2 Months

Natalie turned 2 months old ten days ago and had her pediatrician appointment today. It went pretty well, except for the shots. She had to get an oral vaccine and two shots and unfortunately she was already crying after the oral vaccine. Obviously, she had no idea it was about to get worse. :-( The good news is that she has now settled down and just fell asleep. She was really worked up, of course, so hopefully she stays down for a while.

At two months, Natalie is:
11 pounds, 15 ounces (75^th percentile)
24.5 inches (completely off the chart)
15 ½ inch head circumference (25 percentile)
She smiles all the time now and seems so much more alert and interactive all the time. She is the happiest in the mornings and loves to be held facing out so she can see everything going on around her. She is sleeping well at night and usually does a 7 hour stretch. Her daytime sleep routine is still evolving and she isn't quite as good at getting to sleep for naps, but I figure I can deal with that because I'm getting pretty decent sleep stretches at night. :-) Natalie is grabbing onto things now and has a pretty strong grip. She holds onto our hands, my hair, clothes, etc. and can hold lightweight rattles.

Also, I forgot to post about Natalie's one month stats. Just for record-keeping purposes, at one month, Natalie was:
10 pounds, 8 ounces (90^th percentile)
23.5 inches (off the chart)
14 ¼ inches head circumference: (25^th percentile)

A San Diego Christmas

This will be the last installment of posts about our Christmas vacation to San Diego. :-) While we did have a fabulous time at Disneyland and though Natalie's blessing was absolutely wonderful, the majority of our vacation was spent just enjoying the company of family.

Christmas Day was spent opening presents from under the beautiful tree, relaxing and eating.

Natalie had a lot of fun dazzling and playing with her adoring fans. Both Mom and Natalie are really going to miss everyone! :-)

Playing with Grandpa

Enjoying the Christmas tree with Grandma

Hanging out with Mom and Aunt Rebecca

Playing with Uncles Marc and Gerrit

Taking a nap with Uncle Marc

Relaxing with Uncle Jonathon

With Mom's cousins Riley and Peyton

A four generation shot with Natalie's Grandpa and Great-Grandpa Waddell

We also took Natalie to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time and she loved walking around Powerhouse Park in Del Mar, one of my favorite places in the world.


Last of all, Russel and Rebecca's husband Gerrit finally got to participate in the famed New Year's Day event at the Waddell home. One of my aunts summed it up best when she said "They basically get together to watch football for 15 mind-numbing hours and eat themselves into a coma." The response from my Dad and his brothers?..."And the problem is?!!"
My mom just likes to call it the Football Feast Frenzy. Here are the ladies cooking up a storm...
And all the guys watching the games...
Please note that the TV trays you see are all personalized and made by my Mom. They were given as Christmas presents to my Dad and his brothers years ago and this year Russel, Gerrit, Marc and Jonathon all got their very own!

A Name and a Blessing

Natalie was blessed in the Carmel Valley ward (the ward I grew up in) on the last Sunday we were out in San Diego. Russel gave a beautiful blessing and we were extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful men participate in the blessing circle. Both my Dad and Russel's Dad took part (Russel's parents flew out from Virginia in order to attend), as well as my Grandpa (Natalie's only living Great-Grandfather) and three of my uncles (Scott Waddell, Glenn Waddell and David Stansel).

With both sets of Natalie's grandparents, Great-Grandpa Waddell and Great-Grandma Stansel

After the blessing we had lunch at my parent's house with a few family members. (Pictured with us are: Kirk and Shawnee Marsh, Chris and Carol Waddell, Scott and Michelle Waddell with Grayson, Riley and Peyton, Rebecca and Gerrit Winkel, Marc Waddell)

Natalie was blessed in the same sweet little dress that I was blessed in (as was my sister Rebecca), which was sewn by my grandmother. Thank you to her for making it and to my mom for hanging on to it so Natalie could wear it almost 25 years later! Here are Natalie and I in a four-generation picture with my mom and Grandma.

Wrapped in Swaddling Clothes

At the time of our church Christmas party, Natalie was only 4 weeks old, making her the youngest member of our congregation. Consequently, our family was asked to help out by posing as Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. The Relief Society room was transformed into a beautiful stable scene and we just stepped in and looked out our sweet baby while the rest of the ward walked through to observe us and then move on to other rooms depicting various other scenes from Jerusalem at the time of Christ's birth.
Natalie was a little fussy at the very beginning, but quickly settled down and slept for the remainder of evening.

It was a very sweet experience to play the role of Mary and hold my own new gift from heaven in my arms as she played the role of baby Jesus. Once again I had the spirit testify to me that Jesus was born of Mary, that he came to Earth to atone for the sins of all mankind and that he truly is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. What a beautiful reminder it was for me at the beginning of my Christmas season.

A New Favorite

I know I just posted a bunch of pictures of Natalie smiling, but I think this one is my new favorite! I only wish she had a beautiful quilt or something under her instead of her green changing mat. :-)