Maternity Photos

A couple of weekends ago we took maternity/family photos.  I was 34 weeks at the time.  Here are some of my favorites from the photo session.

December 2013

December has flown by this year!  It's hard to believe that Christmas is just four days away!!  It has been a very busy and fun month for us.  Nathan finished his first term of nursery school, which they ended with an adorable Christmas concert.  He has been out of school for just over a week now and every day, he asks me if he is going to school today.  I love that he loves his school and his teachers so much!  He's going to have a hard time waiting a month until school starts again.  Luckily, we have lots of exciting things coming up to keep him distracted.

December also meant several visits with Santa Claus (or Father Christmas) - we saw him at Harrods Christmas Grotto, Purple Dragon (our kids' club), and at the London Zoo.  Unfortunately, Nathan told each Santa that he wanted something different for Christmas.  I'm not sure if his master plan was to try to get Santa to bring him one of everything he requested, but he may have only succeeded in confusing Santa :)  We also had a lot of fun decorating for Christmas this month.  Nathan loved helping to decorate the Christmas tree.  He even got a baby Christmas tree for his room and we strung up some Christmas lights in his room (he loves these and I am beginning to think he may request that they stay up all year long).  We also went to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland, saw a masters tennis tournament at the Royal Albert Hall, made Christmas cookies and decorated gingerbread houses this month!  And, we went to the theatre with friends to see Stick Man - a children's book that Nathan loves, turned into a children's play.  Such a fun month!

And, amidst all of that, we have been getting ready for our baby boy to make his appearance (which could be any day now, but we're really hoping he'll stay put until at least December 31st when Uncle Casey gets here, so that we have a built-in babysitter for our trip to the hospital).  Our hospital bags are packed and after weeks of doing baby laundry, I think we're finally ready :)  We will definitely keep you all posted on when he decides to arrive.

Visiting Father Christmas at Harrods

Nathan and his advent calendar that cousin Matilda sent him.  This is the first thing he wants to do every morning when he wakes up!  And, apparently this is all I needed to do to get him interested in counting.  Every morning, he counts up to the number that we are on that day.  

Santa Claus at Purple Dragon

Date night with Daddy and Mommy.  After visiting Daddy at work, we went to Jamie Oliver's barbecue restaurant, Barbecoa.

Not only was the food great, but we had a gorgeous view of St. Paul's Cathedral all night.

Making sure the Christmas tree is secure and straight.

Success!

Decking the Halls!

We even made his room festive :)

Nathan's class dressed up as Father Christmas for his nursery school Christmas concert.

We had special visitors from the U.S. this month, Mark and Ann (Mark married Chris and I).  It was Nathan's first time meeting them! 

Ready to watch Stick Man!

Popcorn always makes the theatre experience more enjoyable!

Post-theatre lunch at Five Guys.

 Apparently he liked the music at Five Guys

Hanging out with his buddy, Aiden, at the zoo. 

Visiting Santa at the zoo.

A Sunday morning treat.

Decorating gingerbread houses.

And, eating gingerbread houses :)

Hopping with Nathan - A few days with Nathan's class bunny

I had so much fun with Nathan this past week.  He took me everywhere he went.  He even brought me to school with him on Wednesday and Thursday of last week so that I could visit all of my friends in the Little Class.

Last week, Nathan and his parents made a Christmas gift box to donate to a little girl in need.  Nathan let me help him put all of the gifts into the box and then we took it to school to drop off for the Samaritan's Purse charity.  It feels so nice to help other people.

I also learned a lot during my stay with Nathan.  Nathan and his family are American and they celebrated Thanksgiving last Thursday.  The night before Thanksgiving, Nathan's mommy read us a book about Thanksgiving at bedtime.  Then, on Thursday, after school, I went with Nathan and his parents over to Brice's house to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We ate a big dinner of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables.  Then, we got to eat pumpkin pie for dessert!  Thanksgiving is about spending time with friends and family and about giving thanks for everything that we have.  I like Thanksgiving!  I think I want to celebrate it every year :)

Over the weekend, Nathan took me on lots of adventures.  On Saturday, Nathan took me to his Little Kickers football class.  I got to watch Nathan score lots of goals!  

After that, we went and picked out a Christmas tree for Nathan's house.  It was a nice, big, green tree that Nathan and his family will decorate with ornaments and lights.

On Sunday, Nathan and I went to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with his parents.  We had so much fun playing games, and riding on rides.  Nathan took really good care of me and held on to me very tightly on all of the rides.

I also got to meet Nathan's cat, Boots. He gave me a ride on his back. I think I like cats :)

Thank you, Nathan, for taking such good care of me and for taking me on so many fun adventures with you!