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Fun music, lots of colors and yummy smells! Why haven't we been here yet, Mom?

P.S. Notice my cute ballerina socks!?!  Thank you, Busers!  These are the first socks not to fall off my feet!  I wish Lily and Eva were coming to visit this weekend, as now I’m healthy enough to play!

Now that I’m back at work (every other day in the office, with add’l time from home), Jordan and Natalie get to hang out for her first shift of awake time in the morning.  Its tough to go to work when these two get to stay at home and play for an hour*!   I had a tough time trying to snatch a Natalie smile for this photo – she was so busy turning her head from left to right in rapid succession, that I was fortunate to catch a glance mid-turn. 

Dad, I'm too busy to read this book right now - there's so many other things to look at!

*Although its tough to leave, its going well so far!  No tears from Natalie or me yet!  I’m really thankful that: 1) I only need to be in the office 3 days a week and can work from home the rest of the time, 2) work is only 10 minutes away, 3) Jordan’s work is 1.5 blocks away and he doesn’t work the crazy hours of many of our business school friends, and 4) we have wonderful people to watch Natalie (usually, a stay-at-home mom who has a super cute almost 1-year-old and whose husband goes to Kellogg and every other week, my cousin Tim’s girlfriend, Kelly!) 

Natalie also “turned” 3 months last weekend, but since our household has gotten a lot busier with me at work, the 3-month update will have to come later.  I vote Jordan writes it this time! 🙂

Finally, we feel really blessed b/c so many people have offered sleeping hints via FB.  Everyone, THANK YOU!  We feel lucky to be so supported.

Grandma and Grandpa visited this weekend – yeah!  That meant we were able to go out for our friend Aubrey’s 30th bday party.  Gotta love those trick candles – at least the rest of us did!

Happy birthday Aubrey! Not sure how much longer we can have a candle for each year...

Natalie also enjoyed reading with Grandma!  Please note the bib – Kiss Me; I’m Irish*.  As if we needed an excuse?

Wow, Grandma. How did the cow jump over the moon?

*At least 7.8% Irish.  Natalie’s great great grandpa (my dad’s grandpa) was all Irish, so she gets 1/16th there… and from Jordan’s side, she’s at least 1/64th (Mammaw’s maiden name is from O’Meara – Mammaw is Jordan’s grandmother, on his mom’s side).

And, we had our first visitors from Indy!  Natalie really enjoyed girls time with Jenny and Christie – Jordan’s friend’s from high school and our former roomies (Jenny lived with Jordan at Sutherland, the house Jordan rehabbed – and she lived there mid-rehab. God bless her.  Christie and I lived together our first year out of college.)

Daddy tells me that I'm not allowed to date Air Force guys...can you talk to him for me?

The view from up here is great! About 1/4 inch lower than when my Daddy holds me.

Thanks to everyone for coming to visit! Good times!

Whereas Natalie sported cute sunglasses and a sun hat for Florida walks, our Evanston walks look a bit different….

Yippee! Fresh Air and a stop to see Daddy! Daddy forgot his lunch at home, so Mommy and I delivered it to him at lunch!

We are just happy to get outside!  This weekend, Grandma and Grandpa are visiting, so we’re excited to show them the park outside our condo!

We had a great play date with Megan & Molly!  This is the first time Natalie went to someone else’s house for a play date – Molly was so nice to share all her toys!

Wow - Molly, your head control is amazing. And you have such fun toys. I wanna be like you when I grow up!

Natalie and I also went to Ash Wed mass – which just happened to be presided over by the Cardinal.  Natalie got blessed by the Cardinal.  We only made it through the ash distribution and then headed out.  My arms and wrists can only take carrying around a 14 lbs. baby for so long… I was hoping to get a cute little pic of her with her ashes on her forehead, but it was super light, so you couldn’t see anything.

For Lent, Natalie has decided to give up sleeping on the go (which is why we had to leave after ash distribution).  She is going to take up washing her gums.  I read an article that said I should already be washing her gums, so that when teeth come in, she is used to having her mouth cleaned.  This is reminisent of my college Lenten resolution… in London, I persuaded most of my flat and many other Londomers to take up flossing.  We had a chart posted in our kitchen.  Nothing like a bit of peer pressure.  Who wants to be the dirty kid?

Nana bought Natalie an adorable sun hat and sunglasses.  Given that they live 2 blocks from the beach, we thought Natalie would get a lot of use out of these. 

First attempt.  Stroller ride.  Lasted 1 block before crying.  (To Natalie’s credit, we encountered a lot of wind and sun.  You’d think she’d be used to the wind, but we haven’t left the condo much this winter – and this FL wind carried sand with it.  As for the sun, well, we live in Chicago – that was new to her!  We also ran into her great-grandparents on the walk, so six adults were staring at her – that’s enough to make anyone nervous!)

Let's hit the beach... wait, what's a beach?

Second attempt.  We took her to the pool.  That lasted 30 seconds – just long enough to take this photo.  Once again, the wind thwarted our attempt.  And the water was pretty cold.

I love my bloomers! (Thanks, Aunt Ann.) But, whoa - these chubby white thighs have never seen the light of day. I need to work on my tan!

I knew it - my dad's a dork. I'm probably in for many more years of this type of dorkiness, huh?

So, although we didn’t get quite as much use out of the cute hat as one would have thought, Natalie is sure to wear it a lot this summer in Evanston!  As for not making it to the ocean, I suspect that our next visit will be very different… she will love playing in the sand next time and one day, collecting seashells.  Boy, these kids get big FAST. (At least, that’s what everyone tells us, and we’ve already seen so many changes in our little Natalie!)

We are in Florida, visiting the family and in particular, Natalie Ann’s favorite great aunts, Aunt Ann. The car ride to the airport required two stops and someone in the backseat to shade the sun from the princess’s eyes, but she was a champ on the flight. And Erin was a champ feeding her, holding her and keeping her happy.

I was nervous from the onset when we asked our row mate if she would trade Erin the window seat for the aisle so that Erin could nurse discreetly. “No, I need the window.” Seriously lady?! Fortunately, the kind people in the next row gladly traded.

The plane temperature also steadily rose throughout until we felt like we were sitting in a sauna. You can see Natalie’s progression below, from bundled up smiley baby to sweaty fat guy in a skinny coat. She was in just a diaper by the end. But we are all at Nana and Pop’s now and having a great time in Florida!

Last weekend, on Sunday, March 19th, Natalie Ann Linville was christened into the Catholic Church!  It was quite the event with 15 people from five different states coming to Evanston to celebrate.  She didn’t let them down!  Nana made a BEAUTIFUL christening gown for Natalie (and her children and their children) to wear, and she was  a perfect angel throughout the church service.   She was also able to meet her Mammaw & Pappaw (paternal great grandparents) for the first time.

Here are some pics from the big day.

Natalie’s 2-month “birthday” was on Sat, Feb. 19.  We’re a little late with the post because she has been fussy this week – she seems not to be sleeping enough during the day.  She’s tough to get to sleep, won’t sleep well in her crib or swing or bouncey seat and often wakes up after 15 min. – usually b/c she needs to burp but needs help.  Any suggestions?

Anyways, back to the 2-month update:

Weight / Height: 13 lbs, 1 oz (95th percentile – up from 85th percentile at her 1-mo appt when she was 10 lbs, 13 oz) / 23 inches (76th percentile).  She is wearing some 6-9 month onesies, but the rest of her clothes are mostly 3-6 mo!

Is it just me, or is this chair getting smaller???

Who does she look like? Still looks like Jordan – In addition to the cheeks, her eyes esp. look like Jordan when she smiles big.  (Note by Jordan: this is Erin’s nice way of saying “squinty.”)
Personality: Sweet, Personable
Favorite Food: Mom’s Milk – at least 8 times a day. But, we’re still struggling a little through the bottle thing – suggestions? It worked a little better last night when I left the room, but it is still pretty frantic.  After getting her 2-month vaccinations, she also got grape-flavored Tylenol, which she just loved.
Favorite Toys / Games: Playing “I’ve got your (belly / nose / etc)”, “Talking” to her favorite people, Standing, Kicking her legs (which my Dad calls Exercising), Following a soft cube with her eyes, Reading board books (especially those that have a simple picture that significantly contrasts from the page – her Auntie Becky recently gave her some that are a hit!).  Although the black and white shapes (courtesy of our friend Molly) which are posted all around our house are less captivating than they once were
Big Accomplishments: On Feb 16, she slept through the night and has continued to do so almost every night!  She smiles A LOT too, which is super gratifying and fun.  She is lifting her head up higher during tummy time too.
Funniest Moment: We temporarily moved her diaper changing pad into our bedroom b/c we had guests.  She caught Dad with her pants down and shot runny, explosive poop everywhere.  Amazingly, it all escaped her little outfit – but my jewelry box was in the direct line of fire.  Fortunately, it was closed!

Thanks for reading our blog!  Remember, please send your naptime and bottle suggestions our way!!!

I'm just getting into position for my morning pushups

Our friend from Indy, Jenny, made Natalie this adorable onesie.  Its her first designer outfit.  Doesn’t she look great?

I'm ready for the red carpet! Thanks Jenny!

Um, Dad... this isn't my best angle. You can totally tell that I've been drinking a lot of milk lately.

I hope she doesn’t get used to designer clothes, as I’m not creative enough to make much more than puffy paint t-shirts (which her Aunt Stephanie is great at and I very much appreciate!), and I didn’t learn what Prada was until well after college.  Luckily, the flower is detachable, so you may or may not see the flower on larger onesies – or, possibly, a sweater she wears to kindergarten! 

Jenny has a blog and is beginning to sell some of her awesome jewelry and accessories on her own too.  Jordan got me a necklace for Christmas.  And I got his mom one for Christmas too!  I strongly encourage you to check out her website, www.strungbycolor.blogspot.com.  Here’s a peek at what you might find….