Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

But the Nagle's find it delightful!  Oh what a fabulous Christmas we had. Just the 4 of us + Nana & Papa. We had a great time just relaxing, eating, opening gifts, and celebrating at a wonderful Christmas Eve service. The nuggets enjoyed every minute of it, and we loved being home together for several days. We were blessed with a white Christmas!  I woke up Christmas Eve morning and squealed with delight at the sight I saw from the kitchen window!

Dear Grandpa

Dear Grandpa,

I know you're in heaven by now, probably resting and feeling young again, with no pain in your aging body. What an interesting past few months you had.

You will be missed here on earth Grandpa, as you hold a special place in many people's hearts. Mainly my Mom's, your namesake, GG. You see Grandpa, GG has always said from the beginning that you are her Daddy, you are her first love, you taught her so much. She fondly shared memories of her time in the Adrian Valley, sitting in your truck while you barreled down the roads to the fields. She recalls only special times with you, and you are a great part of what shaped her to be such an amazing woman now.

You see Grandpa, I don't know if you know this, but GG is the most amazing woman I know. And for helping her get to be that person, I thank you.

I know there are others up in heaven with you that are happier now too, I hope you can look down on us and send peace and comfort to all the families. You see Grandpa, only one day after you left us, a school of children were lost in Connecticut. The world is hurting, and we need to know they are comfortable.

I know you will enjoy your time up in heaven, and I am most certain you will spend most of your days in a tractor, farming the most bountiful crop yet. Grandma will miss you too, but don't worry, we will all take care of her.

Rest peacefully, Grandpa. You have worked hard for this moment.

Love,
Jill

Mary

Tatum had her first Christmas program this week, and we were all SO excited to see her in action. She played Mary.  What an exciting time this was for her and her proud Mama & Daddy. Her class spent many hours practicing in the weeks leading up to the play, and we spent about an hour on her costume a couple nights before the play. Ryan and I had a great time putting it together. We noticed T had a little stage fright going on, but that wasn't alarming considering her Father's lack of performance ability. :) The play went off without a hitch and we are all ready for Christmas now,with the true meaning of Christmas at the forefront of our minds.

Dear Jax, 7 Months

Dear Jax, you are 7 months!  And your Mama is way behind on the blog, so we went straight from 6 to 7. :)

You are such an amazing little man. You are full of new things this month!

1. You got 2 new teeth.  You now have to chompers on the bottom and you look adorable.
2. You crawl! You started with the "army crawl" which we quickly named the wounded warrior crawl. You would tuck one arm and pull your body with your other arm, as if your tucked arm had been shot. You did that for about 2 weeks and then got up and boogied.
3. Now that you crawl, you love to try to unplug the Christmas tree (scrooge) or put all four limbs into Pugsly's water dish (water loving baby).
4. You love your sister. Never fails, you see her, you smile the biggest smile ever.
5. You are a good mix of Daddy's boy and Mama's boy. When you are home with Daddy, you love him so. But you dig your Mama a lot too, and follow her around like a puppy.
6. You started school!  Once in  a while when Daddy has been busy with work, you go to school with other babies. You do so great. :)

Jax, we love you more than anything. We can't wait to see what you do next.

Love,

Mama & Daddy

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Dear Jax, You are 6 months...

Dear Jax,

You're 6 months old. Wow, that went fast. It was not too long ago that you were sleeping 6 hours at a time, I was crying everytime you wanted to eat, and the world was a blur. You've since grown out of all of that, and now you are like a little boy. You started sitting up on your 5 month birthday!  And since then it's been amazing.

Your favorite things to do are:

1. Sit up like a big boy and dump out the entire box of toys in front of you, very exciting.
2. Army crawl around the house, mainly backwards. You back yourself into corners all the time, and then you yell at people in hopes they'll rescue you. I'm hoping you outgrow this before you leave for college.
3. Growl. Seriously, you don't giggle, you just straight up low-pitched growl with a huge grin on your face.
4. EAT!  You love to munch on whatever Mama will allow. So far, green beans, peas, bananas, butternut squash, and the boob.
5. Bounce!  Whether it's in your chair, the Johnny Jumper, or in someone's arms, you love to move.

Your least favorite things to do are:
1. Sit still, very still, without the risk of rolling over.
2. SLEEP.

You have acquired a couple more tricks that we're all really fond of:
1. You say "DaDa." And he is SO PROUD.
2. You just today waved bye bye to Papa several times.
3. Rolling over and playing in your crib instead of using it what it's intended for.

Your current stats are:
20 lbs, 5 oz - probably more since we started giving you some real food last week.
I'm not sure how long you are, about gnome sized I guess.
You have NO teeth, but you sure love to chomp on anything and everything, so maybe soon?

Oh Jax Man, you have stretched our hearts in a big way and we can't imagine our lives without you. Tatum loves you more than anything, and the feeling is mutual. Daddy gets to spend a lot of time with you one-on-one and you guys are bros for life, it's a bond that took a little while, but is now unbreakable. And you LOVE your Mama, which is exactly what I hoped for. We love watching you do pretty much everything, and it's usually followed up with a big round of applause or laughter. We are so lucky to have you and we can't wait to see what the next 6 months bring.

Love you Nugget.

Love,
Mama

We The People...

Well, here we are fresh off of an election night, everyone with welcoming arms to the new President of the United States of America, Barack Obama...or ARE WE?

As I sifted through the many facebook posts, comments and "likes" about this Presidential election, especially the results of the election, I realized something very important. I have figured out what THE PEOPLE (Facebook is the "the People" right??) want, and I know just the candidate.

1. I support "industries" (shout out to my MT peeps).
2. I support gay marriage (yes, I'm still married to a homophobe).
3. I support the underprivileged and the poor (I'm a public defender so this one is a big DUH).
4. I could care less if they legalize or don't legalize pot (I still won't be tokin' and maybe my caseload will get smaller).
5. I do not support "laziness" and "living off welfare" permanantly (but really, does ANYONE?).
6. I do not support "taxing the shit out of those of us who work" (child tax credit = you're not eligible because you make too much. WTF?).
7. I support birth control, especially for rape victims (this is noone's freakin' business anyway).
8. I support small businesses (Etsy, you are my friend. WalMart, you are my enemy!).
9. I support GUN RIGHTS (love my home protection, love my hunter, love my guns!).
10. I support large amounts of ammo (what fun are guns without large amounts of ammo - a little de-stressing anyone?).
11. I do not support "teaching our children that it's ok to be a lazy ass on welfare and take hand-outs from everyone" (I will teach my children that working is healthy and fun, if you pick the right job, and it is not acceptable to take handouts. HOWEVER, I will also teach my children to have compassion for those less fortunate than them - those who may not have been taught the same things as them).
12. I support ONE NATION, UNDER GOD, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

Now, since I've laid out my platform, I know that the People (facebookers, mainly) will see that I am the perfect candidate for 2016.

J

Sleep Stealing Gnome

You know what I love about this little nugget??

He finds it fun to wake up EVERY TWO HOURS all night long. It's such a blast getting up that often.  Because, you know, if he didn't wake up that often I might have to go an entire night without seeing those kiss-able cheeks.  Or I might have to go an entire night without seeeing that adorable little mischevious grin. And that would be a damn shame. OR WOULD IT??

I recently saw this e-card:



And this one:



And both are pretty damn accurate in the Nagle household.

Let's rewind 4 years...dear, sweet, princess Tatum arrives, and wakes up for the boob every two hours, sometimes every ONE hour, for exactly FOURTEEN MONTHS. Not once did she sleep longer than 2 hours before then.

Now bringing you to approximately 6 months ago, little stud Jax arrives, and sleeps for SIX HOURS the first night he is born. And continues to do so for approximately 4 months!  Then, a little asshole wide-awake GNOME that I'm guessing looked something like this:



must have snuck in and took little Jax's sleep from him.  THAT'S THE ONLY THING I CAN THINK OF PEOPLE. So now, I bring you to the present, where I am back to waking up every two hours, and I have to ask WHY??

I think it's one of two things:
1. My children hate me; OR
2. That little bastard gnome sneaks into my house every night and steals the sleep from children.

You decide.

Disclaimer: ThismessageisinnowaymeanttoportraythatIdon'tlovemychildrenmorethananythinginthewholeworld.

Dear Ryan

Dear Ryan,

My hunter, my soul-mate, my companion. It's hunting season again, which means I am rarely seeing you-and when I am, you're dreaming about big bulls.

As I sit and think about what this time of year means for you, my heart fills with joy and pride. I get a little bit giddy for you, dreaming of you bringing home your trophy and a freezer full of meat.

I must admit, the thought of you in full Camo hiking in the woods is sorta a turn-on. ;) But in all seriousness, it's your ruggedness that I fell in love with. It's the manly-man demeanor you portray and your love for the outdoors. Your hard work and dedication to the things you love. THOSE are the things that made me fall for you. Your amazing qualities. Yet those are the very things I find so hard to understand when it comes to be hunting season again and I'm spending more nights alone than I am with you - and you're spending more nights in the hunting camper than you are your own bed. But when I take the time to reflect, I realize that hunting is your PASSION, it is what makes you Ryan, and it defines you. And for that, I am in love with you.

So as we are in the middle of hunting season, I am a little giddy, just daydreaming about you bringing home a big bull elk, and filling our freezer with the delicacy.

I can't wait to hear your hunting stories. And soon enough, we'll be taking along with you. Xoxo

Love,
P

What we've been up to...

We have had a glorious weekend hanging out as a family, running errands, and winterizing the yard! Jax has been filling our days with smiles and T has been filling our lives with giggles. We are so blessed to be living and enjoying the simple things this weekend.

Xoxo

Hunting Widow

Hunting Widow: the spouse or significant other of a hunter, whom, during hunting season, is typically left alone, "widowed" by their hunter spouse's prolonged absences; includes sleeping alone in the marriage bed, minimal sex life, extra essential babysitting responsibilities (for those with children), refrigerator depleted of beer supplies, bank account depleted of financial supplies, and the itty bitty possibility of said hunter spouse bringing home some fresh meat.

This sounds about right.

Jax 5 months

Dear Baby Boy

Dear Jax,

You are 5 days short of 5 months. It's so cliche, but where has the time gone? You, baby boy, have stolen hearts in a big way.

You usually start your day with a big ol' smile and a high-pitched squeal as soon as you see me reaching in the crib to grab you. This comes after a night of waking around 1am and 5 am, sometimes more, sometimes less. You are so thrilled to see me in the morning - I can't even think about how tired I am when I see that big, beatiful grin.

You proceed to your "gym" after a clean diaper is placed on your bottom, and you proceed to ROLL around (both directions and many directions) there and play with your little toys while Mama gets ready for work. You then start squwakin' when it's time to eat, and Mama picks you up to do that. Then you spend the next 20 minutes or so in Mama's arms getting kisses and hugs until Nana gets here so Mama can go to work.

You usually take a big morning nap and a big afternoon nap (if we're lucky) and you spend your day smiling, laughing, full-belly giggling and just hanging out.

Your new fun things are:
1. Rolling in all directions and quickly rolling around - so quick that we usually wonder how you ended up in that place when we JUST put you in a different place.
2. Grabbing, reaching, trying so hard to get ANYTHING fun that might be in front of you - toys, water bottles, glasses, shiny objects of all sorts.
3. Sitting UP!  Sort of...this is a new thing that you've picked up in just the last couple days and you are getting stronger and stronger each day. It's only a matter of time before you master this.
4. THOSE SMILES. These are not new, but I have to mention them because they are one of the many things I just love about you.

Jax, You have stolen Mama's heart. When I see you, I burst with pride, and I actually grit my teeth when I hold you because I am squeezing you so tight. You LOVE your sister, Tatum, and she loves you just as much. You two lock eyes and the world is gone. :)  And of course, Daddy couldn't be more proud of his big ol' boy. We are so blessed to have you in our lives, and we can't wait to see what other fun things you start to do.

Love,
Mama

Peace

Dear Tatum & Jax,

This weekend we took you to Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp. This camp is where I went when I was a kid, and I have been dreaming of taking my kids someday. I couldn't wait to get there and show you what it's like to take in the beauty, the serenity, the PEACE of Flathead Lake. And we did just that. You warmed this Mama's heart with your happiness, giggles, and PEACE. I can't wait to go back every year, and someday, maybe you'll take your kids...