Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I just wanted to write a Happy Thanksgiving note to everyone.



I am thankful for all that everyone has done this past year. It has been an eventful year, with the birth of Nicholas and everything. Everyone has been great with helping out and babysitting, and cleaning and keeping me and Jon company. Thanks for all your support as we have begun this brand new adventure in our lives - and what an adventure it is.



Jon and I are also thankful for Nicholas. We cannot imagine life without him. His smiles light up our days. When he says "dada" or "mama" it is one of the most magical feelings we can have. And it gets even better when he says it, reaches for you and smiles. There is nothing like knowing he loves us and wants to be with us. I would say we are thankful for the late nights and early mornings, but not really :) We are thankful for them in the sense that we have Nicholas and those are part of the job, but really, we could do without them. And the poopy diapers - although those are a sign everything is working right with him.



We are thankful for our friends and families for keeping us sane, helping us out and providing great fun and company.



In this time we are also thankful for having good jobs, paid-off cars, and knowledge of what a budget it.



We are truely thankful this year for everything we have - including you.



Happy Thanksgiving.



Natasha, Jon and Nicholas Wunderlich

Finger Painting!

So we had our first finger painting experience on Thursday. I figured, he paints all the time with his food, why not see if he can create some real master pieces. So we went to the art store and got Crayola finger paints. They are non-toxic (which is good since he still eats everything in sight). And we also got some paper. Crayola had these other finger paints that only paint on the Color-Safe paper (where they don't color on anything but the paper, so there is theoretically no mess to clean up). But where is the fun in that?


So we started.


I was smart - he got stripped to his diaper and socks before we began. I put a towel down in the kitchen - figuring that floor is easier to clean than the carpet. And I put the paint onto a plastic plate, and put the paper in front of him.


First thing he did was dump the plate over. Onto the floor. Not onto the towel, but the floor. Then he was so excited he tried chasing the plate around the kitchen for a little bit. Then we got down to finger painting.

He made 5 pictures (I posted them below). In between the pictures, he did more plate chasing - which resulted in a new blue-green kitchen floor for me. He also did some body painting. Which resulted in a bath for him. And some wiping of my glasses for me. He got paint all over! But it was so much fun! I didn't even mind cleaning up. Can those paints clean up easily. All I needed was a warm, wet washcloth, and everything was clean again.

We are going to do this again in a heart beat.

As a side note, I never understood why my mother put all our creations on the fridge. They were incredibly ugly (in some cases). Yet they all went on the fridge. Now I understand. The finger paintings aren't a Picasso, but they are so precious. Ours got framed and will be put on the wall. Jon has one to take to work, and each set of grandparents gets one. So we shall see where they all end up.

Finally - some mama's

Nicholas started speaking about 3 weeks ago. He spent 3 days saying "mama." Jon spent those three days trying to get him to say "dada."

Then he spent the next 3 weeks saying "dada." I guess Jon's persistance paid off. I mean, I got a mama here and there. But he really likes saying "dada." Especially when Jon is around - because then he gets all kinds of attention from Jon. So he loves his dada. I get it. But would it suck so much to have said a mama in there sometime?

But he said it yesterday - very, very clearly. He said it, and I swept him up in the biggest hug and cuddling thing you can imagine. I love hearing it. It makes cleaning up after him and his cold worth while (I would do it anyways, I mean he's my baby...but still....). He said mama a few times yesterday.

I cannot describe how wonderful it is to hear him say mama. Although if you ahve experienced your child saying it to you for the first few times you know what I mean. It is gratifying because you know that your child is speaking, or starting too. And you know he can hear and speak. So some of your language barrier concerns are now gone. But then it is so loving too. He just says mama, and my heart melts. It is like he is recognizing all the stuff I do for him and he loves me. It is just a perfect feeling of bliss. It brings me back to the time that I first held him (and knew it was him). It was perfect.

The past 2 weeks

So in the past two weeks, Nicholas has done a lot.


We had our first Halloween with him. We found out that he doesn't like the dark ith a lot of lights, or the rain. Or a lot of noise. So that pretty much made use leave our halloween party early. But that was okay. We got home and he went to sleep. What a good camper!

This is Nicholas and his father. If there was any doubt that Nicholas adored his father, just look at Nicholas looking at Jon. That's some adoration.

This is me and Nicholas on Halloween. We are in light-up t-shirts and he has nifty socks that light-up...I didn't. We decided on no costume for Nicholas. I didn't want the poor kid to be struggling through a costume - he hates clothes! I cannot imagine him and a costume!

I also took him in to work today (after I was done) to show him off. He hasn't been around there since September, and he has changed so much. Plus, I like to show him off. He's such a good kid, and so cute. I never tire of hearing people say how cute he is or how happy and nice he is. It is amazing that Jon and I produced him. Not that we aren't cute, but we are no where near as cute as Nicholas. As normal - everyone at work loved him and played with him. He was pretty good there. And his favorite part (other than getting to see dada for extra time) was riding the Light Rail in and out. He loved the train. He couldn't move his head and arms fast enough to see and touch everything. he also liked the backhoe that was working at the Light Rail station. I didn't know what it was called. I was calling it an electric shovel, when one of the construction guys told me it was a backhoe. Then Nicholas watched it. And would clap and giggle everytime the backhoe moved. So they started moving it just for him. Those were nice construction workers. This was Nicholas' first time on light rail when he was awake. We have taken it twice before, and he slept both ways, both times. He was also small enough to be in a car seat on his stroller then. Now he had to plya with mama and all the fun people on the train. Here's the thing - have you ever tried lugging a HUGE baby, folded stroller and diaper bag on and off Light Rail? They make you fold the stroller (which is stupid since they have a flat connector you can use isntead of the stairs). It is an incredible pain in the butt. It was worse when we got back to the station because the train was full, people had to move, I was clumsy (suprise), and Nicholas was asleep - so he was a lump in my arms that I had to protect since he wasn't able to cling to me. It was a pain. Light rail should revise that rule. They let bikes, carts, wheel chairs and huge luggage on there without folding them. Why not strollers? Anyways, pictures are below!

This is Nicholas in his stroller at the Watt/Manlove station. Obviously before we had to fold the stroller. But I think he was smiling at the backhoe behind me. Maybe he will be an architect or construction guy in his future!

This is Nicholas and Jon at work. Nicholas did very well and didn't mess-up his dad's shirt. Isn't he a cutie! (I mean Nicholas, although I think Jon's cute too)

This is Nicholas at my desk - pardon the mess. He is all ready to go and type. I had to learn how to type. He's 7.5 months old and can already manage - that's not fair. Here's to our future Budget Analyst.

He Goes Backwards!

You know, people have always told me that babies go backwards before they go forwards. I didn't believe it. Why would someone go backwards when what they want is in front of them? But sure enough it is true.

Nicholas has started moving quite well - backwards. He sometimes goes forwards, but there has to be something really good there - like a cookie or something. And there has to be no one around to get it for him. Otherwise, he likes to move backwards. He does launch himself forwards from a sitting position to see if he can reach something, but then he goes backwards.

He can spin on his stomach too. 360 degrees. So he sees something he wants out of his reach and spins around so his butt is pointing towards the item. Then he scoots backwards. As soon as he feels his feet touching something, he turns back around 180 degrees and plays with it. My son has it all figured out.

He still prefers to be stood up and walk. He loves it when I hold his hands and let him walk around the room. He gets so excited he starts bouncing up and down on his legs, and then looses his balance. It is so cute! He also would prefer to be held by dad. He won't show his dad any of his tricks, he wants dad to hold him. And dad does hold him!