Catching up

I know this is very belated, but our Thanksgiving was just delightful. We spent it with my parents and sister, who oogled the baby, thus giving me plenty of time to relax-fully cook. Never have I been filled with such gratitude on that holiday. Nat was featured prominently in each of our thanks-lists. We watched the Mayflower Charlie Brown episode. We stuffed ourselves silly. Menu featured below, for those of you into that sort of thing.* (On the subject of Thanksgiving food, we actually enjoyed three Thanksgiving meals this year. Can't get much better than that.)

Nat has been growing bigger and stronger. He loves playing and cooing now, and particularly loves being held up in the air. He's had the opportunity to meet a few more cousins of late, and, social butterfly that he is, flirted with them all.


Per my normal December attitude, I've been filled with Christmas giddiness and spent an embarrassing amount of time adding every Christmas movie known to man to our Netflix list. Sadly, many of them have waits, so we may not get through very many before January. At least there's always music by the tree and fireplace. And pumpkin chocolate chip bread and hot chocolate. Lots of hot chocolate.


(Why, yes, we are wearing matching penguin Christmas socks, thank you for asking.)

We fly to Utah a week from yesterday, and I am beyond thrilled. It will be so fun to see all of our family out there, although I will miss my parents/sister desperately. Although I think they will miss the little one even more.


And a few more pictures for my traveling family.


And finally, I didn't realize I wouldn't be able to turn this, but here's a little video clip.





*Thanksgiving menu:

• Cornbread
• Cranberry sauce
• Quinoa with pomegranate, craisins, and walnuts
• Julia Child's garlic mashed potatoes (the ratio of butter to potato is only justifiable on Thanksgiving)
• Creamy corn casserole
• Glazed carrots
• Sweet potato casserole
• Green bean casserole
• Pumpkin curry soup
• Sweet potato & butternut squash lasagna
• Apple pie (with an all-butter crust, shortening gives me the heebie jeebies, and butter is just so tasty)
• Pumpkin pie
  

Hair Dryer

My son loves the hair dryer. Yes, the hair dryer. He can't seem to fall asleep without it, day or night. Once he is asleep, he is an awesome sleeper - the past week, he's been going 7-8.5 hours at night, conveniently starting around 10pm. Napping during the day is a little harder (sometimes we get in a long afternoon nap, sometimes it's just catnapping throughout the day), but still passable.

HOWEVER.

At any of these times, he's practically unable to fall and stay asleep without the hair dryer. Sure, if he's really sleepy, he'll fall asleep while eating, but he'll wake up within 5 minutes of putting him down unless the hair dryer is on. It's amazing. Practically the second we turn it on, you can see his eyes start to droop. We may need to invest in a sound machine if this continues. Anyone else have weird household contraptions turned baby essentials?

Also, at his one-month checkup last week, Nat clocked in at 9 lbs. 15 oz, sailing from 90th percentile length/10th percentile weight at birth to 90th percentile length/60th percentile weight now. That is up 4 pounds from 5 weeks before, or nearly 2 ounces a day. The doctor said .5-1 ounce/day is normal. Evidently our skinny minny is chunking up.

Tiny

Some tiny, napping feet made their way to my keyboard. Good thing "q" isn't an oft-used letter.

One Month

Dear Nat,
Today is your one-month birthday. I can’t believe it has been a whole month since your little body entered the world! This last month has been nothing short of blessed.


It has been so much fun to watch you grow and learn. The last couple of weeks, you have been increasingly observant; you love to look around with those beautiful eyes and take in your surroundings. You love focusing on lights and other bright objects, and you always seem very pensive and wise about it all. Probably my favorite thing on which you like to focus, though, is a painting we have of the Savior. Nearly every time I sit and nurse you on the couch above which it is hung, you just stare at it, often pausing mid-drink to smile up at it. I like to think you remember and recognize Jesus, and are smiling at Him.


This month, you’ve also loved spending time with your grandpa and grandma B, or your Ajja and Amma, as they like to be known. You recognize them now, too and enjoy completely making their day with your little smiles. They continue to be completely smitten with you – you have a way of winning hearts. You've also enjoyed lots of Skype and phone dates with many of your other relatives, and we're excited for you to meet many of them in person at Christmastime.


I’ve loved spending my days with you. I love playing with you and singing to you and dancing with you and reading books with you. I love munching on your cute little ears (with the tiny cute little nub on the right one). I love how calm you get whenever we turn on the hair dryer, and how you giggle in your sleep.


The other day, I had to leave you with Daddy for a few hours while I attended an event with my summer internship organization. As I was feeding you before, it took a little longer than I expected, so that I thought I would be a little late. While normally I really hate being late, I realized I just didn’t really care. You are my priority now, and I realized it’s much more important to me that all your needs are met than to be at some event. The best part was that I didn’t feel held back at all by this – I just felt grateful. You and your dad are the most important thing to me, and I’m so happy for it. I love you, Mr. McBub.

love,
mama

(Again, courtesy of the fabulously talented Maria.)

Hallelujah, indeed

The Messiah and Philly have always been connected in my mind, as our annual stake performance of it took my deep and abiding love for the oratorio to new heights. This just takes it to a while new level. Seriously, why didn't they do this while we were there??

Also, I love the Phillies shirts, dancing toddlers, and Penn vocal groups in the background. :)

Chili Pepper

For Becca. Better late than never.

One more

A preview from our newborn photo shoot...

Heart. Melting. Many thanks to Maria for the sweet picture and Whit & Evan for the adorable hat.

The many faces of Nathanael

Picture overload. Proceed at your own risk.

Bathtime.

WHY do they keep putting that camera in my face?

With grandma.

Arlington Cemetery.

Mullet + ear fuzz.

Tiny feet.

He sure is.

Cuddling with Daddy.

Yes, I'm cute. Thanks.

So much fun.

One Week

Dear Nat,
Today, sir, you are one week old. I know that doesn't seem like a very long time. And really, it's not - that time has flown by. And yet, it seems like you've been with us forever. In these few short days, you've already been such a joy to our family.

It is still a little amazing to me that your little body, though tiny, fit inside mine. You're ours! It is also incredible to me that immediately upon entering this (probably somewhat scary) world, you trusted us so completely to care for you and love you. Thanks for loving us in return.

Of course we're proud of your 4-hour stretches of sleep at night, your adorable little smiles, and your head lifts. We love how calm you get when we cuddle, how much you like being close to Daddy in the Snugli, and the fact that you gained 13 ounces in 4 days (the pediatrician asked if we'd been feeding you hamburgers). Most of all, though, we're proud of your sweet spirit and are grateful for the love that you bring to our home. We love you, bud.

love,
mama

Home

Our sweet Nathanael arrived at 12:24am on Tuesday, October 19th. He clocked in at 6 lbs. 8 oz. (10th percentile), 21" long (90th percentile) and 13.75" head circumference (25th percentile).

We rested in the hospital for a couple of days, and then brought him home on Wednesday evening. We are just so grateful and happy to have him here with us.

Also, we may be ever-so-slightly biased, but we think he is pretty darn adorable.

Still cozy...

...is our baby boy. To be honest, I am totally fine with that. Don't get me wrong - I am super excited to meet him. But yesterday was my last day of class, and today I finished my last group project. So I, for one, am glad he seems to be perfectly content to hang out a bit longer. At our doctor's visit today, he seemed to think we'd have another couple of days, at least.

I know it sounds bizarre, but I am actually a little sad for this pregnancy to be coming to a close so soon. Again, I am thrilled for our little one to join our family OUTside of my body, but part of me will miss having him with me all the time, feeling his movements, and knowing he is safe. I am really grateful for this time, and it is surprising to me how quickly it has gone by. Maybe it's because I've been lucky enough to have an easy pregnancy and because I'm still not uncomfortable, but I really love having this little guy in there.

In any case, we decided to have a few pictures taken of this belly while we had the chance. My amazing sister very kindly took some, and then a very talented friend who is building up her photography business snapped a few, as well. I could not be more thrilled. A huge thank you to these beautiful ladies who captured this time so well.

Purple Grape

A few weeks ago, I wore this purple dress to church. At one point, a little boy sitting behind us excitedly said, "Mom, look at the purple grape!" Dan is convinced he meant me.

This picture was taken at the end of our last shift as temple workers. We're hoping to have one final shift the Saturday before I'm due before we can't serve for another 25+ years.

Quick Update

Whew. Things have been crazy. School is in full swing, Dan's work has been crazy, and we now wake up at 5:30 to teach seminary. We and baby are doing well, although we can't quite wrap our minds around the fact that I am officially FULL TERM. This baby could come any day, folks (but we hope he opts to wait a few weeks).

Evidently, I am only capable of remembering to take belly shots at 10pm at night, when the light is poor and my appearance is poorer.

32 Weeks



34 Weeks


37 Weeks!



We also went camping last weekend. It was incredibly fun and relaxing. We stayed in a spot right by the bathrooms in the event that I needed to get up in the night. Fortunately, I didn't. For as much water as I've been inhaling, it is quite miraculous to me that I still manage to sleep through the night without a peep.



My belly thought it would be fun to jut out from under the life vest.



We also spent a lovely day in Harper's Ferry, and spent this past weekend studying, organizing, and participating in speed reading. Fun times were had by all.

Technology dependent

Am I the only who thinks it is strange when people persist in giving you directions, even after you tell them you have a GPS? Is anyone else surprised when people even ask for directions anymore (especially over email) when Google maps is so much easier, more detailed, and more efficient?

Peaches

Last Saturday, we headed out about an hour west of DC to go fruit picking. We found some delicious peaches, as well as some chard and tomatoes. It was so fun, despite the blistering heat. By the end, we all kind of wanted to pass out. But at least they were tasty!

We also saw a calf. I wanted to bring it home with us. Dan thought it would prefer being with its mama-cow.

On the way home, we stopped by the Marriott Ranch for a Pioneer Day celebration. We then followed our GPS across treacherous, non-state-maintained roads that are definitely intended for large vehicles possessing 4-wheel drive. We have a Nissan Sentra. Oh well. At least we made it.

And now I present the last couple weeks' worth of bump pictures:

27 Weeks:


28 Weeks:

Lucky

In the last few years, I haven't been able to play my violin quite as much as I would like. I decided a little while ago that I really wanted to practice once a week at the bare minimum. It's not much, but it at least allows me to pick up some old pieces and have music in our home. We decided we'd like to turn Sunday nights into family music nights. Our hope is that one day, all of our children will be able to sing and play together, and beautiful music can fill our home.

Problem is, I often get distracted and forget. Dan, thankfully, has a much better memory than I do. After we'd finished dinner a couple of Sundays ago, Dan requested that I play my violin while he did the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. He says that it was really for him, because he really wanted to hear me play, but I think he was also just being nice and encouraging me to do something I love (while he did the chores, no less). Either way, wow, am I grateful for a husband who is so supportive, and who makes my life so much more full.

Change of Heart

I blogged a while ago about how I typically prefer singers of the national anthem to not put too much interpretation into it. But a couple of months ago, we visited the "official" flag exhibit at the National Museum of American History, which I've always loved. This time, though, I was struck by a little piece near the end of the exhibit that briefly discussed how different individuals and groups through the decades have brought new interpretations to the Star-Spangled Banner, and thus made it their own, much like America become the adopted nation of a variety of different races, ethnicities, religions, etc.

This sort of changed my mind a little about different renditions. I suppose musically I still prefer more "straight" versions of the anthem, but it makes me happy that others can bring into it the emotion and love they feel for our country. I think it is pretty fantastic that it can become familiar and comfortable and a true anthem for each individual. I'm grateful for that message. Now I just wish performers would do the fourth verse.

Or maybe this is just my way of admitting my secret love for David Archuleta.

Belated 24

Today I am 25 weeks pregnant. Because I am evidently incapable of both taking and posting pregnancy pictures in a timely manner, here is one from a week ago, at 24 weeks.


I am apparently finally looking pregnant to the random bystander, as several very kind folks offered me their seats on the Metro last week.

Cali + lots of pictures, for once

Last week, Dan was able to travel to California for a business trip. Thanks to Southwest, I was able to tag along for a "babymoon" of sorts. Highlights included: Attending the beautiful Newport Beach temple.



Seeing dear friends Max & Collin, and their beautiful boys. Attending Disneyland with them was a particular treat.


The bump on Max is sweet little tiny Samuel. I loved when people kept staring at her and saying, "Is that a baby in there??" Yes, yes that is a baby. No, it is not some extraordinarily abnormal growth.



Going to Diddy Riese. Dan ate 3 ice cream sandwiches.


Attending an amazing jazz concert in the park in Coronado.



Eating delicious breakfasts in our adorable B&B and managing some pretty great dinners, too.


Attending a phenomenal concert in Balboa Park with the world's largest outdoor organ.


Seeing my delightful cousins.



Attending the San Diego temple and visiting beautiful La Jolla.




All in all, it was a delightful and relaxing trip, aside from the harrowing trip home...I hate airports. It's also good to be back and to have license to make things like this:


Yes, the ice cream was also homemade, and yes, despite its ease, I did inexplicably feel like a domestic goddess, thank you for asking.

Needless to say, we're excited to spend the rest of the summer exploring and staycationing in DC.