mention she will be able to wear many dresses my mom has made for me, my sisters, and my cousins over the years! We could not be more pumped about the arrival of Baby Upton 2.0.

Bye Bye and Other Things

Nick's vocabulary is rapidly expanding. He is starting to associate more word with their actually meaning which is good since the word ball and phrase "blue ball" can get a little repetitive. He has even learned to wave and say Bye Bye! We have not, however, learned to say Hi or Hello so Nick tells people bye bye as his own personal greeting...I have to admit it is pretty cute!

We went to see Nick's cousins school play the other evening. Nick really enjoyed it! He clapped throughout all of the songs. I think it reminded him of Yo Gabba Gabba (a show on Nick Jr. where people in costumes sing and dance). He was also surprisingly good throughout the performance, but I don't think I will be taking him to any paid performances any time soon ;)

Nick has been taking mommy and me swimming lessons for the past 4 weeks. He is doing really well and is quite a natural in the water! He is one of the only kids in his class who goes all the way under. He also does a great job of pulling himself out on the side of the pool, although he is highly incentivized once the teacher puts his frog out of his reach on the side. I will try to get some good picture of him at swim class soon and post them!

Ollie Irene

Tonight Deenie and I took Nick to a great restaraunt that has opened where Brodie's used to be in Mountain Brook Village,  Ollie Irene . It is not an uber kid friendly place, but Nick is generally pretty good when we go out as long as he can stuff his face! Fortunately one of the things I am most proud of Nick about is his taste in food. Tonight he adored their Boudin Balls and homemade bread and butter pickles. He also really enjoyed the gnocchi. Last week Jeremy and I took him to Sumo, a Japanese Steakhouse in Hoover and he ate 4 shrimp and filet...the only downside is that he may be developing expensive tastes.