Not sure where he gets it

Pretty regularly Cathy will send us pictures and videos, especially when they are at Baby E's house. This is the gem she sent today of him walking around in her shoes. I love that she managed to capture one of those moments that make the toddler years so fun.

WARNING - ultrasound photos

I'm going to speak the unspoken here. I generally find ultrasound photos a little silly. I mean, I love the ones of my babies and can look at them for an embarrassing length of time, but I also have to admit that they pretty much look the same as any other ultrasound photo. I'm 95% certain I wouldn't be able to pick my kids out of a lineup when only presented with the black and white blobs. With all that said, I happily and sincerely squeal over anyone else's who wants to show them to me because I LOVE what they represent. The expectation, the first glimpses of who this new person will be, the general excitement that an ultrasound holds - I drink it in. Please show me your ultrasound photos! It is in that spirit that I share with you these of Baby Girl Kelly. Not because I think they are oh-so-adorable (let's be honest here), but because we got to see her the day before I was 31 weeks, and I just love ultrasounds.

They wanted to check in on her growth to make sure it wasn't hindered by a fibroid that I have (sorry if that grosses anyone out). I wasn't too worried about it since I've been dealing with this sucker since before Nathan was born, but I am never going to turn down an ultrasound! She's doing just fine, was estimated to be about 3lbs 4oz. at the time, and hanging out with her foot behind her head. I can't get my foot above my waist at the moment, so I'm very impressed.

That's our lady!

foot!

We've started to make some actual progress in her room too! On Saturday Ted helped Brian pick up a Hemnes dresser that I had found online (IKEA is out of stock indefinitely), which is the first piece of furniture we've gotten into the room so far and is starting to make things feel all the more real (thank you, Ted!). I've dusted off my sewing machine and have been working on some projects for her room and even one for Nathan (I'll do a post later on about all of them if I can get my act and camera together). Mostly very simple things that involve sewing in a straight line - thanks Pinterest! I'm really not sure that it qualifies as nesting so much as just my general low-grade OCD need to plan for things over which I have very little control.

General update of an almost 2 year old

Drawing has become a big winner these days. The Crayola washable markers really live up to their name, which is awesome since while Nathan's really pretty good at staying on the paper, he definitely gets a little overly enthusiastic sometimes with his sweeping strokes. He loves having us draw him specific pictures, especially faces. I draw a lot of pictures of "Dad." 

He is also a fan of having me write out words and is starting to be able to pick out certain letters. His favorite letter is T, followed by S and M. We've made some serious progress on B and O. There really isn't a rhyme or reason to how he's learning them, but it's fun nonetheless. Most requested words are Mom, Dad, Nathan, and Cathy. Oh, and Frog. I think that tells you who are the major players in his life. That ugly arcade frog has really solidified a place in his heart. You cannot plan these things! 

I also learned today that magic erasers get out pencil marks on the wall. It was a very surreal Harold and the Purple Crayon moment. I had been putting clothes away in Nathan's room when I heard a scratching sound in the hallway. Little Mr. had found a pencil and was having a great time literally walking down the hallway dragging it along the wall and periodically creating a mini-masterpiece. With Nathan wielding a wet sponge with a little soap (not sure it was actually necessary) and me with a magic eraser, we had it cleaned up in a less than 2 minutes (I actually almost got my camera to document the whole thing, and then thought that may have been a bit much). I thought it was good to have him involved in the clean up process, but it somewhat backfired because he thought he bubbles on the sponge were so great he wanted to wipe down the entire wall and did not agree with me that we were done. 

He continues to be really dear with baby E on the whole. He is super sweet trying to give her cuddles, helping hold her bootle, giving kisses, etc. until he gets too tired, and then we start to see a little more jealousy come out. I can't blame him too much, I'm kind of ornery when I'm tired too. We have found if we say, "time to walk away" he really will 90% of the time. A lessons we could all learn from I would say. She loves watching him and sleeps about half of the day.

"Give her a kiss, Nathan." 

"How'd I do, Mom?"

"Now, I think I'll put my finger in her ear..."

Look at this expression!!! 100% scamp.

A little video that is kind of boring, but I love to watch. My favorite part is when he tastes his concoction with a dip of his finger. 

Nathan says - a lot!

We are going through what feels like a language explosion right now! A few new words show up daily and a lot of them actually stick around. This sponge phase is pretty entertaining!

Below is a video where I managed to capture my new favorite word from yesterday - shobel (shovel). I guess he's heard it enough this winter it finally stuck!

Yesterday I also had goose bumps on my arms and Nathan was fascinated by the texture. He was rubbing my arm and before I could explain what they were he looked up at me with a huge smile and declared them "bubbles!" I have to say that I was impressed how accurately descriptive he could be with a limited vocabulary.

He's starting to put words together that definitely make sense, "Dad, help" or "book, read." I'm not sure it really counts as sentences, but he's definitely getting his point across. We have been pushing "please" pretty hard to help him not sound so much like a dictator, but we have only heard it unprompted a few times. Patience, grasshoppers. 

Hats, take 2!

Someone has a new favorite dinner hat! 

Toddler selfies!

Hats!

Nathan loves hats. He typically doesn't want to take them off, and especially loves putting on Brian's. I think he actually rocked this one backward amazingly well. He was really hamming it up when I was taking the pictures. 

He's also been loving the bouncing dragon that Liz gave him for Christmas. Frog joins him regularly.