Fun in the Big Bath Tub

A few nights ago, I gave Nathan a bath for the first time in a long while. Chad usually does bath and bed time, but he was filling our house with lovely acoustic rhythms from his guitar, so I stepped up for bath duty. Much to my surprise, Nathan had outgrown his inflatable bathtub! Of course, there was no camera handy to capture this hysterical sight, but I did capture it tonight.

Not so bad like this...

uh oh, getting a little cramped...

no way man! how can a kid splash in a tiny contraption like this?


Now, bathing a baby is quite a learned skill, and there really is no perfect apparatus for doing so. When they are newborn, they are too small for the newborn sling. Then, when you think they're big enough, you realize that the sling doesn't submerge any part of their body in the water, so they just freeze, and scream. We opted for the bath cushion. That worked until Nathan outgrew it, so we moved up to the plastic tub - but since he liked to be so deep in the water, we had to lay him in the part they are supposed to sit up in. Needless to say, when he got to big for the plastic tub, we moved to an inflatable tub where he could lay down, but wasn't in danger of injuring himself on the hard floor of the big bath tub. Well, he's obviously outgrown the inflatable bath, so we've moved into the plain ole' porcelin big people tub. Nathan LOVES it. Here are some great shots from his bath tonight.


yep, with no clothes or diaper on, Nathan CAN grab both feet simultaneously!



Splashing is so much fun - notice the movement in the water on the right end of the picture, especially at the bottom of the shot.

What bath in a big boy tub would be complete with out a rubber duckie...
or two...

or three...

or four...

or five?

Another playdate with Colton

Buddies



Nathan had another fun playdate wtih his friend Colton today. Colton is 13 weeks old now and really enjoyed playing with Nathan, or maybe Nathan enjoyed playing with him. Well, however you say it, they had a great playdate. Here are the pics to proove it!

Tummy time is always more fun with a friend


See how big we're getting?


Colton smiles at mom and Nathan reaches for the camera (or is that mom?)


Hanging out in our bumbo seats



Nathan discovers that not only are his toes fun to play with, but so are those of his friends. Baby Luke, Hunter, and Noah, watch out!


Colton had a hard time reaching the buttons on the ball...

so Nathan showed him how to do it...

then they realize that Colton just can't reach the ball...

so Nathan pushed the buttons for him...

until the mommies intervened and helped out little Colton

happy baby


Something else Nathan has recently been trying to figure out... if he tries to stand up he can almost get out of his Bumbo chair. This is why the instructions say, "use only with adult supervision".


Okay, ladies, photo shoot is fun and all but would you get this kid off of my lap, he's heavy!


Mommy and I had fun flying like an airplane.





You see that long dangley of drool - yep it landed smack in my mommy's eye!


What a fun morning!

Tub o Love

Showing off my new paci


Nathan has had such a great couple of days. He hasn't been feeling too well - no thanks to allergies and a cold, but he has been in the best mood and learning so many things. When sitting on my lap with his feet on the floor in front of him, he can now lean forward and push to stand up. He's discovered that not only can he put everything in his mouth, he can also pass it from hand to hand. He takes great delight in this. He is starting to want to "step" when standing. He's also doing a bit more scooting, both forward and backward (pictures below). He is ticklish and loves to be tickled. He's tried, and liked, some new foods... spinach, potatoes, beets, brown rice cereal, barley, and apple juice. He's also learning to drink out of a sippy cup - very humorous. He's just happy to have such a wonderful teething toy! He also figured out that while laying on his back in his crib, if he reached out, he could grab his bumper and pull himself almost to a sitting position. I watched on the video monitor one day, so proud of my strong little guy. Then I realized what that meant, he could potentially pull himself to a secure enough seated position and then lean out of the crib and bust his noggin. That's not an option right now, so we lowered his crib mattress. This change in his sleeping environment, surprisingly, is taking him a little while to adjust to. And today, for the first time, he held his own bottle for an entire feeding, and then did it again for half of another one. I couldn't get a picture because Chad wasn't home and the camera wasn't close, but I'll share one with you tomorrow if I can. Our little boy is growing up! And out! Take a look at his belly in these overalls...


Yep, too small - we passed them right on along to a more slender friend! They looked great when I dressed him, until I sat him up. Oh well, some things are for wearing, and some are for sharing.

Mom... are you sure I'm ready to stand here all by myself while you take my picture?

Tummy time is a breeze,

but I've got people to see and places to go, and I can't get there!

Maybe if I scoot (see his raised rear end), I"ll make it?

Will someone please carry me? :)

A Day in the Park

Sunday was a beautiful day, and after a weekend of much needed rest, we were a ready to get outside and enjoy a beautiful day. Before our lovely walk, we stopped for a much needed photo op of Nathan wearing his first pair of shorts and first big boy t-shirt (no crotch snaps).

Bailey and Chad were loving all over Nathan and giving him millions of kisses and he enjoyed every single one of them!

my what a long tongue you have


My good lookin' family!


Then, after a quick photo shoot, we headed off to the greenway. We hadn't made it 50 steps down the walkway when I exclaimed in utter delight, "Look Chad, they're out!" ... and you'll never believe what "they" are... Malacosoma americanum



more commonly known as CATERPILLARS!!!!!

I was so excited! I have so many fond memories of playing with these caterpillars as a kid. Like the day that I decided to "save them from the lonely playground" and bring them home from school to my house. You betcha! My mom opened my backpack and found at least a hundred of these fuzzy things (yes, some of them were squished). I usually had one in my room during the spring time in a jar and I paitently waited and watched as it made a cocoon and turned into a butterfly, well a moth to be exact. I was so excited the day I discovered that these cute little fur balls were what created the giant things I thought were spider webs... these...


They aren't full of spiders, they are full of baby caterpillars. When they are ready to do what big caterpillars do, they make their way out of the nests, down the trees and eat leaves. Okay, enough about my love for caterpillars... well almost. As the mother of a boy, I am beginning to prepare myself for the day when Nathan wants a snake as a pet and I firmly say no, or the day when he's discovered a hill of ants and I get the heebegeebies (sp?). But, no preparation was needed for me to share my love of these furry little critters with Nathan.

Aren't they cute?

I know you've heard enough about my bug adventures as a child, but here's one more story for you. My dad went somewhere, the details have escaped my mind, but he brought back this golf ball sized brown thing and told me that it was a nest.

(It looked more like a really really small bee hive). In the nest, were praying mantis eggs. He told me that if I took really good care of the nest, the eggs would hatch and we'd have baby praying mantisesssss. They would look something like this:
So we got a jar, poked holes in the top... you know the drill. Well, about a week went by, and I went SCREAMING out of my room only to explain that not only had the baby praying mantises hatched out of the egg, but they were small enough to climb out of the holes in the jar. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. Oh well... at least our house was prayed over!