Trying to be a big girl

Natali is officially without her paci - we took it away last Friday night. She has done okay. The first couple nap times didn't go so well, actually they didn't go at all - no nap Saturday or Sunday. She is taking longer to fall asleep and just keeps on talking in her bed. Most nights we stay with her to help her fall asleep but we will stop doing that soon. She still asks for the purple paci but not often. It's funny - she'll be in her bed and say " I need.... I need.... I need.... somethin." Like she thinks she can't say the paci word anymore.
Also, we are done with diapers - we are using pull-ups and working on potty training. I think it might be a little early but there is no turning back now. It's gonna take a while I am pretty sure to get the potty training down all the way. I don't know what to do!!! :) She goes in the potty pretty good but also goes in her pull-up.
We got a growth chart thing from my parent's for Natali's birthday and put it up sometime in May I think and marked where she was at that point. Well, we decided to see her how tall she is and she is 3 inches taller!!!!!! All her dresses were seeming short and she is growing out of her shoes. And she is reaching even more places she couldn't reach before. (Starting to work on doorknobs). Hard to believe a child can grow so much in a short time! Well, that's all for now. I have a really cute video I will hopefully post tonight.

The Nebulizer

We had to take Natali back to the asthma/allergy doctor last week because her asthma wasn't getting any better after wheezing and coughing for 1 week with the ear infection. We finally have a nebulizer. I wondered when we would finally reach that point. The inhalers just didn't seem to be doing the trick anymore. Natali was a little scared of the nebulizer at first but she has done way better than I would expect. The nebulizer has a storybook and stickers with it about Mr.Bubbles and the face mask is a fish face! :) We read the story about Mr.Bubbles needing the nebulizer because he couldn't blow very big bubbles. Well, when I went to turn it on, Natali said "make bubbles!". She thought the machine was going to make bubbles apparently after the story. Anyways, it has helped her out a lot. As long as she can watch a video, she sits really good for it. Sometimes she holds it and sometimes we will strap it on her head. The doctor said if Natali has another "asthma attack" we may look in to allergy testing. SO here are the pictures of Mr.Bubbles and Natali. (Actually she has changed it to DR. Bubbles) Silly kids.

stuff

Natali has had a runny nasty nose the last couple days and didn't feel real good last night. This morning she woke up with discharge out of her right ear. ARRGHHH. This is really frustrating and I know not fun for her. Although, she always is in such a good mood. Of course her asthma is flairing up too.
I am glad tomorrow is Friday - just ready for this week to be over. Natali is talking so much it is unbelievable. She saw a light on our computer yesterday and said "It's very strange". :) She uses words like that perfectly - I wouldn't think she would understand words like that - and "actually" and others like that. Crazy.
That's all for now. I will put up some pictures over the weekend sometime.

4th of July

I realized I didn't post pictures from the 4th of July party we went to. Kind of late but oh well. We went to the house of one of the doctors that I work for. Natali had fun going down the slide and swinging. Also, they had a train which Natali really enjoyed and we had to ride it twice. :) Here are the pics!

Natali talk

This morning we had a really bad thunderstorm/lightning/lots of rain/strong winds. There was a really big thunder, so I went and sat in Natali's room in case she needed me or whatever. She woke up shortly after that and I went and sat next to her bed. She said "I hear thunder". I said "Yup there is thunder". Natali said "It goes BOOM BOOM sometimes". :) I agreed with her and then I laid down on the floor by her bed and I guess we both fell back asleep because I woke up about 30 minutes later and Nat was still in her bed but waking up. I sure didn't mean for that to happen but it did! So then we both got up and went on with our day.

Our day included a trip to Dr.Holman's office who is an asthma/allergy specialist. Overall, he said the medicines Natali is on are good and to continue them. However, we will change the inhaler she is on every day to see if we can keep her from having flair ups. Also, we are to work a little bit on her inhaler technique to try to get her to take longer breaths each time. The appointment was okay except for Natali crying the whole time the doctor tried to look and listen to her. She hates to have her ears looked at and the stethascope. I guess one day she will understand it's not that big of a deal!!! :)

Natali was fussy a lot more today than usual from first thing this morning. Not sure what that's about. She has been putting her fingers in her mouth a lot too today. I will have to get on our other computer tomorrow and post some pictures. Until then, it's nice to have some quiet since Natali is asleep and not whining about everything like she has been today.

More potty news

Natali pee peed in the potty last night before her bath! :) She also has gone #2 another night this week. I know nobody probably wants to hear that, but maybe someone wants to know.
Anyways, potty training is coming. She wants to sit on the potty but usually she has just gone in her diaper. Oh well.

We will be seeing an asthma specialist next Friday morning so I'll keep everyone posted on how that goes. I am hoping for some more insight and maybe changing medications. I am just very curious to hear this doctor's opinion on Natali's asthma. She has been doing pretty good lately - just occasional coughing or wheezing. Hopefully Natali will be good and talkative to the doctor.

Big girl bed

Natali has been doing pretty good since we changed her bed to a toddler bed. The first night I checked on her before I went to bed and she was hanging halfway off the bed sound asleep so I scooted her back up and she did good the rest of the night.

This morning after my shower, I went to check on Natali. She wasn't in her bed and the house was perfectly quiet. Of course I start thinking bad things that she was unconscious somewhere or something like that. Well, I walk in to the living room and this is what I found......

Natali was sound asleep on the floor!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I bet from the time Josh left for work to the time I was out looking for her was maybe 20 minutes. I really wish I knew what happened in that time frame. :) So, we are experiencing new things with Natali now able to get in and out of the bed. She is cute - she says "Sleep in the big girl bed".

We are still working on the potty training - no more successes while sitting on the potty. A few times she has been on the potty, gotten up, and pooped in her diaper less than 10 minutes later. Very frustrating but I know she'll get it.

Naming our friends

Yesterday we changed Natali's crib into her "big girl bed" which is nothing more than taking the slats off the front and opening up her crib so she can get in and out on her own. We will post pictures and talk more about that in the next few days but I have a funny quick story about her during that process. We let her climb up and get in her bed on her own when we finished and she grabbed her little stuffed frog. I asked her what the frogs name was, and it doesn't have one so she said she didn't know. I then told her to give it a name since it didn't have one. She looked at it and thought very hard for a moment and then said "Samma-doo" followed by lots of laughing, and I have no idea how to spell that so I'm doing my best and spelling out what she said! So now the frog is officially Samma-doo. I just thought it was neat how she was able to give it a name and according to Grammie she remembered it's name this morning when she woke up! It's the little things that are special and that was a special moment for us with Nat!
-posted by Josh

Pool

These pictures are from last weekend I think - the first time we had gotten out the pool. Natali loves to play in water. It is hard to get her out of the pool when it's time to go inside. And if it wasn't for those pesky mosquitos we could go in the pool more often.

I think Natali is cutting her fourth back molar. She has the bottom 2 and the top left but the top right is peeking through. She has been chewing on her fingers a lot the past few days and not eating quite as much.

So, she's been a little extra cranky lately but I think we are starting to get used to cranky. :)

Natali talk

I am in our "office" on the computer. Natali came in and wanted something off of the bookshelf - a wooden skunk, cat, and a car. After saying "please" she got them. She took all 3 and went in the living room. About a minute later I hear- "Look at this vehicle Ranger, I got it from Mommy!" :) (Ranger is our dog) Then she said "I got this skunk too". She is so funny! She likes to talk to the animals like they are people and she loves to show people what she has.
I have the day off so hopefully I will post pictures later today. I just wanted to blog this while it is fresh on my mind.

I can't believe it!!!!!!!

I'll get right to the point - NATALI POOPED IN THE POTTY TONIGHT!!!!!! I know that is kind of a crazy way to start a post, but I am thrilled! We have had the potty out for over a month, maybe 2 months and we let her sit on it every now and then and we talk about it all the time. About how she needs to make poo poo and pee pee in the potty and no more diper changes and so on and so forth. Natali hasn't showed a whole lot of interest but some and she is definetly, shall we say, prize motivated. :) Yes, I'll say "I'll give you something special Natali if you do....." and just about every time she will do it. I know it sounds bad to bribe your children but we only do it when necessary. SO Natali got a little plastic frog for going poo poo on the potty. She was happy. This is a scary part of parenting for me - potty training. I'm really not sure where to go from here and what do you do when you are out somewhere and she needs to go potty and there are only big potty chairs? Oh what things life brings when being a parent. More to come on the potty training.......

Some of Natali's new favorite things

Natali has recently been interested in doing new things.

She loves to "stand on daddy"


"Stack 'm up" She likes to stack up these boxes she got for her birthday and knock them over, stack them up and knock them over, stack them up.... you get the picture.





She likes to spend time with daddy when he is able to come home in the evenings. Natali hardly pays attention to me if daddy is home. Oh well. We are glad that Josh has been able to come home a few nights a week lately and of course we are able to spend Sundays together because the coffee shop is closed.
We are having an interesting time dealing with our new 2 year old child with an opinion on everything, a will to disobey a lot of the time, a will to challenge things she is told to do, but also just plain cute and fun to have conversations with and talk to. She talks about EVERYTHING - if she sees something, she tells you what it is, if she is doing something, she'll tell you what she is doing, and so on and so on. Overall, I think we are doing well, but it sure is tough these days.

Last couple weeks

So yes, I (Christina) have been gone for a week in Ohio and then a busy weekend of work and then another busy first of this week at work. Josh posted the previous 2 posts while I was gone. :) I had a really good time with Rebecca and my mom came too. We picked out a wedding dress for Rebecca and the bridesmaid dresses.
Natali is going through another asthma flair up but I think it is getting a little better - at least I think it has stopped getting worse.
I have to tell a story from the first morning I was home. I got in Wednesday night after Natali was asleep. The next morning I got her out of bed and got her started on breakfast. I was in the bathroom and she walked to the door, and said "missed you mommy" and I told her I has missed her too and then she said "Daddy missed you". How sweet is that!!!!!!! So I was happy Natali was glad to have me back.
So hopefully some pictures to come when I have more time.

While and Grammies......

Things that happen at Grammies/Grappies are supposed to stay at Grammies/Grappies.......unless the picture is too cute to hide! This is obviously Natali playing with a live toad. She really likes this toad!

A daddy's tale

Well I don't have any pictures to put up with this because Christina has the camera up in Ohio with her, but I would like to share a little update from daddy's perspective. Christina has been in Ohio helping her sister make wedding plans and the like since Thursday of last week so this has given me an excuse to get away from Mugshot and spend some time with Natali, not as much as I would like mind you! Anyway, she continues to amaze me with her sharp mind and just the fact that she is growing up and now able to communicate with us so much better. We have this routine that needs to stop although I will miss it when it does stop. I take full responsibility for starting the whole thing because daddy is a major softy when it comes to my baby girl. Somehow at night when it is time to go to bed, Natali has decided that she needs to hold someone's hand (specifically - a finger) while she drifts to sleep. If this does not happen, she will cry out very loudly "Hold a finger, Hold a finger!!!!" So daddy not being able to say no to this, sits beside the crib and puts just enough of his hand through the slats and lets Natali hold a finger until she falls asleep. Admitedly this needs to stop because she needs to sleep on her own but I just really enjoy that quiet time and I get sad when I think it will have to end. She reaches out and gets a rather strong grip on my pointer finger and just watches me as the sleep takes over and her blue eyes get too heavy. I just sit and watch her for sometimes up to 20 minutes as she lays so peacefully and innocently in her bed. There is something about where she is in life that is desirable, she is taken care of, all of her needs and most of her wants are done for her to keep her content and care-free. If only we could learn to be that way with our Father, we are taken care of, no matter what it looks like. Nat and I have had alot of fun, but we are ready for mom to come back and put some stability in our lives! One more thing about the little ones, there is nothing on the planet like the hug that little arms can give, when it is followed by "love you daddy," it just makes everything else go away and you know there has just been a moment you would never trade for anything but you would give anything to hear it again! Being a daddy is a rather good thing to be.