11 Months Old, Summertime and Kindergarten!

 Oh my word! What a summer we've had here in Seattle. It's the best I can remember temp-wise. 

75-80 degrees every day from June until September. Little rain, lots of fun. 

We didn't travel anywhere, but we sure kept busy.

Nathan is 11 months old, going on 1 YEAR! Oy vey. He's such a little cutie with the sweetest demeanor. We took the kiddos camping with friends a couple weeks ago, and it was the best camping trip yet. Both kids played hard, slept hard and loved it. We took Emily for her first time when she was 2.5, so having a baby was definitely different. Lots o' stuff to pack! We could barely fit Jonas in the car, but a miracle repack job by Matt made it happen. 

Nathan did fantastic. He loved playing in the sand and looking at all the tall trees, birds and dogs around the campsite. He didn't put any dirt or rocks in his mouth, which was totally unexpected and shocking. His fave spot was in the pack with Papa. Unforgettable.

At 11 months, he's attempting to stand up solo and signing 'more' at the dinner table. He's getting his first tooth now, too. No true words other than 'uh-oh' and babbles spoken yet, but he does know what a sheep says: 'Baaa-aaa-aaaa!' He's sleeping well, eating well. I'll start taking him to library story times and music class next month. He dances to everything! This kid is a maniac when it comes to music. Enjoy some pics of our camping adventure:

Emily was a flower girl this summer for our cousins Adam and Christina. She was edible. Purely edible.

Took Emily to the Fair this year again - just her and me. We had a great time. She was big enough to ride on the BIG rollercoaster this year. Woot! She loved the thrill.

 Emily is starting Kindergarten September 4th! I'm really having different feelings than expected at this point. It's all so exciting, but at the same time, this has been the longest I've ever been away from her in a weekday. Think about it...the teacher will see her more in waking hours than I will! It's a lot to wrap my brain around. We went school shopping the other day and, clearly, Emily will be one of the the stylish ones in class! She's such a sassy pants. She's ready to start. Her teacher's name is Mrs.Verrall and she will be attending a k-8 Co-op in Edmonds, the best school academically in the district. It was a lottery drawing to get in, so we are feeling incredibly fortunate. We believe in the public school system, but parent participation being required is what makes this school stand out. She'll do great, and I will be there every step of the way to see her succeed! Oh, the places she will go!

Look Who is 10 Months Old!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_videoeditor&v=ctnpkOB1ylA


Nathan has developed quite an affliction with music. Since about 6 months old, I noticed him dancing to such simple things as the dog lapping up water, a clock ticking and clapping and singing...immediately. This video is of him 'singing' with his stand-up toy during one of its songs...something I noticed he was very enthusiastic about a couple weeks ago. Notice how he pauses then sings when the singer does. I was really impressed!!

(You'll also notice big sissy playing with her toys in the background. Too cute!)

He is an absolute love. I adore this age so much!!! He's just happy to be alive, noticing everything. Today he laughed uncontrollably over virtually nothing for 20 minutes. Everything was making him laugh...mostly his big sister's crazy, loud antics. A baby's laughter is such a joyous sound.  They are not touched by the world's pain yet. It's an amazing time of life.

We love him so much...our wee blue-eyed, blondie. Such a little hunk-a-lunka with a smile that melts hearts everywhere. He's now pulling himself up to standing, army crawling, showing the sign 'all done', and waving 'goodbye', 'hi' and 'night-night.' His first word is 'uh-oh!' He eats all sorts of food. Still on 2-3 naps with 12 hours at night.

Life is good. We are so glad he's here. With a dog, a cat and two healthy kiddos, our family is most certainly complete. We are so grateful.

Xoxo.

Last Day of Preschool

Our little graduate off to Kindergarten!

We are so very proud of our sweet Emily, now a graduate of preschool. She can write her name, all the letters of the alphabet, do basic math addition and subtraction, and she can read beginner 3-letter word reading books. She's come a long way since 3 and she's ready to DOMINATE Kindergarten at Maplewood Co-op K-8!!

****************************************************************************

And look who is 9 months old!!

Little Nathan is eating almost everything we put in front of him, as well has baby food 3 times a day. He is sleeping a full 12 hours at night with 3 naps a day. He is up on all fours now and lunging/rocking forward to grab things. Pretty soon, he'll be crawling all around this joint! He says dadadada, mamama, vavava. He's a pretty easy going baby, sleeps on the go like a champ. He loves to be held and talked to and he smiles at every stranger, but definitely prefers to be held by Mama. We love him to bits!

Happy 5th Birthday, Emily!

Dearest Emily: 

Your outgoing personality practically bursts out of the seams of your soul. It's only fitting your birthday is the anniversary of the day Mt. St. Helens blew its top. At times, it seems your exuberant, infectious laugh can be heard from miles away. Lord knows the entire staff at MLT pool has heard it. Your glowing smile paired with your beautiful blues melts our hearts. You are the funniest kid we've ever known, you are confident yet emotional and sensitive. You are incredibly smart and you are passionate about the people and things in your world. Kid, you WILL move mountains one day. We are so darn proud of you. Happy 5th birthday to our Emma Lemma! Love, Mama, Papa, Nathan, Jonas and Pumpkin the cat.

 

 Emily had an awesome time with all her friends!

The following day, we had family over to celebrate. 

What a lucky girl!

Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate this very special birthday. Love to all!

8 Months

Nathan had the pleasure spending his last few days of his 7th month in sunny Palm Springs. Joining us were our longtime friends, Ashley, Lewis, Sean and Emelie (and their precious kiddo, Noah). It was a wonderful trip where two milestones were met by each kiddo! Emily learned how to dive and Nathan started self feeding Cheerios and other foods. 

When we arrived home, Matt and I agreed it was time to ditch the monitor and do some nighttime sleep training with Nathan. Well, no training needed! The kid did 12 hours peacefully the first night! Hurrah!

Nathan is a sweetie. He definitely loves to be close to Mama, sissy and Papa. He is slowly warming up to the Mullet family chaos...VERY slowly. :) We love him so much, and we are so glad he is here!

7 Months!

Hello, 7 months! 

Nice to see you. This is, by far, the BEST age of babyhood. Nathan is so happy. Everything is new and exciting. He could be held in one's arms for hours and not utter a word. He observes it all. Babbles a little. Not as much as his sister. He is comfortably sitting up now, really into baby food and starting to babble 'da da da'. He knows who every family member is...as we call out their name, he'll look over to see them. He is a cat napper. I can't get any more than 45 minutes out of this guy during the day at one time, so he naps about 4 times a day. At night, he goes anywhere from 4 to 7 hour stretches. Usually up at 11 p.m., 3 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Mostly, he adores Emily:

He lights up whenever she walks into the room. They are best friends already, and it makes my heart melt! She's an amazing big sister. This kid is so lucky. 

He has an abundance of family members to love him, in addition to us! But seeing the joy of siblinghood develop is quite amazing to me. I love their bond. I hope it lasts a lifetime with few hiccups in between. We have little control over this as parents. I know they will fight. That's inevitable. All we can do is hold our breath and hope they will be close and loving toward eachother the majority of the time...the rest of their lives. I think there is something special between these two, so I'm pretty optimistic for the future.

6 Months!

Oh, what a wonderful age...6 months! Little Nathan is winning hearts left and right with his bright blue eyes and big, sweet smile. 

He is now on baby food full time. He loves to eat! He has 3 meals a day in addition to nursing and one bottle of formula at night ( although he really resists the bottle from others). He is sleeping anywhere from 5-7 hour stretches. Sometimes, when he is feeling gracious he will go 8-9. He is a very inconsistent sleeper at night, but he is super happy and easy going during the day. He is napping well, too. About 45 minutes every couple hours. He loves to sleep on his belly and is a sucker for back patting. 

He is also sitting up now for long periods. It is a whole new view for him. He adores his big sissy. She is his best friend...he smiles and laughs for her the most.

I love this little man!