Vacation, Part 1

For the first leg of our vacation, we went to Dallas to spend Memorial Day weekend with my parents and older brother, sister-in-law, and niece. It was a fun, relaxing weekend. Our outings were limited to the occasional shopping trip, church, and a meal out. Church was interesting, what with entertaining two babies and a toddler the whole time. Nathan ended up sleeping, and by some miracle Nana kept Patrick content through the whole service. I've got to give her credit for even trying, much less accomplishing the task.

Shortly after we arrived Friday afternoon, Nana enlisted Patrick's help in cooking dinner. He was more than happy to oblige.
This is how we discovered that Patrick is a huge fan of tomatoes. I don't get it; Matt and I both hate it. He couldn't get enough of it and kept sneaking bites while preparing dinner. We also discovered during the weekend that he likes raw onion (yuck!), and he even tried steak and other meats that he always turns up his nose at.

The first night, the babies had story time with Nana before bed. While they were interested in the book, I think they were just as interested in each other.

This piano was the favorite toy for both our boys. I'd like to be able to say this duet was sweet and melodic, but I suspect Grandpa (Be-paw, as Patrick called him) was in the other room covering his ears about now.

And here's Nathan showing off his musical talent alone. I was actually a little surprised at how much he enjoyed playing the piano and how capable he was of hitting the keys.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching the babies together. You may remember that Abby and Nathan are almost exactly the same age; Nathan is older by only ten days. It was interesting watching them interact, especially Nathan's reaction to Abby since he doesn't see babies his age very often.

They played together for a long time this day, posing for endless pictures by both me and Steve.

They even "shared" their toys so nicely. Really, they just took turns stealing favorite toys from each other, but neither seemed to mind this system too much.

Then Patrick woke up from his afternoon nap, starving for a snack. As soon as Nana had poured him a bowl of crackers (or something), he dragged her by the hand to the couch, insisting that she sit with him while he ate. Daphne (Steve and Ginny's dog) came of her own accord. I think it was the bowl of food that was the main attraction for her.

After our traditional Memorial Day cookout, the boys took a dip in the baby-sized backyard swimming pool Steve and Ginny had picked up for the occasion. This was Nathan's first time ever to swim, and it was the first time Patrick ever swam in a pool that was more his size. Both boys had tons of fun splashing. Patrick was quite reluctant to get out. (And yes, they are this pasty white. They take after me.)

This was about when our camera ran out of battery, so I didn't get pictures of Abby and Patrick swimming a few minutes later.

Monday evening I made an attempt to get pictures of the boys with their grandparents. It suddenly hit me after Steve and Ginny and Abby left that I hadn't gotten any good pictures of the three of them, or the aunt and uncle with their nephews. I was trying to make up for some lost time by getting grandparent pictures anyway.

Obviously Nathan was quite cooperative, posing perfectly and flashing the perfect smile.

Patrick, however? He was the usual Patrick. This is the best family shot I got of all four of them. Always the ham, that one.

Don't forget...tomorrow you'll get the second leg of our vacation, the time in Big Spring.

Sorry to Disappear on You

I know most of you know already, but for those of you who don't, I didn't blog for the last week and a half because we were on vacation. I successfully curbed my blogging and Internet habit for the full ten days we were gone. But now that we're back, my addiction is back in full force. It's a good thing because I have zillions of pictures to show off. Since our vacation happened in three parts (Dallas, Big Spring, and San Antonio), I'll probably do the pictures in the same three parts. I'll try to remember the stories I should tell as I post the pictures.

I'll try to do phase one this afternoon while the boys sleep. If not, I should get to it tomorrow. Either way, stay tuned for the rest of the week so you can follow us along on our exciting vacation.

Eight Months

Dear Nathan,

You know what I just realized? Eight months sounds awfully old. You're not exactly that little newborn baby anymore. But while I miss him, I love you so much more.
You have a great personality. The more I get to see of your personality, the more I like it. You are still a happy baby, and you're letting me capture more and more of your deliriously happy moments with the camera. In fact, sometimes I think you ham it up for the camera a bit. It makes for some great pictures and really shows everybody who reads the blog who you really are.

At the same time, you are completely sweet. You still love snuggling, almost as much as you love playing with your toys. And boy do you love your brother. It cracks me up to watch you with Patrick. You constantly reach for him, desperate to communicate to him how much you look up to him through a simple touch of his hand or his hair. His response? To push you away, sometimes kind of roughly. That doesn't change your feelings about him, though. If anything, it only makes you more eager to get him the next time.

You have also started picking up on his emotions. When he laughs, you do too. Sometimes you'll even laugh at things without him around that he has laughed at before. I think you're laughing because it must be funny since Patrick thinks so. Of course, the other side of the coin happens too. Some of your saddest cries, with the biggest crocodile tears, happen only because your brother is crying. At times like that, all I can do is sigh and smile that you're close enough to share emotions and not worry that both of my boys are crying like the world is ending.

This was also the month of the teeth, especially the last two weeks. You were sprouting a whole mouthful of them at once. As of now, you have three top teeth and one more slowpoke still waiting to make its way through the gums. This round of teething was certainly worse for both of us. You woke up lots at night needing comfort, which I was happy to provide, even when I could barely keep my eyes open. Still, you never had long crying spurts; you were just too uncomfortable to sleep. Now that they're in the past, I think I'll always fondly remember those long wakeful hours in the dead of night spent holding you in front of the TV while we waited on the latest round of medicine to take effect. And you have come out of the teething a still-sweet, toothy baby. You love showing off your new teeth with your huge grins.

Something else I can't forget to mention this month is your grabbiness. You have certainly figured out what those hands are for, and you are always using them to grab something. It's cute, but also kind of frustrating. I can't carry you around the house anymore while I'm carrying anything else, or else it will take everything I have to keep you in my arms as you reach as far as possible to grab what else I'm carrying. I think your favorite objects to grab are the remote control and my cell phone--proof you're your daddy's child. Considering how often these objects you grab end up in your mouth, I think you'll be ready to find foods you can feed yourself soon. I can't believe you could already be ready for that! Didn't you just start eating solid foods?

Your physical growth is starting to taper off, however. You still eat like crazy, but your metabolism must be speeding up or something (probably from all the squirming, kicking, and general moving you do) because you're not gaining weight as quickly as I would expect you to. In fact, I think at your nine-month check-up next month we will find that your weight is at a lower percentile than it has been in the past. I guess it's to be expected though; none of the rest of the family is of an average size, so eventually your growth would slow down too. At least you still have those adorable chunky thighs, though, even if the rest of you is looking a little more trim.

I'm afraid sometimes I spoil you, Nathan. I probably did the same with Patrick at this age, but I've forgotten by now. But how can I refuse anything you want, when you ask with that charming grin? I'd do anything for you, and happily. I just love you so much, more than I ever thought possible. You make my day when you look up at me and flash me that smile, and I know in that toothy moment that you love me just as much.

Love,

Mommy

Giggle Wednesday

Any of you stressing here in the middle of the week...say because of end-of-school insanity or something (ahem)...Patrick thought you could use a giggle or two. Or some uproarious laughter.

I don't think he was doing the disco, but you never can tell with this one.

The clothes weren't cute enough on him; the dinosaur had to wear them too.

For months and months, I've been concerned that Patrick couldn't point to different body parts like all the milestones say he should. He could point to his belly button and eventually say it, but that was it. Of course, I never could tell if he couldn't do that or just wouldn't. Lately he has started naming his toes, but I still didn't know if he actually knew more body parts than this. Apparently he just couldn't do things the normal way.

"Patrick, where's your nose?"

"No!"

"Patrick, where's your eye?"
"Eyyyyyyye!"

"Patrick, where's your mouth?"

"Mouf!"

"Yummy, toes!" (Yes, this is an actual quote from him--translated anyway.)

And Five

This morning tooth number five cut through Nathan's gums. It's one of the top teeth just next to the middle two. I think we need just one more top tooth before this round of teething is over. The two bottom teeth that were threatening to cut seem to have receded again. They'll probably show up next time.

...And Four

That's right. Early this morning when he woke me up from the pain, I noticed that the very corner of the other top middle tooth had broken through the gums. Now we only have two more top ones to go and maybe life can return to normal. As long as more don't decide to make an appearance between now and then. Once they get a little farther in, I'll make sure to get a picture to show them off.

Today Brings #3

After many sleepless nights over the last week or so, Nathan finally sprouted tooth #3 this morning, the top middle right one. He still has three more on the top that feel like they will cut at any moment. I suspect we won't actually get a break from the teething until that happens, but maybe he got a little bit of relief this morning when it finally cut.