Walking and fun in a box

So Grant isn't walking by himself yet but he was become quite proficient using his walker. A friend of ours let us borrow their walker and Grant loves it. Never mind that he is up against the piano in this picture, he has since mastered turning and can now take loops around the house. It's pretty cute when I look over the kitchen counter and see a little head moving swiftly by. He sometime takes me by surprise because he gets to his walker and starts moving even before I notice he's gone. Fortunately, he can't get into too much trouble with a foot of plastic in front of him.
So this is the reason I've been hanging on to that old shoe box, at least I can tell myself that. Remember when you were small enough to play in boxes and fit in tiny places, I should have enjoyed that more. Grant has a good ol' time in an old shoe box, whether playing in it, putting toys in it or being pushed around in it.

Looks like he tired Ryan out, at least he's sitting so cutely with his hands folded!

Austen Addict

Why do I love Jane Austen's novels so much? Since January, PBS has been showing a new adaptation of one of Austen's books every Sunday night (except Pride and Prejudice, which was the original PBS version---still awesome). Let's just say that I look forward to Sunday night all week. I like seeing the different movies and how they relate to my interpretation of the book. Her stories and so fun and she creates characters that you feel like you know by the end of each book. Plus there's the romance, wit, and the fact that the heroine is always able to marry for love, to men who just happen to be rich. Every woman's dream, right? I've even got Ryan to watch them with me and he appreciates the humor. For all you fellow Austen Addicts you should try out a character quiz and see who you are most like: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=41259 It says I am most like Elinor Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility, followed by Emma Woodhouse and Jane Bennet. I'd say that's probably pretty right, I'm definitely not feisty enough to be Elizabeth Bennet.

Tagged again

I decided to participate in all the tagging, it's just an organized way to make a new post.

How long have you been together? We've been married for about 3 1/2 years, including dating over 4 years.

How long did you date? Dated 5 months and engaged for 3 months

How old is he? 27

Who eats more? Ryan can pack it away. However, it was some kind of dessert, I would only eat less because I had to restrain myself, otherwise I could probably eat more.

Who said "I love you" first? Ryan did.

Who is taller? Ryan

Who sings better? That would probably be Ryan. Even though I really enjoy singing, especially in the car, I've come to the realization that I would probably be one of the few to make it in front of the American Idol judges, and not because I was good.

Who is smarter? Ryan again, he's smart and also can memorize very quickly, which is good for dental school. At times I still use pregnancy and having a child as an excuse for my brain farts. I know that doesn't count, but everyone uses it!

Who does the laundry? I put in one load a day and it keeps on top of it.

Who does the dishes? Usually me unless I ask, which I do if Ryan doesn't have to study or if there are a lot of dishes to do, he does a good job.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Looking at the foot of the bed, Ryan does. However, so far we've been switching about once or twice a year.

Who pays the bills? Ryan does the cell phone bill and I do the rest. I don't know why but I don't want to pay the phone bill.

Who mows the lawn? No lawn, but when we do have one it will be Ryan.

Who cooks dinner? I do, but Ryan does have some responsibilities like cooking the noodles or making mashed potatoes (he makes them better than me).

Who is more stubborn? We both have our issues we are stubborn about, but probably me.

Who kissed who first? This will always be a debate, Ryan says he kissed me first, I say he came in to kiss me and stopped, so I came the rest of the way, which would be me. I guess we kissed each other.

Who asked who out? He did, he said he'd been perusing the ward menu and thought "I bet Erin would be fun to go out with", and then asked me out.

Who proposed? Ryan. We had already talked about getting married and since Ryan worked all week in SLC we only saw each other Saturday nights and Sundays, I knew one night when he was late coming to Provo that he probably had the ring. We got engaged on the hill above the Provo temple and there may have been a few other couples up there doing the same thing :)

Who is more sensitive? Definitely me

Who has more friends? We're probably about even.

Who has more siblings? Ryan does.

I tag everyone who hasn't done this one yet.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, I am 26 years old and am already feeling it in my hip...actually I think my hip is sore because we put a gate up in the kitchen to keep Grant out and after high-stepping over that 50 times a day anyone's hip would be sore (or it's the arthritis :). Once again Ryan made me the Big Fat Chocolate Cake and it was a masterpiece. He takes pride in this yearly baking ritual and I don't think I could have made it better. Thanks Ran, I love you!!

My parents came down for the weekend to visit and watch Grant so we could go out. We went to Carrabbas for dinner (awesome!!!!! I get the same thing every time and love it, it's so delicious!!!) Then, like the exciting couple we are, we hung out at Borders for awhile, looking at cool house and cabin design books and came home to get to bed. This past week I haven't been able to get to bed before 12 most days because of work, going to the temple, and finishing my book so around 10:30 I told Ryan we had to head home. When a baby wakes you up before 7 every morning, staying out late loses it's appeal. It was a fun birthday.

Cute and Silly

Grant makes us laugh everyday. He is growing so quick and becoming more and more mobile. After changing his diaper one day I left the room to throw it away and wash my hands. On my return I found Grant hanging out under his curtains, with his pants unbuttoned and bum diaper-free. He's quite curious and is always looking for new places to explore. Ryan and I think it's funny and interesting how babies bodies are so flexible and they don't get sore like us adults. When I pulled back the curtains Grant preferred to look at me by bending backwards instead of turning around. He does that a lot, I tried it and my neck was sore for a day.

He looks more and more like a little boy to me and less like an infant. We just love our fun little boy!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I realize I have not posted in quite some time, being out of your home for three weeks will mess up all your schedules. We just got home on New Years Eve from spending Christmas in VA with my family for most of December. I was a lot of fun to spend time with the fam. Christine, Sam and the kids were there most of the time, and Ryan N. came before Christmas, so it was almost the full family. We got to talk to David on Christmas day, he was enjoying a warm Christmas in AZ on his mission. Ryan and I found out that gone are days of relaxing vacations at the Nickerson home. We spent most of the break following Grant around trying to make sure he wouldn't brain himself on the tile floors or pull down some Christmas decoration on top of himself. We made it through with just the average amount of falls and head bangs, so I guess you could call it a success. However, Grant and I were both sick during the break, which resulted in two separate visits to urgent care and spending some time driving around trying to find a pharmacy open on Christmas day. We're mostly better now and getting back to the grind as Ryan started school today. It's hard going from a full house to just me and Grant, he was definitely getting bored with just mom for entertainment.

Here's a cute cousins picture. In the mornings Grant would go crawl and hang out under the kitchen island, I guess he convinced Maddy and Mason it was a cool place to play.

We took our traditional trip to Colonial Williamsburg to walk around the town and see the Christmas decorations. Ryan and I weren't in VA to go last year so it was fun to go this year. Later that night we had another Christmas tradition, our lumpia dinner (it's kind of like home-made egg rolls, but there's no eggs). We are still dealing with the effects of yet another tradition, having way to many delicious things to eat in the house. Ryan and I decided we wouldn't have any more sweets (at least make any) until my birthday. However, the day we got home we were looking for and craving some ice cream and brownies to eat and sad we didn't load up before we came home. It's okay, in a couple of weeks we'll have passed through our sugar withdrawals and will probably stop having headaches and shaking :)

Grant had a grand ol' time mastering the stairs and having a much bigger house to explore, not to mention many more things to get into. By the end of the break Grant could climb up the stairs pretty quickly and was very proud of himself. I am very glad we do not have stairs in our apartment because I think Grant would want to spend most of the day there which doesn't leave a parent with much spare time.

Grant cut his first teeth over the break, his two bottom incisors, and like a good boy went straight to brushing. You can see his skin looks somewhat blotchy in this picture, this led to one of the urgent care visits. Grant had been sick with a cough and runny nose since the beginning of December and we gave him some antibiotics after we got to VA since the MD said he may develop an ear infection (which we thought he had because he still wasn't better and was pulling his ear). Half way through the abx he wasn't getting any better and developed a rash all over his body. Turns out he had strep throat and needed a different abx to do the trick. Poor little guy, he was such a trooper, he must have been in a lot of pain with the strep but he would still smile when you tried to comfort him. I'm so thankful he's doing better and the rash is gone, it was not a pretty sight.

Merry almost Christmas!!

We had a fun little Thanksgiving break last week, our first Thanksgiving with just our little family. I guess I can't really call it a break either, Ryan had to study or work on his research almost everyday and I worked 2 night shifts, but it was still fun. This is Ryan's last week of actual classes and then next week is finals, woo hoo!!! We'll be heading up to VA sometime after that to be with my family. For that reason I've decided not to put up any Christmas decorations, that and I know Grant would be 24/7 trying to climb up/pull down the Christmas tree and eat the lights and ornaments. Not that it will be any easier at my parents house where they will be about 50 trees to choose from (my mom likes to decorate!)


So one of Grants favorite things is to pull himself up on whatever he can find, stable or non. The other night after a poop explosion I let him crawl around in his diaper and socks (I didn't feel like getting another outfit dirty before his bath). Also, I figured, who doesn't love to run around in their undies and socks? I've gotten pretty good at positioning the catch pillow for when he gets tired of standing and crashes to the floor. Fortunately, babies heal very quickly, but unfortunately, they don't seem to remember what might end up hurting and continue to climb up on things. Oh well, I guess that's why they have such hard noggins.






Here's the turkey and our Thanksgiving spread. It actually turned out really good. We cooked the turkey in one of those oven bags and used a recipe that was in the newspaper. The only thing that did not turn out was the gravy, it was horrible. Good thing Ryan made the potatoes tasty enough that they didn't need any gravy. Mom is going to have to teach me how to make it over Christmas!















Grant also enjoyed a Thanksgiving meal, delicious rice cereal and squash. Then there's always the post dinner nap on the chair. Okay, so this picture wasn't taken after Thanksgiving but I thought it was funny that he just laid there and let me take his picture a couple of times, he usually won't lie still any more, he must have been comfortable.