Cheese Days parade 2010!

This past weekend was my birthday, wedding anniversary, and cheese days all together!  That's a lot of celebrating, so I made sure to do just that :)
Of course, again I forgot my camera so the only shots I have are from the parade on Sunday from Trisha's camera on her phone.  Nate was awesome at the parade.  It was cold and rainy but he loved every minute of it...minus the giant swiss bus laaaaaying on the obnoxious horn.  He didn't mind the bands one bit and even took a half hour cat nap!
Nate and Aunt Trisha....oh, and Susie Dahmen being a weirdo in the back :)  Kidding, kidding, I love you Aunt Sue!  Nate should enter a baby smiling contest in her opinion! 

Happy baby..., happy cold family

He seriously smiled and laughed the whole time, it was pretty cute.  He must have realized his roots and was thrilled to be there with all the craziness of cows, cheese, beer, and mullets!  Here's some parade shots for all you Minnesotans who couldn't make it this year!

Nate's Great-Grandpa John rode the cheesemakers float again this year but joined us afterwards to watch the rest of the parade.

The weekend was a blast but it went by way too fast!  Can't wait for Cheese Days 2012 :)

Giggles

 Just a cute quick video of Nate's crazy scream/giggle during the tickle game! 

Nate is excited for his first Cheesedays this weekend!  We are making the trip down to Wisconsin tomorrow...fun way to spend moms birthday :)

Root, root, root, for the.....who?

With football season upon us, Nate has had a week filled with trying on all of his sports gear that now fits!  He's just confused as to who he likes the most.  That's alright, he can cheer for everybody.
Here's Nate in his Badger gear getup which was a gift.  He looks like a little bball player for the Badgers starting line up.  Enjoy it Jimbo :) 

Here's a view of his nice kicks.

 Go gophers...

 Every month on the 10th we mark Nate's height on the wall...This was his 7 month mark in September.

Nate now does what we like to call the bootie shuffle.  It's his attempt at crawling.  He raises his butt in the air, kicks his feet around on the ground and shuffles across the floor.  It's not really a crawl, more of a floppy dead fish kick :)  He was doing it right before I started this video, but as soon as he sees the camera he stops everything to smile and pay attention to it! 

NFL time baby.....

Oh choices to be made in the world!

End of summer fun...

Well, we've had a few busy weekends lately but they've been a blast.  This picture makes me laugh because it's the one shot we tried to get of Nate at the state fair.  I wanted to leave but Joe had to see the giant pig...which weighed 1,450 pounds by the way, but Nate was not feeling it when we got there.  He had done great for 4 or 5 hours but he was ready to go.  He had just pinched our friends daughter Jacqueline...not on purpose...but I told him no, and then a complete meltdown happened and this is the shot we have!  I don't know why we didn't think to bring out the camera before that.

We ate lots of good food that's bad for you so that was fun. 
Nate's big enough to fit in some of his cammo gear so Joe is ecstatic.

Our friend Mary just had her baby Finn in August so they came up to pay a visit.
Here's Nate in his chair and Finn relaxing on the floor.

Nate's getting a closer look at Finn

Nate wants to wrestle and roll on top of Finn.

Nate is starting to get shocked and upset he is not the only baby in the world to be paid attention to.

Nate has just realized that Finn is wearing some of his clothes and he has not yet learned to share nicely.

I'm sure soon enough Nate and Finn will become fast friends!  Nate just needs to learn how to share and get along :)
I just think this double eyebrow raise shot is funny.  I like to be out and about doing things but it's weird when people stop you to look at your baby.  Sometimes I'm really not in the mood, especially with the overly touchy folks.  There are worse things in the world though aren't there?  Most people say he looks a lot like Joe but it's always followed with he has my eyes.  It's weird that there is such a consensus out there with the strangers of the world!

Nate has moved on to trying peas and apples.  I'd say of all his foods so far he is the biggest fan of apples and sweet potatoes.

Trisha's cat Henry was more intrigued by the peas than Nate was!
Over the Labor Day weekend, Joe, Nate, Trisha, Andrew and I went to Stillwater.  It's only about half an hour from our house and is on the river and is just a really pretty town.  We went to a wine tasting, walked along the river, and ate dinner along the river.  It was a blast!  Andrew was concerned about having a baby at a winery but there was another couple there with their son so we didn't feel too bad!

This is the lift bridge in Stillwater

Here's a gondola ride.

More shots by the river...

It was a great long weekend, now we're back to the grind!

New foods journey continues...

Well even though he's enjoying those prunes in this video, he is definitely over them.    He's also worked his way to sweet potatoes and he's a HUGE fan of those.  Next up is pears or peas....we shall see, can you stand the suspense?  I need a life, I know :)
Here's Nate in his high chair that we've finally gotten out.  He looks so small in it, it's like the ole days when he looked like a little peanut in his car seat....which on a side note gets crazzzzy heavy as Nate keeps gaining weight.  I want to invent some legs that can pop down with wheels to get him to and from vehicles and what not!  Doesn't he look like a patient, eager, little student....he's such a faker!  

 

Here, the baby I've come to know and love came raging out and his hands a swinging, trying to get the spoon and feed himself or just take the spoon and chew on it.  I'm not letting him grab the spoon and gnaw because he obviously thinks that is fun and a game, but sometimes the kid is pretty strong!  I think he would rather take all the food he kind of pushes out of his mouth and shove it back in with his fingers and eat it of off them.  That is super appetizing, I know!

I'm not a neat freak by any means, but Nate's need to shove his fingers in his mouth at all times, especially while eating drives me bonkers.  He then gets the food all over everything, his clothes, his hair, his ears, his eyes.  It's a blast.  Normal baby stuff but we're now back to changing his outfits as often as we had to in the early days when he would pee through everything!  Oh well, it's a good thing we've had so many wonderful people give us clothes so he has plenty to sift through.  I suggested mini-baby handcuffs to hold his hands back but Trisha thought that was inappropriate :)  How weird!
Oh how he loves his squeaky toy ducken.  Joe and I can't decide if it's a duck or chicken so he has been christened ducken!  Nate can be in the middle of a screaming fit and if you start squeaking that toy he will start laugh/crying, it's actually pretty funny.  He eventually calms down with a few squeaks.

 Tomorrow after work I'm taking Nate to meet Joe and some work friends at the State Fair.  I'm excited for some fun fair foods and people watching!

Prunes and the Park

Well, we've added more foods to Nate's diet than just rice cereal.  We have moved on to prunes!

Some feedings he's in love with the new food and other times he despises it.  For the most part he's gotten a handle on the whole spoon feeding concept.  He still makes a disgusted face the first time we put any food near his face.  I think it's usually because he's a little bit surprised.  We're finally breaking out his high chair to have another piece of baby furniture in the house!  The doctor said we should stick with introducing one new food every 4 days or so to see if he's allergic to anything.  So, far pretty good on the prunes. 
I took Nate on an early morning walk the other day and we tried out the baby swing.

He had a good time even though that last shot doesn't seem to show it!  I think he looks like a bald little Buddha in that second picture.  He liked the swing but he doesn't like to go too high yet.  There was a dog that got away from it's owner and started going crazy so I think by that lost shot he wasn't too thrilled.

No worries....toes have been found!  Nate is very in to kicking his legs up and has almost gotten the toes in his mouth!

 Well, this is just funny to post....or cruel....depends on you sense of humor :)

I mean, they can't all be beautiful right?  Trisha made a loud noise at him and that is what was produced.  Kind of an awesome blackmail picture for when he's older!

This one above is his signature eyebrow raise.
Here's just nice, smiley, chubby, and cute.

Nate's moved on to his 6 months clothes and is fitting in to them nicely so he's already catching up to where he's supposed to be.  He and I have both been a little sick over the past few weeks so full night sleeps have not been happening.  We seem to be over the weird August colds now so hopefully we'll be nice and healthy!