Lounge Act

This past weekend, we were invited to the 2nd birthday party of a little girl we met at the library a few weeks ago. Her name is Natalie, too, believe it or not and she and her family recently moved here from Ohio. I really connected with Natalie's mom and at the party last night we were able to meet the whole family and had a really great time. They are renting a condo until they find a house and hosted the small party at the condo pool and clubhouse.

Well, their little Natalie is part fish! She jumps in the water and swims toward her dad, not coming up for air until she's reached him....at least 10 feet away! It's unreal. And once she gets to him, she just wants to swim back to the edge of the pool so she can do it all over again. Well, our little Natalie has become a bit shy in the water, and frankly just couldn't compete with all the attention the little finned birthday girl was getting so she preferred sitting on the side of the pool instead of swimming with Corey. When the applause for the other little Natalie were just too much to take, our Natalie excused herself to a lounge nearby and watched from a distance. Sharing a name and the spotlight?......now, that's rough!

We're not kidding...she walked over to this lounge all by herself, climbed up and sat down! I've never seen a cuter sour grape!

Please, Feed the Bears

Last night after dinner, Natalie grabbed a little bear we call Howard and put him in her booster chair (yes, her booster seat is secured to a microwave box instead of a chair for those of you wondering, "is that booster seat tied to a microwave box?"..we're a little short on chairs, okay?). I suggested she feed Howard dinner and she obviously agreed. I handed her a plate and fork and helped her secure the tray on the seat. Then I thought Howard needed a bib. Well, Natalie must have "fed" Howard for 30 minutes. It was her idea to grab her sippy cup so Howard could wash down his dinner....what a thoughtful girl.

Aunt Ashley Came to Town!

We had such a fun weekend. Aunt Ashley came to visit and was such a good sport...she brought her own bed, bedding and towels. You really have to WANT to come visit us because it involves a lot of extra effort and packing!

Natalie absolutely loved having her here and the addition of a bed in the living room was icing on the cake....really the only thing that could make a vacant living room more fun for a toddler is a grown up bed sitting on the floor. When I told Natalie it was nap time, she promptly ran to Ashley's bed, snuggled up next to her and started sucking her thumb. Nice try, little one.

Not only do these two share a birthday, but they also share a love of books. Every time I turned around Natalie was sitting on Ashley's lap getting read to....heaven for both of them!

Thanks, Ash, for visiting. We love living closer to you!

New Town...New Do!

I finally trimmed Natalie's bangs. This trim was long overdue but keeping her still enough to approach her with scissors is a monumental task. Corey has wanted to see her hair in a ponytail for so long but with those out of control surfer boy bangs of hers there was no way to do a pony tail in the back without doing another one up front...and that looked a little too goofy!

So, after her bangs were trimmed I pulled her wet hair back into a pony tail and she looked so grown up. What a sweet, big girl she's growing into!

Worry not, those of you who love the Pebbles pony...it's still the hairstyle we do most often because I've learned to put it in while she walks away.

Drumroll please......

We have a new word! I was reading a book with Natalie last night asking her to point to things...when we got to a baby I said, "where's the baby?". Well, not only did she point to the baby but she said, in the sweetest little voice, "bebe". This is huge for Natalie! We have waited and waited for a word that wasn't an animal sound or "hi" for a long time! Way to go, little bebe!

On another note, we went to toddler story time at our local library yesterday morning. Well, guess what the theme of the day was....animal sounds. For those of you who've heard Natalie's barking, meowing, mooing, and the latest, the monkey "ooh, ooh, eeh eeh"ing (while she curls one arm up) you know that animal sounds are not what she needs to work on. We need actual words around here...duck, cup, dog, etc. Well, needless to say, she was in heaven! She was "oof oof"ing and meowing and loving every minute of it.

Exploring the desert.....

We are getting to know our new city and really liking it. We visited the Desert Botanical Gardens this past weekend and enjoyed it. We went at 11am so it was a little warm...not the best decision in retrospect, but give us a break, we're new to this desert dwelling business! Natalie was not too happy about being confined to her stroller but we were worried about letting her out as she would surely touch a prickly cactus and we'd all live to regret it.

Well, we finally folded when her screaming made it impossible for other guests to enjoy the tranquility of the gardens and released her. All she wanted to do was push her stroller. She could have cared less about the cacti! She was so insistent on pushing the stroller that at one point she was actually huffing and puffing as we went up a hill and sweating like crazy! What a determined little one! She could have had a nice shady ride through the desert but instead preferred to totally exhaust herself.

Hello, Phoenix!

Hello from the Valley of the Sun! We made it...almost a week ago...but it's taken a little while to get our internet up and running. So far we're doing great here....figuring our way about town, joining the YMCA (Natalie has her very own Y card with her picture on it...it's the cutest thing) and loving shopping at Trader Joe's again!! It's hot...hotter than hot, actually, but we have a pool in the complex where we're renting so we're not complaining!

The move across the country went as smoothly as a move across the country could go with a toddler and two cats! Grandma Betty and Grandpa Franc were LIFESAVERS...we'd still be in Asheville packing if they hadn't come to help.

Corey heading off with the kitties...and, of course, a few houseplants!
The moving van in our driveway...sad and exciting all at the same time!
Natalie LOVING the lack of mealtime furniture and an excuse to sit on Grandma's lap while she eats!

A suite fit for a king....or in this case, 2 princesses and a royal pair of grandparents. We lucked out and booked this suite to house us our last 2 nights in Asheville. We had two huge rooms and a jacuzzi tub!

Natalie's favorite spot...between Grandma and Grandpa.
We're in AZ and we're pooped! Sorry for the lack of pics in transit but for those of you who've travelled recently with a toddler you know that reaching for the camera is the last thing on one's mind!

This is about the extent of the furniture we brought with us to our rental (besides our bed and Natalie's crib). The rest of our stuff is being stored until we find a house. As you can see, Natalie much prefers our one and only chair to her own in the background.

NOT PICTURED: Grandma and Grandpa C and Aunt Ashley and Uncle Matt who greeted us here in Phoenix. They all drove up for the weekend to welcome us to town! We couldn't find our minds last weekend, let alone the camera so I apologize for the lack of pictures.

Thank you all for your help! We couldn't have done it without you!

Goodbye, Asheville!

We're heading out....and I still can't believe it. Corey drove off this morning and we're not far behind him. Our friends, Drake and Rachel, threw us a wonderful "send off" party over the weekend and it was so great to catch up with everyone before we go. We are going to miss you all so much! Thank goodness for these blogs so we can keep up with the lives of all of you and your beautiful critters and kids!

Asheville has been a very special place to us....our first house, our first hurricane....and of course, our first little one! Such good memories and such extraordinary friends! We love you all!