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Natalie LOVES the Clifford Valentine’s Day book that her Grandma got her last year.  In the book, Clifford is a little puppy who makes messy valentines and accidentally goes down the mail chute at the post office.  (Natalie can read about 1/3 of the book herself, we’ve read it so much.)  This morning, and I asked Natalie if it was her first valentine’s day, like Clifford’s.  She said ‘yes’!  I’m glad that this one is memorable for her – though all 3 with Natalie have been memorable for me!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Last night, during tubby time, Jordan asked Natalie: “Who is your Valentine?”  Natalie responded “Mommy!”  Then, he asked if he could be my Valentine too… Natalie didn’t want to share, but I think they finally agreed that I could have 2 valentines (maybe 2.5 – meaning Pinto, not Baby Ellie who is in the picture below)!  I feel very lucky to have these 2 as my valentines!

Hope your Valentine’s Day is equally sweet!

The Children’s Museum at Navy Pier provided a lot of great fun for us in January – I think we were there 3 weekends in a row.  Once with Grandma, Grandpa and Daddy (unf, Mommy was home sick with a 24-hr bug – thank goodness for extra adults on hand!)

Grandma and Grandpa, isn't this place stupendous?!?! (A word from Fancy Nancy!)

Grandma, I've been learning about fireman at school. They are our friends and here to help us! Don't be afraid of their big masks!

Another time with cousin Trevor and Aunt Becky (who made the trip just the two of them – something I haven’t been brave enough to do on my own!)

See, Mom... even with a 5 a.m. wake-up, I'm still super fun to play with all day and have a ton of energy! Let's go grocery shopping!

And another time on our own…

Aren't I the cutest snowman ever?

Natalie has been very into snowman lately – even though we haven’t had snow that really can be packed.  My grandmother gave Natalie a book, “Bear’s Very Snow Day,” before she passed away and Natalie LOVES to read it.  She calls it her snowman book.  She also knows that snowmen are “stuck” in the ground and likes to pretend to get “stuck” on sidewalk cracks too.  (She wiggles her hips from side to side and then jumps to get out – its adorable.)

Hey Little Couz... after this pic, let's be sure to jump in my crib!

Thanks for visiting Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Becky and Trevor!  We’re excited to have you come again soon!

Pinto’s 34-week appointment was very good.  Her/his head is in the right position and I’m measuring exactly where I should be (though, I’ve put on more weight already than I did my entire pregnancy with Natalie).  His/her heartbeat is 120 beats/min (a little on the low end of the range of 115-160).  We’re excited to meet him/her, though its amazing how unprepared we are.  I cannot find our baby car seat and we only have one gender neutral outfit.  If this kid is a boy, I hope he likes pink as much as Natalie likes blue!

Can you tell by the second post that I have been waiting almost an hour at the doc’s office? (Why is this one of the only times I didn’t bring my laptop?)

This book about Chicago is fascinating!

Natalie made this set up herself. I especially like how she pulled the little stool over, just like I have near the rocker in her room. Her greater interest in independent play is fun to watch and listen in on.

On MLK day, the coldest day of the year, Natalie and I went to see Bella the Baby beluga whale at the Shedd with her friend from preschool. We spent nearly an hour with Bella, who Natalie “knows” from her ZooBorns book about baby zoo animals (written by the husband of a business school friend).

Natalie took this pic!

Look Mom! I can turn like Bella!

Happy to share this moment with such a good friend!

Whoa. Penguins have it tough. This slide is slippery!

See a video of Natalie and 2 classmates singing/performing “I’m a little tea pot” to the rest of the class!

http://www.tadpoles.com/m/v/0d35edaf-d2c5-43a5-b2b4-94b903107eac

Friday was hat day at Natalie’s preschool!  She’s wearing a homemade hat from Nana.  Aren’t her arms around her preschool friends just the cutest?

Zackary and Misha... SMILE!

I got this email from Jordan while at work today:

PS:  After Natalie said bye-bye to you today and you closed the door, she looks at me and real sweetly, nodding, says, “I love Mama.”
I said, “Me too!  Tell her that when she picks you up today!”   So cute.

🙂 Having a very verbal 2-year-old is awesome!  She continues to show off her smarts.  Two examples, just between 5:30 and 7:00 p.m. tonight:

When I picked up Natalie at school and mentioned we were having grilled cheese for dinner (which we had for lunch with Grandpa and Grandma yesterday), Natalie asked if Grandma and Grandpa would be there.  When I reminded her that they needed to go to their home, she said “Green Bay”.

When I asked Natalie if it was okay if we read books in Mama’s room tonight, she said “yes, Mama’s back hurts in Natalie’s room”.  We’ve explained to her a couple times that reading on the floor in Natalie’s room hurts my back.  What a good memory!

And, her love for Pinto keeps growing… today, she shared her milk with Pinto.  How kind.

Sorry, I don’t have any new cute pictures easily accessible.  While my parents were here this weekend, I spent at least 24 hours in seclusion, since I got sick on Sat morning.  Although I was really wishing we had family in town two weekends ago, when Jordan was at the ND game and Natalie and I had colds, I was pretty glad to have 3 adults on hand when I had the stomach bug.  (Though, let’s be honest… even 1 adult would have worked, just much harder for them.  Thank goodness I didn’t get the stomach bug when there were no adults around!)  I am tempted to sequester our entire family in the house until the end of March to avoid all these germs….

…Is having your 2 year old say “I love you, Mommy” when you tuck her in at night. It definitely made up for the 515 am wake up this morning.

That being said, this sick Mama and recovering 2 year old are definitely ready for Daddy to return from his man-cation in Miami for the National Championship game, which as I type, isn’t going so well.

Daddy, we’re saving this cookie for you!

Natalie and I attempted our first round of homemade Christmas Tree ornaments.  She was a little young for all stages of the project, so I recommend it for 2.5 years and up.  It was still a lot of fun though and she was eager to give her ornaments as gifts this year.

First Stage.  Make dough by using 1/2 salt, 1/2 flour combo.  Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.  (It was very confusing to Natalie why this dough didn’t taste very good!)  Bake for 3+ hours at 100 degrees to dry out.

Dots! Ornaments will look great with extra dots in them!

Yay! I did it!

Second Stage.  Paint with acrylic paint and let dry.  (Acrylic paint is key – the Crayola washable paint did not work well because the surface is porous).

Third Stage.  Decorate with glitter!

Mom, glue is fun. We should use it more often. Btw, why is there a beach towel on the floor?

Word of Caution: These are not highly durable ornaments.  If your 2-year-old drops them on a wood floor (whoops – sorry, Aunt Jira and Uncle Alex) or jumps on them while jumping on the bed (whoops – sorry, Cousins Matt & Jacob), your snowman will likely be decapitated or your candy cane split into 3 sections.  Nothing a little super glue cannot fix though!

More complete instructions:

http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2011/12/easy-salt-dough-ornaments.html

http://www.theimaginationtree.com/2010/11/salt-dough-decorations-part-2.html

Happy Crafting!