Nathan Cole weighs 22 lbs. (80th percentile) and is 29 1/4 inches long (90th percentile).  He has gained around 2 lbs. and a little over and inch in 3 months.  Nathan had a great check-up and only received one shot - a flu shot.  He is getting so big and his pediatrician was very impressed with his progress.

We just got in the water before this was taken.  Nate’s not sure what to think yet.

Nathan learned how to float on his belly and his back.

Tomorrow we will be working with the kick boards, so we had a little trial run.

Nathan really wasn’t sure what to think and was very rigid.  Towards the end of the lesson he seemed to relax a little.  Even though he had a great time splashing in the water Nate was very worn out.  Needless to say, he slept very well last night.

The tent next to ours had a band playing all night long.  Tyler and Nathan really enjoyed listening to the music and watching the band play.  Tyler even did a little bit of dancing!

People come from all over to compete in the American Royal BBQ competition and there are some pretty crazy modes of transportation.  This was one of Nathan and Tyler’s favorites.

Saturday afternoon we all went to the Weston Apple Festival in Weston, MO.  We had some delicious food and caramel apples.  Here Tyler and Grandpa are enjoying some roasted corn on the cob.

While we were there Nathan suddenly discovered his tongue.  Looks like he also discovered Daddy’s too!

We had a great weekend with Grandpa and Grandma.  We wish they lived closer!

Here’s one from July (!) showing Nathan giggling and getting his armpits tickled.

A couple of weeks ago Robin and I decided to let Nathan have the spoon and try to feed himself during supper. He didn’t get as messy as we thought he would. Nathan and I tacked on a second attempt just to show how far he’s come in a couple of weeks.

We’ve written about how Nathan uses the laundry hamper to walk around. We’ve also written about Nathan’s first boo-boo. Here’s a video that contains both!

One day, Nathan suddenly knew how to clap. He’s not very consistent with doing it on command, but here’s a video of one of his first claps.

And finally, Nathan is starting to get a little more vocal — that is to say that his babbling is starting to take on something that more closely resembles words. Here’s one that I think we can all recognize.

Nathan and I took the time to do all this in iMovie today. iMovie is a program on the Mac that offers a simpler, quick and dirty way to edit these videos so that I can actually get them out to you much quicker than before. Here’s to hoping that the videos get more frequent (I say that every time though).

Those are newborn size shorts, BTW. 

The day started around 7:00am (as usual) and dad got up and watched me so mom could sleep in for a little longer.  After I watched Word World and Sid The Science Kid, mom got up and I gave her the birthday card I signed all by myself.

Dad designed and built the card just for me because there was really nothing at the store that spelled out my feelings for cake in quite the way that I wanted.  Of course, mom loved the card and loved that dad and I made it especially for her.

After we had some breakfast, we went with Aunt Angela, Tyler and Brandon to the town square for the Liberty Fall Festival.  It was very sunny and a little hot out.  Mom put lots of sunscreen on and dad took it as another opportunity to fix my hair.

I’m posing so I look good when those dance studio girls come by in the parade.  It’s always important to impress the ladies.

Here’s everyone before the parade started.  I know it doesn’t look like Tyler and I were having any fun, but we definitely did.

There were bands and drums and tractors and fire trucks and all sorts of fun things to see.  A bunch of guys dad said were Stormtroopers came walking by and he seemed to be pretty impressed and excited about them.  He said something about my “first Star Wars experience” but all I know is that the green guy on top of the car is my size.

And, of course, I’m told it can’t be an election year parade without a ton of campaigners coming by with stickers.  We only took one.  I thought it looked pretty good on me.

We sat and watched the parade for almost two hours and we were all very good.  No one got fussy or antsy but we were certainly all very tired once it was over.  Tyler and I stopped for a moment on our way back to the cars to sit on a fire truck.

We sat on a blanket because the bumper was kind of hot.  Dad said it was ridiculously hot for this time of year.  I’ll take his word for it.

Once we got home, mom took a birthday nap while dad and I ran some errands.  I slept for a little bit too in the car but then woke up when we went to the auto parts store and Target.  We shopped for a cake for mom and I think I’ve realized something.  I was born to shop for cake.  I think that cake shopping is probably the most fun thing that a person can do.  There were many cakes to choose from and I really wanted to get mom a fluorescent orange cake with a monster face on it but dad said we should probably get something more “birthday appropriate” so I chose a Halloween cake with a monster on it and he said to try again so we got an Oreo cake.  I wanted to try it at the store but dad said I had to wait.  The lady at the counter gave me a chocolate chip cookie, which I had never had before and OH MAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES ARE AWESOME!  I got chocolate all over my face and dad forgot the wipes in the car.  He kept muttering something about street urchins and trailer parks under his breath.  He also started pushing the cart a lot faster while we ran our errands.

I got a present too while we were at Target.  Dad and I ran across some Yo Gabba Gabba toys and I got to get a little stuffed Muno of my very own.  When I watched the show today I had it and noticed that I was holding the guy on the TV.  That was pretty cool.

Anyway, I digress. You might be wondering what mom got for her birthday.  She got it last weekend.  It’s a 2006 Mazda 5.  Her other car stopped working very well so we have the new car now.  I like it a lot.  But I don’t like it as much as chocolate chip cookies because I may have mentioned that THEY ARE AWESOME.

After dad came home and took a small nap (I did not take a nap because chocolate chip cookies make you not need to take a nap), he and mom got ready to go out for dinner and cocktails. I took a bath too to get the sunscreen off me and clean off residual chocolate.

I am obsessed with toothbrushes now and tend to need to play with one whenever I’m in the tub or on the changing table.  I like the fun noise they make when you rub them on your teeth.

After we all got cleaned up I went over and stayed with Tyler and Brandon while Aunt Angela took care of all of us.  Mom and dad brought the cake along so everyone could have a piece. Chocolate chip cookies are good but cookies and cream cake IS EVEN BETTER!

So thank  you mom for having a birthday because I got cake and a cookie.  I also got to have a great mom and I’m glad she had as much fun as I did on her birthday!

You can see the long scratch next to his eye in this picture.  Plus, I thought the fact that he was pinching his tongue was very cute.

Here’s a picture of his puffy eye and silly faces he likes to make.

So here’s just the first of many crashes, I’m sure.

He likes to sit in the basket while daddy pushes him around the living room.

Nathan also likes to practing standing up, both while standing inside the basket and outside of the basket.  When the basket is turned upside down he will stand up and push it around the living room.  We need to get that on video because it is very cute to watch.  Nathan is very proud of himself for “walking.”

1.  I’m crawling.  Everywhere.  Momma and daddy try to keep me trapped in the living room, but I’ve found several ways to get out.  Silly parents.  I like to crawl into the kitchen when momma is fixing dinner and try to help.  I have my very own drawer full of things for me to take out and play with.

2.  I can pull myself up into a standing position.  I pull up on the couch, on the ottoman, the kitchen bar stools, momma and daddy.  Basically anything that’s taller than me and relatively stationary I pull up on.  I like standing a lot.  I even like to stand in the bathtub, which daddy does not like at all.  He tells me that I have to sit down and I don’t like it.  So I cry.

3.  I’m trying really hard to walk.  I pull myself up on the couch and walk along.  Yesterday momma left an empty laundry basket in the living room so I pulled myself up and started walking around the room.  It was so much fun and momma and daddy were very proud of me.

4.  Last week when I was over at my Aunt Angela and Uncle Pete’s I crawled towards the stairs.  I looked at them for a while and then just decided to go for it.  Momma was feeding my new cousin Brandon and when she wasn’t looking I started climbing the stairs.  By the time momma noticed I was already on the second stairs.  She freaked out a little, but when she calmed down she stood behind me and let me climb up the stairs all by myself.  When I got to the top I was so proud of myself.  Momma and daddy said that it is ok for me to go up the stairs with proper supervision, but that I’m not ready to go down by myself yet.  I agree with them, but that doesn’t stop me from freaking them out and pretending like I’m going to go down.  My parents are silly sometimes.

5.  I like to eat dog food.  Stella’s food bowl is in the kitchen and I like to crawl in and nibble on some when momma and daddy aren’t looking.  I think it taste ok, but momma freaks out and sticks her finger in my mouth to get it out.  Of course I cry.  Now momma and daddy make sure Stella’s food is on the counter whenever I’m awake.  That’s no fun.

6.  I’m eating a lot more big boy food now.  If fact, I prefer it over baby food.  I’ve tried lots of veggies, chicken, ham, roast beef, pasta and pieces of fruit.  I can’t wait until momma decides that I can eat big boy food all of the time.  I have eight teeth, after all.  Hey, that’s one for each month I’ve been alive! 

That’s about all for now.  Check back in the next few days for some cute pictures of momma and me.  For now, here’s one of me crawling under my jumparoo.  I told you I was crawling everywhere!