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...