Hey

So, thanks everyone for the well-wishes for my kids. They worked, more or less. Natalie has no issues that should cause further UTIs so we're glad to have that behind us, even though it doesn't exactly explain what happened. We'll chalk it up to random weirdness. Wyatt, indeed, has croup and ended up at urgent care on Monday afternoon. It was largely the same staff that helped with Natalie and they were all, "oh hey! how are you? how's your little girl?" which was kind of funny and also made me feel like we're there a little too often. On our drive down there, Wyatt was saying, "hey Mommy, I think, I think, I think, Mommy..." and I said, "what Wyatt? Use your words" and he said, "hey Mommy, I think the doctors will think you're pretty." So there's that.


Now we're dealing with croupy croupness from Wyatt, who will not take the flavored prednisone prescribed to him. I mean, I'll agree, it tastes awful. However, he coughs like crazy when not taking it. It's a sticking point (read: stand-off waiting to happen) so I think we're just wasting that prescription. I don't really know what else to do because I can't find a way to mask it in any other food or drink. It's really strong. And while croup technically infects the vocal chords, it apparently also can infect attitudes. He's a belligerent mess. So we're working through that and might need to restock on our two-buck Chuck. Don't worry, there's no drinking while on duty, but when the littles are in bed, Mommy might be ready for a glass or three.


In happier news, we went to the beach over the weekend for the first time since we've lived here. Wyatt had a great time building sandcastles and digging through the sand with his fingers. Despite my best efforts, I could not get him interested in collecting shells. Whose kid is this? Everyone knows you're supposed to collect a bunch of random shells and then hold onto them for some odd reason until you finally, years later, realize they're just some random shells. I'll keep working on him. And if he won't buy in, there's always Natalie. Anyway, it made me realize that we should do that more often and that I'm a total beach snob who's looking forward to a trip to the in-laws' beautiful shore in a few months. You know, because I like to see my feet when I step into the water.

And I have to say, I'm really glad I looked at these pictures today because it was a rough lunch hour here and these just remind me how very lucky I am to have such spirited little people in my life.

Well Hello, Monday

Today is Natalie's follow-up appointment at the hospital. It will involve ultrasounds and a cath and x-rays. I'm not really looking forward to it except that at least this time Jeff will be with me.

Or would have been, if Wyatt hadn't gotten sick. I swear we're clean people. Why are the little people in this house making me feel otherwise? So instead of Wyatt staying home with our favorite sitter while we go to Natalie's appointment (and then maybe to the tile store because that's hard to squeeze in without kids and we've learned that Wyatt + tile store = inner circle of hell), Jeff will be coming home so I can go it alone while they poke and prod at my baby some more. Awesome.

And Wyatt? Well, he's had a fever off and on for a couple of days, randomly complaining of a stomachache but otherwise acting fine. Then he had to toss his cookies last night, get miserable and require me to sleep on his floor, waking every hour or so with some general malaise and misery. And he seems to also have croup. Super awesome.

To steal a line from a friend, Monday isn't here to get me down, just to keep me on my toes. If I say that enough, perhaps I'll buy it. Bring on the coffee!

Look Back

I finally took some pics off one of our cameras and they made me smile.

1. Wyatt loving Jack's birthday cupcake.



2. Natalie getting acclimated to her exersaucer.



3. Jeff's idea of a hilarious joke. Don't worry, it's fake. However, I didn't know that at first glance and let's just say it had the desired effect.

4. Me and my babies - our first joint storytime. Wyatt now loves crawling into my lap for Natalie's sleep routine.

Resilient Has a New Meaning

When I posted about my kids being able to survive lights-on sleeping, I had no idea they were merely preparing for what was to come. Now I am truly thankful for their resiliency.

Miss Natalie got sick on Tuesday. Really sick. Like for a moment I thought, do I call 9-1-1? I decided that urgent care would do, so hastily packed up Wyatt, dropped him at a friend's and doubted myself all the way to the base. Had I really seen her turn blue? Because she was so pink now. And she didn't have a fever, she was breathing, probably crying because she was hungry, right? Was it really worth cancelling the zoo trip for what was sure to be a needless visit to the doctor?

It turns out if you walk into urgent care and say something along the lines of, "my four-month old turned blue but now looks fine" they take it really seriously. You get called back immediately and not to the exam rooms, but to the scarier ER section where they put sticky things all over your baby's chest in case they need to do anything heroic. And when you tell them her temp was 98.3 when you left your house but now shows up at almost 102, that raises some red flags. And it earns a full work-up. After medical procedures that make you both cry, you find out that they can only tell you her white blood cell count is elevated but they don't know why. And they don't know what the blue was about, unless it indicated the fever spiking. After hours - three? four? - and an i.v. antibiotic, they send you home but only if you promise to bring her back if anything seems strange. You assure them you will and assume you'll not see this helpful staff again.

So I picked up Wyatt, offered nuggets from Chick-fil-a (because honestly, I needed some sort of treat after that ordeal and I really wanted some iced tea) and took my family home. I got Wyatt settled at his picnic table and started rearranging my evening plans since a sitter and a trip to Williamsburg didn't seem smart. And then I looked down at my sweet girl and damn if she wasn't blue all over again.

I dropped Wyatt at another friend's (who peeked in at Natalie and, with her nursing background, said, "yeah, she's blue" before giving me a hug and taking Wyatt) and rushed back to the base. As soon as I walked in, they said, "did it happen again?" and whisked me to the back. Again. We were the show, so no less than two doctors, two nurses and three techs were attending to her, seemingly all at once. By this time, her fever was above 103, despite it having been at 99 only an hour earlier. The pediatrician informed me we'd be staying the night. The phonecalls started in earnest - how to get ahold of Jeff, did my mom need to come out, who would take Wyatt, etc. Needless to say, it was frantic and scary. My baby. My sweet baby. And why always when the husband is gone?

Honestly, I've known that I have some great friends but this tested their willingness to help and they all went above and beyond. I talked to Kristen once to give her a brief rundown of what had gone on and by the time I called her back, she had a plan in place. It involved her calling the sitter I cancelled on to watch her boys so she could bring stuff to me, taking Millie to another friend's house, then picking up Wyatt at the other friend's house before taking him back to her place for the night. Amazing. In the meantime, the lab amended its earlier findings and that told us Natalie was fighting off a UTI. At least we had a diagnosis, even though it didn't explain the blue spells. And with that, it seemed we had 24 hours at the hospital so I opted against Jeff rushing home or my mom coming out.

Thankfully they decided they didn't need to put an i.v. line back in, so with new cardiac stickers and a pulse/ox monitor taped firmly to her foot, Natalie and I were able to rest. She did great all night, even managing to smile for the nurses when they came in every four hours to poke and prod, and most importantly stayed fever-free for the night. After another dose of the high-powered antibiotics and another urine sample (thankfully not via a cath), we were back home by 4:00 yesterday. Today she seems back to her old self and had lots of smiles at the doctor's visit today.

It turns out this isn't normal, but isn't rare either. She'll have some follow-up testing in a couple of weeks to see what the full scope of the issue is and until then she'll be on antibiotics. I'm so thankful for all the good care she got and the support I got from our friends. Wyatt's pretty sure it was the best couple days of his life. He got to play with Sam & Julie, then had Chick-fil-a, then got to play with Connor and Reid, had a visit to Kiley and Drake's, then had his first sleepover with Isaac. What's not to love? He told me he missed me (and Millie, too) but that he'd like to spend the night with Isaac again. He wanted to know why I stayed home. I guess he wasn't freaked out by my freaking out!

I have learned a lot: We have great friends and a large support network for which I am incredibly thankful. I am thankful that I have a few verses memorized because they helped keep me calm when I felt very alone. I think it's interesting that the blessing we've chosen to give Natalie every night is, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Fitting in that time, let me tell you. It is miserable to see your kids hooked up to EKG's and i.v. lines. It is not fun to put your baby to sleep in a metal crib with monitors beeping. Healthy children are a blessing and even moderately ill ones are, too. All I could think of were my friends whose children have been through major surgeries, much more life-threatening stuff. How have they done it with such grace and calm?

My baby is fine. My friends tell me Wyatt was good for them. Jeff will be home soon and all will be right with the world. Incidentally, both kids had check-ups scheduled for today so I have stats: Natalie is in the 25-50%ile for both height and head circumference, 50-75%ile for weight. And, drumroll please, Wyatt is in the 10-25%ile for both height and weight! Looks like he might catch up after all.

Four Months and Other Random Bits

Natalie at four months:

1. Chews on her hands incessantly and drools like crazy. I can see the outline of the two bottom teeth; wondering how long before they pop through.

2. Has been rolling over for a few weeks. She's awesome at rolling back to tummy, not so consistent at tummy to back.

3. Is developing a more regular schedule but her morning nap is still pretty irregular. She can be counted upon for a long afternoon nap that coincides with Wyatt's so that forgives her unwillingness to sleep through the night.

4. Sleeps through the night when Jeff is planning to get up with her (this has happened on more than one occasion - stinker!)

5. LOVES her brother. She saves her best full-face smiles for him and watches every move he makes (that will haunt me, I'm sure); she also giggles for him with very little prompting.

6. Makes a sound that can only be described as growling and I don't remember Wyatt doing anything similar.

7. Doesn't love the Bumbo like Wyatt did, but is tolerant of short stints in it. She is okay with the exersaucer but, in general, is happy as long as someone is making her feel like she's a part of the action.

8. Tries to sit up all the time. If she has our hands to pull on, she'll go from laying down to standing in no time.

9. Almost touches both bumpers when she turns sideways in her crib.

10. Is outgrowing clothes faster than we can keep track of. Just this week, we've put her in two different sleepers that fit when I folded the laundry but are now too short for her.

11. Digs her baby bjorn.

12. Sleeps on her side 90% of the time; the remaining 10% is divided evenly between sleeping on her back and sleeping on her tummy. If she's at all awake when she's put in her crib, she immediately rolls to her left side.

13. Is totally easy-going until she isn't. The fuse is kind of short and we know we're being scolded when she lets out a high-pitched wail. On the upside: as soon as the need is met, she's Miss Happy-go-lucky again.

14. Reaches for toys in front of her or above her on her playmat with the intention of putting them in her mouth. She seems fairly surprised when she gets ahold of one.

15. Loves her baths and has great fun splashing about but didn't like it when I dipped her toes in the pool.

16. The swing - miracle that it is - gets little use these days. Maybe one in six days has her napping in it, otherwise she's in her bed.

17. Is wearing size 3 diapers. I mention this only because my man, Wyatt, topped out in size 4's.

18. Brings us all great joy and tolerates Wyatt's hugs and kisses quite nicely.

******

Random bits:

1. We just discovered that Dole pear cups (the ones Wyatt has been downing at a rapid rate for months) are a product of China. We find this a little disturbing, what with...well, China, and all. So I decided to do a little research on their website and discovered they don't mention China among all their international operations. Hmmmmm.....I'm curious to see if they respond to my inquiry.

2. Poll: tub v. shower in a master bath - how many of you require a bathtub in your master? We're contemplating eradicating ours; would we lose you as a buyer? Leave your answer in the comments, please. And no, there's no room for a separate tub. It's combo or nothing.

3. We had a first today at the park: I told Wyatt it was time to go and he took off running the other direction because he wanted to play on the baseball field. Rather than chase him and make it a game, I decided to load the car (stroller in, baby in) thinking it would make him decide he might miss us. No such luck so I ended up physically removing him from the field and carrying him waaaaayyy back to the car. He was appropriately disciplined but seems to find the whole thing funny. Maybe I shouldn't have worked so hard at being the non-yelling parent?

4. Poor Millie is itchy. No hives, no bumps, no visible skin issues (which could be expected for her), bath didn't help. Any ideas?

5. I'm on a mission to find multiple babysitters who are dependable and have some daytime availability. I need a haircut like you read about but can't schedule one for another 2.5 weeks when my husband is home to take care of our little people.

6. Is it bad that I'd like to hire an interior designer to make my house more....interesting? It's feeling so very blah.

7. Jeff and I booked our first non-kid vacation for Labor Day weekend. While I should be looking forward to the trip, I'm really just craving the two nights with no 2 am feeding.

Summer

We've been enjoying unseasonably cool weather and lots of outside time the last couple of weeks. While I don't have pictures from our neighborhood's annual post-4th of July shindig held last night (complete with contraband fireworks and a visit from the local police), I do have a few others. I'm wishing it could be summer all year!

Fourth of July finery. Wyatt loves getting to "hold" Natalie.

Wyatt enjoying his first ice cream sandwich, courtesy of the ice cream truck that drove through our neighborhood. Immediately after he finished it, he asked if he could have a cool pop from our neighbor.

How I found W today during his nap - sacked out under his train table. I wonder how this came to pass or if it explains the loud thud I heard from downstairs. When I moved him, he had a lovely carpet pattern imprinted in his little cheek.

Six Thousand Words

A few of my favorite pictures from this week - of course they're of my favorite subjects.

What? You didn't think I'd forget Millie, did you?

Growing Up

Natalie just rolled over, back to front. I've been watching her all day because it was apparent this new skill would be showing up any minute. Of course she waited until I was distracted by something else before doing it. So I missed the actual first rollover, but it obviously occurred and she was pretty pleased with herself. Apparently it's also exhausting, because shortly thereafter she had to go back to sleep.

Hard work, that baby stuff.

Time Flies

From this

to this,

and this

to this

Life is good.

And I think I feel even better since both children were bathed and in bed at 8:02 pm, with no husband here to help. Things are starting to look pretty good around here!

He Has Limits

Wyatt is unbelievably patient with Natalie's rare fits of crying. In all fairness to her, she really is a great baby and cries are reserved for hunger and sleep-protesting. Unlike Wyatt, she doesn't have the world's quietest cry so it can get a little grating. He's started simply putting his hands over his ears to block out the sound or, if he sees her headed down that path, imploring me to "talk to Natalie, Mommy!"

Last night Jeff had to work crazy-late so bedtime was just the three of us. Unfortunately, Natalie's need-to-eat cry and sleep-protesting time converged and it was ugly for a little while. Since she would neither eat nor sleep, I couldn't get her to calm down and Wyatt's bedtime was long overdue so we just took our crying Natalie upstairs while Wyatt got ready for bed. Through teeth-brushing, face-washing, clothes-changing and book-reading, I jostled and juggled her in attempts to get her to quiet down. It was all for naught. So by the time the actual getting in bed part rolled around, I just laid Natalie on Wyatt's floor so I could give him a proper tuck-in.

We did our standard "what we doin' tomorrow" conversation and a blessing over Natalie's noise pollution and then it was lights out. On my way out of his room, I gathered up his dirty clothes but apparently I wasn't moving quickly enough because Wyatt sat up in bed and said, "Mommy, I want you to take Natalie with you!" I laughed and said, "you want me to take her with me?" and he said, "Yes! She will keep me awake if you leave her here!"

So I guess a shared room is currently out of the question.

Same But Different

Just when we're thinking that yeah, they might look alike we take a gander at old pictures and realize, no, they kind of don't. Gene pools are a curious thing. I love digital archives for the precision of the dates - these photos show my babies within days of the same age (if that makes sense). And I love how we look back at baby Wyatt pictures and recognize expressions we see all the time now.

P.S. For all my insistence that there will be no more babies in our family, I'm realizing that Natalie's babyhood is a little fleeting. If I could be guaranteed another one with her temperament...and issued another whopping dose of patience for the toddler years...

Eureka!

Natalie has found her voice.





And also? She's vertical.

Even it Out

Wyatt certainly gets the lion's share of the coverage in this forum, but Miss Natalie is doing her best to earn some mentions, too. As in, right now, she's cooing and smiling and kicking her little heart out in her bouncer. Just so you can envision it:

That Was Fun

There's nothing like ten days with family to make you wish you lived a little closer. In no particular order, a photo review of our vacation:

My babies. Oh, how I love them.

Cousins at the zoo. It was cold!

My man doing his best flamingo.

My man being unimpressed with the elephants, as though we see them all the time. My sister's comment, though, was a gem: "Look at that. I mean, those aren't very evolved."

This is the lion cage. There are three lions in it. Wyatt's comment upon seeing them? "Look Mommy! A green bowling ball!" If you look in the upper right of the picture, you'll see it too. I told you he wasn't impressed with the zoo!

The best picture I have of all three cousins from that outing. I chose the one with a blurry Wyatt. If you'd like to see a blurry Andrew or Thomas, I have those photos too. Turns out three boys don't really slow down much, even if it is raining and cold in May! And this should explain why Wyatt asked to nap an hour early on our first day home.

The requisite brainwashing trip. Start 'em young! Natalie was asleep or we would've figured out how to strap her to its back.

Ahhh, Natalie's new favorite way to spend an afternoon (and Grandpa's old favorite way to spend an afternoon.)

An amazingly good pic of all three boys post-bowling. Miracles happen every day - all are smiling, facing the camera and sitting still!

Wyatt's interesting technique.

Always with the follow-through.

Great-grandma and her youngest great-grandkids.

Natalie meeting the Rock cousins. I think she likes Alexis!

Just chilling.

Grandma and her boys, all enjoying a rare moment of quiet. I don't remember any of them being this still when they were together so it's good someone captured it on camera!

Thomas and Wyatt, plotting their next move.

Andrew showing Grandpa and the little boys his discovery. I think his quote was something along the lines of, "I don't know what those frogs have been doing, but there sure are a lot of tadpoles in that pond!"

Wyatt has asked every day if we can talk about Kansas and when we're going back. It's safe to say we had a great time and can't wait for the next trip!

Miscellaneous

Natalie is two months old; next thing I know she'll be asking for car keys! I was anxious to get her stats since I had a feeling there would be less judgment from the doctor about her growth rate than I ever experienced with Wyatt. Sure enough, at 11 lbs, 1 oz. and 22.5 inches long, she's in the 50-75%ile for height and weight. But because she is her father's daughter, her head circumfrence puts her in the 25-50%ile. Funny.

***************

Wyatt is tantruming ALL THE TIME to the point that we have had sit down discussions about how to handle this evil behavior and I am beyond worn out. Luckily, the columnist/psychologist/author John Rosemond spoke at a church here yesterday and Jeff & I were able to go. Best sitter money we've spent for a while and, though not all of his tips/thoughts/practices may sit well with others or fully work for us, we're on board for some more common sense parenting. Look out kiddo, Mommy is feeling reinvigorated.

**************

I had a dream that I was eating late night curry with Adam Lambert from American Idol. Unfortunate since I don't even like Adam's music and have been fast-forwarding through his performances; we had nothing to talk about.

**************

Wyatt has started requesting that I not move my eyebrows when I speak to him. Easier said than done.

**************

Natalie slept through the night the first two nights Jeff was home from his trip and had volunteered to take the 4am feed, thereby letting him off the hook. Of course last night, on my watch, she needed that early morning sustenance. Figures.

*************

We're flying to Kansas today. It's our first trip as a family of four and I'm feeling a little worried about the fact that Wyatt has already chosen to wet his pants once this morning. The upside? Daddy will be there to deal with it. And at least the airline was smart enough to book us all in the same row. We'll keep our circus to ourselves.

A Little Insurance

I have recently made the decision to wean Natalie. Nursing was never overly successful with Wyatt but I battled it through for seven months, never feeling great about it (not helped by his failure to thrive diagnosis and repeatedly holding up the small end of the scale). Things started out barely okay with Natalie and we're kind of heading down the same path so I'm holding true to the promise I made to me: don't make yourself miserable. So we're on Operation Formula Increase around here with the idea being that I'll wrap up the nursing at 2 months. That's next Friday.

So what did she do? She went and got herself a cold with fever (in all fairness, I'm sure one of us unwittingly delivered it to her) so now I'm feeling all panicky about her immune system. Stinker. After two visits to urgent care in the last 20 hours, we're pretty sure she just has a cold and is actually fine. The doctor's are cautiously unconcerned after having screened her for more serious stuff like RSV, flu, pneumonia and UTI and expect the fever to run its course by the end of the weekend. We'll see. Needless to say, she's had a little more nursing in the last 20 hours than she might have otherwise had. Because apparently I think I am actually passing a little defense shield through to her, though obviously I'm not since she's already sick. Nice work, baby girl, you're now guaranteed the free stuff for at least another week.

In happier news? My daughter is officially growing well, tipping the scales just shy of 11 pounds. If my math is correct, that means she's gained more than an ounce a day since birth. I'm sure that makes her perfectly average but that alone makes her a complete anomaly for this house! I love it.

Naps: The Great Neutralizer

My son, who had a rough morning behavior-wise, has just awakened and is nothing but charming. He walked into the family room, saw Natalie laying in her swing and said, "hey! it's Natalie! Hi Natalie!" and then proceeded to give her a kiss and a hug. He has now climbed into the chair closest to her so he can talk to her. He looked at me and told me he was going to talk to his sister. She, in turn, is beaming at him.

Thank God for naps and their restorative power. I mean, I didn't even take one and I feel much better about the state of things around here.

Since the In-Laws Asked

When I get called out by Jeff's parents, it's time to post. We've been busy around here; standard stuff plus I hosted a baby shower over the weekend and that's a feat only because I don't have reliable chunks of time to myself anymore. My friend Tara (who's in town for a couple of months - yay!) totally bailed me out one morning by taking Wyatt with her to the Living Museum and Jeff did more than his fair share of kid care day and night to let me have time to prep everything. But whatever - it was totally fun for me to host and it worked out.


In the meantime, Natalie's growing like a champ and we've discovered she has some pretty sensitive skin. That means that we've rewashed (technically, we're in the process) everything in her room. Thankfully it seems to be helping. In Wyatt news, he's taken to some serious nap-protesting. As in he didn't take one at all for a day last week and spent another one sleeping in his little green chair after having been told he could play in his room but that he couldn't come out until I went to get him. We seem to be back on track which is great because I'm totally not ready for him to give up naps. And I don't really think he is, either, considering he averages three hours every day.


Also? Wyatt's coming up with some real winners in the conversation department. Today he started multiple conversations with, "I tell you what..." and then proceeded to inform me of his plans. He's really good at making plans, by the way. My least favorite yet most often repeated question is "what we doin' today Mommy?" One day I told him I didn't know so he decided we'd be going to the park. And then he repeated that about forty times before breakfast. And then we saw a Dunkin' Donuts ad in the paper (he asks for the sports section every morning) and he decided we'd go get donuts after the park. Needless to say, that's not how our day progressed but I was pretty impressed with his planning skills.


Wyatt's favorite toy right now is a box of dry rotini pasta. If I'd had any idea how much mileage he'd get out of that, I would have given it to him ages ago. The "tini", as he calls it, even went outside with us yesterday to assist in the potting of our new plants (sidenote: we purchased the plants at Home Depot and Wyatt wanted to know why we weren't going to Lowe's. He prefers Lowe's, just so you know) and was pretty much the only thing he played with today. He is also the proud owner of a new rake, courtesy of Jeff and Operation Sod the Bare Spots, and that is getting a fair amount of love, too.

This is Natalie's smile. It's a winner as are those cheeks.

Wyatt is a child after my heart - note that the cupcake has been de-frosted only. He announced he was finished.

What's that phrase about children and apron strings? It's hard to make cookies with a kid in your arms.

Boy and rake, a happy combo. Incidentally, that's a giant pollen clump he's carting around.

Six Weeks

I've often referenced this as Wyatt's baby book, but he actually has a paper one that gets filled in at random intervals. But Natalie, sweetie, this really is your baby book since we don't even own an old-school one for you. So, without further ado, Natalie at six weeks.

1. She's smiling at us when we smile at her. She does it most frequently for Jeff, but hasn't left out me or Wyatt. Wrapping daddy around her little finger already?

2. She is too big for anything newborn-sized. Too long, too wide, feet too long for footed things, etc. From bottom to shoulders, she's the length of my forearm. I like having these "permanent" reminders of my kid's size (my mental measurement of Wyatt is from the day he was born when Jeff announced that his calves were the size of almonds).

3. She's starting to coo at us. That might be my favorite new thing because I just know it's the start of a lot more conversation in this house.

4. She fakes us out most nights. She'll be sound asleep at 8:30 or 9, we put her in bed and as soon as we turn back our covers a little later, she stirs. And she stays awake until close to midnight. Jeff has been covering that shift since I'm usually up with her between 4 and 5. Apparently her attempts to sleep through the night weren't as fun for her as they were for me.

5. She's starting to develop some sort of refluxy, coughy thing that scares us a bit so now she gets held upright for a solid 20-30 minutes after every feeding. Maybe she's faking so she'll get more cuddle time?

6. She's developing rolls. Under her chin, on her thighs, on her little forearms. While that is normal for many babies, I wouldn't have ever described Wyatt as a rolly child so it's new and fascinating to us.

7. She LOVES her baths. I don't think she's ever cried in the tub and usually just tosses a leg over the side of the sling so her toes are dangling in the water.

8. She's rockin' some sweet baby acne and goopy eyes. A sight to behold, I tell you.

9. Her eyes get more blue every day.

10. Her hair is staying brown and isn't showing signs of lightening up.

11. We're now averaging only two outfits per day due to diaper explosions. It's an improvement!

12. She gets lots of hugs, kisses and "pets" from Wyatt and tolerates them quite nicely.

13. Natalie is tolerant of the sling, which has proven helpful on more than one occasion. However, she has been in the baby bjorn once and was not particularly loving it. Again, opposite of my first-born.

14. Natalie will rarely sleep through our dinner. It's as though she knows she's missing a family activity and demands to be included. So we do, because she's a member of our family and deserves to be included.

15. That said, we still lack in the photo department until I make myself take a picture or two. I swear, we'll have a real photo session one of these days. Probably about the time that she can talk and demand it for herself.

This is the best I could do trying to capture a smile. Trust me, this doesn't do it justice.

Full Disclosure:

Natalie doesn't want to be too good, so she decided that she wouldn't go to sleep last night until 12:30. That's a tad late for me. She also, for maybe one of the first times, had indiscernable issues that were keeping her awake. After much jostling, jiggling, swaying, bouncing and thumping, I finally got some burps out of her and was able to nurse her to sleep. Poor kiddo was miserable until then. She managed to sleep well once she was down, so that was nice.

Unfortunately her big brother needed to talk to me around 3:30, so I'm not exactly ready to run a race this morning. Somehow he is. I predict a long nap in our future...fingers crossed!

Life with kids. It is a grand adventure, isn't it?