Last Post of 2008!

Our camera is now on the fritz. Here are some of the last shots we caught before everything went pink and fuzzy.

Strollin' around.

Gosh, this Santa guy? We aren't sure we like him. Even though last year we were just fine with him.

Mom got in the picture to try to help Natalie smile. It didn't work.

Things went downhill from there. Please note the look of immense displeasure on her face. Point taken.

Her first "real" taste of snow! It was snowy when she and I traveled to Michigan last January for Aunt Amy's baby shower, but she was too little to really experience it. This year Aunt Pam pulled her around in the sled outside, which Natalie thought was pretty cool (especially since cousins Emma and Nathan were playing alongside the sled)!

We had a wonderful holiday this year. We went to Michigan for the week of Christmas and Natalie was a champion traveler. Mom and Dad were very proud! Natalie had such a nice time with our extended family... it was hard to leave.

A few more notes -

Natalie is quite the talker these days. She likes to have pretend conversations with 'See-see' (i.e. Reese)!

She loves it when we sing the ABCs to her. She bobs her head and shakes it all around, and asks us to sing it again. Considering that her other favorite songs all either hip hop or rock, we think this is just fine!

Natalie is starting to adore Elmo. She picks him out in all of her books and squeaks "Elmo!" with delight. What is it about that fuzzy little red guy?

Here is a little video of Natalie enjoying the chair she got from Grandma and Grandpa Gibbs for Christmas. She totally loves it!

Why haven't we taken pictures lately?

We've been remiss, that's why. We will do better with the holidays approaching. We *should* have had Santa pictures for you this weekend but Natalie's nap schedule didn't cooperate with Santa's visiting hours at a local shop in San Francisco... so we will take those next week.

About a week and a half ago we found out that Natalie's going to have a baby brother! We are reading a book we got from the pediatrician over and over these days - it's called "Babies" (creative title) and it goes through all the things babies need, like food, and sleep, and play, and love. Natalie loves the book so let's hope she is learning something from it. Probably not though - we think she just likes the baby pictures.

I did notice this morning that she is getting very jealous of Reese, if the cat comes too close to Natalie's favorite toy - whatever that might be during a given five minute interval. Not a good sign. We will work on that characteristic over the coming months :-)

Thanksgiving Recap

Here's a picture of three of my favorite creatures: My dad, my daughter, and my cat.
Natalie sure had a great time with my parents when they came to visit us in November!

Then last week we flew to Tyler's parents' house, just north of Seattle. It was co-o-o-o-ld! We had to bundle Natalie up during our trip to the park. Another wonderful time was had by all.

Natalie was very much indulged by attention from all sorts of grandparents two weekends in a row! She will be completely bored this upcoming weekend with only mom and dad and Reese to occupy her.

We got back to California on Saturday. Predictably, I was all ready on Sunday to get our Christmas tree! Luckily Tyler knows me by now so he was mentally prepared as well for the task.

Natalie had fun picking a Christmas tree. Remember last year when we picked out a Christmas tree? She's, um, a little bit bigger now :-)

-22 lbs 6 oz (a loss of 2 oz from a couple weeks ago, and the same weight as she was in October - oh well)

-31.5 inches

Helping mom decorate the Christmas tree on Sunday! She did a great job taking ornaments off for us.

Where are the updates???

Well, we are sorry that it has been a few weeks since we've posted. I have to say that I have had no energy lately! Being pregnant (sixteen weeks) with Natalie's little brother or sister has taken something out of me. Plus, she's gotten six new teeth in the last couple of weeks AND had a wicked fever (roseola) for a couple days in there, so nighttime sleep has been very impacted, meaning that I have been lying around on the couch in my spare few minutes.

But Natalie is doing well!

We will post more after the weekend. My parents are here visiting and we are about to head out to meet them somewhere north of the Golden Gate Bridge. It's been a fun visit so far! Natalie was a little shy the first day, but now all she wants to do is play with her grandparents.

Learning - Updated

Apologies for the lack of pictures :-) We will post some soon.

Highlights of the week:

Natalie's new words -
-"uh oh!"
-paci
-goat
-go bye bye
-all done
-she now says "mommy" instead of mama, and "daddy" instead of dada.

In another fun development, Natalie was given a Rody for her birthday from our friends in Massachusetts. She really likes it, and now has decided that everything should be a ride-on toy. Including mommy, daddy, her tractor, her walker, and her fisher price farm (she sits between the silo and the actual barn - probably wondering why it won't GO). Mom is going to head to Target tomorrow at lunch to buy her an actual ride-on tomorrow! Dad's out of town this week, so it will be a loooong one for us, and we need some amusement.

Seven Things People Don't Necessarily Know About Natalie

We got tagged by our friend Olen - now we have to tell everyone seven things that people don't know about me.

Hmm, this is hard!

1. I really hate the vacuum cleaner at home… Mom normally has to take me for a walk while Dad vacuums, or else I will cry and cry! However – I DO NOT MIND the vacuum cleaner at daycare. They vacuum every day and I never cry even a little bit there.

2. I am a very excellent eater. Yesterday I ate twice as much grilled cheese as any other child at daycare, including kids twice my age.

3. I am very ticklish around the neck.

4. My favorite animal at the zoo seems to be the giraffe. The last time we went to the zoo, they were very frisky – one was even running around the exhibit. I was totally enthralled! My favorite non-zoo animal seems to be the ‘dog-dog’, though I get really excited every morning the first time I see my cat Reese.

5. I have been to (or through) six states so far: California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.

6. In the morning I generally wake up as soon as I hear mom & dad’s alarm clock go off. I talk and chatter in my room for ½ hour until they are all ready for work, and then they come get me. Every morning, they say “are you awake?” and I laugh and smile at them. Then I spend the next ½ hour drinking my morning bottle, walking around the house inspecting it for any changes since the night before, getting a diaper change, and getting ready to go to daycare.

7. Yesterday mom said “Natalie, are you the best baby in the entire world?” and I said “YES”. Who knows if I know what “yes” means, but I sure said it at the appropriate time!

Now I'm supposed to tag other people so they tell us seven new things about themselves. I for sure want to make sure Connor Foy tells us seven new things about himself, as he's just turned 1 year old and I'm sure he has a host of secrets up his sleeve. If anyone else wants to play along please feel free!

Happy Happy Halloween!

At Natalie's daycare Halloween party.

She definitely didn't get the concept of a party - that I was there to *hang out* with her... from the second I walked through the door, she clung to me to make absolutely certain that I wasn't leaving! I couldn't put her down for a second! Finally once her dad arrived an hour and a half later, she finally understood that we weren't going to leave her there, and she started to enjoy herself a little bit.

Her toy of choice, a fake potato chip.

She did win second prize in the costume contest though - which was highly lucrative for mom and dad - 1/2 day free at daycare! Yah! As Tyler pointed out, this more than paid for her costume, so we feel vindicated that we spent money on it.

Videos edited and posted later.

Belated Weekend Pictures

On Saturday 10/18, Natalie and I did a 5 mile walk for the American Cancer Society - Making Strides for Breast Cancer. We had an absoutely fabulous time! Here we are before the walk began.
And here we are along the walk route. This is actually quite close to our house (just two blocks north). Initially our plan was for me to walk the first half with Natalie, then have Tyler meet me to take her home at about this spot. But she and I were having too good of a time together to let the walk end, so we trudged on.
And eventually got to the finish! Here is Natalie getting ready to cross her very first finish line.
And afterwards. That whole crowd of supporters yelled and cheered for us, and we had to walk through a "people tunnel", and she wasn't altogether thrilled about that. Hence the disgruntled look on her face.
And here's Natalie on Sunday doing crafts at the dining room table with Mom. It was adorable! She was tugging at her booster seat as though to say "please, mom, let me up!" so I did, and we sat together at the table for at least ten minutes before she got bored and had to go walk around the house with Dad.
Natalie's new achievements for the week: "Hi!" and "Bye Bye!" And her walk has started to turn into a wobbly run. *sigh* We fear that a big spill is not far away.

Pumpkin Patch - Avoiding the Blue Angels (reprise)

Last year, we lived in a different (louder) neighborhood, and avoiding the Blue Angels was a full-time job during the second week of October. We went north to see our friends and had a great time with our then seven-week-old baby!

This year, we live off San Francisco's beaten path. Near the ocean the noise of the Blue Angels isn't nearly so loud - thank goodness for that - but we still went South anyway to avoid the crowds.

Here's Natalie at lunch, at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company - one of our favorite spots. Walking is such an all-consuming passion that she isn't the most, um, refined lunch guest but we made it through.

Afterwards we went to a fabulous pumpkin patch! She had such a grand time climbing over all the pumpkins and riding in the wagon. The only problem with the pumpkin patch was that it was so fun, she didn't want to leave :-)
They even had a tractor and a teepee!

Yesterday I took Natalie to Ocean Beach to play in the sand and sun. I could tell that she had a great time - while it was tough for her to walk in the sand without a helping hand, at least it didn't hurt when she took a tumble. Let's just say she ended up with sand in every possible nook and cranny - ears, eyelids, diaper... the works.

Today I had to take the day off from work because her daycare was closed. Tragic (not really)! We had breakfast with some friends from our Mom/Baby group. We're also considering a trip to the new California Academy of Sciences later! Fun!

Happy Birthday, Gramma Nance!

I have been getting rid of a cold lately so the picture isn't my finest, but you get the point. :-)

Proof of Natalie's Political Leanings

Here, Tyler captured proof that Natalie always chooses the Clinton books off of our shelf. Now, you may think that she is choosing the Clinton books because they are closest to the end of the row... but in fact, the reason they are closest is that we have to put *just those two* books back five times a day.

Note how she judiciously skips over The World Is Flat. Mom couldn't get through that one either, Natalie!

Cool Article!

Here's an article about Aunt Pam's blog in today's Detroit Free Press!

The Dawn of a New Day

Natalie started day care a week ago! She is now going to a small family day care a couple blocks from our house... we decided that she needed to be around more children, and it was time for something new.

Here is a pic of Natalie on her last day of share care with her wonderful former nanny, Rose... she really, really loves Rose. We miss her.

Trying to capture Natalie's former share care buddy Kai in the picture...but I was unsuccessful. Kai and Rose found a new family to take our place in the share arrangement, so they probably don't miss us as much as we miss them (ha! ha!) -
Last weekend, to get our minds off of the upcoming adjustment, we took Natalie to a place we hadn't seen in over two years - Cornerstone Place! The weather was about 20 degrees cooler than it was last time we were there, which means it was a balmy 90 degrees last Saturday. Ahh, refreshing.

(For our newer friends and blog readers, Tyler's parents held our lovely rehearsal dinner at Cornerstone Gardens two years ago - it was 110 degrees that day, and 115 the next as we said "I Do" in an OUTDOOR wedding at 4 p.m. - it's a miracle all of our friends and family members survived, particularly one of our attendants who was six weeks pregnant at the time)!

As you can see, Natalie had a grand time. They have definitely made some changes to the gardens and shops in the last two years, though some exhibits remained the same. And they still have a blue tree.
And here's Natalie on her first day of "school"! She had her bag full of treats to bring with her (diapers, change of clothes, sippy cup, diaper cream - all the essentials).

(p.s. lest you think we are some freewheeling, unsanitary household - Reese is not normally allowed on the counter - in the mayhem of Natalie's first morning at day care, she must have taken advantage of our laxness...)

I wish I could say that all went swimmingly this week. I will say this though - Natalie is a model daycare attendee! While she's there, she is generally happy - eats well - naps well. When she comes home, though, she's so tired that she fusses until time to go to bed. It will take her some time to snap into the new routine with all of her new friends and in the meantime, we will be patient. She has also already brought back her first souvenir... a head cold! Whee!!!!

And a lovely video of little miss wobbly-walker. She's doing wonderfully with her new skill, though since she is tall and skinny with a large noggin, she wobbles and falls a lot. But she improves every day and keeps trying, and we are quite proud!

Snapshots: Labor Day Weekend

Natalie was treated to this gift by her mom and dad a few weeks ago - her very own sand castle kit! She has a propensity for trying to take other kids' buckets and shovels when we go to the park, so we figured she was ready to learn how NOT to fling sand around. She's a quick study.
She still likes the swing, though I think the slide may take first place in her park-loving heart. And more than either, she just likes to crawl around in the sand and watch all the other kids.
On Labor Day, the three of us went to Taylor's at the Ferry Building here in San Francisco for lunch. The Ferry Building is one of my absolute favorite places, so it is always a treat when we get to go. Natalie wore her birthday dress (which she so sadly didn't get to wear to her birthday party) and got to share some of my chicken sandwich. She loves food best when she's stealing mine! This picture I am posting because I find it so humorous and always want to remember it. We have tons of books on our bookshelves, and Natalie loves to pull a few down here and there to look at them - but the two she goes for time and time again, which she *can not resist*, are My Life (Bill Clinton's book) and Living History (Hillary's book). In this 2008 election year, our girl is making her current political preferences known! Who knows what her leanings will be when she grows up, but for right now, she absolutely loves those two books. We often move the location of the books around to see if she will still choose them, and... she does.
Other notables:
On Thursday 9/4, she had her one year doctor's appointment. Stats:

• 30 inches long (73%) - which we don't believe! Other babies SHORTER than Natalie are measured at 31 inches by their doctor's office, so hmmmmph.
• 21 lbs 8 oz (53%)
• 47 cm head size (92%)

We had a long spell of 80 degree+ days here in SF. I filled up an inflatable pool in the back yard for Natalie... she cooled off on Friday in the pool, but that night, we had some unexpected visitors. The little masked visitors tossed all of her rubber duckies to and fro (and halfway across the yard), cleaned all the dirt off themselves, and basically had the time of their lives in her pool! Ah well. At least someone got to cool off and enjoy a dip.

She learned how to stand up by herself on Friday, not even holding on to anything! She still can only take one or two steps without falling. We are so enormously proud of her.

She can say the following: cat, dog, mama, dada, sock, shoe, car, ball, and a whole host of other words she has made up.

She points to her toes, chooses the zebra out of her little Fisher Price Noah's Ark toy, and retrieves a ball when asked. This is a surprisingly late achievement - it seems that many babies do this type of stuff much earlier. The thing is, you have to catch her in the right mood!

All right, that's enough bragging for one night.

Swinging

April 2008 May 2008
August 2008

(Yes, we have weird weather in San Francisco - sundress in April, winter coat and hat in May, and sweatshirt in August)

One Year Old - Two Birthday Parties... Both Cancelled...

Here is our girl on her birthday. She was still recovering from the Great Fever of August 16th, but was doing much better! I took the day off from work, and Tyler worked from home, so we could be with her on her special day.

Natalie and I went to a birthday lunch at Park Chalet (a restaurant near our house) with Kearsley and Maya. Natalie's not all that into birthday cake (see former post) so we let her go wild with strawberries instead.
Here is the fabulous, well-behaved girl Maya. Eating daintily out of her bowl, as Natalie threw food all over the entire seating area of the restaurant (don't worry, we were outside on the patio, so it didn't matter).
We are huge fans of Maya and Kearsley!
They gave us this fabulous tractor for Natalie's birthday. I say "us" because Tyler and I love it almost as much as Natalie - it's not uncommon for us to play with the toy even more than she does.
The birthday girl herself.

Tickles from Dad!

We tried to reschedule Natalie's birthday party for August 23rd, after we had to cancel her first one on the 16th. Wouldn't you know it, on Wednesday night before the party she got sick again (a cold this time)... maybe they were related, maybe they weren't, who knows... all we know is that we had to cancel her NEXT birthday party as well, because we didn't want to subject any of our baby friends to the plague.

So, we had to console ourselves with a trip to the zoo! Natalie was doing much, much better by this weekend (if still sniffly).
She LOVES the backpack. Thinks it's the best. She and Tyler had a great time wandering around the entire zoo together! Other firsts: she took a few steps by herself (a very few)... she is so long and skinny that she needs a lot more practice to take more steps, but she's trying! She also went out to breakfast with Mama and Dada on Sunday and was really excited by eating breakfast out and about!

Hopefully she will take to daycare in two weeks as well as she's taken to all the other firsts which have come with being one year old...

Birthday Party: Or Lack Thereof

Saturday was to be Natalie's one year birthday bash. We eschewed the advice of all who said "just let her have a quiet first birthday, with no hoopla - she is too young for the hoopla!" We planned a nice birthday party here at home with all her (and our) friends. Her grandma and grandpa even flew down from Seattle for the party!

And then, five hours before the party was to start - cake made, flowers purchased, balloons in hand, house cleaned, food ready to go - Natalie developed a biiiiiig fever.

So, while I was in mommy mode (lukewarm bath, tylenol, snuggles), Tyler made phone calls cancelling the party. *sigh*

Here is a picture from Friday night (pre-fever) opening presents from Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma.

And below, Natalie's modified birthday party! After she went to bed, Tyler's cousins and our friends Cheryl and Adam came over to eat some of the food we had prepared. Here is Tyler cutting Natalie's birthday cake.
She was served some cake leftovers yesterday. Her appetite is not what one would hope (when is it ever?) but she had one bite and one lick of frosting. She didn't throw much on the floor which is actually a ringing endorsement!
Today is her actual birthday. I took the day off from work and Tyler is working from home so that we can enjoy her special day. Her little viral infection (or whatever it is) is improving!

Here We Go!

Sorry we haven't posted in so long! We've been up to no good, no good at all. Just kidding, we've been doing *some* good.
Like a couple of weeks ago we babysat for Olen while his parents got to enjoy a date night!
King Olen, laying claim to all the toys and books in Natalie's room.
Here is our girl, who is very focused on learning how to walk. It's an all-consuming passion.

All that learning to walk gets a body tired, though... sometimes she just reaches into her crib for her paci and her doggy snuggle blanket, and practically asks to be put to bed. She's her mama's daughter, as Carroll family lore reports that I often put myself to bed as a child, even before my bedtime.

This picture, more than any other, is indicative of what's been going on around the house though. She is just learning so much about what she wants - and learning to ask for it! Like today for dinner, she refused to eat anything from a spoon. Ultimately I gave her the spoon with squash on it to see what she would do. The result? Squash flung to all four corners of the room, but a fair bit in her mouth as well. We've tried to give her the spoon before and she has refused to take it. Her dad said it's almost like she woke up this morning and thought "I want to learn how to use a spoon today." This week she's also learned to drink from a sippy cup with a straw (thanks, Connor, for giving us one of those)!

She's doing well with learning her words, but sometimes you have to trick it out of her! The other day, I was pointing to Kai's sock and asking him what it was. Finally Natalie turned away from the book she was reading and said "SOCK" and then went back to reading. Will she do that for her own sock, if I ask her? She will not. And today I asked Kai "where's the ball?" and she went and got the ball and brought it to me. But if I ask *her* to get the ball - will she? Again, the answer is, we are learning that she is a willful child who does exactly what she wants to do.

Anna let us borrow her walker... at first (Sunday) Natalie wasn't sure what to do with it, but the video below shows that she gets it now! She laughs uproariously while she's walking behind it!

This Saturday we're having a birthday party for our girl, two days ahead of the big day. I can't believe she's turning a year old. I can't begin to describe all that this year has brought to us.