Last December my good friend DeeDee sent me a link to an article. At the time I thought it was great so I kept it. I'm so glad I did because there have been numerous times in the past couple of weeks that I've re-read it just to find some perspective and regain balance again. It's a helpful reminder to be thankful for what I have and to make the most of the present situation--enjoy every moment. I wanted to include it in this blog so I don't forget about it as times passes.
Read the article here.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
School
Two days a week Nathan goes to a day care pretty close to our house. We don't really like calling it day care so we affectionately refer to it as "school." So far we love the place! Nathan is always in a great mood after he comes home from there. And it's easy to call it school because it's set up just like a school. The infants have their own classroom complete with photos of them on the wall, cubbies for each baby, and a student of the month bulletin board. They have a weekly curriculum too. For instance this coming week they'll be learning all about pumpkins and apples in honor of fall. Another week they learned about fire safety including fire trucks. Every day they also go on stroller walks if the weather is nice. So far Nathan has already done a handful of finger painting projects. And his classroom is full of fun activities, books and places to explore. There are no more than 6 infants there on a given day with two teachers so he gets lots of attention. This coming week they're doing school portraits too!
Every day I drop him off I feel a pain of guilt as I leave the building, but I feel comforted that he is in good hands and is probably experiencing more developmental activities than I could ever come up with! Plus the social aspect is really important for him too. We're grateful such a wonderful place is close to our home and that Nathan has such caring, dedicated teachers. It'll be exciting to see what he continues to learn and develop as a result of his classroom curriculum and watching the other kids in his class.
These are about a month old now, but here are some photos from his first day of school--on the front porch where many years of 1st day of school photos will take place! (I know...I'm such a corny mom :) )
Every day I drop him off I feel a pain of guilt as I leave the building, but I feel comforted that he is in good hands and is probably experiencing more developmental activities than I could ever come up with! Plus the social aspect is really important for him too. We're grateful such a wonderful place is close to our home and that Nathan has such caring, dedicated teachers. It'll be exciting to see what he continues to learn and develop as a result of his classroom curriculum and watching the other kids in his class.
These are about a month old now, but here are some photos from his first day of school--on the front porch where many years of 1st day of school photos will take place! (I know...I'm such a corny mom :) )
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| Nathan with one of his teachers Ms. Ciana |
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
4 Months Old!
I am just starting to accept that I'm probably forever going to be behind on blogging. James' and my new motto is "We may not be there on time, but we will be there." And it looks like that's starting to be our theme in many areas of our lives. The good thing is I'm slowly learning to accept this and be ok with it. For the first time in my life I'm truly learning what it means to give myself grace and that it's not all about completing the To Do List all the time. I'm not entirely where I want to be, but slowly Nate is teaching me how to slow down and be in the moment....that it's about the journey and not the destination (so far I've noticed my To Do List doesn't really have a destination anyway because it's never completed).
I can't believe it's already been 4 months! And since I'm posting this late, he's actually 4.5 months old now. This little guy is growing up so fast. It's getting more and more fun every day.
Here are some things happening at 4 months:
*He rolled over for the first time! We're not sure if he meant to, but he's definitely rolling on his side more often and getting more mobile
*He is very strong and loves it when we hold him standing up. We just got him a bouncer chair so he can "stand up" on his own and start building his leg muscles.
*Nate is a very smiley baby and he's started to laugh more too. He smiles big when we come home, come get him when he wakes up, and when we get down on the floor to play with him
*He's in a phase where he loves faces. He touches his papa's nose all the time. Yesterday he touched James' nose and then touched his own so it's fun to see him making those cognitive connections.
*He loves his feet and is always grabbing his toes. We don't even need toys right now--his feet entertain him enough
*We love our bedtime routine. We read stories all together, sing songs like You Are My Sunshine and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, say prayers and then put him to sleep. It's one of our favorite times of the day.
I can't believe it's already been 4 months! And since I'm posting this late, he's actually 4.5 months old now. This little guy is growing up so fast. It's getting more and more fun every day.
Here are some things happening at 4 months:
*He rolled over for the first time! We're not sure if he meant to, but he's definitely rolling on his side more often and getting more mobile
*He is very strong and loves it when we hold him standing up. We just got him a bouncer chair so he can "stand up" on his own and start building his leg muscles.
*Nate is a very smiley baby and he's started to laugh more too. He smiles big when we come home, come get him when he wakes up, and when we get down on the floor to play with him
*He's in a phase where he loves faces. He touches his papa's nose all the time. Yesterday he touched James' nose and then touched his own so it's fun to see him making those cognitive connections.
*He loves his feet and is always grabbing his toes. We don't even need toys right now--his feet entertain him enough
*We love our bedtime routine. We read stories all together, sing songs like You Are My Sunshine and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, say prayers and then put him to sleep. It's one of our favorite times of the day.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
4 Month Photoshoot
We wanted to get some professional photos to capture Nate at 4 months old (or almost 4 months old). We are so blessed that Ryan is into photography! He captured these awesome photos below. Can't believe how fast our little one is growing up! Thanks Ryan for such wonderful photos!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
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!
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!
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).
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. :)
Here's some shots of the birthday boy at the family celebration!
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| Happy Birthday Papa! |
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| James with his parents--they made a fabulous spread for his birthday dinner! |
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| 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).
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| James and his "mini me" |
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| He got so excited that he started cutting the cake before we'd even done candles and sang Happy Birthday! |
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| Nate is mesmerized by the light from the candles |
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| Happy birthday my sweet husband! We love you! |
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....
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....
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