3 Months!!

Wow!
The calendar says Nate's 3 months today. Hard to believe. My friend Leslie Blair (who just had her 2nd baby boy this MORNING - congrats) said I needed to post an update. Okay, okay! I know this blog has definitely been lacking.

Well, since the little man is 3 months, we'll give you some stats and an update.

Not sure how much he weighs now... it was 13 lbs at the 2 month appointment, and he's definitely grown since then! He's looong with looong Jamie/Dustin feet and looong Jamie/Dustin hands. People say he really looks like Dustin now, but many say that he has my nose. I have stared in the mirror, but I don't really see it. Guess I don't look at my nose enough or something. He can roll over from his belly to his back, but only when he really wants to. He's done it 3 times. Let's see... Nate's grabbing things and focusing on things and us a lot more. He's cooing and even has mimiced my voice a few times. The other day, we had our first "conversation" that went like this...
J: Hi!
N: UGH!
J: Hi
N: UGH!
for about 2 minutes. It was a VERY happy 2 minutes!

He's a funny kid, and we're learning more each week. I feel like we've digressed a little with scheduling/naps, but today's a new day! He still has one "midnight snack" in the wee morning somewhere around 2:00am-ish (slept THROUGH the night a few times, but it didn't stick) but goes right back down. He loves playing with his daddy when he gets home from work. They play "Wipe Out!" on the couch. And, he actually throws a fit if Dustin stops singing/playing. Side story: When I try to do Wipe Out like Dustin, I can only think to sing the Batman song. I have to think pretty hard to remember which tune goes with which song. Sad, huh?

So, he's super happy when he's happy. His smiles are precious, and he's moving and grooving. However, he does melt really fast when he's tired. We're working on longer naps (instead of more short ones) so he can get to that deep, good sleep! He's not a huge fan of Sundays, to put it mildly. Just gets thrown off! He's a very active guy. He LOVES LOVES tummy time. LOVES LOVES baths, but equally HATES HATES when you take him out of the bath. Last night, I was bathing him and he was so happy he started kicking like crazy and trying to scooch down into the water more. You gotta watch him carefully!

You can put him down in one place and he scooches a good ways away - he works hard to grab stuff. He doesn't really cuddle unless he's sleepy or scared. Speaking of, sometimes things scare him out of NOWHERE. Sometimes, a vacuum next to him wouldn't bother him, but then at other times a sneeze will send him over the top if he's tired. It's peculiar and funny and annoying all at once. :)

He kicks when he gets really happy - the air, his little foot piano, the toys on his little tummy time mat we are borrowing from Sarah. He is constantly looking at things, and there are certain things in each room that really captivate him consistently. He stares the mess out of "his red curtains" in the living room. He gets in fights with "his" ladybug on the bouncy seat. He will look at her and start crying and look upset and then he'll smile and make a flirty face. It's quirky. Nate loves his elephant toys, and he cheers for the Michigan Wolverines. :) Oh, and he has started to scratch his bottom when I am changing his diaper. Um... it's really hilarious.

Dustin is an amazing father. I love watching him light up when he plays with Nate, and he tells us how he missed us all day long. He is a huge help. My favorite time is our bedtime routine, where Dustin reads us a Bible story, we sing and pray and put him down for the night. I also love Saturday mornings, where we bring Nate into our bed when he wakes up and we all snuggle.

We definitely aren't perfect or close to it! There are normal tough times, and it's been a huge growing experience thus far. But, it's hard to imagine loving him any more and then the next day you wake up, and love him even more.

I've been all emotional today about our little man (not tears, just really thinking on it) and it's only 3 months. :) I was finishing putting his pictures in his album and remembering the day he was born, so those pics are at the top. The last 2 were taken earlier this week.

And now, blog world, you are very updated about the little man!

Joy in Answered Prayer!!

What tremendous joy in receiving good news from afar... or however the verse goes!
Check out a HUGE praise for our friends that's been a long time coming...

2010 Reading List

So, in relationship to another one of our New Year's goals about staying in our budget, we decided to make 2010 Reading Lists based on books we already had. Seminarians, even former ones, have bookooooooos of books! And I had a bunch when we got married. Sadly, we haven't read many of them, but we're always itching to buy new ones. Not this year. No new books. If I want to read some other stuff (like novels or classics, ha, I realize these are all Christian books), I'll just have to borrow, hit up the library or read online.

So, here you have it. I may let you know how they are going from time to time. One of our main goals is to not let our goals fizzle out by February. We made realistic ones we want to keep all year long (like make my bed every day - ha!) so here's hoping. Of course, goals and keeping them don't save anyone! I'm reminded constantly that the only good in me is Jesus, so I hope I don't look to these goals or the keeping of them to find my worth or stumble into pride (if I keep some) and despair (if I don't).

That aside, (for real) here's the list. Dustin's list is a lot harder, as several of my books are pretty short. I was inspired by my friend Laura Cutherberson who has kept great reading lists up for the last several years, posting about them on her blog, which I'll add to my sidebar for ya!

Ask me how they are going. You can ask about making the bed too. Or my Postnatal Tae Bo workouts. :P

Jamie’s 2010 Reading List

Passionate Housewives: Desperate for God by Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald

Church History: A Crash Course for the Curious – Christopher Catherwood

Whiter Than Snow: Meditations on Sin and Mercy – Paul David Tripp

Heaven on Earth: Capturing Jonathan Edwards’s Vision of Living in Between – Stephen J. Nichols

Women & Evangelism – Sharon Beougher and Mary Dorsett

The Mystery of Marriage: Meditations on the Miracle – Make Mason

The Hidden Art of Homemaking – Edith Schaeffer

War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles – Paul D. Tripp

The Truth of the Cross – R. C. Sproul

What is a Healthy Church Member – Thabiti Anyabwile

Some pictures...

1. After years of LOATHING chopping onions (my eyes would KILL me... I wonder if allergies make the process even worse), I finally found a way to chop them up without any eye pain. It even works better than my old (equally dorky) strategy of putting my head in the freezer. Don't worry. I close my blinds first.
2. Big Boy Nate is 2 months old today, and he looks way too grown up in this picture. We could not keep our hands off of him when we saw him in this sweater vest from Aunt Mel. It's so fun! Month 2 was way easier than Month 1, but it's all been fun. We're literally shocked at how much he changes each week!
3. The smiles are flowing freely now! (And finally, he smiles in response to us and quite often. It's not just gas anymore, although that still makes him smile too!)
4. Nate's cousins Ethan and Henry were absolutely precious with him. They were so gentle and sweet. Ethan (in the picture) and Nate locked eyes on each other like this for about 3 minutes straight! We miss those boys!! It was so good to see and play with them. I love being an aunt and we pray for them each night when we pray for Nate. They will be awesome big cousins!

5. Finally, one of my favorites from the month... a candid picture of Dustin and Nate. We were at my parents, and one morning Dustin took Nate so I could keep sleeping. I heard Dustin reading from the Bible to Nate and snuck out to snap a picture. It was so sweet. Later, Dustin had a funny story from it too! He had been reading from the OT and it talked of the plague of killing the firstborn son. He said that Nate started crying at that part. Seriously. :) Poor guy. It was a tramatic story for him, but he loved cuddling up with Daddy!