Learning Explosion

It seems like Nathan has been learning a lot of stuff in the last week. I was showing Nathan parts of his body and when I would ask him where his head or tummy is he would point to them. Sometimes he will go a little overboard and keep hitting his head with both of his hands. It looks like the Home Alone pose, but on his head. I asked him where my nose was and he pointed to it. I couldn't believe how he picked this up so fast. I am now working on trying to get him to point to other body parts.

Nathan has learned two new signs. He now knows what "cheese" and "all done" are. He does a modified version of the sign for cheese because he can't quite get the hand movements for it. It is funny when he does the sign for "all done" because sometimes he is just doing it so that he can swing his arm around even when he isn't really done :) For the most part he knows what it means though.

Nathan has officially said his first word. We were playing with his bubbles and I kept saying the word bubbles and then he started saying "buba." I thought that it was cute how he was trying to mimic me, but then this weekend when he would see either the bubble juice or the bubble machine he would say "buba!" I couldn't believe that he was actually trying to say bubbles to the right thing! He has been saying "mama" and "dada," but he will say those while babbling and not to us. When he does want us he will use those words, but I am not counting them as his firsts because he doesn't use them consistently. He has also been trying to mimic sounds that we make and I am sure that his vocabulary will be growing a lot soon. It is kind of funny how all of this stuff happened while Christopher was in Costa Rica :).

Nathan also got in tooth #5! This tooth has been coming in forever and it finally broke through the gums on Saturday. I am really happy that Nathan doesn't get super grumpy when he is teething.

Nathan also took a few steps on his own. The steps he took (all three of them!) were from one piece of furniture to another. He'll walk anywhere as long as he has one of our hands to hold on to, and will usually take two or three more steps if we let go. He loves to walk, but will only do so holding our hand or finger (he has yet to get up by himself and start walking though). If we aren't around he will find anything to push around and use as a walker. He seems like he is close to walking, but I know that he has to try and stand up on his own and he hasn't done that yet. Both Christopher and I don't mind that he isn't walking yet because we can keep better tabs on him :) He does like to climb all over stuff and seems pretty fearless.

That is about all for now!

-Heather

Nathan is waving!!!!!

Nathan has finally started to wave to people when you say goodbye or hi! He doesn't do it all of the time and it is a very sloppy wave, but it is one! He waves with his whole arm up and down and fast :) We were in the parking lot and this lady stopped in her car to let us cross and I put out my hand to say "thanks" and Nathan started waving to her! She started laughing and waving back! I am glad that he is finally waving. Now I just have to get him to start clapping :)

Aren't Nathan's teeth cute? I actually think most things about him are cute :) I do think that he is getting cuter as he gets older. His appearance has changed a lot in a couple of months. I was looking at some old pictures of his and I can't believe how much he has changed. Go to gallery.christopheraedo.com and you can take a look at our bazillion pictures we have!




Nathan LOVES to eat!!! We had heard that babies/toddlers usually get really picky about what they eat after they turn a year, but that is not the case with Nathan. He eats about anything (he has even had a little taste of some cat food that he got to before we could get to him) and likes it all. He also eats a lot! I think that he gets that from both sides of the family :) One of his first signs was for "cracker" and he does that sign all of the time. He will crawl over to the fridge and look up at the crackers and do the sign. He also loves to stuff his face with food. It is amazing how much food he can cram in his cheeks. In the above picture I had some chips on the table and I didn't think that he could reach them and I was in the next room and I heard something fall and I went in and I saw that he had pulled the chips off of the table and was scrambling to eat them as fast as he could before I could get to him or the chips. He is a great eater and you can definitely tell by his chubby little legs!

We had a nice 4th of July weekend! Rhonda ended up feeding us two nights in a row and we are very thankful for that!!! We didn't watch any fireworks show, but we think that next year we will keep Nathan up so that we can watch some show somewhere. This coming week Christopher is going to Costa Rica for work and I am really jealous that we don't get to come! We will definitely miss him around the house!

-Heather

I am now 30! And other stuff...

I had my 30th birthday last weekend and we had really good time. On Friday night we went out with our friends from dog class (we take Lucy to dog classes almost every Monday) to celebrate a bunch of June birthdays. On Saturday night we went out to dinner with some of our friends and then went and watched our friend Alec Mapa film a comedy show for the Logo network. He was hilarious and we had a lot of fun! On my actual birthday Christopher and I went out to see a movie, which was a real treat! We went out to sushi for dinner and then drove quite a way to get some cherry pie. I LOVE cherry pie! My birthday was on the same day as Father's Day, so Christopher missed out on a Father's Day this year because I said that my birthday trumped that day :) Thanks to everyone who called or emailed me to wish me a Happy Birthday!

Nathan went back to do refresher "swim" lessons this past week. We were only scheduled to go for two days, but he didn't get it until the fifth day! I figured that he would take longer than the two days because of the last time we did refresher classes. The first day he did really bad and he swallowed a whole bunch of water. He ended up throwing up three times! It isn't fun to see him throw-up. I really didn't want him to go to the classes after that, but I knew that it was in his best interest to do so. He ended up only throwing up once after that. I can tell that he has changed from the last time he took the classes because he didn't fit in his bathing suit and he looked a lot bigger in the water. He also knew as soon as we were walking through the gate to the backyard what we were going to do and he would start crying. When I would try and pass him to the instructor he would hold onto me really tight and then start screaming! During the lessons he knew what to do, but he also knew that the instructor was in the pool with him and he would keep looking to her for help. There were also times when he was floating well and he would roll over onto his stomach! I figured that he was doing this because when he is getting his diaper changed he is always rolling over to get on his hands and knees so that he can move away from us. I figured that he thought that if he rolled over he could get away from Jessica, but no such luck in a pool. On the fifth day he was doing everything great! Now, we just have to make sure that we keep up on his refresher classes and don't let four months pass by before we go back again!

Nathan is a bona fide copycat these days! He tries to copy almost every noise and movement that we make. When he was at our friends' house they were outside and some birds were making noises and Nathan tried to make the same noise that they were making :) He will try and howl when we are getting the dogs to howl (they howl at the sound of sirens). He also tries to whistle which is super cute! He finally got the sign for airplane and will do that now. I have tried and tried to get him to wave goodbye and to clap, but he refuses. I think that he is refusing because I want him to do it! He really does understand a lot even though he doesn't talk.

Something that is so cute is that around 6pm every day our male cat Neko will come into the kitchen and go to the corner where our kitchen rug is and Nathan will crawl after him. Nathan will then start to pet him "hard." Neko likes it when you are a little rough with him, which we don't get! Luckily, Nathan isn't very gentle so it is a match made in heaven for both of them. It cracks me up because it is their special time together. Sandra, Christopher, and I have tried to record this, but every time we get the camera out Nathan crawls away from Neko! It is super cute and I hope that one day we will get their interaction recorded.

I am sure that there is more stuff that I haven't written about, but my brain is in shutting down mode!

-Heather

p.s. I didn't post a picture because we haven't uploaded our pictures to our computer yet...I should do that tomorrow!

Grammie B

The last couple of weeks Nathan and I have been doing a lot of traveling. About three weeks ago I got word that my Grammie B had about two to eight weeks left to live because she had really aggressive cancer that was in her lungs and liver. Nathan and I flew up to Reno two weeks ago to say our goodbyes to her. When we got there she wasn't doing so good, but she was able to recognize us and she even lit up when she saw us. She held Nathan's foot for a little bit and at one point Nathan went over to where she was and was holding onto her fingers. I was really glad that we were able to see her even though it wasn't like it was my Grammie anymore.

We flew back home on Tuesday and my dad called me on Wednesday to say that my Grammie B had passed away. I was pretty sad about the news, but I knew that it was the best for her because she was in a lot of pain. That weekend we made the long drive (about 9 hours) up to Graeagle so that we could go to her funeral service. It was nice being at home again and seeing my dad's side of the family. It is definitely going to be weird not having my Grammie B around anymore. I really am going to miss her!

Onto some happy news! Nathan now has five teeth! He has his four front teeth and just today one of his top side teeth came in. Nathan also waved to someone today when they were leaving and that is the first time that I have seen him do that! Nathan is babbling like crazy and saying "dada" a lot, but he hasn't associated it with Christopher. He doesn't say any words yet, but he seems like he is really close to doing so. Nathan is also getting better at standing alone. He can stand all by himself for a while, but if he notices that he is standing without support he will either start to cry or he will find something to hold onto to. I think that he will be walking at 15 months and not the 13-14 that I predicted. He is just taking his time on the walking and I am not complaining about that :). Nathan still loves his food and whenever he is cranky all we have to do is give him some food and he is happy (hopefully, this will not cause any problems later in life for him!).

On a last note, this is my last week of being in my 20s! It is hard to believe that I am almost 30!

-Heather

Another tooth!

Nathan just got in his third tooth today! What a Mother's Day gift :) It is one of his top teeth and the one next to it looks like it will be coming out shortly. He didn't seem to be too grumpy with the teething, which was nice for us! It will be weird seeing Nathan with more than his bottom two teeth.

Speaking of teeth, I have started the process of weaning Nathan from breastfeeding. He was breastfeeding about four times a day and then I got that down to three and now I am working on getting that down to two. Now that he has top and bottom teeth I want to be done:). Weaning him has been a little tough because I would breastfeed and rock him to sleep before he would go down for a nap or to bed and now he needs that to help him fall asleep. It has been a little bit of a struggle to get him to fall asleep. Rubbing his back for a LONG time seems to help sometimes. I am ready to be done with breastfeeding, but I am definitely going to miss the bonding with him. I hope to be all done by the beginning of June (I want to be done for my 30th birthday!).

The below video is for your viewing pleasure! We thought that it was hilarious!

Christopher got me a sweet MacBook for my anniversary, Mother's Day, Birthday, Christmas, and any other holiday (at least that is what I said it was for) a little bit ago and I am planning on using it to get more videos posted of Nathan. We were watching some of them today and they were pretty funny. It is also crazy to see how much he has changed since he was first born.

That is about it for this week. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the moms I know!

-Heather

Nathan is ONE!!!

It is official, Nathan is one! He turned one on April 26th. It really is hard to believe that he is already a year old. The time flew by! On 4/25 we had a little birthday party for him and if you go to gallery.christopheraedo.com you will find all of the birthday pictures (and more). Nathan didn't understand the concept of opening gifts and was more interested in crawling around, but he did love his cupcake! He wasn't sure about the cupcake at first, but then once he had a bite he tried to shove the whole thing in his mouth. We also discovered that Nathan loves Mac & Cheese! Nathan's Grandma and Grandpa O'Neill were also in town to help celebrate his big day!

On Nathan's actual birthday we just hung out around the house. Both Nathan and I were sick and we got Sandra and my dad sick :( I blame Christopher because he was sick the week before! At least we don't have the Swine flu!

On Tuesday we went in for Nathan's 1-year check-up and here are his stats:

Weight: 22lbs -25th-50th percentile
Height: 28.5" -10th-25th percentile...I personally think that the lady could have gotten a longer reading if she stretched him a little better :)

Nathan also had to get his blood taken because they have to test iron levels and some other stuff. I couldn't be in the room when they took the blood from his arm. I was getting squimish just looking at the guy next to us get blood taken. I also could hear Nathan screaming and I don't think that I would have been able to handle being in the same room. Nathan did great though!

Nathan is still not walking (he does cruise around on the furniture a lot!). He babbles so much, but isn't saying any words on purpose. He is climbing on furniture. If the furniture is low enough to the ground he can hoist his body up on it! He still only has two teeth, but it looks like his two top front teeth will be coming in very soon!

That is about all for now!

-Heather

Busy, busy, busy

Wow, we have been so busy that I have not had much time to post in our blog. There is a lot to write, but hopefully I can summarize it all without writing a book :)

-Swim lessons:
Nathan finally did great on his refresher classes. It turned out that all he needed was to be rested. We joked around saying that we have to make sure that when Nathan accidentally falls in the pool he has to be well rested. We will be doing refresher classes again sometime in May.

-Hair:
Christopher and I got hair cuts. You may be wondering why I mention this and it is because I got about 14-15" cut off! I was ready for a change and told our stylist that she could do what she wanted. She cut off 10" to donate and then the rest was for her to play with. I am on the fence with the hair cut (it is really short for me), but I think that once it grows out a little I will like it. It kind of reminds me of my mom's hair!

-Birthday Party for Christopher:
Even though he said it wasn't his birthday party it was, sort of. He had his annual big bash and he was able to get a couple of kegs emptied. The house was packed and the disco floor was a lit. I think that most everyone had a good time. Nathan was even able to take a nap during it all!

-Australia:
On 3/27 we left LA to Australia. The flight there was 14 hours and I think that it was the longest 14 hours ever! Our plane left at 11pm and Nathan could not fall asleep in the terminal. It then took him forever to fall asleep on the plane. They provide you with bassinets on the plane, but the catch is that if there is turbulence you have to take the baby out and put them on your lap with the kid belt. Well, there always seemed to be turbulence right when we would put Nathan down to sleep. We thought that we would just keep him there and not move him, but we got busted! We didn't get much sleep and I basically was Nathan's pacifier for the whole trip. We did fly V Australia which was really nice and the staff was GREAT! We also got seated in an area that had more room for babies which was really nice. Nathan got diarrhea on the flight and it lasted for a few days and that wasn't fun!

It was so nice to be visiting with Crystal, Sam, Ziah, and Marley! Their house was so cute and felt like we were at home. Much better than staying at a hotel! Nathan who is 11 months was about the same size as Marley who is 3 months. Nathan was heavier, but Marley didn't look that much smaller. Ziah was a great big sister! She loved playing with Nathan and being around him. She was wanting to hold his hand all of the time. I think that Ziah really enjoyed having some new playmates (Christopher and I included).

We took a trip up to Cairns (Australians pronounce it like "can") so that Christopher could dive the Great Barrier Reef. I was not excited about the 3 hour flight there, but it wasn't too bad. The hotel that we were at was beautiful and we had a water view from our room. The hotel also had it's own indoor rainforest and that ended up being the place that Nathan and I went to all of the time. They had a ton of birds and Nathan is very fond of the birds. He even would start saying "ba, ba" when he would see the birds. There was one cockatoo that used to be a pet that was there. His name was Big Bird and he couldn't fly, but he loved being on you. All you had to do was go up to his cage and he would climb on you. It was really hard to get him off of you too! The only bad part about the rainforest was that it was HOT! While Christopher did his diving, which he said was great, Nathan and I mostly stayed in our room because it was hot. Christopher did pay for me to get a massage because he felt bad for leaving us for two days (he was back for the night).

When we were in Sydney we saw the Aquarium, which is supposed to be the largest in the world. It was pretty good, but it was raining so hard and Nathan was grumpy which wasn't a great combination. When we got back to Crystal and Sam's they asked us if we had been swimming because we were so wet. We had taken public transportation and had to do some walking. The public transit was really easy to navigate. We checked out some of the beaches that were gorgeous! We toured the Harbor and saw the infamous Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. We went to a great park where there were wallabies and Kangaroos that were roaming around in the park that you could pet and feed. It really was a great park and even though it was crowded for the park, it wasn't that bad! We had a really great time!

Driving on the opposite side of the road was interesting. I didn't do any of the driving, but it was weird being a passenger. The city streets in Sydney were not very grid-like so it looked too confusing for me to drive it. That is one reason we took public transportation to some things. Trying to do anything all together was almost impossible. Having three kids that were taking naps at all different times made it hard to do some stuff together. It was nice though to just relax at home! Crystal made us some amazing dinners! She really is a great chef and she makes some great sandwich bread that I tried to copy and didn't succeed at. We also got to meet Sam's parents and have dinner with them. They too are great cooks and were really nice!

Christopher and I discovered on our trip that when Nathan is fussy all we have to do is give him some bread or other food and he is happy! Kind of bad that food makes our baby happy. Hopefully, he won't have serious issues when he is older :). Nathan was also a great eater and I think that he may have eaten more than Ziah at each meal!

Our flight home was only 13 hours and it wasn't as bad, but it was still long and a little painful! The hardest part is getting Nathan readjusted to the time change. He did ok there, but now that we are home he is having the hardest time. We put him down at his normal time and either 5 minutes or an hour later he is up. He would be up until 2 am and that was killing us. Now he goes to bed with us. It was nice not having him sleep with us, but it seems to be the only thing that calms him down. We hope that soon he will be back to his old sleep habits!

THANK YOU CRYSTAL AND SAM FOR BEING GREAT HOSTS!!!!! WE LOVED VISITING WITH YOU GUYS!

Here is a link to all of our Australia pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/christopheraedo/OZ#

-Family:
Once we got home Christopher's sister Karen was here with her two daughters Danielle and Natalie. Natalie stayed with me while the rest of them went shopping and it was very nice to have Natalie watch Nathan so that I could do some things.

-Nathan:
-Is a VERY FAST crawler!
-Is babbling like crazy! We think that he will be talking soon
-Walks around holding onto the furniture like a pro, but isn't even close to wanting to walk by himself
-He still only has two teeth and it doesn't look like more are coming in
-He likes to imitate Christopher and me. He will do hand motions or mouth motions after we do them. He still will not wave though!
-He plays peek-a-boo with his blanket and it is super cute
-If you ask Nathan "how big is Nathan" he will lift both of his arms up in the air
-He loves the animals and will constantly go after them. Bella has scratched him a few times (we trimmed her claws so this wouldn't happen again!)
-Nathan is into headbutting everything. The cutest is when he headbutts a cat or dog. Sometimes one of our cats will headbutt him back.
-Nathan is almost ONE! Only a week to go!

That is it for now. We have to go to bed!

-Heather