Lately

A few of my favorite recent pictures...

Natalie has been loving this little birthday hat recently. She'll bring it over for me to put on her head and then she just roams around with it. She has a hard time keeping other headbands and bows in her hair for longer than a few seconds, but for some reason she like this one.
As previously mentioned, Natalie likes to do everything we do. This includes working on the computer. Unfortunately we have had to nix her computer working/mouse touching because she managed to delete a few of my pictures. No idea how she did it, especially since we were sitting right there.

The Second Half

As of yesterday I am 22 weeks pregnant and firmly situated in the second half of this pregnancy. It is by far the best part. We just found out that we are having another girl, so the nursery planning and excitement over matching dresses and headbands is in full force. I am over the yucky first trimester nausea and throwing up stage and haven't yet hit the large, uncomfortable, when-will-this-end stage. Things are good. About two weeks ago I pulled out my maternity clothes, as the belly-bands were no longer cutting it, and had to buy a second pair of jeans that have a demi panel because my belly's not quite big enough to keep the full panel jeans up.
I keep thinking I have a really long way to go before this baby arrives, but every once in a while I realize that May 30th is coming faster than I thought.
I haven't been good about belly pictures this time (I wasn't great with Natalie either), but 22 weeks seemed like a good place to start. And just for the record, it wasn't until I looked at the picture on the camera that I realized how much of a "bump" I've actually got now. For some reason I haven't looked that big to myself in the mirror, but maybe that's just because I'm in denial about how big I'm bound to be by the time I deliver.

Very Grown Up

Natalie is looking very grown up to me these days. (She is almost 15 months old!) Her face seems to be changing all the time and sometimes I can't believe what a little girl she looks like instead of the baby she was only a few months ago. I guess it is the perfect time for her to grow up now that she is about to be a big sister!
Natalie is starting to exert a little more independence and is realizing just how capable she is of controlling her own world.
Natalie copies everything I do. Everything. It is cute, fun, humbling and frustrating all at the same time. She pushes around her baby doll stroller with her purse on one arm or hung over the handle, just like I do. If she sees a stray hair tie, she puts it on her wrist just like I do. When I put on chap stick or put lotion on my hands, Natalie is there to have a little chap stick dabbed onto her lips or with her hands out to accept a dot of lotion. She even rubs it in the same way I do. She wants to mix things when I'm cooking dinner, type on the keyboard when I'm writing an email and help put the dishes away when I empty the dishwasher. I can't believe how much she takes in and how much she learns every day.

(notice my hair tie on her wrist)

Natalie is definitely working on her words and is starting to talk a little more. Most of the time we can't understand what she is saying and I think she is trying out sounds more than anything. She does say a number of clear and distinct words though. Her favorite thing to say is "What's this?" She asks me that a hundred times a day as she points her little index finger at whatever it is she wants to know about. She can also say mama, dada/daddy, baby, ball, eat, touch, yea, no, mine, apple and peas.
Natalie continues to love her stroller and puts her stuffed animals or baby doll in the seat to push around. She also loves books and has definite favorites. She loves Sandra Boynton's "Opposites" and "Doggies" as well as "Curious George Opposites" and "Moo", a pop-up and lift-the-flap animal book. She loves animals and dogs in particular. She laughs and gets excited anytime she sees a dog outside and always wants to pet it. She has never appeared scared, even with huge dogs that are five times her size. I, on the other hand, am still a little hesitant about those dogs. Natalie also loves her little monkey. I'm pretty sure she thinks he is Curious George, and who knows, maybe he is!

(I love that her curls are coming in more and that her hair is long enough for a little clip now. She notices them far less than the headbands, which means they last a lot longer on her head.)

(Doesn't she look grown up in that dress?!)

She has finally learned how to go down the stairs backwards but is still deciding if that is really more fun than standing at the edge and trying to walk down like an adult. Luckily we have only had one major spill and I am really hoping not to repeat it.
Natalie is at such a fun age. She is quick to laugh and always wants to play. This fun stage, however, is accompanied by a new found independent, strong-willed and stubborn spirit. She has serious opinions about everything from which sippy cup I give her to which coat she wants to wear, not to mention the response if she doesn't want to wear a coat at all! (A coat is not optional, by the way, if it is 30 degrees outside.) I'm trying to be patient as we learn together. My mom keeps telling me I was just like that as a toddler/little girl and Russ can't tell me enough how much she is like me, so I guess I was always due a little strong-willed daughter anyway!

Happy and Sad

My Mom started a tradition on New Years Day of having my Dad's brothers and father over for a day of football and food. Russel thought it was a brilliant idea and we continued the tradition by hosting our first annual Football Frenzy on New Year's Eve Day (because Jan 1st was a Sunday this year). I made a big breakfast to start the day off right, including a sausage and cheese breakfast casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls. Russ and I were feeling generous and gave Natalie a bite of cinnamon roll. She loved it so much that she ate an entire cinnamon roll all by herself. She was in heaven...
...Until we told her it was all gone and then she gave us this look.
That is Natalie's new "I'm unhappy and I'm going to let you know" face. She throws it around all the time now. Good thing she doesn't have a long enough attention span to hold a grudge yet!

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas Day. Honestly, it was nearly perfect. We woke up and took Natalie downstairs where she received a wonderful surprise - new toys! Her favorite gifts were the puppy and stroller. They were the first things she went for and each continues to receive daily use and love.

I especially love the two purses on the arm while pushing the stroller. She is such a girl!

After opening presents we went to church for an hour of singing and scripture reading about the prophecies and then actual birth of the Savior, which was wonderful and uplifting. Natalie was also hit in the head by a flying piece of a Nativity thrown by a little friend. I truly couldn't tell you who thought it would be a good idea to have a wooden Nativity set up at toddler height in the foyer of our building. I will not be sad to see that and the fake trees with millions of ornaments go. Luckily it was only a minor injury and then we were off to Grandma and Grandpa Marsh's house for more present opening and a delicious brunch.
We took and an official "family Christmas Day picture" and then a bunch of shots of Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren. We are so lucky to live within 30 minutes of all Natalie's cousins! Her older cousins (Jimmy, Dane and May) are so nice to her and always include her in their games. She also has two younger cousins both born around 10 months after her (John and Drake). I think they'll all have so much fun together as they get older!

We relaxed in the afternoon back at our house and then hosted Christmas dinner for Russ's parents and his sister's family - Tiffany, Abraham and cute baby Drake. No pictures from that, but I'll just tell you everything turned out really yummy. We skyped with my parents and brothers after dinner and it was the perfect ending to our day. Lest you think we totally lucked out with the perfect Christmas Day, well, we did, because the very next day Natalie began cutting her fourth tooth and was miserable for a solid week because of it. It was a Christmas miracle that it didn't start a day earlier!

Christmas Eve

We were fortunate to spend Christmas Eve with my aunt and uncle and their kids who live only about five minutes from us. We had delicious prime rib for dinner and, let me tell you, after you have prime rib for Christmas Eve dinner, you'll never want to think about having something else again. It was so yummy. The table was also beautiful, which is no surprise when you're at the Stansel home.
After dinner we tried to do a little live Nativity with their four children and Natalie. Natalie was supposed to play Baby Jesus because she is the youngest. She wasn't really into wearing "swaddling clothes" or sitting still. Oh well. I still think they were cute and we got to read the Christmas story from Luke, so it was win overall.

O Christmas Tree

This year is only the second Christmas Russel and I have spent in Virginia, thus our family's second Christmas tree and Natalie's first.

Natalie helping us pick out a tree. (Notice her adorable hat that was purchased at none other than the Inca Market.)
I loved our tree. It only had lights and gold ribbon as decorations because Natalie pulled off/tried to eat the first few ornaments I put up. After that we decided to go sans-ornaments this year and maybe forever depending on how long she insists on putting things in her mouth.

It was so sweet to watch Natalie discover our tree after the lights were put up. She loved it. Every morning her first activity was going over to look at the tree and touch the lights. Having her begin to participate and notice Christmas this year made the whole season so magical.