A longer road trip

We took Natalie to Palm Desert & Moreno Valley this weekend to visit more relatives. She got to meet two of her Great Grandmas, two Great Aunts, a Great Uncle and some of David's cousins. We weren't sure how she'd do for the 5 hour car ride, but she was excellent - slept the whole time.

Grandma Remillard held Natalie for a while, had David help with a few things around the house and we enjoyed a nice dinner together. We're looking forward to her moving here next month, because the desert is quite a drive!

On Saturday, Grandma Nadeau came for the afternoon. She held Natalie for over an hour! They were so content, they both ended up falling asleep. It was so cute, but Grandma didn't want to give her up.


Natalie also got spoiled by her Aunties and Nikol. Thank you all for a great weekend! We wish you all lived closer, but we'll do our best to visit more often.


Nikol was initially nervous to hold her, but by the end of the weekend she was a pro. (Thanks for holding her while I ate!) Waking up in Lili-Anne's lap.

Natalie is very alert and enjoys "talking" to herself in the mornings. I had the camera next to me this morning; this is my first video...I think I was a little far away, so I hope it is loud enough and sorry for the shaky picture. I just love to watch and listen to her!

Meeting new cousins

We took Natalie to meet Mason & Olivier last night. She will be 6 weeks tomorrow and they are 1 week old today (so, about 5 weeks difference). She's got about a 4 pound lead on them. She looks so much longer, but the boys are still curling their legs up quite a bit. The boys are super cute and you can tell Anna loves her little brothers. She was very helpful and made sure they always had their pacifiers!

Olivier, Natalie & Mason:

First Road Trip

This past weekend, we took our first road trip to the valley. Natalie was an excellent car sleeper and woke up when we were one block from Patty & Jake's house! We had a short visit and then went to Visalia for a surprise birthday dinner for my mom. (the surprise went well!)

On Saturday we had lots of family and friends come by for a visit. Ryan entertained us with his dancing and played Ring Around The Rosies with Grammy. It's amazing how much he is changing - he has such an outgoing personality and never stops talking. At some point, unprovoked, he came over to Natalie and said "Hi Princess". No one is quite sure where he learned that one!

We took some family photos... 4 generations and Grammy & Papa with the grand kids.

At the end of the day, we were all exhausted. Papa & Natalie fell asleep in the chair and didn't even notice the flashing of the camera.

New Nephews!

Our two newest nephews arrived today! Oliver & Mason were born this morning. They were 6lbs 13oz and 7lbs 6oz and over 20 inches each; both are super cute! Mom and babies are both doing well. Natalie didn't get to meet them yet because of increased visitor restrictions (swine flu fears). Here's some pictures (Mason then Olivier)



I caught Natalie sucking her thumb tonight. She had quite the interesting approach..

One Month

A Two-Celebration Day!

UPDATE: I updated this post to add more pictures at the bottom - 11/6 @ 4:15pm.

First of all, Happy Anniversary to us! Today marks 5 years that we've been married. How on earth has it been that long already?! We have a date tonight - Grandma & Grandpa Remillard are going to babysit for a few hours while we go to dinner. With the exception of a few hours overnight at the hospital, it'll be my first time away from Natalie.

But, she's a big girl now - 4 weeks old today! I can't believe so much time has already passed. Our days are pretty quiet; Natalie wakes up around 9am to eat and then again every 2.5 hours or so. Sometimes she'll fall asleep afterwards, and sometimes she stays nice and alert for a while. Occasionally she makes it all the way to the next feeding! I put her down around 11pm and she wakes around 3 and again around 7 to eat before starting another day...

No real "schedule" so far, but she's getting more and more consistent with the nighttime.

She doesn't have another check-up until she's 2 months old, so I'm taking a guess at her weight. She's somewhere between 8.5 and 9 lbs. I got on the scale and then picked her up..our scale rounds to the nearest pound and says she's at 9 lbs.

After her bath on Tuesday night, David & I noticed that her hair seems more wavy than it has been. I haven't noticed any of it falling out, but the texture seems different. Kind of fuzzy and has a bit of a wave through it. We're still hoping the curls will come! Ironic, because I've always wanted straight hair, but it's nice to be able to style it both ways.

And, the verdict on the eyes is still out. According to the books it can take 6 - 12 months before their final color appears. But, for now, her eyes are a bluish color. When she's looking towards the light or the sun, you can really see it. We'll try to get a picture, but it's not easy!! A lot of the Remillards have blue eyes, so there is hope!

Natalie has been a good walking partner so far. We've gone around the neighborhood a bunch and on Monday we walked around downtown SLO. I learned a lesson though - before you take the jumbo stroller out for a walk, you should know how to make it collapse! I realized that David had always been the one to close it and I had never tried. It took me the better part of 10 minutes to get it to fold! :) I thought maybe I was forgetting to release a safety or something, but turns out I was just not pulling the handle hard enough (It's definitely NOT a one-handed operation as advertised!).

Natalie wearing her cross - a gift from Great Grandma Remillard:

(Karin - do you recognize her outfit?! It was one of Autumn's)

Curls?



Sitting in her swing:


Blue Eyes?


Fell asleep in the Boppy while I was getting ready: