Visitors!

This week brought a few family visitors which Nathan always enjoys (and so do we)!  We kicked the week off with a visit from Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jenny from Ohio.  They were in town to celebrate Christmas with each set of parents and they got a chance to see Kevan in our church Christmas play which was a bonus.  But, most exciting, is that they announced that they're going to give Nathan a cousin in July!  YAY - praise God!

On Monday, Uncle Jason from Maryland came in town again for work.  What a treat that he gets to come here so often.  We love spending time with him and it's fun for him to be able to see Nathan growing up.

A few developments this week...I weighed Nathan on Monday and he's just over 15 lbs!  On Wednesday he apparently hit his first stage of puberty because his voice changed!  It actually got a tad bit deeper and it's so strange how his sweet little coo's sound different!

Today was a monumental day for Mommy as Nathan FINALLY looked at me while breastfeeding.  I always had visions of him looking lovingly into my eyes while feeding and he has never even acknowledged me until today.  It was only for a split second but I cherished it!!!

Oh, and I finally got a shot of his two pearly whites...

Here's a picture of Mommy with her little Lovebug!  How will I ever be able to say no to that smile?!?!

That poor bear is just getting smaller and smaller...

Here are a few shots of our pup, Baxter, being a very tolerant boy...

As you can tell, we had to reward him with some treats that he was smacking his lips over.  What a tongue!

Our beautiful home all decorated for Christmas...

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!  We're heading out in moments for our 10-day road trip back East to visit family and friends in OH, PA and MD.  Stay tuned for pictures and stories from our adventure.

Too Cute!!!

Sadly, I don't have too much to report for this past week but we've got lots of really cute pictures of our adorable little guy.  The newest thing going on with him are his little "temper tantrums" where he lays in his crib on his belly and kicks both feet against the mattress (it's actually really loud).  He usually does this during his 2nd afternoon nap of which he's not a fan!

We're working on getting Nathan to sit up on his own so we sit him in the Boppy pillow for a bit of support.  This is his Taggies car which he really likes - it honks and the lights flash and it has a little motor sound too.

    

                This is his winter snowsuit.  We had quite a cold snap last week and had to bundle him up nice and cozy!

Napping with Daddy...

Crazy bed head...

Wow, he's really dwarfing the bear...

Reminiscing

My two favorite guys - how adorable are they!?!  Nathan is wearing an outfit from cousin Jonathan; they were both born in the summer so Jonathan's clothes are the perfect season (thanks again Jason & Sherri!)  Well, I'm sad to report that Nathan's "happy hair" is officially gone!  His hair now lays down nicely on a consistent basis.  I didn't realize how much I would miss his crazy hair, but I really do! 

This past week I've overheard Daddy singing lullabies to Nathan at night when he puts him down to bed and it is so precious!  Kev usually just makes up the words and they're always so cute!  Speaking of bedtime, Nathan has taken to sleeping with his arm over his head at night - it looks adorable!  Speaking of Daddy's singing, he's in our church Christmas play and we got to go to a sneak preview this past weekend (sidenote - it was wonderful!).  Nathan was absolutely enthralled with the play and was such a good little boy the entire 2 hours!  His little head was going crazy trying to take in everything - looking all over the stage at all the activity - and anytime someone had a solo, Nathan stopped whatever he was doing and started at the singer during the entire solo.  Perhaps we have a theatre major on our hands?

Ok, so now for the reminiscing part.  Last Thursday I had an OB appointment and I had to breastfeed Nathan before I left the doctor's office.  They told me I could just feed him in the NST room.  Now, NST sounded familiar to me and after a few seconds I recalled that it was the Non Stress Test room.  You may recall that I spent many hours in this room during my pregnancy just sitting in a big comfy chair listening to Nathan's heartbeat.  Well, it was so cool to be back in that room - no longer pregnant but WITH my baby!  While I was feeding Nathan I told him how I used to sit in that room listening to his heartbeat, praying for him and wondering if it was a boy or a girl in my belly and what he or she would look like.  And now, here I was with my baby in my arms.  Thank you God for our little blessing!

I know, I know...Nathan isn't walking so he doesn't really need shoes.  But, we've been putting them on him just for added warmth.  They drive him crazy because he can't kick them off like he can with his socks. 

This past Friday Nathan had his 6 month photo shoot and it went ok.  I don't know what it is, this little guy smiles constnatly but once a camera is in front of him he just drops the smile.  Stay tuned for a link to the photos sometime over the next few weeks. 

Ok, some fun things that Nathan did during week 24...we were over my friend Melissa's and she put him on her son, Jet's, tummy mat - on his back - and he proceeded to flip over and then he scooched backwards a few feet!  It was wild to see him moving!  It wasn't a crawl per se but he was definitely mobile (just in the wrong direction).  Another development was during nap time; he doesn't usually take a binky but we keep one in the corner of his crib just in case.  Well, I was holding him and changing his crib sheet before his nap and he was watching me closely.  He saw me pick up his binky, place it on the side of the crib while I changed the sheet and then put it back in the corner of his crib - he had his eyes on it the entire time.  When I put him in his crib he flipped from his back to his tummy, scooched over to his binky, picked it up, flipped over to his back and put the binky in his mouth!  I was shocked!  It was just so weird to see him being so independent!  Our little guy is just growing up so quickly!  Later in the week while he was on his changing table he rolled over to grab his stuffed "Hungry Caterpillar," layed back down and brought the Hungry Caterpillar to his face - eye to eye and looked at him so intently - I just wish I knew what he was thinking.

What an absolute doll!  I'll tell you, those fingers are his new best friends!

I love this picture because Nathan is really into grabbing his own feet so I thought it was cute that he decided to grab the bear's feet instead this time.

Nathan's 1st Thanksgiving

How cute is our little turkey?!?!?  We had a wonderful 1st Thanksgiving with Nathan!!!  We went over to Grandma and Grandpa Krestel's early in the morning and spent the entire day eating lots of yummy food, watching tv, napping and just visiting with each other.  We are more thankful than words can express for God's blessing of Nathan!!!  We love him SO INCREDIBLY MUCH!!!

A little family photo!

In addition to Grandma & Grandpa Krestel we spent the day with Uncle Steve and Aunt Hanna.

It was a pretty day on Thanksgiving so Daddy and Nathan went for a walk to try to shed some of the pounds that were gained at dinner.  Daddy just loves wearing the Ergo and having Nathan so close and cuddly.  This makes for some special time indeed - and Nathan is so content in that little carrier!

What a cute little bear our Nathan makes!

Baxter was treated to some turkey gizzards and they seemed to send him into a food coma with the rest of us.  He didn't even seem to care that Nathan was kicking him!

This past week our friends Kim, Steve and Laurel popped by for a visit on their way in from Kansas City to visit Kim's family in Illinois.  This is Laurel - she is so good with Nathan and even let him pull her hair a few times!

They brought Nathan some Christmas gifts and this is a picture of Laurel helping Nathan open his very first Christmas gift.

No surprise - Nathan was more interested in the bow than the gift!

I'm king of the world!  (that's for all you Titanic fans)

A big event of the week was Nathan's first shower!  Daddy actually took him into the shower with him a few times this week - it's so quick and easy.  We'll still do baths because Nathan loves them so much - especially now that mommy introduced bath toys a few weeks ago - plus, he loves to kick and splash so much.  But, he really seemed to enjoy the shower too. 

I just love this picture - what a cutie!!!

Nathan really seemed to like the water streaming over his face.  He didn't shed any tears when the water got in his eyes - he was such a little trooper!

So, Daddy uses the Ergo and Mommy uses the Snuggle Wrap.  I used to wear Nathan facing in but now that he's bigger and likes to really explore the world around him I've started wearing him facing out.  It's wonderful!  He gets to be entertained by everything around him and I get to be hands free.  Baby wearing is the way to go!

As you can see, Nathan still has Mommy's baby blues!

What an absolute doll!  We're working on getting Nathan to sit up by himself and the boppy is so helpful!  As you can see, our little guy is still crazy about his fingers!

I just love this little sweat suit!

Ah yes, the bear picture is getting a little more challenging each week as Nathan no longer just sits and poses - he likes to play with the bear.  He's just growing so much we can't get over it.  We actually returned the swing we borrowed to our friends the Seecks because Nathan was just too big and heavy for it.  We would turn it on and it would barely move, so we figured it was time to move on.  I just know that before I know it he'll be getting his driver's license, leaving for college, getting married, etc. etc.  Where in the world does the time go?!?!?!?

Nathan Turns 5 Months Old!!!

I am still in shock that my little baby boy is 5 months old!  It is going WAY TOO fast!  I keep asking Nathan to slow it down but he's just charging full steam ahead!  Here are some cute pics I took of him on his birthday.  What a smile - it just melts our hearts!

Below is a shot where I was trying to get a picture of his two teeth; it was more challenging than I thought it would be and we never did get a good shot of his pearly whites.  But look at his sparkly baby blues - aren't they just gorgeous!!!

So last week when Nathan grabbed the pour cup out of my hand and started chewing on it during bath time I decided it was time for some bath toys so we pulled down the basket full of fun bath toys that has been hiding up in his closet and chose some.  These are some cool plastic sea creatures that squirt water (this holds Nathan's amazement for quite a while - he's really mesmerized by water these days).  Of course he enjoyed chewing on them too!

GAME DAY!!!  This past Saturday was Nathan's first Ohio State University vs. Michigan game (they've been deemed college football's biggest rivals).  Joyfully, OSU won 21-10!  Below are some pics of the party we had; guests included Grandma & Grandpa Krestel, Uncle Steve and Aunt Hanna (in spirit...she had to work that day but she called to be part of the hoopla)!  Nathan was digging the sodie-pop bottle; perhaps he was confused by the look of it and thought it was feeding time?  Speaking of that, this past week was an adventurous one as far as feeding goes...he bit me good a few times with those little teeth - and WOW are they sharp - they remind me of a puppy's pointy daggers!

What a cutie - totally posing with Uncle Steve!

The 3 generations!  This is what Nathan will look like in his 30's and in his 60's.  Those Krestel genes are STRONG!!!

Ok, below is one of my all time favorite pictures of our little guy.  I took this on Sunday before church.  What an absolute doll!!!!!!!

This week's bear picture was funny because not only is Nathan interested in his own feet but he kept trying to chew on the bear's feet.  I finally got a shot of him without his head down on the bear's tootsies.