Pulling Up

She hasn't yet mastered the art of crawling, but yesterday she pulled herself up for the first time. We were at my friend's house and Natalie was loving all the new toys (side note: why is it that other people's toys are always better than your own?). I turned my head for a nanosecond, and when I turned back around, Natalie had pulled herself up on the toy basket. Although you can't see my face in the picture, it's a look that plainly says "Whaaaaa?"

Is she already bored with her version of crawling that she's moved on to bigger and better things?

At least she's aware of her enormous head, and has therefore assumed a position that counterbalances the weight of her noggin.

Weekly Natalie - Week 33

*sigh* I love Daddy/Nattie pictures. They make my heart happy.

Daddy hugs

This is a big deal. Natalie NEVER falls asleep on us anymore. She's too busy movin' and groovin', and doesn't want to sit still and snuggle. So when she DID, well, that's about the cutest thing in the entire world.

Snug as a bug on her Daddy

Sitting pretty at Ellaroo's birthday party

I have no clue where her neck went in this one

First time feeding herself with a spoon

She thinks being covered in peaches is GREAT

Post bathtime cuteness

I switched back and forth these two photos in my camera for what seemed like hours. It absolutely cracked me up. I made them into an animated gif so everyone else could experience the hilarity. (Sorry the quality is so bad - stupid free animated-gif-maker sites)

And She's Off

Heaven help us, she crawls!

This morning, Natalie figured out the left-hand-right-foot/right-hand-left-foot combination! She only did it once or twice before reverting back to her trusty scoot/Army crawl/flop/yoga hop maneuver, but she did it!

Maybe she'll burn up a lot of energy crawling and start sleeping at night again. Cross your fingers!!

Weekly Natalie - Week 32

Man, Week 32 was chock full of cute pictures.

(People have commented to me how happy Natalie always looks, how she couldn't possibly ever be fussy or whiny. And I have to withhold laughter. In my opinion, Natalie is fussier than the average baby. But when she's happy, she's so happy. There are ample opportunities for me to take pictures of her crying, whining, and/or fussing. But I choose to wait until I can get smiley pictures.)

Trying on her fairy wings and tutu for Sydney's
Peter Pan birthday party
(Our house is now covered in glitter from those wings)

Got tangled up in my purse and started rolling around the living room

Stoic baby

Un-stoic baby

I'm in love with her cheeks

I'd love for her to take piano lessons when she's older

At least she's good-natured about falling over

Would rather eat the basketball than play with it

My little puppy dog

She does this a lot. I know - ew.

Introducing my new favorite picture of her!

Random Musings

There are things that I've heard other kids doing, but never fully understood them until I experienced it myself with Natalie

For instance ...

• She won't sleep when I take a road trip specifically for the purpose of getting her to take a nap ... but on our 5-minute drive home from Walmart? She falls asleep almost every time.
• She has a basket of colorful, noisy, and/or squishy toys. But what does she prefer to play with? Our remote control. Our magazines (side note: for not being especially coordinated, that girl can tear UP a magazine. It's astonishing). The garbage bag. My peanut butter sandwich. My nursing cover. I imagine this is how it is having a puppy.
• Being all smiley and playful at the pediatrician, when not an hour or so earlier, she was fussy and whiny
• How difficult it is to try to change a diaper on a wiggle worm. A wiggle worm who prefers to be naked.

Natalie's never been much of a snuggler. She's definitely fond of me (because, well, I'm her fridge), but she's more of a cat personality than a dog personality. She wants to be held on her terms. In some ways, I'm bummed - because I like snuggling. But in other ways, I'm thankful - she usually does really well playing by herself. She wants me to be around, but doesn't necessarily need me to be interacting with her at all times. So I'm able to get things done around the house and not feel like I have to be holding her all day.

But she's been congested lately (I think she feels okay other than that), but she's been a bit more snuggly because of it. And I love it. I mean, I hate that she's congested, but I like the snuggles. She's not in full-on dog-mode, but she's not as cat-like as she normally is.

Videos with Christi

Nat sure loves her some Aunt Christi

Weekly Natalie - Week 31

One of our really great friends came for a visit this week. I hadn't seen her since January 2008, Lee hadn't seen her since March 2007, and she hadn't been back to Pensacola since April 2006. We had a great time, and Natalie sure loves her some Aunt Christi.

After a day of shopping

My little angel-face

Hamming it up while trying to launch herself over my leg

Downward dog ruffle-butt!

Downward Dog

Natalie can't crawl yet ... but she can already do yoga. She's been getting up on all fours for a while now, rocking back and forth. But yesterday she started getting up on her hands and tiptoes, in a pretty good downward dog pose (according to one of my friends who does yoga).

Natalie looks very much like this:

only with less hair and many, many more fat rolls.

July 2009 - Recap

Dear Nataroo,
July was quite the month for you, my little love. Your personality has really started to show, and let me tell you something, munchkin - you are one goofy kid (though given your parents, you never stood much of chance to not be goofy). And I'm almost positive that July was your last immobile month. How I'll miss you being immobile ...

Speaking of, you now can get up on all your hands and knees. You rock back and forth with such determination, but you haven't quite figured out the whole left-knee-right-hand and right-knee-left-hand combination. But that doesn't stop you from going places. Oh no. You have no problem going from Point A to Point B. It may not be in the most efficient or most graceful manner, but you get there.

You love to munch on your toes (and you love to munch on mine, too - you'll have to stop that because my toes aren't nearly as clean as yours).

You seem to be physically unable to remain still for more than three seconds. You're ALWAYS moving. Gramma Lu doesn't remember me being like that. And Nana doesn't remember Daddy being like that. So where did you get the notion that being calm and/or stationary is terribly uncool?

July brought you into the world of solid food. And you haven't looked back since! We've given you butternut squash, sweet potato, banana, and avocado. And as shown by your impossibly deep fat rolls, you think solid food is fantastic. I usually give you a veggie after your morning nap and some oatmeal after your afternoon nap. You get so excited when I put you in your high chair. You open your mouth and start squawking.

Speaking of squawking. WOW. You are an incredibly noisy baby. Lately it's been runs of "Bababababababababababa" or "Dadadadadadadadadadada". And if we're not watching you while you're mid-squawk, your "Bababababababababababa"s and "Dadadadadadadadadadada"s quickly become BABABABABABABABABABABABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" and DADADADADADADADADADADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA". You love an audience, you little ham.

You're also a ham on the Jumperoo. You don't mind jumping if nobody's watching you - but you're much happier if all eyes in the room are on you. If you see you have an audience, your face lights up and you start jumping harder and harder (I'm actually a little surprised you haven't launched yourself into the atmosphere yet). It's so cute to see you get all worked up. You crack yourself up (and don't worry, you crack Daddy and me up too)

You have a tooth coming in - or at least, I hope it's coming in. You've been 'pre-teething' for what's seemed like months. But you've just recently started to act like your gums hurt. God bless whoever invented the mesh feeder. We fill it with a frozen cube of baby food and you instantly cheer up - it's yummy food plus it numbs your gums a bit. Double bonus.

Daddy and I haven't sat in the church sanctuary together for something like three or four months. We'd either go to the Family Room (where a live feed of the church service is shown on a TV) or one of us goes to church while the other stays home with you. But we figured that it was time to try out the nursery - and you did great! When we drop you off, Daddy and I get a card with a number printed on it. If you have a problem during the church service, the nursery volunteer gets that number to flash up on a screen at the front of the church. We spent the whole service with our eyes glued to the screen, knowing that our number would eventually flash up. But it never did! You handled the nursery like a champ. Daddy and I are so glad we can go to church together again - we missed doing that so much.

You're able to roll over while swaddled and that's not terribly safe. So this was the month that Daddy and I decided to wean you off being swaddled when you go to sleep. The first few days were really rough. And we haven't been doing it enough to call it a success yet, but it's definitely gotten better. You look so cute in your jammies, but I miss seeing you look like a baby burrito. You made one cute burrito.

You enjoy being on your tummy much more now, and in keeping with your motto of "I might explode if I'm calm for more than three seconds, so I must be moving at all times", you thump your left leg up and down (and up and down ... and up and down ... and up and down ...). I'm not sure if that means you favor your left side and might eventually be left-handed. Or if it means your right leg is just a little too weighed down with your aforementioned impossibly deep fat rolls.

You're getting really good at sitting up by yourself. You still have the occasional face-plant (but with a 95th percentile head, it's understandable that you'd be quite top heavy), but you've gotten to the point where you can sit up, reach for a toy, and not topple over. If you hold on to my fingers while you're sitting up, you immediately start rocking back and forth. You're going to give yourself Shaken Baby Syndrome, you silly kid.

The only 'low point' this month was your first beach trip. I don't need to rehash the tears, fussing, and general misery. I wrote it all down here. (You'll probably have your second beach trip this month ... hopefully it'll be better than this one)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Month six has definitely been our favorite month. You're so playful (except, when, you know, you're not - and you have no problem letting us know you're not in a playing mood) and funny. I can't begin to tell you how thankful we are for you. How blessed you make us feel. How surprised that this overwhelming love we feel for you hasn't rendered us completely incapacitated. You are an almost-19-pound ball of joy.

We love you so much.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy