Nathan just fell asleep, and so I've snuck upstairs to finally blog. I thought I would post some pictures....


...Well an hour later I'm back at the computer. I started to look through pictures to post, and Nathan woke up with some spit-up and upset stomach. He's happy and talking to Daddy now, so I came back upstairs.

I've come up with another nickname for Nathan. I was reading some information about the evil fattening effects of Ben & Jerry's, along with other ice cream, and liked the name Chunky Monkey! This nickname joins others that I think are just fun to say, even if they don't exactly make sense. "Chickadee" is for when he is all smiles. "Snickerdoodle" is for when I want him to be happy. We both call him "brown boy" at various times for fun, along with Mr. Chubby, Mr. Smelly and Mr. Cranky. No nickname has really stuck, but we're having fun for now. Oh, and how could I forget? Bobblehead!

Labor Day weekend was the first that I noticed him try to reach for something. He was staring open-mouthed drooling at a checkered place mat, and then waved his hand until he struck it. Now, just a few weeks later, he has put this skill to use. He has a voracious appetite for this book, for example.

P.S. Obviously I'm still struggling with this blogging formatting. Does everyone else know the html language besides me? I feel like I'm still in culture shock, facing a language barrier that looks like: ... (Oh, forget it. I tried to copy and paste the language, but it refuses to show up. I am not going to try and type it. grrrr.)

Things Nathan Likes

I've been having a hard time getting around to writing on this blog. I still look forward to doing it, but I feel some sense of wanting to say something meaningful when sometimes there is not much meaningful thoughts left in my head. I have figured this much out. It will be so so much harder when Nathan is a little toddler and another baby comes along. Whew! (We're not expecting or anything though, by the way.)




Nathan loves this mirror. But mostly he likes the lion face. Sometimes he will actually look at his reflection, but does not find that as amusing.









Another thing he seems to like is this dinosaur book. The first page crinkles and all the pages have cloth textures to touch. He doesn't reach for the pictures yet. Sunday at small group he sat on my lap during prayer, and cooed at the dinosaurs during the whole time. It was quite cute.







At the end of August, when he was two months old, I had an offer from Shutterfly to make a free book. I just had to pay for shipping. I had neglected to read my emails for awhile, and had ignored this one until the day before the offer expired! So very quickly, I put together a book about Nathan including all my pregnant belly pictures. It turned out quite well, aside from the grammar errors that were a result of hasty publishing. He won't care. And by the time he will care, we can use it as a hands on editing and revising lesson! (Oh, and notice the spit up that is about to shoot out his mouth. Jon caught this great shot)





Here is another great spit up shot, along with some hair grabbing. The spit up got all over by the time I disentangled myself.











He is growing fast - that's for sure! He can't sit up by himself yet, but sits well with some support. The thing he still hates is tummy time. Oh well.

Blow Out

I'm sure just about every mom has a story like this one. Nathan was waking up yesterday morning (for the second time) and I could hear him working on something. From the bathroom, I kept peeking in the bedroom, and I could see his feet stick straight up in the air every once in awhile. Eventually he decided that he really did want to be picked up, and I went over to get him. He greeted me with a smile, which melted my heart. When I picked him up, though, he cried out like he was uncomfortable. Then I felt that my hand was wet. I took him over to the changing table, and began to operate. I found that he had pooped up the back and out the sides. So it was very difficult to not smear him as I wrestled the tight fitting clothes over his head. (I'm sort of in denial that we have to move on to 3-6 month clothes) Once I got him "necked" (as they say here) I wiped him again, and trotted upstairs. I filled the bath, and set him in, when suddenly the bath water turned a murky yellow. He had pooped again – without any of the usually grunting warnings! So out of the bath he went, and laid on the towel while I emptied the bath, cleaned the bath, and refilled it. Thankfully he was cooing happily while he waited. This time we made it, and got him dressed. Later in the day he blew out another diaper, ruined another set of clothes, and got another bath, but the water stayed clear. Fun memories.










Later that evening, Nathan woke up with a tummy ache.










So, Daddy joined along.












This is our favorite expression when he is upset. It is just so hard to catch with this camera.










We still love you, Nathan!

P.S. I'm still having formatting problems. Sorry. :-)