Our Latest/Nash Rambler/Chompie Byte

April 8, 2008

 You know, I can barely remember March, but we had some adventures.  I came down with the flu or something like it that first week.  I felt pretty yucky, but that was actually one of my most productive weeks around the house.  "How did that happen?" I keep wondering.  I guess when you're sitting in a stupor you realize you're staring at something that really needs attention and you can't stand to look at it in that condition any more.  So it was with my miniblinds and my back yard.  The miniblinds aren't much to report besides feeling glad they're done, but if you're looking for a great way to get filthy blinds clean with minimal labor, ask!  The back yard, on the other hand, was a big deal.

 We hadn't raked it the entire time we've lived here, plus it was a mess when we moved in.  There was a 4-foot swath of long grass growing through deep pinestraw in the middle of the yard, so I wasn't sure where lawn ended and pinestraw bed began.  We decided to just clean out the whole shebang and start with a clean slate.  I started working on it during Daniel's afternoon naps one week, and with the help of my Visiting Teacher one day, we got it done in three afternoons and put 45 bags of lawn debris out on the curb for pickup.  It was a really big job, but I am so glad to have it finished!  We found a bunny in a burrow while we were raking.  That was fun for the kids to see.

 The middle two weeks of March were pretty run-of-the-mill.  David discovered bugs and dirt in the newly-exposed back yard and loved doing what boys do best.  Add some rain to make puddles and we had one happy camper on our hands.  I finally broke down and bought him some rain boots because his shoes were coming in a soggy muddy mess on a frequent basis.  He also liked to put a bucket on his head in lieu of a raincoat.  What a goof!

 For Easter I decided I wanted to visit with some family, so I packed up the boys and went to Charleston, SC to visit my brother Preston and his family for a few days.  David loved playing in their backyard with the big trampoline (netted in for safety) and the treehouse that Preston built before he left for Iraq.  David had a lot of fun playing with his cousins and especially Uncle Preston.  He asks me frequently if we're going to Preston's house again.  While I was there we visited Downtown Charleston, which is one of my favorite places to go.  I've been there so many times, but with the exception of a few unmistakable streets (Rainbow Row, the Battery), I get lost among the old homes so each trip is like seeing it for the first time all over again.  I love it!  David really enjoyed playing on the old cannons at the Battery.

Preston and his three kids: Matt (6), Kaitlyn (2), and Leanne (4) plus David (3) on a cannon at the Battery in Charleston, SC

 We came home Saturday afternoon to spend Easter with Nathan.  He had Easter baskets ready for the boys and plastic eggs hidden around the house for David to hunt out.  That was a big hit!  Even still David brings his bucket of plastic eggs to us and asks us to hide them for him.  One day he went and "hid" them all himself, to find himself, in some very creative places.

 Monday after Easter we had the very great joy of hosting Preston's family on our turf.  Preston applied to NC State for grad school and wanted to visit the campus, check out  the area, etc.  His kids were on Spring Break so they all came on up for a couple days, much to David's delight.  Then that Friday we got to host my brother Brenden for several hours after a work-related seminar in Raleigh before he headed down to Woodbadge training in Savannah, GA.  I was delighted to have two spur-of-the-moment visits from my family in one week, and David has decided that anyone named "Uncle" is really cool.

 Our next big thing to report is that we got our garage renovated this past week.  Yipee!  We have a small double garage, and when we moved in it had two single doors for entry.  The Corolla fit in fine, but the Van was a tight enough squeeze through that doorway that I didn't even want to try after my first attempt.  We hired a company to remove the center column, replace the headers with a single load-bearing beam, and install one double door.  Barring some communication and HOA issues, once we got the go-ahead they made quick work of it.  I called the contractor on Monday, they came on Wednesday and did demolition and reframed the opening, then Thursday they did exterior trim and siding replacement (in the rain, I might add), and Friday we had a new door installed.  Now all that remains is to let it all dry out enough for them to paint it.  I'm very excited and have relished parking the van in the garage over the weekend.  The Corolla got stuck outside because there are still construction materials on the other side of the garage.  J

 Daniel has amused and entertained us greatly this month.  He started crawling forward now, so we don't have many snail trails around the house anymore.  He just mops it up with his belly as he goes along.  He really moves, though, and keeps us all on our toes.  David scurries ahead of Daniel moving toys he doesn't want played with.  A lot of times now Daniel crawls over to my feet and then extends his arms and legs, balancing on his tummy, to tell me he wants to be picked up.

He loves Cheerios and detests getting his face washed after meals.  And as good-natured as he is, he's also got a string of chiding syllables he'll send our way when we take too long to do something (like get him up from his nap).  He and David are good pals.

We love you all!

The (Other) Other Nashes,

Nathan, Natalie, David, and Daniel

--
Natalie


"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?"
- Elbert Hubbard

Speaking of April Fools

I just read an article online entitled "Top 10 April Fools' Pranks for Nerds." My absolute favorite is the Newton Virus. Watch it work here:

April Fools

It's been a very long time since I pulled an April Fool's prank. The only successful one to my recollection was when I told my fourth grade teacher she'd dribbled ice cream on her shirt at lunch and then did the "tweaked nose gag" when she looked down.

I have been slack in introducing David to the big holidays. I forgot about Valentines, St Patrick's Day, and Easter until they were right upon us. I forgot those, why would I remember April Fools Day? And yet, by happenstance, David pulled a fantastic prank on us.

I got out of bed late this morning and scurried to grab a quick shower before Nathan left for work, but the water was taking forever to warm up. I mean FOREVER. I was totally baffled and mentioned it to Nathan. He twiddled with the fixtures a bit and was just as baffled, especially after trying the bathroom sink and also getting cold water when it was turned all the way to hot. What could be wrong, we wondered? We had hot water last night.... I was about to suck it in and take a cold shower, and then I remembered... David was playing in the garage yesterday and must have tampered with the thermostat on the hot water heater. A trip down there confirmed my suspicions. The temp was turned way lower than "vacation." I could have run that shower for hours and it would never have gotten any hotter. I didn't have time to wait an hour for the water to heat up again, so I just decided to skip the shower.

David 1: Mom 0. Thanks, Son.

What a Cutie!

Daniel finally started crawling forward. Granted, it's an army crawl, but he's exercising those abs and practicing getting up off his tummy. He's a real machine when we put him on the floor and he sees something he wants (usually David's toys or the vertical blinds).



One day David got out some toys in the family room. Daniel saw them and crawled over to investigate. We've told David if he doesn't want Daniel to play with his toys then he needs to pick them up and move them, so when Daniel came over, David dutifully picked up the toys and moved over several feet. Daniel followed, so he moved again, and pretty soon they were on the other side of the house, and although I found it quite funny, David was getting rather annoyed. :)

I also had the fun opportunity to drive down to Charleston, SC to visit my brother Preston and his family for Easter weekend. The drive is 4 hours. Not too bad, but both ways Daniel reached his limit around 3.5 hours. I arrived Thursday afternoon, and David had lots of fun playing in the back yard with his cousins. He especially liked the treehouse Preston built, and the trampoline. Friday we went to downtown Charleston. You'd think after all those trips growing up to show visitors that I'd be sick of it, but on the contrary, I absolutely love going there. For the most part I can't tell all the streets and alleyways apart, so every visit is like seeing it for the first time all over again. Every visit I also think about how much I'd love to get a particular painting of the ocean waves pounding the Battery, or one of the Gullah sweetgrass baskets. Someday I will. We ended our downtown tour with a visit to the waterfront park and let the kids wade in the Pineapple Fountain. David thought it was a blast, and got thoroughly soaked.



That night Preston and Suzy also committed to watching some friends' kids for a date-night swap, so we had three more boys ages 6(?), 3, and 6 months, on top of Preston and Suzy's 6-,4-,and 2-y/o kids and my 3-y/o and 7-month-old. Needless to say, we had a zoo. It was fun though. We built a bonfire in the back yard and roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and drank hot cocoa. The kids ran around wildly for hours and hours. Little Benjamin, the other baby, was having a rough night though and was inconsolable as far as Suzy and I could tell. Nothing either of us did seemed to keep him happy. David came in while he was fussing, sat by him and pat his head and rubbed his back and said, "It's okay baby, it's okay." And to our amazement, the little lad calmed down and went to sleep! David really has such a tender heart. He's just as concerned with Daniel and takes good care of him.

When I got home Saturday afternoon I put Daniel down in the family room to play and enjoy being out of the carseat. Nathan and I were talking in the kitchen, and soon became aware that Daniel was chuckling about something. We peeked around the corner and saw him playing with one of those plastic links that came with his Little Einstein play gym. He would hold it for a bit, then drop it on the floor and laugh as it wobbled around before settling on the floor. He did it over and over and chuckled all the way. We caught the tail end of it on video:

A MAJOR Clean-Up Job

I'm ashamed to say that I've neglected our back yard for 7 months. That is, to say, since we moved in. Oh I ran over it once with the reel mower, but I never, ever raked, not even once during the fall. With all those pine trees and mature deciduous trees in our back yard, you can imagine the mess we had.

"Before"

To make matters worse, it was a mess when we moved in. I wasn't quite sure where the grass ended and the pinestraw bed began. We seemed to have a 4-foot wide transition zone across the yard of grass growing up through deep pinestraw. If I did rake the stuff from the grass to the beds, I wasn't sure where to end. Nathan and I decided the best thing to do would be to clean out the whole shebang. It was a very daunting job, so we talked briefly about hiring some young men to come clean it out for us to raise funds for Scout Camp. I even mentioned it to the YM President a couple weeks ago. But no one called and I got sick of looking at the mess. They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, or something like that, so I determined to just start plugging away at it a couple bags at a time while Daniel napped in the afternoon.

I started on Monday, and he napped long enough that I was able to surprise myself by filling twelve 39-gallon bags. Perhaps the biggest surprise about that was how little yard I actually raked to get that kind of volume! David enjoyed being out with me and really experiencing Little-Boyhood for the first time as he played in the dirt and tortured bugs. He was so filthy by the time I was finished, but I know he had fun.


Tuesday I filled four more bags in a tiny little area. Sixteen bags, and the yard was not even halfway done. By Wednesday I was exhausted and sore and decided to take a break. Plus, I'd reached our maximum number of bags I was allowed to place on the curb for pickup that week, and our back-yard neighbor had two dead pine trees taken out that day. That was pretty fun to watch.

I mentioned what I had taken on to my visiting teacher when she called on Wednesday and she offered to come help the next day (yesterday). Boy did she ever! She brought a rake, her two kids, and some sand toys. The kids all went off to a corner of the yard and played while we plugged away at the yard. I could hardly believe how fast we were filling bags. Daniel woke up before we were finished, but we were so close to being done (!) that I just put a hat on him and sat him down in some shady pseudo-grass to have a sensory fiesta while we wrapped things up.


Right towards the end we had a big surprise as Jacquie raked back a clump of pinestraw and a bunny came bounding out from under it! At first I thought we'd just put it in a box and relocate it, so I put on some leather gloves and caught the little fella. That's the first time I've ever heard a rabbit make noise. After a minute I rethought that course of action, thinking since he was so young his mom would still be around, and I didn't want to separate them. I put him back down and he took shelter behind some long greens against the garage wall. The kids were very interested in the rabbit, but I told them he was very scared and might bite. They were exceptionally good about keeping their distance in spite of their curiosity. We picked up his fluff-lined bundle of pinestraw and put it up against him there to keep him warm, then gave him an apple slice and a sprig of broccoli--just in case. I don't know much about the tendencies of wild rabbits. I hope he does okay.


After that bit of excitement we were all hot and tired, but satisfied with an afternoon well spent. We finished the entire yard, with the exception of the bunny corner, something that I had never imagined I'd accomplish in three afternoons. Thursday alone we filled 29 bags, for a grand total of 45 bags of yard debris, plus a pile of sticks. I have sworn an oath never to let the yard get that bad again! Meanwhile, I really enjoy looking out at the back yard and reveling in what got accomplished.

This is the same view as my "Before" picture. I don't know that you can see much difference in the photo, but it's a huge difference in person.


Some more views of the entire yard...



Thursday's Results: 29 bags of debris, waiting for Trash Day. I put them in the garage so when/if it rains they won't get even heavier.

David Plays in the Rain

We've had some wacky weather lately. It just can't seem to make up its mind. One day is in the 40's, then the next in the high 60's or 70's, then the next it's back down in the 40's or 50's again. We have sun for a day or two and then the next day or so it's rainy. Mind you, with this drought you'll hear no complaints about rain from me. I just wish the temperature would make up its mind so I know how to dress the kids.

Friday David decided he wanted to go in the back yard, but it was raining. He went into the coat closet and pulled out my slip-on shoes, then put a bucket on his head for "rain protection". And he was off, sloshing in puddles in my shoes. Brilliant!



I decided a little play in the rain wasn't so bad, but I definitely wanted my shoes back as dry as possible. I outfitted him in his fancy Finding Nemo sandals and a rain jacket, plus an umbrella, much to his delight. He often asks to play with that one.



Once he and the umbrella were good and wet he decided he wanted to go play in the front yard. Slosh Slosh Drip Drip through the house to the front. He stood on the front porch for maybe 3 minutes before he decided to go back to the back yard. Slosh Slosh Drip Drip once again. He didn't stay back there very long either before he wanted to try the front porch again. My poor floors were sooo wet! Somehow I coaxed him to go play in the garage instead.

Fun in the Ball-Pit

For Christmas we got David a set of pop-up tents and tunnels. One of the tents also doubles as a ball pit. The other night we had fun watching both boys play in the ball pit.

A Prayer-Filled Month

Wow, what a month! I can hardly believe we’re at this point again already, and yet it seems like so much has happened. Where to begin?

We kicked off the month with an evening of fun and games with my college roommate and her husband, who now live in Chapel Hill, NC. It was great to visit and reminisce, and introduce them to the Southern wonders of Bojangles’ restaurant (yum-o).




In an attempt to find more social activities for both David and myself, I also decided to try the Story Time at Barnes & Noble on Friday mornings. It’s kind of a tight squeeze to get there on time, as story time starts at 10:30 and David is in Little Gym until 10:15. The first time I tried going, David got a little too adventurous once we got in the store and ran up the escalator without me (I had the stroller and so planned to go in the elevator). He turned around to look at me as I was calling him back, and he ended up falling down the escalator. I felt like the world was in slow motion as I watched him lose his balance and teeter off the edge of the step, then slide down several stairs. I imagined his hand or coat getting caught in the side and something getting seriously mangled. I left Daniel and the stroller at the bottom and ran up the escalator to rescue him. Fortunately he was more startled than hurt. He just had some very long scrapes running from his wrists to his elbows. I sat on the floor and held him to calm him down, and we had the first of many chats this month about consequences of our actions and not listening to Mommy. By the time we got upstairs story time was basically over, so we just went into the Kid’s section to play with the Thomas the Tank Engine train table. After a second unsuccessful attempt to make it to story time on time, I gave up on that idea, but at least I know that the train table is a hit.

I noticed one day that we were getting a cold draft through our fireplace. Since I tend to sit on the part of the sofa that is directly in front of the fireplace, I determined to do something about that. First I investigated glass doors for the fireplace, and upon seeing they were way too expensive for our current situation, I went out and bought a sheet of insulation foam, cut it to size, and wrapped it in black bulletin board paper. Then I stuffed it in the fireplace opening so I won’t get any more cold drafts. Whew! A nice fix for under $20. I felt pretty pleased with my solution. Then to restore some depth and interest to the fireplace I went and got a pretty fireplace screen to liven it up a bit.



Around Valentine’s Day we made a salesman very happy by finally committing to start renovating our garage. We have a double garage, but it has two single doors that are rather narrow. Our Corolla fits in just fine, but to get our Odyssey into the garage, I have to fold in both side mirrors, and then I only have about an inch on either side. Once I’m in, space is so tight I can barely open the doors. So in order to help that problem, short of just razing the garage and building a bigger one (I wish!), we’re going to remove the two single doors and install one double door. That will allow me to pull in without folding in mirrors, and I can pull in more towards the center of the garage so I have room to open the doors. Yay! When this is all done (8-12 weeks) I won’t have to load and unload kids in the much-prayed-for rain anymore. I’m so stoked.

That weekend we held our breath and said many more prayers for my oldest nephew, Justin, who is a Freshman at BYU. He was out on campus with some friends on a Friday night and had full-on cardiac arrest. He had to be defibrillated four times before his start started again, and he was without oxygen for 15 minutes. The doctors’ prognoses were grim, but through the faith and prayers of so many, Justin recovered in under a week with only some short-term memory loss. He is a walking miracle, and we’re so grateful to still have him with us. Read or watch his story.

Within hours of hearing Justin was released from the hospital, we received a phone call that our 20-month-old-ish niece on Nathan’s side was admitted to the hospital with type-1 diabetes. Talk about a whammy-ka-blammy. Our prayers are with them as they still try to get that all sorted out.

Such news from our extended families made me feel very blessed that I only had to take Daniel to the doctor on a Saturday afternoon for another ear infection. We had a rough Friday with very little sleeping and whole lotta crying on his part. At first I thought he was just over-tired and having a hard time winding down, plus David was making enough noise to wake him up when he did sleep. When he woke up screaming at midnight though, I knew that something was up, and it echoed the January ear infection. Why do these things always surface late at night and on weekends? I gave him some Tylenol and propped the head-end of his mattress a little bit and he was a happy little camper for the rest of the night. Then I called the pediatrician’s urgent care line first thing in the morning to get his ear checked (sho’ ‘nuff!) and start him on antibiotics. After that he was just peachy.

I was so excited to see David interact with a bonafide friend at Church a few weeks ago. Chase is a year older than David, but as we pulled up at the same time, the boys went running into the church together holding hands. It gave me warm fuzzies to see David have that kind of bond finally. We invited Chase to come to David’s “bring a friend” week at the Little Gym. David was a little rascal that day in class, but I was happy he had a friend to bring.

David is also continuing to enjoy playing games with us, and he also likes doing puzzles. He does some mighty fine work on a USA puzzle without state outlines. That’s my little geographer! (forewarning: the video is 13 minutes long)




Daniel is finally sitting up by himself! As an added bonus, he can now also roll from his back to his tummy, so he is fully mobile…sorta. He still scoots backwards all over and often gets backed into corners. The trail of drool in his wake on the hardwood floors reminds us of snail trails.



He also has a baby gym/playmat with two arches criss-crossing corner to corner. He backs into one of those arches and then gets mad as he goes around in circles because he’s stuck on that arch. One time he just took the gym with him around the room. It’s pretty funny to watch.



I have to add just one more little bit: Daniel does this cute little stacking hands clap, and Nathan caught it on video.



So that’s us in a nutshell. We love and miss you all!
Love,
The (Other) Other Nashes
Nathan, Natalie, David, & Daniel