It's a girl!

We found out today we're having a baby girl!! I'm SO EXCITED!!! We were hoping for a girl.

Everything looks great and the doctor says she is perfectly healthy. She's almost 21 weeks along now and is about 10 ounces.

Things are great with me too. Blood pressure is consistently 100/60 and I've gained 5 pounds so far. All of my bloodwork looks good too! We're halfway there! Due date is officially February 12th. 20 weeks to go!


21 weeks

Sept videos

 

Aug/September Pictures

 

Nathan Drives a Car

Fun Times at the Fair!

Nathan loved petting the goats.


That's a big pumpkin!

He loved this car ride!


Zoom zoom!



Riding the carousel with Daddy.


We went to the Spokane County Fair today. The whole preschool went. Luckily, Jeremy and Laura both happened to have the day off, so Nathan had his whole entourage along with him.

Nathan LOVED the fair. The preschool kids meandered around before lunch looking at animals, fire trucks, science demonstrations etc. It was a lot of fun. Nathan particularly liked looking at the engines and old tractors. Of course he LOVED the animals as well. We saw all kinds of animals. Cows, horses, chickens, bunnies, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, geese, and turtles. Nathan liked the goats the most because he could pet them and they were very soft!

We had a sack lunch. Well, Nathan did. Jeremy and Laura and I had some yummy fair food. I had a delicious corn dog and a huckleberry scone. YUM! It's not every day you get food like that.

After lunch, we were free to go off on our own. We meandered around looking at the exhibits. Jeremy likes to go try to find free stuff. Stickers, T-shirts, water bottles etc. Sometimes he supplements his wardrobe with free t-shirts he gets.

After we checked out these exhibits, it was time to head over to the kiddie rides on our way home. The minute Nathan saw those colorful rides, he got SO EXCITED and started clapping and running toward them. It was his first time on rides. It's funny how kids just know those things are for them. It must be the colors and flashy lights.

Auntie Laura was nice enough to buy $6 worth of tickets for Nathan. This only equaled 2 rides! Rides are really expensive. Sheesh. When we have more kids, we won't be able to afford to take them on rides. Luckily, it was a Wednesday so there were really no other people there.

We first put Nathan on a car ride. He absolutely loved it. He smiled the entire time and that steering wheel was going the whole time. I don't think I've ever seem him so happy. I think he thought he was actually driving the car! He didn't really want to get off.

Next, Nathan and Jeremy went on the carousel. Nathan enjoyed this as well, but not as much as those cars! He did like riding up on that horse though!

All in all, it was a GREAT day. Nathan was so good and we all had a fabulous time. It was 90 degrees out though, so in the sun it was quite hot. Nathan got a little sunburned, but hopefully it's not too bad.

Fall Means Woodchopping

We're "blessed" to live in an area with really cold winters and a lot of snow! Luckily for us, we have a great wood stove that keeps us toasty warm (oftentimes WAY too warm) and great neighbors who supply us with free wood.

The only downside to having a woodstove and free wood? You have to chop it all up into pieces. So Jeremy is going to spend a little bit of time every day chopping wood. This might seen like a waste of time, but HE looks at it as a great way to stay in shape! It's a lot of work! So although he might not be out running or lifting weights, he's getting a good workout.

Well, guess what? Jeremy's job is getting a little bit easier this year. He has help. A smaller version of Jeremy helps by taking a little wheelbarrow of bark and wheeling it to the back 40 to get it out of Daddy's way. Isn't that nice? And I, take another more sturdy wheelbarrow, load the chopped wood into it, and then stack it in a neat pile.

Family teamwork. What more can you ask for? What a great way to spend some time huh?



It starts with a little woodchopping.



Sometimes the wood is covered in bark so you've got to haul it away. (Yes, Nathan really does push this wheelbarrow!)




Here's the OTHER wheelbarrow that we fill with pieces of wood and I push.



Here's the awesome wood stack. Nathan tries to help, but the pieces are just too big for him!

Nathan's Water Ball

Nathan got this awesome ball from KJ for his birthday. It sprays water everywhere! He's been having a lot of fun with it.

Berry Eating

Nathan loves to eat berries!

Here's some video of Nathan eating his favorite berries when he goes on walks with Daddy.

Nathan's first time on a trike!

On Nathan's birthday, he had a fun time riding our old trike.

New Table and Chairs

We bought a new table and chairs! For the last 7 years, we had been using an old hand-me-down set from my grandparents. It was finally decided we'd get a new one. I really like it! There are only 4 chairs that came with it, but we can get more if/when we need them. Our dining room is pretty small so the smaller table will work perfectly.



Nathan has been having fun playing at the new table! He loves to climb up there!




Our new little table. I would like to put something on the big blank wall, but don't know what to put there! I'm bad at decorating. Most of the walls in our house are empty!

Nathan's 1st Day of Preschool!

Nathan started preschool today. He'll be going twice a week for 2 hours. It's a Co-Op preschool so parents are very much involved. He's 2 and parents are required to be with their 2 year old at every class. This works great for us because I need to be there "hovering" at every snacktime and that wouldn't work at a pre-school where parents don't go every day.

He did GREAT! I was really surprised at how well he did. There are only three 2 year olds. All the other kids are 3 and 4. We put him in pre-school for the social aspect. He hasn't had a lot of interaction with many other children so this will be great for him. He sat pretty still on my lap for a long story and calendar time. I was very pleased with how well he did! The kids same some songs that Nathan obviously can't join in with yet but he seemed very interested.

Then, it was snack time. Nathan was SO EXCITED to sit at those little tables. The students all had to wash their hands and he was pretty much last in line. (All the 3 and 4 year olds rushed to the front). I could tell he was SO nervous he wasn't going to get to sit in one of those little chairs since they were filling up quickly. There were just enough chairs though!

Snack time was a little sad for me. Probably sadder for me than Nathan. The teacher passed around oranges and apples for the kids which was no problem. Then she passed around brownies. Nathan got really excited and was reaching out his chubby little hand because he wanted one of those brownies. All the other kids at his table had one. I had to tell him they would make him sick and gave him some graham crackers instead. That was hard for me to see him not be able to take part in something he was so excited about.

Not being able to eat things that he wants doesn't really happen at home. I cook all meals so he can eat them. To see him not be able to eat the same thing as his peers was hard though. It's just the first time I've had it happen, but I just have to realize that this is just how it's going to be for him the rest of his life. Eventually, he'll just deal with it, but as a little guy, it's going to be tough.

The pre-school teacher told me if I wanted I could give a list of things he COULD eat to all parents so that all snacks brought in would be safe and he could partake in everything. I just didn't feel right about that though. His diet is SO limited and I didn't want to make all the other children only have crackers and fruit every single week. So I figure I'll bring a snack for him every day. If he can eat the snack provided or part of it, that's great. If he can't, I'll have something for him.

The only thing that made me nervous is sitting so close to all those kids with their crumbs. Most of the parents are right there though and they were so nice today about making sure they cleaned up their children's spots and I was able to keep Nathan away from that. I can't leave him alone though, but it worked out fine today so I'm sure it will work out fine in the future.

I think the only thing I'm going to request in terms of the "food allergy" special need is that all the students wash their hands AFTER snack as well so there is no cheese or egg residue on their hands. I don't think that's too much to ask.

So after snack, they made little tempera paint hand prints. Nathan made a HUGE mess. It was funny. Then they played with some balls and a parachute and had some final songs and went home. I think he had a lot of fun. I hope he continues to have fun every week! AND he didn't cling to me like I thought he would. During the independent play times he went out and played. Now he didn't actually PLAY with the other kids, but I noticed the other 2 years old and even some of the 3 year olds were just kind of playing on their own too.

It was a good morning! Next Wednesday, we take a field trip to the Spokane County Fair. Jeremy currently has Wednesdays off so he's going to come too! Nathan loves all the animals around here, so I'm sure he'll have a lot of fun there too!

*The picture at the top is Nathan with some fake fruit. He'll shove 2 plastic strawberries in his mouth just to ham it up. This picture makes me laugh every single time I see it!

We'll be warm this winter

We have a great next door neighbor. He owns some land out by Davenport and today he and a friend took Jeremy up there to cut some wood. They cut down one large pine tree and 2 smaller red fir. It ended up filling 3 trucks and 3 trailers. He's letting us HAVE all of this wood. We will be extra warm and toasty this winter! Jeremy is going to have a lot of wood chopping to do this fall, but it will keep him in shape and we'll save a lot on our electricity bill with all the free wood!

Nathan's doing something new and cute that I can't resist. When he wants me to do something, he'll walk over to me, say "Peeeez" (Please) and then kiss me on the cheek with a big adorable smile. I don't know how I'm ever going to say no! I'm also glad he's learned a new word.