Chattin' on the Phone

Brian taught this to Nathan. Every time he does it, I can't get over how adorable he looks. Happy New Year everyone!

PS. I will blog about Christmas, but it won't be until next week sometime. I actually didn't take that many pictures or videos but I'll share what I have!

The Chronicles of the Cast

It's been three weeks  since Nathan broke his arm, so Tuesday morning Nathan and I headed back to the doctors office. I knew that they would be taking the cast off and I assumed that we would have another X-ray, but I still wasn't prepared for all the fun that was in store for us!

But before we even got on our way, trauma befell us. Literally. Nathan was standing at the entrance to the sunporch (gate open) watching Nana and Granddad take their luggage out to the car when he somehow slipped and ended up face down on the step. He came away with a red bruised area on his left eye.  And it only got worse from there.

I will say that getting your cast sawed off would be unnerving for anyone and definitely scary for any child. Nathan certainly made the tech earn his pay as he screamed and writhed as his cast was cut. Thankfully I could tell the tech had had dealt with screaming children before as he efficiently and quickly dealt with the situation.  Next we were off to the x-ray room, which Nathan must have remembered from our last visit because he got upset as soon as we got into the room. Thankfully they didn't strap Nathan to a board this time; instead he got to sit in my lap as he had his arm X-rayed on a table top unit.  Nathan still wasn't pleased with the experience and cried the whole time. Then we were off to be checked in at the orthopedist's office, which included taking Nathan's height, weight and temperature. More crying.

The only part of the experience that Nathan stayed relatively calm for was the exam by the physician. He said that the X-rays showed that the bones were healing well, but his preference was to provide support to the healing area for another two weeks. Normally that would entail a brace or splint, however Nathan's arm was so short that they didn't have anything that would fit him, which meant a soft cast.  The soft cast is basically a repeat of the long arm hard cast we've had, but with a slight give.  Actually I can't tell much of a difference between the two and I don't think Nathan can either.  The one huge benefit of the soft cast is that at the end of the two weeks, Brian and I will be able to unwrap and take it off ourselves! That is a relief!

Laughing in the Snow

Nathan and Nana came up with a hilarious snow game.  Why is it funny?  Only Nathan could explain and he still doesn't talk.  So let me know if you figure it out...

A White Christmas

 It started snowing around noon on Christmas and didn't stop until this morning, giving us about 6" of snow to play in today!  We bundled up this morning and braved the cold, not knowing how Nathan would react to it all.  We started off with a smile and thumbs up (not intentional, I'm sure)...

 ...but then promptly tipped over and face-planted into the snow.  He was not happy!

Nathan rallied admirably...

...and was giggling up a storm as he and Nana made a game of pushing the snow off Brian's pick-up truck (video to follow, hopefully).

Then Brian decided to start a snowball fight with me!

I retaliated and then he hit my camera with his next throw.  After a cease-fire allowed me to dry off my camera and leave it safely in the house, I went back out for some revenge.  Snowball on the back of Brian's unprotected neck!  But Nathan didn't understand it was all fun and games with Brian and my snowball fight, and started crying again.  As I calmed him back down, Nana and Brian built a snowman for Nathan, so the camera came out again for a final picture.  

 

Nathan's Christmas Eve Present

Growing up, our family had a tradition of opening up one present on Christmas Eve evening. I think its a fun tradition and want to keep it going for our family. But I didn't actually buy a designated present for Nathan to open tonight... oops!  However Nana and Granddad came through with one!  And Nathan LOVED it!  He played with it for 10 or 15 minutes and then cried when I took it away from him so that he could get ready for bed.  Way more exciting than pajamas, I give you...

The Cast Can't Stop Nathan!

Brian gifted me with an Ipod Touch for my birthday, which has a built in camera that I've been testing out these past few days. I finally got some of the videos uploaded and can share them with you. I've decided that I don't love the ipod for taking videos all the time (the video is oddly shaped), but it will be nice for capturing memories on the fly when I don't have the other camera handy. So enough chit chat...

From Broken Arm to Ear Infection

We've had kind of a rough week this past week.  It took Nathan a few days to get used to his cast, but then he was able to walk, scoot (at least until he got to something that he could pull up on) and sometimes stand up on his own.  The cast itself didn't seem to bother or even interest Nathan.  I may have seen him looking at it and tapping on it once, but he basically ignores it. 

Toward the end of the week last, Nathan started to get VERY clingy and was pretty fussy on Saturday.  Sunday after church Nathan started running a fever and that afternoon while Brian was at work Nathan just wanted to be held and sleep on me.  That evening and the next morning, he had a temperature of 103.1, but Brian and I agreed that I didn't need to take him to the doctor.  I guess our reasoning was that it was likely a virus and there wasn't much the pediatrician could do for him anyways.  Almost all of Monday I held Nathan again, but that evening we found out that one of our little friends, Penny, had tested positive for the flu, so Brian and I agreed that I would take him to the pediatrician Tuesday morning.  Nathan woke up feeling better, so I was tempted to skip the pediatrician appointment, but decided to call the office and speak to a nurse about whether he needed to be seen or not.  She recommended that we come in since Nathan was still so young.  As it turned out, Nathan didn't have the flu, he had his first ear infection!  So we've been on antiobiotics since yesterday morning and Nathan is feeling much better!  However, he is having a MAJORLY runny nose, so we are all having fun (not!) dealing with that. 

I know I've been slack about updating the blog this month, and that will likely continue as things get busier with Christmas just around the corner.  So I'm going to make it one of my New Year's Resolutions to get back on top of blog updating.  But until then, you may or may not hear much from us!

An Unfortunate Break

Monday morning I was sitting at the table eating breakfast when I heard "Thump, thump... thump, thump... WHAAAAAAAAAAA!"  As I bolted out of my chair headed for Nathan's room, I thought there were a few more thumps then normal.  As I rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw the open door to the basement, my heart sank and I knew why I heard so many thumps: Nathan fell down the stairs.  I flew down into the basement and snatched Nathan up from where he was lying on the floor, knowing the thin layer of carpet would have provided little padding considering the concrete slab underneath.  

As I picked him up, I was thinking to myself, "What if his neck or back is broken?  Could I have made things worse by picking him up?"  But I don't think there was any way I could have prevented myself from grabbing him.  I sat with him on the floor and rocked him as I tried to calm him down some.  Finally he started to get quieter, only to to start right back up again with the screaming.  I picked him up and headed upstairs, grabbing my phone before sitting down with him on the rocking chair in his room. 

The most obvious injury was on his forehead, which was all scraped up in one area.  But he was moving his arms and legs, a great sign!  I finally got him calmed down, so I paged Brian with a "911" page to see if I should take him to the emergency room or not.  Then I called the pediatrician in case Brian couldn't return my call immediately.  Unfortunately the office wasn't open yet, so I had to leave a message for the on-call nurse who would call me back.  Thankfully as I was getting off that call, Brian beeped in.  I told him what had happened and we agreed that I should bring him to the ER to get examined.

I was still in my pjs, so I took Nathan into my room and sat him down on the floor and handed him my phone to hopefully entertain him.  As I was getting dressed, he tried to scoot and just collapsed in a heap on the floor, crying loudly.  That made me even more worried because clumsiness was a sign of head trauma.  I grabbed our coats, his bag, a sippy cup, snacks and my purse and flew out the door.  As I was pulling in to the ER parking lot, Brian called - he was there to meet us.  Thank you God!

At the ER, they took us straight back, and after a few frustrating minutes of trying to weigh Nathan ("of course he's not going to sit still on the scale for you to weigh him and was this really necessary?!" I was thinking to myself!!) we were taken back to a bed.  The resident came over and talked to us about what happened, then looked Nathan over top to bottom.  She said it looked like he was ok, she would talk to the attending physician and we would stay so they could keep an eye on Nathan for a while.  We were there for about two hours before we were given the all-clear to take Nathan home.  I would need to keep a close eye on him for the next 24 hours, but it was ok if he napped.

Nathan was exhausted by this point, so as soon as we got home I put him to bed and I took a nap myself.  I heard him fussing after only half an hour and then he was up at an hour.  I could tell he didn't feel very good because he just wanted to cuddle with me and would just cry when I set him down.  After watching him for a while, I could tell that his left wrist was really hurting him. I called Brian back again and we agreed that I would call the pediatrician and see what they said.  I called and again had to leave a message for the nurse.  Meanwhile Nathan fell asleep on my lap on the couch.

Around 2:30 I got a call from the nurse.  After I explained everything that had happened, she consulted with out pediatrician and they sent us straight for an x-ray of Nathan's wrist.  Depending on what the x-ray showed, we would determine what to do next.  I bundled us back up and headed to the doctors office.

The x-ray was horrible!  They had to strap Nathan to a board, with his right hand wedged up by his head.  Then they took his left hand and taped it to a piece of plastic to keep it straight.  I stood by his head and tried to comfort him, with no luck.  Thankfully the x-rays didn't take too long and Nathan and I headed back to the waiting room while the x-ray was read.

Nathan's arm was broken.  Both the radius and ulna were fractured near the wrist.  They squeezed us in for an appointment with an orthopedic PA, who told me that Nathan would have to be in a cast for 3 weeks.  Though Nathan only needed a forearm cast, he recommended a long arm cast (past the elbow) because it was less likely Nathan would pull his arm out of it.  So we were sent to the cast room.

Unfortunately there was a long line for the cast room that afternoon, but thankfully Nathan was feeling ok at this point.  We made friends with the family of three little boys in front of us, and then Nathan started waving at everyone who passed us in the hallway.  Brian was able to get off work and meet us just before it was Nathan's turn to get the cast applied.  That process went better then I had anticipated.

 As we were finally leaving the medical center, Brian offered to take my car and Nathan and pick us up some food for dinner.  I thankfully took him up on his offer so that I could go home and finally take a shower and brush my teeth for the first time that day. After Brian got home and we had dinner, Brian installed an automatic door closer on the door to the basement (like what's usually installed on screen doors).  Before, the basement door didn't always latch when it closed, and Oreo the cat had become a pro at getting the unlatched door open.  But the door closer makes the door latch about 90% of the time and even when it doesn't, it provides enough resistance that neither a cat nor a little boy could open the door themselves (in fact, I have to yank pretty hard on the door to get it open myself!)

In the two days since the fall, Nathan has done very well.  He doesn't seem bothered by the cast specifically, though it does present quite a few problems for his mobility.  Thankfully he can walk well now, though the cast threw his balance off a little.  It also prevents him from scooting and makes standing up difficult without the full use of that arm.  But for the most part, we're both taking this all in stride.  And we are VERY thankful that Nathan escaped from this disaster with only a cast and a few scrapes on his head to show for it!

Towering Towers

Nathan keeps me entertained and impressed with his increasing building skills. I thought I'd snap a few pictures of the towers he's built over the past week to share!

Here's the progression of what turned into Nathan's most impressive tower to date...

He actually didn't have any luck getting that last block to stay on top and the whole thing came tumbling down. He usually doesn't bat an eye when his carefully crafted building lies in shambles around him. He just takes the next block he was planning on using and starts building something new!

The Great "One Nap" Experiment

Well, it lasted all of two days.  But I had high hopes.

You see, for months Nathan was sleeping like clockwork.  He would sleep from 7pm to 7am, then take his first nap at 9am and his second nap between 1 and 2 pm, both of which would usually last an hour a piece.

And then back in September we started having trouble with going to sleep at night without us in the room.  And then he got sick and was up at all hours during the night and early in the morning.  And then he got sick again and was up at night again.  And then the time changed which threw us all off our schedules.  And then we tried going to church on Wednesday nights which gets Nathan to bed 1.5 hours after his normal bedtime, resulting in lots of early morning wakeups (for some reason, instead of sleeping in after a late night, Nathan likes to get up even earlier then usual!).  And then Nathan decides to not go to sleep at night and/or that he likes really early morning wakings for no discernible reason at all.  And then... and then...  So basically for the last 3ish months I can never predict how our nights are going to go.  And as the (slightly excessive) planner that I am, it really irks me to not know what to expect.

To apply logic to the situation (which I know is probably a mistake!) the only thing I haven't tried yet is to transition him to one nap.  He will sporadically have one nap days, usually due to Sunday morning church or Thursday morning bible study, but overall he is still a two nap kid.  But my thinking is that if he only has one nap during the days, he'll make up for the lost sleep during the night and go back to glorious the 7pm/7am sleeping habit.

I started out the experiment on Monday.  Brian, unexpectedly, was awake for the day after a night of call, so we went to buy a Christmas tree during our normal morning nap time.  The rest of the morning remained pretty entertaining with setting up the Christmas tree, then Nathan took a good 1.5 hour-ish nap after lunch.  He went to bed great that night, but unfortunately was up at 6am yesterday morning.  After I let him talk to himself a little to see if he would fall back asleep, I went in to try and rock him back to sleep.  After rocking with me a few minutes, he sat up purposefully and pointed to the noise machine (meaning: turn off the sleep-time noise) then pointed to the bookcase (meaning: read me a book) and then the light switch and the window (meaning: turn on the lights and open up the window shade, its time to get up!).

On Tuesday's there's a "Movement and Music" class offered at the public library (similar to Kindermusic except that its free!), so Nathan and I headed there from 11-11:45.  On the way home, Nathan was trying his hardest to fall asleep in the car, while I was doing everything I could to keep him awake.  Once home, I quickly fed him some lunch, but as he was finishing he started to fall asleep in his high chair!  I whisked him off for a nap, from which he woke up after 80 minutes, so I rocked him for another 40 minutes.  Last night he was so tired, but it took him forever (and me coming in multiple times and rocking him twice) to fall asleep, and then he was up early again this morning.  At 9am he started getting really fussy and I decided to put us both out of our misery and put him down for a nap.  He went right to sleep, and thus the end of the "one nap" experiment (for now)!

PS. Nathan just woke up talking to himself, which means he's in a great mood from his nap!  I even heard a few "dickles" from him!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

For the first time in our married lives, we bought a real Christmas tree this year! This past weekend, when I said that I was going to set up the tree, Brian said that we could get a real tree this year.  I jumped at the offer!

I grew up with real trees as a kid, and they have a special place in my heart.  I love that you go as a family and pick it out, and I LOVE the smell it brings to the house.  The first Christmas after we got married we bought a fake tree have have used it every year since.  I have to say that fake trees are a cheaper route (especially when you buy a really cheap one like we did) and are more convenient, but I have continued to pine (get it?!) for a real tree. 

Brian had a 24 hour call shift yesterday but was super fortunate to get lots of sleep last night.  So this morning we bundled up and headed out to a local tree stand to pick out the perfect tree!

Daddy and Nathan having fun looking at all the trees.

Nathan wasn't thrilled when I pulled up the hood to keep him a little warmer.

We found the one!

 Loaded up on the truck.

Once home, it was time to trim branches and cut the tree to the correct height (it was slightly too tall for our room).  I got a hat and gloves for Nathan, hoping that he would toddle around the carport or at least sit on some blankets while I helped Brian.  Unfortunately after Daddy spent a while getting Nathan's mittens on (so that his thumbs were in the thumb holes, which Mommy never takes the time to ensure), Nathan decided he really didn't want to be outside.

But once the tree was inside and up, Nathan was pretty interested again.  Daddy gave him a branch off the top of the tree and Nathan had fun turning it this way and that and then using it to hit stuff. 

 Nathan's still not quite sure why there's a live tree in the house.

We got about 3/4 of the way through lighting the tree and realized that we didn't have enough strands to complete the job.  I guess this tree is significantly larger then our fake one!  So I'm off to the store tomorrow or Wednesday to get more lights so we can continue the decorating process.  I'll be sure to share the end result (and maybe even the middle steps) with you!

Nathan Attacks... and Walks!

So some of you have already gotten a sneak peek of these videos.  I uploaded them two days ago but never got back around to finishing this post.  For some reason, sometimes you can see my other uploaded videos at the end of the posted videos and sometimes not?  Anyways...

Wednesday Brian got home from work early.  Hooray!  He and Nathan were having fun playing on the floor, then Nathan went in on the attack...

...following which, he walked all the way across the kitchen to see me! (or perhaps it was the camera that prompted this incredible feat.)

Since these videos were taken, Nathan has become even an even bolder walker. He'll let go and just start wandering around the house. This morning, Nathan was in his bedroom when he heard David at the table and he walked the whole way to see what was going on! Its amazing how quickly his confidence and abilities are improving! Good job big boy!

Up and Down!

I think the problem with me and the blog lately is that I don't have much inspiration for interesting topics.  But to keep the blog going, I guess I'll have to lower my standards slightly.  So here we go! 

Nathan and I have a fun "game" that we play that I'll call Up and Down.  It goes like this: Nathan's standing next to something and then he'll squat down.  I'll say "down....down..." until he stands up, at which point I'll say "Up!... Up!..."  Fun, right?  But just in case you don't get the concept, Nathan and I will demonstrate the game for you!

Dickle, Jickle

Yes, nonsense "words", but somewhere between the pronunciation of these two words is Nathan's new favorite sound.  He's not saying "pickle", though we did give him one to taste and he was unimpressed.  And he's not saying "tickle", though both Brian and I like to do that to him multiple times during the day.  But it is a fun "word" to pronounce, and its appropriate for any occasion.  Give it a try, you might like it!  And its much more promising then his other favorite sound, "no"!

Christmas Cards from Shutterfly

So this is the first time I’ve done this, but I have to admit I love the idea of using my blog to get free stuff.  Especially when that free stuff is what I was planning on purchasing anyway!  I’ve mentioned that this is the first year that I’m going to attempt to send out Christmas cards.  First step: get great family photo – Check! (Thanks again Jennie).  Second step: Pick out a card design online and order cards.  Step three: Get everyone’s addresses.  Step four: Address, post and mail the cards. 

Right now I’m on step number two, so I’ve been poking around the internet looking at different places to order my cards from.  I was looking at some cute designs at Shutterfly the other night, and then the next day I read on a friend's blog about an awesome promo that they're doing.  I write a little post about the Shutterfly promo and get free cards.  If you have a blog, you can too!  Click here for the promo, or click here to preview their Christmas cards.  There's so many cute designs to choose from!  I'm not going to tell you which Christmas card design we picked, mostly because we haven't made a final decision, but also since you've seen our photos I'm going to keep one thing a surprise!

Walking!!

Jennie and Adam came over for dinner the other night (taquitos - a big hit!), and I asked my favorite family photographer to branch out and become our videographer.  We now have video proof of Nathan walking.  Enjoy!

A Great Visit and a BIG Milestone!

Once again I am long overdue for a blog post. I have so much to share I don't know where to start!

Grandmother and Granddaddy drove over for a visit last week, and what a visit it was! They got to see Nathan at his best, at his worst, and (as an extra special treat) they were here for a big milestone!

But let me back up... The teeth that I reported as being a birthday surprise actually didn't all come in on Nathan's birthday. The bottom tooth had cut through, but we only were seeing the top two teeth through the gums.  Finally, during G & G's visit last week, the other two teeth finally decided erupt. Two new teeth = very unhappy Nathan. Thursday night we all went out to eat at a new restaurant in town and we had the BEST food. Granddaddy and I both got thai green curry which was fantastic, Brian got sushi which was also very good, and Grandmother got pad thai which was ok.  Unfortunately, Brian and I had to take turns walking Nathan around the restaurant because he didn't want to eat or sit still, but we still had a nice evening.  Then later that night, Nathan gave us a reminder about how happy we should be when he doesn't decide to be up for 1.5 hours in the wee hours of the morning.  How happy should we be?  VERY HAPPY!

Friday morning Grandmother and I made bread together, and it turned out AMAZING! I'm baking again today (first time by myself!!) because we decimated those two loaves in 4 days. Nathan wasn't eager to try the bread at first, but once we convinced him to take a bite, he became a #1 fan. For the rest of Friday, we just hung around the house, doing some cooking, playing with Nathan, Granddaddy worked on some whittling, Grandmother got some reading time in, and Nathan decided it wasn't a napping day :(. Friday night, after we finished feasting on homemade bread, pork tenderloin, broccoli, acorn squash and carrot cake, I had a flash of brilliance. We were all still sitting around the dining table when I said to Brian, "See if Nathan will walk to me." I'm not sure why I thought of it, we hadn't tried it before with Nathan, but I guess it was meant to be because Nathan did it!!  He took two or three steps and WALKED to me!!  Then he turned around and did it again back to Brian!  And back and forth we went, quite a few times.  We were all so excited and impressed with Nathan, and we could tell he was pretty proud of himself as well!  Since then he has taken up to six or seven steps by himself, so we're getting closer to having a toddler!

Another cool thing that Nathan did during the visit was follow some pretty complex commands for the first time.  He already will follow directions in certain instances, like when I hold him next to a light switch and ask him to turn it on or off for me, or if I tell him to go get the kittens, he'll scoot over to them, or I'll set him down at the book case and ask him to pick out a book for us to read.  But on Friday I asked him to go get the (stuffed) cat that sings "Jesus Loves Me" and bring it back to me so that we could sing together.  So he looked to where I was pointing, sat down, scooted over to the cat, grabbed it, scooted back and handed it back to me.  I was amazed that he understood and followed my directions so well!  He did it again later when I asked him to bring "Pat the Bunny" to me for us to read.  So impressed!

And if all that wasn't enough, Nathan finally has a second sign that he will use (sometimes).  I've been pushing pretty hard during the last two weeks for Nathan to say "eat" with his hands before I feed him a meal or a snack.  I'll show him the sign with my hands while I say "eat" and then I'll take his hand and do the sign.  Well FINALLY he did the sign on his own when I asked him "Can Nathan say eat, eat?"  Slowly but surely he's starting to communicate back to us.

Well, I think that brings everyone up to date.  Until next time...

Snack Time

A Haircut Discussion

Brian said to me yesterday, “Nathan’s hair is getting kind of long. I think its time for a haircut!”  I'm not sure who this "Nathan" is that Brian was speaking of, because it certainly couldn't be our son Nathan, where I can still his scalp through his minimal amount of hair. But just in case that's who Brian was talking about, I gave him a firm "Uh, NO!"  Not to be deterred, he responded, "Look at all this hair on top. Its enough for a mohawk!" And then he proceeded to give Nathan just that. I thought it was pretty cute, actually!

Climbing and Riding

Though Nathan only seems to be moving s..l..o..w..l..y towards walking, he has made some small advances in other areas. His whole body coordination does seems to be improving dramatically, allowing him to do some fun things that he wasn't able to do just a week or two ago.

Nathan has finally become proficient at climbing up and down one step, and likes to show off his skills by hopping up and down off the fireplace hearth. He is always so proud of himself when he successfully climbs up on the hearth, and I love it when he sits on the edge like its his chair.

Looking more like a little boy all the time!

Nathan can also now climb on and off his zebra, and as long as he holds on with both hands, he rarely falls anymore. 

It's too bad about the table being in the way in the movie, but I had been trying for three days to get this on tape and figured this shot wouldn't be successful either. Nathan will usually stop what he's doing when I pull out the camera because the camera is WAY more interesting then anything else.

Nathan will also climb up the stairs from downstairs with some encouragement (and lots of spotting) from Daddy and Mommy. And just today I accidentally left the gate open to the sunporch and found Nathan playing in the cat's water bowl with Princess looking on in dismay. Even though he can now climb down that step successfully, we'll still keep the gate closed since we don't want Nathan getting into the cat's food or litter box. Nathan has also started standing on his own for a few seconds.  He did it a couple of times today, I think without realizing it.  I, on the other hand, had to exert lots of self control to keep from celebrating loudly, which would have startled Nathan and caused him to fall.

Finally... Family Pictures!

I'm not sure what it is, but every month or two I just need a little break from the blog. I guess that's what this past week has been, so hopefully I'll get back in the game this week. I think part of it was that I was deciding how many of these pictures to share. Like I mentioned, I'm going to try and send out Christmas cards this year, and these are our family pictures for the cards. So do I go ahead and share all the pictures here and ruin the surprise of pictures on the cards? Then I realized that I was probably over-analyzing like I tend to do. So here's my compromise, I'll let you decide! So don't look at the pictures on this post if you want to be surprised with Christmas pictures. Done!

Sneak Peek...

Sorry I haven't been up to date with the blog this week.  We had a great family photo shoot with Jennie on Monday night and I've been trying to sort through all the hundreds of pictures she took to find the very best ones to post on the blog and to use for this year's Christmas cards (wish me luck with that endeavor!).  Gran's also been here for a visit, which has been super fun as well, but more visiting has also meant less blogging.  But to keep you coming back for more, here's one of the pictures Jennie took as a sneak peek of great things to come...

Nathan's Enjoying... Housework?!?

I'm trying a new video hosting site as well as higher-quality video files. I think these also should be down-loadable for grandparents who want to watch them over and over (or non-grandparents as well, if you think our home videos are that entertaining!).  I think this should be the correct download instructions: before or after watching the video, click on the video title, which should take you my page on the vimeo website.  Then scroll down and on the right side of the screen there's an "about this video" section where you can download (after you create a vimeo account).  Enjoy!

Whoohoo for Chicken Stew!

 

For those non-Northcarolinians reading, let me begin by defining chicken stew for you.  Chicken stew is not just a dish, it is an event.  A chicken stew involves a cauldron bubbling over an open fire, cooking all day to impart delicious flavor to the chicken stew within.  We had a chicken stew at church last Saturday night and the three of us headed on over for some good eats.  I enjoyed my chicken stew, Brian loved his, and Nathan... well let's just say that chicken stew is a new favorite!  Fortunately for us at the end of the evening there was quite a bit of stew left over, so I brought some home for some yummy leftovers.  Though Brian and I fed Nathan on Saturday night with a spoon, for Sunday lunch I decided to take off Nathan's shirt and plop a spoonful of chicken stew on his tray for him to eat with his hands (yes, it was plenty thick enough for that).  As you can see, he was a intensely focused eating machine.  Now I guess I'm going to have to find a cauldron of my own...

So Over Purees

I knew this day would finally come, but it has now come and gone for a few weeks so I know that there is no turning back: Nathan is SOOO over purees!

Now that I'm finally expanding my menu of finger foods that I can whip out quickly for snacks and meals, I'm pretty excited about this new phase!  Its nice to be able to eat with Nathan and actually be able to eat myself!  The only spoon-needed holdout that I'm still serving is yogurt.  Yesterday I tried giving it to Nathan in a bowl suctioned to his tray, and he did ok feeding it to himself with a spoon.  The spoon was upside down the whole time, but he would stir it around in the yogurt and get a little bit on the end and then straight to his mouth!  I know he's got to learn sometime how to get food onto the spoon, so we might as well start now!

Nathan is also becoming much more proficient with his fork.  When Brian or I put food on his fork for him, he always gets it in his mouth.  There have been a few times where he's actually been able to stab food with the fork by himself!  Sounds like he's ready for a knife now (just kidding!).

So some of his favorite foods these days are avocado, peas, homemade mini banana muffins (I have to tear these into pieces because he likes to shove the whole thing in his mouth!), mini salmon cakes, blueberries, raisins, cheerios and any type of pasta (the current choices I have in the freezer are pasta with tomato sauce or with cheese and carrot sauce). 

I still am feeding Nathan a different menu than Brian and I are eating, but soon I'm planning on changing that as well.  The only thing that I'm worried about it the salt factor.  I don't feel like I heavily salt our food, but I definitely add salt to taste.  Maybe I'll just start having Brian and I add salt at the table to our portions or something.   I'm sure I'll figure it out!

A Surprise Birthday Present!

Actually, two surprise birthday presents... both of Nathan's upper lateral incisors have broken through the gums and Nathan now has 5 teeth!  He still only has one lower tooth, so maybe we'll have a few more coming in soon!

UPDATE:  "Soon" has come way more quickly then expected.  Nathan has also cut his second bottom central incisor (its a rare day that he lets us see his bottom teeth, allowing it to fly in under the radar!)  Make that 6 teeth for our little boy!

First Birthday Weekend, Part 2

Here we go, to wrap up the birthday weekend pictures (I still need to go through the MANY minutes of videos Brian took of the weekend... it may be a while before I share any highlights if I ever get around to it at all.)

Thank goodness for all the help I had in the kitchen and around the house on Saturday afternoon. I left more of the party prep for the last day then I had planned on, but the whole family eagerly jumped in to help wherever they were needed. While the grandfathers entertained Nathan out in the back yard, the ladies were in the kitchen decorating cupcakes and prepping all the other party food.

And the party decorations...

Nathan got his own number 1 cake.  I thought it turned out cute!

Since we had planned on leaving the gate to the sunporch open in case people wanted to spread out to eat, Nana was helping Nathan learn how to go up and down the step.  Nathan made some progress, but still was mainly trying to go down the step face first.  The coming up part went a little better.

Nathan's adorable 1st birthday shirt that Kiera made for him!

And then the celebration began!!  I tried to balance getting pictures of the evening with just enjoying the party, so I ended up with fewer group pictures then I thought.  Here are most of our friends who were able to celebrate with us!

Nathan wasn't into grabbing handfulls of his first birthday cake.  In fact, he was more interested in poking at it then eating it.

Playing with Aunt Karen was also more fun then eating cake!

But he finally got cake and icing on his face (and on his eyelashes!)

Nathan's first birthday weekend ended up being fantastic! Thanks to everyone who helped it be extra special! Thanks for all the great presents and help with food and everything else! What great memories we Brian and I will have of Nathan's first birthday celebration!