Nana & Papa Visit

Not only did we have Katherine's family stop in on Saturday, but Nana & Papa came for a visit!!!!

 Sitting with Papa

 Opening up a gift from Nana & Papa

 A Jingle dog that Nana got from work

Reading books with Nana

We're enjoying their company and spending time together.  It's been a long time since we've seen them.

More Gift Opening

We had a couple more gifts come in the mail so Nathan got to open more!  These first gifts are from Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Lindsey, Chelsea, & Micah!

 All right!  Bath toys!  (But they're so fun now, that he's been toting them around!)

This gift is from Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Julie, Brandon, & Mackenzie.  

Thanks so much!

Family Visits

My sister and family were on their way back from Christmas vacation and decided to stop by our house for a little visit.

 Nathan & Aunt Katherine

Nathan & his cousin

This last picture was a trial to take because someone didn't want to have his picture taken!  Yay for seeing family!  (More to come!)

Look at him go!

We were just hanging out at home and playing when suddenly...  Off went Nathan!

Where I am taking the picture is where he started from.  He has scooted to the kitchen before if I was in there, but I was clearly not there!  He just laughed and sat playing with the turtle.

"Are you sure you don't want to play with this, Momma?  It's fun!"

Playing with Travis

Here's a little video from the Michigan Stevens' visit.  Both boys are making noises with their mouths!

 

 

Nathan's Christmas Gifts

Look at the fun stuff that Nathan got for Christmas:

 Fun outfits from our babysitter & good friend.  Britta works at our daycare and goes to church with us.  Hopefully I'll remember the next time to take a picture so she can make her blog debut!

 One gift left over from the Stevens
(We're excited about all the things that we can do with these rings!  We've been missing out!)

 An outfit from one of my co-workers!

 Mimi (Mrs. Mosley) gave a gift too! 
Not only did she give the turtle with shapes (reminicent of the blue ball that you pull apart and put the shapes in), but also a velveteen rabbit & story book.

Here's the fun things that the Stevens gave. 
Left to right: They gave a story book that is recordable and each read a page (with a cute bear), a Lions jersey - Calvin Johnson with some white shirts to go underneath, the colorful ring stacker, roll & chase bumble bee, and then Nathan is wearing the Lions ski cap and the rings.
 

Wow!  Little Bit got lots of gifts for his first Christmas.  We understand that a few more are on their way, but we're extra thankful for everyone remembering him.

Christmas Day

 Here are my boys on Christmas morning.

 Momma & Baby have matching socks!

 Nathan would only look at Daddy for this picture, but here he is with a few gifts.

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

(See tomorrow's post for pictures of Nathan's gifts!)

Gifts from the Stevens

 Gift number 1 - what could it be?

 Playing with a new toy... the rings

 Nathan's a Lions fan for sure now!

 High five, Jessi!

We went to the mall & Travis carried Nathan around.  Nathan decided to wave as they walked around.

Hanging with the Family!

 With cousin, Brianna

 Again with Uncle Tod

With Aunt Michelle

 The "Stevens" cousins!

The two Stevens boys! (with Travis)

We have guests!

Barry's brother and family came to visit on their way to Florida!  We were super excited to have them come and see Nathan.

 Brianna & Travis playing toys with Nathan!

 Uncle Tod with Nathan

Jessi & Nathan

They came Friday night and plan to stay till Monday morning.  Travis hadn't been able to come down in February when the others came (see here) so he was particularly excited to come and meet Nathan.

It's Cold Outside...

 "Really?!  I have to wear all this stuff?"

"Alright.  I'll smile."

 

The temperatures dropped dramatically so it was back to the big coat and now the addition of the Carhart hat that Uncle Andrew gave.  Since we have family coming from Michigan tonight, it makes you wonder if they're bringing it with them! :)

 

We're getting excited!

Cruising along...

As has been requested, here is a short video of Nathan scooting.  He is getting fairly quick so you have to keep up with him!  He's overturned the cats' water dish, gotten close to an outlet, and tried to get into many other things (paper is a great attraction for him).  He stands fairly well on his own, but just can't quite figure out the crawling thing.  He's doing great!

Playing With Toys

Nathan gained two new toys through our life group's dirty santa game on Sunday.

 Here he is with a dalmation and fluffy brown dog.

He is enjoying all these toys!  He gained quite a few when we visited with the Vernons and then a few more here and there as we've gotten gifts from others.

You may wonder if Nathan lives in these jammies!  I noticed that there are a bunch of pictures with him wearing these jammies in particular (he does have a couple others).  Many times we'll change him into them while dinner is cooking so that there is more time to play.  Bedtime comes at 7pm so there usually isn't too much time in between eating and going to bed.  I particularly like these jammies the best because they have the cutest monkey on the side.  Fun times! :)

CHEESE!

Just a cheery smile to help jumpstart your day!

 

I've been struggling with a cold for about two weeks, but the last 4 or 5 days it had been pretty unbearable.  We had tried to stop by a pharmacy on Saturday night to talk to a pharmacist about what was safe for me to take, but both stores we stopped at, the pharmacies were closed.  Let's just say that Monday was a blur -- I was so out of it that I'm not quite sure what I did or said.   Thankfully I have a doctor's appointment for Tuesday so that I can get an antibiotic.

 

Here's some trivia for you:  most over the counter cold medicines have not been tested to see whether they pass through breast milk.  I know you wanted to know this! :)  Prescribed medications have to go through a more rigorous testing process so there is more certainty that they're safe.  But, if you're in a tight spot, you can try a cold medicin without a decongestant (of course, that's usually what you need!).  I'm so glad to help expand your knowledge!  Too bad I didn't know this 2 weeks ago!

 

Since it's Tuesday, here's another picture so you can have "Two for Tuesday"!

Turtle Picture

This month's turtle picture has been a bust!  The turtle did great, but not so much Nathan.  The red shirt pictures were taken back on the 8th, but I really wanted to have a better one.  I tried again today and this is what we got!

"Do I have to sit here?"

 "Ok.  I'll smile."

 "What a cute turtle!"

"Num, num, num... This sign is yummy!"

 

Even on the 8th, all he wanted to do was put the sign in his mouth!  Teething has taken over our lives!  The two little ones are poking throug and giving lots of fits.  Tylenol is a close companion. :(

 

One big accomplishment that appears to have occurred at the 10 month mark is that Little Bit has decided to sleep through the night!  HURRAY!!!!  He's done it consecutively for the last 10 nights!!!!  We had mistakenly forgotten to set the alarm one night and to our surprise, he didn't wake up.  So, we waited till the weekend to try again and he's done it ever since.  HURRAY!

Surprise!

So, we came home on Thursday to a box on the front step.  Barry opened it and to our surprise, there was this big stuffed animal!

There was no note in the box, so we weren't certain the story behind this.  Barry called his family in New Mexico and found out that from the first grandchild, Barry's parents have given a large stuffed bear for the first Christmas.  His mom looked and looked for a stuffed bear, but couldn't find one.  So, this cheery giraffe is what Nathan got.  How fun! :)

Smiles

Boy, am I glad to see bunches of these now!

After last week's illness, there were very few smiles...

Helps you to start the day off well when your little one is happy!