My Wheels

Hey ladies, check out my sweet ride.

I am LOVING it!

Here is one more pic from Midland. It is me and my cousins in the '52 Chevy. Big Daddy and Uncle Robert love this truck (but it does not compare to my convertible).

Tomorrow, Nate will be 11 months old. Time has flown...before we know it, he really will be driving. Yikes. Luckily the addition of his LT (Little Tykes) Convertible has not affected our insurance...yet!

Craig's Birthday

At the airport in Midland, it was 32 degrees!

On Friday, we flew into Midland for Crazy Cousin Craig's first birthday. Mom's plan worked like a charm and Nathaniel slept the whole way! Then we spent a few fun-filled days with family. Yesterday we took some family pictures

It is so much fun to watch the family grow....and Barbara is expecting again so the next family pic will have yet another munchkin!

Then we went to Craig's party. It was organized chaos and everyone had a good time. They even let Nathaniel have a little fun (?) with a cake of his own since his birthday is coming up. The boys were slow to warm up to the idea of freely jumping into sugary sweetness, but they managed to come around.

Then there were of course, some surprise attacks on Nathaniel from his cousin - the wrestle mania champion.

Followed by bubbles. What fun.

Unfortunately, Nathaniel is......sick again. This time, shooting boogers out his eyes. Overall, he has handled the mass amount of people pretty well despite feeling ill (Thank God for baby Motrin). I guess we will be visiting the doctor on Monday. I am sure she has been missing us.

Fun Night

The best part of Mom's day is picking Nathaniel up from daycare and spending those evening hours together. This evening was particularly fun. Nater-Bug was in a great mood, laughing most of the night. He decided tonight was the night he would begin drinking from a straw - before when we would give him the straw sippy up and he would only chew on the straw..... tonight he finessed the art of sucking from the straw. Once he learned how to suck from the straw, he began guzzling water like a man who had been lost in the desert for days.

He also loves looking in the fish tank....so much that tonight it looks like he became one of the fish in the tank. Now, that is the cutest fish I have ever seen!

True Texans

It is wonderful being friends with the Oberts; Nicci finds great things to do with the kiddos - and we get to tag along! Today we verified the authenticity of our little Texans by having our own photo shoot in a field of bluebonnets. The more mobile the kids get, the harder it is to get good pictures but here is a sampling of the fruits of our labor. Enjoy!

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day
a little late,
from our happy
little Nate!

This was from St. Patricks Day,
I am just a little slow posting it.

Top Teeth

Pictures of my sweet boy and his new teeth!

Doctors Visit

You know you have been to the doctor waaaaay too much when:

A. The front desk guy knows you by name
B. The nurse sees you and comments, "I think I had a dream about you guys last night"
C. Your doctor shares details about her fertility treatments with you
D. All of the above

Truthfully, any of these answers are acceptable. However, my experience today was D. All of the above.

I got a phone call from daycare saying, "Nathaniel is running fever and pulling at his ear". Funny, I REALLY thought it was teething this time - again. When will I learn??? I should have known something was up because he actually slept all night last night. That is unusual behavior for him lately. But to my credit, he did break the gum line with his second top tooth yesterday - so he is actually teething right now as well.

So.... I picked him up from daycare and headed directly to the doctor. They squeezed us in since no appointments were available. And as seen above, it was a funny experience today. Apparently there is so much junk (I will spare you the details) that the doctor could not even tell if the tube was in place. I will be making an appointment with our ENT soon. I love that everyone is so friendly at the doctors office, but if we are going to be known, I would rather it be at a bank, where I would be coming in frequently to make deposits, not the doctor's office with a sick kid. Oh well, this is our life and we love it.

However in the midst of all this I am truly thankful for all the wonderful people in my life. I have the BEST co-workers that have been super understanding with me taking time off with Nathaniel. I really could not ask for a greater support team (Thanks Betty, Gabby,Renee). I have an amazing daycare full of people who truly know and care about Nathaniel (Thanks Miss Nellie, Miss Thelma, Miss Audrey, Miss Tebertha and everyone else). This place has been such a God-send; they are all so friendly and caring. I love that they are so in tune with Nathaniel. Even though he was not fussy today, they knew he was not himself and called right away. And I am thankful for my doctor and her staff - of course, I would be MORE thankful if we could get rid of ear infections altoghter, but I am thankful for all they do - and that they make me laugh.

Finally, I am thankful that Nathaniel has such a great personality. It does make me feel guilty that I had no idea that he was not feeling well. I suppose when all you know in life is ear infection after ear infection, you just learn to live with it. If he was not such a trooper, this would be unbearable. But he is the most amazing kid. Ever. Even asleep (like he is now), he makes me smile. Really, how can you sleep like that?

Rodeo Petting Zoo

Yee-Haw

Mom played hookie from work today to join Nicci, her sister Casey, and the girls on a fun field trip to the Rodeo Livestock Petting Zoo. Thankfully this was much better than the Houston Zoo experience! There were still goats, but these ones actually moved. There was also a llama that Nathaniel found hilarious. Probably the most exciting for Mom were the kangaroos. Abby and Izzy were able to ride a pony - Nathaniel is still 2 months shy from being able to join in the "big kid" fun, but he did not seem to mind. He had a blast petting the animals and trying to put things is his mouth (yuck!).

Excuse me Mr. Black Sheep, have you any wool?

Making it home without Salmonella.....priceless!

Other exciting news (in our world) is that Nathaniel's right top tooth broke through the gum line. When/if we are able to capture it on film, I will post a picture of that. Once again, he is not sleeping well through the night, so I am hoping that is what was bothering him and we can now return to restful slumber.

1st Shiner

Oh, come on people....look at his eye. His eye.

No, we did not allow our child to drink beer - although it is questionable in the picture.
He fell on a toy today at daycare and got his very first "shiner".
Ok, even that may be a bit of a stretch, but it is still a funny post. Right?

Chase

Our typical game of "I'm gonna getcha" results in giggles and squealing from Nathaniel. This weekend, however, he decided he would be the chaser instead of the chase-ee. It was great fun....but my knees are doing all the squealing today!

BNS Check up

Well, we went in for the BNS (Big Noggin' Syndrome) check today.....and all is well! However, his ear is still draining and he now has some additional ear drops to add to what he is taking orally (this came as no surprise since he was up from 2:00-5:00 am this morning, refusing to sleep).

He is 10 months old now. Crawling at warp speeds, cruising around furniture when ever he can, standing unsupported for a few seconds, waving bye-bye, and babbling up a storm. He loves to take things out (ie. clothes out of drawers, Kleenex out of the box) and to tear paper (beware magazines!!!). He continues to put everything he can into his mouth, and he recently discovered where our parrot throws bird food out of the cage, so we really have to keep a close eye on him. He is eating more adult food and loves macaroni and cheese (is that adult food???). His separation anxiety is getting better day by day, although he still wants to be able to see Mom at all times. Always an adventure....

Auntie Barbara's Birthday

Auntie Barbara turned 30!

To celebrate, the family got together and went to Seaworld San Antonio. Nathaniel did really well with the trip and loved being able to spend time with his cousins (Grandma D, Aunts and Uncles are cool as well).

Being fascinated by aquatic life, he was pretty attentive to the attractions. Killer sharks, beluga whales, dophins, otters, walruses, sea lions, and some amazing acrobatics kept his attention most of the day.

Then, we got to have dinner with Shamu (technically, a friend of Shamu's), up close and personal. It was great fun, although a bit cold for my taste!

This morning we woke up and headed to the Alamo. You can't go to San Antonio and not visit the Alamo. Can you?

On the return trip we stopped off and visisted Grandpa and Grandma Yancy. His Alexander cousins were there too! He had a blast showing off for them. Nathaniel has a special little laugh and face reserved for Grandpa Yancy - it is pretty hilarious to see it "live".

Overall, it was a great weekend! Thanks for getting older Barbara :)