Happy Hands

We went to get Nathan's 6 month pictures taken Saturday. Of course, he got a bath before-hand and we decided to try a new hairstyle for the little guy...

We ended up going with the more traditional "combed" look instead. The pictures looked pretty cute and we should have them back in 10 days or so. I'll get them posted up here as soon as I can.

This evening Grandma and Grandpa Dudley came over for dinner and their Nathan fix. While they were here we got the boy's new car seat situated into Grandpa's big pickup truck in preparation for our big trip to see Aunt Shauna in Iowa next weekend.

Yes, you heard me right... his NEW car seat. He's already outgrown his pumpkin seat and we're going to switch over to this one permanently once we get back from Iowa. While here, Grandma got a chance to feed the boy his cereal and I got a chance to film his newest trick... happy hands.

It's really a hoot, isn't it? Here's one more video before I quit. I took it last week. I don't know what possessed Liv to do this to him, but he seemed to like it...

Another Grandma

Olivia's mom stopped by for a visit this weekend so Nathan finally got to meet Grandma Painter. She came over for dinner last night along with all 4 Dudley Grandparents. We got some good pictures while everyone was here. Before dinner, Nate found a nice little hole to wedge his little bottom into. He's really starting to grow some serious hair on that little chrome dome of his too.

After dinner he cuddled up with his new grandma for a while.

Liv fed the boy some cereal and afterwards he showed off his newest talent for a while.

So, everyone had a fun time I think. We basically just ate and laughed at the boy's antics all evening. How about one more pic for the road? We took this a week or 2 ago and it's totally random, but it's funny enough to earn a spot here on Kermitt...

A New Game

While Shauna and Tom were here last weekend, we had a chance to try out a new board game that Tom had recently bought. It was called "Ticket to Ride" published by Days of Wonder.

The basic goal in the game is to complete various train routes between US cities. You get points based on how good you do at completing routes and how difficult the routes were to complete. This game was a blast and it really has a laundry list of things to like about it. It's primarily a strategy game, but there is enough luck woven into it that the smartest person at the table won't dominate and win every game. My proof... Tom didn't win until the 4th game. It was super easy to understand. We were playing after less than 5 minutes of going over the rules. It is not a super adversarial game, which is a plus if you have an overly competitive group of people playing. To win you really need to focus on building your routes and not concern yourself with thwarting someone else's plans. So, this is a really good game for people who get their feelings hurt during games that are a bit more cut-throat. Finally, it's not like Monopoly or some other games that take 2 days to play. Depending on how many people are playing, you can usually kick out a game in 30 to 60 minutes. I have to give this game 2 thumbs up and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of gaming. It says it's for people ages 8+, and I think I would agree with that. It's simple enough that a kid could understand it fairly quickly and all of us 20 and 30 somethings were enthralled with it too. Check it out!

Nathan Walks!

It was another busy weekend for us. Nathan's Uncle Logan was getting married. Aunt Shauna and Uncle Tom were coming to visit as well, so there wasn't a dull moment all weekend. Nathan was selected by Aunt Megan to be the ring bearer. Since he's not mobile yet I was to carry him, making me the ring bearer bearer I guess. Everything went ok on Nate's end of things during rehearsal, so we were optimistic for an uneventful walk down the isle for him. However, I was still armed with a spit rag in case he tried to shoot any bodily fluids out during his moment in the spotlight. Minutes before he was to go on, his eyes started to get heavy. Sure enough, when I walked him down the isle he was out cold prompting a chorus of "ohhhh's" from the crowd. Liv didn't get a picture of it, but I'm sure some will surface eventually.


The wedding was great and we're all ecstatic to have Megs as an official member of our family. Here's some of the better pics we managed to get...

We had some more excitement in addition to the wedding beforehand when Aunt Shauna got a hold of the boy and tried some of her PT tricks on him. She made a 5 month old boy walk!

My Son the Gorilla

Nate showed us a new trick yesterday. Right when I got home from work, Olivia was hollering at me from the living room to come see what the boy had started doing.

He was holding himself upright and doing a pretty good job of it too. He reminds me of a big silverback gorilla when he gets those arms spread out in front of him like that.

All he lacks is the teeth! Like father, like son I guess. I call this one drowsy gorilla...

Nathan Goes Swimming

With the weather finally warming up, we decided to stop by Great-Granddad Dudley's pool today and take our first dip of the season. We took along Nate's swim gear just in case the water was warm enough for him too. The water was 82 degrees when we got there. It was one of those deals where it's a little chilly when you first get in, but once you're used to it it's fine. So, we decided to let the boy take his first swim. We got him geared up in all of his UV protection clothes, slathered him in baby sunblock, and headed into the ol' swimmin' hole.

He had one of those "Wow, that's cold" gasps when we put his feet in, but he didn't start bawling or anything. So, that was good. We went straight to the baby float that Grandpa Mick bought him a couple weeks ago. He was rather expressionless for the most part, but I think he liked it.
He got so relaxed in there that we thought he was going to fall asleep. He looks like the aqua-pope or something in this one.
After a while, we were able to get some smiles out of him. Here he's showing off his new talent of sticking out his tongue.

When Grandma Dudley found out that the boy was trying out the pool for the first time, she quickly made her way over to the pool as well.

After swimming, the boy had some quality time with Great-Grandma Dudley...

...and Grandpa Mike too.

All in all, it went really well. He never freaked out or anything. He didn't show too many signs of sheer enjoyment, but he wasn't cranky at all either. I think he was a little overwhelmed with everything. I'm sure by the end of the summer he will go bananas whenever we go to the pool. He's bound to be a good swimmer, he's a Dudley!