Holiday Fun for Everyone!

I'm at my in laws, which can only mean one thing--- time to update my blog. And I can already hear Nathan fussing so this has got to be quick*.

Okay-- let's see...

Yesterday we went to the pediatrician again. Last time he weighed 10 lbs 3 oz-- this time he was at 12 lbs 3 oz! I asked the doctor if that was a normal amount of weight to gain and he said that they only HOPE that ALL babies would grow so well!! He's developing VERY well. He's now 22 1/4 inches long and his head circumference is 15 1/4 inches (I don't know what it was originally-- so I have no idea how that compares). The pediatrician says that he's developing SO WELL that he's just about ready to start JUICE (which is absolutely ridiculous-- he's still happily enjoying breastfeeding and WILL BE for a while to come)! But besides that, we really like our pediatrician. Their whole staff is very interactive with the babies and seem to make the visits more personal.

Here's little Nathan after a diaper change a couple weeks ago-- he just looked so cute!This is one of us Christmas shopping.. N was pretty fussy and tired right when we GOT to the store. We didn't think he'd last, but Dad has the magic touch! He fell asleep in his arms and we were able to get everything we needed! (As you can see this is as we were leaving when he was WIDE awake again. Happy, but WIDE awake.)A close up... I LOVE this little pose-- when he rests his fist up by his face like he's leaning on it. He often does it while he's nursing and it's absolutely adorable!

For Christmas, we went to Freddy's aunt's house (for Christmas Eve) and opened presents at midnight with all the rest of his family. Then we headed to his parents' house to open more presents. After that, we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house to spend the night so that we could wake up with the rest of my family. Boy were we TIRED. But we got FUN gifts! I got a Cricut Expression and Freddy got a PS3! (Actually, we got these back on Black Friday and totally didn't wait for Christmas to use them. Those were supposed to be our only presents, but I had a hard time knowing that there wouldn't be anything to open on Christmas day. Because of that, we each got a few little things for each other.)

Santa Claus actually DID come to town! Monica, my mother in law, bought two ADORABLE outfits for Nathan for Christmas, but one was size 6 months and would have been wayyy too big. But this one was quite the hit.Freddy and I, right before midnight on Christmas Eve. And Christmas morning at my grandparents' house, here's Freddy with his surprise gift-- a LAKER BLANKET! He LOVES it... and it's suuuper warm. And here are Tyler and Brandon with their blankets that Mom had been slaving away on... She loves to do big, huge projects for Christmas when there's definitely not enough time to finish them. But somehow she finishes them just in time!

Then for New Year's it was basically the same deal. We went to the same aunt's house with the same family members and then afterward went and spent the night at G&G's house with my family. EXCEPT! This time Jessica and Mitch were there!! Yay!!! We like them. And this time we were sick-- Freddy still was getting over a cold he'd had since before Christmas. I had a cold, sore throat, had lost my voice COMPLETELY, and then New Year's Day both Nathan and I woke up with pink eye. Grrrreat. So that was tons of fun, as you can imagine.

Here's baby Nathan with Grandpa Lyons on New Year's Eve..And at midnight.. Welcome 2010!!Gotta have someone to kiss at midnight!!And Nathan with Grandma, well, his great Grandmother.

And then Sunday, January 3rd, was Nathan's blessing**! It was wonderful-- especially with Jessica and Mitch still there. Also, Chami was in town with the girls so they came too (and I can't believe how much they've grown)! The blessing was incredible and the testimony meeting that followed was quite possibly one of my favorite meetings I've ever attended. Most, if not all, of our high priests got up and bore their testimonies. In a ward that usually endures long, awkward pauses between testimonies, this week there were over a dozen people waiting to speak. It really was such a perfect meeting. :) Following Sacrament meeting, we went to take pictures QUICKLY since all of our guests had to leave to drive back ASAP. It reminded me exactly of a wedding. UGH. I wish I could figure out a way to better coordinate group pictures. But we used Mitch's camera because it's suuuuuper cool-- wayyyy better than anyone elses.

But this is one picture that was taken on my camera-- us with Chami and the girls!And here's Freddy with little Nathan (as you can see his outfit is WAYYY too big.. it was the smallest we could find-- size 3 months. And Nathan is only 7 weeks here..).

And then, Jessica and Mitch left... and stole Sarah too. :( We all miss her, but know that she'll love Utah and UVU.

And that's pretty much the update. Our handyman was supposed to come Tuesday, make that Wednesday, wait, make that Thursday. So hopefully eventually he'll actually come and fix our phone jacks so that we can finally plug in our modem and get the internet to work! Then I'll finally be able to blog as time passes, instead of these MASSIVE blogs to keep everyone satiated until I can post two weeks later. We will see!

*Don't think for one second that this post was actually quick and that I finished before he needed me. Not at all. In fact, during the writing of this one post, I've fed him probably three times. But now he's sleeping-- hence why I ended up with a much longer post than I planned on.

**As a side note, I sincerely apologize to anyone that didn't know about the blessing that would have liked to come. With all the holidays and our internet STILL not connected at our house it was just impossible to email or post about it. Send me an email if you fall in this category so that I can at least email you some of the notes from the blessing, if you'd like.