Ned Nickerson

Happy December! I hope everyone has fully recovered from Thanksgiving and the following shopping days. I'd say I can't believe it's already December, but that snow storm we had recently made it clear that winter is well on its way.

Thanksgiving was our first major holiday in our new house, so we offered to host. Mom and Hannah helped a lot, of course. But @nancydrewnickerson did an incredible amount of work, and I was once again reminded of how amazing she is.

Henry, our normally sweet and mild-mannered little boy, had a couple really bad weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. His second molars were coming in, and it seemed like they were more painful than all of the other teeth combined. He had a low-grade fever and was super cranky and irritable. And with that came a heightened sense of attachment to Nancy.

It's incredibly hard to watch your child in pain, and even harder when he won't even let you try to comfort him. And poor Nancy; I can't even begin to imagine how hard it was when she couldn't be with him, knowing he only wanted her. So it's an understatement to say that we were both--Nancy especially--tired once Thanksgiving rolled around.

Thankfully, (yes, this is one of the things we both said we were thankful for when we went around the table) he was starting to get back to his normal self. Nancy and I got up way earlier than either of us liked on Thanksgiving morning and started some of the prep work. Once Henry woke up, I made pancakes and then distracted Henry until our family started to arrive.

Nancy's Aunt Eloise flew in for Thanksgiving this year, and, of course, my parents, Carson, and Hannah came. Henry loved having everyone over. It's not like he doesn't see them often; quite the opposite, actually. But he doesn't often see everyone together. And because he's still the baby of the family, all eyes are usually on him. He eats the attention up. I think it helped resolve any lingering need to be attached to Nancy's side all day long.

We've been excited about the house since we first toured it. Every day since has been great, and it has felt like home since we moved in. But having everyone over for Thanksgiving felt even more special.

Getting to take Henry out to play in our yard reminded me of all the Thanksgivings when I was little and would run around the yard with my dad. And seeing everyone around our dining room table was awesome. We even got to finally use the fancy china we got from our wedding registry.

All of the food was amazing, not surprisingly. And we had crazy leftovers for awhile. Except for dessert. I may have polished the rest of that off pretty quickly.

My birthday was a week after Thanksgiving. I'm in the middle of a big project at work, so Nancy didn't have any luck convincing me to take the day off. But she did surprise me in the afternoon, and we went out for lunch.

We want to replace some of our older furniture, so between that and the expense of the house, we agreed to take it easy on presents for each other for now. But after we spent Saturday decorating the house, inside and out, (which Henry loved) Nancy surprised me by dropping off Henry with my parents so we could have an adults-only night.

Christmas and our anniversary are both right around the corner. The season gets more exciting every year as Henry gets older and starts to enjoy our traditions more. His favorite part of this time of year has always been the lights. Even when he was a baby, he would always reach out to grab them. So we've already extended our drive home a couple times so he could look at the lights around the neighborhood. It's hard to resist it when we know that his smile will be huge.

As if it's any surprise that he's spoiled. Nancy and I went shopping for some more of his presents today. Between our family and Santa, we know he'll have plenty of new toys, so we stocked up on some clothes (although, I wouldn't be surprised if Bess’ gift is a full new wardrobe, ha) and books. We also sorted through his toys for things he doesn't play with much and clothes he no longer fits into to donate.

Happy Halloween! I hope everyone had a fun and safe night.

@nancydrewnickerson and I are getting ready for bed, but Henry was so adorable that I couldn't resist posting.

Henry is very much his mother's son. He is so curious about everything, which more often than not means he wants to touch everything. I jokingly said he should be an octopus for Halloween--I swear sometimes when we're trying to keep him from reaching for something, it's like he has 8 hands.

That's when Nancy got the idea for not 8 hands, but one special hand- Thing from the Addams Family! We wanted to make use of more than just his hand, though, so we opted to turn him into Pubert and sewed a plastic hand to his shoulder. (We weren't sure how he'd take that, but he quickly learned that if he shook his shoulder, he could "scare" all of us. It took a lot of convincing to get him to take it off at the end of the night.)

I know, I know - kind of cheating to jump ahead to the last Addams child. But we don't have a Wednesday yet and Pubert was pretty darn cute. (Sorry, Pugsley!) Nancy and I were, of course, Morticia and Gomez.

After Henry showed off his costume to his grandparents, we walked around our neighborhood for a little bit. We got to meet some of our new neighbors for the first time, and Henry scored a ton of candy he can't have. I'll gladly take that off his hands lol

I'm biased, but I think our lawn was definitely the best decorated. Henry has always loved the decorations my parents put out on their lawn, and now that we have our own lawn this year, I knew we had to go all out for him.

That's right... we finally bought a house! (Just in time to fill up all the extra rooms with Henry's Christmas presents, I'm sure.) It's in a great neighborhood, and a lot of our neighbors have young kids, too.

When we got home, Henry helped hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters. He named all of the costumes he could recognize. A lot were easy--characters from shows and movies he watches or animals--but others were harder so he'd ask one of us. Even we were stumped on a few. I don't know if that's a sign that we're getting old...

Henry's starting to string together sentences. I'm torn between being proud and excited for him that he's hitting another milestone and being a little bit sad that my baby is quickly becoming not a baby.

Happy anniversary, sweetheart!

@nancydrewnickerson and I have been together for 10 years! In some ways it feels like we've always been together, but it also somehow feels like just yesterday I was trying to work up the nerve to ask her out.

It's hard to believe, but our sweet baby boy turned 2 today!

He, @nancydrewnickerson, and I had a wonderful day together, doing all of the things that make him happy, from his current favorite breakfast (pancakes with berries on the side) to a trip to the aquarium to racing his cars around the living room.

His birthday party is this weekend, so we're not done celebrating yet. He has so many people who love him; I can only imagine how much he'll get spoiled between attention and presents.

Right now, Nancy and I are waiting for midnight, when it'll officially be the anniversary of when we started dating. (10 years!!!) Two years ago, we were doing the same thing, except we were holding our newborn son.

I hope everyone was able to spend today with their loved ones. Happy Father's Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, father figures, single mothers, etc.!

Thank you, Dad, for being an incredible role model and setting a high bar for me as a father. I always knew you put a lot of effort into everything, but I didn't realize just how much until Henry came along. I definitely don't say it enough, but I appreciate you always being there, whether it's with advice or just your time.

Thank you, Carson, for raising such an incredible daughter. Any step Henry takes towards independence terrifies me, but then I have to remind myself that you didn't let those fears hold @nancydrewnickerson back. And thanks to you, I get to spend the rest of my life with a woman who is as fearless and adventurous as she is loving and compassionate.

And thank you both for all the help you've given Nancy, Henry, and me. Henry is lucky to have such great grandfathers who will love and protect him no matter what. And Nancy and I are lucky to have you both as part of our support system.

Nancy... thank you for making me a father, for being on this journey with me and making parenthood less scary, for making today (and every day) special. I know I've said it before, but there is no one else I would want to do this with.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers and mother figures out there, especially @nancydrewnickerson.

Sweetheart, you are such an incredible mother. Henry is lucky to have you, and I can't imagine going through parenthood with anyone else. I've been in awe of you since the day we met, but watching you with Henry has taken that to a whole different level.

I always knew you'd make a great mom, and the past (nearly) two years have proven it. Thank you for everything you do- from being being a wonderful role model for our son to always trying to make the world a better place to raise him in.

Fatherhood is the best gift you've ever given me, and I hope you know how much I truly appreciate you and the life we've created together.

Hi, everyone!

Nancy's birthday was last month, and at first she wanted to have a quiet celebration with just the three of us. We're still looking for our next home, which has started to become quite exhaustive, even with my dad's help.

It doesn't seem like that long ago that we were looking for our current apartment. Even though it was technically just for me to live in it at the time, we knew it'd be where we'd start our marriage, and potentially our family. Now we're looking for somewhere to raise our family. There's a lot more to consider now… if there are other families in the neighborhood, ratings on the local school districts, and how many rooms we think we'll need.

But how tiring the hunt has been is exactly why I convinced Nancy we needed a night off. Nancy's birthday was on a Thursday, so we took it and the next day off from work. After sleeping in (Henry joined us for cuddles when he woke up), we went out to brunch on her birthday. Of course, Henry had the waitress wrapped around his little finger. Nancy says it's the Nickerson smile, but I think he's also inherited Nancy's people skills. I haven't met many people who can say no to her, and it looks like Henry is following in her footsteps.

It was a nice day out, so we went for a walk after and ended up at a park near our apartment. Henry recently found a love for the swings, so Nancy and I took turns gently pushing him in the toddler swing and taking videos.

The rest of the day went pretty much as Nancy had requested. We relaxed at home, playing with Henry. For dinner, we tried a creamy garlic penne recipe Nancy found on Pinterest. It was really good, and Henry enjoyed some of the penne cut up without the sauce, with his usual assortment of finger foods: blueberries, some baked chicken, and his favorite goldfish crackers. We made lemon cupcakes for dessert, and then Nancy opened her presents.

After we put Henry to bed, Nancy and I caught up on our Netflix queue. It was a pretty indulgent day--getting to sleep in (as much as we ever can sleep in with Henry) and stay up late.

I planned a night out with our friends Friday night. We were supposed to drop Henry off with Hannah, but Carson ended up picking Henry up in the afternoon. He didn't think he was going to be back from his business trip until the weekend, so he was excited to have some extra time with Henry.

Henry's already almost two--his birthday is this summer--but Nancy and I both still have a bit of a hard time leaving him. He's always with someone we trust, so that's not an issue. But we don't want to miss anything. One of my co-workers joked that we won't feel that way once the terrible twos hit. But Henry has been so good so far that we're both pretty convinced that even if he does hit a rebellious stage it won't be as bad as some of the horror stories we've heard.

I almost didn't want to leave that night after Nancy came out all dressed up; she was modeling one of my gifts, a bracelet with our three birthstones and room to add more, and she told me that she, ahem, was wearing one of my other gifts for later.

We ended up being only a little late to dinner with Bess, George, and their dates at a restaurant downtown that Bess recommended. We met up with some more friends at a bar afterwards; I didn't realize it was karaoke night, but Nancy got a real kick out of Mike and a couple of the other guys going up to sing "Private Eyes" in her honor.

Bess and George came way too early on Saturday morning to pick up Nancy for a girls’ day. Bess was somehow the only one to survive Friday night without feeling dead tired in the morning. George's lack of enthusiasm might've been more about the fact that Bess planned the day, though. I heard her mumbling under her breath about manicures when they left.

Happy New Year's Eve, Tumblr! I hope you've all been enjoying the holiday season.

Around this time 4 years ago, I was probably rehearsing what I was going to say that night when I proposed to @nancydrewnickerson... And coming up with a couple contingency plans in case we suddenly found ourselves on a case.

It's been a busy time for us here between the holiday season and celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversary. Yes, it's already been 3 amazing years.

The Yule Ball was the weekend before our anniversary. We took Hannah up on her offer to watch Henry for the night so we could have the night out to celebrate.

Carson wasn't able to attend this year, so Nancy did have to work the room a bit and represent the Drew name. We still got in plenty of dancing, though.

It'd been a bit since we danced without Henry. Some nights when we're trying to get Henry to fall asleep, we'll put some music on softly and sway slowly with him between us until he starts to settle down.

I love those moments, but every time it's just the two of us, it takes me back to that first slow dance, when I was afraid I'd step on her feet and then elated when she politely declined anyone who tried to cut in.

We went to a hotel afterwards, and ordered dessert from room service. And let's just leave it at, we really enjoyed the night.

Our anniversary was the next Wednesday. We didn't take the day off from work; my office closes the week between Christmas and the new year so that's always a busy time. But Nancy made sure to send sweet notes to my robot, and I personally delivered flowers before we took an extra long lunch together.

I'm sure we've said this before, but our families take turns watching Henry while we're at work. He was with my parents that day, and Mom surprised us by having a delicious lasagna waiting at home for us.

We watched our wedding video after dinner. Henry was more interested in getting us to build towers with his blocks than letting us watch it, though.

We considered pausing the video and waiting until he was asleep to finish it, but there was just something that felt really right about hearing our vows recited while we were playing with our son.

Presents waited until after his bedtime. With Christmas less than a week after our anniversary, we always say we won't go extravagant and instead focus on more sentimental anniversary presents.

When I read that pearls are the gemstones that represent third anniversaries, it reminded me of Nancy's mother's necklace, which Nancy wore on our wedding day. I found a bracelet that isn't a perfect match to the necklace, but complements it nicely.

Nancy went with the traditional--leather--and modern--crystal--gifts for third anniversaries. She gave me a leather wallet that was engraved on the inside with our initials and wedding date. And I'm going to have to find room on my desk at work for her other gift, a crystal frame with a picture we took with Henry on our last anniversary.

It's such a sweet photo, and it's almost hard to believe how much Henry has grown since then.

Our anniversary wasn't the only thing keeping us busy this month. We have a lot of family traditions we like to keep, and new ones we've started together.

Last year, Henry loved all the lights. Because he's mobile this year, we were concerned about him touching the tree and getting hurt, so we put up a baby gate a safe distance around it to make sure he wouldn't get too close. Space was an issue, so it's not really a big tree, but better safe than sorry.

Nancy found a really cool craft idea online so that Henry could have his own tree. We--by which I mean mainly Nancy while I kept Henry entertained--cut a tree pattern about Henry's height out of felt, which we stuck against a wall.

And then we--really we this time--cut out little ornament shapes from other colors of felt. And then we stuck velcro pieces on them so Henry would be able to stick them on the felt tree, pull them off, and stick them back on.

Henry really enjoyed playing with it, and he wanted everyone who visited to play too.

I think Henry's favorite part of this month was visiting his great-grandparents' farmhouse and getting to see the horses. We let him pet my grandparents' gentlest horse, Peaches. He's not old enough to ride, of course, but Nancy and I went for a little ride ourselves.

We spent Christmas Eve at Carson's house. Eloise was there, and my parents came too, and we all exchanged presents then.

We made everyone salt dough ornaments from Henry. Both of our families' trees still have ornaments we made when we were younger, so it was pretty cool seeing his hanging up beside our own. (We made extra for ours, of course.)

Mom gave us some presents to put under our tree from Henry.

For our joint present, Mom painted Merry Christmas in cursive on a canvas and then had Henry press multicolored fingerprints along the words so it looks like a string of Christmas lights.

Dad filmed the whole thing, thinking Henry's reaction might be hilarious to rewatch. It was actually a lot more sweet than funny, though. For the most part, Henry was happy to let his Grandma do whatever she wanted. But he did reach for Mom a lot, so she ended up with his fingerprints all over her too.

(Dad took a picture of the two of them once the project was over, and he put it in a frame for her for Christmas.)

Mom also had him help make individual presents for both of us. For mine, Mom gave him a blank piece of paper to scribble on with crayons. (He loves 'coloring.' When he sees me or Nancy writing, he always wants to try it too, so we'll give him some crayons and paper.) And then she put it in a frame alongside a picture I had drawn at a young age too.

I was, of course, partial to my gift, but Nancy's was great too. Mom gave her pot holders with Henry's handprints and "Mommy's helping hands" on it. She has them hanging near the oven as decoration  only. I don't think them getting ruined is quite a risk with her, but me on the other hand...

After we opened presents, we headed to my parents' house. Carson, Hannah, Eloise, and a lot of my extended family were there too. Henry got plenty of attention and even more gifts. Everyone was really generous--so generous in fact that I think Henry officially takes up 99% of the apartment.

I can't believe we're almost going to ring in 2018. I'm excited for what the new year will bring for my family. I know 2017 hasn't been a good year for a lot of people around the world, but hopefully some of those problems won't carry into 2018.

Hello, Tumblr! It feels like forever since @nancydrewnickerson or I posted. That's probably because our little guy is quickly becoming not so little. But with Halloween around the corner, it seems like a good time for an update.

I can't believe our little boy is one. We had a great day with family and friends, but now that it's just the three of us, I'm getting pretty sentimental (or sappy as @nancydrewnickerson keeps teasing).

In some ways, it feels like any time has passed since we brought him home from the hospital. But he's already grown so much that it's impossible to deny. His little personality is starting to shine through. Thankfully, he seems to have inherited most of Nancy's best qualities like her determination and curiosity. That might mean that we have to watch him even more closely, but it also means that when he grows up, he'll be eager to explore and take on the world.

And here comes the sentimental, sappy part. Thinking about him growing up makes me think about everything I want for him. I figured the best thing to do is to write it all down, so here goes...

The end of July has always been a good time for me. It’s when @nancydrewnickerson and I began dating (9 years tomorrow!), and now it’s when we get to celebrate our precious son.