this past sunday, november 7th, marked a year since we brought nate home. we went out for lunch after church w/ some friends to celebrate. it doesn't seem possible that it's been a year- it has flown by so quickly, but a lot has happened. he was a big, 20 lb., 7 mos. old baby then and now he's a big, 30 lb., 19 mos. old toddler! he can now chase after his "big" sissy and hold his own when she tries to take toys from him. :) but sometimes they do actually play nice together....once in awhile. he didn't really start walking a lot until august - around 16 mos. old - i think it surprised and almost scared ari - she must have thought "baby nate" (as we used to call him) would stay a baby forever.
his first word was "mama", as every good child's should be, but now his vocabulary is really taking off. he doesn't say "yes" but has this very cute way of nodding and saying "uh", and when he says "more" it is really adorable. he's a pretty funny guy and just a lot of fun. oh, and he is forever asking to go to the playground....i was kinda shocked when we were driving one day (several months ago) and i heard him say it...but i guess that's what happens when you have an older sibling to teach you stuff!
ari has had a summer of milestones herself. first was the switch from crib to toddler bed which went pretty well...we put a gate at her door, so she could get out of bed and go open the door but not leave her room. some nights we would hear that door open and close at least 20 or 30 times until she would settle down! next was the potty training - she did amazing. the first couple days were a little rough but she caught on quick and has been great ever since. she occasionally goes thru a period for a few days where she has accidents, but nothing major. i am very thankful and just hope and pray that nate is at least half that easy!
anyway, over the summer ari also started putting sentences together on her own and now she is doing even better...she used to always refer to herself in the third person but now she is using "me" more. one of her really funny phrases is "no like it"....yes, it can be frustrating at times, but we would usually laugh b/c at first she would just protest w/ "like it" and by wiping off her tongue! it was quite hilarious. just recently she really started singing songs more completely - she's always loved to sing but would skip a lot of words - now she is really getting most of the words in and she loves to help sing "jesus loves me" to nate when we put him to sleep.
hmmm....what else have we been up to? this past month or so has just been crazy busy, but it has been a wonderful fall. back in early october we had a surprise visit from "uncle chris" from chicago and that was a lot of fun and a much needed break for phil. then while phil was away at a conference, the kids and i went to visit my parents and i took ari to a "veggie tales live" show - it was a lot of fun. i think she was in shock for the first few songs - the veggie costumes were pretty huge! but then she got into it and was singing and dancing.
and now i am looking forward to the holidays. i know it will be busy but it will be good to have some time off and visits with family. and at some point we are hoping to take a few days and go away on a little "family retreat" to a camp over in the poconos - we really need to get away for a break. i just want to really soak up this time while the kids are little - i know they probably won't always want to hang out with us as much as they do now! and i so want to remember all of these funny little things that they do and say - but they are changing so darn fast - is there a way to slow them down a little? :)
