Merry Christmas!!

So Christmas day is sadly coming to an end, but we had a GREAT time! Last night we had the Pardue's over for a fabulous Christmas eve feast. It was so nice to be surrounded by family and eat so much yummy food!! And it was so fun to watch Nathan show off all of his tricks to everyone. He really loves to be center of attention. The second he notices that every ones attention is not directed to him (which honestly is not that often) he does something silly to make everyone look at him. Last night he kept screaming and then laughing at himself. He is such a ham!

This morning, after Nathan finally woke up (at 9:30 a.m.!!), he slid down the stairs on his belly. But as soon as he noticed all the toys by the tree he immediately stopped and just pointed. He was in awe and it was the cutest thing ever!! His favorite present is definitely his cozy coup car! He literally did not get out of it the entire time we were opening presents. And probably spend 90% of the remainder of the day opening the door to the car and getting in and out of it all by himself.

A Fabulous Christmas Dance

Ring around the rosie!

I decided to teach Nathan to play ring around the rosie. We did it all of 2 times and was hooked! He even plays it by himself! He will spin around and around while we sing the song to him. He love it so much and he has been spinning constantly the last couple days!!

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

So the school semester is officially over! And I am very proud to announce that I managed to get straight A's once again! Being a full time student and mommy definitely has its difficult moments but its so nice to be able to relax now and dedicate all my time to Nathan. We have been having so much fun!

AND Christmas is in less than a week! YAY! I am beyond excited for Santa to come and to see Nathan's reaction to it all. Last year he was not even 3 months old so he obviously had no clue what was going on. This year he loves opening presents, and looking at the tree, and pulling on the stockings, and dancing to the singing snowmen in our family room. Can't Wait!!

Mark will also be coming home in a couple days and its about time!!! I absolutely despise this whole long distance thing. Nathan and I are in the process of planning our big move up to Roanoke to be with him. We aren't sure on the exact date but it will definitely be soon. Most likely in the next month or so. There is a lot of me that is really sad to leave my family and scared to death about moving to a new city so far away where we don't know anyone! But I am so excited to to finally all be together again. It has been a pretty hard couple of months.

We also got the CD of the portraits we had done after thanksgiving. They turned out great! Here are some of our favorite ones.

Busy, Busy, Busy

These past few weeks have been incredibly busy! I am in the middle of taking my final exams right now. One down, 2 to go!! It will be so nice to have almost a month of no school!!!

We had a great visit with my Grandma and Del for Thanksgiving. Mark was even here for an entire week! It was so great to have the family all together!! Nathan gobbled down all the wonderful food my mom made. His favorites were the glazed carrots and green bean casserole. This boy seriously loves his vegetables! Lets hope it stays that way!

Mark and I got to enjoy some great alone time with all the extra babysitters around. We froze our butts off walking all around downtown Raleigh and went out to dinner. We also went to his 5 year high school reunion at a bar called Buckheads downtown. I loved meeting some of Mark's old high school friends and dancing the night away together! We ended up staying out until 5 a.m.!!! And I only had to drink 2 red bulls to keep myself awake! It was so worth being sleepy the next day. I really do cherish the time Mark and I get to spend alone together. It isn't something that happens to often anymore. I am hoping that we will be able to eventually find a babysitter once I move to Roanoke so that we will still be able to enjoy date nights once in a while.

We also got portraits taken while mark was here. I was super lucky and found a woman on craigslist that is opening up her own photography business. She was looking to take pictures FOR FREE we would sign a model release so that she could post pictures on her website. I obviously snatched up that opportunity! She put a CD in the mail today with all of the pictures from the shoot. But she sent me a sneak peak with some adorable pictures of Nathan!

Once upon a time...

...There lived a wee little lad, around 7 weeks old, who wore a puppy hat upon his head. And one year later, the hat came back!

11/21/08:





11/23/09:


I can remember so clearly laying my little tiny baby on my bed and posing him with this hat on. And it was HUGEE on him. (You can't really tell in the picture since I tucked it under to make it look like it fit) Taking the one year later picture of him today was not quite as easy. Between Nathan's unexplained intense hatred for hats and his new-found hyperactive personality, it took me a good 30 minutes to finally get a picture of him with it on. I guess the saying is true, little babies just don't keep!

This week, my grandparents are coming down from NJ for Thanksgiving. Nathan will actually get to enjoy the delicious food this year too!! ANDDDD we will finally get to see Mark! It has almost been an entire month!!!! I am sure there will be many pictures to come!!

Trip to Boone

This past weekend Mabecca, Nathan, and I headed out to Boone to visit aunt lars! It was a very short visit but it was great to be back to the old stomping grounds! One lesson I did learn though: Nathan is not as easy to travel with as he used to be! He used to be so quiet in his carseat. I sometimes would forget he was even there...well not really but he was just THAT quiet. Well he was not as quiet on the 3 hour drive up to boone. He wasn't screaming or anything, just fussy and restless. I decided to pull over and turn his carseat around thinking that maybe it would help if he could see me or see out the window. He technically could have been forward facing for about a month now, but I was trying to keep him rear facing a little longer since it is supposed to be safer. It helped a little and he looks like such a big boy in his carseat facing forward. Eventually we got there and spent the day and night eating and shopping with aunt lars. And other than Nathan refusing to nap and eat, we had a great time!! Miss you already Aunt Lars!!!!!!

Nathan's New Tricks

Last night Nathan learned how to play catch! He will actually stick out his little arms and catch a ball if you throw it to him. AND THEN he throws it back! Can we say future professional athlete??? I think so! He is so proud of himself (obviously mommy is too)! I love watching him learn new things.

Other new things:
-He points at everything. From the second I pick him up out of his crib in the morning, he proceeds to point at everything. We go around the whole house and he points and I name things. It is our fun little game.

-He blows kisses. One of my favorite tricks he does. He even makes the "mmmuah" sound when he does it.

-he knows what lights are and will point at them when you ask him to. He does the same thing with ears, mouth and Elmo.

I could probably go on and on, cause lets face it, my kid is amazing, but those are the major things he is doing right now. Oh how I love being a mommy!

The Face

We officially have a toddler on our hands! And he is making it very clear now when he doesn't like something by making "the face". And when my little innocent child looks up at me with this face, I can't help but burst out laughing....and he has taken notice. In fact, he now will make "the face" and instantly start laughing at himself, which is even funnier, but I have a feeling it won't be so funny when the terrible twos hit!!

Happy Halloween!!

Pops and Nathan before trick or treating!


We had my friend Lauren and her family over for dinner and trick-or-treating. We had so much fun and our little boys looked adorable in their costumes!

God Bless The GloWorm

Who would have thought that this strange looking stuffed worm would turn into my sons favorite thing ever?? "Hermie the Wormie" as he has been named (Hermie for short), will glow and play a lullaby when his tummy is pressed. A friend of mine from high school gave Nathan Hermie for his first birthday and I am SO grateful for it. Nathan has four molars coming in right now, which means my baby is extra cranky and extra clingy. Two nights ago, as I was getting in bed, I began preparing myself for his typical middle of the night teething cries. And low and behold, at 1:21 a.m. he proved me right. But, the crying literally lasted 2 seconds because my GENIUS little boy found Hermie in his crib. He pressed his tummy, and laid back down. As soon as the lullaby was over, he would pop his little head back up and press Hermie's tummy again. This process went on for a total of 30 minutes. How do I know this?? I watch him on the video monitor.....the entire time. And in my groggy state, I was so convinced that our son was quite possibly the smartest baby alive.


So, thank you Beca for buying him Hermie, and thank you Nathan for being smart enough to use it. Maybe tonight I will actually get some sleep.

Bye bye curls- Nathan's First Haircut

After much debate, I decided it was time to get Nathan his first haircut. As cute as his little curls were, they were getting out of control!


Before

After


And how cute is he in the after picture??? He looks soo much older now too!

He did awesome during the haircut too! I was not really sure what to expect, but he sat there like a good little boy the whole time. Of course the little rubber snake he found at the salon was a great distraction!

And yes I saved one of his curls to add to his baby book!

Introducing....

NATHAN JOHN SPINNEY!

OK, maybe I'm a WHOLE year late, but better late than never right???

Out of jealousy of other moms that are organized enough to document every detail of their child's lives, I have decided to create a journal of my own. And since my little baby is already a year old (Seriously??????) I have a lot of catching up to do!!