Just in Time for Thanksgiving

Gratitude ABC's

Some things I am grateful for...

Anniversaries: I love to go to Salt Lake for dinner every October to remember Casey and my first date. April 25 is the day we got engaged, August 15 is the day we were married, November 11 is the day I found out I was pregnant with Hiccup.

Blankets. I love to be cozy in a blanket and feel like you can never have too many in your home. Hiccup has his favorites and he gets so excited to cuddle with them.

Cereal! Although my grocery bill would be significantly less if I didn’t like it so much.

Dreft: I still wash Hiccup’s clothes in this and I love the way it makes them smell. It brings back that new-baby-memory when I fold his clothes.

Essential oils: I’m not an avid user of these but what we do use I will recommend. They are always a go-to for us in our house before we try meds or make a trip to the dr. Nine times out of ten they work for us.

Fall: it’s one of my favorite seasons and we usually don’t get to fully enjoy it living in Utah. It gets too cold too quickly and it ruins the pretty colors and the perfect temperatures. I love wearing jackets and sweaters and boots. I love gloves and hats and warm accessories. I love the crisp air and the smell of autumn. I love pumpkins as decorations and post-season baseball and the start of football.

Grandparents: Hiccup’s grandparents love and spoil him so much. He loves to go visit them and play at their houses. My grandparents continue to spoil and take care of me. I’m glad Hiccup has the chance to have his great-grandparents around.

Home to live in: it’s not our dream house but it’s our first real house. It has Hiccup’s first room and is the place where so many other firsts happened.

Internet: I rely highly too much on this and really don’t know what I’d do without it. I think it’s safe to say that most of us are addicted even if we don’t realize it.

Jr Mints: I can't ever pass these up. I've passed this love onto Hiccup which makes me giggle. He recognizes the look and the sound of the box so they are almost impossible to sneak when he's around. 

Kisses willingly given to me by my baby: I love that he will lean in to me and say ‘muah’.

Lotion: My skin is so dry lately that if I didn’t have lotion I’m sure I’d be one giant paper cut.

Morning cartoons: I wasn’t big on this when I was younger but Hiccup loves to watch a show as he wakes up and eats his breakfast in the morning. I love that he gets excited about seeing George or Jake or Daniel or Elmo and it helps keep him occupied while I get ready in the morning.

Nights that Casey and I lay in bed and talk: It reminds me of when we were dating and first married—that it didn’t matter how sleepy we were or how tired we were going to be the next morning, we just wanted to keep learning more about each other.

Old pictures and videos: I love to look at things from the past and reminisce about old, fun times that we had growing up.

Possibilities: of new babies, staying home with them and seeing them everyday. The future is uncertain and it’s scary but our dreams and goals make it so that we venture out into that unknown and try new things and work for what we want.

Quiet time: most of the time when it’s quiet my mind wanders, and plans, and stresses out, but sometimes I get a little quiet from myself and the rest of the world and it helps to recharge my batteries.

Rest: I feel like I am always tired so any chance I get to take a nap or go to bed early I take it. I love that Hiccup is realizing when he is sleepy and that sleeping can help him feel better. He is starting to go in by his crib with his blanket and wanting to get in to take a rest. 

Sunday dinners with our families: I love that our families take care of us on Sundays and feed us yummy food.

Tradtitions: I like getting together with family the Sunday before Halloween so we can have dinner and see everyone in their costumes. I love Easter egg hunts and having brunch with my family. I love watching all the Thanksgiving episodes of Friends with my brother on Thanksgiving. I love the breakfast my mom made us every Christmas. I love that we are creating our own traditions with our little family.

Umbrellas: besides being obviously useful, I find them to be really cute. 

Vehicles: I love my Subaru and am so grateful to drive it everyday. I feel safe in it, there's plenty of room, it gets good gas mileage, and we have 24 hour road-side assistance. I feel bad that Casey has to drive my little Honda and I get the nice car, but not bad enough to switch him! 

Words that my little one is learning and using each day: I love to hear his deep little voice and the excitement in it as he expands his vocabulary.

X-rays & modern medicine: I've had surgeries, tests, work-ups, labs, ultrasounds, and a delivery that I would have never made it through without knowledgeable doctors and great technology. Now if I could just finish paying for all of them. 

Yesterdays: that make me laugh when I remember them, that help me learn to not make the same mistake twice, that remind me of all that I've been through and overcome. 

Zippers: that keep my coats closed and my pants up.

Halloween

Casey and Hiccup were sick this year for Halloween so we didn't go trick or treating. Hiccup was just fine with that, he'd rather watch people from a safe distance and hang out with his Nanny.

We did get together with Casey's family the Sunday before. We dressed up, played lots of games, and ate some dinner and treats.

I really should have documented the games but our house was a little crazy and I was a little busy running the show. We had a mummy race: the first team to wrap an entire roll of toilet paper around themselves won; we had two timed races: one using straws to suck out M&M's and the other using chopsticks to transport candy corns; we balanced balloons; we had a relay race to unwrap little caramels with gloves on and eat the candy. There was a lot of yelling and teasing back and forth.

Dead Red Riding Hood, Zombie, Dorothy, Spiderman

Brawny paper towel guy (cheapest costume), Witch (my green tights are hidden), Garden Gnome (favorite costume)

Snow Trooper, Ewok, Princess Leia

Punk & Granny

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays; I put my decorations up in September. I love the tradition of going to pick out a pumpkin and then eating lots of pumpkin-related baked goods.

Hopefully next year Hiccup will feel up to cruising the neighborhood with his candy bucket.

Liebster Award

My cute and talented friend Cherie (http://cherieamourblog.blogspot.com/) nominated me for a blogger awarad called the Liebster Award. Liebster means dearest in German, and it's awarded, blogger to blogger, to up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers.  

I don't know if I would consider my blog to be up-and-coming, but I certainly have less than 200 followers. Cherie happens to be my one and only and I'm that's totally fine with me. I write for my own purpose, which varies depending on the day and topic. That being said, I would love to know that the things I write have some sort of impact on someone out there. 

The rules for accepting and giving the award are pretty simple.  Once you accept the award, you just have to do the following in a blog entry:

*Answer the 11 questions posted by the nominator on her blog

*Give 11 facts about yourself

*Nominate 5-11 other new, up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers

*Make up 11 new questions to pass on the the bloggers you chose to nominate

*Thank your nominator by linking back to her blog

*Upon your post going live, contact your nominees about your nomination for them.

The questions I was asked to answer:

*My favorite smell and why: I love how Hiccup smells. I sometimes smell his blanket or the clothes in his closet while he's busy playing and growing up. I love the smell of Farr's ice cream in Ogden. I love the jack-o-lantern smell on Halloween. I love the smell outside right before it snows. 

*My favorite childhood toy: When I was really little I had a stuffed Winnie the Pooh who was my best friend and I took everywhere. I loved to play 'mommy' with all my dolls and play 'house' with my little kitchen. I played 'school' a lot with my easel and table and chairs that I would arrange around the room. I played with cars a lot with my little brothers. 

*Would I rather live in a cozy cottage or an extraordinary castle? As much fun as it would be to play princess I would have to pick a cottage. I was always intrigued with Miss Honey's cottage in Matilda or Iris's cottage in The Holiday. I'm a pretty simple girl. I like to be cozy and I like to be surrounded by my favorite things, the ones that matter most to me. 

Iris's cottage from The Holiday

*Sweet or salty? Most of the time I'm all for sweets, especially lately. But, I can never turn down popcorn. It's a weakness I have.

*Broken bones? I've torn a few ligaments and had some organs removed but I've never broken a bone.

*Who was I named after? When I was born I didn't have a name for about a week. They finally decided on Nicole after trying a few others and deciding they liked that the best. My brother Kyle was named after my dad's good friend, and my brother Kayd's name was inspired by a cowboy that my grandpa saw on tv. I really like knowing the background of people's names, it intrigues me. My little boy is named after my husband's favorite book and his middle name is after my brother. All of our kids will have names that have some sort of meaning behind them. 

*The first thing I notice about someone: Usually their smile. I'm a sucker for a good smile. 

*My favorite age thus far in life: I wish someone would have told me how fun it is to be a kid while I was busy wanting to grow up. Looking back a lot of my favorite moments happened in 2008. I went to Denver on a baseball trip with my friends, I went to Lake Powell for the first time and made a bunch of new friends. I met so many fun and great people that year. I met and started dating Casey that summer. That fall we told each other we loved each other and decided we wanted to get married.  

*My favorite subject in school: I've always liked English and reading and writing and all the grammar that went along with it. Ironically, in high school I don't think I ever got an A in my English class. I was kind of a slacker and focused a little too much on the social aspect.  ;0)

*My favorite home-cooked meal: I love the cheese enchiladas my mother in law makes. My dad is really good at grilling seafood, my mom makes my favorite Christmas breakfast (and delicious Thanksgiving rolls). My grandpa (and his friend Dean) made my favorite stew which I still crave. I can't ever turn down stew. 

11 Facts About Me

* I have lots of dream jobs. They include, but are not limited to, the following: librarian, foley artist (they create sound effects for movies & tv shows), a script supervisor (they observe the continuity of the shots during movies & tv shows), event planner, drill team coach, children's book or young adult author, I want to own a cafe that serves just snack food and sweets, I want to teach high school English, restaurant critic, movie critic, somehow get paid to travel to all the MLB stadiums and watch game after game. Mostly I want to be a good mama and be able to spend time raising my kids, teaching them and learning from them. 

* I get motion sick super easily. When I was younger I couldn't swing for very long because I would get dizzy. I am a drag at amusement parks because I get sick on anything that goes upside down or spins (even the carousel). I get car sick really easily and I hate to fly. 

* Since I have red hair my wardrobe is limited to certain colors. I have 2 things that are red, 2 purple, 2 yellow, a handful of pink and no orange in my closet. I like to wear blue and green mostly, my eye color changes depending on what I wear so those are fun. 

* I am afraid of a lot of animals. Birds freak me out because they are so unpredictable. Cats scare me because I think they're always thinking of a way to attack me. I hate all bugs (even potato bugs), especially spiders. I woke my husband from a dead sleep in the middle of the night because there was a huge spider in the bathroom. I hate worms. They creep me out, they stink, eww they totally disgust me. 

* We had Hiccup's name picked out before I was ever pregnant, but we kept it a secret until he was born. No one's opinion was going to change the name we had chosen and I didn't want to hear about it. 

* I have a special love and appreciation for adoption and plan on adopting if that opportunity is right for our family. 

* I am a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was baptized when I was 12 and my brother Kyle was baptized three years later when he turned twelve. My dad was baptized three years after that when he was 45 and we were sealed the next year in the Logan temple. 

* I love holidays and the traditions that go with them. I love to decorate and dress up and plan lots of activities to help us soak in all the holiday glory. Ironically I hate Thanksgiving. I wish we could skip that day every year. It always turns out miserable and I just can't stand that day. 

* Some of my favorite memories from my childhood are going to the movies, whether at the theater or to the drive-in. I still remember the day I saw The Sandlot, Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King, and Aladdin. My family still loves to go to the movies and I am so excited for Hiccup to get old enough to take him to see some shows.

* I will forever be on the search for the best chocolate chip cookie. I like a couple different ones for different reasons but so far my favorite has been (randomly) Subway's cookies. They are hit and miss with the texture and sometimes are more well done than I like, but when they're on they're on!

* I am a huge fan of Disney: land, movies, Pixar related anything, music from the movies... I'm not a huge fan of decorating with Disney stuff, and there are few things that I think are cute when it comes to Disney clothes, but if I had the chance to visit Disneyland on a yearly basis, I'd be a happy girl. If I had a chance to work at a Disney park as some sort of character, heck, that'd be the most awesome job ever.

The blogs and people I choose to nominate are:
*Libby @ http://libbyisonthelabel.blogspot.com/
*Shawnee @ http://j-s-griff.blogspot.com/?zx=8b78330efbdde046
*Tayler @ http://www.jaseandtayler.blogspot.com/
*Kristina @ http://nateandkristina.blogspot.com/ & http://kristinaskitchennn.blogspot.com/
I chose these girls because I frequently stalk their blogs to take a peek into their lives. I'm thankful for the stories they have shared.

The questions I would like them to answer:
*What is your favorite holiday tradition?
*Where is your favorite place to go out to eat and what do you order?
*What is one piece of advice you would share with other new mom's or mom's with little kids?
*What is something you are currently struggling with and how do you hope to overcome it?
*What is the last movie/play/concert you went to?
*What is a song that reminds you of high school/jr high?
*You just found $10 in your pocket, what do you do with it?
*What is something you admire about your spouse?
*What is something others admire about you?
*What inspired you to start blogging?
*Who is a famous person others think you look like?

Happy blogging everyone, and thanks again Cherie! 

Citrus Lane Review (and a coupon code)

I found a code online for $10 off of my first Citrus Lane box. I've read a lot of reviews about the different subscriptions that little kids could get and this one won my interest. The coupon was a big plus. I missed the deadline for the September box ( you have to order by the 5 of each month in order to get that month's box ) so I planned on getting Hiccup's first little box in October.

I was so excited for it to come in the mail. It felt like it took forever. Later I found out that they are delivered between the 15-22 of each month so that would have been nice to know.

Normally a one month subscription is $25 but with my coupon I only had to pay $15 which included shipping. You enter your child's birth date and gender to help personalize the type of box they will receive. In our case the box was personalized for a 15 month little boy.

The box arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to dig in to it, with Hiccup's help of course seeing as I ordered it for him :0)

I was super impressed with the packaging. Everything looked nice and the box was a good size to reuse for gift wrapping. My reaction was a little lackluster with the contents upon first inspection. None of these were items I would have personally picked out or paid for. It had a bath time theme to it which I was excited about since Hiccup loves tub time but for some reason I was expecting something a little more grand.

Water Bugs from Boon: bathtoys that retail for $10 at booninc.com
Playful Wash from Episencial: gentle baby wash and shampoo that retails for $9 at episencial.com

I really enjoy Boon products. I think they are made well and are pleasing to look at for both parents and babies. Hiccup enjoyed playing with the little bugs and putting them in the net while I opened the rest of the box. He loved playing with it in the tub. He was entertained for a good five minutes doing nothing but scooping up the bugs and then dumping them out, over and over. The one problem we did have is when he tried to chew on the net, it got caught on his little teeth. I know that is not the recommended use but let's face it, kids chew on everything.

We haven't tried the body wash yet, Hiccup is recovering from a two-week-long diaper rash so we're sticking to baking soda and essential oils for tub time right now. It has tangerine oil in it so it smells nice and fresh and I'm looking forward to giving it a try. Right now we are strictly a Johnson & Johnson bath time product family but I'm open to different options.

Triangle Castanet from Green Tones made from rubber wood at gogreentones.com

Hiccup loves anything musical. This toy is recommended for 24 months and up but he loved it. He has a little drum set and piano that he loves to play with so this will fit right in with his musical collection. So far the noise it makes isn't too awfully annoying which is a plus :0)

Babybug magazine from Cricket Magazine at cricketmag.com with a 3 month digital subscription

I thought this was an odd addition to the box. We didn't have time to look through it last night so maybe I will change my mind and end up loving the online subscription. The jury is still out on this. 

With two products alone I got what I paid for with the box. I am really glad that I didn't pay full price and am super thankful that I found the $10 off code. 

I'm kind of at a toss up to whether I will purchase another box. I think I might wait till after the holidays when my budget isn't so strict. Overall I thought Hiccup enjoyed all of his prizes and can see him getting a good use out of each of them. If I find another $10 off code I think I'll definitely give it another try before I can commit to fully recommending it one way or another. 

Speaking of $10 off codes, if you use my personalized code: https://www.citruslane.com/invitedby/Nikkie.Childs.2074222 it will save you $10 off your first box and give me $10 off a future box. 

Delivery Room {Round Two}

April 17. I was one week post-op from my tonsils. I had a dr appointment in the morning and I was feeling miserable. After I got some antibiotics in me I started to feel a little better.

I got a text from Tone (my other mama) saying that Nadia was in the hospital. Baby wasn't due for another two and a half weeks so I didn't quite know what to think. Would they keep her or send her home? I got a text from Nadia a little later saying that baby was coming today! I had told her months ago that I would do whatever she needed or wanted me to do for her delivery. I offered to film or take pictures since I think that is something so wonderful to have since labor and delivery are a complete blur as a new parent.

I talked to Tone a few hours later and told her I'd stop and pick up a few things Nadia had forgotten and then head up to the hospital. She told me there was no need to hurry. I gave Hiccup a bath, gave him a hug and kiss, and put him to bed.

I stopped at Target and got some snacks, Nadia's forgottens, and some jammies for the babe. I wandered around a bit making sure I didn't forget anything and headed to the hospital. I got teary eyed as I drove. There are so many emotions surrounding the birth of a baby. I was excited for Nadia to start this new adventure. I was proud of her. She has always been like a sister to me. I felt so connected to her little babe already.

I parked and headed to the elevator. I text Tone to see what room they were in. She text back telling me to run! (She had gone from a 4 to a 10 within the hour!) Elevators always move in super slow motion when you're in a hurry. Geez.

I looked like a crazy person as I got off the elevator with my camera ready in my hand. I opened the door to her room to see Nadia mid-push. Both she and Tone let out sighs of relief that I had made it.

I had never witnessed a birth before; I kept my head down when they showed it (twice) in high school. But my mama instinct took over and nothing seemed more natural than to be there for my friend as her life changed.

One more round of pushes and Liam was born. He was a little purple and a little cone-headed, but he was here and he was so sweet and so loved. I feel so blessed and privileged to have witnessed his arrival into this world and to be there as he met his mama. The light in their eyes was so bright in their meeting. I saw a change in my friend that I always knew was possible, but that she had sometimes doubted.

I am a true believer that everything happens for a reason and I know that Liam came to Nadia at a pivotal point in her life. They will be each other's strength and foundation. There is a special bond between a mama and her boy. I already recognize that with Hiccup, and I know that Nadia and Liam will share the same, great love.

some pics from instagram.. filters were our friend with the awesome hospital lighting 

LITTLE ANGELS

In the past few months, I have become aware of several people in my life dealing with a huge trial. They have lost their tiniest of angels. Whether weeks in the womb, or minutes or months old, their little one has been called back Home into the arms of our Heavenly Father.

I cannot begin to imagine the feeling of loss and extreme woe my friends have experienced and endured. They have been such examples of faith and strength to those around them. I pray for them daily that they will continue to receive the strength they need to make it through each day, that they will be able to feel and accept the love and help from those around them, that they might finally feel a sense of peace.

Every baby is a blessing. Every baby comes into this world with a perfect spirit.Some, sadly, are needed here for only a short time.

I am grateful everyday for the chance that I had to be pregnant with Hiccup, that he is in my life today. He is my most precious little miracle.

I know that we will have the chance to be with our loved ones who have gone before us again. I know that we will have the chance to be parents to the little ones we have lost.

To my friends, or anyone who is dealing with this trial, don't give up. You are an amazing example to those around you. Even if people may seem to forget or move on with their daily lives, we still remember your trial and are thinking of you, praying for you. I love you all. My heart aches for your loss. I am here for anything I can help with.

#2

1. Have my make up professionally done

2. Couples Massage
3. Grow out my hair long enough for a pony tail

4. Go on a bike ride

Casey and I went to Beyond Spa in Layton for our anniversary massage. We went after we got married and we decided it was something we definitely needed to make a tradition out of. I've been going there for a few years and only once did I have a not-so-great experience. I have requested Kami as my therapist since I was pregnant with Hiccup and she's never let me down.

Sorry, no pics... kind of an intimate number on the list :0)