Christmas 2009

Christmas has come and gone once again. This year was filled with lots of family time and lots of gifts. We currently have a living room full of new toys and literally nowhere to put them. Nathan thoroughly enjoyed the Christmas spirit this year from the lights, decorating the tree to opening presents. He enjoyed many of the attractions around San Diego, as well, including Seaworld, the zoo and the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights. We were happy to share this special time with just him before he becomes a big brother. We are looking forward to 2010 and the addition of a new baby girl, though as it gets closer (2 weeks until the due date). We hope all of our friends and family enjoyed the holiday season and wish everyone a Happy 2010!

Christmas Time is Here...

Christmas time when you are almost 3 is a magical time. Nathan has really gotten into the spirit this year. I think we have watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas at least 10 times since Thanksgiving. He was so excited when we picked him up from daycare on Tuesday to go pick out our tree. I thought he was going to spontaneously combust with all the jumping he was doing. Then when we got home the excitement continued when we decorated the tree. He loves to look at it everyday. Last weekend Balboa Park's annual December Nights took place. The whole park is lit up, the zoo train is decorated and the museums are all free. There is tons of food and Santa is there to greet the kids. It was madness for the adults because it was CROWDED, but Nathan once again jumped right into Santa's lap and told him what he wanted for Christmas. No fear there! Nathan was a little disappointed that by the time we got to the Old Globe Theatre to take pictures with the Grinch, he was no longer there, but quickly got over it. In the next week or so we plan to go to the zoo to check out there Jungle Bells, Seaworld to try the ice skating and use my pass once more before it expires and head down to the harbor for the Parade of Lights, where all the boats are decorated.

November Vacation

Thanksgiving has come and gone and the year is quickly coming to an end. We just spent the last week in San Simeon, Monterey and Fresno celebrating Thanksgiving with family. We started with a quick trip to San Simeon, where we stayed at Grandma Lois and Grandpa Larry's favorite hotel. We ran around on the beach and enjoyed a sunset fire at the firepit. The next morning we drove up through Big Sur to Monterey to visit the aquarium, where a nice older man offered up his extra passes to Brian and I so we were able to get in for free. Nathan enjoyed all of the interactive kiddie exhibits, but the actual sea life didn't hold his attention for long. It was impressive to us, though. We stopped up the street and had lunch with my cousin Russell who lives there and headed down to Fresno for the rest of the weekend. Thanksgiving Day was spent with my family up at Uncle Jerry and Aunt Vivian's house in the foothills below Yosemite. Nathan enjoyed playing with his cousins and extended family and we all enjoyed food and drink. On Friday we went to the Fresno Met Museum to see the art of Dr. Seuss and the Christmas Trees themed with various Dr. Seuss books. Later that night, we sat down and started off the Christmas season by watching the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. On Saturday, the ladies of my family threw a baby shower for the new baby girl. It was fun to catch up with aunts and cousins and my grandma. It was a fun day. We are back home and one step closer to the end of the year and the beginning of a new year with a new family member.

Baby Shower for the Girl





Fresno Met Museum






Thanksgiving Day






Monterey





San Simeon

Random Updates

Pregnancy Update
Since I just had a Dr. appointment today, I figured a bit of an update was due. I will be 30 weeks pregnant on Sunday. So in 10 weeks give or take, we will be parents of two. How crazy is that? At my appointment today I had only gained one pound in the last month. I still weigh what I did at full term with Nathan, but I remind myself that I was a few pounds up going into this pregnancy. I seemed to escape the Gestational Diabetes bullet this time around, but honestly, I am not eating as well as I should. This little girl is moving around a ton, mostly at night (early, late and middle of), which I hope isn't an indicator of how her sleep patterns will be. I have about six weeks left of work and one off in the middle for Thanksgiving. I am looking forward to my winter break before she comes so I can get some quality time in with Nathan. Physically I feel pretty good. Definitely feel like she is sitting lower and there are times when I feel like she may just fall out, but I know she is safe and cooking. Overall, things seem to be going well. Since I haven't taken a single belly picture this time, I figured I was due, so here is baby belly at just shy of 30 weeks.




Updates on Nathan
Nathan is now a little over 2.5 years old and it is hard to believe that in 4 short months he will be three.

Current Likes
Nathan has recently gotten very into pretend play. Whether it be with his stuffed buddies, little people figures or trains, we can often hear him making up dialogue. So fun to listen too. He also loves computer games and has replaced his nightly puzzle with an educational game or two. His love of learning continues, as well. He has recently started to copy his name from a model and loves to write letters. He also loves to identify the sounds in various words. Nathan loves music, especially mom and dad's music and in the car always requests songs from our ipods. Nathan recently got a big boy bike with training wheels and loves riding it at the bay. He is also a big fan of meeting new friend when he is at the park.

Current Dislikes
Nathan does not like having to do things he does not want to do. He works every angle to get his way (which doesn't happen). He also isn't a big fan of eating a lot of the foods he used to love. As long as he eats, we are happy at this point.

2.5 is definitely a challenging age, but it is also a lot of fun. Nathan is a mini person who knows his likes and dislikes and it is so cool to sit and have conversations with him. We think he is definitely starting to be a bit anxious with the new baby coming. He is a bit more clingy and defiant, but we know that eventually he will be a great big brother.

Fall is here....sort of (the weather is still warm)

Fall is upon us, but here in San Diego we haven't the weather hasn't gotten the memo as it is still pretty warm here. Today we kicked off the Halloween season with a trip to Oma's Pumpkin Patch in Lakeside. We took Nathan there last year and he remembered it. We went with the same group of friends from last year and now that they are a year older, the boys really got a kick out of the hayride, sliding down the cotton seed hill, the hay maze and of course the dirt hill and diggers. The pumpkins and the petting zoo were of course a hit too. Other things on our list of Halloween to do's is the Spooktacular at Seaworld and the Wild Animal Park has something going on, as well. Oh and we are of course doing our annual trip to Warner Springs for golf and trick or treat fun. October promises to be a fun month.

It's been awhile since we've updated. I am now in my 26th week of this pregnancy, so we are well beyond the halfway point. Looking forward to meeting her in the new year. I had my second three hour glucose tolerance test come back with safe numbers. My nurse practioner wants me to do one more fasting only test just to make sure, but it looks as though I dodged the gestational diabetes bullet this time around.

Pumpkin Truck


Hayride


Nathan's Pirate Costume

Saying good-bye to summer

Thanks to a job in education, I am lucky enough to have a good chunk of the summer off. I always imagined a job where I could spend lots of time with my children and I really lucked out that I have a job that I love and it gives me 12 weeks off a year. So this summer's 5.5 weeks off were jam packed with fun. Nathan and I enjoyed many a weekly play date with our friends Danielle, Natalie, Madeline, Sydney, Philip and Tobin. Our outings included trips to the nighttime zoo, Seaworld, hiking, a visit to the USS Midway and just hanging out swimming. We took a trip with Brian and both sets of Grandparents to Rancho Leonero in Baja, Mexico not far from Cabo. There we enjoyed fishing, swimming in the pool and ocean, snorkeling, kyaking and just relaxing. We spent lots of time swimming, hanging out at the beach and spending time with family on the weekends. We just returned from a final camping trip to the local mountains at Green Valley Falls, where we all enjoyed splashing around in the cool mountain falls and playing with Julie, Jared and Kaitlin.

Accomplishments this summer were transitioning Nathan to his big boy bed. He struggled for a few nights, but quickly caught on and now loves his bed. We have also been working on the transition from diapers to big boy underwear. Nathan was hesitant for quite awhile to wear underwear, but in the last week or so he has been going on the potty with help from the timer. It has gone fairly well and he even went to daycare on Wednesday in big boy pants. He did have one fairly yucky accident while we were camping due to a bought of the squirts, but was open to his big boy undies the next day! Yay Nathan. Today when we went swimming at our pool, he made lots of progress by jumping in and swimming several feet to Brian or I without the assistance of floaties. He has become so much more comfortable in the water this summer.

It has been a great summer to be pregnant, as well. We have had some heat spells (like the one we are currently in...hello 95 degrees five miles from the ocean??), but for the most part it has been a mellow summer. In the last few days I have been feeling lots more movement and was excited to learn she is a girl. Overall, this has been a really great summer and though it has to come to an end, the little school girl in me is ready to get back to work.


Camping at Green Valley Falls






Playdates







East Cape of Baja




Hiking Stonewall with Brian



Night Time Zoo



Boogie Boarding with Daddy



Cool Guy at Mission Beach

A boy and a girl!!!

Today we went in for our ultrasound to determine growth and measurement of the new little baby and the hope of knowing whether Nathan was going to have a sister or a brother. One of the first things the ultrasound tech let us in on was a shot of the girly parts thus letting us know that Nathan will soon have a baby sister. She did the measurements and all looks good. Baby is measuring about 3 days behind the due date, which is no big deal. It would be nice actually if Jared didn't have to share his birthday with his new cousin. Needless to say, we are thrilled to have one of each in the kid department.