Repeating Words

Natalie has begun to repeat a lot of words, or at least try to repeat what you say.

She can repeat Aubrey, Randy, Brandi, when asked to say Lisa she said 'La La', so maybe my mom will be called 'LaLa.'  We'll see if that will stick. That is about all the names I got her to repeat before she went off to do something else or just was annoyed and stopped repeating after me.

Last night, Bobby was carrying her in the garage and she said "Bobby"...haha!  I about died!  I never have had her try to repeat his name before, but she must have picked up on it during our conversations.

She is so funny lately with her toys. She will grab a bunch from her room...mostly dolls and books, along with teddy bears, then proceed to pile them all up in one spot. I guess when she is tired of them being in that spot, she moves them all to another.

Dolls and books seem to be her favorite toys lately. She is a good "mommy" with her babies, as she tries to feed them, pat them, play with them, even try to give them baths. Basically anything she has seen me do with Aubrey, she tries (except breastfeeding of course...haha). She has become quite interested in the pump lately though since I'm having to use that more since they are at daycare.

New Pictures and Videos

Nothing really exciting to report, but just wanted to post a few pictures and videos I took over the last couple of days. Enjoy!

Videos:

Photos:

Learning how to use power tools!

Baby rolls

Lesson Learned!

Our lesson we learned over the weekend...Natalie will be strapped in at ALL times from highchair to grocery cart to anything that has a strap that we took as optional will now be mandatory.

Back story on our lesson learned...

Saturday, we headed to the annual Downtown Block Party, which wasn't that exciting at least at the time we went. Afterwards, we decided to go grab something to eat at Ruby Tuesdays. Bobby sat on one side of the table with Aubrey and I sat on the other side with Natalie. Midway or so, Aubrey was fussing a bit, so Bobby held her during his meal and I fed Natalie. I was actually quite surprised and was thinking (not sure if I said it out loud) of what an actual enjoyable family meal we were having. It actually has been the trend lately to enjoyable family dinners since Aubrey has been good and enjoys sitting in the Bumbo seat with us while we eat...Natalie on the other hand is still driving us CRAZY with her food throwing!  

Anyway, since Bobby had Aubrey, I was the one that got his debit card out of his wallet and paid, then proceeded to sign the receipt. In the VERY SHORT time it takes to start to sign the receipt, the next thing I know I hear gasps and then Natalie crying, who somehow wound up on the floor!  I picked her up...she was crying bloody murder...tried to console her...while numerous eyes stared at "those parents" and offered assistance. Natalie was fine...thank goodness...just a little startled. I could not believe we let that happen. She wasn't even standing, and Bobby said it happened so fast that he couldn't even say anything to get my attention...I seriously turned my head for a second!  I think what happened was the lady that was sitting directly behind Natalie had a very enticing purse that Natalie occasionally during the meal was trying to reach, so I think while I turned my head she tried to reach too much, which flipped her over the edge of the highchair. 

So, yes, we are now labeled as "THOSE PARENTS."  Talk about embarrassing!

The rest of our weekend was pretty routine with not much to report on, just the usual things: grocery shopping, church, a trip to Menards ending with Bobby saying "I'm never shopping there again," Bobby's fantasy football draft via Skype, and even slipped in a nap while the girls napped Sunday.

Th only pictures I took this weekend were with my iPhone of Aubrey and Bobby napping.

Love her thumb placement :) 

Bobby rocking Aubrey asleep, but I think it was the other way around since Bobby fell asleep instead :)

The rocking finally worked :)

Happy 3 Months, Aubrey!

Aubrey was very smiley and happy today, she also took good naps. However, she didn't cooperate as well for her pictures.

Either the medicine is helping her or she is outgrowing her upset stomach phase because she has been doing better at home and at daycare.

Aubrey Updates:

1. She is awake more.

2. Still no rolling, but I'm sure that has a lot to do with her wanting to be held or being content in the Mamaroo.

3. She is now laughing (which sort of sounds like her cry) and smiling a lot.

4. She is more interactive, as far as responding to your voice and facial expressions.

5. Still in 0/3 month clothing and size 1 diapers.

6. Still waking up at night, sometimes a lot!  Aubrey, I would like some sleep soon! Thanks...your Mom!

It doesn't seem like a whole lot has changed from month 2 to 3.

A comparison of Aubrey from a few weeks old to 3 months old...

Natalie's 18 Month Check-Up

We survived my 1st week back to work and the girls' 1st week to daycare!  It wasn't extremely smooth, but I would say it went pretty well overall, especially after we got past Tuesday.

Wednesday, the girls were only at daycare for 3.5/4 hours and both did good. I picked them up before Natalie's naptime and she slept well at home. Since she is still under the weather with a cough and runny nose, I was glad she got some rest.

Here is what was on Aubrey's daily note that day:

I was nervous about how the girls were doing since the day before was rough on everyone, but I was happy to get a good report!

Today, Natalie had her 18 month check-up.

She only had to get one shot, but she still screamed which quickly subsided...poor girl!  She has one more shot at her 2 year check-up and all her early immunizations are over!

Her stats:

Weight: 21 pounds 12.8 oz (between 10 and 25 percentile)
Height: 30 1/2 inches (between 10 and 25 percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 1/2 inches (between 50 and 75 percentile)

The doctor wasn't concerned since Natalie is typically a good, healthy eater. As far as her cough and runny nose, she said Natalie's lungs (and Aubrey's) were clear so she didn't have any concern unless fevers occur. Hopefully we are at the tale-end of this!  Both of their coughs have seemed better today.

We got another good report from daycare today...yay! Aubrey took good naps and Natalie listened better. I'm hoping this week was just an adjustment period. I do have to admit that I was kind of nervous driving to pick them up each day, afraid I was going to hear bad things. I'm glad things are more on the upswing!  My work went surprisingly smooth and I have really enjoyed each of my patients and their families!

Sadly, my car hit the 100,000 mile mark today!

Bobby volunteered at the church tonight for the Night of Worship. I was really wanting to go, but since Natalie was being a typical toddler during dinner, I decided I wasn't going to go unless they provided childcare. They didn't tonight, so I stayed home with the girls, but I did manage to get my run in!  I just thought Natalie was being extra good, and when I got back to the house, I looked and this is what I found:

This is not atypical of Aubrey, but completely out of the norm for little Miss Natalie!  Poor thing must have been exhausted from this week of change. I think it exhausted everyone in this house!

Aubrey slept good Monday night, but since has gotten up a couple times during the night which completely exhausts me for the day. So, I'm going to have to start pumping more in the evening so Bobby can start taking turns if she continues to do this!  I HATE pumping!  It's just so time consuming, but necessary if I want Aubrey to continue to be breastfed.

I couldn't believe that Natalie didn't even wake up when I opened the garage door, nor when I laid her down in bed. No PJs for Natalie tonight. I'm glad she is finally getting some rest and I haven't heard her cough once yet tonight and she's been sleeping for 2 hours already.

My mission tomorrow is Operation: Clean House since it has been extremely neglected. I actually got a flier in our mailbox for a cleaning lady looking for work.  Maybe I'll give her a call tomorrow for an estimate :)

A Dandy Day?!

So, that's what the WTHI (local news station) app said when I checked the local weather on my phone today.

I was hoping this would be a good omen since this was the first day back to work for me, first day back to daycare for Natalie, and first day in daycare for Aubrey. Let's just say the weather was "A Dandy Day!" but not our day in general.

I ended up getting up at 7a to get myself ready, so then I could get Aubrey awake, ready, and fed; then pump; then get Natalie up and fed breakfast; and out the door by 8:45a. My 1st patient wasn't scheduled until 9:30a, so I knew I had plenty of time but I just wanted to make sure I could spend as much time as I needed to at the daycare while dropping the girls off.  We ended up pulling out of the garage by 8:52a.

All ready for their first day!

Aubrey actually slept most of the night, only getting up around 4a to eat and then I had to wake her up to feed her and get rolling...my talk with her yesterday must have really worked...haha!  I also had to wake up Natalie, which wasn't surprising considering she once again decided to scream and cry and whine in her crib until we took her out. I have NO clue why she is doing this lately, but it's getting really annoying. We try to let her cry it out, but that doesn't seem to work. The past 2 nights I have been able to get her relaxed enough by rocking her, shushing her, rubbing/patting her back until finally she will take some milk and lay down and sleep. Once we get past that hurdle, it is usually smooth sailing the rest of the night. I think part of it is because she is cutting teeth. I gave her some Tylenol tonight, so I hope that helps, or maybe the lack of nap (only 40 minutes) will help.

My day at work went pretty well even with a little computer glitch that was quickly resolved. I only had 1 patient for VNA and then went to my "PRN" job for "orientation." It really wasn't orientation since the manager had called me yesterday afternoon to ask how long I could stay because they had 1 re-eval and 2 new evals to be done. I was a little hesitant, explaining to her I have had no training at their facility and have never used their computer system. However, it actually went pretty smoothly and I enjoyed it. For my last patient, she had actually left the building to go home, so I was on my own on day 1...eek!  I ended up being there for a little over 4 hours, but it flew by.

I didn't take my pump with me to Legacy, and really it wouldn't have mattered because I didn't have time anyways, but I was hurting a little bit by the end of my day so I decided I would run home to pump before getting the girls.  I ended up picking the girls up by 4, so it was a long day for them...9a until 4p.

They are actually in a new building than where Natalie was previously because they converted the garage into the baby/toddler area. It looks really nice, but I don't know if it fit Natalie too well...I guess time will tell. Natalie was also with a new lady they hired, so it was a lot of "newness" all at one time!  I shouldn't have said bye when I dropped her off because she was having fun playing with toys until I said that...then the separation anxiety hit.

When I picked them up and got the daily report from Sarah, she said that Aubrey cried all morning (imagine that), but during the afternoon she chilled out. She was sitting in the bouncy seat when I got there and seemed quite relaxed. When I asked about Natalie, she said she was learning how to pick up her toys. We may not do the best job with her about picking up toys because we mostly pick them up, but really...she's just 18 months. Sarah did say, however, that it is a skill for toddlers at this age to dump out toys. Then, I asked the dreaded question, "Did Natalie hit today?" and to my demise, I got the answer of 'yes.'  :(  I was afraid of that happening because Natalie had just done this to her sister and me last night. Sarah did say the other kid did not cry or get upset and she told Natalie 'no' and she never did it again.

Sarah also said neither girl slept well, Natalie only took a 40 minute nap because she was woken up by the other babies crying...big surprise. Who doesn't wake up when they hear babies crying right next to them! At least when she was in the house, there were 2 separate rooms for the younger kids to nap in which was much more quite!  Granted, they woke each other up at times, but Natalie slept much better than.  Therefore, I had a very cranky toddler this afternoon/evening.

So, it was not the best report I have gotten by far from daycare because usually I get great remarks about Natalie. Sarah did seem overwhelmed to me because she was in the baby/toddler cottage by herself with 3 infants and 2 toddlers. I know from first hand experience from my recent church volunteering that that is too many small children per 1 person no matter how experienced you may be.

I told Bobby about the girls' day and he really does not want them at the daycare especially if Sarah gets no help and is alone with all 5 very young children, which I have to agree. He said he would rather me quit my job, but I'm hoping that this is just an adjustment period and things get ironed out...let's hope!

I am exhausted after today with work, picking up the girls, going to the grocery store, cooking dinner, cleaning up dinner, putting the girls to bed, and even got my Couch to 5K run in!

Oh yes...that reminds me, while feeding Aubrey this evening in the living room while Bobby was mowing our weeds...haha...Natalie decided she would take her diaper off like a pair of pants. So, because Aubrey would get mad if I took her off to take care of Natalie, I decided I would just lock Natalie, Aubrey and I in the bathroom just in case Natalie peed, it would be on the tile and not on the carpet. She would only sit on her potty chair for very brief moments and luckily had no accident, but talk about adding one more thing to my list for the night...

Please pray that the rest of the week goes better for the girls at daycare...I really want it to work out for them, but I guess if it doesn't, we'll be looking for an alternative very soon!

Sick Girls...

So, as I posted on Friday, Natalie hadn't been feeling well. However, on Saturday, her temperature got up to 102.8, but on Sunday morning she woke up with NO fever!  She has stayed fever-free since, but still has a nasty cough, as does Aubrey and myself.

I also discovered Natalie cut one of her canine teeth (left bottom) and I'm pretty sure she will have another one soon because she keeps chewing on her finger and tongue on the right side of her mouth. Poor girl is dealing with some kind of virus (maybe croup?!) and cutting teeth. That would probably explain why she hasn't had much of an appetite lately and has been in a foul mood at times.

Luckily, Aubrey has been quite good during the day, but as soon as 6 or 7p hits, all she wants is to be held!  Plus, her sleeping...we were in a pattern of bedtime at 9:30p and wake up between 3 and 3:30p to eat, then go back to sleep...has been awful! She has been waking up every 2.5 to 3 hours to eat, which makes for one tired mommy!

I can't seem to get hardly anything done or run errands because as soon as one is awake, the other is sleeping and vice versa.  I've been having a talk with Aubrey trying to explain to her that she needs to behave at daycare and get back to sleeping a little better. Think my discussion with her will work...haha?!

This weekend, I pretty much took care of the girls by myself so Bobby could get things done on the fence and the office. His intention was to get both done, but he only got to most of the fence and finished a little bit of wiring in the basement. Other than the latches, 2 of the gates are done! We have one gate to go which will be a little fancier and need my dad's help with. Other than 1 gate, the latches, and figuring out what post caps we want, it is complete!  Yay!  Bobby and everyone else have done a great job...can't wait to stain it come spring...not!

He also got to go mountain biking at Brown County with 2 friends on Saturday and I got my Week 2 Day 2 Couch 2 5K run in, but didn't get to day 3...oops!

I found Aubrey like this fast asleep while I was making dinner...I guess she needed it to be darker :)

Trying out the Bumbo seat...neck still needs to get a bit stronger

Baby drool

So I tried to "interview" Natalie, but she wasn't having it...here's the little bit of the video that was actually blog worthy:)

Happy Half Birthday, Natalie!

Natalie is 18 months old today!

She is a ball full of energy and spunk!

Today, didn't go quite as planned because Natalie woke up with a low-grade fever and cough. She has had a cold for over a week now, but I'm not sure if it's progressing to something more or if she has a tooth trying to cut through. She was not a happy camper this morning, but as the day progressed, she got better.

Grandma Lisa was still here until after we ate lunch and celebrated with a Caboodle Cupcake. I couldn't decide on what flavors to get, so I got 7 in total. Daddy and Grandpa Randy (still up north at his house) wanted a 'wedding cake' flavored cupcake, then us girls chose from vanilla with strawberry filling (Natalie's pick), pumpkin with honey cinnamon icing (Grandma and Mommy shared), chocolate cherry (Grandma took home for Grandpa), chocolate with caramel filling (Grandma and Mommy shared), and orange chiffon.

Natalie ate half of her cupcake, so she must have enjoyed it!

Natalie's pick

The excitement was just too much for Aubrey :)

Say "Cheese"

What's Natalie up to at 18 months?!

1. She is mimicking us and other kids more and more.

2. Separation anxiety has hit full force!

3. She is saying more words but not consistently, but will usually try to copy what you are trying to get   her to say, at least one time.  Still says 'doggie' and 'daddy' a lot.

4. Tantrums hit at least once a day.

5. Instead of saying 'more,' 'all done,' or 'please,' she will sign those words.

6. Favorite foods: tomatoes and bananas, but she eats and tries just about anything and everything. She is a good little eater.

7. Silverware is still a work in progress but she is getting better, and we still can't tell if she's a righty or lefty.

8. Favorite toys: baby dolls, books, anything she can dump out, anything she can put toys into like her purse.

9. Bedtime: She has been going to bed anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30p each night. We have started to have more outbursts with her waking up an hour or 2 later, but typically we can calm her down enough for her to unwind and head back to bed.

10: Wake-Up: She has been waking up around 8/8:30a most days.

11. She is better at taking medicine lately! Now I'm going to jinx myself...

12. Mealtimes are still a struggle with her throwing food and purposely dropping her cup/plate/silverware on the floor.

13. She is a great big sister. She likes to "help" her sissy and give her hugs and kisses.

14. She LOVES water...no surprise here if you've been following this blog.

15. She's quite the daredevil and doesn't seem to be scared of much.

16. Still in size 3 diapers.

17. She wears mostly 18 month clothes, but is slowly creeping into 24 month clothes!

Her 18 month check-up is next week!

I was able to take some pictures of her tonight outside with Daddy's help to try to get her to smile. Rusty did a pretty good job at helping since he was running around the yard like a nut, and of course Natalie thought it was hilarious!  You wouldn't know if from these pictures that she hasn't been feeling quite like herself all day.

I adore this picture of Daddy's strong arms picking up little Natalie. It was more of an accident that I took this, but I just love it!

"Tickle, tickle"

Natalie ~ We love you SO much!  We can't believe how big you are getting!   Time needs to slow down. Before we know it you will be 2!  I hope you keep your sweet, loving, crazy, fun personality forever and ever. Your giggles and smiles are so contagious!  I can't imagine our lives without you!  Love you forever and always, sweet baby girl!