Eight months old

It's been a pretty busy week for us. We missed swimming on Monday because I started a new part time job as a filing clerk at a law firm downtown. For now it's only a few hours a week so it doesn't effect my maternity benefits. Flex hours means that I don't have to go into work until Steve gets home to look after Nathaniel. It was pretty hard on me to be that far away from the baby, but oh so nice to talk to other adults for a couple of hours. 

Wednesday we had lunch with Laila and Finn then Nate's 8-month check-up. He's a whopping 23 lbs. and very healthy other than a head cold he's had for the past week. We don't go back now until August when he will need his year needles. 

Nathaniel has four teeth now - two on top and two on the bottom. I've been trying to get a picture, but as soon as the camera comes out, he gets very serious and focused on trying to grab the camera. The best I can do for now is get a snap of his bottom teeth. 

He still isn't interested in crawling. He will spin in circles when he's on his tummy, but he hasn't quite figured out that if he gets his knees under him he'll be mobile. He'd rather walk and seems convinced that he doesn't need any help. We bought him some leather shoes on Sunday and he had a hole worn in the toe by Tuesday. Okay, the shoes were cheap, but still...

Yay, Spring!

This picture is about three weeks old. 

I must be an awful mother because I haven't taken any pictures of Nate for a couple weeks.

Nathaniel and I are really enjoying this warmer weather. One day last week, Nate sat in the stroller while I cleaned up the front garden. Once the fall leaves were picked up, I was happy to see we had crocuses. Spring is finally here. I'm looking forward to spending our afternoons in the back garden if Nate will stand for the play pen. Lately, his favourite activity is walking while I hold his hands. It's kind of hard on my 38-year-old back, but he has shown absolutely no interest in learning to crawl. He's also showing a preference for sitting on the floor playing instead of jumping in his exersaucer.

We went swimming yesterday and went all the way underwater! The moms were more freaked out by it than the babies. Nobody cried and there was only a little bit of sputtering. Nathaniel blinked a couple of times to get the water out of his eyes, but other than that you'd never know we dunked. We have a new instructor since one of the lifeguards broke his arm. She's the supervisor of the pool and we like her very much. She's been teaching swimming lessons for 23 years and is very good with the babies. 

Warning: Mom bragging about her kid...

The new instructor asked me if Nate has had previous swimming lessons because he floats on his back so well. He completely relaxes  with his head on my shoulder and looks at the lights on the ceiling. On his tummy, he kicks his legs and looks around at the other kids. 

We don't have any plans for the rest of the week besides spending as much time outside as possible. Also, don't forget to hit the subscribe button at the left to be notified by email when I update the blog. See you next week!

Water Baby!

This week we went swimming for the first time! Our friend Judy came with us to video since my hands were full. I was worried that Nathaniel would be cold or afraid of the water. Of course, neither was the case. He was as chilled out and relaxed as ever and spent most of the time looking around at the other kids. I had a hard time getting his attention!

I will have to remember to feed him before we go next week, though. He got his face wet a couple of times bobbing for - ahem - apples. Check out the video below for highlights.