Monroe bound and Christmas ready!!

Well, we're off to Monroe tomorrow and excited to celebrate Nate's first Christmas!  People keep asking if I got him lots of stuff.....my response...no :)  I did get him one book because he is getting more and more interested in reading.  I don't really see the point in going crazy on toys especially since his favorite toys are empty toilet paper rolls, Christmas paper rolls, spoons, and paper.  We have to be careful whenever we have paper/cardboard/plastic around because he attacks it and tries to eat it instantaneously.  I don't know if he's low on some sort of vitamin or what!
Here's us a few weeks back hunting for our perfect tree...well our affordable tree this year :)

Here's the morning after I did my decorating.  Joe won't help me because it's MY tree since I always want a real one.  I don't mind though because I love real trees and I do all the cleaning up afterwards too, so there Joey.   One year I even took it down myself, threw it over the deck, and drug it to the front to be picked up!

Nate's growing like a weed and fitting in to his 12 month clothes pretty easily.  He's back to eating pretty well now that his first tooth is cut so hopefully he's in a good eatin mood for Christmas.
Here's a few at home photos..

Nate's using a sippy cup pretty regularly now and has a good grip on that.  He says gooooooo a lot but is still mostly a fan of screeching, gurgling, and yelling rather than making any noticeable sounds.  He loves standing and holds on to the coffee table for 20 minutes at a time.  He can walk all the way around the coffee table on his own by holding on to the edges and side stepping around it.  He's fallen quite a few times of course but doesn't usually make a peep and just tries to reach back up and get back standing.  Joe lowered his mattress all the way down because I went in to get him after a nap and he was standing up holding on to the edge of his crib...slight heart attack on my end!  His favorite games are when we sneak up and down the stairs and attack him, play peek a boo, and bark at him....yes bark at him.  He thinks it's a riot! 
Like I said, he likes books and especially loves this book with a mirror in it.  He LOVES looking at himself and kissing/licking himself.  It's pretty gross actually.  A lot of times he lays his face on the mirror and just stares.

Well, that's it for now, I should get back to packing up for the weekend.  Have a wonderful Christmas all and hope to see a lot of you over the next few days!

Yes...we're alive

Ok, sorry for the lack of blogging but we are having some serious technical difficulties at the Ruf/Olson household.  The camera is dead and the charger can't be found....and no it doesn't run off of regular batteries so we can't put in new ones.  Plus, my computer has been hacked and I can't get online and now have to fix my computer....blah.  Anyways, here's a few old photos off of the video camera and a funny video of Nate enjoying the swing at the park back in late fall.
Tipping.....

 Slipping....

 Fallen...

Here's a video from swinging in the park a while ago...I believe Nate enjoys it!  Sorry the video is sideways.

We enjoyed the blizzard this weekend by staying home and doing a whole lot of nothing.  It was way to cold to head out and enjoy the snow, plus I doubt my car would start if we went out.  We got our Christmas tree last week and Nate hasn't been too interested in it or the gifts underneath it so that is nice not having it get attacked! 
He finally finally finally cut his first tooth.  For the past 3-4 days he's been insanely cranky and refused to eat much of anything.  Thankfully, we've had some experience in frustration with this before so we didn't lose our cool with him not eating.  He won't really let you look at the tooth but I can feel the little dagger in there.  He's back to his old eating ways now and wants everything in your hands!
What else has happened...?  We had a great Thanksgiving back in Monroe and plan on heading back for Christmas.  Nate's crawling everywhere and having no problems getting around.  He loves getting in the kitchen now and opening drawers.  I give him pans which he likes to pound on so that ups the noise level.  He laughs hysterically out of nowhere sometimes.  It's kind of odd/funny.  He was in the highchair the other day and I was going to the fridge and making a bottle and he started low growling in to a crazy shrieking laugh.  Trisha came in the door and we were both talking and out of no where he just started laughing again.  Like I said, it's funny but kind of odd!  I'm afraid he's plotting crazy plans. 
  Alrighty, I'll try to fix our tech problems and blog more!!  Happy Holidays