Nick's Visit with Carter :0)

Our friends Vicki & Mark had a son, Carter, in October of 2005. So of course, we took Nicholas to meet his new friend! Carter has an older sister Ashley who will be 3 in July. Vicki & Mark were kind enough to let us borrow EVERYTHING we needed for our trip home so we didn’t have to lug it across the country!! It worked out so nicely for us (thanks again :0)!! We only got to visit for a few minutes, but it was great to catch up :0) Quite a few people have suggested that Nick & I come home again this summer (Can anyone guess who wants that happen the most!? Could it be my Dad!?). I am considering it since Nicholas traveled pretty well. I think that I could handle the flight with Nick myself, but I don’t know if John can handle me taking his son away for too long. So, I’ll keep you posted on that!

Nick & Carter

Nick & Ashley

Cute Carter :0)

Visit with Aunt Cookie & Uncle Dave

We took a mini vacation within our trip home. We went to visit my Aunt Cookie & Uncle Dave (Grandma Cookie & Grandpa Dave to Nicholas :0) at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. It is so beautiful and relaxing there! We jet skied, water skied, and took Nick on the boat. I even got to take a trip to the Dudley Mart with Aunt Cookie…words cannot even describe that experience :0) We had dinner on the porch each night and watched the sunset. Nicholas loved his boat ride! He liked to look at the water trail off the end of the boat. We really enjoyed our time there!!

Nicholas & Grandma Cookie :0)

Getting the Jet Ski on the Dock

Nick in His Lifejacket

Nicholas Checking out the Boat

Daddy & Nicholas on the Boat

Nick, Gandma Cookie, & Grandpa Dave

Nicholas Showing Off the New Bathing Suit Grandma Cookie Got Him

When Nicholas ATTACKS!!!

We took Nicholas to meet his “cousin” Brennan. Brennan is 3 months old now. All night Nicholas was rolling all over the place, even over Brennan. Nicholas is also teething so he was chewing on anything he could…including Brennan!!! And Nicholas is also in his grabbing phase, so he was grabbing everything he could get his hands on! This of course, included poor Brennan!! We did allow Brennan to get some payback at the end of the night :0) I hope that this visit was not a glance into the future with my son as a bully…AHHHH!!!

Nick & Brennan before the craziness began

Moms & Sons :0)

Nick "Great White" Prebula & Brennan

The attack!!

Brennan's Payback

Anniversary Party

Nicholas with his Great Grandparents

The Whole Family

Nick with Uncle Bill & Aunt Lauren...the end of the photo shoot

One of the main reasons we went home was to celebrate John’s grandparents 65th Anniversary with them :0) Their anniversary was Sunday, June 4th. There was a brunch at “The Farm” and Nicholas was quite the hit. He didn’t seem to mind being passed around too much, which was nice for John and I. We decided to have a family photo shoot, which Nick was cooperative for most of. Oh yeah, my parents were at their NASCAR race in Delaware the day of the party…that is why they are not in the family pictures.

Plane Trip to Maryland

Here are some pictures from the plane trip to Maryland. Nicholas had the biggest temper tantrum we have ever seen as we were pre-boarding the plane!! So, the entire plane got to see who was screaming! We had never heard him scream that loud or act so crazy. Needless to say, we had the only open seat on the plane next to us :0) Nick slept on the take-off and landing and was only up for a bit during the flight. We had prepared ourselves for the worst, so it was much better than we expected. Nicholas was glad to get off the plane and his Grandpa & Grandma Beckman were even more excited to see him come through the gate :0) I think it took less than a second for my dad to have Nicholas out of his Baby Bjorn carrier!!

Father's Day Pictures

Here are some pictures from Nick’s Father’s Day photo shoot. We took in things that John and the grandfathers like :0) Yes, everyone has gotten their Father's Day presents that have these pictures.

Long Awaited Family Photos :0)

Here are the pictures we had taken last week of the WHOLE family (excluding the turtles!!). More soon...

5 Month Pics

Here are some of the pictures from Nick's 5 month photo session :0) He is getting so BIG!! As you can tell, Nicholas just does not like to get his picture taken!! Enjoy :0)

Trauma at the Gym

I have been waiting to write again until I had something interesting or amusing to tell you all. Well, today, I got my inspiration!!! Let me warn you, this will be another LONG entry!

I have been walking with Jackson and Nicholas a few times a week, but it is kind of tough to walk with a stroller and a dog! So, I decided to start going to the gym again. I attempted to go when John got home from work, but the gym was packed then. So, I decided that it might be time for me to let Nicholas go to the Child Care Center at the gym. Hmmmm…I thought that “Child Care Center” would sound better than Day Care, but it really doesn’t! Anyway, I called the CCC (I’ll just start abbreviating it now) yesterday and set up a time for Nicholas to go in. I asked for the director and had quite a few questions for her (I bet you can just IMAGINE!!!). I was all ready and thought that I was in control as we drove to the gym. But, once I got to the door of the Playroom (oh…YES…that sounds much better :0) I got real tense!! A lady came to the door to let us in. Yes, the door is locked and can only be opened from the inside. The handle is up high too so the kids can’t open in. As we entered the Playroom, there was a baby crying. Nicholas gets real upset when he hears other kids crying, so he gave me his super sad face (you know the one with the quivering lower lip) and started to cry. I was about to just turn around and leave right then. But, I decided that I should try to stick it out.

So, I started filling out the paperwork, having my ID copied, giving the special instructions for my precious baby boy and of course, asking the staff more questions! Then, it was time for me to leave and walk the 200 feet to cardio area. Any guesses on what happened then!? OH YES, I STARTED CRYING!! Nick was just staring up at me, sucking on his 2 fingers, and smiling. I tried to gather my composure, but had no luck! So, I kissed my baby goodbye and headed to the treadmill. I had to check in at the front desk. There was really no point in trying to hide the sobbing. The girl at the front desk recognized me from when I used to come when I was really pregnant. She asked if it was my first time leaving the baby in the Playroom and all I could do was nod. She came around and gave me a hug and told me to enjoy my workout time while I can. Like Nicholas, once I get crying, it is so hard to stop. So, there I was, on the treadmill running and crying!

Of course, I was staring at the door that leads to the Playroom. I noticed that a lady was coming in with her head down. As she got on the treadmill next to me, I noticed that she too, was crying! As I took a closer look, it was my gym friend Susan! Some of you might remember Susan from the weekly pregnancy email updates. She was the fellow Pregasaurus that I used to workout with. We would run on the treadmill and cry together while we were pregnant and here we were doing it AGAIN! I said “hi” and asked if it was her first day back at the gym too. She nodded (oh yes, she was SOBBING too). Once we both calmed down and laughed at ourselves and our craziness, we set a goal. We would not let each other go and check on our sons! We wanted to run 45 minutes, so we knew it would be tough. But, you will be so proud, WE BOTH DID IT!! As we headed back to the Playroom to get our boys, we made plans of meeting up to work out again on Monday. Susan’s son was born in January, so he is 4 months now. Apparently he and Nicholas played and talked with each other the whole time!! As usual Nicholas made everything ok; he gave me the biggest smile and squeal when I came in the door! That’s my boy, taking care of his Mommy as usual! So, we’ll see if things go any better on Monday!!!

Jackson had his fair share of trauma yesterday!! I noticed that he was limping and holding his left front foot in the air. When I looked at his paw, I noticed that his due-claw (I don’t know how to spell it, but it is the claw that is farther up his leg a bit) was broken and hanging off. So, we headed to the Vet. Jackson was freaking out when any of the technicians came near him. So, he had to be taken to the back so more people could help hold him still (any guesses of how happy I was about that!?). They trimmed his claw real short and bandaged it up. So, out comes my poor dog walking on 3 legs!! He has to have his bandage on until Sunday. So, Jackson is hopping around on 3 legs and milking this for it’s worth (NO idea where he gets that from!!! HAHA). Poor guy! Of course, I have taken pictures to show you all! As you can tell from Nick's pictures, he has officially found his hands:0) He reaches out for everything and then puts it right in his mouth. He is also teething, so he sucks and chews on anything he can get his mouth on. One of his favorite things to teethe on is his arms (to the point of brusing himself!! You can see it in the pictures on his wrists.). I am trying to break that habit very quickly!! Take care! More (trauma) soon…

Nicholas and Mommy

I took the advice of a friend and had John take some pictures of Nicholas and I last night :0) Here are a few.

Our Little Balding Boy

Well…we are entering week 20 of Nicholas being with us (well...actually much more if you count the 8 months of our pregnancy :0)!!! What a fun and eventful 20 weeks it has been. Nicholas is getting more of a personality every day. We saw a newborn the other day and I forgot how they literally just sit there. No expressions at all! I love that Nick is doing more things now…it is so much fun :0) He is experiencing some reverse male pattern baldness!!! I think that it is SO noticeable because of the amount of hair he has. He has lost a ton of hair on his left side and the back of his head from moving it back and forth when he sleeps. He is beginning to lose it on the right side now. He still has a ton of hair on the top of his head, so it looks like he has a real comb over:0) At first I was sad (imagine that…me getting sappy over something Nicholas goes through!!!), but now it is pretty funny! Although, I do hope that he gets his hair back soon.

We are still trying new foods. Nicholas sits in his high chair while we eat dinner and when he eats his breakfast and dinner. I love to see him in his high chair because he looks so small it in :0) Any little thing that I can do to hold on to him being a little baby, right!? HAHA Nick tried carrots for the first time today. Judging by how fast they came back up, it seems that he has inherited my taste for vegetables…haha!! We’ll try them for a few more days and then we’ll try another fruit. He really loves his rice cereal and applesauce now. Nicholas can hold his bottle now too :0) He has to have some grape juice to help resolve some issues that he is having with starting solid foods...I'll let you figure it out on your own ;0) Nick is constantly chewing on his hands and whatever he can get in his mouth since he is teething.

Today is Jackson’s 2 year adoption anniversary :0) He had a few friends over for a BBQ yesterday to celebrate. They enjoyed some steak and Frosty Paws ice cream :0) Hope everyone is doing well :0) More soon…