A first

Nate and Lucy are out on the front patio (it's enclosed) playing. Nate has spent more and more time out there lately (riding his bike around in circles), but this is the first time both of them have spent time out there together for more than a minute or two. Lucy is finally stable enough for me not to worry about her falling/getting hurt (too much). I've been checking on them out the window every minute or two. It's cute to see what they're doing. One minute, they were in the utility closet handing pieces of sidewalk chalk to each other; the next, Lucy was organizing a few pieces of chalk on the step while Nate rode his bike around. Fun. :)

Family Sunday

We took the kids to the Spectrum after naps yesterday. They ran in the fountain for a while, and then they ate the dinner I brought while we sat in the shade. Because he ate all of his grapes and cashews (two not-very-favorite foods), Nate got to go on the train with Jon. It was a fun evening.

Favorite meal: Torta di Pasta

This is one of Giada's recipes, and I've made it five or six times. It turns out like a pasta-quiche-pie sort of thing that you cut into wedges. (It isn't as mushy as a quiche; the noodles stay intact and stick together to form the tort.) I just love it!

Giada's Torta di Pasta

8 ounces spaghetti
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and chopped
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 cup grated fontina (a soft cheese I get from Trader Joe's)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
I also add 1/2 to 1 tsp Italian seasoning with the egg mixture

Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Drain. Toss with the sun-dried tomatoes. Set aside to cool completely (otherwise, the hot pasta could curdle the eggs when you add them later on). It helps to spread the noodle-tomato mix onto a cookie sheet; this helps it cool faster.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, salt, pepper, Parmesan, fontina, and Italian seasoning to blend. Add the cooled spaghetti mixture; toss to coat.

Preheat the broiler. Melt the butter and oil in a 9 1/2-inch-diameter nonstick* skillet over medium heat. Transfer the spaghetti mixture to the skillet, pressing to form an even layer. Cook until the bottom is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the broiler. Broil until the top is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Cool in the skillet for at least a few minutes.

Invert the torta onto a platter. Cut into wedges. Giada says to serve at room temperature, but I like it a little warmer.

*My nonstick skillets do not tolerate the broiler's heat, so I use my regular stainless steel skillet.

Other recommendations: Jon doesn't love sundried tomatoes, so I pick them out of one part of the torta before I put the skillet in the broiler. Other good things to add in addition to or instead of the tomatoes are chopped mushrooms, peppers (haven't done these but would work well), black olives, or most anything you can think of!

Showing

I broke out the maternity clothes in the last week or so. I'm in that dreadful in-between stage where I feel extremely fat, nothing fits, and most maternity stuff still looks silly. The shirt I have on here isn't maternity, but the style works well. I did purposely crop out my face because, like I said, I feel fat! :) :) :)

Kid quotes

We're having a nice, normal week here. I can't think of much to post, so I'll make a list of some of the cute things the kids are saying:

Nate:

• He still sometimes calls stop signs on the street "stop buttons."
• He had been starting to pronounce the word thanks as "hanks." I showed him how to form the th sound, and he can now say "thanks" correctly if he thinks about it.
• Today he has been singing the months of the year song. Sing January-December, then, "These are the months of the year. Let's take it from the top!" and sing again. He jumbles up October-November-December, and then he gets very into the "take it from the top" part.
• He greets everyone with either, "Hi, how are you today?" or, "I'm so glad to see you!" I think he got the glad to see you thing from Virginia (my mom).
• To him, we eat breakfast, munch, and dinner.
• When Lucy is crying, he either ignores her or comforts her very sweetly: "It's OK Woocy. We're almost there sweet baby. Don't cwy."
• He calls Lucy "Precious," as in, "Good morning, Pwecious!" He did not get this from Jon or me, except that sometimes I call her a precious baby or him a precious boy. He also has never seen Lord of the Rings, so he didn't get it from Gollum. ;)
• He can sometimes read 3-letter words by sounding them out, but he tries to do it with longer words too. He often will say all the letters and then announce what it spells and be completely off. Examples: "H-E-I-N-Z T-O-M-A-T-O K-E-T-C-H-U-P..... dip dip!" or "R-I-T-E A-I-D... grocery store!"

Lucy:

• She started saying "paci" (for pacifier) nearly perfectly last week.
• She is saying over 30 words and she understands SO much.
• When I say it's time to change her diaper (and if she's in a good mood), she gets a diaper out of the basket, then walks to the place on the rug where I often change her and lies down.

These hugs do look more like strangles, but trust me, both kids were happy...

A new week

We had a lovely long weekend here. Here are the kids before we headed out to hot Hesperia on the 4th to visit with Jon's extended family:







Nate's at school this morning, and I'm taking advantage of the quiet (paying bills, posting on here) while Lucy naps.

Happy 4th!

The kids put on a 4th of July parade today at Nate's school. He told me all about it--he got to play a drum and a triangle, and it was lots of fun. He also wore this hat all day. He still had it on when I picked him up, and he wore it home up until nap time. I like the first picture, because he had just stopped crying (he didn't want me to take a picture because he wanted to play with the camera), and I just think it's funny and sweet. The second picture was later, and the pic of Lucy is just a cute one from tonight.

Have a great holiday!

Nate's sleeping chair

Nate often falls asleep on the recliner we have in his room. I like to take a picture of the funny/cute ones before I turn off the lights and move him to his bed.




And from the "archives," here he is this past winter.



I have a new post up on the autism blog, with another one coming tomorrow. :)

Fun on Friday

I love Lucy's little legs just hanging down.

So true

Now that the potty training stage has passed (with Nate anyway), I can appreciate how funny this doodle is:

Doodle by Lee. The code for this doodle and other doodles you can use on your blog can be found at Doodles.

Sweet

I caught some sweet playing just a few minutes ago. Nate is asking Lucy which toy she wants--the red or the yellow. He decides she should have the yellow, and then he shows her where it fits in the bigger toy. (Gets a little frustrated when she takes too long.) He picks the toys back up and next offers her the red. I love the "Yay Lucyyyy" at the end.



After this video, Lucy followed Nate into his room, and he closed the door. They're apparently playing nicely because I hear no crying, but I'm going to go listen in. :)

Special surprise

Jon and I went out last night and got a bike for Nate. He was finally ready for one (can use pedals and really liked a neighborhood friend's bike). I waited until Jon got home from work tonight, and we surprised Nate with the bike. I captured the "reveal" on our real video camera, but I also got some pictures and a riding video on our small camera. He was really excited, and instead of jumping up and down or smiling a bunch when he first saw the bike, he ran straight to it and got on. He rode up and down our street a few times with all of us. I came back to the house with Lucy half an hour ago, but Jon and Nate are still out riding. :)

Better

Things are much healthier around here today! Nate's fever was down already yesterday, though he ate only a couple of bites of food all day. Today, though, he has eaten more and is acting himself. Here he is yesterday--still a little droopy-eyed, but giving a nice fake "cheese" smile nonetheless. :)



Here's a sweet picture of Lucy from this morning, and then her repeating some words yesterday.

Sick sick sick

Poor Nate is sick. This is the first time he's been verbal enough and aware enough to sort of realize what's going on. When he woke in the middle of the night Wednesday, he told us, "Yuckies come out of my mouth." I told him the next morning, after it happened again, that it is called throwing up, and he can say, "I threw up." So he repeated, "I frew up." He was fully out of commission yesterday with a high fever, but he seems a lot better today.

I forgot how terrible the sound was...

... of your little one grinding his/her top and bottom teeth together. Nate did this for a time (a few weeks? a month?) when his top two and bottom two teeth were in, and now Lucy just started doing it today (her second top tooth is finally through). It is a horrible sound.

Here she is this morning. :)

Cool!

I've been searching around for a local church that is doing its VBS program in August, since that is when Nate is off from school. I haven't had any luck finding an August program, though, and many churches only do preschool VBS for volunteers' children (at least that's what our church does). Well, today I found out that tomorrow is Nate's last day of school until summer session starts on June 30. (You really would think the school would have given us a calendar or a list of dates or SOMETHING, but they apparently just assumed I would figure it out on my own.) Anyway, this means he can do preschool VBS at our own church June 23-27! I am so excited and am sure he will like it, especially since he already knows all the songs since I've been listening to/watching them nonstop in preparation. :)

Baby

A quick pregnancy update... I'm 13.5 weeks along and had a few appointments this week, including some bloodwork and a first ultrasound. I took both children with me to the ultrasound appointment yesterday (couldn't time childcare), and they sat in the stroller facing the screen. Nate looked up, saw the baby, and said, "It's a frog!" It was neat to see the little beating heart, the baby's profile, both feet (cute little footprints), the brain, etc. It's crazy how quickly so many intricate body systems begin forming! I'm feeling pretty good--haven't felt sick in a while. I don't know if I'm still super tired or not. I should rephrase: I am super tired, but I think it's jet lag. :)

Pictures

The camera battery lasted long enough for me to upload my pictures... Here are my favorites! :)

Lots of afternoons spent in the back yard with the hose and baby pool, including some slip-n-slide attempts (with demonstration by Jon):











A few pictures from Jon's and my trip to Williamsburg (me in front of a replica ship in Jamestown, then the governor's palace in colonial Williamsburg, Jon in stocks, then more Williamsburg):







And back in Lynchburg, Nate having more fun: planting a flower with Mimi, throwing a frisbee, playing with Uncle Greg:

Made it

We made it home in one piece yesterday. In fact, the travel day was actually relatively easy. Our first flight left Virginia at 6:20 a.m. (meaning we got up before 5:00, which was 2:00 a.m. west coast time), but the kids did great being woken up a little early. Nate was actually especially talkative on the way to the airport, making sure to give a running commentary: "There's a stop sign! We're going to the airport! I'm yawning!" It seems that Nate is now officially pretty easy to travel with. We think, though, that Lucy's ears really bother her on planes, because she got really agitated during every descent.

I accidentally left our camera's battery charger at my parents' house, so I haven't been able to upload all of our pictures. I'll put some on soon.

I wasn't sure whether Nate would go to school or not today, since we just got back yesterday and everyone's tired. But he was so excited to go, so I took him. I love that he loves school. :)

Some Virginia pics