Nate's New Abilities Videos

Big boy chilling on the papasan chair on sale at Pier 1.

Here are four videos that show off some of Nate's new abilities. Unfortunately blogger seems to have "updated" their video uploading and the video quality has plummeted.

First off: Dancing. Couldn't ask for a better dance coach than Matt. Nate has an awesome signature move at the end. :o)

Secondly, he can help blow up inflatable toys. Lots of hot air already at this age.

Thirdly, he now kisses everything! Even his little girlfriends. Here he shows his reflection in the oven a little love.

Lastly, he can "shhh!" with his mouth and hold his finger to his lips. This one is my favorite because of his belly laugh. We don't get to hear this special laugh all that often, so it is definitely video worthy.

July So Far

July started off with a bang as me moved from a tiny apartment in town to a larger apartment in Maunawili - for less money! Can't argue with that. Quality of life has jumped up as we are now enjoying having a yard, a park within easy walking distance and being on the Windward side with it's slower lifestyle and fewer crowds. Matt is even looking forward to a commute over the Pali on his bike. Sigh, only Matt would actually be excited about two hard rides a day.

On July 4, Matt accomplished a dream that he has had since before Nate was even born. The dream was to outright win a 5K road race pushing Nate in the jogging stroller. The Kailua 5K on July 4 was the day that dream became reality. He was racing against other fast guys who were just running, not pushing anything. His buddy Todd ran with him for most of it to give him motivation and throw elbows if needed. Luckily, at the halfway mark, they were able to drop all the other runners and Matt finished the uphill finish gloriously about 20-30 seconds ahead of Todd, who came in second. His final time was 16:41. Of course, Nate is the real winner as he crossed the finish line first. There were about 200 competitors in the race, including a bunch of Lims, which was fun. Afterward, I chuckled to hear one of the fast guys lamenting about how he couldn't believe he couldn't catch the guy in front pushing a stroller. :o)

The brave Lim, Stevens, Ming and Iacovelli entrants:

Matt and Nate show off their 1st place prize.

Nate at the beach to celebrate Aunty Brett's birthday.

Trying on Mommy's beach hat.

A typical meal of cereal.

Checking out the hippos at the zoo with Aunty Donna and Aeryn.

The koi are Nate's favorite exhibit, no question. Our entire playgroup was at the zoo this day, which was fun, and Aunty Alex came along to help out.

View of Olomana from the park near our new house. Beautiful!

Making yummy pizza with Dad and Grandmom at our new house. Nate's apron is a dishrag tied around his waist.

Lastly, I love this picture of Nate trying on Todd's cycling gear at his birthday party. Nate is training to be ready to enter the Tour de France next year.

Nate Can Walk!

Last Sunday, Nate could not walk at all. At best, you could trick him into walking two steps between two people with a little shove in the direction of waiting arms.

The very next day, Nate became a full-fledged walker. He just started and that's the end of that. This video was taken on Tuesday, his second day of walking. Can you believe it? Most kids walk a step, the next week a few more, the next week a few more. Nate went from zip to full-on walking in ONE DAY. I think he had been storing it up for a while.

Here is our little Frankenstein-baby. He walks with both arms held straight out in front of him. We think it might be funny to wrap him in toilet paper and get a video of him walking like a mummy. :o)

Yay, Nate! Congratulations!

Big Red the Kayak

We bought a one-year-old kayak a couple of weekends ago with Matt's parents and we are loving it! We've taken it out quite a few times and it performs great with no leaking. It came with backrests, hatch covers and paddle holders. The only thing it doesn't have is a fishing pole holder. Luckily Father's Day is this weekend and Matt has already chosen out his gift... :o)

I uploaded these pictures out of order and blogger makes it super hard to change the order once you put them up, so you are getting these more or less in reverse. These pictures are from two separate outings that weekend.

This first picture is of when we took Nate out fishing at sunrise one morning and he fell asleep on the kayak! He was leaning on me in the front seat, and I carefully eased myself out from behind him as we came into the beach to get this picture.

Crashed out - so much fun being on the water!

I'm the King of the World!!!

Nate pulling in a huge ulua. Okay, he was actually just holding the pole while we trolled.

I can't express how much Nate loves being in and playing with the water.

Happy fishing baby.

The first time on the kayak. We have him sitting in his high chair seat in the center of the kayak. Worked like a charm!

One Year Close-Ups

I took this pictures of Nate yesterday at Punahou track and in our apartment with a black backdrop.

Jamba and Red Cars

Things are going well here at the Hawaii Stevens house. Nate has adapted to being weaned, and started drinking milk pretty well about a week after being cut off from breastmilk. Although, for some weird reason, he still won't drink cow's milk from Grandma???

We are currently fighting an ant infestation. One of the pleasures of living in a tropical paradise are the bugs. I think they are attracted by Emma's dog food. Yuck. We put out some ant baits but I think they forgot to put the poison in them.

So I just had to put this picture on today's blog because it melts my heart. Awwww... Daddy reading Nate his bedtime story. This is one of those father/son moments that I'm so glad I got to capture on camera.

Matt ran the Jamba Juice 5K again this year and won second place overall with a time of 15:47. Amazing race! This is the 5th or so year in a row that he's won the "year of free Jamba juice," which now equates to 26 free 16oz smoothies. The first year he won it was 52 24oz smoothies. Blame it on the economy.

Also running this year was Frank "Da Tank" Lim, a.k.a. Dr. Lim, who ran a swift 25:11 at 65 years of age. It totally put me to shame, as my last 5k was a 27:16 in my twenties. We were all hoping he would win the jamba by scoring top three in his age group, but unfortunately this year some ripped 60-69 year olds came out of the woodwork and he placed 5th in his age group. If he had run any other Jamba 5k across the country or in Hawaii in years past, he would have won the prize. But his appetite for racing has been whetted, and he and Matt are already planning their next race together on July 4.

Matt took Nate up on the podium with his to collect his prize, as usual. :o)

Grandmom took Nate to get a balloon animal at the race. It is a monkey climbing a palm tree. Nate pinched the monkey soon afterwards and popped it. Oh well, it was cute while it lasted.

Nate sat on Grandpa's shoulders and played with his hair.

Matt showing off his prize. I love his "thug" expression.

Here's another picture of Nate with his favorite toy ever, his cozy coupe. We brought it with us to a barbeque at Todd Iacovelli's house so that Nate would be entertained while we hung out with our friends. Also note adorable new shoes from Todd for Nate's birthday!

The cozy coupe is a bit large for our tiny apartment, but he loves it so much that we got him an apartment-sized Lightning McQueen car that he loves riding around the living room. Cozy coupe stays at Grandmom and Grandpa's house to enjoy during our frequent visits there.

Lastly, here is a picture of Nate and I at the beach a couple of evenings ago. Matt and I have been at Ala Moana park quite often lately to get a little exercise and swim with the little guy. Nate really LOVES the water. Can you tell? :o)

One Year Update

For anyone who might be interested, today is officially my last day of nursing Nate. He turned one on April 21 and I've been trying to slowly wean him for the last two weeks. The problem is, he won't drink cow's milk and I've been afraid he won't get the nutrition he needs if he's not nursing. I've tried whole milk, soy milk, formula, even milk with a squirt of chocolate syrup in it! He rejects everything. He only wants breastmilk or water. At our well baby doctor's appointment today, I explained my dilemma to my doctor and she told me to go cold turkey on him because the slow weaning is confusing him. Why would he drink cow's milk if he knows the good stuff is coming? So with mixed feelings, I nursed him tonight for the very last time.

I feel a huge sense of relief that I am no longer nursing. I can wear dresses again, and non nursing-friendly shirts and undergarments. Matt can feed the baby anytime. I'll have so much time now that I previously spent in the rocker nursing.

At the same time I feel a huge sense of loss. Where is my little tiny baby that depends on me for his nutrition? I'm going to miss the countless hours that we got to cuddle and stare into each other's eyes. I'm going to miss being able to provide the most comforting thing in Nate's world. No matter what happened - a fall, a shot - nursing always made it instantly better. It's the only time in the day that my little explorer wanted to curl up and cuddle with me for a while.

Sigh. I rocked him to sleep tonight and held him tight long after he fell asleep.

Okay, so enough of my sappy mom stuff. Here are some pictures of some of our adventures this past week:

We randomly went down to Waikiki one afternoon last week. It's always a fun place to people-watch. We walked through the Hilton and looked at the penguins and flamingos, walked along the beachwalk, then ate Ono's Cheesesteaks for dinner on the beach (entertainment coupon!).

Nate and I enjoyed a trip to the playground near our house. There is hardly ever anyone there, so I find it just a little creepy. Happily Matt was able to meet us at the playground towards the end of the session. Nate isn't walking yet, but he loves cruising all over. (walking while holding onto something)

Nate SCREAMS when he is having fun. Can't you just hear it from this picture?

Sitting on the slide. No sliding, yet. :o)

Early Saturday morning, Matt challenged Todd and Brandon to a race up Tantalus. They both just got sweet super expensive carbon fiber bokes, and Matt just has his old aluminum frame bike, plus he's been fighting a bad cold all week. But Matt has been cycling for years.

Pic: (L to R) Brandon, Matt, Todd

Brandon ended up winning by a long shot and Todd managed to edge Matt by a nose hair at the end. I think Matt now wants a new bike.

Uncle Tim, Aunt Desiree, Scarlett and Colt gave Nate an annual pass to the zoo for our whole family! Awesome! We went to the zoo on Saturday after the bike race. Nate was totally conked out the whole time Matt and I were enjoying the cool animals. I actually had to wake him up after about an hour and a half so he could see SOMETHING before we left, so we took him to the petting zoo area. So he still hasn't seen an elephant or a giraffe or a monkey, but I plan on going back to visit A LOT, so I'm sure he will soon. Here is a really cool koi display that he loved.

He didn't know what to think of the goat.

I hardly know what to say about this one. Except that I'm a little embarrased our kitchen was such a mess that day. But I'm pretty sure that's not the first thing you noticed about this picture.

It was a rainy day today, so Nate and I drove down to Ala Moana and walked around the mall. Here he is in the Lego store, where you can choose any combination of lego pieces and pay by the cupful.

More koi to check out in the center of the mall.

Just for kicks, I walked through Neiman Marcus. There is no way I would ever buy anything there, but I had never even been in, so we checked it out. A baby polo shirt cost $55! Ridiculous. But they did have this cool tent in the children's section. We played a rousing game of peek-a-boo through the window.

And they also had this awesome toy piano. Press the play button to hear our little Mozart play some beautiful music. His Baby Einstein mobile has really paid off. :o)

"Where is my sheet music, MOM? I can't play without my sheet music!"

New Nate Video Clips

It's time for some Nate videos! He brightens so many lives with his little baby laughs. And no one can make him laugh like Daddy can!

We pumped up this air bed in preparation for Lesley's mom's visit next month. We put Nate on it when it was halfway blown up and Matt and his dad bounced him up and down to his delight.

Whenever Nate hears music, he starts his dance. His favorite is the office theme song, which he hears almost every day since mommy and daddy are addicted to the show.

Cracking up at Dad.

This is Nate's newest thing. He leans his head back and gives a huge smile to the ceiling. SO CUTE!

East Coast Trip

We had a wonderful trip to New Jersey and New York. We spent the first weekend with some of Matt's relatives in NJ, then traveled to Pearl River, NY for AIM's Candidate Week, then back down to NJ to see Lesley's grandpa and Alyssa and Bobby, then a final morning with Matt's aunt, uncle and grandmother. Whew! Yup, it was a whirlwind!

So, the first thing I want to say is that everyone who has a kid under 25 pounds should request a baby bassinette from your airline when you travel. They give you the bulkhead seats, the baby sleeps cozily and safely, and it's free!!! Nate slept 7 straight hours on the way there, and 5 straight hours on the way back. AMAZING. Wish I'd known about these earlier!

We arrived in NJ post winter snowstorm to find a foot or two of snow still on the ground. It was pretty special for us islanders.

Nate was cozy all week in hand-me-downs from his cousin Colt and friend Pena. Everyone is always complimenting this adorable hat! And the shoes are from Aunty Carla from Kazakstan.

Matt's super cool cousin Shelley and her husband Derrick brought their adorable kiddos down from Pittsburgh for the weekend. Nate loved hanging out with Reese, who is about two months younger than him. Here, he's checking out her toes. Nate is always fascinated by babies that are smaller than he is.

Nate enjoyed lots of playtime with Daddy, Aunt Margie and Carter (Reese's big brother). Matchbox cars were the toys of choice that weekend.

A whole bunch of family came over on Saturday and it was really fun to meet so many new people. Here is just one picture of Nate with Matt's uncle. This is one of my favorite pictures because I LOVE Nate's huge grin in this one.

It was really special that Nate got to meet Matt's maternal grandmother for the first time, who Matt is really close to.

We spent Sunday morning at the Philadelphia aquarium. We got to see penguins, hippos and of course fish, and touch sharks and sting rays! This was just some random photo op on a wall at the aquarium. Again, I just love Nate's grin. He's such a happy kid.

Nate trying to smile, his handsome Dad, and some tropical fish.

Touching the sting rays. Well, Mommy and Daddy touched them, but Nate just splashed the water a bit.

Looking in a HUGE tank.

He was completely exhausted by the end of the morning.

We were outside to see the penguins.

But he woke up after only 20 minutes so he wouldn't miss the penguins.

More playing with Reese. Note the matchbox cars again.

Then it was up to Pearl Rive for Candidate Week. Nate learned to draw on the windows in our room after a hot shower fogged them up.

All of the February 2010 candidates. Lots of new friends.

Then Nate got to meet my maternal grandfather, also living in NJ.

His daughter Alyssa (technically my aunt, but she's about our age) and her husband Bobby and their two sweet kids joined us for an awesome pizza dinner with grandpa. I hadn't seen Alyssa since we were in our early teens. Matt and I both really enjoyed getting to know her and Bobby.

All in all, it was a wonderful week!