Natalie's Prayer

Matt and I take turns putting the girls down for bed and tonight was my night with Natalie. It consists of a few books, a prayer and then lights out. Tonight's prayer was so funny that I have to post it so that I can remember this later.

Natalie: dear God, thank you for mommy and daddy and baby rachel. thank you for uncle aaron and aunt ginger and baby momo.
Me: Natalie - don't you mean baby moses?
Natalie: oh yeah (laughing) that's silly. thank you for baby moses, and thank you for baby.....mimi (laughing) and baby grandma (more laughing) and um...baby aunt lisa (hysterical laughing)
me: dear God, thank you for our family and friends and thank you for today
Natalie: dear God, thank you for the museum with dinosaurs and thank you for the park and ummm.... mommy, I need to think of a 3rd thing
me: Natalie - you don't have to have 3 things to talk about, just talk to God about what's on your heart
Natalie: no mommy, I have to tell him 3 things
me: uhh...ok, sure why not
Natalie: God, thank you for the museum and the park, and thank you for......hexagons. Thank you for hexagons God. and hearts.

Natalie's 1st haircut

FINALLY!! at the ripe old ago of 3 - Natalie had her 1st haircut. While I have not figured out a way to download the pictures from my phone to the blog yet, I can tell you that she did GREAT! we went to a kid's salon and they know what they're doing! disney tv going and some lollipops at the end. and for the siblings waiting, there was even a toy room. we were in heaven. Here are the final results modeled by my very silly 3 year old.

Not to be outdone by big Sis - Rachel took some cute shots too.

August family vacation

This year, we went to Omaha for our annual vacation and got to visit matt's cousin Renee, Mike and their twins - Mallory and William. we had a GREAT time and took too many pictures! there are so many more good ones but I'm just having alot of issues with the blog site right now to post them all. please feel free to view renee's posting at their webiste: http://mrloftusfamily.blogspot.com

Rachel's 1 year photo session

Annual checkups and stats

Last week, I took both girls (by myself) to the doctor for their annual checkup. Matt had to work and I had the afternoon off and thought it would be great to do two appointments in one. I was armed with books, snacks, drinks, etc... a very active 1 year old and a very caring and creative 3 year old. While we waited, Rachel ran all over the room - never stopping. I'm not sure how that girl eats enough calories but she is really starting to thin out. And Natalie insisted that we play doctor/patient the entire time - even when the doctor was there. She has horrible (but funny) bed side manners I must say and that really cracked up the pediatrician and nurses. So I know that you are all dying to know both stats for the girls.

So here they are:
Rachel - 1 year old
weight: 21.2lbs (50% percentile)
length: 29.75" (55% percentile)
head: 17.5" (25% percentile)
visit: poor little rubuggins got 5 SHOTS! i felt soooo bad for her. The doctor told us that it is time to switch her to whole milk so she officially used up all formula and has been only drinking milk since Sept. 1st. So far, she does not like the taste BUT she will drink water so that's good. Dr. Hayes to give her lots of cheese and yogurt until she tolerates it so every meal we eat at least 1-2 dairy products. Thankfully, Rachel really likes them.
note: Natalie's 1 year stats were weight: 21 (50%), length: 30.25 (80), head: 18.24 (80%)
things she's doing: rachel says mommy, daddy, nana (natalie), hi and out. She likes to sing songs - especially in the car with daddy, loves clapping, waving bye and giving hi-fives. She is very silly and likes to smile and have fun - she can have a temper especially if she wants something and you take it away. To show frustration, she lays down on her back and cries and also stomps. She LOVES to walk and run around the house and is just starting to try and climb. she loves baths with sister and loves the water. she likes when we all go swimming and until recently has been content to stay in her swim raft. she also knows that when it's time to swim, we go out the back door and she will wait there for me. She enjoys most food except milk and veggies. I am trying to work on both. She is a good sleeper and loves her paci. If the paci falls out at night and she can't find it, she cries but will go back to sleep after we poop it back in. She loves her sister and enjoys laughing and playing with her. Rarely is there any sort of frustration between them. Also, she loves to move and hide things - not on purpose but she relocates EVERYTHING. There are specific places she likes to hide things such as the telephone book shelf. She also loves pulling down all of her books and reading them. She is such a joy to us and we are SOOOOOOOO happy she is part of our family.

Natalie - 3 year old
weight: 32.3lbs (50% percentile)
length: 38.25" (50% percentile)
head: they don't check head size anymore but i am happy to say that it's work sufficiently :-)
BMI: is 6 (50% percentile)
visit: thankfully Natalie only had to get a flu mist (nose spray) but she did have to strip down to her undies and wear a white paper robe. I called it her paper dress and she thought that was super cool and kept it on. She looked very little and cute in it.
things she's doing: Natalie is such a good and sweet kid - she continues to make us proud as she gets older and we rarely have any issues with her obeying us. She is a sweet but inquisitive person and she LOVES her little sister and has been very good with her. She has also done a great job with potty training and for the last couple of months has worn panties during the day and we've switched to panties at night for about 2 weeks now. We have had some accidents last week so we are back to pullups until she can keep those dry again. She enjoys going to school and her teacher Ms. Zeena but she has asked for more kids to play with. She loves going to church on Sundays and I think part of it is all the friends her age that she plays with. She loves swimming and has become so fearless this summer. She has a floatie swimsuit and arm floats and will swim the entire pool and loves doing cannon balls, even in the deep end. She can count to 20, sings tons of songs and can read about 10-15 words. she knows all of our names and her address. We are so happy with our big girl and love the person she is becoming.