Nathaniel's First Birthday

Nathaniel turned one on Saturday, the 26th. We had a small celebration with Jaired's family on Sunday. It was definitely a new experience for Edmund, that Nathaniel was getting toys.

This picture was taken upside down, Edmund wanted to look at the firetruck first.

Jaired loves taking self portraits, so we never have to worry about him not being in the picture when he is the one with the camera.
Nathaniel is looking at himself in the mirror in Pat the Bunny.

Nathaniel's birthday apple pie

It was yummy!

A New Kidney Bean

This is a picture of the ultrasound picture. I forgot to ask Jaired to scan the ultrasound pictures at work, but I wanted to show you all our new baby now, so didn't want to wait until tomorrow for him to do it!

This is the same picture as above, but I opened it in Paintbrush to mark the baby so you all would know what to look at. The bottom word on the left says "spine" and is referring to the white line.

I am 13 weeks and 5 days along. The Baby's due date is March 19. :)

High Tea and Whiskey

That might not sound like a likely combination, but this past weekend they went together beautifully! Jaired and I, along with Jaired's sisters, spent the weekend at a dance workshop in St. Louis. The weekend was a whirlwind combination of English Country Dancing (the high tea?) and Contra (the whiskey?). This weekend was the first of what I believe is to be an annual workshop. We had music played by live by some great musicians, one of whom was Martha Edwards, whose music we use at our own dances. (Martha was also one of the organizers of the workshop.) The calling was done by a famous caller, Joseph Pimentel, who came up from Austin, Texas. As for dancers, we had people come from Texas, California, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, to name a few.

Jaired and Kimberly have both danced Contra in the past, but it was the first time for the rest of us. Our dance group, here in Salem, The Jovial Beggars, up until now has been English Country only, but we had so much fun with Contra that we might introduce it into our regular dances!

While Kimberly lived up in St. Louis this past winter she attended several of the local dances. Because so many people had heard about our dance group, and because we have wanted to make t-shirts for awhile now, we quickly made some to wear to the workshop. Soon, we hope to have a big batch of shirts made so that all our dancers can have one.

Here we are with our JB shirts.

As you can see we had a great time.

There was a ball on Saturday night and we girls dressed up in Regency style dresses and beautiful hairdos. Ellie, on the left, made her own dress, but Kimberly, on the right, made her own dress as well as mine and Chava's. Kimberly also did our hair.

Unfortunately there are no pictures of Kimberly, but her hair and dancing were quite beautiful. And Jaired, well he wasn't in costume with his hair up, so there wasn't any reason to get a picture of him I guess. ;)

Nathaniel is not old enough to know that he can get along fine without Mama for a weekend, so he came along for the ride. Besides the fact that he wasn't too keen on the late nights, he had a blast. People were talking to him and holding him all weekend. Everyone loved him and he got to practice his waving a lot. He even got to dance!

Tuesday Evening Randomness

We bought Edmund his first bicycle this weekend. He likes it well enough, but as he has not yet learned how to peddle it is not a very fun toy for him yet. When I try to get him to push on the peddles he pushes backwards, and, as you know, that makes him stop, not go! I hope he will learn soon, but for now I am pushing him up and down the driveway.
We have been having unseasonably cool weather for a good part of this month. It feels more like autumn than summer, with temperatures being in the low 70's rather than the high 90's. I really like having the weather this way, but am wondering, if this is what we have in the summer, what will the autumn be like, and then winter?

Nathaniel is loving the cold weather. Both of our boys do really well in the cold, but with his allergies, cool weather is definitely the best thing for Nathaniel. He has been such a happy boy this whole week, and hasn't been scratching very much. I have began weaning Nathaniel, very slowly. This is earlier than I weaned Edmund, but I feel like it is time to start. Nathaniel can be demanding, which Edmund wasn't. Now, less nursings for us means that Nathaniel is nursing about four or five times a day. I know this is the norm for some peoples babies who are nursing full time as little infants. My babies like to nurse every two hours, however, so this is a definite improvement!

Nathaniel wants to ask you all, "What's up?!"

A Beautiful Day on the Current River

This past Saturday we went on a float trip with our church. Jaired's sisters and brother went with us, and we had a great time. The weather was perfect for floating, sunny and hot. The water felt so good! We got on the river around 9 a.m. to avoid the rowdy crowd that usually comes out on weekends. The first part of the float we had the river all to ourselves, but after a few hours we hit a bunch of people putting into the river and from then on we were passing other canoers constantly.

This is the second time that Edmund has gone on a float trip. He is always apprehensive when we put him in the canoe, but enjoys himself once we get going. He sat in the bottom of the canoe with his hand trailing in the water, catching the leaves floating past. We left Nathaniel with his grandparents this time, but will probably take him with us next time.

Two of Jaired's sisters, still dry, we must have just gotten in the river! :)

Considering how much we like canoeing and swimming it is amazing that this is the first float we have been on this year. Well, time has a way of getting away from us. I hope that we can go again before it gets cold. We'll see!

Summer Daze

We have been busy this summer, but not any busier than life usually is. In fact, from week to week, we do pretty much the same things over and over.

Jaired leaves for work between 7 and 7:30 a.m. and returns home between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

During the day the boys and I play and take care of the house. Edmund is getting to be a really big help. He helps me empty the dishwasher, put away laundry, and tidy up the house. He is also responsible for dressing himself and making his bed.

Both boys continue to learn new things every day. Nathaniel is a professional crawler and is picking up speed with his cruising. He will eat whatever we feed him; I don't think he has spit out anything yet. At meal times, he eats almost as much food as Edmund eats, and with a lot more enthusiasm. Nathaniel is not a very good napper, sleeping only for short periods of time two or three times a day, which usually means he is pretty fussy in the late afternoon and evening because of being tired. But we love the little stinker, and he will grow out of this stage before we know it!

Edmund on the other hand, still takes his two hour afternoon naps. He is as active as ever and loves to talk. He can often be heard letting out a delighted chuckle and a "wow!" He has been experimenting with adjectives and prepositions. He loves reading and would be happy to have his entire library read to him every day. Some of his favorite things to do are spending time with his papa, visiting his grandparents, aunts, and uncle who live through the woods, and going to our monthly English Country dances.

Some of the highlights of our summer are:

Pool parties at Grandma's house.

Edmund has had fun digging in this shady spot under our porch for the last year...

...until he got attacked, and stung four times, by a bumblebee or hornet.
This particular sting right under his eye really swelled up the most.

It was a very traumatic experience for both of us. Imagine how I felt to hear him screaming in terror for my help! Edmund spent the whole afternoon sleeping and felt rather sick. Fortunately, he did not have any very serious reaction.

One day we spent in Houston, where Jaired's office is. We did some shopping and had a doctor's visit, but we were also able to hang out at the office and after work help clean the office and yard.

We had dinner at the park across the street that evening and spent time playing in the playground.

Between our dances, visits to the zoo and extended relatives, hikes, and afternoons at the river we have not had many weekends at home. But it has been a good summer. It is hard to believe that we are already almost halfway through August!

I hope you have had as good of a summer as we have!

Peaches, peaches!