Happy 18 Months Natalie Sue!

Everyone says it, "they grow up so fast."  In the sleep deprived early days, you vaguely are aware that there are different days.  Before you know it, your baby turns one.  A blink later they are no longer a baby, but a full blown toddler.

As I was reading books with Natalie tonight, I took a current inventory if you will.  When she sits on my lap, her face is directly in line with my shoulder.  She is at the perfect height that I can kiss her sweet cheeks.  Her legs are so long that her feet nearly reach my knees.  Her hair is just above her shoulders and has soft curls.  When I hold her, she rests her head on my shoulder and her knees actually rest on my lap.  These are the little things that I am trying to burn into my memory, things that I never want to forget.

As far as developmentally, she is actually running these days.  Running absolutely everywhere.  No longer does she look like a sand lizard with her arms and legs flaring as she runs.  She tries her very best to keep up with her sister in everything.  Natalie loves to climb and there isn't much in the house that she hasn't climbed at this point.  She is busy all the time and enjoys the following things:

• Stomping her feet
• Dancing
• Playing dress-up (loves fancy shoes)
• Picking out food from the refrigerator and pantry
• Brushing her teeth and washing her hands
• Tackling daddy
• Putting a purse over her shoulder and waving 'bye' 
• Playing catch

She's still on the small side so I am hoping the pediatrician appointment this month doesn't show her down another percentile (she's dropped every month since 9 months).  I think that she's grown recently as she feels heavier.  In clothes, she's in 12-18 month across the board as of this month.  Her pants are good for length but too large in the waist and the shirts fit a little large.  

Verbally, she tries really hard to talk.  She will repeat two word phrases, however if she wasn't repeating something I don't think that I would know what she was actually saying.  Words that are in her everyday vocabulary are:

• Claire
• Dog
• Yes (Yeah)
• Ice Cream
• Drink
• Thank You
• Kitty
• Blankie
• Baby
• Paci

Natalie is a VERY strong willed little miss.  She doesn't like it when you help her without her consent.  She likes to pick out her own clothes (read: has a tantrum if you put her in something she doesn't want to wear).  She still holds her own hair for comfort and often pulls out her ponytail in the process.  She stands up for herself when her sister takes a toy that she thinks should be hers.  

I took a stroll down memory lane and pulled out photos from her birth.

I am amazed at the difference that 18 months makes!!  

Happy 1/2 Birthday Little Girl!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Claire!

If you ask Claire her birthday, she will respond with, "March the First!".  If you ask Claire how old she is, she will shrug her shoulders and say, "I don't know."  With some prodding, she will eventually respond with an emphatic, "THREE!".

Since her actual birthday was on a Thursday she took cupcakes decorated for each of her daycare friends and her daycare providers family.  We stayed up late on Wednesday night as she chose sprinkles for each person.  She picked all chocolate sprinkles for the boys, since they were brown.  The girls got all the rest of the colors (we really only had girly colored sprinkles).  I was a bit of an emotional wreck to be at work on her birthday.  Thankfully, her daycare provider emailed me photos of her special day complete with candles and all!  That evening, we gave her one small gift, a microphone on a stand.  She loves performing on it!!  "Riley Grandma" (Ryan's mom whose dog is named Riley) came over with a book, flashlight and puzzles for the birthday girl to open.  We then had the second round of cupcakes and more singing.

Claire's party was on Saturday evening.  I had taken Friday off so I had almost two whole days to get everything ready.  I needed every single minute of course!  The theme of the party was a Bake Shop since Claire loves cooking/baking so much.  I had lots of help making the vision come to life; decorations were made by Shannon from Sweet Stellas, the cake was from my friend Lisa and the birthday girl had a skirt and bow made by Anna's Bow Shop.  In typical Claire fashion, she wouldn't wear the adorable fabric strip skirt for the party - but it is so cute!  My parents and niece Dakota came over three hours early to help with food preparations.  They were a huge help, there is no way I would have made it on time.  Ryan's mom helped get everything set up and cleaned up.  I am so thankful to everyone that helped make her party perfect!!

Ryan made these Bake Shops - one for the salad bar and the other was the cupcake decorating station

The loot for the guests!

Let the traumatic threes begin! She was running away from me - grr!

We had such a great time with all our guests!  We ate soup, salad and bread for dinner then feasted on cake while the birthday girl opened gifts.  She got some wonderful things, we truly have some fantastic people in our lives that surround our little girl with so much love.  I feel so blessed after the party!!

Enjoy some photos of the party in action!  

Happy 3rd Birthday Claire!!  We love you so much!!

Happy 10 Months Miss Natalie Sue

We have entered the double digit months!  Very quickly Natalie is growing into a toddler, right before my eyes.  The list of things that she is able to do is exponentially expanding.  

Here are some of the milestones of the month:

• She has started walking behind walkers, chairs and anything that will push.  

• She is signing "more" "all-done" and "milk"
• She often says "mu" when signing milk
• Waves and says "buh-buh"
• Natalie loves to pray at dinner.  She folds her hands and claps after we say amen.
• She blows kisses and likes to make blah, blah sounds while moving her hand over her mouth to change the tone
• Hates being told no, she gets very upset
• She will try to climb anything in her path

• That second bottom tooth came through.  She has six more on the way, but they are moving slow.
• Natalie loves to see babies.  In person, in pictures or herself in the mirror.  She sometimes says "be-be" and giggles with delight.
• She prefers to take bites of food rather than have small pieces on her high chair.

• She has recently began exploring things in her world through touch.  She loves to touch all the animals of her mobile before I lay her down in bed. She is becoming very aware of the world around her.
• The nights are getting better thanks to SleepEasy sleep training.  We are on our 10th night and beginning to see some progress.  I am hoping by the time I write another monthly update, that is a milestone that we can include!!

We have a sitter!

I can officially say that Miss Natalie is sitting independently.  I have been waiting for this stage for awhile now and we have had lots of sitting practice for her.  Her daycare provider had been working on propping her up as have Ryan and I in hopes of getting her to sit on her own.  She is so much happier when she can sit up and watch the action.  She is doing so well now, I don't even bother to put the boppy behind her!  I even witnessed a time where she began to fall backwards, put her little arm out to catch herself and sat back up proud as can be.  If she does fall, she has started to do it with control.  I can't believe how big my baby is getting!!  Here are some photos from earlier today of our newest sitter.

Isn't she so so cute?!

She can even look behind her without falling!

Happy drooly baby :)

Can't you just tell how proud she is?!

Thought she was going down...

And she's back up again

I'm linking this post up with Mama G from Growing Up Geeky for her Toddle Along Tuesday.  The theme for the week is Milestones or Firsts.  Come join :)