Moved In: Check. Organized: No Check.

Wow, what a whirlwind the last month has been! I'll post pictures of our new house when it is actually clean and organized . . . it may be a while.

So, since I last posted, we had Halloween, a visit from my parents to help us move in, moved in, found out Jake passed the Bar, Jake started his job, and Nathan has officially entered(though not by birthday) his terrible twos. Lots, lots, lots going on.

Halloween--I'll also post those pictures when I'm more organized. Nathan was a firefighter, and it was the cutest thing to hear him say, "Trick, treat." He really got into the whole candy thing. He had a practice run the week before at our ward Trunk-or-Treat (pics to come on this one, too), so he was an old pro when the actual day came along. After taking him to a little neighborhood Halloween fair, during which he either ingested walnuts in a brownie (he's allergic) or rubbed his eyes after petting the bunnies and goats in the petting zoo (maybe he's allergic--who knows, he's got me for a mom!), we had the fun of taking our little hive-covered boy to CVS for a quick dose of Benadryl, then off for trick-or-treating. We took him to our new neighborhood, and the people around here sure get in to decorating their houses. Nate has been obsessed with his safety lately, and true to form kept asking, "Nate safe?" Love that little guy!

A few days later my parents came in to town for a few days to help us out with our move (thanks you guys, we couldn't have done it without you!) They mostly kept tabs on Nathan while Jake & I directed the movers and unpacked. They bought Nate a wagon he absolutely loves, and we take him to the little neighborhood park in it all the time. We got a date in with the babysitting services of Gramma & Papa, and just generally had an awesome time.

Then reality sank in. New house to clean. New yard to work in. Furniture for a two bedroom apartment looks really silly in a great new four bedroom house. Little by little we'll furnish it, but we have student loan payments galore to make. Looks like our flat screen tv dreams will have to wait a while!

With all the hustle & bustle, (and it won't slow down, we've got Nate's birthday, our anniversary, a trip home--hopefully, and Christmas coming up), Nathan has become a lot more independent. The other day I got him some toys & turned on a show for him while I took a shower, standard procedure, and when I got out, he had climbed our flight of 18 stairs, sans help or permission. I was mortified, proud, etc., and had a new resolve to install the baby gate.

Most of Nathan's gains have been in vocabulary lately. He still isn't one for multi-syllable words, but he's got one syllable for just about anything around him. He's started counting on his own--not just a string of numbers, but actually pointing to the objects and counting. He can go all the way to 12! He's starting to figure out that the letters he loves are the sounds of speech--we played a game where I showed him objects (cow, manger, baby, etc. from his new nativity scene), named them for him, and he would find the letter the word began with. What a stud! When I taught third and fourth grade I didn't get to see how reading develops like this, and it is so amazing to see the process from the beginning.

Funny Nathan quotes:

"Nate pick green boog (booger). Try!" Please no, Nate!

"Dada go work. Buh-bye!"

"Nate turn." Whenever he wants to do something.

"Green, go!" When we're stuck at a red light.

October is the Scary Month

We started off October with a scare--Nathan's first (and hopefully last) ambulance ride and trip to the emergency room. He had a quick-onset case of the croup. We put him to bed feeling fine, and the next thing we heard was him hacking and wheezing. We took Nate to an urgent care office, they attached an oxygen monitor to his thumb since he was having trouble breathing, and his levels were way too low, so they called an ambulance which rushed us to the hospital. He received a steroid injection to open his airway, and fought tooth & nail against the oxygen mask. Moral of the story is he had a lingering cough for a couple of weeks, but is as good as new. The general consensus at the ER was that the monitor at the urgent care was malfunctioning, because if his oxygen levels were truly that low, he would be turning blue and unable to cry. I'm glad that we were safe instead of sorry, but I know we have another scary moment to come when the hospital bills arrive!




We are trying to do lots of fun fall activities as a family. Above are pictures of Nathan helping to make pumpkin muffins. Obviously, Nate understands so much more this year than last year, so it's been fun to see him get into fall & Halloween. We're working on counting, so Nathan is making a Halloween counting book. He also practices trick-or-treating; he knocks on a door, says "trick-treat" and I give him a piece of candy. We've got the costume issues worked out--he was originally going to be Winnie the Pooh, but the costume we ordered him had a ridiculously short zipper and he got all scratched up every time he tried it on. So off to Carter's we went for firefighter pajamas & galoshes that look just like firefighter boots. Nathan is thrilled with his new costume.












We took Nathan to a pumpkin patch yesterday. He loved watching the tractor pull us on a hayride. One of his new ambitions was realized when he got to pull a little red wagon like the ones he sees kids ride in at the park. I keep promising him we'll get one when we move into our house & actually have a garage to keep it in, but he enjoyed his preview of joys to come. Nathan chose 6 pumpkins for us to take home and decorate, and it was one of those awesome moments of parenthood to watch him waddle over to the wagon, carefully holding his pumpkins tight to his chest. His grunts as he tried to hoist up the giant pumpkins were priceless! While I waited in line for our hayride, Jake took Nate to sit on an enormous toy tractor--try prying him off and living to tell the tale. We'll be back next year for sure. I'm excited to be starting traditions in our little family!













The house . . . almost done, and looking gorgeous! We stopped by yesterday to see our tile floors, kitchen counters & backsplash, fireplace, bathroom tile, light fixtures, and paint all finished. They've also started preparing the yard. We're supposed to close on October 30, so only two more weeks (and loud-neighbor weekends) in our apartment! Then comes yard work . . .

Things are really rollin'

Nathan is absolutely obsessed with cars right now. When he wakes up, the first thing he says is "Car, car!!!" He spends hours going "zoom," "beep," and "jive" (drive), making ramps out of Rubbermaid lids and roads out of DVD cases for his cars to drive on, and lining the cars up along the entertainment center. He loves the Disney movie Cars too--he learned the word "watch" just to get his point across when I pretend he just wants to look at the case. I finally bought him a toy garage yesterday to hopefully save the furniture from the dings his little cars inflict.
Every time I ask Nate a question lately, he says "Hmmmmmm." He's learned to say "O-pen" (very much as two words, not two syllables of the same word). One of my favorite things he says now is "gone" when I ask him where something went.
A friend at church has started a little music class, and Nathan really enjoys it and has started singing some at home. The other night we heard him singing the ABC song in his sleep, and he leads us in "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." He loves the version of "Twinkle, Twinkle" we learned at music class, "Twinkle, twinkle traffic light, on the corner shining bright. Red means stop, green means go, yellow means go very slow . . ." and also likes me to mix it up with shapes, "Twinkle, twinkle little square, how did you get so high up there?" I'm excited to see the talents Nate develops as he grows up.






The house is coming together! We went up this morning, and found the brick and stone completed. I think it looks great. We got a few pictures of the inside, but the workers were there, so we tried to be quick and stay out of their way. They've installed the cabinets, baseboards, railing, and mantle. The walls are all sheet rocked and textured, but not painted yet. I'm amazed at how quickly this process happens, and excited to move in!

Look Who's Talking

Nathan is starting to say some really funny things. His answer to pretty much any question is a "Yeah," which is an improvement from the "No-no" to everything we asked him a couple of months ago. He loves the word "girl," and gets upset every time we tell him he's a boy. Hopefully he'll outgrow that one! We've been working really hard on two-syllable words, like "open" and "amen." The other day he said "yellow" perfectly. He's even starting to use simple sentences, like "Nate type," and "Mama, come."
Speaking of "amen," Nate has been developing strengths and exhibiting weaknesses lately in the realm of religion, as much a 20-month old boy can. He has been the one to fold his arms to remind us to pray over dinner the past couple nights--what a cute little example he sets for us. However, he also seems to have a panic attack whenever the Sacrament is passed at church--he fusses while he waits for it to come, then wants two pieces of bread and two cups of water ("Nate, twoooooo!" the whole congregation hears him shout). I really do love my little boy and the darling personality he is developing each day. He is our greatest blessing!

Utah Trip

We spent the last week in Utah visiting with our fabulous families. Here are the pictures of us with our beautiful new niece/cousin, Brynlee! She looks just like Kale when he was born, just with dark hair instead of being bald. She can already roll onto her side at just two weeks old. Brynlee is gorgeous, and we are officially in awe of her!






One highlight of our trip was the amazing underdog Cougar victory! We watched (well, Jake did, I mostly chased Nathan and his cousins) the BYU game at the Barney house. Delicious Pizza Factory pizza, a win, seeing cousins, it couldn't have been more fun!






The Howard half of the family went to Hogle Zoo. It was so fun for me to take Nathan's picture taking a drink from the same lion water fountain I took a drink from and have pictures of as a little girl. We also took him on his first carousel ride. He loved it, especially since he got to ride a tiger like Sher Khan (yes, Nate's obsession with The Jungle Book continues).






Part of the reason for our trip was to go to my old high school friend's wedding. Braden & Starr are a darling couple, and even though I didn't get to chat with them much, it was great to talk with all my other friends who were at the luncheon and reception, especially since I didn't make it to my 10-year high school reunion this summer.

August and Everything After

We've had a busy month. We said goodbye to some friends from Nashville who were here on an internship for the summer. Ryan & Natasha were very special to Nathan, so we had one last get-together at the Dallas Arboretum. It was so hot--we were dripping sweat by the end--but we enjoyed the beautiful gardens and fountains, and the display of storybook playhouses that is on exhibit right now. Nathan is convinced every car we see on the road is driving to see "Ry & Ta" (Ryan and Tasha), and the other day when I asked him where he thought the toilet paper goes when he flushed the toilet, he confidently replied, "TA!" Sorry if you get our sewage, Ryan & Tasha!






Our house is progressing. We went up last Sunday to discover we had a frame, then went up yesterday and found a roof, some siding, a fireplace, wiring, bathtubs, and plumbing! It's so cool to see it starting to take shape and know that in a couple of months we'll be living there. We'll be able to say "See ya, suckas!" to the obnoxious neighbors that live in our apartment complex, but we'll be sad to leave our ward--we're really growing to love it.

We're off to Utah next week for a friend's wedding, to see family, and meet our new cousin/niece, Brynlee. We're excited, and will post pics of that adventure soon!