Happy Halloween

I really couldn't care less about Halloween. I think it's because I want to do things all or nothing and we really have never had the time or money to go all out. so we do nothing. Maybe next year when Nathan is old enough to enjoy it. I guess I can't say we do absolutely nothing. Just no dressing up and no candy. Trust me, I would love to dress up, but again, I would have to put way too much time and energy and money into a costume. We did have orange pumpkin-shaped pancakes for breakfast this morning and Ryan and I will be watching our traditional "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit" this evening. We have tickets to the big game here in Eugene (U of O is playing USC and it's a BIG DEAL) but we obviously couldn't get a babysitter for Halloween evening and I really don't feel comfortable taking Nathan into Autzen Stadium, known for it's lack of hospitality. So, Ryan is going to the game for a bit while I stay home and deal with our loud neighbors. All I can say is, he better bring home ice cream! I hope everyone enjoys this holiday, no matter how you choose to spend it!

Ouch!

This weekend has been kind of a rough one at our house. On Friday afternoon I was sitting in the living room waiting for Ryan to get home from class. He rides his bike to and from campus every day. Nathan and I were relaxing in the living room when my cell phone rang. I answered it and heard a strange man talking but couldn't understand what he was saying because the connection was really bad. I almost hung up because I figured he was a telemarketer or something. Instead I said, "I'm sorry, I can't understand you." Then I heard him say, "Your husband has been in an accident." No one ever, ever wants to hear those words. Ever. I immediately asked if Ryan was okay and the man told me he was. I talked to Ryan for a moment and he assured me that he was okay. The man (I think his name was Brian) told me that Ryan had had a near miss with a pedestrian and had gone over his handle bars. Anyone who knows me will know that by now I was about to die from inner hysteria. Especially since I heard this guy say to Ryan as Ryan got on the phone with me, "don't touch the phone since your hands are covered in blood." AHHH! So, Ryan's face was cut and he needed stitches and he might have a broken nose and they were going to take him to the hospital and he would call me when he was ready to come home. Goodbye. And cue hysteria. I immediately called my mom. Sweet Nathan was so cute and concerned about me while I cried. He just kept looking at me and making little sad noises until I looked at him and smiled and told him Mommy was okay. Then he smiled and was happy again. I hurried to make phone calls and to get ready to rush out the door when I got a phone call from the hospital. I took Nathan to a friends house (THANK YOU CHRISTY AND ELIJAH!!) and went home and waited for the phone to ring and looked up directions to the hospital. When the nurse called me, he said" did you know your husband was in an accident?" I said yes and he said, "okay. He wasn't sure if you knew." That freaked me out because he talked to me before. I headed off to the hospital and of course, because I am directionally challenged, I went somewhere completely different and what should have been a 15 minute trip took me almost an hour. Poor Ryan! Anyway, Ryan ended up with 5 stitches in his mouth, no broken nose, and scrapes on his face. As far as we know, he went over the handlebars of this bike and landed on his face. I am so glad that he ALWAYS WEARS HIS HELMET!! and I am grateful for health insurance. Ryan got to ride in an ambulance and said he was very polite and funny on the way to the hospital (he was totally out of it). He still doesn't remember talking to me at the crash site or even giving anyone my phone number. He doesn't remember other things that happened but more is coming back to him. So, we are taking it easy and I am nursing him back to health. Here's a picture of what he looked like this afternoon, a big improvement from yesterday. I asked him if I could take his picture yesterday but he said no. I would have said no too. Then I would have punched me for asking. In his words, "I'll never be beautiful again!!" What a strange man. I think we are both feeling a bit traumatized and a lot grateful.

I need this!

After 6 + months (and not stopping any time soon) of breastfeeding a very hungry boy about every two hours all day long, I think I need to get this on a t-shirt!

That was a close one!

A few weeks ago Ryan and I were asked to give sacrament talks in our new ward. We were set to speak yesterday and had to choose a conference talk from the Saturday morning (me) and Saturday afternoon (Ryan) sessions of conference to speak on. Needless to say, I had so many options when choosing a talk. One of which was the talk given by Elder L. Whitney Clayton of the Presidency of the Seventy. His talk was entitled "That Your Burdens May Be Light" and was very inspirational. I ended up choosing Elder Bednar's talk instead (More Diligent and Concerned at Home) and boy am I glad I did! Not only because Elder Bednar's talk was GREAT, but because who should happen to be IN SACRAMENT MEETING WITH US???!!! Why Elder Clayton himself, of course! Can you imagine?! "And now I am going to elaborate on Elder Clayton's talk (Hope I copied this down correctly)" Yikes! I'm starting to get nervous. This is NOT the first time a General Authority has been on the stand with me when I have spoken in sacrament meeting. I've got to up my game.

6 months old!

I think I say this every month, but I really can't believe how fast Nathan is growing up! I can't believe we are celebrating his half birthday today! Time goes so quickly. All I have to do is double this time and I have a 1 year old! Whoa. Here's what Nathan has been up to:

Nathan loves to talk. He says mama and baba and sometimes he mixes them to make his own word: babm babm. He loves to chatter to himself and his toys and make as much spit as he possibly can. He has also recently discovered how entertaining it can be to scream happily to himself over and over. It is so cute. He scrunches up his face and squeezes his little fists and shakes and screams. Sacrament meeting is about to get really fun.

Nathan can roll from his tummy to his back (we can't do tummy time any more because he automatically rolls over) and he is SO close to rolling from his back to his tummy. He is also almost able to sit up by himself. Almost. He has really strong legs and if he had better control over his body I bet he would be able to stand up holding on to the couch or something.

Nathan loves hands and feet and faces. He has learned how to pinch and scratch things. His favorite place to put his hands is inside my mouth. Occasionally, if I am rocking him, he won't go to sleep unless his fingers are in my mouth. weird kid.

Speaking of sleep, Nathan still sleeps long hours at night and (usually) he does a really great job of falling asleep on his own. Occasionally he just doesn't want to or I want to rock him because I need a good snuggle.

Nathan loves his baby food and will eat just about anything we offer him. The kid must have hollow legs because I don't think he is ever full. I'm going to be in trouble when he is a teenager!

Something funny we discovered about Nathan when we moved to this house is that he is deathly afraid of . . .arms!!! From certain places in the living room you can see across the dining room and into the kitchen just a little bit. One night I was in the living room with Nathan and Ryan was stirring something at the stove. All Nathan could see was his arm stirring. He was hysterical. The poor child was terrified! We tried it again later (we are cruel parents) just to make sure, and he was terrified again. It's sad, but SO funny!

I am interested to see how much Nathan weighs now but because of our move the soonest I could get a 6 month appointment for him was the end of October. I think he is slowing down now, although he wears size 12 months in some brands.

Sorry for the length of this post. The grandparents like it.