Happy Birthday, Natalie!

Natalie turned one on Saturday. It is very hard to believe that it has already been a year since she was born.  Stephen and I both remember the long day at the hospital waiting for her to arrive. Lexi remembers telling the school at all school meeting the name of her baby sister.

Natalie's loves eating bananas and really will eat just about anything. She continues to be a really good eater.  She loves pulling things out of boxes, bags, etc and leaves a trail of "stuff' behind as she goes exploring.  She is continually pulling herself up on anything she can from the coffee table to the nearest adult's legs.  I think she will really enjoy walking.

We had a small family party on Saturday night with Uncles Andy and Russell and Aunt Michelle.  Natalie didn't quite get opening gifts thought she liked pulling things out of the gift bags and crumpling the cards.

Her 1 year checkup appointment is first thing Monday morning so I will be able to soon report her stats. We did measure her on her growth chart and it looks like she is 1 inch shorter than Lexi was at 1 year old.

Natalie also switched to the front facing car seat on Saturday and I think she loves it.  She grinned happily at me every time I turned to look at her.  I got her two more pairs of shoes.  I figure I probably need to have her in shoes most of the time from now on.  I haven't bothered too much up to this point.

She steps!

Not quite walking, but Natalie is definitely on the cusp of walking 3 days before she turns one.  She was standing up and let go of what she was holding and took 3 steps.  She is very close to balancing on her own standing up.

Very exciting!

Natalie learning to use a spoon

11 months

Here's Natalie on her 11-month birthday on August 29. Hard to believe she's almost a year old already.

Another sign of what a big girl she is: She's getting her eighth tooth in - another one on the bottom!

Food in the Hair and a Pencil in the Foot

As she is eating, particularly as she is getting done, Natalie will run her hands through her hair.  Yesterday, that meant she had cheese from macaroni and cheese and pasta sauce in her hair.  Not only do I have to wash her hands and face, I have to wash her hair after ever meal!

And we are not sure how she did it, but Lexi somehow stepped on a pencil and got the lead stuck in the bottom of her foot.  It was weird because the skin was cut/came back in a flap and the lead was underneath that. Stephen pulled it out with a tweezers and she has been wearing a bandaid since then and favoring her left foot. 

Water...

And Natalie can turn on the water in the bathtub.  Hasn't managed to turn on the shower but if she stretches a little farther she will be able to to.

Little Miss Trouble

With mobility, comes trouble.  Natalie is now a proficient crawler, easily pulls herself up on anything and
everything and doesn't want to let go of whatever she has her hands on.  In a house with little storage, child-proofing can be tough.

This results in:
-trash cans on top of toilet tanks
-crayons in a container with a lid that even the child who can open it, can't
-a 20 lb bag of rice that gets moved on and off the counter
-the crib mattress in the lowest position
-the glass bowls inside the cupboard while the frying pans are out
-the basement door constantly shut (even big sister is closing it automatically)
-two days in a row where Natalie dumped her dinner over her head when Mom was to far away to stop her from picking up the bowl
-spaghetti all over the floor
-mashed bananas in her hair
-bike grease on hands and feet when she grabs onto Dad's bike parked in the living room
-kitchen refrigerator magnets found all over the house

..just to name a few.