March Madness

It's been a crazy month(s)! Mid-February we got keys to Diana's new house here in Walla Walla, and since then Matt has basically been spending every free second of his time doing work there. The house is only a few blocks from ours and has a nice layout, but a lot of the finishes were very dated and needed work - carpet in the kitchen... shag carpet in the bedrooms, taking out the bath from the master bathroom... all fun stuff. So that's where Matt's been for the last month and a half (except when he got to go to DC for a week... that punk).

Rough construction work.

So I've been doing a lot of solo parenting, and having a lot of Nico time. At the beginning of the month we took a trip to Seattle for my cousin Alex's baby shower. With the wintery weather conditions I think we were travelling for about the same amount of time that we were actually in the city, but it was still nice to see her and my aunt Marisol.

Preggo cousins.

And our little guy had his birthday -- two years old! It's hard to believe it's been two years since he came into our lives. As you will see from the photos below, he is really into trucks and buses.

Birthday family photo.

Our good friend Brooke made him this awesome birthday cake on his birthday (for Supper Club). It was perfection - chocolate cake with Oreo "dirt" and real trucks that he got to keep after he ate the yummy cake.

Birthday cake by Brooke.

And on the weekend after his birthday we had a few friends over for brunch, and the fabulous Emma made him this amazing bus cake. We ate cake for days after the party, but Nico was happy just eating the fondant bus on the day of the celebration (and I was surprised he was able to nap after all that sugar...).

Birthday cake by Emma.

2!!!

So what is this little 2-year-old up to? He is constantly playing with cars and trucks, and always goes to bed with his bus (a birthday gift from mom & dad). His vocabulary has exploded in the last three months (having him go to Kids' Place has been truly amazing) and he is always chatting. He loves his dogs (see photo below) and is always in charge of opening and closing the door for them to go outside to go potty as well as helping us feed the dogs. We've had a few incidents when, while walking the bowls with dog food to the dogs, the temptation of trying the dog food won out and kibble was spilled all over the floor, but we are getting better.

They both look pouty, but they were loving the snuggle time.

Grandma taught him to howl like a wolf, so lately there's been lots of that around the house. He still loves to ride in Bob, so he always joins me when I go running with Eco on weekends. Now that the weather is getting nice again we've been visiting playgrounds more often, which he loves, especially the slides. He loves teach Patty and teacher Marissa at Kids' Place, as well as all of his friends, and he is always happy when I drop him off and wanders off to find a friend.

We've gone through a phase of being a picky eater, but I'm testing out this theory of Division of Responsibility in feeding where as parents you are basically in charge of providing healthy choices of food, and the kids are responsible for whether or not they eat it and how much. It's not easy... I have never been one to make eating a fight, but I always want to push for more fruit and veggies. It's hard when Nico's being picky, but in just the last few weeks I've noticed that the more I relax about it, the more he is willing to try things that he sees the rest of us eating.

And he continues to be the sweetest boy in the world (at least I think so). He's developed a strong attachment to his Bunny (a stuffed rabbit that tio Roberto gave him when he was born), which surprised me at first since he was never very attached to any one thing, but it's very sweet. He sleeps with bunny, gives him lots of kisses, and takes him on rides in his bike. He's also become more aware of "baby" in mama's belly, and will often hug and kiss his baby sister (apparently that's what he's decided we're having).

23 weeks.

And pregnancy continues well for me. The itchy skin is driving me nuts cause it doesn't matter how much lotion I put on, it always feel dry, and I don't think the lower back pain is going away anytime soon, but other that things are good. Baby's moving around a bunch (I might have mentioned this before, but this is my favorite part about pregnancy) and not only can you see it move, but I've started to be able to feel different body parts (an arm here... a baby booty over there...).

So that's life right now. Matt's been working really hard the last few days to get his mom's bedroom and bathroom finished so that she can finally move into her house even if everything else is still in progress. Did I mention that she's been living with us for the last month? It's actually been nice having her around when Matt's gone all the time (though she spends a lot of time in the house too), but I feel bad that she has to sleep in the sofa/sofa-bed, and I think she's going crazy not having her own space. I think the goal is to have her in her house by this weekend... and then two weeks later my parents arrive for a very long-awaited visit!