Steps

It's hard to believe in less than three weeks, we'll be celebrating Nathan's first birthday. In some ways, I'm sad because it went by so quickly. But in other ways, I'm excited to find out what the future holds for this sweet little boy! He is such a joy, and we are so thankful to have him in our family!

He's making all kinds of progress in all kinds of areas, so I thought I'd take the time to tell you all about Mr. Nathan at this point.

1. As you can tell by the title of this post, Nathan is ready to take his first steps. He is SO close to walking, which is good and bad. He has taken several steps with hand-support, and I truly believe if he'd just let go, he'd be off. But this also means work for Mommy and Daddy! Not only will we be chasing around after him, but we are frantically trying to get the house baby-proofed before he takes his first steps. Plug covers are in place, cabinet locks are going on, and the baby gate is being installed at the top of the stairs.

2. He's eating lots of solid foods. This is a fairly new development, but he has certainly taken to it! We have been eating Stage 2 foods for some time, but you can go broke buying those, so I've decided to start gradually introducing table food. In fact, for the first time last night, I made dinner for a family of FOUR, and everyone devoured it...especially Nathan! (Note: Chicken Noodle Casserole with Veggies=SCORE!!!) As I write this, he's sitting beside me on the couch while I spoon banana and feed him Cheerios.

3. Sleeping. Or the lack thereof. Ever since we moved into the new house, things have been different, and sleeping has been hit or miss. It's difficult because he was always such a good sleeper prior to our move, but since he was older at the time of the move, adjusting was harder. By that, I mean, he had never been made to cry it out because he always slept. Even when we had just brought him home from the hospital, he'd only wake once during the night to eat and then would go right back to sleep. But since we've been here, he developed RSV and required daily breathing treatments. Consequently, when he'd wake in the middle of the night hacking and coughing, I'd have to go in to check on him. He's doing better, but he has gotten into the habit of waking two, three, sometimes four times during the night. And he's conditioned me to jump up and run in there to check on him.
How do we fix all of that???? Well, we've tried everything. Let him cry it out. Didn't work...he threw up after hacking for 20 minutes. Feed him a big bottle right before bed. He still wakes up. Give him a dose of Tylenol before bed. He still wakes up. So we still don't know what to do. He's not even sleeping in his room; he's sleeping in the swing in our room, but that's better than nothing!
And then all of a sudden, he started stretching it out until 4:30 or 5:00. Okay, I can handle that. I thought we were rounding a bend. But lo, three nights later he started back to his old habits. And now we're up every two hours during the night. AAAAHHHH!!! So, three steps forward, four steps back. But even when I have to resort to putting him in the bed with us, as I lay there holding my baby, I think about how lucky we are to have him and how much I love him!!

4. He's so much fun! The other night, we had a load of laundry sitting in the basket in our room. He crawled over to it and began pulling things out. It was so funny to watch him pull one sock at a time and strew them all over the floor. I know that may not sound like your kind of fun, but I captured it on camera, and you'll be able to see the smile that was spread all the way across his face! PRICELESS!!!

So, in a nutshell, this is just a glimpse of the fun this little man has brought into our lives. Despite the ups and downs, we love him bunches and couldn't imagine life without him.

Happy (early) Birthday, Nate-Nate!

Nathan's first haircut

I'm on a roll with my blog posts today, so why stop now, right???

Bailee was always blessed with a head full of hair. In fact, it was always a conversation topic, so she never wore hats, just bows to accent her thick, beautiful dark hair.

Nathan, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky.

He started off with a head full, but within a couple of weeks, he looked more like an old man with the ring around the back of his head. Eventually it started to fill back in with these cute little curls. We just let it go because, like Bailee's, it became a topic of conversation. In fact, when the air was particularly humid, he would have this one ringlet curl over his left ear, and I just loved it.

Anyway, Patrick and I have been saying for the past two months or so that Nathan needed a haircut. And so began the debate on where we would take him. Patrick wanted to take him to McCurry's Barber Shop, the place where he's gotten his haircut since he was in middle/ high school. He would simulate the conversation, and it would go something like this: "Bout like usual? How tings at Mich-e-lin? You seen Toy Story 3?" (Obviously, this is conversation he's had a million times with Danny at McCurry's. And no, those are not typos. Apparently, this is how this guy really talks.)

I had different plans for Nathan's first haircut. I made an appointment for myself a couple of weeks back with my wonderful hairdresser, Candice at Tangles. She is a magician in my eyes because she can always work her magic on my hair so that it looks just perfect when I walk out of the salon. I was just going to take him with me until he fell asleep right as I was getting ready to leave.

So the debate went on, and nothing was done about his hair. Then, while I was gone to Barrier Island with my fifth graders, my mom sent me a picture of Nathan. Poor thing. He looked like a girl with these long bangs (yes, bangs) hanging over his eyes., I decided then and there I would not put this off any longer. My first day home, and I took Nathan for his first haircut today.

For his first haircut, Nathan went to an appropriate place: JellyBeans in Greenville. His curls are gone, but I think there is still a wave to his hair, so hopefully they'll return. He looks so spiffy, and I am very pleased with the outcome. They collected all of his beautiful locks, and saved them for me. He even received a certificate. And the best part of it all: because this was his FIRST haircut, it only cost 1 cent! AWESOME!!!

Here are some before and after pictures, along with the necessary "during" pictures. What a cutie!!!

Before (note the comb-over do keeping his hair out of his face)

Playing in the car chair

Not happy anymore!!! (In reality, this only lasted a couple of minutes while she used the electric trimmer.)

The certificate....(Awwwww!)

And the finished do! Look at that handsome little guy!!!

My Babies!

So the best part of being gone for three days is coming home to my babies! We've spent the morning loving on each other. I just love my kiddos to pieces!!!

There's something so cute about naked baby pictures! And Mr. Nathan is no exception!!!

Bailee got a microphone for Christmas, and one of her new hobbies is singing a song called "Hannah Montana Forever." I don't know that she knows who Hannah Montana is (or that she's recently been spotted with a bong in hand!!!). She thinks Hannah Montana is the necklace FiFi wears around her neck (AKA Montana Agate). Anyway, it's quite funny because she gets on the mic and just belts it! Beware: you might need something to protect your ears!!!

Barrier Island 2011

Each year, the fifth grade students from Calhoun take a trip to Barrier Island on Seabrook Island. This year, as the trip approaches so did a winter storm. We were afraid we'd have to cancel the trip, but thanks to some last minute switching, the staff was able to open the camp up to us a night early so we could beat the snow and ice. We arrived on Sunday night around 10:30 and left on Wednesday at 12:30.

Here are some of the higlights of the week:

• Each student attended classes where we learned about reptiles, amphibians, and fish. I conquered one of my biggest fears, and not only held a snake, but wrapped it around my NECK!!
• We also got to take a night walk (flashlights were forbidden!) and we learned all about our night vision. (I, of course, had to have a little fun with this, so I snuck off and hide behind a tree with one of my best buddies, Pam, and we jumped out and scared the kids to death...HILLARIOUS!!!)
• We hiked all over the island and even got to cross an actual Civil War wall built by the Union soldiers. So COOL!
• We played Noodle Hockey, Dodge Ball, and danced.
• We ate better than I think I have ever eaten, froze to death in the cabin showers, and laughed until we (almost) wet our pants.
• It was COLD!
• Memories were made and new friendships were built.

We had a lot of fun; students and teachers! It's a sacrifice to be gone from our families for three days, but as always, the trip is so wonderful! I truly had a blast, and I'm pretty sure 82 fifth graders did as well!!!Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the week.

My crazy class....

My cabin girls...BEAUTIFUL!

One of the best friends a girl could ask for: Joya Sellers. We had SOOO much fun playing together!

Me and my sweet Tony...

One more group shot of my girls on the beach. Love 'em!