Natalie Can Stand Up.

More Moab Pictures

Playing with Grandma on a Sunday afternoon ... she loves to share things, from toys to bottles to her beautiful voice in the middle of church.

At the Visitor Center at Arches.

Five generation picture! Great Great Grandma Hatch, Great Grandpa Darr, Grandpa, Mom, and Natalie!

October

October has been great! Natalie finally learned to crawl, eat more "solid" foods, climb up the stairs, and say "uh-oh." Still no "mom", but I guess maybe I should be grateful for that while it lasts. Brian's doing fabulously with classes and is most likely going to quit working at LDS Hospital in January so he can take, like, 40 credits or something and just get this schooling thing over with. We also went to Moab/Castle Valley for Fall Break and went to Arches - it was Brian and Natalie's first time there, and Natalie's first encounter with sand. The verdict: sand is okay if it's in the sun.


At Grandpa Darr's, she fell asleep in her Bumbo while everyone was talking. She looks just like her Great Great Grandpa McCain. Awesome.



















A view from the rest stop. Arches is in the background, and the La Sal mountains farther back, which is where we eventually ended up. Right on top of that mountain.















She still doesn't exactly "crawl" - it's more like a gimpy scoot to wherever she can get. She always drags one leg. Because why move two legs when you only need to move one?

BIG NEWS.

Natalie can "crawl". Pictures coming soon ... after she wakes up ...

August's Post

August has been crazy - getting ready for first grade for the third time, getting Brian ready for school, and so on. That's pretty much it, but it took up the whole month. Some things we did in between:


We went to church ... so Mom could teach Gospel Doctrine three times ... boo ...
















We went miniature golfing in the thousand-degree heat and one of us got to take of their pants ...
















Kept up the attempt to walk without learning to crawl ...




We went to the Parade of Homes and saw what we will never have, including a room filled with balloons in the "Up" house ...















And we helped Sarah open her 18th birthday presents! Woohoo! Lots of fun!

We Made it Through July!

July has been hectic but fun. Brian started a new job, both of our cars were in the shop for a several days getting a new AC compressor (the Mazda) and body work after hitting a huge tire on the freeway (the Volvo), and we spent a LOT of time at school getting the classroom ready.

Only three more weeks of summer! :(
















Before

One day Natalie decided to take a nap, so we took out the "grass" (weeds) and put in some flower beads.

After















Natalie the Daredevil. She thinks it's funny that Mom's freaking out about her hitting her head.














We went to see the floats that were in the Pioneer Day Parade. Natalie was pretty smug at first.
















Yay! We love giraffes!




















Claire laughing at something in the distance ... probably an imaginary gypsy or something.
















We also had our first trip to Ikea and she tested out everything from the beds to the trash cans.

Happy Independence Day!

At the Farmer's Market in Salt Lake - not an ideal place for a stroller.



















The fourth of July was fun. Natalie loves fireworks. A lot. We woke her up at 9:00 and took her to my school to watch the fireworks at Thanksgiving Point, and she stayed wide awake and got very excited every time she saw the lights in the sky. Brian's started a new job at LDS Surgical Center, so he gets to work days now (yay!), and there's only 6 1/2 weeks left of summer (boo). Natalie will be 7 months old on Friday! She's not crawling ... at all ... in fact, she refuses to be put on her tummy, but she stands really well, can hold herself up and propel herself forward - she just needs a tiny bit of help balancing and she can walk. So maybe she'll skip crawling, which we're not thrilled about, but oh well. She loves food and eats anything, and she's figured out how to take her diaper off.

Song for Becky

We LOVE Summer!

Brian's 25th birthday is Wednesday, so on Sunday we had "cake" - sugar cookies - with Natalie's cousins. It was wonderful.


















Natalie is great at taking pictures. She always smiles for the back of Mom's phone. Sometimes she gets too excited and spews red sweet potatoes all over her new dress 5 minutes into church, though.


















We went to Melissa and Perry's wedding on Monday. Natalie had a great time dancing - she was the star of the show.

Getting So Big!

Natalie can now eat solids, hold her own bottle, fit into size 3 diapers, and sit up by herself. We're happy and sad at the same time ... happy that she's developing well; sad that we have to spend money on babyproofing everything.

We went and saw Brian for Father's Day while he worked all day at St. Mark's ... luckily, no emergency c-sections, so that was a good present.


First time in a high chair!


































Eating peas for the first time ... yummy!



















Getting ready for church ... pre-hairspray.

Yay for Summer!

Summer vacation is finally here, and Natalie is six months old! We went to the Balloon Festival in Springville and watched the parade, and we got a new car - a Volvo. Yippee!

Aaaaaaalmost 6 Months

Natalie will be six months old in a week! She's doing splendidly - rolling over, still screaming (see her YouTube Video) and, hopefully, excited to spend 9 straight weeks with Mom!

Natalie Hates Having Her Head Touched

Five Months Old!

Things are just dandy here. Brian's working nights now, so we see each other pretty much Wednesday to Saturday. He seems to be handling the weird sleep schedule pretty well. We only have four more weeks of school - Alpine has to go until June 3, so that's lame. But testing is almost done, then we can focus on the good stuff: dinosaurs. Natalie is growing quickly and is super long for her age, which is five months today! She is especially talented at standing, and we're worried that she'll go straight from sitting to walking without crawling since she refuses to be put on her tummy. This week we should get our bedroom set that we bought over a month ago, so someday we'll have pictures of that. Hooray!

Natalie and I Have a Discussion

Natalie Loves Her Giraffe

Four Month Natalie!

We Love Shoes.


















Natalie is now four months old! On Wednesday we had the pure joy of taking her to get a bunch of shots, but now she's immunized, so take that Measles! She's in the 53rd percentile for weight and head size, and 88th for height. So she can be a model or something. This week we sold her dresser, our piano, my big bead collection, and other random things to make room for new furniture, so those pictures will be up someday ....














She fell asleep eating and holding her bib like she's some sort of overheated southern debutante.















This picture isn't upside down; I just took it from the edge of the bed. She started out about three feet away from here and I left her alone for about a minute, then she scooted away. She is quite pleased with herself.

Happy End of March!

Woohoo! March is finally over! We got a new car this month and THE INTERNET, so we can stop mooching/stealing from others ... Natalie is finally able to grasp things she wants, when she wants, then let go. This includes hair. She's still sleeping through the night, but only if we put her to bed after 10. I am 24 (yay?) and there's only 7 more weeks of school!



How we found her after the drive to Springville.



















Cool Binky Lines

Still Three Months Old

All we are these days is crazy people who stare at an infant all the time. We bought a new car (yay!) - a Mazda CX-7. It's gray and pretty.



This is how we found her Sunday morning.


















Bored during test drives for a new car.

Fun Tricks with the Baby

Three Months Old!

Natalie is three months old. She's getting pretty handsy. She loves to watch tv and the fan and her aunts. She may be done with her screaming phase, which we have mixed feelings about - it was fun to hear her "communicate", but it gave us headaches. Brian starts a new job on Monday, still at St. Mark's, but this time in Labor and Delivery as a surgical tech working nights (boo). School is coming right along - only one more break (SPRING BREAK! WOOO!) and the year will be over. Whoa.