Neacel's Check-Up

I had to take Neacel in 2 weeks early for his 15 month check up, Dr Palmeiri books up fast! Well, Neacel is doing great and growing quickly!

Weight: 25 lbs (55th percentile)
Height: 30 1/2 inches (35th percentile)
Head: 19 1/2

She is impressed with how much he is talking and how active he is. He is doing well and she said that he is about where an 18 month old is mentally! YAY! She did say that it is recommended to have Neacel rear facing in his carseat until he is two. I simply told her NO! She laughed and said ok. I explained that I'm not going to give my son freedom and then take it away from him. That isn't going to help anyone in the end.

Well, I would make this longer but Neacel is throwing a tantrum :-(

Our Little Gabber

We are so proud of Neacel and how fast he is learning things. Yesterday, he had 2 new words! "Hi" and "Nana." I've been trying to get him to say Nana for my Mom since she lives in Ohio. Well, yesterday he finally said it! Then last night we went to Cafe Rio for dinner. We were sitting by the door and tons of people walked in, I thought I heard Neacel say "hi" but I shrugged it off. Then I asked him to say it and sure enough with a big cheesy smile he said "hi." Then on Sunday, Neacel started to say "Nick." Neacel now has 12 words:

Mom
Dada
Baba (bottle)
Ball
Book
Puppy
Dog
Punky (Grandma and grandpa Burt's dog)
Hi
Nana
Uh-Oh (I love when he says it!)
Nick

Nick wants to to get him to start saying "Jazz," so hopefully that will be the next one. I found that if I keep asking him to say a new word for a few days, he catches on! Such a smart boy! We will get it on camera as soon as he isn't camera shy and not being stubborn.

Neacel's First Hair Cut

We finally got rid of Neacel's mop! His hair was way too long and getting in his eyes. We took him to Cookie Cutters and that is by far the best place to get your kids hair cut. They had TV's at all the little stations and your kid can even sit in a car while their hair is being cut.

We were prepared for the worst with Neacel; we figured he would scream, cry, kick and throw a tantrum since this was something new and Nick was going to have to hold him still. Instead, Neacel sat there the whole time watching Elmo! He was a little curious and would watch in the mirror then we would point to Elmo and he would stare at the TV again. I was so impressed. I can't say the same for myself, I bawled like a baby the whole time; the girl even looked at me at one point and asked if I was crying, I replied with a sobbing yes. Nick found it funny that I was that upset over it. I just felt like I was getting rid of his babiness, like he was going to suddenly grow up. I have a little baggie full of his hair. He does look so much more grown up, but he is still my baby!

Here are some pictures

Before





After



He is such a little man! We can't believe how fast he is growing! I love his hair like this though, he looks so much older. Pretty soon he will be talking a ton and getting into even more trouble! Is that even possible?

New Year

I know we are 2 weeks into the new year but this is my first chance to sit and relax.

This year so far has been ok, not really great or horrible. It's been alot of ups and downs already.
Nick is waiting to hear from schools, but recently found out the UNLV doesn't have everything, even though it was all sent in and paid for, so we are probably down to 4 schools. I personally didn't want to go there and this whole issue is making me happy. I think a school should be much more organized and take care of things. They kept calling and saying they were missing things; at one point they said they didn't have his GRE scores, they called later to say they found them. I just haven't been impressed.

Every day when Nick gets home he asks if anything came from a school. Poor guy. Nick is also taking 2 classes right now to finish his bachelors degree. He is working hard, and doing great. I know he can't wait until he is done with all of this schooling! I am so grateful for all of his hard work, just so we enjoy things and have all the things we need.

Neacel is growing like a weed. He is saying a few more words and has more energy. He makes what he wants known to the world. We are starting potty training (kinda). I want him out of diapers by 2 so, we are just introducing it right now. He sits on his frog potty whenever Nick or I go to the bathroom. Just so he starts to understand a little. This morning he did go potty on his potty and I started clapping and cheering and he did the same. Then he would point to it and start clapping and saying "yay!" Crazy kid. If he takes to this, great, if not I'm not going to really start pushing it until about 18 months.

Neacel is such a little monster; he has such a strong personality and we love it. He recently has fallen in love with Sesame Street, he loves Elmo. Neacel is our little dancer too! Anytime he hears music he starts to dance, no matter where we are. He has completely rocked out in DI, head banging and everything to the 70's stuff they play in there. I wish I had a camera with me for a moment like that! He surprises us daily with fun new things, he is learning so fast and enjoys helping Mommy and Daddy!

I'm doing fine; I'm really trying to keep up with my new year's goals: getting the house in order and loosing weight. We got a Wii for Christmas and I bought the Wii Fit and EA Active and try to work out for an hour or more at least 3 times a week. I'm wanting to loose a total of about 40 lbs but 30 would be fine too! I'm hoping to be there by summer. Hard work and eating right!

I recently decided to start making a list of my weekly chores. Each day is a different room in the house and I focus on that room; dusting, vaccum, mop, organize, windows etc. It's helping a ton and thinking of cleaning a single room a day, or two depending on size, is so much easier than thinking of getting the whole house clean. Nick also has one chore he has to get done when he gets home from work!

All in all, we are doing great. We have each other, our health and a home. We are truly blessed.

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas together. This year was the first year for Neacel, well first as in, he can open presents and participate in things. He ran into the living room and went straight for the presents! About 3 presents into the giant pile he had he was angry!! He started to realize that there were toys wrapped up, which he was mad about. We would hand him a present and he would start throwing a tiny tantrum! So, needless to say, we had to help a ton, and towards the end we just started opening things for him. I made pumpkin french toast that morning for something new. We all were spoiled and got everything that we wanted. Nick got me a mixer which I have wanted since we got married, just never bought one. I love baking and since I haven't had a mixer, I haven't been baking...thats going to change though. We all got some clothes of course. Neacel got more toys then I ever thought imaginable. Our living room has completely been taken over by toys. Im in the process (slowly) of redecorating his room so that I can fit everything, if not most, can go in there! We spent the evening with Nicks family. Some of them went sledding, I stayed behind. Nick said Neacel would run down the hill, face plant into the snow, and lay there and laugh. Then just do it all over again! What a nut! He was so tired after all the excitement in one day. We didn't get home till about 10 that night and he was wide awake...poor thing!

I have a ton of pictures, but we know you only want to see the cute Christmas ones of Neacel...so here ya go!

Merry Christmas Eve

We wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. We hope you get to spend time with family and friends. We hope its everything you want it to be.



We are so excited to watch Neacel this Christmas; watching his face light up, opening his gifts and experiencing all the joy that comes with the season. We will have the opportunity to have Christmas thru his eyes.

Tonight we are going to Nick's parents to spend some time with them. When we get home I think Nick and I are going to read the story of Christ's birth to Neacel, or at least try to. Then we are going to watch some Christmas movies together. I figured if Neacel stays up later he will sleep in, which he usually does, and I could get some extra sleep!

We are so excited to have Neacel with us to share Christmas with. I'm so excited to start new traditions with him. I can't wait to do the same one my parents did with me. Christmas eve my Mom would bake a cake and write Happy Birthday Jesus on it, we then would read the story of his birth, while drinking hot cocoa. Then eat some cake, open a small present and then off to bed. Sometimes we would watch a Christmas movie before bed!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Prank-mas

I personally think this is hilarious and would love to come home to this.
What does it take to get this job done?
10 people
8 hours
35 rolls of wrapping paper




They got everything wrapped! Even the everything in the fridge.I saw him on an interview this morning and he said everything is still wrapped except things that he uses. He said they even went to the extent of wrapping things inside of things, like he had some bottled "rootbeer" in the fridge they wrapped each bottle and then the whole thing as one! He had some Christmas presents for friends and they also were wrapped and now he can't find them!

So Unbelievably Behind!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was nice to spend the day with everyone and just relax. Nick made some yummy meatballs and I made some sweet potato casserole (brown sugar, marshmallows and a few other yummy things) and deviled eggs. Thanks Mom for that yummy recipe! It's so nice to be with family and to just enjoy time together, watching the kids play, eating until you are ready to die, etc etc. Neacel loved playing with all of his cousins.

Nick's birthday was on Thanksgiving this year. So of course, it was spent with family. Neacel got him some pretty cool gifts and loved helping Daddy open things. We didn't do much more than that, only because Nick didn't want to. He didn't want a party, he didn't want friends over or anything. I was going to have a Jazz cake made and have a few friends over to just sit and watch the game while eating cake but he figured it out and said he would be upset if I did that. So we didn't.

We are so ready to have a fun little Christmas with Neacel. We are excited to sit there and watch him open presents and play with all of his fun gifts from us and everyone else. My Mom sent us two very large boxes of gifts, Neacel can't stay away from the presents, he is ready to tear everything open. Nick said the other day that as a kid you are so excited for Christmas, you love Santa and the decorations and everything else about it. As you get older you loose some of that love and enthusiasm. Once you have your own child you get to watch Christmas through their eyes, and live it all over again; leaving cookies out for Santa, carrots for the reindeer, the letters to the North Pole, etc. Of course we aren't to that point yet, but we are still looking forward to his first Christmas where he will actually know what is going on. We plan on video taping him opening everything. We can't wait to see the look on his face Christmas morning with everything under the tree! I'm crossing my fingers for snow, so we can go out and play for a little while before going over to Nick's parent's house for the evening.

Nothing much has been going on in the little Burt home. I'm still working for a family in South Jordan and loving every minute of it. Nick is still waiting patiently to hear from a school. Recently, he found out that UNLV "lost" his GRE scores and they don't have record of his reference letters, so we are doing that process again but everything has to be in by the first week on Jan., so he is cutting it close. I personally say forget that school, they can't even keep track of things, not organized, and have no record of important things. It's so frustrating! I just pray that one of the 5 schools accept him, I'm personally crossing my fingers for Seton Hill in PA. A new experience for both of us!

We went to Nick's work Christmas party earlier this month. It was at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, on the 8th floor, with a great view of the temple. The food was yummy, and we got a gift basket full of goodies.

Neacel is growing a little to fast! It's like over night he started understanding alot more and just grew up. He now has 5 words: Mama, Dada, ball, book, and sometimes dog (it doesn't sound a whole lote like dog). He is running a little more, and always wants to play, play, play. He has more energy than Nick and I combined. He is such a wonderful blessing! It's so much fun to watch him grow and learn. Can't wait to have another one some day.

We also had Reelika take some family photos, which was nice. Neacel was in a bad mood because it was naptime, and cold outside. So, needless to say, we didn't get to take as many as we wanted. Here are some of the better ones of Neacel:

Neacel's First Birthday!

Happy First Birthday Neacel!

I know his birthday was over a week ago but this is the first chance I've gotten to go thru pictures, edit them, and get them on here!

*Warning, this post is going to be long due to a lot of pictures!*

For Neacel's birthday we kind of had a monkey theme ("Little Monkey" is one of the names I call him); plus, if you know him you know he is full of energy and into everything. The cakes were made by my friend Michelle and I love the way they turned out! If you need a cake made seriously look her up! (http://www.cornellcakes.com/) It was chocolate cake and blue icing. Mmmmm so yummy! I made the cupcakes because I was afraid that I invited too many people and wouldn't have enough cake. We ended up having more than enough! But the cupcakes were a BIG hit with kids.

Neacel got tons of new toys: A Leap Frog play table that sings 123's & ABC's and everything in between, blocks, a classic Fisher Price telephone, a puppy hat and gloves, a Mickey Mouse plane (one of those sit and stand toys), a helicopter that counts and has random things on it, a tool set, a car, some farm soft blocks, books, flash cards, clothes and tons more! He loves everything he got. Every morning he can't decide what to play with first! Also, those of you who got us loud toys, thank you, those seem to be the favorite toy, first thing in the morning! Just wait till your kids turn 1; we are already on the hunt for loud toys for you! Haha!





Neacel loved having his own cake. He was only able to eat half of it. It went something like this: shovel it in as fast as he can, slowing down, bottle, shovel, slowing down, slower, slower, bottle, a few more bites... ugh can't handle anymore sugar. He was even grabbing the fondant and eating that. He didn't care, he was thrilled that he had his own cake and we weren't telling him "No."

Thank you for everyone who came to celebrate with us. It means so much to us and Neacel. He had a great time with all of his cousins and friends. I can't wait for Christmas with him this year! He kind of understands the whole unwrapping presents thing, but at the same time he just loves the paper!

Also, I took Neacel to the doctor on his birthday. I know that was mean but it worked just fine; he doesn't get cranky or anything from shots so I wasn't worried. He weighs 22.14 lbs, I think he was 29 inches but I'm not 100% sure and I can't find the paper. I just remember he is no longer short, and chunky with a big head. He is now medium in height and weight, with a big head! He needs to get off the bottle, especially at bed time, so we are working on that. She was impressed with him walking and his balancing skills already. Then came the shots. I had to hold him on my lap and hold his arms; I hate doing that. I thought I had him well enough but apparently I didn't because the first shot he grab and ripped it out of his leg giving him a good size scratch from the needle. I felt so bad, so the nurse helped and we got the other 2 done quickly. He was having a fit, but we gave him his much loved bottle and he was fine. He slept for a while and then it was PARTY TIME! I'm so proud of him and yet I'm sad at how fast he is growing up.

Now for some pictures!

I tried putting them in some sort of order.























He was completely done at this point, with everything! People (including mom and dad), food, other kids, and toys. He was on such a sugar high, yet so tired that he had a hard time getting to bed that night. We finally had to just let him scream and cry himself to sleep.

Hope you had a wonderful birthday Neacel! Mommy and Daddy love you so much <3

9 more days!

Neacel is going to be one in nine days! Can someone tell me where time has gone? This is crazy! It feels like just last week I had him. In what seems like just a week, he has started crawling, eating everything, walking and quickly became my little monster. And yet, next week we will celebrate the BIG #1. I'm so proud of Neacel and the little boy he is becoming.

Fun facts about Neacel:

• He loves his red bouncy ball that Nick got him at the dollar store.
• He loves giving stuffed animals, Mommy and Daddy, big, sloppy kisses.
• He adores Nick.
• He loves to wrestle with Daddy. Nick just lays on the floor and Neacel crawls all over him.
• He loves SpongeBob SquarePants.
• He has now has 5 teeth, with two more soon to cut through.
• There isn't 1 food out there that he doesn't like.
• At 5 everyday he gets whiney and sits at the door until Daddy comes home.
• He loves getting into everything he isn't supposed to touch.
• He loves the vacuum, when it's off. He plays with the attachments, and tries to eat it.
• He loves pulling all of the toys out of his toy box, but doesn't want to play with any of them.
• He loves being outside, and playing in the dirt.
• He growls when he plays, or when you growl at him.
• If someone is in the kitchen, he will beg for food until you give him something.
• He already enjoys watching sports with his Daddy, even though he has no idea what is going on.
• He is just an all around boy, growing and eating everything!
• He now sleeps with a big boy pillow, and loves it.
• His favorite foods are cheese and fruit.
• He weighs over 24 pounds.
• He can say da-da, ma-ma, and ba-ba. He has no interest in learning anything else.
• He loves animals, especially dogs and monkeys.
• He likes to go shopping with Mommy and Daddy. He will turn sideways in the shopping cart, with one leg propped up on the seat, one arm on his backrest, while looking forward.

Here is an invite for anyone that I haven't sent one to. I'm getting them in the mail today for those that I have addresses for otherwise you will get one Sunday, or by e-mail.

Anyone is welcome to come.....