Fall Travels

October brought a busy month for mom and dad, and of course we spent alot of time trying to keep up with Nathan! For Columbus Day weekend, we ventured up to Cape Cod for the Annual Cranberry Festival in Wareham, MA. It was pretty amazing seeing the harvesting of the cranberry bogs. Mom and dad also celebrated their 6th wedding anniversary - hard to believe it has been 6 years!

To help celebrate fall, we visited pumpkin patches and orchards, and made a trip down to the mountains of Waynesville, NC to see Sarahbeth's aunt and uncle. Nathan had fun chasing after Chester, (Sarahbeth's aunt's dog and his new best friend) and getting into her pots and pans. Not to mention Halloween, when Nathan was dressed as a pirate and got to greet trick or treaters!

This weekend Nathan starts the fall session of swimming again so I am sure we will have lots to report in the next couple of weeks. Enjoy the moments we have captured from Nathan's adventures!

Arrrrr!

Nathan & Mom at a cranberry bog

Nathan & his pal Chester hanging out on the swing

Dad takes Nathan down the slide at a pumpkin patch

Outside the Quahog Republic on Cape Cod

At the beach in Gray Gables

It's cold Dad, let's head back!

Nathan's First Birthday!

Nathan is 1 year old! We celebrated his birthday with family and friends the weekend of September 26th. He had a lot of fun playing with his buddies and opening lots of toys. Thanks to everyone who helped make his first birthday a memorable one (for Mom and Dad at least).

We had his 12 month checkup as well, where the poor guy was subjected to 5 shots. He is now 31.5 inches tall (94th percentile) and 25 lbs. 6 oz. (80th percentile), so he's still a big boy for his age. In fact, he's already over halfway to his mom's height! Nathan has also been walking for about month now, so it's getting harder and harder for us to keep up. Plus he looks like such a boy now, instead of the little baby he was not too long ago. As always, here are some recent pictures.

Of course we have to stick a hand in the icing!

Mmmm, cake!

Nathan loved his gift from the Brownes

This looks like fun!

More presents?

Taking a break at the park

Almost 1 Year Old

We can't believe that Nathan will celebrate his first birthday in just a few weeks. The past 11 months have gone by quickly, so it still surprises us to see him looking like a little boy instead of a baby.

He's not quite walking yet, but he crawls everywhere (including up the stairs) and can pull himself up to standing. He's got 5 teeth now, so he's eating lots of finger food. He loves peas, Cheerios, salmon, and the little chicken and apple meatballs that Sarahbeth makes for him.

In the past few weeks, Nathan has had his portraits taken at Sears, went on his first hike in Shenandoah National Park, and went to pick raspberries at a local orchard. As always, here a few recent pictures.

Lounging in the grass at Butler's Orchard

Taking a break from picking raspberries

Nathan and Caroline pose for the camera

On the terrace at Gadino Cellars

Hiking in Shenandoah National Park

Summer Vacation

The last month has been a busy one for Nathan and the rest of the Roeschlein family. First, we went to Long Island in July for the beautiful wedding of Sarahbeth's cousin Keith and his wife Regina. Nathan got to see lots of family and enjoyed being passed around to everyone. We followed that up with a week long stay at the beach in Cape Cod with Grammy and Grampy Manning, Aunt Melissa, and Nathan's new friend Chanel. Now we're back home in the Virginia heat just waiting for fall!

Nathan has become quite the expert crawler and stair-climber, and he really enjoys chasing Dad around the house. He also pulls himself up everywhere, so it's just a matter of time before he takes his first steps. As always, here are some pictures. Neal is working on editing some videos, so hopefully we'll be able to post those soon!

4th of July at the Cape

It's hard to believe, but Nathan is now over 9 months old! He's still a big boy for his age - in the 85th percentile for height and weight at his latest checkup. He is also crawling everywhere, standing up in his crib, clapping, singing, and saying "Dada" and Mama".

We were able to spend the Fourth of July weekend at Cape Cod with Neal's mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niece. We had a great time relaxing on the beach and wandering around Martha's Vineyard. It was also a lot of fun watching the two cousins interact, with Nathan pulling Haley's hair and Haley yelling at Nathan and making him cry. By the end of the weekend they were palling around together in their little red wagon.

Nathan & Haley are official citizens of the Quahog Republic!

Playing in the grass

Tall ship in the Cape Cod Canal

In the wagon at the beach

Grandma & Nathan on Martha's Vineyard

Too much celebrating!

Katie, Haley, & Jonathon in Chatham

Swim Class & New Video

One of the activities Nathan has been participating in the last few weeks is an infant swimming class at our local rec center. It takes him awhile to get used to the water temperature, but once he does he seems to enjoy all of the splashing around. Here's a picture of Neal & Nathan in the pool:
We've also finally purchased a camcorder, so now we can be those parents that record every event and force family and friends to watch our handiwork. We just had to include this video of Nathan and Neal taking turns scaring each other. Nathan found it hilarious!

First Family Vacation

Over the Memorial Day weekend, the Roeschleins loaded up the car and drove up to Cape Cod for our first family vacation. Nathan loved all of the time we spent outdoors walking by the beach, even though it was a bit chilly. He also seems to love to hear himself talk, as he spent a good portion of vacation saying "mamamama" and "dadadada". We had a great time, but vacations are never long enough! Enjoy the pictures below.

Nathan in his very own Adirondack chair

Wagon ride to the beach

Out for a bite at Quahog Republic

Nice pants!

Working on his Army crawl

Nathan's Baptism

Nathan's baptism ceremony was held on Saturday, May 9th at St. Matthew's Cathedral in downtown Washington, DC. It was a beautiful day, and we were lucky that so many family members were able to come into town to attend. We want to give a special thank you to Nathan's Aunt Melissa, who served as the Godmother. The baptism itself was performed by Monsignor Ron Jameson, who presided over Sarahbeth and Neal's wedding at St. Matthew's way back in 2003. We were also able to celebrate Sarahbeth's first Mother's Day with the family, including Nathan's grandmothers.

We took lots of pictures of the entire weekend, so here are a few we wanted to share.

Nathan and his Godmother Melissa

Pulling Grammy's hair

Meeting Great-Aunt Patty for the first time

and his Great-Uncle Gus

with Grandma Pat

Nathan & Colton play bumper cars

waiting for the Baptism

after the ceremony with Monsignor Jameson

A Picnic in Wine Country

The Roeschlein family spent a recent beautiful Saturday afternoon in Virginia's wine country. We started at the picturesque Hillsborough Winery in Hillsboro, VA. We then stopped in at Breaux Vineyards, where we spread a blanket next to the grape vines and enjoyed a picnic while looking out over the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nathan seemed to really enjoy grabbing handfuls of grass - luckily we were able to keep him from putting any in his mouth!

We ended the day by visiting Chicama Run farm to see the new baby animals and gather our own free-range eggs directly from the hen house. Nathan couldn't take his eyes off of those little goats! All in all, it was a fantastic way to spend a lazy Saturday.