WHOLE AGAIN

Nathan is home again......"for good" as people like to ask. It's a complicated answer, but he doesn't have to leave in two weeks and I guess that's what they mean :) It's been kinda hard and we are adjusting and trying to figure out how to do things together. I think Nathan thinks the baby was easier when he left (and he was because he only slept and ate then!) I have been enjoying watching my boys together though :)

Of course the unit got home the only day I had plans this summer....Lyndi's wedding (my best friend of 13 or so years)  was the same day! We got lucky and he got on the first plane that was available so I was able to be at the airport for a short time. We did not stay to welcome the rest of the unit because I needed to help the bride get ready for her big day! My siblings snuck to the airport (I told Nathan it would just be Niko, Grandma and me) but I'm glad because my brother took pictures for me.

Nathan is at the very bottom of the stairs...there was a whole bunch of people there!

Yay! Our first hug after five months.

Checking each other out :)

And the wedding....I had a very long exhausting, emotionally draining, exciting, happy, glorious day. And I only cried three times!

So happy for them!

The third time I cried...and couldn't even finish my speech!

And Niko turned five months four days before this....I had a lot to do and we were both sick so we only took a few pictures. I try to get a few good ones, but I really only took a few this month. We just weren't in the mood. 

Cousin Anika hung out with us quite a bit while they were visiting.
Niko really liked the scarf she was wearing this day and he
tried to eat it :)

He's been sitting quite well...until I wanted a picture.

 

Have to get a military one in there :)

We are still very busy and we are trying to figure out what we will be doing next. Nathan wants to finish school so we are taking a road trip to check a couple of them out so he can decide where he wants to go. He's going to get a job for the rest of the summer and I have one day (for sure) left of work. I'm so excited to go back to wife mode instead of just mommy mode:) I'm sure I'll be three times as tired, but we'll figure it out, we always do!

This is so difficult...

I am so bad at regularly blogging....but that's too bad! I'll get to it when I can, which is now because I have other stuff I should be doing while Niko is actually napping for more than five minutes :)
Niko is now almost five months old...so I guess I'll share some photos from his fourth month here with us!

I just love this one...his eyes are wide and so blue!

Niko loves the dogs...and they love him. Tinkerbell watches him or lies next to him frequently. And she will let him yank out her fur and then beg for more. They are cute together.

His first Easter basket...that is hidden from all the stuff he received! 

I love the ribbon in his mouth :)

New frog towel from Tracy

And on his 4 month birthday

AWESOME smile

So adorable!!

He found his tongue :P

Checking out Daddy's tags

It's always about the pictures....then I don't have to say as much! Well the school year is coming to an end, which means I can start letting Niko sleep as long as he wants every morning....hopefully then we can get to a more normal schedule. 

Nathan will be coming home this summer and I am so very excited! I can't even express the crazy emotions! I'm looking forward to having the family together and coming up with a routine that works for all of us and really get Nathan involved so they can bond. I can hardly wait to see Niko smile at his Daddy for the first time (he has smiled while on skype but not directly at Nathan since he doesn't really see him). So thrilling. Of course that means I'm busy trying to get everything done that needs to be finished so that we can just relax for a week or so and get into a rhythm. So I'm blogging, because that's a must....except not. So now I'm headed to actually accomplish things!!!

Slacker

That's what I am, a slacker! It's been almost a full month since I posted meaning if I don't do something now then I will go from Niko's 3 month to his 4 month with nothing in between. I'm busy, give me a break. I don't know how people with children can post every few days....maybe they don't have an extra job. I'm so exhausted on days I work that I have to force myself to workout (which is going quite well, Jillian likes to kick my butt and I'm thankful since I have a wedding to appear in soon). Then I play catch up with everything else on days off and this is not a top priority (sorry).
Anyway enough excuses. We are finally preparing for Nathan to come home!!! I'm so beyond excited to see him for long than two weeks and to see him with his son :) He did so well when Niko was born...helping with diapers and cuddling and encouraging of the nursing (which I needed), but it will be even more fun to see now that Niko is interacting with people. He smiles, giggles and flirts....he even smiles to get your attention or will give me the pouty lip because he knows it makes me laugh and then he giggles too :) SO MUCH FUN!
Part of getting ready for Nathan to come home involves figuring out a job for him and just our life plans in general. We all know the military is unpredictable and we will be waiting to hear about two different jobs in the military...so he needs a civilian job while we wait for that....you know since the bills don't stop coming. The homecoming is stressful, but so very exciting.
Speaking of bills, I'm doing this to put off paying bills...so I should get back to that.
But before I do...a picture from our trip. Niko and I drove down to Utah since I had a long weekend for Easter. We stayed at Jenise's house and added to her chaos :) We were working out and Niko fell asleep  in his Bumbo

Avarie loved Niko...she was always trying to calm him if he started crying or anything, so adorable!

I just realized how few pictures I have from the trip...sad.

Here's a few from this month before our trip.

Uncle Trevor helping him "walk" and the last 

picture of them before Trev left for his hike

 Above and below are some cute outfits from Sheri and Bob :)

With his little fohawk :)

Rambo still loves him!

Okay now I'm getting the stuff done that I actually NEED to do!

Three months already!

It's been three months since Niko was born and I don't know how I ever thought I was so busy before!!!
We are doing much better with going to work now that Niko has decided he wants a bottle and only a bottle. I'm still struggling with the arrangement, but he is happy so I am too :) And how can I complain when that's the only real issue we've had? He is such an awesome baby...he only cries when he needs something and is happy to just check things out (although he has a new thing where he wants to sit up straight all the time and he can't do it by himself, it can be tiring) and he will go to sleep in his crib. I think I am being very spoiled by this first baby. But if he's anything like Nathan or me when we were toddlers then he will make up for it :)
And now some pictures:
It was finally warm enough for a walk...he's asleep or he would be hating the sunglasses!

The smiles took team work: Grandma held him, I talked to him and Ryanne took pictures...but they're so worth it.

I finally got a good smiling picture by myself...while at work even! And his outfit is so adorable :)

He fell asleep while I was vacuuming....but he was only happy if I was carrying him.

 Rambo loves him too :)

A couple of the official 3 month pictures (on time too!)

 And some extra cute ones............

That is all. And of course it is all about this little (well big, but still little) boy!

FAMILY

I finally got Nathan to send me this picture so I had to share!

This is from Niko's blessing when he was one week old. Nathan did a great job and it was a small but awesome gathering. We did it kind of last minute because I was still in too much pain to do it at church the one Sunday Nathan was here and then we were running out of time. So a huge thank you to the bishop, Remington and the family for coming so last minute!

Anyway, this is our only family picture where I'm not in a hospital gown so I have really been bugging Nathan to email it to me :)

That is all for now!