Time flies! It's crazy to think that my little man is 3/4 of a year old. He pulls himself up to standing on furniture now, can finally get himself into a sitting position, and does his little crawl all over the place. Nathan definitely does things his own way. His crawl is not the traditional baby crawl--it is more of a swim across the carpet, powered mostly by his legs, and very exhausting (Jake & I tried crawling Nathan style once, and we got quite the work out!). Nate also doesn't sit up the traditional way from his tummy like most babies do. He opts to do it from his back, like a crunch. He's developing some crazy-strong abs!
Nathan is saying da-da-da-da a lot and la-la-la. When we sing to him, he often joins in. He has also realized that Mom & Dad are in the front seat of the car, so he cranes his neck around, laughs to get our attention, and generally is the world's cutest distraction from safe driving. We decorated for Halloween the other day with a bunch of talking/singing decorations that my mom gave me. Nathan is scared of them!!! He'll stare at the witch or the tree, reach out to touch it, then duck his head into the chest of whoever is holding him. He's also scared of the toy cars that the girls who babysit him gave him. He's a sensitive little soul.
We signed Nathan up for swimming lessons at the YMCA. Each Saturday Nate & I go swimming. He loves to chase after the rubber duckies they toss into the pool and is getting really good at kicking to try to get them. The teacher shows him how to dig his hands or paddle in the water by putting a toy below the surface that he has to dig for. I love the look on his face when he gets it--he's so proud of himself! We're planning on video taping swimming lessons next week, so we can show the family at Christmas time what a great little fish Nathan is.
We took Nathan to the State Fair this month. He was in complete awe of the cows, but his absolute favorite animal is the chicken. He still laughs his head off when we "bock-bock-bock" at him.
Nathan had a doctor's appointment this month. He weighs 18 lb. 5 oz. (16th percentile), is 27.25 in. tall (16th percentile), and his head is in the 12th percentile. Such a cute, tiny guy! The doctor said Nathan is healthy and developing well. He advised us to avoid wheat in Nate's diet until he's a year, and to avoid eggs until he's 15 months (Nathan ate some jarred baby food with egg in it a few weeks ago, and broke out in awful hives). The doctor gave Nate clearance to eat table foods though, so we've given him yogurt & cheese, and various nibbles of grown-up food, some he loves a lot, and some he loves a lot less.
School is going pretty well for Jake. I'm proud of him for how well he balances class, working for Layne, and his family & church responsibilities. What a stud!
Our diet is going well. I've lost about 12.5 pounds in 6 weeks, and I think Jake has done about the same, maybe a bit more. It's getting really hard to stay motivated though, with all the social eating that's been going on lately. At the beginning of each school year, families in the ward have each other over for dinner or desserts to get to know each other or get re-acquainted after the summer. We've done something with friends at least once a week since we've been back, and it usually involves something delicious. Plus, now here come the holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's . . . yum), and we're going house-hunting in Dallas in a couple of weeks, so sticking to it may be a challenge. Wish us luck!
