Nathan and His Cousins

A few weeks ago, Wayne's brother and his family came to visit us. It was an exciting visit because Wayne's mom finally sold her house in Arkansas, and bought one here! Wayne and Stuart helped her move in while Tiffany and I entertained the kids. Nathan was so happy to have his cousins here to play with him, but boy was my house loud! Logan is 4, Landon is 3, and Lexa is 2 (she and Nathan are just a few days apart). Even though we had 4 toddlers and 5 adults at my house, we all got along just fine :)

When Logan, Landon, and Lexa saw the train table, that is ALL they wanted to play with!



The next day while the guys were helping their mom, Tiffany and I packed a picnic and headed to the park to wear them out so they'd take a good nap :)


Landon is on the left and Logan is on the right. Lexa is sitting next to Nathan who is giving his "fake" smile.



But that is a REAL bear hug!

Landon

Nay-Nay

Logan

After the big move, we got cleaned up and headed to Papadeaux's for a celebration (and early Thanksgiving) dinner.

The next morning, Tiffany and I met my playgroup at the Gainsville Zoo. I loved this zoo because it was small and not crowded at all. The kids could walk around without getting lost in the crowd. Nathan and Lauren pretty much held hands the WHOLE time. It was so cute. Nathan kept leading Lauren to different things he wanted her to see and then they'd have their own little conversation :)

Lauren, Landon, and Nathan feeding the goats

And here comes Logan

The Three Musketeers :)

Logan

Landon

Nathan

Lexa

And Mr. Nathan again looking all sweet...I think he might have just thrown a rock and got in trouble ;)

Here are the two love birds again!

We had the best time with Stuart, Tiffany, Logan, Landon, and Lexa! After they left, Nathan kept asking where his cousins were. Playing trains is so much more fun when you have 3 other friends with you!

Guess What?!

Nathan is going to be a big brother! That's right, we're having another baby! I'm 13 weeks along, and everything is going perfectly. Wayne and I are so excited...maybe a little nervous too :) My due date is May 21! Here are some pictures of our new addition:


5 weeks: This is our first sonogram picture!


7 weeks: Can you believe the difference in just two weeks?


12 weeks: This one is of the baby's face...it's a sideways view and there's a hand in front of the baby's face. The head is laying to the right, and it's left hand is raised up to it's cheek which is towards the bottom of the picture...kind of hard to tell unless you're used to looking at a sono picture :)


12 weeks: This is one of the baby taking a nap :) It's head is to the right and it's a profile shot.

Here's one more piece of exciting news...it's a GIRL!!!! When we went for the 12 week sonogram, it was a level 2 sonogram with our perinatologist which is a little more "high tech." At first SHE was in the wrong position to get all of her measurements, and she wouldn't move at all (we didn't know it was a SHE just yet), they pushed on my stomach over and over to try to get her to move. Then I had to cough several times (they said coughing is like an earthquake to the baby). Finally, she woke up and was moving all over the place! She actually measured 3 days ahead of schedule which is good, and she looked completely healthy. At the end of the sonogram, I asked if the doctor could possibly tell the sex. He looked at Wayne and said, "Well, don't run up your Visa bill, but you're going to have to buy all new baby clothes." We both just started laughing! I was so excited! Wayne thought all along it was a girl, but I was sure we were having a boy. When I asked him how sure he was, he said he was 98% sure...that's pretty sure!

I go back again in two more weeks for a regular sonogram and then two weeks after that for another level 2, so we'll be able to double check at both of those appointments. I'll keep you posted!

Nathan's School Pictures

I just got Nathan's "school" pictures back. Although he's not smiling huge and his hair isn't perfectly brushed, I think they are so cute! These are the first pictures he's taken without me there...I can tell he was a big boy and followed directions :)


"I know I'm not smiling, but I AM holding my hands like they said...see my stamp?"


"Do you like my tennis shoes with my button up shirt?"


"Here's a little smile...is Mommy here yet to pick me up?"


Here is Nathan's class picture. The two boys on the left are Collin and Blake. They are the ones Nathan talks about all the time. He tells me they play chase and fall down, and he laughs while he says it :) I think it's so cute that he knows his friends' names and can tell me about them!

Carving our Pumpkin...I almost forgot!

We carved our pumpkin last week, but I forgot to write about it! Helen, Wayne's mom, was here for the week. She sold her house in Arkansas, so Wayne was helping her buy a house here. In a week's time, she found the house that she loved, made an offer, and is closing the week after she moves from Arkansas! We're so excited, especially Nathan. He's going to love having all of his grandparents here to spoil him!


Nathan and his pumpkin. Can you tell he's excited? He picked this pumpkin out all by himself.





After Daddy carved it, I outlined it so that it would show up a little better. Really, I just wanted to be part of the process :)


The finished product!

Afterwards, Nathan, Grandmother, and Daddy played in the yard and went for a walk. Grandmother is home packing right now! We can't wait for her to move!





This entry is out of order. Our actual Halloween entries are after this one :)

Happy Halloween!

Last night was Halloween, and boy did Nathan have fun! Our friends, Meredith and Darin and their little boy, Andrew came over. Alison, Shawn, and Lauren also joined us, but they came a little later. Nathan and I have been practicing saying "Trick or Treat" all week. I thought the best way to teach him would be to actually give him a treat when he said it right. He soon got the hang of it, and would even come up to me on his own (with his pumpkin basket) and say "Trick Treat!"


"Hey, that's a frog!" Andrew looked so cute in his froggy costume!



After playing inside for a while, we packed up and headed to our neighborhood block party. I kept trying to take a picture of Nathan and Andrew next to the pumpkin, but I could never get BOTH of them to look at me at the SAME time :)

Nathan pretty much ran the whole way there. Here he is following some other kids. He kept yelling for us to hurry up!

Darin and Meredith wore their best outfits for the party :) Darin had the best wig, but he "forgot" it at home.

The first thing Nathan wanted to do was jump in the bounce house.

"High five Daddy!"

And then Nathan participated in the hula hoop contest!

When Lauren got there, Nathan gave her the biggest hug! They almost fell over :)

"I like your skirt, Lauren. Will you marry me in 25 years?"

After hanging out at the block party for a while, we went back to the house, ate dinner (Meredith made the best casserole!), and then got ready to go trick or treating ourselves. We really wanted to get a picture of all three kids sitting on the step in their costumes...easier said than done!

Andrew, sit on the step. Nathan, sit down...

Lauren, put your tiara on. Nathan, stop chewing on the wrapped Tootsie Roll...

Smile! This is as good as it gets! Let's go Trick or Treating!

I was worried that Nathan would be shy about actually going up to a door on his own. Wow! Was I wrong! He loved it! He yelled "Trick or Treat" really loud the very first time. He was soooo cute!

Nathan LOVED going to each house, ringing the doorbell, and getting candy. In the beginning, he just yelled "Trick or Treat!" Then he started saying "Trick or Treat," get his candy and then say "Thank you!" And then, Nathan started saying "Trick or Treat," get his candy and then say "Thank you, You're Welcome!" It was so funny. We had planned on just going to a few houses, but they were having so much fun, that we stayed out for at least an hour. What I really loved was that there were SO many kids and families out. There were lots of families just hanging out in their front yards, handing out candy. Maybe we'll do that next year. I just love our neighborhood!

When we got home, Lauren, Nathan, and Andrew couldn't wait to dump out all of their candy!

Daddy opened M&Ms for Nathan, plus lots of other goodies. After we told Nathan he couldn't have any more candy, he soon disappeared. I found him hiding under the dining room table with a sucker he had gotten out of the big bowl of candy that we were handing out to other kids. He opened it on his own, and was trying to eat it without us knowing :) Someone sure does like candy!

Here is a short video of Nathan going up to a door.