Such a big girl!

You regular followers of this blog know that on or shortly after the 29th of every month, we post a photo of Natalie to show how she's grown every month since the day of her birth (Sept. 29). Because we post birthday pictures of Natalie (and did them for Lexi), Sarah, who also had a birthday this week, also deserves to have her picture on this blog. 38 years old - isn't she a big girl now?

10 months old!

Natalie turned 10 months old on Sunday, July 29. She is fully into the crawling stage and needs to be watched constantly. She is also pulling herself up to a standing position on anything that will allow her to. I guess she's trying to race through the crawling stage to the walking stage.

She claps!

Not sure if she has been doing this a couple of days already and we have never seen it, but Natalie has learned how to clap!

Natalie update

If you look at the number of pictures we have taken, you would think Natalie is a neglected child.  We took many more pictures of her sister at this age.  I also know we blog about both of them less.  Sigh.

Natalie now has 4 teeth.  Her two upper teeth came in practically one right after another.  She has a little gap between them.  I wonder if it will close when the other teeth come in..

Natalie continues to love to eat.  She is drinking about 24 oz of milk (now all formula since the beginning of this week) and enjoys her solid food as well.  She still doesn't really reject any kind of food.  Sometimes she has a slightly weird expression on her face but she doesn't spit out things that she doesn't like.  She really likes feeding herself things she can pick up with her hands.  We haven't tried letting her self feed with a spoon yet.  We haven't been trying very hard to get her to drink from a cup but she doesn't quite get it when we do attempt that.  Of course, I am only putting water in the cup so maybe she doesn't find it very attractive to drink.  I still am trying to avoid sweets with her to see if that affects her palate as she gets older.  She has had her first taste of ice cream, though.

Natalie has definitely gotten the hang of crawling even though sometimes, she is still crying to be picked up vs. moving herself to where the action is.  She loves pulling herself up on things including legs and Stephen lowered her crib mattress yesterday as she was pulling herself up in the crib and could practically launch herself over the rail.

For the first couple of days after we got back from vacation, Natalie really protested being put in her car seat. I think she got a little tired of riding in it.  When we take her on the plane to Seattle in August, I hope she can sit still when required!

Fireworks!

Natalie experienced her first 4th of July and didn't seem fussed by all the booming fireworks.  We watched the downtown ones from the grounds of the Old Soldier's Home near us while people in the neighborhood also set off fireworks. She wasn't necessarily raptured by watching the fireworks but kept looking around at all the people.

Natalie's front tooth is coming in nicely and I would swear that there is another about to break through.  She continues to want to stand is continuously pulling herself up on our legs or pieces of furniture.  She gets herself in the traditional crawling position but hasn't figured out how to go anywhere.

Nine months!

Natalie turned 9 months last week on June 29. First thing that morning, I asked her: "Natalie, you've spent just as much time outside the womb as you have in the womb. Which do you prefer?" She just smiled.

Today, I took her to the pediatrician for her 9-month check-up. Her stats:

Weight: 21 lb, 14 oz
Height: 29 inches

The nurse was not able to tell me what percentiles she falls in.

She did not get shots, and the doctor did not have any concerns about her development. We just hope she starts crawling soon!

How Lexi's Mind works

Wanted to post this her for posterity.

Last night's conversation with Lexi:

It started between her and Sarah when Lexi asked her who made food - was it Jesus? Then I joined the conversation. Sarah explained that it's God who made food and the sky and sun and everything on Earth that we need.

"But what about Jesus...?" Hesitation. "What does he do? Does he help God? God has a lot to do." We essentially acknowledged that - that yes, Jesus is there with God and helps him with things.

Then came a question that she had raised the other day: "When you die, how do you get to heaven? How does God get you there? Do we live with God?" At that point, Sarah handed it over to me to come up with the answer. This is when my seven years at the ELCA come into play? This is where I apply my BSF years? I explained again what I had answered when the question arose earlier - that you have your body and your spirit, and when you die, your spirit leaves your body and goes up to heaven to be with God. "But how does it get there?" "Well, we don't know, but God makes it happen. God knows where your spirit needs to go."

It's funny the way she is asking things - she doesn't quite know what to ask. But it's also great that she's able to start grasping on to some of these concepts, although the hard one is about getting to heaven - how we're transported there, and are we physically there like we're physically here (I think that's what she's wondering). How do you explain it to a near 5-year old when adults have a difficult time understanding it themselves?