Trick or Treating!

The Quest for Georgia's Smile

She smiles a lot. Really. She has this huge, toothless, chubby cheeked smile that will melt your heart. But you'll have to take my word on that, because I cannot capture it in a photo to save my life. Believe me, I've tried. But the big cheeses are fleeting, and my camera is too slow. Plus it shines this red light on her for like 5 seconds before flashing, and that is supposed to reduce red-eye, but it's still there almost always and it only distracts her. Anyway, here are my best recent attempts.

So I cut off the top of her head in a couple, but I got the tail end of a smile. She's now also giving a little "heee" for a laugh along with the smile sometimes. And in the last couple of days she's started rubbing her eyes when sleepy--awwwww.

This week, Nate has really proven his three-ness. He has tested every boundary and pushed every button. For example, yesterday he RAN from me every time I came at him. I never thought I'd be telling Nate, "Stop running, mister!" Then during his bath, I was trying to deal with a fussy Georgia while Nate was playing with his bath toys, and he started splashing water out of the tub, all over me and the whole bathroom. I told him to stop. He looked at me and did it again. I gave him another warning. He did it again. I smacked his hand. He did it AGAIN. So then I pulled him out of the tub like I should have done to begin with. After his bath, I attempted giving him a nap, because he really, really needed it. We did his little naptime routine, and as I was leaving, I told him he could look at a book, but he must stay in bed. I went to my room to feed Georgia, and next thing I know I hear him running around downstairs! This is the kid who, until last week, didn't know he could get out of bed until I told him it was okay. So I guess it was just a matter of time, but still, he got a time out for that one.

Nate is always either deliriously happy or unbearably grumpy. There is no in between. The grumpiness has just gotten kind of funny. Often I'll be talking on the phone in the truck, and I'll hear Nate from the backseat say, "No talking anymore" or "No laughing!" He's doing a little better about not screaming at stoplights, but now Georgia pipes up! Good grief, what is it with my children and stoplights! I blame it on Blake--he's not a fan of them either. On longer road trips, we try to keep Nate occupied by looking for bridges and tunnels, a huge interest for him. But after every cool bridge, tunnel, horse, whatever, he always says, "I wanna see another bridge (tunnel, horse, whatever)." Monday on our way to Nashville, we saw this huge dinosaur beside the road advertising Dinosaur World or something. We pointed it out to Nate, and he said, "I wanna see another dinosaur beside the road." Haha, well ... that's not likely except on the way home.

Sleep has also become a big issue around here. Since Nate gave up naps a few weeks ago, he is so exhausted all the time and really has a hard time making it to his normal bedtime. This is how this week has gone. Sunday on the way home from the Greenhill Halloween party, Nate fell asleep in the truck, so I carried him in and laid him on the couch and he continued to nap. He woke up late and then was up till midnight. Monday, he fell asleep for a couple hours on the way home from Nashville, then he was up till midnight. Tuesday, he was exhausted from his wacky sleep schedule, so he again fell asleep in the truck and was up till around 11. Wednesday, he had PT at 8 am, so he was really tired all day. Well, this lady came over (medicaid stuff) around 5:30, and I planned to give Nate dinner after she left. While she was here, Nate was getting really bossy, like telling this lady she had to come play trains with him. Next time I looked over at him, he was sitting straight up in the floor nodding off. It was hilarious. So I carried him to the couch and he was sound asleep. I had no idea what to do--if I woke him, he'd be up till midnight again. But he hadn't had dinner, so if I put him to bed, he might not sleep through the night. Well, I tried to wake him, and he didn't want to wake up to eat, so I put him to bed. At 3:30 am, he woke up and needed a snack and a drink. By 4:30, he and I were both laying on blankets in his floor asleep. Yesterday, Elizabeth came over so I could go to Bible study, and Nate threw such a fit when I left that she put him right to bed, and he cried for a half hour and passed out. Then this evening, Nate AGAIN fell asleep in the truck, but this time I knew he HAD to wake up so I didn't have to sleep in his floor again. Ugh, it's such a mess. And of course all of this starts now that Georgia is sleeping through the night.

Nate is super excited about trick or treating. He got to wear his Thomas costume to school on Thursday for the Halloween party. They apparently got orange ice cream, because Nate had it all over his face, and so did Thomas! This costume is going to be in shambles before trick or treating is over. This morning he also got to wear it again to music class.

Okay, there were probably 15 kids there and several adults, and everyone was playing loud musical instruments. And there's Georgia in her car seat, sound asleep!

A couple cute things Nate says that I don't want to forget: I could make one of those inspirational calendars with some of Nate's affirmations. He says things like, "It's TODAY!" :) and "I'm HERE!" and of course "It's party time!"

And he calls the chalk board a "chocwat" (chocolate) board. :)

So much going on!

Blog, I've been thinking about you but haven't had time to update you in the last few days. I'm sorry to neglect you.

Saturday, we hadn't quite recovered from our disastrous Friday night party, but we packed up and headed to my best friend Mindy's house for an overnight visit at their new house. We had a short visit, and Nate was a wild man, but we all really had fun.

Mindy's mom got this pumpkin hat for Georgia. How cute is that?

Then Nate had to try it on.

That started a game Nate called "Pumpkin Ball." Blake, Scott, and Nate threw that pumpkin hat around for hours.

Of course Nate had a terrible time trying to get to sleep with all the excitement, then he didn't want to leave the next day. :) Oh, this was cute--On Saturday night when we were saying our prayers, Nate asked to pray for Mindy and Scott's doggies. :) Then Sunday night he asked to pray for Mindy and said he was going to dream about playing at Mindy and Scott's house. Sweet boy.

We got home and almost immediately started getting ready for our Halloween party at Greenhill! They dressed up the horses and had a parade! This only shows about half of them. They had a buffalo, a devil, a unicorn, a skeleton, a circus pony, a farmer, the tin man, and an Indian. And all the kids got pony rides. I have a new level of respect for Nate's therapist, because I had to hold onto him when he was taking a ride on Mickey, and he was flopping everywhere.

So, cutest little Minnie Mouse you've ever seen, right?

All the kids were saying, "Look, there's Thomas!"

Nate didn't want to leave this bouncy house.

So it was a big, fun weekend, then we had a big Monday! We headed down to Nashville for Nate's annual Spina Bifida Clinic. When we got there, we went up to the Children's Cafe for lunch with Janie, who was there because Bob was in the hospital. Of course we all have runny noses and coughs, so we can't get anywhere near Bob, who is immuno-deficient because he is undergoing chemo and a stem cell transplant, and we tried to not infect Janie. Nate had such a great time with his Memaw (that's who he asked to pray for last night, along with Bob, who we always pray for).

Then we headed upstairs for a renal ultrasound (of his kidneys and bladder). We told him they were going to put jelly on his belly and take pictures of inside his belly with a magic wand, haha. He was looking at the screen to find his pizza from lunch and stuff. The urologist and the nurse came in to speak with us in the ultrasound room--how's that for service? Of course, everything was fine on the ultrasound, as it always is. I told the uro I was thinking about starting potty training, but Nate is showing no interest whatsoever. The uro advised me to just wait until he wanted to try it. It's probably going to take longer anyway (we're not sure if he feels when his bladder is full), so it's going to be an uphill battle if he's fighting us on it. Honestly, that was a relief for me to hear her say that because I don't think he's ready. So we will wait.

Next we went up to the clinic, and on the way saw Mary and Tracy, our MOMS nurses who became like family to us while we were living in Nashville after the prenatal surgery. It's always so good to see them, and it was nice to show them how Nate is now walking and to introduce them to Georgia. Mr. Nate WALKED into clinic for the very first time ever. It's one of those moments we've been waiting on. A big milestone. I was so mad at myself because I forgot my stupid camera at home, so I took pictures on Blake's cell phone, and Mary took some pictures for me too. I just need to get those pictures from both of them, and I'll post them.

Dr. Tulipan, the neurosurgeon, saw us first. We like him because he is an awesome surgeon, but we also resent him because he devastated us the first time we met him by telling us Nate would definitely need a shunt whether he had fetal surgery or not and that he would be in a wheelchair by the time he was in high school. We take great satisfaction in proving him wrong. :) Dr. T asked us a few questions about Nate's walking and cognitive function, then said, "Well, you guys don't really need me, so I'll leave."

All we had left to see was the ortho, Dr. Mencio, but he had had surgeries all day and was running late. So Nate did about 30 laps around the halls of the clinic. It's so hard for a kid to wait like that, and I'm so glad he's walking now because at last year's clinic we finally gave up and let him crawl down the hallway. Yuck! Eventually, Dr. Mencio showed up and approved of Nate's braces and looked at him standing and walking barefoot. Unlike his PT's, who have told me to not let Nate walk barefoot at home very much because it could potentially damage his knees, the ortho wasn't concerned about that and said he could walk barefoot as much as he wanted. Not sure who to believe there. He said bracing is very "fluid" and as Nate gets bigger and stronger, he may need to go up in bracing (meaning taller braces, AFOs) or he could go down (like a shoe insert). Of course we're hoping for the latter.

Both kids slept the whole way home, which was nice until about midnight when they were both awake and fussing. Then I was up bright and early to go to my scheduled massage!!! Some of my friends gave me a gift certificate to Aveda salon and spa when Georgia was born, and I used it for some much-needed relaxation this morning. It was fantastic. And I still have enough left on the gift card to get another massage when I start feeling tense again.

By the way, my headaches have gotten so much better. I think it's a combination of the daily medication my doctor gave me and the fact that Georgia is sleeping about 7 hours at a time these days! It's amazing what good sleep can do for you!

Speaking of that, it's past time for me to go to bed. We have PT at 8 am tomorrow!

Oh, let me tell you about my night.

Last Friday, the director of Green Hill, where Nate gets his therapy, invited us to a dinner this Friday at the Galt House. They got a grant from Kosair Children's Charities, and they asked all grant recipients to bring a kid and their family with them to the dinner. Well, it was very nice of him to choose us, and Blake and I both were super excited to eat at the Galt House, a very nice Louisville restaurant we could normally not afford to go to!

We were supposed to be there for pictures with the Green Hill people at 4:30. We had music class and hippotherapy today, so I rushed around last minute to find us all something to wear. (There is a point to this. Wait for it.) Blake came straight from work, so he wore slacks and a button down shirt. Nate wore gray cargo pants and a cute plaid button down shirt. Georgia wore a little dress with a big hairbow. And I wore black pants and a blue top with sparklies on top and my sensible black suede slip on shoes. We were dressed like we were going to church, I guess. Well, we got there, and people were dressed to the nines. Party dresses. Suits and ties. High heels and sparkly handbags. Wraps. Sequins! Oh no!!!!! We were grossly underdressed, and I was so embarrassed. Why didn't anyone tell me it was semi-formal?!!!! Seriously, I was mortified.

We had our picture taken and then there was kind of a cocktail hour type thing in the lobby outside the ballroom. Not exactly kid friendly, so we let Nate walk around less crowded areas, and I went to the powder room to feed Georgia. She promptly spit up puddles of milk all over both of us. Fantastic. Then she had a blowout diaper and got poo on her outfit. At that point, I laughed out loud.

Finally, the doors opened and we could go in the ballroom. The wait staff had already set the tables with salads and dessert. Anyone who knows Nate could predict what would happen when he saw the cake. He wanted it right then. And asking a 3 year old cake lover to sit and look at cake and not eat it is just torture. So we let him eat it. Then as everyone ate their salads, Nate started getting antsy. I took him out to the lobby, where we went up and down the escalators, went to the bathroom to wash our hands (a new favorite activity of his), played follow the leader, and did anything I could think of to entertain him for awhile. Then I saw that the main course was being served, so we went back in. Well guess what--they ran out of kids meals. The waitress said they were making more and would bring one to Nate when it was available, but that never happened. He ate a few bites of Blake's dinner and a roll and called it a day.

I will say that the food was excellent. I believe it was a pecan crusted chicken with caramelized pecans on top, with steamed vegetables, an excellent salad, and cake that was to die for. It was like chocolate cake, topped with a layer of fudge, topped with a layer of dulce de leche. It would have been nice to eat this food while it was hot ... or without a baby in one arm ... but you can't be picky about such things.

Nate started getting antsy again, but then it was time for the "Parade of Children." The kids were to follow this "ice cream man" around the room, weaving in and out of tables, dancing to the music, while everyone in the room applauded for them. Our friend Jennifer from the Spina Bifida Association of Kentucky brought her daughter Gracie, and she offered to walk with Nate in the parade. Nate thought this was a great plan until he realized I wasn't there, and Jennifer had to bring him back to me crying "mama mama mama," which is really unlike him. So I did the parade with him. I might have been the only parent in the parade, and the ice cream man said that if parents joined the parade they had to dance .... So Nate and I, in our embarassingly casual outfits, danced around the room, in and out of tables, while fancily dressed people clapped for us. Then Nate fell and started crying, so I scooped him up and danced faster to the end of the parade!

Next up was the presentation part of the evening, when they announced who got grants and how much and also presented awards. Okay, I am so thankful that Kosair Children's Charities does what they do. But. It took forever. The room was quiet as everyone listened to whichever speaker was on stage at the moment, except for Nate loudly talking about his trains. So for the next hour or more, Blake and I switched off taking him out to the lobby, back in, repeat. Nate was so tired, and there was just no way to expect a child to sit still and be quiet through such a long program. In fact, I have to say that although it was nice for them to invite children, it was almost like they were just there for the photo ops. There was nothing for the children to do, and it was just exhausting for the parents. Well, for us, at least.

As I was sitting with Nate just outside the doors of the ballroom, a very kind lady walked out toward the restrooms and looked and Nate and said, "He has made all of us smile this evening." God bless her. :) Nate wanted to go back in and see Daddy, so he promised me he would crawl under the table and play quietly with his trains. Well, he LIED! haha. He walked back in this quiet room yelling, "Daddy! Where are you?!!!" People chuckled.

By the end of the evening, I realized it was for the best that I dressed the way I did. I couldn't have fed Georgia in a party dress (um, not like I own a party dress anyway), and I couldn't chase Nate in high heels. Such is the life of a mother of young children, I guess. There will be opportunities for party dresses later on. So the night wasn't as fun as I had thought it would be. But it was ... comical. And, um, memorable. That's the best I can do tonight. :)

It's been a very interesting couple of days.

So Tuesday night, Nate and I both started feeling terrible. He was laying on the floor whining, so I gave him some sudafed and tylenol and sent him to bed. Then before I went to bed, I took some Tylenol cold and sinus night time. I knew it was safe to take while I was pregnant, so I figured it was safe while nursing too.

The next morning, Nate woke up feeling fantastic! He was bouncing on our bed and laughing and having a great time. I was so sure I'd be taking care of a sick kid all day, so this was a great surprise! Off to school he went!

I, on the other hand, felt miserable. Stuffy nose, sore throat, congested chest. I didn't want to take the night time medicine again, so I started to take a sudafed but thought I'd call my doc to make sure it was okay while nursing. After a half hour on the phone and being transferred 3 times, a nurse gets on the line and says, "Yeah, um, NO." Really? What can I take? "Pretty much nothing." I didn't believe her, so I called our pediatrician. They said the same thing! It turns out that decongestants are "moderately safe" for the baby, but they can dry up your milk! So now I have to suffer through this cold without any medicine. I figured just that one dose the night before wouldn't hurt my milk supply ... but I was wrong! It dramatically reduced it. I ate oatmeal (supposed to help milk supply) and drank water and nursed all day to try to get it back, but by evening, Georgia was hungry, and I couldn't do a thing for her. I had a little frozen milk in the freezer, so I heated that up and Blake tried giving her a bottle. She has totally forgotten how to take a bottle. She couldn't get her mouth coordinated. She got maybe a half ounce. But she was still hungry, and I knew none of us were going to sleep until she got her belly full! So we ended up feeding her with a medicine dropper. :) A couple droppers full, and she was out for 7 hours. And this morning, the milk was back and all was well with the world again. I have learned my lesson. No more cold medicine!

This afternoon I was thinking about how unfortunate it is for Nate that the h1n1 vaccine is apparently not available in Kentucky yet. With a kid like Nate, if he gets the flu, it's very dangerous. He has already had the regular flu vax, and he also needs the h1n1. So I looked online and found out that there are certain parts of the state that DO have it! And the closest place was two counties over, and they were having a flu clinic this evening. So I threw the kids in the car, drove over an hour, and got there right after the clinic started. There were probably a couple hundred people there, and they let us know there might not be enough for everyone. There were two lines--one for generally healthy older kids and adults, and another for high risk groups like pregnant women, small children, people with asthma, caregivers of small children, etc. So we got in the second line. Can you believe there were people smoking in this line full of asthmatic children? Ugh. Anyway, we waited in line for 1.5 hours, and Nate and I did get it. He was such a trouper, with the waiting and getting the shot.

So I'm still sick, and Georgia is pretty stuffy herself. I've cancelled all activities for the last couple days, and it's actually been nice. I've had time to do housework and just hang out with the kids without our usual hustle. Yesterday I taught Nate how to make a peanut butter sandwich, and he enjoyed helping me with everything from putting laundry in baskets to cleaning up his trains. Today when we got home from school, we sat in the driveway and watched a fuzzy caterpillar crawl across the driveway, then we took a walk. These are some of the reasons I love staying home with the kids.

There's always something going on around here, and I feel like my full time job is keeping my brood alive and in fairly good health. :) It's quite a job.

Concussion update

(This post won't make any sense if you haven't read the previous post from this morning.)

When I picked Nate up from school today, I asked the teacher how he acted today. I didn't mention him bumping his head at all. She said, "Well ... he zoned out a couple of times during art, and I had to say his name a couple times to get him to come to. Does he have seizures?" Ugh, that is NOT what I wanted to hear the day after he bumps his head really hard. So I got him in to see the pediatrician this afternoon, and he seems to be fine. It's good that he apparently didn't black out after hitting his head yesterday, that he isn't vomiting, and his balance is fine. The doctor said what usually happens is they cry so hard they then fall asleep, and then you wonder if they have a concussion. He thought the zoning out this morning could be because of the cold symptoms he's starting to show. (He also checked his ears, throat and chest, and all seems clear.) So if he had a concussion, it was minor.

I feel better getting it checked out. It's not a good feeling when your child's teacher asks you if he has seizures! One thing is for sure, Nate certainly always keeps us on our toes. Never a dull week around here.

Those lashes!

Georgia has these amazing eyelashes that look as if she has used one of those tortuous eyelash curlers. They're gorgeous.

Just a quick update before I run out the door. I went to the eye doctor yesterday, and my prescription hasn't changed and nothing is wrong with my eyes that would cause migraines. So I check that off my list. This morning I go to the dentist to fix a crown that is a little off and could be contributing to my tension headaches. I'll get to the bottom of this eventually.

Yesterday Elizabeth came over to watch Nate while I went to the eye doctor and ran a couple errands. Blake got home before I did to relieve Elizabeth, and she told him that she had been giving Nate a piggy back ride and he fell (from a short distance) and hit his head hard on the train table. He was hysterical for several minutes, then she got him to lay on the couch and watch cartoons, and he fell asleep. Okay, he NEVER falls asleep on the couch. I'm pretty sure that has never happened before ever. He woke up when Blake got home and was in a bad mood. Of course I'm worried about a possible concussion, so I called Elizabeth and got more details, and we quizzed Nate on all the names of his trains and checked his eyes, and he appeared to be okay. This morning he has a good knot on the back of his head, and I'm still watching him closely. At some points I've thought he was acting wierd, but I'm pretty sure he always acts a little odd just cause he's 3. :)

Also, his teacher said he had a coughing fit at lunch yesterday and almost threw up his food. I haven't seen a coughing fit yet, but this is the second report of one this week, so I'm a little nervous. Please keep Nate in your prayers that he won't get sicker. We're still giving him his pulmicort treatments at night, and this morning I gave him an albuterol treatment to see if it would prevent any more coughing fits at school. In the meantime, I have a really icky, painful cough myself.

Off to the dentist.

Sunday with Nate

Even a typical Sunday of church and grocery shopping is an adventure for a 3 year old, I guess.

As expected, Nate wanted to wear his Thomas costume to church, but the "it's against the rules" excuse worked pretty well. We reminded him that there are trains in his classroom at church, and he was happy to go. We dropped him off at his class as usual and decided this week to go straight to the cry room for the service instead of having to leave the sanctuary during the middle of it if Georgia started crying.

As soon as the service started, a number flashed on the screen. They give each child a number, and they give parents a sticker with that number on it in case you have to go pick up your child. I rarely even pay attention to our number, but Blake does. So when they flashed Nate's number on the screen, I didn't even recognize it but Blake jumped to his feet and left the room in a flash. Apparently, when the class was getting ready to leave the room to go down the hall to chapel, Nate refused to go and had a crying fit, then a coughing fit. So he was kicked out of Sunday School.

The cry room is full of families with small children and babies, so it's pretty relaxed. But you should have seen moms grabbing their crawling babies out of the floor as Nate came charging by. He walked around and around and around and around the room for most of the service. He was having a great time, and it was better than him screaming, so as long as he wasn't stepping on babies we let him walk. It's hard to fathom telling a child he must sit still after it took us three years of all of our energy and time trying to get him to walk. So he walked.

Afterwards we went out to eat, and this time we did tell him he couldn't walk around the restaurant terrorizing everyone else there, so he at least stayed in the booth. Blake ordered some spicy boneless wings, and when Nate saw them, he asked for some chicken. Blake said they weren't too spicy, so he gave Nate a small bite. He ate it and asked for another. But this time he said, "Make it cold! Blow on it." We tried to explain they were spicy, not just hot, but he wasn't happy until Blake blew on it anyway. After this bite, he said in a desperate voice, "I need water!"

Normally we'd come home and put Nate down for a nap, but Nate has recently given up napping. Every few days I try to get him to nap again, but I'm pretty sure it's over. Which is unfortunate, because he still really needs to nap, and I still really need that quiet time. So Blake went to work, Nate played with trains, and I thought I'd lay down on the couch for a little rest. But every few minutes Nate would come up to me and say, "Wake up! It's party time!" haha

When Blake got home, we all went to walmart for groceries. Nate wanted to "walk by myself" which he usually can't do at the grocery store because it's just me with him and Georgia trying to shop, but since both of us were there this time, I said sure. He had a blast. He was throwing things in the cart right and left, and we were going right behind him putting them back up. He'd say, "Wook, an orange!" and plop it in the cart. Then he said, "I need an apple!" and he threw a pomegranate in the cart. A box of rice ... whatever he could get his hands on. It was hysterical. I know most people go through this when their kids are much littler, but this is still so new and so cool for us. He's just now learning all these lessons like not running off from us in stores, holding hands across the parking lot, watching where you're walking so you don't run into people, etc. And we take great pleasure in teaching him these things.

He was starting to get tired as we went to the other side of the store for a few things, so we took turns standing with him by the fish. A whole wall of fish! It was pure bliss for Nate. He named one of them Isabella. :)

That night when I was putting him to bed, we were saying his prayers, and he asked to pray for his trains. haha, okay. We talked about all the events of the day, things that would seem mundane for most people, but Nate recalled all the little details that I had forgotten and decided, "It was a fun day!"

Stroll and Roll!

Well, thanks to everyone who donated to Team Nate for the SBAK Stroll and Roll! We raised $565! And today was the big day. They had it in this gorgeous neighborhood (that I now want to live in!), and the walk was about a mile. There was trick or treating for the kids along the way, and at the end was a fall festival with bouncy houses, a chili contest, live music, raffle, etc. Kids were encouraged to wear costumes, but it wouldn't have mattered because Nate would have worn his Thomas costume anyway! We visited with lots of our friends during the walk, and Nate got lots of candy. He also had a good time in the bouncy house and tasting chili. Georgia slept like a log in her carrier the whole time. Fortunately, it was a beautiful day, but it was cold! That wind was painful! At least it wasn't raining. Nate didn't want to leave. He told me, "It's not fun anymore to go home." Ha!

The Thomas Costume

Well, the Thomas costume came in the mail. I brought the package in and told Nate it was for him, and he said, "It's a toy! It's a toy!" I pulled out the costume, and he said, "It's Thomas! Cool!" He wanted to put it on immediately, and for a good hour he sat in his costume and looked at the little train catalog that came with it saying, "Wook at that! Cool!"

That evening we went to Bible Study, and Nate had to wear his costume there too. I had to pry Thomas off of him after carrying him asleep to bed. This morning I was getting him dressed for music class, and he insisted on wearing it again. What do I care--he's the one that looks silly. :)

We have missed a few music classes and, although they said we could make them up by going to a different class, Friday morning is the only time we have free. So we went to two music classes back to back this morning. :) It worked out well cause Nate wasn't ready to leave after the first class anyway, plus he got to show off his costume to more people. But in the meantime, I had to feed Georgia, change two of her poopy diapers and change her clothes after a blowout. But she seemed to enjoy herself too.

Okay, so this afternoon we went to hippotherapy, and he rode the horse with his costume on. Here he is looking at his catalog in the truck.

This evening Elizabeth came over to watch Nate so Blake and I could go on a date! We haven't been on a date in months. Well, we had a little company on our date. Georgia went with us since I'm nursing. I'll just say that she's a pretty date, but not much fun. The picture says it all.

For the most part, Nate ignores Georgia. He's far too busy to pay attention to a little baby. Every now and then he'll say "She's crying." But now we're starting to pull out the toys for her. She has a bouncy chair (that used to be his) that plays music and has moving fish and bubbles. Today after I got her out of it, Nate said it was his turn and sat down in it. Now the thing is bent so that she's practically laying down when she's in it. She loves to stand up, so yesterday I decided to get out the jumperoo and see how much more she needs to grow before she can play in it. She's almost big enough! She can touch the ground and even jumped a few times and gave me a big grin.

Then Nate said, "I wanna try it!" No!

This afternoon Georgia was sitting in her bouncy and her paci fell out. Nate saw this and wanted to be a good big brother and put it back in for her. I was cringing but let him try it, closely supervised. First he missed the mark, shoving it into her cheek. So I guided it toward her mouth, but she acted like she didn't want it. I told him she wouldn't open her mouth. Just like a boy, he put one hand on her forehead and another on her chin and tried to pry her mouth open!

Tomorrow we have our SBAK Stroll and Roll, and the weather is supposed to be nasty. Thanks to everyone who donated! We raised $565! That's awesome! I'll post pictures tomorrow. Expect to see Nate in his Thomas costume. :)