Christmas 2010

Overall, we had a great Christmas this year.  It was a bit eventful (more to come) and I'm starting to see a trend with our holidays! 

Love those rosy cheeks!

Christmas Eve we went to the 7:00 pm service at our church.  It was a candlelight and communion service, which I love!  Nate did pretty well during the service.  It started right when he normally goes to bed.  He did fine for the first 15 minutes, then got fussy.  Michael held him outside for a little while and then we switched.  After 10 min of holding Nate, he fell fast asleep in my arms.  I took communion standing up holding the little guy and he didn't wake up until we got home--not even when we put him back in his carseat.  We managed to lose one of his shoes though at church.  Little bugger kicked it off at some point.  I'm hoping it turns up in the lost and found!

Ready for Church.

Handsome!

After we got Nate settled and in bed, I made Christmas Eve dinner for Michael and I.  We had lamb chops with a black cherry reduction, a sweet pea risotto, brussel sprouts with bacon, rolls and champagne.  It was delish!  After dinner, we did our Wish ornament.  Last year, all of our wishes came true (we are very blessed!); we jotted down new ones for 2011.  Then we exchanged the gifts we got for each other. 

I gave Michael a sweater, shirt and tie from Brooks Brothers and a pair of "fancy" jeans.  Winston gave Michael a paw washer and towel since Winnie is always finding mud out in the backyard to play in. 

Paw washer

Michael gave me a Le Creuset dutch oven--I've been wanting one forever!  Then we got things set up from Santa and called it a night.

Santa!

The next morning we opened gifts and showed Nate what Santa brought him for Christmas.  Although he won't remember this Christmas, we still had a lot of fun.  Nate got an exersaucer and lots of clothes and other little toys.  He was mesmerized!

With his first golf club.

Loved the exersaucer!

Then we packed everything up to head to our parents' houses.  When Michael started to load up the car, Winnie and Lexi decided to go on a joy run.  They bolted out of the house--totally out of character for them--and ran off down the street.  I was holding Nate at the time and instinctively lunged forward when they ran out.  Of course, when this happened my thumb caught the back of his ear and scratched it pretty good.  Immediate tears from both baby and mom...again!  I'm ready for a holiday that is tear-free!

Once Michael caught up with the dogs (with some help from a nice woman who saw him running after the dogs and stopped to give them a lift back home--she was on her way to walk some dogs and had extra leashes and everything in her car...a Christmas miracle!) we got packed up and headed north. 

We went to my family's house first and opened gifts.  Nate got a ton of fun toys that beep, bleep and make noise.  I got a Flip video camera and Michael got a North Face pullover and some gift cards.  Very fun.

Then we headed over to Michael's family's house for more presents.  Nate got even more fun stuff, some diapers and I got a Beaba baby food maker.  Yay!  Michael got some more shirts and ties as well.

Later that evening, my family came over and we all had some vegetable soup for Christmas dinner.  Then, we headed home and tucked lil' man into bed.  He fell fast asleep after such an eventful day. 

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas and we had a great time.

Rollin' Rollin'

Nate hit a big milestone today--he rolled over from tummy to back!  He did this about 4 times in 10 minutes and acted like it was no big deal.  I was able to capture one of the rolls before he tired out and needed to go down for a nap.  Such a big boy!

Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!

A First Christmas isn't complete without meeting Santa.

Christmas 2010

4 Months - December 15, 2010

Seriously?!  Another photo shoot?

It is hard to believe it has been four months since our little Bug entered the world.  He has us totally smitten and we are head over heels in love.  Here are some things he's been up to over the past month:

-Weighs 13.7 pounds (20%), is 24.75 inches long (45%) and is finally on the growth chart for head size.
-Wears size 3 month clothes, some 0-3 months and 3-6 months, and size 1 diapers (although we are about to move to size 2).

-He sleeps from about 7:30 pm until 2:30-3:30 am.  Wakes up and has a short feeding and is back to sleep in about 30 minutes.  He'll sleep then until about 6:30 am or so.  Not too bad.  I think he is getting closer to dropping that middle of the night feeding since he doesn't take as much then.
-Takes several naps during the day.
-Eats approx. 5 oz every 3 hours--still exclusively breastfed.

-Loves to squeal, scream and talk.  He's so much fun to have a conversation with!
-Is very active.  He's always kicking and squirming.  Hence, the no socks...they never stay on for long.
-Loves to play on his playmat and bat at Octopus and Firefly.
-Smiles like crazy and is a happy boy. He wakes up squealing, cooing and smiling, rather than crying...so sweet!

-Has laughed out loud a couple of times.
-Gets very serious when a camera is around.  I can never capture those smiles!
-Likes watching football with daddy and reality TV with mom occasionally.

I'd rather not look at the camera, mom!

-Is close to rolling over (back to tummy).  He will get all the way over to his side but hasn't flipped over yet.
-Loves to be held "thrown over your shoulder" style so he can look around.  He's got great head control.
-Prefers to face out now rather than at whomever is holding him.

What'd I do??

He's getting so big and his little personality is starting to shine through.  I'm sure I'll say this every month, but this is such a fun time with him!

We love you Nate!!  You're the best thing your daddy and I have ever done!!!

Baptized!

Nate was baptized on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at the 11 am service.  He did great the whole time, did not fuss at all, and was so cute!  We had a brunch at our house for everyone afterwards.  The only down side of things was that Michael's parents had to travel to Minnesota earlier in the week and got caught in the blizzard that blew through!  Flights were cancelled and long story short, they weren't able to get back in time for the ceremony.  We missed them, but we were excited to witness our son becoming a child of God and making our vow to raise him in the church.  It was a very special day!

Proud parents!

Screeeeeech!!

Nate has discovered how exciting screaming can be.  He's so vocal these days--it's so fun!  A short video of a recent conversation I had with him.  Love that kid!

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.