Swimming!!

So before we could go swimming, we had to have a snack for energy. Nick tried a mum-mum rice cracker thing for the first time. It took him a little bit to get used to the concept of feeding himself the cracker, but with a little help he soon figured it out.
The crackers disolve really easilly so by the time he was done, there was mum-mum globs and stickiness all over Nick, his clothes and the bumbo. Oh well, at least it was cute and he seemed to like the whole feeding himself concept.
So now that we had our energy and half a gallon of sunscreen slathered on, it was time to introduce Nick to the pool! Doesn't he look so adorable in his little bathing suit?!
Dad gradually took him into the water... and although it was warm (like 85 degrees - my kind of temperature) the poor thing still cried.
It took some (okay a lot) of coaxing and cooing but we eventually got him to tolerate the water for a bit.
Nick in his turtle floater with sunshade. I have the cutest family ever!!!

Despite the crying and seemingly "traumatic" few minutes in the water, all in all Nick seemed to have fun. At the end of the day, he just wants to chew on his fist... if only he'll always be this easy to please...

The things we do to avoid sleep...

Nick has become increasingly mobile lately and as a result he tends to roll around in his crib before he will even consider sleep (I have no idea why this text is so big and underlined...)

Some nights he will just calmly fall asleep. Others, however, he fights sleep with everything he has. As you can see in the above videos he would rather move from one end of the crib, to the other. These days we never know how we will find him in his crib in the mornings. Then eventually if he's on his belly he will eventurally give up and fall asleep. The SIDS people would love me... bumpers, blanket, stuffed animals... oh well!

Daddy time

In honor of Father's Day, this post is going to pay tribute to sweet Nick and his incredible Daddy!! Last weekend, I had to work on Saturday at the Welcome Home Salute for recently returned Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, so Eric and Nick hung out all day. The boys did a bunch of errands including going to Wal-Mart and Lowes (the perfect boy place). After that, Eric took Nick to the NCAA Track and Field Championships at the University of Arkansas.
Here are the boys hanging out in the stands. Nick loved all of the activity and people... until the crowd errupted in a cheer and scared the poor boy. Sweet Nick had no idea what to make of so much noise so suddenly.
More of the boys in the stands. Aren't they just so sweet together?!
Lately Nick is very interested in anything that you are holding. He reaches out to touch any and everything. Here he is trying to grab the camera...
This one is an even better shot... he got pretty close. It was so cute and funny!
Clearly as this picture shows, Nick LOVES his Daddy. No one can make Nick smile and laugh like Eric can. He swears that Nick lights up when he sees me, which is true. But Nick beams when he sees his Daddy. He laughs and smiles like no other when the two of them are together. Happy Father's Day, Eric and to all of the Dad's out there!!!

Weekend

This weekend Eric decided that he would build us a deck!  However, in order to do that he wanted to tile our steps with slate tiles.  I didn't know how they'd look or if they'd make that much of a difference, but they look much better.  We've come a long way from when we first moved in and there was astro-turf on the stairs... if only I had a picture of that!
We got Nick a few new toys this weekend, one of which is the stack of rings.  He had a great time whacking the rings.
Sometimes he would actually even grab onto and hold one of the rings!
And well he inevitably knocked them all over...
At least he's absolutely adorable while doing it!