Kristy's Baby Shower

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go up to FW for a good friend's baby shower. Kristy and I have been friends since kindergarten. We have quite a long history together. We had a minor rivalry in 2nd grade when both of us were due to have a baby brother born at the same time and my mom delivered early while her mom delivered late. It was serious business at age 7, but is quite funny now. Kristy and I remained friends all through grade school and high school, both playing in the band, singing in the choir and having many AP classes together. We separated for a few years after high school, going to different colleges, but stayed in contact. When she graduated from IU, she moved to Indy where I was still in pharmacy school. We got back together and our friendship became stronger. I have since moved away from Indy while she stayed all these years. Kristy (and her husband, Ken) are now expecting their first baby. I was excited to be able to go up to FW and celebrate with her at a baby shower given by her mother and family. I also reconnected with some other friends from high school. We had a great time playing silly shower games and having fun together.
** Keep Kristy and her pregnancy in your prayers. She is 35 weeks and baby boy Lawrance is quite settled in the breech position. Kristy does NOT want a C-section and has tried unsuccessfully to turn him to the proper position. Give Kristy peace as she nears the end of her pregnancy and keep baby boy safe as he either turns or ends up being delivered surgically. Either way, we are looking forward to his arrival soon.

Sarah, Julie, me, Kristy (& baby Lawrance) and Melissa
(thanks for the picture Kristy)

Swimming at the Y

Another season of swim lessons.
Nathan did so well last fall in his "Super-tots" swim lessons at the Y. This year we have moved him up to the next class which has Nathan working in the water without a parent. The first lesson was a little hairy, but he warmed up to it by the end of that first class and now he really loves his teacher, Annie, and he looks forward to going to class. I will keep you updated on his progress. Watchout Michael Phelps, you may have some competition in 2024.

Nathan's snowman

We had some bitter cold weather recently with 2-4 inches of snow. For days we were stuck inside due to the cold temperatures, but as soon as it warmed up enough, Jeff and Nathan went outside to play in the remaining snow and build a snowman. They had a great time. Everytime we pull into the driveway, Nathan has to point out his snowman "Frosty".

Norah: 6 months

We went to the doctor yesterday for Norah's 6-month check-up. She is perfect!!
Stats: 13 pounds, 3.5 ounces (5th percentile); 23.8 inches (10th percentile)
We are continuing the trend of little babies.
Norah is growing well and is a happy, healthy baby. The doctor had no concerns, just to enjoy this time with her.
She can now start solid foods and she is ready. She will watch the other kids at daycare eating foods and then look at the teachers as if to say, "Where's mine?" She has taken to food great and opens her mouth like a little baby bird. Of course it is messy, but that is all part of learning.

Nathan & Norah at home

Nathan reading a story to Norah:

They are both getting so big.

December in review

I have been VERY bad at keeping up my blog this past month. My last post was in November. A lot has happened since then, a whole month has gone by and a very eventful month at that. I have attempted to catch everyone up on all the events from the month of December. I posted A LOT of blogs so if you would like to read them all in order, you will probably have to go to the January link on the right side of the page to open them all then scroll to the bottom and read them all in backwards order.
I hope to do a better job from now forward.

Wii fun

I think a Wii was the gift of the year this year for those who were too cheap to buy it a year or two ago when it was new and more expensive. I know a number of people who got one this year including us and Neil & Jill.
Jeff and Nathan trying out the boxing game on our new Wii.


Will attempting to shoot clay targets with the Wii gun.

Jeff and Neil boxing. Jeff brought his new Wii controllers to Texas just for the sole purpose of fighting his brother in boxing. Silly boys.

Norah with her Texas family

Norah with her Memaw (Jeff's mom):

Norah with her Pop (Jeff's dad):

Norah with her Great Pa (Jeff's Pa Wisener):

Norah with her Great Memaw (Jeff's Memaw White):

Norah's First Christmas

Cousins

Nathan & Will with their baby sisters They did not want to pose for this picture. It was interrupting them watching "The Incredibles", so much more important.

Nathan & Will playing together. They did very well together considering the last time they saw each other, they were only 18 months old.

Christmas Day

The whole family came over for a big Christmas meal then presents.
The little boys at the kid's table:

The grown-up table:

I think Judy may have out-done herself this year because there were a lot of gifts to open, especially for the kids. The boys were excited and got lots of cool toys, games and clothes. The neatest gift was not for us or for the kids, but it was Neil & Jill's gift to Billy. This year he retired from owning a mechanic shop and Neil took over the business. It was quite a transition for him since it was all he had ever known, but he is taking to retirement very well. For Christmas, Neil & Jill made him a commemorative shadow box with his work shirts, a Hall of Fame message and room for pictures. It was beautiful and he was very emotional when he opened it.

Uncle Neil, Aunt Jill, Cousins Will & Hayley

Will and Hayley in their very-cute Christmas PJ's:

Christmas Eve

Well, our luggage finally arrive by mid-day the next day (the day before Christmas eve). Since we spent more than half the day waiting for the airline, we did little else that day except relax, regroup and eat.
Christmas eve, we went to church then to Neil & Jill's for dinner. We all got to open our stockings Judy stuffed for us. Nathan was excited (notice the cute Christmas PJ's).

Norah slept through most of the evening's activities. She did so well staying awake for the church service and being passed around to all the people. She just couldn't make it after church so she slept through dinner and presents (she is still regularly taking a 3rd nap every day). After she woke up, I put her in her Christmas PJ's as well so all the kids were in Christmas PJ's.

Jill made sugar cookie for everyone to decorate for Santa. It was a little messy, but fun for the kids (and very Yummy).

Finally, before we left the boys were allowed to watch one Christmas program, "Prep and Landing". We saw this when is first aired on TV a few weeks earlier and thought it was very cute. Nathan and Will climbed up on the couch with Pop (Jeff's dad), Great Pa (Jeff's grandfather, Pa) and Great Memaw (Jeff's grandmother, Memaw). This is a wonderful, multi-generation picture.

Christmas in TX (getting there)

Just getting to Texas was quite the ordeal this year. It seems we are cursed and something will inevitably go wrong every time we travel to Texas. This year was no different. When we finally arrived, I sent an email to my mom who was vacationing in Australia to let her know what was happening and that we had arrived safe. This is a copy of that email (I couldn't put it better if I tried):
"We made it to Texas. I wish I could say it was uneventful but that would be a lie.
Monday afternoon Nathan was sick with a stomach virus. He was vomiting and feeling puny. I had a little stomach ache that day at work but I figured it was all the holiday goodies I was eating. No, I got it bad.
I have never thrown up so much or had diarrhea so bad on my life. I couldn't keep anything down all night, including sips of water. It was horrible. I called in sick to work on Tuesday, which was good since I hadn't packed our luggage Monday evening due to being so sick.
Thankfully it was over by about noon Tuesday and Nathan seemed better as well.
We had a little miscommunication between me and Judy concerning the car seats for the kids, but we worked it out and bagged up Norah's car seat and checked it on the plane (which doesn't cost anything).
The flights were great and both kids did awesome. No problems until we landed in Killeen and none of our luggage made it, including Norah's car seat. What were we supposed to do? The airline provided a car seat until ours arrived, but we had nothing else except what was in our carry on luggage which was all for the kids.
Even that was fine until Nathan vomited in the car on the way to the Wisener's all over his only pair of clothes.
Could it get any worse? Well...we will have to see when our luggage decides to arrive. Hopefully early Wednesday."

Christmas "morning"

Since we were heading to Texas for Christmas, we had our family Christmas a little early. Nathan had such a good time opening his presents. Even Norah had a good time. We didn't emphasize Santa this year. I think Nathan is still too young to understand the concept of Santa bringing gifts and who he is. All our gifts this year were from each other.
Nathan tore into his gifts like a pro. We were a little afraid he was going to insist on using his safety scissors to cut up all the wrapping paper, which would have taken a very long time, but he was fine just ripping into them.

Norah enjoyed her new little book. Otherwise, she just sat in the corner while we opened all the gifts. She was perfectly content.

Jeff uploaded lots of cartoons and videos to his iPod for Nathan and got him a child-size pair of headphones.

Nathan was very proud of his new sleeping bag. He loves using it in the basement while watching movies.

Happy Christmas Baby:

Santa

Our new neighborhood hosts Santa on Sunday afternoon for the kids to get pictures. This was a particularly cold Sunday, but we did make the trek down to the gazebo and pose the kids with Santa. Again, Nathan wasn't too into him, but Norah couldn't care less. The picture turned out suprisingly well.

Lights Under Louisville

This year, in lieu of a class Christmas Party, our Adult Bible Fellowship class instead went to the First Annual Lights Under Louisville.
This past year, a very large cave system (The Mega Cavern) near the Louisville Zoo was opened to the public for tours. For the holiday season, they decorated about a one-mile course through the caverns with a lights display. For a fee per carload, you could drive through and see the lights underground.
It was really cool.

Wrapping presents

Nathan doesn't exactly wrap Christmas presents, but he wanted to help when Jeff wrapped a few. Nathan "helping" consisted of him cutting the wrapping paper into little bits using his safety scissors.

Blockus

While Jeff was practicing with the band, Nathan got out Jeff's favorite board game, Blockus. Nathan doesn't understand the rules of the game, but he does like to put the little pieces all over the board.

Breakfast with Santa

The hospital where I work has an annual event: Breakfast with Santa. Last year we went by accident and it was really a lot of fun, so this year we got tickets and went again.
They have breakfast, of course (juice and donuts).
Mrs. Claus reads stories to the children. Nathan was more interested in the movies showing on the big screen between stories.
The kids have the opportunity to sit on Santa's lap. Nathan was not into this activity at all.
There are crafts and games for them to play. The whole thing was decorated around a Winter Candyland theme. It was very well done.
Jeff and the kids at breakfast.

Nathan is showing off the reindeer card he made and the Santa ring he won.

Nathan's Christmas program

Nathan's preschool class put on a Christmas program that Jeff and I were both able to attend. He had been practicing the songs for weeks. I think when the performance actually came, he was too nervous and overwhelmed to sing along. He spent most of the time looking around at the other kids singing around him. It was so cute to see him all dressed up and up there with his little class.

The hospital president read all the kids a Christmas story (Nathan was seated in the front row).

Our little "Nathandeer"

Decorating the Tree

Nathan had such a fun time decorating the Christmas tree last year that we saved some ornaments for him again this year so he could participate.
I think his favorite part was putting on (and taking off) the colored beads. This is evidenced by the beads around his neck.
(Ignore the crazy, multi-colored clown pants)