He's One Happy Camper!

Oh me oh my!  I let it happen again!  So much time has gone by since I was able to get on here and update.  My apologies!

The day after our last update I got a surprise visit from my friend Rachael who was visiting from Huntington Beach, California.  She was here visiting family and called me to see if she could pop by to catch up and meet Nixon.  Of course I said yes, with the caveat that my house was a disaster and she couldn't judge me.  We had a great time catching up and of course I got to snap a shot with her and Mr. Man.

Rachael and Nixon

A special thanks to Rachael for the adorable gift she gave us - these cute little shoes, green cargo pants and a vintage styled t-shirt.  Rach is another friend we will be visiting this spring in California and we'll stay a night with her and her boyfriend Doug - I can't hardly wait!

I spent the rest of the week preparing for Nixon and I to go on his first camping trip.  We spent the weekend in Clintonville, WI at Dana's mom's new land.  It is a gorgeous secluded little piece of heaven complete with a quaint little river.  Nixon and I headed up to stay at Gramma and Grampa Dietsch's on Thursday night so that we could say a quick hello and then our trip to the land the next day would be a short one.  On Friday my Squishy and I stopped in Green Bay and did a little wandering at some of my favorite shops and antique stores and then we made our way over to see Gramma Dietsch at her work.  Nixon was very happy to see his Gramma at her office.

I make work look good

Gramma, your office is neat!

After our quick visit, we were off to Clintonville.  As soon as we got to the land we said our hello's to our fellow campers, Dana, her husband Matthew, and their boys William and Henry.  Matthew helped me get the tent set up and then we all set off for Shawano, WI for an Italian dinner with Dana's dad.  On Saturday morning Dana's sister Hilary and her husband Ben joined us.  We enjoyed the weekend filled with a walk, river splashing, eating, and a TON of sitting around the fire.  I really enjoyed being able to catch up with Dana and just sitting around relaxing.

Nixon was absolutely amazing all weekend.  I always knew he loved being outside, but I was expecting him to get knocked off his schedule and turn into a Crabby Pants.  Fortunately for me he left those pants at home and only brought his Happiest Kid Ever Pants. We had so much fun and enjoyed every second of it.  I was so proud of him!  It was a good thing he loved it because we were scheduled to go on another camping trip the following weekend with another group of friends and I didn't want to miss out.

Nixon's Mosquito Proof Fort

Saturday Afternoon Snooze

Monkey Face!

Tickles Make Giggles!

William is making sure our fire goes strong all day long

The Lazy River - So Pretty!

On our way home we got to surprise Great Grampa Ken and stop in to say HELLO!  We ended up staying for quite a few hours, and since it was Great Gramma Laurice's birthday I think it was just the thing Grampa needed to put a smile on his face on a day that reminds him of his lost love.  I just adore these photos of my Grampa and my Son.  *Swoon*

Just melts my heart...and by the look of it, Grampa's too

Hey GRAMPA!!!! Fist bump!!!

The week went by quite slowly, it was a billion degrees outside so we never got out for walks or did anything productive.  On Thursday Kyle and I had our first date night since Nixon arrived!  We went to Ristorante Bartolotta and enjoyed an amazing dinner, although we may have preferred my Birthday Dinner at the Iron Horse better (the night I went into labor!)  After dinner we wanted to try and catch a movie, so we asked Uncle Bryan who was our gracious baby sitter if it was OK and he said yes.  We watched Transformers in 3D which was good but the ending was soooooooooooooooo long.  Of course we spent most of the night talking about our little offspring and our plans for our family, our future together.  It felt so strange to be out without him.  Nice, but strange.

On Friday morning Nixon and I headed out to our next camping trip!  This weekend we went on our annual trip to Long Lake in the Northern Kettle Moraine area.  This is a trip we take every year with my group of friends I call the Kickball Friends.  By definition it's all people that I used to play kickball with, but of course I know them all from various places, mostly people I used to work with at Milwaukee and their extended friends.  We did get rained on each night, but it was well into the night so it was so relaxing to lay in the tent listening to the rain and thunder, watching the lightening.

This weekend was so incredibly relaxing. I read an entire book and we played in the lake and relaxed on the beach all day Saturday.  Sitting by the fire is always therapeutic, and the storms that rolled through each night were one of my favorite parts.  It sounds insane, but I don't think anything beats falling asleep to thunder and rain pitter-pattering on a tent.

A snooze by the beach while mama read

These are his Sexy Eyes and his Come Hither Face

This is his OMG I Heart Camping Face

Nixon and his friend Madeline, hanging at the lake

Madeline wants that pacifier

We had two firsts this weekend!  On Saturday, when we were laying out in the sun I had Nixon on his stomach to get some Tummy Time and he rolled over from stomach to back all by himself!  It's only a matter of time before he'll be going from back to tummy now, and then Kyle and I are in some trouble!  His other first was his first legit giggle.  My friend Maggie was holding him and she was bouncing up and down and making silly noises and he giggled and giggled.  It was so stinking adorable.  Of course, I've been trying all day today to make him do it again and he hasn't...figures.  *humph*

So this next pic has nothing to do with anything, but his sitter Kellie was going through her son's clothes this week and lent us a ton of stuff for the 3-6 month range, and while she was digging through everything she found these adorable shoes that Noah had.  I came to pick him up and he was a styling little dude in his little kicks!

So Mr. Man has a big milestone tomorrow!  He'll hit the 3 month mark!  WOWSA!  I know everyone says it goes fast...but seriously, it goes mega fast.  I can't wait to take his snazzy 3 month pics tomorrow and post them up for you all!

Nixon has a couple new talents aside from his new rolling and giggling.  He is getting some finer motor skills and he grabs his pacifier and pulls it out of his mouth.  He'll either fall asleep with it in his hand, or if he's still awake and playing he tries to put it back into his mouth.  I've seen him once get it back in right, but usually he'll get the hard plastic in his mouth.  At least he tries!  Another talent he has with his new grabbing skills is grabbing his shirt, onesie, burp rag or blankets and trying to suck on them.  It's cute to see him try and get them into his mouth.  I swear Nixon is one of the few kids in the world who giggles every time you put a onesie or shirt over his head.  Every baby I've ever dressed freaks out when you put their head through the neck hole, but my goofy kid thinks it's the best ride at the fair.  Clearly he's easily entertained.

Well, I'm off to give Squish his bath and get him off to bed so I can get myself showered and off to bed!  Oh yeah, make sure you go back to the previous post too, I've added the pics I was missing!