Annual Mountain Drive

It's that time of year again!  The Annual Mountain Drive to Leavenworth!  Although Nate was technically with us on this trip last year (in my tummy), this was his first time truly experiencing the adventure.  We went later in October than normal this year and the colors were still gorgeous--especially the yellow and golden colors!  We had a great day of eating, taking photos, enjoying nature, walking around Leavenworth, and visiting the pumpkin patch.  Can't wait until next year to do it all over again!

James got some great shots with his new camera!

First pumpkin patch!

Bedtime Routine

My favorite part of the day is when all three of us come together at the end of the crazy day to do Nathan's bedtime routine.  It is the part of my day where I feel content, at peace, warm and happy.  Some nights we give Nate a bath.  Every night I nurse him and get him into comfy PJ's.  Then we all read books together.  Some of our favorite books include Sleepyhead, Hungry Caterpillar, The Barnyard Dance, Good Night Seattle, Goodnight Moon, Polar Bear What Do You Hear and Brown Bear What Do You See.  James has the best voices for reading books and always makes me laugh.

Then we put Nate in his sleep sack and we sing 2 songs to him.  We rotate through You Are My Sunshine, Twinkle Twinkle, Row Your Boat, Jesus Loves Me, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Over the Rainbow, Silent Night, etc.  Then we say a prayer, turn on Nathan's sound machine and say goodnight.  Most of the time he fusses a little and then is off in dreamland.  Some nights it's a little tougher for him to fall asleep.  Regardless of how hectic my day has been or how stressed I feel, the bedtime routine has become the moment during the day when I feel balanced and am reminded of all my blessings and what's really important.  I'm writing about this because I want to record and remember these special moments--the every day moments that I don't want to take for granted.

Nate loves bath time!

Reading one of our favorites--Hungry Caterpillar

5 Months Old!

It feels like the months are just flying by.  Can't believe we're at 5 months already!  It seems surreal to say we have a 5 month old.  This is such a fun time though.  So many developmental things happening all the time!

Here is what we want to remember at 5 months:

*Nate rolls over all the time--mostly from his stomach to his back.  He doesn't do much tummy time these days because he always rolls over
*He's sitting up quite a bit on his own.  If he has a toy or something to focus on he does really well with his balance.  The other night he sat up on his own for over 5 minutes!
*He helps to turn the pages in his books when we read to him and is much more engaged with the book--including wanting to put his mouth on every page
*Speaking of putting things in his mouth--he does this with everything!  Lots of sucking on things and drooling going on.  Maybe teething has begun?
*The  new fun toy is the rainforest bouncer.  He loves it and is getting very good at bouncing up and down.
*Nathan loves our faces and grabbing our noses
*We get lots of laughs when Papa swings him back and forth and I play patty cake with him

Happy 5 months Nathan!

Grass: Greener

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.

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 :) )

Nathan with one of his teachers Ms. Ciana

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.

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!