Catch up

So, this post will have a lot of pictures that I have promised in previous posts, plus what's been going on since November. Bear with me! I think I'll start with most recent, then play catch up.

We spent Christmas here in Dallas. It was so much fun to see Nate's eyes on Christmas morning when he saw all his presents under the tree. He's gotten to really understand the whole present thing, since he visited family in Utah at the start of December and received his birthday and Christmas gifts from them then, so on Christmas morning he totally dug in. The kid was spoiled rotten by everybody, as usual. We've had a lot of fun over the last week playing with all his great new toys--thanks grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins for all the awesome presents!





Christmas Eve it snowed here. Yuck. That's part of why we moved here, to avoid snow, and what do we get, but a "Christmas miracle." We only got an inch or so, but it stuck around until Christmas morning, and we played outside in it after we opened presents. It was Nate's first time to really play in the snow--even though he's been around it before, he was either too young or it was too dang cold to get out and play. Nate quickly caught on to Jake's snowball throwing lessons, and I tried to help him build a snowman, but as soon as it was done, he knocked it over. Nate loved walking in the snow, and kept saying, "Fing (fingers), cold!"







Nate's birthday was fun. The highlight was his new trike, which he calls his bike. He got on it for a minute or two, then discovered the handle for parents to use to push their child. After that, all he's wanted to do is push his trike. We're quite the sight, Nate & I walking around the neighborhood, pushing a trike. We took him to Chili's for his birthday dinner, and he surprised me by actually eating all of his grilled cheese (if you know him well, you know this is quite the accomplishment for my picky eater). Even after the whole sandwich, he still had room for a big piece of cake, eaten much more neatly than was last year's. Below are pictures of all 3 of his birthday cakes, the one he had with us here, and the ones he had with the Barney and Howard families when we visited earlier this month.






Here are some favorite pictures from our trip to Utah. We missed Jake, who couldn't come because of training at his new job with the firm, but he came through like a champ with some gorgeous flowers for me for our 6th anniversary! It was fun to be around family, eat at my old favorite restaurants, and just relax. Sadly, Nate & I both had colds for much of the trip, so we didn't get to see much of Kale & Brynlee. On a happy note though, Nate finally warmed up to Brenda long enough for me to snap their picture--it took two years, but it finally happened!






Below are some pictures from Halloween and other randomness that is a couple of months old . . . better late than never, right?











Nate has become quite the jumper and dancer over the past few weeks. Sometimes I'll catch him dancing and singing along with his favorite PBS show, "Super Why." I really need to catch it on tape, it's too cute for words. I'll end with Nate quotes/what he's been saying lately.

"Nate want ____"
"Hey!" (I've realized I start most sentences with this word.)
"Oh, yeah!"
"Sure, true."
"Big hug, lil hug."
"One. Ah, ah, ah. Two. Ah, ah, ah." (Props to the Count on Sesame Street!)

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 . . .