Easter 2011

We had a busy Easter filled weekend!

Friday after Natalie's appointment, we headed to the valley for a visit. Ryan had stayed the night at Grammy & Papa's and was there waiting when we arrived. After lunch we packed up and headed to the park for a little fun. Natalie had a blast! They only had one large play structure (as opposed to a separate "little kids" area), but that didn't bother Natalie one bit! She was running around, up and down the ramps, went down the biggest slides, and played with all of the big kids.

We let Ryan and Natalie color some eggs on Friday night. Natalie thought it was fun to play with the spoon and the water. I ended up replacing her bowl with water and food coloring because she was trying to drink it!



Saturday morning we got up early and headed to the Fresno Zoo! We weren't sure how the crowds would be since they were having an Easter Egg Hunt at the park, but we timed it perfectly. There were probably less than 20 people waiting in line for the doors to open, the animals were all awake and eating, and the weather was nice and mild. It started to warm up and crowds and crowds of people were arriving as we were leaving. Couldn't have been better timing! Natalie and Ryan had a lot of fun. They got to feed the Giraffe and pet the Stingrays!








Saturday evening we did an Egg Hunt and our family Easter Dinner. It was so fun to see Ryan, Liam and Natalie playing together. They all got along soooo great! They took turns playing with toys and the boys took turns pushing the others in the push-car (I'll have to get some pictures of Liam pushing Natalie from someone else's camera).




It didn't take Natalie long to figure out there was good stuff inside some of the eggs. She was picking them up and shaking to see if it was a "good" one, and then she'd open and spill all of the jelly beans out!




Natalie joined the boys in a game of football. She thought it was fun to run with the ball while Uncle Kevin and Ryan chased her. I think she might have even scored a touchdown!


Natalie had some rough sleep while we were away. We have no idea what the problem(s) was/were. She had vaccinations on Friday; they haven't bothered her in the past, but maybe they did this time? She's also still getting her 4 canine teeth (they finally seem to be poking thru the gum). Or maybe she had some allergies? Or was sensitive to the change in the climate? Or maybe she was just overtired? Or maybe she was just too excited that we were travelling? Whatever it was, it was not fun for David and I. She was awake every few hours all night Friday & Saturday. Her naps were also super short and she was grumpy in the car. Made for a long-short trip, but thankfully she was back to her usual self Sunday night!

We headed home on Sunday morning (later than we wanted because of the long night). Natalie snuck a short nap in on the car ride home. I tried to continue the nap when we got home, but no such luck so we headed over to the Remillard Easter party. It was fun to see all of the kiddos playing together. 3 one year olds and a 3 year old makes for a busy house!


Anna was "hiding" eggs and Natalie was following her around picking them up.



Anna was showing Natalie the baby chicky (and checking her temperature?)


It was a lot of fun watching all of the kids play together! They are finally big enough to interact and play. I'm sure it's just going to get better and better as they all get a little older.

18mo update!

I can't believe Natalie is already 18 months old! We took these pictures at the beginning of the month..and I'm just getting around to posting!


We took Natalie to the Dr. this morning for her 18 month appointment. Everything is looking good.

Stats:

Height: 32 inches (60% - she grew almost 2in in the past 3 months!)
Weight: 22lbs 13oz (25%)
Diapers: size 4
Clothes: size 18mo



Quick note on the clothes....around Valentine's Day I noticed that Natalie's 12-18 mo jeans were getting short, so I got her the 18-24mo pants. They fit good, decent in the waist and length, and she wore them the other day and they are getting snug and look too short already! Growing like crazy.

She's also tall enough to reach things off of the kitchen counter! We have to really watch what we leave near the edges. Knives and hot pots have to go further in.



I was thinking of all the things that Natalie says now. It's somewhere around 20-25 words. Hi, bye, mom, dad, milk, up, down, all done, yes (yeah), no (she's getting wayyy too good at this one), shoes, sock, bird, outside, sit, see, baby, sleep, bowl, bath, dog...and maybe a few others that I can't remember. She says "uh oh", but usually just the "oh" is audible. She knows what hot and cold are, but doesn't say either. If something is hot, she blows on it; and if something is cold she says "brrr". Probably because every morning when we walk outside I say "brr, it's cold out here"!



The past few weeks she's taken notice of the TV. A few mornings she woke up earlier than I was ready for, so I turned on Sesame Street and she plopped down in front of the TV and sat still while I finished getting ready! She will also sit still long enough for me to comb her hair when a cartoon is on! Very helpful.

Natalie still loves to dance. Last night the stereo remote was next to me on the couch. Natalie climbed up into my lap and said "yeah yeah" (that's how she asks for stuff) and she kept reaching over me. I realized that she wanted the remote. I asked if she wanted to dance and she said "yeah, yeah". So, we had a little dance party before bed.



Monday was the crazy tax deadline, so I had Tuesday off and took Natalie to the park. She LOVED it. They had a big and little kids area, and Natalie couldn't get up the stairs to the slide fast enough! The slide was super fast..it was made up of rollers. Made mama a little nervous, but she was having a blast. I got a good workout in because I was busy running from one side of the play structure to the other because she wasn't completely aware that some of the sides were wide open entrances!



Natalie has been practicing "No" lately. She made me laugh last night as I was putting her to bed. She's been fighting bedtime; always cries for a few minutes when we mention bed time or take her to her room. So, I was taking her to her room last night and she started whining. I asked her if she wanted to get into her crib and she said "NO". So, I layed her down anyway, and she sat back up and started signing for milk. I asked if she wanted some water and she said "yeah". So, I told her to lay down and I'd go get her some water. She stopped crying and layed down. I brought her a tiny bit of water and she layed down and went to sleep! Lucky me because I was on solo-mama duty.



She has mastered her animal puzzle. It's actually a bunch of magnets that go with her animal farm book, but it looks like a puzzle. I think it has 8 or 9 pieces. Just this last week she has been able to match the shapes and put the pieces back! She doesn't actually get them into the spaces, but she matches the animals. And, if she gets them mixed up, she looks at them and then says "no" and fixes it!




Another favorite activity at our house is to dump out the blocks and then pick them back up. She has a bag of foam blocks that we must dump out and pick up 20 times a day!

Natalie has found her first chore. She loves to put her dirty clothes into the hamper! (Quite helpful because I'm getting to the point that I don't want to bend down to pick things up). I was cleaning up in her room and asked her to put some clothes in there; she took that batch and then everything else she could pick up went into the hamper. She's gotten better since then though; mostly just the dirty clothes at bath time end up in the hamper.

She has been practicing her big sister skills. Her little baby doll gets the best treatment. She picks her up first thing in the morning and carries her around the house. She feeds the baby milk or water and wraps her up in blankets. There was another baby at daycare for a few weeks and I think she was really watching how to take care of the baby. She pats the baby on the back, and "shhhh"s me when the baby is sleeping. It's too cute. I think she's going to be a great big sis.





She's been practicing eating with her spoon / fork. She's getting better..but this particular night she was having way too much fun!

We've been telling Natalie that mama has a baby. She likes to look at my tummy and "see" baby sissy. We showed her one night and used a fetal monitor that Patty gave us. The next night when I asked her "where is mama's baby", she went to get the monitor and pulled up my shirt!

Easter post..coming soon!

Always something!

If it's not one thing it's another! Poor Natalie has had a rough time lately. It started with some teething around Valentines Day. That was quickly followed by what turned out to be a sinus infection that required a round of antibiotics. We went straight for another 4 (!) teeth - her canines are coming in - and now she's getting another cold! Yuck! I hope it's a minor one related to teething and goes away quickly.

On a good note, I hesitated to post until I knew for sure, but the pacifier has been a thing of the past since 3/17! I mentioned to daycare that as soon as the (last) cold was gone, we were going to work on the paci. Kristi started weaning her that day and she hasn't had it since! It's a little more work to get her to sleep at night, but it's just a few minutes of calming her down and letting her fuss a little. David was in charge of this transition and it's been going really well! Relieved that we won't have to deal with that after the baby comes!

I'll do more of an update this weekend. Miss Natalie will be 18mo old already!! Amazing how fast time goes.


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Yard work

Natalie was helping in the yard at daycare. David is hoping she wants to do ours too..
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