Nick Pics!

I got some great pictures of Nick today after he got up from his two hour nap!

A Wonderful Saturday at the Zoo

On Saturday, Jeff and I participated in the Active 23/30 Zoo Day. It was an absolute blast. It actually looked like rain for the first part of the morning, causing the crowds to be small, but it cleared up and was a perfect day. Our group of guys were great and we got to explore the brand new African Journey that opened the week before.



Jeff and Darko along with our group of boys.

Entering the new African Journey you go through a tunnel. This tunnel goes under the main street, that enters the zoo. If you were a kid growing up here, you know that the correct way to go through is to run and yell letting your voice echo off the metal, but because of the crowds we were unable, bummer! Now at the end of this tunnel there is an awesome mist that greets you. It is really cool because for a moment with the sun, you are blind and then Alas! the beautiful gardens are before you.

So pretty! I want this in my backyard.

These are the Servals, and they were playing. They reminded me of Molly and Roman, chasing and jumping around with each other.

This one jumped up on the rock in one leap. Impressive!

The funniest thing about the Servals, were the ostriches watching them. They kept moving their heads and ruffling their feathers as the Servals played. It was hilarious!

The new Giraffe exhibit was really cool. They have a platform that you can feed them from and they are right there.

Told ya, I would have pet him, if I hadn't been taking the picture!

Check out that tongue!

I kept trying to take a picture of the Zebras but they kept giving me there backsides. Finally I got this shot.

I love the Sea Lions. They are so awesome to watch swimming around! They have soothing music playing making this the most relaxing exhibit.

Jellyfish!

I have been to the zoo so many times, and yet I never knew about the catfish! You can feed them and about a million will come to surface. It was so cool!!!

Nick and His Girlfriend

This week one of Nick's girlfriends spent a couple of days with us. It was an absolute blast watching these two play with each other.







Two cuties!!! They really like each other.

Honestly they do!!

"Hey, that's my toy!"

"I don't think so, little man!!!"

"Mom, Miss. A has my toy!"

"Shut Up, Nicky!"

"Hey you two, You both need to share."

"OK, Nick, You can have it."

"Ahh, No pain, No gain!"

No babies were harmed during this photo theater.

Summer TV

Now that some of my favorite shows are on break, my DVR schedule is looking lonely. I am in need of some new shows to look forward to watching the few hours of me-time before bed. Luckily this summer has a couple of shows I am either watching or interested in. Here is my high priority list:

True Blood (HBO, Sun. 9:00); Jeff and I try to have at least one show we watch together a week. Our current show is Harper's Island and although I have kind of lost interested in it, I continue for the happiness of our marriage. Last season, True Blood was great for both Jeff and I. The two main characters are kind of blah, but the cast of supporting characters are awesome and kept us coming back for more. We are both pumped for the the new season that bites-off this Sunday.

Big Brother (CBS, July 9); Ahh, I am truly excited for this one. Having just finished up watching the Duel 2 on MTV, (Awesome, I still can't believe that Landon didn't make it to the finals, and Evan won. Mark was such a gentleman at the end, that my crush on him just about exploded into liquid awesomeness.) This looks like it will fill my void for house drama and challenges.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Bravo, Tue. 10:00) I like the ladies on this one, well all of them but one. This is a DVR before watching because I have to fast forward through the Danielle scenes at home (boring). Next week looks perfect with a big ol' cat fight. Ladies sharpen your claws!!

Top Chef Masters (Bravo, Thur. 10:00) and The Next Food Network Star (Food Network, Sun. 9:00); These two arrive just in time to fill the gap from America's Next Top Model and Make Make Me A Supermodel. It makes that ham sandwich you had for dinner feel so low rate.

Warehouse 13 (SciFi, July 7, 9:00); Without BSG and SG1, Scifi has lost my viewership. Maybe this show will bring me back. I saw a preview and it has peaked my interest. It looks like campy sci-fi with a side of UST, my favorite!

Torchwood (BBC America, July 20, 9:00) Ahh Torchwood, this show is like the "cheesy romance cover, novel" that you hide under the bed. Campy Sci-Fi: Plus, Hot Characters: Plus (John Barrowman just radiates hotness with any character he is on screen with), and British Accents = Brain Candy!

Shows I am slightly interested in include: The Fashion Show (in place of Project Runway), Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood (carbon copy of The Newlyweds but Tori is a lot smarter than Jessica) and NYC Prep (a marriage of The Hills and Gossip Girls).

Reality shows and cheesy Sci-Fi seems to be my summer choice until NCIS, The Mentalist, How I Meet Your Mother and Big Bang return this fall.

Neurologist

Nicky saw his Neurologist on Tuesday. He did a really awesome job letting the Doctor poke at him and in fact when the Doctor was speaking to us, Nick sat on my lap talking back to the Doctor. He has really discovered his voice lately. Nick has Torticollis (aka. twisted neck) that is causing Plagiocephaly (flat head). The Tort is making Nicky's head tilt to one side and makes it uncomfortable for him to really turn it both ways. The Tort is most likely caused from his position in the womb and Physical Therapy will be prescribed. Plagiocephaly is basically a flat head. The Tort makes it impossible to change Nicky's head position during sleep, allowing the back or side of the head to flatten.





In this picture you can see how round the top or front part of his head is while the back and right side has flattened. To solve this problem, Nicky will be fitted for a band (helmet) that he will have to wear for several months.

The right side of his neck has the Tort. Normally his ear is tilted closer to his shoulder. My biggest concern is the ridge he has, located about halfway up the back of his head.

This top view you can see how the top part of his head bulges out above the bottom part.

As we were wrapping up our discussion with the Doctor, my mom instincts were going off because neither our family doctor or Neurologist has ever felt Nick's head to make sure his plates are forming correctly. I spoke up to the Doctor saying, "So, the plates in Nick's head feel OK." Finally, he took Nick and actually felt his head. This is what the doctor said, " Oh, Um maybe he should have a head X-ray." Gee, OK, thanks doctor! You only had to be prompted to actually do something. So today he had a spine x-ray (for the tort) and the head x-ray to check for Craniosynostosis. It was a blast, with a screaming baby and frizzled mother. Needless to say we took a two hour nap when we got home.

So now we wait. If everything looks great, Nick will have physical therapy and be fitted for a band. If there is signs of Craniosynostosis (head plates fusing together to soon) more than likely surgery will be needed. Either of these, although not great are more of a physical and not a mental issue. There shouldn't be any problems with him developmentally.

CrMS

Today Nicky got to meet Theresa. For Jeff and I, Theresa along with Dr. H will always hold a special place in our hearts. Our journey with them began over a year and a half ago but our story begins before that.

After three years of being married, Jeff and I decided, to our parents greatest pleasure, to start a family. During June of 2006, some of our friends had already started down the path of parenthood and we were ready to begin.

It was fun and exciting the first few months, with thoughts of am I pregnant. We were planning ahead our lives in nine month cycles. Months started going by with no plus sign, while the rest of our family and friends were growing with no problems. It became very difficult on Jeff and I life. The ups and downs of the 28 day cycle. We were too young to be really concerned but too old to want to wait any longer.

At the one year mark, when every couple is now referred to as infertile, I decided to talk to my family doctor. He referred me to his partner Dr. H, who had a pet project using the Creighton Model Fertility System. I sat on the referral for six months. It was extremely difficult for me to admit I had a problem and give up my fertility to someone else. I was being silly but wasn't ready for help until January 2008. I honestly didn't know if Jeff and I could take one more baby shower. Selfish, but this issue was consuming our life.

In January, I made the appointment and meet with Dr. H. He is a wonderful man and explained to me how the program worked. I would work with a Fertility Practitioner (Theresa) on the Creighton Model System side (charting my biological markers that show up during the 28 day cycle) and he would be working on the NaPro Technology side (medical). They would be working together along with Jeff and I to discover the problem. Jeff and I were wanting a more natural approach to solving the issue instead of jumping right into AI or IVF.

These two people are amazing. I left both of them feeling like I actually had people cheering and wanting to help us conceive. (Ok, we had lots of cheerleaders in our lives at the time but they couldn't really help.) It was the hope and warmth we needed to tackle the problem. I started in Feb. 2008 with Theresa. In March, I went on a high dose of B6, April we included the OTC drug Mucinex and May we achieved our pregnancy!!! We found out we were pregnant right at our two year trying to conceive mark.

Of course, they continued to be apart of life after conception. We see Dr. H all the time because he is our family doctor and I continue to chart with Theresa. Our family is proud to say that Nicky is the 33 Creighton Model Baby out of 36 here in the Fort!!!!

Shh, Baby Sleeping!

The cutest face in world besides his smiles and laughs, is Nick sleeping. Now that he has started to roll over, I no longer get to see his peaceful face. To honor his latest achievement, I am posting some of his best and only sleeping pictures. Ahh, the beautiful dreaming face. Nick has been an active dreamer since the day he was born. What does a newborn dream, you may ask? I have no idea, but he whimpers, smiles and makes a pout face. Cracks us up!

So tired! I love it when he yawns. Maybe it is because of all those chins!!!

Touchdown!! No swaddling for this child. He hated it when we tired because he could not move his arms.

Mommy wants those lips, but you can keep your chins!

Score, again! The kid may worship Peyton Manning someday.

Quiet moments. I took this picture as he slept on my shoulder. I am just amazed at my mommy skills, capturing the moment and not waking him up. Go ME!

The joys of parenthood: You may ask me about my new hair care product, Ah-La-Nicholi. As I was writing this post, the kid spit-up in my hair. Thanks, Cutie!!!

This Week

We have had a fun week here at The House.









Nick had his four month check up on Monday and now is 16lbs. 4ozs and 25in. long! Go big boy! We are off to the Neurologist on Tuesday to talk to the doctor about his head. No surprise, we knew it was coming. We started cereal this week and learned how to roll over onto our stomach. He is now a stomach sleeper with a red spot on his check from the sheets. We took everything out of his crib and now he is all over the place. I think he is inviting other babies over to party.





My favorite pic this week has to be this one.

Everyone tells us that Nick looks like Jeff but in this picture he is a carbon copy of my six month old picture. Maybe there is hope for us!!