Baby Nate aka Big Boy Nate

Nate is now 1! He is walking around like a champ, and took his first steps well before his first birthday. He is awfully tall, but still remains a skinny little dude. Now that he is walking, it is obvious that he lacks a butt, and he sags his little pants like a regular ol' gangsta.

We had a fun party at Rec Plex with several of his and Stella's buds. We rented a ball pit and party room, had pizza and a really cool car cake that was hand made by Mommy. I also made buttons and cupcake toppers. He pulled in some great gifts; toys for little dudes- trucks and bulldozers... Lots of fun stuff.

Nate and Stella have been sick a lot lately. Right after the party, Stella had a fever that came on so suddenly that it gave her a seizure. Nate and I rode along with her in the ambulance to the hospital for another family first. I also had febrile seizures as a child, and we are hopeful that this will be the only one. It was terrifying, to be sure, but everyone is happy and healthy again today.

Nate continues to be cuddly and lovey, and he and Stella often snuggle up on the floor. Stella is hilarious, and her memory is astounding. She recalls entire episodes of shows and learns songs after hearing them a couple of times. She turned to me and said, "Cows have no beef with that!" Nate is so giggly and thinks that everything is funny, especially his sister.

Life continues to roll along. We closed on the house, and have been working there on free days (of which there are never enough), and will probably move once school lets out. Both kids will have their own room, there is a large family room and a huge yard. It is going to be great! Stella can't decide on her room color (she asked for purple, red, brown and green thus far) and she will be moving to a big girl bed. Amazingly, she has yet to climb out of the crib... Shh, don't tell her that she has had this capacity for six months...

So long ago!

It has been far too long since I have updated. Shame on me. But to all of you with more than one child, I am sure you can empathize with our plight!

Baby Nate is closing in on one year, and is a cool little dude. He is cruising on furniture deftly and took his first steps this past Sunday. He also said his first word, "Ouch." He is a pincher, and Stella is often yelling the word at him. He is all boy; he loves cars and planes, and crawls around with one in his hand on all occasions. He is an eater as well! This morning he had omelet and toast, and he happily gobbles up hummus with a spoon. He is a lot less picky than Stella was at this age. He adores his sister.

Stella continues to marvel us with her vocabulary. Just a few moments ago she told me, "Dinosaurs are an event from natural history." What???!!! She is a mimic as well, and quickly memorizes songs, sayings and entire episodes of Caillou.
She continues to love to help out with her brother, and sometimes hugs him so much that she inadvertently takes him down.


Both kiddos have been taking advantage of the nice weather, and have been enjoying walks and trips to the park. We had an easy winter, thankfully, as it is difficult dragging two little ones through the snow. Someone, perhaps the god of global warming, was smiling down on us this season.

We have had three Easter Egg Hunts in the last few weeks. Stella is getting really good at them, especially when she realized that they were full of candy and toys. She also got to meet the bunny. Both of the kids were very brave- I thought the bunny was a bit creepy.


We celebrated Easter in the usual fashion. We began the day with baskets. Stella had left some chocolate chips for the bunny (that is how we roll in this house) and delighted in the fact that they were gone. We dug through baskets to see the loot, and then packed up to head to Grandma Lundgren's house to play with the fam. We participated in the usual egg cracking game and ate egg sandwiches. Stella is getting pretty good at making egg salad sandwiches and happily ate one up. We got more loot from the bunny, packed up, and headed out to see the Stahlmanns.

Stella got to watch Uncle David fly a kite, and Baby Nate got some new cars to add to his collection. Grandad took some of the annual Easter shots as well.

Easter Monday we headed over to the Guisseppi's buffet (Stella loves it) and met Grandpa Lundgren for lunch. We gave him a basket, and Stella and Nate enjoyed some tasty cupcakes. Nate ate the frosting first.

Christmas and New Year's Eve (Late, Late, Late)

I am very late in posting this. Winter found our home full of sniffles, boogers, and fevers as we battled the season's colds. Despite this, we found great joy this holiday season as we celebrated our first Christmas as a complete family with Baby Nate.


Per our family tradition, we spent Christmas Eve with Grandma Louise and the Lundgren Bunch gobbling up Chinese food. Stella and Nathaniel enjoyed their time with the uncles, Aunt Colleen, Renee and friends, and we were even visited by carolers. There were presents aplenty, and the kiddos were showered with attention and love despite runny noses.



Christmas morning, Stella and Nathaniel were greeted by the discovery that Santa had visited and left many gifts under the tree. Grandma and David came over and we opened gifts while eating cinammon rolls and sipping chai. Delish! Stella has been known to knock back a pastry or two.




After this, the family readied and we headed out to the Stahlmanns to continue the festivities. Cousin Eric's enthusiasm was contagious and he and Stella raced about! We ate, ate, ate until we were busting. They children were in turn busting to open gifts. There certainly were plenty of presents to go around! Baby Nate quickly latched on to Stella's Abby doll, and busied himself with wrapping paper investigation.


The Lundgrens got to celebrate with Grandpa Gary and the great grandparents shortly after Christmas. We all met up at a restaurant to spread cheer and continue the gluttony of the season (we all need the extra padding to stay warm in the cold winter months, no?). It is always great to get together, and Stella scored an awesome kitchen set complete with a food supply and cookware; I scored the duty of thrice daily clean-up!


We rung in the new year while possibly forging new traditions of our own. We spent the night with Grandma and Grandad, Aunt/Uncle and cousins. All parties made their own pizza from a pizza "bar"; Stella was adorable- she put two tiny mushrooms on hers, and then ate around them. Caillou likes mushrooms. All week long she talked about her, "cheese, sauce, and mushroom pizza." We gave the kids popcorn with a surprise (gummy worms) and had root beer floats. I felt very sentimental, as I had spent every New Year's Eve with my Grandma Virginia sipping on root beer floats. It was nice to carry on this tradition with my own daughter, who drank two!


In the Nathaniel update arena: The boy is crawling! Granted, it is an army crawl on his belly (which someone jokingly referred to as "The Lieutenant Dan Crawl", but he is motoring nonetheless. He is eating some small table foods with assistance, and is very social and inquisitive. He certainly is interested in what we eat, what Stella is holding, and what is going on around him. He will grunt and gesture at Stella to try and obtain whatever it is she has in hand. He is loads of fun, and is a giant baby viking.

As we move forward into 2012, I am continually amazed by our brilliant and happy children, our loving family, and the blessed gifts we continue to cherish and enjoy. 2011 was an amazing ride, and 2012 has already proven to be even better. A happy and healthy new year to all!