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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….

We had such a wonderful Valentine’s Day!  Natalie was very lucky to have many valentines.  She got cards from all around the country – from WI (Grandpa & Grandma) to NC (Nana and Pop) to CO (little Jackson who is just a couple weeks older than Natalie and the son of our friends from Kellogg). 

We also had many valentines visit!  Our ND friends, Megan and Molly, stopped by with a vday package!  It was filled with cookies, as Megan and Molly are Steelers fans and needed to bring over 2 dozen delicious chocolate chip cookies, as part of a bet we had going.  That’s my kind of betting.  Natalie slept almost the entire time, so I tried to wake Natalie up for a few photos.  As you can see, I had limited success.

Wow - is this baby next to me really 3 months older than me? Either, I eat too much, or she exercises a lot more than me!

Come on, Mom... what are you doing?

After seeing the photos, can you guess who is older?  Or who weighs more?  Molly is 5 months, but weighing in at less than 13 lbs (10th percentile).  Natalie is less than 2 months, but I’m guessing she is at least 13 lbs (probably 80th or 90th percentile).  At this rate, Natalie will be sharing the clothes she outgrows with Molly – rather than the other way around!

Then, our friend Kelly (my cousin Tim’s amazing girlfriend) came over to watch Natalie, while Jordan and I went out to dinner!  Kelly is a baby lover/whisperer, and every time she comes over, Natalie cannot help but fall asleep on her. 

Kelly, can you come with us on our trip to FL in two weeks, so that I sleep on the plane the whole way? You are just so cozy! No wonder my big cousin Tim likes you so much!

Thanks for coming over, Kelly!  It was awesome to have a date night!  Towards the end of the date, Jordan couldn’t help but talk about Natalie – nonstop.  It was clear that he missed his other favorite valentine.  Who can blame him?  Isn’t she irresistible?

I love Valentine's Day!

For those of you who are impressed that she stayed in the same outfit all day (isn’t the onesie adorable? – thanks Aunt Stephanie!), don’t be.  After less than an hour in it, she peed on it when I was changing her diaper.  Not to be deterred… I washed it and we were good to go by noon!

Come on... its cool to double roll your sleeves. Didn't you know that?!?

However, after 5-6 weeks and about 50 meals, she has filled it out quite well!

Go Pack Go! Geez, does this onesie feel a bit tight to anyone else?

We made the voyage to Green Bay to watch the game with my family.  It was a weekend of many firsts – new state, long car ride (it took 4.5 hours, instead of 3.25 due to needing to stop for Natalie to eat), night away from home (though G&G have the exact same crib as we do at home, which eased the transition), and meeting great grandparents.

Natalie is very lucky to have 4 great grandmas!  For any of you who know Grandma Mary (lady on the right), you know that she has a mind of her own.  For a bunch of pics, we had trouble getting her to take her eyes off of Natalie long enough to snap a photo.  Then, once we finally did, Grandma Jean got sidetracked – as is caught on this photo.  Hopefully my dad has a better version of this special picture!  We are hoping to get a similar pic of Natalie’s Mammaw and Grandma Vonda on the other side of the fam.

Grandpa, can you say "Baa"? Whoops - did I just let out a little toot? Funny how those slip out...

What my mom left to go out for pizza?!? I had so much fun with Auntie Becky, I didn't even notice. Can you come over next Saturday?

We watched the game at my sister Becky’s house.  As you can see, Natalie was quite upset at half time – the Pack seemed to be losing momentum.  (Though, doesn’t she look great in that adorable jersey – thanks Patty!!!!)

Rodgers is on fire tonight, yet the receivers keep on dropping good throws. Come on boys!

Yet, thankfully, the Pack came back!  Now, our Green Bay family is rooting for the Pack to go to the Super Bowl in 2012 – in Indy!

For those of you who missed our daughter’s debut on Sports Illustrated, join the 24,000+ other people who have checked out Natalie’s forecast of the Super Bowl:

The actual SI link was posted last Thurs or Fri, but you have to scroll down to find it: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/extramustard/hotclicks/02/04/leighton-meester-lebron-james-resonds-to-dwight-howard/index.html?eref=sihp

She clearly has good taste in football teams and men (or rather, what men to avoid – good girl, Natalie!).

We had a great weekend in Green Bay, watching the Pack win.  More photos and stories on that later…. here’s a preview:

Mommy Swap. I'll let my mommy hug you, if you let your mommy hold me!

Given that Jordan only works 1.5 blocks from our condo and Natalie and I pretty much spend all our time in our condo, we got to enjoy the snowstorm from our cozy condo.  No need for the Linvilles to battle 5 ft snow drifts and 50 mph winds!  However, from the look of Natalie’s face, she is clearly a WI girl (I cannot bring myself to say that she is a FIB – we are, at least, close to the WI border)… she seems to love the snow!  And, milk is her fav food…..

I wish I was old enough to play outside in the snow!

On the other hand, I like snow days in too - my Daddy knows how to make me smile!

Natalie loves to read!  Here she is reading one of her Auntie Leah’s favorites, Where is Spot?  I only hope that she doesn’t love The Brave Little Toaster movie as much as Leah did.  (I swear, we rented that movie every other time we went to the movie store.)

Yeah - Spot's mommy found him! Time for Spot to eat... hmm, maybe I should eat soon too!

Here are some of our favorites:
Toes, Ears and Nose (a super fun board book from Nana where you turn little pages to discover body parts)
Duck and Goose: Its time for Christmas! (Auntie Becky has access to a lot of fun books, since she is a teacher!)
Takako and the Great Typhoon (Our friend Lynn and her husband live in Japan – we’ll probably read this book more than we use the baby trainer chopsticks, but come on, who doesn’t want baby trainer chopsticks? The book has a great message about unconditionally loving your family too)
Anything and Everything Dr. Seuss (Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, There’s a Wocket in my Pocket, Hop on Pop)
All about Corduroy
A Very Fairy Princess (a fun book from Great Aunt Jonna… my fav line: “You just have to let your SPARKLE out!”)**

**We don’t want to overly encourage the little princess syndrome, but a little bit is okay, right?!?

Please let us know some of your favorite books and sing-along CDs (I’m running out of songs that I remember), so that we can add to Natalie’s collection over the next couple years….

Happy Reading!

On Saturday, we had our first family date night!  (We had tried, unsuccessfully, a couple weeks ago, but had to abandon the effort.)  Jordan chose this pretty dress for her.

Who makes a girl wear a dress in January in Chicago? I'm working on a surprise for Dad, to pay him back....

Okay, you've had your dinner - now, its my turn to eat! Let's go home!

Thankfully, the restaurant was only 1.5 blocks away from our house, so we were able to run home (literally – a crying, hungry baby is stressful!) so that Natalie had her chance to eat.