Big Day of Appointments

Today, I had a growth ultrasound, my 32 week doctor's appointment, AND my first NST (non-stress test). Big day for Mollie and me! The ultrasound was great! Mollie was pretty cooperative, and their measurements show that she is RIGHT on schedule. Their estimate of her weight is 4 lbs 5 oz +/- 6 oz, so that's really great. With almost 7 more weeks to go, she will likely weigh between 7 & 8 lbs, but you never really know! Their estimates are just that - estimates!

My doctor's appointment went well. My doctor is out of town, so I saw the Nurse Practitioner for the first time, and she was really sweet. My doctor will be back next week, so that's kind of comforting to know, although no one is concerned about anything. My blood pressure is still good and everything looks great with Mollie.

My NST was not the breezy test that I'd been praying for, but I have to say, I still have lots of hope for the future ones. The main problem seems to be that they couldn't find the perfect spot for the monitor, so when Mollie would move (yay!), it would stop picking up her heart rate all together (boo!). The nurse was really sweet, and told us that she was not at all worried about the baby - she could tell everything is great with her - but for this test, she has to "prove it" on paper, and that's what we were having difficulty doing. It took a good hour, but once we got the monitor in the right spot, it didn't take any time at all. I really hope that the next one goes better, especially because Brad was able to come with me this time, but that won't be the case most of the time. I was really thankful to have him with me for the very first one though. My blood pressure was AWESOME during the test, so that was good. It was a nightmare with all of Natalie's, praying for her to move and trying not to stress so my blood pressure would stay down (which it never did). This one, while not perfect, was a very different experience.

Here are some ultrasound pictures of Mollie from today. We were excited to find out that we could get some 3D pics during the regular ultrasound - fun! So that kind of makes up for the stinky experience we had at the other 3D ultrasound!

2D - Her sweet face. :)

2D - Her profile.

3D - Semi-profile (her foot is in front of her face on the left side of the picture)

3D - Another profile - this time her foot is in a little different position

3D - Another foot-in-face profile - she is looking a little smooshed here

3D - Just her little foot. The tech was really excited to get this picture - she said it's hard to get a foot in this cute position - and you can count her toes!

Nat's First Ice Cream Cone

After dinner tonight, we had ice cream cones. This was the first time that Natalie's had an ice cream cone - or any kind of ice cream all to herself, really. She had lots of fun devouring it - and I was surprised that (although it wasn't that big) she ate the entire thing!

Memorial Day 2009

We had a great Memorial Day today! This morning, Brad worked on the front yard while Natalie and I planted a few daylillies, then played with her new ($1!!!) bubble wand. This is perfect for her because she doesn't quite "get" how to blow bubbles with a wand, she just likes to shake it. After lunch (grilled hot dogs - mmm!), we played in the pool that Mamaw and Papaw got us for Christmas. Natalie loved it! After her nap, we went out again, but Brad and I didn't get in. She kept pointing to the corners where we'd been sitting earlier and saying, "down!" wanting us to sit in it with her. I think she still had fun, but she definitely preferred the family swim time. :)

Natalie's Big Girl Room

I'm still so happy with the general direction that we went with Natalie's nursery! This weekend, we switched out Natalie's cherry furniture for a white/natural dresser and natural shelf. We got her green sheets with white polka dots and a pink bed skirt, added her Anywhere chair, and voila - super sweet "Big Girl Room!" We're actually planning to get her a small white table and chair set instead of the Anywhere chair, but we thought the chair was really cute for now.

Of course, it would be cuter without the dark blue bed rail, but she needs the rail for now and we got it SUPER cheap and we're all about the bargains around here! :)

A Day at Nonny & Poppy's

Here are some pictures from Sunday that I thought I'd share. Natalie and I spent the day hanging out with Nonny and Kimme.

Oooh! Kitty!

Come here, Mr. Friendly!

I won't hurt you! Let's play!

Aunt Kimme to the rescue!

Love this picture. Note the dirt all over her face. She had fun playing 'side all day!

Although she loves the outdoors, she does not love having anything in her shoes. Nonny helps solve the problem . . .

Hanging out with Poppy.

Kissing the owl and kitty.

Where did it go? (Not sure what she was looking for . . . possibly a june bug). :)

Thursday Morning Smile

Just a couple quick pics from Natalie's bath this morning. Thought they might make you smile. :)

Couple more for the list from Daddy

Brad had a couple more observations to add to my list of things Natalie is doing. These two are especially hilarious . . .

1. Natalie is pretty good about tolerating Time-Outs (not sure if that means they are working or not!), but she does tend to get bored, apparently. It's not uncommon for us to find her without various articles of clothing when she's done. She always takes off her shoes if she has them on, but lately, she's shirtless most of the time by the end. I guess she has to find something to entertain herself, and we can't really strip her down beforehand, so we have to live with it (and try to keep the laughter inside). :)
2. For some reason, a couple times lately, Natalie has gotten it into her head that she wants to put a shirt on herself (after she's already fully clothed), but she doesn't quite know how to do it. A couple weeks ago, it was one of my shirts. She kept fighting with the shirt until she got her face through the arm hole. Just her face, not her whole head, so just her little face was peeking out through the sleeve. Brad found her lying on the couch, totally happy, like that. Then yesterday, when he picked her up from Katie's, she wanted something from her bag really badly, but Brad could not figure out what. He finally gave up and put her in the carseat. He could hear her rustling around in her bag that was next to her on the seat, then she got quiet. He looked back, and she'd found her extra T-shirt and put her face through the sleeve again. She was happily riding along with her T-shirt headdress. I so wish he'd been able to get a picture!

An Update on Miss Nat

As we were eating breakfast this morning, I realized that there are so many cute things that Natalie is doing right now that I really need to get them down on paper, so to speak, and share them. Here are some facts about Miss Nat:

1. Her favorite breakfast is Cheerios. She calls them "Ya-yos." She is doing really well feeding herself with a spoon now! She gets HUGE spoonfuls, though! At least she seems to chew them well before putting another one in! Unfortunately, I can't say the same for other forms of eating. She's one to shove her mouth FULL of food and scare us! Anyone know how to stop this?!
2. Everyone probably knows this, but she LOOOOOOOVES to play outside. Pretty much anytime we put her shoes and/or her jacket on, she smiles happily at us, and then says, "Side." Like the wearing of a jacket or shoes absolutely equals going outside to play.
3. Natalie loves Elmo. I'm not even sure how it happened, because we have never really been big on letting her watch TV. A few months ago, we did start DVR'ing Sesame Street. Now she wants to watch "Elmo" all.the.time. She doesn't really stay interested unless Elmo himself is onscreen. We've been giving in a lot while she's been sick, but it's time to cut back on the Elmo! What amazes me is that she can watch the same 15-minute Elmo's World episode over and over and over and over.
4. Whenever we sit down to eat, Natalie is the first to say "Pay!" and put her hands out for us to hold hands and say a prayer! We love this!
5. When you ask her where Mollie is, she points to my belly. I really think she just considers it another body part that Mommy has and she doesn't, but it's a step. ;)
6. She might initially balk just a bit at going to bed when she realizes we've started her bedtime routine each night, but by the end of her bedtime books and prayer, she says "May-men," promptly flips over onto her tummy and asks for her "bebes." She has 2 dolls that she sleeps with. Then she says "Nigh nigh" and she's totally fine with us leaving so she can get some rest!
7. She loves to pretend-call her Poppy on the phone. For some reason, it's always Poppy that she calls. :)
8. Natalie is almost totally potty-trained. We started when she was about 17 months since she was showing interest after Katie potty-trained Brooke. It's gone really well, with only a few setbacks. She pretty much only wears a diaper now at naptime and at night, but she wakes up dry from her naps almost every day. When she gets out of bed in the morning, she goes right for the drawer in her dresser where her panties are, gets a pair out, and heads for the bathroom. :) Now we just pray that she doesn't regress when Mollie arrives!
9. She still LOVES her big girl bed! And, amazingly, she stays in it even when she wakes up in the morning. She just lays in bed and talks until we come get her up. It would be wonderful if this would continue!
10. She knows a ton of animal sounds - I won't even list them all. Funny, though, she knows which animals are which by name if you ask her to point one out, but she calls them by their sounds instead of their names when she tells you what they are. The only ones that she calls by name are fish, duck, and bird. Not sure what makes those different!
11. Natalie loves to throw things away. She has taken to throwing away things that she thinks are trash, but that's not always the case. From time to time, she will come up to one of us and say her word for trash, which is similar to "trash" but not quite. If you're not thinking "trash" yourself, you might not know that's what she means. Or she might just say, "tee cue." It takes us a minute to figure it out, but it often means that she's just thrown something away that we need to retrieve, likely a washcloth, for whatever reason!
12. One night before her last swimming class of the season, she leaned down into the tub during her bath and blew bubbles! She had never really done it in class, although that's the first thing that they wanted us to work on. She does it all the time in the bath now. Maybe next summer she'll get more out of the classes when she's a bit older. This year, it was just a fun distraction.
13. It's 10:00 am, and she is asleep on my lap. It's really not like her to take a morning nap, but since I feel like her teeth are bothering her so she's not sleeping too well at night, and our days alone together are numbered, I'm just going to relish having my little girl lightly snoring in my arms for a bit this morning.

Our Outdoors-loving Girl

I took Natalie outside Saturday evening, and she had a blast. I used this opportunity to take a million and one pictures, and I'm posting a bunch of them here. She's finally feeling better now, but her sleep seems to be a bit interrupted, which I'm thinking might (finally) be her canines coming in. I've heard that they can be worse than molars, so we'll see. I'll just be so glad for them to be in so we won't have to worry about teeth for a while!

Since there's not a lot to do in our yard, I brought her slide outside.

Not sure what this game is, but she had fun playing with a plastic bat and the ball that her Mammy and Pappy sent in her Easter box.

I know this is really cute, but it would be nice if just once I could get a non-CHEEEEEESE smile! ;)

I LOVE this picture. Too bad there is so much sunflare that makes it seem cloudy, but in a way, it's kind of neat too.

Natalie LOVES bubbles. She's not so great at blowing them herself, but we're working on it. Here, she wants me to help her put the cap back on the bubbles. She was pretty insistent, so I helped her.

HERE is why I shouldn't have helped. This is what she did when I put the cap back on!

She can climb up the steps to the slide all by herself now!

So Mommy thought she'd get some pictures without the hat. Natalie thought otherwise. She's saying, "HAAAAA" - she wants the hat back on!

All better! :)

Airplane!!!

Decided to go to the front yard to play for a bit.

It didn't work out quite as Mommy had planned though. There is a patch of weed paper that is not covered by mulch - it's like a 7"x4" rectangle that sticks up just a bit. Natalie would not go into the yard to play - every time she got to the end of the sidewalk, even with that weed paper (which was not in her way AT ALL, just to clarify), she would make this face and shake her hands and come running back to me. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was at all. When I set out to cover it with mulch, the little girls from next door came over, so it was quickly forgotten as she watched them ride their bikes and tell us stories. She just can't wait to be big enough to join them! :)