Blowout

Peri and I went downtown with Chris last week. He was in meetings and we were just putzing around and catching him for tea/snacks in between meetings. Peri and I were hanging out near Daly Plaza waiting for C at one point when she decided to have a blow out diaper. Her outfit was unsavable. And of course the extra outfit C packed was back in the car, several blocks away. We were right under the Picasso statue trying to subtley clean things up without getting in every tourist photo. There was also a market of some sorts going on, with tents everywhere selling African art, African jewelry, African headwraps, etc. So I got her cleaned up and wrapped her up in her blanket. I'm afraid the base of the Picasso statue there now needs a good hosing. What to do with a naked baby? Well, wouldn't you know that there was one tent selling organic, hand dyed onesies?! I'll take two!

Chunky Monkey!

Peri is an efficient little eating machine. So much so that she gained 4 lbs by her six week checkup. Most kids gain 2. Ha! But doctor said he never tells a baby they're gaining too much weight, so feed away. Peri won't accept bottles from Chris (told him he needs to pad his chest with fake boobs), but she took one from Nick the other night. So cute!

Nipples

Little boys love to talk about their body parts. Someone at school has taught Nick "willy". Classy. The other day he told Grammy that he wasn't allowed to say 'nipples' anymore because it was a bad word. Grammy and I both told him it was ok to say the word, but nipples are just private on some people. Well, once he got the go ahead he went around shouting "nipplehead nipplehead!" for the next 10 minutes. Hmmm. I'm now guessing it was a teacher who said it was a bad word seeing how he was using it.

McDonalds - I hate you

Sigh. Damn those happy meals. Nick doesn't even like him - he just likes the lame toys! We figured out in Hong Kong that you could buy just the toy (which is kinda silly since happy meals in Hong Kong were all of $2 (or something ridiculous)). So when Nick saw Burger King had the GI Joe figurines, he tried for weeks to get us to eat there. Gag. One day we finally remembered that we could just buy the toy. So to the drive thru we went and requested just the toy. $1 each. Rock on!!! Now when he asks for a happy meal we ask "Do you want the food or just the toy?" Nine times out of 10 (oh yes, he asks a lot!) it's just the toy. My next complaint will be about the lame toys we're now buying for $1.

McD's had the KidzBop (sp??) CDs a while back. Horrible music that Nick now requests whenever we get in the car. I've thrown all the CDs out and am going to take him to the store to pick out some real music this weekend. KidzBopz. Grrrrr.

Don't Look at Me

Nick loves sugar. Sigh. My fault for giving him lollipops when he was 1 yr. old. We'd taken him to Spain and it was the only think that would keep him quiet while we checked out the museums. Damn you Chuppa Chus! Anyway, he's got the Nordloh/Fitzgibbons sweet tooth. Whoever picks him up from school has to have a "car snack" ready for him. Then a "home snack" while he waits for dinner. Heaven forbid you forget one of these snacks, because then he heads right for the sugar. I keep some sugarless gum on hand at all times, because he hasn't figured out yet that it's not as bad as sugar.
Anyway, I got sidetracked with this story. We saw Pappa Jack a few times last week in drivebys to their house and each time he's slip in a pack of sugarless gum to Nick. So Nick had two full packs in the back seat with him. One morning we were driving and he asked if he could have some gum. I told him no gum until 11am. Chris and I were talking and noticed it had gotten really quiet. I looked back and Nick was looking all shy and told me he didn't want me to look at him. We giggled up front and thought "how cute!" Until I realized a few minutes later that he had a wad of gum in his mouth and his "quiet/don't look at me" act was when he was sneaking it into his mouth!

Army Man!

Nick is obsessed with army men. We were in a store a few weeks ago and he came running up telling me that he saw an army man with a tank. I thought he was joking and was pretending there was a transformer in the store so I "uh huh'd" my way through the conversation. Then all of a sudden Nick yelled "There he is!" A guy in camouflage came around the corner. No tank, but Nick is sure the guy drove one.

The Air and Water show happens every year along the lake front in Chicago. The planes fly in and do tricks for those watching on the lake front. We're lucky because they turn around right over our house (about 2 - 3 miles in from the lake), so we get our own show on our deck. Nick was beside himself watching them on Saturday at our place. So we decided to head to the beach and see them up close on Sunday. It really was pretty awesome. Crowded, but awesome. Not sure baby girl appreciated all the noise (bad parenting). But Nick was psyched. Although, he brought his swimsuit and had so much fun in the water that he missed the helicopter that did loops. Oh well. Some dark clouds rolled in and we headed out just before a downpour.

Bathtime!

Time for some naked photos of our little chunker. She's plumping up and loving bath time these days. Although she doesn't look too excited in these photos. Think that could be due to big brother hopping in the tub. His job was to keep pouring water over her to keep her warm. He must have misunderstood me and thought his job was to dance and entertain her. But it was very sweet how when he did do his original job, he would coo "Does that feel good? Do you like the warm water?"

Birthday

So have I told you about poor Chris and his birthday a few weeks back? It started by heading to his favorite donut place on the southside, Old Fashioned Donuts. Chris and Nick were supposed to go. But then Nick decided not to at the last minute so I got ready. Then Nick got mad at Pop Pop (folks and Megan were still in town) and decided he wanted to come. So 45 minutes later we all piled in the car. Raced there and home because Peri was back at home and expecting to be fed. Not relaxing, but the donuts and apple fritter were delicious!

I took the gang to the airport and came home in time to get the boys out to lunch. We decided to eat at home to save calories for the yummy dinner/desserts to be had downtown later and so everyone could get a nap. Not a good idea. Nick bellyached and wouldn't nap. This left us with a still sugar-filled, overly tired mess of a kid to bring with us.

We started to head downtown where Nick and Chris had tickets for the speedboat ride! We were taking our time walking to Navy Pier for them to catch the boat when we realized that it was much later than we thought. So we tossed Nick and Chris in a cab and they hauled it the remaining blocks to the Pier. Peri and I walked since we didn't have a car seat with us on our walk. The speed boat was probably the best part of the day. Don't they look so happy?
That quickly changed. Nick was beyond tired at this point and kept insisting we eat at Navy Pier. We had to explain over and over that it wasn't his birthday and he didn't get to decide. We hopped on a free trolley to head to dinner and it was packed. A nice man gave me his seat since I had the baby. Nick had a fit because he didn't have a seat. Sigh. We finally decided to just grab some food quickly before Nick's meltdown became a disaster. Too late. A lame dinner and a melt down ensued. Poor Chris was done by this point and just wanted to go home. Can't blame him.

Next year will be better - really!!!

Nicknames

Nick keeps coming up with the silliest nicknames for Peri. For a while he was calling her "NeeNee". Think that one came about because he would play nosey with her and say "neeneeneenee" while he did it. The latest one is "Bayhoe". Go figure. We can't figure out where that one came from. Chris thinks it's Spanish for something. And this is how people get those crazy nicknames - from their 4 year old brother!

When the baby cries at bedtime, Nick will yell from his room "Does baby need me?" We'll usually tell him yes and he'll run in to hold her hand - too cute. Last night Nick and I went for a walk (which somehow ended up at the playground) and soon got the call of a screaming/hungry baby on the phone. So we hustled home. Nick was running down the block yelling "I'm coming Bayhoe!"

Thanks!

So I still get my framing done at the Framers Vise in MD. Yes, so maybe I still get my discount, but it's mostly because I can just send Shannon my art and she knows just what to put on it to make it look gorgeous! She knows our tastes, likes and we'll cry if she ever leaves the store.

So a big box of our fruit prints arrived earlier this week. There were four prints and Nick kept trying to get me to assign one to everyone.

H: "The pictures are for everyone"
N: "So which one is mine?"
H: "They're for all of us"
N: "So which one is daddy's?"

Nick then realized that they were all wrapped in bubble wrap and cried out "Oh! Thank you Shannon!!". The little joys in life. Shannon - remember this for Christmas - apparently a box of bubble wrap is gift enough.

Words of Wisdom

It takes Nick days to unwind after a visit from his grandparents. Days of napless sugar intoxication to get out of his system. Unfortunately, my parents left on Chris's bday, which left us with a load of fun to deal with on Saturday. Or maybe I should say, a whining mess of a child to deal with. Sigh. During one time out, Chris gave Nick these words of wisdom - "Life is full of disappointments; how you deal with them is what makes you strong." Ha ha! I'm pretty sure this was in response to "Why can't I have some candy?"

God

Conversation with Nick in the car the other day:

N: Who's the guy in the sky who made all the people?
H: You mean God?
N: Oh yeah! That's the one! Nick C at school told me...

Guess we need to either figure out our views on religion or let the 5 yr old at school teach Nick all about it.

Photo Op

Trying to get baby announcements out (does anyone still send those even though it's old news by the time they arrive?!) and had to share this adorable shot... Eyes open :)

New news

Conversation between Nick and Lewis's mom:

Mom: Hey Nick! Haven't seen you in a while. What's new in your house?
Nick: My mom bought me this cool Transformer t-shirt.
Mom: Oh cool! Anything else new in your house?
Nick: Pause. Oh yeah, she bought me another Transformer t-shirt!

Sleeping Baby

Hello again! Didn't mean to be away for so long. Had family staying with us for a week (?!), which left little alone time for blogging. News from Peri:

- sleep
- poop
- sleep
- eat
- try to open eyes
- sleep
- poop