Natalie's Blog

…because I’m at the Jersey Shore!!!  Mommy brought me up here so that I could see what a hairy italian juice head guido looked like (Snookie’s words, not mine).  Anyways, it’s not quite like they show it on MTV, but maybe Mommy isn’t letting me go to those areas.  Daddy drove Mommy and I up to Grandmom and Pop-Pop’s house on Friday and then on Saturday Pop-pop, Uncle Erik, Mommy and I drove the rest of the way to Sea Isle City.  I’m slowly getting more used to the beach.  At the beginning I didn’t like it at all.  What is there to like about sand that gets all over your hands, and waves that can knock you down?  But everyone else likes it so I guess I should give it a try.  It’s been fun hanging out with my Aunts and Uncle that I don’t get to see very often, I’m only one Aunt away from having them all here.  I posted some pictures in the photo gallery so you can see all the fun that I’m having!!!

So this is what walking is all about!!! I wasn’t sure why anyone would want to walk when crawling works perfectly fine. I even gave it a try a time or two, but it’s a lot harder to balance on two feet than it is on two hands and two knees. I was pretty much thinking that I would just stick to crawling and let Mommy and Daddy and everyone else do the walking. But then I realized two things: People cheer for you when you walk, and your knees don’t get near as sore from walking as they do from crawling. I’m just getting started with it, but I think that my initial impressions were off base, and this walking thing just might be awesome! Right now I don’t think that I could pass a sobriety test, as my walking is as wobbly as Uncle Andrews on a Friday night in downtown Charlotte, but I’m making progress. Not only is everyone impressed, but I can also move faster than crawling, and that lets me get away from Mommy and explore anything that she doesn’t want me to get into. So if you come by the house, I’ll be the one walking and not crawling anymore.

So Mommy and Daddy figured that they would get me an awesome birthday present. Not a doll, or a puppy or even a pony; they totally outdid themselves and got me a house for my first birthday!! At first I wasn’t sure if I would like it, I mean, I was just getting used to the old place and figuring out how to pull up on everything and pull stuff down to my level. I didn’t know if this new house would have as much stuff to get into. Boy was I wrong! Not only does the new house have more room for me to move around, but there is tons more things to get into. My favorite part is the stairs. It took some practice, but my Grandpa showed me how to get up and back down the stairs safely. Now I’m unstoppable! I’ve been hearing nasty rumors about more gates showing up to slow my movement from room to room, but hopefully they are just rumors. About a week after we moved into the new house, Mommy and Daddy also invited a bunch of friends over for a Birthday Party for me. It was my first one, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Apparently they wanted me to put my entire face into a cake and get it everywhere. And mess up my outfit / hair? I don’t think so! I tried to appease them by sticking my fingers in it a little bit, but I’m not really one that likes to be messy. They didn’t seem to mind too much, and they all ate the cake anyways. After that it was time to open presents. Mommy and Daddy have been getting on to me everytime that I try to tear paper, but apparently on your birthday it’s allowed. There were all kinds of gifts inside the paper; some clothes, bows, a tent thing, and a mat with letters and numbers that all come out. It was a pretty sweet birthday party, even if I don’t really have anything to compare it to. I think by next year, I’ll know what to expect and be ready for the cake and the presents. Until then I’ll just keep trying to work off the cake that I ate going up and down the stairs!!

Had to keep the website PG

I don’t know about you, but I think that bath time is the best part of the entire day!  It’s been so cold out lately, that the only way I can warm up and relax after a long stressful day of crawling around and trying to learn to say “Daddy” is with a warm bubble bath and a bath toy.  I usually know when it’s bath night because Mommy will start feeding me dinner early.  It’s then that I know a bath is in my future and start to get excited.  Sometimes Mommy and Daddy aren’t quick enough at getting me into the bath, and so I have to crawl over and try and jump in myself.  I have got it mastered except for getting over the side of the tub.  My favorite thing to do once I get in is immediately splash around and get as many of the bubbles on Daddy that I can.  He doesn’t mind, and it just makes me laugh more.  After a good soaking (and Daddy cleaning my ears), it’s time to snuggle up with Daddy while he dries me off.  Of course this is just about when I realize that bath time is over, and bed time is the next on my list of things to do.  Bed Time = Boo!!!  I wish it could just be bath time all over again!  Of course Daddy said that he will take me to a giant outdoor bathtub this summer, something he called a “pool”.  Now that’s an idea I could really get into.

My "I didn't get any cookies" face

Wow!  This last month sure has been busy!  So busy that I completely forgot about my blog.  I guess I was busy trying to impress Santa with my good behavior (although my Mommy might tell you otherwise!).  Since this was my first Christmas I wanted to make a good impression on the guy.  Let me see if I can even remember what all I did this past month.  Mommy and I helped Grammy bake cookies.  They looked really good but I didn’t get to eat any of them.  After that it was a Christmas party with my church friends.  Some of my older friends filled me in on who Santa was, and why I should try and be good, at least for the month of December.  I tried to help Mommy with wrapping presents, but I spent more time taste testing the wrapping paper!  Christmas Day was a complete blur.  First Mommy and Daddy and I opened presents at home.  Then we drove over the Grammy and Grandpa’s house to open presents with them and Aunt Kristen and Future Uncle Gibson.  I knew it at the last post, but I forgot to write it in:  This October I’m getting another Uncle!  I was somewhat lacking in my number of uncles (one) to aunts (three), so it will be great to add another one to the mix.  I was at two weddings already last year, so by the time that Aunt

You are going to leave me for a week with these two?!?

Kristen and Uncle Gibson get married, I will be a pro at it!  After we had opened presents there, we headed over to my Great Grammy and Great Opa’s house to open presents with them.  My great Aunt Laurie and Uncle Mark came up and I got to spend some time with them, hanging out and showing them all of my new tricks.  I liked playing with my great grandparent’s dog Abbey, she wasn’t too hyper and didn’t mind me trying to pet her.  You would think that was a long day, but the day was just beginning.  After leaving Great Grammy’s, we headed home and packed up the car (well Mommy and Daddy packed, I supervised).  Then we headed out on the way to visit the other half of my family in Virginia.  It was really dark and foggy, perfect for me to sleep in my car seat the entire way.  When we got to Virginia there was snow on the ground everywhere.  Mommy and Daddy slept while I hung out with Grandmom and PopPop.  We stayed in Virginia for a whole week and I got to practice crawling up the stairs, talk to the pet turtle, try to pet the bunny (who didn’t like it too much), and see Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Alicia and even Uncle Erik.  All in all I must say that it was a good Christmas, and now I’m expecting next year’s Christmas to be as good or better.  Mommy and Daddy had better start catching up on their sleep now!!  There are more pictures from Christmas than I could include in this post.  Check out the Photo Gallery for more Photos!!!

…You have to crawl over to the computer and do it yourself.  I’ve been bugging Daddy for several weeks now to help me update my webpage, but he kept saying that he was busy with work.  Finally I just decided that I would crawl over to the computer and type in my post all by myself.  If you don’t believe me, you can check out the video that I attached of my progress with crawling.  Now that I’m mobile, there is no telling what else I can get into!  It’s been a long time since I wrote on here, and a whole bunch of stuff has happened.

Mommy and Daddy took me to my first Virginia Tech football game.  I didn’t actually go into the game, but I did get to tailgate with Andrew, Landon and Kristen, Grandmom and PopPop, Aunt Alicia and Nathanial.  It was a nice day, so I enjoyed being outside and seeing all the sights and sounds of a football weekend in Blacksburg, VA.  The Hokies got a win, and I got to go shopping with Grandmom and PopPop.  After the game, I thought we were just headed back home, but Mommy and Daddy had another surprise in store for me.  Mommy and I got to go home with Grandmom and PopPop for an extended Thanksgiving break.  I got to hang out with Aunt Alicia, Aunt Lindsey and even Uncle Erik played with me.  I had a great time exploring all of the things that there were to see at a new house.  It was a long drive back to South Carolina, but it was worth it.

Oh, I almost forgot the other big news.  I’m not going to be lonely at any tailgates or Pod events anymore.  Bart and Shannon are going to have a playmate for me sometime around the beginning of April!  It’s going to be a boy!  I can’t wait to have someone younger than me that I can boss around!  I had a great time with Bart and Shannon at Landon and Kristen’s wedding, I was thinking that they would make good babysitters for me.  I guess that they will now have their hands full with one of their own.

Ok, well I need to go and try and unwrap some more gifts that are under the tree while Mommy isn’t watching.  Christmas wrapping paper is my favorite flavor of paper.  I think the red and green ink makes for a great snack.  Maybe if I eat enough wrapping paper, the presents that I leave in my diaper will come out already wrapped.