Monday, March 31, 2008

Thank God for Red-Eye Correction

We reached a milestone today. The boy managed to roll himself over from his belly to his back 3 times today! Unfortunately the camera wasn't handy, but we'll try to get it on video in the days to come. He still got some camera time in yesterday though. Here are some of the highlights...

Without red-eye correction = creepy looking alien baby mugshot....

With red-eye correction = well-adjusted Earthling child.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cold Hands

We had a day out with the boy Saturday. First stop was Great-Grandma Dudley's house where Nate got to meet cousin David and see cousin Kellen again.

Actually, neither one is a cousin to Nate, but I have no idea what relation either would be called so I say cousin for simplicity's sake. Aunt Shauna the geneology expert might know what the proper title would be. Anyway, I think Nate and Kellen have some kind of baby wavelength that they're both on because they seemed to be able to make each other laugh pretty easily. After Great-Grandma Dudley filled everyone's bellies, we loaded up the boy and headed to J-ville. We know of a second hand clothing store there that has pretty good stuff dirt cheap. Since many of Nate's long sleeve shirts are almost short sleeve (see picture), we needed to update his wardrobe. It's funny when he wears one-piece PJ's with feet in them. Every inch of fabric is stretched out when he sticks his legs out. So, mother looked through clothes while I tried to entertain the boy. An hour later we were on our way with 2 grocery bags full of clothes. I should have another fashion show to post once everything is laundered to Liv's satisfaction. In the meantime, I leave you with "Naked Baby - Cold Hands."

Friday, March 28, 2008

Aunt Shauna Strikes Again

We got a small package in the mail today from Aunt Shauna. Inside was a note saying "Uh-oh, Aunt Shauna went to the thrift store..." and a small plaid ball cap. That can only mean one thing for us..... FASHION SHOW!!!

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Sunday, March 23, 2008

The Easter Circus

What a weekend! I feel like I need to go back to work to unwind. Saturday morning it was off to Grandma Dudley's for Easter Eve brunch, I guess you'd call it. There were 20 or so Dudley's there, so it made mom's house feel a lot smaller. Olivia took the opportunity to get a shot of 4 generations of Dudley men...
It was a pretty good time. Mom made enough food to feed a family of... well... Dudley's. Aunt Rachel brought her new little critter with her too. Clair wasn't entirely sure what to think of it.
I'm pretty sure it's not a rat. So, after a long day at Grandma's, we went home and got to bed early in preparation for an even longer day on Sunday. Dad and I had to get up super early and be at church by 6:30 for a full morning of Easter services. Afterwards, Liv and I loaded up Nate and headed over to Aunt Pat's for Easter with her side of the family. It's amazing the difference in family times between both families just from the age differences involved. The Dudley clan is a bit calmer just because we've all grown up and most of us aren't a bunch a screaming yard apes anymore (except perhaps Logan). The Adamski side is a bit younger and the kids there are still in the "limitless energy" phase. I imagine the Dudley family will be swinging back that direction as Nathan and Kellen start to get older and others are added to the list of Great-Grandkids. Anyway, after another large and tasty meal at Pat's it was time to relax and hang out a while. Nathan was passed around to everyone 3 or 4 times I think. I'm not entirely sure why he made such a nasty face at Kelly.
Great Grandma and Grandpa Adamski had a few minutes with the rascal too.
Even the little Schmoo got to entertain the boy for a while.
Yes, that's my not-quite-3-month-old next to a 6 year old. What a moose. While all the baby juggling was going on I got a chance to have some quality time with Will. I tried teaching him some bad habits, but he was too busy eating a bear to notice.
So now it's about 8 on Sunday night and I feel like I could fall asleep on my desk. The boy hardly slept all day with all the commotion and now he's crashed on the couch. I imagine he'll be wide awake by 3:30 tomorrow morning. Oy.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

My Son, The Bulemic

This week started off a little rough. The kiddo had a bad spell of throwing up everything he ate for a day or 2. His doc said he probably just had some sort of bug. He seemed to come out of it yesterday, so all is well now. Despite being sick, he managed to weigh in at 12 lb 12 oz yesterday. So, he's still managed about an oz/day over the last 2 weeks. What's more, he's also up to 25 1/2" tall. I think Megan's choice of nickname (Altito - little tall one) was spot on. Unfortunately, his car seat is only rated to 28", so Liv found a good deal on a new car seat for him yesterday. The color of it was being discontinued, so they sold it to her at a hefty discount. Well, enough of this banter. I know you came here for your weekly dose of cute. So, here are the many faces of Nate...


Friday, March 14, 2008

Funniest..... Video..... Ever

Well, the boy's mother managed to capture another gem on video the other day. She had him on the changing table and by sheer luck was able to capture Nathan at his best. You should know 3 things before watching this video...

1. There was ABSOLUTELY NO TAMPERING with the sound on this video. Everything you hear is 100% Nathan with no tweaking of the sounds or volume in any way shape or form. You will still probably need to crank the volume a bit to catch everything.

2. You need to watch the video at least twice because you will probably be laughing so hard after the first 15 seconds that you will miss more funny stuff later.

3. It's best not to be drinking anything while watching this video because you may shoot it out your nose and ruin your keyboard.

Enjoy!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Another Busy Week

It's been a busy week in the Dudley family. Shauna and Tom came for a visit last weekend. Friday everyone came over to the house for dinner. Nathan decided to wear the camouflage outfit that grandpa gave him.If you look hard you can see him. He really blends in with the surroundings now. Saturday we helped Logan and Megan work on their new house. It was a lot of fun, but we forgot to take the camera. The closest thing I have is a picture of Nathan with his construction bib on... All he needs now is a hard hat, some steel toed boots, and an orange vest and he's ready! After the long day on Saturday, we slept in Sunday and met the gang for some Chinese num-nums at Hunan before Shauna and Tom headed home. Nathan took the opportunity to show off some more of his cute clothes.I absolutely love that shirt. Olivia found it at a thrift store somewhere. This is the first time he's worn it, and he'll be lucky to wear it again. He barely fit in the thing. In fact, the other day Liv bought him a bag of socks labeled 6-18 months. I take that as meaning my 2 month old boy has feet the size of a large 6 month old or a small year-and-a-half old. Either way, I'm thinking of abandoning the college fund idea and diverting the money into a special order shoe fund.


Liv took the boy in to the Dr on Tuesday and got his tongue flap deal (see previous post) clipped. The doc said he did really good and everything should be normal now. He's been a bit more cranky than usual since then and it's wearing on all of us...

He's not been terrible, he just seems to be more clingy. He's fine as long as someone is holding him. Put him down and he starts in with the pitiful "I've got it so rough" pouting and crying. Anyone with kids knows what I'm talking about. But he still has good times. We've still managed to get some smiles out of him on a daily basis...

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Tongue Tied?

As of Monday, Nathan is officially 2 months old. It doesn't seem possible. He went in for his 2 month Dr visit yesterday. His growth has finally slowed a little. He was 11 lb, 15 oz and 24-1/2" tall. That's only an increase of 4 oz over the last week, but he's managed to gain over 2 lbs and 1-1/2" in the last month. I guess that's not too bad. Health-wise, I think he's doing great. He's the only member of our household who hasn't been sick lately. The doc gave him his 2 month shots and he wasn't too happy about that. He was pretty worn out that afternoon, but he's back to his old self now.After his Dr visit, Liv took him to her mother's support group dealy again. While there she was talking about her mastitis problems with one of the nurses. I guess the nurse was very knowledgeable about it because she knew enough to check the boy's mouth. Sure enough, he's tongue tied. What? I thought that was just a figure of speech. Well, apparently it's a medical condition too. I guess he's got a thin piece of flesh connecting the bottom of his tongue to the floor of his mouth. It prevents him from completely sticking his tongue out. I guess it's not uncommon. Apparently it keeps him from nursing as effectively as he could and might be contributing to his mom's problems. So, we're talking with doctors to see if we can get it fixed. I don't think it's a big deal, just a little snip. We want to fix it now before he's learning to talk in case it might give him any difficulties with that.

Other than that, he seems to be a pretty happy baby still. He's just getting to the point where you can get him to smile pretty easily if he's in a good mood.

He's still not cooing much, but he's definitely very active. He has 2 mobiles. He has one with bears over his changing table and we just got one with fishes for his crib. We took it for a test drive last weekend and he really got a kick out of it... literally.