Fun day at the park (in January!)

We had a playdate at the park this week with some of our friends. Who knew it could be so nice and warm and pleasant outside in January? I'm starting to think that the whole global warming thing is happening faster than I realized! Natalie had a great time and loves swinging.

Band-aid Baby

Two boo-boos in one day. There was a slight accident that involved a full plastic pill box (the giant ones that have 4 slots per day for each day of the week... it is Ryan's, not mine! LOL) falling onto poor Natalie's head. She cried for a second but was fine very quickly. Her skin did get torn and bled a little so I put a band-aid on it for awhile.

**I wrote this post the day this happened but am just now getting around to adding a pic & actually publishing it to my blog today (2/26/09)....this accident pales in comparision to when she fell on Valentine's Day.**

Pulling Up

Natalie has started pulling up on certain things....mostly our knees, legs, arms, shoulders, etc. She also has pulled up on some of her toys and some boxes and has come awfully close to pulling up on the fireplace and the lower ledge of some cabinets that she explores. Today I caught her pulling up on one of the shelves in the pantry.

Cruising Along

Little Miss NC (I am saying that for you, Amy) has started cruising along the furniture. She doesn't pull up onto it by herself just yet but she will if we are right beside her and she pulls up onto our leg first & then reaches out to the coffee table. Then she just busies herself with slowly making her way all the way around the table to explore each object that she can find. (Don't mind her mismatched outfit in these pics, LOL).




She has also started pulling up some in the bathtub and this pretty much scares me (if you know my history- slipping & falling in a bathtub in Mexico and shattering my top front teeth then you understand why). So, I keep my hands on her the whole time. Ryan says I need to let go of her but I'm not so sure about that just yet....

BabyGym

Natalie and I have started going to a BabyGym class once a week. It lasts an hour and is quite fun! Her favorite part of the class seems to be when the teacher blows bubbles for them to pop and sings a song about popping the bubbles.

10 months old and more "firsts"

Natalie is 10 months old today. She must have just had a big growth spurt b/c she now weighs 17 lbs. 8 oz. which is a 10 oz. gain in the last 3 weeks (which is a good bit for this age). She is really starting to enjoy standing up & holding onto the coffee table or her little activity table or pulling up on the arm of the couch from a seated position. She is also a very proficient butt scooter! Apparently she has no desire to crawl as her way of getting around. We've been working with her to teach her new things; she can identify the light and the door. She turns the pages in her books when we read to her. She also discovered the birds eating at the feeder outside our kitchen window and likes to watch them from her high chair. She likes to play a game where she grabs our nose and we make funny noises. We also taught her to share her cheerios with us...... it is too precious! She is cutting her first tooth and I'll be sure to post a pic when it comes all the way through.

Catching up......

Once again, I'm behind on my posts. I only started this blog a few months ago and I was determined to post weekly about new things in our (well, mostly Natalie's) life. I just got behind with the holiday craziness and now can't seem to catch up. I have finally completed some of the posts I had started including one of Natalie's new accomplishments (at that time!), playing peek-a-boo, one LONG post about our first Christmas as a family, one about Natalie's quilt, and one about our trip to my Dad's in Jacksonville FL.

Mom's Night Out

There is a great group of Moms who I get together with for Mom's Night Out at least once a month. We also have play dates for the babies and get together to walk or go to the park. Sadly, one of our friends (Robin) is moving so we got together for dinner recently to tell her goodbye.

New Year's in Jacksonville

On New Year's Eve we headed down to Jacksonville, FL to visit my Dad and Step-Mom. My sister and her family also came down. This is the fifth year in a row that we've gone to Jax over the New Year holiday. This was also the longest car ride (over 6 hrs) that Natalie has been on. She did pretty good with it too. We were saved by the Baby Einstein and Signing Time DVDs for sure (we call it "baby crack"). We had a great time visiting with my family. Natalie finally warmed up to her Pepaw after a little uncertainty the first night there. By the end of the trip she was letting him hold her and play with her. She was scooting all over their kitchen floor and also trying to eat every little thing she could find to put in her mouth. We opened Christmas gifts the first full day there and hung around the house. We went over to the park by the St. Johns River that afternoon. The next day we went to St. Augustine and rode the carousel and walked around the old Spanish fort (fort Matanzas).



Natalie and her Pepaw


Pepaw napping with Ava


Braden was Santa's elf and helped organize all the gifts


Natalie with Mommy and Pepaw at the St. Johns River


The Schoonover Family 01/01/09 at the St. Johns River


First time on a carousel


She loved the ride


Strolling around the fort with Daddy


Too busy snacking on cheerios to look at the camera


Ryan and Carla at the fort