April Adventures!

Apr 4 ~ The weather has been so nice lately, so today I took Nat over to Morrison Park in Coralville. That park brought back our fond memories of the early days of Lamaze Playgroup...us moms used to meet there quite often back when each of us had our afternoons free...thinking back to last spring when Nattie (and the other babies) were too tiny to barely sit up on her own to play. Skip ahead to today, and I was just chasing Natalie all over the park! She was eager to climb the stairs of the play equipment, proceeded to sit down by herself at the top of the slide, and slid down as if she's done it a million times! She was sure to let out a little high pitched "weeee!!" as she came down the slide. We even stopped to see the ducks and Natalie got to hear them quack and chase them around for awhile.

Apr 6 ~ Hearts In Touch was back in session today after a few weeks off for spring break. It seemed like forever! The topic today focused on anger - how common it is as a mom to feel frustrated and lash out, but how we need to focus on taking control of ourselves. Our small group/care group table grew today when Steffany brought her friend, Kim Anderson, to HIT. Hopefully she enjoyed herself and will keep coming back!

Apr 7 ~ Babysitting is going well! Natalie always looks forward to seeing the boys and loves it when they run around the house with her. She also likes to watch them shoot hoops in the driveway...she runs in between all the action and just laughs and giggles! She also enjoys eating lunch with them...Josh and Graham have a song they sometimes like to sing as a prayer before lunch called "The Lord Is Good to Me" that goes a little something like this:

Apr 8 ~ Craig had an MRI scheduled for this morning to check out some chronic back pain he's been having. Natalie and I went with him to Mercy Hospital just in case he may need us for some reason...everything went well. Nat was a really good girl in the waiting room. She quietly ate her Cheerios and fruit snacks while looking at her new photo album. She loves looking at pictures, so I put together a little photo album just for her so she can flip through and see familiar family members and such. She is starting to recognize herself in photos as not just "baby" but as "Na" for Natalie! Though it can be hard to distinguish between "Na" for Natalie, "na-na" for banana, and "nigh-nigh" for night-night (bed time)!

We were so excited for the afternoon to come...my good friend Sara Emberton came to visit from Illinois! She brought her 2 children, Corrin and Tyler, with her. I had told her she was brave for bringing both kids along without their dad to help out...she basically said it wasn't bravery - it was more like craziness...haha! The kids played with toys for awhile so I could give her the tour of our new house. Then we went over to Coral Ridge Mall for lunch and play time. After that we checked into the hotel room and accompanied the kids in the pool. Sara brought over all kinds of floaties for the kids to use...we may just have to invest in one of those since Natalie had a great time. After time in the pool we met Craig over at Applebees for dinner. Then us moms and children headed back over to the hotel for the night. Sara invited us to sleep overnight in the hotel room with them...so it was me and Nat in one bed, Sara and Tyler in the other, and Corrin used an air mattress. The kids were asleep by 9pm, so that gave Sara and I some time to chat, laugh, and eat snacks...for a brief moment it felt as if we were back in highschool at a sleepover!

Apr 9 ~ Sara and I got the kids up and had breakfast at the hotel before we packed our stuff back up and headed over to the outlet mall in Williamsburg. I always forget we have an outlet mall that close by. It was really fun shopping and having lunch! The kids were really well behaved and allowed us to look through racks of clothes, etc. Before long it was time for the Embertons to end their visit. I know for sure that Natalie and I had a super time with all of them...I hope they enjoyed their overnight trip to Iowa and come back again sometime soon!

Craig enjoyed himself with the house and bed all to his own while we were gone overnight! I don't blame him - I would too! He worked some more in the basement...it's really coming along nicely. He now has all the stud walls up for the three additional rooms and almost all the lighting done. He has bought the drywall and also tiles for the drop ceiling he's going to install and he is working on hiring someone to lay the carpet.

As far as other Natalie news: She is talking more and more each day! I can hardly keep up with all the new things she is doing! Along with knowing her dog and kitty sounds, she now tells you that a cow says "moo" and a sheep says "baa". She loves, loves, loves birds and says "bir" all the time. She also says "car" if she sees or hears one go by. She is now starting to say "no" more...I always wondered when they would start! She has started consoling other children...she gave Tyler Emberton his pacifier yesterday when he was sad. She is also starting to pretend play with some of her toys...she was pretending to give her stuffed elephant a drink today. "Ellie" the elephant is still her number one object of comfort, but she has also become very attached to her Pooh blanket. She tries to say Ellie - it comes out as "eh-ee" or just plain "ee". She tries to sing along to music. She loves Elmo from Sesame Street.

Apr 11-15 ~ I had a pretty full schedule lined up for this week, but unfortunately all three members of our family have had terrible colds. I had to cancel babysitting & a dinner with the Williamsons for Tues & a morning coffee date at Janna's house for Wed. I was able to make it to choir rehearsal on Wed night and sang well considering I was sick....now I'm hoping I'll be able to sing for services on Sunday. And I did bring Natalie with me to babysit on Thurs as I thought she was doing better, but now today she sounds worse. Nat saw the doctor at the beginning of the week and they said everything sounded and looked clear so I hope that is still the case. I just can't wait for her to be over her sickness so she'll be back to eating something other than mandarin oranges!

Natalie is still growing like a weed before our eyes! She is starting to climb up onto the couch frequently. So we've been having to tell her to "sit on her bottom" a lot when on the couch and also in the bathtub. Speaking of bathtub...she has started launching wet washcloths and toys out of the tub during bathtime, so we've been discussing that with her as well. She loves to be outside...taking walks, helping mommy open the mailbox, and petting the neighbors labrador retriever, Cody! She is attempting here and there to say words like shoe, sock, grandma, & grandpa...but hasn't really said anything definite that I can be sure about yet. She is playing pretend more and more each day also! She has her stuffed elephant give kisses to our dog, Bailey, and makes a kissing sound effect "mwa". She pretends to wash her turtle bathtub toy. And while visiting the doctor, she likes to put the stethoscope around her neck! My friend, Sara, recently gave me a whole tub full of hand-me-down clothes for Nat which included a few items of clothes just for playing dress-up. Natalie loves to put on the purple sparkly skirt, flower slippers, and headband and walk around like a princess. I'll have to get a picture of that sometime! She is still fascinated with birds and fish...she'll see a tree or some water and automatically assume there is a bird or fish in it. In fact, we walked by a tall fake plant at Walmart the other day and she insisted there was a bird in there! She cracks me up!

Craig received his MRI results the other day. Good news is that they didn't find anything wrong with his back. Bad news is that it still hurts and what to do next? We talked about some different activities that maybe he can do for exercise or the possibility of seeing a different physical therapist or something. Craig has been busy putting drywall up in the basement, getting ready for Pearson golf league soon, and talking about digging the motorcycle out of the garage now that it is spring.

I have been invited to join Iowa City Junior Service League. I wasn't able to attend the informational meeting the other night, but they are going to send me some paperwork in the mail. The group meets every third Thursday of the month during Sept-May. Their main objective is to provide various volunteer services that focus mainly on serving women and children in the community. This is someting I've wanted to get involved with for awhile now, so I am looking forward to participating this fall!

We also found out by email today that the Caylors gave birth to their second baby on April 12th! Paula Caylor and daughter Madeline are part of our Lamaze Playgroup. Now they have a new baby daughter, Mara Suzanne! Laura and I had joked with Paula a few months ago about how she'd HAVE to be having a girl so as not to disturb our girls only playgroup...haha!

Apr 16-22 ~ This was the second week with everyone in our family being sick and it is not fun! Craig and Natalie seemed to be at the tail end of their colds by the end of the week, but mine wants to hold on for dear life! I did manage to sing in choir last Sunday, though I'm thinking I may skip the next bunch of services to rest up my voice. I am so glad I sang because it was truly a great set of inspirational songs that we were able to belt out that Sunday! Natalie and I also were able to babysit both days this week and attended Hearts in Touch as well.

Apr 23 ~ My Aunt Diana, Grandma Fleming, and cousin Tara made it out for an overnight trip to Iowa! This was the first time they've visited us out here, so it was fun. We gave them the tour of our new home and then piled in the van for a tour of North Liberty, Coralville, & Iowa City. They enjoyed Craig's knowledge of the towns...it was like their own personal tour guide...haha! We also showed them around Coral Ridge Mall. Tara was excited to find out that we had stores like Abercrombie & Fitch, Yankee Candle, & Dippin' Dots as well as an ice skating area. Aunt Diana treated everyone to early dinner at Old Country Buffet. Aunt Diana also bought Natalie this pretty mobile that has colorful, glass fish hanging from it...Nat loves fish & we can't wait to hang it in her room! Then we headed back to our house for a relaxing evening of popcorn and Natalie entertaining us! Grandma & Aunt Diana stayed in the guest room while Tara used the air mattress in the upstairs living area.

Apr 24 ~ Craig, Nat, and I drove my mom's side of the family out to The Amana Colonies for shopping and lunch. I think they really enjoyed it out there! Lunch was at The Brickhaus restaurant. We saw lots of hills, cows, horses, & sheep on the way to and from the little German village. We came home with many goodies...fudge, fresh bread, cheese, wine, and preserves...you can't leave Amana without gaining at least a few pounds!

Apr 25 ~ Natalie had her 18 month "well baby exam" today at Dr. Miller's office. She did a really good job and didn't squirm too much! Natalie now weighs somewhere between 25.5 and 27.5 pounds....Dr. Miller weighed her at 25.5 today while Dr. Granner had weighed her at 27.5 just a few weeks ago when I brought her in to the office when she was sick. Two different scales and such, so we aren't positive on the exact weight. Nat is a tall girl at 33.5 inches...she is as tall as an average 2 year old! So her weight puts her at around 75% and her height at 93%. We talked with Dr. Miller about all the new things Nat is doing lately and it sounds like everytyhing is excellent! I feel I could be working a little more with her on using utensils at meal time, but she is still doing really well. We also talked about Nattie's little temper lately and how it is perfectly normal. The doctor said that there is no use in really trying to implement a "time out" system with Natalie until she's at least 2 years old...simply because she is not capable yet of understanding what that means. A few moms had suggested using her crib as a "time out" place since she wouldn't be able to sit still in a chair, but I didn't think that was a good idea....I didn't want to have Natalie think of her crib as a negative place. Dr. Miller seemed to agree with that and said just to keep using "redirection" until she's old enough to comprehend other forms of discipline.

So yeah, Natalie's little red-headed temper has started to make an appearance! Sometimes she likes to stomp her foot or fall to the floor when she doesn't get her way. It's nothing too out of control, but not pleasant either. Natalie's new word is "hat"...everything becomes a hat when you say the word....a bowl, a box, you name it. Her newest body part is toes and she knows that socks go there. She says "hi" and "bye" quite often in her cute squeaky voice. Her newest animal sound is that a duck says "quack". She also says "corn" and "coat". She comes up to you and asks "bite?" when she wants some of your food. She loves to pull all the tissues out of the box when you are not looking. She loves singing...somtimes she sings to herself when she wakes up from her nap. Her favorite song right now is "Itsy-Bitsy Spider". And I don't know if I mentioned this before, but she says "uh-oh" a lot. She is finding new ways to get up and down the stairs. One of the new ways up is to actually walk upright while using the wall to balance herself and one of the new ways down is sliding backward on her stomach. She still needs a ton of supervision while on the stairs, though.

The fence went up in our backyard today!! We hired someone to put up a black chainlink fence that matches what most of the neighbors have. It looks really, really nice! I can't wait to get some new furniture for the deck and some toys out in the yard for Nattie! We are really enjoying the birdfeeders just outside our patio door...we get so many bright-colored birds.

Apr 29 ~ Natalie had a follow-up eye exam with Dr. Thompson this morning. She was examined 6 months ago for a possible lazy right eye, but they wanted to check her out again now since she is older. After using many different techniques, the doctor is pretty sure that her eye is fine. She says Nat's vision is where it should be and that she does use both eyes to see. She believes that the lazy eye is just an optical illusion...that the way Natalie's nose is shaped makes the right eye appear to turn in from time to time even when it really isn't. So we are relieved that we will not have to deal with a toddler wearing a patch or glasses!

Craig's parents came to visit for the weekend! We were very excited to see them! Mom and Dad Esssington watched Natalie for us while we had a little date night. We played glow in the dark mini-golf at the mall...they have the lights turned off and the course outlined in neon paint and tape. Then we saw the movie "A Lot Like Love" which was a really cute romantic comedy. It was a much needed night out for me and Craig. We are in the process of setting up sort of a "babysitting co-op" with a few couples from church so we can all take turns doing date nights...but we are still trying to get all the couples together for a dinner so the husbands can meet before we start.

Apr 30 ~ We spent the day hanging out with Craig's parents and had a great time. We took Nat to McDonalds for lunch (her favorite place). Then we did some shopping...Mom and Dad E got us new furniture for our deck! It was a really great deal and a cute set which includes a large table w/ four chairs with pads, 2 extra chairs and a smaller table (which may end up on our concrete patio at the base of our deck), and they also got us the matching umbrella for the large table. We haven't put the furniture out yet since the weather has been yucky, but we can't wait to get it out there!