More on Christmas Morning

After we had opened presents and eaten (of course!) at our house, we went to Jon's parent's house for the day. Eric and Michelle and cousins ( ages 7, 6, 4, 2, and 1) were there. So it was very loud, busy and chaotic. But Nicholas loved it all. He got another Christmas present - yet another toy that lights up and makes a lot of noise! He loved it, and loved playing with his cousins.

Jon also got a pair of BYU pants, and Nicholas got his very own BYU blanket (which has been put to good use). I got a very funny book. It was a great Christmas all around!

Our Family Christmas Photo

We really tried to get a good one, but sometimes it isn't possible. So Jon and I look great - but Nicholas is a little sad looking. He was really hungry and upset about not being able to play the organ or piano at church.

Early Christmas Morning

Anyone who thinks that a kid needs to learn how to undo a stocking is kidding themselves. Just take a look at Nicholas here.

Nicholas must have known something was special. He woke up nice and early (his present to mom and dad) and wouldn't go back to sleep. Grrrr. So we all got up and opened presents from Santa.

Nicholas got a nice V-Smile Baby thing that is like a baby computer. He also got some other toys and a few more books. Jon got a BYU blanket, books and some fun stuff. I got the Cosby Show dvds, some bath stuff and other fun items (like the 80's cds).

We didn't stay at home too long. Just long enough to open presents and get dressed.

Here are some pictures.

Santa came to the Wunderlich household.

Jon and his BYU blanket.

Nicholas can really open presents! He's even opening mine.

Nicholas opening other presents.

Nicholas thinks Jon's sudoku game is really his.

Nicholas' First Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve.


I am proud to report that Nicholas loved every minute of his Christmas Eve. And so did Jon and I (even if we were a bit tired).


We started the morning off waking up and feeding our son - again. Then went to my mom and grandma's where Nicholas got spoiled with a lot of toys that make noise. Nicholas also got to eat - again- and spend some time chaing Max (the dog) and trying to figure out what to do with some bows. He has a lot of fun.


Then we went over to my aunt's. Now, for those of you who don't know, Nicholas loves dogs. Most dogs and cats he has met - until now - don't really like him because he plays kind of roughly. He likes to grab at things like tails and ears. However, the three dogs (Oliver the Basset Hound and Lulu and Casey the lab mixes) didn't mind at all. They also were half my size, and could (and did) knock over and sit on Nicholas. But he didn't mind either. He loved the dogs. They let him grab tails and everything. So he played with the dogs, and the dogs showed their appreciation and licked him (which resulted in a bath to get the dog slobber off).


Nicholas and my cousins also played well. Uncle Paul, Aunt Rita, PJ and Matt met Nicholas for the first time. Everyone had a lot of fun.


Thanks for making it a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Aunt Debby gave Nicholas a present. Although it looks like Nicholas doesn't know what to do with the wrapping paper - he really does. At least he does if there's not too much tape.

Lest you think that socks belong on your feet, Nicholas wants you to know that socks belong in your mouth. I think his mistook them for candy canes.

Nicholas didn't like the bows. Although I thought he looked cute with them all over. He let me know that boys aren't supposed to play with bows - his father agrees.

Nicholas ate a lot - and often - on Christmas Eve. half of what we packed was food for Nicholas. Or clothes for Nicholas. Or diapers for Nicholas. It's not like we didn't pack a lot of stuff to take with us.

My Uncle Paul has a strange sense of humor when it comes to playing jokes - although he did play this one on his older brother. The purple pillow in the picture was just eaten and slobbered over (and soaked with slobber) by the dogs. So he put it on his elder brother's bed. Just to let him use it that night. Gross.

This is my mom holding a sleeping Nicholas with my sister. Isn't it a cute picture!

This is Nicholas "helping" pull the white elephant names out of the bowl. My cousin Mark is just watching him. Thanks Mark. It's not like we didn't need those names for something - say the white elephant exchange?

This is Oliver and Nicholas playing. Or Oliver licking Nicholas and Nicholas laughing. Either way - they were both enjoying it.

This is Nicholas and Uncle Paul. It took a lot to get Uncle Paul to hold him, so I wasn't going to miss the chance to get a good picture.

Nicholas likes the catepillar Aunt Debby got him - especially since the antennas light up!

Our Dinner with the Parkers

Last night we went over to the Parkers for dinner. The Parkers are a great family. They have three kids (Jessica, Rebecca and Brian) and two parents (Walter and Tammi). Walter and I work on the choir at church together. Jessica is our babysitter for Nicholas.

Tammi is always ready to have Nicholas over when Jon and I need to go out, or if I desperately need some help so I can clean things (you try cleaning a house when you have a crwaling baby trying to find you, and stopping whenever something fun - even if its unsafe- grabs his attention). They are so very nice. And they sit in front of us in church, and play with Nicholas. During choir practices for Christmas, they were always there ready to play with Nicholas while I was being the accompanist for the choir.

They invited us over last night for dinner, and so we could see al the Christmas decorations. Nicholas found thier glittery hanging ornaments off their trees (3 of them) irresistable. But they also had gifts for Nicholas! They gave him Winnie -the-Pooh books - which are so fun to read. Nicholas loves books, and I love reading to him. However, he really enjoys his dad reading to him. The looks of adoration his dad gets when they sit down to read are so cute. So thank you to the Parker family for expanding the Nicholas library - which was in much need of expansion. Horton Hatches and Egg and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fishcan get very tiring after a while.

But Brian, the youngest boy, gave Nicholas a great gift. Brian had a bunch of church- related cardboard books (like My First New Testament) and the like that he gave to Nicholas. It was really very sweet. I was so thankful.

So thank you Parker family for a wonderful night and such wonderful presents from your house. We will have to have a Wii and pizza night soon.

Sunday was the church Christmas program...

So Sunday was the church Christmas program.



I played flute (and really enjoyed it). I was also supposed to play a piano piece (O Love So Small). They gave me 2 weeks to learn this piece (I am not a good piano sight reader). It has 70 measures, no repeates, starts with 5 flats and has 7 key changes. None of the key changes lead to anything but a mess of flats and sharps. Needless to say, it is hard to practice when you don't have a piano at home, so I was scrablng between my mom's, Jon's mom's, the Parkers and the church building to practice. And then came Sunday. What a disaster! We started choir practice at 7:30 AM. I couldn't play the piece. I got through the first 20 measures before I would falter. So I made a hard decision, and gave it up. So I conducted that piece instead of playing. It was horrible!



But the flute playing was awesome, and any number of people told me so.



The one good thing from all of this - no one is going to ask me to play piano for the choir on short notice again.

Just some random pictures

Here are some random pictures of Nicholas. He's doing great. He is crawling - FORWARDS - and getting into everything. I had no idea babies were strong enough to pull things off shelves, pull things over (like the coat rack, with coats on it) and do all sorts of damage. He really does get into everything. Just when you think you've put it up high enough, or back far enough, he gets into it.

He's also pulling himself up on everything. I do mean everything. He uses boxes, chairs, people's clothing, tables, shelves, walls - really anything. He will even push himself up on things not meant to be used for that, or too small to help him stand upright. But it's what he does.

He also likes to cruise along the couch and other pieces of furniture. If there is a wall nearby he will cruise along that as well.

On Friday, for the first time, he crawled to his dad when his dad came home! It was awesome. And Jon rewarded him with a huge hug and some kisses and constant gratitude. Now if only he would want to come to me at the end of daycare instead of trying to hang out there all day.


This is Nicholas after he has fed himself chocolate pudding - among other things.


This is Nicholas after he has fed himself sweet potatoes. Now you see why meals are followed IMMEDIATELY by bathtime.


This is Nicholas eating his dad's glasses. Along with shoes, he loves to steal glasses from your face and play with them.


This is Nicholas at the BYU game. Stephen gave him the bottle, and you could not get it away from him. Of course he knew how to drink from it - everyone else at the game was doing it. So he wanted to do it too.


This is Nicholas on the swing at the park. He loves the swings. He loves the outside. He loves the swings. He knows just what to do.

Our Day At the Nut Tree Family Park

Well, Saturday December 6th I met my mother and grandmother in Vacaville (with Nicholas) for lunch. We had a great lunch at Panera - and Nicholas got a grilled cheese kids meal. He ate half the sandwich! And then proceeded to entertain everyone with his eating of the french bread that came with the other meals. He also liked to play with the paper that decorated our plates. He was a pretty good side-show. Maybe we should charge admission :) Then we could recover some of the cost of his food.

Afterwards we went to the Nut Tree Family Park. They have free admission and unlimited rides for state workers, and half-off the free admission and unlimited rides for everyone with you. So I got in free, with unlimited rides, and for $10.48 my mom and grandma got in with unlimited rides. Nicholas was under 2, so he's naturally free (at least in admission to the park).

We rode the train, which Nicholas didn't like the first time, but liked the second. Then we rode the merry-go-round - which he loved! He sat on the horse in front of my mom. Before we started moving he was playing with his rabbit, but after we started moving he was fascinated by all the other horses moving around. We tried to go on the rescue rangers ride, but Nicholas wasn't buying it. He rode the rocking horses. But there were 5 other rides we didn't even try - that included bumper cars and a roller coaster.

Then we went to Fenton's ice cream parlor. My mom fed Nicholas chocolate ice cream. He liked it - after he got over it being cold. He liked it so much that he put his hands into the sundae with chocolate sauce and ice cream going all over - including all over him. It was a fun day.

This is me and Nicholas by the elephant on the merry-go-round. We both like elephants.

This is my mom ans Nicholas on their horse - well their rabbit. .

This was Nicholas sitting on my mom's lap on the train. He really didn't like the noise or the movement the first time, but the second time was great.

This is my mom putting Nicholas on the rocking horse. This was one day before Nicholas started his pulling up, so we were carrying him everywhere and helping him on everything (as you have to do with babies).

Finally - the Thanksgiving pictures

I am really slow - sorry! But here are all the pictures from Thanksgiving. And it was a great one. Turns out that Nicholas loves stuffing and gravy and mashed potatos made with sour cream and butter.

The Weekly Update

So it has been a while since I have posted onto this blog. I just wanted to give everyone an update.

Nicholas is doing great. He crawls forwards at daycare, but not at home. At least, until yesterday. I saw him crawl forwards. But, as usual, when his father came home he just regressed to being held and standing with his dad. And playing - lots of playing.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Thank you to everyone who made it so great. Nicholas had turkey, mashed potatos and stuffing. He loved the stuffing. He's not the biggest fan of turkey. We still made him try it. He makes faces :) He also had ice cream (thanks Mom and Debby). He did like that. He makes a face at first (it's cold!) and then smiles. Then he starts searching for more, reaching and grabbing for whatever you have that you gave him ice cream from. Like father like son.

We started decorating the house for Christmas. I have put up about half our stuff. I pulled out 2 of the 5 boxes and decorated. I didn't want to pull them all out and have them sitting around undone, so I only pulled out what I could get done. So now I have some Christmas. I will finish this weekend.

Nicholas has discovered a new love - Christmas decorations. Specifically the fake evergreen stuff in leaves and garlands. He loves it. He gets all excited and wiggly when he gets close. And then feels it and starts laughing and giggling. It really is quite cute. Except that I made these wreaths, and they are somewhat delicate. So it can be less than funny when he pulls stuff out of them and I have to repair them.

Nicholas is also pulling himself up on everything. I mean everything - his crib, sofas, tables and shirts. Yes - shirts. Even my necklace on occasion. He also tries on jeans and pant legs. This makes for a lot of destroyed shirts in our house - the necklines get all bent out of shape. But this is a good skill for him to develop. I cannot wait until he's walking.

As for me and Jon - we are doing well. We went to see our first movie since the new Indiana Jones came out - we went and saw the new James Bond movie on the day after Thanksgiving. It was a great James Bond flick. Action, girls, action and somewhat of a story line. It was great. I loved it. Jon liked it too. What was great was that we got to spend the time together, and Nicholas spent the time with his grandma and great-grandma.

Pictures are forthcoming, I have to charge the camera (the battery went dead). Then I will post new pictures of Nicholas.

In other news, I have lost 65+ lbs since Nicholas was born. I feel great. I am down 6 sizes in clothing - which is fabulous.

Jon's basketball team is doing well. He's getting out and playing with the guys - which is good.

And my classes are over next week. Then I can really start to feel like it is Christmas time!