Smile, smile!

Evan and I can't get enough of Natalie smiling. Really, can't get enough. Now that she smiles so much, especially in the morning, we're taking videos and pictures of it whenever we can. So, here are two great pictures of her smiling that I took on Thursday night (right after we gave her a bath), and another great video of her from just this morning, as we were dressing her in her crib.

Natalie's a morning person

Over the past 10 weeks (yes, Natalie has been here that long!) we've come to know our daughter pretty well. And, one of the things we've discovered is that she is at her most awake and fun first thing in the morning after she has been fed, changed and dressed (in that order). Here's a video we took of her in her crib just a couple of days ago (Sunday, Feb 17) showing us how much she loves the morning...and her newly found hands.

A weekend with friends

Our friends Kathy & Eric Greiling came to visit us from Seattle this past Saturday through Tuesday. We had a great time, letting them get to know Natalie, as Eric will be Natalie's godfather (and Kathy is an honorary godparent!). Also, our friend Beth came up from Williamsburg on Sunday so we could all hang out. It was lots of fun, especially with Monday being a holiday so we got extra time together. Here are some pictures of them with Natalie, plus a few from Valentine's Day last week.

A Valentine's Day Message

Happy 2 months old!

Sunday February 10 was Natalie's 2 month birthday. We can't believe she's 2 months old already! It hardly seems like that much time has gone past. Definitely two of the best months I can ever remember, and there will only be more and more great months and years ahead.

Yesterday (Monday) Natalie had her 2 month checkup. She's very healthy: 11 pounds, 23 inches. She's in the 75th percentile for both weight & height, but only 25th percentile for head circumference. So, apparently she has a small head. However, that' s probably why she can hold her head up so well! Even our doctor was very impressed at how well she holds her head up at only 9 weeks old.

In addition to the well-baby checkup (and she is very well!), she also got her first set of vaccinations. Natalie was NOT a fan of the shots, emitting a pain cry that I had never heard before and had me getting teary as well. However, she calmed down, didn't develop a fever from them, and had a happy night last night, as you can see in the picture below (taken last night). What a smiley baby! In the past couple of weeks she's started smiling a lot more - I almost always get one when she sees me now!

Back to work this week

I apologize for lack of posts this week, but I started back to work on Monday so my time for blogging has severely been decreased. However, Evan has been nice enough to hold & change Natalie for a few minutes, so I've got a chance to post a new message!

So, back to work. The week has gone very well for all 3 of us. There's lots for me to do at work, given that I haven't been there for 9 weeks. It's taken this entire week, but I think I'm starting to catch back up. Evan has been dropping Natalie off every morning so that I can leave very early (around 6:15am!) to get to work, to avoid traffic and so I can leave work earlier to pick Natalie up by around 4pm.

Natalie has taken to daycare very well. She's very comfortable there, sleeping most of the morning and awake in the afternoons. Our two daycare workers love her, as she's the only infant there and they haven't been around little babies in a while. Daycare is right down the street from us, so it's nice having neighbors taking care of Natalie. As much as I don't like leaving her anywhere, I think it's a pretty good situation.

Due to lack of time, I haven't been able to put together another slideshow of pictures. However, Evan's friend Ben came over on Sunday with his professional photography equipment and took some great pictures of Natalie, the three of us, and of Calla. I have put my favorites of each of the previous up here so you can see how great they are. I promise more pictures and videos in the future!

Pictures from this week

This week, we took about 60 pictures which I just moved onto my computer. I thought I'd put up my 10 favorites. We take a lot of multiple pictures, as Natalie has a tendency to move right when we click! So, we end up with some doubles, but that guarantees that we get some really great pictures. I hope you enjoy these - it's great that she's actually able to focus on the camera now...at least some of the time!

Also, under the pictures is another video Evan and I took today while playing with Natalie. She really likes the "upsy-daisy" game, as it lets her sit up and look around. I think once she can actually sit up on her own, we'll never get her to lie flat again!