Yay Nate!

Nate will be 2 1/2 on the 10th of this month, so a couple of weeks ago I decided that after the holidays we would start getting acquainted with the potty. We started today and before his nap he tee teed in the potty! I was shocked since today is his first time ever to sit on the potty. Darren and I gave him lots of praise and high fives. I DO NOT expect this to be a regular thing at this point and I am still planning to take things super slow, but I had to document this super duper achievement. :)

Bah Humbug!

I must confess that I had a bad attitude this Christmas. It didn't start that way. I was very excited about all of the fun festivities and, of course, all of the fun that Nate would have. Then three weeks ago Nate started running a fever. I wasn't concerned the first day because he was acting pretty normal and his fever was staying pretty low. The next day I became concerned when his fever increased and he begin to act sick. We actually had to start "religiously" alternating Tylenol and Motrin every three hours to keep his fever down. By the third day, he was really pitiful. I was really worried about him as we headed to the doctor's office. I had never seen him that sick and he's had some pretty nasty bugs. Thankfully he didn't have the flu, but Dr. Johnson did hear a "crackle" in his left lung. She couldn't determine exactly if he had pneumonia or bronchitis, but she did start him on antibiotics and breathing treatments. Thankfully that day was his worst day and he was almost back to normal the next day and has been feeling great since then. We are still having to do breathing treatments, but we should finish those up in a couple of days.

Just about the time that Nate started getting better, Darren and I started getting sick. It just seemed like a cold and I thought we would feel bad for a three or four days and be feeling fine by Christmas. Well, that's exactly what happened...for Darren. I began to feel worse and developed a pretty bad sinus infection. My face and my head have never hurt so bad. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day actually ended up being the days I felt the worst. I finally started getting better on Saturday and then Sunday I woke up with an ear infection. This is actually my third ear infection since September. I think I now qualify for tubes. :) I was finally able to go to the doctor on Monday and get some antibiotics and ear drops. Thankfully I think I am almost completely well, but it has been a rough three weeks. I am looking forward to a healthy and uneventful start to the new year!

Darren did a great job of helping to take care of me and Nate while we were sick. He did some research about sinus infections and made me put my face over hot steamy water several times a day. It actually helped a lot, but Darren got a big kick out of me hunkered down over a coffee cup with a towel over my head. He took this picture without me knowing it. Doesn't it look like fun?

Christmas Day

We are very blessed to have families close by to celebrate with. We are very thankful for all of the love and generosity they show us throughout the year and at Christmas. However, we are most thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ - the reason we have a holiday called Christmas.

I have mentioned before that one of Nate's favorites right now is Thomas. So, Santa made sure to bring him a train table with several different Thomas trains. He liked it so much that he didn't even care to open any more presents. We talked him into opening two more and seeing what was inside of his stocking. He still had two more presents that he didn't even open until the next day.

Granna, Poppa Dub, Nan and Pops came by to check out Nate's new toys.

We pried Nate away from the train table and went to Darren's Aunt Bill's house for lunch. We have been getting together with Darren's extended family since before we were married. We always have lots of fun...and lots of yummy food. Darren's cousin got a new camera for Christmas and wanted to get family pictures of each of the three families (Darren's mom and her two sisters). Of course, I had to get one made with my camera also.

It's time to open presents!

After lunch, we went home for a much needed nap. Then we headed to Granna and Poppa Dub's for Christmas with Darren's family. We had a super hero among us also - too bad I can't remember which one. This rock 'em sock 'em game was the hit of the evening for the children...

and the adults.

Time for more presents! Nate got sooo many presents, he literally didn't know what to do with them all.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve with my family. We had a really great night (despite my killer sinus pain). Right in the middle of dinner the lights went out for about 30 minutes. Nate kept saying "Turn the lights on, turn the lights on." Since Nate needed some entertainment, we (the girls) started singing Christmas songs. We had a lot of fun and didn't even mind the lights being out, but we were very glad when they came back on.

Nate by our tree

Nate LOVES Thomas. This started when I bought a couple of Thomas DVDs for long trips in the car. A few months ago I found these Thomas bath trains at Target. I actually bought them because I could get three bath trains for the cost of one "real" train. He quickly became very attached to them and wanted to sleep with them and take them everywhere. Here he is playing with his trains before dinner.

Nate gave my sister a paint brush. A couple of days before Christmas, Nate and I were at my sister's house and Nate got grease on one of her walls (I'll spare y'all the details). The only way to get it off the wall is to prime and paint the wall. I am going to repaint it, but her husband thought it would be funny if one of her presents was a paint brush from Nate.

Christmas Card Photo Shoot

I had Nate's picture taken at the end of November for our Christmas card. There weren't as many good ones as I would've liked, but it is so hard to get him to cooperate! These are my three favorites. I used the last two for Christmas cards. The last one (in the red vest) is my favorite.

The photographer had some Smarties to encourage good behavior (bribe). I thought this was really cute of Nate looking at the candy.

Haircuts

This morning Darren, Nate and I went for much needed haircuts. I have mentioned before that my mom has cut Nate's hair several times. We decided that it might be good for Nate to get a "real" haircut to shape it up a bit. This was taken this morning before we left. His hair doesn't look as long in this picture, but I have some pics of him and I promise it looks like he has wings on the sides of his head.

The same girl cuts Darren's hair and mine. We let Darren go first so Nate would know what to expect. Nate went next and he did great. He enjoyed 2 suckers during the haircut and was surprisingly still - 2 year old still, not perfectly still.

As you can see, we didn't go too short. I'm not ready to let go of all of those sweet curls yet and I'm not exactly sure if I'll ever be ready.

Finally it was my turn! I was so excited and a little bit nervous because I decided that I was going to get a major haircut. I cannot even remember the last time I had a haircut and I have been wanting to do something different with my hair for a while. But, I kept putting it off because I didn't know exactly what I wanted and I loved the fact that I could fix my hair super fast and get it into a ponytail when I was in a hurry. I finally found a short haircut that I really liked that looked cute curly and straight. I made our appointments on Wednesday and I had several days to decide if I really wanted to go through with it. Before she began cutting, Jill asked me if I was sure I wanted to go through with it and I assured her I was ready and I promised her I wouldn't cry. It's just hair and it will grow back. She did a great job and I LOVE it.

Darren and Nate ran to Wal-mart while I was getting my hair cut and they waited in the truck until I was finished. When I got in the truck, Darren said it looked great and Nate said "I want other hair back" and then he started to cry. I never dreamed he would have that kind of reaction!

It's hard to see all of the layers because my hair is so dark, but here are the pictures.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The day started with breakfast with Darren's family. This is the first year that we've had breakfast together on Thanksgiving. I thought it was lots of fun, so hopefully it will be a tradition that continues. Nate had a blast playing with all of his cousins. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. Later that evening we had dinner with my family. We had so much yummy food. Two years ago (Nate's first Thanksgiving) we started taking a family picture on Thanksgiving. It is super informal. We basically just get together for a family picture so we can see how much we've aged over the year. :)

Our family has so much to be thankful for. We are thankful first and foremost for God's unconditional love that He demonstrated for us in the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are thankful to have family close by that we love and enjoy spending time with - not just at the holidays. We are also thankful to be parents. After 6 years of wanting a baby, God answered that prayer and blessed us with the sweetest, cutest, smartest little boy.

I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who works so hard to take such great care of me and Nate. I am so thankful that I get to stay home with Nate everyday. I will never get these years with him back and Darren's hard work allows me enjoy this precious time. Thank you Darren! Nate and I love you very much!