the big announcement

Hi everyone. Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures over Thanksgiving so I don't have many to post. I doubt that I'll be posting any before Christmas but I'm going to make sure to take lots while we're in Virginia so get ready for January! Anyway, I just wanted to announce that in about 21 or so weeks, Nathan's little brother will be making his big debut! We just had the big ultrasound today so that was fun! Anyway, time to put the toddler--definitely no longer a baby--to bed. :)

The Baby With Many Talents

Here's my baby who cooks AND plays the piano. Ladies, just wait a few years. He'll be quite the catch. ;)

The Pirate and his Play-Doh

So here's my little pirate, all dressed up for Halloween. We went to a couple of things--our little library class had a march around the library last week and on Halloween we met Jimmy at his school so he could show off Nathan. The whole school (about 500 or so students plus all the staff) had lunch together that day and there was a costume contest. Nathan got to walk in it (with Jimmy escorting him) and the whole school cheered and clapped for him. He was nervous when we got there because there were so many new people in one place, but I think he got over it because he was smiling as he marched around the circle to the applause. :) What was funny about his being shy was that all the way there he was chattering in the back seat saying "happy, happy, happy," and "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" because I'd told him we were going to see Daddy. Then when we got there he was really reserved until we were inside and not around so many new faces at once!It was hard to get a picture of him with his hat on because he'd only keep it on for a few seconds. My mom and I decided that he's a pirate who pillages for cheese.
Here he is playing with Play-Doh this morning. He really likes playing with Play-Doh (it actually keeps him occupied for 20 or 25 minutes! AMAZING!) and gets to do it outside (another favorite) so it doesn't get smashed into the carpet. Here he is saying his favorite word. Can you guess it?? It's "no," of course! I don't think he was protesting anything, he just says it a lot.

A cute story

Nathan is a good sleeper and part of that is that he always (well, almost always) goes down for a nap or bedtime looking up at me from his crib smiling. The other day I heard him kind of talking and making noises to himself before he fell asleep. Today, he was laughing and it was pretty loud. Jimmy put him down for his nap and a few minutes later was standing by the door and said he could hear Nathan laughing. I started listening and I heard it too--from the living room! I guess within a few minutes he went to sleep because we didn't hear anymore from him until his nap was over. It's nice to have a happy baby. :-)

Lots of Pictures!!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks with a little commentary on what you're seeing. Enjoy!

Here is a little taste of Nathan's destructive habits. In this picture I had just separated the dirty laundry, went to answer the phone and less than a minute later came back to the laundry....unloaded onto the floor, from where I'd just picked it up.
This is about 3 lbs. of oatmeal that someone spilled on the floor. (Apparently I did something similar around Nathan's age, but I chose 5 lbs. of sugar as my weapon. I must say, oatmeal is probably easier to clean up than sugar.)
Just because he's cute.
"I like pancakes. Why are there no more pancakes on my plate?"
"More pancakes please, daddy!"
"Um, mom, my shoes are on and you said we're getting ready to leave. So I'm standing by the door, showing you where I want to go, trying to be patient but it's getting hard!"
Nathan likes phones. Notice he's got one for each hand.


"Ha! I'm the only one in the family who can fit between the fridge and the stove!"
"Uh-oh, this may be a problem. I think I'm stuuuuuuuuuck!"
Nathan's favorite chair (at the moment) because he can easily get in and out.
All finished! See you next time. :-)

Falling behind...

Update: We have not fallen off the face of the earth. There are pictures coming soon. Lots of them, so I have to find the time to actually upload them all! Hopefully by the end of the week...keep coming back because they'll be there eventually. :-)

time to vent a little

I just got an email forward from someone (who frequently sends me forwards with which I disagree because they're usually political and she and I don't agree on politics). This particular forward was about how Christians should send a letter to the Mrs. Fields company and/or boycott their products because they're removing the word "Christmas" from any of their products. This frustrates me. On the one hand, Christians complain about how Christmas has become so secularized and commercialized. I agree with this point. The whole point of Christmas is the birth of our Savior and to reflect on what he did for humankind. Some other, though certainly more minor, points are giving and spending time with family. So, it makes me sad how commercialized and secular Christmas has become and, in becoming so, how frustrating and depressing a time it is for many people.

Why, then, do the people who complain about the commercialization/secularization of Christmas care when secular industries won't say "Merry Christmas" or remove the phrase from their products? I think that people get separately offended because if you put the two thoughts together it would read something like this: "It offends me that such a holy season has been hijacked by commercialism and the real meaning of Christmas has been forgotten. And how dare those who have hijacked Christmas (with whom I'm offended for doing so) not wish me a "Merry Christmas" while I walk around their store angry that they've taken the real meaning out of the holiday!" It seems that if these industries are leaving Christmas out of it, we as Christians who want to focus on what it's really about, should be happy. Of course companies are going to target those who will be spending big bucks in December. It'd be stupid not to since their whole existence is based on people spending money. But if they'll leave Christmas out of it, aren't we getting exactly what we want?

Some Things I Forgot

In the past few minutes I've been reminded of a couple other cute things Nathan does:

8. Whenever he does something right or follows directions he always looks at us and claps, as though inviting us to clap for him and tell him what a good, smart boy he is. And we comply. :)

9. He likes to play peek-a-boo but he doesn't actually cover his eyes very well. He puts his hands somewhere on his face and we have to say "Where's Nathan?" until he takes his hands down, smiling, and then we say "Peek-a-boo!" and he laughs and does it again.

10. He likes to bring us his books one by one, pat us on the lap (sometimes he'll sign "please"), and have us pull him up. We'll start reading but he's really only interested in turning the pages so we don't get much reading done. Then he hops down and goes to get another book. Sometimes this goes on for quite a while because he'll go through all of the books he can get his hands on.

If I think of more things, I'll post them too!

Some Cute Things

Let me start of by apologizing for not having any new pictures to post. Nathan mostly does the same stuff over and over so there aren't as many picture opportunities as he gets older. He's also very interested in the camera so unless I'm very careful he stops what he's doing to attack it. And then sometimes I'm just too late. A few minutes ago I was going to take a little video of him reading Each Peach Pear Plum while sitting under the table, but as soon as I got the camera he stood up (hitting his head on the table which caused a few minutes of distress) so no video. Anyway, I thought I'd share some cute things he does that aren't so easy to capture on camera. Instead of trying to come up with witty prose, I'll just put them in a numbered list. :)

1. No one is allowed to be barefoot for very long because if you are, he'll bring you shoes. He almost always brings us adult shoes to put on our feet and baby shoes to put on his feet, though he sometimes takes my shoes to Jimmy. He brings them one at a time, taps your foot with the shoe, and once you've put it on goes to get the match. He's never messed up (so far) and brought mis-matched shoes.

2. He likes to read out loud from books. Well, maybe he just likes to chatter which he does constantly, but when he's chattering and turning the pages of a book it looks like he's reading.

3. He waves when you say "bye bye" and this morning for the first time he said "bye bye" himself!

4. He has several words: duck (the definition for which he's narrowed down to birds, water, and occasionally books, but he always says "duck" if he's actually looking at a duck), daddy, uh-oh, bye-bye (as of this morning), and for many words that I say he is definitely trying to mimic the sound but doesn't get it right and doesn't say the words independently (for instance, on a number of occasions he's repeated "purple" and "bubble").

5. He is a very social baby and, like his parents, always wants to be around people. He's got no separation anxiety as long as there are other people around (leaving him in the nursery or in the care of others is never a problem). He therefore follows me around the apartment like a puppy. But hey--his parents follow each other from room to room so it's no big surprise. :)

6. Nathan really likes cell phones and wallets. He likes pushing buttons of all sorts and unloading everything so I think he likes those two things in particular because we generally don't let him have them. Well, if he gets hold of a cell phone and sees us coming, he turns, holds out his arms in front of him as far as he can and runs in the opposite direction yelling. Then we take it away and he as a meltdown for a couple of seconds until something else grabs his attention.

7. When we sit down to eat a meal and Jimmy and I put our hands out, he immediately grabs them because he knows it's time for the blessing.

All in all, he's a really cute kid. Hopefully he's still doing some of these cute things when you get to see him. :)

Nathan and his monkey

You may recognize Nathan's monkey as his leash, which it is. Apparently it's now taken on the role of part-time security item. (Part-time because he doesn't require it all of the time but is very affectionate toward it when he finds it.) As you can see below, he's quite fond of his little monkey. In the second picture his right hand is raised because I snapped the picture while he was in the middle of patting the monkey. By the way, he's watching Jimmy heat up his dinner. That's why he was so focused in the same direction long enough for multiple pictures. Oh, and he doesn't actually wear that shirt every day (though I do like it--thanks David and Charlotte!!), he's just happened to do some cute stuff while wearing it recently.

May 4, 2008

Is the due date of this cute little baby currently growing inside me. :) Granted, I feel sick most of the time but I am trying to force myself to think past that to what it will be like to hold this baby for the first time. It will be so worth the sickness. :) One of my best friends growing up, Kate, claims May 4 as her birthday (mine is May 3, by the way, and her cousin Karen is May 5 and we were all close). Kate has said that if the baby is in fact born on May 4, we have to name him/her Katequito, no matter the gender. I told her we'll think about it. ;)

A Sad Story

*This is not about Nathan so if that's what you're here for, you might be disappointed.*

Let me tell you a sad story. There once was a football team called the Washington Redskins. They were 2-0 going into the game with their arch enemies, the New York Giants, who were 0-2. This game was actually televised on the West Coast which excited the Redskins fans living there because those poor forgotten fans never actually get to see their guys play. Things were looking good. The 'Skins were wearing throwback uniforms which looked pretty goofy, but they were up 17-3 at the half so who cares? During halftime they apparently decided they could send in some high school players in their place and they, the Redskins, could take a break. What did this mean? About three first downs the whole second half, no scoring, including when they were first and goal with 45 seconds left, and they lost 24-17. If that story doesn't make you get a little misty-eyed, I don't know what will.

Nathan's leash and shoes

I think I mentioned previously that I got Nathan some new shoes and a little backpack leash. He likes to bring the backpack over to me when we're at home because he likes wearing it around. Here are a couple of pictures of it.


And his new shoes.

And Daddy undressing him for his bath outside because we'd gone to the park so his clothes and shoes were filled with sand!

Nathan and dips

Nathan likes to eat whatever we're eating. Jimmy usually comes home from school and has Triscuits with cream cheese and we've given it to Nathan a few times. Well, it took him about 5 seconds to realize that what he really likes is the cream cheese so he licks it off and hands the cracker back to us so we can reload it. If we just had him a naked cracker, he hands it back to us or makes a dipping motion. Today we tried hummus and spinach dip which proved to get the same results. He also likes to dip his pacifier in stuff. I had a glass of water on the table by our couch and he wanted to dip it in the water, and one time he was having yogurt with banana for breakfast and he wanted to dip over and over again the paci in the yogurt. Anyway, here are some very messy pictures of Nathan enjoying the spinach dip.

Oh, and I tried taking a video of him wearing his little backpack (which is really a leash but the packaging says "harness" so we can go out in public and he can't run away) playing with his reflection in the oven door. It was hilarious because he was just laughing and screaming so much. As soon as the camera came out, though, he was only interested in that. (By the way, he was wearing his leash at home because it's a stuffed monkey backpack and he really likes it so he brought it over to me to put on his back.)

Uuuuggghhh...

Yep, that's about how this poppy seed parasite is making me feel right about now. And I don't use "parasite" in the extremely negative way that most people would associate with that word, but what is this tiny embryo/fetus if not a parasite? Exactly. Anyway, if any of you out there have suggestions on how to survive pregnancy with a toddler in tow, please give me advice. Nathan is a wonderful baby, don't get me wrong. He was very happy to wander around today while I just loafed about, not having the energy to do much of anything and feeling like I would vomit if I moved too much. Still, I need to take care of him. And change his diapers which hasn't proven to be a problem yet, but if this pregnancy is like the last those days are numbered. My sense of smell climbed to heights I didn't know existed when I was pregnant with Nathan and most smells bothered me (as in sometimes made me sick, literally). Diapers are stinky. So....you see where I'm going with this. Too bad he's not older or we'd seriously be focusing on potty training. I think it's a good thing that the joy of children wipes away (most) negative memories of pregnancy and childbirth or no one would have more than one. :)

Here's a little video of Nathan running around with Jimmy's tie around his head. :) Enjoy!

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted anything. I have a reason, though: it takes a long time. Uploading these pictures takes a while and unless Nathan is willing to play nicely (like he is right now), it's hard to go back and forth between the blog and saving him from whatever trouble he's getting into. And when he's asleep I'm usually either catching my breath or running around like a crazy person trying to get to all of the things I really can't do while he's awake.

I have decided that I'm the mother to a monkey. He has learned to climb pretty well, and that's kind of scary. What's also scary is the fact that sometime next May, he will be a big brother. Yep, that's right, I'll have two babies just 22 months apart. I've heard other people have done it and lived so hopefully I will too. :)

Anyway, here's a little story about Nathan to explain the next three pictures. He LOVES being read to. Every day, multiple times a day, without fail, he will go over to where his board books are and pull them off of the shelf one by one bringing them to me (or whomever) and patting my lap until I pick him up and read to him. But what he's most interested in is not the story but turning pages himself. And he does not discriminate when it comes to who reads to him. Anyone who visits gets the pleasure.

The last two pictures are just kind of random funny pictures of him.

OH! And he got big boy shoes last week. They're REALLY cute. When I have a picture of them I'll post them.

Jimmy's brother's family flew back to Mongolia Wednesday. They stayed with us Tuesday night. Nathan and his cousin, who is only 3 weeks older, always seemed to find each other. Here they are helpfully unfolding clean, folded laundry...

...and plotting to do something naughty, no doubt.



Here is my little man hiding. I came out from the back of the apartment and couldn't find him anywhere. I was getting a little scared when I noticed something behind the chair: a little person! I had been putting the large gray circular chair in front of the bookcase to prevent little hands from pulling down the books and tearing out pages, but he got clever and figured out how to crawl behind the chair to get to the books. Oh well, how can I be mad at a baby who wants to read The Case for Christ??

Pictures and thoughts

Not that many of you care too much about my musings, but I thought I'd write some anyway. This morning I was at the grocery store and was buying peaches. Seeing the little stickers on every single peace made me think about the jobs I wouldn't want. One is putting the stickers on produce. Another is tying together all the hundreds of balloons that fly above the car dealerships near our home (on this particular stretch of road you can find any kind of car you're looking for because there are about 15 dealerships).

Anyway, here's what you really came for: pictures of Nathan.

A man with good taste.

Just because he's so stinkin' cute.

Ripping up all of the trash you can find is a tiring job.

Walking like a pro!!