No Job To Big for Nathan!

VBS is over! It was a big success, but also VERY tiring. With Brian on call today, I didn't get any extra "down" time, but he does have the long weekend off, so that's definitely something for the whole family to look forward to! One big upside to the past couple of days is that Brian (amazingly!) was able to get off work every day this week before I left for VBS (somewhere between 4:15 and 4:45), which meant I was able to leave Nathan with Brian rather then having nursery melt-downs to deal with every night. And it sounds like the boys got some good quality time together because of it!

At the beginning of the month, Brian had a week of vacation (which seems like years ago now, we've had a busy month!). One thing on our "to-do" list was to empty out the red room, aka the study, aka the upstairs junk room. We are turning it into a new room for Nathan, leaving the current nursery pretty much intact for baby #2. With lots of bags of stuff going to the Vietnam Vets and Goodwill, plus filling up our trash can and moving the remaining "stuff" to new places in the house, we were able to completely clear out the room. Well, with the exception of Brian's old dresser, which we are leaving in the room to be used for Nathan, and a little cabinet of my college days, which may still get the boot once we finalize the new furniture for the room. But, we couldn't have done it without help from Nathan!  No job to big for him!

So here are two pretty embarrassing "before" shots of the room that I took a few months ago:

And here is an "in progress" shot after Carroll (with only a tiny bit of help from me) primed, primed, painted and painted the room. Yes, it took 4 coats to cover that red! I'm pretty sure I would have never had the energy to do all that myself. Oh, and she gave the baseboards a fresh coat of paint as well!  The room is actually a very pretty blue, although its reading a little purple on my computer screen.

Since this picture was taken, we bought and put together a new-for-us crib for Nathan (which converts to a toddler bed when we're ready to take that plunge). We also brought up some carpet squares from downstairs to help with the echoy-ness of the room and installed some room-darkening roller shades. We hope to get more work done on it this weekend and move Nathan within the next two months.  We want to give him plenty of time to adjust to this little bit of new before all of our worlds are rocked when the new baby comes!

A Road Trip to the 'Villes (Part 1 of ??)

Two weeks ago, Nathan and I embarked on a wild road trip adventure.  It had been over 4 years since I had been back to Nashville and I decided that if I was going to make it back within the next few years, I'd have to make the trek with Nathan this summer (because spending 14+ hours in the car with a toddler AND infant and without Brian isn't my idea of a fun time!)  Fortunately for my sanity, I was able to convince Gran to drive up to our house and ride/drive the leg to Knoxville with us.  We headed out Wednesday afternoon after Nathan's nap, car loaded with books, children's music, DVDs, old favorite toys, new toys from the dollar store and the Ipod.

The first two hours to Ashville went well.  We stopped at awesome indoor McDonald's playplace to have dinner and let Nathan stretch his legs and get a much-needed change of scenery. Nathan absolutely loved it!  He would run between the toddler size slide and and area where they had toys on the walls (balls that you could move around tracks, little barrels that you can spin, etc.)  The toddler slide was not very slick and Nathan climbed up it at least once, and then walked part of the way down without falling!  Right before we left, a little girl about 3 came in with her mom and Nathan was fascinated with her and kept following her around. She seemed to enjoy the attention and Nathan always loves making a new friend.

The plan was to tire Nathan out with playing so that he would fall asleep on the second leg of our journey. But as we hit the road and his usual bedtime approached and then passed, we saw no signs of a sleepy Nathan.  I think the fact that the sun was still brightly shining in the windows was definitely working against us!  So by 8:30 when we arrived at Granddaddy and Grandmother's, he was very, VERY tired. I took him straight to his room to put him to bed, but he was somewhat reluctant to fall asleep in an unfamiliar crib in an unfamiliar room, so it took me a while to get him down. Thankfully he slept really well through the night and I even had to wake him up the next morning at 7:30.

We puttered around Grandmother and Granddaddy's house Thursday morning, with Nathan spending a lot of time outside with Gran. After he showed considerable interest in pouring our water glasses out onto the back porch, Gran assembled a water station for Nathan consisting of two differently sized cups and a dishpan full of water. Nathan spent lots of time pouring the water between the cups, all over the back porch and in the ivy, and all down the front of his shirt and shorts. They had a blast! Finally it was time to eat lunch, pack up the car and head to Nashville. I had been more concerned about the car rides from Knoxville to Nashville and back because I didn't have an assistant in the car to help entertain Nathan, so I decided to make the drive during nap time, hoping that at least a short nap would make the trip go more smoothly. I was certainly blessed on that Thursday because Nathan slept from the first minute we got onto I-40 in Knoxville to the minute we exited in Nashville about 2.5 hours later. Usually Nathan only sleeps for about an hour in the car even though he sleeps for 2 of more when we're at home, so I have to believe the late bedtime the night was actually a blessing in disguise!

OK, folks, that's all for tonight.  More to come at a later date with lots more pictures!  But I'm helping out at our VBS starting Sunday night, so I will probably be a little slow with new posts next week.  

A Favorite Veggie

With our last name, what could it be but corn?

I've known for a while that corn on the cob is one of Brian's favorite summer veggies. And once Nathan was introduced to it, he would get pretty excited whenever he saw corn on the table. Of course, I would usually just cut off a strip of corn from my cob to share with him, but this past weekend, that wasn't enough to satisfy. He wanted my (mostly eaten) cob... with both cob holders, of course!

Nathan chewed on that cob for quite a while. Like father, like son!

Nathan, The Ipod Guru

Well, it's been a busy time here in the Kornrumpf household. Last week, Nathan and I roadtripped to Knoxville and Nashville and then back. We had a good time, saw lots of friends and family, and were both very excited to get back home again. Lots of pictures and blog entries on the road trip to come, once I get everything organized.

On the trip, one of my saving graces was my Ipod. Nathan has loved playing with my Ipod and watching home movies on it, so before we left, I had Brian record himself reading books to Nathan. Also on the Ipod were movies of Nathan that we had taken over the past 6 months. When Nathan started getting really upset in the car (because he just wanted "out, out, OUT, OUT!"), I would hand the Ipod back to him so he could watch the movies. Nathan took these opportunities to become super competent navigating through the Ipod. Be amazed as our 19 month old scrolls through the movies, playing his favorites, pausing and skipping the ones he doesn't want to see. He can even turn the Ipod on and unlock it without assistance! And (not in the video), one of his words is now "Ipod".

Nail Trimmin' - I Can Do That!

Nathan, of course, is growing into the age where he wants to try to do everything that Mama and Dada are doing. He pushes his lawn mower around like he sees Dada doing, he loves to "stir, stir" like he sees Mama do in the kitchen. And he likes to try and trim his own finger and toe nails with the nail clippers! Thankfully, he is mostly cooperative when its time for me to trim his nails, but after I'm finished, he always wants the clippers so he can finish the job himself.

Here he is, inspecting before cutting...

And now its time for some trimming...

And now on to the finger nails (which he has just started doing lately). Thankfully, the cats are around to supervise.

Our First Haircut

The day has finally arrived!  Nathan had enough hair to (kind of) need a hair cut!  The actual amount of hair that we cut was minimal, we really just wanted to trim the "wings" that were forming over his ears, which are nicely backlit in the picture below.

Of course, the plan was to document the trim for posterity's sake.  I was torn between trying to capture it on video and taking pictures, but after this first action shot (where Brian was only combing Nathan's hair and trying to plan is method of attack), we realized the point was moot.  Nathan did not enjoy Daddy even combing his hair, and as soon as Brian approached him with a pair of scissors, we realized the haircut would definitely be a two person job.  So I put down the camera to hold Nathan in my lap, trying simultaneously to distract him and keep his hands away from his ears.  (I'm also guessing that cutting his hair just after he fell in the sunporch and busted his lip wasn't the most optimal timing, either. Note the blood still oozing from his bottom lip!)

Here is the first cut from one side (which Brian declared that he had cut a little short, but its not noticeable). Look at that amazing lock of hair!

This awesomely attractive shot of Nathan is an attempt at an "after" shot with his wings gone.

Here is the grand total of hair from Nathan's first haircut. Well, I think Brian dropped a little bit on the floor, but you take what you can get. I put it in a zip lock baggie to save (mainly so we can look back and chuckle at how little hair earned the momentus title of "first haircut").

So even though I didn't get a good after picture, I just want to say that I definitely notice a difference when I look at Nathan even if Brian doesn't (though he was the one that decided the haircut was necessary). I think its because I would try to finger-comb the wings behind Nathan's ears when we went out in public, but now when I glance at him all his hair is in place.

To Redeem Myself...

...for posts missing and lame:

James' Visit!!

Cute pictures, mini family reunion, a flashback - what's not to love?

James came to town this weekend for a seminar at our local Wake Forest University sponsored by the Institute for Humane Studies (even though he explained it to me multiple times what the seminar is about, I can't put it into a coherent description, so I'm referencing the website instead!).   When he called me to tell me the good news that he would be coming, he wondered if he could fly in a day early and spend one night with us.  Of course I was thrilled and eagerly agreed that we would make it work with our schedules!  So I picked him up from Greensboro airport on Friday afternoon and took him home for a visit, dinner, and two rounds of video games with Brian.  Then on Saturday morning Brian took him out for a ride in the Cutlass (which was overdue to be driven) and we hung around the house and talked more until after lunch when it was time to take him up to campus.  But before he left, and right before we put Nathan down for his nap, we headed outside to take a few pictures to document this reunion.

So cute! And what a great smile from Nathan!

Then Daddy decided it was tickle time and Mommy decided to keep on taking pictures.  What an attractive bunch of happy guys!

When James first walked into the house, Nathan acted super shy around him.  And although he warmed up Saturday morning, I wasn't expecting him to actually let James hold him to take a picture.  But he surprised me, and what an adorable shot I got of uncle and nephew!

And just for fun, a picture from the last time Uncle James and Nathan got to visit. My, that boy has grown!

CORRECTION!!! Aunt Karen reminded me that we got to see Uncle James last March in Knoxville. So HERE is the last time they got to visit!

Short and Random

So, catching up over the past weeks and months, here are a few random thoughts:

1. Nathan is an expert balloon spotter.  There's a car dealership that Nathan and I often pass that usually has balloons decorating the cars, and he always spots them (I'm not quite sure how he always knows where he is, or if he's just always that observant when riding in the car).  And he always finds them randomly in the stores.  This past week, he saw a "happy graduation" balloon floating in the personal care section of Walmart (I'm not quite sure why someone put it there).

2. Speaking of Nathan being observant, wherever we go he ALWAYS sees babies.  He'll spot a baby carrier the other end of the aisle in the grocery store and call out "baby!"  He also has this adorable sign that he makes for "baby" where he pretends like he's giving a baby doll/stuffed animal a big hug (I want to get it on video if I can remember AND get Nathan to cooperate).  I'm super excited about this and hope his current love of babies carries over until we actually bring a new baby home!

3. Nathan used to say "hi" and "bye" very southern sounding because he would only say the first part of both the words.  But I never got around to videoing him and now his pronunciation has gotten much better and he has dropped the southern accent.