Memorial Day Weekend, Breakfast on the Farm, Family gatherings, and more...

Sorry, sorry, sorry about the no blogging for a few weeks.  Some of you have kindly reminded me through email/text/phone calls to let me know of my slacking!  Due to this I will post many many pictures this blog to hopefully make up for my lack of blogs.  We went down to Monroe for Memorial Day so Nate could meet the rest of his family members and spend some time with his grandparents.  Here's Nate set and ready for his trip to Monroe...notice Joe's lovely camo decoration of Nate's handle on his car seat...classy!

Nate traveled a smidge rougher than his first time down to Monroe. He still did pretty good, he just didn't sleep the entire time.  He's awake a lot more during the day and I think he got a bit sick of sitting in his car seat for hours on end.  He still only tacked on an extra hour and a half to the trip, so not too bad.
   Nate attended his first breakfast on the farm near Juda that weekend.  For those city folks, breakfast on the farm is quite self explanatory...it's a breakfast on a farm!  I've loved it for years...not sure why because mom used to make me get up early to go but for some reason it was a blast.  A ton of people in the county go to the farm and eat the breakfast, get some ice cream, pet some animals, and that's about it.  I think since so many people in town were on farms and I never was, it was quite the new experience for me....a little different from my growing up in the Ludlow Tavern business :)
  Here's Aunt Trish, Nate, mom, dad, and I at the farm...
Nate actually was awake for some of the trip but wasn't as excited as I was...probably cause he couldn't eat the food :)
Below is a bunch of Monroe family shots.  My mom had a cookout for us on Sunday and the whole fam made it over....sorry to my aunts and all those who hung out with Nate but I did not get photos with...next time I promise!
Above is cousin Stacy and her fiancee Curt...Stacy may love her beverage more than holding Nate....kidding, kidding!
Below is cousin Nikki and daddy Joe definitely loving their baby beverages more than holding Nate.  No, actually Nikki held and fed Nathan but the picture of her with him had me in it and was not flattering so I chose not to post it...sorry Nikki, I'm just that vain.
Next is cousin-to-be Lindsay with Nate.  She will be a permanent member of the family this July and we can't wait for the big day...Nate will be staying with his Grandma and Grandpa Olson for that wedding so mom and dad can enjoy the day baby free!
And now for Lindsays hubby to be...cousin Ryan.  Now, poor Ry was set up by me for a bad picture.  I knew Nate was getting grumpy so passed him off to him, sorry Ryan!  That's Grandma Shirl in the background not wanting anything to do with angry Nate.



Poor cousin Andrea didn't get a chance to grab Nate till the end of the party due to many family members fighting for his attention, he's such a popular man!

 
Uncle Jonny came to the Ruf/Dahmen cookout and got a little Nate time in.


  
My friend Sarah came over with her daughter Taylor, Tay was not so thrilled but she was a bit excited to go hang out with friends so I can't blame her for wanting to head out!
Joe also took Nate over to see Gar, he had the magic touch with him.
  
Nate also got to meet his Great Grandma Olson and spend some time with her.  He also spent a big chunk of time with his Olson/Komprood family but all of the photos I have of that time are in my possession and I'm not be able to post because they aren't on my digital camera.  Trisha came with me to the Komprood farm to do something Joe has been trying to get us to do for years...shoot some of his guns.  I have long refused this activity but finally caved in.  I might say that we were some sharpshooters out there hitting the bullseye, a mini-gopher - it was just plastic Minnesotans, don't get angry!, and some clay pigeons.  I shot one, Trisha shot two...big deal Trisha, big deal, I did better on my bullseye so there!

Below are just some shots of Nate hanging out around the house.  First one is a bath shot...we covered him up so as to respect his privacy :)  Nate loves his bath/spa time.

  
Nate now enjoys laying on his back and being entertained by his toys that sing songs and make all kinds of noise.  Aunt Trish likes playing classical music for him...piano seems to be his favorite as he perks up for that the most.

  Tummy time is not Nate's favorite activity as you can see from the photos below.  You have to time it right...not after a full belly, or if a poop needs to happen, or just any general irritation is happening for him!


  Nate does lift his head up pretty well though from his mat.  He kicks his legs like a maniac and sometimes manages to squirm his way off of the mat.  He's close to rolling over and gets on his sides pretty easily but hasn't made it all the way over.  I think it's attributed to his amazing core strength and tendency to stretch and grow every time you move him.
Below is a trio montage of Nate's growing personality...the first is his inquisitiveness...he often gives us these bug eyes or my favorite, the one eyebrow raise.

Next, is his love for all things food related...

And finally, his little laughing/giggling/grunting/happy self

This Friday the 11th is Nate's 4 month check up with our Doctor and he'll get his 4 month shots.  He'll do another weigh in and length check so we're excited to see how he's grown. 1. Because we're happy to have a healthy/happy growing boy, and 2. Because Joe and I place bets against each other each time to see who's closer to guessing the correct weight :)  I told you I can make a game/competition out of anything.  Nate has not given us a solid night of sleeping but he is doing a better job of sleeping for more than 2/3 hours and has moved to sometimes 4/5 hours of solid sleep.  We usually get up around 1 and 5, and then he's up around 7 and ready to take on the day.
  I'll try to let you know all of those new details once we get em.  I hope this extra long blog pleases you all!