Only One Pic?

Who me? I am not the one who screams all the way ANYWHERE in the car.

MIA

If blogger would let me post my pictures, I would be updating more! I have all my pics on My Space now from a surprise birthday party we had for my friend Heather and from Easter. Things are good here as usual. Susan is coming to visit next week, YAY! All of April Ryan is at ALS (Airman Leadership School) here on base to learn about being an NCO (non-comissioned officer). Then after that sometime he is going to Texas for 3-4 weeks for 7 level training so he's got a lot going on right now. I'm still busy babysitting full time, though I have next week off for Spring Break for the schools around here. Hopefully I will get this picture thing figured out sometime...

Easter

Here are my easter pics! Blogger won't upload pics at home, but they worked here at my friend's house while I'm stealing her computer! We had a great day. Natalie was scared of the helicopter. Everytime it got close she buried her head in my shoulder and cried. It's cool to see them dumping the eggs out though! Then we had brunch with our 'circle' of friends. All the kids did another egg hunt in the yard, which was good because out of 20,000 eggs, Natalie got 1/2 an egg. Sad! They had sections for each age group but the older kids pretty much went crazy. Natalie didn't seem to care. She did have her moments though, you can see the picture when she didnt' get something she wanted! We stayed all afternoon and got home just in time to put Natalie down. I hope everyone else felt as blessed on Easter as we did!

Happy Early Easter!

Here is my second attempt at a cake. This one I cut out of 2 rounds and did the face freehand. It's for our Easter brunch tomorrow.


We let Natalie open her Backyardigans eggs tonight because we will be gone a lot tomorrow. We have church at 9, a CRAZY egg hunt at 10:15, and a brunch at noon. Why is the egg hunt crazy? Well our church is getting a helicopter to drop 20,000 eggs in a field and let the kids get them!!! Pictures of that tomorrow!!

I Can Get What I Want

Natalie likes to reach on the shelf and get whatever she wants down. She loves to get down the box of puzzles and dump out all the pieces out.





In other news she had portraits done yesterday day and they turned out cute. I mailed some out and will try to post pictures later. She also got her top two molars coming in this week! She hasn't been cranky about it either, woo hoo!

OH! The other day Natalie was up from her nap screaming so I went up there and she had no diaper on and a pile of poop and pee on the mattress! UGH! It was all over her feet I think she was stomping in it. So I changed and washed everything, laid her down. Then about 10 minutes later she had it off again! YIKES! She has been bringing me the wipes when she is dirty, so maybe we will be potty training soon!

Park

Natalie and I met a friend at the park this afternoon. It was kind of chilly but we had a good time. Natalie followed the oldest girl around and they had fun. I'm really surprised she tried so many things. She would try to climb all the stairs to get to the slide. I was a nervous wreck trying to block the openings or climb up quick to grab her. But she loved the slide and the swing! On the swing she would just throw herself back laughing.

She Speaks!

Natalie is just talking so much more now. Starting this morning in her bed, she would say ma-ma over and over until I got her. Then we were using a bubble gun to blow bubbles today and she said "ubble ubble ubble" everytime they came out. Oma heard her on the phone so I know I heard it! Then of course she tells me no all day, ha ha. And now when she is snacking on some mac and cheese she did the sign for more! YAY! I'm so happy when she can communicate. She also points to her cup and says 'juice' even though she only drinks milk and water.

Now when the Backyardigans come on, she bounces, spins, says "YAY" and claps her hands. It's really too cute. She is also laughing a lot more and doing this fake laugh that sounds like a hiss, or lamaze breathing. Natalie also likes to play ring around the rosie and fall down laughing.

We are beginning to play outside a lot too. We bought a kite from the dollar bin at Target and she laughs and watches it. Surprised me, I didn't think she would have interest in it. She loves bubbles and splashing in the water table we bought. She figured out how to open the door to the wagon and climb in. She loves to explore outside!

No pictures to share today but it still won't let me post any, anyway.

St. Patty's on the Plaza *PICS*

We went to a little shindig called St. Patty's on the Plaza last night. We met Pam and Jim and the twins, Polly and her two boys, and Sondra, Chuck and Maddie. A good time was had by all. There was a game where you tossed gold coins into a pot to win prizes, so that's where we got all our good gear. Natalie had a good time dancing with Mommy and running around in the grass to the Irish music. There were many a man in kilts so that was amusing too! The weather was gorgeous, probably about 72 until it started getting dark. Although it may have looked like I was drinking due to the public dancing, I was not!!!

Waiting for Daddy

We went outside to enjoy the nice weather and wait for daddy to come home. She runs up to him giggling everyday, it's really sweet! We had an "all things green" playdate earlier today so she donned her green dress and ate all green foods for lunch. Notice daddy in the last picture - he's hard to see kneeling by the van, but that's where she was running to!

What's Happening...

I got inventive and got a piece of plexi-glass and some velcro tape and blocked off all the buttons to our media equipment. No more saying no (to that at least).

Natalie is back to giving a royal wave. I swear she looks like she is riding on a float in the parade everywhere we go.

She give high fives on command. It's really cute, she says "DAH!" when she gives them. Not sure if she is saying "five" or "yeah" but it's cute.

She is also having tantrums. They are usually silent, but she lays down on the floor and folds in half. If you try to make her walk somewhere she doesn't want to go, here come the noodle legs.

It's here!

Finally my anniversary present arrived (only 4 weeks late!). Ryan got me a mei tai baby carrier (www.meitaibaby.com). It is awesome! I can carrier her on my front facing in or out, or on my back. He ordered me another panel to switch in and out, and a flame panel for him to use to carrier her. She seems to like it as much as I do!

New Foods, NO!

I kind of got the impression at her 12 month appointment that her doctor did not think I was giving her enough variety. I told her she eats table foods, but not what we eat for dinner. I just usually make her deli turkey, cheese, plain noodles, fruit, veggies, etc. Well we had leftover spaghetti today so I let Natalie go to town at lunch.

This morning, I said "Come here Natalie" and as plain as day she said NO and did not move. Then later she picked up one of the dog bowls and said NO again. At least she knows she isn't supposed to play with those! The NO will get annoying, but it's kind of cute in the small little voice she uses.

Boooo!

I thought I was coming down with a cold, but I got a fever last night. So I tried to suck it up today but after 4 hours of laying on the couch while Natalie wandered around the house, I called Ryan to see if he could come home. We sat in the Urgent Care at Ft. Eustis for 3 hours, then another 20 to get my prescription. I tested negative for the flu, but he thinks it was a false negative because my symptoms were there and I had a 102 fever. But after all that time, the prescription I got is for Tamiflu and nursing mothers/pregnant people can't take it. So I'm on Tylenol Cold to see if that knocks it out. I've been under the weather since Monday so maybe the worst is over.

Natalie spent the day on my lap playing a game online at www.kneebouncers.com It's really cute. You pick different scenes and the baby hits the keys and things show up. Check it out if you have a little one.

I went for a chiro evaluation and one of my lower vertebrae is out of place and my left shoulder is rotated wrong. So all my pain is explained, but since Tricare doesn't cover it I have to decide if it is worth me spending $35 three times a week for at least a month. Boooo to this week!

More Birthday

We had a small party tonight with our community group from church. Natalie enjoyed presents with Grandma and Popaw and even got better at opening them this time. The cake was yummy too.

The Big Day

Wow what a day! In the morning we woke up and had presents with Daddy before he went to work. I also got a present from my Godmother Krista! Then we spent the day getting ready for the party! Boy was that fun! We had a craft, pizza, and cake! Natalie had a great time!

What A Difference A Year Makes

One year ago today I was waiting in the hospital, almost 2 weeks over due. Nothing was working for the induction, so they finally decided we would wait til the 27th. But after dinner they tried again and the whole process began.

Now a year later I am sitting here almost as anxious awaiting the 27th to come for Natalie's first birthday. I can't believe it is almost here. She went from a newborn to a walking (almost running), talking, singing, dancing pretty little girl. I am so blessed to have her in my life.

Oma is here helping me get ready for the party. We've been baking cakes, preparing icing, and getting all the goodies ready for tomorrow. We have 36 friends coming to celebrate! Yikes! But she's only one once, so it will be worth it. Then on Sunday we are having a party with some church friends and Grandma and Popaw! What a lucky loved little girl.

Look for bunny and cake pics tomorrow night!

PS Thank you for the prayers - she is doing fine from her surgery. She was pretty cranky today but maybe tomorrow will be better!

Updates

My x-ray came back and apparently my lower back is 'normal'. Very frustrating. Do I really want to pay out of pocket for a chiro? After I heard about a friend who got a bulging disc FROM a chriro...yikes.

Natalie goes in at 7:15 am for her ear tube procedure. They will put her under general anethesia via mask and we should be headed home by 10. Then it's off to the airport to pick up Oma for the week of first birthday fun!

Ryan will be working an exercise this week and will be working 12 hour shifts and will be missing Natalie's first birthday party. He's really bummed, but I'll tape it for him, which is the best we can do. We're having a small party with church friends Sunday night so we'll re-do the cake smash for him then.

Our driveway was finished this week and we used some of our tax money to get an LCD 40'' tv, woo hoo. All the rest will go in savings, so we are BOTH happy! Plus our TV came with a Target gift card, and who doesn't love Target?

More Birthday Parties

These pics are of Natalie from Moani's birthday party. I love the way the top brings out her eyes. It also shows me I need a nicer digital camera - she has one of the Rebel X cameras. Soo jealous!

Purple Piggies

Just random shots of my baby girl!

Back to Normal

Ryan went back to work last night after his week of leave, so today things are back to normal. Logan and Natalie played, ate, and napped.

I had a letter B playdate where we read a story about butterflies, made a butterfly and caterpillar craft, colored butteryfly pictures and ate foods that started with B. Both Logan and Natalie slept through that, which helped me work with the other kids. Natalie loves that her books are downstairs and spends lots of time pulling them down!


I also went to the doctor about my back pain from childbirth and breaking my tailbone. After a year, it still hurts to do normal activities. I've tried physical therapy, Motrin 800, and exercising on my own. I'm frustrated because the doctor said unless there is something on my x-ray, it's normal pain and it will be worse if I have another baby. I know plenty of people who have or had babies that are not in pain after a year.

We get our taxes done tomorrow and concrete poured on a driveway addition as well. So things are busy as usual, the way the Windle's like it! Or at least the way I like it.