Thank you Granddaddy!

Yesterday, my grandfather was part of a group of Knoxville WWII veterans to be flown up to Washington DC in honor of their service to our country.  They visited the WWII memorial recently built as a tribute to those who fought, as well as other sites.  Upon their return to Knoxville Wednesday night, a large crowd was at the airport to greet them.  My grandparents were both interviewed as part a local news report and I wanted to share the video.

This video made me all teary-eyed!  I very much appreciate the service of these men and especially Granddaddy, however it seems like we do not often remember to thank them for that service.  So it thrilled me that they all were honored in a special way yesterday!  Thank you Granddaddy for your willingness to fight for freedom and for all that you sacrificed for our country!

Six Month Photos and Checkup

Monday afternoon was Nathan's six month checkup. Its hard to believe he's already so old! Unfortunantly with his nap schedule for the day, he only got a 10-15 minute second nap before I had to wake him up to head to the doctor's office, but I hoped that would be enough that he wouldn't be too grumpy through all the waiting. He ended up doing ok, but of course was really upset about the three shots he had to have!

Here were his stats:

   Length: 26 3/4 inches (50%)

   Weight: 18lb 13oz (75%)

   Head: 17 1/2 inches (75%)

Nathan fell asleep in the car on the way home, but when we got home, he did not want to finish his nap!  He was still constipated, so I thought that maybe his stomach was hurting him.  Around 5, my wonderful friend Jennie stopped by for a visit. 

She and I were chatting at church on Sunday and she mentioned that she was borrowing a friend's digital SLR camera to try and decide if she wanted to buy one herself.  She asked if she could use Nathan as a subject for some pictures - OF COURSE!!  I had been thinking about getting 6 month pictures done at JCPenny's, just to have something a little more special then my usual snapshots, but I though if Jennie could get a few good shots, that would be great instead.

Haha, "IF we could get a FEW good shots?"  Jennie took almost 300 pictures of Nathan, and almost all of them were FABULOUS!!  I had to restrain myself and not just upload like 100 pictures to share (I thought that would be a bit overkill). 

So I just glanced through and picked a couple of the great ones to put with this post, and then at the bottom I have a link to more pictures, if you're interested. And I was so impressed at how well Nathan did for the pics since he had such a rough day and such little sleep - he's such a good kid!

Link to more photos:

Nathan 6 Month Pics

Yummy, Sweet Potatoes!

A few quick updates:

• We introduced sweet potatoes Saturday morning and look at how much Nathan likes them! 
• Nathan continues to make progress towards crawling.  He is scooting backwards (I may have mentioned this before), but now he's also lifting his hips to get his knees underneath him when he's on his tummy.
• On the diapering front, we have started double diapering him at night and so far have had no leaks.  Hooray!
• Bigger HOORAY - Nathan has been sleeping MUCH better the last 4-5 nights, sleeping all the way through until 7 or 8 in the morning (except for one night)!
• On a non-Nathan note, we planted our garden on Friday afternoon and are excited about the yummy produce we will (hopefully) harvest in a few months: tomatoes, cucumber, squash, zucchini, okra and corn.

Play Time with Daddy

Well, last night was pretty rough again - Nathan up from 3 until 5. So tonight I'll just expect to be up for two hours and maybe I'll be pleasently surprised if its only an hour!

We did have a good day today in spite of the rough night, and some fun play time this evening with Daddy. Enjoy the videos!

Rough Day...

*Sigh* It has been one of those days...

It started out with Nathan waking up in the middle of the night last night, which would have been fine except after I fed him, he decided he just wasn't sleepy. He was awake for a little over 45 minutes before he went back to sleep, but I was pretty frustrated and it took me a long time to get back to sleep (I was frustrated because he has been awake in the middle of the night lots of nights lately, lasting from 45 minutes to 2 hours, and I'm not sure why or what to do).

This morning I heard him between 6:15 and 6:30, but Brian went in the room since he was up and I went back to sleep. Turns out that Nathan had leaked through his diaper AGAIN, so Brian had to change him and the diaper. Sunday night he had woken up in the middle of the night wet, so I had bought different diapers yesterday hoping they would take care of the problem. Looks like we are going to have to double-diaper or buy absorbent inserts to put in his diapers, because Nathan has leaked out of everything on the market in his size. Anyways, Nathan woke me up again at 7:00 and I was up for the day, but frustrated about the diaper situation.

When Nathan went down for his first nap, I decided to nap also since I haven't slept well the previous few nights and didn't get a nap yesterday. Well, today wasn't my day either. I had trouble falling back asleep and then Nathan woke up after only about 35 minutes of sleep (usually he sleeps 1:20). By this point I was tired and grumpy. Then as I tried to feed Nathan, he got really fussy and then started straining - he had a small BM, but it was the first time he had pooped in 5 days! Great, he's constipated from the rice cereal!

While Nathan took his next nap, I called Brian and pediatrician. After talking to them both, the plan was for me to go to the store and buy white grape juice (per the pediatrician) and pears (per my internet research to be his next solid food), and I had already decided no more rice cereal for Nathan.

After Nathan's nap (another short one), we ran to the store to get some supplies. I bought pears and white grape juice. I didn't buy the baby white grape juice (with the ped's approval), but when we got home, I realized that the grape juice that I had bought was actually apple/grape juice. Since I was already introducing pears as his new solid, I was reluctant to introduce two other new fruits at the same time, so now I have a whole bottle of apple/grape juice for me and Brian to drink and no juice for Nathan. Great.

After Nathan ate his pears (with less excitement then I expected given they are much tastier then the rice cereal), I decided that we would sit outside on the swing and enjoy the nice day. As I pulled the sunporch door closed behind me, I realized that I had turned the lock on the inside of the door handle. I had locked us out!! I went around the house and checked the doors and windows, but I was stuck with no spare key. Thankfully the neighbors were home and Matt, a fellow resident, drove up to the hospital and met Brian to get his key. But, really, could the day get any worse?

Yes it could. After we got back inside I checked Nathan's diaper and he had a little smear. As I changed him, he started crying and pooped more, but he was definitely in pain. My poor boy!! All I could do was try to comfort him until it was over.

But from there, the day did get better. Nathan ate and took a long nap and so did I. When Brian got home, he gave him a glycerin suppository to help move things along, so hopefully Nathan feels MUCH better and maybe he will sleep better too.

What I learned today:
1. I won't use rice cereal as a first food for my next child.
2. Its always important to have a hida-key.
3. Always double check the product label if you go to the store to purchase a very specific product.

Ok, on a lighter note, here are a few videos of Nathan and his typical tummy time these days. He is scooting around and he loves to kick his legs and bang them on the floor. He also is working on his dance moves (ie. the worm).

Final Pics from "Fun Times with Family"

Ok, so here are the last few pictures that I wanted to share from Nathan and my trip to Knoxville a few weeks ago!

Kevin and Nathan

Such a typical McDonald family pose, I just had to share!!

I love hanging out at the kitchen table at Grandmother and Grandaddy's house!

Kevin, Karen and I at dinner.  We look like a cheerful bunch!

Gotta love the goofy face from Nathan!

Because its not all about Nathan and its just such a good picture!

It looks like Nathan isn't planning on being a vegetarian.

We had a great trip and hopefully can see everyone again soon!

Lots of Firsts

So I'm getting behind again with the posts, but wanted to let everyone know about a few of Nathan's "firsts" from last week and this week.

First time in his high chair.  He now is taking all his "meals" in the high chair rather then the bumbo.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Nathan has started sitting up on his own, so I tried letting him sit up in the shopping cart last week.  Though he was kind of wobbly (and I had my hand right there for support if needed), he was able to sit up for most of a short shopping trip.  By the time we were checking out, though, he had slumped over to one side and needed some support from me.  And today he did much better when we went out to run errands!

Last night we went out to dinner with our friend Jennie, and Nathan spent most of the time sitting by himself in the highchair.  I had attached a toy to the chair and he amused himself by playing with it and looking around for almost our whole dinner!

Nathan also spent lots of time with me in the yard on Thursday afternoon.  I was weeding the beds in the front yard, so brought a blanket and some toys for Nathan to play with.  He started out on his tummy playing with his toys, then after a while rolled to his back and spent lots of time looking up at the big tree in our front yard.  When he finally tired of that, I put him in his bumbo and he watched me weed and checked out all the other goings-on in the yard and on the street.  We must have been out there for almost an hour before Nathan was ready for something else, which was perfect timing because Brian had just gotten home from work.

Nathan and I also went walking/jogging with our jogging stroller almost every day last week, and he is perfectly content to hang out there as well and watch the scenery go by - or chew on the straps.  Thank goodness because Mommy needs the exercise!  Plus we are both able to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having!

So this had been a random post, but better then no post at all!

Nathan Laughing Makes Me Smile!

And I hope it will for you too!

Fun Times with Family, Part 2

Sorry that its been so long since I've posted. I think I was overwhelmed by the photos and especially videos from our trip to Knoxville, so I have been putting off going through the rest of them. So my new plan is just to do a little each day, so it may take a few more posts to get through everything that I want to share from the Knoxville trip.

So the videos are the most time consuming to watch, edit and then upload, but I decided to try and tackle some of them today. Enjoy!

Aunt Karen and Papaw reading "Peter Cottontail" to Nathan

Nathan Eating a Cow and Grandad's Hand

Nathan and Nana Playing with Keys

Nathan and Nana Laughing

Well, that didn't take as long as I expected. All done during Nathan's second nap today (along with eating lunch, drying my hair and changing over the laundry!). I do want to go through the pictures from the trip one more time and share any other great ones that I find. Hopefully I can get that done in the next few days, then we'll be back to posting about current events in the Kornrumpf household!

Fun Times with Family, Part 1

This past week, Nathan and I headed to Knoxville to spend a couple of days visiting with lots of family!  Brian was working nights last week, so I wasn't seeing much of him.  Nathan and I packed up and headed out Wednesday morning.  The trip went well until about an hour away from Knoxville.  Nathan was tired and ready to get out of his carseat, so he proceeded to let me know it until he fell asleep about 10 minutes away from my grandparents' house. 

When we arrived, we were greeted by my grandparents, my mom, my Uncle Joe, Aunt Karen and cousin Kevin.  We hung out around the house for the rest of Wednesday, catching up and playing with Nathan. 

That night before bed, we gave Nathan a bath to wash off the sunscreen we had put on him while sitting out on the patio.  Gran and Aunt Karen bathed him in the laundry room sink, which worked out very well!

Later that evening my brother, James, completed his trek from Chicago and arrived safely in Knoxville.  It was so good to see him again!!

The next day we had two big outings between relaxing and chatting at the house.  The first was a trip to McKay's Used Book Store, where James, Mom and I all found lots of books to buy!  That evening we went out to eat at a new restruant (for me) called Aubreys.  We all had excellent food and everyone was willing and eager to share with each other.  I got a full rack of ribs and they were delicious, with a little kick from the sauce, along with homemade potato chips and ranch dressing.  Now that ranch dressing was probably the most delicious I had ever tasted, and after all of us gave it a taste and with much discussion, we came to the conclusion that the "secret ingredient" was horseradish mustard.  So I plan on trying that to see if I can duplicate the yummy-ness!

Late that night, Dad arrived from Georgia.  A lot of us were awake to greet him, and then we stayed up until midnight (!) talking and laughing in the playroom.  Thankfully, Nathan slept through the night that night (the best night of sleep while we were in Knoxville), so by morning I was almost recovered from the late evening.

Friday morning, James had to head back to Chicago.  But before he left, we got lots of family pictures.

In the interest of getting this posted, I'm going to stop right here.  I have more pictures and videos from the the visit that I will share later this week.

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a happy Easter!  Love Brian, Katie and Nathan

Nathan was sitting on his own in the top two pictures!