6 Months Old

Little Nathan turned 6 months old yesterday and I can't believe it. How is it possible that he is half-a-year old already? I tell him every day that he is so sweet. Whenever I go out somewhere with the boys, he is usually in the Baby Bjorn facing out. We always have people stopping to talk to him and smile at him. It used to catch me off-guard when strangers would just stop in the aisle at the grocery store to look and smile at us. Now I realize that he is almost always smiling away at everyone he sees. I just can't see it because he's facing away from me. I hope he continues to have an easy disposition because it certainly makes things easier for me--and it's just stinkin' cute when a baby smiles all the time.

At his 6-month checkup today, Nathan's pediatrician said he looks great. He's growing really well and he's actually starting to thin out a bit. Before he was a little chubby for his length, but now he's pretty much proportional. Other than a little mild eczema and the remnant sniffles of a cold he had this week, he's perfectly healthy.

Weight: 16 pounds, 10.5 ounces (35th %)

Height: 26.25 inches (40th %)

Head Circumfrence: 44.5 cm (75th %)

Renaissance Festival

Tim wanted to go to the Carolina Renaissance Festival for his birthday weekend, so we made the 2.5 hour trip to Concord, NC on Saturday. The boys were both really good on the drive there. Nathan slept for an hour of it and Tyler sat fairly quietly listening to his Backyardigans CDs, looking at a toy catalog and commenting on trucks and trains.

We arrived at the festival grounds around 11:00. It was kind of misting when we first pulled up, but by the time I fed Nathan, it had pretty much stopped. It had rained the night before and for most of the morning, so everywhere we walked the ground was pretty wet. Being a Renaissance festival, there wasn't any pavement in the "amusement park".

Hanging out on a swing

I had never been to a Renaissance festival, and Tim's only experience was at a field trip during grade school, so we didn't really know what to expect. At first it was a little strange seeing all the workers (and many of the other guests) dressed in their period garb. All social classes were represented from royalty to peasants to pirates. There was a shop near the front of the park where guests could rent a costume. Interesting, but not for us.

Tyler was not so psyched to meet this walking talking tree. He wouldn't say "hello" to the tree, but he did say "bye-bye" as we were walking away.

Highlights of our day included buying Tyler a pirate sword and handkerchief (to wear on his head) to complete his pirate costume, watching a jousting match (like in the movie "A Knight's Tale"), seeing a pirate show, feeding sheep at a petting zoo, and riding an elephant. Yes, Tyler and Tim actually rode an elephant. We let Tyler decide between riding a camel or an elephant and he chose the elephant.

Tyler and his new pirate sword

The jousting match

Feeding sheep at the petting zooThe elephant rideWaiting for the pirate show to begin

We were only there for 4 hours because we had to hit the road so we'd be home in time for dinner. Nathan was so tired from all the activity, so he fell asleep almost as soon as the car started moving. Tyler, on the other hand, was so wired after eating a sucker (we didn't even let him finish it), that he didn't fall asleep until an hour into the drive and only after he managed to wake up his brother. Typical.

I don't know if you can read it, but the bottom part of this sign says "sausage on a stick". Did they really have sausage on a stick during the Renaissance?

All in all, it was a fun time and we will probably try out the local Renaissance festival sometime, which takes place in the spring. And no, we won't be dressing up for that one either.

Tim's Birthday

Last Friday was Tim's 30th birthday. We kept the celebration very low-key, just like Tim himself. He wanted to have a burrito for dinner, so we got take-out from On the Border, which has a menu item aptly named The Big Bordurrito. Tim always orders it when we eat at OTB and it is always HUGE.

I also ordered a cookie cake and had a bike put on it, mainly for Tyler's benefit. He kept saying, "Dat's Daddy's bike!" (In hindsight, I should have ordered a smaller cake because I ended up eating most of it by myself. Tim has a couple marathons coming up the next 2 weekends, so he's trying not to overdo it on the sweets). We gave Tim an electric shaver that he picked out, so he wasn't surprised by his present.

It was a quiet night at home for the four of us. We had to get to bed pretty early because we were headed to the Carolina Renaissance Festival near Charlotte the next morning.

So far, I don't think Tim is experiencing any kind of identity crisis now that he has turned 30. In fact, he commented that now he'll be in an easier age group (30-34) when competing in triathlons. His ability to relate everything back to training for or competing in triathlons is uncanny.

Pumpkin Decorating

On Monday we went to a playdate at my friend Christy's house. All the moms brought a pumpkin for their kids to decorate and Christy provided all the decorations--stickers, paint, eyes, pom-poms, etc. Tyler had so much fun decorating his pumpkin. He loved using the paints and picking out stickers. He's very proud of his pumpkin and he likes to set it on his dresser so it can watch him sleep since it has eyes. (See Pumpkins post). Tyler also had a blast playing in Christy's huge backyard with the other kids because there are few things he loves more than a big open space to run around.

Switch-a-roo

Yesterday afternoon I got it in my head to do some fairly major furniture switching. What used to be our dining room is now a playroom and our dining table sits in the breakfast nook that used to be a play area. I didn't tell Tim that I was doing it, so he came home to quite a surprise.

I'm really enjoying the switch-a-roo so far. Overall, I think it's a much better use of the space we have. The dining table is much closer to the kitchen, which is great for me since I'm always hopping up from the table to get something for the boys. I used to have to walk around/through/over toys to get from the dining room to the kitchen, but I don't have to worry about tripping on a dump truck anymore. All the toys are pretty much contained in the "playroom" and living room. I did have to take the leaf out of the table to make it fit more comfortably in the nook, so it only seats 4 now, instead of 6. This isn't a big deal, though, because we only have 4 people in our family. It's still plenty big for us.

The new dining area

The new playroom

Here are some photos of the boys that I took on Sunday. I haven't taken many pictures lately, so I figured it was time for an update. I think Nathan is starting to look similar to Tyler at this same age (5 1/2 months). He has the funniest belly laugh and it is easily brought on by tickling his neck or belly or bubba chubba thighs. What a sweetie!

On Sunday, Tyler was playing with his potty jar and the money in it. (He hasn't been asking for quarters lately, and he hasn't even been wanting M&Ms or "emma-emma-emms", but that's another story. Let's just say he's only interested in potty training when it's time to go night-night. He likes to sort out his quarters from his pennies and his nickels, which he pronounces as "nipples". Great.

After playing with the money in his jar, he decided to dig for gold somewhere else. Nice.

Party Favors

Yesterday we all went to a party for Tyler's friend John Palmer's 3rd birthday and Tyler had so much fun! The party was a carnival theme. There were games to play and they even had a big parachute for waving up and down and running underneath. (The parachute totally reminded me of gym class in elementary school.) It was a beautiful fall morning, so the weather was perfect for an outdoor party.

Tyler's favorite part had to be the face painting. John Palmer's grandma painted a soccer ball on his cheek and he was so proud of it. He kept wanting to look in the mirror all day so he could see it. After it washed off during his bath last night, he wanted to know when he could get another one.

He also loved his goodie bag, which had lots of cool stuff in it. He got some sunglasses, little parachute men, stickers, a slinky and a ball. The first thing he did when he got the bag was put on the orange sunglasses. There were actually 2 pairs in the bag and he kept insisting that I wear the green ones, but they're a little small for me.

Nathan was a big hit at the party, as usual. The other guests commented on how happy he seems, and he smiled at everyone like he always does. It helped that the party was outside because he just loves to be outdoors.

I recorded Tyler talking about his goodie bag and his soccer ball when he woke up from his nap yesterday. You'll notice he's not wearing any pants because when we started the whole potty training thing, I just had him in a Pull-Up to make potty time easier. Now he just likes to go pants-less sometimes when we're at home.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Other than the birthday party, we've had a pretty quiet weekend. Tim has been training for the 2 marathons he has coming up at the beginning of November and I've been running whenever I get the chance just for exercise. I might sign up for a 5K or 10K in November to stay motivated, but we'll see...I did get to run 10 miles yesterday afternoon, which is the furthest I've run since college. It's nothing compared to the 20-milers that Tim does on a regular basis, but I felt (physically and mentally) like I'd really accomplished something by the end of it. Now if only I could get my house clean, I'd feel like I moved a mountain!

Rollercoaster

I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster all week and it's all because of potty training. The week started off great with Tyler only having one accident on both Sunday and Monday, followed by two rough days where he didn't want to use the big boy potty much at all. Thursday went pretty well, although he went poo poo in his Pull-Up because he refuses to go in the potty. Today was great with no accidents, but he never did have to poo poo. Along the way, we've gone from bribing--I mean rewarding--Tyler with quarters and stickers to any type of coin we could find to M&Ms (he loves picking which color he wants). Right now we're at a high point, but there have definitely been a few lows in the past week. I'm sure the potty training rollercoaster ride will continue for quite some time, but as my mom assures me, someday I'll look back on these times and wish they hadn't gone by so quickly.
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Earlier in the week when we were still using money as his reward, I made a jar that has Tyler's name on it to hold all his earnings. (He loves to have his name on things and he's quick to point out any T's he sees. "Me have a T in my name!") Here's how the conversation went when I was writing on his jar.

Me: I'm going to write 'my potty jar' on your jar.

Tyler: Dat's my potty jar.

Me: I know. It's your potty jar. See? That's your name and underneath it says 'my potty jar'.

Tyler: No, Mommy, dat's my potty jar. (Repeated at least 3 times)

Me: I'm also going to write 'I'm a big boy.'

Tyler: No, Mommy, me a big boy. You're not a big boy. You're a yady (lady).
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Here are a few pics of Tyler in his big boy Pull-Ups. He was pretending that his pajama pants were a cowboy rope.


Nathan has been pretty happy all week, even though he's been spitting up a whole bunch. It never seems to bother him at all, which is good. He looks like such a big boy sitting like this.

Here's a video of Nathan just getting all excited about something--not sure what. His brother was dancing behind me, so maybe he was just trying to dance along.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Potty Training and Going Broke

Who knew potty training would result in going broke? Let me explain.

I told Tyler last week that he would get a quarter every time he pee peed on the big boy potty and he'd get 2 quarters if he went poo poo. He gets to put the quarters in a jar and when he has enough quarters, he can buy a new Thomas train at Target. This worked for our nephew Cooper, who also loves Thomas, so we thought we'd give it a try. Today we also started trying the Pull-Ups with the designs that fade when the Pull-Up is wet inside. They have Lightning McQueen designs, and Tyler also happens to love Lightning McQueen, even though he's only watched "Cars" two or three times.

At the beginning of the day today, he had 2 quarters in his jar, which he earned last week. He now has 12, all of which he earned after 5:00 pm, including 2 that he got after we'd put him to bed. The Pull-Ups seem to be working because he doesn't want the designs (checkered flags and trophies) to fade. Not to mention he gets so excited over the quarters. When he's done, he says, "Me did it! Me get a quarter!" He even went poo poo on the potty for the first time this evening.

We know we still have a lot of training to do, but I'm relieved that he's finally showing a real interest in it. Although, I'm thinking we might have to switch to nickels soon...

Camera Smudges

The boys and I had a playdate at the mall with Lindsay and her girls. Our mall has a Wolf Camera, so I took in my little Canon to see if they could figure out what was wrong. I explained that it was taking pictures just fine, and then all of a sudden, the pictures were turning out all blurry. The guy at the store asked if I had tried cleaning the lense. Ummm...no. (We've had the camera for over 3 years and we've never cleaned the lense. Of course I didn't admit that to him.)
As soon as he turned it on to open the shutter, I noticed a huge smudge on the lense that looked a lot like a fingerprint. Hmmm. I know I don't ever touch the lense, and I can't think of a reason why Tim ever would. So, I think we know who the culprit is in this case. I felt really silly bringing in my camera only to have it cleaned for the first time, but at least it didn't cost us anything to fix it and now I can continue taking pictures of my boys.

In fact, I didn't waste any time trying out the newly cleaned lense. Tyler took Kaitlyn for a spin at the mall and I caught it on camera. Notice--no more blur!

Nathan's New Trick

Our little guy turned 5 months old yesterday and he showed off a new trick to celebrate the day. It started when I had him on my lap while I was sitting on the couch. I took my hands off his arms and he was just sitting there all by himself. So, I put him on the floor to see if he could do it again. Sure enough, he sat there like a little frog long enough for me to snap a couple pictures before he toppled over. He's had a big week--starting solids last Friday and now sitting up. Slow down already, Nathan!