Thanksgiving, Back to Work and Nanny Diaries!

Whew.  Its been a busy couple of weeks! 

We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our families, however, we did experience our first (of many, I'm sure) Nate injury.  Right as we were sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner, we noticed a wasp flying overhead.  My parents had been having issues with these little creatures getting in the duct work and coming through the recessed lighting.  Nate was tucked in his car seat in the corner by the table.  We started eating and I noticed the wasp flying over the car seat.  You can see where this is going.  We should have moved him, but I didn't want to overreact.  Well, the next thing I saw, the wasp was crawling up my sweet babe's face and then onto his hand!  I panicked and immediately went into protective mom mode.  I jerked Nate (probably a little too forcefully) out of his car seat and ran with him into the other room.  He of course started wailing.  I looked and he suffered a sting on his little chubby cheek!!  Luckily, the stinger wasn't in his skin and it was very superficial.  We put some baking soda paste on it and that seemed to help a lot.  He cried for about 30 minutes and was fine.  Me...I cried for 2 hours!  I felt terrible and was so worried he was going to have some allergic reaction or something.  Fortunately, everything was fine, but what a horrible feeling to see your child hurt!  Lesson learned: always listen to your gut mommy instinct...its ok to be the "crazy mom" for a little peace of mind.

Our little turkey pre-sting:

In other news, I started back to work this week.  Fortunately, Michael has a pretty relaxed schedule in December and is able to take care of Nate during the day this month.  That has made the transition back so much easier.  I miss my little man like crazy, but it is not as bad knowing Michael is with him.

We also found a great nanny to take care of Nate beginning in January!  We used care.com to search for caregivers, which I highly recommend.  We conducted 3 first round interviews, and had home visits with two of them.  We were all set to hire one nanny, who we thought would work just fine, when we met with Amy.  She blew us away.  She is such a sweetie and a good Christian girl.  She immediately fit right in with Michael and I and seemed to take to Nate (I mean, how could you not?).  Her references were stellar and everyone just loved her.  Fortunately, she accepted the job and is just as excited as we are to have her join our little family.  Yay!!  I'm so thankful we found her.

New Tricks

Nate is constantly amazing us.  Not only is he so cute...

He's also learned some new tricks.  This is often the view we have when we first put him down at night.

I'm too happy to sleep.

Hello?  Can you see me??

I think he sees the green light on the monitor and the red infrared lights, but who knows.  It is pretty funny though.

Nate is also discovering his voice more.  He loves to talk with Daddy--I took a short video from the other night of their "conversation".  Precious!

 

Sorry for the poor quality...bad lighting!

3 Months!

Nate turned 3 months old this past Monday. 

What are you doing Mom?

It is crazy how time is flying by--I know everyone says this but I didn't fully understand until I experienced it myself!  We are loving our little man more and more each day.  He is starting to get a little personality and is so much fun already.  Its amazing how someone who can't talk, walk or eat solid foods has us completely wrapped around his little pinky!

At 3 months, Nate wears 0-3 months/3 month clothing and size 1 diapers.  He is eating about 4 oz every 3 hours.  We are on a pretty good eating schedule.   He is sleeping from about 7:30pm/8:00pm until 1:30pm/2:30pm, then gets up to eat and goes back down until around 5 am.  He eats then and goes back to sleep until about 6:30 am.  He isn't on a really routine nap schedule yet, but generally takes a morning nap around 9:00 am, another around 12:30 pm and 3:30 pm.  And typically, the naps occur in his swing--he LOVES his swing!

He is smiling and cooing. 

He loves his car rides (generally sleeps through them) and loves to look out the window.  He thoroughly enjoys looking at the brown wall and the painting by his changing table.  He often smiles and talks to the picture.

Love my brown wall!

His favorite place to plat is his activity mat.  He goes nuts batting Freddie the Firefly and the hanging octopus

Here is a short video of Nate playing:

Nate also love George, his giraffe Wubbanub.  It is never far away!

We started going to Gymboree and he seems to really like it so far.  We spend our day running around Dallas trying to enjoy every minute before I have to go back to work!

We love you Nathaniel and can't wait to continue to watch you grow!  The upcoming holidays are going to be so much fun with you here!!

Daylight Savings Time: Then and Now

In college, daylight savings time meant an extra hour out at the party/bar.

In my 20s, daylight savings time meant an extra hour to catch up on sleep.

Now, after baby, daylight savings time meant an extra hour to feed a fussy baby who is going through a growth spurt, pump, wash and prepare additional bottles.  Oh the joys of motherhood.  I feel so old!

Good Weekends

We went to Austin to witness the marriage of some good friends of ours Marty and Ben two weekemds ago.   

It was Nate's first road trip.  He did great!  The wedding was beautiful and we really enjoyed the trip.  While in Austin, we stopped by to see Nate's Great Grandma (Michael's Grandma) Edna. 

Edna suffers from Alzheimer's so she's just not the same woman she used to be.  But, she remains loving and godly.  It is always like a breath of fresh air to visit with her.  Such a kindred spirit.  She was quite taken with Nate and kept commenting on how cute he was and we completely agreed with her!

We were able to get a picture of all four generations--very special.

Nate is getting so much fun as he gets older.  He is smiling and melting our hearts!

 He has also started noticing his toys and is reaching for them.  He loves to bat at them!

We just can't get enough of our little guy!

How could you not love this face?

Mommy's Little Pumpkin

We had an impromptu family trip to the Arboretum yesterday.  My sister Mandy and her boyfriend Mike came by after they spent the afternoon at the State Fair, and then my parents also came over to have dinner.  We were planning on taking Nate to the Arboretum anyways to get some pumpkin pictures, so we made it a family affair.  We got some cute shots, and I think we started a new tradition!

My cute boys!

Aunt Mandy

Kisses from GB and Abuelo!

And we're done!

2 months old

Nate is two months old!  It's hard to believe our little boy is getting so big!  Nate is doing wonderfully.  He weighs 9 lbs 15.8 oz and is 22 inches long.

At two months, Nate wears size 1 diapers and newborn sized clothing with some 0-3 month sizes thrown in.  He eats about 3-4 oz of breastmilk every 3-4 hours.  Nate is also starting to sleep for longer periods at night, recently with a 4 to 5 hour stretch!  Yay!

Nate got shots for the first time at his 2 month appointment.  This is how everyone felt about that:

He is such a sweet baby.  He loves to cuddle with mom and dad.

Nate loves to suck on his hands and his favorite "toy" is his giraffe wubbanub.  He is obsessed with it!

Nate is more aware and alert, which is very fun.  He will pay attention to you when you talk to him and stares at objects that interest him.  The brown wall in his nursery is his favorite thing to observe while getting a diaper change.  A downside of being more alert: He has started to get startled by the dogs barking.  They'll be best friends in no time though!

Nate loves to coo and is the cutest baby ever!  We love our little bug to pieces!!

Whatcha looking at mom?

Mid-yawn

Yeah, I'm pretty cute!