Happy Holidays, everyone! I know it's cliche, but I seriously cannot believe that it's the beginning of December already. I think time has sped up - at least for me. All of a sudden I'm supposed to be getting ready for Christmas and Thanksgiving has come and gone. So, this year was a Shields' Thanksgiving. All of the extended family gathered at the Oak City town hall for a lot food and a "talent" show. This was the first year I didn't stuff myself silly; little Nathan chose that time to be fussy and insist on being bounced. When he's like that he is not a fan of sitting down. That's okay, though. It worked out well because then I didn't feel like puking all over the place after we performed...Riverdance! Oh, yes, the Shields clan attempted to Riverdance together. It would probably have gone a little more smoothly if we had spent more than five minutes on preparation and choreography. It also would have helped if the CD hadn't started back at the introduction 5 times. When we started dancing, we made the CD skip back and it made the whole experience last much longer. The guy running the music finally had to pick up the CD player and hold it so we could get through the whole song. It was pretty intense. Definitely more of a workout than any of us have had in a while. And pretty darn entertaining, I think. Embarrassing? Sure. But that's just the way we like it. This week is an eventful one for sure. Monday we suddenly realized (around 4pm) that we could leave that night if we wanted to, which Aaron did. So, after getting the oil changed we went home and tried to quickly finish our preparations. I thought I had an extra day. But, we kinda pulled it off and left around 8 that night. No one knew we were coming. A few minutes before we got there, I called my mom and told her I missed talking to her. So we chatted for a few minutes she asked what we were doing. "Driving home." I replied. "From where?" I thought fast. "Wal-Mart." It was true. We had stopped at the Wal-Mart in Brigham City. So, a couple of minutes later, I said, "Hold on a minute, Mom," and rang the doorbell. Mandy came to answer the door but didn't say anything (her mouth made a really big "O," though) and we walked into the kitchen where my mom was baking with John. She gasped loudly, looked at me, then at the phone, then back at me and ran over for a hug and a look at the baby. Everyone reacted just the way we might have hoped. We didn't have a lot of time with them, but it was good to say hello. The next morning we drove to Fillmore just in time to beat Mom Shields home from work. We hid the car around the corner and put the baby in his chair so that he would be the first thing she saw when she walked in the door. Then we went and saw Papa Shields at the school and they carted the baby around to show to everyone. We had a grand ole' time hanging out with the fam. Thanksgiving day we drove to Oak City and ate a fabulous meal (or at least, tried to - Nathan didn't want me to eat.) Then got ready for the family talent show, which is where the Riverdancing came in. Friday, Kammi (Aaron's sister) got her bridal pictures taken and while the photagrapher was there we took some updated family pictures. There are three new family members just since last year. Crazy. After that, the girls went to Kammi's bridal shower and the guys "hung out" at home. Saturday was awesome. We got up fairly early (for a holiday) and went out to pick our Christmas trees. We found the one we wanted and hauled it off the mountain. In the meantime, Brock and Kammi watched little Nathan. Then we all came home and got ready to go to the temple. Kammi was receiving her endowment that day in the Manti temple. It was a 1 1/2 hour drive from Fillmore but it was well worth it. All of the older Shields' kids and spouses (or spouses-to-be) were there. It was the first time I had ever done a session in the Manti temple and it was absolutely beautiful. It was the first time Aaron and I had been since I was big and pregnant, so it was especially nice. Maili watched Nathan for the several hours that we were gone. It meant that he spent most of the day being cared for by someone other than his parents. That was a first. It was probably harder on me than it was on him. Sunday was the day we headed home. We left Fillmore at 5 pm and arrived home at 12:30 am. Why? We got stuck in nasty traffic, then stopped to see Mark and Julie Chandler's new baby (and feed ours). After that we stopped and got gas, also meeting my family en route from Boise to Orem. Then, we stopped at Jeff and Abby Anderson's so that Jeff and Aaron could try to finish the hairy-scary project due the next day and so that they could feed us. Finally we headed home, only to realize when we arrived that we had left the (much-needed) brand-new package of diapers in Fillmore. So, I ran to the store. Aaron proceeded to stay awake most of the night trying to finish his project. Yuck. Needless to say, none of us got much sleep that night. Speaking of sleeping at night, Nathan is actually making some progess. He'll wake up and fuss a little, but will usually go back to sleep with a little help and, if you don't count that as waking up, has slept through the night about four times now. We're trying to help him learn to be more of a self-soother so that we can move him to the crib and his own bedroom. We'll see how that goes. He's being awfully darn cute lately. He's discovered his feet now and is fascinated by his toes. He, of course, loves to put them in his mouth - usually when I'm trying to change his diaper. He's starting to pick favorite things. He has a favorite blanket and a favorite toy, and he's showing preferences for different songs and activities. We've discovered he likes the "5 Little Piggies" with the toes. When I say, "Shall we play piggies?" he laughs in anticipation. It's pretty cute. Aaron is trying to survive through the end of the semester. This one has definitely been the nastiest of his college career, which is really saying something. The bad news is that he isn't sure how he's going to get everything done before the end of finals. The good news is that next semester he only has three classes and then he graduates! Yay! It looks like there might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all. I'm just trying to learn how to take care of my baby, support my husband, and clean my house. So, what's new? I love my little family. I remember years ago when I used to dream about what it would be like to be married and have kids - to have a little baby. When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I answered with, "a wife and a mother." I got weird looks, but I was serious. And now, here I am, "living the dream." And it's better than I thought it would be...

Slackerface

Wow, I'm on a roll, huh? One month between posts. Not a great start to my blogging career. I'll be better in the future (I hope). This is turning to be more like my journal than I planned... So, in the last month, as you can imagine, a lot has happened. We entered Nathan in a diaper decorating contest. He dressed as a mummy (with some help from Auntie Amy) and on the back of the diaper we wrote "King Toot." All too appropriate, I might add. He looked so cute! Aaron even looked up heiroglyphics and wrote his name on strip of fabric that we put around his waist. He got many compliments (so did I) and he won the "Funniest Diaper" category. That meant that we got a twenty-five dollar gift card to Stork Landing. It was pretty cool. In the less cool category: when I got home that same day (October 18th), I found a letter from the Cache County Court informing me that I had failed to appear when I was supposed to and was therefore guilty of a Class B Misdemeanor. What happened? August 6th, 5:30 a.m. I drove Aaron to his shuttle pick-up point (for work) and was headed home to go back to bed. I was pulled over for having a headlight out. Of course, I'm in my pajamas, but luckily I had my license. What I didn't have was proof of insurance. We had switched insurance companies the week before, just prior to our former contract running out. However, we had not yet received the paperwork for our new insurance so our old cards said that we were no longer covered. I explained this to the officer, but I was still ticketed for not having proof of insurance. He told me that I had "no more than five and no less than fourteen" days to take care of it. In response, I let him know that would probably be difficult considering (pointing to my bulging belly) I was already overdue to have my baby. He basically told me tough cookies. Yay. Three days later, Nathan was born and in another three days we were discharged from the hospital. While I was at home alone with my new baby, I sent my Uncle Adam and Sister Holly to the court to see what they could do for my ticket. They came back with a paper that had the court fax number on it. So, I called my insurance company, right then and there (I think it was the 14th) to let them know I needed them to fax a letter to the court. They told me it was no big deal, they sent letters like that all the time and even had the fax number already. Satisfied that it was taken care of, I let it go, and worried about my baby. Why? Because late in the evening of the 18th, after several days of him deteriorating, we rushed him to the ER and stayed a subsequent 2 days in pediatrics. We discovered during that time that I was not producing nearly enough milk and he was essentially starving to death. He was severely dehydrated, but, suprisingly, came out of the whole affair quite well. Anyway, because of his worsening condition, I was not thinking about much else. Evidently I should have been. To try and make a long story short, my insurance company didn't send the fax until the 22nd, at which time they put Aaron's name on it (Scott, actually - they apparently don't know he goes by Aaron) instead of mine and they also sent it to the wrong fax number. It took some sleuthing for us to acquire this information which I had to wait until Wednesday, the 22nd, to share with the prosecutor. After talking with him, I had to wait again and talk to the judge and tell her the story, too. She was actually a little more sympathetic than he was, but there was nothing they could do. It had been my responsibility to ensure that the letter arrived and babysit my insurance company until it did. I didn't, therefore, I was guilty. My bail (that's right, there was a warrant out for my arrest) was set at $600, which was dropped to $200 after showing proof of insurance. After I told them my story it was reduced to $100 on the spot or four days in jail, my choice. Ha ha. In passin the prosecuter mentioned I might want to make sure the DLD knew my license was now okay to be reinstated (WHAT?) since the warrant had been rescinded. The next day I went to let them know and to pay the reinstatement fee, only to discover I had to get a clearance letter from the court, which they conveniently failed to give or even mention. However, it couldn't be faxed until Monday. I double-checked that one. It occured to me after the fact, that if I had gotten pulled over for any reason before I got that letter (the first I heard of it, two months later...) I would have been instantly arrested, been charged with driving on a suspended license, and since we thought our registration expired a month later than it did, I would also have gotten ticketed for espired registration and no proof of insurance (we forgot to actually put it in the car until October). Oh, and since Nathan is always with me, they would have taken custody of my baby while they took me to jail. And I wouldn't have had any idea why. So, there's my story for the day, I guess. On a lighter note, Nathan is growing awfully fast. He recently discovered that his hands (apparently) taste good and that sometimes other things do, too. Like his blanket. He's becoming noticeably more curious about the things around him. It's really cool. He also just learned to laugh and roll over. Sometimes he appears to forget that he can, but it's great when he does. He's getting to be a lot of fun. Today he discovered a new game. I was putting his pacifier, or as we call it, his pootie, into his mouth while he sort of bit down. It happened in just such a way that the rubber squeaked on his gums. He looked surprised and intrigued, so I did it again. He thought that was so cool! He just sat there with his mouth in poistion, grinning, while I squeaked the pootie across his gums. When I stopped, he tried to get me to do it again. That kept him entertained for a good five minutes until he realized it was naptime. I wish Aaron (or someone) had been around so we could have gotten it on video. It's really neat to see his little personality developing. He's his own adorable person, that's for sure. And he really is adorable. I know I'm his mom, but I swear he's cuter than all the other babies ever! And he gets cuter (and bigger) all the time. Aaron is trying to survive the rest of this nasty, nasty semester. Meanwhile, I'm trying to learn how to balance a baby and a house, and...well, you know. Aaron and I just made a deal, though. If I work out two days a week for three months, no exceptions, I'll get a day at the spa and some new clothes. If Aaron does, he gets the gun he wants. If we both do, we'll go on a short getaway together. However, if at any time, a day is missed, we have to start over. We'll see how it goes. Okay, this post is way too long. I will not go a month next time before posting. Hope all is well with whoever actually takes the time to read this. And everyone else, too, they just won't know.

I know, you thought "next time" was going to be a while. Ha! Fooled you. I just thought that, since the main purpose of this blog is to keep people updated on our growing family and since many of you haven't heard or seen anything (and since I'm a proud-as-a-peacock-parent), that I would give you the run-down on little Natey-Mac. (I also swore I wouldn't call him that...) After way too many hours of labor, Nathan McKay Shields was finally born at 5:28 pm on Saturday, August 9, 2008. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, he was 21 inches long and surprisingly cute for a newborn. He was also surprisingly alert. If you'd like, you can take a peek at the video of him at 40 minutes old. He is, of course, adorable. He loves his daddy, and he loves to be sung to. He does get bored if you sing the same song more than about three times in a row, though. Too bad for me. You know, I thought I knew a lot of kid-appropriate songs, but every time I go to sing one, I discover that I've forgotten all but one line. Apparently I need to brush up on some childhood favorites. If anybody knows any good ones, help me refresh my memory. Actually, I found an awesome website that lists what must be every children's song ever sung, complete with lyrics, alphabetical index, and in some cases, the tune. You can even do a search for partial lyrics if you're like my and can't remember diddly. Speaking of diddly, here's the link, if anyone cares: http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/index.html. I appear to be rambling again. I probably shouldn't post when I'm tired (so, never?) so as to avoid that.

New to This

Wow, life is crazy - and amazing. Now if I could be amazing, instead of just crazy, maybe I could get it figured out... So, I swore up and down, backwards and forwards, that I would never be "one of those people," you know a blogger. Yet, here I sit, cross-legged on the floor with my baby snoring beside me, creating my first blog. So, bear with me, while I figure this out. What else is new? We just moved! For those of you who may need it, our new address is 456 E 100 N (#1) in Logan (84321). It's a great house with lots and lots of space. Lots. Technically, it's more space than we need right now, but it's the same price as our previous house and we're planning to be here long enough to use the extra space. Haven't finished moving in yet - still working on that. I'm having a hard time learning to balance a new baby with, frankly, anything else. (You know, eating, showering, doing the dishes, little things like that). I know it must be possible, because the rest of the world seems to manage just fine, but I evidently need a lot more practice. Or something. But, wow, I love my little boy! He is so much fun lately: kicking and smiling and trying to talk. He's become a lot more responsive and somehow even cuter than he was. I love watching him with Aaron - he's quite a Daddy's boy - who just adores him. Poor Aaron...he's wearing a lot of hats these days, and really only wants to wear the new dad hat. And maybe the doting husband hat? He's taking 17 senior engineering credits and is the Team Lead for the senior rocket project. He's also trying to work a job, start a business, help us get moved in, and take care of me and the baby. I'm so proud of him. I just wish I could do something more than pat him on the back, give him a kiss, and tell him "good luck." What a wonderful man I married. Okay, I'm obviously rambling now, so I'll draw this post to a close (wow, I'm "posting" now). Until next time...