The Joys of Teething

This is what happens when your son gets 4 bottom teeth at the same time...see them all??? Yeah, it's been a fun couple weeks at the Nicolls House.

The Zoo!

Me and Sara took Aiden and Chase to the Sacramento Zoo on Friday - we had perfect weather, right before it got hot. Chase is Sara's youngest and he and Aiden are a year apart in age. They are pretty darn cute together - they play and Chase gets down on the floor and crawls around just like Aiden. So we packed them up and headed down for a nice afternoon checking out the animals. We saw monkeys, zebras, giraffes and the new baby tiger. So much fun and a nice way for me and Sara to get out of the house!

Me and Sara with our boys

This zebra noticed we were watching him and came right over to stand by us - he was putting on a little show.

By the koi pond - I haven't been to the sac zoo since I was little and it was so nice, very shady paths and lots of plants.

The boy's favorite animal at the zoo - the giraffes! Chase only wanted to do 2 things - see the giraffes and ride the train!

Sara and I showing the boys all the different animals

Flamingos...

and the boys checking them out!

We stopped for lunch and hung out on the picnic table in the shade for a little while. Chase got a hot dog "animeal" and Aiden ate animal crackers and pears...neither one of them were really into eating ;)

Chase finally got to ride the train! He looks so proud :)

Me and Aiden on the train - he liked it but was pretty tired by the end and was ready to get off

The ride home, they were both so tired and fell asleep with the stuffed animals they got for souvenirs - don't they look sweet?

They had a good time, Chase was so excited about the train (and the little tractors that the zoo workers drove around) and Aiden just likes seeing people. We came home and put them in bed to finish the naps they started in the car. When they woke up they played together in Aiden's room for about an hour. It is so neat to watch them interact and play! Hope we can take them out again soon!

Aiden's mac-n-cheese

So, I have been trying lots of new foods with Aiden in the last few weeks and he is doing really good eating "big boy" food - french toast, pancakes, PB&J...he really will try everything (after he has picked it up, thrown it and smashed it a little). Today I decided to try to make some toddler mac-n-cheese just for him. I made up a recipe and it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

First I boiled 1 1/2 cups macaroni for 5-7 minutes, then added some frozen broccoli to the pot and cooked another 5 minutes and drained it. This was my way of sneaking in GREEN vegetables :)

Then I made the cheese sauce by melting 1 tbls. of butter and whisking in 1 tbls. of flour. When that was mixed I added 1 cup of whole milk and brought it to a boil. Then I added 1 cup of cheddar and some nutmeg and salt & pepper. Then I added the pasta and broccoli to the sauce.

And I tested it. Oh yes, I love macaroni and cheese.

So to make it Aiden's mac-n-cheese, I pureed it so that the mac and broccoli were in smaller pieces. I don't think I will have to do that step for much longer!

I let it cool a little and rolled the mac-n-cheese into little balls, rolled them in breadcrumbs and fried them in butter & olive oil. Ahhh, the joys of cooking for a baby that needs as many calories as he can get :) Who wouldn't love fried balls of macaroni and cheese, right?

So what did Aiden think of it?

Well, he could take it or leave it. He ate some, but didn't act too impressed. I thought they were great!


Oh well, into the freezer they go to wait for a few days and I will give them to Aiden to try again...
Speaking of things I think are great, Lisa and I went to the farmer's market this morning and loaded up on locally grown fruit! So good! Since I have been giving Aiden fruit purees as desert after his meals, I am loving all the variety of early summer fruits! Bought some nectarines, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, apricots and pluots (plum/apricots) - which are new for us and really sweet and good!

OK, I'm done talking about food now...hope everyone else is enjoying the start of summer as much as we are!

Happy Father's Day!

Just want to say happy father's day to a few of my favorite dad's out there...

To my dad, thank you for always being there for me - growing up and now. Thank you for being a great papa to Aiden and helping us though the hard times and celebrating with us through the good. Thank you for being a not only great father-in-law to Jeremy, but also being his friend.


To Jeremy's dad, thank you for raising a son that turned into good husband and father to Aiden. Thank you for letting Aiden constantly fall asleep on you and being a great grandpa. Thank you for your taco parties ;)


And last, but not least, thank you to Jeremy. You were an amazing father even before Aiden was born. Thank you for playing with him, being silly with him, tucking him into bed every night, letting him sleep on your side of the bed with you on rough nights and most of all for wholeheartedly loving him since the day he was born...no matter what. Aiden and I both love you and appreciate the wonderful daddy that you are!



Happy Father's Day! We love all of you :)

P.S. Can you tell I have been scanning some old pictures lately - they are so funny! Apparently the whole long sideburns and mustache look was pretty awesome back then since both my dad and Jeremy's dad were rockin' them!

Grandpa Corky

Today is my Grandpa Corky's birthday. He passed away one month (to the day) before Aiden was born. I was on bed rest and did not get to go to his memorial service and I feel like I never really got to say goodbye. I miss Grandpa Corky. Jeremy misses Grandpa Corky. He was so caring and loving, and funny and grumpy and he had the best stories. I wish he could have met Aiden.

I think things happen for a reason. I think my Grandpa passed away a month before Aiden was born because we needed him - I knew that if the worst did happen, Aiden would have my Grandpa to watch over him until we could. When they told us that Aiden may not make it through his first surgery I remember whispering to him right before they took him away that if he could not stay with us that Grandpa Corky would be waiting to take care of him, would give him a big hug and that everything would be OK. I cannot even begin to express how much comfort that thought gave me through several tough times in Aiden's first few weeks.

I think my Grandpa passed on his strong will, strength and downright stubbornness to Aiden. He reminds me of him at times - he has a "Grandpa Corky" look that he gets when he is determined to do something (or pissed off that he can't do something!). We had already decided on Aiden's middle name long before he was born but, we decided to add a second middle name and gave him my Grandpa's middle name also - Thomas. Aiden carries a little piece of Grandpa Corky with him at all times, in more ways than one and it makes me happy to know that Aiden will grow up hearing my Grandpa's stories, Christmas dinner toast and all of his "Hoshall-isms".

Happy Birthday Grandpa Corky! We love and miss you. Thank you for being my Grandpa.

And happy 62nd wedding anniversary, too :)

Banana Pancakes

This morning I made Aiden some banana pancakes, apparently they were delicious (I don't like bananas so I didn't try them) because Aiden ate about 10 of them by the time he was finally finished.

He LOVED LOVED LOVED them!



I got the recipe from weelicious.com - which is my new favorite baby/toddler food site. You can get it here. For the pancake batter I used the recipe for Raspberr-Wee pancakes (minus the raspberries), cut it in half, substituted maple syrup for agave and added some cinnamon. It made a ton of little bite sized pancakes, so I put the rest in the freezer to enjoy another morning :)

I love that Aiden is able to eat some real food now! I can't wait to try more recipes on him!

Christmas in June

I was going through pictures today and it occurred to me that I never posted a single picture of Aiden at Christmas. And I just felt like I needed post a couple in his Christmas Eve jammies. So here they are ;)



He looks a little bit like a Dr. Suess character in those striped jammies...

A Baby Shower for Two

Saturday was my sister in law Lisa's baby shower. She (ok - and Chris, too) is giving Aiden twin cousins this summer - a little boy and a little girl. Lisa is more than my sister in law, she is my best friend and I got the privilege of throwing her shower. She has the biggest heart and is one of the best people that I know. She has always been one of my (and Aiden's) biggest cheerleaders. When I was pregnant and in the hospital, she ran all over town getting me various types of mashed potatoes and gravy and specific flavors of jolly ranchers. She is awesome and will make a fantastic mother to these 2 lucky little babies!

People starting to arrive - it was the hottest day of the year so far, so the umbrellas and tent provided some shade, but Lisa had wonderful guests who put up with the heat ;)

A boy table - there were 2 boy tables and 2 girl tables

The boy place setting - blue plates with nest favors with blue speckled jordan almond "eggs" and a little bird that said "thank you for coming"

One of the girl tables, I painted clay puts and decorated them with ribbon and put a plant in each one. At the end of the shower the plants were given away as some of the prizes.

The girl place setting - when I saw the swirly straws online in pink and blue I had to get them and of course had to rim the cups with matching colored sugar :)

The food and gift tables

Up close of the food - I had fabulous helpers who made the salads and I made some finger sandwiches. A big thank you to my fabulous helpers!

The cake - a blue layer for the boy and a pink layer for the girl - inside was vanilla cake with raspberries and chocolate swirl cake with chocolate mousse. Yummy!

The tent and umbrella decorations - flag banners and some flying birds

The invitation and a memory frame with ultrasound pictures of the babies

Rachel, Kim and little Sydney trying to stay in the shade

Me, Lisa and Tamara

The momma to be and her momma, the grandma to be :)

We played several games, but my favorite was the ice cube babies - all the guests got an ice cube with 2 babies frozen inside, the first one to "deliver" the babies won. They had to be totally free from the ice without breaking it. The heat helped during this game and it cooled everyone off a bit!

The winning babies - if you look close one has a pink diaper and one has a blue diaper :)

Her mom made her two beautiful crochet blankets - I love the ruffled edge!

She got several homemade blankets - these were from me ;)

The momma and daddy to be in the nursery in progress with all their loot!

Congratulations Chris and Lisa! I can't wait to meet your precious babies!