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On Saturday, Natalie and I attended her first party!  (I know we had some football parties earlier on, but that was before Natalie could actually stay awake for more than 10 min, so they don’t count.)  We celebrated little Freddie’s upcoming arrival – who, for approx. the next 6 weeks, remains inside of his/her Mom, Kate (one of my college roomies!)

Whether Freddie is a boy or a girl (our guess is a girl), he/she will look great in this Irish onesie!

Natalie was eager to wear her party dress!  This is Natalie and me leaving the house.

Yeah - I'm all dressed up and I have some place to go!

Despite the 40-something degrees, rainy weather, no sun and air conditioning cranked up to level 3, Natalie was ROASTING by the end of the 30-min car trip.  The double-layered party dress was too much to handle.  So, we changed into the back-up outfit: pjs.

Megan, you're lucky I have so many pretty ladies to distract me - otherwise, your pretty, shiny necklace would be a great play toy!

Here are some other fun photos from the party – Megan is the hostess with the mostess!  An awesome cake (chocolate chips and buttercream), a fun quiz (Laura and I tied for first place – I was pleased with that showing, as Laura lived with Kate for 5 years and I only did for 1!), and yummy prizes.

Molly (7 mos old) was with the girls for the pre-party, but then spent the day with daddy

Congratulations, Kate!  We are excited to meet little Freddie (Fredricka?) in-person!

I wish I could take credit for this adorable picture, but as we know, its often the person behind the camera (rather than the adult in the pic) that can make kids smile so big.  (My mom has often jokingly complained that my sisters and I looked happiest in pictures with my Dad, since she was make funny faces and saying funny things behind the camera.)  So, Jordan gets the credit for this adorable smile.

My parents are a HOOT!

Message from Natalie, since Mom has a cold and doesn’t want to blog.

What’s not to love about a Saturday?  I get to play with Mom and Dad.  AND, because I’ve been sick, Mom and Dad got sick, so guess who visited again? 🙂  GRANDMA!!!  Speaking of which, my Mom is WAY behind in posting pics from Grandma’s visit last weekend.  Anyways, back to today.

Um, Dad? I think you're over-reacting. I've just been standing up (with assitance) for a min. No biggie. I'm a big girl!

This tongue I have is really fun! It provides minutes of entertainment!

Finally, aren’t my pants super cute?  They are my Daddy’s fav.  If anyone knows where I can get a grown-up big daddy size for him for Father’s Day, please let me know.

For 3 of the last 4 weeks, Natalie has been sick.  This last week has been the worse.  I took her to the doc’s on Tues, and she has bronchiolitis, which basically means a cold with wheezing: http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/lung/bronchiolitis.html.

She HATED her first breathing treatment at the hospital, but since then, we’ve made it into a fun game.  She sits in her swing, and we tell her over and over how much FUN this is – and smile a lot.  So, she likes it now too. 

What a fun game! Who would have thought trying to catch vapor with my tongue would be so hard?

Although it may be hard to see, beneath the mask, she is giving us one of her big open-mouth smiles.  Another possible caption for this picture is: “Hmmm… I wonder why this fun game makes me sneeze and cough so much.  Is this a trick?”

Unf, she is WIRED after these treatments, so she hasn’t been sleeping as well.  I remember feeling jittery after having breathing treatments when I was younger too.  At least I didn’t start them until age 4!  (This is one way that I didn’t want Natalie to take after me!)  Luckily, it is for certain that she’ll have asthma, though she does have a higher propensity to get it.

In short, please keep Natalie in your prayers!  And, if you have some spare room, Jordan and me too.  We both got sick, though since I’m home with Natalie more and Jordan is traveling next week, I’m kinda baring the brunt of it.  I guess this – having a sick kid who you feel so sorry for and getting sick myself – is one of the less fun parts of being a Mom.  Its definitely worth it though – she’s such a good kid…. after all, she smiles during breathing treatments!

Natalie used to sleep on our chests for many of her naps.  She just seemed to sleep better and longer… so we were more than happy to oblige.  What’s not to love about a cute, cuddly baby sleeping on you?!?  Well, since I went back to work, I need to get work done during the day and evenings, so we had to transition Natalie to more sleeping in the crib.  (Which, at 3.5 months, is probably better for her!)  Anyways, she’s doing very well – in large thanks to so many friends who offered advice, as well as Tracy Hogg’s “Secrets of the Baby Whisperer” book (Thanks Karen for loaning it to us!)  Here’s a pic from a few weeks back – isn’t she precious?!?

Confession: Natalie has a cold and after a trip to Wal-Mart for photos (which caused her to miss a nap!), I let her sleep on me for 2 hours yesterday.

Last Saturday, Erin was out of the house getting things done for most of the day, so Natalie and I got some great quality time together.  It was great!  Mornings are definitely her time to shine, as she is nothing but smiles and wiggles and cute noises.  She can be a little tougher in the afternoon or evening, but Saturday was not too bad.  She is getting better at going down for her naps, and has finally taken to a pacifier (aka binky, nook, etc) which is nice.

I love Mommy, but man, this Daddy guy is crazy fun!!!

I also gave her a bath, and she didn’t cry or make a squeal once.  She also didn’t pee all over the place when I put her in or took her out, so that was much appreciated.

Umm, a little privacy please? This picture better be waist up.

Why would you ever NOT have a hood on your towel?

This post is a little late, but on March 19, Natalie had her 3 month birthday.  She’s getting so old!  And so big.  Unfortunately, I don’t have height and weight stats since we haven’t been to the doctor for awhile, but here’s my best guesses and some other details

I am four trimesters old!!!

Weight / Height: 18 lbs, 1 oz / 26 inches.  She is still wearing some 6-9 month onesies, but they are snugger than they were last month.  Generally, the 9 mos clothing fits great except for the fact that we have to roll up the sleeves and pants!

Who does she look like? Definitely has my eye shape, but they have turned to Erin’s color which is sort of greenish-blue.  She also has really beautiful skin, like Erin.

Personality: “Spirited.”  This is what one of our baby books calls infants who are really sweet but definitely let you know when they are not happy.  She still really likes to be held and promptly lets you know if putting her down is not an acceptable option at that moment.

Favorite Toys/Games: Natalie has made huge strides in the last 2 weeks with standing.  If you hold her under the armpits, she can “stand” on her own for about 10 seconds and seems to enjoy it.  She is not very interested in sitting up.  She is a champ of tummy time.  She’ll lift her head and feet both two inches off the ground and hold it like a yoga instructor…usually followed by spitting up.

As far as toys, she still loves her books and is read to often.  Rattles and noises seem to be getting more interesting, too, though she still can’t purposely grab anything.  We bought her a rubber giraffe named Sophie, and sometimes she inadvertently gets it in her mouth but it’s like, “Hey, who put this giraffe in my mouth?!”

How do I look on this leopard print throw?

Big Accomplishments: She has also recently become much more aware of noises.  If you shake a rattle somewhere outside her line of vision, she will often look over in that direction which is new.  And then if you move it around, she’ll track it in every direction with her eyes.  She has the concentration of a jedi.

And sleeping continues to improve.  She goes to bed around 6:30pm and usually wakes up once in the night around 3 or 4am, but we’ve had a few 12 hour nights which is crazy!  I think Erin is a little disoriented when she wakes up on her own accord!

Funniest Moment: I think my favorite was when we tried out a “bumbo seat,” which is a little molded foam seat for babies to sit in when they can’t stand up.  However, the leg holes were not big enough to accommodate Natalie’s chunky little thighs, so she felt claustrophobic and freaked out.  When we lifted her up, the whole seat came long with her!  Enjoy this picture while you can – Erin may make me delete it.  🙂

Get me outta this thing!!!

Move to Evanston Auntie Rachel!

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!