Here we go again....

Possible new house take two. We put an offer on this house tonight - we hope to hear back tomorrow! *Fingers crossed*

Sold

The big news is that we sold our house!!!  Barring any major problems with the inspection we will be out of our old house by Nov. 1o.  Now to find a new house....

Park

Niko and I went to the park on Sunday.  It was BEAUTIFUL out and Niko loved playing on the playground equipment.

Royals game

Niko is cheering on the KC Royals... or anyone else when the crowd claps. He claps anytime he hears someone else clap.

The Royals lost 2-9 to the Boston Red Sox. The seats were great and we had a good time with Aunt Shelly and Grandma "O" at the game!

Sales ads

Ohhh... I like this bra.
Humm... we need a new TV.
Let me get a better look at that one.

Ring, ring

Oh... someone is calling.

It's for you!

Never mind... it was for me.

Hives

**Crappy cellphone picts!**

Yea... I don't look very sick in these photos and I wasn't really acting very sick either. BUT I am COVERED head to toe in hives. Niko had an allergic reaction to one of his vaccines or to something he ate. The doctor's can't tell me which one it is.

He broke out in hives on Friday evening. We went to urgent care who doesn't see children under the age of 2. (What crap is that?!?!?!) So off to the ER we went. He got a double-shot of steroids and benadryl at the hospital and he will be on both for the next week.

Cousin Jose's visit

Niko is playing hide-n-seek with his cousin Jose and his wife Lillianna.

He is playing with his Aunt Maria here.


Group photos! Jose and Lillianna visited last week, but I never got around to loading the pictures. They are the ones who brought Niko the traditional Japanese outfit in his one year-old photos.

It was great to see them again. We visited them when we were in Japan on our honeymoon. When Niko gets older, we plan to go back to Japan for a visit.

Favorite book

Niko loves pointing to the birds. The birds are made out of fuzzy material.

Niko got this book at the doctor's office on Tuesday and it's now his favorite book. They give us a book every time we go since they participate in the Reading for Life program. He loves pointing to the birds and the little girl.

1 year check-up

Niko had his 1 year check-up yesterday. Everything looks great! He is 31" tall (80%), he weighs 24.1 pounds (60%) and his MASSIVE head is off the charts! Not kidding! His head measures at 19.5" - I measured my head to compare, my head is 21.5".

The doctor seemed a bit concerned at first, then I mentioned that big heads run in my family. My parents were told that I was going to be twins because of my massive head. (These were the days before sonograms.)

One year photos

Niko's cousin, Jose brought this outfit all the way from Japan.  It's a traditional summer festival outfit.

This one is my favorite. 

He actually walked pretty well in his traditional Japanese shoes.  I have a hard time finding shoes for him because his feet are so fat.

This is our "official" family photo.  Look how nice and stressed out we look.  Niko was crying/climbing all over the place.

I love getting our "family" photo taken!  This photo has all of Niko's "aunts" and Godfather in it.

11 month photos

Hehehheheheh.....  Taking photos with Niko is is always challenging.  Sometimes he's alright then cryfest.... so I told them to get a few of him crying this time around.

These are his late 11 month photos.  We are having his 1 year photos taken this weekend.

What a difference a year makes!

My friend Tracy just found the photo on the left on her computer and sent it to me.  It's from 2008's Ethnic Festival - I stuck my pregnant belly through the hole.  The photo on the right is from 2009's Ethnic Festival - same board one year later.  

Hilarious! 

Birthday party!

Our neighbor Charito made Niko's cake and a lot of the food for the party.  She baked the cakes and I decorated them.  They were a bit hit!

Neil's cousins from Minnesota came down for the party.  Here is Julio, Ruth and Augusto (Neil's dad).

We had TONS of people at the party.  Thank you to everyone who came over - the weather was perfect and so was the company!

Augusto is showing Niko the delicious Inca Cola - too bad he can't have any yet!

Mmm... I remember this...

Oh yea!  Cake!

This was one of Niko's favorite gifts - a little recliner from Grandma and Grandpa Morris.  He was SOOO happy when he saw it.  He climbed in and out of it all evening.  Godfather Mark and Aunt Shelly kept sitting in it and Niko would get mad and "tell" them to get out.  He was pretty possessive about it!

Birthday video

This video is way too long, but enjoy!

Happy Birthday Niko!

We started off the day by marking his birthday height. He's about 28.5" tall now. We spend the morning at Zona Rosa's indoor playground. Niko had a blast playing with the other kids. This is the ugly birthday cake I made for him. Hopefully I will do a better job on his big birthday cake for Saturday! This is the cake his Abuellos bought for him. He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. He played with the icing for a while then.... I cut the cake in half and he attacked! Godfather Mark and Aunt Shelly bought him this GIANT dog for his birthday. Niko fell in love with one just like it when we were house-hunting. Aunt Shelly had to pry him off that one so they decided to give him one of his own for his birthday.

Temper, temper

We have entered the Temper Tantrum Zone. Wow... I'm talking about full fledged throwing things on the floor, "talking back", hissy fits. It has come a lot sooner than I thought it would. Going to have to read up on some books to figure out how best to deal with it!