T G I F S!!!!

Thank Goodness it's Football Season!!!!

Okay so college football season doesn't officially start until Thursday night but the Nichols family can hardly wait!! We have been super excited for the last month just thinking about it. I've been planning out all my orange and blue outfits for the whole season....because yes I'm that big of a dork, but also because I have to look cute and school spirited. Today we tried on Mary Selwyn's cheerleader outfit just for fun. It has a turtle neck that goes with it but it is a little hot for that. She has a puppet and a football that play half the fight song and she loves to hit them and wave one hand in the air. So today I just gave her a shaker to let her practice. I think she is ready for football season too. We can't wait to take her to some games this year so she can enjoy the band and Aubie. We took her to the Alabama game last year but she was only like 4 1/2 months old and still a little young. This year should really be fun!

We have already ordered the game on paper view this weekend and invited a bunch of friends over. I wish we could be there but this year we are having to choose our games carefully so unfortunately the first game I will be able to attend will be LSU! I have to wait three whole games!! I would go every weekend if I could. I can't wait to get on campus and tailgate. Fall is the best time of year! I love it! In the meantime we will have to settle for some fun tailgates at the house.

I hope everyone is as excited as Shay, MSN and I are. If you can't tell we are REALLY looking forward to it!! WAR EAGLE!

Told you she was ready!

An Army Graduation

Well, He did it. Yesterday my brother Taylor had his official basic training graduation. He passed everything with flying colors and for the most part he actually enjoyed it. When I asked him if he was glad basic training was over and he said, "yeah but it was fun while it lasted." I think he is really a whole new person too. Apparently, he has become a real stickler for the rules. Who would of thought? My brother, Taylor, a rule follower? Something I would have never guessed he would be. He starts his Advanced Individual Training in a week and will stay in Kentucky until January. From there he is hoping to go to South Korea.

I'm so proud of him. I never doubted he could do it. I did doubt whether or not he would be glad he did it but he obviously never did. I cannot believe my baby brother is now a soldier. I know he is going to be a wonderful soldier. He is extremely proud of himself and very serious about his new job. He is really happy and that makes us all very happy! Congratulations Taylor, I love you, miss you and am super proud of you. Hopefully we will be able to head to Kentucky for a visit soon.

Taylor's graduation was actually supposed to be two weeks ago but because they started basic late it moved the graduation back two weeks. I was really looking forward to being able to attend graduation but because it was pushed back my sister had already started Jr. High. She couldn't possibly miss four days of 7th grade so early in the year. So someone had to stay behind with her and get her to school and I was the only choice. My parents headed to Kentucky on Tuesday for a week and Mary Selwyn and set up camp in Prattville. I'm disappointed it didn't work out so that we could all go but I'm glad my parents were able to go and enjoy the whole thing just the two of them. I know they are having a much better time getting to spend quality time with Taylor without having to worry about the rest of us.

So in the meantime we have been having a pretty good week with Daphna. We are missing Shay terribly but keeping busy. I've managed to squeeze in some time with two of my best friends Amber and Megan and a play date with the Underwoods. Last night Mary Selwyn spent the night with her MeMe and PaPa and Daphna and I went to the movies. We saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2. I absolutely loved the first one and was super excited to see the second one. I was not disappointed. I am a huge sucker for a feel good friendship movie and that is exactly what it was. I'm not sure Daphna loved it, I think she was a little bored but I thought it was great. I would love to see it again. If you are thinking you might want to see it, I highly recommend it. Today we have a full day of shopping planned. Some good sisterly bonding time. Although we have had a fun week we can't wait to get back home to daddy and our normal routine!

Potpourri

Here are a few things I have been wanting to blog about but haven't got around to yet. Mostly random, unrelated happenings in the lives of the Nichols family these days that I wanted to share.

Our week in Prattville: Straight from the beach Mary Selwyn and I headed to Prattville to stay for a week to visit with my Nana and Poppy. They were in from San Antonio and they haven't seen MSN since she was a week old. I felt like it was important for them to get to spend almost the whole time they were here with her. So we sadly kissed Shay goodbye for the week and camped on an air mattress at my mom's house.

We had a really good visit with them. We went to Peach Park in Clanton and I had the best cookies and cream ice cream ever. I know, cookies and cream at Peach Park...I wasn't in the mood for peach ice cream but don't worry we took a huge peach cobbler home and I ate my share of peaches then I promise. We also took Mary Selwyn to the zoo for the first time. Our good friends Chad, Stefanie and Gavin joined us which made the trip even more fun. Unfortunately, it was hot and most of the big animals were too hot to be really entertaining. I think Mary Selwyn's favorite part was the stinky bird house where all the ducks were waddling around her. The kid loves a duck! Chad did however make friends with a feisty little monkey that played with us through the glass. I think they might have been soul mates. We had a ton of fun that definitely wore us out.

It was extremely sad saying goodbye to Nana and Poppy. They live so far and it will likely be another whole year before we get to see them again. It is just not fair but I don't think they will be making the move to Alabama anytime soon....no matter how hard we beg!

We did manage to sneak in a dinner visit with Ryan and K.K. too. It wasn't long enough but any time is better than nothing these days!

No more Ba-Ba: FINALLY, after a month and a half of crying, screaming and sadness Mary Selwyn gave up the bottle. It was quite possibly the hardest thing we have had to endure thus far. I know that sounds ridiculous but it turns out the only thing Mary Selwyn was truly attached to was her ba-bas. It hurt my heart to try and take them away from her for two reasons. First, the child loves them and she did not understand why one day they were okay and the next they were off limits. We tried to take it away cold turkey but after a weekend of absolute misery we broke down and gave them back. Bad parents I know. I always said that I wanted my child off the bottle at one year....I've also learned that what you say you want and will do before you have children goes flying out the window once those children arrive. This child did everything else so early and with such ease and I just could not understand why she wouldn't drink the same formula out of the cup instead of the bottle.

Before we left for the beach our new friends Kristen and sweet Owen introduced us to the Born free sippee cup. It has a very soft spout and is supposed to help with an easy transition. So I bought one and after offering it to her for a couple days MSN finally decided that this cup was worthy enough to replace the bottle. Born Free means they are organic cups with no harmful plastics so as you can probably guess they are not cheap. Of course the one sippee cup she choses would have to be the most expensive cups they make after we have spent a fortune buying every other cup on the baby aisle to try. At this point, whatever works...I don't care about the cost. For three full weeks now we have been off the bottle, praise the Lord! She also made the switch to whole milk with no problems. You do not know how relieved I am. Now she still calls them ba-bas but that is just a little technicality...not something I'm worried about!

Now back to the second reason that it totally broke my heart to have get rid of the bottle is silly and selfish. I felt like taking away that ba-ba meant I had to actually accept that Mary Selwyn is no longer a little baby! Ugggg, I still cannot stand that thought. I mean she's been walking for 5+ months now, she can say all kinds of words and make all kinds of sounds, she feeds her self and has become so much more independent. Don't get me wrong, I love all of those things, I really do but I felt like that bottle was the one last thing that made her a baby. Now it is gone! Apparently I was way more attached to the bottle than I realized. I'm lucky to have been blessed with such a loving and snuggly baby. Even without the bottle she will crawl up in my lap and nuzzle down and sit for long periods of time during the day. At least that makes me feel like there is still a little baby in there somewhere.

You wouldn't guess it by how pitiful I just sounded but getting rid of the bottle is such a relief. I'm so thankful that we were finally successful. These cups have been fabulous!

Chores?? Last but not least on my list of topics is Mary Selwyn's household chore. A one year old with a chore?? I know what you are thinking but this is not cruel and unusual punishment. She absolutely loves to help me with all kinds of household chores. For example she loves to put stuff in and out of the dishwasher. I don't necessarily love this help she offers but I cannot open the dishwasher without her little hands putting stuff in and out. She always gives me this look when I get frustrated like "I'm just doing what you are doing." She also loves to help with laundry. When I'm folding clothes she loves to try and tear them out of my hands....this she finds funny!

So Mary Selwyn has the weird love for Shay's socks. Sometimes I will find her walking around with one thrown over her shoulder. She loves them even more when I ball them together and will carry them around for hours. So one day I decided to put these busy little hands to work. I will roll up all daddy's socks and hand them to Mary Selwyn and say "can you put away daddy's socks?" Her face immediately lights up with a smile and she takes off running down the hall to daddy's sock drawer. His socks are located in a bottom drawer in our bathroom. The perfect place for Mary Selwyn to open the drawer, place the socks in one pair at a time very carefully with much thought and then close the drawer and clap when she is done. Then she runs back to living room to see if she can find some more socks and I have to say, "we have to wait for the next the load." I guess she understands because she doesn't think about them again until I pull another load out of the dryer. The fact that she loves this cracks me up. So this is Mary Selwyn's first (and only for the moment) household chore. It's not a chore if you love it right? I have to keep telling myself that so I won't feel guilty about making her put up the socks. I figured I better take advantage of her willingness to help while I can, even if she is only 13 months old, because I know the time where she no longer wants to help mommy will be here before I know it! (I know she doesn't look as excited as I described but that is because I had giver her a few to many pair of socks to carry that time and she had already dropped a few and was getting very frustrated!)