New Sister-in-law, Nicole

So, Cody’s brother, Shay, and his fiance Nicole went to St. Thomas and got married over Memorial Day weekend, and then last weekend they had an insanely informal reception at Shay’s house (where he was renting with 3 other boys, and their lease was up at the end of May).  The week before they left, Shay and Nicole moved up to Topeka. 

So now Cody has two sister-in-laws named Nicole, only Nikki spells it Nichole.  I think I’m the only one that finds it really funny that they both have the same name, but that’s cool, I really find humor in that.

But here are Shay and Nicole in front of the cake.  Jan made it, and Nicole decorated it. 

Here’s up close on the cake, it was cute.  And really tasty.

Pretty flowers…

Front table…

My attempt at being creative…I’m just too anal to paint.  I should have chosen a smaller brush for the date, and the color of the “and” should be lighter, but there was no going back once I did it…

Wedding stuff…

All and all it was nice.  They’re evidently having another small something in Kansas City, that’s where Nicole’s from. 

But that’s my new sister-in-law.  She is a very normal person, and I’m very happy for that.  I am glad I don’t have to worry about people joining the family that suck.  That would be horrible.

I’m not really good at updating this blog!

I just can’t seem to update this as often as I mean to.  But anywho, here are a few picks of the last 2 months…

St. Patty’s Day:

Fun Nephews:

Royce road all around the mall like this waving at everyone…

Now, he’s just chillin’ eating a cookie.

Chubby babies…

My birthday and snow :(, but at least cool pictures get taken in the snow…

I still just can’t believe that it snowed the night before and the day of my birthday, and I was left with about 5 inches of snow to deal with.  And then 2 days later it  was 60 degrees and sunny, and warm enough to take the dogs for a walk.  Silly…

The one group picture we took in Lincoln before the cameras died…

Notice the scarves…what’s up with the cold weather!?

This one sort of worked at the Q… and then the camera was dead for real.

More fun nephews:

Royce likes to wears other peoples shoes now.  Although he hasn’t quite figured out how to wear flip-flops…

I love the way he smiles!  Just like my sister and I do.  It’s the Ott side of the family.

He’s just so grown up!

It amazes me how much kids can change in 2 months.  Look how big Brody is!  He can sit up by himself now!

You have to ignore the drenched, stretched out onesie.  It’d been a long slobbery day.

Just look how sweet this little chunk is!

I love those little guys!

Anywho, that’s about what I’ve been up to! 

I have a few more posts to add this evening, so I hope everyone enjoys looking at something different!  I really do need to get more consistent in updating this.  I apologize, I’m just too busy sometimes!  (and lazy…but that’s cool!)

Silly Brody…

Ok, so I’m at Nikki’s this morning because I originally took off work so that I could help watch Royce while she was induced, and well, as we all know Brody decided that he wanted to be born on Friday, so now I’m just in Topeka helping Nikki.  Everyone in the house is still asleep, so I’m just goofing off on the computer.  I check out Stormont-Vail’s website to see what his picture looks like in the new baby section and this is what my silly nephew is doing…

Is he dancing?  Doing a little jig?  Maybe the hula?  What is he doing!?  I just keep looking at the picture and I can’t stop laughing! 

Evidently he wouldn’t stay still and this is the best that they could do.  But, seriously, it’s hilarious.

**UPDATE** I have been informed by my co-worker Katie, that he is doing the Thriller Dance, and I have to say that she is right.  It very much looks like Thriller.  But I am happy to have the question “what is he doing” answered.

Introducing… Brody Andrew Daniels!

After a few hours of discussion, my new nephew finally has a name!  And it was one that everyone agreed on, unlike a few others that were tossed into the mix-like Titan.  But isn’t Brody a great name?  I thought so. 

So Nikki called me Thursday to tell me that at her doctors appointment, she was dilated to 4.  We knew she probably wouldn’t make it until Tuesday when she was suppose to be induced.  So I rearranged my weekend schedule just in case.  But then I get a frantic message from Nikki Friday at noon, saying “I think I’m in labor, but I’m not sure.”  She’s never gone into labor on her own, she was induced both times.  So silly Nikki drove herself to the hospital, and couldn’t get a hold of Robert, so she called me.  I said, “Well I’ll talk you there and then call me back if your really in labor.”  Well, then Robert called her back when she was a few feet away from the hospital, so I let her go.  An hour later, I get a message that they’re having a baby today, and she’s dilated to 7.  So I finish the call notes that I was doing, and arranged shelter coverage, called my boss to ask if I could leave, and at 2pm I headed off for Topeka.  All I wanted to was hold a leg (Nikki’s) while she pushed, so I told her to hold the baby in until I got there.  It was raining like hell the whole way, and stupid cars were not driving fast enough, I get up to the fourth floor of Stormont-vail at 3:12pm, to the nurses station, and they tell me that I need to go back to the waiting room because they’ve just delivered, and they won’t be ready for visitors for at least 10 to 15 minutes.  I grumpily go to the waiting room and wait.  I just wanted to be with my sister!  I didn’t want to wait 15 minutes!  But I did. 

Brody was born at 3:04 pm.  I missed him by 8 minutes, 8 minutes!  Damn rain…

But he’s wonderful and perfect, even if he didn’t wait long enough for me to get there first.  I guess the world really doesn’t revolve around me. 🙂 He didn’t get named until the next day, but I think they chose well.  He’s 21 inches long and weighed 7 lbs, 5 oz.  And he was born 367 days after his older brother (367 because this year was a leap year), they will have birthdays 1 day apart.  But I’ve very glad that he waited until the 12th.  At least they each have their own day.

It cracks me up how much he doesn’t look like Royce.

…little chubby baby faces…

…and little chubby funny baby faces…

Isn’t he just beautiful?  I swear, Nikki and Robert make the cutest kids.  Even newborns.

Family picture.

I couldn’t take a good aunt picture, the light was funny.  And I was tired, and I look it.  But this is the best one out of the 4 we took.

Little praying feet… I LOVE baby feet…

Oh, he’s just precious!

And look at all the hair!  I think he has more hair than Royce!

Here’s silly ornery Royce for reference on the hair comment.  He was being flirty and wouldn’t eat his cheeseburger for me.   

More tired Brody…

And finally more baby feet… They’re just great! They had to take blood from his foot to get his bilirubin count-which was fine.

But I got to watch Royce for the night so that Robert could stay at the hospital with Nikki.  Royce is so funny.  When Nikki called Saturday morning to say that they decided on the name Brody, I told Royce, “Yea!  You’re brother’s name is Brody!”  Royce was standing in the kitchen with me and he started clapping. It was too cute. 

But I was right, it IS wonderful having 2 nephews to love.

Royce’s First Birthday Party

So, it’s been a busy couple weeks, and I’m trying to catch everyone up in order.  So her are some wonderful pictures of Royce during his first birthday party.  I’m so glad Nikki had it when she did, because she would have not been able to this weekend!  But that’s for the next post.  So, here’s the party!  It was great fun…

We started out with some pizza to eat…

Then it was time for cake. 

Yes, Nikki bought him a crown to wear.  It didn’t get worn long.  Just long enough for some pictures.

Nikki wanted a picture with his real cake, and he took a bite of the frosting.  See it?  Silly boy.

And the messy fun begins…

Get it Royce…

It was so hard not to clean him in between bites…

Shove it in…

This is my favorite.  The shiny stuff on his chest is ice cream.  But you can tell he had fun.  And the frosting complements his eyes so well. 

Here’s the full body shot.

And the present his favorite aunt and uncle got for him.  He loved it!  He had no interest in unwrapping gifts, just playing with them was good enough for him.

And here’s me and my Ruben.  Ruben is Robert’s nephew for those of you who don’t know, and I love him. He’ll be 6 next month.  He’s just great, and is too “cool beyond [his] years.”

Adorable…

So, I haven’t written in awhile, and I’m afraid that if I try to catch everyone up on 3 different weddings and a Jack Johnson concert, it would be too much to handle (for me, not you).  But the weddings were fun, and Jack was PERFECT, so I’m just going to update everyone on who really matters most.  That would be Royce.  He’s almost a year old, almost 11 1/2 months, and so wonderful.  He might have taken 4 steps yesterday, but Nikki, Cody and I were at the mall, and Robert saw them (the steps).  He would not walk for Nikki when she got home.  But I thought I would post some pictures so that everyone can see just why I love him as much as I do…

He loves hiding under whatever he can find.  And he’s getting to the point where he’s sneaky.  You tell him not to touch something, and he listens and stops.  But then you turn your back, he looks at you to make sure you aren’t looking at him anymore, and he goes and grabs whatever you didn’t want him to touch in the first place.  My sister watched the whole thing happen.  But how can you be mad at this face?

Above is his “You said my name, what did you need?” face…

Oh, he’s just so pretty.  Just happy and pretty.  And he looks so much like his mom did when she was his age.

And this next one is my favorite.  It’s just amazes me how you can love someone so much that you have only known for 11 months, and that you’ve probably only hung out with 15 or so times…

But is he not just adorable!  He just makes me smile.  All the time, just makes me smile…

And to think… In less than 1 month there will be two nephews to love!  Oh, I can’t wait!