Happy 5th birthday, Will!

"I'm 5!!!!"

We celebrated Will's 5th birthday with a family party last weekend. He had a great time playing with his cousins! We had his request - vegetable soup, along with chili, hot dogs, snacks, and yummy cupcakes. He was so thrilled to pick out all the veggies to go in the soup. It was really adorable to see. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out, but I think it was pretty good!
As you can see, he got tons of stuff -- and he's been having such a great time playing with all of it in the evenings this week. He was pretty excited to get Monopoly and Operation. I'm so thankful he loves board games as much as I do! 

Oh my gosh, look at all this awesome stuff!

With his special request - chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting and chocolate sprinkles.

I love my new Woody PJ's! Thanks, Aunt Casie!

Both our kids had fevers after the party. Will was fairly subdued throughout the party, but seemed to have a really good time. Neither ate dinner. They had tylenol, lots of juice and water and went to bed. Thankfully, everyone felt better in the morning.

He had his school party on his actual birthday and had a great time there. When we got home, he was showing me all the stuff he got -- Legos, games, Rescue Heroes, and then he was ready to sit down and work on the 1st grade workbook his teacher gave him. I love this kid!
After opening presents from us, we had his b-day dinner of choice: chicken and macaroni & cheese. I tell ya, we should really be enjoying this time with such low expectations!!

A happy birthday boy with his dragon guys.

We had such a fun time celebrating this amazing little boy! I can't believe how quickly 5 years have gone.

Boy oh boy!

Before I left for the conference, we had a sonogram to see how things were looking. We were surprised to learn that we were having a BOY! Actually, Justin thought it was a boy all along; I just thought it was a girl. Regardless, our baby and I both looked healthy - that's mostly what we were hoping to hear! Baby was measuring a week to ten days big based on our anticipated due date. I assured the sonographer that this would be fine - I'm not a 40-week kinda girl :) I've been feeling lots and lots of movement lately, which I LOVE! It's one of my favorite things about being pregnant.

Will has thought the baby would be a girl, but he seemed just as excited to learn he would have a baby brother. The other day at school he was telling his teacher that he thought we should name the baby Max. And that his "big name" would be Max Junior Nichols. On the way home, I let him know that Daddy & I had come up with a name for the baby and told him what it was. Will got very quiet in the backseat. I assumed he was processing this new information. Soon, I realized he was crying. This marked the beginning of about a 30-minute meltdown in which I finally got him to verbalize what was bothering him. "I just don't feel like I'm getting to help with the baby. You and Dad decided the name and didn't even let me help."  Oh my. I walked right into that one and had no idea! Of course, I felt terrible. I love that he is so excited to help (we'll see how long it lasts after Baby arrives), but I just wasn't anticipating this. I gave J a heads up so he wouldn't bring it up when he got home. J's response: "Did you tell him this isn't a democracy?" Nice. We've moved past this hurdle, but still haven't talked much about the baby's name around Will. I tried to come up with other "big" things he could help with - choosing the paint color for the baby's room, helping get his clothes ready, etc. But Will has decided maybe he only wants to help when the baby is OUT of Mommy's tummy. Fair enough.

And all of a sudden she grew up

I traveled to a conference last week and Ellie Kate started preschool (at the school Will goes to) while I was gone. We were really nervous about this, but it really seemed like the best time. She is the youngest there right now, and was not particularly interested in potty training (a requirement to be at the school). But we love the environment and knew she'd enjoy being with the other kids. She did GREAT the first day - only one accident and even stayed dry through nap time. She had a couple emotional drop offs later in the week, but otherwise, has been wonderful. Literally, I was gone for 3 days, came back and she was potty trained and going to school. She was the one talking the whole way back from the airport, not Will. This was quite a change! We've made it through nearly 2 full weeks of school and she is doing better than we could have hoped. Thankfully, the transition hasn't been too tough for Will either.

potty training in the 21st century