Hammster Life

Nate's Birthday Party (Part 1)

2009-10-14T21:28:00.009-04:00

Nate's Birthday party was on Saturday, September 26th. We had just about 30 people here so we were very pleased that the weather decided to cooperate and we could be outdoors too. The party turned out way better than I could have even hoped for. Here are some of my favorite pictures...

Nate's Backyardigan Pirate cake

Cousin Sydney, Nate, Cousin Kaylee, Uncle Luke, Cousin Samantha take a quick picture break, it's hard to get 5 kids to stop bouncing long enough...

Kaylee had a complete blast in the bounce house.

Drew, sweet as always, checking out Nate's collection of outdoor toys.

Nate and Josh being boys.

Josh and Joey, can't get in the house fast enough.

Nate and his Uncle Brian. Nate was so happy he was able to come.

Grandma Dawn, Baby Ben, Brad, Poppa Jim, Uncle Syl

Cousin Sydney waiting for Nate to come eat lunch with her, sadly Nate ate inside and Sydney waited quite some time.

Uncle Aaron and Kathy checking out what's good to eat.

Yummy lunch.

Party table and cake.

Mike taking advantage of the bounce house after the party. Many an adult jumped in the bounce house (myself included), I just don't have pictures of them all, and for that I'm sure they are eternally grateful.

I think every kid went home thinking this was the best party ever. Thank you bounce house. Thank you nice weather. Thanks to everyone for coming, Nate had an absolute blast! See you next year!

Happy 3rd Birthday Nate!

2009-10-06T21:30:00.004-04:00

My sweet baby boy turned 3 on September 25th. How did this happen? Where did those 3 years go? I'm sure that just a month ago I was feeding him a bottle, trying to decide when we should start feeding him solids, and anguishing over whether he was warm enough in the onesie and footed pajamas. These 3 years have truly been a blessing. My heart is so completely full with love for Nate, and yet tomorrow I'll love him even more. Each time I think, I love this age the most! Then he gets older, and I think I love that age the most. I think I just love Nate the most, no matter his age. Though if he could stay 3 for a bit longer than he was 2...

Here are some pictures of his actual birthday on Friday.

Starting out the morning right... with powdered doughnuts and a Happy Birthday song and candles.

Then off to daycare armed with lots of cupcakes...

Home to open a gift from Nana and Poppy D

It is infact the GREATEST present ever! A GIANT track complete with cars that go when you shake them. (I must admit, I'm not sure which one of the boys in my house love this track the most....)

We asked Nate where he wanted to go to eat dinner for his birthday. We tried to convince him that he wanted Chili's, but he was adamant that McDonald's was the place to be.

How old are you today?

Then back home for cake! Blowing out the candles is always Nate's favorite part of ANY birthday. If it's your birthday and Nate's there, beware... he will blow out your candles!
Opening a few presents from Mommy and Daddy on his actual birthday.

Nate's birthday went by way too fast. I held him extra long the night before to get in one last 2 year old hug. Then on his birthday I held him extra long to see if it felt any different hugging my 3 year old. Maybe it was because I was feeling all sappy about my growing baby, but that night he looked more like the boy he's growing up to be. I'm not sure I'm ready for this.

I'll try to post again soon with pictures from his awesome birthday party!

Nate-isms Summer 2009

2009-09-22T11:53:00.003-04:00

Ooba-me
The other day Nate told me, "Mommy you a ooba-me ooba-me ooba-me up."

Clearly I'm unsure the meaning....

He continues to repeat this because he wants me to agree. So finally I'm like, sure I'm one of those.

Mike tells me later that he was singing the Oompa-Loompa song to Nate while on vacation. LOL, so Nate was calling me an oompa-loompa. :)

So I ask Nate, "Did you mean 'oompa loompa'"?
He says, "Yeah. Ooba-me ooba-me ooba-me up." And gives me this look like I'm an idiot because obviously we're saying the same thing.

What else you got?
During our vacation travels we had stopped to eat a nutritious McDonalds meal. Nate had gotten a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets and apple dippers and I had a fish sandwich. Nate loves their fish sandwich (or should I say, he loves their tartar and he tolerates the fish with each bite) and so I was giving him bites. When I finished my sandwich I reached over and got one of his apple slices.

Nate: "Hey!!! That's MY apples!"
Me: "We're sharing."
Nate: "Those are MINE!"
Me: "I'm pretty sure I just shared my fish sandwich with you."
Nate: "Your sandwich is all gone."

In a Van Down By the Fireworks

2009-07-06T23:47:00.012-04:00

Last year we went to my sister's for the 4th of July weekend. Dual purpose, 4th of July festival in their town and my niece's birthday party. So again this year we repeated the visit. Last year we took Nate to the fireworks display and he absolutely hated it. He screamed and screamed and screamed some more until we had to go back to the car and watch Backyardigans on the portable DVD player to drown out the noise and await the end of the fireworks. We were sure that this year, Nate being closer to 3, he'd surely not be as scared.... right?

Two years in a row.

Sitting in my sister's van, watching Backyardigans on the DVD player, drowning out the noise with headphones.

At least Nate had a GREAT time at his sissy's (Samantha) birthday party.

The birthday girl.

Nate's favorite activity at the party, the trampoline. Here he is practicing his push ups, working on his "muggles" (that's how Nate says muscles).

Nate and his awesome parents.

And before the fireworks started the kids all had a blast playing at the playground. The parents got bit by LOADS of bugs, not so fun. What age is it that you stop looking at the playground as the best place you've ever been, and just worry about sunscreen and bugspray?

Sydney on the slide and Samantha on the monkey bars.

All in all we had a wonderful visit and look forward to many more years of spending the 4th of July with my family. Who knows, maybe one year we'll actually get to watch the fireworks from outside the van.

Ice Storm 2009

2009-05-11T21:03:00.003-04:00

Here are some of my favorite pictures from our ice storm, early 2009:

We were concerned that Nate would throw a toddler-sized tantrum when we tried to put mittens on him. Just so happened that while dressing him in winter-garb an episode of Spongebob came on where Spongebob and Sandy wore giant mittens when doing Karate together. So from that moment on Nate saw his winter mittens as Karate Mittens. He is often to be found wearing them, even now in the spring, around the house, going High-Yah! and making various karate poses. Whatever works. This is my new parent motto.

Blog-wha?

2009-05-04T21:32:00.004-04:00

I know it's been ages since I've blogged, and I hereby announce that I will make my best effort to return to regular programming. :)

We've been quite busy over these last few months.

Nate's lymphnodes on the left side of his neck were enlarged and after several hospital visits, doctor visits, surgery, medicine, more doctor visits, he is on the road to recovery. He had Atypical Mycobacterial Infection.

Since Nate's surgery he has been doing wonderfully. He has regained a little bit of movement in the lower left of his mouth (paralysis in that area caused by surgery), which is GREAT news.

I may or may not blog more about all this. I have pictures from various stages of his recovery.

I do want to say that I know how extremely blessed we are that what he had was treatable and that if you were to ask Nate, he would have no clue that anything had even been wrong with him. He has been his normal cheerful, funny, smart self throughout it all. I want to thank everyone who prayed for him, who continues to pray for him. It truly means more than I can say. Thank you.

Merry Christmas! 2008, part 2

2009-02-08T21:45:00.008-05:00

Christmas morning was amazing. The sheer joy and amazement on Nate's face was so infectious, it didn't take long before we all had big happy sappy grins on our faces. I'll spare you those pictures... trust me, a super cheesin' Jenn in PJs first thing in the morning is not a pretty sight. :)
Instead, I'll share some much more adorable pictures of Nate and family.

Nate checking out the plate and cup leftover from Santa's late night snack. He had gotten to help me make the cookies for Santa the night before and he was very excited about it.

Nate was so cute digging in to his stocking...

Nate's really into puzzles and wanted to stop opening presents to play... it took a bit of convincing, but the prospect of bigger and better presents finally got him moving on.

Like this playdoh, which we play with almost everyday. Did I mention everyday?

Checking out a giftcard from Nana and Poppy D... what oh what shall I get? Nate hopes his TN grandparents will be able to come see him soon!

Opening presents nearly as tall as me is great fun...

Christmas dinner at mom's house with all my siblings. It's so great when we can all get together.

My sister, Tracy, and her daughter, Syndey.

My brother, Brian, and Mike.

My brother, Joshua.

We had a really great Christmas both at home and with extended family. It's amazing how having a toddler can truly bring the magic back to Christmas. It's like we get to have both sides of the story. We get to watch as Nate unwraps each present, delight in his expressions and excitement. His overwhelming happiness is the best gift I've ever received. Then when we go over to my mom's house and spend Christmas afternoon with my siblings, eating all my mom's homemade comfort foods of our childhood, joking and laughing together, sharing gifts and stories. Then we all came back to my house and my Dad and Stepmom and brothers came over to spend Christmas night together. I'm unsure how we fit so many people in our house, but we do, and it's great. The kids all play, the adults got to act like kids and played a board game. It's just so great to spend a whole day with all the people in your life that you love the most. I love my family. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 2008, part 1

2009-02-02T21:48:00.004-05:00

Christmas time at the Hammond house was filled with lots of visiting, and to Nate's delight, presents. :)

And most of all, love.

Nate and his 'sissy' (his cousin Samantha) sharing a sweet moment.

Niece Sydney and Mike sharing a sweet moment as well.... that or they are staring each other down in a contest of wills...

Sweet Sydney being adorable as usual.

Nate enjoying dinner with his cousins, Sydney and Kaylee. Nate's picnic table definitely came in handy with limited table space in a very crowded kitchen.

Whether at my mom's house or my house, fun was had by all. The Wii was a big favorite... See how happy Mike is? I'm quite sure I've seen this same grin somewhere recently...

Oh that's right, it's the same grin that Nate had EVERYtime he opened a present. :)

More evidence.

And this brings us to quite possibly the best present ever. Well the best and the biggest. My sister and brother in law decided to grab the title of BEST AUNT AND UNCLE EVER. See the excitement on the kids faces, and the inflatable bounce house wasn't even fully inflated yet.

Loads of fun was had by any and all children under the 150 pound limit.

Here's a picture of our Christmas tree, mere minutes after Santa had come...
The next post will reveal what exactly was in those packages, and more Christmastime pictures.

Christmas Preparations 2008

2009-01-14T21:12:00.004-05:00

As the Christmas holiday was approaching we celebrated a bit with friends from my work. They graciously invited us to stay the night at their home in Lexington and so we brought Nate along to enjoy the party too. Nate was sooooo good and was immediately comfortable around everyone. He is definitely coming out of his shell more and more each day. Nate is still the pickiest eater I know (that's saying a lot coming from me!) and so I'm not quite sure, but I believe that his "dinner" consisted of wheat crackers, cheerios, and ranch dip. That's healthy, right?

Nate's new best friend, Jeromie, "loaned" him his iPhone, which Nate immediately fell in love with. His favorite application was the Star Wars light saber. Nate forced Jeromie to play with him and the iPhone for an hour at least. A whole hour where Mommy cringed each time the $300 iPhone got slung around and pounded on.

Back home we decided it was time to get our own tree out. Though Mike questioned my idea to put the whole tree up while Nate was awake, Nate did a GREAT job helping. He was really excited at each step along the way. It made putting the ornaments on quite a slow process, but since we still don't have a lot of ornaments yet it worked out just fine.

Each year I buy a new ornament for the tree. The last few years I've been making it a point to get ornaments that can be hung low on the tree with a toddler. :) This year's addition were these super cute mittens. I let Nate put all the soft ornaments on the tree this year. He did amazingly well, both in skill and in patience.

Here he is bargaining with me that this jingle bell ornament is indeed a soft ornament and thus he can put it on himself. Who can resist him?

This was when I realized I needed to explain to him about the reason for the nativity set.... that they were not infact action figures as he first thought. Nate did really well for the most part, not playing too roughly with the nativity figures, only needing reminders from time to time. He'd even bring them too me, showing me the mommy, daddy, and baby. However we clearly will need to explain again next year, since last weekend when we put the tree and decorations up I noticed that one of the wise men had lost an arm in battle... sadly the baby Jesus will not be getting one of his gifts next year, I'm just unsure if it was the gold, frankincense, or myrrh.

I'll post soon with pictures from Christmas. My problem is somehow deciding between the 70 gazillion pictures I took...

Nate-isms

2009-01-07T21:41:00.004-05:00

For the past few weeks Nate has been asking to go to the Park. My response has been, "I'm sorry baby, we can't go to the park... it's too cold outside." Usually the conversation ends there. However recently we had this conversation:

Nate: "'unna go park"
Mommy: "I'm sorry baby, we can't go to the park... it's too cold outside."
Nate: "No cold outside."
Mommy: "Oh yes, it's VERY cold outside."
Nate: "No cold outside. Hot."
Mommy: "No, it's not hot. It's COOOOLD."
Nate: "No cold outside. Hot."
Mommy: "It's cold outside."
Nate: (SCREAMING): "NO COLD OUTSIDE. HOOOOOOT!"
Mommy: "Fine. It's hot outside."
Nate: (with a devious grin on his face, but said in the sweetest, most innocent voice) "Go park?"

*sigh* You gotta love him. :)

Thanksgiving in Memphis

2008-12-27T23:20:00.015-05:00

The Hammsters spent Thanksgiving in Memphis this year. We had hardly been in the door for 5 minutes and Nate had already made himself at home on his Elmo couch kept at his Tennessee Grandparents' (TG) house. He was extra excited about the new toybox that his TG had made for him. It was full of toys! Nate was so excited and kept showing us all the toys inside, over and over again. :)

It didn't take long for Nate to entice everyone into a friendly game of catch. And by friendly I mean you lightly toss the ball to Nate and then he pummels you with it. Nana and Grandpa D were a bit surprised by his aim and strength. :)

Seriously, could you say no to this?

He even got his Great Uncle Keith to join in on some soccer.

There were two turkey's at Nana and Papaw D's house this year. Only one of which we ate...

Nate and his awesome parents... :)

Nate and Papaw D coloring and sharing some giggles.

We also visited family in Mississippi. Nate and his Aunt Patsy fed Casey LOADS of dog food. Nate quickly became Casey's best friend. They even squabbled over dog toys later. :) Nate was so adorable at Aunt Patsy's house. We were telling him all his aunts and uncles and cousins names and we told him that one of Patsy's daughters was named Sherrie, and he looked over at her and called her, "More Patsy". :)

Nate's other best friend from the visit, his cousin Hayden. Nate followed him around everywhere, even stealing his hat. :) Hayden was so great helping and playing with Nate.

Nate got lots of love from his cousin Angie.
Nate sporting his full Memphis attire, showing his Tiger Pride. Go Memphis!

We really had such a great visit in Memphis for Thanksgiving. Nate's Nana made tons and tons of yummy food, way more than we could eat. Nate really got attached to his TG while we were there this visit. During our nightly routine of listing the people that we love, Nate makes sure to say Nana and Papaw D several times each night. I hope that we will be able to see them again soon. :)

Recreational Activities

2008-12-04T20:56:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd share a bit of what Nate's been up to lately.

Nate cuteness: The other day Nate was playing near the ottoman and he bumped his head (don't worry, the ottoman is soft and squishy). He cried anyways and held his head. I asked if he needed a kiss. "Yes" he replied and came over to get his kiss on the head. He went back to playing and a few minutes later bumped his head again on the ottoman. He started to whine, put his hand on his head and looked at me. I asked if he needed another kiss. He looked over at me, looked down at his toys, back at me, then back at his toys...(clearly torn between getting kisses for his booboo and staying to play with his toys), he then proceeded to kiss his hand and smack the kiss on his own forehead and returned to his playing. Kinda like, "nah, I got this Mom." Haha. :)

Nate really likes to look at books. Especially this Wiggles book (let me just say that I can't STAND the Wiggles show and this book is about all I can tolerate).

I love the crossed leg... chilling out, reading a "good" book.

Some friends shared this cute craft idea with us to make for Thanksgiving. It required like 30 minutes of Mommy cutting things out of foam and like 5 minutes of Nate glueing. Though a bit tedious on my part, Nate absolutely LOVED making the turkey. His favorite part was the eyes. He still points to the turkey on the fridge and says, "Googley eyes". Which is well worth all that prep work on Mommy's part.

The finished product. We ended up making two turkey's, one for our fridge, and one to give to Nate's Nana and Papaw D (Mike's parents) for Thanksgiving.

We actually were able to spend Thanksgiving this year with Mike's family in Memphis. My next post will have pictures from our trip there. Gobble, gobble!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-18T21:30:00.007-05:00

I'm a bit behind, but wanted to post some pictures from Halloween.

At first Nate was a little timid going up to people's houses. He held my hand to and from each house. The houses with dogs are the ones that held most of his attention. After a recent visit to my BFF Lauren's house he has become extremely interested in dogs and calls them all 'Enry (henry).

After a few houses he got into the routine and did very well with saying Thank You and a few sporadic "trick or treats" thrown in for good measure. There was one thing he was adamant about... he wanted the people giving out the candy to hand it to him so he could put the candy in his own bucket. He also REALLY loved the houses that let him pick out his own candy, or should I say the houses that let him root around in their candy bucket for several awkward minutes until Mommy would step in and say, "Nate, just pick something please..."

Contrary to what the picture looks like I didn't let him walk into strangers houses... this is Nate trick or treating at my mom's house...:)

Nate and Grandma checking out all his loot...

"Here's some Skittles Mommy." I would say, awww how sweet, but he found out earlier that day that he didn't like Skittles, so he was merely unloading the junk.

Nate's cousin, Kaylee, who was Jessie from Toy Story. She kept her costume on for all of 3 seconds once she was at Grandma's house...

She then dressed Nate up in her costume, which he LOVED. Apparently Nate wanted to be a Cowboy for Halloween , he wore this costume the rest of the time we were there. He even took the hat home with him.

We all had a GREAT time and now almost a month later his candy is ALMOST gone. Though I am embarassed to admit how much of his candy was eaten by his parents.... and by his parents I mean me. Though I might have pawned some Skittles off on Mike... ;)

Not-Too-Scary Halloween fun at the Zoo

2008-11-06T21:19:00.006-05:00

We went to the Halloween event at the Louisville Zoo a few weekends ago. Our fall activities will never end apparently. We have a Zoo membership so it was free to get in, a nice bonus for Mom and Dad. :) The event basically consists of lots of storybook characters posing for pictures, large sets and pictures everywhere to set up the "theme" of each area, hay bale maze, and kiosks set up all over where they give out candy. I think by the end Nate had a total of 10 pieces of candy and Daddy had a Barq's Rootbeer (they both seemed pleased with their "loot"). Nate was sooo cute at each candy kiosk. He wouldn't let the people put the candy in his bucket, he wanted them to hand it to him and then he would put it in. He was really good about saying thank you each time. Very adorable. Here are some pictures from our day (notice the hood of his giraffe costume NEVER made it on his head. He was adamant about that).

This is actually my favorite picture from the day:

We let Nate pick out one piece of candy to eat that night and he picked Sixlets (Do they even make this candy anymore?). He LOVED them! He kept saying, "More candy." I tried to explain to him to pace himself, that actual Halloween was coming and he'd get loads more candy then. Patience... not exactly a virtue of a 2 year old.

Fall Festival & Pumpkin Carving Party

2008-10-28T21:03:00.014-04:00

Nate's daycare had a Fall Festival last Friday night. There was baked goods, raffles, duck ponds, games, pumpkin painting, pie in the face, and much more.

Within the first minute Nate ran over to the baked goods table and wanted us to buy him a cupcake. He loved the cupcake... well actually he LOVED the cupcake icing. As soon as he finished the icing, he said he was done and proceeded to drop the remainder of the cupcake in the middle of the floor! Apparently I'm raising a vagrant... who loves cupcakes.

Nate was very excited to play the Duck Pond 'game'. More appropriately, Nate was very excited to play in a giant bucket of water that happened to have ducks in it. After an EXTREMELY long turn I explained that you get a prize and Nate was very dismayed to learn that he couldn't have one of the ducks as a prize. Instead he got a stupid plastic whistle that didn't even work. Poor kid. We consoled him with another cupcake. :)

Painting pumpkins. Adorable. Nate was very focused on covering every inch of his pumpkin with paint. A budding artist?

Love at first Cheeto. Nate spent most of the night playing with his adorable friend Zoe. When we got Nate some cheetos he shared them with her. Infact at one point he was feeing them to her. Does this count as their first date?

On Saturday we went up to Walton, KY to go to a Pumpkin Carving party hosted by my best friend Lauren (fellow blogger http://destinationbabyville.blogspot.com/2008/10/tagged-again.html). Nate was very excited to be going because his cousin Kaylee was coming as well. Here they are just a short while after Kaylee got a nasty boo-boo on her nose from a run in with the bar counter overhang.

More cupcakes? Really? Seriously what do we feed this kid?

One probably would guess that pumpkin drawing would be the less messy activity at a pumpkin carving party... however, that person never gave 3 toddlers loads of markers....

Ahh, this is what a pumpkin carving party is all about! Kaylee abandoned her pumpkin and came over to help Nate. They actually did a really great job getting the "guts" out of our pumpkin.

A very Mickey Halloween. Out of the 8 pumpkins featured below, 5 of them were Mickey and friends. Not exactly a scary sight...

We stayed way past Nate's bedtime, so we changed him into jammies and then headed home. He was asleep within minutes and once home he went straight to bed. We all had a great time!

Hammsters Celebrate Fall!

2008-10-21T21:51:00.014-04:00

This past weekend the Hammsters decided to take a trip to Huber's Orchard. The weather was perfect for the Fall outing, the sun was shining and yet chilly enough to wear jackets and hoodies. If we had gone even just the weekend before we'd have been wearing tshirts and shorts... not exactly fall attire.

One of the activities they had in the kids section was a "straw barn" where the kids could play in the straw... and in about 30 seconds the kids realized that straw isn't really all that fun. Luckily there was a ladder that led up to a 40 foot slide for kids and adults. Mike and Nate headed on up...

After about 5 minutes of coaxing Nate into going down the tunnel, and Mike trying to figure out how to get him and Nate to slide down together, Nate finally decided he wanted to try it all by himself. Here he is on his first slide down... and 2 minutes later I could have taken the picture and it would have looked very much like this. His descent down the slide was so slow it was comical. Like I'm sure I've seen a cartoon sketch similar to this. Eventually he made it out and then decided this was the greatest thing he'd ever done in his 2 years and must repeat as many times as possible...

And here's Mike coming out of the same tunnel, however with a much different outlook on the situation... it was most likely ranking up there with one of the most unpleasant rides down a slide he'd ever taken and was quite sure he wouldn't be repeating...

Part of the children's section had those inflatables that all children love, and parents hate because it's a pay per turn type scenario. Nate in the past has always been too nervous to do them by himself but this time there was only one other kid in the bounce house and so Nate attempted it on his own. I was so proud and amazed at how well he did and how much he LOVED it!

They had several animals in a pen that the kids could see and feed corn through the open fence. There was a sign though that said DO NOT FEED LUCY THE PIG. I spent some time looking to see if there was more than one pig, if poor Lucy was being singled out... and how in the world would I be able to tell Lucy from Ethel? Luckily for us there was only one pig. And Lucy stayed far away from the crowds, apparently boycotting the children since she didn't get any corn. Nate did amazingly well with all the animals up close. His favorites were the goats and turkeys.

Nate and Daddy on the wagon ride over to the pumpkin patch... an extremely LOOONG ride. Probably made even longer by the fact that Nate did NOT like this ride at all.

Nate checking out the pumpkins at the patch. The goldfish that Nate wouldn't let go of apparently wanted to check out the pumpkins as well...

Nate and Mommy trying to decide on a pumpkin we wanted to bring home with us. This is surprisingly a tough choice for an indecisive family...

Nate and Daddy with our pumpkin. We decided it was the pick of the patch. Nate seemed to like it and that's all that matters. :)

We all had a great time, it was an amazing family day. As we were leaving Huber's, we hadn't even gotten down the driveway and Nate was already fast asleep. He slept the entire way home (45 mins) and then once home he slept 3 more hours in his crib. I'm quite sure his dreams were filled with pumpkins, tunnel slides, and bounce houses... a 2 year old's dream day.

Happy 2nd Birthday my son

2008-10-07T21:19:00.018-04:00

It happened. I have a two year old. Nate turned 2 on September 25th. I'm such a sappy mom... on September 24th as I was getting ready to lay Nate down for bed, I rocked him extra long, hugged him extra tight, and whispered "goodnight my one year old boy". *sigh*

Here's Nate playing around on his birthday. If you notice the bump on his forehead, he fell a few weeks ago and this is the bump that is STILL there. If I get up the courage to look at the pictures again, I might post pictures of him 3 days after the fall. (I didn't take pictures the first few days, I was too upset)

On his birthday we sent cupcakes to daycare for his friends and him to celebrate. Nate would say bear and growl each time he saw the cupcakes.

Nate's birthday party was on Saturday. We had a Sesame Street theme since Nate LOVES it. He routinely asks for Elmo, Ernie, Oscar, and Cookie. A lady at Nate's daycare makes cakes and she made this cake for Nate

And these are the cupcakes that some crazy mom thought she could make to look like Cookie Monster. Silly mommy... if placed next to the awesome Elmo cake the Cookie Monster cupcakes looks rather depressing... so I placed them far apart. HEY don't laugh at me! I tried!

One of the first "shifts" of people to sit down to get something to eat. Going around the table starting with birthday boy, Daddy, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Brian, Brandy.

Nate while we were singing him Happy Birthday. He loved the hats, loved the singing, and LOVED that his best friend Joey was sitting next to him.

I maybe shouldn't have said, "Sure you guys can help Nate open his gifts..." This was the quiet before the storm....

Here is one where cousin Kaylee was letting Nate help her open his gifts. :) Uncle Luke supervising...

I believe this was the moment that all the younger boys "invaded" the older boys football game. "Whoa guys! Where'd all these kids come from?" :)

The kids all took turns drawing with chalk. Or in Joey and Kaylee's case, rubbing their hands in chalk dust and then their hands on their clothes. I'm sure their parents just looooved me. :)
We got Nate a bubble bucket as one of his gifts, outside bubble time was a HUGE hit amongst kids of all ages. Note to self, if ever having to watch more than one child at a time... bring bubble bucket.

Nate and Joey enjoying dinner together after everyone had left. This little picnic table was so cute, all the kids took turns eating at it and it was adorable. Nate says, "Thanks Grandma, I LOVE my table! Can you convince my mommy to let me eat here every meal?"

I think a good time was had by all, and most importantly Nate had a BLAST! The kids played and played and played some more, ate, and played again. :) The older boys all started a game of football, which was great because I'm sure they would have been bored watching the kids play and the weather was just great to be outside and playing. The kids played with our collection of outdoor toys. The party started at 2 and the last guests left at 7. Nate got so many nice gifts and we are so grateful to all. Nate's TN Grandparents (Nana and Grandpa D) weren't able to come but they sent a giftcard and the CUTEST Memphis jersey outfit. We will need to have him wear it Friday to support Memphis over Louisville. I'll get a picture then. Nate also got some great sports toys, lawn mower toy, Puppy, Diego, Pablo and Ming Ming stuffed 'animals', COOKIES, picnic table, clothes, elmo and ernie kinex, little people castle, booster chair, potty, books, and money. We were wiped out but all very happy with how the day went. Nate really loved having everyone there.

Nate says, "Thanks for coming Grandma, Grandpa Doug, Grandma Dawn, Uncle Josh, Aunt Amanda, Uncle Brian, Uncle Aaron, Uncle Luke, Cousin Kaylee, BFF Joey, Joshua, Leah, Lauren, Brad, and Brandy. You made my day extra special!"

Nearly a month in the life of Nate

2008-09-23T21:56:00.017-04:00

Wow, so it's been nearly a month since I've posted. I'll try to give you the quick picture and video break down of our activities.

Nate's cousin, Sydney turned 1. We celebrated her birthday at my mom's house. Before smash cake:

After smash cake!
Sydney sporting her new Minnie ears that Nate gave her.
Nate driving in his coupe car. Beep beep! Watch out mom, this will be a REAL car in just 14 short years!
Nate and Daddy having fun: Nate splashing around in his Elmo sprinkler mat.
Nate's first corn dog at the Kentucky State Fair. He ate the WHOLE thing!
Nate checking out the cows at the fair. They were his favorite thing about the fair... well that and the corn dogs... :) He kept saying "COW!" "MOO!" "COW!" "MOO!" everytime we passed one.
Nate playing his first fair game. The duck pond.

The prize he won:

Videos (click the arrow to play)

One, Two, Three!

"Quality Time" with Grandma... OUCH!

Whee!

The next post should be a birthday palooza blog! Check back soon...

Walking in Memphis

2008-08-25T20:34:00.013-04:00

The Hammsters made a weekend getaway trip to Memphis to go to my BFF's 1st baby shower and to visit Mike's family.

Nate "helped" us pack for the trip. A must have, his new backpack. When we get out of the car from daycare his first word to me is, "Backpack?" He can't wait to go in the house and get it. Of all the toys around our house, and to be sure there are quite a few, the only things allowed in the backpack is... his two Ernie's. We have had many a "Journey to Ernie" trips around the house in which I must find Ernie as fast as possible or be subjected to the constant barrage of "Ernie, Ernie, Ernie, ERNIE, ERNIE, ERNIE!"

I had so much fun playing with my Nana and Grampa D!!

Here's me and Grampa D, tuckered out after lots of playing. "I seep" *snore snore snore*

Me and my new friend, Trey, playing at the baby shower. We found each other very funny. Well until he stole my ball, and my balloon, and anything else I deemed mine. (Even with all the toys around the BEST toy of all was this free bee from the Nasonex commercials. Remind me again why we bother to BUY toys?)

My best friend, Lauren, and her sweet niece, Princess Gabrielle. :) (Gabrielle just turned 1! Happy Birthday Gabrielle!)

Even though the visit was a short one, we had lots of fun. It was so great to see Nate bonding with his grandparents. We left dreading the long road home, but with our tummies full of yummy food, our hearts full of love, and the promise that they will be coming to visit us soon, for both the "boys" birthdays in September!

(I better start cleaning the house now! :) )

Hammsters in Hotlanta! Part 4

2008-08-19T22:03:00.006-04:00

On the final day of our trip in Atlanta we went to the Aquarium with my mommy friends and their children. Nate was REALLY excited about all the fish but not nearly excited about the 50 gazillion people all crammed in each tunnel. Whenever the spaces opened up though, Nate would want to get down and go point to all the fish. He was also SUPER excited about a shark. I was extremely impressed each time a shark went by (maybe it was just the same sad shark circling around?) he'd yell out, "Shark, shark!"

A rare family photo. Sadly we're by the ugliest fish in the whole place (a bunch of Grady fish. - only like 3 people would get this reference, but I made it nonetheless).

Nate thought the otters we so funny playing around in the water. Until they got a bit too aggressive in their play and then his screaming alerted us it was time to move along to the next animal. There was quite a bit of fit-throwing, screaming, scared shaking, and crying throughout the Aquarium.

Here's a rare photo of all my mommy friends and their little ones together. Look closely and you will see all the September '06 babies are all wearing the same shirt. Two of the mommies made up shirts with pictures of all our kids on it. Adorable. If you looked closely you'll also notice I'm the one holding the crying child. Did I mention there was crying?

This was a GIANT fish tank and it was in a nice open area. This was Nate's favorite place and we spent like 30 minutes in here. Honestly it was nice and bright in this room and the fish were gorgeous.

Getting ready to leave, Nate hugging his new friend, Gage.

That's it. That's our trip to Atlanta. Well there was a whole 6 and a half hour drive home. But it was not exciting and no photos. We hope to make a return trip to Atlanta sometime in the future.

Toddler Revenge

2008-08-12T09:10:00.001-04:00

Yesterday Nate and I were outside playing and he found this stick and started banging it on the ground. Normally we go around and collect sticks, leaves, weeds, flowers, etc together and talk about different things in nature. But this stick was HUGE and it made me nervous him flailing it around. So I asked him to give it to me. He replied "No MINE." I said no baby this stick is too big mommy is afraid you'll hurt yourself. Give it to me. He replies "NO MINEEEEEE". So I take the stick and put it under the chair I was sitting in. He came over to get it and I said, "This stick is no no no." He stopped trying to get it, but boy was he MAD at me! He started crying and giving me that you're the meanest mommy ever look. Then he walks over and takes my flip flop off my foot. I just said ohh you got mommy's shoe? Then he wanted the other one so I gave it to him. Then he walked away with my shoes towards his playhouse. He turned around, points his finger at me and said. "Mommy shoe no no no". Then put them in his house. Ohh gosh I laughed so hard.

Hammsters in Hotlanta! Part 3

2008-08-11T20:32:00.008-04:00

Saturday in Atlanta led us to Zoo Atlanta. I was very excited because we were meeting up with a lot of my friends and all their kids that are the same age as Nate.

Here is the great stroller line-up! Strollers are just about the only way you can guarantee to get 6 toddlers all in the same picture at the same time!

Nate SUPER excited about the monkeys! (Mom NOT so excited about them. Apparently the Atlanta Zoo is like 75% monkey exhibits! *possible slight exaggeration*)

Whee! Nate's first twisty slide! When did he get old enough to do this on his own??!

Nate really loved seeing the Tigers... Maybe he's a Memphis fan already?

Nate-koala

"Okay, listen up guys, what I do to REALLY make my Mommy and Daddy mad is... " Sharing tantrum tips...

Beep beep! Hurry up guys, let's drive away while our parents are distracted... (Apparently driving a school bus is still considered a cool thing when you're 1). :)

After the Zoo we had a late lunch and back to the hotel for a nap. We ended up being VERY surprised at how well Nate did sleeping in the hotel. What we ended up doing was setting up his pack and play behind the large desk that was in the room and throwing a sheet over the desk. That way if Nate was laying down he couldn't see us. There wasn't much we could do if he stood up but we ended up not having to worry about it. Whether it be for nap or bedtime we'd do our normal routine, turn off the lights and then I'd sing (poor kid) and rock him for a few minutes and lay him down. Then I'd walk over to the little area between the foyer and the bathroom and Mike and I would sit on the floor and wait for Nate to drift off to sleep. He fell asleep pretty quickly each time and so it was pretty easy. I also had wireless internet and my laptop to pass the time. Poor Mike had to read our "complimentary copy" of US Today. One night after Nate had gone to sleep we even got the laptop out and watched an episode of Gilmore Girls that we'd brought with us. Mike's laptop has two jacks for headphones and so we just listened with those so we wouldn't wake up Nate. All in all the hotel venture went way better than either of us expected. We're ready for another vacation now that we know we can handle it! :)

Believe it or not there are even MORE pictures to come...

Hammsters in Hotlanta! Part 2

2008-08-07T21:50:00.007-04:00

We met up with some of my friends that have children born September 2006, like Nate. It was definitely interesting to see how Nate interacted with children his own age. At this point most of the children were pretty caught up in just playing independently (and figuring out the best way to steal toys from others.. "MINE, MINE!"), but when they would have the occasional interaction there were about 6 cameras around to capture the moment. There was all sorts of yummy food at the dinner, but Nate apparently decided he'd only eat cornbread (2 big pieces to be exact and cried when I said no to a third). I can count that as a vegetable, right?

Pictures from Friday night dinner/playgroup:

All of the children agree, Amy's backyard is a hit!

Nate and Shaia playing "together" in the water table.

Lily helping Nate make some forward progress in the Cozy Coupe car. I mention the exact name of the car because Nate (and ALL the kids at the party) deemed this the MUST have gift of '08. Nate would love SOMEONE very much if they got him this for his birthday... ;)

Nate and Lily digging for treasure... ("we got half a map, I wish it were a whole"... arrggghh, stinkin Backyardigans songs invading my daily life!)

Yes, even MORE pictures to follow...

Hammsters in Hotlanta! Part 1

2008-08-04T20:28:00.008-04:00

It's official. We're all grown up now. The Hammsters went on their very first- post baby staying in a hotel-vacation! It was a mini vacation, but that was all the time we had AND we were very concerned about staying in a hotel in one room with Nate. Certain things like "if Nate goes to bed at 8:15 normally, what will we do after that?" "Can we watch tv while Nate sleeps in the same room or will he wake up?" "Nate naps for 3 hours in the afternoon, do we just sit in the room and stare at each other?"

Some friends of mine and Mike's step-sister live in Atlanta and some other friends were going to be coming there at the end of July, so we decided to take the plunge and try it!

One of my friends got us a GREAT rate at a GREAT hotel in Atlanta and it was sooooo pretty! Indoor/outdoor pool and all that. Which we did end up "enjoying". I use that term loosely because even though Atlanta was true to it's nickname and was HOTlanta, the water was pumped in from Antartica. Maybe this was one of the fancy perks of a nice hotel? It was freezing! We still played in the water, but Brrr!

On Friday we took Nate to the Children's Museum and he had a BLAST! There was so much for him to do there. I really wish we had something this cool near us.

The water tables were so cute. They had all kind of magnetic fish and toys in the water for the kids to "fish" for. Nate also looked really cute in the raincoat they provided. Look how serious he looks about fishing...

The train tables were a big hit! The sharing trains with other kids, not so much.

Nate painting his masterpiece. How much do you think this might go for?

All the fun of playing in the sand without that pesky sand beneath your toes!

Awww, look at my little frantic shopper! Get out of my way folks, Huggies are on SALE!

I'll post more pictures from our adventures in Atlanta later this week...

From Strep to Bubbles

2008-07-21T20:59:00.005-04:00

We've had a fairly exciting week at the Hammster house. If by exciting you mean having horrible colds. Both Nate and me have been very sick. I started out with allergy like symptoms, turning into a fever of 103 (I KNOW you're singing 'Hot Blooded' by Foreigner right now) and swollen lymphnodes and ended with a lovely rash (either from being allergic to Z-pack or from Strep). Then Nate got a rash and we took him to the doctor and wha-laaaaa he's got strep too. I had no clue you could get a rash from Strep, but apparently you really can learn something new everyday. So we're both on antibiotics and on the mend. Oh yeah, and not to be outdone, but Nate also had pink eye this week.

Nate also went to the dentist for his FIRST dentist appointment this week. He was quite the champ and let them look in his mouth without fuss. Or so they tell me. It was at a pediatric dentist and they don't let the parents come back to see them torture... I mean examine the children. They say the kids do better that way. They have it all planned out sooo well, you come in they say come on back Mom and Dad, bring Nate. So we go back and then they say, "Hey Nate look the Wiggles is on TV." And they point to this area with toys, books, and a tv with the ever so delightful Wiggles on it. Nate is distracted and goes towards the tv, then they say, "Hey Mom and Dad, let's continue with the tour right over here, this is the teen room." I'm just beginning to wonder why they are showing me the teen room when I won't be needing it for like 11 years, when she leads me to this other door. And she says, "Come right through here to......our lobby". Low and behold she's tricked me into exiting the exam part and planting me back out front. I didn't even get to have my sad sad goodbye with Nate. Ohh yeah, me thinks they've done this before. Hmmpph. Even though I was bamboozled, I am proud to say that Nate has no cavaties. Yay!

Then we took Nate to get a haircut on Saturday. This is the first time he has not cried!! YAY! My little guy is growing up! Only took 5 haircuts to not be afraid of it. Haha. Of course his new found love of balloons and suckers (which they provide to the victim) might have something to do with it. When we pulled up at Cookie Cutters (hair salon for kids) he started clamoring for a balloon. Hmmm.... what a good memory my guy has!

Here are some recent pictures of Nate and family!

This is Nate (before haircut) coloring at his new desk. He feels soooo important getting his own space.

This is Nate (after haircut) hamming it up for the camera, complete with saying 'Cheese'.

Nate and Mommy playing around.

Nate has another newfound love. Blowing bubbles. Unfortunately the normal wands frustrate him because he can't blow bubbles with them. He puts the wands ON his lips... thus popping the bubble before it starts and giving him the nasty taste of bubbles. So we found these pipe bubble blowers that work great for him! He was so pleased with himself that after 30 minutes of bubble blowing he was still addicted! He cried when we had to come in. Poor kid, his parents are SO mean.

We are heading to Atlanta on Thursday for a mini-vacation and we're REALLY excited about it! When we return I should have some good pictures from the Zoo and Aquarium. Who knows maybe we'll get lucky and gas will go back down under $4 before we go? Wishful thinking...

Happy 6th Birthday Samantha!

2008-07-20T20:46:00.004-04:00

My niece, Samantha, had her 6th Birthday party a few weekends ago. It was Luau in theme, which was quite a break from the last three years of Princess theme. I was excited about the change, if for no other reason then we didn't have to hear Disney Princesses, "Happy Birthday Princess" 543 times in one day. Seriously, even Mike knows the words. And that's just wrong.

So for our Birthday Girl, here are a few pictures.

Samantha, super excited for the party to begin.

The Birthday Girl's sister, Sydney, all decked out for the Luau.

Samantha trying out one of her new party dresses.

Nate and his Daddy playing and getting ready for the 4th of July fireworks. Little did we know the before fireworks playing would be Nate's favorite part. Nate CRIED horribly when the fireworks started, so we watched the remainder from the car. From far far away.

Samantha, her cousin Kelly, and her sister Chelsea.

This is what ultimate bliss looks like. I'm guessing she liked this gift a bit.

Samantha began ballet classes and she got a new tutu from her Grandmother.

Checking out all the loot.

The kids were extremely busy playing ladderball, trampoline, basketball, swingset, limbo, swimming, and they even played a few games with the balloons we had.

Hey you, with the camera.... knock it off!

We came, we swam, we sang, we ate cake. All in all it was a great birthday. I hope Samantha had a wonderful time. And remembers... that her Aunt Jenn had the BEST gifts and decorated and put fake tattoos on all the kids. :)

Here versus There

2008-07-07T20:45:00.005-04:00

Weekend trip to Big Creek!

This weekend we drove to Eastern Kentucky to visit my sister and her family. The drive is just about 3 hours but the difference in where we live seems so much more vast. They live about 30-40 minutes away from a real grocery store or Walmart. And we all know that your proximity to a Walmart is what delineates the size and progress of your city. :) And what's even worse is the Walmart that is closest to them is not even a Super Walmart. It's old, things are always on the ground, and it kinda reminds me of an old rundown Kmart. Infact I call it the Dirty Walmart. Sadly, I've had to shop here for last minute forgotten items, which inevitably they never have. I'm unsure how far the closest mall is, maybe an hour away? We went there once I think and the curvy drive there made me so carsick I've not been back. There are lots of gravel roads, roads that have slid down the mountain, curvy roads, roads washed out by rain, roads blocked by fallen trees or rocks, teeny tiny roads that are supposed to be for two cars but I feel are a bit too small for my already small Honda Civic, bridges that look like tiny sidewalks and I'm supposed to drive across it, and I've seen rope bridges but I have no clue if anyone actually uses those. I think I'd rather swim. All different manners of houses to pass by... gorgeous log cabins, houses, tiny houses, double wide trailers that look like houses, small trailers, houses and trailers that look unliveable yet I'm sure people live in them. All different styles of living too as evidenced by the number and type of items strewn across the lawns... beautiful flowerbeds, stone figures, swingsets, cars in disrepair, tractors, clotheslines, couches, tires, and even toilets. (Why? I ask.)

With all the differences, scary hilly traveling, inconvient shopping, and all... I like going to visit my family there. Of course I love to see my family, but it's also a nice break from "city livin'". There isn't as much traffic to contend with, people wave when you drive by, cheap shopping at the local community store, the views of the mountains and trees and just overall greenery not blocked by power lines, sounds of rivers and creeks not overcome by city sounds. At night the stars in the sky are amazing. My sister has a pool in her backyard and once or twice I have been swimming in it all by myself and I lay on my back and look up at the sky and the hills and trees and think just how gorgeous it all is.

All this just 3 short hours away from me.

I can certainly see the benefits from chosing to live "far away from it all". I hope that by visiting here often enough as Nate grows up that he will be able to truly appreciate it for all it's beauty and not listen so much when Mommy gripes about the Dirty Walmart.

A few pictures taken at my sisters right after it rained:

Wow this post went totally differently then what I had intended. I will try to post again later this week with pictures for the actual reason we traveled this weekend. A Birthday Luau party for Samantha - now age 6! :)

All Grown Up

2008-06-30T20:52:00.031-04:00

Nate and Joey, Best Friends Forever...

Nate had his very first invitation to a birthday party from his best friend at daycare, Joey. Apparently these two are best of friends at daycare, so much so that even though Joey is a few months older than Nate, they keep them in the same room because they cry for each other. Very cute. I'm sure that in 30 years when they are still best of friends and they have married sisters and bought houses next door to each other they will make some Hallmark movie about them. It'll be called something like, "Hey back off, that's my best friend's toy." Or, "Sure I'll share my applesauce with you." Either way, the two boys are sooo cute together.

The party was this Saturday at 2pm. And I honestly think that Nate grew up by 5 months while playing there with Joey and his friends.

Those of you who have come to know and love Nate, know that he definitely has things that he just will not do. Things he's afraid of. He is rather set in his ways for a one year old. :)

Before party Nate quirks:
1. Will not let strangers, people he doesn't see often hold him.
2. Does NOT like to be dirty. He will stop midmeal to have me wipe off his hands. He'll come to me if he's touched a rock outside so I can wipe miniscule dirt off.
3. Has never walked outside barefoot. Does NOT like to touch grass with feet or hands.
4. FREAKED out when we turned on the sprinkler. Doesn't like water in his face at all. Doesn't like his clothes to get wet.
5. Doesn't care too much for swinging. Has never swung in a big kid swing.
6. Has only ridden a small ride on toy. We tried to get him to ride a powered ride on once and he wanted OFF immediately. Doesn't really like to sit on anything he has to straddle.

At party Nate did the following:
1. Went swinging in baby swing and big boy swing for long amounts of time. Swinging next to Joey of course.
2. Walked around yard barefoot with grass, dirt, mud, and rocks without a care in the world. Walking next to Joey of course.
3. Not only did he go near the sprinkler without crying, he went down a slip and slide repeatedly. Didn't freak out when water got in his face. Didn't care that his swimming trunks were wet. Slip and sliding with Joey of course.
4. Rode on at least 4 different big boy ride on toys, powered or not. Loved every minute of it. Even sat straddling one while eating pizza. Riding on toys next to Joey of course.
5. He went to Mik (Joey's dad) in the pool while neither Mike nor I were in there yet. He let Mik hold him and put him in a floaty and push him around the pool. Swimming with Joey of course.
6. At various times in the day he was covered in grass, mud, water, sunblock, pizza, juice, bubbles and only ONCE did he ask me to wipe the wet grass off his feet when he happened to notice his swinging feet were caked with something. Surprisingly enough, he only noticed this when he was swinging without Joey!

So I've decided, maybe we should have another baby?

Nahh, that's crazy talk.... we'll just adopt Joey. :)

Various pictures from Nate's Day of Growing Up... aka Joey's party:

Joey on the big boy swing, Nate on toddler swing. The day is just beginning, see how clean we still are! :)

Nate doing the big boy swing all by himself. Joey is giving him a critical eye, possibly he's explaining to Nate the proper form and technique.

Nate and Joey dabbling in the sprinkler.

Nate's gone full fledged slip-n-sliding. I am trying to pretend that's a look of glee on his face, rather than sheer toddler terror.

Nate taking a moment to take in all that's going on around him.

Nate and Daddy hanging out in the pool.

Nate and Joey warming up after a swim. Aren't they just adorable!

We had such a blast that day and hope to be able to go visit Joey and Joshua again soon!

Okay, okay. I'm here. Now what?

2008-06-23T21:17:00.009-04:00

Well it's official. 543 people have encouraged me to start a blog. And so, under THAT immense amount of pressure, what's a gal to do?

So I'm here.

Where are those 543 people anyways? They should be here, telling me what to do.

Like... uhmm... just exactly what will a blog about the 'Hammsters' be about? It's not like we live this exciting life, jet setting around the world, or winning awards for our humanitarian acts... we're boring. I guess you poor poor suckers who have found your way to my blog either by accident (maybe your child tricked you into buying a hamster and you want to know more about them and their life. Only you're a bad speller, and you have two m's in hamster. And now I've offended my only audience by judging their poor spelling abilities), or you're one of the aforementioned 543 people and I WILL be making you read my blog. And repeatedly tell me how witty and pretty I am.

But, nevertheless, here I am. My husband, Mike, and adorable son, Nate will be making appearances in this blog too. Even if they don't know it yet.

You might ask why "Hammster Life"? It's sort of a play our name mixed with me putting our lives out there for anyone to see, like we're hamsters in a cage. And I've decided to not post out real last name so one day when Nate's grown up and his friends Google him they won't pull up 2 billion pictures of him

as a baby wearing embarassing costumes,

or with ravioli all over his face,

or cute tub pictures.

I also have visions in my head of being the 'cool mom' and all his friends want to hang out at our house (so I can keep tabs on Nate of course), and if they read this blog and see how lame-o I am, I'll never have a chance!

So, here goes. A blog. Maybe next time I post I'll actually have an idea of what in the world I want to say. So until then....