Saturday, October 29, 2011

The Pumpkin Patch

She LOVED playing the hay
No first Fall would be complete without the mandatory trip to the pumpkin patch with our little biscuit.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.



A little crazy hair that day...

A rare picture of all three of us!

Our happy little girl



 She liked the animals, but maybe thought they were
all just dogs - and she has one of those at home.
What Mom!?!








Afterwards we went out and played in the grass a little.
But judging from this picture it seemed like maybe she
was a little tired of the camera.







Nothing better than a sunny Fall day, bare feet and a baby in a pumpkin patch.

Natalie's Cousins!!!

We had a big week this week - Jon was away at a meeting in Oregon so Natalie, (Roscoe), and I headed South to see Mamaw, Papaw, Shanny, Garrett, Josh and especially Leslie.  We were (not so) secretly hoping that little baby Grab would arrive while we were visiting but no matter what, we were excited to visit, just the same. 

Well our wish came true.  Katherine Raizel Grab arrived on Tuesday, October 25th!  She was a slender 7 pounds 4 oz and 19.5 inches long.  She has a halo of very blonde hair and an entire family wrapped around her little finger, already!


Katherine Raizel:  She is so beautiful!
It is hard to believe it has been over 9 months since we did the same...

Katherine on the way home from the hospital 10/27/2011
Natalie on the way home from the hospital: 1/5/2011






















Leslie has been incredible in her recovery.  She and Katherine were able to come home after only 2 days in the hospital.  

Natalie liked when Katherine squeaked and cried but for now she really prefers her bigger cousin - G.  She just loves when G talks close to her and they have a secret head-butt thing that Natalie only seems to do with Garrett.
Garrett soothing Natalie back in May when we visited
 They are all doing incredibly well and we just can't wait until Thanksgiving so we can see them all again.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Natalie's Milestones

Here's a more informational update on what Natalie has been up to lately.

She is quite skilled at crawling and has started to "speed crawl" when she knows you are after her.  This is one of Jon and my favorite new things.  Jon has always looked forward to chasing Natalie and it looks like now he's going to really get the chance! 

She is also "cruising" around furniture.  She will pull up and hold on, walking across the front of the sofa or around her jumper to see new things or more likely to reach something new.  She will let go and stand, momentarily, but she isn't interested in striking out walking on her own, yet.

Sporting her vest from Mamaw and Papaw
 

She eats most anything now - 99% of which I am making.  So lots of bananas, applesauce (thanks Pops for the delicious apples), peas (she really does love them now), and brown rice - and many, many combinations of other fruits and vegetables.  She's also warming up to oatmeal, as long as it is mixed with fruit and LOVES graham crackers.  We've tried grits and they weren't her favorite but we will come back to those - no child with Schenk blood can go without eating grits!

The most interesting news on the eating front is that we still don't have ANY teeth!  At her 9 month check up the doctor said she looked great, is growing right in line with her growth chart (a petite 25% for weight and 45% for height) but that there were no signs of teeth yet.  It is clear to anyone who has seen Natalie eat that she doesn't let her lack of teeth slow her down.  And we're good with no teeth.  That just means we can enjoy the very sweet gummy grins a little longer.

(At the risk of jinxing ourselves) She has become a wonderful sleeper.  She goes to bed around 8:30-9:00PM and if she wakes in the night she usually entertains herself and goes back to sleep all on her own.  She wakes up around 6:30 or 7:00 AM with a BIG beautiful smile.

She is the best thing about every day and we feel so fortunate to have such a happy, healthy, beautiful little girl.


We have lots of travel scheduled for the rest of October, November and even December.  We are very much looking forward to seeing all our family and as many friends as we can along the way.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Hodge Podge of Photos and Cuteness

October, November and December are going to be crazy busy for little Miss Natalie so I thought before I begin posting about The Autumn of Great Adventures (which was preceded by the Summer of Great Adventures) I wanted to post some recent pictures of Natalie and one thought that has been stuck in my mind for the past several weeks:

God made this perfect little girl... and then he gave her to me!?!  Amazing.
Cheesing for the camera at Daycare
Chilly walk with Mommy and Roscoe
Thanks for the awesome shirt, Uncle Ryan!
Natalie - Au Naturale




Grocery shopping with Mom
 Dear Lord, I love this little girl.