Spring!

Hello there if anyone still reads this blog!  Sorry for such an absence.  No excuses, but here you go with some photos.
Nate's been doing really well, talking a mile a minute every day, he really enjoys telling people the shapes of certain items.  Can't go on a walk without seeing a stop sign and yelling Octagon octagon or grabbing the handles on the swings at the park and yelling Triangle!
   Here's a few photos from the winter and his blissful days on his sled!

He also had croup over the winter which he later took amoxicillin for...which turned his skin in to this...

That cleared up after about a week of Nate attempting to rub his own skin off, it was pretty miserable.  Thankfully he had my IPad to keep him busy which he's actually much more skilled at using than me!

Thankfully spring rolled around for us to be able to spend more time outdoors!  We have a lot of parks near our house and it's heaven for Nate!

Here's Nate proving that he is more skilled than his grandpa Jimbo and he successfully can run to third base without skinning up his entire body :)

And here's another Jimbo favorite...Nate on the pitcher's mound, throwing left handed, in his dodgers sweatshirt.

For those of you who don't know, we are doing the Children's Hospital's Walk again this year.  The walk benefits the NICU neonatal programs here in Minneapolis and St. Paul.  Nate was in the Minneapolis Hospital for 9 days and then in a "regular" hospital for 4 more weeks.  The great care he received at Children's was really why Nate was able to leave so early so that all he needed to do was "grow" at Unity Hospital.  We're completely grateful to that program and all that they do.  As you can imagine, it costs a lot of money for a baby to be there even for just one day.  If you'd like to donate I listed our Team Page website down below.  If you want to make a general donation you can do that from the link on the left side of the page.  Our Team name is the Nater Tot's and the event is June 2nd, 2012!

Here's a few photos of Nate 2 years ago from his time there!

http://babysteps.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1005095&lis=0&kntae1005095=35CFC017C5F1474AB40DEE143B9F9766&supId=0&team=5051250&cj=Y

He's obviously a healthy, happy boy now and we couldn't have done it without Children's!
Happy May to all and I will blog at ya later!

Here are a few more pictures from our day at the zoo for Halloween!

Mary, Dan, and Finn in his Superman costume! Who knows what Dan is celebrating?!

Dan and Anya checking out the bears.

Anya keeping the duck boy in line!

Ducky and Aunt Trisha...also known as Shasha or Tatas to Nate. (Trisha is a very difficult name to pronounce!)

Ryan and his daugther Claire in her cute costume!

Don't ask...Nate was over the duck head and I got to wear it instead.

Nate and Claire checking each other out.

Nate oftentimes prefers to wear my sunglasses!

Daddy Joe and Nate taking a ride on the slide

Just Superman and half a duck chilling at the park :)

Nate finds the prairie dogs pretty entertaining.  Joe prefers to tell him stories about how to shoot them someday

My parents were up this past weekend and we took a trip to the Children's Museum.  Here we are building some fun wooden block stacks.

Doctor area at the museum...I'm reminiscing the old days where I was on crutches every other minute!  They have mini crutches too which Nate was not too fond of.

Nate was very in to the x-ray area though and enjoyed looking at the bones.

A heater that Nate was very proud to tell us and sign to us that it was hot.  He still chose to continue sitting on it however!

Stone face at the supermarket area.

This is the fun water area that we had to leave a little early as Nate attempted to choke hold another child who was also trying to play with the water experiment!  Sharing is always a work in progress!

Nate being unusually cautious in the play area.  It took him 5 minutes to walk down that little ramp as other kids were flying by him.

All is going well here!  Nate's continuing to grow like a weed and have a great time at his daycare.  I get to hear fun stories everyday of how Nate interacts with all of the other kids.  Our daycare provider Kelly was goofing around with her daugther the other day and Nate thought at one point they were arguing.  Apparently he got on top of the little table in the kitchen, started yell/crying, and shouted " I crying, I crying" as loud as could be.  That flare for the dramatics is going to be attributed to Auntie Trisha/Grandpa Jimbo qualities :)

Nate the duck!

Halloween at the zoo! Cute duck alert!
Nate was not too excited at first to don the suit but eventually he warmed to the idea!

Summer fun

 I know I know.......sorry about the lack of blogging...it's summer :)

Nate and I spent the whole week in Monroe a few weeks ago when we had back to back weddings.
Here's some shots in the car on the way down.  Nate ate an entire 6 inch sub.

 Boys were wiped after the food.

At least the babies had pillows :)   Nate's new favorite show to watch in the car on long trips is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  I swear this intense look was on his face for like 20 minutes!  There was no tearing him away from the show!

The balloon rally was in town and Grandpa Jimbo took Nate out to see some of the balloons go past the house.

Nate's new favorite spot is in the bay window at the house.

I told him multiple times 'No' to taking the candles from the holder and this is what the slick guy tried to do.

The tv was on, so he kept thinking if he kept his head towards the tv and just stuck his arm over without moving his head I wouldn't notice...I don't think so sir!
We brought Nate's tent home which folds down quite easily and Cooper the cat was not excited when we took it down because it's where he spent most of the week!

We went to the zoo in Madison too and here are some shots from there.  We picked a rainy day so we weren't lucky that way but still had a lot of fun.

These next photos are a very big accomplishment for Nate.  He's a huge fan of the swings at the park but will not go on slides.  We went to the play area at the zoo and Nate worked up the courage to go through this tube thingy on his own.  It was life changing for him!  Here he is very unsure of it...

 Grandma trying to coax him (she'll be super happy I posted this shot!)

Getting brave..

Unsure...

 Apparently this was no big deal

Then we went to the merry-go-round or kaleidoscope as my mother called it...don't ask

It was as if it drugged him.  He just kept going ooooohhhhhhhh and falling backwards but he seemed to enjoy it!
Goats, goats, goats!

Random head shots...

 Turtle on the side of the road!  Nate kept screeching ah ah ah!

Shots from the drive home....passed out, and a prize coozie from Stacy and Curt's wedding to keep his drink cold :)

When we got back home, Nate started his first day's at daycare.  My friend Mary's sister-in-law has been doing daycare for 20 years and has a lot of space and fun kids for Nate to get knocked around a little bit by.  He's ready for some serious socialization.  Trisha wanted me to take a picture of Nate on his first day of daycare with a sign so here was my attempt with a VERY unhelpful 1 year old!  He's smirking here, knowing I want him to cooperate.

Stop making fun of my handing writing and sad piece of paper!
Here goes the great chase...

Completely uncooperative

He literally sat in the corner at that point just laughing and not cooperating!  I tried, that's all I can say!

New stuff.....Nate's biting, has his 2 year molars and many many other teeth, recently gave me a summer cold, colored his first picture with crayons the other day, usually eats chalk at any point he's left alone with it, hugs often, is obsessed with fans, gives high fives, knows where his nose is, and how to sign eat, more, drink, shoes, thank you, and done, still says mama and dada, plus up, ball, lamp, done, pup, and sock.  
Oh and this one is totally my fault...I may have said the s word a few weeks ago in anger at myself and wouldn't you know the little bugger picked that word up as clear as could be.  We've turned it in to sit or sit down but when he says sit...it definitely comes out as s%#t.  Whoops!  
He's also still head over heels for these twin 2 year old cuties at daycare and follows them like a puppy, loves swimming and anything water related.  He has no problem heading in to the lakes!  At daycare he spends a lot of time outside playing in the sandbox, with all the toys, and in the pool.  The family has 2 huskies that he is also obsessed with.  That's it for now and I promise to try and blog more!