Happy Blogiversary

I've been blogging for a year now! I remembering thinking when I started that I would be proud of myself if I averaged one blog a week.....which would be 52 total blogs.....well, I managed to do even better than that. Yay for me! We'll see if I can keep it going.

18 months old

Natalie Claire is halfway to being a two year old!!!! Please slow down time, please!

She had her 18 month check up and is doing great. Our pediatrician asked me how many words she knows and I stopped to think; then he said, "Is it at least 20?" and I smiled and said, "It is at least 200." I'm such a proud Momma of my baby's verbal skills! She now weighs right at 25 lbs. (more on our home scales) and is 33 inches tall. She got a few shots and never even cried one tear!!!! The nurse was in awe (so were Ryan and I!).




We are trying to transition from two naps to one. It has not been the easiest thing to do and results in a grumpy, fussy toddler some days. So on most of those days we aim for an earlier bedtime. We've had to switch back and forth b/w two naps and one depending on how much sleep she has had. We're hoping Natalie will adjust to the new routine soon enough. I'm now beginning to think I know why so many babies & toddlers are whiny all the time though....it is because they are over-tired!

Natalie has learned Ring-Around-the-Rosy from her friend Claire. It is too cute, she sings it as best she can and twirls around and then falls down when she gets to the "all fall down" part at the end.




She is putting three words together now and says things like "see daddy shoes","go bye bye park","shhh dadda sleep", "where it go?" and "see big truck" (which doesn't sound quite like truck if you follow me so Ryan thinks it is pretty funny). She has learned the pronouns "me" and "I" which really baffles me as to how she even picked that up! She is super smart!



Natalie has such nice manners and has learned to say "please" and "thank you" and "bless you" when someone sneezes! She has also learned "yes" and "no" which helps when asking her questions but sometimes I wish she didn't know the word "no" quite yet. :)

She continues to impress us with the signs she learns from watching the Signing Time DVDs. The new ones she has learned this month are: please, bicycle, sleep, coat, hurt, boat, and book.

Future's So Bright....

I gotta wear shades!

Momma's Little Helper

Natalie had so much fun with this toy vacuum at her friend's house. She had just watched Ryan vacuum earlier the same day at home and kept pointing at the vacuum saying "keen, keen" meaning "clean" which is what she calls the vacuum cleaner. I hope we've got a Momma's little helper in training.

Sips N Strokes

I went to a new place in town, Sips N Strokes, with a group of my friends for Mom's Night Out. We had a GREAT time and really enjoyed ourselves. It was A LOT of fun! Here are some pics of us with our finished project (one of the whole group and one with my good friend Meredith).

Braves Game

We went to visit our good friends Zach and Kasey in GA this weekend and went to a Braves game too. We had great seats thanks to Kasey! The Braves pulled out a win in the bottom of the 9th inning so it was a pretty exciting game. (sorry the pic is blurry; it seems whenever we ask someone else to try and use our camera that is what always happens).

Green Girl

Natalie seems to be a little green............


oh wait, that is just green crayon on her face! :)

17 months old

Our little firecracker is 17 months old now! The toddler stage is in full swing. Natalie is constantly into anything and everything. It is quite a challenge to try and keep up with her these days. It is becoming almost impossible to get a picture of her these days (you have no idea how many of the ones I try to take end up being of the back of her head or the side of her or her on the ground since she is CONSTANTLY in motion) She loves to run in the yard & down the halls. She can kick and roll a ball. She can climb up onto the ottoman and can get herself down from the couch and our bed (which is pretty high up so we watch her closely).

Natalie absolutely loves the pool and we have been working on some basic baby level swimming skills with her from the book Learn to Swim. Ryan really enjoys working with her and she is learning to jump in from a seated position and also to hold her breath while being submerged.





She enjoys coloring and playing with play-doh (which isn't allowed very often but when; it is under direct supervision). She has learned to blow kisses and holds her hand up to her mouth and blows kisses to most anyone or anything (haha) without prompting. She recognizes the sound of a plane and stops what she is doing to yell out "plane, plane" if she hears one (even while indoors and busy playing or eating). Natalie now recognizes hot (hot food, hot water, etc) and will tell us when something is hot. She blows on her food if it is too hot. So cute!

She is also putting two words together and says things like "read book" and "see car" and "hey mo-mo" (elmo). She has learned some new signs in the past month from the Signing Time DVDs: hat, sleep, fish, wash hands, and ball. She cut five new teeth in the past month (three of which were molars).




****Also, I finally got around to snagging my Mom's pics from her Picasa album to finish this post that I started back in June so please check it out b/c it has the CUTEST pics of Natalie getting dunked in the pool.

Vroom Vroom

Natalie is very interested in cars (not toy cars, real cars) and loves it when we let her play inside the car pushing all the buttons and turning the steering wheel. Look at the giant smile on her face; she is so excited about it!

Hiding Spot

Natalie has discovered how to climb up into the bathroom cabinet and it is her new favorite game. She was so proud of herself a few days ago when she first did it. She climbed all the way in and then reached out to close the door behind her. I would say, "where is Natalie?" and she would slowly open the door back up with a big grin on her face. SOOOO cute!!!!