Natalie and Calla

Here's more video of Natalie chasing Calla, this time in our living room!



We got the first real snow of the year yesterday, so here are Evan and I enjoying some time outside with Natalie. She wasn't a bit fan, especially when trying to walk in it, but it was fun anyway!

Two weekends of fun

Two weekends ago (Jan 17), was my and Evan's 10-year anniversary since we started dating (or our "janniversary" as we call it). Our friends Kathy & Eric were awesome enough to volunteer to babysit so we could go out and have a good time! In the afternoon Kathy and I went to my salon to have our hair cut & styled, and then Evan and I got dressed up. We went to the Reston Town Center for dinner at Il Fornaio Cucina, and then saw Gran Torino. It was outstanding; Clint Eastwood is so great.

Here are some cute pics of Natalie from that next week:

This past weekend was different for us: we were without Natalie! My sister Carrie watched her for the wekeend. She had Natalie from Friday evening until we met her on Sunday morning. We missed Natalie like crazy, but it's necessary for us to get used to spending some time without her, as we're spending 2 weeks in Australia in April and are not taking her. So this was really more for our benefit than hers! We set it up so that Evan and I had NOTHING to do all day Saturday. It was nice to get the relaxation time in, but just felt so strange!

Carrie did such a great job of watching her, and Natalie seemed to have so much fun! She spent time playing on Carrie's bed:

And playing on the floor:

Here are Carrie & Natalie:

And Natalie's new "friend" Kiki from Build-a-bear:

Carrie said she gave Natalie a choice between the monkey and some other animals, and she went nuts for the monkey! It sleeps in her crib with her at night now, and is the only toy she doesn't throw out of her crib.

Thanks Aunt Carrie for taking such good care of me! - Natalie

Videos at home

Here are two videos from Friday of Natalie having fun in our kitchen.

Natalie sickness update

Natalie is definitely getting over her cold. She's been getting better & better everyday; much less snotty now, and no more random screaming fits during the day (still having one at night around 10pm, but I think that's mostly just to get our attention, not because she doesn't feel well). She's back at daycare, and doing well. I'm so glad she's feeling better!

I found this picture of her from last week that I didn't get a chance to post. One of her favorite "toys" is to pull Calla's leash off of the hook it's on and walk around the house with it. I managed to get an action shot:

Also, here are a couple of pictures from my friend Beth's wedding this past weekend.
First, Evan and I:

Second, our "Old Ladies" group (Kathy, Beta, Beth, myself, and Rachel).

quick update

Hi all! Just a quick note about this past weekend. Evan, Natalie and I went to our friends Beth & Jason's wedding in Williamsburg, Va. The wedding was lovely; Beth looked beautiful, they both looked so happy, and everyone had a great time. I'll try to put a few pictures up soon.

Unfortunately, Natalie did NOT have much fun. She came down with a cold right before we left for the weekend. She was a trooper, but was just really miserable all weekend. She did the best she could, and was pretty good during the day, just taking a lot of naps. Unfortunately, she slept HORRIBLY at night, which meant so did we in the hotel, but that's ok. We just comforted her as best we could.

She started to feel better once we got home, and today I checked in with the doctor, who thinks Natalie just has a bad cold. She seems to be on the mend, and should be able to return to daycare tomorrow.

Once she's gotten better, and I have more time, I promise to get some pictures up.

Two new pictures

Isn't she beautiful? Look at those eyes.

Happy New Year!

It's been a busy few week! Last weekend we got home from NJ, and then my sister visited overnight so that we could celebrate Christmas. She got Natalie this really cute outfit:

And one of Natalie's favorite Christmas presents: the Leap Frog music table. In fact, Natalie has almost the whole line of Leap Frog music & learn toys now; they're great!

We worked at the beginning of the week, but then I took off after Wed (Evan had off Wed & Thurs but had to go in on Friday). We had a fun new year's eve (as I hope all of you did as well). We celebrated here at home with some friends of ours (Kathy & Eric, Will & Jon, and Cody). It was very nice - Natalie got to hang out for a little while:

And then she went to sleep upstairs while we ate yummy food, watched a movie, ate some more, played some games, ate some more, and just hung out [Cody, Evan, and Eric on the couch].

Then on Jan 1, we hung out for a while before everyone had to go.

My parents arrived on Jan 1 to visit for a couple of days. It was nice to be off of work and spend some quality time with them! They got Evan and I one of the best new cleaning products: the Shark steam mop. It does a great job cleaning floors, and I love that it cleans with steam, not chemicals. Natalie also got more presents. :) Here she is hanging out with my mom:

As always when my parents come, we get cute photos of Calla and Rizzo together. They didn't play too much together, as Calla is kind of shy, but they did get friendly enough to sleep together on the couch, in different positions: