My son

I just walked into the living room to find Nate watching Little Einsteins like this:





Oh child...

Cute

Nate loves to be outside. I just suited him up with a sweatshirt and let him go in the back (it's too chilly for my California blood). He is over by one of our plants picking up the dead leaves that have fallen on the ground and trying to put them back on the plant. Precious!

21 weeks

A few people have asked to see a "belly picture" like the ones we took when I was pregnant with Nate. Here is my best attempt at one today by myself. I didn't purposely exclude my face, but hey, oh well. I'm definitely showing now.

Getting in the spirit

I decorated for Christmas this past Saturday. I love getting out the same decorations each year and adding a few new things too. Each Christmas that we've been married, I've decorated an ornament and included the year on it. This year makes five!


One of my favorite things to do is look through and save the Christmas cards we receive (mostly the ones with pictures). All the new ones get put into the basket too.


I also like putting out the items that belonged to my mom that she gave me; I remember many of them from my childhood. I especially like this little nativity scene, which didn't photograph well but is one of my favorites:


We'll get the tree next weekend or the weekend after. I have half a box of ornaments, ribbon, and lights for it.

Merry Christmas!

Thankful

2004
"...my salvation; my husband, his leadership in our home, his work ethic, his love for me, his gentleness; my husband's job; the miraculous little life growing inside me; the abundance of food, shelter, clothing, and every necessity God has provided for us; Scott and Kim and the other close friends God has blessed us with; [and] our families."

2005
"...God's grace and mercy in loving me and sending His Son to die for me; my understanding, funny, handsome, hardworking husband; my precious, hilarious, growing, lovable, beautiful son; my friends, especially Casey; and the provision God has made for us, especially that I can stay home to be with Nate."

2006
I am thankful for being able to grow up in a loving family with parents who are still together and that my husband grew up that way too; a God who knows my every need and who has already satisfied my deepest need to know Him; my perfect match of a husband who still doesn't mind killing bugs for me (and even gets out the flashlight to find them); my handful of a precious son (and his brother or sister too); our church; our friends... and for times like this:

Trouble

My mom called me laughing about this picture when she saw it on Snapfish. She said she recognizes this look from when I was a child... :) Nate was getting in trouble because he kept pushing the chair in a way that was going to make it fall over. Notice how he is avoiding eye contact.

Little boy heaven

This morning I took Nate to an indoor play area with slides, ramps, a bounce house, a ball room, and more--basically, a bigger, more padded, and much cleaner version of a McDonald's Playplace. He loved the ball room and spent a good hour in there; he also discovered the hanging punching-bag-type things, and he had fun purposely running into them. Although this was our first time going, I knew well enough not to go on a weekend or rainy day, because it would be really crowded. It was perfect today--just a couple of other families there. So Nate and I even got some time just the two of us in the bounce house, and he loved it. (He doesn't jump yet, but he loved walking around in there and trying to keep his balance.) We were there for about two hours, and it was definitely worth the $4 admission. Now he's taking a nap!

Yay

Nate was acting MUCH more himself today! We played and giggled and ate good meals and had a much better day--I had my boy back. :)

Random things

I am still waiting to see if Nate is the same today as he has been for the past week. So far, the day has seemed better. I just wish I knew what was wrong with him so I could fix it!

Yesterday, I watched my next door neighbor's daughter for her and took a picture of one of Nate's favorite things to do as of late: play with others' hair. I can tell when he's going to do it because he gets this cute look in his eye and does this high-pitched squeal/laugh/singing sort of thing. He doesn't pull the hair; he just moves his hands back and forth like he's washing it. He does it to me all the time and sometimes it actually feels good! Lately, the nursery workers at church have said that he goes around to each child in the nursery and does it to them.



Last night Jon took me out to dinner to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for my birthday. We had such a wonderful time and ate some really good food. Boy do I love my husband. And he got me a ring! I've always loved rings and am more likely to wear them than other pieces of jewelry (don't know why--maybe because I like my hands???). It's a white gold ring with a blue topaz (topaz is November's birth stone) and diamonds. It's a few sizes too big, but Jon knew it would be and is going to get it sized this week. He did a great job!

Who?

I got a box from Amazon.com today with two books inside, and I am so excited to read them! The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time has been on my need-to-buy-and-read-this list for a long time. The thing is that I don't know who sent these! It is my birthday this week, and I have a very thoughtful friend who usually does things like this, so I think they might be from her, but I don't know! The box had no invoice slip or anything in it. Who wants to 'fess up? :)

Something's up

Something has been up with Nate for the past week. He just isn't acting himself... He's super fussy, unamused by activities he usually loves (e.g., going outside), not eating very much at lunch or dinner, taking very short naps (though that isn't very unusual), and generally just a big crank. He hasn't necessarily seemed sick except for one episode early last week, so I don't know what it is (more teeth coming in? He's never acted this bad about that before). Although I feel bad for him if something is wrong, it's just feeling more and more overwhelming for me. Son, I need just a little break!

In happier Nate news, he did have his 18-month appointment last week and is doing well. He weighs 25 pounds 8 ounces (50th percentile), is 33 inches tall (75th percentile)--or, as I like to say, he's 2 foot 9--and still has a big ol' head (90th percentile).