Big Girl Now!

We are keeping so busy this spring. Many of you have probably read on my other blog that we are preparing to move into our new house! It is very exciting. I am still keeping super active with my toddlers too though.

Natalie has her first pair of crocs. It is so cute to see her strut around in them.

It seems to all observing that Natalie seems to think she is a "big girl" now that she's one. I guess technically she is 13 1/2 months now and she is more and more entertaining everyday!

She says, "dog!" ,"baby" , "tank ou", "book", "mommy", "daddy" and much more. She pretends to have full conversations and babbles "tickalickababa....."

The summer heat has started and she loves the water faucet!

This is how I found her Sunday morning in the nursery after church. Tired princess. Happy to have escaped Will's torchuring for an hour.
She was having so much fun with her friends at Franny's birthday party last weekend. She never let go of those gold mardi gras beads the whole time we were there!

And her big brother Will has maintained his position in the family as the biggest "stinkerbutt". Somehow his McDonalds happy meal ended up on top of his head last week.

Natalie is trying to keep up with him at the park now though. Here she was about to go down the tunnel slide by herself!

Sorry Will! I guess I took a few more pictures of Natalie this past week. Maybe that is because you won't smile for the camera anymore. :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Today was a wonderful day to rejoice in our Risen Savior and to fellowship with friends. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed going to church, praising our Lord and then sharing dinner and an easter egg hunt with friends.
Yesterday I took the children to a birthday party/easter egg hunt. Will and Natalie loved the Easter Bunny that was at the party. Natalie experienced hunting for eggs for the first time. It was too cute!

Natalie Turns 1 !!!!

My beautiful princess came into this world effortlessly on March 25th, 2008. The induction was started at 8 am and she was born with 3 short pushes at 10:15 am. That was only the beginning of this dream come true. The first year with her has been delightful and exceptionally easy. I am happy to appreciate such a good baby as I definately have my hands full with my firstborn!
So how do you adequately celebrate such a milestone as a first birthday? Nothing I could think of made it feel as if it would be special enough to match the feelings of my heart. We did our best!
We were in L.A. on her actual birthday so we started the morning off in Beverly Hills and had a big cupcake for breakfast at Sprinkles. It was as divine as I had always heard. I think Natalie really enjoyed her very first taste of cake. She ate almost the whole cupcake. I, of course, finished it off even after having eaten a whole one myself already. Our dear friends from L.A., Whitney and Brian, met us there and took the kids to the toy store for a treat. Will has enjoyed his new airplane quite a bit!

We decided to make this birthday difficult to top. We took Natalie to the new American Girl Doll store at the Grove. My cousin just happened to have a gift certificate for four to eat at the cafe, so Voila! We had the perfect plan. A lovely lunch at the cafe spent with a beautiful princess and a darling doll that shared her food. Both Will and Natalie enjoyed feeding their guest at the table. It was pretty hilarious!

For those who have witnessed Natalie's eating habits, you might not be surprised, but even I was shocked at how much food she ate. She devoured each course with glee. Will just picked at his food, but none of it was wasted on Natalie!

The Sunday after we got home we had a cupcake party with some of her little friends to celebrate at home. She loved it and really seemed to know what was going on. Here is her new cozy coupe! Quite the hit for both her and Will. She climbs in it headfirst with tremendous ease. We will have to post a video!

Nonny flew in from Michigan for the occasion! What a lovely day!

The cupcake cake was a little topsy-turvy but cute none-the-less. All in all it turned out to be a great party! And I truly felt we had celebrated enough to satisfy that maternal longing for the "perfect day!"

My dear little Natalie. You are a joy in our home and your little voice is music to my ears. I love your constant jabbering and singing and your delightfully sweet spirit. Thank you for being a part of our family and for all the love you bring to us. We would be lost without you, our sweet angel. May God bless you in the years to come as you grow into a lovely girl. May we always be the parents you need and deserve! We love you.

Joy of my Boy

Will was taking longer going potty then normal. I heard the toilet flush a few times and I heard the lid slam shut a few times. I peaked in to see what he was up to.
"Ducky is going for a swim mommy!"



Will has just recently been expressing in very grown-up vocabulary his appreciation for me.


"Oh, mommy! You made me dinner?"


"Yes, Will, I made you dinner!"


"That's a GOOD job Mommy! Thank you!"





"Mommy, you make my bed all pretty? Thank you!!"


"What are you doing mommy? That's a good job mommy!"





My hope has been to surround my children with as much praise as there is discipline. I guess it is wearing off on him and that makes me happy. I have been coming to realize that I can use will as my borometer for what the spirit of our home is. He repeats everything we say, and it sounds so different coming out of his little mouth! On occasion I hear him threatening his trains to time-out and then shouting, "yes, maam, mommy!" at them. Okay, yes, we are trying to teach respect as well.

A little trip

We had the opportunity to take a welcomed trip to Hilton Head Island for the weekend when one of our friends offered us the last night of her condo rental. It was cold and foggy on Saturday, but today was beautiful. We spent a good deal of our time taking walks at Sea Pines, viewing the boats at the harbor, and exploring the grounds. Will enjoyed what he called, "the most perfect playground!".
Other than the lack of naps and sleep in general, the kids had a great time. We enjoyed a little time away!

Too Cool for School

My children LOVE my bed. There is no way around it. If they had their way they would both sleep with us every night. I found Will just lounging on my pillows this morning.


And this is Natalie the other night when she suckered daddy into bringing her to bed with us for a while. I can't believe how big she is getting. All of a sudden she just looks so stinkin long! Where did my baby go?

Crazy Kids!

My children have been up to all sorts of antics these days! Natalie has become quite verbal. Last night at 3 am when she woke up for a feeding she was crying in her bed, "I wan my baba". Then, when I picked her up and said, "okay, mommy will nurse you" she said, "tank ou". I know without a shadow of a doubt she is saying "thank you" because she has been saying it to Tom and I the past 3 days every time we give her something she wants. Natalie is walking all over the house now with only the occasional crawl thrown in here or there. The craziness factor is growing and my ability to keep things under control is slipping away. That is okay. I am enjoying the ride.

Will asked me this morning, "Mommy, what did you do with all my outside toys?"

"I put them outside, Will."

"Why you do that, mommy?"

"Because they are outside toys and they belong outside."

"Mommy, YOU CAN'T DO THAT ANYMORE! Do you understand?"

For more funny stories, check out my new blog, www.relicofme.blogspot.com. I promise to try to make you laugh!

Out of the Mouth of Will

"Natalie eat your chicken pie all gone! I can't eat chicken pie...I'm too little. I gotta eat hotdogs and ketchup!"
"Don't touch that paper Natalie! It's too Dangerous!"
"Mommy, Natalie's not a big girl anymore! She's just a baby. I'm a big boy!"
"It's MY do it, mommy!"

Happy 11 months Natalie Princess!

As I reflect back to a year ago, I remember how I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of our sweet little baby girl. I had a baby shower right about now and was as "big as a house" as my niece once said. Today, Natalie turns 11 months old and is truly the angel of our lives. She brings so much joy to our home with her sweet, tender spirit. You cannot even say "no" to her without the tears and the saddest face ever staring back at you.
Will adores her and cannot go to sleep until he kisses her goodnight. She adores her daddy and says his name over and over. She stares at him with a smile until he notices her, then she reaches her arms up to her "dada".

She has a "fancy tongue" as one of my friends said, andshe likes to stick it out when she is happy. When I rock her to sleep at night, I often find myself stealing a few extra minutes to stare at her face. I try to memorize every detail of her babyness because it is passing oh too quickly. Tears often well up as I realize how fast the time really does fly by.

I decided to pull out a comparison shot of her to her brother at this age. Here is sweet William at 11 months. What a bruiser compared to our delicate girl! But he was just as cute! Do you think they resemble each other at all? Maybe just the classic Patrias lips and smile!

Music Time!

I started Kindermusik with Natalie in January. She LOVES it. It is really wonderful to have that one hour a week that is just her and me. She smiles the entire class and is quite the little participant. She has learned to wave, clap, sing, keep rhythm with egg shakers (in pic above), and just appreciate music in general from this class. I have seen a big difference since we started.

I took this class with Will until he was 2, and it was a lot of fun. We are taking a break while he takes a tumbling class now, but I want to give Natalie the same benefit Will had. The only problem was what to do with Will during class? Thankfully, one of our friends, Brandy keeps Will for me for that one hour every week. Thank you Brandy!! It means alot! Will loves it because it is a built in playdate with Haydn.