Happy Easter Little Bunny!

Spring Break

Aka, our last spring break of dental school.  Boo.  Brad won't get a spring break the next two years since he will be working in the clinic with real patients.  We convinced Aaron to come join us for our Spring Break and enjoyed having him visit.

All Brad wanted to do on break was relax.  All Aaron wanted to do was eat.  All I wanted was to get out of the house.  All Nathan wanted was to be the center of attention.

We all got our wishes.

We went to Longwood's Orchid Festival.  There is nothing like seeing spring flowers while you're still waiting for winter to end to rejuvenate your spirits.  And despite what Nathan looks like in these photos, he had a great time at Longwood.  He was oh so smily and happy the whole time.

You should also take a stop by Brad's photography blog to check out his photos from Longwood.

We also got to take Aaron out to Distrito while he was here.  Now, we've gone out to eat with Nathan before, but he usually sits in his carseat and we hurry up so he doesn't make a scene.  This was his first time in a high chair in a restaurant (an iron chef restuarant none the less) and he did really, really well.  I'm not sure why it felt so momentous, but it was.  It felt like we'd regained a little freedom to go out again.  I know his being good in a restaurant won't last long, but it was nice to out for a change.

All in all our Spring Break was relaxing and fun.  We're glad Aaron could come out to spend time with us.  Now we just have to keep trekking through dental school until our next break in August.

9 Months

- He has figured out how to sit up on his own.  He is so proud of himself.
- Something has clicked and Nathan is a pro at shoveling finger foods into his mouth.  I love watching him following mischievous little cereal puffs to the back of his hands and then getting them in his mouth.
- Crawling.  More like doing the worm.  He's got a system down and it's so funny to watch him squirm across the living room.

- Stranger anxiety has hit full force.  This has been exacerbated by too many doctors appointments.  Poor kid.  Every time we walk into an appointment he starts bawling.
- His 9 month stats: 18 lbs 3 oz (26.46 percentile), 27 inches long (10.93 percentile), and 17.25 inches head circumference (23.12 percentile.)

- He is mischievous.  Like trying to pull down the drapes and wiggling his way underneath the bookcase.  We might be in trouble with this curious little boy.
- Nathan can sleep through the night, but I think he's discovered how powerful his lungs are recently.  If he so happens to wake up in the night he will wail.  And wail.  And wail.  Not my favorite.  He is fully capable of going back to sleep, but he wants attention.  Wish us good luck with sleep training.  We'll wait until we no longer have house guests for spring break to work on that one.

- He loves reading books before he goes to sleep.  He can be melting down and as soon as we start reading he will calm down and enjoy the book.
- He growls like a dog.  All the time.  He particularly loves to growl when he's eating.  He sounds so angry, but he is usually happy while he is growling away.

- He loves his daddy time.  He will laugh and laugh at Brad.
- Nathan has thought it is so funny to sit in his crib, hold the railing and look over the top.  If you would get down on his level he would start giggling away.  It was so cute, but I knew I needed to lower the crib mattress since he could sit up now.  One day, we were talking to him in his crib when he got so excited he decided to stand up all on his own.  He was beaming that he did it himself.  We were right there so nothing happened, but needless to say, we lowered the mattress a notch right then.  But now Nathan can't see over the railing and he doesn't giggle at us anymore.

Happy Valentine's Day

We may have been lame this year and didn't do Christmas cards.  But we are awesome enough to do Valentine's Day cards.

Nathan had some great faces during our photo shoot.  Just look at that snarl!  He's not fooling anyone with that face. He's really a sweet little boy at heart.

This face makes me laugh every time I see it.

8 months

- He's still in love with mirrors.  He loves it when I sit him in front of the mirror and let him play.  He will sit and smile at himself.  Lately he's also started trying to eat the baby in the mirror.

- I love watching he examining things.  He is such a curious little boy.  My favorite is when he puts both of his hands on my face and just looks at me.  He is so solemn about it.  And then he breaks out in a huge smile.
- Nathan has reverse separation anxiety.  He loves to go see other people.  He will smile and coo and just act happy as can be.  Until he has to come back to me.  When he gets handed back he usually starts crying.  Little stinker.  He loves people and loves attention.

- Nathan loves tags.  It started with his favorite toy, is little giraffe snuggle toy.  His favorite part: the little blue ribbon tail.  He will find the tail and will suck on it.  It used to be just his giraffe.  Now if another toy, blanket, or bib that has a tag or ribbon, he will start sucking on it.
- He is a great eater. New foods this month: cauliflower, bananas, red pepper, avocado, mashed potato, carrots, green beans, blueberries, and yogurt.  I am really surprised by the things he does and doesn't like. I didn't think he would go for green beans or cauliflower, but he likes both of them.  But then things like mashed potato, bananas, and carrots he won't eat.  Go figure.

- We started finger food and it is so cute to see him pick up food with his pincher grasp.  He is so proud of himself.
- I love it when I hear him saying, "Mamamamamama."

- He has been rocking back and forth on his hands and knees for about a month now.  I keep expecting him to start crawling any day, but he seems content to keep rocking.
- Started using a sippy cup.  We're still working on getting him to tip it far enough back to get the water out.

- His laugh is the best sound in the world.  I love it when he just starts laughing at himself.

Sweet Dreams

DC Day Trip

Ever since we've lived in Philly I've wanted to make the quick trip to DC.  I've been there a few times and have loved every visit.  And now we live only 2 1/2 hours away.  We've talked about visiting, but have never gone.

Until a few weekends ago.  Brad really wanted to see the space shuttle at the Air and Space Museum.  It has been Brad's dream to see one of the space shuttles launch, but since NASA has stopped the shuttle program just going to see one of the shuttles would have to suffice.

I was really impressed with how much Brad knows about all this Air and Space stuff.  Some guys know cars.  Brad knows about airplanes and rockets.  I felt like I had my own tour guide telling me about the exhibits.

And since we were in DC, I made Brad drive around to see the sites downtown.  It was late or else we would have tried to see a few.  But word to the wise.  If you want to go see DC, don't do it the same weekend as an inauguration.