8 Months Old

Here we are again at another month old.  We continue to be in disbelief at how fast the time flies and how Nathan seems to get cuter and cuter every day.  People have told us these are the "golden" times and we couldn't agree more.  We're just trying to soak it all in and enjoy all these moments as much as possible.  Here are some fun things happening at 8 months that we don't want to forget:

*Weighs 18.5 pounds
*He is very mobile--rolls over, gets up on his hands and knees, rocks forward wanting to crawl, can crawl backwards and sit himself up again from the crawl position.  He also likes to hold on to things while standing up like his toy bin.  Getting him to go to sleep has been tricky because he likes to sit up in his crib now and move all around. 
*His favorite toys right now are his firetruck, ring stacker, rockativity, keyboard, and his bin full of rattles/small toys
*He's very cuddly these days--likes to give hugs and reaches to be picked up
*Nate has about 2 meals of solid food a day.  We're on to level 2 foods.  So far he really likes turkey dinner with vegetables and chicken with sweet potatoes
*Nathan loves to babble and he says "ma ma" and "da da" all the time.  We're not sure if he is officially calling us by our names, but we're claiming it anyway.  :)
*Smiles big and does his version of clapping hands (moving his arms really fast up and down) when we come into the room or come into his range of vision
*Loves to go for walks in the stroller and look at all the sights
*One of his favorite activities is reading books.  Lately he's into opening and closing the book and turning the pages on his own.
*Nathan absolutely loves his grandparents--Gramma and Grampa, Nana and Pops.  He is in heaven anytime he's around them and gets to play with them
*He is a ladies man.  Every time we sit him next to one of his girl friends, he reaches for their face and wants to give kisses

Happy 8 Months buddy.  We love you so much!

Now another reason why we have to be quick with the photo shoot.  He'll barely sit still!

One of my all time favorites

Klutz

It's been a challenging start of the year for me as I've had a couple klutz-y moments that have proven painful, embarrassing and annoying.  Although these are bummer experiences, I've found ways to laugh at myself and I thought it would be good to record them on the blog so we can look back and chuckle at my gracefulness. 

A couple weeks ago James and I were skiing with his parents.  I had to go to bathroom so I left them to do another run.  We were at Stevens Pass.  There is a hill you have to walk up to get the lodge which can be pretty tricky in ski boots.  So I thought it would be easier to take the rope tow up the hill.  Now to be fair I haven't ridden on a rope tow since I was a kid learning how to ski.  But I thought "How hard can it be?"  I grabbed on to the rope.  My arm moved with the rope but my body didn't follow.   The rope yanked my arm hard and I fell forward on my face.  With deep embarrassment and pain I struggled to finally get on my feet at which point I noticed that my arm was radiating pain.  I luckily was able to finish out the day skiing after some Advil.  But I knew clearly I did some damage to my arm because for the next couple of days I couldn't even raise it to brush my hair (it's my right arm).  Most of the pain was in my shoulder.  I went to see an orthopedic doctor who thought it a good idea to get an MRI.  So far the MRI results have shown nothing wrong with my rotator cuff or muscles, ligaments or tendons around the shoulder so that's good.  And my shoulder is steadily getting better every day.  They did see a small crack in the ball of the shoulder joint so it could be a bone bruise or a small fracture.  I go back to the doctor in a couple weeks to assess next steps.  Needless to say I probably will never be going on a rope tow ever again.  :(

Then just a couple days ago I was putting a rubber bin back in our car.  We keep that bin in there all the time and to prevent it from sliding around, we hook it in with a bungee cord.  I went to hook the bungee cord and it didn't grasp on to the anchor, but instead snapped back and hit me in the face really hard.  It's a pretty nasty bruise as you will see below.  Luckily I've been able to cover it up with makeup pretty good just so I don't shock people.  

As you'll see in my next post I've been doing some spiritual/personal work in finding joy.  These two recent experiences have challenged me in this.  But here are some "look on the bright side" aspects:

*Both injuries could have been way worse.  I could have broken a leg skiing or really damaged my arm.  The bungee cord could have hit my eye instead of my face
*I now have total empathy for people who have large birth marks or noticeable unique features that might cause people to stop and stare.  I will be much more cognizant of how I react when I notice things like that on people in the future
*Experiences like this always make me realize that I take health and normal body functioning for granted.  Every day is an opportunity to really thank God for good health because it is a true blessing

The healing process continues...not just for my injuries but also for my bruised pride.

Ringin' in 2013

We had such a fun time ringing in the new year!  During the day we went snowshoeing up at Blewett Pass on the Swauk Discovery Trail.  We tried out the awesome new kid backpack that Uncle Ryan got us for Christmas.  Nathan was in heaven just wandering through the woods and checking out all the snowy sights.  It was really cold, but he didn't seem to mind.

After Nathan went to sleep James and I celebrated the evening by watching the Dark Knight Rises movie, making a yummy dinner of wine, filet mignon, baked potatoes and salad with cream puffs for dessert.  We even pulled out the fancy china!  And amazingly we stayed up to countdown to midnight.  We had champagne and each did one sparkler out on our front porch.  So we're officially not old folks yet!  So far the year is starting out right!

Happy 2013!!!

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year--especially with it being Nate's 1st Christmas.  Lots of wonderful time with our families.  These photos highlight some of our favorite moments.

Getting our Christmas tree

Our annual tradition visiting the Danish bakery in Seattle on Christmas Eve

Nate and Uncle Ryan

With the Warner family on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning just the 3 of us

I love presents.  Hee hee!

Nate's favorite part was all the wrapping paper and ribbon

Nathan strategizing how to tackle the gift

Jay made a special birdhouse for Barb--so cute!

The Spauldings and the Antis' on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas everyone!

Nathan got many of the classic toys for Christmas including the vacuum popper, the Fisher Price rotary telephone, some classic puzzles, blocks, ring stacker, lots of board books, and also some fun bath toys.  He definitely is a spoiled little boy (thank you families for your generosity!).

Grampa Jay mentioned how having baby Nathan around has given us new perspective about celebrating the birth of baby Jesus.  I mentioned in my last post that our greatest gift this year is Nathan, but obviously our greatest gift ever is the birth of our Savior and what He did to pay for our sins.  We feel so overwhelmed by God's grace and blessings and Nathan has helped us to realize that in a whole new way.  We hope all of you and your families had a blessed holiday season and that 2013 brings lots of peace and happiness.

Greatest Gift

Obviously our greatest gift this year was our sweet son.  The greatest gift we received for Christmas was this meaningful and amazing video that my brother created of our journey waiting for Nathan to make his arrival.

Thank you Ryan for all your hard work and great talent on this special gift.  We love you!

7 Months Old

I can't believe I just wrote the title of this post...7 months old?!?!  It seems like it's going faster and faster.  Sometimes I look at Nate and am amazed at how he's starting to look like a little boy already!  Stop growing up right this minute!

Clearly the monthly photo shoot is getting more tricky as he gets older.  We now have to try and take the photos as fast as we can before the month sticker becomes a chew toy.  

Here are some fun things happening at 7 months:

*Nathan is one of the smiley-est babies we've ever seen (granted we're a little biased).  Every time we come home, walk into the room, look at him from afar, etc. he smiles at us.  It's one of the things we love most about him and it's so infectious.  If you've had a horrible day, all you have to do is spend some time with Nate and he'll make you feel so appreciated and happy.

*His first teeth are coming in!  Both the bottom front teeth are coming in at the same time.  He's been a little fussy, but it hasn't been too bad so far.  

*Mommy and Nate like to play "catch" with the ball.  I count to 3 and roll the ball to him and then clap.  He laughs and then grabs the ball and "rolls" it back to me as best he can

*The solid food process is steadily moving along.  So far the favorites have been bananas, carrots, and avocado.  Cheerios and puffs are more of a game so far.  The jury is still out on sweet potatoes.  We may try those again now that he's getting the hang of eating.

*Loves baths...but hates the drying off part and being cold

*Making more pronounced sounds like "da da" and "ba ba."  James likes to claim that he's already saying "Da Da" but I beg to differ.  :)

Happy 7 months Nate!  We love you more every day!

Santa Visit

Nathan had his first encounter with the man in the jolly red suit a couple weekends ago.  We weren't quite sure what his reaction would be.  But all went well!  Nate barely even flinched and looked quite comfortable on the big man's lap--as if he could have sat there all day chatting about Santa's favorite type of cookie and grabbing his white beard.  We'll see how next year goes, but for now Santa visit was a success!