After Nathaneil was born, we had three weeks at home together before the school year, and therefore work, started back up again. Those first weeks were such a learning experience for us all. We did our best to just go with the flow and enjoy the newest member of our family.

At first we barely left the house. It felt like a big deal to walk up the street and back. But as we regained a sense of balance, we really began to enjoy the gift that Nathaneil had given us by joining our family. Our first major outings with him were wonderful adventures.

When Obama announced that he was coming to Asheville, we decided we had to go and take Nathaniel to this historic event. It was a long day of waiting in line for hours and standing around in the hot sun, but when all was said and done, it was very much worth it.

Nathaniel won't remember that he was there, but he was, and so were we. It just felt important to be a part of that experience as a family.

We went back and forth about a costume for Nathaneil. Do we dress him up? Do we not? It's his first Halloween ever! What do we do? But when he got an invitation to a Halloween party, we knew we had to come up with something.

After some deliberation, we finally decided to dress him as an old man, complete with plaid pants and suspenders, an old-style hat we found online, and some funny shoes.

But after we put him in it, we realized he looked just like a newsboy! So we just went with that and made him a little newspaper to carry. He was pretty cute. The Youngest Newsboy Ever!

Here he is with one of his buddies at the Halloween Party!

Christmas this year was more exciting than it has been in years! Sharing the holiday with Nathaniel brought back some of the magic of Christmas that we often lose as adults. We are looking forward to the Christmasses to come.

He of course didn't really get it this year, although he did seem to like the Christmas lights and the wrapping paper. In a year or two though, Christmas will become a very exciting time, and we welcome the excitment.