Nick Knack at age ONE!

This is going to be a fun filled update due to the many great photos we've recently taken - so enjoy! The Radio Flyer is from Uncle Brad - he's the best!

Playtime with the hose, Nick doused himself twice with the cold water and thought it was pretty funny.

Nick one year old August 14th - see all his teeth and the red mark on his head? This is what one is all about! Rough and tumble - he is a boy after all! And pretty darn cute, we think we'll keep him.

Nick has just gotten more and more fun! He's into telling you all about his day now. We can't understand a word he says, but we still play along. Nick is really having fun playing with his toys, his books are still his favorite, followed by his Little People farm and of course BALLOONS! Who knew balloons could be so entertaining?

Nick has also become quite the good little eater, and yes he is finally feeding himself. He'll even use a fork! He still loves his chicken strips the best, but now will also eat a pile of mandarin oranges, toast, strawberries and my homemade oatmeal cookies.

We finally had our first ear infection - a double! He had a fever of 101.6 and was totally lethargic. It was awful. Nick slept all day and night for about two days until he started feeling better. Then he caught the cold that Mike and I had, so he had a really runny nose and a cough. It was one right after another, not fun! But we are pretty lucky considering we dodged ear infections and colds for a whole year.


Nick at the park August 13th - one day before his birthday!

The Aquarium in Newport - August 10th... he had a lot of fun checking out all the stuff!

August 17th - Nick's Birthday Party.... Balloons! And they're allllll mine! Thanks Misty, Staci, Emily and Gary!






Nick's Party Guests - what an adorable and fun bunch!

The beautiful Gowthami



TJ Dukes - Champion Cheeto Eater



Jefferson Sand - you can check out his awesome blog at www.oregonsandcastle.blogspot.com



The Birthday Boy - it's good to be King



Fish Lips!

Hope you all enjoyed the update! We love hearing from everyone, and with the holidays right around the corner hopefully we can all see eachother in person? For real? You all know our door is open on Thanksgiving and Christmas! The more the merrier! Love to all! - Stac

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

I can't believe that one year ago today our Nick was born. Time has gone by way too fast and he has grown up very quickly. I remember the first night at the hospital feeding Nick his bottle and he only drank about 1 oz of formula. This morning he downed 8 oz before breakfast and another 3 oz with breakfast. The clothes that he is wearing now used to look enormous to me and I would think that it was going to be forever until he could fit into them. Now I can't believe the rapid pace that he outgrows things. I never imagined how quickly a baby changes into a toddler - I thought this year would go by slowly.

We are so grateful to have such a fun, loving and easy baby! He has always been such a good sleeper and slept from 9PM until 8:30AM the other night. Wow! I thought I was supposed to be sleep deprived? Nick did keep me running around quite a bit yesterday though. We went to the Farmers Market and then to Safeway. Nick took a nap (only 1 hour, not his normal nap). Then we had lunch and went to the park. Nick took his afternoon nap (only 1/2 hour, not his normal nap). So then we played in the yard with the hose, blew bubbles, tore up some flowers and just ended up a dirty wet mess- it was great. At the end of yesterday though, he was exhausted from the excessive playing and lack of normal nap times. Oh well! I cherished yesterday because it was the last day to count his age in months instead of years! I can't help it, I can't get over the fact that he is 1 now! I keep picturing his first day of school, his first loose tooth, learning to ride a bike and his first skinned knee. It's freaking me out! I think I need a margarita.....

Okay, I'll stop blubbering on about my little boy growing up. I decided to reminisce today and post photos when he was first born.

Our first family photo - Nick just minutes old. I look like I'm ready to walk the red carpet, don't I?

One day old - still at the hospital. What a tiny little bundle!

Proud daddy getting ready for us all to go home. I can't believe how skinny Nick was! He's el chunko now! I love squishing his thighs!

Our second day home. Nick loved being wrapped up like a burrito. He slept that way at night for about 3 months until he outgrew the blankets that wrapped just right. At this point we were still taking turns sleeping at night to make sure Nick was breathing. You know, the new parent paranoia that if one of us doesn't watch him sleep then something will go wrong. He slept in his own room in his crib I think the 3rd or 4th night and one of us would sleep in the daybed in there. We both still like to go in at night and just watch him sleep, he used to look so tiny in this huge crib and now he looks just right.

Kissy kissy kissy kissy........

Asleep on daddy's chest. Still just weeks old.

Nick fell asleep while I was burping him. I let him sleep like that for an hour.

Love! Love! Love! Love that little guy!

What a cutie! He totally owns us too! And he is the biggest flirt! We were at La Roca (our fav. restaurant) and Nick was flirting with one of the girls there, she held her hand out and he took it and looked at her like "This means were going out now right?" and then he brought her over to our table like he was showing off his new girlfriend! What a tease! I'm looking forward to all that the years ahead will bring. There's so much I can't wait for him to do, but I don't want it to come to soon either. Thank you Nick for being our son! We love you!

The Adventures of Nick Knack

Hello! July was a very full month! July 19th - 26th we went to Whidbey Island for a Regatta that Mike was in. He races every thursday for a couple months each year with a great crew that invited him in their group about 2 years ago. They came in 3rd for their fleet during this race! We had a wonderful view one of the racing days from the house we rented. My parents joined Mike, Nick and I on the trip which was wonderful! Although we ate our way through the week. There were some great bakery's, ice cream shops and candy stores on the island to keep us satisfied.

Nick had a great time on the trip too! And yes, he had ice cream. I think his preference was Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. By the way - our friends Dennis and Elizabeth are the ones who came up with the great nickname "Nick Knack" after our last blog entry. I'm lovin' it!

Two days before we went to Whidbey we had baby birds that were being booted from the nest. The first one unfortunetely didn't make it, but this second one that Mashka kept a close eye on did!

July 12th our Niece Samantha married Devin Montgomery. They had a beautiful wedding and a very nice reception. We are so happy for them! When I met Mike, Samantha was 6 years old and now she's married and soon finishing college! Does that make me old??? Maybe it's the gray hairs making me old....

The kiddos - Matt, Samantha and Angie. What an attractive group!

Grandpa Gene and the Nickster waiting for the wedding to begin. Nick was shy and quiet right up until the ceremony started - then it was "Daddaddadda!!!!!" very loudly! I had to leave the ceremony because I was on the verge of cracking up at Nick and he was just getting louder.

Nick and Aunt Margaret. Do the blue eyes indicate a Monroe family resemblance?

We had a great time at the wedding - it was like a Monroe family reunion! We need to do that more often! It was great seeing Shelli's family again too, her mom makes a terrific wedding cake!

Too cute!

Fun time with the mirror.

Nick and his daily affirmation "I'm handsome, I'm funny, I'm smart and people like me!"

Yes, I can chase the cat while wearing my pj's and sleepsack! I am that good.

Rub a dub dub, Nick in a tub!

Wanna Play?

Mike entered the bug in the Philomath Car Show in early July. It was a lot of fun and a good opportunity to get a photo of Nick in the Car. A preview into driving years. Looks like it will be just a tad bit longer until he can reach the pedals....or see out the window.

Well, that wraps up our July pretty much! Sorry for the brief commentaries, but the photos are the best part anyway! Nick will be 1 next week. We cannot believe a year has already flown by. It can't be possible, did I sleep through part of it? I feel like I'm missing some time, maybe I was abducted by aliens for a while and that accounts for the time loss.

Will post photos of Nicks first birthday. He still doesn't feed himself, so at this point my prediction is that he won't eat the cake by himself, but he will play with it. My other prediction, he won't be into opening gifts, but will want to run around instead. That's an easy one since all he does is run around, he doesn't sit much except to flip through a book. Which reminds me, my parents told me a cute Nick story - they were at the Eye Doctor last week and Nick went up to a man at the counter who was about my parents age and hung onto his pants. The man finally went and sat down and Nick took over a book for the man to read him. So the guy sat Nick on his lap and read to him. When mom got Nick back she realized he had pooped. That guy got to know Nick a little more than he probably wanted!

South Carolina, here we come!

Yes! We are posting again so soon! We recently spent a week at Hilton Head, South Carolina. We went with our friends Megan, Kirby and their son Jefferson (he's the same age as Nick, they were born withing 48 hours of eachother). They are a lot of fun and it was perfect for us all to go together since the boys are on the same nap and eating schedules. We were able to relax and enjoy ourselves. We rented a house for the week and it had a nice pool and hottub located in the center of the home. Very convenient! The boys would nap and we would swim!


On the back of the house we had a large deck the lead out to a lagoon full of hungry turtles. I counted over 36 at one time.









We spent one day at the beach which was totally different from the Oregon Coast - imagine that! There were live Sand Dollars everywhere! They are smaller than the ones we get here and they were a pinkish color. Pretty amazing. The water was murky, but bathtub warm.








Jeff loved the ocean, as you can see from the photo below.

Nicks response to the ocean was very different from Jeff's. While Jeff was thrilled to be there, Nick just wanted to....well you can see for yourself.....

He cried and cried.....all he wanted was for me to hold him. He wanted no part of the waves! Once we took him back to our cabana and he got used to the sound of the ocean, Mike took his time taking Nick closer and closer to the water until he was close enough to sit on the beach and let some water come up around him. He's just so cautious. I hope he's that cautious as a teenage boy when he's driving on his own!

We also spent a day in Savannah and instantly fell in love with it! Savannah is absolutely beautiful. Old buildings and a big city hidden by beautiful trees. We walked around for a while at a little touristy area and got to see taffy being made from start to finish. It was pretty neat, and the taffy yummy and oh so fresh!






Here we all are at a park in Savannah.

The boys playing together. These toys were a hit with both Nick and Jeff. When we got back home I think Nick missed having his buddy around to play with.

On our flight back, we had 7 hours air time and a 3 hour layover in Atlanta. Nick did fantastic, I don't know how he did it, but he was perfect the entire time. Since we had time in Atlanta to check out the enormous airport, I was able to find my dad and Nick Atlanta Braves baseball hats. The Braves were always my Grandpa's favorite team and I remember growing up with him channel surfing looking for a Braves game. So I had to have these hats.

If you need one more laugh for the day, Mike and I always tease that Nick is our little Dilbert. With his personality already showing through and his dad, grandpa and uncle all being engineers - we are pretty sure he'll have THE KNACK. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGkIQYYdNAI . Check out the video and judge for youselves. Mike was definately born with The Knack... Will post some video soon of Nick walking! Or running, like he did today before taking a face plant into the carpet which left a mark... the first of many boo boo's.

Love, Staci

9 Months Old

It's about time! I know, I know.... we are terrible at keeping up with posting the blog. What can I say? I feels like there are 6 hours in a day and 3 days in a week. Well, our little Nick now weighs in at 20 pounds and is 29 inches long. He's wearing 12-18 month size clothing right now and a size 4 or 5 shoe. I look back at his little zebra outfit we brought him home in and I don't know how he ever fit in something so small.
Nick has 4 teeth and is about to get two more. We are still giving him one haircut a month! Oh and the really big news - he started walking at 9 1/2 months old! He has totally skipped crawling and has decided he wants to walk. Since he doesn't crawl over to furniture to pull himself up, we aren't to the point of having to keep him away from anything yet.
Here are some photos of Nick at 9 Months old taken in our front yard. He's 10 months old now, so I'm sorry for the "old" photos.

Nick at 8 months old in his baseball jammies.
We signed up Nick for Water Babies classes at the local pool. He likes splashing and watching the other babies. He does not like AT ALL to be dunked! No way! Daddy and Grandpa Edwards have also participated in the swimming class with The Nick. He looks so cute in his swim trunks!

Getting ready for a walk. Nicholas loves going to walks! He'd spend all day outside if he could. Since it's been nice out, he helps me water the plants and we search for lizards.
What else is he up to? Well, when we get home Mashka is waiting for us and meowing like crazy. We'll say "Hi Mashk" and Nick says "Hi Ma". Now when he sees Grandma and Grandpa Edwards cats, Mewsette and Piper, he says "Hi Ma" to them also. And "Hi Ma" to very small catlike dogs. I guess we should have started with "kitty" so as not to confuse him. But now I think "Hi Mashk" may be his first words other that Momma and Dadda.

Last week Nick decided he wanted to try to drink out of a straw and he did it! He's getting really good at it too. He'll also drink out of a glass, it's too cute. It's the simple stuff that makes us laugh everyday.