November - lots of excitement!

November started off with our big move from our first home as a family, nestled in Brentwood, aka The City of Warmth, to our "Blue House" (as Nathan very affectionately refers to it) in Ballwin.  We haven't found a home to buy yet so we've leased this ranch for the next 6 months.  It's twice the size of our old home and Nathan is just beside himself with excitement over all the room to run around - and run he does!  He works up a sweat almost daily doing laps around the house and running up and down the hallway.  He also likes to lay on the kitchen floor and play while I'm in there making dinner and I just love those moments!  Who knew there were these kinds of perks that came along with a big kitchen!  And it sits on about an acre of land so Baxter is happy too!  Another bonus - it's literally a hop, skip and a jump from our church which is very convenient!

After barely getting settled into our Blue House, we headed down to Cocoa Beach, FL for my cousin, Jodi's, wedding...

Here's Norah on her first airplane flight.  I'm happy to report that she did great!  She slept quite a bit and played the rest of the time.  Nathan is an old pro at airplane rides so he did great too.  This time around he was very excited about the "big airplane" and the pilot who sits up front and wears a hat!

I thought Nathan was going to pass out with excitement over Mickey Mouse greeting us at the Orlando airport.  He was just beside himself when he saw his very favorite cartoon character "in person."  He screamed at the top of his lungs, 'Mickey Mouse!' and ran right over to give him a hug...

I love this picture; it's as if Nathan is saying, 'Mickey, is that really you?!?!'...

For the first time ever, Nathan got to sleep in a big boy bed at the hotel and he really enjoyed it...

 He was also a fan of the astronaut that was in our hotel lobby.  He had to go over and greet him every time we were down there...

It was fun getting to visit with family from across the country that met up in Florida for the wedding!  Here's Nathan and cousin Jonathan...

And Norah and cousin Jonathan...

 It was so wonderful to be on the beach in November...  

Here's Norah on her first walk on the beach along with big brother Nathan and cousins Elizabeth & Jonathan... 

All dressed up for the wedding...

 If this picture looks familiar to some of you, it's because we used it for our Christmas card this year...

The two prettiest girls in the world...

Ok, this was too funny and we had to document it with a picture.  When we made reservations with the hotel we asked if they had a crib we could use and they told us they had a porta crib.  Well, when they rolled it up to our room I about fell down laughing; I'm certain when my Mom was born she slept in something like this at the hospital...

Headed to the beach again...

Strolling in the water with Daddy... 

Chasing the seagulls...

Sand art by Daddy...

Norah enjoyed meeting her one and only Great Lee...

The kiddos with the newlyweds, Jodi and Dustin...

A group shot with family from all over the country...

A rare family photo opp...

We had such a fun visit with Uncle Jason, Aunt Sherri, Elizabeth, Jonathan and, of course, MaMoo...

Cousin Nikki introduced Norah to the finer things in life...

And Norah was quite the fan...

Norah's first taste of the sand between her toes...

Soaking up some sun with Mommy...

Cooling her toes off in the very chilly ocean...

 Nathan's new favorite past time this month has been playing his drum...

In addition to the excitement of moving into our Blue House, getting another flight under his belt and meeting Mickey Mouse face-to-face, Nathan's big boy bed arrived when we got back from our trip to Florida.  Nathan was jumping out of his jammies with excitement over his big boy bed and so far it's been an extremely smooth transition.  Here he is on his first night in his bed; we had to improvise on the sheets and pillow until we got all of his bedding...

We settled on this cute sock monkey set...

Here's Nathan sporting his monkey jammies, in his monkey bed, after reading one of his new favorite books, Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (and by the way, he now walks around the house tisking his finger and saying, 'no more monkeys jumping on the bed!')...

MaMoo came in town for Thanksgiving and Nathan welcomed her with a private concert...

Loving on MaMoo's doggy, Gidget...

Baxter and Nathan are becoming closer with each additional bone that Nathan throws his way...

What?  Haven't you ever tried brushing with a basting brush???

Getting the fake, uh, I mean, artificial tree put up a bit early this year so we can use it as a prop for the upcoming photo shoot...

Baking apple pie with MaMoo...

 The finished product (which, by the way, was SO VERY tasty!)...

Gobble Gobble 'til you Wobble Wobble...

All I will say is that Nathan is still talking about this!  He'll say to Daddy, 'remember this?' as he throws his head back and opens his mouth up real wide - it's hysterical...

Finally!  A shot of MaMoo with both of her St. Louis grand babies (although Norah doesn't look too trusting of her big brother - perhaps she knows he's the one who gave her that nasty cold)...

In other Nathan news, he's officially potty trained and even wakes us at all hours of the night crying "pee pee!"   We just go into his room, get him out of bed, take him to the bathroom, he does his business and then he goes right back to bed - not sure he even opens his eyes.  Some people sleepwalk and Nathan sleep pees!

Nathan is really into matching these days!  He likes to point out things in books that match, points out doll babies that "match" baby Norah and he even rearranges our bathroom vanity so that Mommy's deodorant and Daddy's deodorant are next to each other because...they match!

Nathan has all of his letters down and he is realizing that letters make up words.  When he's "reading" a book he'll now point to the words as he "reads" and the other day I had my Indiana University shirt on and he pointed out and said all the letters - it blew my mind that he was spelling words (of course, he didn't realize what he was doing)! 

Week 23 - Norah's first trip to the ER

This week started off with some jammy tummy time with big brother Nathan.  This has been a week where EVERYTHING goes in the mouth and she has been laughing A LOT (such a sweet, sweet sound)...

Here's a picture of our two little sweeties who share all kinds of things these days, including illnesses!  Nathan came down with a nasty cold that he passed on to his little sister (as much as we tried, we couldn't keep Nathan from kissing all over Norah).  Early Friday evening we ended up taking her to Missouri Baptist's Children's ER because, among other things, her breathing appeared very rapid.  Thank the Lord she "only" had an upper respiratory infection.

Donning her "Black Friday" attire...

Week 22 - Norah turns 5 months!!!!!

Here's our sweet girl hanging out with Aunt Carrie's baby girl, Madi...

Sarah took a break from playing baseball to get in on the photo op...

Norah just hanging out with the animals...

Our little love almost always has a smile on her face...

THE HAND OFF!  Nathan's big boy bed came in this week so he handed off his crib to his baby sister...

Does she look excited or what?!?!

Looks like she's doing a little dance and singing, "I've got my own crib, I've got my own crib..."

Looking so tiny in the crib...

Acting coy with her bear...

Week 21 - Beautiful Baby Blues

Is this the cutest little polar bear you've ever seen or what?!?!  And aren't those blue eyes gorgeous?!?!

All snuggled up for the chilly November air.  Such big beautiful blue eyes...

These little tootsies have become VERY ticklish - when I give her a bath and wash her feet she just laughs and laughs - it's one of the cutest sounds I've ever heard.  One of the saddest sounds I've ever heard is my baby girl's cry - and this week she really started shedding some HUGE crocodile tears!

For her bear picture this week she was wearing a flip flop barrette in honor of our upcoming trip to Florida for  my cousin Jodi's wedding.  Aren't these some of the bluest eyes you've ever seen...

Week 20 - Our Little Poser

Here's our happy girl flashing one of her big, beautiful smiles...

She has been talking non-stop this week...whenever her thumb isn't in her mouth... 

Or her foot...

Daddy's little princess wearing her "I Love Daddy" outfit...

I love this shot - it's her baby rapper pose...

Looks like she's saying "Oh goody!'...

Outstanding October!

This picture just makes me laugh because all summer we tried to get Nathan to wear flip flops but he just wasn't a fan (he didn't like the thong going between his toes).  Well, we were packing up his summer shoes and he decided to throw on his flip flops and wear them around the house (and note that he didn't want to wear a matching pair, but two different ones)...

Tickling his baby sister's tootsies (with quite the mischievous look on his face)...

Cat in the Hat and Nathan in the Box!  While getting ready to pack up the house for our big move, Nathan decided to pack himself up in the process...

This Fall we decided to skip out on Eckert's and decided to try Rombach's which was lots of fun...

Nathan enjoyed playing on the old school John Deere...

Farmer Nathan - has a nice ring to it, don't you think...

And hanging out on the HUGE pumpkins...

But his very favorite part was riding on the train...

Which we had to pry Daddy out of with some Crisco...

One ride just wasn't enough so Mommy got to take a spin too...

Such fun in our ladybug barrel caboose...

Is this thing a hoot, or what?!?!?

Norah enjoyed spending the day hanging out with Aunt Hanna...

The St. Louis Krestel Clan...

GO CARDS!!!  Nathan really got into watching baseball during the World Series and he's had lots of fun playing with his bat and ball.  Every once in a while he actually connects and hits the ball (interesting side note, he swings as a lefty)...

In my humble opinion, Nathan is the cutest Cards fan EVER...

We finished up the month with a haircut for our big boy - doesn't he look so adorable (he still tilts his head when we take a picture and tell him to 'smile!')...

October was a month of lots of firsts.  For the first time, Nathan opened our bedroom door and I'm afraid this is opening quite a can of worms!  I rather enjoyed the fact that a closed door would keep things off limits - but no more!  He also starting putting his shoes on by himself  and we're not talking his slip on Crocs, but his lace up sneakers (and he even puts the right shoe on the right foot!)  He also took his first shower with Daddy sitting outside and helping him versus taking it with Daddy!  'When did he become a teenager?' you may ask.  Well, it was October 18th and when I got home from Bible Study, Daddy told me that he had some news.  Now, if you recall, one night last month when I got home from Bible Study, Daddy told me that Nathan had gone to the bathroom all by himself.  After getting this news about Nathan wanting to take a shower instead of a bubble bath, I told Daddy that I may have to stop going to Bible Study because every time I do my little boy grows up a little more.

Nathan is still always doing the Hot Dog Dance from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but he's expanded his dancing abilities and now he will dance to any kind of music whenever he hears it- including television commercials - he doesn't care, he just loves to dance!

Nathan has definitely gotten in touch with his emotions this month!  He is always pointing out if someone is sad (like when he hears a baby crying at the store he'll say "baby sad" or if he sees a picture in a book of someone frowning or with tears on their face he'll say "sad")   He also likes to tell us "Nathan sad" (which he will announce with such a pitiful tone and he'll have a big frown on his face) or he'll tell us "Nathan happy" (which he will yell while putting on a big smile).  He also loves to kiss and hug things while saying "I love you" - and we're talking anything from characters in books to the pumpkins on our front steps (which he'll hug and kiss while saying"I love you pumpkins") to the soap dispenser in the bathroom (which he'll pick up, hug and kiss and say “I love you soap").  And of course we're happy to share that he really enjoys hugging and kissing Mommy and Daddy and saying "I love you Mommy!" and "I love you Daddy."   This just melts our hearts!  He is such a sweet little guy which such a sweet, special, tender heart - we thank God for him and pray he stays this dear!

This month he has really started talking in full sentences - which sometimes are very understandable but other times he will just be rambling on and we have no clue what he's telling us about - it's so amazing to see him growing into such a big boy.  

One thing that threw us for a loop was that he started referring to himself as "me" and "I" instead of  just "Nathan" - can't believe he's old enough for proper grammar like that!  

Speaking of grammar, it's so neat to see him develop his language skills.  He knows all of his letters and loves to sing the alphabet song.  It almost brings me to tears because I think back to the alphabet quilt that we have over his dresser - ever since he was born I would sing the alphabet song to him and I would change the ending from "next time won't you sing with me" to "and someday you'll sing with me" - can't believe that "someday" has already arrived.  Another neat thing is that he now points out letters in words - it's so amazing to watch this development - learning letters and moving on to learning words - what a privilege to be a part of  and watch this amazing growth!