From High School to Motherhood

Sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm now old enough to be a mom.  This feeling really hit me last week when my girlfriends from high school and I got together with all our kids.  Dee Dee was in town so we decided to all get together at Jana's condo.  5 moms and 9 kids.  Us girls didn't really finish any conversations and it was definitely a bustling afternoon, but it was so much fun.  I caught myself looking around a couple times just marveling at the fact that all of us (who mostly met in elementary school or junior high) now have kids of our own and are still just as close of friends!  We missed Jessica though who just as we were all hanging out was in the middle of labor!  Congrats to the Kilburns and their daughter Paige Elizabeth!  Welcome to the Mom Club, Jess!

Trying to actually have a conversation

Thank goodness for the indoor trampoline!

Eliana, this is Nate.  Nate, this is Eliana. (Nate was exhausted from all the activity)

Our attempt to get a photo of all the kids...

Getting closer....

Success!

And now the moms' turn

Kristine and Dee Dee

So good to see you Dee Dee!  Nate loved meeting you!

2 Months Old!

Hard to believe but Nathan just turned 2 months old on Tuesday!  So of course we did our photo shoot again (see below).  He's a constant mover so getting a non-blurry photo is near to impossible.  He's definitely looking bigger and getting more personality in his face.  I think he's pretty much a James look-a-like (lucky boy!).   

He had his 2 month check-up yesterday with the pediatrician.  He's about 12 lbs. 2 oz, 23 inches long and has a head circumference of 15 3/4 inches.  All of these measurements are in the 50th percentile so I guess we can say Nate is average in measurements.  Definitely way beyond average in cuteness though!  :)  The doctor said everything looks good.  But then sadly Nate had to get his 2 month immunization shots.  Poor thing cried so hard and I've never seen his face turn so red!  I think mom cried more than Nathan did though.  Last night was pretty rough as I think his legs hurt where he got the shots.  He's also been running a small fever so we're monitoring that.  So far today though he's been pretty content--smiling and cooing like always.  Still has a little fever, but hopefully we'll be moving on from that soon.

Here are some things we love that are occurring at 2 months:

*He smiles at us on his own and it's the greatest feeling in the world!
*He's cooing and "talking" to us a lot. It's fun to be in the other room and hear him talking to himself.  We're always so curious what goes through his mind
*He is drawn to bright, contrasting colors.  As we walk through the house or outside, he looks all around with wide eyes
*He loves to read.  Currently his favorite books are Very Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear What Do You See, and Goodnight Moon.  Those all have the best colors and he loves looking at the pictures.
*He is a wiggler!  His legs are constantly moving.  I think we're in trouble for when he starts crawling--how will we be able to keep up?
*We introduced him to his play gym/mat this past month and he loves it!  He'll sit under it for a long time and just look around at all the dangling animals and loves to look at the mirror. 
*Nate's a great sleeper.  He usually does a 5 or 6 hour stretch and then another 3 hour stretch with a feeding in between at night.  He takes a few naps during the day as well.  We feel lucky to be getting such great sleep at night.  Plus he goes to sleep on his own!  We hope this trend continues but with all things baby, we're sure it will change
*Seems like new things happen every week and Nate just continues to delight us.  We love you buddy!

Summer Has Arrived!

Summer has finally come to Seattle!  Now Nathan finally gets to see why it's worth living through the gray, rainy skies all year. 

Last week Nathan celebrated his first 4th of July!  We spent the day taking a walk up to our neighborhood park where they had a big 4th of July celebration with food, face paint, tons of bouncy houses, a train, pony rides, etc.  Obviously Nate couldn't participate in any of those things yet, but it made us excited for future 4th's when he's a little older.  Then we went over to the Spauldings for a BBQ.  Unfortunately Nate was a very crabby the whole day.  So although we did some fun activities, James and I were exhausted by the end of the day after multiple meltdowns.  We survived though and at least got to let off some fireworks at the end of the night which made up for the challenging day. 

Nate in his cute 4th of July outift

Getting serenaded by Grampa!

One of the rare happy moments that day

Fireworks!  We felt like kids again!

Oh Oh.  This could be interesting...

Sparklers!

This pretty much sums up Nate's mood most of the day

Gramma Barb has the magic touch!

Then this past weekend Nate got to take his first ferry ride!  We went with the Warners over to Bainbridge Island to celebrate Nana's birthday.  What a perfect Seattle day!  Nate was the total opposite of the 4th and was an angel all day.  Thank goodness!  We had fun walking around town and enjoyed a yummy dinner at Four Swallows.  What a big week for Nate--so many firsts!

First ferry ride!

Happy Birthday Nana!

Sportin' his new sunglasses

Thought this picture was cute

Nate loves his Uncle Ryan!

Birthday dinner!

He was like this most of the day!

Fun day!

More updates soon about Nate turning 2 months old....

First Father's Day

Yesterday was James' first Father's Day and Gramps' and Pops' first Grandpa's Day!  Both families spent the day together going to lunch at Elysian Fields and the Mariners game.  So Nathan has now been to his first professional baseball game!  Luckily the Mariners pulled out a win at the bottom of the 9th to beat the Giants.  It was a lot of stimulation for Nathan to take in, but he did great!  We had a couple meltdowns, but mostly because he was hungry or tired.  He got his first baseball cap (but it's way too big for him to wear right now) and they even gave him a certificate to commemorate his first Mariners game! 

We are so lucky to have such amazing fathers in our lives.  Thank you James, Jay and Dad for all that you do--for being men of integrity, love, and service.  You are wonderful leaders and providers for our families and we love you so much!

One Month Old!

We can't believe that little Nathan is already 1 month old!  He turned 1 month old this past Sunday.  He's now about 10 1/2 lbs. (obviously eating is not a problem :)).  And he's becoming much more aware and alert.  He focuses on our faces and loves to look around at his surroundings.  We've even gotten smiles from him a couple times!  He's also sleeping pretty well.  We get at least one 4-hour stretch from him a night and we're only getting up about 2-3 times a night.  We feel so happy that he's a good little sleeper.  The boy just continues to delight us with his cuteness.  Most of the time we just watch him and giggle at his funny faces or sigh at the angelic way he sleeps. 

Nevertheless we have had our meltdown moments as well though.  The kid can definitely wail when he's unhappy.  We're trying to remind ourselves that it's common for babies to cry and it's not that we're bad parents or doing something wrong.  But man it's really hard not to meltdown ourselves when he melts down.  :)  Every day we're learning new things as parents and getting a little more confident in our abilities.

In honor of Nathan's 1 month old milestone, we had a little photo shoot the other morning.  After about 50 photos, these ones were some of our favorites.  (We took inspiration from our friends the Greens and are going to try and document Nathan's growth every month in his crib.  Hope it's ok we copied your idea, Tyler and Meghan!)

In Love

It's hard to believe that baby Nathan is almost one month old!  Just as everyone says time is flying by.  We've had a great few weeks though watching our sweet boy grow and even start to develop new skills.  We are so in love with our little guy and marvel at him all day long.  Here are some of our favorite things about him:

*The cute faces he makes
*When he sneezes, yawns or hiccups
*How he loves his hands
*The funny movements he makes when naked
*Bath time
*Tummy time
*How he cuddles when we hold him
*Reading books to him
*Special moments feeding him in the middle of the night
*Anytime he's awake--he has such a personality!
*His tiny little swaddled body in his huge crib
*His little feet

He had his 2 week check-up with the pediatrician a couple weeks ago and he was 9 lbs. at that point and at around the 45th and 50th percentile for head size and length.  The nurse said he's a very well proportioned boy.  :)  We love our pediatrician and he said everything is looking great with Nathan so far!

Here are some photos from the past couple of weeks:

First sponge bath

We think he looks a lot like his Papa!

Auntie Jessica visited!

The Spaulding boys

With Uncle Ryan

Nathan's first bath!

Could he be any cuter?

Auntie Karen and Taylor visited!

We are also very lucky in that we have my talented brother Ryan who's been taking more professional shots of Nathan for us.  Here are some of our favorites from Nathan's last photoshoot:

3 Years

James and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary this week.  3 years ago today I got to marry the most incredible man I've ever met.  It was a gorgeous sunny Seattle weekend and we couldn't have imagined a more perfect weekend of celebrating with family and friends. 

We celebrated our anniversary by going out on a date night to the John Howie steak restaurant.  For those of you who live in the area, you MUST go to this restaurant if you've never been.  It's SO GOOD!  Definitely a special occasion place though as it's pretty pricey.  Thanks to Barb and Jay for babysitting so we could enjoy this special night and celebrate. 

James and I like to follow the traditional anniversary gift ideas every year.  The traditional gift for 3 years is leather.  James got some new UGG leather slippers and I got a beautiful black leather purse.  James also surprised me with a gorgeous necklace with an emerald pendant and a white gold N initial.  Emerald is Nathan's birthstone and the N obviously stands for Nathan.  It was my "push" present as my sister-in-law called it--basically my gift for going through labor.  What a thoughtful husband!

James you are the greatest husband and father.  God has truly blessed me with you in my life and I can't wait to continue on this life adventure with you for 50+ more years!  I love you so much my best friend and true soul mate!