3 Months Old!

We can't believe our little guy is already 3 months old (well because I'm behind on blogging, he's actually 3 1/2 months old now!).  He continues to delight and amaze us every day.

Here are some fun things happening at 3 months:

*Nate has started "talking" a lot--even more so than at 2 months.  We think he's gonna be an extrovert like his mom--brace yourself James!
*He has started to hold on to toys like his rattle and he's getting better at grabbing things.  If I put my hands up in front of him, he'll put his hands up to mine like we're doing a high 5
*Tummy time is getting better.  A couple weeks ago he hated tummy time--cried the whole time.  Now he can last longer before starting to cry and he's getting good at raising his head up.  During tummy time he pulls his legs up and tries to get on his knees so we think he's going to be an early crawler
*Like a typical boy he is drawn to the TV.  Any time it's on he'll move his head or neck around to catch a glimpse.  We try hard not to let him see it, but sometimes it's funny to watch how mesmerized he is by it.  So far he loves watching football and baseball.  Big surprise....
*He is really into his "blankie."  Ever since he was a newborn we put a lightweight blankie on him and even when it was hot we'd keep a small burp cloth by him because he spits up.  Well now the blankie has become a source of comfort for him.  He likes to cuddle up to his blankie (whether it be a full blanket or a little burp cloth) and it's soothing for him.  James had his own blankie called Blue when he was a little boy and I think Nate is definitely following in his Papa's footsteps.
*We play with toys a lot more now.  Some of Nate's favorites are his Baby Einstein blocks, rattles, a wind-up toy that plays music and moves the pictures, his little instruments that make sounds, his Fisher Price CD player that lights up and plays Twinkle Twinkle and Row Your Boat, and anything with bright colors and parts that move.

Happy 3 Months Nater Tater! 

Birthday Celebrations

A couple weeks ago we had multiple opportunities to celebrate James' birthday!  Luckily his birthday always falls around Seafair weekend in Seattle.  This year we didn't think it would be a good idea to go watch the Blue Angels show down by the water because they would be so loud for Nate's ears.  We were in the Capitol Hill area though on Saturday so we thought we'd try to get to a spot in the Madrona neighborhood where we could watch them from afar.  They ended up flying literally right over us!  And really low to the ground too.  They probably came closer to us than if we had been down by the water.  Poor Nate got really scared.  Hopefully we didn't damage his little ear drums.  :(  But James just loves watching them--it was hard to resist!  So Nate got his first taste of the Blue Angels.  I don't think he's much of a fan.  Hopefully he'll like them more when he's older.  We didn't document the experience with photos--thought the memory would be painful for Nate to relive some day.

Here's some shots of the birthday boy at the family celebration!

Happy Birthday Papa!

James with his parents--they made a fabulous spread for his birthday dinner!

Super excited!  His "cake" was peach cobbler

On James' actual birthday we made dinner at home.  Nate and I decorated the house to surprise him and of course got an ice cream cake (James' favorite).

James and his "mini me"

He got so excited that he started cutting the cake before we'd even done candles and sang Happy Birthday!

Nate is mesmerized by the light from the candles

Happy birthday my sweet husband!  We love you!

Other celebrations included me taking James out to dinner to one of our favorites restaurants, Seastar and we celebrated with my parents by taking a day trip to Whidbey Island and went to a yummy restaurant there called Christopher's.  Whew!  Now that the seeming month of celebrations is over, we can start to gear up for my birthday.  :)

Back to Work

During the month of August I've slowly been easing back into work.  The first week I went in 2 days.  Last week I went in 3 days and this week I went in 3 days.  Next week I go in 4 days and then I'm full time again after Labor Day.  I can't believe how fast my maternity leave went.  It is the hardest thing to leave Nate every day and I definitely was in a lot of tears the first few days.  I'm slowly getting used to it, but I think that's helped by the fact that I still get to look forward to a couple days at home with him in the week.  It's going to be REALLY hard when I'm away from him 5 days in a row.  Nate so far seems to be doing pretty well.  That's probably helped by the fact that he gets to spend his days with either his Nana or his Gramma and Grampa and is completely spoiled and loved on.  Sheesh!  He probably doesn't even realize his parents are gone all day!

I'm glad I've been easing back into work because it's definitely an adjustment.  There's so much more to do and think about.....packing up and preparing bottles, packing up his diaper bag, getting all my pump equipment together, making lunches, etc.  Hence the lack of blogging lately.  Not to mention my work day is a little different now since I have to incorporate pumping into the mix.  I'm thankful I have an office though where I can close the blinds and the door and be in total privacy.  I have a wonderful boss who is totally supportive as well.  She has 3 kids and knows what it feels like to go back to work so I'm grateful for her empathy.  Plus my co-worker has 2 young kids of her own.  Could God have placed me in a more wonderful environment for having to go back to work?  It's like He knew exactly what would help get me through!

Nevertheless we're definitely in transition and I find myself constantly problem solving and analyzing what I can do to make life tasks easier so I have more time with my husband and son.  My big experiment this week was preparing all the lunch snacks in baggies and tupperware ahead of time so all I have to do at night is throw them in our lunch sacks.  So far the strategy is working well.  Still working on how I'm going to fit working out into my new crazy schedule.  And also seeking new dinner recipes that are quick and healthy.  Any suggestions or ideas from other parents or working moms out there?

More updates about life transition to come as Nate will start day care (or "school" which is what we're calling it to help us feel better) in September....

Baby Olympics

In honor of the 2012 Summer Olympics starting today, we're doing our own Olympics here in the Spaulding household....Baby style.  Nathan has become an expert athlete in the Rings event.  It's a grueling sport as you can see by the cry of exhaustion at the end.  Thank goodness he's done a lot of training.  Definitely a gold medal winner!
(Please disregard the amateur filming and goofy commentary)

Happy Summer Olympics!

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....