45 weeks

I have lots of pictures to share this week! No surprise there. This past weekend was my class reunion (pictures in another post will follow soon). We stayed with my childhood friend/college roommate's parents and LOVED IT. We were able to relax and soak up their pampering and loving all over us. Faye and Nathan hit it off very well and Nathan enjoyed hanging out with her. He loved the stuffed animals she brought out. They are close to 30 years old as they were Heather's when she was a baby. :)


Then, between school activities, we surprised my college friend, Autumn, with a visit. She came to visit us back in June, and Nathan was enamored with her. That didn't change at all over the weekend. He was very interested in her glasses and laughed when she would put them on him! So much fun to see a good friend I'd not seen in a while.

(Autumn's visit in June)


We have a few new things to report! Nathan is officially weaned from a bottle! He drinks from only sippy cups now and although I'm so proud of him for making the transition, I think that the real "weaning" will come when we switch him to a regular cup, but we've got plenty of time before that step is taken! Another big milestone, Nathan can stand alone without any support. Kristin and I noticed he would do it for a couple seconds yesterday, but this morning, he stood for 9 seconds in the middle of a room with a toy in each hand. Way to go! Also this morning, he learned the sign for "eat" and signed a 2 sign phrase... "more eat". I was beaming from ear to ear. That's a pretty tricky thing to do, but he did it without prompting from me! What a smart boy. He can also identify a duck in his books. We're hearing more sounds as well, mama, gaga, googoo, caaa, pa, and lots of grunting and squealing! He's also "singing" to music when he hears it. I can't believe he's growing so fast. I smile often at my baby boy who's getting so big and doing so many things! I'll try to get some pictures of these things in the weeks to come!

Nathan has had several play dates over the past few days and it's great to see him interacting with other little ones! On Wednesday, we went to my other friend, Kristin's house to play with her and her little guy. Baby Z and Nathan are 2 weeks apart (Z is older). Z would crawl off and look at Nathan and grin and Nathan would chase him. TOO CUTE!!

Here are some more cute pictures from their play date.



We tried to get them both to look at the camera at the same time... here's how that went




Then on Thursday, we visited Kristin and Colton. These two have been playmates all of their lives and it was amazing to see how Nathan recognized Colton, Kristin, and their house after not seeing them since September 12th. The boys are of similar abilities and have very similar interests these days. They both crawl around well, pull to stand, and enjoy the same things. Of course Nathan looks like a giant up next to Colton, but it's good to have bigger friends to protect you, right? :) Colton turned 8 months old yesterday and Nathan is almost 10.5 months. Wow, how time flies!

Their first playdate back in April

More fun pics of the boys playing.



We're trying to teach Nathan a few body parts and he quickly found Colton's eye...

and head (too bad he didn't find them as a result of us asking him, he just pointed them out to us)

Colton was a good sport about it though.


Chasing each other through a tunnel



I was reminded by my friend Kristin (Z's mom), the importance of praying that our children would be "iron sharpening iron in each other's lives" as they grow up together. That really encouraged me to be praying not only for Nathan, but also for his buddies, that as they grow and learn about the love of Jesus, that they would pass that knowledge along to their friends, not only in their words, but most importantly to a child, in their actions. Thanks Kristin for that important reminder to pray without ceasing!