9 month photos with Leo

Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad Girl

Bailey is feeling the stress of the move and the packing... remember last week she brought my shower loofah into the floor in the hall? Well today, she got it again, and this time had her way with it... she's not done something like this in a long time.

House Update #15 finishing touches

If all goes well, and we're hoping and praying it will, we should be moving in on Friday! We went by today and the lady was there to clean it. I can't imagine cleaning a house that has been left trashed by contractors. Crazy. She said she just had to find a place to start and that was with the windows! From what we could see, our punch list during out walk thru will be quite long... dents here and there, paint on the carpet, little nit picky stuff... but they could surprise us and take care of some of it before our walk through. Here's a picture of the kitchen with the appliances in.

Nathan loves to go to the house. He likes to hear his voice because it echoes, so the whole time we are there he goes, Ah, ah, ah, ah, bye bye bye bye, bah bah... on and on and on. He really wants to get down on the floor... can you tell?

Nathan also loves the carpet upstairs. I has a long pile and he likes to touch it. Too cute. Hopefully he'll have more space to crawl around very soon!!!

Playdate with Emily

Today, Nathan and I met Ashley and Emily at the Children's Museum for a playdate. Nathan had never been and was quite overwhelmed. While he is usually not at all clingy, he kept crawling up into my lap and burying his face into my neck or my shirt. I must admit I soaked it up! With some prompting, he did play and his motor skills were really tested.

He did lots of climbing on the blocks and even attempted to scale a set of small steps. He was chasing after Emily who was crawling everywhere!



He also like the Lego table and the train table. His preference was to hit the legos or trains together and listen to their noise. He also enjoyed chewing on them. Somewhere down the road, he'll learn to play with them, but for now, the experience was all the fun he needed.

He and Emily played in a tiny ball pit and of course Nathan loved this. Aren't they cute?

Lastly, we let the kids play in the sandbox. Nathan's not really experienced a lot of sand. The sand on the beach was too hot for him to really play in so this was new. He was cautious at first and then started to go after some toys. He quickly discovered that the sand was only about an inch deep and the bottom of the box was plywood (ouch on little scooting knees). That was the end of the sandbox for him. Emily on the other hand, really enjoyed herself!



It was great to hang out with Ashley and Emily and I loved Nathan interacting with a little one just a bit older. He tried to kiss her a time or two and was fascinated with the ribbons on her skirt. She was not at all fascinated by him and cried when he got too close! Her daddy will enjoy hearing that! Ashley, thanks for such a fun afternoon! We look forward to the next playdate with you guys!

38 weeks old

With our move quickly approaching, the last week has been super busy, but I managed to get a few shots and keep good records of all the new things going on! Here's a quick update...

Nathan has tried some new foods (no surprise there). His daddy gave him two sips of a chocolate banana viviano shake from starbucks and HE LOVED IT... no more chocolate anything until the potty training days. I suppose a little taste of daddy's shake didn't kill him or take away from the chocolate experience... after all it was absolutely adorable to watch his reaction! Nathan has also begun to eat salmon that's just baked or grilled and not pureed. He seems to like it as well. We also discovered that he really likes asparagus. He tasted a lemon and wasn't sure what to think. He also tried spaghetti but really didn't like the texture of the noodles. He fussed through the whole meal and only ate a bite or two. He was also up all night with gas and a hurting tummy... who knows why.

Right now, cheerios are by far his favorite. He is doing very well eating them by himself and has his own little method of getting them into his mouth. Whatever works! :)

Nathan is very active and into everything. He's begun to lose interest in the jumperoo, probably because he's realized he can't go anywhere. Thankfully the walker will arrive any day and so we'll be trying that out soon.

Nathan loves to wave bye bye and occasionally says it while waving. It's way too cute and will melt your heart.

It's consignment sale season and here are two of our fun finds!

Black and Whites of Park

Color makes a huge difference in pictures. I've been experimenting lately. Sometimes just a little color looks great. Sometimes, black and whites look awesome. I'm not sure what looks good when, but what do you think of the pics from the park in Black and White?

My favorite Birthday Voicemail

Turn up your volume and be prepared to laugh... and guess who the message is from!

Birthday to Remember

On Monday, I celebrated my first birthday as a mom. It was certainly a birthday to remember. My sweet husband took the day off from work so that we could hang out as a family. Here's a look into my day! I slept until 10am! Yep, Chad got up with the little man, they took a walk, ate breakfast, played, and then as I was waking up, Nathan was eating some yogurt right before his nap. Chad said, "show mommy... Nathan do you want more?" He helped him get started by lifting up his arms, and then Nathan brought those little hands together and signed "more". My heart melted! So sweet. The little man finished his yogurt and headed to bed. Then, the greatest husband on earth, fixed me a delicious bkfast... pancakes (chocolate chip and blueberry), scrambled eggs, and sausage. We ate, chatted, and enjoyed some time without interruption.


Chad also let me open my birthday present...
12 Psalty CD's and 5 DVD's... Do any of you remember Psalty the singing song book? I grew up listening to those cassettes and I still remember the songs and the bible verses. I've been basically begging for these CD's so that Nathan could also grow up with this wonderful music (produced in the 80's) and Chad most certainly delivered!!!!

When the little guy woke up, we fed him some lunch. Salmon - the real fish, that I cooked and then broke into pieces, peaches (real ones diced), sweet potato, blueberries (which he loved), and some cheerios.

Then, we popped a CD in the car, listened to Psalty's Camping Adventure, and headed to the park. After walking through some trails, we found some boulders you can climb. I managed to make it to the top... see!


Then it was time to get the little guy out of the stroller and let him play... while daddy took pictures... millions. I had to share them with you, and it was very difficult to pick favorites.


Remember this pic from late May? Same park! Wow, he's changed so much

He loves standing at this steering wheel and turning it. I wish we'd gotten a pic of his fat little bare feet on the jungle gym... too cute.



He walked across the curvy bridge and held onto more bars... he was in heaven!


Then he discovered a tube he could crawl through.






He discovered stairs and enjoyed trying to climb up them, and then found the curly poles. He loved these!



Of course, there had to be a trip down the slide... you might remember this slide...
Nathan at 6 months...

Nathan at 8.5 months






And some great fun in the swings.
Remember him swinging at 6 months?

He's a little bigger now!








He enjoyed it much more when Daddy pushed him because Daddy pushed him so high!!!







His little cheeks got so red from being hot, so we laid down on a blanket in the shade from some rest and water. Nathan discovered the grass and enjoyed feeling it.




He also spent some time climbing on his daddy.




Chad tried to get Nathan to lay still with him and snuggle... fat chance!

Nathan decided he'd rather play with his daddy's teeth... a new found love of the little man's!

To top the night off, we left Nathan with his favorite babysitter, Lucy, and headed out to dinner with some of our good friends. After dinner, we ate Kendra's 7 layer cookie bars (OH my word they are delicious!!!! I call them crack bars because they are so addictive. Check out her blog and make some... then sign up for a class and learn how to make other SCRUMPTIOUS food!), popcorn, and opened presents. My friends know me well... chocolate, candy, fuzzy slippers, a knife sharpener (because sharp knives aren't as tough on the fingers), and of course some target gift cards! We finished up the night by watching the Bucket List in our apartment's 21 seat movie theater. Other than being 65 degrees, it was great! What an amazing bday! I loved every minute of it and it only made me feel younger!