This is what big sister would be like

Our friends (that we met in Israel who live in Portland also) came over on Sunday for a BBQ. Their daughter Laura is 6 years old. She loved talking to Nathaniel while he was in my belly in Israel. Now that she can see him she loves him even more! She played with Nathaniel all afternoon and read books to him. It was so funny to see her reading and Nathaniel reaching for the pages. It was a classic "annoying little brother" situation where Laura nicely would hand him a toy to distract him so she could continue reading. He would ditch the toy and she would keep reading while handing him another toy. It was extremely amusing :-) With neither of them having siblings, I think they could be good for each other.

Eating on the rooftop

We visited Aunt Bethany and Uncle Stevie this weekend and had dinner on the top of their building. It was a lot of fun... a little cold.... but a nice view, great food, and fun to be with family. Nathaniel enjoyed sunggling with Aunt Bethany too. Too bad I didn't get a picture of the view :-(

We are officially moving!

Nathaniel has been trying hard for the last several weeks to roll/scoot and I believe it's now official. Yesterday he was moving all over: front to back, back to front, sitting up and and lunging forward to his belly. Gone are the days of Nathaniel staying in one spot to play with his toys :-( Oh well, I must admit we were helping him get to this stage by putting toys just outside his reach and letting him see he could get it if he lunged forward. It's fun to watch him change and grow. What a big boy!

Aunt Wilma came to visit

This is my dad's Aunt Wilma (my Grandpa's sister) so that make a GreatGreat Aunt Wilma for Nathaniel. I think she is 94.

7 month picture

This looks like a school picture to me! I can't belive how big he is getting!

Eating his toes

Who needs toys when you have your toes?

Lounging around

He was seriously sitting like this! I just had to snap the picture :-)

Kisses 25 cents

I love this bib!

Toys in a row

Nathaniel loves to sit and play with his toys. I set him on the floor with his toys and walked over to the microwave, when I turned around all his toys were in a straight line. Is this kid organized or what! Amazing! Aunt Debbie would be proud.

Visitor from Israel

We had such a wonderful dinner last night with our friend Rachel who was in town on a business trip. She was the gal who was out on maternity leave and the reason why we went to Israel in the first place. Such sweet memories. I loved hearing her voice with the Israeli accent.

A third tooth has appeared!

I can hardly believe it! It's just barely showing through the gums so I haven't been able to get a picture yet. But trust me it's there and it's sharp! Nathaniel decided to try it out on my forearm yesterday. :-( I think this tooth is causing a lot more pain than the other two did. He was up half the night last night. At 3am I finally broke down and got Daddy involved in trying to soothe him back to sleep. I was surprised how well Ken slept despite the cries in the room next door, how do men do it?

In addition to a new tooth, Nathaniel rolled over twice yesterday. Big day for that little guy. Other than that we have been keeping busy with errands, going to the gym and the chiropractor. Yes, my back is STILL killing me (from labor/picking up my little guy). Yesterday was a good visit and I feel more hopeful about the situation and have high expectations for recovering soon. I was a wreck Friday and totally discouraged so this is a huge shift for me.

Nathaniel's favorite thing to do these days is play with his toys. We have these great stacking blocks (from our friend Laura) that he loves to knock over if we stack them for him. And if they aren't available to knock over, he will grab two and bang them together (thankfully it's not too loud). The loud annoying toys are in the pack and play so that he only has them for a set period of time.

Eating solids is going well. Although daddy has said it's not as fun as he thought it would be. Mostly it's just messy. I'm learning how to keep his hands out of the way and that smashed banana disguises the green bean taste. I'm sad to say gone are the days of the "butter popcorn" smelly poop. At least we haven't had as many blowouts that go up the back. Sorry if that's too much information.

Birthday fun

This year I celebrated my birthday a few weeks early with Amy and Bethany, so when the day came I wasn't sure what we would do. The 7th actually fell on Labor Day which I thought was interesting having actually experienced labor this year. 32 years ago my mom had a true labor day. Well Nathaniel woke me up at 12:02 so I was aware of my birthday for almost all 24 hours of it :-) He woke up a few times but I did get to "sleep in" till about 9am. Then we walked up the street to go to breakfast at Bethany Village. They have this mom & pop restaurant there that would be a perfect brunch. Unfortunately they were closed :-( Bummer. So we walked back home to get in the car and drove off to Shari's for a nice hash brown skillet. Nathaniel actually sat in a high chair (assisted by our jackets so he wouldn't slouch too much). He was fascinated with the jam packets they provide with your toast.

A friend from college had invited us down to Salem earlier in the week, so we headed south. Nathaniel fell asleep in the car so we just kept driving. We arrived about an hour earlier than we originally planned but it worked out just fine. Steph and Matt are possibly the most easy going fun people we know! Matt put some salmon on the BBQ and Steph made a fabulous salad and potato wedges. It was actually very very good (especially considering seafood is not my favorite). I think salmon is okay now... I will have to have it again sometime. Maybe I did grow up when I was 31? Matt and Ken had gone out to the store and came back with an Ice cream cheesecake. Mmmmm. It was very tasty! We had to leave it at Steph's though it wouldn't survive the hour drive to Portland. So I ate two pieces :-)

These teeth are getting huge!

Family Get-Together

I love being home from Israel because we are around for family get-togethers! This picture is Great Grandpa with half of his Great Grandkids.... I think there are 9 missing but hey it's hard to get everyone together! (Grandpa walked behind someone who was golfing and ended up with a fat lip and 9 stiches...ouch!)



Tia Amy.... we would love it if you stayed here in Portland!!!!