Thanksgiving Turkey and other wonders

Nathan had a great time on his first Thanksgiving. He loved eating turkey for the first time. He loved eating squash, he loved eating a tiny taste of mashed potatoes, he did not love eating broccoli, but did anyway. Notice a theme? Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

8 months and change

Somehow Nathan keeps growing up... He enjoyed a visit with Grandma recently, and charmed her with his personality. He loves the toys she brought him! Nathan is not crawling yet, but he's close and very interested in pulling up although he can't quite do it. (Our camera is really on its last legs! The quality of the pictures is terrible, but the content is not)

Happy Halloween!

We're all enjoying Halloween together. Nathan loves the pumpkins. More than that, he loves his tongue!!! It's sticking out all the time now. No crawling, but lots of movement. He rolls like a champ, scoots backwards, and rocks back and forth on all fours. Only a matter of time now before it'll be a race to keep him out of trouble. Perhaps he'll lose some of his baby chub when he's more mobile. Right now he's quite pleasingly plump as you can see. (Was it mean to take a picture while he was backed into a corner? I couldn't resist...)

Special visitors

We've been lucky to have several special visits this fall and we're behind in sharing the photos. My college roommate, Kelly, and her husband, Craig, spent a day with us back in September. It was great to reconnect and catch up. As usual, Nathan enjoyed being the center of attention!

In early October, Nathan's cousins Jasper and Suzy came for a visit with Julie and Tim. We had a great time with the kids. Suzy gave Nathan ideas about getting around- she really is on the go. (Nathan is not, but getting closer every day.) Jasper showed both babies what big kids can do- he is really quite capable and a wonderful, playful big brother and cousin.

One year blogiversary

I was writing the date on something and remembered (because I'm insanely nostalgic) that one year ago today we went in for our "big" ultrasound and learned that Nathan was healthy and a little boy. We started the blog and in some ways, our journey with him. The time flies. Every day it seems that Nathan is doing something new from playing with his tongue to asserting his personhood at the dinner table. Life is good. (Yes, we let our baby play with balloons... But hey, he loved it and we were watching the whole time.)

Busy days and new milestones

(courtesy Ajay)

It's been a hectic few weeks. Nathan is doing very well these days. Drumroll please, he's sleeping amazingly well after we intervened a few weeks ago with a sleep-training program. He responded well and quickly! A typical night has him in his crib from 7:30pm until about 4-5am, then he'll be back down until 6-6:30. He's even slept through three complete nights. It makes a big difference to all three of us. In other news, Nathan is officially sitting! He still tips and falls, but can sit for several minutes at a time and even play with a toy or better yet, try to eat his socks. We're all enjoying fall weather when it is seasonally cool, and are looking forward to Halloween (thanks Josh).

Nathan's first apple-picking adventure

We had a great afternoon picking apples with several of Nathan's cousins. He really seemed to enjoy it, grabbing at apples and leaves and watching people. We coordinated his outfit for the occasion (thanks Jennie!). Poor guy tired out by the end. You can see that Daddy enjoyed the fruits of Nathan's labor...

Wow, hard to go back to work after a nice day like this one!

Six months (and a few days)

Unbelievable how time does fly. We're enjoying Nathan, he's enjoying food and hopefully us. The six-month stats are in: 28 in and 18lbs,10 oz. Our boy is nearly 90th percentile in height and weight, growing nicely. Sleeping is still a problem with small signs of improvement here and there. Nathan is on the move- rolling that is to grab at toys or anything in sight. He's almost sitting. He loves to grab hair, ears, noses, you name it. Can't believe it's been a half year with our baby!

Little Rocky

We took a series of pictures of Nathan modeling his bathrobe. We had a lot of fun with it as you can see. He could be a movie star, no?

In other news, Nathan is eating solid foods! The list is growing: rice cereal, carrots, peas, prune juice, steak. Just kidding on that last one. He loves to eat, but won't drink from a cup. The juice was needed, you guessed why, and he got it from a medicine dropper. He liked it! And it worked!!! The only thing Nathan won't touch is soy formula. We don't blame him, it smells really bad. (Since daycare has started, he needs a little formula. His skin has had some flairs of eczema- his pediatrician suspects a mild milk allergy is causing it, so we tried soy but he refuses to drink it... We're letting ourselves think the skin problem might not be an allergy since that's the easy way out.)

Reunion

We had a great time with friends over the weekend. Josh and Touch met Nathan for the first time. Nathan did well despite catching a nasty cold. He's feeling better now, and daycare is actually going quite well. It makes us happy that he's having good days. Knock on wood, he's also been having decent nights. Nathan has slept in longer stretches lately (5 hours last night!). We're REALLY happy about that and hope it continues to get better.

A few pics from the weekend (courtesy Touch):

w/Touch:



w/Josh


w/Josh and Graham


happy guy

last gasps of summer

We continue to survive these first new days apart. All three of us are adjusting to very early mornings. Nathan is sporting a rash and his bottom teeth are just starting to poke through his gum, so he's not his happiest self. Chris and I struggle to know what to do as parents with his symptoms that are not serious, but not resolving. We'll see the pediatrician tomorrow, since he probably knows better than us what might be going on.

We've had a few fall-like days here, and with the start of my classes just one week away, it feels like the end of summer. Part of me is so sad to let go of my summer. It was just wonderful to get this time at home with Nathan. Yes some days were hard, but what could beat slow walks and naps together with no schedule? I am trying not to dwell on the fact it's over, but be happy that the time simply was. This is not a strong point of mine, but I do try. Here are a few more pictures from our vacation.

One hippo, alone once more...

Nathan is at daycare now for a short first day. Believe it or not, the dropoff went really well! He started playing immediately on the floor with new toys and went to the teachers happily. This was after a rough cranky start at home so we were relieved beyond words. We were pleased to find the staff really friendly and kind; we feel that he's in good hands. What else can I say besides I miss him desperately.

We read "Hippos Go Berserk" to Nathan at night, which ends with the line "one hippo, alone once more, misses the other forty-four." That's how I feel, except I miss my two boys. Now I must do some actual work to make this whole thing worth it!

Nathan's second visit to the Twin Cities

We've been in Minnesota for almost a week now, and Nathan has had a lot of time to visit with his cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandma with Suzy and Nathan, her two youngest grandchildren at the time of this picture...


...but that changed pretty quickly.

We were lucky enough to be here for the birth of Nathan's 11th cousin, Amaya Lynn.

Amaya at 1 day old with her parents, all of her cousins, and most of her aunts and uncles:


...and at 3 days old:


Here are some shots of Nathan and his cousins Jasper and Suzy on our trip to a local park:



























A nice shot of Nathan with Mommy :)


Nathan and Suzy playing...

...and holding hands (in matching, super-stylish outfits).


Nathan's aunt Julie with Jasper and Suzy: