Trick or Treat

Natalie is always a treat...well not when she wakes up in the middle of the night after sleeping well. Then she's a trick. We stayed home to pass out candy. Daddy had to miss Natalie's first Halloween because he was working 6pm to 6am for 'pretend war'. Natalie squealed with delight at all the kids and dogs that kept walking around.

Halloween Party

Natalie spent Halloween Day at a party with her playgroup pals. Man, they are all getting so big. Grandma Windle's bunny costume ended up being too big (we're hoping for next year) so she had to be a Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleader. Different from all the animals though!

Shirt

By the way, I swear I wash her clothes. We're just trying to get as much wear out of this Halloween shirt before tomorrow :-)

Where's Natalie?

I came home from physical therapy. I left Ryan in charge, though he worked 6pm to 6am so I said he should be able to get her to nap. I left at 10:30 and was home at 11:10. The house was quiet. Natalie was not in the crib. Ryan was in bed. Couldn't see N anywhere in the house. Was about to wake Ryan up in a rage when I saw this!



How sweet is that!?!?! I'm so glad the flash didn't wake them up!

Dog Food - Yum!

Natalie's favorite new trick is pulling up on just about everything. Her favorite thing is to stand up at the dog food 'cart' and help herself to a piece and splash around in his bowl. Luckily I *think* I have snagged every piece before she has eaten any...though snagging=taking it from her mouth!

8 Months Old

Although we've entered a stage of yet again screaming at night, we're working through it. At 8 months, it's very hard to take a bunny picture because Natalie

1. Grabs the bunny
2. Rolls over
3. Has a fit because we take the bunny away
4. Will only lay still if we shake a can of Puffs (snacks) over her head.



Here she is, looking like she is doing jumping jacks just to get the Puffs.

She looks like BOTH of us! HA!

Liam and Natalie Dining Together

We went to a chili potluck on Wednesday. They were too cute eating together at Sondra's house. What could they be talking about? It really looks like they are having some conversation.

Natalie and Table Food

I've decided Natalie is getting ready for picking up some of her own food. She is always trying to grab the spoon. So in my quest to be frugal, I chopped carrots into tiny squares, cooked them, and froze a whole baggie full. Here's a picture of her enjoying eating her carrot cubes.

I also had my mom help me make these baby legs for Natalie - great for crawling and not getting knee burns. Also good for the cool fall mornings, especially when it's still 80 in the afternoon. They are 12 dollars online and we made them from 97 cent adult knee socks.

Average Week

Sorry for the lack of pics, nothing exciting is going on around here. Natalie had a Halloween party this weekend, but she threw up and had a fever on Saturday so she didn't get to go. She's fine now though so it must have been a 24 hour bug. We joined the YMCA so now I can work out and put Natalie in the daycare room. It will be a nice break for both of us! I did a kickboxing class on Saturday morning and boy am I sore. Sunday we had church, bible group, and I went to a cloth diaper playdate in the afternoon. We are pooped. Mainly because Saturday night we went to a pumpkin carving party until 1am (and Natalie decided it would be nice to get up at 3,5,7). So hopefully it's off to bed early for us. Natalie will be 8 months soon so you know I'll be having pics of her and her bunny soon.

Natalie Signs Milk

Yay! I caught her doing the sign and reaching to me. It's a quick video, but it means a lot to me! She's figured out how to tell me that she wants/needs something! Off to more signs now!

Who Wants to Visit?

Plane tickets on American Airlines are $179 from STL to Norfolk! Come on out people!!! You have to buy by October 19th. :-)

Pretty In Pink

We're enjoying some cooler weather here finally, and Natalie looks so cute in her little fall outfits. Ryan picked this one out today. She's really looking like a girl instead of a baby.

First Halloween Party

Natalie and I went to our first halloween party today. She looked cute in her shirt from Grandma Windle. She didn't get to play the party games or eat the party food. Well, she did roll out of her bumbo chair and crawled through the dirt until she found my plate of pretzels. She got one in her mouth but I yanked it out. She spent a lot of the party sleeping on my lap.

News of the Day

Let's see what news I can tell you about Natalie.

1. I subbed today and she stayed home with daddy. She did a good job. She had a funny brown spot by her collar and I thought she had banana that dried there. Ryan said nope, she found a clump of dirt (presumably from Drake's foot) and ate it!!!!! The spot was dirt drool! Yuck...

2. Not interested in jarred meat. I have to admit it does smell a bit like cat food. We tried turkey. She had 2 bites just fine. The third spoonful just kind of rolled out of her mouth onto her bib. The fourth bite she gagged and started dry heaving. No more meat!!!

3. She managed somehow to wake up at 8, take a 40 minute nap from 10:20-11:00. Then was up until 5:30 when she finally passed out on the way home from the outlet mall. Luckily it only lasted 30 min and she was back in bed by 7:45.

In other Windle news, Ryan took the written firefighter exam for Newport News, he'll know tomorrow whether he passed or not. I was nervous to sub, but actually ended up enjoying it (no planning, no parents, no working late). All in all we are doing well!

Tricks

Natalie has graduated from being balanced on her bottom. Although it makes mommy's heart stop, Natalie really gets a big old grin on her face. Maybe she wants to be a cheerleader.

Pumpkin Patch

We went with Peninsula Mommies to the pumpkin patch today. We had a blast!

Here are mommy and Natalie on the hayride out to find a pumpkin.


Here is Natalie trying to choose her favorite one, we ended up getting one a bit smaller though!


Where is Natalie? Which one is a baby and not a pumpkin :-)


Here are a few more shots from our busy morning!

She did it!

Natalie is crawling! Yay! She can really get places now. I was getting my hair cut and she went down a hall! I love how she holds the flashlight up at the end so triuphantly! Time to be watchful :-)

Skipping Crawling?

While Natalie is working so hard to crawl (she's getting faster at the Army Crawl and actually did a whole step on her hands and knees) she's also trying to pull up and cruise around the coffee table. I caught this shot in mid-pull. I'm not going to mention that the flash suddenly made her fall back and bonk her noggin...




Here's some pictures of her playing in her PJ's before bed tonight. Catch those teefers!