Silly Faces

Here are some of the cute and silly faces Natalie made for us while she was playing in the doorway jumper at Granny and Peepah's house yesterday. And, yes, she is covered in drool...and maybe a little spit-up. I don't think bouncing is conducive to keeping a baby's clothes nice and clean.

\

Rockin' and Rollin'

It appears that Natalie is getting ready to crawl. Experienced moms out there: How long did your babies do this rocking thing before they really started crawling? In other words, how long can I procrastinate before I really have to babyproof my living room?

Natalie is 7 Months (and ten days)

OK, so this post is closer to 7 1/2 months than 7 months, but it's better late than never, I suppose. We were a little preoccupied on the 17th with taking Baxter to the emergency vet clinic for surgery, but now that he's feeling better and I don't have TWO babies to tend to, I should have more time to blog!

Natalie has gotten MUCH more mobile in the last month. She has perfected the art of the log-roll/pivot combination maneuver and can make her way across the room rather quickly. She has started getting up on her hands and knees or her hands and feet, doing some moves that we like to refer to as "baby yoga." Just in the last week she has started the classic rocking motion on her hands and knees (video to be posted soon), so I think crawling is just around the corner. Yikes!

We've had fun introducing solids to Natalie over the last 5 weeks or so. Here's a categorized rundown of what she's had:

Yum! More, please!
Banana
Avacado
Sweet Potato
Butternut Squash
Prunes
Pears

Eh, it's OK. I'll eat it to humor you.
Rice Cereal
Millet Cereal
Oatmeal

Yucky! Give it to Baxter!
Mango
Asparagus

I'm freezing all of her food into 1 oz. cubes. Right now she's eating 2-3 cubes in the morning and 2-3 cubes in the evening. Next up for Miss Natalie to try are the following foods: egg yolk, carrots, green beans, and peas. I'm crossing my fingers that the new veggies will go over well since it seems she may have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Natalie is quite the social butterfly these days. We're attending regular play groups with the Dunwoody MOMs club and La Leche League meetings once or twice a month. I've started getting to know several other moms in our Stroller Strides class who have baby girls around the same age. We had a play date this morning and I think we're all hoping to make that a regular thing. In addition, one of the moms in the neighborhood is trying to get a play group started too! I don't think we'll have to worry about Natalie having any shortage of social interaction. (Or me, for that matter!)

Natalie cut her first tooth (lower left central incisor) just before she turned 7 months old and her second tooth (lower right central incisor) just after she turned 7 months. Her usually sunny disposition has been replaced by a slightly crankier one for the time being. I've tried giving her some homeopathic teething tablets, but I can't really tell if they're helping. The one thing that seems to help sometimes is to freeze wet washcloths until they're stiff and then let her gnaw on them. Poor little girl :( How long does this teething thing last?!

Smiling, despite the asparagus.


This yoga pose is called "Parsva Dandasana with Giraffe."


Teeth! I finally captured photographic evidence!!


The "Little Striders." From L to R: Madden, Natalie, Maeve, Keira, and Katherine.

Update on Baxter

It has been ten days since Baxter's surgery and I am thrilled to report that he is back to his old self. We were still very concerned about him for the first four or five days after the surgery since he was reluctant to eat or drink and we were having a hard time getting him to take his pain medication. But by the time Friday rolled around, he was eating, drinking, and wanting to play.

The vet told us to keep him from running, jumping, etc., for 2 to 3 weeks. I think my mom put it best when she said, "They know he's a Jack Russell, right?!" We're not doing a great job following doctor's orders, but we're at least trying to keep him from leaping on and off the bed. Only six more days and then he'll have his staples removed and hopefully the vet will give him a clean bill of health. We are so happy to have good ol' Baxter back!!

Poor Baxter and his 11 staples.


The culprit.


Baxter wearing his E-collar. It obviously hasn't slowed him down. In fact, it makes a great toy scooper!

Mum's The Word

Natalie has become quite vocal over the last few weeks, alternating between squeals and babble. The other day she said "Mama" all day long. It really melted my heart, even though I know she doesn't know what she's saying. She's a little fussy in these clips (teething, bleh), but they're cute nonetheless. In the second clip she shows off her new pre-crawling moves.

Poor Baxter :(

Poor little Baxter just got out of surgery for an intestinal blockage. He started vomiting late Friday afternoon and wasn't eating, so we took him to the vet yesterday. We were pretty sure he had swallowed a small toy, but they couldn't see obvious signs of a blockage on the x-ray. They gave him some subcutaneous fluids and pepcid and we planned to take the wait-and-see approach to see if he would improve and we could avoid unnecessary surgery. However, last night did not go well and he wasn't keeping down the little amount of water he was drinking. We took him to the emergency clinic early this morning and since they were 70% sure that he had a blockage and that it was highly unlikely that it would pass on its own, we decided to go ahead with the abdominal exploratory surgery. They found the toy about a foot into his small intestine. The doctor said it was good that we went ahead with the surgery because if we had waited, part of his intestines may have become necrotic. He is doing well after surgery and hopefully we will be able to pick him up tomorrow. Please keep Baxter in your thoughts and prayers !

Natalie's Giant High Chair

Here is Natalie being dwarfed by her high chair. Maybe it's just me, but she looks so tiny sitting in it! It reminds me a bit of Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann in the giant rocking chair.

Sweet Potato, Mango, and Oatmeal, Oh My!

I thought I'd post a few pics from Natalie's latest adventures with food. After adding avacado to the menu a few weeks ago, we've now given her sweet potato, mango, and oatmeal. She really enjoys sweet potato and oatmeal. Mango....not so much. However, she's now a big fan of bananas even though the first two tries didn't go so well. The next few items in the lineup are: pearl barley, millet, butternut squash, and pears.

Insert sweet potato here, please!

I'm starting to believe that mess is in direct correlation to baby happiness. Consider this Exhibit A.

Dude, what is this!? Eject, eject!!!

Why would you do that to me? Is mango some kind of cruel joke?

I'm gonna have nightmares about that. *Shudder.*

Christmas Tree Fun

What better way to pay homage to our first Christmas tree than to set it ablaze in the back yard? Seriously though kids, don't try this at home. (Just so you know, there was nothing overhead and we had a fire extinguisher close by.)

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Happy 2010 everyone! Wow, it's like I blinked and January is halfway gone. I know we've been a little MIA since Christmas, so I'll give you a quick update on what we've been up to.

Allen's last day with Deloitte was December 29th. He was there for almost 6 years and got a lot of great experience and made many wonderful friends. But we couldn't be happier to have him home during the week! Allen started his new job with WellPoint on January 4th. He'll be working from home a couple of days each week which is really nice. He hasn't run any races since the Thanksgiving Half Marathon, but he's getting back into training for the Country Music Marathon in Nashville on April 24th.

Now that the holidays are over, Natalie and I are getting into a good groove. We're going to Stroller Strides classes two mornings a week and we're in a play group with the Dunwoody MOMS club that meets weekly. We're giving Natalie a new food to try every few days, so I've had fun in the kitchen steaming, mashing, straining, pureeing, and freezing itty bitty portions of fruits, veggies, and grains.

Hmmm...what else is new? Oh! Natalie is cutting her first tooth - her lower left central incisor. I had been feeling her gums pretty frequently just to see if I could feel any swelling (and she just likes to chew on my fingers), and yesterday I felt a little sharp spot! I can't get a good look at it because as soon as you get her to open her mouth, she covers her gums with her tongue. So don't expect any pictures any time soon - it's going to take a lot of patience and some expert photography skills.

So, that's what is new with us these days. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season and I hope 2010 is off to a great start!