Our Day on the Farm

Today was the first Saturday that I can remember that we had nothing to do...no tennis matches, no errands to run, nowhere to be...so we decided to do something fun. Nate put on his overalls and we drove to the Yellow River Game Ranch. Our expectations were low, and when we saw the entry sign they got even lower - we were expecting to see a few deer and a few cages of chickens and goats. But we were pleasantly surprised! There were animals just walking around freely - the deer just walked up and ate peanuts and carrots out of your hands - and there were pretty cool animals in fenced in areas but you could still get pretty close. Here is a sampling of what we saw:

These two deer greeted us as soon as we walked out of the door...Nate loved feeding them peanuts.

There was a great variety of animals (more pics in the 12 Month Album)...oh, and they also have the "official" Groundhog for the state of GA - General Beauregard Lee. It was a great day. The Atlanta Zoo is fantastic but this Ranch lets you get so close to all of these animals and interact with them so it is just a different experience. We will definitely be going back once Nate can walk!

Technical Difficulties...

I can't get my pics to upload to the blog again - hopefully we can fix our formatting issue soon - but I still wanted to post and let you know that Nate has a new 'do! I know it seems crazy that a kid that doesn't have much hair would need a haircut but he was verging on a mullet and getting a little shaggy around the ears so it was time.

We went to a kids salon so he thought he was there for something fun...but once he was straped to a chair and had the smock tied around his neck he knew this was not what he had signed up for. After a few tears (and him ripping the smock off), we realized the trick to taming a wild Nate is to give him a smoothie...he is a smoothie addict. Luckily we had one on hand (I am also addicted) so we put the straw in front of him and that kept him pretty still. I am so happy with his new 'do...he looks like such a big boy now!

No walking yet, but he has surprised us a few times by standing on his own which is exciting. He typcially does it when he clearly isn't thinking about it...he is just standing at the table and gets caught up in a toy and lets go...but if you try to stand him up and get him to stay upright he won't do it.

Quick update on our visit to the allergist...we went today and the Dr thinks the signs are pointing to an egg allergy but we are going back in a couple of weeks to do the skin testing to find out for sure. I really hope it isn't eggs, but at the same time I want to know what to keep him away from. Hopefully we will know more in a couple of weeks! The good news is that we now have an epi-pen just in case he has a bad reaction!

Pics of haircut in the 12 month album...have a great weekend!

Birthday Boy!

(So, I am still having trouble with my new memory cards taking pics in a raw format so they won't upload to the post...see the "1st Birthday" album to the right for pics from Nate's bday weekend!)

Nate turned one last week! I can't believe my little baby is on his way to toddlerhood. We had a big weekend to celebrate...we had almost all of our family in town so we had a big time! I, of course, was stressed out (even though I kept telling myself it was just a baby birthday party) but the weather was threatening my outdoor splash party! We went through a few different back up plans (to include cleaning out the garage saturday morning and covering the walls and ceilings with sheets) but in the end the rain held off until after the party and we had a nice sunny day and the kids were able to play in the pools and sandbox.

Just when I was starting to relax and enjoy the party, Nate digs in to his cake and, shortly afterwards, starts breaking out in to hives and barking and coughing. He was allergic to something in the cake...so we give him some Benedryl and his inhaler and load up the car to take him to the hospital. Luckily, by the time we started heading down our street he started smiling and his reaction started subsiding so we turned around and came home. Needless to say, he has an appointment with an allergist next week so I will keep you all posted once we know more...!

But Nate seemed to enjoy his party and he LOVED all of his gifts...he played with each and every toy and is still excited by all of his new stuff! Now I just need a bigger house to keep it all in!

The next day was Father's Day so we had a nice breakfast with our dads before they headed home, went swimming at the pool, and then Michael got to spend the rest of the evening watching golf and basketball so hopefully he had a nice day. He is such a great daddy so he deserves it!