Find Your Happiness

Three nights ago, I laid Nathaniel down for what I thought would be his last evening nap. The little one usually sleeps for an hour and hubby and I use that precious hour wisely--we eat dinner, talk about his day at work over a bowl of ice cream, and spend some alone time before he starts studying. And when little one wakes up, we start the nighttime routine: bath, cuddle time with daddy, a bedtime story, and breastfed by mommy. All of these have become a routine in our little household that when an hour passed by, I started checking on Nathaniel every five minutes even though he was sleeping in his swing, which was in the living room with us. I turned off the rocking-option in his swing knowing this change will soon wake him up. We kept watching the Winter Olympics while we wait then switched to the recorded shows in the DVR when it got annoying because of too much talking and commercials and not enough of the actual events. Another hour passed by and the little one was still aslee

Our little Devil Pup is two months old today! He now has a social smile but I still have yet to capture it on camera. Nathaniel also likes to "talk" and he has a certain coo-ing noise that sounds like "I love you." We pretend he really is saying it and it just makes our day so much brighter :) Did you notice his "Tough like Daddy" shirt has a bulldog on it with matching camo shorts? ;) Ooh-rah! Dean is now well into his Arabic classes and has been talking to Nathaniel in Arabic (poor little boy is going to be confused with two parents talking to him in two different languages on top of English!) He has his first Sound & Script exam this Friday so if you remember, please say a little prayer for Dean on Friday.

FAIL! FAIL! FAIL! Oh, Nathaniel! Getting better... Yay! Mom, quit kissing me! Mommy & Captain Adorable I think they need a nap!

I'm ashamed to admit that only recently have I started placing Nathaniel on his belly. He had so much belly issues for the first weeks of his life that (at the most) he could only tolerate laying on his belly when he's on my or Dean's belly. But starting this week, I have been gradually increasing the length of his tummy time to strengthen his neck muscles so he could hold his big head up -- thanks to his Dad, who in turn blames Nathaniel's great-grandfather Smith :) Needless to say, for now Nathaniel hates tummy time. I wonder how long his dark blue eyes will last? Oh my little model :) And he's starting to get angry... I am finally at the stage where I find his "crying" pictures just as precious as his smiling ones :)

Nathaniel got his first set of vaccines last Monday (a total of 3 shots and 1 liquid medication) so he was feeling achy and had a low grade fever. He is feeling much better today and hasn't needed any fever-reducing/pain reliever medication. Also, our "little" one now weighs 12lbs, 11oz and is almost 23 inches long! February 7, 2010 Watching the Superbowl with Daddy Cranky because the Colts lost :) February 10, 2010 Playing and "talking" to his woodland friends His bouncer has been such a blessing! For the past week, I am finally able to have dinner ready again when Dean comes home from work (that's a record!). Nathaniel is happy in his bouncer as long as he can see and hear his Mama :)

January 20, 2010 Mommy & her little monster :) January 28, 2010 One of Nathaniel's many faces Now he just looks bored I have a secret! February 3, 2010 How many times are we going to see this look in our lifetime? :) For now, we can only get Nathaniel to smile once. I can't wait till he starts smiling in a row and eventually to hear his laugh! P.S. He looks like a cabbage patch kid with his hair in this picture :P A friend commented that Nathaniel looks like he is taking his picture in here. Dean says, "Yea, he's that awesome!" February 5, 2010 Nathaniel takes multiple mini morning naps. He usually takes three to four 30-45 minutes nap before taking a "long" one. Yes, very exhausting! And I never know when the long daytime nap is going to happen so who knew cooking lunch or dinner could take three to four hours? :) But we either have an exhausted (but sane) mama and eventually

7.21.09 18 weeks, 5 days pregnant The well sealed sonogram picture for five months! It seems as though as soon as people find out that you are pregnant, the appropriate response is to ask whether you are carrying a boy or a girl. When my husband and I were pregnant with our first born, we opted to wait to find out the gender of our little one. For us, we could not think of a "good enough" reason to find out ahead of time other than for buying gender appropriate clothes and decorating the nursery with either blue or pink color. But mostly, our main reason we chose to wait is because I wanted my husband to tell me what we're having as soon as I deliver. Not from a sonogram, not from the radiology technician, not from our OB doctor-- but from my husband . This is our final moment as just husband and wife and we want to really cherish the moment we became a family. 1.29.10 6 weeks, 3 days Our little boy is now seven weeks old today and we still do not re