9 months old

Natalie is 9 months old today!  We are celebrating by hanging out in our pajamas all day.  I managed to snap a few photos of her wearing a cute flower headband with her pj's before she ripped it off (unfortunately, she's not a fan of anything on her head - including headbands, hats and hoods).

She is growing and changing SO fast.  She still loves her toy hammer and toothbrush, but now she's also obsessed with her stackable plastic rings.  She can usually be heard clicking around the house with a ring in her hand...

She's "talking" and "singing" a lot more these days, and she still has a great appetite.  Right now her favorite foods are scrambled eggs, black beans, french toast, and "purple pancakes" (blueberry pancakes).

sporting a sweet black bean goatee

I love purple pancakes!

Grandma Kathy came to visit us last weekend, and we had such a great time.  Natalie absolutely LOVES her!  She was very interested in her Manhattan shaking, and wanted to help...

Kathy is the most generous, family-oriented person I have ever met.  She would do anything for her family, and every time we are together, we are reminded how lucky we are to have her as our mom/mother-in-law/grandma.  The weekend flew by way too quickly, but thankfully she will be back in April when she & Grandma Kristie take care of Natalie while we are in Jamaica for Bobby & Tanya's wedding!

And finally, a few videos taken during the past few weeks...

"typing" on her laptop

her first "real" snowfall!

Milestone Recap

The holidays were a blur, and I wasn't very good at keeping this blog updated with all of the awesome new milestones Natalie achieved.  So, here's a quick recap of what's happened in the last few months...

October

• Natalie laughed for the first time on October 4th.  I'm pretty sure my heart exploded with pure, overwhelming joy :)

• On October 8th she had her first bites of rice cereal

• On October 23 (5 months old) she cut her first 2 teeth

And, as if these major milestones weren't keeping us busy enough in October, we also travelled to Buffalo the weekends of October 1st and 14th, and then Wisconsin/Chicago the weekend of October 21st...

November

• Natalie started army crawling when we were in Janesville for Thanksgiving

• Unfortunately, she also caught her first cold while we were in Janesville :(

December

• Unfortunately, Natalie's Thanksgiving cold hung around for a few weeks, and eventually turned into croup :(
• She cut her top 2 teeth on December 21st (7 months / 30 weeks)

• On New Year's Eve, she slept through the night for the first time (no nursing or bottles in the middle of the night!).  It was an AWESOME way to start the new year!!

January

• On January 2nd, Natalie crawled "for real" (up on all fours) for the first time while we were Skyping with my parents!  It was so great that they got to witness such an exciting milestone :)

• I turned 29 on the 5th and Marty turned 31 on the 6th; we celebrated with a fun date night while Natalie slept soundly at home with her first non-family-member babysitter (our neighbor Sommer).

• Jamie & Mark Welnick came to visit us the weekend of the 7th, and while they were here Natalie pulled herself up to standing for the first of many times

• On January 9th, Natalie cut her 5th and 6th teeth (on either side of those 2 upper teeth)

• Then on January 11th Natalie took her first plane ride, when she and I traveled to Duluth to spend the weekend with my mom, sister, aunts, uncles & cousins.  Morgan was sworn into the Duluth Police Department on Thursday (we are so proud of him!) and then on Friday, Natalie spent a day with her Great Aunt Julie while my mom, Heather and I shopped for her wedding dress.  I was a little nervous to fly alone with Natalie, but she did so much better than I ever expected!  She really is an AMAZING traveler!  She did so well on our flights, and was a happy baby all weekend.

bye bye Chicago skyline

Click here for a video of Natalie on the plane

celebrating after a successful afternoon of dress shopping!

• On January 21st, we took Natalie to the International Auto Show in downtown Detroit.  She enjoyed all of the lights, people and activity.  And, while we were there, she reached for Marty with both arms and said "Da Da!"  It was awesome :)