Helper

Natalie is my little helper. She loves to be involved in everything I am doing and has recently been able to "help" in a more productive manner. Lately she has been able to help by putting her books away on her bookcase, putting laundry in the dryer and, her favorite, mixing. This girl loves to mix. Saturday morning we made waffles and she mixed up the batter almost entirely by herself. Call me silly, but I can't believe how grown up she is getting.

Trampoline Time

Natalie's Grandma and Grandpa Marsh have a great trampoline in their backyard. We visited the other day and Natalie had the time of her life; I think she was in there for almost an hour and a half. She enjoyed jumping, but mostly she just laughed when she was tipped over as her older cousins went jumping and bouncing by.

My Little Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day! I thought I'd share a few pictures I took the other day in black and white of my sweet little valentine. (By the way, I love having two valentines. It's going to be so fun to have two little valentine's that I can dress to match next year!)

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!