Two for Tuesday

Two pictures for Tuesday:

 Nathan has had a facination with his hands (like most babies), but it just seems comical how he can spend time just staring at them and moving them around.

Here he is hanging out with a new friend -- an Arkansas Razorback Froggy!  (Thanks, Judy!)

Swimming!

Look at us dressed in our swim clothes!

 Nathan didn't like it too much at first, but the more that we sat and played in the water, he was okay with it. 

Maybe we can go again sometime soon!

Nathan & Oreo

The cats have been more accepting of each of Nathan and have been more and more curious of him.  Oreo has been coming up on the couch when I nurse him in the evenings and will lick his head or rub up against him.  Just this week, Nathan has been reaching out to touch Oreo and Oreo has been letting him touch her.  It's pretty fun!

Muscle Shirts

When my sister came this weekend, she brought us a bunch of clothes for Nathan.  There were 3-4 sleeveless outfits which are a new experience for Nathan!  I had to take a few pictures of him showing off his muscles! :)

One of the new things that Nathan's been doing is to push up while he's on his belly.  He will hold himself pretty well (getting ready to do some planks!) and then relax his arms again.

Here he is smiling - even after a long day at daycare! (This was from last night.)

Birthday Details

Have you ever had a desire for somthing that's not really a need, but just something you want?  Well, I had one and I never spoke it to anyone.  I just kept thinking that it would be nice, but we didn't have extra money for something frivilous.  Well, God is a God of details and He delights in taking care of His children.

My office had their annual convention last week so 2 of the 4 in my department were gone for that and the other one was on vacation.  We had decided before they all left that we'd celebrate my birthday on Tuesday the 24th.  They didn't know what I had secretly been wishing for, but here they came with a gift bag and I just couldn't believe it!  Not only was this my favorite scent, but they got both the body spray AND shower gel!  This was just a perfect gift -- reminding me again that God knows me.  He has my best interests at heart.

Today might be that day for you... Don't lose heart!  God may have that special thing just around the corner for you.

Different Bathtub Fun

Nathan's getting a bit too long for his baby bath tub.  (Sad day, I know!)  So we decided to wash him a little differently -- in the basin!

 Aunt Katherine helped hold him up since he's not sitting up by himself quite yet and we got to the business of washing him up.

Since he's sitting up, he kept getting water in his eyes so I'll have to work on that!  Pretty soon we'll have to transition to the bath tub!

Excer-saucer Fun

Aunt Melissa found this at the Good Will for $5!!!! What a deal! Even though we weren't sure how it would get to us, she couldn't resist the great deal. My parents picked it up from her when they were visiting at the 4th of July and then brought it to us over the weekend.

Uncle Andrew couldn't resist picking up this ski hat for Nathan!

 Nathan loves it!

Aaron seemed to have more fun making all the sounds, but soon Nathan will be able to do it!

We had visitors!

My family came to help celebrate my birthday this weekend.  Here are a few snapshots of everybody with Nathan!

 With Nana

 With Uncle Andrew

 With Aunt Katherine

 With his cousin, Aaron

With Papa

It was a great time even if were were sort of squished in like sardines! :)  Lots of fun times together and hanging out.

It's My Birthday!

Google even got it in the action and wished me a happy birthday (a little creepy, but cool, none-the-less).

We had birthday cake at lunch.  Aaron tried to help me blow out the candles, but it was tough for him.

We did go to Chili's for dinner, but it was not the best dining experience.  Nathan was ready to eat, but was too distracted by all that was going on to eat.  Aaron got sick from some guacamole that he ate and threw up a couple times at the table.  I ended up scarfing down my food and then going outside to the car to feed Nathan.   It wasn't all bad -- I did get my free brownie sundae to eat at home!

I was just so glad to have everybody here with me to celebrate that it didn't quite matter what happened!

It's FRIDAY!

We're excited because we have a whole house-full of guests coming!  Who could resist this little one?!

Papa & Nathan

We've been praying for my dad as he had cataract surgery Tuesday on one eye and then again next Tuesday (24th) for the other eye.  Since we've been thinking a lot about him, I thought I'd share a picture from my parents' visit the end of June.

It's fun to see that Nathan will interact with most people -- if he's not too tired.  I am hopeful that he'll continue with his easy-going nature and have lots of friends.

We love you, Papa!  Hope the recovery is quick.

Getting bigger & bigger!

Yesterday when we went to pick up Nathan, it hit me that he was looking different.  I'm not sure why, but his features seemed changed for some reason.  He's not been feeling his best lately -- teething & such, but keeps pressing on & smiling!

 Here he is looking all grown up!  No matter how many times I pulled that left leg down, he would start kicking and it would bunch up again.  He's figured out how to rock himself in his carseat & the bouncy chair we have by moving that left leg!

I found out that Google+ has a feature to edit photos so I was messing around with that a bit to make this one different.  I love my baby!

Couple of Cards

My mom's been working for a greeting card store and was able to salvage some cool embellishments for me from cards that they were throwing away.  I decided to try and use these flowers to make a couple cards.

LEFT - I used 3 papers and some cream organdy ribbon.  I had a sticker that says "Get Well Soon" and anticipate giving it to a lady I know that's been recovering from a fall that she took.

RIGHT - I used 4 papers with this card and the cream organdy ribbon.  I used a sticker that says "Thank You".  I am giving this one to the teenager who has been caring for Nathan during our small group meetings on Sunday.

I think I still have 3 or 4 of the flowers left, so you may see them again!  I have a bunch of birthdays coming up so I should be working on some more cards this week.

Bathtime Fun

I think I've mentioned before that Nathan is enjoying bath time more and more.  He's gotten to the point now that he kicks all around and if you're not watching, you can get pretty wet!

Hope you enjoy his antics!  This was one of many episodes during our bath time.

Feet!

You can't see it so well in this picture, but Nathan & Barry are touching feet.  This is a common  occurrence when we're eating dinner.  The thing that was fun about this picture is that when I pulled the camera out, Nathan smiled for me (without prompting)!  I don't know if he's connecting the two things in his brain already or it was a happy coincidence.

Reading Books

Tummy time was reading today so that he'd stay on his belly instead of rolling over multiple times.  I usually read to him so he's accustomed to working with books (it's that librarian side coming out, right?!).

You want to hear the story?!

Rolling

So, Nathan's been working on his rolling.  I'll prop him up...

 He'll look at me and chat a little bit...

 Then, he'll tip over...

And lay on his back staring at the ceiling!

We'll do this several times while I'm getting ready and he'll just lay there waiting for me to come back and prop him back up!

5 Months Old

 Nathan sat all by himself in the 5 month picture!  He's getting so big! :)

Oops!  Couldn't sit up too long... but I got my hands all nice & sweet!

We had a full Sunday morning -- Nathan had a bath since we had full Saturday evening.  I dressed him and we read books waiting for Barry to get up.  While I got ready, Barry took care of Nathan, we ate breakfast and then there was a poop explosion!  Nathan had it all over himself and Barry!  So, we had to clean him all up again and get dressed again.  But somehow, we had enough time to do pictures before leaving for church.

Uncle Rick Visited

We invited Uncle Rick over for dinner since Nathan hadn't seen him in a while.  We had a pasta dish that we liked from my maternity leave and Rick brought fixings for a yummy salad.  We had a great time together!

We also had a pretty awesome Saturday together.  We can't wait for the cooler temps (only in the 90s this week!) so that it's not so rough running errands since the Jeep doesn't have air.

Comparison of Barry & Nathan

So I finally got out the picture we have of Barry as a baby... Doesn't Nathan look very similar to Barry?  Like father, like son!

Barry Kenneth - 4 months old

Nathan Kenneth - 4 months old

Nathan has been very vocal this week and we just are amazed at how loud he can be!  It's been hard in the morning to feed him because he just keeps "talking".  Hopefully, we'll get the 5 month picture taken tomorrow with our friendly turtle!

House Work

Check out the edging around the windows and the shutters.  They started scraping the paint off.

Despite the fact that our landlord had promised since last fall to have the house painted, it is now July and the workers have finally showed up!  In fact, they were at the house yesterday - on the 4th!  They've scraped the window panes, fixed some edge pieces and caulked.  It appears that they painted some today, but they've got a ways to go.  We'll see what happens.

Happy 4th!

We sported our red, white, & blue in celebration of July 4th!  We got to go celebrate with our small group by grilling out, but decided to forego the fireworks as it was too late for Nathan.  We had a good day hanging out (and had an awesome afternoon nap!) and relaxing.

A disappointment for the day is that we had hoped to go to the wading pool for a little bit, but they now charge $2 a person (previously it had been FREE).  Maybe Nathan'll get to go swimming sometime soon!

Looking Cute!

Nathan had to show off his big boy shirt -- it just tucks in -- no snaps!  Of course, by the time we dropped him at daycare, it was moving up his back, but hopefully it'll be a little cooler since it isn't down between his legs.

And then, when I was trying to finish getting ready, I had Nathan laying on a blanket on the floor and he rolled over 4 times!  Not consecutively, but I would prop him back on his tummy and then he'd roll right over.  Go, Nathan!

New paci

So, the hospital pacis are getting too small -- when Nathan sucks on them, it makes an impression on his face.  We had a package of pacis not opened yet and so we exchanged them for a bigger size.  It's taking him a bit to figure it out because the nipple is different.  We'll see how it goes.

A Gift from Mrs. Mary

We did a quick little photo shoot this morning with Nathan showing off an outfit that Mrs. Mary (my boss) found for Nathan.  He's such a cutey, don't you think?!