He Smiles!

Nathan has been smiling for a little while now, and we finally caught him on camera. I should clarify... my SISTER finally caught him on camera. My sister, Sasha, was in town this past weekend so Nathan and I went over to my parents house while Tom worked some overtime. Nathan was smiling and laughing at me and Sasha was smart enough to pick up my camera!

His smiles are so infectious they make me smile all over and my heart skips a beat. I loved watching Nathan drift into sleep with a sleep-smile-smirk and now he's conciously SMILING!



Here is my sister Sasha coddling Nathan for a smile... and he delivers! Now we've just got to catch Daddy with the smiling boy! We have them on video DVD, but not digital. Gonna work on that this weekend for Daddy's birthday, that would be a fine present :)


I hope you all have a SMILE-fine day!
*hugs*
Roxanne :)
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Violated

....that's what happened to me today.... I was violated. My personal property violated and stolen. Here's the story:

My friend Nikki was off of work today, so she and I (and Nathan) went out for a late lunch at a new-old restaurant. The new restaurant is Solea, a Mexican cuisine. The building is the old Gulliver's. Jamie will remember good ole Gulliver's! Solea has been open for about a month. The food was really good, and we had an enjoyable lunch-date. Nikki even fed Nathan his lunch. She's such a natural, she needs to have a little bundle next!! So we're walking out to my truck, which is parked in the first stall of the parking lot, right in front of the building. I open the back door and fasten Nathan's carseat in the base, just as Nikki says (from the passenger side of the vehicle) "Oh my gosh!" I could hear her plain as day, but she hadn't opened the door... I look up to see her in a frame of broken glass. Someone broke my passenger side front door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH is right!!!

My first reaction was that the car parked next to me, which wasn't there when I parked, somehow opened their door and the corner of their door busted out my window. I commented to get the liscence plate, but we look and there is no apparent damage to the body of the door or anything... Just then, Nikki looks up and notices my Garmin Nuvi GPS system is missing out of the front windshield. No SHIT! I couldn't believe my eyes!! Nothing like this has ever happened to me before! I just bought the dumb thing, and only bought it for the use of my business (Pampered Chef) for when I go to shows and am unfamiliar with addresses, and driving in the dark on unfamiliar roads. I only put it in my truck cuz it was kinda fun to see the familiar roads on the little screen. I really could care less about actually having one just to have one...I never got a chance to use it for the purpose I had intended when I bought it.

So we went back into Solea to make the necesary calls. First the cops, then husband, and then insurance. Tom couldn't believe it either. He told some guys at work and then called me back to tell me the guys said they had heard of these getting stolen, the theif finding the home address programed in the thing, then going to the house and robbing it. So now I'm really freaking out, tears streamimg, this is the last thing I want to worry about....I already felt so violated by my truck being broken into with a busted out window. Both my insurance guy and the cop said they hadn't heard of this kind of thing happening, and the kind of thiefs that steal these really aren't that smart. They steal them cuz they are an easy quick sell...$100 or so to get the drug/alcohol money they want. still... bastards!

Well, the Glass Doctor is coming out on Monday to replace the glass. At least it's only $100 deductible, but the feeling of being violated will probably never go away. When I do get a new Garmin, I won't EVER EVER EVER leave it visible in the windshield like that. So here's to warn you all if you have one of these devices..... DON'T LEAVE THEM IN VIEW! Even little old Neenah has hoodlums that will bust out your window just to get the darn thing.

It's just past 11:30 pm, and do you think I'm tired? Yes, I'm tired. But do you think I can sleep? I don't know, we'll see. Tom's working 2nd shift, he gets home around 1:30am. It's only a few more hours, but I'm leaving the kitchen light and living room lights on. Theo is home, so I know he will alert to anything or anyone attempting to come in the house. I don't think we have to worry, it's not like we have a big beautiful house or anything, but still, it's our home. If someone were to break in here, that kind of violation would hurt even worse.

I suppose... I suppose I should put my baby in his bassinett and lay my head on my own pillow.......

Good night,
Roxanne
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What we've been up to...

I can't believe it's been 10 days since my last post. I guess you could say I've been one busy mama! Here's what we've been up to...

Through purchasing my new sling, the nice gal who makes them introduced me to a breastfeeding group that gets together at a local establishement downtown Neenah called Mom and Pop Place. I enjoy this group and meeting other moms who share stories, tips, advice, etc. It's an informal setting, the store has delicious good food, a cute little boutique shop, there are kids happily playing with the toys, and breastfeeding is totally welcomed. Here's a picture of Nathan in the new sling.

Our daily routine is to wake, feed, Mama eats breakfast, we have a little playtime, then maybe a little more feeding, and finally a morning nap. We get Daddy up around 10:30-11am (he works 2nd shift), and then Daddy takes over so Mama can get some stuff done. Nathan just loves looking at Daddy and listening to his voice. They have a good time playing and sometimes feeding as well.

Tom had his first evening with Nathan all to himself this past Monday night while I attended my monthly Pampered Chef team meeting. They did well, and I came home just in time for a new feeding. Tom said he really enjoyed the time for just him and Nathan. I'm so glad Daddy and baby bonding is going so well. It's so important and Tom just can't get enough of his little boy :) He said to me that when he comes home from work, and if we're sleeping, he always comes in and looks at Nathan before jumping in the shower. He looks and looks, watches and watches, and strains from laying a gentle kiss because once it woke him up! :)

Here's the handsome fella, in his oh-so-cute truck overalls outfit, dressed to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Schwandt one Saturday. This is still a Newborn outfit... the 0-3 mo outfits and jammies are too big on him yet. He really is growing so much and I'm sure before I know it, those 0-3's will be too small!

Remember the Amby hammock bed I had talked about in an earlier post? Well, Nathan had slept in it for 3 hours our first day home from the hospital, but not much since. We were sleeping him in whatever he felt safe and comfortable in, and convenient to attend to for nitetime feedings, etc.. So he slept in his bouncy seat for a while. Eventually we transitioned him to the bassinet of the pack-n-play, which is where he continues to sleep. It's working out great, and eventually will be easier to transition him into his crib. I want him to feel comfortable and snuggly in his Amby bed, too. So yesterday he took a 20 min nap in it!

Well I can here he is up early from his morning nap....time to change stinky hinder and feed.

Love you all!

Roxanne :)

Baby Dedication

Today was Nathan's baby dedication at our church! Instead of baptising babies, our church dedicates children. This is a promise that we, our family, and our church family make to raise Nathan knowing our Lord Jesus, to learn from His Word. Basically, it's the same "words" and "service" as familiar Catholic and Luthern baby baptisms. The parents, family, and church are promising the same thing. We just do it minus the water. The full-submursion baptism comes later in the child's life once he/she around the age of 12 or 13. By this time, the child has grown up in the church family and can make a very important decision on their own; to accept Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, into their heart and to dedicate their life to Him. At this time, the child goes through Youth Discipleship, which includes attending discipleship class with Pastor Jim, and choosing a mentor from the church congregation. This is also how I was baptised, and my mentor and I have been friends for 17 years!

With baby dedications in our church, some families choose to identify Godparents; following familiar Catholic practices. Tom and I chose not to do the Godparent thing. I don't have Godparents, although I am one and Tom is one, it was too difficult to pick and we didn't feel it necessary to do with Nathan because we know all of our family and friends will love Nathan and support him in Christian faith.

Here are pictures from our big day!

Denise, Pastor Jim's wife, was so excited to hold Nathan!

The spoon given by the church to Nathan. Engraved with 'Whiting Community Baptist Church'

My Dad, 1st time Grandpa, with Nathan and me :)

Nathan's cute outfit!

Here you can see the Uppercase Living expression "MIRACLES" on Nathan's wall!

I hope I have shared something with you and maybe you learned something new about dedicating babies! :) We are so excited to be on this journey with Nathan and can't wait to watch him grow, develop, and become a beautiful human being making Mommy and Daddy proud.

Love,
Roxanne :)

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Nathan 1-month

Birth Weight 6lbs. 1oz.

1-month Weight 8lbs. 3oz.

Today we had Nathan's 1-month check-up with his pediatrician. (technically, Nathan is 4w 6d old) We are happy to say that our little baby is healthy-as-can-be!! He's got a little congestion from a combination of left over amniotic fluid and then the cold winter air this time of year, so we've been running a cool mist humidifier for him. It seems to be coming up and Doc said as long as he's not having any trouble breathing, which he isn't, he'll be ok. I was able to expel a couple big buggars from his little nose the past few days and his pediatrician said to use a little bit of infant saline drops to help loosen up.

Here are some new pictures of our sweet baby Nathan!

*hugs*

Roxanne :)

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