Nicki And Adam's Family Blog

My little boy (almost 4!) is a fish. Well, actually, according to his swim lesson level a "blowfish." In 2 lessons, they were able to get him to go under water, jump with both feet off the side of the pool and pop back up and swim back to the side of the pool all without the help of the instructor. Seriously, I could not get him to blow bubbles more less go under the water! I am such a silly proud mama! I will post pictures if my "angelic" daughter would allow me to grab the camera for a moment. These lessons are expensive, but he is working so hard and making amazing progress. I am so proud of my cute little man!

weight: 19lbs 11oz (yeah, she is skinny!).  27 percentile Height: 30.5" 50 percentile Tiny and adorable, that is Carrie. Her 15 month appointment was today, here is where she is at. Sleeping Fabulous! Goes to bed at 7:30 and wakes up around 7am or so. So anywhere between 11-12 hours of straight sleep. She naps once a day from about 12:30-3:30. She does not cry or fight bedtime one bit, yet. Eating Also fabulous. I think we are still in honeymoon phase, but she eats like a champ, but apparently has a high metabolism because she sure is not high on the weight chart. I still nurse her 2 times a day, when she wakes and before going to bed. Her favorite food is definitely cheese and red grapes and almost all fruits. She adores cake also! Ha! She has started to throw the food off the tray. This is of course egged on by the brother who says, no no Carrie, and she continues to get his attention! We just take the food away and say all done. She normallly does this toward the end of the mea...

So here is my little princess, almost 15 months old and cuter everyday. I will do a 15 month update at some point, but enjoy these cute smiles! Someone loves her babies! She was sick, and I got a picture of her sleeping. So cute! Helping with laundry.

Charlie has been participating in Badger Gymnastics on the West Side of Madison. He absolutely loves it and is really starting to improve, a lot! Today was "parent's day" where I could snap a whole bunch of pictures, so enjoy! Planking Driving a car through a carwash Using parallel bars to jump over bars Actually listening to his teacher! Quite good at this! Backwards sommersault. Trampoline and presenting! Boat ride! Balancing through the doghouse Hanging around So great! I was a proud mama today, that is for sure! He has made significant progress and next fall we will probably put him back in again.

This is one of my favorite soups. It is Rachel Rays recipe, you really need to try it. I am also not a huge pumpkin person, I despise pumpkin pie, but LOve the flavoring of this. Not overly pumpkin AT ALL. 1 tblsp olive oil 1 tblsp butter 1 medium onion, chopped 1 can (14.5) oz chicken or veggie broth 1 can (14.5)oz diced tomatoes in juice 1 can black beans 1 can pumpkin puree 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 and 1/2 tsp curry powder 1 tsp cumin Saute onion in oil and butter. Throw everything else in and warm and done. It is so good. Serve with guacamole if you like or put tortilla chips in!!

The other day I was cruising around facebook and noticed that other 3.5 yr olds or younger knew how to write their names. As a typical parent, I went "oh god, Charlie hasn't the slightest clue." Well, true, he has no clue how to write his name, he can spell it out loud when prompted by letters and knows that the organization of those letters spell his name. But hold a pencil, ha, use a scissors, double ha, hold up two fingers or three for either the peace sign or numbers, triple ha.  So, I kinda freaked out, well, not really, but I got very concerned. Should he be cutting, should he be able to hold up fingers, should he be able to write his name? Truthfully, I did not know. I talked to Charlie's speech therapist and she just gave me a few special scissors to get him interested and did not seem overly concerned. Neither did his preschool teacher. Apparently, none of this things are required until right before kindergarten.  I stopped freaking out. But, I did not and wi...

This last month, I feel many people I know have become ill with serious ailments. Not the typical, run of the mill flus, etc...but tumors, cancers, etc.. How sad this makes me. This people are not 80, they are, in fact, in their 30's and one in Charlle's preschool class. The first is my friend Ann's brother who has been struggling with Leukemia for awhile now. He just finished med school, got married, etc..now fighting. Prayers for this awesome man! The second is my cousins' kid, Alison who discovered a brain tumor in Dec. She starts radiation soon for a stage 2 brain tumor. She also faces many battles with her son Owen who has epilepsy. Prayers all around for that family! And lastly, Charlie has a classmate, Blake, who was just diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma cancer. So prayers to this family as they deal with chemo and a little person who will need tons of love! I wonder what causes this in young people. I wonder what is in our environment that we do not know, I wond...