Saturday fun

This morning we went to our weekly swim class at the YMCA--Nathan likes it a lot, especially the time at the end of class when he can play with toys! After that, N took a nap, Todd spent some time cleaning up around the house, and I headed out to meet my friend Jenn for lunch. Even though she doesn't live very far away, she and I seem to be insanely busy at all times, so it had been several months since we've spent time together. It was so nice to get caught up!

I pulled into the garage back at home at the same time my parents turned into the driveway for a visit. N was still asleep when they arrived, so they were able to spend ample time admiring the new couch. :) When our little whirlwind woke up from his nap we all spent a few hours playing. It's so great to spend time with family and with toys!

Action shot!

Nathan got the biggest kick out of the fact that he had turned the bin over and could sit on it!

Hillary got me some fat quarters of fabric for my birthday, and N has had so much fun playing with them that they're going to live in his playroom until I get started on my project (some kind of wall decor for the bedroom, still a very nebulous idea).

Our little bookworm.

Zooming across the playroom on his fire engine!

Apparently sitting in the bin is almost as much fun as sitting on it!

Videos of Nathan

A couple of recent videos that Todd took on his phone of our funny boy:

Valentine's Day with Grandma and Grandpa

On Valentine's day we spent some time with Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Dan. Nancy had been out of town for work for almost two weeks, so she and N had quite the joyous reunion. After playing at home for awhile, we all headed to Bilbo's for our Valentine's day tradition of heart-shaped pizza. All in all, it was a delightful afternoon!

Checking out his musical card.

Playing with Grandpa--these two have so much fun together!

Dan's ready to dish up the heart-shaped pizza!

Nathan is ready to eat some pizza.

You would think that this scenario would have ended in a tidal wave of ice water all over Nancy and Nathan. Miraculously, they both stayed dry!

14 months old

Nathan is 14 months old today. At his doctor's appointment last week he was just shy of 23 1/2 pounds, and every pound of that is pure energy, curiosity and personality! Nathan's always got his big blue eyes wide open, taking in the world and looking for an opportunity to explore something new. Lately the kleenex box and toilet paper roll have been particularly alluring. Occasionally we can convince him that it's fun to put the tissues back IN the box, but usually that is rejected as not nearly as much fun as pulling them all out! As you can see from the video, N is a big fan of the new couch!

Decided to check out the space behind his toy storage!

Thinks his puppy slippers are pretty funny.

The laundry basket makes a pretty sweet race car, powered by Mommy.

Hmmm... maybe standing up in the race car wasn't the best idea!

Nathan playing on the new couch.

Lovely Time at the McMorrow pad

This weekend Ryan, Anne and George took their first family roadtrip from Chicago to Ryan's parents' house in Kalamazoo. We stopped by for a bit on Sunday afternoon. It's really amazing to see how quickly baby George has grown. We saw him a month ago, and now he is bigger and so much more alert. I loved how warm and snuggly he was, and apparently I was comfy, because George settled in and had a nice little nap.

Nathan was a really good boy, especially considering that Greg and Marcia have a very beautiful home with lots of things that N would have loved to get his hands on! :) He actually stopped moving for a bit and cuddled with Uncle Ryan. It was really great to catch up with Ryan, Anne, Greg, Marcia and Joey, who was meeting George for the first time.

Happy Birthday To Me!

For my birthday, Grandma Florence and Grandpa Basil surprised me with a very generous monetary gift. I decided almost immediately that I wanted to put the money toward getting a new couch. Todd and I have had a series of hand-me-down couches throughout our time living out of our parents' house, and while the price has been right, they have never been to our taste.

Several weeks ago, Todd and I braved a few furniture stores and quickly realized that our taste far exceeded our budget (surprise, surprise). Feeling a bit dejected, I decided to tuck the money away and patiently watch Craigslist to see if anything promising popped up, as the only way to afford the sectional we wanted was to buy it used. As all of you who know me are well aware, patience is not one of my strengths! :) 99.9% of the couches on Craigslist are absolutely hideous, so my daily perusal was becoming a bit depressing. However, it was a good lesson in identifying a good deal when it popped up.

Sunday evening, low and behold, there was a posting for a couch in the exact configuration we were seeking, for exactly the amount of my birthday money!! It took a few persuasive emails to the seller (I was not the only one who noticed the posting and there was a bit of competition to see who would be the actual buyer) but I made an appointment to get it after work yesterday.

My wonderful father-in-law borrowed a van from work and chauffered me up to downtown Grand Rapids to pick it up. It is in beautiful condition, and looks great in our living room! The only downside to it is that it's even easier to fall asleep on than our old couch! :)

Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa, for the beautiful couch!

Our old couch:


The new beauty!!! Nathan was quite surprised to see that it had appeared in his living room overnight. :)

Photo Shoot

I did a photo shoot with Nathan earlier this week with the intention of sending out a Valentine's Day card. Well, that didn't happen! Perhaps you'll all be getting a happy spring card? Anyway, even though the week got too busy for me to complete my project I thought I'd share some of the photos from my session. Becky, perhaps it is easier when you're not photographing your own child, but how do you edit down so well? I have such a hard time narrowing down to just a few! I guess that's the difference between amateur and professional photographers...

New Project

Todd has become quite the expert at hunting for bargains on Craigslist. In order to find a bargain on a highly desirable car, you have to respond to the posting immediately, and be pretty aggressive with your offer. After a number of near misses, Todd hit the bullseye this weekend. Thanks to his fancy phone's notifier app, he got notification at 2 am when this car went up for sale. Thanks to a nasty cold, Todd was actually up at 2 am and responded immediately.

After some back and forth with the owner, we drove up to NE Grand Rapids yesterday to check it out. After towing it out of a snowbank with my car, Todd got it running, took it for a short drive and made a deal. Just moments after exchanging cash for the title, another prospective buyer pulled into the driveway!

So there are some cosmetic issues, and there is something wrong with the transmission (it is stuck in 2nd gear), but for $600, Todd got a 1999 Subaru Outback Limited with 126,000 miles on it. The fact that it is stuck in 2nd gear means that he drove home from Grand Rapids with a maximum speed of 30mph!

The jury is still out whether this will be a flip car or a daily driver, but either way, it's a Craigslist victory!

Revisiting the birth announcement photo shoot

About this time last year, I was photographing my newborn son, wearing only a diaper, on the soft blue blanket that Annalee crocheted for him. I was inspired this week to see what the same outfit and prop would be like this year.

Then:

Now: