My Conversation with Nathan Last Night

I call it Why? You'll see why.

Nathan: Where’d go poppy?

Curtis: Me?

Nathan: Yes, you poppy? Where’d go tonight?

Curtis: I helped some people move.

Nathan: They moved their house?

Curits: Yep. They moved to Utah.

Nathan: They moved all their toys?

Curtis: Yep.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: Well, Sister Osborne lost her job.

Nathan: Where is?

Curtis: Oh, she lost her job with Las Fuentes.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: They had a reduction in force and she was the low woman on the totem pole.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: The whole economy is really bad right now.

Nathan: But why poppy?

Curtis: I guess the genesis of it was really the housing bubble that led to the mortgage crisis.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: A lot of banks had some really bad loans on their books.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: Mostly due to adjustable rate mortgages that went bad when the market crashed and people suddenly found themselves upside down on their homes. That led to defaults and banks were in trouble.

Nathan: Why with the mortages?

Curtis: Greedy loan officers when times were good, I think. That’s still under investigation, but some people think that banks lied to people to trick them into getting loans they couldn’t afford.

Nathan: Why do that?

Curtis: I don’t know. Banking is different now. They have to compete with foreign banks and investors. They were probably just feeling pressure to make immediate sales to boost quarterly earnings. You can’t blame them.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: The market is complex. Other powers are coming into play. Japan and China for instance. They’re buying up minerals like mad and driving up prices.

Nathan: Why?

Curtis: No one knows for sure. Globalization maybe. Today's economy is worldwide. We’re all interdependent.

Nathan: Why poppy?

Curtis: The advent of the Internet I think played a huge role.

Nathan: I don’t like the Internet. Buenas noches poppy.

Curtis: Buenas noches Ne, duérmete bien.

Silly Little Boy

Nathan is at a stage right now that is really fun. I have enjoyed all his different stages, even with all the typical quirks and challenges of a developing toddler. He is really a very GOOD kid. And right now he is learning and doing something new every day. He will say or do something that I didn't realize he knew or had picked up (so far nothing bad that I have had to correct him on) and it makes me crack up. It is just so darn cute how grown up he is becoming. His ability to communicate and express himself just amazes me. And every day it is clear he inherited Curtis's gift of animation when it comes to telling a story.

The kid is not dull, that is for sure.

I love you Nate!

2 Months Old

The last 2 months have probably been the fastest I have ever experienced. My little baby boy has been mine for almost 10 whole weeks. It still feels like he was born yesterday but at the same time

it is hard to imagine what our life was like before him. Bracken is truly a bundle of joy, a big bundle of joy. He wieighed in at 14 pounds even at his checkup. He is 24 inches long and growing out of his clothes so fast I think the cashiers at Kohl's know me by name. I have not been able to reuse many of Nathan's clothes because they were born in opposite seasons, much to Curtis's dismay. Other than growing, Bracken does a lot of cooing and smiling. He sleeps good, eats great and lives for the times when Nathan pays attention to him. Besides Mommy, Nathan gets the biggest smiles out of Bracken.

8 Hours

Woo, Hoo! The long awaited, much desired 8 hours of uninterupted sleep returned to me last night! My angel baby Bracken went to bed a little before 10pm which meant I was in bed by 10pm and he slept until 6:20am. I am feeling great!

Monsters & Airplanes

Halloween!!! Curtis made Nate's costume this year. It wasn't professional, but it wasn't defessional either. It was actually a major hit on the trunk or treat circuit. Many people gave him "two peices of candy for being so cute" or took his picture. The cuteness scale only increased when he went up to goblins, warlocks, construction workers and other candy keepers and said, "Get a treat" with candy bag outstretched instead of the traditional, "trick or treat". Nate's not into tricks, all treat. One of the "tricks" of Halloween that Nathan is not into is "Scary Guy"--the fictional character that Nathan has invented for all things that scare him. If Nathan's scared, you can bet that "Scary Guy" is behind it, save three caviats, bugs, hair balls, and people in skinny jeans. Anyway, as you can imagine, on Halloween, there was plenty of opportunities to run into Scary Guy. Pretty much anyone with a mask became the dreaded Scary Guy. Skeletons, monsters, and yes, even Mario and Luigi all morphed into Scary Guy. If they had a mask on, Nathan was terrified of them. Luckily, a little kid wearing a chevy orange cardboard box 1) doesn't get far and 2) is easy to spot when running away in fear from Scary Guy, so we never lost him in the throng of tricker treaters and swine flu carriers.

Silly MOnsTer and Harley DaviSchwin

(Curtis was a "tough biker" for Halloween--a bicycler that is. He rode his Schwin)

Cute Noises

Bracken us really coming to life. He loves for people (especially his mommy) to look him in the eye and talk to him. He responds with the sweetest smiles and sometimes he'll talk back a little too.

Muchas Gracias Tia Chelsea!

My sister Chelsea made this adorable

apron and mailed it to Nathan.

Nathan was super thrilled to have a package

just for him sitting in the mail box.

I helped him open it and when he saw what it was he said,

"Let's make food!"

Pumpkin Patch

It's that time of year again, Pumpkin Patch time!

Nathan remembered going last year

and kept asking us if we could go again.

So we headed out with Grandma and Grandpa

and spent the morning enjoying all things Harvesty.

Nathan loved these tractor trikes so much we almost

didn't make it to the rest of the attractions.

Nathan went on the train ride 4 times.

It was a big hit.

Navigating the corn maze with Uncle Dallas,

or "Dally" as Nate calls him.
The newest attraction at the farm this year
was also a big hit. Go Nate, go!

Brothers

I love it when the boys interact with each other.

It gives me a glimpse into the years to come.

Years of being one another's best friend.

Pictures

Here are some pictures from this week. We sure love our two little boys.

We blessed Bracken on Sunday, October 11th.

Smile!

Fall Harvest

For F.H.E. last week we decided to treat our garden to a little TLC.

It was looking overgrown and out of control.

We took out the dead plants and harvested a ton of produce

mostly tomatoes, bell peppers and green beans.

Yummy!

One Month Old

Our little Bracken is one month old now. The time does fly by. He is an enjoyable baby. There was a week were he had a fussy hour every day, but that seems to have passed and we are settling down into a routine. He does great at night. I feed him around 9:30pm and he is down by 10pm. He sleeps till sometime between 2-3am and he wakes me up for another feeding. Then he goes right back down till 6:30am. During the day he eats about every 3 hours, has some awake time and then some more sleep time before it is time to eat again. He responds to all of our voices and loves to look at people's faces. I love to rub my fingers up and down his spine when he is resting on my shoulder, he is very tickelish and he squirms and does cute little squeals.

He does really well with tummy time, which is a new one for me because Nathan detested it. Bracken gets so comfy on his tummy, some times he dozes off.

Almost caught a full smile!

Right now his eyes seem like they will be blue, right now they are a clear dark blue color.

This was his first bath the evening after his cord stump fell off. He calmed down the minute I sat him in the warm water. He relaxed and started kicking his legs like a little frog. He was so comfortable in the bath that he through a fit when I took him out.

Here I am snuggling with Baby Bracks right after his late evening feeding before bed. He loves to snuggle up near my neck and I love to smell his sweetness when he is close by.

Happy One Month Bracks!

"Footbars Games"

Nathan LOVES "footbars" and this is how he hikes the ball.

Pock-it Poke-it!

For our Labor Day holiday we started off with an Elders Quorum softball game, then enjoyed a hot dog lunch at home and spent the afternoon getting some things done around the yard and house. In the evening we decided to have a pizza and movie night. So I headed out to our local Red Box and picked out the Hannah Montana Movie! We had not seen it yet, and I admit I was curious. I wasn't sure what Nathan would think of it, but he was captivated and entertained the whole movie. Hannah even reaches two year old little boys.

Jammin' like a rockstar!

I guess he was moved.

Pock-it poke-it!

First Week Home

Here are some pictures of Bracken's first week of life.

BABY BRACKEN IS HERE!!

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Bracken Peirce Kleinman arrived at 8:54am on Thursday September 10th. On Wednesday around 8pm Courtney felt that perhaps her water had broken or something else "was going on down there" and under doctor's instructions we headed to the hospital to be "analyzed". It was determined that she was dilated to three centimeters and we were cleared to return home to labor. We rested until about 2am when the contractions were too frequent and too painful to continue laboring at home. We arrived at the hospital and labored all through the night without much progress passed the seven centimeter mark. Around 7am the nursing staff gave Courtney pitocin and things began progressing fairly rapidly. Around 8am the nurse upped her pitocin dosage and things began progressing too rapidly for Curtis’ liking. Soon Courtney could not control the urge to push. Finally, without the OB’s presence, the nurse gave Courtney the go ahead to push. On the first push the head nearly emerged and the nurse fled from the room looking for the OB. Curtis was afraid that he would be left to deliver the baby alone, and he nearly was. The OB ran into the room amidst the next contraction, analyzed the situation, shrugged into a gown half way, and caught the baby like a left fielder just as he emerged from the birthing canal. The delivery room nurses jumped into action taking the baby from the OB and plopping it up into Courtney’s arms, Curtis cut the cord and the baby was here to stay. The OB, still stunned said, “Can someone get me some gloves please.” She was standing with both hands resting up on the delivery cart, pushed half way through the bloody sleeves of a blue-green scrub apron. Not even having time to put on surgical gloves, Curtis hadn’t noticed until just then that the OB had caught Bracken with her long apron sleeves. Now she looked like a little child wearing her father’s long sleeved work shirt with her little hands drowning somewhere inside. He came very fast. The little boy is already in a hurry. Runs in the family.

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Up To Date

First off I have not had the baby yet, today is my due date and I'm still feeling great. If nothing should happen over the next few days I will be induced Monday September 14th. Hopefully I won't make it that far. Everything is super ready. All my projects are done, the house is clean and ready for all things baby. Nathan is even potty trained, a last minute surprise to Curtis and I since we were not really focusing on that yet. One day I bought some training pants at the store just to have on hand for when I started seriously potty training him. He had showed some interest off and on but mostly off for the last several months. That very day he wanted to try wearing a pair and ever since he has been using the toilet. He even trained up at night super easy, he did not like wetting the bed.

Other than that, Curtis is back to teaching. Yavapai College is in it's second week of school so our summer is officially over. I have 11 piano students and I really enjoy teaching. We are staying busy with in our ward, Curtis is the Elders Quorum President and at the moment he is frantically trying to plan the ward camp out. I am the organist and I teach a sunday school class for the 12-13 year olds. I have also become the unofficial ward food storage lady. No one was doing anything about food storage and I kept asking people why not, so now I take care of it. But so far everyone is really grateful for the information and products that I bring to their attention.

Here are a few highlights from the last bit of our summer.

At the end of July we spent 3 days in Albuquerque, NM for Curtis to attend a Spanish Teachers Conference. We went to an aquarium, and botanical gardens which were gorgeous, walked around down town and enjoyed some gelato, ate pizza in the Old Town Plaza, and while Curtis spent the day in classes Nate and I were able to enjoy the sunshine out by the pool. Nathan loved swimming.

In August we headed to Utah for 2 family reunions that both took place on Pioneer Day weekend. First, was the Haymore Reunion that took place up in Provo Canyon at the BYU Timpanogos Lodge. It was gorgeous up there. They had a ton of activities for the kids and as you can see Nathan and Curtis really enjoyed the go cart races. We were also able to spend some time with Andy and Bekah and Nate had his first slip'n'slide experience with Ava and thought is was great. Then we headed to Salt Lake for a King reunion were we did some hilarious skits and also spent a lot of time swimming in my Grandmother's community pool. The King reunion ended with a tour of the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House which was amazing. Nathan did really well walking reverently through the temple.

America the Beautiful

Hanging out in the shade at the Prescott 4th of July Parade.


The 4 Prescott Valley Wards had a big BBQ complete with a Flag ceremony (notice Curtis in his full scout uniform, he was part of the color guard), Primary Parade, and a first class location for watching the PV city fireworks show. Nate was so excited to be in his own parade especially after seeing the Prescott Parade earlier that day. We had fun decorating his scooter with everything red, white and blue we could round up, and Nate was looking forward to wearing his super cape and fire hat. The awesome part about his scooter was that the pin wheel really did spin when he scooted along. We are sure he was the envy of all the other kids in the parade.