Brooklyn's 3rd Birthday

Two and a half weeks ago, Nathan and I ventured down to Charleston to celebrate Brooklyn's 3rd birthday with Brooklyn and her posse.  It was a blast!  We went to the local Rolly Polly gym and got to play for an hour.  Nathan just ran around the gym, not knowing what to do first.   

He tried a little bit of rock climbing.  He's a natural.

He ran around on the trampoline, giggling when other kids would bounce around him.

He had quite the collision on the trampoline, but got right back up and kept jumping. Could a mom be more proud?

 He played with some toys he discovered in the lobby.

It was a great time.  Needless to say, Nathan took a good nap when we got home.  

In the morning, Nathan and Joshie played in Joshie's room. Nathan was a little concerned for his crazy cousin.

  

Playing fetch with Brooklyn.  Should I be concerned that Brooklyn thinks Nathan is a dog?

On the Monday following the birthday bash, the three kids and Vanessa and I went to a park.  This was Nathan's first time in a big swing.  He loved it!  He would even lean forward and back in rhythm with the swing to keep himself going.  It was adorable.

 

Nathan loves being outside.  It doesn't matter what he does outside, as long as he's outside.  Often if someone goes out the door, he follows them and cries if he doesn't make it outside before they shut the door.  I used to think this was him missing the person that just left, but no, he just wanted to go outside.

He doesn't need toys when he's outside, he'll just find things along the way to play with.

Yes, that is a rice krispies treat wrapper

After being married to Andrew for what will be 8 years in August and now that I have a son, I've learned one thing about boys:  boys are easily entertained.  Nathan will find a good rock on a walk and be entertained with that rock the whole time. Give Andrew a computer and I might as well not be in the room.  Are girls this easy?

More 1st Birthday Pics and Videos

Thanks to Aunt Vanessa, we have more videos and pictures of Nathan's birthday to share. As I mentioned in my previous post, Nathan and Josh, well... they don't really see eye to eye on things.  Josh is a sweet boy who loves to hug.  Nathan doesn't quite like to be touched.

Again, as I mentioned in my previous post, Daddy gave Nathan a chocolate bar to enjoy after Nathan finished his cupcake.  Many people at the party thought we were nuts giving our kid chocolate.  Sure, Nathan didn't take an afternoon nap on his birthday, but he didn't have diarrhea.  Hah!

Before Nathan would really dig into the chocolate bar, he made sure to eat every bit of his cupcake.  It got to the point where he was sucking on his arm to get all that yummy cupcake. Yeah, he gets that from me.

Here are more pics from the event as well (please ignore my double chin):

You Know What They Say About Guys With Big Heads...

Nathan had his one year check up earlier this week and he's doing great.  My doctor is perfect for me.  Every little concern I have (which is many) he is quick to ease my mind.  Nathan growing and happy- what mom could ask for more?

He's about the 70th percentile for length

About 62nd percentile for weight- which is normal for his height

His head I have to say is a bit bigger than average.  He is officially above the 97th percentile.  The sad thing is I don't know who to blame.  The Fishers have big heads, but so do the Moores.  It's a toss up!

Though his head will probably be as big as mine by the time he's two, I love the kid- every bit of him. Oh, and what they say about guys with big heads? Big brains! Duh!

The First Birthday

Nathan is ONE!  I can't believe it!  I finally feel like I'm a mom as I've now hosted a birthday party for my son.  It was a crazy week in the Moore household as we celebrated Daddy's birthday on the 24th as well as Nathan's on the 26th.  Next year I plan on celebrating Daddy and Nathan's birthday on the 25th to keep things simple.  We had a great time, though as Vanessa, Matt, Brooklyn and Josh came up from South Carolina to celebrate Nathan's birthday with us.

When the Mayberry's first arrived, Joshie went straight to Nathan and tackled him.  I think Joshie just wanted to prove that even though he is smaller than Nathan, he's still in charge.  For the rest of their visit, Nathan kept avoiding Josh.

Joshie enjoying a book and bottle before bed

 

Nathan enjoying a book before bedtime (as far from Joshie on the couch he could get)

 

 Nathan's birthday was a ball theme, so I made a soccer cake to go along with the theme

 For those who didn't like chocolate, we also had vanilla baseball cupcakes

Around noon, chaos ensued,   18 adults 17 kids

For Nathan's birthday (and because his birthday was a ball theme), Mommy got Nathan a little ball pit (you can kind of see it in the corner)

 Nathan in his birthday t-shirt

After eating his cupcake and part of a chocolate bar (a tradition Andrew wants to start with our family), Nathan left a chocolate hand print on our bedroom door  on his way back to our shower to get cleaned up

When we sang happy birthday to Nathan, he got all shy and was smiling sweetly.  He was so adorable.  Our camera cut off right before Nathan took a bite of the cupcake- I'm so sad!  He was so cute!  He spun the cupcake around a few times and then shoved it in his mouth.  I was so proud.  Vanessa got some pictures of him after he stuffed his face and once I get those, I'll add them to the blog.

Well, one year down, many many more to go.  I love my little boy.  He makes me so happy.  Nathan is great too :).  I really am one blessed lady. 

Our Little Wild Thing

It's been awhile since I've posted, well, awhile in Nathan time.  He's already up to more stuff like...

Growing crazy hair

Hosting some wild parties

Sleeping in after the wild parties

 Hanging out with Mommy and Daddy at the museum

Whew!  This kid never stops! And now, he'll be moving even faster on his own two feet!

I've been trying to keep up with Nathan by doing my own little project.  I made some burps cloths for a couple of my friends who are having babies. I of course kept a few for myself (and no, I'm not pregnant).

Play Group, Piano, and Surgery! Oh My!

For this post, the title may be a little deceiving.  I didn't attend a playgroup that involved a piano hurting someone to the point that they needed surgery.  I just have some random pics to share.

I attend an awesome playgroup with about 7 awesome women.  We get to pick up tricks of the trade from one another which has been extremely helpful to me since being a mom is relatively new. This past Friday we had playgroup at my house and we had a small showing due to changing nap schedules and sick babies.  But we had a good time and I got a pic of the two little girls and Nathan (and me in the background still in my pajamas- not my proudest moment).
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The one little girl right next to Nathan (Lisa-Jean) I think will be turning 2 in May.  The one to the far left (Jude) is about 17 months.  I took this picture to show how big Nathan is in comparison.  He's almost as big as Jude!  He's only 10 1/2 months!  They're such a cute group of kids.  Before playgroup was over, Lisa wanted a close-up.

 That's Lisa's mom (Autumn) in the background- she's due with her second baby (a boy) any day now. I've made it a point that every time I see her I ask, "Still pregnant, huh?"

So we now have Terry and Arthur's piano at our house.  Terry's happy to have more space in their house and we're happy to have joyful noise-making.  I love a noisy house, especially when it's the good kind.  Andrew  now gets to develop his talent and I'm happy to benefit from his development.  Nathan isn't particularly fond of loud noises so I was a little nervous to see how he'd react to the piano, but he loves it!  Andrew plays and Nathan will sit at his feet and wiggle around trying to dance.  Nathan also likes to sit in Daddy's lap and play a little himself.  I think we have a little Mozart on our hands.

Nathan even enjoys playing duets with his friend Aiden.

Yesterday, February 15th, was a little nuts.  Andrew went in for surgery on his knee.  He partially tore his ACL his freshman year at BYU while attempting to jump over one of his friends.  His friend, like any good friend would, ducked out of the way at the last second and sent Andrew flying over him for a unexpected hard landing.  Andrew then just a couple years ago decided to play racquetball on his bad knee, like any sane man would, and he tore the rest of his ligament.  After he tore the rest of his ligament, he of course still had to finish the game.  He then walked around for two years with no ACL.  The most disgusting thing was that when Andrew was sitting, you could pull his femur forward.  I can't even explain it right, but trust me, it was gross. 

Before his surgery, Andrew had a nerve block done which is when the doctor sticks a needle close to your groin (yikes!) to numb the femoral nerve.  This is a pic right after the nerve block but right before the surgery.  He was already a little out of it.

When Andrew was out of surgery, he was waaaaay out of it.  It's mean, but I giggled a little at him.  He was shaking pretty bad after the surgery so he was in recovery for about an hour and half before I could see him.  The nurse and I managed to get Andrew in the car and I got him home to rest.  Nathan was so excited to see his Daddy when we got home even though Dad now looks like bionic man with his brace. Andrew will be walking with crutches for a week or two and then will hobble for a little while.  He'll  be fully recovered hopefully in time for the family reunion.  Andrew is such a trooper.  Since he's had a kidney stone, this knee surgery isn't as painful.

We were taking a lot of pictures and saying "cheese!" to get Nathan to smile, and he actually responded with a smile!  He's growing up so fast!

The Complicated Mind of Nathan Moore

He's 10 and 1/2 months old and I already don't understand this kid.  His likes and dislikes baffle me.  His strong will and determination shock me.  This little guy has a mind of his own.  He certainly did not learn this stuff from me.  So, we went to a rugby game on Saturday to support one of our friends and Nathan was playing on a blanket with a rugby ball.  The ball unfortunately rolled off the blanket and onto the grass.  Nathan just stared at it for a little bit, wondering if the ball was worth making contact with grass.  He then noticed Daddy was standing out on the grass.  Is he worth it?

 Though the video doesn't show Nathan venturing out onto the great unknown that grass is, he does eventually crawl off the blanket to get the ball.  Words cannot express how proud I am of this brave little boy for facing one of his greatest fears: grass.

Next, his strong will and shear determination. So, Nathan is a little obsessed with our DVD player.  I've recently tried blocking the DVD player from him by placing pillows and his walker in front of it.  Does his stop him? 

Nothing can stop this boy.  He's like the stone cut out of the mountain without hands.  Except this guy has hands and he does whatever he can to get those hands on things he shouldn't be handling.

Another thing Nathan likes to get his hands on whenever he can is toilet paper.  As you saw in my previous post, he enjoys unrolling it, eating it, and carrying it around on his foot.  Nathan's favorite room in the house is our bathroom.  Any time the door to our bedroom is open, Nathan makes a crawl for it.  I decided to film him for one of his attempts to make it to our bathroom to get the toilet paper.  He's so predictable.  Predictable, not explicable.