Bye Bye BIrdie

One of Nathan's cutest new words is bird (burr). Coincidentally, a bird decided to build her nest on top of our porch light. Yesterday Cathy said they were out on the porch talking about how birds make nests and our resident Robin decided to come swooping at them. Brian told me later last night that the bird who has a nest outside of his office attacked a new co-worker who came in with a bleeding nose. That clinched it. Bye bye birdie.

The nest was amazingly constructed. It weighed about 3 pounds and was SOLID. Thankfully, there were no eggs inside yet, so I'm hoping Mama has some time to make her home elsewhere before she attempts to do this parenting thing.

Sunny Days

I seem to have taken a break from my usual documentarian activities for this visit. I don't think I took a single picture for almost two days. There was so much cuteness missed! We got to see Rusty, Jenn, and Jason! I don't have proof, but I swear it happened. We did get a few good shots of the great time we had in the pool though!

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Showering Kylleen!

We had the best time in Reading for the long weekend. Kylleen's shower went off without a hitch (even though it started with a snake in the driveway), and it was great to see everyone! The only downside to the beautiful room was that it was a bit...dim. The photos all came out a bit blurry as a result. I didn't bring home the big mama of a camera and our point and shoot doesn't seem to do as well in low light. 

Nathan and the boys came by to say hi to all the ladies. Let's just say he was a big hit. 

Nathan says (13 months)

Words to add to his vocabulary:

• hi
• dada
• mama (sometimes mom)
• up
• yeah
• bye bye
• baby
• hop
• Peek a boo (a-boo) 
• night night (nie nie)
• here/there
• Bear (ba)
• Book (bok)
• Ball (ba)
• Button (hard to describe how he says it, but unique and consistent)
• Bobo
• Bird (Bir)
• no

I'm sure I'm missing a few. There are some that I've heard once or twice, but I'm not sure I can count. I would swear he said "thirsty" once, but really, who knows. He's also starting to do some animal sounds.

Bobo takes some explanation. There's a book, Hug, that is one of Nathan's favorites. It's about a baby monkey that is wandering the African wilds wanting a hug and he sees all kind of other animals hugging. The whole story is told mostly in pictures and contains three words - Hug, Bobo, and Mommy. When Bobo's mom finds him, Nathan smiles SO WIDE. It's adorable and really the only story I'm sure he's following. Bu-bu is repeated constantly by Nathan while I read the book.

Also, Nathan said what could be considered his first sentence, which was, "bye dad" when Brian was heading out for a volleyball game. Brian didn't buy it when I claimed that's what he was saying, and then he said it again! Wonderful boy, proving his mother right, even if it is all about Dad.  I also am pretty sure he responded with "right here" when he was out of eyesight and I asked where he was.

He pretty reliably knows where his own tummy his, my nose, and sometimes my mouth. 

When the men are away, the mice will play

While Dad, Bill, John, and Brian were up at the cottage this weekend opening, the girls and kids hung out. Jess came and spent the night on Friday and we got the rest of the Wyderkos from breakfast to dinner. The weather was beautiful so we checked out the park near our house in the morning (where I had my very first "so you live in the neighborhood and have kids too" parent conversation while Nathan enjoyed the swings). After lunch we played some more and during naps (they all went down pretty much at the same time - win!) Liz transplanted some beautiful ferns from her yard into ours and Jess helped hook up our hose. Once up from naps we made homemade bubbles (you can make a wand out of a hanger), and Zach and Leah watered our lawn. They are just those kind of helpful kids. It really was a fabulous day. 

From what I've heard from Brian, they boys had great weather and a good trip up North. We can't wait for him to get back!

Mother's Day (take two)

My second Mother's Day was much like my first, in the best ways possible. Brian let me sleep in until 9:30 (It's literally been over a year since I've slept past 9)! I woke up to a baby asleep for a nap and came downstairs to breakfast and coffee. Brian framed photos of me with my boy and gave me The Honest Toddler Book (hilarious, you should follow Honest Toddler on Facebook). 

We went to Liz and John's for a delicious lunch made by the boys like last year, and had a fabulous time, like last year. There were delicious cocktails from Brian, Zach performed his Mother's Day songs he learned in preschool, and we all just enjoyed each other's company. Liz is such an inspiration. I'm sure that she gets tired of me pumping her for parenting tips, but I refuse to stop. I can only hope that Nathan ends up being half as delightful to be around in a few years. 

One short (very long) year ago.

What a difference a year makes though. Last year at this time Nathan was 2 weeks old, and I was just starting to get over feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Everyone wanted to hold our sleeping baby and now we have a toddler with a absolute will of his own. I couldn't be happier to be his mom.

A Mother's Day post wouldn't be complete without an ode to my own very wonderful mother who babysat for us just the night before. Mom, you're amazing and I can only hope to be half the mom you are. 

 

A year ago we'd just moved here and Leah wasn't all that sure about Brian. This was a major triumph.

 Look at them now!

Our photo shoot started out pretty much looking like this -

We got one decent one.

And it ended like this...

These three end up together OFTEN.

Aren't they just the prettiest?

And the goofiest?