40 weeks

9 month pic in crib

and on the changing table (which he is quickly outgrowing)

Loving life!


Nathan is truly thriving in the new house. He loves all of the room to play and explore and he's discovering all kinds of new things to do.

We bought him a walker, even though I was die hard against it for 8.5 months, and oh my goodness, kid loves it. He makes laps around the downstairs and he's so fast you have to run to keep up with him. My mom had the idea to put foam around the bottom of it because he's already take the paint off several of the corners in the house. He loves to run in it and chases Bailey or anyone else who will run. It's absolutely hysterical to watch and I'll try to get it on video!

He's also climbing the stairs, and amazingly is doing very well. He hasn't made it to the top without turning to play with the rails or trying to dive down the stairs, but one day he will. He also enjoys playing at the spindles from the floor.


Nathan is crawling and is moving fast (no surprise there). He rarely ever scoots anymore and now crawls on his hands, one knee and usually a foot. It's really funny to watch.



He's also pulling up on EVERYTHING in sight. I thought it was hard to have a moments peace when he started scooting, but now he's into trouble within seconds. He's tipped so many things over while pulling up on them and requires constant close supervision. He's turned Bailey's water and food over a number of times and thinks it is so funny! He is also starting to cruise on the furniture, his toys, boxes, and the window sills. He is also starting to stand and only hold on with one hand. He has also let go a few times and stood on his own for a second or two.

When you hold his hands while he's "walking" he doesn't require much stabilization and that's a big change from a week ago. All of these are big changes, and they are happening so fast. We also have a climber on our hands. He's discovered how to open drawers and that if he opens the bottom one, it becomes a step to get to the next level. I've watched him (and been right behind him in case he fell) just to see what he would do and he's climbed halfway up his dresser, and has managed to pull out the drawer under the oven, climb up on it and hang from the oven door! Oh my goodness, he's 9 months old! What will he be like at a year? Maybe he'll be able to climb up on the roof and hang our Christmas lights!

I'm thinking this crib will not contain him for long!

We also had his 9 month check up this week... and had a great report. Nathan is 22 pounds, 12 ounces and is 28 inches tall. He's 80% for weight and 30% for height! He's got some growing to do to catch up with his belly! He loves to eat and the doc was impressed with all the foods he eats. She encouraged us to continue to try new things and keep up with his curiosity. Right now, his favorite finger foods are freshly cooked salmon, cheerios, sweet potato cubes, black beans, banana, pear, peach, pasta (although he has a hard time swallowing it), avocado, mandarin oranges, and blueberries.
(Funny blueberry faces while eating frozen pureed blueberries from the fruit feeder)



The doctor noted that his language seems to be advanced for his age (can you see me glowing!!!). We asked her about his busyness and eagerness to interact with the world, not necessarily with us while we're holding him. She attributed that to secure relationships with us and because of that security he's free to explore! I was happy to hear that! He still doesn't have any teeth, although I can see his gums swelling and what looks like two white bumps under the surface... so we're hoping for some pearly whites soon! Those of you who know Nathan know how strong he is, but the doc just confirmed it for us... she was trying to check his legs and hip joints and he was so strong that she had a hard time straightening his legs and manipulating them. She commented on just how strong he was as she said "whew".

Nathan is really doing well and is enjoying all the life in our cul-de-sac. There are about 14 kids between the 5 houses in the cul-de-sac and he loves to watch them play. They interact with he and Bailey quite a bit. Our neighbors are awesome and we already feel at home. We had some good neighbors in our old neighborhood, but this is just different. The kids in general are younger and there's a block party every afternoon and evening, complete with parents sitting out front. We have a few babysitters close by and one, Sydney, who has really taken to Nathan. Although Nathan will always have Lucy and Kendra in his life, it's nice to have a teenager right next door for the incidentals (like when Bailey runs through the mud and needs a bath before she can go inside and Chad's not due home for hours). We really love this new place and already it feels like home! Everyone is really friendly and people hang out together and do life together. Wednesday night while I was taking all the trash and a bazillion boxes to the curb, one of the kids from across the street (he's 15) came over just to help! What a servant's heart. People, it was 930pm and he decided to come help carry trash. Come to find out, he's on a worship team at his church and loves to play guitar. Like I said, great neighbors!!!! One more story... tonight, Nathan, Bailey, and I walked outside because Bailey had to pee. This involves a quarter mile trek to the commons area and I was not feeling it. Sydney runs over, grabs Nathan while I take Bailey to pee. When I come back, she and 9 other kids are surrounding Nathan playing peek a boo, showing him how to ride bikes, talking to him and watching him "walk". These kids range in age from 7 to 15. I let Bailey off her leash and the kids loved all over her. She laid down and soaked it up... until 2 more kids brought a puppy over. She went nuts and was so happy to run and play with this puppy (who was on a leash). She listened really well and came when I called her... until she found the soft mud. She ran in circles and dug and looked like a pup herself, and then went back to the kids. Oh my goodness. The kids are laughing, I'm laughing, and Nathan has been held by 4 or 5 different kids and is loving it! Our neighbor let me wash her in their yard and then they helped me get Nathan, Bailey, and a new toy (an awesome hand me down from their 4 kids) for Nathan inside. It was this pop up school bus and it's precious! He can crawl into it and look out the windows... Pictures coming soon! People, these neighbors are great and we feel so welcome! Okay, I could go on and on, but I must go to bed... we've got a long weekend ahead of us... more baby proofing, unpacking, hanging, sorting, and organizing! Happy Labor Day to you all!

Playing with Grandma and Grandpa

Nathan has gotten to spend a lot of time with his grandma and grandpa this week and he has really enjoyed all the attention. Mom and Dad were lifesavers this week and we couldn't have done it without them! They really enjoyed helping out and getting to know Nathan so well.

Nana, Papa, Uncle Matt, and Cousin Karmyn come to visit

On Saturday, Chad's folks and his brother (who now lives in town!!!!) and his little girl came for a visit! It was great to see Jim (Papa) and Kathy (Nana)! Nathan hasn't seen them in forever! Last time he saw Nana was at Christmas and he was still wearing preemie diapers! She couldn't believe how big he was! Papa last saw him in March and he's grown a ton since then! They loved playing with both he and Karmyn and it was great to see them soaking up time with both grand kids at once. Karmyn will be 3 in November and is such a beautiful little girl! She calls Nathan "Naken" and we all love to hear her say it. Here are some pics from their visit...
Papa and Nathan and Karmyn


Chad and Karmyn built a tower of blocks and then made it "timber"!

Nathan and Karmyn playing together




Karmyn helping Nathan get up

Group pic! Back row: Matt, Karmyn, Jim (Papa), Chad Front Row: Kathy (Nana), Katie, and Nathan

Jim, his boys and their kiddos

Karmyn's bye bye kiss for Naken

Moving day(s)

Welcome to my scatterbrained posts of Friday night! I've just gotten my computer hooked up to the internet and I'm so excited... here's an update on our lives the past week!

Friday of last week was a whirlwind, but when Friday night came, I felt like I was home. The movers showed up at the apartment at 12 (Chad and I still didn't have keys to the new house - a funding issue on BOA's part - yeah, that was just part of the fun)... but my wonderful mom and dad took over and got the movers going. Meanwhile, Chad is at the new house meeting with landscaping and helping the fridge guys get it inside. We had lots of help to get moved in on Friday and it was such a blessing. Dave Stewart came and happily piled tons of clothes and a few boxes into cars and then came to the new house. He and my dad unloaded 3 cars while Chad continued to meet with the landscapers and I attempted to put Nathan to sleep. He was not sure about sleeping in a room with no blinds... when I was needed downstairs, Dave stepped in with Nathan and sang him almost to sleep - major cool points to you my friend! The unpacking never missed a beat and by 5ish, the truck, POD and 3 vehicles were all unpacked. Then came the hard part - emptying the boxes. That's when Kendra and Kaz showed up, dinner in hand. We ate and then Kendra did what Kendra does best... attacked our kitchen boxes. Kaz did a little of everything and helped everyone around him. Meanwhile, dad and Chad are hanging blinds, Dave was either eating dinner with Nic and Noah, taking Bailey for a walk, unpacking boxes, or some other task that needed to be done. Mom was either playing with Nathan or unpacking boxes and I was wandering from pile to pile... ADD in full bloom... loads of fun. Over the weekend and during the next few days, we managed to get lots unpacked and had a big pile of boxes. My parents were such a huge help with Nathan and projects galore. Here are some pics from the moving weekend...

Here's the most random sight of Friday night. Kendra pulled this out of a box and set it on the island... we both commented that if we were Emily, our wonderful friend, we would take a picture and write a blog about it... so Emily, here's to you, and your splendid blogging abilities! How many items can you identify?

Bailey and Nathan weren't at all phased by the choas around them... they just continued to be their laid back selves! What troopers!

Chad carried me in over the threshold...

Dave got jealous and wanted to carry Chad over the threshold

and he almost busted out our storm door with Chad's monster sized feet


Then Chad carried Dave the opposite direction over the threshold... what message was that communicating?

working hard

sorry for the blurriness!


Bailey needed a little daddy lovin.

So far, the new place is great. I admit I haven't taken any pictures of the house (I'll try to get to that this weekend), but we're really enjoying it. Nathan is really thriving here and is into so much (you'll have to read his blog entry for those updates). It did take me 4 days to find the box with my underwear in it, but now that we've found that and finally we got Internet hooked up, I am good to go! Okay, so I was doing great before, but the Internet is really the icing on the cake! Once we have grass, I'll consider myself a happy camper. Our yard is nothing but red clay and remember that the remnants of Hurricane Faye paid us a visit the last few days... let me tell you about the fun Bailey and I have had running a quarter mile through the driving rain to the commons area so she can pee... multiple times a day. I'm so thankful that the rain has stopped... now if the ground would dry up that would be even better... then again, sod would be great too! There will be plenty of posts on our decorating woes in the weeks to come, but for now, that's all on the house front!

i'm coming back!!!!!

We have been in the thick of moving and unpacking for the last week... and have had no internet! It's incredible how much I rely on internet these days! We finally have access and tomorrow I'll set up my desktop and hopefully return to the blogging world!!!

9 months old

9 months old... wow, what a treat. Nathan has changed so much in the last month and it has all happened before our eyes.

I admit, I cheated. I wrote this post on Thursday night, anticipating that we wouldn't have internet in the new house until next week sometime. Therefore, I'll post a huge update on life in the new house once we're in and have internet... in the mean time, here's where we are and what he's doing...

Food: Nathan still loves to eat and still eats just about anything. He's really enjoying finger foods and feeds himself quite well. He eats cubed butternut squash, tomato pieces, avocado, peaches, banana, blueberries, crackers, breads, and the staple... cheerios. He has a hard time with foods that squish in his hand, like tofu, because it breaks all up when he squeezes it. He has this cute method of grabbing it with his right palm and then squeezing it up so that it comes up between his thumb and first finger. Then he eats it. Too cute. He's recently tried black beans, pickles, sticky rice, broccoli, and edemame. He enjoyed the black beans and pickles, but the sticky rice was a little tough as a finger food. The edemame would have been great had it been cooked more. It was a little hard for him to chew. Pureed broccoli is just nasty and since he's doing so well with chewing, we'll try some overcooked broccoli instead of the nasty purred kind. At the moment, his favorite foods are salmon (the kind I cook and then give him as opposed to pureed), tofu, peaches, sweet potatoes, avocado, blueberries, bananas, yogurt, and cheerios. Another new favorite: frozen bluberry eggo waffles cut into long strips. They are so good for teething! Nathan drinks water and pure carrot juice. He's not a big fan of apple juice or pear juice, but that's okay with me. He's drinking well out of a sippy cup too!

Growth: I'll have Nathan's official weights on Tuesday after the doctors appointment... but in the mean time, any guesses on height and weight?

Language: Nathan's first official word (according to our family's definition of a "word") is "bye bye" and he says it a lot. He also says ball, more, mama, and has said dada in the past, although he's certainly not aware of who mama and dada are. He is signing "more" independently (although sometimes he needs verbal or physical prompting) and we are working on milk, Bailey, all done, eat, please, and ball. Nathan will look toward both Bailey and the ball when asked to find them. He is also waving bye bye to everyone on command and sometimes just out of the blue. He's very interested in what we are saying and studies our mouths when we talk.

Movement: We are officially crawling these days too. Nathan has been army crawling for some time now, but in the last week, he's started crawling on all fours. When he wants to go somewhere fast, he just army crawls, but he is able to crawl on all fours and does is often. Sometimes he crawls on two hands, a knee and a foot. Kinda cute! Nathan pulls up on everything he can find: people, containers, appliances, stairs, boxes, crib rails, dressers, cabinets, Bailey... anything. He has developed better balance in the last month too. He can stand while holding onto an object with just one hand and on one occasion, has let go with both hands and stood there for about a second. When you hold his hands, he will walk as well. He can easily climb over objects and seems to have the concept of crawling up stairs (however he is not at all safe when doing this... we'll see how well he does at the new house). He kneels to play often as well. He's also very fast and changes direction on a dime. He loves the house because there's so much room!

Swimming: Many have joked that Nathan might be the next Michael Phelps... and that wouldn't be too bad huh? No pressure little man! Nathan has no fear in the water and is eager to be in it. He has no problem with being splashed in the face, going under, or accidentally toppling over. He still swallows some water sometime, but laughs as he coughs. He can "float" underwater and grab the step and pull his head above water and crawl up on to it. He floats well between adults when under water. A week ago, he was sitting on the side of the pool and leaned in, went under and floated to me... and didn't even swallow any water. We're working on turning to an adult or a step for safety while underwater, and this will take some time to master. He does well so far though. This kid is a natural in the water and I'm so thankful for this! He is beginning to pull up on our t-shirts when he's under the water, or reach out for our hands.

Temperament: Mr. Social! Nathan loves to flirt with people and shows very little shyness around strangers. He'll go to anyone and has no problem when we leave him with a babysitter or when he's passed between us. In general, he is happy and even tempered... unless he's tired or wants what he can't have (which happens often). We're learning the meaning of the word "no" and the consequences of touching what is off limits. Discipline is not easy, but the training is so necessary! He's rarely ever still yet enjoys sitting in a stroller, shopping cart, high chair, or the baby bjorn for extended amounts of time. He loves to observe the world around him and doesn't miss much!

Sleeping: Nathan is pretty consistent these days. He sleeps until 7am ish and then plays in his crib until 730am (unless he wakes up early due to an overly wet diaper). He naps from 10-12 and 3-5 (give or take 15 minutes). He goes to bed at 730pm. While consistent, he's also amazingly flexible and easily adapts to changes in his schedule (especially his bed time and morning nap time). Nathan goes down for naps and to bed pretty easy, although sometimes he tries to communicate that he wants mom and dad by throwing his paci out of the bed, standing at the rail and screaming. If we come in the room, he reaches for us and looks for the paci. We go into his room at 5, 10, and 15 minute intervals if he has trouble going to sleep, but rarely ever pick him up out of the crib once he's in it. He loves to snuggle with his blankie and sleeps on his tummy with his little butt up in the air! Precious!

Favorite things: zippers, strings, straps, books, small balls, Bailey, going for walks, cords (no no), paper, cloth bags, tupperware

Here are some recent pics...

Climbing and playing with a box and ball


Loving time with Granny ShaSha. She and Grandpa are here for a week (pics of Grandpa to come) and he's loving the time with them!


Eating some favorite foods



Playdate with Colton (who's now crawling and has two teeth!)