Thursday, July 16, 2009

Nathaniel @ 18 months

My baby boy is a 1 ½ years old! Here’s what he’s up to at 18 months:


Weighs 26 pounds, 10 ounces and is 35 inches tall (off the charts in terms of percentile!).

Cries when I leave him at daycare in the morning but isn’t ready go leave when I pick him up in the afternoon.

Has some fussy days when he cries a lot and is clingy and some happy days when he is content and plays well on his own and with others.

Will be getting tubes in his ears on July 20.

Crawls down the stairs backwards, but also likes to straighten out his legs and slide down on his belly.

Recognizes baseballs, baseball on TV, and the baseball diamond on his play rug in his bedroom.

Calls all balls “buh-bah” (for baseball and basketball).

Says “up” when he wants to be held.

Sings along with his “toddler tunes” CD in the car: says “hurray” to If You’re Happy and You Know It, says “hurrah” to The Ants Go Marching, and says “down” to Ring Around the Rosie.

Is talking a lot, but not much is understandable yet.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Playing Catch-up

So what have I been doing over the past month? In addition to the daily whirlwind, there has been a lot going on.

Nathaniel is growing up so fast! He’s in the “twos” room at daycare now, and he LOVES it! He gets to eat breakfast and lunch with the big kids and to play outside. He has new kids and new toys to play with and is challenged by being with two-year-olds. At the end of each day, he’s never ready to leave daycare, but he’s also tired, both physically and mentally, from such a busy day. Since the last week of May (the weekend following Memorial Day), he’s been using his paci only at night! He’s talking more now, saying dada, mama, ball, ba-ball (basketball or baseball), wock (rock), wawa (water), up, down, and the ever-present yeah. He doesn’t say no yet, but he does shake his head no. He’s definitely getting a mind of his own!

We’ve gone to a graduation party, a surprise party for a friend from high school, a birthday party for the son of friends, and a wedding of two members of our church. We’ve celebrated Father’s Day with both our families, going geocaching with the Schiermeyers and to Railroad Days at Lauritzen Gardens and the Historic Dodge House with the Gusts. We’ve attended church meetings, and Del is attending class at Midland and taking another class online.

We’ve also tried to spend more time working on our house. We picked out trim for our mantle and now have it assembled, stained, and poly-ed. We’re putting out pictures and other personal/décor items. But we still have boxes to unpack, items to organize, and cardboard and newspaper to recycle. We’re getting there, though!

So that’s what we’ve been up to in June, and there’s much more to come!

If I Could Have One Superpower…

Have you ever been asked what superpower you would choose if you could have one? I have, and I finally figured out what mine would be – the ability to stop time. Remember the show “Out of this World,” where Evie could stop time by putting her two index fingers together? I so wish I could do that right now!

As you can see, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted. The time goes by so fast these days! I’m busy, yet I feel that I don’t accomplish anything. It’s so frustrating!

I feel as though my schedule is spiraling out of control, and I want to shout STOP!!! I need a few days to catch up on things – picking up around the house, unpacking (yes, we’re still unpacking), doing daily chores, planning and preparing meals, exercising, catching up on TV shows that I want to watch but don’t have time for, reading, scrapbooking. I could go on and on.

Every morning, I wake up, get ready for work, get Nathaniel ready for daycare, take Nathaniel to daycare, work 8 to 4, pick up Nathaniel, run a few errands or take Nathaniel to the park, go home, play with Nathaniel outside (he LOVES to be outside), make supper, eat, play with Nathaniel again, give Nathaniel a bath and get him ready for bed, put Nathaniel to bed, pick up around the house a little, collapse on the couch and watch TV or play on the internet, and go to bed. Then I wake up the next morning and do it all again!

I am very grateful for the blessings that I have, such as a son to take care of, a house to clean, food to prepare, etc. I just need to find a way to manage my time better so that I don’t feel so out of control!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend spending time as a family and working around the house, both indoors and outdoors!

I was kind of dreading doing the yard work, but I actually enjoyed it! I liked raking the vagrant leaves from last fall and cleaning up the beds of plants around the house. It was fun doing projects with Del, and maybe pride of ownership in our new house has something to do with it as well.

It was great to spend so much time with Nathaniel, too! He is growing up so fast. He loves to be outside, and he played and helped out as we worked in the yard. He’s such a good helper, too! We would ask him to bring us tools or the ball he was playing with, and he would follow our directions. I even asked him to pick up the brown leaves from the grass and put them in the trash can, and he did so for a few minutes! He was easily distracted by birds in the common space behind our house, though. He loves to watch the birds, just like his Grandpa Schiermeyer.

Nathaniel did well without his pacifier for much of the weekend, and he practiced using a spoon at mealtimes. He’s getting pretty good! He uses his left hand most of the time, but he tries using his right hand, too. Now that’s Nathaniel is nearing a year and a half, I want to wean him from the paci and bedtime bottles. I think he’ll be fine without them; I’m the one who will have to cope without a simple solution to Nathaniel’s fussiness!

All in all, it was a wonderful holiday weekend! We got quite a bit of work done and spent a lot of quality time just the three of us.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Happy Mother's Day!

It was indeed a happy Mother’s Day! On Friday, Nathaniel (actually Ms. Kim and Ms. Bailey at daycare) gave me a flower planted in a cup. Then on Saturday, Del made up an excuse to go to Bakers and came home with flowers for me! On Sunday, Del made cinnamon rolls (from scratch) for breakfast, and then we spent the afternoon at the zoo with Del’s family. It was Nathaniel’s first trip to the zoo, and he loved it! It was so fun to watch him looking at all of the animals, taking everything in. When we got home last night, Nathaniel played with me, throwing balls and tackling me. It was such much fun to laugh and play with my little boy!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

I am loved!

Last night, Del made a quick trip to the store while I put Nathaniel to bed. When he got home, not only had he bought me ice cream sandwiches and filled my car up with gas, but he also brought me a bouquet of roses! He hasn’t given me flowers since we’ve been married because our cat will eat them. What a nice surprise! After I’ve had a few bad days, it feels wonderful to know that I am loved!

Derailed

I was all set to work hard at losing a pound a week…and then life got hectic and I lost focus. I feel so heavy now, even though I’ve only gained a pound back and have manage to maintain that, even though I haven’t been paying attention to what I put in my mouth. I need to get my head back in the game! I need to refocus and to take two steps forward after my step back this past week.