Nursery

Today was Caylor's first Sunday in nursery at our church. In my church kids don't start going to nursery until 18 months. To be honest, I have been looking forward to it for a long time. He is such a good boy for the first hour of church, but towards the end of that 3rd hour, it starts to get rough. He gets so bored having to sit still and be quiet in our classes for all 3 hours. And Blaine and I therefore don't get much out of the lessons because instead of listening we are trying to entertain/shush/change/feed Caylor. A few Sundays ago was probably the worst ever and I remember counting the days until he could start nursery.

But now as the time got closer and closer, I got a little sad. I thought last night about how I will never have him with me in Sunday school anymore. He does make us laugh and smile when lets face it, there is sometimes a boring lesson. I don't think I am ready for him to grow up so much. It feels like just yesterday he was my little baby boy and now here he is just so smart and kind and sweet and big!

He is not quite 18 months yet, he will be on the 22nd, but we wanted to get Caylor prepared for nursery by going in there with him the first couple of times. So today we stayed in there with him for the first hour. He had so much fun and fell in love with Brother Slade (one of the nursery leaders) immediatley. Here is a picture of them playing together.


He found a little baby doll in a stroller and he picked it up and said "baby" and treated it like a real baby. It was so sweet. I am so happy he is starting to understand the concept of babies and quickly has learned to be gentle with them. Sometimes he tries to give them hugs and high fives which can be a little too rough for them.

After the first hour Blaine and I had to leave to attend to some responsibilities we have in our ward. (Blaine is the Young Men's president and I am the Relief Society music director). Caylor was having such a blast in there that we decided to leave him and see how it worked. When we came to pick him up he was so happy to see me, but then showed me all the toys he played with and all the new friends he made. He didn't want to leave! I am glad that it wasn't too traumatic for him, but it again makes me sad that he is such a big boy now. I really do enjoy him so much and I love the age he is at though. I love that he understands pretty much everything I say. He is fairly obedient (unless it comes to food or adventure). It will be strange when he is not our baby anymore but instead the "big brother".

A Landmark Moment

Today Caylor started to get into something he wasn't supposed to. As always I said no and when that didn't work, asked if he wanted a time out. He then shook his head no and walked away and didn't once try to do it again. Wow! This almost never happens. Sometimes he will walk away and go back to whatever it was when he thinks I'm not looking. But not this time. I am so proud. So the lesson I learned today is - Nagging works, eventually.

Family Shenanigans

Things have been crazy as of late in the Hicks household. But that doesn't stop us from having fun. We have been under a lot of stress trying to get our house sold, but now that we have the house renovated and mostly ready to go we decided this weekend we could calm down a little bit. So Saturday we headed to Lowe's for their children's "Build and Grow" program. It is a workshop that teaches kids how to make different crafts. That day they were making a Tic Tac Toe board. We had so much fun with Caylor. They even gave him a little Lowe's apron and safety goggles! It was so cute.


Don't let Caylor and I fool you, daddy did most of the work! We just did the fun stuff. Caylor actually did more undoing than doing. Blaine would put a nail in the wood and would be about to hammer it and Caylor would take the nail out. It was kind of funny.

Caylor has finally decided to start talking recently. He used to talk and say words all the time, but when he started walking, he stopped showing an interest in trying to say words. He is also very good at communicating non-verbally so he doesn't need to talk to show us what he wants. But we can talk to him and say almost anything and he understands it. Even things we don't want him to understand. There has been a lot of word spelling in the house going on lately! Well last Sunday out of the blue Caylor started to say random words. We were at Blaine's parents' house and Blaine got out some cheese to eat. Caylor saw us eating the cheese and pointed to it and said "Cheese!". It was very clear. Later that day Caylor was playing with this robot vaccum called a roomba and Mr. Gramps (Blaine's dad) told Blaine to put the robot away so Caylor could not play with it. Caylor then looked at both of then and said "Robot". I wouldn't have believed it if there weren't two witnesses. I at that time had been taking a nap, but I was awoken later to Caylor literally screaming "EAT!" over and over again at the top of his lungs as Mr. Gramps was setting the table.

Today in church I was holding our niece Olivia and Caylor pointed to her and said "baby". He is very select on when he does talk, but when he does, it makes sense and is very clear. I have a feeling that one of these days he is just going to come out in full sentences.

Caylor was so good with Olivia today in church. For those of you who don't know, she is our 1 month old niece (Shannon and Trent's daughter). Caylor came over to her and started to pet her head so gently. I figured Olivia did not like this, but then she started to fall asleep! Then after he got tired of petting her he started to examine the different orifices on her head. For example, sticking his finger in her nose, mouth, and ears. Olivia surprisingly didn't seem to mind. In fact, she got more upset with me trying to jerk her away from Caylor than Caylor actually poking her. They are already getting along great. Then he gave her a big kiss and just had the biggest smile on his face. It made me realize that he will be such a great older brother. I have been so worried about what would happen when our baby will be here and he will have to share the spotlight. But he really had a lot of fun with her today which made me feel better about the whole situation. And he really was so good and gentle with her the whole time.

Speaking of our little baby, I went to get an ultrasound on Thursday. They changed my due date again! I am now due on July 31, 2010. I was due August 5 before. I know it is just a week ahead, but for it to be in a whole different month just freaks me out. I need all the time I can get before the baby gets here. I hope that our house is sold and we are settled into our new house by then. I hope that Caylor will be old enough to handle this new adjustment. The list of "to-dos" goes on and on. I am sure everything will work out though.

And in case anyone was wondering, I am going to go on the record and say that I think this baby is a GIRL! I will find out March 18 for sure, but that is my guess. This pregnancy has been completely different than my last one, and in the ultrasound on Thursday this baby was SO much calmer than Caylor was. They couldn't get the baby to move hardly at all. Caylor was the opposite for his 12 wk ultrasound. As a matter of fact, the Dr. said they had never seen a baby move that much. He was bouncing around and doing flips and the whole nine yards.

I have already started to feel this baby move. I started feeling it probably about 3 weeks ago actually. They say that you can feel the baby a lot sooner the second time around because you know what to expect, but I did not expect to feel it this soon! It is exciting though and makes it seem more real.

Chicago

I am way behind on blogging! I have seriously had way too much going on. Including going out of town to Chicago. I have also been VERY sick with this pregnancy. I have to admit it has been pretty difficult. We also just put our house on the market hoping to sell it soon so its been pretty crazy in our household. Which has made blogging a little lower on the priority list.

Two weeks ago we had the opportunity to go with Blaine on a business trip to Chicago. We were way excited when we found out we got to go with him. It was snowing from here all the way to Chicago but we still had a fun roadtrip. Caylor is really good in the car which helps. He really enjoys long car rides, and Blaine and I love to hit the road together, so it really was quite a pleasant trip.

When we arrived in Chicago, we were pretty tired and hungry, so we were ready to go to our room and relax. We stayed at a really nice 4 star hotel. The staff adored Caylor. I seriously think he was the only kid there. We had a valet who took our car and people helping us to our room and getting Caylor a bed. It was fun! Caylor absolutley loves hotels! I don't know what it is about them, but he just has a blast. I am so glad he is a good traveler.





By the time I got into the hotel room I went straight for the bed. I have just been so tired and sick all the time lately and this was no exception. Here is a wonderful picture of me that pretty much captures what I have looked and felt like for most of this pregnancy.

But we ordered some authentic Chicago style pizza and it was all good.

The next day Blaine headed to a business meeting while Caylor and I were snowed in at the hotel. However, Chicago is used to snow, so all the delivery businesses were up and running. So we were warm and well fed, and had a great time watching Nemo over and over again. When Blaine got back however, we were ready to get out of the hotel and do some sightseeing. The first place we headed to was Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It was so awesome! Blaine and I both loved it, but words can't describe how happy Caylor was there. He kept running around literally in circles showing us everything there was to see. His favorites included the snake, the fish, the elephant, the crocodile, and the gorillas. It was like a jungle in there and it was so neat. Everything looked so life like! I hated the snake, it was really creepy. Caylor loved the fish (who by the way were real) he especially loved the Dory fish.










After the Rainforest Cafe, we headed to the Sears tower, which is now the 5th tallest building in the world and the tallest building in the US. When I visited it years ago, it was the tallest building in the world, and 2nd was the World Trade Center. So much has changed! So we headed to the 103rd floor to see how scared of heights we really were. They have a new attraction there that is pretty freaky. It is a glass box that juts out from the building. So when you walk into it, it looks like you are walking on air really high in the sky. When you walk into the box, it feels like you are walking off the building. Caylor was brave and went into the box first. I went in very reluctantly some time after him, and Blaine took the longest to be convinced that it was safe. Turns out Blaine is more afraid of heights than we thought. I have seriously never seen him that scared before! We finally convinced him to go in long enough to get some pictures. It was really cloudy so unfortunatley the pictures aren't as clear as we would like.





Caylor's experience with "the box" was the best! Like I said before, he was so brave at first. He ran into the box and jumped around and had a blast as Blaine and I were trying to decide who was going out first. Then during our discussion, Caylor starts bawling. We were confused because just a moment ago he had been having the time of his life. We look over at him and he is crying and pointing at the floor of the box. He finally realized what we were afraid of and he was terrified! So Blaine went and grabbed his hand (while trying not to step onto the box). Caylor took two HUGE steps and carefully got out of the box. He didn't get the courage to go back in for a while, and when he finally did, he army crawled in and wiggled around like a snake. It was pretty funny.





The next day, we headed back home. It had snowed a total of about 13 inches in Chicago, but they are so used to the snow so you could hardly tell. The funny thing was, we didn't realize how bad the snow storm was until the second we hit Indiana. Literally right at the state border there was a huge difference. We could hardly drive on the Interstate in Indiana. One lane was still completely covered in snow and the other was not much better. The funny thing was that Indiana got less snow than Chicago, they just aren't as prepared for it. So it was a pretty scary ride back home but we made it.

We did have so much fun in Chicago and would love to go back sometime. It was a beautiful place. This was the view outside our hotel room.

A New Year, A New Adventure

Our family is under construction...


We are expanding! Baby number 2 is due to arrive August 5, 2010. Caylor will be almost 2 by then so I think it will be good spacing, hopefully.

I am quite nervous to be honest about this next baby coming. Don't get me wrong, I am very excited. I just have enjoyed Caylor so much that I can't imagine having a child that I could love and enjoy as much as him. I know this is probably irrational, but that fear is there. So any words of comfort/advice/wisdom from any moms of 2 or more out there would be great!

We also have had a lot going on all at once that has made this pregnancy quite surreal. We found out we were expecting the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So it came right in the middle of all the holidays. We are also in the process of selling our home which makes me nervous as well. I just hope our home will sell well before the time the baby is born!

This pregnancy has been SO different than my last pregnancy. I have the worst morning sickness. I feel horrible all the time. So for any of you out there that I have been rude to, avoided, or been short with or lazy, I am sorry. I truly have felt awful. It makes me appreciate how much easier it was last time. I felt bad sometimes last time, like if I went too long without eating, but this time I feel nauseous pretty much all day and night! My doctor has even put me on Reglen and I still feel pretty bad. I think part of the problem is I am trying to push myself too hard. Be there for Caylor and play with him, be a good friend, sister, daughter in law, wife, etc... Then there is the added stress of trying to pack all of our unneeded belongings up and completely reorganize our home. I just hate when I don't have the energy I used to or can't physically do some of the things I am used to being able to do.

Now that the venting is out of my system - I do feel so blessed to have this opportunity to have another child. I feel so lucky that Heavenly Father finds me worthy enough to have such a wonderful sweet spirit that is Caylor, but to also be given another. Although the morning sickness has been tough, everything else has been so easy. I am just grateful that I am able to have this child and give a little brother or sister to Caylor. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband who is such a great father! He is more excited than I am about this baby coming. He loves Caylor so much and is so great with him. I could not ask for a better father figure than Blaine. I would say that is probably one of his greatest, if not his greatest, qualities. He loves Caylor with all his heart and I know he will love our next one that much too. He will always watch Caylor for me for any reason, any time. Sometimes he even encourages me to go out and "get a break" while he watches Caylor.

So all in all, I think that this child will bring so much more joy to our lives, just like Caylor has. We can't even imagine how much we will love this little gift from heaven until they are here.

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Hicks Family! It has once again been such a wonderful and blessed Christmas season. We have been so blessed this year with so much. Blaine has a great job, we have a roof over our head and we have a beautiful little boy who we enjoy every day a little more than the day before.

Our Christmas festivities started first by doing a little caroling for Family Home Evening. We made some jars of hot chocolate and dropped them off at families' houses and sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Caylor loved every minute of it, and his job was to pass out candy canes. He did his job with pride. We have been trying hard this year to keep Christ in Christmas and teach Caylor about charity. We have read some heartfelt Christmas stories and donated toys to toys for tots, and many other little things that are hopefully good examples to him.


Then on Christmas Eve, we had our little Christmas at home with the tradition of opening the stockings. We have so many different places to go for Christmas, we just do our stockings with just our little family. It is something we look forward to every year. Caylor and Tang both did a great job of opening their gifts. It was actually quite impressive. They both had short attention spans though so the excitement only lasted about 15 minutes.







After stockings, we headed over to my mother's house for Christmas Eve celebrations. We had a good time and played games. The funniest thing is my mom has a pet bird that my husband is afraid of. He is afraid of birds, and I grew up with them my whole life, so I feel really comfortable around them. Caylor loves them too. Well, yesterday during lunch, George (the bird) flew on Blaine's shoulder. Blaine froze like he was going to die of fear! I could not stop laughing, but I did stop laughing long enough to get this picture.









After my mother's, it was off to Blaine's parents' house. This year, the whole family was there, including all the spouses and the newest edition to the Hicks clan, Olivia! As soon as we got there, Caylor found his Aunt Dawn and had a good time. He knows who to go to for fun...




Christmas morning we woke up to lots of presents under the tree. The best part was the family sitting around it. It was so fun to have Caylor involved and excited this year.






Of the presents we received, Caylor got a big riding truck, and a quiet book made by his Aunt Dawn. I got Band Hero (Like Rock Band but better!). And Blaine got a Nikon SLR Camera that he really wanted. It was a fun Christmas. After presents, we ate pie and pigs in a blanket and played with all our new toys!

Caylor's trip the the Allergist

A few weeks ago (the same day as the Christmas cookie incident actually), we visited the allergist. Caylor has had bad allergies since the day he was born. His ENT told us that he believes one reason Caylor gets sick so often is because of his allergies. He had also been having some really bad skin reactions which our doctor told us was a sign of food allergies.

We went and were there for over 3 hours! It was probably the hardest doctor's appointment I have ever had to put Caylor through. He was a trooper though. When they had to do the prick test on him though, I thought I was going to cry. I am really good when he gets shots, but it is fast and he usually doesn't even cry. With the prick test, it took a good 15 minutes and he screamed the whole time and I had to hold him down. I also could not touch his back or shoulders or the test would be ruined, so I could'nt hug him to comfort him or anything. I know it had to be done, but it was really hard.

We ended up finding out he has several air borne allergies including cats, which definatley means that Tang will have to become an outdoor cat in the next house.

He had several food allergies as well, but they aren't your typical food allergies.

He is very allergic to pears. I had guessed that because since we started him on solids, anytime we gave me pears he would get sick and his face would break out. So I told the allergist to test him for it. It is not very common turns out.

He is moderatley allergic to Turkey and rice. How random is that?! And how on Earth can anyone be allergic to rice.

But alas, since we have been avoiding those foods, Caylor has not had one skin problem. So apparantley that problem is solved. We still need to work on his other allergy issues, but I guess that is what his follow up appointment is for...