10 months!

9 months!

I have been a very bad blogger this fall but I assure you that little Miss Natalie Claire is doing fantastic! She had her nine month appointment in November weighing in at 16.5 pounds and was 24 inches long (I think. I'm bad with all these numbers). Still petite but growing great! The doctor was very happy with her. She has her first tooth, is sitting up on her own and is just minutes away from crawling. For now she scoots backwards in a circle. Ha!

Here she is celebrating my birthday.

This month Natalie and I went to the Jenks Christmas parade. We saw floats, horses, cheerleaders...she really liked the cheerleaders. Maybe this will be Natalie one day?

She hasn't sat on Santa's lap but she did see him in the parade. She wasn't too impressed. Neither was the kid who fell asleep next to him apparently!

I asked a stranger to take our picture. He took about five and yet....these were the best shots.

At least you can tell we are both there!? We also visited Philbrook Museum's annual Festival of the Trees and Garden Glow. Here we are looking at the crazy decorated Christmas trees.

And the lit garden. It was a warm night and we had fun walking around.

We also had family photos made. Here is just a sample.

She will be a year old before we know it (WHAAA!!!!) We couldn't love this sweet girl more. Here is her signature sleeping move--hands thrown behind her head. Love her!

The amazing NATALIE!

Look! What's that!? It's the amazing Natalie!

Watch as she pushes, squirms and attempts to crawl!




And what's this there!? Is that an annoyingly happy sunshine? Watch as Natalie shows that sun who's boss. Has she been defeated!? No, that's just her fake roll away! Now she's back to claim victory over the sunshine!

She's cute, she's cuddly, and she can squeeeeeeal much, much louder than you.



She's the AMAZING Natalie!!!

8 months is here

today is it....natalie claire starts month number 8! she is growing and changing every day as any visitor will tell you. when people haven't seen her in a while they are very surprised. she is so sturdy, getting lots of chub, and her personality keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.



at school, the teachers say she is one of the most verbal chatting with her friends. in fact, they said when the smaller babies don't answer her back she gets a little miffed. she likes to mimic going and forth "talking." she has started a high pitched squeal that's very cute. she also thinks blowing raspberries is pretty funny. me and mike have had to change shirts (hers and ours) more than once lately from all the slobbery fun!



she smiles all the time, wakes up happy, and is content to play by herself these days. of course she loves mom or dad to lay with her and "talk" while she kicks and plays. but she has also mastered rolling....barrel rolling! so while we have to watch her very close, she can also roll to reach toys, watch mom cook or see who's winning when dad is watching a game on tv.



we also have started solid foods adding a new fruit or veggie every 3 or 4 days. likes: prunes, apples, zucchini. kind of likes: avocado, banana hates: PEAS. we've also been working with a sippy cup. she can get it to her mouth...tipping it to drink is harder. she's getting there!





it isn't all easy of course. she has reached a new pitch of crying i like to call "blood curdling." she has learned that crying while screaming "MAAAA MAAA" gets things done more quickly. she is fighting bed time more and more. but despite all the hard moments there are so many happy ones.

best dressed baby

we think natalie is pretty great, but did you know she was also voted "cutest sleeper"? well...she doesn't always sleep when we'd like...but at least she is stylish when she does!

7 months!

our baby girl is 7 months old this month! we love watching her change and becoming more of her own little person each day.
fall means football around our house and natalie and mike are football watching buddies!

She started eating cereal last month. MOST of it make it in her mouth. ha! next week we start veggies!

mimi and pops came to town and brought natalie a fun new toy! so many colors and thing to play with!
she's still tiny (but getting heavy. almost 15 pounds!) one day soon her feet will hit the floor. THEN what will we do!? the chase will begin!

so much fun!

she is a very happy baby always smiling (unless she's hungry). she chatters often and is currently very good at 'B' sounds, blowing raspberries and squealing!

six months old!

we went to natalie's six month check up last week. her doctor is very happy with her. she is doing almost everything a six month baby should be doing. rolling over, grasping at toys, sitting up (ALMOST!) on her own. she's is still tiny for her birth age but plenty big had she been born on time. she's up to 13 pounds 8 ounces, 24 inches long and finally in those six month clothes!

i knew it was coming soon but the doc finally gave the okay...big girl cereal! we tried a few bites this weekend. i think she likes it!

sleepy head

lucky me! i am the one who gets natalie up and ready for breakfast and school. she is a very happy baby in the morning....but would rather stay asleep most mornings. here is just a little preview of what i get almost every morning.

so much to share!

we take lots of pictures of natalie. i mean LOTS. and video, too. adorable video of her jabbering. playing with toys. sleeping. and we get SO MANY photos and video it seems too overwhelming to get the blog updated. but that's not fair to all of you, is it!? she's just so sweet and precious...it's only fair to share.

so i will do a better job of posting pictures. leave lots of comments and tell mike it's his job to keep the videos coming!


here are just a few from the last few weeks.

worn out at our friend paige's first birthday

visit to pawpaw doug's

in her big girl tub! she's good at kicking and splashing.

big girl! she's pushing up and rolling over!




big girl....but still tiny!

standing up with a little help....okay, a lot of help!

sweetie pie!

bubbles!

Natalie is changing so much every day. lately she is even more vocal and has switched from "a-goo" type noises to playing with her tongue when she makes sounds. the result is a lot of slobber and a lot of bubbles. ha! here's a little sample:




she is doing so good at school. her teachers think she's the best (of course!). her older buddies are getting moved up to the one year old class and some new babies (some not even born yet!) will move in to her class soon. until then it's just natalie and one other baby. LOTS of play time! we have our first parent teacher conference coming up. i have a feeling Natalie might get "talks out of turn" just like her momma :)


the little stinker makes her own rules, too. bumper? what bumper? look at this little monkey! please note she started in the MIDDLE of her bed.

5 months old!

our tiny baby girl isn't so tiny these days! she is more than 11 pounds and 23 inches long. she's finally on the growth chart, ha! in the tenth percentile for her height and weight for her age. but for a two month old she's well above the norm. she's somewhere in between. and just perfect! her doctor is so happy with her and is very impressed with her strength and motor skills.

natalie is outgrowing clothes like crazy. luckily, between her grammie, mimi and auntie andi she has plenty of new fashions to grow in to! it seems like just yesterday we were trying clothes on her to see what would fit. it was all so big on her! now she has a pile of things she has outgrown. whew!

she still doesn't like "tummy time" but has no problems holding her head up while you hold her and she pushes away from you to hold herself up. she is very close to sitting up by herself.

and needless to say she gets a loud mouth from her momma! the girl chatters and coos and giggles away. we think a tooth isn't far away. she has been chewing on her hands a lot more and on her toys, we found her some teething rings...she just isn't sure what to do with it yet!

here are a few pictures of our five month old:

four months three weeks- giggles!

this weekend natalie was squealing and making herself laugh. it was hard to catch all the funniest bits on camera but this was a little snip it. i apologize for my baby talk and singing... :)

more giggles!

this was a big laugh!

natalie's first fourth of july!

remember i told you about natalie sucking on her fingers? i wish she didn't, but no joke...it's cute!

we had a busy fourth of july weekend which included a family wedding and fireworks! grammie teresa found her a red, white and blue dress to wear. i wore blue. mike wore white. very patriotic!

it's hard work being so cute!

on sunday, mike thought we should get natalie some fireworks for her first fourth of july. MAYBE we just wanted to play with them. ha! but natalie wasn't scared and watched every move mike made. there were also plenty of pops! and pows! all around our neighborhood. pretty!





and before the long weekend was over we had a fun afternoon with aunt betty, gg memo and pawpaw doug. we got a good picture with four generations. so special!

the summer is going by quickly but we have many more adventures ahead of us!