One Year Ago

One year ago my husband and I were blessed with the conception of our little Nathaniel.  When we found out we were pregnant we were overjoyed, excited, in shock, and terrified all at once.  We kept telling ourselves that everything was going to be different and that our lives were going to change forever and we did our best to try and prepare ourselves.  After taking several classes, reading books, talking to other parents and future parents and researching to the best of our ability, we reached a point where we could do nothing else but wait.  Nine long months flew by and our Nathaniel arrived.. tiny, alert, and absolutely beautiful.  What a blessing he has been to us.  He is already helping me to see my strengths and at the same time I am discovering I cannot hide my flaws.  He brings out the best and worst of me, and I hope that I have the strength and courage to change the worst to be the best I can be for him.
Nathaniel is now 3 months old already.  He has started to settle into a routine, and I am just starting to understand most of his moods.  He still throws in a few "for-no-apparent-reason" screaming fits every now and then, but for the most part we are starting to get used to each other.  He falls asleep in crowded rooms and starts to frown and whimper when too many people gather around to oogle over him at once.  He likes to be sung to, is cooing up a storm and having awesome conversations with mom and dad using sounds and facial expressions, and smiles often.  He loves having his diaper changed and is as calm as can be on the changing table, but doesn't love having his clothes changed.  He is mostly mellow, but when he is tired he wants to be cuddled and carried and sung to while squirming and flailing and banging his head around trying to get comfortable for sometimes 20 minutes or more all the while screaming because he is just... so......t..i....r...e...d.  He also loves wake-up time in the morning when he gets to snuggle in bed with mom and dad and coo and smile and talk.   He doesn't love or hate his car seat.  It depends on the day.  He also is not sure how he feels about the stroller... ok for a little while maybe, and then " I can't stand this anymore, get me the heck outta here!"  Hopefully when the weather is nice and warm and he has a chance to get used to it, he will like it.  But he does LOVE being in the moby, and long walks in said moby. He also likes his new play mat from our friend Christine, and likes hearing new sounds.  He is as sweet as can be and has been a blessing to us every day.

Here are some pictures of our little guy getting bigger by the day:

We are anxiously waiting to see what his laugh will be like.  Supposedly he will start to laugh out loud toward the end of this month. We'll keep you posted!