Splish Splash

 

We spent a great afternoon at the pool last week. Natalie was a little unsure of the water at first. It has been a whole year since the last time she went swimming, so it was understandable, but she was jumping off the side into Russ' arms in no time. I do love her sweet little hand on Russ' back right when they first got in. It's so nice to have a strong, safe Daddy to hold you when you're getting used to something new.  

 

 Isla spent most of her time at the pool asleep in her car seat. Fine by me, though she does have a few cute suits she'll have to try out before summer's end.

Daddy

We sure love our Daddy around here. Natalie and Isla are so lucky to have him and boy, do they know it. I think the best part of Natalie's day is when Russ comes in the door after work. Also, every single time the phone rings during the day, Natalie is convinced it's Daddy calling to say hi.
I asked Natalie a few questions about her Daddy and she actually gave me relevant answers for two of them. :-)

Q: "Where does Daddy go during the day?"
Natalie: "work" and "golf"

Q: "What do you like to do with Daddy?"
Natalie: "peek-o seek-o"
(Peek-o seek-o is Natalie's word for hide-and-seek)

Thank You

A huge thank you to my sister, Rebecca, and my Grandma Stansel for coming to help out when Isla was born. Rebecca, or "Rebec" as Natalie called her, arrived three days before Isla was born. She was Natalie's best buddy while I was in the hospital, particularly the day Isla was born, as well as our whole first week as a family of four. She made us delicious dinners and even stayed a night with me in the hospital. Talk about nice...those pull-out chairs in the hospital don't look particularly comfortable!

Sadly I didn't get a single picture with Rebecca. How did I let that happen?! Luckily she'll be back here in a few months when Gerrit starts law school at GWU! We can't wait to have you back!

My Grandma was also so kind to come out and help. To my knowledge she has been there to help after the births of every one of her 27 grandchildren (of which I'm the first!), which makes her an expert in the "helping out with a new baby" field. She was wonderful. She played with Natalie, fixed breakfast, lunch and dinner, cleaned my house and talked with me while I nursed and nursed.

I was spoiled rotten to have these wonderful women in my home spending time with me and my family. Thank you for all you did to help and for being such a support to us. I don't think I would have made it through the first couple weeks without you both!

Isla Lillian

Our precious baby Isla arrived last Friday afternoon. We are so in love with her.

Isla Lillian
June 1, 2012 at 1:34pm
8 pounds, 3 ounces
20 1/2 inches long

 First picture with mommy and daddy

 Our family of four!

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Aunt Rebecca

 Natalie getting a closer look at her new sister

 When we came home from the hospital Isla gave Natalie a present for being such a good big sister. It was a baby doll for Natalie to take care of. We told Natalie it was her very own baby and now she calls the doll "Own".

 Isla and "Own" relaxing together during dinner our first night home from the hospital.

 Great-grandma Stansel

 

 Natalie asked to hold Isla for the first time and I was so glad my camera was right there. 

Best moment of my day.

 Sisters

Home Depot

Natalie is talking so much now and I love hearing about all the things she has to say. I want to make sure and record some of our little conversations before I forget them.

Natalie: "keys" (while standing on her toes at the front door and trying to turn the door knob)
Me: "Why do you need the keys?"
Natalie: "car"
Me: "Where are you going to go in the car?"
Natalie: "Pa's house"
Me: "Oh, what are you going to do with Grandpa?"
Natalie: "Home Depot"

I had no idea she even knew what Home Depot was, and I certainly wouldn't have guessed that is what she wanted to do! After a few moments I realized that she has, in fact, been to Home Depot a number of times with her Dad and her Grandpa. I guess we love home projects around here!

As we walked into church on Sunday:
Natalie: "Jesus"
Me: "That's right! We learn about Jesus at church."
Natalie: "play-dough"
Me: "What about play-dough?"
Natalie: "Nursery"
Me: "Oh, do you like the play-dough in Nursery?"
Natalie: "Yes, yes, yes!"

Almost every morning as Russ leaves to go to work:
Natalie: "Bye, bye. See ya!" and then kisses the air in Russ' direction

And just for fun (and because I can't post something on here without ten picture) a few pictures of what we've been up to recently...

 wearing a lot of accessories at once

 learning to drive

 relaxing at the park with friends

 helping Dad in the garden

 impatiently waiting for Dad to come home

and loving being with Dad the minute he gets out of the car. :-)

Mother's Day

I can't say enough about how much I love Natalie. After all, it is she who made me a mother! She teaches me new things about motherhood every day and I am so very lucky to have her.

With only two weeks left until my due date, I can hardly wait to meet our new, sweet baby. 

I feel so blessed that I get to be a mama to two beautiful little girls!

And it wouldn't be a complete Mother's Day post without saying how thankful I am for my own wonderful mother and mother-in-law. What amazing examples of selfless love and service.

Natalie's Mother's Day message to me:

"Mommy, Happy Mother's Day! I love you! See ya." 

18 Months

I can't believe my baby is 18 months old! Natalie is a full-blown toddler with all the zest and excitement for life (and a few meltdowns) to prove it. She is a very happy girl with a content temperament, but moving into the toddler realm has brought along some new behaviors, namely the tantrum. Luckily those usually don't last for long and then she is back to her happy, smiley self.

A few things about Natalie at 18 month:
Natalie loves music, singing and dancing. She likes to act out the nursery rhyme songs and we do that a lot. Her current favorites are the Itsy Bitsy Spider, I'm a Little Teapot, The Wheels on the Bus and If You're Happy and You Know It. She also requests a few children's church songs including Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, I love to See the Temple, I Am a Child of God and Give, Said the Little Stream.

Natalie loves to read. Her most oft repeated phrase is "read it". It's actually more of a command than anything else and she says it constantly. She likes to read almost anything that isn't too long (no Dr. Seuss yet, for example), but her favorites are Maisey, If You Give a Moose a Muffin and anything Curious George. Natalie still loves Curious George and has now seen his TV show a few times. Sometimes when we are down in the basement and she sees the TV she requests him.

Natalie loves cars. She out different cars constantly when we are out and about and loves a little toy car that she can ride around our house. She spotted it while we were at a thrift store not long ago and promptly sat it on the moment she saw it in the store. She didn't get off for the entire 40 minutes we were there and so we ended up taking it home with us. She absolutely loves it and rides it around all the time.

Natalie does not like to be sticky. As soon as she realizes her hands are remotely messy during a meal, she tells us "sticky" and then requests "soap". She loves washing her hands and often requests to put soap on her hands twice during the course of one washing. Natalie also loves splashing in the bath, so I am hoping she will love playing at the pool all summer.

Natalie is talking like crazy. I don't even think I can count how many words she says because it seems she is adding a couple new words to her vocabulary every day. She repeats everything I say. It usually ends up just being whatever the last one or two words of my sentence were, but I've definitely got a little parrot on my hands. It is amazing how much we can communicate now and I love it. For example, I can ask her what she wants for lunch and she has a whole list of things she can tell me in response - applesauce, ham, cheese, peanut butter, grapes, cracker, hot dog, water, milk, etc. I love it! Words we hear the most: Read it, Hi, I see you, I love you, No, Dada, Car, Butterfly.

I had to snap a few pictures to document Natalie turning 18 months old. We were out back behind our house and she was pretty uninterested in looking at me or smiling - she was just doing her own thing. All of a sudden she broke out into these huge smiles and got so excited. It wasn't until Russ walked up next to me that I realized Natalie had seen him coming down the hill. No wonder she had started smiling - Daddy was home! She was really happy when Daddy passed over his keys for her to hold and then going to look for sticks was the icing on the cake. She's a Daddy's girl through and through.

We went to her 18-month appointment at the doctor today. She is 23 pounds (25th percentile) and 33 inches tall (90th percentile). I love you Natalie!!