Mommy's little cheerleader

Well, Sunday I did my second 5k run/race! It was SO hot, but I did really well! The terrain was not what I was used to nor was the heat...but push, push, push !

I'm happy that you and Daddy and Uncle Steven were there to cheer Mama on. :) You loved the action and excitement of the event but Daddy said you got hot fast.

We are really feeling the "terrible twos" coming on. :( I can tell by the expressions on your face that you are testing us...just to see what we will do. It's hard dealing with it all sometimes but one thing that will never change is how much I love you. :)

XO,
Mom

My heart is melting

We just spent 10 minutes having the silliest conversation, Natalie! I usually spend some time with you, singing, reading (or both) before I put you to bed for the night. But tonight seemed more special because we sat in your rocking chair and you snuggled up to me and started giggling, telling me "Baba stinky" lol...and I said, "Nooo, Natalie stinky"...this went back and forth for at least 10 minutes. We giggled the whole time and it is probably going down, for me, as one of the best moments we've had as mommy and daughter.

You and I bond a little more every day, honey...and our relationship is developing into an amazing friendship.

Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day and it was great. I felt like we should've been celebrating you because YOU are the reason I am a mom and the reason why I feel so special every second of the day. :)

I love you to the moon and back, my little girl. Thank you for making me a mother, or better yet for making me your "Baba." :) I couldn't ask for anything/anyone better than you.

XOXO,
Mom

Wow...ok...

Hello to all the readers!! If you haven't given up on me yet! lol... :)

Natalie has done some growing and is talking up a storm these days! She had a great Christmas....was very surprised and I think kinda knew what was happening. :)

We've been spending the days outside playing in her sand box and going to her favorite place...the swing! The swing is her reward for being so good while mommy runs. She is my encouragement and tells me, "Go! Go! Go!" It's the best!

Natalie, you still can't say your M's very well, so Mama comes out Baba. I think it's cute, but how I long for the day you call me "Mommy" instead of "Bobby" :) You can count (sometimes) to 10! You've even started to try to sing the ABC song. When music or any of your favorite shows come on, you LOVE dancing and singing along. The best part of you growing up is all the new things you learn and the fact that you are getting a sense of humor! The worst thing about you growing up...is you growing up. :( You aren't a baby anymore, but you'll always be Baba's baby. :)

Natalie will be 2 in July! Can you believe it??? And I've already taught her:
"Natalie, how old are you?" She says....."TWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Love it.

Happy Halloween!

Well, Natalie's 2nd Halloween has come and gone...but she had a GREAT time!
Nat, you were sooo cute in your ballerina costume! It was a total last minute idea because you no longer fit into the original (lady bug fairy) costume. I'm not complaining because you looked ADORABLE as a little pink ballerina! Funny thing is that it is a swimsuit!! Tutu and all! So hopefully you will get some good use out of it (and still fit into it) during the spring/summer months. :)
I really thought that you would be scared of the trick-or-treaters, but you loved it. You had a look of amazement and didn't say much at first, but then you started talking back to them (saying "trick-or-treat" in your own language) then as they were leaving you waved way up high and said "BYE BYE!" it was so cute. :) You are definitely a social butterfly and love people. I still can't get over you blowing kisses at the little kids....like they were your babies or something. Too cute.
You are saying so many words now. Pumpkin (Bop-pop), Flower (oh-wower) butterfly (bop-buf), Mama (Baba) are just to name the few and most popular....of course you have been saying Dadda for a long time.....and since the beginning it has been very accurate. :)
As of Oct. 29th you started out walking on your own. No help from mommy, daddy or the furniture. I was sitting in the family room and saw you going around the couch...but noticed you weren't touching anything! I quietly got up to watch you go into the kitchen and around again and I jumped for joy! You've been taking independent steps through the furniture and you have become a pro at walking holding mom's hand since you were 12 months, but you decided on your own that it would be fun to walk. :) I don't see any difference in your activity other than it's upright :) so I don't get it when people used to say "be glad she's not walking" you have gotten into things for many months now ;). The only issue I have now is that you just learned how to open and shut doors...ayyyyyeeee. :( That's what daddy and I get for being 'fancy' with the lever door knobs! Who knew we'd have a child one day back when we were designing the house! Oh well....it's an adventure. ;)
I'm looking forward to the holiday season and seeing you run to the tree on christmas morning even though you still don't really know what's happening...we will still encourage you. I love Halloween just as much as Christmas so even though it's over and it makes me sad, I'm glad we are that much closer to a beautiful christmas season with our big girl!
Daddy and I are planning a surprise that we are hoping will pan out to be the best gift of your life.
We love you, monkey-do! More and more every day....
XO,
Mom "Baba" :)

Welcome Fall!

Been all too long since I posted, but with a very mobile 14 month old, life barely ever has any breaks! Natalie is doing SOOO well! She is cruising around the house, only once in a while will she break free and walk on her own. I'm glad she isn't doing more, because right now, she does enough! She can step up and climb up the stairs (under Eric's or my supervision of course)...this child's fear is minimal!
There are so many things she's learning including animal sounds. The funny thing is that her M's are B's. If I say, "what does a cow say?" Natalie says..."BOOOO!" LOL! And, "what does a cat say?" she says, "Booo-OW!" It's adorable. I've been singing the itsy bitsy spider and the alphabet song (doing sign language as I sing it) and she tries to do all the hand movements to both songs.
More words she says are "Dadda" and instead of "Mama" she says "Baba" :) She's definitely in love with her daddy! We went to our friend's wedding last weekend and she was such a trooper! We were out until about 11:00pm (her bedtime is around 7:30pm) and she didn't even cry...just was obviously tired. She kept wanting her daddy to lay on. Just seeing her snuggle him warmed my heart. I'm so proud of their relationship.
I think the reason why it is even stronger now is because Eric took care of her 24/7 after I had my gall bladder surgery. I had been sick, and having attacks for about a month and eventually had it taken out. They discovered it was inflamed and I had over 50 stones! Crazy. It was an outpatient/lapriscopic surgery so I was only in he hospital for one day...and got to come home in the afternoon. I was out of comission for about 4 days. I'm so proud of Eric for taking care of me and our little one. I'm sooo lucky to have him in my life! Natalie didn't understand why I couldn't pick her up, and it was so hard on me....but I knew I would pull through and get back to my job ASAP!
Fall is here! I can't believe we got our first cold front on the first day of Fall! I love this time of year and am hoping for a wet and chilly Fall and Winter. Natalie is such a warm temperature baby and I think she will love it! I'm hoping to get her new wardrobe within the next couple of weeks. She has slowed down a lot as far as her size goes. I think she's been wearing 12-18month clothes since she was 10 months old! All of it is summer stuff, so she needs a new season. She's getting close to growing out of a lot of it too....so, it's good incentive. :) I've already pulled together what I want on websites and it's awaiting it's purchase :)
My birthday is tomorrow and I'm actually happy about it. Going through what I did made me realize how lucky I am and that I need to be more optimistic about life. And, 33, for some reason...sounds good. Who knew? :)
I hope to write more blogs now that the crazy summer is over!
Nat-the-Cat....I love you more than words can say and I enjoy every minute we spend together. You are truly a gift that your dad and I cherish. I just can't wait for all the holidays heading our way this year! You will look at stuff a whole new way and I can't wait to see the look of wonderment in those big blue eyes! :)
XO
Mom (aka--Baba) ;)

Recap!

Ok, I probably only have just a few minutes to blog since your nap is coming to a close...so here goes!
THREE months has passed.....awww, my monkey girl, I'm so sorry I didn't blog-keeping things rolling as you progressed. :( Here's the low down..... EVERYTHING seemed to happen at 10 months!! We waited, and waited, and waited and finally an erruption of learning and expressing came pouring through! First of all, you got your bottom teeth with no problems in February....then around 9 months you started getting more cranky and that is so not you! I could see the buds of your uppers and figured they'd be along soon....well, we waited a MONTH and they finally broke through! You had a rough time (and so did mommy! :( ) but you pulled (or should I say "pushed") through it like a champ! We made it and they are, as of today, half way in, and an inciser just broke through this weekend! You hadn't crawled except for the army man on a mission (using elbows to drag your body along the floor) and the doctor didn't seem to care, considering all you really wanted to do was stand. :) But you did start crawling, knees up last week! go girl! You first sat up on your own, in your crib at 10 months, you also stood up in your gated play room at 10 months. You started cruisin' around the furniture and using your walker to take over the house! We are sooooo proud of you, monkey!! If you hadn't noticed, your nicknames have changed some too. I go back and forth with them and dad and I seem to keep adding to the list :) Punkys, monkey (one of our faves), NuNu, Nat the cat, Nanner Bananer, etc, etc. ;) Your dad asked me the other day if we are going to call you NuNu when you are 16 and I said, "YES!" But you may have other ideas, and maybe by then we will have deicded to spare you the embarrassment. ;)
Things are crazy busy for us. You still take a morning and afternoon nap, but those vary. So we are usually always in entertaining mode, which I don't mind. I'm also getting busy thinking of all I need to get ready for your FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!! Yay!! I'm so bitter sweet about the whole thing. Daddy and I watched the videos from when you were born and your first months and I can't believe how time has just flown by. I want you to stay a baby forever and you were so tiny with very little hair and so inquisitive. You have changed indefinitely. Lots of hair, teeth, tall, wearing 12-18 months clothing and I really think you will be walking before or by your birthday. I am very excited about the years to come and I love watching you change and grow. You have very quickly become my best friend and it makes my heart melt to hear you say "mama" and when you see daddy, "dadda" It's so amazing. You eat lots of solids now, which you had a hard time with in the beginning. We are talking GAGGING, girl. :( wasn't pretty. But I think we are out of the woods and that you will start to love more and more foods. You aren't into regular milk right now, but we are trying to ween you by the time your birthday rolls around. We bought our last container of formula today, so hopefully you will get used to it :)
You are just the funniest and most adorable person I have ever known and I hope that you stay just that sweet always.
I love you mucho mucho and it grows with every breath I take.
More to come on your birthday plannying!
~Mom
PS.....Can't wait for your birthday trip to Florida!!

Wow....

.....so much has happened! First off, I can't believe the last time I blogged was February 12th! You have certainly upped your activity level since then....and you got your bottom teeth!! They are so insanely adorable....and so are you. :) You have grown so much and have really begun to develop your personality and I'm a little worried that it's a little like mine. ;)
You are now eating cereal for breakfast, fruit for lunch and veggie plus chicken or turkey for dinner! When I think back when our little journey started with you, I canNOT believe how much has happened and how much has changed. It's all bitter sweet and all amazing. Each day I feel like I love you more and as crazy as it sounds I miss you more just knowing that one day soon, oh....allll too soon, you will be off to school. :( You have quickly become my tiny little partner and best friend. And all who read this and think that is unhealthy can stop reading now and exit the building.

I have to be honest and tell you that today has been a weird day for me. Sometimes I feel couped up and really want to just have a break. To just SIT alone and not talk to anyone. Ususully I get good breaks on the weekends when daddy is here. (He was out playing golf and is now out in downtown Austin with the fellas) I decided to take you out shopping today and you did ok at first but half way through you just wanted to be held as mommy shopped and that was so hard, cause you weigh over 20lbs now! Anyway, I tried one more store and you were ok, but at the end, yep, wanted to be held. We did ok, but I just wated to look at a few more things and I realized I couldn't because you were just ready to go. I guess that' s when I realized that my life is truly not my own anymore. Don't get me wrong....I don't want it any other way, but sometimes a break is definitely in order.

I'm just all full of issues lately....and I just need to sort through things so that I can be the best I can for you.....in fact, taking care of you is my sanity. All things get pushed out when you need or want me. You save me every day and I'll love you for an eternity for that, my little monkey.

I promise to start keeping up with these blogs!!!

PS....your cousin Julianna was born two days ago (March 26th) and we're going to see her next Saturday!! :)

Love you, mucho, mucho. :)
XO,
Mom