March Mileage

March had a rough start...all three of us came down with the stomach flu at the same time.  It was a tough couple of days but thanks to some grocery drop offs by Papa and Uncle Steve, we survived.  Oh, and speaking of groceries, one item Uncle Steve brought us was jello.  Nathan had never had it before but is now officially addicted!  He likes to have "yeayow" after lunch and dinner as his dessert every day - and often times he wakes up in the morning asking for it...seriously, it's the first word he utters.  And one night he must have been dreaming about it because late that night I heard him just shout out "yeayow" and then he was silent until morning.  Here's a sweet picture of Daddy and Nathan travelling the road to recovery together...

Thankfully, Mommy healed up in time to go to her annual Hearts at Home mom's conference for the weekend with a bunch of her friends.  Daddy took Nathan over to Grandma and Papa's for dinner one night and Nathan apparently really got into his pasta...

When Mommy got back into town our new Brentwood Firehouse had it's grand opening and so we walked down to get the tour.  Nathan enjoyed sporting his little fireman's hat that he got as a souvenir...

At the urging of Aunt Carrie, we decided to expand Nathan's artistic side and so we went over to her house to try out some finger painting.  Nathan seemed to be quite the natural and dove right into his plate of paint...

And Sarah had fun showing him everything she knows about the art of finger painting...

As you can see, Nathan really had a ball and not only did he end up wearing some of the paint, but he had fun reaching out to mommy with paint covered hands and getting it in her hair and on her face...

And here is his masterpiece...

Here's our birthday boy on his 21-month birthday.  The shopping cart is something we got for him as one of his Christmas gifts but it's been hiding out at Grandma and Papa's with most of his other big toys while our house has been on the market and we've had showings.  But, we decided to bring it home and introduce him to it - and he's such a fan!  He's so funny because he does not like having all the play groceries in the cart - he throws them out as soon as you put them in.  However, he finds it quite the convenient way to cart his water around rather than having to carry it around with him...

Yay - we had some summer-like weather and got to pull out the shorts...

Towards the end of the month, we took a road trip with Uncle Steve and Aunt Hanna to meet Nathan's younger cousin, Lauren Elisabeth (compliments of Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jenny in Columbus, Ohio).  Nathan was an absolute champ on the car ride - read his books, colored with Aunt Hanna, sang songs, slept and just sat quietly sucking on his fingers while staring out at highway 70.  I wish I could say that Nathan was enamored with Lauren but he was truly more interested in crawling up and down the stairs at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Jenny's house (since we don't have any in our house - other than the basement stairs which Nathan doesn't exactly play on)...

We also got to visit with Nathan's oldest cousin, Ashleigh, which was a fun treat...

The Krestel men with baby Lauren...

It occurred to us that this was Nathan's first stay at a hotel!  He did great sleeping in his pack-n-play and he was a big fan of the breakfast...

But more than that, he had an absolute blast running the hallways.  Going back...

And forth...

With an occasional stop to push the elevator buttons...

And help the maid with some vacuuming (which, if you recall, like Daddy, is his favorite chore)...

I think Aunt Hanna enjoyed running the hallways almost as much as Nathan...

On the way home to St. Louis we stopped at a Krestel family favorite - Young's Dairy...

Where Nathan had a chance to sit on a fake cow which was wearing sneakers (odd, but entertaining nonetheless).  Oh, and speaking of sneakers, Nathan freaks out if his come untied - he starts shrieking, "tie!  tie!"...

And have some deliciously yummy homemade ice cream...Mmm-Mmm...

After we stuffed ourselves with some dairy delights, we checked out the barn where Nathan got to see some "Moos" (note the calf in the bottom left corner)...

And here's the momma...

Some momma goats...

With some serious udders...

And some baby goats...

Of course, we couldn't leave without checking out the tractor...

And posing as a family of, um, pigs?  cows?  sheep?...

We wrapped up the month with Nathan's first ever sleep over!  He spent the night at Grandma and Papa's while Mommy and Daddy went to a concert (boy, was it weird to go to bed without Nathan in the next room and wake up without him here).  We got this bag from a friend and it was perfect for his slumber party - it says "Going to Grandma's..."

It was loaded up pretty good but, nonetheless, he tried lugging it around by himself...

He even tried putting it over his shoulder and carrying it to the front door.  Oh, and in case you were wondering...he did really well spending the night at Grandma and Papa's, so there will definitely be some more sleepovers in his future...

And speaking of sleeping, this was Nathan's first month without wearing his sleep sack for naps and bedtime.  He now has a true affection for his blanket (aka "ganket").  He's growing up so quickly! 

Ok, and as always, I've got a story for you!  It was mid-March and I was chatting on the phone with my friend Angie and making Nathan's lunch while he was happily eating a little bowl full of grapes.  He disappeared ever so briefly and as I was walking by the bathroom to put his lunch on the dining room table, I saw him with his hands IN the toilet - and noticed the bathroom floor looked like a flood had occurred and he was soaking wet!  He was apparently having a great time dipping his bowl in the toilet and pouring the water all over the place.  I sat his lunch plate down on the edge of the sink to address the matter and it promptly fell over with more than half of his lunch falling into the bathroom trash and on the bathroom floor.  I think I reacted fairly calmly and I didn't get mad at him because I really should have had a better eye on him.  I mean, why wouldn't a 21-month old find this super fun and entertaining without realizing it was a big no-no!?!?!?

On a sad note, March 23, 2011 notes a sad day...for the first time Nathan shook his head and said "No!"  and he's gotten extremely proficient at it!

But on the other hand, March 27, 2011 notes a great day...we got a contract on our house!