Ok, so its one a month right now....

Thought I would be better at posting, but doesn't look that way! Sheesh! Here are my excuses- 1) I've been extremely busy at work- more so than I have EVER before 2) I was traveling for a week for work- back to back meetings in Chicago and then DC- all the while took the overnight train for some adventure! (BTW, I don't recommend the train from Pittsburg to Chicago or vice versa....you feel like tossed salad!) As for Nate, he's working on using the potty- we're not pushing it, he'll get it when he gets it- he also says on a regular basis that he wants to go to the beach ( I think we have Johnny to thank for that :)) and then he'll follow it up by saying that he also wants to sleep in a tent sometime. We can't wait until the weather warms up! Anyway, here are some pictures over the last month....

Nate and his cars....

Nate and Johnny had another play date- here they are trying to "fix" the car with tools....

Ah, Granddad is so proud! :)

Here is Johnny giving us his "sad" face.... look at those puppy dog eyes!

And because of those puppy dog eyes, Johnny gets his grandma to buy Nate an animal too! This time they brought over a lady bug!

You try getting the boys to look at the camera with their bugs....

... not an easy task....

Finally, cheesey grins... :)

Hanging around on a Saturday afternoon- momma's not really snoozing....she's just pretending...

Grinning!

In this pic, Nate is showing off his new kicks (shoes)- Uncle Brandon would be proud to know that they are Transformer shoes! (Size 8.5! gak!)

Here's a better pic of the shoes. We were home for a bit this morning because we had a follow up appointment with the ear doc- Nate's tubes are still in! Which is fabulous news.... lets see how long they can get him to...the longer they are in, the less chance we have of him having to get tubes again!

Nate's second hair cut! There is a new salon that just opened up that caters just to kids... I thought their chairs were pretty neat- they had 2 cars, and then a couple of princess chairs etc....

Crazy hair! He didn't last THAT long with getting his hair cut- note to self, try and put on cartoons in the VERY beginning....

The finished product! Just a touch up to make him less shaggy... I think I'll give it a try (i.e., cutting his hair) when he'll learn to sit still for me!

Play date update

Hi all- I wanted to try and keep this updated. Here are a few pictures from a play date with Johnny on Superbowl weekend, a visit from Grammie and Papa and yes, a round of scarlet fever....sigh.....

Flying high with Mike, John, Johnny and Nate... I wonder what this would feel like?

Notice the superbowl on in the back ground....heh

Johnny is a precarious position....

Flying again..... (Nate is the one with dark top, lighter jeans, Johnny is light top, dark pants...)

Here's Nate doing a craft that Grammier brought with her... he loved glueing on the pieces and coloring it! (Its a frog btw)

Nate went home from school sick on Thursday, but we thought it was just the 24 hour bug that has been going around... well, though that part only lasted briefly, he kept spiking fevers and then wouldn't eat and stopped drinking.... he also developed a rash on his torso and face...you can see a bit of it here where he's sitting with Papa...

You can also see how red his tongue was as well- its what they call "strawberry tongue". By Sunday, his fever and everything was controlled by Motrin, but he kept spiking a fever, and drinking even less.....so we took him to the ER (the only place to be seen by a doc in SC on the weekend) to have a strep test done... and sure enough, his throat swab came back positive for Strep- scarlatina (Scarlet Fever)- So that was our fun for the past several days. Its easily treatable with antibiotics, so he's back to himself...

except that himself means a VERY defiant boy...I can barely get him to take his medicine... we'll see if he actually starts eating well, or will hold out for the ice cream he got when he wasn't eating anything else...

You can't see the rash here very well, but it would come and go....

Scarlet fever, or cabin fever? You would have only known he was sick because he wouldn't eat or drink much and the fact that he was REALLY touchy....When I think scarlet fever, I think REALLY sick....but he just didn't act it all the time... he's a trooper... It really just took us by surprise, we have no idea where he picked it up from. No one at daycare had reported having strep....but then again, perhaps some parents don't report that stuff.... anyway, hopefully no one else catches it!

Way over due...

I apologize for not updating this more quickly...but, I guess better late than never! Lots to update you on, so I'll post oldest to newest......

Nate started swim classes at Mike's work (yes they have a swimming pool for the employees)- there was only one other kid/parent team signed up, and they didn't show up all the time, so Nate basically had a personal lesson with the swim teacher and dad of course...here are a few shots of him in the pool! We'll continue to have him take the classes as long as we can.... he doesn't like to dunk his head under water yet, but we're working with him....

(Daddy and Nate with swim teacher Joan)

Next, we have Christmas at Grammie and Papa's. With GG's funeral (Mike's grandmother) on the Tuesday before Christmas, it was a pretty somber holiday...but the kids didn't know anything was amiss, and they had a blast! Nana and Pa came down from MA to be there for both of their great grand kids! It was Kai's first Christmas with Mel and Kevin.

Here are some attempts (some with various degrees of success) at getting a decent picture of the boys with Nana and Pa....


(The boys were having mini melt downs- who would want to pose like 30 min before bedtime anyway? So my solutions was to put in Mel and Mike, that way its the grand kids and great grand kids.....)

And finally-I think we have the winner here... only Nana's face is covered by her hands as she's clapping.... but the wonder of digital pictures... I"m working on swapping half of her out for one where she's looking at the camera... stay tuned....its almost ready....

I assisted Nate with making reindeer cookies (dad actually had the camera!)- he's a budding picassa....



Kai got in on the action too- only he wanted to eat them BEFORE they were cooked....

After getting back from our Christmas traveling, Mike, Nate and myself relaxed at home....

We took Nate bowling! The bowling alley went smoke free- it was quite busy this afternoon- lots of kids there.... Nate started bowling with an 8lb ball... and he actually beat me! HA! Notice the cute bowling shoes- yes they actually have shoes that will fit him, and they aren't the smallest ones available either! FUN!

We also played in the snow...here is Nate is his jumble of snow gear....

Here's Nate trying to catch a snow flake on his tongue!

Guess he's a little big for the baby sled, eh?

Sledding on our driveway....

Fun with Thomas stickers...just not on paper- we call this "living" art :)

Of course we put him to work...heehee, he helped us sweep!

And finally- these pictures are for you Grammie- I found this shirt at Target (on clearance none the less too!)....

All in all, its been a quiet month of January...cold, snowy and quiet. Nate has hit the terrible twos with a vengance and we hope that he kicks out of it just as fast....sigh...yesterday he refused to nap.... Anyway, I'll try to keep this more up to date.