The Moments We've Been Waiting For...

Our family has had a lot of awesome moments and exciting firsts the past couple of weeks! Here are some of them.

First, TAX SEASON is over!!!!! This is how Nate feels about having his dad home more...

                                       

Nate has moved up to his FIRST BIG BOY CAR SEAT! He looks so tiny in it but since it is supposed to last him until he's 65 pounds, I'd say he's got plenty of room to grow :) So far, he likes it! 

I know this isn't his FIRST time WALKING but he's getting so good at it and this is the first video we have of it. We literally spend all day, everyday doing this with him. Our backs are killing us but he insists on walking everywhere.

Nate's FIRST PIANO performance. He looked so stinking cute sitting at the piano like he knew exactly what he was doing.

Look at those perfectly curved fingers! He's a natural!

Here is his very FIRST SONG.

This video isn't technically a FIRST but I just can't get enough of that hilarious laugh!

Quick update

I wanted to just do a quick health update since Nate had a couple of appointments this week. Monday was his 1 year well baby check. Overall, it went really well. The doctor was pleased with how healthy he is and, for now, we have nothing we are watching...amazing! She said his surgical sites looked really good, his blood pressure is closer to normal, his liver function tests were finally normal, and his electrolytes were looking good too. His growth has slowed down a lot but she wasn't too concerned yet. He only gained a few ounces in the past month but he has grown another half inch in length. He's 18 pounds (19%), 26.5 inches long (8%), and his head is 16.75 inches (3%). Because he hasn't gained much, she wants to wait to start him on cow milk for a while longer. His formula has extra calories for preemies so we'll keep him growing on that for now.  The only bad thing about the appointment was getting 5 shots and 2 blood draws. I've never heard Nate scream so much and he is still pretty grumpy about the whole thing.

Tuesday, Nate went to the audiologist again. We didn't learn too much because we already knew he could hear but they noticed some mild hearing loss. I really don't believe it though because the tests they do don't seem very accurate for a baby. They put us in this sound proof booth and put some headphones on Nate and tried to get him to turn his head toward the sounds. First of all, headphones on a 1 year old is ridiculous and lasted about 10 seconds. Their next try was just using speakers. He played their little game for a couple of minutes but then found his shoes and started pulling on the velcro. He was making so much noise that I could barely hear the noises that he was supposed to be listening to. He paid attention only a couple minutes longer than he did at our last appointment 2 months ago. They decided to try again in a few more months...we'll see how it goes.

Whew! That was a lot of business. Here's a little fun to lighten the mood...

It may sound like he is in pain but I promise that is just Nate's laugh :)

12 months

Well Nate bug is now 1 and he has suddenly started acting like a big boy. His personality is really starting to show and he's such a funny little kid.

• He has decided that he no longer wants to be a baby and eat baby food. We gave him a celery stick to gnaw a couple of weeks ago and since then, he has wanted nothing to do with that mushy baby junk. Unfortunately, he still isn't quite ready for chewing chunks of food so we're stuck just waiting until he stops gagging at everything that goes in his mouth.
• He is getting a mouth full of teeth! I forgot to mention on last month's post that his first tooth had broken through. This month, he broke through his other bottom tooth, one of his top teeth, and has 3 more close to the surface. With all of those teeth popping in, I probably don't need to mention how grumpy he has been lately.
• He has learned how to act shy. Anytime someone talks to him while I am holding him, he grabs around my neck and buries his face in my shoulder. Don't be fooled though, it's all just an act for a minute or two.
• His favorite toy these days is anything that is round and rolls. He has quite a few balls of different sizes and he loves them all! He is very good at throwing them across the room and likes rolling his big ball back and forth to us.
• He is obsessed with being outside! We have been loving the warmer weather lately and spending quite a bit of time in the stroller or out on the swing. He still loves watching cars go by on the street and gets very excited every time one passes by. We often walk down to a busier street and just watch cars for a while in the afternoons.
• He's no closer to crawling this month but he is much more steady on his feet and really loves holding our hands and walking around (there is a video of this on the Easter post). When he decides he wants to go somewhere, he grabs our fingers, pulls himself up, and gets going (usually straight toward the front door to go outside).

The nurses made this for us with the babies' footprints on the day they were born. I have it framed in Nate's room and I love it. From left to right - Macie, Ellie, and Nate. 

Here's a better angle

He puts all of his toys on his face but this one he can see through.  I think he was sad he didn't end up with glasses and decided to make his own :)

We had to break out the hat since we are spending so much time outside lately and he still has no hair :) He thought he was very cool

Helping me fold Dad's socks

The Bug is 1!!!!!!!!

Nate bug turned 1 yesterday!!! He had a great day and got totally spoiled! I'm pretty sure we have doubled our toy collection in 1 day.

The decorations

Our camera died just as we gave him the cupcake! I couldn't believe it! But don't worry, you don't miss much. He grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth. Then, he immediately started gagging and spitting it out. He didn't even keep 1 bite down!

Nate with his balloon

Macie and Ellie's balloons

My sister in law made me these GREAT little dolls.  She made them weighted so that they are the same weight as the girls at birth. The pink one is Macie (14 ounces) and the purple one is Ellie (1 lb 6 ounces). They are perfect! Thank you so much Laura!!!

Easter

This was Nate's second Easter and it was much better than his first. Last Easter was the day Nate had his first tummy surgery. He was a very sick little boy and we weren't sure he was going to make it through the day. This year was much more calm!

We decided to make Easter Macie and Ellie's day. We figured a holiday focused on resurrection was a great day to spend talking about and visiting our girls. We took a trip to Twin Falls to visit the cemetery. We couldn't have asked for better weather! It was 70 degrees and gorgeous. The cemetery they are at is really great. It seems more like a park than a cemetery. There is a walking path, a little duck pond with a fountain, and a little playground. We put Nate in the stroller and walked around for a little while before we found the girls' spot. We spent time playing in the grass for the first time and Nate didn't even mind it too much. He had a blast trying to grab all of the Easter treats that were left for other babies near the girls.

Ready to go

Playing in the grass

Family picture

He's on a mission...

Success!

After the cemetery, we headed over to Todd's brother's house to have Easter dinner. It was Nate's first time playing with his cousins and he wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first. He wasn't used to having 4 little kids all performing for his attention. It took him some time but we all ended up having a ton of fun. He especially loved the birthday present they picked out for him! Thanks Brian, Katherine, Abby, Tyler, Alyssa, and Anna!

I'd say he had a good day!