Nate Bug's Blessing Day

What a great day! We have a very handsome little boy and he was so good the whole time. He even managed to keep his white outfit clean :)

It rained most of the day so all of his outside pictures include his squitny face.

Nate and his cute cousin Anna

Family picture

What a handsome little bug!

14 Months

Our Nate Bug is getting so so big. He's turning into a little boy and losing a lot of his baby habits :( He is very certain about what he wants these days and tries very hard to fill us in. 

• Eating has improved quite a bit this month. He is willing to try more real food and holds down most of it. He really likes pasta salad and macaroni & cheese. He also successfully tried cheesy potatoes, grilled cheese sandwich, black beans, green beans, watermelon, and bread. 
• He's still walking around like crazy and our backs are killing us! He is just so close to walking on his own but he's too scared to let go of our fingers. He is getting much more brave standing though so I'm sure it won't be too much longer before he takes off. 
• We still don't have any crawling or pulling up on things. The newest theory from the physical therapist is that he has low tone in his trunk. Some of it may be from prematurity but, more likely, it is from all of his tummy surgeries. He's always been recovering from something so we're hoping that now that he's done being cut open, he'll strengthen his belly and get moving. 
• His latest trick is spitting. It's something we've been working on for a few months now because it's the first step to babbling and talking, which he hasn't started yet. But...now we're regretting it :) He spits all the time! I wear everything he eats and change my clothes multiple times a day.
• The favorite toy of the month is his dinosaur ball popper that he got for his birthday. He's figured out how to start it on his own and now it makes constant noise. We keep it downstairs and he always walks to the top of the stairs and whines until we pick him up and take him down. 

With all of his walking lately, he took his first big spill. He landed on his face on the cement floor in the laundry room. He was very upset for a little while but, as you can see, he recovered quickly. I thought he'd have a pretty good black eye the next day but it wasn't too bad.

Nate is obsessed with our vibrating toothbrush. He likes to "help" dad brush his teeth every morning.

Nate Bug's version of "Hi"

Nate loves playing with the cup on his tray. He bats it around like crazy. I got the camera out and he suddenly wasn't as interested in the cup. Instead, he wanted to flash a couple of big smiles for the camera. Silly kid!

He's learned this great new game. For the first week or so, he only flopped himself back on our bed. We've since had to stop the game after he tried the same move a couple of times on the hard floor. Ouch!

Friday Afternoon Hike

Todd got off work a couple of hours early last Friday and the weather was nice so we decided to enjoy the day. We loaded up the backpack and went out for a little hike. 

Ready to go!

He LOVED the backpack! He giggled the whole time as he bounced around.

Mother's Day

Best Mother's Day present ever! :)

13 Months

Things around here have gotten much busier this month! We are finally allowed to start getting Nate out of the house! We're trying to start slow but it's so hard to pace ourselves after being stuck inside for so long. So far he's doing pretty well with all of the new people and places. Most importantly, he's still healthy :) I know he can't stay healthy forever but I am still really dreading the first time he gets sick.

Nate has had a really good month. He's making lots of progress physically and starting to have a fun sense of humor. He has recently learned to give kisses and to say "uh oh" (actually, it's more like uh-uh-uh-uuuuhhhhhh but he knows what he's trying to say). He's walking like a mad man and is so so close to doing it on his own. If he's just slow down a little he could do it but he's always in too much of a hurry to get where he needs to go.

Our biggest struggle this month has been eating. He does fine with his milk but solids have been rough. He will eat baby food every once in a while but he still gags on pretty much any real food that enters his mouth. The only food he can handle on a regular basis is Cheerios and it took us 3 months and a lot of vomit to get to that point. The past week he has also held down tiny bites of spaghetti (until he got a tiny speck of meat in one of the bites, then he threw up and decided he was done), and a couple pieces of shredded cheese. It's slow, but it's progress.

We actually learned a very valuable lesson this past weekend about Nate and eating. We learned that Nate and restaurants are NOT a good combination. My parents came down on Saturday and asked if we wanted to go to Sizzler for lunch. We hadn't taken Nate out to eat yet and hadn't really planned on it . Taking kids (especially babies) to restaurants is just one of those things that never end up being enjoyable for anyone involved. I did agree though... We ordered our food and got settled in when my mom decided to give Nate a bite of whipped cream. Nate, of course, started to gag. Normally we try to give him new foods on an emptier stomach but this particular bite came shortly after a good amount of water and a recent bottle. The combination ended very badly and covered him, myself, the table, the highchair, and the floor with an unbelievable amount of vomit. So now for the sake of everyone we know, if we are ever asked to eat out again, we will politely decline the invitation.  

One of Nate's favorite games: "Where's Nate Bug?"

He's getting very good at throwing. Maybe he'll be a pitcher!

Todd's new invention