1st Birthday Party...

I know the pictures are a bit late, but none the less here are some pictures from Nicholas' first birthday party.

--Mom

First Santa Claus Parade...

Well Sunday we took Nicholas to his first Santa Claus Parade. We packed some food, toys, a couple of chairs and headed out. We wanted to get here a little bit early to make sure that Nicholas would be able to see everything from his stroller. But who knew that when they said the parade was at 2 pm they really meant 2:30 pm. And who also knew that the Milton Santa Claus Parade would be over an hour long?

Well needless to say Nicholas became bored (with over 100 floats, who could blame him). So by the time Santa came he had enough and didn't even pay attention to the float. Nicholas did enjoy all of the bands that went by and seeing all of the kids, so all in all it was a good day. As you can see from the photos Nicholas seemed to enjoy himself.

--Mom

Eating Spaghetti...

First Halloween...

Well I think that we are one of the few families that didn't dress up their child for their first Halloween. But we did let him stay up a little later so that he could see some of the kids come to the door all dressed up. Nick was very interested in all the kids and every time we took him away from the door he just kept pointing to the door wanting to go back and see more kids. It was a lot of fun watching him react to all the kids dressed up.

--Mom

Letting Go...

Well for the past couple of months Nick has been walking around various items of furniture not ready to let go and try walking for himself. Well Friday was the first time that he let go and gave walking a try. He let go of the coffee table and tried walking to the stairs. He took about 4 or 5 steps on his own.

Let me tell you from that point on there has been no stopping him. He has now become much braver and is letting go of everything and trying to walk every where. I am now afraid that there will be no stopping him.

--Mom

First Finger Painting Experience...

Well today we thought that we would try finger painting for the first time. I thought that it would have went better than it did. He didn't seem that interested in making the mess, maybe because he was tired. But oh well, we still had fun and had even more fun cleaning up his mess and him afterwards.

--Mom






















P.S. Don't worry the paint was non-toxic and we didn't get any in his mouth, just all around it.

First Steps...

And so it begins... Nicholas tried to walk for the first time today. He took two steps from the coffee table to the couch. He sort of feel into the couch when he got there, but still two steps by his self no help.

Since then we have tried to get him to walk more, and he is getting a bit braver but still only one or two unassisted.

--Mom

First Thanksgiving...

Well this past weekend was Nick's first Thanksgiving. We first celebrated by going to Chudleigh's. There was a lot of people who decided to do the same thing, but we still had a lot of fun and enjoyed taking Nick. We got to see a bunch of animals at the petting zoo and Dad took Nick down the slide that they have there (I don't know who had more fun - Nick or Dad). We are probably going to go again next year when Nick is a little bit older and can enjoy it a bit more and so that he can join in with all the kids, instead of just watching them.

We had dinner at Nonna's house on Sunday with all the family. Nick tried some of Aunt Rita's squash, which he really liked (as did Mom and Dad). After dinner we played on the swings at the park while everyone else played soccer.

Monday we had Grandma and the whole family over to our place for dinner. Again a lot of food was eaten, and even Nick ate more than he has been lately - I think he has another tooth coming in. We had a lot of fun on the weekend and enjoyed seeing all the family.

--Mom

First Camping Trip...

Well we had our first camping trip as a family. It was the first time we took Nicholas camping and also the first time we took Cooper camping.

We went to Sibbald Point for a week (well 7 nights and 8 days). The first day that we got there Dad and I set everything up (the tent, kitchen tent and tarp). That was fun trying to do while entertaining Nicholas, at least we got some of it done while he was sleeping.

The first night was an interesting one. Nicholas fell asleep really easily (he was sleeping on the air mattress between Dad and I), however Cooper didn't fall asleep that easily. He didn't go to sleep until 2 am, and before that any twig that broke in the woods he would bark. He bark at everything, even some times at nothing -- luckily there wasn't many people in the park, or people would have been complaining. It was bad, every time he bark he would make me jump it was that loud. We were getting to the point where we were going to put Cooper in the car if he didn't settle down. Luckily that was when he just passed out from exhaustion. He slept in the next morning until 10-11 am. It was nice to be able to catch up on some much needed sleep.

The next few days just consisted of us walking to the dog beach taking Cooper for a swim and hanging out at the campsite. It took Cooper about two trips to the beach before he would go out into the water and actually swim, every other time he would just play in the water and get his head wet. But now he actually knows that he is a dog that likes the water and was bred to swim and swims all the time.

We went into town most days, just to get out and do something different with Nicholas. It was good to drive around (he would sleep in the car while we drove around). There was even a time where we had to buy news clothes because of the accident that Nicholas had (it was a nasty one, and we had to change him in the hatchback because it was so messy). There is no Zellers in Keswick, people there buy their baby clothes in Zehrs (who knew).

It rained a lot that week, so it was a good thing that we put the kitchen tent up. We spent a lot of time in there playing cards (Mom kicking Dad's butt). On the weekend our friends showed up and we did more of going to the beach and hanging around at the campsite. Nicholas again had one of the largest poops of his life -- which ended up on Mario as well (sorry Mario).

Grandma and Grandpa showed up on Sunday for a visit. I would like to say it was to see me and Amber, but I think that it was more to see Nick and to see how things were making out on the trip. They didn't stay long, just long enough to hold Nick and see Cooper swim.

The only other surprising thing that happened that week was that Nick got his first tooth. It started peeking through on the Tuesday (July 26th), and by the time we got home he had another one poking through. All around it was a good first camping trip, and I can't wait to do it again.

--Mom