Nathan turns 1!!

Nathan had his birthday on Saturday, December 16. Both sets of grandparents and Uncle Todd came over to celebrate the day. He thought everything was great! He enjoyed the attention and the new toys. He's moving all over the house now and is such a good, cute little guy.

Mastering the Basics- Eating and Walking

Nathan is becoming a little boy. He wants to feed himself with a spoon. Of course, he doesn't get much on the spoon when he does it himself, but he's pretty good about getting it into his mouth. He's also walking all over the place. He pulls himself up on the furniture and then walks until he falls down, then finds something else and pulls himself up and goes again. He thinks he's quite a big boy and is very proud of himself.

Go COUGARS!!

Ryan and I went to the BYU-Utah football game with Mom & Dad and Mike & Ann's family. What an exciting game! I wish that I didn't get so nervous, but I'm sure glad it ended the way it did. Nathan has been looking through the BYU media guide since the game - he wants to have "knowledge" even at a young age.

Getting Ready for Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving we pulled out our Christmas tree and all of our Christmas decorations. We did most of the set-up while Nathan was napping, but when he woke up he thought it was all great! He's been pretty good about not pulling on the tree and he loves the lights on it. This isn't Nathan's first Christmas, but he was little last year that it seems like it. We are looking forward to this holiday season.

New Recipes

I have become a bit of a Rachael Ray groupie, I'm afraid. I watch her show a few times a week (3 times slots to choose from!) and I finally decided to try a couple of her recipes. She makes it look so easy, and while I don't chop as fast as her, they really take just a little over 30 minutes. We tried Chipotle Chicken with Cashews and Florentine Meatballs. They were both really good. Ryan really liked the chipotle one. It was pretty spicy, but very tasty.

Adventures with Smoke Alarms

A few nights ago we heard a chirping in the middle of the night. We have a smoke alarm that is near the highest point in our house. It's above the stairwell that leads to the basement and I have dreaded it needing to be changed since I moved in. (Of course, I just recently learned that they should be checked and changed regularly, but I was holding onto the dream that the battery would outlast our tenure in the home.) Well, after hoping that it was one of the more reachable alarms, we came to conclusion that it wasn't. Ryan was a brave soul who ventured up on the ladder at 3:15 AM to change the battery. He could barely reach it and it took a little cajoling to get it open (another lesson learned--know how to open the smoke alarms by practicing on the easy to reach ones), but it finally came open and all is well. I'm glad Ryan was coherent and awake enough to get it done. It was kind of blurry to me the next morning, so it's a good thing that Ryan wasn't.

Little Helper - Little Angel

Nathan loves to "help" with the dishes. He is very good at opening doors now and has found the container for the dishwasher detergent packs. He opens the lid with his teeth and then pulls the little packs out. He'll help put a few back in, but once they're in, he wants them out again.



Nathan also likes to help unload the dishwasher. We make sure and get all of the knives and forks out and then he pulls out his spoons. He tries to climb on the door of the dishwasher if the spoons aren't close enough to reach.




Nathan fell asleep in the car when we were on our way home and he just looked so peaceful. I like to watch him sleep, especially when he has his little arm curled behind his head. It's hard work to help so much around the house, so he gets good rest when he has a chance!

Learning New Things

It seems like Nathan is really learning a lot of new things right now. He is no longer a baby and is becoming quite an adventurous little guy. Here are a few of things that he has learned in the past couple of weeks.

How to Eat Suckers
After Halloween, we helped Nathan eat one of the suckers he got. He really liked it. He even wanted to share with Mom and Dad.



New Games While Eating
We usually give Nathan some finger foods like Cheerios and a couple of lids to play with while eating. It keeps him distracted while we try to get food into his mouth. He's usually pretty good at opening his mouth and alternating between his veggies and the cheerios, but this week he learned to use the lid as a shield. I would try to give him some veggies and he used the lid as a shield and hurried and put a Cheerio in and covered his mouth with the lid before I could get the veggies in.

Nathan also likes to play peek-a-boo while eating. He has usually been feeding himself something and getting whatever cereal, fruits or veggies that I'm feeding him on his fingers, so he gets food all over his face. Needless to say, the food on his face doesn't bother him, but the washcloth afterwards is an ordeal!



Nathan knows what a ball is!
When you ask Nathan where his ball is he looks around and then goes and finds it. He usually pushes it with his hand when he gets to it or puts it in his mouth. He has several balls (surprise, surprise), and he knows that they are all balls. This is very exciting for mom because now I know he understands some things. When will he understand enough to clean up all of his toys :)? At least it's a step in the right direction.


Stacking Rings
Nathan has liked to take the rings off for a couple of weeks, but this week he mastered putting them back on. He doesn't know the order, though. He can even get the little red one on. That was the toughest to learn, but he gets excited and claps his hands when he gets them on. Of course, he usually takes a moment to chew or suck on each ring before it goes back on the stack. Oh, the thrill of simple things.



Getting into everything!
Nathan has learned how to open cupboard doors, drawers, and likes to get things out. He can't open the refrigerator, but when it's open, he takes the opportunity to explore! I was going through his clothes to sort out the ones that fit and the ones that were too small. He was a big help in pulling everything out. Of course, when I wanted to put it all back in he wasn't quite as helpful - he still wanted to pull everything out. It took a few minutes - it was 2 things in and 1 thing out for awhile.

Halloween Fun!

Oh boy! Halloween has never been one of my favorite holidays, but when you have a little munchkin who looks so adorably cute in his purple dragon costume, what's not to love? Nathan was really good while he was in his costume. We went to our ward Trunk-or-Treat and it was pretty cold, but he stayed toasty and didn't try to take the head off of his costume at all. He even reached into a few bowls and pulled out his own treat (and then held on to one of them the rest of the time).

Afterwards we went over to Grandma & Grandpa Taylor's house. He was so excited to see Kyle. We got a few pictures before they both got too hot in their costumes - the little purple dragon and the little bit bigger monkey. They were very cute to see together.


Don't you just want to squeeze those little cheeks?!

Happy Moments

Nathan is such a happy little guy. Here are a few things that made him smile this past week:

Warm PJ's!!
Nathan needed some more warm jammies because winter is on its way and the nights are getting chilly. We got him a dinosaur blanket sleeper. It keeps him nice and toasty.


Birthday Candles and Ice Cream
We had a fun time celebrating Kristen's birthday. Nathan and Kyle loved the candles on the cake. Kyle is old enough to know that you blow them out. Nathan, however, still wants to grab them. Let's hope he gets over that tendency before his own birthday in December. Nathan also had some ice cream. He likes it a lot and was ready with his mouth open for more.



Exploring His Territory
Nathan likes to roam around the house and he had fun playing peek-a-boo around the piano. It's so fun to see how little things make him happy.

Moving Around

This week Nathan has been moving around more than ever. We have to watch him as he crawls faster and faster and likes to get into plants and fake trees around the house. He's also graduated from walking with the aid of the laundry basket to walking with the aid of a toy walker, which Grandma Taylor gave to him this week. He enjoys it a lot, but has yet to figure out how to turn corners with it. He can move straight ahead but needs guidance to turn. On Monday, he turned 10 months old -- only a couple months away from the one-year mark.