First day in the pool

Natali got a baby pool from my parents for her birthday and the first time we used it was Monday. The water was pretty cold I thought but Natali didn't seem to care. She really liked pointing at the animals on the pool and splashing in the water. It was cute to see our big girl in her little kiddy pool.

First steps in the pool..... not too sure what to think....

Ok, I think I will sit down and see about this pool....

Fish!!!!!

Momma time... she wanted to walk and I didn't want her to fall in the water face first...

Our little pool girl. And actually it was me and my mom - Josh was out fishing with both grandpas for Memorial Day. We had fun and hopefully there will be more pool days!

Natali's bath mohawk

Cool huh? :)

Playing outside

Natali loves to go outside. Unfortunately, it is getting very hot here in Longview and we have lots of mosquitos in the back yard. So, we don't like to take her out much. She always points outside and gets excited because she wants to go. Anyways. Here are a few cute pics of her playing one day last week with some new toys.



Just for an update on Natali......... She is walking around like crazy - she rarely asks for our hands to hold on to while she walks. A couple times she has gone from sitting on the floor to standing up without holding on to anything! Natali is working on saying "ball", when you ask her to say "fish" she says "ish", she says "mama" and "dada", she just started saying "no" - she walks around and says "no"... "no"..... "no"(it's pretty funny), and "yes" is "ssss". That's all I can think of right now.

And boy does she see cats! If there is a cat on the TV, a book, her clothes, anything - she makes the "meow" noise. It blows me away how she know what a cat is/looks like. We were in the cat litter isle at WalMart today and she was pointing at the litter/food and going "meow". It is seriously amazing.

Natali will be starting daycare on June 2nd!!! We were very lucky to get in to a place very near to our house and on the way to work for me. They are open from 6:30am to 6:00pm so it shouldn't be a problem to get her there before work and pick her up after. It seems like a nice place so I hope it works out for Natali (and us).

That's it for now... got to get to bed. Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

Walking, walking, walking......

You have got to see this video of Natali walking!! I can't believe the progress she has made even in the last week.

The Caldwell Zoo pictures

At the Caldwell Zoo they have a bird walk-a-bout where you can buy these popscicle sticks with birdseed on them and feed the little budgies(parakeets) and cockatiels. Unfortunately when we went there were a TON of children there so most of the birds were staying up in their tree. :) But one birdie came down and I put my stick out to it and they step on your stick to eat the birdseed. Then I brought it over towards Natali and she liked it.

We saw the tigers which is one of my favorite parts.

I thought this was a cute picture of my mom and grandma walking with Natali. :)

We ate lunch at the zoo's cafe and Natali ate the lunch I brought for her. She was being real funny and laughing and stuff and she just happened to make this funny face when I took the picture.

So that is a summary of the zoo trip which was a week ago. :) I just haven't gotten on the computer much in the last week.

Happy Mother's Day!

(Josh's mom, Natali, me, and Daddy)

It was a pretty good Mother's Day around here. We went to church, got some Chicken Express (my momma day lunch), came home, Natali fell asleep on the way home and slept for 2 1/2 hours, we played a video game, Natali woke up, Josh watched Natali so momma could take a nap, then we went to small groups, delivered a card to my mom, came home, did computer stuff, and went to bed. :) What a day!!! Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!!!

P.S. Last year today we were coming home from our second trip to the hospital. I was so happy to be able to leave the hospital and celebrate part of the day at home. :) Thank you Lord!

Great Grandma (GiGi) visits!

My grandma came in to town Thursday from Florida for a visit and goes home tomorrow morning. Of course, when Grandmas come they bring gifts, so Natali got a cute kitty from GiGi. We have had a great time with her! We went to Tyler on Friday and went to the Rose Garden and then to the Caldwell Zoo. Other than being a little warm, we had a wonderful time.

The roses were beautiful! This was one of the biggest blooms we saw!

I will have to post the zoo pictures another time..... if anyone hasn't been to the Tyler Rose Garden when it is in bloom, you are missing out!!!!

So....

I forgot I was going to post some pictures from 1 year ago of Natali...... I always like to go back to these. Plus I am working on finishing her first year scrapbook so I get to go over all her old photos.

It is pretty hard to remember her being that small. I do remember wrapping her up so tight in her burrito to keep her warm. I look at her now and wonder how in the world she got to be so big! I mean, she is walking some now, feeds herself (somewhat), drinks out of a sippy cup, has grown into a new carseat, jibber jabbers a lot, communicates when she wants something, and can communicate with the cat. : ) It amazes me how much a child learns in 1 year and how much a momma can learn in 1 year. What a time this has been!!! Lot of ups and downs. We love our little girl so much!!!

TTFN

Taking a few more steps....

We took this video tonight. Natali is really wanting to do this walking business. She is better at standing there, getting her own balance, and then starting to take steps. It is so cute. :) She gets really excited when she is about to take a step. The first time in this video isn't as good as the second time. Enjoy!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATALI!!! 1 YEAR OLD!!!!!!!

All the goodies

Balloons from Aunt Rebecca

This is her cake that I made - chocolate cake with vanilla icing in the middle and strawberry icing on top. I made 2 round cakes and layered them and then cut out the flower shape.

Natali kept wanting me to wipe her fingers off after she got icing on them. : ) So funny. Needless to say, she didn't just dive into her "Smash cake". But I cut her a piece and then she got a little more interested.

She even tried some and liked it!

It was a lot of fun. The smash cake was bought by Aunt Becky.

Aunt Barbara (my dad's sister) got Natali some fairy wings and so we tried them on Natali. Unfortunately she started crying so we had to take them off pretty quick.

First things first...... Natali took her first step today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After some of the people left, I had her walking with me but towards Rebecca and she got really excited and on the way let go of my hands and kept going to Rebecca! It happened so fast we were like.. "Did she just take a step?" So we tried it again and sure enough, she did the same thing. We all cheered and clapped for her. Then she got happy and started laughing too. I have a video of her another time so I will try to get that on here tomorrow. So much to write about and so many pictures and things to share.

I might have more pictures later because some were taken on other people's cameras. We had 17 people here including our family!! It was maybe a little much for Natali at first, but she had fun and we did too. We started with cake and ice cream, then presents, and having some fun. Natali got lots of cool gifts! Some clothes, sandals, toys, and a really cool car thing from Aunt Jenny and Uncle Christian (I will have to put a picture up on here - it is so cool!) Natali got pretty sleepy but did okay and was a trooper through it all.

It has been a crazy first year of parenthood and we have learned and experienced many things since Natali was born (including the birth). : 0 ) Won't ever forget that. But anyways. We had a wonderful day today and look forward to what the next year will bring to our family.

Just some photos.... write more later

Natali and her blocks

Jenny and Christian gave Natali some really neat blocks and we got them out last week for her to play with. She likes to take them out of the bag and look at them. If we stack them, she loves to knock them down. We haven't gotten her to stack any herself yet but I suppose that takes time.

Go Natali!!!

So Natali has started to walk with help!! She really likes to do it and goes pretty fast sometimes. It is pretty cute and exciting. Here is a video.

Give momma a kiss!!

Natali has started giving kisses to people and things. :) She started by "kissing" her stuffed animals by leaning forward and pressing her lips on them. She doesn't do it all the time but if you say "Natali give momma a kiss" she'll lean forward to your face. It is so cute!! She does it to other people - not just momma but I especially like it when she kisses me. Here is a pic of Natali giving a kiss.

Just me and Natali

So I have noticed we do not have very many pictures of either one of us and Natali. Most of the pictures are of just Natali. :) So here is a random picture of me and Natali last Sunday.