teeth, pizza, fingers in noses, and other Wednesday ramblings

I had a dental appointment this morning. I know a lot of people who hate the dentist, but I enjoy going. I love the feel of clean teeth and no one does it better than the professionals. I also love that on top of having no cavities, the dentist always comes in and tells me that I have "gorgeous teeth". Thanks! I was going to post a picture of my teeth but eww - decided against that. That's just a little creepy.

Mike and I found a new Italian restaurant that we love in Chesapeake, not too far from our house- Spaghetti Eddies. We've now been there several times and Yumm-o as Rachael Ray would say! They have great spaghetti and meatballs; I highly recommend the killer stromboli (you'll take half home); and last night we added the deluxe pizza into our favorites. They have great crust. So, move over Y'Not Pizza - here comes Spaghetti Eddies!

Okay - today I was wondering if any other mothers noticed how perfectly their pinky finger fits into their baby's nostrils? It's eerie how it's such a perfect fit...the perfect booger getter. They go together like remma-lemma-lemma...

Speaking of random ramblings (was I?)... today something weird happened to me. I'm in constant awe of what some people say. I need your help. I was out walking a dog and I was carrying Nate with me. My client's neighbor "oohed" across the yard at him and asked his name, how old he was, AND "are you breastfeeding"? Okay now. I was truly flustered and caught off guard. I didn't know what to say, but I was thinking - When did this become appropriate to ask? WHY was she asking? WHY does she think this is any of her business?

How would you respond? I seriously need advice. I don't think it's anyone's business that Nathan's adopted and I don't feel like I have to justify not breastfeeding him by divulging that information to a perfect stranger. Should I just ask "Why do you ask?" or "Isn't that awfully personal?" AWKWARD!

All right - onward...
A couple of weekends ago, I had a girls afternoon out with Amanda, her mom, and Skyler and we headed to the VB Spring Arts Festival. We go to this arts and crafts fair every spring and Christmas but this is the first time I've been since having a baby. Everything I bought was for Nathan's room. I was like a kid in a candy store! I got a personalized bucket to hold his toys...once Amanda reminded me I could put all his stuff for the beach in it and tote around, I was sold. It's so cute:
My other purchases were two prints for Nate's bedroom. I loved the illustrations and the sayings - this stuff is totally up my alley. Mike put them up over the changing table yesterday and I absolutely love them!
"I love you this much!"

"Good Night, Sleep Tight, May All Your Dreams Come True Tonight"

I just LOVE the little animals!


On a bit of a related note (for a change) - I also just got a children's book called "I Love You So". The illustrations remind me of the prints I bought at the craft show, which I've already said how much I love. The book has such a great story about unconditional love. It's so sweet. I came right home last night and read it to Nate. Awww...

Weekly update

Today's a bit of a gloomy day. Overcast and cooler than the past several days. Nate and I left the house just once this morning for a client around the corner. We've been inside and relaxing the rest of the day. The highlight of our day is that Nate got a bath and smells so yummy now.

We've had a good week. Yesterday Nate made his first cooing sounds. Very different than the grunts he's made up to now. It was just once and I even said outloud to Mike that I love hearing Nate's voice! I've already forgotten what it sounds like. :( I'm sure in the next week or so, he'll find his voice again and once it starts it won't stop!

Aside from the cute cooing yesterday, Nate was pretty much fussy all day long. Repeat... ALL DAY LONG. Despite this we went over to the Molnar's anyways (why not let everyone enjoy it along with us, right?!). Zack turned 7 on Monday and was celebrating yesterday by having some of his friends over for a party/sleepover. So, to keep the story shorter, I'll just re-cap:
4 rough and tumble boys with party fever, running, playing, water fights, 7 y/o fight club in the backyard, tattling, talking back, 1 broken fence, and the bday boy ends up with 2 stitches. (to bring this back to Nate, he fell asleep when frantic moms and Zack with blood pouring down his face ran into the house where Medic Mike and Nurse Jenn took over) I hope the night took a turn for the better after we left!! I'm guessing this will truly be a birthday to remember... or one to try to forget? :) I made this picture just to poke a little fun.

Nate updates

Nate was so cute in his little froggie outfit I couldn't resist scrapping it. He is doing so well. Today is his 7th week birthday and as you and the world can see, he is getting cuter every day. I didn't think that was possible, but another day goes by and poof! Cuter! I can't imagine how devastatingly handsome he is going to be in the future... Lock up your daughters everyone!

We had a great day on Monday. Nana and Aunt Linda ventured over to Portsmouth on a crummy rainy day. We had the best time. I don't think there was more than about 45 seconds of silence out of 8 hours! We are obviously not seeing each other enough if we can talk for 8 hours straight! Uncle Dave stopped by on his way home from work. He was supposed to golf but it was a wash out. It worked out for us girls though. He took us out to dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant (Casablanca). Yummy! Thanks Dave!

Nathan is noticeably heavier AGAIN. I gotta get that kid on the scale. I'm sure he's over 11 lbs now. He has been eating at least 5 oz at a time and he's been sleeping a lot. Sounds like a growth spurt to me! He has been tracking back & forth and up & down for weeks and he is really enjoying his belly time. He has great control over his head/neck while on his belly and he can even hold it up pretty well while sitting up. One of my new favorites things is that Nate is grinning. It started on Monday and it's so darn cute that I can't stand it. Once I can capture it in a picture or video, I'll post it.

How appropriate

Today Mike's at work and I have 8 clients. It's the most work I've had in one day since we brought Nate home. The visits are spaced out pretty well, so it's tolerable. I thought this picture was funny though. He did act like my little monster at my first client's house though. I really don't blame him. One of the dog's barks is so sharp it hurts my ears too. Poor baby...and Nate too! Ha. Well Nate thanked me for that visit by leaving me a very interesting present in his diaper. It was that bright Spring-y green color and I shit you not (haha-I'm on a roll today!) it smelled like dirty feet and Lays Potato Chips. Oh that reminds me, I need more wipes in the diaper bag. I almost exhausted my supply with that one poo.

Our little Poke

Today I dressed Nate up in his OSU onesie we received from Amy C. It was so cute! I even sang the fight song and made him dance along. :)


Nate heard I had a friend that went to OU and this is the face he made!

April 15th

Today is Mike's first day back to work after his "maternity leave". (He called it that, not me!) Nate and I are having a good day so far. We're a little lonely and we miss Daddy already, but we're hanging in there. I only had two clients this afternoon so we've had a slow-paced day. We got home about 20 minutes ago and Nate's still sleeping in his car seat. Oh, we weighed Nate yesterday and our little man is up to 10 lbs 7 oz! He's growing like a weed. :)

For my BAE baby shower, a co-worker got this shirt for Nate. We've been waiting patiently for this day to wear it! Here's our chuckle of the day!

Mom and Dad are in OKC visiting Michelle, Jill, and Molly. Here is a sweet picture from their dinner out last night.

Oh yeah! Speaking of baby shower gifts, Amanda got me a baby sling so Nate and I can travel as one. This sling is called "The Peanut Shell" (how cute is that?) and it's so cool. I tried it today and voila! I got Nate in and comfy. Let me tell you though, it wasn't pretty. I'm not even quite sure how I did it. He's happy as a clam in there. We even took Bosco for a walk down to the mailbox and it worked like a champ. I'm wondering how I'm going to get him out... Here are a few pictures of him all snuggled in.

99 bottles and other Sunday ramblings

So it turns out the only song I know all the words to that lasts more than 30 seconds is 99 bottles of beer on the wall. I started out singing 99 bottle of milk on the wall, but by 98 I was back to beer. It just doesn't sound right the other way. Since it seems to soothe Nate, I've decided it doesn't matter if I sing a song about beer to him.

We had a great day today. Since Mike had to work at 3 today, we moved our Molson Sunday dinner to brunch. Matt, Amanda, and the kids came over for a tasty mid-day meal. Mike fried up the bacon and eggs, made a fruit tray, and Amanda brought the waffle iron. All the makings for a delicious feast, right? ABSOLUTELY! We all stuffed ourselves and enjoyed every minute of it. We did, however, take a great walk down to "the good park" and burned off some of the calories. It was a nice day and the park was packed. The kids played, Mike and Matt watched the soccer games, and Amanda and I sat on the bench taking it all in. Nate was happy as a clam in the stroller and Bosco was excited to get out and smell the world. All in all, a great day!

Picture of the day...

Not just pictures this time!

It seems all I do on the blog now is post pictures. I'm really enjoying creating digital scrapbook pages. Some days I'm more creative than others. I'm going to do my best to update the blog with actual info besides showing you how cute Nathan is. :)

One day last week I was thinking that Nate felt noticably heavier. We weighed him and he's up to approximately 9 lbs 2 oz. He's gaining well - when we saw the doc when we first got home she said they typically gain 1/2 lb per week so he's right on target. Today I got the same sensation - he must be going through another growth spurt. That makes sense because now he's consistently eating at least 4 oz per feeding, sometimes even a little more. That's great news for us because that means he's sleeping a little longer too.

Mike and I have agreed to a schedule and it's been working out pretty well for the past week. I'm such a night owl so I like staying up until 12 or 1 a.m. I feed Nate and get him to sleep. This used to be more difficult. We joked that his "witching hour" started between 9 and 10 and last for 1-2 hours. These days it has become much easier to put him to bed - much less fussing!! Yea me! Mike has agreed to get the middle of the night feedings (bless him!). Nate's been eating well, but then wanting to stay up after. Now it's harder for Mike. Ha-ha! I mean, darn...that stinks.

Nate is more alert when he's awake now. We've been able to play with toys more. He's tracking really well and he really enjoys us singing. YES, really! *I attribute his enjoyment of my singing to him not knowing what a nice singing voice is yet. We "previewed" a class at Gymboree on Saturday. (Read - we got to try out the class without spending an exorbinant amount of money to join) Nate stayed awake the whole time and seemed to enjoy the activities. We used a puppet for tracking, we used a rain stick for hearing, we did some baby massage, he had some belly time over a mirror so he could see himself, and we did a parachute activity. During the parachute activity, the babies lie next to each other in the middle while the parents walk around them with a colorful parachute, fanning it up and down. Mike was intrigued to watch Nate who was interacting with the baby next to him (completely oblivious to the parachute I think). It was like he and baby Christian were looking at each other and cooing back and forth. So cute!

Okay, I think that's all the news I can think of at the moment. Commence photo sharing...

Cute in cammo...even if he's crying!

Nate loves his new swing. It's the cure for no poopy diapers. I swear every time he's in there, he fills his pants.

Better late than never - Easter photo

How cute is this onesie?

If you want to see a picture better (or read the writing on it) you can just click on the picture and it makes it bigger.

Baseball

Nathan Loves Nana & Poppops!

fours

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. cashier at Lowe's
2. airport operations/security tech
3. travel coordinator
4. pet sitter

Four movies I've watched more than once:
1. My Dog Skip
2. Fried Green Tomatoes
3. Bridget Jones' Diary
4. any Doris Day movie

Four places I've lived:
1. Lawton, OK
2. Stillwater, OK
3. Denver, CO
4. Portsmouth, VA

Four TV shows I watch:
1. Scrubs
2. What not to Wear
3. 'Til Death
4. How I Met Your Mother

Four places I have been:
1. Vail
2. Louisville
3. Kansas City
4. Washington DC

Four favorite foods:
1. Fajitas
2. Ice cream (or frozen custard), preferably with hot fudge
3. Mom's schnitzel
4. pot roast and potatoes

Four places I'd rather be right now:
1. Taking a hot shower
2. In Oklahoma seeing Michelle and the girls
3. At the bank getting the first of our adoption papers notarized
4. Getting a massage, pedicure and facial

Four things I'm looking forward to this year:
1. Nate's official adoption
2. seeing Michelle, Jill, and Molly when they come out this summer
3. enjoying family time and our continued family time/dinners with the Molnars (I love that tradition!)
4. watching Nate grow and learn new things

Four places I love to shop:
1. Now that I've lost weight, I'm happy to shop everywhere!
2. Old Navy
3. Gap
4. Target (I'm easy to please)

tag, you're it!!