Nanty and Nate

Well it seems Pop doesn't own the corner on getting a giggle out of this little guy. Nattie shared smiles with double sets of Grandparents and friends over the few days of Christmas. But some serious laughs came when he was playing with Nanty.

Playing games with Papa

Nathan is starting to really smile and laugh...especially when he has special playtime with Daddy. As we celebrated his 4 month marker, we were able to capture some of those precious giggles in a short video...so turn up the volume and take a peek.

A couple quick shots

Playing a fun game with Grandpa....


Now Nattie is able to hold his own toys and start to play with them...even at bathtime.


Bathtime is extra fun when Daddy makes funny faces and sounds.

Time for some more pics!

His aunt thinks he has the face of a football player. I'm not really sure what she's trying to say.


I love this one. It was taken by one of my nieces or nephew.


That sticker was a gift from the mail man at the post office.


And that's my very most favorite.

Getting the conversation started....

Christmas. The reason for the season is nearly lost among the commercialism of today. As Christians, how should we be approaching the celebration of a Christ-centered Christmas? Is any traditional addition (tree, lights, presents, etc...) to the holiday a detraction from its spiritual meaning? What goes and what stays in your home? Discuss.

UPDATE by Rodney: I'm adding my comment here in the meat of the post because, well, I can.

My view on this subject is wholly influenced by my upbringing.

I would describe my parents as very godly and Jesus Christ was and is at the center of everything they do. This enabled Christmas to be a special time complete with Christmas trees, ornaments, lights, presents, reindeer, carols, and even milk and cookies for Santa. It was never extravagant but my parents clearly stretched to make it a special time and get us things that we really wanted or would really enjoy.

I loved it and there was never any confusion about or need for belaboring "the real meaning of Christmas". Everybody knew Christmas was about Jesus being born (from the viewpoint of us kids) but the traditions of Christmas were what made that time of year so special—including being excited about Christmas morning. And that's the way it should be (according to my admittedly skewed perspective).

It's good to be home!

Our trip to Canada was great! AND Nattie slept just about the entire way there and back!

We visited with lots of family and friends of family. AND the weather remained above 40 F for most of the trip! That I could handle, much to the dismay of my brother-in-law, who was looking forward to seeing the animated expressions I had the last time I was there for Thanksgiving. Anywho....we had a great time and consequently have a million pictures.

PLUS, we had four generations too!

Sing with me... "Oh Canada...that big and empty land...."

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year Rodney, Nattie, and I head to Canada to celebrate this glorious feasting holiday with folks who really know how to feast!

The whole Mitchell gang will be there...for the first time in something like a decade! Which will be AWESOME. A quick check of the weather tells me that today's temp for Manitoba is -13 C which translates to......ummm.....flippin' cold! AND it feels like a brisk -8 C.....well, thank you very much. My Californian blood freezes at 50 degrees so...... I'll be wearing lots of layers.


And with the feasting that is sure to happen, we'll be bringing some of those layers back with us.

Tipping off the holiday season...

The first Thanksgiving away from home means I will be missing the mayhem and "good cheer" that goes along with the day-after-Thanksgiving sales and the subsequent front page of the Sac Bee reporting the "good cheer" spread by those standing outside of the local Wal-Mart duking it out over some lame door prize. Okay, okay, I won't really miss those things, but the thing that I really will miss, that kicks off the holiday season and gets a chuckle out of me every stinkin' year: the 24-hour TV marathon loop of Jean Shepherd's classic, The Christmas Story. A treasure trove of good times!


Ahhh....who doesn't like Ralphie? And mama's little piggy?

C'mon.....they're great!



Ok, I concede that perhaps not everybody feels the same way about Randy and Ralphie as I do (like most of my family)......so, indulge me....if not The Christmas Story....what? And Nicole, if you say It's a Wonderful Life so help me....

Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving and thanks to the Durans, Nevins, and Ro for helping us out while we are gone! Love you guys!

Making memories with Grandpa Mitchell

Counting down the days until we can play with the rest of the Mitchell fam!!!

Off to the polls

Well, we are headed to the polls to vote the old fashioned way! We are armed with all sorts of hot info (see previous election post) and are sure to cancel out the votes of our neighbors. Do the same and tonight like real political nerds we'll be glued to the TV watching the returns....well, until HOUSE...we'll break for HOUSE....but then back to the returns!

For Rosario

Welcome home Grandma & Grandpa DeWoody

Can't wait to give you big hugs and kisses!!

Playtime with daddy

A couple quick shots of Nattie and daddy during tummy time.

Features, feeding, and feeds

Need to bump that politics off the top of the page.

I've added some features to the side bar over there <---

• The Quotes of the Week are archived and you can comment on them there.
• Now you can see the first few lines of the latest posts from our friends' blogs and click over to their sites to read the rest.
• A new "Side Dishes" blog of cool links (that's actually been running over at David Yow's Blog for quite a while)
• And feeds!

I know most people don't care about feeds, but you will someday, and we here at Baby NRM! are just a bit ahead of the curve. If you happen to use a feed reader (like the very easy to use Bloglines or Google's really cool new Google Reader—which are both free) you can subscribe to our main feed to get all the new posts plus there are feeds of all the new features too!

Baby NRM! (this is the new FeedBurner version which you should switch to because, well, it's better)

Quote of the Week

Latest from Friends' Blogs (It would make a lot more sense to subscribe to all their blogs individually so you get the full text instead of just the snippet.)

Side Dishes

Voting Advice

Yes, the Voter Guide is rather intimidating this year. Nationally, there are a record number of ballot measures—although the 13 (plus local measures) for California is nothing like the 20 we had in March of 2000—and they can all start to be a jumble. Here are some tips for sorting them out.

1. When in doubt, vote no. If a measure doesn't pass, nothing changes. Less laws are usually better than more laws and if the legislature just packed up and went home for a few years we'd all better off. Same for ballot measures. In addition, legislating by initiative is messy. There is no opportunity for debate or amending less than ideal parts to make a better law. Far too often the legislature doesn't do it's job, but it is, in fact, it's job, and it is better suited to doing it than the initiative process is. A measure worth supporting is rare enough that you'll probably know about it.
   
   
2. Bonds are credit cards. When the legislature doesn't have enough money to do whatever they want to do, they put a bond on the ballot, borrow the money, then we (or our kids) have to pay that money back plus interest. It's the same as making decisions for your own finances. You wouldn't pay interest on a 30 year loan for groceries, but for a house it might make sense. That's the same criteria you should use when thinking about bonds.
   
   
3. The enemy of your friend is your enemy. Look at who is for or against the measure. If you see someone you trust vote with them. If you see someone you know you generally disagree with, vote against them.
   
   
4. The web is your friend. A lot of people know a lot of stuff out there in the big collection of tubes that make up the internets. Here is a sample Google search. Just make sure you're looking at the right year and the right election. When two reliable sources disagree you'll have to do your own homework.
   
   
5. What would Tom do? You can't go wrong following his advice.
   
   
6. Limiting government: Good. I added this one after I found this guy doing that Google search above (there were a couple intermediary steps). Can't argue with that.
   

Ok, here are my recommendations. Except for the two I have comments on, I pretty much line up wholeheartedly with the arguments at those last two links. They're worth checking out.

• Prop. 1A – Transportation Funding YES
• Prop. 1B – Transportation Bond NO
• Prop. 1C – Housing Bond NO
• Prop. 1D – Education Bond NO
• Prop. 1E – Levee Bond YES
• There are good arguments on both sides of this one but it's not often you'll see McClintock supporting a bond and, well, we live in Sacramento.
  
• Prop. 83 – Jessica’s Law NO
• Again, good arguments on both sides as you can see in the links above. In addition, Arnold has signed legislation that goes a long way toward increasing these penalties and this measure could very well go too far. I'd rather see the legislature do its job. (See #1, above)
  
• Prop. 84 – Park Bond NO
• Prop. 85 – Parental Notification YES
• Prop. 86 – Cigarette Tax NO
• Prop. 87 – Oil Tax NO
• Prop. 88 – Parcel Tax NO
• Prop. 89 – Taxpayer Funding of Campaigns NO
• Prop. 90 – Protect Our Homes YES

Ok, fine, here's a picture: Nate's not too sure what he thinks about this whole election process, yet.

Another adorable Duran to add to the fam!!

Born this morning, Daniel Joseph weighs in at a mere 7lbs 6ozs and is 19 1/2 inches long making him the tiniest Duran yet! Mommy, of course, looks like a million bucks, making this whole birth thing look easy! And dad looks pretty good too for having a few hours of sleep under his belt. You guys couldn't be any cuter! We are so happy to welcome little Daniel to the RCG family! Love you guys!

Nathan's thoughts on mommy's photo shoot...

For Nicole

Josie and Satchmo entertain themselves outside...

An update and promise fulfilled...

Rodney has asked me a number of times to post pictures, stories, and the like of Nathan periodically when I had the chance. As of late, the chance has been few and far between, but seeing as our little guy has just gone down for a nap....here it goes...




My single claim to Irish blood and heritage comes from this man....my wee little Irish grandfather (who even wears green!) We went to So. Cal a few weekends back to celebrate my mom's retirement and were delighted to visit with grandpa, now great-grandpa, (who flew out from Chicago) and Nicole, who had not seen Nate since the week after coming home from the hospital. For those keeping tabs...Nicole plans to be home (i.e. Sacramento) by the end of this month.

Rodney and I also got to visit with some other friends and family while we were there.



In more recent days however, we have passed the 8 week mark! Nathan grows heavier and bigger everyday. He now will look at you and laugh and will try to reach out and touch things. He even takes his daytime naps in his big boy bed.



All this and the curtains and ceiling fan hold his greatest attention. Although daddy does try everyday to spend lots of time with Nate and teach him how to be a rugged man.



But some lessons are sweeter than others...

Sleepy time

We know 10 days without a picture of Baby Nate is simply inexcusable so here are a couple for his fans (and me so I can look at them at work). He's awake for longer periods of time now but he still sleeps more than anything else.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!!

Mommy and I are making you a yummy dinner and we can't wait until you come home! I love you and hope your day is a super one! Mommy says she loves you too!

Bathtime

Nate finally warms up to bathtime!

The boys.....my boys....

Nathan soaks up Daddy's instruction and words of wisdom after a long day.

A plea for pearls....

Experienced mothers...(and fathers, I suppose),
I have a baby S.O.S. (stuck on snacking). I cannot, for the life of me, keep Nathan awake long enough to warrant a full belly--playing itself out in frequent short naps. Any wise antics in keeping those blue eyes open? I hate to have it come down to an ice cube rub down but I am running low on ideas.

It takes a village...

Our little man has been welcomed into our world by many friends and family.

Office

When I got back to work (man, have I been back two weeks already?) after taking some time off for Nathan's birth, I discovered my office had been decorated by my friendly co-worker. Here are some pictures of their handiwork. Thanks for all the goodies!!

I'm one month old today....and I can't eat cake!

Smiles and giggles

Rodney said this morning that he heard Nathan laugh in his sleep last night...