Recent pics

Nate has learned to climb in and out of chairs this week. Yesterday we found him hanging out in the lawn chair outside.

Stephen and Nate sharing a piece of dessert.

It's hard to smile with a mouthful!

Spring Break

Nate with his Aunt Liza, wearing an outfit she bought for him before he was born. It finally fits!

This week was Stephen's spring break. My sister Elizabeth came last Thursday and was here until Wednesday - a treat for all of us. We ran around quite a bit, but somehow ended up with very few pictures. We did get a couple videos of Nate entertaining us though. He learned to spin in circles, and I think he liked the attention he got from it. I don't think he liked the effects it had on his equilibrium, as you can see in the video.

A good laugh

I'm sure these things happen all the time in other people's houses, but we caught this one on tape. To preface the video, we were recording Nate saying a couple words, but he stopped and wanted me to read him a book instead. Stephen kept recording, I started reading, and a couple pages into it Nate fell right off the couch. My reflexes were quick enough to barely catch his leg, and the video shows the rest. Hope you get a good laugh!

Anniversary, Fat Lip, and the Park

Swinging at the park.

Going down the big slide.

Showing off his fat lip.

Stephen and I celebrated six years of marriage this weekend. Our anniversary was actually Sunday, but we celebrated on Saturday. Thanks to our wonderful friend Carol, we got away from Nate for a bit and saw a movie in the theater for the first time since before he was born. What a treat!

We did include Nate in some of our celebrations by going to the park Saturday morning, but while we were getting ready to go he fell flat on his face on our back patio. He still falls pretty often, but this time his mouth hit first and gave him a big fat lip. Stephen gave me a hard time for freaking out about it, but when your child has a mouth full of blood I think it's reasonable to be a little upset!

Reading with Daddy

Our efforts to make Nate a book lover are starting to pay off. He's finally bringing books to us to read to him. Here he is reading one of his favorites with his daddy.

18 Months Old

Nate walking in Mommy's shoes. He loves to put our shoes on and walk around the house. He's gotten pretty good at it and can get around really well in them.

Stephen hadn't been home long from a run and was using the post to stretch his legs. Nate wanted to be like Daddy and stretch his legs too.

This is Nate's favorite way to shop - pushing the cart using the rail at the bottom. Evidently it's hard work. His face gets bright red and he's soaked with sweat by the end. He loves it and it's helped us make it through several shopping trips lately without a meltdown.

Potty Training and Prayer

Of course potty training and prayer are very closely related, but I actually have two different stories to tell.

I know that potty training and prayer are very closely related because I tried potty training Nate last week. Between running Nate to the potty every time he seemed like he had to go and sitting on the bathroom floor (for what added up to be hours I'm sure) singing and reading every song and book he likes over and over to get him to stay on, I had numerous conversations with God!

After a four-day potty training marathon I made the decision to call it off for now. Nate was getting very upset every time I put him on the potty, crying and clinging to me. After four days he was no better than the first, so we stopped. Maybe we'll try again in a couple months, one more time before baby girl Blan arrives.

We've tried to be more intentional lately about including Nate in mealtime prayer - telling him we're going to pray, holding his hand, and ending with a hearty "Amen." He's even been saying "Amen" after we say it, his fourth word I think. I don't usually pray with him at breakfast (heathen, I know), but this morning halfway through his breakfast he grabbed my hand and held it like we do during prayer time, looked at me and waited for me to pray. I prayed and we ended with our "Amen." I'm so thankful for my sweet boy, and I pray that he would always be so earnest for the Lord.

Strange Child

Nate using a slice of apple to feed himself a Cheerio.

A new way to play with his ring stacker.

Trying to walk in his daddy's shoes.

I'm sure all kids do funny things, and that my child really isn't that unique, but lately Nate has done some strange things.

The first, and funniest, is that he tries to use other objects to feed himself his cheerios. At a restaurant in December, we caught him using the tip of a crayon to stick in the hole of the cheerio, pick it up, and eat it. The other day I found him doing the same thing (pictured above) with a piece of apple. He was successful with both the crayon and the apple!

In the bathtub Nate plays with two different toys - a bathtub book that he got from his Nana for Christmas, and a set of barnyard animals. Now that he has the book, he uses it as a raft for his animals so they float. The other night while I was gone, Stephen said Nate spent his entire bath time lining up his animals in perfect order on the ledge of the bathtub, knocking them off, and then starting over. We're afraid he inherited some of his mother's semi-OCD.

One of his favorite toys is a ring stacker. I guess since he mastered stacking the rings on the normal way he's moved on to turning the pole upside down, using a ring to hold it in place, and stacking more rings on top of the base (pictured above).

I could go on some more, but I'll spare you for now.

First basketball drills

Christmas in January

With all the busy-ness and traveling during the holidays, we left Nate out. So last week I finally ordered his gift - a Little Tikes basketball goal. I've been wanting to get it for him for a while, to start his basketball stardom off at an early age. :) It's perfect for his height, and will grow with him for a few years. If we can just get him to do more than chase the ball around and actually put it in the hoop, his future might look brighter. He doesn't quite seem to have the skills of Christian Laettner, but we'll be working on that.

Random

Stephen picked up this hat at Steak n' Shake on our trip back from Kentucky. We think Nate looks pretty cute in it.

One day last week Stephen put Nate's socks on him. Then Nate went and found another pair of socks and took them to Stephen, so he put them on his hands.

It's a girl!

I had great intentions of posting more yesterday, but I ended up with a stomach virus in the night on Wednesday night and can no longer brag about my strong stomach and not throwing up for years at a time. Stephen stayed home from work yesterday to take care of Nate and me and then came down with the same thing last night, but decided he had to go in today. He's crazy! We're praying that the virus doesn't get to Nate.

So, after two all-night 15 to 16 hour drives to Kentucky and back, and some really good, relaxing visits with both of our families for the holidays, we came home to find out that Baby Blan #2 is a GIRL! We're both very excited. Stephen isn't sure what to think about having a girl. I think he really expected it to be another boy, but he's adjusting to the idea and I'm sure she'll be a daddy's girl just like Nate is a mama's boy.

As for me, I'm a little nervous about the drama and emotion a girl might bring since I lean hard toward the non-emotional side of life. But I am very excited about all the pink I'll be buying in the years to come. (Baby Girl Blan will have a lifetime supply of pink corduroys!) I'm also excited about regaining the mother/daughter bond that I've been missing for 8 months now, and only hope that I'll be in her life for longer than my mother was in mine. And I hope she hopes that too!

Christmas with the Iles's

Nate with a strange hat. Thanks, Daddy!

Elizabeth with Sam, my brother Nathan's son.

Nate and Sam.
Nate is becoming more aware of Sam, but I think Sam is still oblivious to Nate.

Nate kept trying to touch him, but very apprehensively. Not sure what to think of him.

Christmas with the Blans

Nate and his friend Jacob Shultz playing after church. I can't wait until they're a little older and can really play together when we visit Lewisport.

Nate's Christmas gift from Uncle Tim, Aunt Annie, Camo, and Kate. It's not his favorite yet, so Mom and Dad will have to borrow it for a while. :)

Our nieces, Cameron and Katie, ripping into their gifts.

Nate opening his gifts, with some help.

At the zoo

Nate kept a firm grip on my shirt, making sure I wasn't going anywhere.
(Also, the first views of my growing baby belly)

Poking at the bird.

Yesterday, on December 19th, the high was 73 degrees and it was a beautiful, sunny day here in Fort Worth. We had some free tickets to the zoo (thanks Kari Davis!), so we took advantage of the day by spending it outside with the animals.

Nate's favorite part, or at least my favorite part, was going inside the adult size bird cage. Nate and I had been in it before, but this time I bought a couple sticks with seeds on them to feed the birds. They were landing all over my hands and arms, and Nate didn't know what to think! He was very brave and held the seed stick, but poked at the birds instead and shook them off the stick when they landed on it. Elizabeth got a few good pictures of the event.

Building Towers

Getting started ...

Getting taller ...

It's still standing?

My sister Elizabeth, Nate's Aunt Liza, arrived in Fort Worth on Wednesday. Nate is a different kid when someone else is in the house. He follows her around instead of me and stands outside her door when it's closed waiting for her to come back out. It's quite refreshing actually!

Elizabeth has also managed to teach Nate to help build a tower instead of knock it down. Here they are building towers together.

Close-ups

Some close-ups of Nate's sweet little face.

Nate on the move

Finally, the update you've been longing for ...

Nate is walking all over the place. He started really taking off Thanksgiving week while we were in Kentucky, and he's slowly picking up pace. For some reason he still stays pretty much by my side during the day while Stephen is at work, but when we're all here together he feels more secure or something and wanders around the house quite a bit. He likes to arrange and rearrange anything and everything. The above picture is a good example. It's a picture of how we found the bathtub after he was in bed last night.

Our biggest trial with him has been keeping him from throwing everything in the trash. We finally gave in and moved the trash can to the laundry room, which is very inconvenient for us! But after losing a car key and finding shoes, socks, sippie cups, toys, and many more random things in the trash, we decided it was better to move the can instead of lose more important/expensive items!

Dance Machine

Watch him go ...

Professional Pics

After 15 months of Nate, I finally took him to get some professional pictures made. We were going to do it last Christmas when we were home, but places were booked up for Christmas. Then I planned on it again months ago, but just never did it. So yesterday, after a lot of chasing, a few tears, and several cheerio bribes, we left the portrait studio with some decent pictures. I've posted a few of the best.