Nowine

The phrase "No Wine" has many meanings around our house these days...

I can have "no wine" since I am pregnant.

I seem to constantly be telling Caroline "no whining"

"Nowine" is what Caroline now calls herself.

She just recently started referring to herself by name, and I think it's so funny! Caroline sounds more like "No-wine" or "No-uh-wine" when she says it. It's so cute! "Nowine do it." "Nowine shoes on." "Nowine's chair." We'll be driving down the road and I will hear her in the back seat saying, "Nowine? Nowine?" When I look back, she has covered her face with her hands, waiting for me to say "Caroline, where are you?" She loves it when I finally "see" her.

Here we are playing a version of the game with a blanket...good times.

(I hope you can hear her saying "Nowine")

The Rooms

With my mom's help, I was able to get the kids' rooms (pretty much) finished!

Caroline's old room, became Miles's room. Caroline moved into the room next door. I was worried she might be confused by this, but she didn't miss a beat!

Caroline would love to give you the tour of her new room :)

She graciously gave her old crib to her baby brother, and she is sleeping in the new one.

This bed was mine when I was a little girl! It has a canopy, too, but we are waiting until she is a little bit older before we put that on. Since she hasn't graduated to the big bed yet, I am using it as our changing area (as you can see in the pic)

Rather than buy her a dresser, I got this little cube thing from Target. We have one in our playroom, too. Love it!

Here is Baby Miles's room (so far).

It still feels a little bare, so I hope to add a few more little decor items here and there.

I decided to fore go the cute puffy bumpers and quilt altogether this time. We ended up taking Caroline's bumpers off after only a couple of months, and exchanging them for the breathable mesh ones. Although they are not as cute, I have decided that practicality wins with baby #2 :)
The letters spelling out his name are a whole story of their own. I decided I would buy the unfinished letter from Michael's and paint them myself. I chose red (which in hind sight was random, and a big mistake) I was also determined to hang them with ribbon, since that's what I did for Caroline's. I wanted them to look cute! Anyway, in the end, they looked ridiculous. The red was too bright, and didn't match anything, and the ribbon looked girly. So, my mom was generous enough to spring for the prefinished letters from Pottery Barn :) Thanks Mimi!

These prints are vintage Baylor Football Program covers from the 40's, 50's, and 60's. I found them in a calendar at Whole Foods (of all places?). They were the inspiration for our football themed room.
Found this lamp 50% off at Hobby Lobby, and thought it was perfect!
I sure hope Miles likes football... ;)

Spring Break 2010

I can't help but laugh at how the meaning of Spring Break has changed over the years...This year, we really whooped it up and partied with Mimi (my mom). She was kind enough to spend her week off from work here in Austin with us. She babysat, ran errands with me, helped me move, organize, and decorate the kids' rooms, and more. All the while, battling a cold that she most likely caught from us...We are really generous like that ;) Not exactly much of a vacation for her!!! But, I couldn't have made it through the week without her...THANK YOU Mimi!!!

It wasn't all work and no play...We did manage to squeeze in lots of fun stuff too! Unfortunately I didn't do a very good job of taking pics :(

We took Caroline to the Austin Children's Museum, which she absolutely loved.

Hard at work on the giant lite brite thing.

She got to eat ice cream and hold the cone all by herself.
Seriously...this is good stuff.
Brrrr! It's cold!
Me and my Mimi :)
I got to have a girls night out...Celebrating St. Patty's Day with Sarah and Meghan. Ahhh, how I craved a green beer...

Mimi had fun little treats and activities each day for Caroline...An Easter egg book with corresponding eggs filled with snacks, a color matching game of mini eggs and baskets, a pink cowgirl hat, a little toy bus that sings, some new blocks, Elmo books, and more! Caroline was so excited to wake up from her nap every afternoon to see what Mimi had in store for her. I am sure this week has been quite a disappointment for her ;) She wakes up asking for Mimi, and sadly...she is stuck with just me.

Mimi also had Easter egg hunting boot camp for Caroline. She practiced hiding and hunting eggs with her. I think Caroline gets the whole idea of finding the eggs and filling her basket, so she can dominate the neighborhood hunt. Let's just hope all this intense training pays off when the big day comes next week...ha ha :)

While it wasn't quite the same as my Spring Breaks spent in South Padre...It was still a great week and I wouldn't trade it for the world!!!!

Surprise!

Last weekend, Minnie and Papa (Sherri and my dad) came to visit! Caroline was quite smitten with both of them of course. She LOVED all the attention, and was especially intrigued by my dad and his hat. It was all she could talk about! So funny.

Fun at the park with Papa!

Saturday, we ate lunch downtown...it was a beautiful day!

After that, Minnie and Papa babysat while Jon and I headed to Waco to celebrate Kristin's 30th for real. Her sweet hubby planned a surprise party for her!!! It was so much fun :)

Ginny, Kristin, and myself

Jon and I boogied on the dance floor.
It was a great party and a great weekend!!!

Happy Birthday, Kristin!!!

And a BIG thank you to Minnie and Papa for taking such good care of Caroline (and us ;))!! When we got home, not only had they chased C all afternoon and evening, but they did dishes, folded laundry, and picked up the house!!!! We felt so spoiled :)

Drumroll...

Our sweet baby boy officially has a name!

Miles Jon Erickson

We picked Miles just because we like it, and Jon is obviously a family name...Jon was very appropriately named after his Uncle Jon, and there is a long line of Jon's and even Johann's preceding them :)

We are so excited and can't wait to meet little Miles in May!

I am 30 weeks along now and still feeling great. Hard to believe this is the 3rd trimester already! I had another appointment today, since I am going every 2 weeks now. All is well with Baby Miles. I measured right on track for 30 weeks, his heartbeat was 145ish, and he continues to kick and move like crazy :)

I framed the vintage Baylor football posters, and bought a couple of other things for his room. I ordered crib #2 today as well (Caroline is NOT graduating to a big bed yet...hence the 2nd crib:)). My mom is coming to visit over spring break (in 2 weeks) to help me get organized and get both Caroline's new big girl room and Miles's nursery all set up. Whew! I will post pics when once there is picture-worthy progress...

18 months

A year and a half old. That seems so grown up!

Caroline is so much fun and has been keeping us on our toes as usual. She is bossy, independent, and always seems to be learning something new.

Double fisting at such an early age

Some of her favorite things right now include...singing, dancing, anything and everything outside, balls, trucks, cooking, Dora, fruit snacks, books, playdough

Hard at work with her "Maymo" aka Playdough.

We learned this trick at music class. Sitting on the ball and bouncing is such a thrill.

Some favorite words/phrases are..."I get it", "Mine", "I do it", "I ready"...I did mention she is bossy and independent, right? The other day, she pointed at Jon and said "That MY Daddy." I guess she is a little possessive ;)

Such a serious face.

She is just beginning to get interested in shapes (star and circle are her faves) and colors (especially orange), and is very into counting (instead of 1, 2, 3...She points and says 2, 2, 2...)


Converstation we have daily (often more than once)
C: Daddy work
Me: Yes, Daddy is at work.
C: Car?
Me: Yes, he drove his car to work.
C: Keys?
Me: Yes, Daddy used his keys to drive his car to work.
C: Purse?
Me: Well, not exactly. Daddy carried his bag to work. Daddy's don't carry purses.

Ha! I love that she thinks his laptop bag is a purse.

18 month stats:

Weight: 25 lb. 10 oz. (70%)

Height: 33 in. (55%)

Head: off the charts, of course ;)

FINALLY!

It snowed in Austin! I must confess...we have been a tad jealous of all the winter weather in Dallas lately. As native Dallasites, we couldn't believe we missed not only the white Christmas, but also the record breaking snow a couple of weeks ago! Anyway, we finally got a little winter fix down here today. Just enough to make it fun :)

Caroline was bundled up and ready to go! She was quite proud of her hat, and loved showed it off to all the neighbors.

Covered in snow after a snowball fight...She obviously lost.

Daddy's office closed at lunch, so he got to play in the snow with us! What a treat!

Once Caroline was bundled up and ready to go, so ran to the front door and started squealing, "Snow! Snow! I ready! I ready!" It was so cute, she was sooooooo excited. Here is us trying to capture it on video...

I Can't Believe it's NOT Butter!?!?!

Caroline has a new found affection for something we think is a bit odd...

A spray butter bottle.

Every time I open the door to the fridge, she would make a beeline for the spray butter. Eventually, we let her carry it around with her, and an everlasting bond was created.

We emptied all the butter out, so it's just an empty container. But that hasn't diminished her love of the butter at all.

She asks for the butter all the time. When she is upset, she wants the butter. If we don't give her the butter, she cries. She talks to and/or about the butter constantly. Seriously. Should we be worried?!?

The other night, she was playing on the stairs, butter in hand of course, when she decided she wanted to go upstairs to find Daddy. She set it down next to her on the step and said, "Bye Bye Butter."

She was determined to get upstairs to see her Daddy, so I guess we know that he still holds the top spot in her heart. But, its safe to say the butter is definitely a close #2.

My Funny Valentines

Caroline and I baked Daddy a special Valentine's Day treat...yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting...his FAVORITE:) Caroline was anxious to help!!

Ready to call the fire dept. in case Mommy burned down the kitchen.
Sampling the goods
More tasting, while we survey our progress
Mommy, this whole baking thing is really fun!
After we baked our cupcakes, it was time to decorate!!
Caroline was very focused, placing each piece of candy. It was so funny to watch!
I think my Daddy will love it!
The finished product. Caroline did such a great job :)

Jon cooked a DELICIOUS dinner of chicken parmesan, which is one of MY favorites :) He also picked up the house, swept, mopped, and vacuumed...all while I was at church. It was so nice to come home to a clean house!!! Not to brag, but have I mentioned I have the best husband EVER? I LOOOOOVE him :)

The Fabulous Four!

As you know the Erickson clan is adding 4 new additions this summer. The verdict is finally in, and this awesome foursome will be 2 boys and 2 girls! How fun is that!?!?!?

Our (yet to be named) BOY will be arriving in May.

Steven and Diane's (top secretly named) BOY will be arriving in June,

Bryce and Elizabeth's (top secretly named) GIRL will also be arriving in June,

and Clark and Brittany just found out today that they will be having a baby GIRL in July!

We are so excited and blessed to be expecting 4 HEALTHY babies into the family. We couldn't be more excited to welcome a son, a nephew, and 2 darling nieces to the worlds and Caroline is especially excited about all these new cousins to play with!!!