Thanksgiving and other news

I guess it's about time for me to update our blog about Thanksgiving. We were able to go up to Ohio to Christine and Sam's this year. My dad and mom drove down to Chapel Hill to pick us up and take us to Ohio, so it was really nice to not have to drive. We even left at 3 am hoping Grant would continue to sleep for the morning hours of the drive. I think he was too excited to see Grandma and Grandpa (which he refers to as "munga" and "papa"--don't ask me where munga came from), and from seeing all the trucks on the highway. So basically Grant didn't sleep the entire trip, except for about an hour at the end. He did really well though, with no real crying or whining episodes.
We had a great time at Christine's and Sams. Basically our time was filled with eating lots of delicious food, hanging out, playing Rock Band, going to the park, and eating more delicious food. We were also able to squeeze in a trip to the temple (thanks to mom and dad for babysitting), and us ladies went to see Twilight while the fellows rented Iron Man. Grant had fun playing with Maddy and Mason and loved all their cool toys. Mason graciously shared his beloved vacuum and Grant also loved playing with Maddy's toy kitchen. We had a lot of fun and were sad to leave, especially since Christine and Sam won't be able to come out to VA for Christmas this year. Maybe we can talk them into staying in Ohio for a little longer.

I guess that brings me to our next bit of news: Ryan has been accepted to the orthodontic residency at Ohio State University. Yes we are going to be Buckeyes (which come to find out is a poisonous-seed pod). The program starts in June and we are excited for the new opportunities that await us there. We are definately sad to leave NC, we have really loved it here and have enjoyed living so close to my parents, but we feel like this is where we should be going and are getting geared up for it. One thing I know we won't be ready for is the freezing cold winters (we have been spoiled here), but hopefully we'll get used to it in the three years we are there.

These pictures are from this past weekend when we had our ward Christmas party. We did a back to Bethlehem theme with a Bethlehem market and then a Christmas program. It turned out really nice. We are on the activities committee and were in charge of setting up and running a booth. As you can see "Hazeez's Cheeses" was a popular stop in the market place, and Hazeez himself is pictured in this shot. Not pictured, but present that night were Hazeezette (myself) and Wee Hazeez (I imagine you can guess that would be Grant). The place looked great and it looked like people were enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, I had to take Wee Hazeez home before the program because he was getting very tired and cranky (he was still getting over a sickness), but Ryan said it went very well with good music and Christmas messages.

Thanks to my parents for bringing the decorations and costumes with them for us to use. They drove down the Ashville this past weekend to go to the Biltmore Estate and used our house as a stopping point. It was fun to see them for a little bit and all their decorations made our booth much more authentic looking.

Family pictures continued...

Here are a few more of the great pictures Kristin took for us.

Family Pictures

We decided it was high time to get some more professional photos of Grant (our last professional shot was when he was 7 months!). Our friend Kristin took these beautiful pictures of Grant and we also got several family shots. Because the pictures are so big, the blog will only let me post a few at a time, so I will put up more in the next post. Here are a few or our favorites.

He's a talker

We get a lot of comments about how much Grant talks for his age. I think it may in some way be from all the Signing Time videos he used to watch. Most of the first words he said were from those videos. Here's a little video of Grant saying his ABC's (with coaching from me, but I think he pronounces pretty well!) I love little children's high-pitched voices, they are so cute!

Sick boy, Halloween and VA trip

Let me just say it is no fun having a sick child. For the past almost two weeks Grant has been sick, with what the doctor says is probably mono. Thank goodness mono is a lot worse for adolescents and adults than for children. Nevertheless, it has not been a fun couple of weeks. He started out with a week of fevers, getting up to 104 degrees! He also has had a sore throat, been extremely fussy and clingy and had no appetite. The worst was when for about 4 days I couldn't get him to drink hardly anything. Fortunately he seems to be over the worse of it and feeling better. He's still fussy with his teething pain, but the fact that his fever is gone and he will drink something makes me feel a lot better.

This is supposed to be my "sick child" picture. Actually this was taken before all the symptoms came. We were going to the state fair that night so I thought it would be funny to dress him accordingly in a wife beater, to see what Ryan would say when he got home. Grant did not see the humor in this. (No, I did not take him to the fair in this get-up, but he probably would have fit in just fine wearing this!)

Ryan had his VCU interview in Richmond last Thurs and Fri so Grant and I went up with him to stay with my parents for the weekend. This was during Grant's sickness so it was so nice to be there and have my parents to help me out with him. I think being there also helped to take Grant's mind off of some of his discomfort.
The days when Grant didn't want to drink anything, I was able to get some milk in him by occupying him with the TV and spooning him some milk. I couldn't get much in, but it did keep him from becoming dehydrated.
Grant had a lot of fun with his "papa" and "munga" (that's the best he can do with Grandpa and Grandma) and we are excited to see them again at Christine and Sams over Thanksgiving!

Now onto Halloween. I totally forgot to bring his costume to VA with us for the actual Halloween day, but he wasn't quite in the mood for trick-or-treating anyway. We did get a picture at our ward trunk-or-treat which was 2 weekends ago. As you can see we are all service people : secret service agent, a navy gal and a fireman. (Yes Jonnelle, I still have the costume. It's been tucked away all these years but it's nice to have a go-to costume).
We were also able to go to my parents ward trunk-or-treat which was at a ward members house who has tons of property and had hay rides. Grant actually liked it and was happy to be so close to a tractor (which besides a truck is one of his favorite things).

Single Mom Weekend

This past weekend was Ryan's first away trip for this fall. He was in San Antonio for a research conference where he presented the research he'd been working on the past year. He starts his ortho interviews next week for 3 more trips away from home. If any of you will be in similar situations, here's some ideas of what kept us busy over the weekend. (And no, I don't know why all this is underlined, it couldn't get it to go away).

We started the day off letting Grant run around in Mommy's fuzzy blue socks. These have now become known as the "cookie-monster" socks and Grant still asks to wear them.

We played many, many games of hide and go seek. Grant loves this game and it was more interesting because he started trying new hiding spaces, as opposed to his usual two that he rotates between. Hiding in the closet on Mommy's shoes was a favorite spot this game.

We ate cheap pizza and it was good! I think Gumby's Pizza is only in business because it is relatively good pizza for a low price. They employ some of the grumpiest workers ever!

We played with a lot of cars, trucks and tractors. Let's not forget helicopters too!

We went to the library where I picked out a couple of movies I knew Ryan would never want to see. Legally Blonde was as to be expected but the dancing movie was actually pretty good. It wasn't at all what I was expecting it to be.

Other non-pictured activities include:
Going to the children's museum and playing all morning.
Visiting the local toy store to let Grant play with the train table (one day I do plan on buying something from there).
Going to the mall and seeing the fire-department puppet show only to leave early because the puppets were scaring Grant.
Watching Elmo, reading lots of books, and playing outside when it wasn't too cold.
Making it through all three meetings at church with the help of some friends.

I was scared it would be a very long, tiring weekend with Ryan gone, but it actually went pretty quickly and Grant and I had fun. However, we were very excited to have Ryan back Sunday afternoon!!

Fat Tummy

As requested by some of the college roomies, here is a baby bump picture. I am now 22 weeks and feeling pretty good. The nausea is gone (although certain foods still leave a weird taste in my mouth), and I have more energy than earlier on in the pregnancy. I feel like I'm getting a lot bigger pretty quickly, much more quickly than I did with Grant. So we'll see what I look like at 40 weeks, that should be interesting.

Hanging Out

The weather has been absolutely wonderful lately. I wouldn't say it feels quite like fall right now, more like a cooler summer day. We've tried to venture out as much as possible to enjoy the cooler temperatures and the sun. Unfortunately we haven't been able to travel as a family as much as we would like since Ryan is at school all day and it seems like I've been working most Saturdays recently. That's why we don't have any cool pictures of outside adventures yet. But don't worry, they're coming.

I don't know about the rest of you with youngsters, but brushing teeth at night almost seems like an act of torture in our house (in the eyes of Grant). So instead of listening to blood-curling screams every night as we try brush Grant's teeth, we decided to use the TV to get Grant's mind occupied on something else. Now right before bed, we plop him on the couch in front of a Disney show and let him brush for a bit. Then when he's good and mesmerized, we can get a hold of the brush and give him a good cleaning. All without any signs of complaint. Now, I know this is probably not the best method, but I don't mind him watching a minute or two of TV right before bed in order to forgo the screaming and kicking. Now he will actually ask for "teeth" throughout the day when he wants his toothbrush for a little mid-day brushing.

On a different note, here's a little Halloween preview for any who are interested.

Holding your own fruit

One of Grant's greatest joys in this life is being able to hold and eat his own piece of fruit. This event rarely occurs for a number of reasons: a.) his slobber and fruit juice get all over the place and make a big mess, b.) he breaks off a piece that is small enough to fit in his mouth, but big enough to choke on, and proceeds choking, or c.) he starts eating thing like seeds and stems, which are not really meant for little boys to eat.

Sometimes we are nice parents and let him hold and enjoy his own piece of fruit. Unfortunately for Grant, his joy is often short-lived, because eventually he gets to the core and the fruit must be confiscated. At least he enjoys it while he has it.

And the Verdict is In:

It's a boy!!

Long walks on the beach

We decided we had to take Grant to the beach at least once while we were in VA, what with only a 40 min. drive, you can't beat that. We went a couple weeks ago on a Sunday evening when my brother Ryan was in town, and my parents came along too. It ended up being a great idea to go in the evening because it was so nice out with a cool ocean breeze. We mostly just walked around a bit and let Grant play in the sand. He wasn't too keen on getting in the water, whenever the wave broke he would high-tail it to the shore. Being out there reminded us of how relaxing and fun it is to be at the beach. Anyone up for getting together and renting a beach house again?

Grant loves playing with his grandpa and has decided my dad's name is "Papa". He spends all day asking for his "Daddy" and "Papa". I have to continue to tell him they are at work and he will see them later. He doesn't quite have a name for my mom yet, Grandma is a little hard to say. And I guess he wouldn't ask for me when I'm with him all day. Still, I don't feel quite as popular with Grant as the men in the family. Although, one day when I was out my mom said Grant asked for "mommy" several times, that makes me feel a little better :)

What's a trip to the beach without posing on the lifeguard stand? You get a great view of the ocean from up there.

Here's the back of Ryan, Grant, my mom, dad and a little of my bro. Ryan. At least you can see the waves.

This is what Grant really preferred to do at the beach. Good thing my parents had some old sand toys lying around. It's quite surprising how covered with sand a baby can get when only playing in sand for a short while. The tub was full of sand after his bath.

Happy Anniversary!

Four years and I couldn't be happier. I love you, Ryan!

Numero Dos

As you may have guessed by the little baby floating around on the right of the screen we are expecting another Nicker-Wood to join our family. We are very excited and the little guy or gal is due to come in February. Now if only this nausea will go away...

Time for an update--Part 3

I promise this is my last update for the day but I couldn't leave out our Utah trip. For the first weekend of our CO trip we flew up to UT for the Wood family reunion. We stayed in a beautiful, humongous cabin in the mountains of Heber City. There were lots of activities planned to keep us busy but we also had fun just hanging out with the family, playing games and catching up.

On Friday we spent time in Park City, going on a crazy scavenger hunt, looking through shops and having a picnic lunch. Yes, we stopped in the fur shop and yes, Ryan tried on the fuzzy hat, he said it was comfy.

The best part of the cabin for Grant was this large stuffed bear. Grant would squeal with joy every time he saw it and run and tackle it. The bear, being rather large, could hold his own in a wrestling match and Grant left with a few head bruises from knocking into the bed frame. I guess it's a risk you have to take when bear-wrestling.

Friday night became guy night as all the Wood-men ended up in the hot tub for a couple of hours. I guess they had a lot of man things to discuss while their toes and fingers turned into shriveled raisins. Us ladies spent the night playing games and getting to bed before midnight.
On Saturday we headed down to Pleasant Grove to hit up the Strawberry Day's fair and rodeo. The fair was a little ghetto (as to be expected) but the rodeo was tons of fun. Grant actually did pretty well at the rodeo, especially considering it wasn't done till after 10pm. We made sure to get some of the famous strawberries and cream, which were delicious. If you haven't tried them I would make it a point to get some. At the fair, we wanted to let Grant try out his first carnival ride, so we figured we couldn't go wrong with the carousel, right? I'll let the picture answer that one.

Granted it was a very rickety-old carousel and it jerked around a lot. I think the carnies were getting to him. On Sunday we went to church, took a family picture (which I hope to post next time), had a delicious lunch and said our goodbyes. Ryan had to leave that night to go back to CO to start work on Monday. I decided to stay a few days with Grant at Nana's to visit and since Sam, Christine and the kids, and my bro Ryan, were all in UT for the summer.

We had to block the stairs at Nana's with this chair since Grant refuses to go down the stairs like we teach him, he wants to go down like all the adults. The kids made the turned over chair a coveted seat and would actually sit there for awhile. I think they were probably just staking their claim on the seat.
We had fun in Utah and hung out with Christine and the kids each day. One day we went to Gardiner's Village and another day we went down to BYU. It was all fun and games until on Wed (we were flying back to CO Wed. night at 6pm) I got horrible food poisoning, I think from the previous night's Panda Express. Let me just say it was one of the worst days of my life, especially since I had to go on a crowded airplane and the guy who sat next to me would not stop talking, even though I told him repeatedly that I had been sick all day and still did not feel good. I definitely puked on the descent, but at least it was the final puke of the day. I started to feel a little better the next day but I'm not sure if I can trust Panda Express ever again.

After all our trips this summer Grant was excited to be home and see all his old toys again. That lasted until Monday and he was bored with them again. So we're back to our old routines and are here for another month until the next rotation in Virginia. I think I am done posting for the day:)

Time for an update--Part 2

We had a lot of fun in Colorado and are glad we were able to check it out, since we are considering it as a place to live after all this schooling is out of the way. Every weekend was full of sightseeing and hanging out with visiting roomies and their husbands. Bri and Dave came down one weekend and Jenna and Drew came 4th of July weekend. And of course we got to hang out with Robyn and Aaron since they're not too far from Troy and Tracie. It was so good to see everyone again and have fun together!

This is a cool hike in Boulder that we started and then came back (can't get too adventurous in flip-flops and with a stroller). Another weekend we went to Estes Park which is a really cute town way up in the mountains that had pretty rivers and lakes and a fun little main street with shops and touristy things. Estes Park is where the hotel used in The Shining is located, that would be scary staying there.

Grant would have loved to swim down the river rapids, but once again I had to restrain him, I'm such a mean mom.

One of Ryan's highlight's of the trip was finding this Cabella's-like store (I can't remember what it was called). It was pretty neat inside, almost like an animal museum. We were on our way back from Boulder when we drove by the store. Robyn and Aaron pulled over since Ryan got so excited and we spent some time looking around. Pretty big bear, huh?

This is how I kept myself busy when Ryan started looking at the guns. The deer wouldn't leave me alone, I had to give in.

During the weekdays, Grant and I would often head over to the neighborhood pool or park, which were both awesome. We had to live it up because I don't know when Grant will be able to go back to a pool that fun. It had a great kiddy-swim area, a big slide and two separate lap/swim pools. It was a great in-between nap activity.
We were sad to go but Troy and Tracie definitely deserve a week or two of quiet before their baby arrives. I know the one saddest of all to see us leave was their cat, Lexi. I think she really liked us in spite of trying to act like she didn't :) I guess soon enough there will be another baby to chase her around so she won't feel lonely. Thanks again Troy, Tracie, Robyn and Aaron, we had a lot of fun!!

Time for an update--Part 1

As you can see I have not updated our blog in quite a long time, even for my standards. This past Saturday we got back from a month long stay in CO with our friends Troy and Tracie. Ryan scheduled one of his rotations in Colorado Springs and Troy and Tracie were nice enough to let us stay with them and show us around CO. I will put more about the CO trip in Part 2, first I've been meaning to post these pics since before we left.

Grant has his first major scrape up in the beginning of June when we was running down a sidewalk hill, tripped, and rolled around a few times. It looked a little worse in person, especially when blood was oozing off his face. We had to document it now so we can realize how minor it was when he gets older and really hurts himself.

Here he is now with no major residual scars. I guess you can't really see in this picture but he does have a slightly elevated pink circle on the top of his forehead where the major scar was, but we're hoping that will eventually fade. If not, he can add it to his collection of battle wounds.

Random Things

I thought this picture was so cute I had to post it. We got Grant a balloon from Harris Teeter one day and I must say they provide much more entertainment value than I thought they would. In this picture Grant is also holding his most prized possession--Blue. An original name, I know. This little dog-head on a cuddly blanket is the toy we would give to Grant when he was learning to fall asleep by himself when he was about 4 or 5 months old. Since then they have become fast friends and Grant tries to take Blue everywhere with him. Often Grant will bury his face in Blue's softness and just laugh, he's just so happy to have him. I wonder if Blue will become Grant's Bunny. For those of you who don't know about Bunny, she was my own sleep toy (originally enough, a cuddly bunny) that I got when I was 2 or 3 and who slept in my bed until she was retired when I got married. Now she sleeps on the top shelf in the closet, collecting dust, but I still look at her from time to time. I guess we really like our cuddly sleep toys in this family.

Nice shot, huh? Grant and I practicing our downward dog yoga pose. Actually, Grant has recently discovered the wonders of looking at the world upside-down. I walked in the room the other day to see him looking between his legs, upside down and thought it was pretty funny. Grant must have thought it was funny too because he kept doing it over and over again.

In other news, we are leaving this Saturday for Denver for the 1st of Ryan's dental school rotations this summer. We are so excited to get out to CO and especially to see my college roommates and their hubbies. Troy and Tracie are graciously letting us stay with them and I think this trip will be a lot of fun! Just as long as Grant doesn't think Lexie is one of his toy cats :)