Meeting Max

Many of you have asked who Pam is after reading many of the comments on my blog posts. She is a friend from California, she and Chris go way back and worked at Patagonia together. She and Tommy have since moved to Idaho after taking a job with Cold Water Creek. She was in Massachusetts over Christmas visiting her family and we were able to meet up. It was great to meet their sweet baby boy, Max, who was born about 6 weeks after Nicholas. We had so much fun and hope to see you guys again soon! Thanks to your family for being such great hosts!

Merry Christmas 2008!

Well, Nicholas' first Christmas has come and gone. At his age, I know that it was just another average day, with a few new toys to get tired of, but for the parents and grandparents it was a monumental occasion. We had a wonderful first Christmas with or beautiful baby boy and we can't wait until he gets even older and brings us "grown-ups" back to the spirit of the season! Santa was good to us all, so thank you who ever you are! No suprise that Nicholas was spoiled with toys, books, outfits and more thanks to his adoring grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other loved ones.

View this video below... Nicholas LOVES to dance! He dances to just about everything including all types of music, ring tones, my singing, and most recently this Christmas reindeer that Grandmom bought us before last year. I think he would be content dancing with the reindeer all day!


And view this slide show to see pictures from Christmas. Happy Holidays to all of you, hope you had as much fun as we did!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

First Day of Winter?!?!

I know that yesterday was the official start of winter, but we have already had our share of winter weather before it even really began. We have had three snow storms since our epic ice storm! Friday and yesterday brought over a foot of snow with each storm. Is it possible to be tired of winter already? Well, at least the snow brings fun outdoor activites! Chris got to go snowboarding yesterday and on Saturday we took Nicholas outside to show him what that white stuff was all about. He thought it was pretty neat, until the cold got the best of him!

Belly Laughs

Don't you just love those deep down belly laughs? It warms your heart!

Visit with Santa

We took Nicholas to visit Santa two weeks ago, but I forgot to post earlier. We used it as our card too, I thought it was cute how Nicholas doesn't look too happy. Yes, he cried....isn't that suppose to happen the first time he sees Santa...a right of passage by all?

Nicholas was a popular Christmas card this year, here are some more jolly pictures that the proud grandparents used...

Winter Wonderland

Last Thursday we got a really wicked ice storm that left us without power until yesterday. We are one of lucky ones, as most people we know are still without power. We had no heat, water, or electric which was pretty scary at first as our house began to get colder and colder. Nicholas and I spent the night at our friend Kim's house on Friday night because she had a wood burning stove that pumped heat while Chris tried to keep the house warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing with a fire in our fire place. Luckily, we got our hands on a kerosene heater which kept our downstairs at a cozy 66 degrees. So we had a slumber party in our living room for a few days. Once we knew that we could keep warm, it was actually fun! As exciting as it was, we were very happy to get power back! I hope everyone else gets power back soon too!


Of course my camera only had enough charge in it to get one picture, but it was honestly the prettiest site we have ever seen. (Except for the downed tree and power lines that looked like a scene from WWIII!) Now I know where they came up with the silver tinsel for the trees. We were truly walking in a winter wonderland...

Baba

Nicholas' days of nursing have sadly come to an end :-( He is such a big eater, he kind of weaned himself. My goal was to make it to one year, but we got close enough. I can hardly get him to drink any milk either. He has SUCH personality and shows so much expression! He is so happy and has so much love, but he's not afraid to show his attitude either, guess he is like his momma in some ways :-) He is emulating so much of what we do, he makes doggie noises and says a few words like car, picture, what's that, hi, bye, and baby. (At least those are the words Mom and Dad hear!) He loves being read to and cries when the book ends. Ahhhhhhhhh....we love him so....pure joy!!

Here is video Chris took of Nicholas drinking his baba, he is so funny! Enjoy...

Stroller Brigade

Or so I refer to this group! A group of mom's, through our 6 degress of seperation in this small town, began to go on stroller walks during the summer. There are actually 8 mom's and children ranging from 7-14 months. It started out very casual, usually one day a week. But we have gotten much more organized, we even have a calendar! We walk twice a week and gather at rotating houses one day a week. We play, chat, and the hostess even cooks lunch for all of us on the day that we meet at her house.
Needless to say, it has actually been a great network and stress reliever. It is truly a nice way to break up our day and I think both Nicholas and I look forward to spending time with our friends. Yesterday, we met at Anna's house and I actually remembered to bring my camera. Only two moms/children were missing. Maybe one time we'll get a picture of all of them. Sometimes, I actually feel like Nicholas and I have too much going on between meeting with these guys three days a week, swim class on Mondays and our Waldorf play group on Thursdays (many of the children in the stroller brigade also do this one too!). Wednesday is usually the only day we have nothing planned. Of course there is never any pressure on any of our parts to show every time we meet and we're all pretty much in the same boat as far as that goes, show when we can. I'm not complaining though, I love every day! Will we always be so fortunate? I am hopefull...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I am a little late, but we were too busy enjoying time with family and friends to update sooner. We truly have so much to be thankful for, including having such great people in our lives!

Nicholas enjoyed his first Thanksgiving meal very much; not suprisingly, he liked the sweet potatoes the most! As usual, Nicholas was spoiled with love. We are especially grateful that Nicholas got to spend time with his great-grandparents this past week. Here are some pictures from our trip back to PA, AGAIN!

Yummy, our first Thanksgiving meal with Nicholas. Thanks Grandmom and Pop-pop everything was delicious!

Nicholas and Dad, doesn't Nicholas look cute in the Thanksgiving bib Aunt Jeanne got for him?

Nicholas and Mommy...

Nicholas and Pop-pop...Nicholas already has his fake smile down pat.

Nicholas with Chris' Aunt Marie (Nicholas' Great-Aunt)...

"I'm having so much fun on the car Aunt Re gave to me. Boy, I am lucky!"


My dad with Nicholas and I...

Nicholas and Grandpop Bob...

Nicholas and his Great-Grandfather...

With his Great-Grandmom and Great-Grandpop...

The family with GG (Great-Grandmother, a name that her first Great-Grandson, Lucas started for her.) GG actually has four great-grandsons!

with GG and Uncle Christian...

"Friends Thanksgiving" at Dana's, a tradition I hope we continue!



I am missing the Black Friday dinner pictures at Aunt Jeanne's, but as soon as I get them I will share.

At the Playground...

Yesterday my mom, Chris, Nicholas and I went to the playground and I wanted to post some of these pictures because I thought Nicholas looked so cute in them. Nicholas is at such a fun age and I know it only gets better, but he just has such a personality already. His smile and laugh are contagious and somehow he makes everything else in life seem unimportant. We are so lucky!

Happy Birthday Grammy!!!

Nicholas was able to give Grammy birthday hugs and kisses in person, as she spent the weekend with us in NH. I was sad to drop her off at the airport today. I am truly blessed to have such a great mom and hope that I can be half the mom to Nicholas as she is to me. Happy Birthday Grammy!

Big Boy Bath

Nicholas has out grown his infant tub. Last night he took a bath in the regular tub like a big boy and he had so much fun! He probably would have stayed in all night but I took him out when he got pruney. Another exciting moment at the Ranalli house!

Nicholas' First Halloween Festivities

Nicholas has been very festive the entire month of October thanks to the cute outfits by Grammy and Aunt Jeanne. We had a blast on Nicholas' first Halloween! We had lunch with Kim and her two kid's, Malcom and Lauren, and then after lunch we baby sat them. Nicholas loved getting fed his cheerios by Lauren!

We then went to our friends Joanna and Justin's nieghborhood to trick or treat with Nicholas' girlfriend Marley. She was a cute little butterfly. Nicholas tried to web her a few times! Thank you guys for having us over for dinner too, Mexican night was extra delicious! Nicholas got to stay up late on his first Halloween, he actually made it until 8:30, whoohoo!! Maybe he'll even sleep in tommorrow until like 8 am, doubt it :-). He was exhausted at the end of the day and so were Mom and Dad!

It is absolutley amazing how life takes on a new meaning and purpose with Nicholas, I have to say this was my best Halloween yet!

Please watch my slide show. The pictures are mostly from today, but a few are from last week when we went to the Keene Pumpkin Fest and met up with our favorite twins Mason and Sam.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

OH, Nicholas is feeling much better as you can see!

Happy Halloween!!!

Make a Smilebox recipe

Check back later for pictures and Halloween fun!

Sleepy Head

Poor guy has a stomach bug, aka: SEVERE diarrea. I'll spare the details, but lets just say it has been a MESSY few days. The most awful part is the diaper rash that comes with it. His bottom looks very sore, he is so raw. Nicholas is always a squirmer when he gets his diaper changed but now fights it even more because he associates it with pain. We let him crawl around without a diaper last night for a little while so that he could "air it out." I don't need to tell you the rest of the story, but we learned from that MISTAKE. We have tried two different kinds of pedialite, but he doesn't like either. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I took him to the doc yesterday but it wasn't much help.

So, we didn't leave the house today at all. We stayed in our pj's all day, it was the perfect cold gloomy day to do it. Nicholas really needed the rest, he took two long 2 1/2 hour naps and was still so tired before bed. His long naps gave me plenty of time to sanitize the entire house. I feel so bad, my stomach hurts for him :-( One thing after another since we returned from our trip.

I kept checking in on him during his second nap, he looked so peaceful. He is an official thumb sucker by the way. As of last week he does it all day long.




He was quite happy when he woke after all that sleeping!


That's my update, I hope he feels better soon. Especially for his first Halloween!