It's Official!

We bought a house! Nathan saw the house online 4 weeks ago today, we drove by on Sunday, called the realtor Tuesday, saw the house that Friday...etc etc etc. Anyways, the house is in an established neighborhood with a great yard, and we love the house, even though we know it's going to need some TLC in places (the house was built in 1994). Closing was orginally scheduled for Jan 10th, but since Nathan works for a company that happened to do the underwriting, we were rushed through. I have to work 4 of the next 5 days, so we have a truck rented for next Saturday. The house has been empty for 4 months, it is DUSTY. Yesterday afternoon I went over by myself and cleaned the upstairs, and it wasn't nearly as ovewhelming as I thought it would be. This morning we're going back over so I can clean the playroom so the boys can bring over some stuff while I'm at work. Nathan's big project is to put 19 latches on the kitchen/bathroom cabinets...good thing I got him a cordless drill/driver for Christmas!

I know his feet have been growing lately...

...but this is ridiculous! I can't say I wasn't prepared for the fact that he'd have big feet...his daddy wears size 13s! Yesterday he decided to put on his daddy's shoes, he was slightly disappointed he couldn't move in them!

I forgot to tell a funny story from the holidays: we had a glimpse at Seth's college years on Christmas Day. Due to Bryan being on meds for his knee, we had sparkling cider with our meal. We were drinking out of Mom's fancy depression glass. I let Seth have a sip, and he started delegating who else should sip their glass. Pretty much Bryan and Seth alternated drinks, with the rest of us sipping every once in awhile to switch it up. He honestly looked like he was president in that good ol' reliable drinking game. But I guess he came by that honest!

Holiday Recap

The holidays have been a whirlwind, but we thoroughly enjoyed them. We drove to Kings Mountain Friday and spent the weekend with Nathan's parents and Marie and her family. We made a trip Saturday to Rutherford County to see the Mayse extended family, and drove home Christmas Eve in time to watch the Panthers game. The plan was to go to Christmas Eve church, but Nathan was a little sick and Seth was WAY too cranky (he has a bad habit of trying to not sleep AT ALL in Kings Mtn). Christmas morning started at 6:30. Seth was really good at opening presents, and he loved all his new stuff. We left for Cary after lunch, and spent two nights there. Bryan flew home recuperating from his knee surgery, but he was still able to get on the floor and play with Seth (which was good, because Seth wanted EVERYONE to try out his toys). We got home yesterday afternoon, and it has been non-stop chaos...did I mention they have moved our closing up to tomorrow now! We bought the W/D with delivery tomorrow, and I am currently on hold on the phone setting up utilities. I have to work 4 of 5 days starting Saturday, so official move day is next Saturday. Whew! I'll be glad when it's February and life has slowed down a little bit!

Check-Up Time

This morning we had Seth's 18 month check-up. He had fun playing in the lobby with a 16month old girl, and walked back like a big boy when they called him name. Everything was fine until I took his clothes off, then he acted like we were going to torture him getting his weight and measurements. His appetite has been non-existent this week, and it showed, he's back to 10th percentile for weight. He is 32 inches tall, making him 50th percentile still for height. The crying stopped as soon as we got in the exam room, and he sat in my lap and ate an entire box of raisins. He was fine for his check-up, although they do want us to go for a speech evaluation in January for the "uhuh"s. Only one shot this time, Hepatitis A. He hated it, but once again was forgiving after being given a DumDum. So if we can stay away from the germs, next check up is in June! I thought this picture was funny...this morning Seth wanted a banana at 6:30, and he wanted to eat it like a big boy...

18 Months Old

Seth has the big half-birthday today. We celebrated by going to get holiday/18 month pictures taken. DISASTER. Seth wouldn't sit where we wanted him to sit, and would just jump out of the chair and run out of the studio. They even had a floppy dog, but it didn't smell like his so he wanted nothing to do with it! They were very patient with us, and took 81 pictures, although there was a lot of no good ones in the bunch. Luckily, two nurses I know were waiting while I was selecting the pics, so they kept an eye on him so I could focus on getting the order done as fast as possible. I was physically exhausted by the time our pictures were ready for pick-up. He has at least one eye tooth that is trying to make an appearance in time for Santa, so I'll cut the wild man some slack. One good picture, and one so you can see how it really was....

Christmas Silliness

We went to Newton yesterday to see Nathan's sisters and their families. The boys were very lucky and got to open their presents from Auntie E and Uncle Chad, since they will be in Missouri when we are in Kings Mountain. Seth got a moose stuffed animal, a board book, and a My First Barrel of Monkeys. He was pooped last night and didn't seem too interested, but he loves them today! We have made up all sorts of new games. The monkeys are being tossed out of the barrel and put back in, hung from the edge of the barrel, hung from mommy and daddy's fingers, hung on other toys...you get the idea. The picture is of the monkeys hanging on a chair. Good choice, Elise! The other picture is of what happens if you go to work and leave you silly husband and child together for an evening...our Christmas tree now has eyes! (And I don't dare take them off, or Seth will notice!)

Just ship me to Minnesota

Yesterday I started putting Christmas presents for Lisa and my grandparents in a box, and of course Seth needed to help. As we were putting squiggles in the box, I told him that the box was going to Auntie Lisa. After we were finished, he took out all the presents and climbed in the box, kinda like "send me to Auntie Lisa instead!" It was pretty cute. I hear my little helper waking up from his nap, time to go mail that package!

PS-I have taken over 90 pictures in the past two weeks trying to get one for the Christmas card!

Botched Holiday Photos

I have TRIED and TRIED and TRIED to get a Christmas picture of Seth. This age is not conducive for smiling on demand. Here are some of the blooper reel. As some may know, we are officially househunting. Don't want to jinx it, so I'll just let you know our new address once we figure out what it's going to be. The realtor came by this morning, so I frantically cleaned rather than played with Seth this morning. I felt guilty after naptime, so after we ran a couple errands, we stopped at the mall playground, and guess who we saw there? Bennett! What a great surprise! Sunday we went to the Panthers game with Marie and Eric, and Seth got to play with his cousins and his grandparents. He ate a LOT of seven layer dip and slept on an air mattress for the first time.

Sugar High!

Today Nathan has his department Christmas party at a nice restaurant in town, and he came home with a gigantic piece of chocolate cake. We let Seth have about 4 bites after his spaghetti tonight. An hour later, two shelves of books were unloaded on the floor, his two buckets of toys were out, and he was methodically putting every toy in his crib. Every 5 minutes or so he'd ask to get in his crib to take inventory, then he'd want out and be back at it again. Luckily I was able to put the books away while he was doing that, and then it wasn't too bad cleaning out the crib for bedtime.

Holiday Decorations Up!

Our home is officially decorated, I have a lot of shopping done, so now we can just enjoy the holidays. (Cards are going to be a last minute endeavor, I'm keeping those in the back of my mind for now.) Anyways, Seth is working on his eye teeth, and it has wreaked havoc on our sleeping. Yesterday morning he took a nap from 9am-noon, then he was done for the day! When he woke up, we went to buy our Christmas tree. The first picture is us staking out the tree while Nathan went to pay. Seth LOVES his Santa hat, but I can't get him to sit still to get a Christmas picture. My little elf has been eating a lot of popsicles this week. Then Nathan requested cookies. I've done a lot of baking for others this week, none for us, so my little helper has gotten quite proficient in the kitchen, and he's figured out the exact moment that it's okay to steal the utensils for licking! The last picture is of Seth putting tinsel on the tree. We thought the lights were going to be a problem, but I guess he's gotten used to having a tree in the house. No breakable ornaments are on the tree this year, and only wrapped presents are under the tree (unless he decides it's time to make a tower in the middle of the room!)

Visiting Santa!

Friday we went to the mall (actually only Old Navy) and we were both in good spirits so we stopped by to visit Santa. Seth was really friendly, but did start to freak out when I put him in Santa's lap. The photographer held up an Elmo doll, and this was the end result!