Natalie is 5 months old!

Our little Natalie is 5 months old! We can't believe how fast it is going by and she is going to be talking and walking in no time. She is sitting up and can stay up on her own for quite awhile now, as long as she isn't trying to stick something in her mouth (which is most of the time) she can stay up. She is still rolling from her belly to her back sometimes but she really doesn't like tummy time very much and whines a lot when she is laying down. She is doing very well and is starting to learn a few more things. She giggles a little here and there when we are playing with her and boy does that warm my heart! I can't wait till she is doing it all the time. She LOVES music, we got some cds from the library and sing and dance with her and she smiles and giggles almost all the time. She loves it when we sing to her at bed time and everyonce in awhile I swear she is singing to herself. She will be laying in her crib and babbling to herself but it sounds more like singing than talking. It is so cute! Chris blessed Natalie on Sunday the 28th and that was sure a great moment. Knowing my husband has the authority to give her a blessing is so comforting and I am so happy he got to do that for her. We had a lot of our family come to church and lunch and I love having everyone get together. Natalie did great with all the attention and held up great until bedtime. After I got her settled down she slept great but it was harder than usual. I am so blessed to have my daughter and my husband in my life and couldn't imagine life without them! I love them so much.

Natalie is 4 months old

Natalie is growing like a weed! She is now 4 months old and weighs 13 lbs 4 oz. She did great at her doctors appointment and he said she is ahead or right on most of her developmental milestones. What a relief! She is such a little cutie! She has started to squeal and that has been fun for her, when she is done playin by herself she will squeal and try to get us to play with her. Chris and I were cleaning a couple weeks ago and she had been on the floor playing really good all alone and then she started doing this high pitched squeal out of nowhere, so we went over to see what she was doing and she got this huge smile on her face when we started paying attention to her. We both laughed and played with her for a bit. She now knows how to do it all the time and it is so funny. She has such a fun personality and loves attention. She is still rolling over and I can prop her up in the sitting position and she is pretty stable. We got her pictures back from JcPenny and they are so adorable! I can't believe in a few months she will be crawling. She is growing up so fast and I am excited for the next stages in her life.

our big girl!

Natalie is reaching her milestones one right after the other! She has been cooing and "talking" to us for a while but now she is starting to squeal and it is so cute! She does little ones and LOUD ones. It is so funny when she does it because she will do it once then try to do it again but isn't quite sure how she did it before and she will make some funny noises. She has rolled over a few times from her tummy to her back! She did it a couple weeks ago and the last time she did it was when we were at our friends house for the super bowl! It still really suprises her and I can't wait for her to do it a lot more. The newest thing she started doing was splashing in the bathtub. She has always loved taking baths but this last time I told her it was time to get out and she started kicking her legs and flailing her arms. Water went everywhere and I started laughing and got Daddy to come watch so she started to do it even more. She is getting so big and it has been such a joy to have her in our lives.

3 months old!

                                                                       Our pretty girl

I LOVE this smile!

Natalie reached her 3 months birthday Janurary 29th 2010. I can't believe it has been 3 months since we brought her home from the hospital. She has grown a lot and enjoys interacting with people. She loves to "stand up". When she is laying down we hold her hands and lift her up so she is standing. She smiles and gets so excited. She really likes havin a routine and if you differ from what she is used to she isn't a happy camper. She wakes about 6AM to eat, then goes right back to sleep then wakes at 9AM to eat and then we are up for the day. She eats about every 3 hours and takes naps every 3 hours for about an hour. She eats her last meal at 8:30 or 9:00, we change her into her jammies and read a book. Then lay her in her crib and

I pat her back and rub her face till she falls asleep. I give her a "dream feed" (feed her while she is still asleep and try not to wake her up) at 10:30 and she stays down all night most of the time. During the day she is gettin better at entertaining herself. She loves watching the TV!!! If I am not careful and lay her down she will always watch the TV and gets mad when you turn her away. That is not something I want her to be addicted to so I really try to be careful of that. She hates her tummy time and will only allow me to put her on her belly for no longer than 10 minutes, sometimes not even that long. She is getting strong though and can keep her head up and has even rolled over a few times. We are waiting to hear her first giggle and I think it will be soon. She tries to giggle but so far the best we have gotten are little squeaks. We are excited to continue to see her grow and become a little baby girl but I am missing how little and cuddly she was as a newborn. She sure is showing her independant personality.

  Natalies first snow                  

playin with Lammie                   

                      

watching tv :(

cousin Mallory

Happy New Year!

Merry Chistmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!! We had a pretty small Christmas this year since neither one of us is working right now, but I got the best present of all.. our little Natalie!

This year was so different than others because we got to buy stuff for her and that was the most fun I have ever had shopping. We didn't get her a lot but she got some good stuff. From her Grandparents we picked out a musical motion activity jumper that she is going to LOVE when she can sit up. We got her some toys and a peanuts activity bar to play with when she is laying on the floor. She doesn't quite get what to do but loved looking at everything. Of course I got the new Johnny Depp movie that came out and I can't wait to watch it.

But no gift is better than getting to be with family. We spent Christmas Eve with Chris family and did a really fun homemade white elephant gift exchange (which I think was awesome!), ate some really good food and played some games. Christmas morning was at this Grandparents house on his mom's side and tomorrow is with his Dad's side. We can't wait to see my family for New Years to exchange gifts and ring in the new year playing games and having so much fun!!!

Since Chris and I got married we have had a tradition of getting each other ornaments so when we get our own tree it will be filled with memories. This year we added Natalie and got her first Christmas ornament!!! It is so sweet and we are excited to keep the tradition going.

She was not a happy! All she wanted to do was go to bed!!!

All about Natalie

Natalie is 7 weeks old!!! A few highlights from her life so far...

* We named her Natalie Taya Self.

* She was born October 29, 2009 and 5:10PM. She weight 7lbs 8oz and was 21" long.

* She had her first Halloween and Nana got her a rockin' outfit with a pumpkin hat.

* Her first Thanksgiving she sure knew what to do. All she wanted to do was EAT, EAT, EAT.

* Met the rest of her Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents.... That was alot of people she had to meet and I think was a little stressing for her.

* Is starting to really smile at us!!! Dad and Mom sure love this!!! We are always trying to get her to smile now making funny faces and silly noises.

* Sat on Santa's lap! I can 't wait for the pictures!!!!

* Has had a few modeling days were Mommy takes a ton of pictures. She will let me do it for a few minutes then lets me know she's had enough.

Waiting for Natalie

Only three weeks till baby Natalie is due!!! I can't believe it has been that long already. I am excited and nervous about our new baby coming. I hope we can get everything ready for her to come home! We still need to finish painting and then get everything put back together. We still need to get our carseat and we are still waiting for the crib. I am very excited for my Mom to be here to help and hopefully she can make it up here in time if I go into labor before she can come up here to stay. I feel very blessed to have so much of Chris's family here to help and be involved with us.