Cheeseburgers at the Mall

After a long morning at the mall (with every other person in Spokane), we stopped for lunch. Axel had his first ride in the stroller without the car seat (sooo exciting), so we thought it would be fun to try out the high chair for the first time.... if only he could eat a cheeseburger, he would!!

SNOW!

The snow is still falling! I finally had to help the dogs make a snow path to get off the back porch. They enjoyed it, but I think I pulled a muscle!

Santa who?

We took our first trip to see Santa today. Axel was unimpressed. I think it had a lot to do with the fact we did not have to stand in line with 50 other screaming kids. The Harvest House has Sanata every weekend and no lines! Shameless plug for the Beck's, but it truley is the best place to go for a Santa photo.

Go Zags!

Axel loves nothing more than his exersaucer... and Matt and Mary love nothing more than watching Gonzaga play. So, those put together and Axel gets to play in his seat with a Zags hat on while the game is on. Go Zags!

The Christmas Card

Here we are, the last few days of November and no Christmas Card ordered. What to do... well, we packed up Axel and went to Grandma's for a photo session! With my surgery wounds still healing, Grandma and Aunt Mary were on hand to help with the photos and we have a winner! Here are a few that did not make the cut (and a few of the dog too...)

I am sure you cannot wait to see what made the cut! They will be in the mail soon.

Food!

We had our first experience with food not from a bottle tonight! WOW, did that go over well. I tried to stop and snap a few photos, but the demand was high for the food. It went everywhere, but he sure did love it.

Hanging around

I just thought these were funny! Gotta love it when they strike a pose!

Halloween

With time going so fast these days, Halloween was upon us and I had not even started on costumes. Good thing I had on in reserve. HA! We took it easy this year and dressed up like Jack, Jill and a Pail of Water. With three parties to hit, the pail only made it to 2 parties. He was much happier once it was off and his jammies were on.

Fishin'

Last week Matt went on his yearly fishing trip to Lewiston with Dad. After the first night they had one fish that was "not really caught... more snagged", with the fish being caught by Glenn's hook snagging the line already in the fish from the last poor guy who lost him! Well, at least they had a fish! The seciond night proved to be even better with Matt catching a 17lber. YAY!

Giggles

Monday left me to head back to work, and Matt with a few errands to run... so Axel was pleased to spend some time with Aunt Mary, Aunt Kim and Grandma Carolyn. What a grand time he had!

Another Nellenbach Family Visit

Matt's Mom Carolyn and older sister Kim came to visit this last weekend. We had a fun filled weekend and my, did Axel LOVE his Grandma Carolyn! He was full of smiles for her from first sight.


Mom made everyone a tasty dinner on Saturday night.

A trip to CDA ended in the Nellenbach clan horsing around on a big moose!

Axel thought Grandma Carolyn was a hoot!

A trip to the corn maze to help keep everyone in shape!

I guess I was the only one who did not get the memo to wear red....

Dead plants and bad days

Why after a bad day at work does everything go wrong... After a long day in an absurd office Axel and I came home to see Matt out the door. We were then informed that the freeze had been unplugged and everything had thawed. Well, of course we called Mom and she came to the rescue (thank goodness). I cleaned out (i.e. trashed) all of the Halibut, Salmon and Elk we had in the freezer and swore a bit to feel better. Soon after I happened to notice that my big plant I had in the sun room (that matt is tearing apart right now) was gone.... I looked and looked and even left Matt a message about a "invisiblity cape" he may have put over the plant. Yet again Mom to the resuce. She found it in the backyard... frozen.... and most likely dead. I am trying to bring it back, but I fear the worst.

Useful Hats

Even though I think hats are super funny on babies, we went in search of a good winter hat to "keep the heat in" as I have been told. For my mobile child I went looking for a hat that had a strap that would fit his little head. I guess that most hat makers think babies under 12 months do not move much as all I could find were the "skull cap" hats... until I found this one. An even more absurd hat for a 3 month old, but when it is your only choice....

A visit from some uncles

This last weekend we had some out-of-town guests! Uncle Tim and Uncle Rod came over for a visit to play golf with Aunt Mary and Dad. They spent Saturday golfing in Spokane and Sunday golfing in Chewelah. It was great to see them and everyone had a grand time. We even got Rod out to the Wolf lodge (finally) for a steak dinner!!

The Jumparoo

The Jumparoo seems to be the "thing-to-have" for babies these days. I just recieved one from a friend and have another on the way for my sisters house. Axel got his first taste of the Jump-a-roo this weekend and seemed pretty interested....

The Fair!

I love the fair.... so of course I want my child to love the fair! We packed Axel up and hauled him off to see the pigs, goats, sheep, etc this year for his first fair experience. As you can tell, he was super excited too....

Babies and Hats

Why are babies and hats so funny? I have no idea, but as I was looking for socks this morning I found this crazy backwoods hat and I had to put it on.... and take a picture of course. I am still laughing... HA!

When your child loves his mobile more than you

Matt and I are begining to have some self confidence issues... I think Axel loves his mobile and "hanging guys" a bit more than us. The only laughs we get are once he is laying under a moving animal.

How we love our animals!

Well, you always have to add in animal stories on a good blog....
Here are a few (with photos!) from the last few weeks.

Axel and I spent a day at the Grandparents house last week while Matt worked on the sewer line (yes ANOTHER water issue). I went into the other room to make a bottle and while Axel fussed their dog Shelby got a bit nervous.... When I came back into the room this is what I found. I guess Shelby figured a toy makes her feel better, why wouldn't it work for Axel!!



While walking by the bouncy seat, Motley decided that it was a GREAT place to stop in to take a nap. It was a good weight test for the bouncy and he ended up sleeping their all night!

Grandma's Birthday

Axel dressed up for Grandma's Birthday!

86%

Well we went to the doctor today and Axel is growing fast. He is now 13.3oz and 24inches long. He is at the 86% for wieght and height... as Grandma said "at least they are the same, and not 86% for weight and 10% for height". funny! Much to Axel's dismay he also had his shots today... I have never seen a child turn so red so fast. They were not recieved well.

The photo below is NOT from today, but a good photo from last week. A great shot considering our camera is not so quick. My trick... take a ton a pictures in a row and he should smile at least once.

Exercising with Dad...

Is that a smile?

We have been waiting for what seems like forever to see a "real smile". For the last few weeks Grandma has seen many smiles... strangers and children have seen smiles... but we have not been deemed worthy of a smile. I think last night we finally checked that off our "your baby is not so smart unless he can do these things" list and saw a few smiles. Matt even had one all to himself. HURRAY!

A boring Tuesday

A few photos to keep everyone in the loop.. not much going on here... just hanging with the baby and the animals :)

Where is the Baby Annoucement...

Everyone sends out a baby annoucment... right? Well, I cannot send out just any old baby annoucment... I have to "create" one... sigh. I have been trying to get the perfect photos to finish my creation and it is becoming obvious I should just send a cute photo to Costco and be done with it. When you have an "active" baby getting a great photo is not an easy task. For example here is a great shot I got of his feet.

Anyhow, keep your mailbox clear, there is an annoucment coming soon... I promise!

Has anyone seen Matt?

Well, with the water still gushing into the backyard, we figured it was not water run off from the patio being such a well built structure... it was a broken water pipe. Matt spent the weekend digging up the messy puddle and working to fix the gusher. I spent the weekend at Mom and Dad's house enjoying the running water (and great cable.. YAY!). So.. as of Monday we have water... AND water pressure. HORRAY! So, if anyone need to bury anything large we have the hole to do it!

He weighs how much??

So, the bet was that Axel would be about 8 lbs... 8.5 if we were having a good day. Well, the chubbers weighs in at 9lbs 6 oz today at the the doctor!
yikes!!

4 weeks and a ton of milk...

Axel is now 4 weeks and growing faster ever day... also eating more and more every day! WOW! Who knew such a small child could put away so much food. I think we are at the top of the scale for oz consumption for his age (but he is not that big!), so it will be interesting to see how much he weighs once we go to the doctor on Monday!