For the Grandmothers

Because only a Grandma would want to watch every coo, smile, and wiggle.

Prepared

I was prepared for the explosive poop.  I was prepared to be peed on.  I was prepared for the spitting up, the sleepless nights, and the consoling a crying baby.  I was prepared for a lot with this little boy.  I was not prepared for the projectile vomit.

This little boy can launch a whole feeding all of himself and me.  And he does this on a pretty regular basis.  Everyday this week in fact.  Twice today.  Lovely. We've had him checked out with our pediatrician.  He isn't losing weight and he isn't irritated by it.  He's often happier after he throws up.  We even had an ultrasound done to see if there was something wrong with his tummy.  Luckily that came back negative and there is no surgery in our future.  For right now, we're keeping a pretty close watch on him to see how things go.  Maybe it's a food sensitivity or maybe acid reflux.  Maybe he'll just grow out of it.  But until he does I'm not getting ready for the day until after I've been thrown up on.

Any mommies out there have any tips on dealing with projectile vomit?

4 Years

A lot has happened in 4 years.  I'm glad I've spent them with my best friend.  Even though this last year has been the craziest by far, I couldn't be happier with life right now.  I've got a wonderful husband and the sweetest little boy.  Love you Brad.

Philly Tour

We are pretty good tour guides if I do say so myself.  We give an awesome, whirlwind Philadelphia in one day tour if you are ever interested.  We had some new friends, the Fontouras, move into our ward and they took us up on our offer to go see the sights.  Reading Market, City Hall, LOVE Park, Chinese Friendship Arch, Independence Hall, Society Hill, Benjamin Franklin Bridge, Rocky, the Art Museum, and Penn Campus all in one day.  We even finished the tour with cheesesteaks.

We did mix this tour up a little bit by adding a stop at Penn's Landing (#31).  Brad's been wanting to take photos of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge since we moved to Phillie and today was a great day for photos.  

So, if you ever come visit us and want the tour it will only cost you a cheesesteak.

Light

Yes, we went to Longwood Gardens.  Again.  What can we say?  We love that place.  We brought along our friends, the Downs, and had a lot of fun exploring the gardens.  We even caught a fountain show while we were there.  But the main attraction was really an exhibit with fiber optics called "Light" which lit up the gardens and forests.  I think this has been my favorite visit to Longwood yet.  Even with the mosquito bites from wandering in the forest at night.  Totally worth it.

Packers Visit

The Packers also came for Nathan's baby blessing.  It was Doug's first time meeting Nathan and they had a lot of fun together.  Doug had to leave on Sunday, but Janet and Aaron stayed for the rest of the week.  We showed them around Valley Forge and Brad took them to see the sights downtown (ie. Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, Ben's Grave, Washington Square.)  We're so glad they were able to come and hang out with us!

Janet found her new favorite restaurant.

Bennett Family Visit

We've had a lot of family in town for Nathan's baby blessing.  We first had our Bennett Family come visit.  We loved having them come and spending time with us.  Little Nathan has never had so much attention at once.

We went out with them one day to the Franklin Institute (#8) and to the Fels Planetarium (#67.)  They had an exhibit with the Dead Sea Scrolls which was very interesting.  They had a lot of artifacts and had fragments of the actual scrolls on display.  One of my favorite parts was that they had a block from the Western Wall in Israel.  You could write a prayer on a slip of paper and leave it on the block.  When the exhibit is done they will have the prayers placed in the actual Western Wall, so we wrote a prayer for Nathan to be put in the wall.

The Franklin Institute itself was a cool science museum.  We saw a giant train, walked through a human heart, made helicopters, completed circuits, and sailed through the stars in the planetarium show.  It was fun that there was so much hands on stuff to try.  My favorite thing to see was the giant tesla coil go off and start sparking.  We ended our day by seeing good old Ben himself.

We also went out to Bobby's Burger Palace one night for dinner.  My sisters were especially excited since it is one of Bobby Flay's restaurants.

Nathan and I also joined my parents in going to Longwood Gardens.  My dad, as the avid gardener that he is, loved it.  He even stopped to chat with one of the gardeners to see if certain plants would grow in Utah.  It was a little hot, but we loved seeing the gardens and being outside.  It even inspired me to start planning what plants should go in our own backyard.

But most of all, we loved spending time at home with my family.  My sisters were wild about Nathan and showered him in love and kisses.  Byron held Nathan, which was his first time holding a newborn.  He was so careful with him and so sweet.  Everyone had to take turns with sharing him.  We had a lot of fun with them here and we miss our Bennett family already!

Baby Blessing

We are very grateful to have so many people come for Nathan's baby blessing.  Not only did we have both of our families make it, but we had friends from our church and school come.  Brad gave Nathan a beautiful blessing.

2 Months

Last Monday was Nathan's 2 month mark.  We love having this little guy around.  He's just the happiest little baby.  Here's what Nathan is like at 2 months.

• He is very smily.  We love to talk to him and have him smile back at us.
• Still growing well.  At his well check he was 12 lbs 3 oz (44.74 percentile), 22.5 inches long (30.7 percentile), and 38.5 cm head circumference (28.95 percentile.)

• He was starting to get used to the swaddlepod, but now he has figured out how to break free.  He's still sleeping great though so I don't think I'll do anything about it.
• Also, he's learned to wiggle in his swaddlepod.  There have been a few mornings were I've come in to find his feet sticking out of the crib slats.
• Everyone has been commenting on how he looks like his daddy lately.  Last month people said he looked more like me.  He's just growing so fast!  There are days when I feel like he has changed overnight.

• He has this thing we call the impatient kick.  Whenever he is waiting for me (i.e. he's hungry or wanting to be held or he's made a stink or tired and ready to go to bed) he will start kicking only one of his legs.  I guess right now it's his way of telling us he needs a little attention.
• We went out to dinner with friends and they asked us, "Is it hard having a baby?  Cause you make it look way too easy.  It's like all you have to do is bring him along."  Yes, we know we have it really easy. But yes, there are times when it is difficult too.  But he's so worth all of it.  We love our little guy.

Church Clothes

Nathan went to church for the first time a few weeks ago.  He even wore his special Sunday clothes from Grandma Packer.