Valentines Day...

Thanks to everyone who sent Valentines Day cards. Natalie will get a big kick out of them in a couple of years when she has a better understanding for Valentines Day. Natalie still enjoys the scrumpious cardboard. After exchanging our Valentines Day cards we all ate dinner together and then hung out as a family playing with Leonardo (Hallmark cat) before bedtime.

...Central Park in the fall-

Ok, so this is neither Central Park nor Fall, however, it was a very beautiful day outside. So, Natalie took in some swing action on this warm Sunday afternoon. She seems to enjoy the back and forth motion of the swing without mom and dads help. Needless to say, this hurts mom and dads feelings. Oh well, here are a few pictures of her day including her big pony ride and her sliding down the slide.

Booty scootin' boogie...

Natalie is starting to scoot around now. However, her current method is very unconventional. As she sits up she will thrust her upper body back and forth while lifting up on her legs. This is allowing her to move forward. She may be moving at a snails pace, but, she is getting around. While Grandma and Grandpa J were here she scooted back and forth on her blanket several times one evening. Watching her go back and forth is hilarious and the best part...no need to child proof the house just yet. We will post a video of Natalie in scootin' action sometime soon. Until then, here are some more pics of Natalie. The first picture is of Natalie waiting at the top of the stairs while mom and dad check to see if Santa came and the other picture is dad and Natalie practicing the back stroke.

Everyone has those outfits...

Remember looking back at some of the clothes you wore as a toddler and thinking to yourself, "what were you guys thinking." Well, in 18 years or so, Natalie may look back at this outfit with the same reaction. Nah, just kidding, she'll love it just as much as mom and dad...yeah right-

Caught in the act...

While we are still waiting to post about Natalie's first Christmas experiance we figured we would show some pictures of Natalie preparing the milk and cookies for the jolly ole man. As you can see, she could hardly contain her excitement...for the cookies.

A New Point of View...

Natalie has a new favorite thing to do with her dad...sitting on his shoulders. She loves to look at herself in the mirror while riding high in the air. For those faint of heart Josh always has his arms around Natalie's back.

In other news, Natalie had her first (and probably not last), ear infection along with a runny nose, cough and chest congestion. After a couple of trips to the doctor's and a prescription for Amoxicillin she is on the road to recovery. We were supposed to make our first trip to Danville this weekend, but since Natalie is still not feeling 100%Grandma and Grandpa J are making the trek to our house again. Hopefully there will be lots of time to rest and catch up on sleep!

Fruits and Veggies...

We mentioned in a past post about Natalie starting on rice cereal. We've expanded her palate to include oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, pears and apples! Apples are her favorite, but pears are her least favorite which is kind of surprsing. We figured for sure that we would have to force carrots on her, we couldn't have been more wrong, she likes them just fine. We start bananas on Sunday - Josh is hoping for success since that's his favorite fruit. After that it's onto PEAS, YUCK!!! One thing is for certain, baby food brings about a whole new concept of messy. Her new favorite activity is to blow while you try to feed her. Yup, food goes everywhere. Luckily, we still find humor in her new found activity.

Swimming Lessons!

Natalie started swimming lessons last week as part of Josh's "get ready for water" program. Natalie is by far the youngest Dolphin in the pool, since most of the kids in the class are 1 or 2 years old. However, with a trip to Florida onm the horizon this is a perfect opportunity to get her feet wet (pun intended). So far she seems to enjoy the water, although, she does seem a little confused at times...especially when she was supposed to kick as she laid on her stomach on a surf board She really seems to like a game we play, especially London Bridges, which basically involves walking around the pool in circles under a big foam noodle singing the song. Some lessons she has taken in so far include:

* Blowing bubbles in the water (teaches them not to swallow water)

* Jumping in the water from the edge (teaches them when they jump in the water to always head back to the wall to grab onto.

* Laying on her back, stomach and side in the water

* Splashing!!!!

Teddy...

Natalie recieved one of her first Christmas gifts on Wednesday from good friend Skye. The gift, a teddy bear. We are not quite sure why Natalie is semi-naked while playing with Teddy. Anyway, Natalie seems to have made a new friend...

Santa Claus came to Ashburn...

he then left for an hour and came back. Luckily we found a way to the front of the line upon his return. All in all, we waited 2.5hrs in line at Dulles Town Center to see the jolly ole fellow...and, believe it or not, we were one of the lucky ones to only wait 2.5hrs. Despite the long lines Natalie shined in her three minutes with Saint Nick. She sat on his lap and gave a few smiles. We are not exactly sure what she wished for but we're hoping it involves a couple of teddy bears, books, clothes and a few select toys.

Whats new...well, Natalie is now scooting herself in circles while on her stomach. She has completed several 360 degree turns. We are assuming that crawling is just around the corner.

Both of our families are coming to town to celebrate Christmas in Ashburn. We are really looking forward to their company and ready to down some good eats and spirits.

Isn't it amazing how much can happen in a week...

Natalie has had a couple of first this week:

First, Natalie is sitting up on her own. Someone still has to sit near her as she will eventually slump over but she is able to sit up for a couple of minutes on her own. It must be from all of the sit ups we have been doing. We can now put a Boppy behind her and give her a couple of toys to play with while tend to other stuff around the house.

Secondly, she has started rolling over from her back to her stomach. Our daycare first noticed this on Friday and sure enough, she has rolled over several times this weekend. It is amazing how things can change from one day to the next.

Natalie is starting to really enjoy her rice cereal. Often times requesting more. She is also very content at watching people and seeing their interactions. We noticed last weekend that she would watch a group of people carry on a conversation turning her head to watch whomever was speaking. Unfortunately the conversation involved installing drywall...if she only knew. Josh feels that this is the best age so far as she is figuring out new things everyday.

I promised myself I wasn't going to cry...

For the first time in Josh and Kaija's relationship Josh shed a tear. Although, these tears were tears of joy. Natalie picked up the remote control and began hitting buttons. After seeing this, Josh jumped up and grabbed the camera to capture the joyous moment.

Natalie started her rice cereal on Sunday. She also say in her high chair for the first time. The first two attempts to feed the rice cereal did not go over well with several yuck faces. Today, however, she decided to eat the cereal without a fuss and remained, for the most part, clean. We will see how this continues but we are hoping she continues to enjoy this feeding. We are really looking forward to starting her on fruits in a couple of weeks. In our anticipation we have already begun stocking the cabinet.

We went to Snickersville Tree Farm this weekend and started our family tradition of cutting down our Christmas Tree and dressing it up as a family. The place was very nice plus they offered free apple cider. Natalie looked so cute bundled up in her snow suit although her nose was very red by the end of finished.

Grandpa and Grandma D are coming into town this weekend with Aunt and Uncle D. Not too much on the agenda but they volunteered to babysit on Monday instead of sending Natalie to daycare.