Happy Birthday, Nate!!!!!

Guess who just turned the big ONE!!! I know I've said this before, but I CAN'T BELIEVE MY BABY IS ALREADY A YEAR OLD!!! Time really does fly way too fast.

What's happening with Nate:

- Height and weight: to be determined on Thursday. I will update. He's big. That's all I know! He is wearing 18-month clothing and size 4 diapers.

- He finally has a tooth! It popped up a few weeks ago. The one beside it is going to break through any minute, so Nate tells us. We have started brushing his tooth, and he loves it!

- He could care less about walking. He actually stood on his own for about twenty seconds today, so we are making progress. People tell me I will regret saying I want him to walk, but it's not like crawling has slowed him down one bit, and I am ready to not have to carry him around everywhere.

- He is an expert tantrum-thrower. He has recently discovered that he can "go floppy" while pitching a fit so that I practically drop him if I try to pick him up. He usually has at least one good meltdown a day, usually while getting his pj's on at night.

- We said ta-ta to the ba-ba! This really saddened me because it is such a big boy milestone. He has been drinking his "big boy milk" out of his sippy cup, and can down six ounces in literally less than two minutes. I was so glad to say bye-bye to the formula!!

- He babbles non-stop! His favorite words are "bucka" and "ticka," whatever those mean. He has a complete language all his own. He likes to talk on the phone to whoever will listen.

- His belly is a bottomless pit. We have not found a thing the boy won't eat, and he won't stop eating until you stop feeding him. But he gets mad if you stop feeding him! I don't know where it all goes because he seems to be getting skinnier. Ben says he must have a tapeworm. :)

- He still loves to read. He doesn't really have a favorite book, though.

- He has a full-blown mullet, so I think a first hair cut is in our near future. (Sniff, sniff.)

We had a really fun birthday party for Nate on Saturday. So many people came, and we had so much fun. Nate was really into opening presents, which surprised me. He kept crawling over to them and peeking in the bags while we were eating. Somehow he knew they were all for him! The cake-eating was all we expected it to be. He LOVED the icing and it didn't take long for him to have it EVERYWHERE!! It definitely called for a bath afterwards! Thanks to Brian and Candice for opening their home to us for the party. There is no way we could have squeezed all those people in our house!  :)

Posing for his big boy one year old pic

Yay! I'm one year old!! (Look at the size of those feet- size 5!)

His TV/reading chair we gave him for his birthday.

Another birthday gift he loves.

The cute cake

Nate's "smash cake"

All the kids were involved in the gift opening!

Nate loved all his gifts...

Especially the books.

I can't wait to ride in my new wagon from BeBe and Poppy!

Ready to eat cake!

Happy birthday to me! He smiled the whole time we were singing to him.

Let's dig in!

Hmmm...not bad!

My favorite picture...classic!

YUM YUM!!!

That was the best cake ever!

What?! You're going to wash the icing off?!

Two of my good friends, Sally and Amanda, and their

sweet girls Vera Kate and Anne Marie

Four generations of Duffy men

Love my BeBe!

Now that that's behind us, we have started packing for the big move! Hopefully that won't keep me from updating in the next couple months.  :)

Movin' On Up!

Well, folks. We're making the big move!! From here...

To here:

We put our quaint little house on the market in mid-January and it sold in about six weeks. The Lord answered our prayer for a new house in his perfect timing. It's everything we need for a growing family and it was just the right price at just the right time. The new house is in Lakeland, just far enough out to where we feel like we are in the country but not too far from civilization. We are closing on April 25th, and I can't wait to move in and get settled! I will post inside pictures when we make the house our own. It's going to need some minor improvements (new carpet and paint). Nate has already picked out his new room. :)

Happy 11 Months (and 3 days)!!

I can't believe we're planning a birthday party!! Where has this year gone? I am so sad that my baby is growing up way too fast. But he is so much fun!! His little personality is coming more and more alive every day. But with the cuteness comes one very strong-willed and determined little boy! He is proving himself to be such a boy and is getting into absolutely everything!! He knows the word "no" but chooses to completely ignore it most of the time, so I think we are going to have to start toughening up on our discipline.

All about Nate:

- Wearing 18 month shirts, 12-18 month pants, too long for anything one-piece!

-Crawls at the speed of lightning, but not in a hurry to take steps. He will walk (holding a hand) if walking from me to Ben and with our encouragement.

- He will stand on his own for a couple seconds until he realizes he is doing it.

-Doesn't like any of his toys. Would rather get into things and play with stuff he's not supposed to.

His new favorite activity is pulling things out of his changing table basket (tubes of stuff) and absolutely loves his Aquaphor tube. He will pull it out and carry it around the house with him.

-Is really good at feeding himself. We are trying more and more finger foods and he actually doesn't get too terribly messy. We have just added lunch, so he is now getting 4 bottles a day and three meals.

-He is perfecting his sippy cup skills, but will pitch a fit if you try to put his milk in a cup instead of his bottle.

- Likes to pitch a fit if he doesn't get his way. He will squint his eyes like he is trying to squeeze a tear out!

- He was showing all the classic teething signs a couple weeks ago, but still no teeth on the horizon. I was hoping he would have at least one in his head by his first birthday!

-Still has not met a stranger. He loves smiling at everyone we see!

- He spontaneously started waking up about 6:30 a couple weeks ago and seems to really enjoy this new wake up time. Good for me on work days when I can see him before I leave for work, but not so much fun on the weekends! I'm hoping this is just a trend!

- Loves Baby Einstein, singing, talking, and reading. I think he is going to be quite the verbal little boy.

- He doesn't miss a beat. Whenever there is a door or cabinet open or an opportunity arises to get into something, he is right there!

-His attention span is getting shorter and shorter!!

11 month chair pic. These are getting harder and harder to take!

Helping mommy with the laundry.

Big buds

I love to feed myself!

Playing with my tubes. Notice the Aquaphor in his right hand.

Ten Months Old!!

So I'm doing better with my posting, huh?! Only four days behind this time! I can't believe our little guy is already ten months old and that I am going to have to start planning his birthday party soon. It makes me so sad!

We have not been up to anything fun lately. Nate was diagnosed with RSV a week ago, and a couple days later, Ben and I were sick with it as well. I have been out of work most of the week and am still having fever. I haven't had fever in years! So as long as I am still having fever (and I don't even have a voice right now), I can't go to work and be around my precious leukemia patients. So pray that the fever goes away today so that I can go back to work tomorrow! Nate seems to be feeling well. He bounced back pretty quickly but is still pretty snotty. Thank goodness for his new tubes though because both of his ears have been draining as opposed to him having to be on antibiotics for ear infections. Ben is still feeling kinda crummy as well. So needless to say we have pretty much been quarantined to the house for the past week. I am so sad that we were not able to get out and enjoy the beautiful 70 degree weather yesterday.  :(

Since I just posted an update on all of Nate's new fun stuff, there is not much to report on his tenth month. He does know his way around the house now, and he loves to wander off and explore. If we turn our backs for only two seconds, we never know what we are going to find him getting into! I can't imagine how much more interesting life will be when he starts walking! Since he has been sick, he has taken a strong aversion to feeding himself or eating "table foods," and if you put a bite of real food in his mouth (soft carrots, bananas) he will throw up. I am hoping this is just temporary while he is sick. I really don't want to be pureeing baby food for the rest of his life!!

Nine months old...plus a few days

I've been a horrible blogger!! I guess Ben was right when he said he didn't believe I would keep up with it. Oh, well. This just means I have more important things occupying my time, like keeping up with a nine-month-old who is into absolutely EVERYTHING!!! Nate turned nine months on December 26th (at least I am updating this before he turns ten months, right?)

Fun things about Nate:
- 22 pounds, 13 ounces (75th percentile) and 32 inches (off the chart!) at his nine month visit.

- Wearing 12 to 18 month clothes.

- He still has no teeth, but is starting to gum some table food and loves to feed himself.

- He still sleeps from about 7:30 at night to 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. We recently started putting him down awake at night and he has adjusted very well to putting himself to sleep.

- He is pulling up on his feet but hasn't really tried to take steps yet. Today he was standing without holding on to anything a couple seconds without realizing he was doing it!

- He discovered this weekend how much fun it is to open cabinets, so we have had to put locks on them.

- He is THE HAPPIEST, SMILIEST BABY I have ever known! We went to visit my grandmother in assisted living this past weekend, and he was smiling and flirting with all the old ladies! He still has not met a stranger.

- He LOVES the camera. Whenever he sees a camera pointed at him, he hams it up.

- There is absolutely nothing he hasn't tried to open, crawl on, push, pull, climb on, chew on, eat, bang, or throw! But we still love him anyway and love the fact that he has so far proved himself to be 100% boy!!

- After a long two-month battle with constant ear infections and 13 trips to various doctors, Nate finally got tubes on December 30th. He has done great with them and has not awakened one single time during the night since (he had been doing a lot of that).

The rest of this post will be a quick catch-up on Christmas and recent events. Sorry I haven't been more detailed during such a fun season of the year.

Hamming it up for the camera

Excited that Santa is coming!

Dear Santa, I have been such a good boy...

I would rather just play with the boxes!

Look at all my presents!!

Opening his gifts from Santa

Playing with one of his gifts from BeBe and Poppy

I love my new music table!

This was his favorite part of Christmas.

Playing with his cousins on Christmas

I love my new Buzz Lightyear scooter from Marc, Annie, and the kids

Nine month chair pic. We have to distract him to keep him in the chair now.

He loves to read!

My new standing trick

Ready to go play in my first snow!

My first snow! 4 inches!

That's cold!!

Love those cheeks!!