Weekly Natalie - Week 52

Oh. My. Gosh.

You turn 1 tomorrow.

1.

ONE.

And you're already driving. How cool is THAT?

December 2009 - Recap

Well, there it went! Your last month as a zero-year-old.

Up until December, you had always seemed too busy to be interested in books. You liked chewing on them, of course. But to actually sit still for more than two seconds while we read to you? Fuhgeddaboudit. So I guess you had 11 months of reading that you simply HAD to accomplish before you turned one, because you have turned into a veritable reading machine. Well, let me rephrase that. Daddy and I have turned into veritable reading machines; and you have turned into a fairly decent listener. All you want to do is have us read to you ... except you haven't yet learned what proper reading protocol is. We'll read the first page or two from a book, then you'll take from our hands the book we were just reading to you and you'll hand it back to us with a pleading look in your eyes that says "Please oh PLEASE read this to me ... please??" Um, okay? So we'll start over, and maybe you'll let us get to page three, but then you'll take the book from our hands again and give it back to us again. And then other times we'll be reading one book, then you'll pick up another book and hand it to us. And you also want us to read the same book over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. It's actually fairly exhausting. But the fact that you want to be read to thrills us!

Here are the books that you want to read all day, every day:

Your third tooth popped through this month and I can tell that your 4th one isn't too far behind. I've held off from feeding you certain 'real' foods because your severe lack of teeth, but for the most part, I'm feeding you whatever I'm eating. And, thank the Lord, you are a fantastic eater. But as much as you like these new foods, nothing - and I mean nothing - will ever be as tasty to you as Cheerios are. If Cheerios could change your diaper and produce milk, you would have no use for me.

We started you on a big-girl cup this month. You still prefer your handled sippy cup, but you've transitioned to the handle-less cup really well. I think your complete adoration for water may have helped. You love water. You haven't had any fruit juice yet, and I'm trying to hold off as long as I can for that. I figure if you love water and most fruits, then you don't need the sugar from fruit juice.

Baths are still on the top of the List of Things Natalie Hates. There are times when we think you've had a breakthrough and might actually be enjoying your bath ... but those times are few and far between. Even if you're not crying while you're in the tub, you always burst into tears when we have to rinse the soap off you. And trying to rinse the shampoo out of your hair? Let's just say that Daddy and I now have the speed of a NASCAR pit crew. Where most children cry when you take them out of the tub, you, my dear sweet girl, immediately cheer up when we do it. As soon as we've bundled you up in a towel, you're all smiles.

You're a good eater, you take two naps during the day, and you sleep between 11 and 12 hours a night ... so if you hate taking a bath, it's okay. It's something that only lasts about 5 minutes - I can deal with that.

You got your first freckle this month! Daddy has a few freckles ... and me? I'm a gigantic walking freckle. So it was only a matter of time before you got your first one. It's on your neck, under your right ear. Hopefully you'll love your freckles ... I got a sign from one of my best friends in elementary school that said "A Girl Without Freckles is Like a Night Sky Without Stars". Truer words were never said.

This month, you've started leaning in for kisses. And let me tell you, kiddo - even if you tried to do something cuter than that, I don't think you could. Daddy will say "Nattie, give Daddy a kiss!" And you'll lean in, with either your cheek, your forehead, or your mouth. It's awesome. It's amazing how one little motion can bring two adults to dissolve into a fit of giggles.

You're a peekaboo expert. You play peekaboo with your bib at every meal. And you've started playing it with your shirts. As hard as I try to not laugh, I can't help it. It's hysterical. Which, of course, just eggs you on. Which, of course, means that I had to walk through Office Max with you while you lifted your shirt up for everyone you passed. Which, of course, means that the 17-year-old male employees at Office Max were all blushing furiously. Which, of course, means that I had my shortest trip to Office Max in Suze history.

You love your socks. You love your socks so much that you don't want them to be relegated to your feet. You want them in your hands, or, better yet, in your mouth. The only way I can keep socks on your feet is to put your shoes on. Because if you just have socks on, you immediately pull them off (and often times, you lose your balance and fall over in the process - it's way funny). You crawl around the house, holding your trusty socks firmly in your fists.

Speaking of crawling, you're quite the expert crawler. You haven't really shown much interest in walking yet. Sometimes we'll see you standing by yourself and you look like you're thinking about maybe taking a step, but then you plop to the ground. I'm in no rush, really. Take your time, my little love.

In fact, take your time on everything. This year has gone by so quickly, but watching you do things in your own time and in your own way has reminded me to slow down. To not be in any rush for you to grow up. To not be in any rush for you to not need me anymore. I pray that in some ways, you'll always need me.

Hugs and smooches,
Mommy & Daddy

Weekly Natalie - Week 51 ... Problem Fixed

Week 51 AND Christmas AND I found my camera - what a wonderful combination! Lee and I were so excited to spend our first Christmas together as a three-membered Team Smith. Of course Natalie didn't totally get what was going on, but she handled all the excitement like a champ. She was in a good mood all day (Thank you, God) and had a lot of fun playing with Nana, Gramma Lu, Granddaddy, Grandpa, Aunt Karen, Uncle Mike, Aunt Lisa, Taylor, Grandma, and Paw Paw. Whew!

We felt extraordinarily blessed to be surrounded by family this Christmas (especially since last Christmas, we did absolutely nothing, for fear that I'd go into labor any second and have to rush to the hospital).

Life just doesn't get much better than celebrating our Savior's birth with loved ones.

Lee with the present I got him
I'll give you 10 guesses as to who the drawings are of :)
(a humongous thank-you to my girl Amanda for her artwork!)

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a good Scruncher Bear

Snuggling with Daddy

A big, fat BOOYAH to Pillsbury.
My homemade cinnamon rolls rocked, if I do say so myself (which I do)

Merry Christmas, Internet!

Weekly Natalie - Week 51 ... Problem

Um, does anyone know where my camera is?

Anyone?

Because it's missing. And I have pictures of Natalie that I must show.

And I'm positively bummed that I've misplaced it. Stupid camera that grew a pair of stupid legs and walked stupidly away from me.

But besides that, it's Christmas Eve! It's my absolute favorite time of the year and I can't wait to have our first Christmas with Nataroo tomorrow ... not that she'll know what's going on, but who cares. Because it's CHRISTMAS!

The Great Negotiation

I married a wonderful guy - he's hilarious, he thinks I'm hilarious (or at least mildly funny), he's tall, he's smart, he's a hard worker. But there's one thing he's not good at ... he's not good at not gagging while changing Natalie's dirty diapers. I'm by no means a fan of poop, but after changing a year's worth of poopy diapers, I'm pretty unphased by it now. I just tell myself that poop = healthy baby.

I'm not good at many things, but one specific on is vacuuming. I do NOT like to vacuum. I like to think it's because our behemoth we call a vacuum is old, loud, and heavy. That if I had, say, a Dyson Ball vacuum, I'd discover a new love of vacuuming. But alas, we have a Dirt Devil that weighs approximately 400lbs, isn't self-propelled, and sounds like a jet taking off when I turn it on.

I presented Lee with a proposition the other night ... that I would change all of Natalie's dirty diapers if he would be in charge of vacuuming the house.

I think it's a pretty sweet deal ... he doesn't have to worry about gagging from Nat's diaper surprises and I don't have to lug our dumb vacuum around the house.

But he hasn't agreed to it yet. *keeping my fingers crossed*

Weekly Natalie - Week 50

We're inching closer and closer to Natalie's 1st birthday ... and I'm inching closer and closer to being able to say that out loud without tearing up. I simply cannot believe that she's almost 1.

That this time last year, I was humongous, uncomfortable, and unbelievably antsy to meet our beautiful baby girl. I vividly remember talking to Lee about how "this time next year, we're going to have an almost-one-year-old". We just laughed; I couldn't imagine being not pregnant, let alone imagining what it would be like to have a giggly, squirmy, full-of-energy, heart-melter like Natalie.

And it's hard to believe that this time next year, we're going to have an almost-two-year-old. THAT is mind blowing. But I really shouldn't focus on that. Right now I'm focusing on how cute she looks in pigtails. I mean, PIGTAILS! They're so cute that they simply cannot be held back by lowercase letters. They're cute enough to warrant all caps PLUS an exclamation point.

See? Cute, huh? PIGTAILS!

Uneven, messy, but painfully adorable PIGTAILS!

She'd rather hold her pants than use them for their intended purpose.
Like covering up her chunky, chunky thighs.

If you need a second to recover after seeing this picture, I understand.
PIGTAILS! plus Scruncher Bear is definitely cute overload.

Fake smiler!
(Is this kid EVER going to get any more teeth?!)

All I have to do is say "Peekaboo!" and she immediately pulls her
bib over her face. It's a really fun game!

So excited to use her walker!

After almost a year of seeing the same light in our hallway,
she's still infatuated with it.

Cruised over to the door of the linen closet to give it a good smack

My PIGTAILED! tongue-flipper

I love my Scruncher Bear

Weekly Natalie - Week 49

After months of drooling and weeks of being, well, you know ... less than pleasant ... Natalie's 3rd (yes, she only has 3) tooth popped through! I'm so relieved. She appears to be a slow tooth grower - which works well for nursing, but not well for wanting your daughter to look like a little kid and not like a 90-year-old man.

I love LOVE this little face. And I love that she's mine.

So not interested in posing with me

Empty Powerade bottle + pop tops = one happy baby

Super Scruncher Bear

She learned early that women look the most slim when they're
photographed from behind, looking over their shoulder

Thisclose to doing a somersault

She loooooves munching on her socks.

She looks so cute in her jammies.

So excited!

She looks thoroughly annoyed right here

I love that she's so silly and goofy

Walker FAIL