Weekly Natalie - Week 47

I am so thankful for this little pumpkin ... this waving, (French)kiss-blowing, blubbering, beautiful little pumpkin.

Waving, Clapping, and Blowing Kisses (sort of)

Natalie is now an expert waver - and I must say, it's the cutest thing ever. She waves at people when they come into the room, she waves at strangers at Walmart, she waves at her reflection in the mirror. She's mastered both the open-handed-rotating-wrist wave and the open-fingers-close-fingers wave (except with that one, she opens and closes her fingers the wrong direction, so she's essentially waving at herself - but who cares?)

And she also claps. I'm actually surprised she likes to clap because she used to haaaaaate the sound of people clapping (it's what caused her to burst into hysterics at her dedication at church!). But she claps now, and it's adorable. And like waving, she claps when people come into the room, she claps for strangers at Walmart, and she claps at her reflection in the mirror.

Just recently, I've been having her blow kisses at friends and family (sorry, people at Walmart - you don't get kisses just yet). This pretty much consists of me putting Natalie's hand to her mouth and then sweeping it away. But a couple of days ago, she brought her hand to her mouth like she was trying to do it herself!

Have I mentioned that Lee and I think she's the most adorable person on the planet? Because she is.

Weekly Natalie - Week 46

Natalie's newest favorite thing to play with is a squirt bottle. She loves getting the water out herself and she gets a huge smile on her face when we squirt her in the mouth. A squirt bottle probably isn't the best thing for her to chew on ... I wonder if they make BPA-free squirt bottles ...

I love her cheesy grins

I LOVE squirt bottles!!

Standing up like a big girl

Scruncher Bear strikes again!

Waving and sucking on the squirt bottle.
Quite the little multitasker.

She's destined for Harvard if she can already read books upside down

Such a little genius

This picture is hysterical. There's a spit bubble on her gums
but it looks like she's got a grill!

Squirt bottle acrobatics

Coming to get me!

Weekly Natalie - Week 45

I canNOT believe that it's already the middle of November. Which means that next month is December. Which means that Natalie will have her 1st birthday before too long. Aaaaaaah!!

Just recently NJ has been trying to fit as many fingers
as humanly possible into her mouth when she's
eating Cheerios (or some other finger food)

For some reason, this picture reminds me of Robert DeNiro ...
if he were a Scruncher Bear

Another Scruncher Bear

Yet another Scruncher Bear

Not fully committing to being a Scruncher Bear

Standing up like a big girl
(while I cry like a little girl ...)

And down she goes!! It's a good thing we have carpeted floors
and she has a diapered booty

Right before she climbed right into my face

I could nibble on these cheeks 24/7

Rawr!!

Showing off her big, bad teeth

Yes, I'm biased ... but I think this kid is the best smiler EVER.

This picture is hee-larious.

Kindly asking me to quit taking pictures of her

More tongue tricks

Sitting in our living room (aka: Toys Backwards-R Us)

Her smiles make me smile

This rattle is #1 in Nat's eyes.
If it could feed her, she'd totally move out on her own.

Squealing!!

My wonderful pumpkin-head

Standing Up

Natalie will stand unassisted, but only if someone helps her stand up, then slowly pries their fingers out of her hands.

Until today.

She was playing in her toy basket this morning, quietly babbling to her stuffed bear. I turn away for a second and look back - and she was standing up, quietly babbling to her toy keys. I stopped what I was doing and just stared at her ... my baby. My baby ... the one who seems like was born yesterday is now able to stand up without holding onto anything.

My baby ... isn't a baby anymore.

Weekly Natalie - Week 44

This past Sunday , three of our most favorite people came for a visit. "Uncle" Cam, "Aunt" Sara, and "Cuz" (no wait - she actually is a cuz) Ella(roo) spent the afternoon with us. We hadn't seen each other in a few months and we loved hanging out with them.

We took the kiddos down to the park and let them play (or, "play", if you're Natalie).

Daddy kisses!

This girl loves swinging!

Ella and Natalie, looking incredibly bored with their respective parents

They're obviously plotting a way to escape

Daddies and daughters on the seesaw