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:
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.
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.
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.
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
We finally emerged from the shroud of sick kids and prepared to re-enter society, but the weather had different ideas. We had a brief bout of winter, with freezing rain and promises of sleet and a snow accumulation of 6-12 inches. So, the closest I got to society that week was a tire shop to put our snow tires on. Sadly, nothing more than a light dusting of snow happened, but it was enough to cancel church the next day. Too bad no one told us! Nathan said he’d stay home with David to give him a little more time to recuperate before involving the other Sunbeams in his recent joys. I got to escape to church with Daniel, but after driving 20 minutes to get there on a beautiful, sunny and ice-free morning, I arrived several minutes late to church only to find a very empty parking lot. Oh well. It was a nice drive. (By the way, I mentioned that our bout of winter was brief because today is forecast to be 78*. Punxsutawney Phil must be loopy.)
It's rather chilly downstairs in the morning. This particular day I noticed David shivering at breakfast and got him a sweatshirt and his slippers. Then he asked to wear his hat and mittens too, and draped his yellow blanket over his lap.
On January 23 we had the very great joy of seeing David’s show week for the semester-end at The Little Gym. The parents got to sit in the gym instead of the lobby (wow) and we watched as they monkey-jumped and donkey-kicked and bounced and hung and dangled and flipped and did all sorts of wild 3-year-old tricks. David performed marvelously in front of a crowd (last time the mere addition of Nathan in the lobby led to a melt down and refusal to participate). At the end of the show they did an awards ceremony and told each child’s greatest strength or area of most improvement. David’s teacher commended him for the great strides he’d made in listening and participation. When we first enrolled him he’d completely ignore her and just run around the room, doing whatever he pleased. By the end of the semester he would do opening circle and stay at the station they were working on, showing immense improvement. Nathan and I are so proud of him for his progress. This past week at church his Sunbeam teacher also commented that he was so good in Primary, and that he always sat still and was reverent and listened to the teachers. I was a bit surprised, to be honest, since he wouldn’t do any of those things in Nursery, but I was glad once again to hear that he’s making progress. We’ve been working really hard on listening and following directions.
David has also taken up a new past time: playing games. He got some age-appropriate board games for Christmas, and constantly asks to play them. He’s learned about taking turns and persisting until the dice roll what he needs, plus the games reinforce colors, shapes, and following directions. He’s also developed a competitive streak that emerged when Nathan won a game and ate the prize (a piece of chocolate) before David really understood what had happened. David ‘s face was priceless. He looked shocked, horrified, and confused all at once. You could just see the wheels turning in his head: “Daddy ate the chocolate. Why did he get to eat it and not me? How dare he eat MY chocolate?!” Nathan immediately put another piece of chocolate at the end of the game and set up to play again so David could get one, but the gloves were off, dukes were up. David rolled the die once, moved his pawn to the appropriate color, and grabbed the chocolate and ate it before Nathan could take his first turn. It was so funny I had to laugh, but David’s newfound awareness of winning vs. losing led to a very intensely emotional week as he insisted on winning and would do anything to make it so. Happily, things have calmed down considerably (and we don’t put chocolate on the line anymore).
Even though we discontinued speech therapy after only two sessions, David’s language skills have continued to expand by leaps and bounds. Strangers can understand most of what he says now! (Yay! I’ve been waiting for that milestone for a while). One thing I’ve noticed is he’s discovered that I have a name besides “Mommy.” When he’s trying to get my attention, he calls out something that sounds more like “Na-yee” than “Mommy.” It’s been a trick to teach him that yes that’s my name, but not how he should address me.
Daniel has been absolutely delightful these past few weeks. He found his voice and yodels and screeches to his heart’s content. More than once I’ve listened to him vocalize and thought to myself, “You know what that sound is, Highness? Those are the screeching eels!” He also drooled two teeth into fruition the day after his cold got better. What timing! Another thing he’s mastered is what I like to call the “Little Mermaid on the Rocks” pose, where he hoists himself up with his arms extended and his hips glued to the floor and kicks his little legs. This has led to another talent of late—scooting backwards, since his body frequently slides out from under him when he’s in that position. It’s pretty funny to watch as he roams the family room in reverse, leaving a trail of drool in his wake.
Watch as Daniel does little more than smile and put on a show of his cuteness. He eventually works his way back to a half-eaten tortilla that David left on the floor. At that point I had to stop filming because he was cramming it into his mouth!
Daniel has also developed some endearing body language. When he’s tired he throws himself back to a reclined position, then reaches up and softly pats my chin. I love it so much I almost can’t wait for him to get tired just so I can feel that little hand pat my chin. He also has started giving me what I like to think are hugs and kisses. If I have him sitting up in my arms he snuggles in on my shoulder, reaches his arms around my neck and tangles his hands in my hair. Then he leans back to look at me, smiles, and comes in to suck on my chin for a moment before detaching again to play with my hair, necklace, or buttons. The kisses are pretty slobbery, but I sure love them!
Daniel likes cereal! He took his first bite and grinned from ear to ear. Silly little brother!
Daniel's looking pretty sharp in his little suit!
As for me, my biggest accomplishment over the past few weeks was taking advantage of a warm afternoon to finally get our food storage organized in the garage. I’m amazed at how much more compact it all is without the boxes! I had wanted to do that since we moved in so finding the next can of whatever wasn’t such a chore. It seems like it would take at least 5 minutes of shuffling boxes around to find what I wanted. Now I can just skip out to the garage and pluck what I need off the shelf without batting an eye. Whew! The pest-control guy offered some motivation when he said silverfish like to live in and eat cardboard boxes. I fully resolved to remove that asset as soon as possible. I’m glad I did, too, for besides making stuff easier to find, I also discovered that a rodent had paid our garage a visit too and helped himself to stuff that wasn’t canned. I didn’t see any signs of a nest thankfully, so I assume that with everything uncanned now discarded, in unchewable packaging, or moved into the pantry, we hopefully will not have an encore act.
Here's the spread after I got it all sorted.
...And a much more compact food storage! This used to take up all the shelves, plus I had some stacked on top and some stacked on the floor next to it.
In spite of being busy with the boys and enjoying their progress and personality, I’ve battled a sense of loneliness the past several weeks. That sounds like such a pity party to admit, which is not my intent, but it truly has been a struggle, especially lately. Since we moved out here I’ve missed the camaraderie of the townhouses, where I knew everyone and could walk outside at just about any time and someone was sure to be out and ready to chat. I have not yet achieved that degree of sociability with our neighbors, but I did meet someone down the street with 5-year-old twin boys yesterday. Hopefully they will be fun playmates for David.
Nathan is just plugging along at work. He doesn’t tell me much about what goes on at work, but I do know that lately he’s been even less enamored with upper management than usual. He’s entertained several offers to interview with other companies, but it seems like nothing yet meets our needs. Either they pay less than he’s currently making or they require him to travel 2-3 weeks out of the month. (Who creates those kinds of positions anyway? No one with a family, I’m sure.) So, he’s carrying on until something better presents itself. Not much else we can do, really.
And once again I’ve written a novella, plus David’s beating on his door to let me know he’s ready to emerge from naptime, so I’d better close.
We love and miss you all, The (Other) Other Nashes Nathan, Natalie, David, & Daniel
Ah, December: the month of everlasting joy and chaos. Do I really need to relate much more? Well, yes, I guess I do. It was fun to watch David feel the excitement of Christmas. As I mentioned before, he was fascinated with the Christmas tree and its lights and ornaments. More than once I came into the living room and found him sitting on the floor beneath the tree and gazing up at it. I also wrapped a pre-lit garland around our stair banister and hung our stockings up the rail. David always made sure the tree and stairs were lit, and each time he ascended or descended the stairs he’d identify which stocking belonged to which member of our little family. He was also fascinated with the presents under the tree and regularly asked if he could open them. We attempted somewhat to introduce the concept of Santa; however, whenever he saw one he referred to him as “Snowman.” I guess that’s not crucial to grasp. On a note more true to the Season, we also had fun teaching him about Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, wise men and shepherds as he played with his Fisher-Price Nativity set.
One of our favorite tales of the season: Nathan took David Christmas shopping with him, then, realizing that David could tell me what they’d bought, trained David with the help of store employees to say that they’d gotten Mommy a “football” (the employees thought it was a hoot.) The plan worked, but David also kept pulling out the present for the next two weeks, asking to play with the football.
My parents came up for the weekend before Christmas for a brief visit. It was fun to share David’s excitement with them as we exchanged our gifts on this end. Then, very early on Christmas Eve, we boarded a plane, bound for Seattle. The boys did exceptionally well. On our layover in Las Vegas after a 5-hour leg on the plane, David kept asking when we would ride the plane again. (“All too soon” kept going through his parents’ minds). Thank goodness for our portable DVD player. We arrived in the early afternoon and then proceeded directly to Anacortes. David was very excited to tell his Grandma Nash all about the airplanes. By the time we did Nash family presents that night and Santa presents in the morning, David was an expectant pro at opening gifts, ready to strip giftwrap off anything stationary, whether it was for him or not. It took several days to convince him that there weren’t any more presents. Good thing we didn’t attempt the twelve days of Christmas…
We had a delightful time in Washington visiting family, and even getting a quick visit in with some friends in Lynnwood. On New Year’s Day we finally had all three grandkids (our boys plus our niece Sophia) simultaneously awake and happy enough to do a little mini-Nativity. Daniel played Baby Jesus, Sophia was Mary, and David was a modern-day Joseph; we couldn’t convince him to wear the costume. The scene only lasted a minute or two, but it was sweet nonetheless. Then on Jan 2 we were back on the planes and back to the grindstone, albeit considerably jet-lagged. The boys adjusted fairly quickly to Pacific Time, but Eastern Time was a hard one to work back into. And of course, to make matters ever more delightful, we all got colds from the airplane.
That Sunday David went to Sunbeams for the first time at church. I can hardly believe I have a Sunbeam now! Nathan and I had to opportunity to watch him on his big day, since we were asked to substitute the 6-year-old class. Perhaps it was a good thing. David seemed to like turning around and seeing us there in the unfamiliar environment.
Then on Wednesday we enjoyed the very great pleasure of a visit from my mom and my brother Preston, freshly back from Iraq and on his way west to collect his family. We took advantage of an unseasonably warm afternoon to take the boys on a stroll through the neighborhood, and that evening got a grand tour of Preston’s pictures from his deployment. Fascinating stuff!
That evening we also discovered Daniel had an ear infection, confirmed the next day at the doctor. Oh joy. Then David started throwing up that night while Nathan was at a business dinner. Even better. I got him all cleaned up and back in bed just in time for him to have an encore act. Fortunately Nathan came home in the middle of the second clean-up and was able to help me get things taken care of. Since then we’ve been battling diarrhea, diaper rash, vomit, and ears, and doing way more laundry than normal. Things get tricky when both boys are crying and want to be held. I’ve managed to master packing one on each hip. Yesterday I took David in to the doctor to see if it was the flu and if there was anything I could do besides just ride out the storm. As I checked in, the receptionist asked, “Weren’t you just in here?” Yep. Round II. Prognosis was that it’s not the flu, but a nasty virus that tends to settle in the chest, so we have to keep our eyes on it. Meanwhile I feel anxious every time David coughs, worried that I’ll get a previous meal in the bargain. A friend of mine recently asked how it was mothering two, to which I must reply, not bad, and even fun, until they both need you at once or take turns being up half of the same night. That’s the hardest part so far. I once again have newfound appreciation for my mom’s sanity with eight.
So anyway, that brings us up to the now. It’s a little late, but up until this afternoon, our recent dramas have taken the time I’d normally spend reporting. I hope things level out soon. ☺ We love you all and wish you the best in the New Year!
Love, The (Other) Other Nashes Nathan, Natalie, David, and Daniel
