I know....I know...

I know, we haven't posted FOREVER! Hey, we have an 11 month old. Is that a good excuse?

Anyway, the big news ---> Nathan took his first steps on Friday, December 17th!!! He's take several since (no more than 2 in a row, so far), and he is getting more and more confident. That's our boy. :)

Teeth count: 2 bottom, and 2 on the way on top

He continues to bring us so much joy [and an occasional bit of grief (he gets into everything!!)]. Nathan is a sweet, funny boy - he cracks himself up, along with us! He is a very courious little boy, and it is just amazing to watch him learn something right in front of us.

Nathan is a big boy. We don't weigh him outside of his dr visits, but given the raised eyebrows we get when we say "he's 11 months," he is still on the big side. He seems to grow inches overnight, and is now in 18 month clothes. The rumor is that he will thin out once he is walking, but I believe I was told the same thing about crawling!

Nate continues to be a great eater. Meat is still a big hit. Yep, he loved Thanksgiving! He also likes his veggies. He eats what we eat most of the time, which is great for us!

We're looking forward to our first Christmas with Nathan. He loves the tree (despite the gate around the tree we have had one ornament casualty so far)!

Here's a photo recap of the last couple of months:

Thanksgiving...
a holiday made for a little boy that loves meat


Tree Decorating...
Nathan was very helpful...?

A trip to visit the Spencer Family...

and Zoo Lights...

Photos and video

Here are photos from our trip --> HERE

As mentioned, Nathan learned how to crawl up stairs while at Erin's house....

Happy Halloween!

I'll try and get the photos off the camera tomorrow, but I thought I'd post real quick. We had a GREAT trip to the Pacific Northwest. Nate did great on both flights. We didn't buy him a seat (after hitting some turbulence on the way out, I will likely always get a seat for him so he can be in his carseat), but on the way back there were enough empty seats for us to have him in his carseat. :). He had a great time watching all the kids we visited, and may be a bit lonely here! Nathan made lots of new friends: Cecelia, Nora, George, Anderson, Tatom, Annika, and Kai. :)

Lots of new firsts while on this trip:

1st plane flight, DEN to PDX, 10/25
Cut his 1st tooth, 10/25
1st carousel ride, 10/26 (on a horse called Little Joe)
1st hands free stand (about 3-4 seconds), 10/29 (in Amy's kitchen)
1st stair climb, 10/30 (a whole 1/2 flight - video to come)

Whew!

So, we didn't really plan to dress him up for Halloween. I'm not very into Halloween - I love Fall, but I can totally do without the scary stuff. I'm a wimp. Anyway, I figure we'll be more into it when he is. But, we visited Halloween central, otherwise known as the Metcalf house, and I got into the spirit. Partially because Erin "made" us help her carve her 17 pumpkins! Ha! Nate borrowed a dragon costume for a neighborhood party, and he promptly feel asleep! His cherub sleeping face make him look like the boy from Where the Wild Things Are! :) He wore a skelton sweatsuit today on the plane that I picked up last minute. See, I'm not a total scrooge. :\

October!

We've had a great October. :) Nathan is a crawling fool. He is EVERYWHERE. He loves discovering new things. And yes, we finally put the baby gates up. He has a special giggle that means he's trying to get the kitty. Poor Zack.

Nathan had a great 9 month check up. He has begun to eat a bunch of table foods. He's had mashed potatoes, a lasagna roll-up, veggies, salmon (loved it!), taco meat, chicken, grated cheese, and more! The only dislike so far has been broccoli. Not even if disguised with mashed potatoes...

His 9 month stats:

Height 28.75" (70%ile)
Weight: 24 lbs 7.2oz (90-95%ile)
Head: 47.3 cm (95%ile)

I can't believe we make his 12 month appointment!! 12 months??? He's growing too fast. Just like everyone said he would.

The Nellis house has continued to be busy! Check out the photos from October --> HERE

We're off to Oregon tomorrow morning. We'll be with Amy and her family for several days, with a side trip to Bend to see Jim and Sabra. They we'll zip up to Seattle! Fun fun!!! I've got to get back to packing....!!

Mobile baby

Here's a short clip of his current crawling skills:

Poor sick baby and our busy Fall

Nathan decided that projectile puking all over Daddy's car/backseat, Daddy, the carseat, and, well, pretty much anything in front or around him for 6 hours would be a great way to spend a Tuesday night. We ended up taking him in to get something to stop the vomiting at about 10pm. He was was trooper. We also discovered that he had an ear infection (nope, he hadn't shown and signs). I have him home with me today and he's doing great. Such a sweet boy, even when sick. He has slept most of the day (and hence this post!)

He has lots of new tricks! Most exciting for him is crawling and pulling up to stand! He loves to stand!! Nathan also has several consonants sounds that he babbles. Ba, blah, ga, gaag, da. So cute. His crawling is still slow and not too continuous (he goes about 5-6 feet and then either flops on his belly or sits up). Fine with us! Yes, time to get serious about baby proofing. He also is starting to pick up a little sign language. He occasionally signs for more and we think eat. Hmm, not a big shocker that our chubby baby knows the signs related to EATING MORE!! Ha!!

Nathan is also a technology genius. How do we know? Well, he loves to Skype with Aunt Darby!

We've had a busy month! The CU season is in full force. We've taken Nate to all of the home games so far, including the tailgates and even a night game. He has a great time and is known to take a mid-quarter naps. :) We've got a couple of trips coming up in the Fall. We're heading to the NW at the end of the month, starting with visiting the Hiatts - Amy and Jon recently welcomed baby girl Nora to their family! I can't wait to snuggle her, play with Cecelia, and of course, hang out with Amy and Jon! We will also visit with Nate's great-Aunt Sabra and great-Uncle Jim. And, in true Nellis style, we'll cram more visiting in with a weekend trip up to Seattle to see the Metcalf and Foster/Andrews families! We get to experience the Metcalf Halloween extravaganza. ;) And THEN, Nathan and I are off to CA for Laura's baby shower in mid November and to see Robin, Brian, Benjamin, and Violet. Good times are to be had by all. I am so excited to see my wonderful friends and sweet family and to have our son meet them all! Yahoo! I'm a little anxious about the travel, but hopefully Nathan will exceed my expectations.

Videos and photos!

A three day weekend is giving me time to catch up on uploading photos and videos. I had videos on the camera as old as March...!! Below are a few of our recent favorites, including his sweet laugh, feeding himself, and his dinosaur impersonation. :) Enjoy!

Nathan is growing and developing so fast! He's now on Stage 3 foods (that require some "chewing") and feeds himself (well, he gets some in his mouth) puffs!! He also gets up on all 4s, and it appears crawling is in the near future. He manages to army crawl backwards, and he gets frustrated that he isn't going the direction he wants. No teeth yet, and so far we have been spared separation anxiety...both will come in due time, I'm sure. He's now in a "big boy" carseat. He is still rear-facing, but I think he likes the better view. We miss being able to move him about in his infant pod, but I just couldn't carry it plus him anymore. He is about 23 or 24 lbs now. One big kiddo.

Fall is officially here! We took Nathan to his first football game on Saturday. It was CU/CSU, so he was sporting a homemade CU and CSU onesie so that he didn't have to pick between Mommy and Daddy. :) He lasted the whole tailgate (starting at 7am) and the whole game!! He took a good nap during the tailgate in his stroller and another one on Mimi's lap during the game. He did great!! Weather permitting, he'll go to several games with us in Boulder.

As you may know, Darby went off to Korea to teach English for a year! Thank goodness for Skype - we've chatted with her several times now, and Nathan has also been in on the fun! We miss her, but are so excited for her adventure!

Photos from August ---> Click HERE

Sweet baby giggles (8/8/10)

Feeding himself for the first time (8/29/10):
[he's gotten quite a bit better]

His best impersonation of a Pterodactyl (9/6/10)