Nick's First Halloween

Nick's first Halloween was a busy day. After some light laundry, he fell asleep mid-munch right in the middle of the floor.

We had a few pumpkins earlier in the week, but they were slowly disappearing. You'll see from the pictures they were being hunted by a hungry squirrel. I haven't started feeding them yet for the winter as it's still been warm out. Apparently this was his response to my procrastination.

Nick didn't get to eat any candy, but did take an afternoon gnaw on the kitchen cabinets. His costume was a 'Pea-in-a-pod' which looked a little like a caterpillar, particularly when he scooted across the floor. There was no feet in the costume (of course, pea pods don't have feet!) so he had to wiggle his way around. The picture here was of the dog hat his mama got for him just because. He loves it. (It's a throwback to the dog suit he had last winter when he was just born.)

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And if you look close, you might see what's left of his first black eye (inside of the right eye) - he fell into one of his little books and nearly blinded himself. It was black-and-blue the first day. That's my boy.

Plenty of pictures from the day's activities.

Nick's Tenth Month

This is the official uncensored blog - nothing held back. So be prepared to be shocked (or bored) by what Nick might play with or chew: tub time seems popular for pictures, play time with toilet tissue, or just pushing an unopened pack of diapers around the room.

Nick got his first car this month, just a month after his first set of keys (refer to an old blog about the toy keys). A little young to be driving, you say? Well, he won't be driving it for another 16 years, but with a lifetime warranty on the powertrain, I intend to keep it alive for him to cruise around town. All his friends will probably be flying hovercrafts by then, and poor Nick will have a car that "still runs on gas! Ha!" There's gotta be something cool about having a car from the year you were born, though. I treasure having a car that's just a month older than Brandi (and I'm smart enough not to divulge the year of the car in this blog.)

Nick cut his first tooth this month, on the lower front - that's 16d if you're keeping score with the universal numbering system, and tooth P if you're a hotshot orthodontist who wants to sound sophisticated (I'm playing to my wife's peers here - the dentistry audience - so most of you are thinking, "dork," and the dental professionals are nodding.) He got 'O' (15d) a couple days later. We only had a few days of the high fever and wigging-out at night. What is it about cutting teeth that it only happens at night when you're trying to sleep?

He contracted his first illness when we had visitors this month - got the flu bug. So he's lost some chubbiness, and had his sleep schedule seriously disrupted (both by sickness and visitor activities). So this has put us on the 'no sleep for parents' track, waking up every hour screaming, or yelling for 3 or 4 hours straight every night for the past two weeks. For every jolly picture you see on this blog, there's one we've taken of a grumpy face that we're saving for another time (I'm not posting many grumpy pics until all of our friends have had their first child. Many of you held back the horror stories of parenting from us until it was too late, and we're part of the cult now - recruiting new parents with only stories of happiness.) Our friend Lisa told us once that we'd take grumpy pictures and just love and laugh at them - she was right.

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He's talking even more than videos lead on. He's always saying, 'ma-ma' or 'pa-pa', and not just into space, but he directs them when he wants something. I'm just thrilled his first words are something he heard from his mother and not me.

- Jason