Thanksgiving 2009

This is what happens when you ask a stranger to take your picture.
Half the picture (the good half) was cut off.

Nate doesn't look very happy in this picture, but he really did okay
most of the time. Evie stayed warm and cozy with no complaints!

We decided not to travel this Thanksgiving. So, we ran a 5k in the Fort Worth Turkey Trot to give us something to look forward to on Thanksgiving day. It was fun, but it wasn't a good choice for my first 5k because it was so crowded that I couldn't run at a good pace. We were constantly dodging people, dogs, and other strollers. I think I'll stick to smaller races if I do it again.

We had Thanksgiving dinner with a good friend and her family/friends. It was nice to be with family, even if it was someone else's family.

Many days are difficult, but the holidays especially are difficult without Mom and a place to call home. There are no words to explain. They're difficult in a way that only someone who has experienced the same or a similar loss can understand. I've heard many times that the second year (and possibly the third) is the hardest. This is the second year. I'll be glad when the holidays are over.

Correction: There actually are words to explain. I'm just choosing not to write them here.

Family Portrait

We didn't plan on getting a family portrait, but I didn't like any of the pictures of Nate and Evie together, so we chose this one instead.

Finally, a picture of Evie's sweet smile, or partial smile at least! In Turkish they say to babies, "Seni yiyeceğim!" which means "I could just eat you!" It sounds a bit inhumane, but that's exactly how I feel about Evie. She's so sweet that I could take a big ol' bite out of her!

Nate's portrait looks a lot like his from a year ago, except he looks
like a little boy now instead of a baby. I still LOVE his gap teeth!

Pacifiers

Our little almost-6-month-old trying to sit up on her own.

Our kids love their pacifiers. And I personally think they were one of the greatest inventions ever! Nate only gets his to sleep with, and they often end up outside of the crib during nap time. This is how Stephen found Nate when he went to get him from his nap - reaching for his lost pacis with all his might.

Growing Boy

This is Nate's mischievous look. It's finally cold in the house, so we dressed Nate in some warm, zip-up, one-piece pajamas the other night. The problem is that he's able to undress himself now. I've found him naked in his bed a couple times. So as soon as we put these pajamas on him, he obviously didn't want to wear them (obvious from the "No, no, no, no ...") and started unzipping them and trying to take them off. In the picture above he's hiding next to the couch trying to unzip them without us seeing. Yes, we changed his pajamas and let him be a little less warm rather than sleep naked.

This is what happens when you eat cheerios with a runny nose.

He found the cheerio.

The Swell Season

Stephen and I finally got out without the kids last Saturday. We were months overdue for an evening away! We went with some friends to Dallas for dinner and a concert of one of our favorite groups, The Swell Season. As you can see from the picture above, we had a wonderful time! Dinner was great, the concert was really incredible, and the company was pretty good too. ;-) We really need to get out more often.

Joe

I've been watching Baby Joe, a friend's 9-month old little boy, the last couple of Thursdays. Here's a picture of the gang playing "together." I've really enjoyed having him here. It makes the day different and gives me something to look forward to during the week. Nate asks about Joe often now, and when we say his name he gets excited. Last night I put a blue sleeper on Evie that was one of Nate's old ones, and he called her Joe! :)

Brother and Sister

Nate climbed up in the chair with Evie again the other day, so I tried to get some good pictures of them. Unfortunately none of them were great, but these will have to do. Now that Evie can play with some baby toys, Nate suddenly wants to play with everything she has, which I'm sure prompted him to sit in the chair with her. The "Nate, share with your sister" days have begun!

Meanwhile, Nate is talking more and more. He's still not putting sentences together, but at least his vocabulary has really taken off. He's very interested in cooking lately, and he stands on a chair next to me while I chop, stir, mix, etc. so he can see everything. He'll probably start joining in soon, but I'm not sure I'm ready for those messes!

Evie is five and half months old. She started eating rice cereal a couple weeks ago and has added avocado and banana to her diet this week. She seems to be doing really well with the new foods. She's growing so fast!

Biker

I practiced drawing the tattoo on Stephen so Nate would
be more likely to let me draw one on him too.
Stephen's tattoo says "Sarah" instead of "Mommy." :)

We all got dew rags to wear, so Nate would be more likely to wear his.
He wore it well!

Our little biker dude.

Close-up of the tattoo. I think it looks better from a distance!

Since Nate LOVES his bike so much (and because it was the simplest costume idea I could come up with) we decided he should be a biker for Halloween. A "Mommy" tattoo and a dew rag completed the costume. We went trick-or-treating with some friends, but Nate didn't really care about the door-to-door. He was just excited to be riding his bike everywhere, and to be getting candy for it. What a treat! Unfortunately Evie didn't dress up ... maybe next year.