Wordless Wednesday.

Thought provoking...

"Jesus never admonished children to be more grown-up. He did, however, exhort grownups to become more like children."
Wess Stafford

Thanksgiving Recap.

Hope your Thanksgiving holiday was spent with lots of loved ones, and full of laughter. (And, of course, delicious foods!) Ours was plentiful in all three of those departments! Here are a few photos of our day...

And, just for fun, here is a comparison of Nate on Thanksgiving 2010 and 2011!

thankful, day 7.

I've been thinking about this post all day, and I still haven't quite decided what I'm going to write about. It's not that I don't have anything for which to be thankful, but rather the exact opposite. I am so very, incredibly blessed that I don't know what deserves this last "thankful" post of the week. I am thankful for my precious family, our home, the abundant food in my kitchen, an amazing God who provides for all of our needs and loves me unconditionally, a welcoming church family, a pastor who serves the Lord with all that he is (and his sweet family!), old friends, my abilities and talents, good books, and the many priceless opportunities that I have been given during my life. (And, that list is far from exhaustive.) I cannot even find the proper words to express the way that I am blessed and how grateful I am.
And, on that note, I am going to get off the computer and relax. The pies are baked, the baby is asleep, and the house smells satisfyingly of pumpkin and cinnamon. It's going to be a good Thanksgiving.

Hope you have a wonderful day with those you love tomorrow!
Happy Thanksgiving!!

thankful, day 6.

Today I am thankful to live in a climate where we get to experience 4 very different seasons every year. Every time we have a seasonal change, I am convinced that this is my very favorite part of the year!

How amazing it is to watch the first spring daffodil bloom, or to experience a hazy summer day beneath the lush green canopy of trees, or to admire the gorgeous autumn foliage adorning the autumn hillside, or to catch the very first snowflakes of the season on your tongue!

Oh, what a wonderful world...

thankful, day 5.

I am thankful that our family is healthy. I am also thankful that we have health insurance. Eric and I were without health insurance for the first few years of our marriage, and while we did not have any major health problems or accidents, it was a source of stress. I feel very secure and peaceful knowing that we have a lot of financial help coming if we ever have a medical need.
I cannot even begin to express how glad I am that we do not need that help right now! It is nice to go to the doctor for regular check-ups, but it is even nicer to hear that we are healthy. Even better than hearing about yourself, is hearing that your child is perfect and thriving. We are so blessed.

thankful, day 4.

I am thankful that we live in a country where we are free to do and say as we please, where we have easy access to education, and where the majority of us have plenty to eat. I am the first to admit that the USA is not perfect, nor is it superior to other countries--but, we do have many freedoms and luxuries that the majority of the world lacks. I am thankful to live here, and I am thankful that so many men and women have chosen to serve our country to keep us free.

Image from Pinterest, via Zen and Living Simply.

Parade.

We took Nathaniel to his very first Christmas parade last night (yes, I know, the week before Thanksgiving?!). Although it was cold out, we all enjoyed ourselves. We arrived early in order to get a good spot (which we absolutely did!), and we had a chilly picnic of pizza for dinner. While it was hard for Nathaniel to wait for the parade to begin, he did enjoy watching the crowds.

Once the parade actually began, he seemed to really like watching it. I think his favorites were the Christmas floats covered in sparkly lights, the dancers, and the horses. Several people eve made sure to give Nate candy canes that they were passing out! We had a late night (way past somebody's bedtime), but it was well worth it for a fun family night--and a great way to get into the holiday spirit!

thankful, day 3.

I am thankful that I am able to be a stay-at-home mom for Nathaniel. I've always wanted to be able to be home to take care of our children, and working in a daycare for 2 years only reinforced my opinion that children are absolutely not meant to be raised in such a setting. It was a hard wait for us to wait on parenthood until we were financially able to make it on one salary, but I am so glad that we did! Our son means the world to me, and it would kill me to let someone else spent 40+ hours/week with him. Staying home with our boy has been the best thing that I think we've done for him, and I am so grateful that it is possible.
Thank you, Eric for giving me the best job ever!!
(Hey, where else can you stay in your jammies all day long?)

15 months.

Nathaniel is 15 months old today! When he turned one, I felt like the past year had flown by, but now....really, I mean, didn't he just turn one yesterday?! When they say babies grow up fast, they're not lying!

Nate has learned to walk! About two weeks ago, he just stood up and went. And, after a few days of careful and delierate stepping, he decided that his crawling days were a thing of the past! He walks everywhere, and he's fast! (I thought he could crawl fast, but this is a totally new game!) He's on the verge of running, and thinks that it's hilarious when Daddy chases him. I'm so proud of my big boy!

Nathaniel's favorite toys right now are balls! He loves balls of all kinds, colors and sizes!! Every day, he brings me a "baa!" (or five to hold while he collects the rest). He especially likes the little plastic balls from his ball popper because they're the perfect size for his little hands, and the textured sensory balls that he received for his birthday. As a side note, one of his favorite foods is clementines, which he also refers to as "baa"s.

Some of his other favorite toys are his Buzz Lightyear rider, his pop-up toy, his ring-stacker, blocks, and, of course, books! He still loves to sit down and look at all of his "boo"s by himself. He also loves to bring books to us to be read aloud. His Nana taught him that the tiger in his Noah's Ark book growls, so now he growls at several different animals in various books! His favorite books right now are "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and "Ten Little Puppies".

To say that Nate likes animals is an understatement! He LOVES animals! Our dog, Grover, is his best friend, and I'll often find them wrestling in the living room! Grover is wonderful (and so gentle!) with Nathaniel. Sometimes, Grover runs laps through the house, with Nate chasing after him laughing as hard as he can--so funny! Nate also loves our cats (or, as he calls them "keekee!"s), although they do not share his enthusiasm. They sometimes will tolerate a quick pat from Nate, but he tends to be too noisy for their tastes. Nathaniel also loves to find pictures of animals in books, and he very much enjoyed our trip to the zoo last month!

I've started doing some simple activities with Nate throughout the day, and he's enjoyed all of them. We've finger-painted, colored, played with play dough, played in leaves, done stickers, water play, and made a sensory bowl of dried beans. Although he has a typical 1-year-old's attention span, he has participated in everything very well. (Not even one attempt to eat the play dough!)

Nathaniel can say several words, and he understands practically everything that we say! He says "baa" (ball), "boo" (book), keekee (kitty), momma, baba (dada). His favorite noise is the "B" sound, and he uses "buh" for several different things (sock, cup, binky, etc). When he gets very excited (like when Daddy comes home from work), he screams and claps! When he gets mad, he screams and throws himself backwards. Nate follows directions ("come here", "time to eat", "all done?", "may I have that?", "no", "look", etc.), and often surprises me with what he understands.

As far as foods go, Nate likes almost everything that he's tried. The only thing that he does not like is scrambled eggs. Some of his favorite foods are crackers, cheerios, grapes, peas, apples, yogurt, spaghetti, pizza, fig bars and clementines. He can feed himself with his hands, and we're working on using a spoon. (I'll admit to not letting him try it as often as I should because it's just easier to feed him!) He has not taken to whole milk yet, although I really have not been offering it often. He is still nursing three times/day (before nap, before bed, and early morning), and I haven't decided when we're going to work on weaning yet.

Nate has 12 teeth now, and is still teething. He has two molars, and two more that are coming. He's a trooper, but he does get fussy when he's tired and his mouth hurts. I usually do not medicate, but we use Hyland's teething tablets when he needs something. Occasionally, I will give him Tylenol to help him sleep. My poor little guy has been teething for so long--I cannot wait for him to be finished!

Nate still uses his binky, but is only allowed to have it for bedtime and naptime. He always cheerfully hands is over when he wakes up, and I'm planning to start "binky weaning" soon. I kept planning to take it away "cold turkey" when he was done teething because he does seem to get some relief from chewing on it when his mouth hurts--but it seems that teething is never-ending! We will be starting to lose the binky soon, and I don't anticipate it being too much of a problem. But, as always, toddlers are not predictable, so we shall see...

Nathaniel is a happy and silly little boy. He is very friendly, and grins at strangers everywhere we go! He even has a very fake and cheesey smile that he does when people smile at him, and he enjoys the laughter that he gets every time he does it! He is sweet and loves cuddling almost as much as we love cuddling him! He'll often stop for a quick hug while he's playing, but isn't interested in anything lasting more than 2 seconds unless he's sleepy. Nathaniel amazes us every day with the things that he is learning and the skills that he possesses. He is an incredible little boy who has his mommy and daddy utterly head over heels for him!

thankful, day 2.

Today I am thankful for my son, Nathaniel. I am thankful that he's healthy and growing and learning. He's such a joy to have in our lives, and I am honored to be his momma. I am so proud of the little boy that he has become, and I look forward to seeing him continue to grow in so many ways.

thankful, day 1.

Today I am thankful for my husband, Eric. He loves me, even though I don't always deserve it. He always puts our family first, and he's willing to work a little harder in order to allow me to stay home with Nathaniel. He provides for our family very well, and I appreciate him much more than I let him know. I am thankful to have a husband who is my best friend, a hard-working and honorable man, and an amazing father.

Be who you are.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
Dr. Seuss

Operation Christmas Child.

Can you imagine what it must feel like to know that Christmas is approaching, but you cannot give your child(ren) even one gift? Nothing, not even a lollipop. Christmas might even be the last thing on your mind because you're struggling to provide your child with food and shelter and safety. How discouraging and sad so many millions of parents across the world must feel every year for those exact reasons. But, imagine this: amidst your sorrow, a stranger from across the globe sends your baby a present! Not just any present, but a whole box stuffed full of toys and school supplies and treats!! And, on top of it all, you are told that this gift was given out of the love of Jesus Christ. What an amazing feeling, and what a ministry!

Last year, 8.2 million children in need received a Christmas box in the exact manner that I described above. With each box, a book telling the story of Jesus was distributed in the child's native language. Operation Christmas Child is an amazing program that is operated through Samaritan's Purse. And, this week is National Collection Week--only 6 days left!!

If you haven't packed a box (or two!), please prayerfully consider doing so. It's easy to do--all you need is a shoe box (or a plastic box of that size), and a quick trip to the store. Chose an age category for your child (2-4, 5-9, or 10-14 years) and gender, then go shopping! You can fill your box with small toys, art supplies, school supplies, hygiene items, and even some sweet treats! Find a list of suggested gifts here. When your box is full (sometimes these require strategic packing when you get a little more enthusiastic than your box has space for!), you can wrap it so that the lid can still be opened. If you like, you can include a letter and a photo of yourself in your box. If you include a self-addressed envelope, the child might write back!
Next, go online to this page and donate $7 per box to help with delivery costs. The site will then give you a bar code that you can print and tape to the top of your box. This code will be scanned, and you will be able to track your box to its destination country. Lastly, find an Operation Christmas Child drop-off location near you here, and drop off your box to be shipped!

This is an awesome opportunity to get your kids involved in giving to other kids. (Even if they're little--the shoe boxes are fun to pack!!) Now go pack some boxes and wish some little ones a very merry Christmas this year!! Every child deserves a Christmas, and a gift that comes with the love of a stranger and the message of Christ is the best kind!

I'm back!

Every time I get lazy and don't blog for several days (or in this case, weeks!), I feel some sort of pressure to jump back in with an awesome entry and lots of photos! You know, it's like I need some dramatic excuse as to why I haven't had time to blog--we've been cruising around on the French Riviera or building an igloo for homeless Eskimos. But, nope, I got nothin' this time. I've been busy folding laundry and vaccuming rugs and baking bread and chasing a toddler.
Yes, that's right, I said a toddler! Nathaniel has learned to walk, and I've come to grips with the fact that he's not a baby any longer. (Surprisingly, I'm okay with it.) Maybe it's because he's so stinkin' cute toddling around, or maybe it's the proud smile that he beams every time he makes it all the way across the living room. Maybe it's just that this is what being a mommy is! Whatever it is, I couldn't be prouder of my sweet boy!
Since I've missed quite a while on Blogger, I'll be catching up for the next few days/weeks. Nate will be 15 months old on Friday, and I'm planning to do a monthly update (since I haven't posted one since 12 months). I'm also planning to do a week of thankful posts (I did a month last year, when Nate spent most of his time sleeping, so a week sounds like a better goal this time around!) before Thankgiving. And, as you probably know, we are racing right into my favorite time of the year (the holiday season!), so there will probably be lots of updates about decorating, baking, planning, and {gasp} maybe even some snow! So, stay tuned, and I promise to be a better blogger!
As always, here are some photos of what we've been up to recently...
(I haven't loaded any photos/videos of Nate walking yet, but they are coming!)

{A giant thank you to my wonderful husband for the new camera!!}