Week before Christmas!

Where to start.....last week was so busy followed by a busy weekend! We're hoping that this week won't be as bad and we'll have some time to breathe before we fly home next week for Christmas.
Last Friday Nathan and I attended our first Avalanche hockey game, with Jason, Michael and Rebecca. Nathan did so well we had the people behind us and beside us commenting on how good he was. The only part he didn't like were the air horns they sounded when we made a goal. Those actually made him cry but by the time the music stopped and the crowd calmed down we had him calmed down so no one even knew he was distressed. I had my camera with me.....but did I take one picture? NO! I forgot about it.
Saturday was full of running errands and doing things around the house to get ready for next week. That night it snowed and Sunday we woke up to a white world! We headed to the Natural Grocers that day and made homemade baby food, to put in the freezer, for a good part of the day. Nathan is now set for a while on frozen and fresh foods. I'm also making his (rice cereal) porridge now that he is old enough for it and plan to start him on yogurt this week once we get the okay from his doctor.
Sunday night we hit a Colorado record low of -21 degrees! As I was driving in to work on Monday it was -9 and at 2:30pm when I checked it again it was 1! Nathan and I went to our breastfeeding group holiday party and had a good time. Anytime that I get to get him early and spend some quality mommy time is a good time! He also LOVES our lactation specialist, Becky, and had some good lovin and smiles for her too. Tonight we are having our home group and will play a round of Chinese Christmas for our celebration!
I am now seeing a chiropractor/acupuncturist twice a week and am finally getting some relief from my (whole body) pain, headaches, jaw aches, etc! He's really good and looks at everything that is going on with your body (blood work) and not just your skeletal and muscular frame.
I don't know where the time has gone - I can't believe that next week is (Nathan's 1st) Christmas and a week from today we'll be flying out! I also can't believe that January 2nd Nathan will already be 8 months old! We're enjoying him so much I guess he's making the time seem to pass so quickly. He's such a sweetheart and we are so blessed to have him. Hope you all have a Merry week! :)

Nathan meets the Big Guy!

Today, Nathan met Santa Claus! This is the Santa from the Brown Palace who also happens to be our chair of the College of Business. So this is Nathan and Santa Vinnie!

Nathan's Photo Shoot

Yesterday was Nathan's photo shoot for the magazine ad and he did great. There were 4 white babies being photographed for 2 spots - and he was one of the 2 that would actually sit in the plane and smile - so I think he's going to be a shoo-in. We had to sit in a ratty "talent" room for over an hour while he laughed and smiled.....would not eat and finally got tired. Then it was FINALLY our turn. He sat well and smiled, but not his huge grins that he could have done before having to wait so long. They still loved him though. The videographer that screen tested him remembered him. He said that he has notes about his "monster smiles" and him being a smile machine. It was quite nerve-racking and exhausting for Mommy and Nathan, but an experience we'd not give up for anything! This photo was when they were done - I put him in it to take a picture - you can see in his eyes he's about to loose it! I got him out and he recovered though - never cried - just fell asleep on the way to the car!

Note: On the video that is NOT Nathan crying - that's one of the other two babies that followed him. They are also in the studio.

Thankgiving in Colorado - with video!

This Thanksgiving was Nathan's first and we stayed in Colorado. The Tuesday before we fried a turkey for friends and the Wednesday before we fried one for us and one for friends. I got my mom's recipes and made the traditional Southern meal for Jason and I. Once we were thoroughly stuffed and rested we painted our stairwell wall! Bet you didn't see that one coming! Nathan also ate sweet potatoes for the first time and finished a jar in two meals. :) He loved them. Friday we finished up our beautiful "Merlot" wall and put everything back up - and started on our Christmas decorations. By the end of the weekend we put up 4 trees and decorated our front porch, our kitchen counters, our window between our den and kitchen and our mantle - pretty much every surface we could! Nathan got an early Christmas present from Jason - a Lionel train that is now under the tree. Each year he will get a new train car and extension tracks. He loves just watching it go around and around. We enjoyed having the 4 full days together just to enjoy being with one another.

Update on Nathan's screen test!

Well, Nathan wasn't chosen for the TV commercial, but was chosen for the print ads!!! So we will go Wednesday, December 3rd for the photo shoot! YEAH! He will be wearing a white cloth diaper and sitting in a baby-sized paper airplane. The ad will be in magazines and other print publications in the Baltimore-Washington area!

We knew we had a cutie patootie - now we have proof! :)

Hollywood, here we come!

Lunch with Chris & Susan, Twilight, etc!

Good Monday morning!!! We are looking forward to a short work week and a long holiday weekend.
This past weekend Rebecca and I braved the opening of Twilight! We were certainly among the older crowd. The theater was full of teens that screamed through most of the movie - especially when it was a close-up on one of the male characters! We still had a good time though.
Saturday Jason, Nathan and I met Chris and Susan for lunch. We had such a good time we plan to get together again this Wednesday evening to fry turkeys.
I also saw my doctor Saturday for my cough. She has started me on a new inhaler (different from the new one week before last) and an antibiotic for the sinus infection I now have. I am already feeling better.
This holiday break we plan to paint our stairwell wall, eat turkey, most likely have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant and put up our Christmas decorations. We will also be relaxing!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!

Nathan's Screen Test!

Today we went to Nathan's first screen test for a TV commercial. The commercial will be for Baltimore-Washington Medical Center and will air in that area. They will have a number of babies in baby-sized paper airplanes.

We arrived and there were about 5 in our group - after waiting in a cold warehouse like studio area they finally took 3 of us back. Nathan was #3! The first baby was his age and they had them sit in a clothes basket and filmed them from all angles. The first baby was fast and she was out of there. The second one was 18 months and was not having anything to do with the basket. She cried every time they sat her in it. I walked away from the crying action because I didn't want Nathan to be upset about it. Then quickly came and got me to let Nathan show the other little girl it was okay (it didn't happen - even later she was still crying so she was let go).

Nathan was great!!! He sat in the basket. I had some toys to distract him and make him look up, but he was really okay just looking at the video camera and that guy. He looked all around and smiled and laughed some until he almost fell back. It was not his full laugh and smiles - but good enough for this! The videographer asked me how old Nathan was. I then grabbed my camera and asked if I could snap a few photos (above) and they said it was fine. Then the guy started talking about Nathan's hair! The color and the amount - and asked me again how old he was! He said Nathan looked like a pilot! From there the woman running the show asked if there was anything else he wanted to see from Nathan and he asked to do a single shot of him out of the basket. He noted how well Nathan sat up. Of course Nathan was great again smiling and loving the attention. They did not do this with the kid before him.

We won't hear until Monday (at the earliest)if he was chosen - but I know we couldn't have asked for Nathan to be any more perfect, so he did his best and it was fun and exciting. Now we'll just wait to see if he's what they were looking for.

Stephanie's Visit, Bananas, Avocados and Stardom!

We have been very busy and have much to report! First of all Stephanie (Carroll from Hampton, SC) arrived Thursday, 11-13, for a long weekend visit. Thursday we didn't do too much but get settled in and grab some dinner.
Friday we awoke to snow! We were thankful that the rain had turned into snow so we were able to take Nathan with us for the day. We started Friday with a Starbucks run and a tour of the Denver Mint. From there we headed to the CO State Capital and then to lunch on the 16th Street Mall at the Cheesecake Factory. Nathan could not have been any better! We had him bundled up in a little snow suit and besides his face, he wouldn't have even know it was cold outside. From there we headed north and took the Hammonds Candy tour. It was about 3pm when we were done with all of this and exhausted so we drug ourselves on home. We rested briefly and then Stephanie and I went to a concert at the Gothic Theater where we saw: Adam Ford, Newton Faulkner and Ingrid Michaelson. I wasn't familiar with any of the three, but ended up loving Newton Faulkner - Stephanie was a big fan of Ingrid's. Deliriously I drove home and collapsed in bed - this was hours after my bedtime and my body knew it!
Saturday the four of us got up and went to breakfast before heading to Vail. We spent most of the day in Vail and Nathan had his first organic, maple teething cracker. He loved it. We had started him on organic bananas earlier in the week, but he wasn't as sold on those as he was this cracker. He made a mess - but it was okay. We ate at the Blue Moose and it was pretty yummy too! :)
Sunday I took Stephanie to the airport and said goodbye. I returned home and Jason had a cold - so we took the rest of the day easy.
Last week our JWU marketing coordinator passed on an email from an agency looking for cute babies for a TV commercial. He and I picked what we thought was the best representation of Nathan (picture) and emailed it in. Monday he was called for a 'casting call' - TWICE! We see it as wonderful that he was even called and we would be thrilled if he was chosen! The audition will be Thursday and if he gets picked we should know before the weekend - and the commercial will be filmed 12/3. So keep your fingers crossed for Nathan! Probably more exciting to him, he had organic avocados last night and didn't seem to mind them at all. I'm so glad since they are SO GOOD for him! He'll eat those the rest of the week and then I'm going to try bananas again!
Will keep you posted about this Thursday!

Six months old and still growing!

This past weekend we "strolled" Nathan all over and he could not have been any better! We are so blessed to have such a sweetheart! His peditrician has put him on a liquid vitamin.....that we all hate! Nathan hates it becuase it tastes awful, Jason hates it becuase it smells awful and I hate to have to give it to him while Jason holds him down and he cries and fights me! As he gets older I'm going to try to sneak it into some foods - but right now I don't want to turn him against anything he's eating. We are looking to start adding bananas to his diet.
Tonight I am going to my first Avon meeting while Jason hangs out with Nathan. I now have business cards, samples and brochures. I plan to canvas the neighborhood next week and distribute my goodies!
Currently we are all awaiting Stephanie's arrival. Stephanie is one of my oldest friends, and lives in Hampton, SC. She will be visiting us Thursday - Sunday! It's bound to be fun! I'll make sure to post our activities next week!

Clemson Daddy & Nathan

Happy Halloween!

Nathan had his first Halloween this past weekend. He wasn't sure what all the hype was about - since the costume was hot and he can't play the carnival games or eat the candy! But thanks to Auntie M he looked adorable doing it!!!

This weekend he also turned 6 months old! We can't believe it. He goes today for the 6 months shots and half of the flu vaccine - after the second dose of the flu vaccine I think we are done with shots until 1 year.

Mommy & Daddy news: Jason took and passed the CO Journey electrical exam this past Saturday - YEAH! and to our surprise received a raise on Monday - YEAH! Susan has now started selling Avon and placed her first order today! She had 5 customers! YEAH! Go to www.youravon.com/susandubose to order online and have it shipped directly to you! Make sure you register so I'll get credit for your order though!