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Weight / Height: Probably about 18.5 lbs, which means she is so fat that when she sits on a rainbow, Skittles pop out!  (My cousin Matt used to say that “fat mama” joke – I still think its funny.)

It's not trick photography - I'm sitting up in this chair by myself this month! Really!

Favorite Toys/Games: Natalie is super curious.  When “standing” in front of someone, she turns 180 degrees to see what else is going on.  She loves folding laundry with Mom (see video at bottom of post) and playing in her activity gym thing while Mom or Dad cooks or puts away dishes.  The octupus that plays music is also a fav.  She loves silly noises – her Daddy can always make her laugh with a goofy sound.  She is outgrowing her swing – its not nearly as entertaining as it once was, and black and white shapes are SO two months ago.  She is fascinated with putting everything in her mouth – Yot the Pot, her fist, Mommy’s shoulder, “Jacob’s Toy”, a ring from the Easter bunny.  There’s also still a lot coming out of her mouth – drool and spit up – especially when doing tummy time.

Hey, what's that over there? If I could only move to go check it out....

Big Accomplishments: About 1.5 weeks ago, Natalie started touching her toes (when she’s laying on her back).  She is only able to muster up a quarter rollover – she gets stuck on her side or loses interest in turning all the way around.  She is able to follow and track noises – and looks at us when we call her name.  With some effort, she is able to grab and hold her toys which, inevitably, end up in her mouth.

"Sorry bumbo seat, I initially misjudged you. You are great!"

Schedule: Natalie usually wakes up around 7 a.m.  She is awake 2-2.5 hours and then goes down for her first of 3 naps.   Bedtime is usually around 6 p.m., and she’ll wake up twice at night to eat.  All in all, its pretty manageable.

Funniest Moments: 1. Natalie still has massive (and LOUD) bowel movements – yep, she’s a Linville.  I have had to say “excuse us” quite a few times at church or in front of friends.  2. When we visited her 3-year-old second cousin Abigail over Easter, Abigail hosted a tea party with everyone.  Natalie was on my lap, and Abigail gave Natalie and me a cup of tea.  Within a few seconds, the tea cup was in Natalie’s mouth… Abigail saw this and promptly said, “I think I’ll have that back”.  Uh oh – Abigail has a little brother coming her way soon.  She is going to have to share a lot!  I’m sure he will want to play tea party soon!  (Unf, we didn’t get a pic with Abigail – she is such a cutie!) 3. My cousin Rachel and her boyfriend Sam baby-sat Natalie last week, so that we could have a date night.  Sam was trying to get Natalie to go to bed, while getting Rachel’s attention so that she would go pick up the pizza.  Sam started making clicking noises with his tongue, which didn’t catch Rachel’s attention, but certainly caught Natalie’s.  He looked own to find Natalie’s open-mouth grin, very glad to see that Sam wanted to play, rather than put her to sleep.

"Hey Dad, I'm five months old today! How many months old are you?"

What we Love about being Parents: Jordan and I knew we’d love being parents, but I’m still surprised by how much we love it.  There are three main reasons why I love it even more than I thought I would: 1) She loves us so much, 2) She brings so much joy to other people (from the pub bartender or the random person walking down the street to her grandmas and Aunt Becky), and 3) She is already her own little person and has her own little personality.

Happy 5 months, Natalie!

Unlike many other babies, riding in the car is NOT one of Natalie’s favorite activities.  As a “city kid,” Natalie can go weeks without ever going in her car seat – which isn’t helping the matter.  So, we took advantage of Uncle Mike being in town (for his brother Chucky’s college graduation!) from Iowa and met him and his Mom (Aunt Lisa) for lunch in Hoffman Estates (half way between Evanston and Rockford, where they are from).

Aunt Lisa, your outfit is so pretty. Would you mind if I spit up on your shirt, vest AND pants?

I love you, Uncle Mike! I'm glad you're a road warrior, so that I've gotten to see you three times since I've been born - even though you live 5 hours away!

But, come on, Uncle Mike... Have you ever tried pooping standing up? Its hard work. Can you please sit me down?

On April 1st, we heard what sounded like Natalie’s first giggle.  It was during bath time, and since then, the giggles have increased in frequency each week.  They are really cute, but hard to predict.

Yesterday morning, she thought that being lifted up by her arms was the funniest thing ever.  It had never been funny before, and it has not produced any giggles today. But on Saturday morning…it was hilarious!  Erin got this one on video, and even though I don’t particularly want shirtless videos of me circulating the internet, this one’s worth it.

Happy Mother’s Day to me!  Jordan and Natalie teamed up to make this a very special first official* Mother’s Day for me.  With naps interspersed between, we walked to brunch and went to church.  Jordan picked out a really neat pair of shoes (Sperry Top-Sider) for me – thanks to my sister Becky, who was wearing similar shoes around Easter: http://www.zappos.com/sperry-top-sider-angelfish-linen-floral.  I also got to shop and work-out!  What a great day!  I was also very fortunate to receive many “happy mother’s day” wishes from friends and family.  And, I hope the mom’s in our lives know how much we love them too!

My Mom is an Awesome Mom! She came from Heaven Above. (Sung to the tune of My God is an Awesome God) My parents love to make up songs, so now its my turn!

I’m not sure if you can see this cute onesie, but it says “I love my mommy.”  Its another one of Aunt Stephanie’s super cute holiday onesies!  She was smart enough to make them big – she must have had an inside scoop that Linville babies are big!

*We knew I was pregnant last year this time, but had not told anyone yet.  I still thought that I might get a card – but I wasn’t very clear to Jordan in that expectation!  He got something for Father’s Day 2010.  I think that moms-to-be should get to celebrate Mother’s Day too… after all, they are doing the very important work of incubating that baby!  Doesn’t morning sickness, bloating, a growing waistline, no alcohol, heartburn, a up to 30+ lbs. extra pounds count for something?  SO, to all those expectant mothers, Happy Mother’s Day to you too!

Our friend from kellogg, Ashley (the new Mrs Morse – congrats!) visited today! She called Natalie a dumpling of love. We like it! – (Erin, from Jordan’s iphone – when I get one of these?!?)

What a busy Saturday!  First, we went to the park with Nils (age 4) and Elsa (age 14 mo), along with their mom, Sophia (who I used to work with at Bain).  Nils showed us how to play hopscotch (kinda – it involved throwing wood chips on miniature squares) and go down the tube slide.  Elsa used the big girl swing.  And Sophia, with amazing energy, kept up with both of them – even turning into a giant T-rex at one time (after all, Nils spotted the T-rex footprints!)  We are sad they are moving back to Sweden in a month, but are happy that they are happy!

Sweden... is that close by? Can we come to visit?

Then, we got a last-minute call from Katie (who also worked with us at Bain) and her two adorable daughters, Ali (age 3) and Emma (age 8 months).  They were up in Evanston for their dad’s 5-year Kellogg reunion.  After a bit of crazy play at our condo, which included Ali checking out nearly every one of Natalie’s toys (despite a backpack full of her own), Natalie grabbing Emma’s shirt and Emma grabbing Natalie’s hand, we walked them back up to Kellogg.  Natalie loved Ali’s, er Little Miss Beyonce’s, nonstop singing.  So much fun!  Thanks for visiting!

Wow - a big and a little sister. What fun! Mom and Dad, can we get a big sister?

Can you come over and play again?

Saturday was a special day for us – the 1-year anniversary of when we found out about “Lentil” (our nickname for Natalie before we knew she was a Natalie – we figured she was probably the size of a lentil bean)!  We had been trying to get pregnant for awhile and took a pregnancy test to verify that I was NOT pregnant, before calling my doctor to discuss options for trying to help us get pregnant.  Surprisingly, the test was positive!  I ran into tell Jordan at 6 a.m.; he had no idea I was even taking the test, so my proclamation of: “I think we’re pregnant; I took a test and it says we’re pregnant!” was a shock.  The timing was also a bit challenging, as it was the day I was leaving for my sister Becky’s bachelorette party in northern WI.  My mom, sister Leah, Aunt Lisa, cousin Rachel, dear friend Stacy and Becky’s long-time friend Amanda were the other ladies in attendance.

Happy Bachlorette Party, Becky! (May 1, 2010)

It was tough to hide the secret… I was only 7 weeks along, so I wanted to wait before sharing the news and didn’t want to take away any attention from our bachelorette!  I’d like to think I was tricky, but my mom claims she thought something was up.  When the water stopped running, I volunteered to go down to the lake to get a bucket of water to flush the toilet…. and happened to spill my daiquiri in the lake.  I got out of shots by volunteering to be the DD on the way to dinner.  And I drank a lot of rum and cokes, sans rum, at the bar.  It also helped that Stacy was a DD too and isn’t a big drinker either.  Amanda and Leah provided plenty of entertainment for us all….

Move over, Becky - Amanda found a new best friend

Leah took over as bartender

In summary, I was obviously on my best behavior during Becky’s bachelorette party – which serves two purposes: 1) obviously, beer isn’t good for a 7-week embryo, and 2) her aunts cannot tell any naughty stories about me to Natalie when she’s older (let’s hope).

On April 19, Natalie turned 4 months old!  Its been a busy few weeks (when is it not?), so once again, here’s a belated “bday” post.

Happy Birthday to Me! I haven't tipped over yet!

Weight / Height: 16.5 lbs (96th percentile), 24 inches (43rd percentile).  For those of you who pay close attention, no Natalie is NOT losing weight, nor shrinking.  Jordan was responsible for the 3-mo post and for some reason, he wrote 18 lbs and 26 inches.  I have no idea where he got those numbers.  Silly boys.  However, we are proud that despite being sick about 3 out of 4 weeks this month, she still managed to increase one percentile in weight.  She is trying desperately to catch up to her Daddy, who was 99th percentile (I was no light weight either).  100, here we come!

What - no candy? Its not like my pants are too tight or anything.....

Personality: If I had to sum Natalie up in two words, it would be smiley and chubby.  We just got back from church and its amazing – she is very generous with her smiles and makes everyone feel special.  (Confession: Even though Jordan said we should bring a diaper bag, we didn’t, and of course, were met with a poop explosion upon arrival at church.  I stripped her down to her cute Easter Bunny onesie (thanks Aunt Stephanie!), complete with poop residue on the back.  Whoops.)

Favorite Toys/Games: She LOVES faces – it started with people and has now extended to her Cat in the Hat “welcome” poster (from my baby shower – thanks, Tricia and Heather!) and stuffed animals.  She really likes the door frame turned picture frame above our couch – it has some of the places Jordan and I have traveled over the past few years.  (I think Natalie will be surprised that we were ever that cool to go to Namibia and Thailand!)   She loves her “Jacob’s toy,” which is a plastic molecule type toy that the Burggraff’s kindly got us.   She still loves standing and tummy time.  And now likes to sit up, with assistance.  And talking.  She’s learned some more tricks over the past 14 days, but I’ll save those for the 5-mo update.

Easy to grab, colorful and tasty - what more could I want in a toy?

Big Accomplishments. Natalie’s first giggle came during bath time, when her grandma accidentally squirted her in the face with a bath toy.  For awhile, she was soaking us during bath time too, by kicking so much, but that has trailed off. Still no rolling over or sitting up on her own.

First Family Easter

Hehehe... coming to G&G's house is the best!

Welcome to my home!

We are so lucky – Nana and Pop have make the trek up from NC and/or FL for the 4th time this winter season (Thanksgiving since I couldn’t travel, New Year’s, baptism in Feb and Easter)!  We can thank little Natalie for this!

Hey, have you met my Nana? She's the greatest!

Nana and Pop have been spoiling all of us – and we LOVE it!  We have at least 20 pics of Natalie from this week.  We have had fabulous dinners.  My guess is Natalie always has someone to play with her – and more kisses than she knows what to do with.

Um, I love you, Pop, but your whiskers are itchy

(Jordan hopes that Natalie reacts this way to every male who kisses her from now until she’s 28.)

On their last day, Natalie was visibly upset that they were leaving…. Nothing says ‘I’ll miss you’ like a massive bowel movement:

Mom, can we go up to a size 3 diaper?

When I emailed my mom to show her the pic, she wrote that “it must be a Linville” thing.  Nana couldn’t agree more.  (She’s a Stevenson.)

Nana and Pop, thanks for visiting (and for taking care of that massive poop)!  We are so lucky that you can come up so often – and we cannot wait for an extended visit this summer!