Picky Natalie

I've been stressing ever since Natalie started eating solids. She has very peculiar tastes and I worry worry worry that she's not getting the correct amount of nutrients. For example, she will not drink milk. No matter how I try. This is a list of what she will eat:
Avocado, cheese, yogurt, tomatoes, crackers, anything sweet, any carb, black olives, gerber spinach and cheese ravioli, cheese toast, cream of wheat (made with whole mile... sneaky mommy). Occasionally she will eat a green bean (note: A green bean, not green beans), a few chicken nuggets and once she ate a cucumber. Help me mommy friends, is she getting enough?

Smimmin' Poo

Natalie loves the "smimmin' poo". Unfortunately, public pools are not that easy to come by here in Southern Pines, at least not without shelling out a year's salary. So Mom bought her a little wading pool, hoping it would do the trick. She loved it!










I was sad that I didn't have a great maternity bathing suit to wear in the pool with her, so later that day we went out and found the perfect one:

Nesting?

I truly didn't expect it at all...

Chelsea told me this morning that she's planning to throw me a "sprinkling" for Nick! I feel so lucky and blessed to have such wonderful and generous friends and such a wonderful godmother for both Natalie and Nick. I was taken aback by her generous offer and told her under no circumstances did I ever assume baby number two would be given a shower, to which she replied "Every baby deserves to be celebrated!" Thank you Chelsea (and "Aunt Pam"), love you!

Since our conversation this morning, I've gotten super excited thinking about all the things I'm going to need for Nick. I started a registry on Amazon, which I initially intended to only have small things on it for the "sprinkling" but I decided to include everything (even the major stuff) as a reminder to myself of what I may need and/or want. I certainly do not expect anyone to buy us a $700 stroller! Jogging is my passion and I'll save up for it starting N-O-W! It's nice to have a registry, though. You know, since I was NEVER GOING TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY (open mouth, insert foot), I got rid of most of our baby gear. Sigh

Here's a link to the registry for anyone who's interested:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=baby&id=2SCH594I0KAMS

Mommy friends: Please tell me if I've forgotten anything. 20 months seems like so long ago and I've forgotten everything

O-See

Natalie has a tremendous memory. She rode the horse, or as she calls it the "O-see", at Wal-Mart once, and ever since then she starts asking to "ride o-see" the second we turn into the parking lot. This was taken by Mom today, she's my little cow girl! Oh and don't worry, I was standing just out of frame. She was definitely not riding unattended!

Baby boy is doing well, he's recently become very active and loves to tap dance on my bladder. Just the other night I felt the first little kick through my tummy with my hand, it was fabulous. Despite his cute little intrauterine antics he's causing me a lot of grief... I'm still slightly nauseated from time to time, my heartburn is out of control and the sciatica is oh.my.gawd awful. I was complaining about it to Chase and he said "poor little guy is getting crap already", ha! Chase and I decided on a name, he's going to be Nicholas Chase Blanton. I'm 19 weeks today, so that means our little Nick is almost half way here!

Congratulations, it's a monkey!

Last night I had a dream I went to the doctor's office for my big ultrasound only to find out there was a problem. In my dream the ultrasound technician called my doctor, Dr. Johnstone, in to discuss the problem. So, in walks Dr. Johnstone only he looks like Hugh Laurie (someone misses her primetime TV, apparently). Dr. House... I mean Dr. Johnstone then tells me I'm having a hermaphrodite. Great. I tossed and turned all night long, I was nauseous and couldn't sleep. It didn't get much better throughout my day either... I was so anxious I couldn't concentrate and so nervous I couldn't eat. So I call my Mom for some much needed reassurance. The conversations went a little something like this:

Me: "Mom, I'm really nervous about the ultrasound today."

Mom: "It's not like it's going to be a monkey, Leigh. It's either girl or boy."

Me: "Thanks, Mom."

Of course she says it in her sweetest "mom" voice. Anyway, turns out she was wrong. We are having a little monkey, in the form of a BOY! I couldn't be happier... I was so worried I'd have another little girl and then I'd never be able to tell Natalie that she is definitively the most beautiful girl in the world or my favorite little girl or the sweetest little girl in the world, etc. At least not without having to share her title. Now I'll have the most beautiful girl and the most handsome boy.

It was great watching him during the ultrasound, he already takes after his big sister by sucking his thumb. At one point he even shoved his whole fist in his mouth! He weighs approximately 8 ounces and is growing right on target. Dr. Johnstone (the real one) said all of his organs/systems look wonderful and so far he's a healthy little boy. Music to my ears!

After my appointment today Mom and I took Natalie to Belk to buy her new baby brother some outfits, we essentially have to start all over again, everything we own is PINK! Even though boy clothes are significantly less exciting to shop for I felt warm and fuzzy while picking out things for my son. He's got a great start to a very "hip" wardrobe and big sister Natalie made out with some cute stuff too!

Some things never change...

Remember these two?



Well, not much has changed. Graeme came over to play again today, and once again Natalie drove him crazy during the entire walk. She played with his hair, rubbed his leg, put her feet in his face, stole his snacks, held his hand and talked his ears off. Graeme has a sister, and one on the way, so I think he's pretty much come to terms with the fact his life is doomed to be filled with estrogen. He was a good sport and other than a diaper faux pas on my part (let's just say that changing little boys is not my greatest talent. Needless to say, Graeme left our house wearing one of Natalie's shirts), all went well!




My view during the walk:

I love me.

I cannot get over the massive amount of people (mostly teenagers/young adult females) that take ridiculously unflattering pictures of themselves and post them on facebook. I seriously can't help but giggle every time I see a mug shot obviously taken either in the mirror or by holding their phone up in front of their face. Usually they have some sort of lip pucker going on, a new hairstyle or just a mean case of the "I love me's" but seriously, who wakes up in the morning and thinks "DAMN! I look good today, I gotta put this on facebook!"?

Videos

Here are the videos I tried to upload last night in my photo bomb post. They're cute.

This is what an elephant says:



Wipe out!



Natalie is about 35 inches tall and weighs almost 30 pounds, her hair is getting really long, but you can't really tell because she's got her Daddy's curls. Her vocabulary is enormous and she's starting to talk in small sentences. She says things like: "Uh oh, Natalie dropped brush" or "Mamma, change diaper, please"! Which reminds me, she's showing interest in potty training. She's borderline obsessed with princesses and fairies, yet loves cars and choo choo trains. I knew I'd raise a well rounded baby girl! I can't believe how different she is now, 19 months is such a short span of time but so much has happened in her little life, it's so much fun to watch her morph into her own unique personality.

Photo Bomb

I finally got a new computer so no more excuses. I can update and upload to my little heart's content now! Going back through the pictures I've taken in recent months, I realize how much Natalie has changed in such a short amount of time. It's amazing! So here we go, Natalie from the past several months:

Just the other day:







5/28/11 While Mommy's away, Natalie and Grandma will play:





5/15/11 Museum of Life and Science in Durham:




5/4/11 Natalie's first ice cream:



Bow chica wow wow... this is what greets me in the morning:



4/17/11 Southern Pines Easter Egg Hunt:





4/13/11 Carolina Beach Trip:











Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Roy Orbison:




4/2/11 Museum of Life and Science in Durham (think I already posted the Dino pic):



Natalie on her new tricycle that Grandma bought her for her birthday. I know, we're bad parents, we FINALLY got it put together after the new year.


Here are some videos I thought everyone might enjoy:

3/2/11 Natalie eating with a spoon (well, trying to)