Thanks Grandpa!

My dad came down to visit for a week. He arrived on the 4th of July just in time for a BBQ dinner followed by a fireworks show that we were able to see from our backyard. My dad held Nathan on his shoulder through the whole show and Nathan was just in awe the whole time. It was pretty stinkin' cute!

After a while Nathan started holding onto grandpa's hair for...comfort? balance? whatever his reason it was hilarious.

My dad's visit wasn't just to come watch the fireworks, or even to play with this cute kid:
Nope, his visit was to help us (ok, more to single handedly) turn this:
into this:
When our house was being built we noticed that there was all this empty space under the stairs that wasn't being used. My dad had the great idea to turn part of that space into a little play area for Nathan. I absolutley love it because not only is it a fun place for Nathan to play, but it is also a great, out of the way, place to store all his big toys.

The builders didn't completely waste the space under the stairs, they at least gave us this little closet:
But it didn't even go back the full length of the stairs. So once again, dad to the rescue! He knocked out the wall and extended the closet all the way back. He even built some shelves for our food storage!

This is the additional space he found us by knocking out the wall, and I say it is well worth it!
It was quite a successful endevor, Nathan LOVES his new "play house"

And we LOVE our new storage room!
I feel bad that every time my dad comes to visit we manage to put him to work, but with results like these, how can we resist?

It is amazing how much easier these additions have made my life. Nathan spends most of his time playing in his play house! There is a window that looks out into the living room, and one that looks into the kitchen, so no matter where I am it is easy to keep an eye on him, and he loves watching me through his windows.

Can you see his little head poking out the window? So cute!
Not only does he love peaking out the windows, but he gets so excited if someone looks IN the window at him!
This place is seriously heaven to him, he just skips around from toy to toy laughing and having a ball!
The other day I was in the kitchen cooking while Nathan was playing in his playhouse. Most of his toys make noise so it is pretty easy to tell where he is. After a while though I couldn't hear him anymore, and as most moms know, silence is rarely a good thing. So I decided to check on him and this is what I found:
He had moved his bumbo (that I don't think he has seen in months) to the doorway and was just sitting in it, calm as can be. He reminded me of an old man sitting out on his porch just watching the world around him.

I constantly find him just sitting in his bumbo by the door, just chillin.

One of his other favorite things to do now is to hide things in his playhouse. The other day I found the duster, the broom, and a couple of cutting boards stashed in the back. I guess he is trying to keep the place clean?

We are so happy with our new spaces, Curtis likes to say that it has added "at least $20,000" to the value of our house :) I am so lucky to have a dad who is able and willing to help us out ALL THE TIME! I swear the man can do anything!! We are learning a lot from him, but I don't think he is getting much in return. However, I did buy him one of those "expensive" Arby's sandwiches while he was here, so maybe that makes us even! ;)

All About the Birthday Boy!

Believe it or not, Nathan turned 1 last Monday! Crazy, I know. We were lucky enough to have Curtis' sister Becky and her 3 boys here to celebrate with us! We started the day with a trip to the pool (more on that another time), and then we had some friends over for cake and presents.

My sister Crissy goes all out when it comes to decorating cakes for her boys, so I thought I would give being creative a try. I picked something very easy, and still didn't do the best job, but I don't think Nathan minded too much :)

It took him a while to decide whether or not he was going to give the cake a try, but eventually the marshmallows on top won him over.


He ended up eating most of the marshmallows, leaving the cake virtually untouched.

After a while he decided he didn't like being messy anymore.

He was still a little upset when we started opening presents...

but the frown faded once he realized that there was fun stuff to play with inside the boxes!

He especially seemed to like this little number, compliments of his Aunt Alli!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to share in this special day with us, whether in person, or over the phone. Nathan got lots of calls from family and friends who sang Happy Birthday to him, and even a video from his 2 year old cousin who sang his own rendition of "Happy Birthday".

It was a pretty fun day up until Nathan woke up from his afternoon nap with a fever. He has been pretty miserable since then with a fever off and on, a sore throat and an ear infection. I guess he just wasn't very excited about the idea of getting older, probably because he's feeling guilty because I keep telling him that he is not allowed to grow up. :)

Here is a bit about Nathan at 1 year:

height: 28.5 inches; 12 percentile
weight: 16 lbs 12 oz; 0 percentile
head: 46 cm; 37 percentile

He is getting pretty good at walking, but still prefers to crawl as his main mode of transport
His favorite place to play is in the dishwasher
His favorite food is yogurt, he would eat it all day every day if he could
He LOVES taking baths, and now likes to walk around in the bathtub and scare me to death
He no longer uses his pacifier! Woo hoo!
He is a pro with a sippie cup but prefers formula to milk
He is quite the little dancer, bouncing, bopping his head, and shrugging his shoulders anytime he hears music
He is quite the little talker, jabbering away LOUDLY any chance he gets, except around other kids for some reason
He is pretty loud in church these days, we usually have to take him out, not because he is crying but because he "sings" the songs very loudly and then continues to talk loudly the rest of the time
He is starting to "fight back" when he gets bullied by bigger kids, he used to just sit there and take it, now he will push back or cry, or both
He is still taking two or three naps a day and sleeping through the night, I couldn't get him down to one nap if I tried :)
However, here in good ol Arizona the sun comes up around 5 am, and Nathan likes to be up with the sun so the spring has brought some pretty early mornings (time for blackout curtains!)
He likes to bite
If you make a kissing noise he will open his mouth and plant one on you, sometimes his teeth get in on the action too
He claps anytime he hears or sees ANYONE clapping, even if it is on TV
He is very patient, he does not get frustrated when he falls 1000 times when trying to stand or walk, instead he just gets up and tries again
He is pretty good at passing balls back and forth
His favorite toy is my "Workout Carebear"
He loves his daddy


I am so sad that he is already 1 year old, but I can't wait to see his little personality really start to show in this next year!

What we have been up to

It has been a long time since I have really blogged much (other than Nathan walking). Here is a quick glance at what we have been up to:


We took a trip up to Utah for my Grandma's funeral. It was great to see almost the whole family together, and we had tons of fun. It was great to see all 5 of the cousins together:
My sister Crissy did a wonderful job blogging about that trip, so I don't want to rehash the same thing. You can check it out here though: Utah Trip

While in Utah I was able to visit with two of my former roommates who, strangely enough, have little girls that were both born just days apart from Nathan. It was a blast to see the 3 kiddos play "together"!




About 2 weeks after getting home from Utah, we were off to Ramah to visit the other side of the fam.

The trip up:

We finally got to see Tristan who is just a few weeks younger than Nathan, and so stinkin' adorable!

We made sure to get an updated 4 Generations picture while there

And what Nathan has been up to lately:

He likes to pull all of the clothes out of my laundry basket when I am trying to fold them. More recently he has taken to putting them in a pile on the floor and then laying on them. Frustrating, but oh so cute!

He has finally made the transition to non-baby food! He especially loves yogurt, bread, and cheese (unlike his father!) On this particular day Curtis got up with Nathan while I got to sleep in. I guess Curtis really wore the boy out because he fell asleep in his high chair, a VERY rare thing because he usually won't fall asleep unless he is in his bed. I was very proud of Curtis for thinking to snap a picture of it!

One of the only other times he has fallen asleep anywhere but his crib:

He is absolutely obsessed with playing everywhere he shouldn't, like inside the cupboards!

He went swimming for the first time. Here he is showing off his new swim suit.


He also loves dancing. This is the best video I have, but right as he was really getting into it my phone rang and it distracted him.


And he spends most of his time just being cute!

Up and About

Nathan took his first steps a couple of days ago! I tried to get it on video, but he just doesn't do as well when the camera is on! This video is the best one I could get, but he is a bit better than the video shows.

Blogger isn't working for me for some reason so I uploaded the video here:

Nathan walking