Weekend in Houston

Last weekend, the three of us flew to Houston to visit our good friends Corey and Brooke and their little boy Wyatt. It was a great weekend full of fun activities and quality time with some of our favorite people.

We also viewed it as Nathan's first vacation since we didn't take him on our cruise with us, and it was his first time to fly in an airplane. He did really well on the plane. Our little wiggle worm doesn't like to sit still for any length of time, but we were able to distract him during the flight with looking out the window, snacks, and books and we managed to make it to and from Houston in one piece!

On Friday we took the boys to the Houston Children's Museum which was fabulous. We'd go all the time if we lived closer. They had a big area just for toddlers and Nathan had the time of his life playing with all the toys and activities. He played hard for almost two hours. It was nice to have such a big space that was completely child proof and nothing off limits for his little hands.

The door bell, tea set, and cars were his favorite toys but he managed to play with almost everything in the museum. We'll have to go back when he is older. The rest of the museum looked pretty awesome too.

Before we left, we headed outside to the waterworks area, where Nathan managed to get soaked, and we had to drag the Daddies away from playing so the boys didn't get sun burned. They really are just big kids :).

Nathan was exhausted on the drive home.

On Saturday afternoon we went swimming for a bit. We went to a fun pool with a splash pad. Nathan loves swimming especially with his daddy.

Saturday night, Brooke wasn't feeling well and offered to watch the boys after they went to bed, and the rest of us headed downtown Sugar Land and had dessert at the Cheesecake factory. Yum!

We spent the rest of the weekend watching the boys play, playing Settlers while they slept, watching the Olympics, visiting  and napping. It was a great weekend all around.

 There were a couple of pretty handsome boys before church on Sunday.

Mudge was a great sport even when Nathan climbed on her back and wanted to go for a ride. She put up with Nathan's "petting" all weekend.

We tease that Nathan and Wyatt will be OSU roommates someday. Wouldn't that be fun?! We're praying that become good friends as they grow up and have many fun adventures together. We are also thankful for Corey and Brooke's sweet friendship and that we've been able to maintain our friendship with them even when we don't get to see them very often.

15 Months Old

Nathan,

You are 15 months old. You continue to amaze us with how quickly you grow and change. The biggest development we have noticed this month is your comprehension and understanding. You seem to understand almost everything we tell you and you follow  commands all the time. The other day I handed you a kleenex and told you to put it in the trash. You grabbed it and took it straight to the other room and put it in the trash. I didn't even know you knew what a trash can was! You help pick up your toys and put them in the basket when I tell you to. You understand when we tell you take something to Mommy or Daddy. And Daddy gives you food sometimes and tells you to feed it to Rhapsody and you always understand and follow through. You are also very observant and have figured out how many things work. A friend was over the other day and left her shoes in the living room. You saw them, picked them up and carried them off to my closet. You also found a clean diaper on the floor and picked it up and put it in the trash can in your room. You know how all of your toys work and which buttons to push to make them go. When we play in your room, you'll go from toy to toy pushing buttons. I have to be careful what I tell you sometimes because of your understanding. If I tell you that Grammy is coming over, you'll run to the front door and stand there until she comes.

 As much as you comprehend, you are still not super verbal. Your new words this month are fish, cookie and hot. Hot is your favorite word. You say it all the time. Every time we put you in your car seat you say hot- which it usually is, and a lot of time when you are eating you will say hot (whether your food is hot or not).

 

 You love to be on the go. You go stir crazy if we don't leave the house for a day. You'll grab my purse or keys and walk to the door and whine if you want to go somewhere. We try and leave the house at least once a day. 

You give hugs and kisses all the time. Such a sweet boy. 

When you want something or want to go somewhere, you come find us, grab our finger and lead us to where you want to go. Sometimes I've been carrying you and you'll point somewhere and if you think I don't understand you, you will get down and grab my finger and lead me to it. You'll hand us things sometimes that you need help with, and if we don't immediately take them, you will grab our hand and physically put the object in our hand to make sure we understand what you want.

Your favorite toys are your dump truck, popcorn popper, shape sorter, cell phone, and books. You show preferences in which books you like. Your favorites right now are The Fire Engine Book, The Big Red Barn, Goodnight Moon, I Love you Through and Through, The Little Red Hen, and What a Noisy Zoo. You'll sort through your stack of books to find just the right one. You love to flip the pages and make us read very quickly sometimes :).

The water hose is your favorite outside toy. You help me water the flowers and carry the hose all around the yard. I've even caught you taking a drink out of it several times. You are getting much braver in the swimming pool as the summer has gone on.

We went to the doctor this week for your 15 month well check. You weigh 24 lbs, 2 oz and are 30.25 inches long. You are wearing 12-18 month clothes and we are in the process of transitioning you to a size 5 diaper.


You're still a pretty good eater and eat a variety of things. You sure are messy though. Most of the time you will take bites of food chew them up and then spit them back out. We're ready for you to outgrow that. And if you have a mouthful of food and see something else you'd rather have, you'll reach up and take the food out of your mouth, so you can put more in.

For the most part, you are only taking one nap per day, and I try and stretch it so that you go down after lunch around 12:30. Some days it's tough to keep you up through your morning nap time, but it is pretty much a guarantee now that if I put you down in the morning, you won't go back down again in the afternoon (which makes for a very long evening). You are sleeping for about 2 hours for your nap and are consistently sleeping 10-11 hours at night. You go down so easy. I'll rock you for a few minutes and then ask you if you are ready to get in bed. You'll point to your crib, and I'll put you in it and you fall asleep pretty quickly afterward. The other night I asked you if you wanted to go to bed and you reached up and gave me a kiss before you pointed to your crib (You sure have a way of turning me into a pile of mush sometimes). You still get your paci in your crib and in the car. And you are good about putting them in your crib if you find one lying around (and I tell you to put it away).

You have such a helpful personality, and I can already tell that you are developing a servant's heart I'm praying that we can continue to instill and strengthen that part of your little personality. You want to help us all the time. You want to help sweep and the other day even brought me the dust pan while I was sweeping the kitchen. I'll give you a swiffer while I'm dusting and you will dust too. You help me put your toys away, and even help by putting my shoes in the laundry basket. I try and make a point to always encourage your helpfulness and find little ways to let you "help" me even if right now that's extra work for me. You are just the sweetest little boy and we are so proud of the person you are becoming.

Mommy's Helper

Making the Best of It

Six days after Matt came home from France, his boss told him they needed him to go to China... three days later. I knew they felt bad for him when they even tossed around the idea of buying a ticket for me and Nathan to go with him. In the end though, it worked out best for him to go by himself, and they limited his trip to two weeks. It took us all some time to process the news and deal with the reality that he was leaving again.

By the time Monday came around, I had accepted the situation and was determined to make the most of the time while Matt was away. Shortly after he left, I sat down and came up with several ideas for me and Nathan to do for the two weeks he was away. I made two columns in my planner- a "to do column" that included all the daily chores and errands that needed done as well as some organization and deep cleaning projects I've been trying to get done this summer. I also made a "fun" column and came up with at least one "fun" thing each day that we could look forward to doing while Matt was away.

Here's a little recap of the fun things we've been doing to stay busy. (There's really no need to remember the time spent washing blinds and cleaning base boards).

We had to drop Matt off really early Monday morning, and driving home from the airport alone before the sun even rises is no fun at all, so I decided to stop for a treat to cheer us up on the way home. Nathan had his first donut breakfast. I think it's safe to say, it's one of his favorite breakfasts :).

A lot of our "fun" activities were things that we usually do anyway. It was just nice to see them written down and be able to look forward to them each day.

- Our Sunday school class started a book study on Monday evenings, and that's been a nice time of fellowship and discussion. I'm looking forward to Matt being able to join though.

- We've gone to Storytime at the library

- We've been swimming on Tuesday mornings which usually leads to long afternoon naps (sometimes for both of us).

- My mom has come over a couple of times in the mornings so I can go running. I debated writing running on my fun list, because I don't think I would always call it fun, but it is nice to have some time strictly to myself doing something for me.

- I had a couple of lunch dates with friends during the week.

- We've made some fun trips to some of our favorite stores- Target, Hobby Lobby, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. I always splurge a little more on things when Matt is working out of town.


- We went to the zoo one morning with Andrea and Chloe. We only stayed a couple of hours because of the heat, but we saw most of the animals. First thing in the morning is definitely the ideal time to go to the zoo.

All four of us had such a fun time. Our zoo membership has certainly paid off!

- We shared a snow cone one day.


- My mom and I went to dinner one night.

- I've been watching a lot of the Olympic trials on TV this week. I'm an Olympics junkie. They had six hours of Gymnastics Olympic trials last weekend.  Any guesses what I did after Nathan went to bed?

- I've also read a couple of books and watched a few TV shows that aren't Matt's favorites in the evenings after Nathan is in bed.

- On Sunday afternoon, Nathan and I went with a few girls from church to Porter, OK to a peach orchard.

Nathan and Chloe were super cute in the little red wagon.

They took over pushing the wagon for awhile to give the adults a break. Thanks kids :)

 

We came back to my house afterwards and baked a peach crisp with the fresh peaches. Yum.

 

Nathan and I have been eating peaches with every meal since Sunday, and Daddy will get some special peach sorbet when he comes home!

-I went to a birthday dinner for a friend earlier this week. I wish Matt could have gone, but I still had a good time. My mom kept Nathan for me, which was a nice break for me. Single parenting is hard work!

- We had a pretty low key 4th of July. We usually don't have big plans and with it being on a Wednesday this year, there wasn't much to do. I spent the day with my parents, because I knew it would be a rough day with Matt gone and I didn't want to be alone. We ate, fell asleep to a movie, played a game of Settlers, and did a little shopping. It was a nice day, but didn't really feel like the 4th of July.

We just have a couple of days left before Matt gets home and we are ready! Looking back though, we have fared pretty well with him being gone. Outside of a couple of rough days, the time has gone pretty quickly. Taking care of Nathan by myself does wear me out especially in the evenings when I'm used to having help. There have been a few days when I've napped with Nathan. I always justify it by saying, "My husband is in China. I'm allowed to take a nap." I might use that justification for a few other things too :).

We're thankful that Matt has a good job, and his company has been really good to him this past year assigning him projects that wouldn't require much traveling as we've adjusted to parenthood. Until this summer, it had been over a year since he has had to do any significant traveling. And when he comes home on Sunday, he should be sticking around for several months.

Lake Fun

I'm way behind on posting these pictures, but a couple of weekends ago, our Sunday school class had a lake day. Our sweet friends Jon and Courtney graciously allowed us to borrow her parents' lake house, and boat and tubes, and skis, and Sea-Doos for a great day of fun!

We had gotten the news the day before that Matt had to head to China two days later, so the day at the lake was a nice distraction for us. It was probably one of our very favorite Sunday school activities. We had a great turnout. We visited and ate lunch (including homemade ice cream) and then headed out on the water.

The lake we went to is one of the lesser populated ones in our area, which was really nice. We went tubing and rode the Sea-Doos. Matt just can't get enough of those.

Near the end of the day, Matt attempted skiing. He never quite got it down. I think a few more tries and he would have gotten it, but by that point everyone was tired and needing to head back.

We had so much fun and hope we can do it again soon!

14 Months Old

Nathan,

You are 14 months old! Your daddy and I are enjoying and cherishing each month of your little life. Our hearts are certainly full having you in our family. We've been having a fun summer. I can't get over how different life is this summer than it was last summer. It makes me wonder what next summer will be like with you.


Unfortunately, your daddy has been traveling for work for most of the month. He spent a week in France and is finishing up a 2 week trip to China right now. We both miss him a lot. Thankfully, we get to Skype with him almost every day. You get so excited when you hear his voice and run straight to the computer if you are in the other room when you hear it. You'll smile and laugh and point at him on the screen. I also catch you pointing at the computer and saying "daddy" all the time now throughout the day. You sure miss him. You are more clingy when he is gone, and I think it's because you feel a little less secure when he is away. You make sure to stick close to me. He will be home soon and is staying put for awhile which we are both excited about.

You are still not super verbal, just saying a few words and mainly communicating through pointing (and grunting sometimes). Your receptive vocabulary continues to amaze me though. You understand (and obey) simple commands that I tell you all the time- like "bring that to mommy," "go find your milk," , "give mommy a kiss" etc. Again, I know that you are understanding even more than we think you are.

Your favorite toys right now are your dump truck and your popcorn popper. You ride on your dump truck and push the buttons all day long. You are figuring out your popcorn popper more and more too. It's rarely quiet in our house anymore. You continue to enjoy looking at books but will only sit still and let me read an entire book to you when you are sleepy. Playing outside is one of your all time favorite things. Grammy and Papa Joe got you a water table and between that and your swing set, and Rhapsody's toys, you are entertained for a long time when we are outside. I just wish it wasn't so hot, so we could be out there more. You definitely love water but prefer just playing in it as opposed to swimming. I think you get insecure when you can't touch and walk around in the swimming pool. You love sprinklers, water hoses, pitchers, and the bath tub, of course.

 

 Sesame Street is your favorite show (probably because it's the only one I let you watch). You start dancing and laughing when I take the remote and tell you I'll turn it on for you. You hand me the remote several times during the day to turn it on, but I usually just let you watch it once per day. I'm noticing improvement in your attention span. You used to lose interest about 10 seconds after the intro song ended, but now it will hold your attention for several minutes at a time. 

I'm guessing you weigh close to 24lbs. You wear 12-18 month and 18 month clothing and a size 4 diaper. You are growing up so fast!

I think you are getting close to being ready to drop your morning nap. We have had such a consistent nap schedule for so long that it feels weird changing it up, but I've noticed in the last few weeks that if you take a good morning nap, you will not go down in the afternoons. There are still days when you take two naps, but lately I've been trying to keep you up in the morning and put you down after lunch (between 12:30 and 1:00), depending on our schedule for the day. You're doing pretty good on one nap a day, but you are definitely more tired in the evenings now while you are adjusting.

You are sleeping pretty consistently from 8:00pm to 7:00am. You wake up happy every morning and play in your crib until we come and get you. I've noticed you like being in your crib a lot more now that you have to leave your pacifiers there. Even if you won't take an afternoon nap, you are content to sit and play in your crib (and suck on your paci). You'll sit and play for close to an hour sometimes before you want to get out. When I got in to get you, you'll grab two to three pacifiers before you reach up for me to get you, and then you'll drop them one by one back into your crib. I wonder if you're trying to sneak one out :). You don't like me to rock you as much anymore. You'll either want to sit up and play in my lap or you'll squirm and want down, so I'll just put you in your crib and you usually play for a few minutes before you fall asleep. I miss those sweet, cuddly, quiet times with you, and on the off chance you're really tired and will let me rock you, I soak it up!

Your favorite foods right now are bananas, yogurt, applesauce, grilled cheese sandwiches, blueberries, pasta, blackberries, cheese, goldfish, cheerios, and fruit snacks. You're not a big fan of vegetables, but your favorites are sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas, and sometimes you'll eat green beans willingly. You also don't really like meat. I think it's because it's hard to chew for you until you get some more teeth. I say sometimes that you hoard food. When you're eating a snack you'll take a fistful of food in each hand and hold onto it until you're ready to eat. Sometimes after a meal, I'll try and wash your hands and find you are still holding food in your fist, while I'm trying to wash it. It's like you just want to save a few bites for later.

You are completely off the bottle. I almost forgot to mention that because we dropped it shortly after you turned 13 months old, so it seems like old news now. I've noticed as the month has gone on, you drink milk out of your sippy cups much better now than you used to. You drink 3-4 cups of milk a day. You eat breakfast shortly after you wake up in the morning between 7:00-7:30, lunch around 11:00-11:30, and dinner between 5:30 and 6:00. You have a snack (usually fruit snacks) and a cup of milk after your nap and usually have some milk shortly before bedtime.

We love you Little Man!