I am thankful for...

This morning I am thankful for...

27) the way Nate smiles and then buries his face into my fluffy robe when I lift him out of bed in the morning. 

28) lots of yummy food to cook for tomorrow and church dinner on Sunday.

29) Brett's new job opportunity! He has had several interviews and thinks he would be more challenged and motivated at this job than at his current one. Pray for us as we may have to make a decision regarding this soon!

30) the smell of fall in the air.

31) rich, thick chocolate milk, which doubles as a coffee creamer!!

32) Nate's ability to say new words. Last week at the barn we realized that he can say, "horse". He has seen a lot of them in his life=) It is so fun to be able to communicate more and more! He also says "mama", "dada", "cat", "dog", and "bye-bye". 

33) leaves turning different beautiful colors.

34) my sister Sarah being here for a week-long visit! 

35) my husband's love for me...even when I forget everything, drop everything, and seem to always have food all over the front of my shirt (when I am pregnant anyway=)

Nater Updater and other stuff...

Where to start....today Brett, Nate, and I went to my first OB appointment at Dr. Joseph Tate's office in Norcross, GA. It's a bit of drive but it was not terrible. They were not able to fit me in with the doctor this month so I saw his nurse-practitioner, who helps him in the office. We really liked the office and the nurse, especially because we feel that this is our best shot at having a vbac with this pregnancy. Dr. Tate is renowned for vbacs and will usually let his patients go to 42 weeks before any intervention. That was a big part of what we were looking for! He is a single practitioner and delivers about 350 babies a year!! So there are frequently very long waits at the office, but I think that it will be worth it. No final decisions until we have actually talked to Dr. Tate himself, which should happen at our next appointment in 4 weeks.

Nate is continuing to grow and learn new things all the time! His latest accomplishment is figuring out how to go down stairs. He is just recently confident enough in this new-found skill to go down the "big" stairs at our house. So now one of his favorite pastimes is going up and down, up and down the stairs. He has known how to wave for some time now. Today we were putting the groceries in the car at the farmer's market and the lady in the car next to us was pulling out. Nate recognized that she was leaving and started saying, "ba-ba! ba-ba!" and waving at her! She smiled and waved back. He will wave with both hands at something that he wants, especially a truck that he wants to drive. He loves to sit in the driver's seat of a car (or golf cart or tractor or mower or four-wheeler) and pretend to drive. He even makes noises like a car reving its engine! He also says,"ma-ma" for me....or for food. In his mind I suppose we are almost equivalent. =)

Rose is doing great, regaining weight after nursing her foal...finally! Another girl at my barn is part-leasing her, so she is getting more pampering and riding than I can give her. I am really thankful for this, especially in light of my pregnancy. I am hoping to be able to ride a couple more months, until the beginning of my third trimester. Although some people ride and even compete for almost their entire pregnancy, I don't feel comfortable riding after my belly gets big. It has been so fun to get back into it again! When I rode for the first time in a while a couple weeks ago, I was soooooo sore! It was a good sore though. =) 

Here are a few recent pictures of Nate!

 Nate going down the stairs!! 

 He is fascinated with the dishwasher and it is very difficult to wash dishes when he is down on the ground. He will immediately begin taking the silverware out and try to crawl up on the door!

 Nate loves bananas and gets excited when I hold up a banana (almost) every morning and say, "Nate want a banana for breakfast?!" This morning he discovered that it is great fun to squeeze the banana between his fingers and watch it squirt out! 

At the consignment sale a couple weeks ago, I found some trucks for Nate and they are now one of his favorite toys. I think his absolute favorite "toy" is any kind of musical instrument. When we are at the Hawkins he goes straight for their pianos and guitars! Maybe we have a budding musician?! 

Weekend camping trip

We had a great time getting together with some old friends on an overnight camping trip in southeastern TN. 


The pictures tell the story pretty well...

 Waiting by the water for everyone else and the canoes to arrive.

 Nate waving at the water because he wants to dive into it. 

 We took a canoe to the campsite, but I did not get any pictures of the canoe ride out there. Nate fell asleep. It was an exciting canoe trip across the lake because there was a fairly strong wind and lots of waves. Thankfully nothing got very wet. 

 Cutting carrots and potatoes for the stew. I had no idea how much work it is to cook over a campfire! But then the food tastes extra good because you are starving!!

 Nate watching the food being prepared. 

 Brett started the fire with some special tool he had bought. He was excited to have a chance to use it! Apparently it is a difficult method of fire-starting, so he was very happy when it finally worked. 

 The sun was starting to set as we were getting the fire going.

 Finally fire!! Peter brought his guitar and played and sang. Nate loved the guitar of course and tried to "help" play. 

 The sunset was beautiful across the water. It could not have been better weather for camping! Cold enough at night that it was nice to snuggle into your sleeping bag, but not so cold that you were uncomfortable. 

 Our massive tent! Brett, Nate, and I took up a tiny portion of the inside.

 Starting to work on breakfast the next morning...

 Stuffing Nate with Cheerios to tide him over until breakfast is ready...

 The leaves were just beginning to change.

 For those of you who have never cooked biscuits over a campfire, the white things wrapped around the sticks are biscuits! This method of baking was entirely new to me!

 They had to be carefully rotated at an even speed at all times or one side would cook slightly faster and then the whole biscuit would crack and fall off the stick. The biscuits were actually very tasty. Brett even declared that this was how I should always cook biscuits for him in the future. =) We also had bacon and eggs wrapped in tortillas! Yum!!

 Brett thankfully took a few pictures of the canoe trip back to the cars. Other than protesting about the life jacket, Nate did great in the canoe!

Cracking a smile at dad through the paci...

Back at the cars, I made lunch for everyone while they loaded the canoes. It was a fun trip, though it would have been better if we had stayed more than one night and had time to do other things. Maybe another time!! 

Cape May with the fam

My poor, neglected blog! Since we have been back from our trip to Maryland and New Jersey, I have been using up all of my spare time in sleeping, so there has been no time for blogging. =) I am now 14 weeks, and though the nausea is gone, I have not received that much-anticipated, second-trimester boost of energy. The mornings are great, the afternoons are slow, and then early evening I crash. But I am thankful for the little life that is growing inside of me, and the very active, much-bigger life that I am playing with all day, so the tiredness is ok.

We had a wonderful time of fellowship with my family in Cape May! The weather was about the worst we have ever had during a vacation time in September, but that did not stop us. The water was warmer than the air, so we still braved the beach a few days. Nate loved the ocean, and the sand, and the seagulls, and watching the kites that my little brothers flew. It was neat for me to think that he was playing in the same places that I played when I was little, that my Dad played in when he was little, and that my Nana played in when she was little!! 

We saw some gorgeous sunsets!

And a beautiful rainbow that covered the whole sky...

Ella likes to try to fit into small spaces...

 We tried to get a picture of Ella giving Nate hugs and kisses, but they would always stop when they saw a camera. The picture below includes Isaac and Rebekah Trudeau's baby, Oliver. They came for an overnight visit. 

We also cooked lots of yummy food, including our signature Cape May breakfast that I remember my Nana making...waffles and creamed chip beef! I think this is the only picture that documents Kathryn's visit! She was able to come down for the weekend and that was fun. Hopefully she enjoyed herself even though she had the stomach bug for part of the time. 

This breakfast actually took place the morning after all 9 of my siblings ran in the 2-mile Annual Cape May Beachfront Run. I was so sad that I left my camera behind and did not get any pictures of this event! Mom and I had great fun cheering. Everyone did great! John (13) was the first of our family across the finish line and finished 12th overall, out of over a hundred runners! William (9) finished second in his age group, beating the twins (7). And Patience was second in her age group too. Most of them had not trained for this race, so they were running off of sheer adrenaline and competitiveness. This was best exemplified by the twins. They ran the whole time together, and close to the finish line were looking very tired. Right behind them was another little boy, obviously about their age, who was being coached by his dad. Mom and I heard the boy's dad say, "Ok, now's the time to run fast!" and he took off for the finish line. The twins had been watching him over their shoulder and when he started running they said, "Don't let him pass us!!" and took off! They ran hard and did not let the poor boy pass them. They were determined to win their age group, but it was probably good that they didn't because then they got a good lesson in how to lose gracefully. =) I was kinda sad to not be running with everyone, as I have run this race in the past, but did not feel up to it. Maybe next year!


All in all, we had a relaxing time of fellowship. We spent a lot of time talking on the porch. Mom finished her first sock and I knitted a project that will not be discussed further because it may end up being someone's Christmas gift! I will go so far as to say that I really, really want to post about it because it has been lots of fun so far....but I suppose I can wait until after Christmas. =) 


We flew rather than drove this time and Nate was a great little traveler! He slept on both flights, and despite some attempts at random shrieking, brought joy rather than pain to his fellow passengers. 


Even though we enjoyed seeing everyone it is nice to be home, getting settled back into our routine....well, trying to anyway. =)