The Pledge of Allegiance

Wayne and I had no idea that Nathan knew the Pledge of Allegiance, but it turns out that he says it every Tuesday and Thursday at school and already has it memorized (kind of). He first said it to me last week, and I thought it was the cutest thing, but I didn't get a video of it. Then we ended up buying a flag...really Wayne just wanted the flag pole to hang his Razorback flag, but we're glad we have the American flag too :) Anyway, we brought it out last night to show Nathan, and he got so excited! So here are two videos of his version of the Pledge

Happy Birthday Shaedon!

Two weekends ago, Nathan was invited to the birthday party of one of his friends from school, Shaedon. He was SOOOOOO excited to go because it was at the Indoor Safari Park. There's a smaller version of this place right by us that Nathan has been to, but this one was HUGE! Several of Nathan's friends from school were there so he was having so much fun. They rode a train, mechanical animals, and Nathan's favorite thing was the indoor play area that had a trampoline, a slide with a pit of balls at the end, and a climbing wall. That's where he got hurt :(

Nathan and his friends were running around like crazy, doing as many things as they could do, and having the best time. He was already sweaty after 20 minutes! Nathan kept climbing these big steps to go down the slide and play in the balls. He LOVED this section, and he and two of his friends kept racing to see who could get up to the top first. They did this over and over. And then it was like Nathan just lost his mind with having so much fun...he climbed up these steps but instead of going down the slide, he turned and said, "To Infinity and Beyond!!!" and jumped off the top onto the floor pretending to be Buzz Lightyear...well the floor was not soft and cushiony like he thought it was going to be. He landed on his right foot and immediately started screaming and crying. At first I was scared he broke it and didn't know quite what to do. A few of the moms there said that if it were broken, it would immediately swell. It ended up not swelling too bad, but Nathan couldn't walk on it. We stayed a little longer and then went home for Daddy to look at it.

We decided to give it a few days (until Tuesday when I took Charlotte to the dr. for her checkup) to see if it would get better on its own, and we just tried to keep Nathan on the couch and not put a lot of weight on it. Nathan was so funny. He'd say, "Ok Mommy, I'm going to try to walk on it." Then he'd limp around and say, "It's better! All I need is some wings from the toy store so I can fly!"

As of now, he can walk and run without limping, but it hurts when you push on his foot. His doctor said to call him this week if it's not better so we might have to go get an x-ray. I just hope he learned that he CAN'T fly!

Finding Clifford...and Making a Big Mess!

A few days ago, Nathan was watching Clifford on TV while I was getting lunch ready. He just HAD to have his Clifford dog to watch it with him but couldn't find it and asked me to find it for him. Well, we've been trying to teach Nathan to be self-sufficient (as much as possible for a 3 year old) so while I'm fixing our sandwiches, I told him to keep looking. Maybe he's under the couch or coffee table. Or he might be in your toy box. All of a sudden I started hearing all of this noise and thought "What in the world is that?!" When I get to the living room, I see that he has taken EVERY SINGLE toy out of his toy box and is actually climbing inside! Although it was a huge mess, I got my camera :)

Maybe next time I should just help him find his toy :)

Charlotte is 4 Months Old

Charlotte Rose is already 4 months old! She is such a happy baby and smiles and laughs all the time. She really loves to laugh at Nathan. It makes Wayne and I so happy to watch the two of them interact with each other! Nathan and I took Charlotte to her 4 month check-up this morning. She weighs 14 lbs, 12 oz (75%) and is 24.3 inches long (75%). Nathan was such a good big brother to her and held her hand when she got her two shots. He kept saying, "It's OK little baby, they won't hurt." And then when Charlotte started crying after the shots, Nathan looked at the nurse and said, "Awwwwww, they did hurt her." It was like he felt bad that he just told her something that wasn't true :) Nathan loves going with Charlotte to the doctor and always pulls up a stool to stand on to watch everything that the doctor does.

Charlotte is now going to bed around 8:30 or 9:00 and usually sleeps a full 12 hours unless I have to wake her up early to take Nathan somewhere. She also takes 3 good naps during the day. Right now she is still sleeping in her bassinet, but we're wanting to move her to her crib. I have been putting this off because I worried that she would wake Nathan up if she woke up during the night or early in the morning, but she's such a good sleeper that I don't think that would happen. Then I started worrying that she wouldn't like her crib as much as she likes her bassinet, but we've got to make the switch sooner or later. Maybe this week will be the week :)

Here are Charlotte's 4 month birthday pictures in the hat that Marla made her and the dress my mom made.





Look at those chubby arms and legs! I love to squeeze her fat rolls! We keep joking that she's a fat, happy baby, and now Nathan will say, "Hi fat baby! Can you smile for me?" or "Look at that fat baby. She's so sweet." He says it in such an adoring way that it makes me laugh every time. I hope we don't give her a complex :)

Playing with Andrew

I'm a little behind on my blogging, but I promise to get caught up this week! Here are some pictures of Nathan and Andrew. Andrew and his parents, Meredith and Darin, came over during
the Labor Day weekend to swim, play, and eat! Wayne grilled chicken k-bobs, I made chocolate chip cookies, and Meredith brought over a bean and rice dish, chips, and watermelon. We ate like pigs! Nathan and Andrew had fun swimming, playing on the swing set, and playing with Nathan's trucks and trains. They are so sweet together because they really do like the same things, and they both think the other one is the greatest friend.

Playing Soccer

Nathan is a soccer player! We wanted to sign Nathan up for an extracurricular activity and tried gymnastics (I wrote about that in an earlier post), but quickly realized it wasn't the thing for him. He was the only boy in the class and had WAY too much energy for it, so we signed up for soccer. He loves it! I don't have very many pictures from his first practice because I videotaped most of it so Wayne could see him. The class is an hour long, and his coach is a young guy who is so great with the kids. All of the boys are just like Nathan...wild boys! But Coach Greg is really great with them. They mainly play games during the class, but they're games that incorporate kicking the ball, doing drills like kicking the ball through cones, and of course there is tons of running which Nathan does very well!

When the class was over, Nathan didn't want to leave, so Coach Greg let him help clean up. It was crazy how much Nathan wanted to help...why doesn't he do that at home?!

Here's a picture of them doing their stretching exercises in the beginning. I'm really happy we signed up!


Nathan is to the right of his coach in a white shirt :)

Nathan's New Scooter

Nathan used some of his birthday money from Mama & Papa and Grandmother to get a new scooter. His friend, Jake, who lives across the alley from us has one, and Nathan kept talking about wanting to race with Jake on their scooters. The only problem was that Nathan didn't have one yet :) So Daddy took him to Toys R Us to pick one out. He's a little wobbly on it still, but is getting the hang of it the more he practices. At first, he just wanted to stand on it and have us do all the work for him!