Ready for Fall

I love Autumn. I love the mums, pansies, pumpkins, football, spiced cider, county and state fairs, but mostly I love the weather. Labor Day weekend has always marked the beginning of Fall for me. Don't exactly know why, it's not like it gets cooler immediately after Labor Day. Maybe it's because we stop wearing white. Whys is that, anyway? This weekend has been a great one to usher in the dawn of a new season (poetic, huh?), we fed geese, visited the Moore Country Fair and were greeted by the very first morning under 60 degrees that we've had in a very long time. It was glorious!

Friday, Chase and I took Natalie to the Reservoir Park to feed the geese. She was very interested in the geese and watched them very intently. I think she loves animals. Saturday, Chase, Mom and I took Natalie to the county fair. She rode two rides: the "Wiggle Worm" and the train. She loved both of them, she smiled and squealed the entire time. After her rides were over, we visited the livestock area where she got to see pigs and goats, sheep and pigs, ducks and turkeys. She sat straight up in her stroller and cooed at all the animals.

Life is good.

Ring Ring

Natalie loves the telephone. I'm pretty sure she's going to be a girly girl of epic proportions. She loves the phone, shoes, pretty things, dolls, pink and just about everything else girlish. She usually steals the phone from me during conversations, so I almost always end up talking to everyone on speaker phone while she's playing with it. It's pretty difficult to carry on a conversation while a ten month old has control of the telephone; she's constantly pushing number buttons and the flash button. Last week she started holding the phone up to my ear and waits for me to say "hello" before she giggles and steals it away again. She'll do this over and over again, and I don't get tired of obliging her. She's just so stinkin' smart! She has made a few other advancements recently, too:

Stands up by herself and balances well *ALL THE TIME*. I think walking is only a matter of courage, she "cruises" with little to no support.

Does the hand gestures for "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". Of course, she hasn't quite mastered or refined her new skill yet, but it's so impressive.

Sings along with others (mostly my Mom) and initiates singing.

Shares her food. She's big into taking a bite and then wanting Mommy or Daddy to have a bite. Super cute.

A little late...

This post is way overdue, sorry.

Somehow I got lucky enough to have two godmothers, Aunt Jane and Aunt Roni. Natalie met Aunt Roni back in May for her Christening. In fact, if it wasn't for good ol' Aunt Roni we wouldn't have any pictures of the day. She was our designated camera lady!

Last month Natalie finally got to meet Aunt Jane! I think it's pretty safe to say Natalie is adored by both of her "great" godmothers. These pictures go as far back as July 4th, but they're worth posting. Enjoy!

Blog Title

So you might notice I've changed the title of our blog. I've always been very much aware of how much influence the Army has on our lives, and for some reason this new title just felt right. I'm very proud of what my husband sacrifices (and I do mean sacrifices) to serve our country. Every day he goes to work he's basically letting the American people know that he's willing to leave his family and make the ultimate sacrifice for the good of every citizen. So often we can be heard saying "Sorry, we can't, Chase has 24 hour duty that Saturday" or "Chase will be in the field during that holiday, can we celebrate later?" or "Chase will be deployed for a year and miss my entire pregnancy and birth of our daughter" or "No, Chase won't be home for his birthday again this year"... or anything of the like. It's easy to become frustrated because all too often our plans and our personal wants/needs are pushed aside in order to serve our country. Chase takes it in stride, always has, and never even mutters one single negative word about the Army, even when I'm red faced, crying and screaming because "IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!". I hope Natalie grows up to feel the same immense pride for Chase that my Mother feels for her Father and his selfless 27 years of Air Force service. Hopefully, all the late nights, missed birthdays and holidays, training and discipline will add up to equal one remarkable career. It already is, Chase is going on eight years in the Army come this October, and I'm pretty sure the question of his continued service has never crossed his mind. Our military families as a whole are our country's true heros, the soldiers for their selfless service, the spouses for the infinite support, but especially the children who are born into a life filled with chaos and worry as they send their mommies and daddies to work every morning. Thank you, Natalie.

Rub a dub dub

We have always bathed Natalie in her infant/ toddler tub, and it's worked out pretty well.... until recently. It seems like someone watered her or fed her Miraclegrow. Suddenly she's so big! Where did my little baby go? Anyway, the baby tub was getting to be a little cramped (which is pretty hilarious because the box it came in has the image of a girl, maybe three or older, sitting comfortably in it) so we decided to put Natalie in the "big girl" tub tonight. She thought it was pretty spiffy!

Lions, tigers and...

Giraffes?

Bob, Megan and Rylan Fees invited us to join them on a family trip to the zoo today. We had so much fun! I had originally planned on waiting to take Natalie, figuring she wouldn't benefit too much from the zoo, or even care all that much. Boy was I wrong; she had a blast!

Natalie saw sea lions, polar bears, puffins, arctic foxes, fish, black and grizzly bears, otters and lemurs. Unfortunately, she fell asleep before seeing the giraffes, lions, gorillas and elephants... all animals I think she really would have enjoyed. Of all the animals she did see, puffins were her favorite. She kicked her legs and squealed in delight, it was so precious.

Another first Natalie had today was her very first carousel ride. I was determined that if she didn't do anything else, she was going to ride the carousel. She sat on her antelope (I think), I strapped her in and she beamed ear to ear. She held on to the pole like a big girl and sat straight up. As the carousel turned and her antelope went up and down she squealed some more and laughed. Chase got a two second video... it's not much but I'll post it anyway.

Natalie also rode on a bus for the first time today.. she broke all the rules. She stood up and was very loud. I guess it's OK though, she can get away with most anything she wants.

Today was wonderful, Natalie had so much fun and got a few "firsts" under her belt. I feel warm all over, mostly because my heart is full of happiness from watching the innocent joy she experienced today and partially because I got one killer sunburn.

*UPDATE*

Natalie just stood up all by herself and took one very slow, determined and wobbly step before plopping down on her bottom!

Oh.

My.

Gawd.