Welcome Audrey Marie

Today we welcomed Audrey Marie at 1:14pm. She weighs 7lbs, 12oz and is 18.25 inches long. She has a beautiful head of dark brown hair much to the surprise and elation of her mommy. Both are resting peacefully and we are all enjoying getting to know each other. We just wish that Natalie could be here with us. Fortunately, she is having a blast with Nana at home.

Good Morning, Princess!

We have a little princess in the house. Not just a toddler who THINKS she's a princess...a toddler who KNOWS she's a princess and has the wardrobe to prove it.

The other night, Natalie just did not want to go to sleep. She begged to dress up in one of her fairy princess costumes and play for a "yittle" while. It was 9:30. She'd been in bed NOT sleeping for over an hour. The answer was NO. There was begging (both of us). There were tears (only Natalie). Finally, I convinced her that, if she went to bed, she could be a princess first thing in the morning. As usual...Natalie held me to my word.

The next morning by 6am this is how she greeted me for the day...

Fairy princess dress on, crown held in place by a serious case of bed head, decked out in jewels and carrying her wings in one hand and her sparkle shoes in the other. And instead of a "morning, Mommy," the first words out of her mouth were, "can you help me put on my wings and shoes?"

This started a trend. The next morning she had the OTHER fairy princess dress on before leaving her bedroom. This time she had ONE shoe on and her princess purse in hand filled with colored pencils.


Now if only her parents would treat her like the princess she claims to be...

All By Myself!!

We're experiencing a surge of independence around here. Natalie has insisted on dressing herself all week. The clothing combinations are quite comical. This morning the outfit of choice was a shirt with watermelons all over it paired with a floral skirt. Both had a background of pink...but that's truly where the similarity ended.

Last night she desperately tried to wear a skirt as a shirt. The more Corey and I tried to convince her otherwise, the more she was determined to prove it was a shirt. This particular skirt had bloomer shorts inside...one leg hole was around her neck, her arm was through another and her remaining arm hung free...which confused her a bit but did not deter her! I think she finally started to lose feeling in a limb due to the squeeze of fabric wound all around her and she eventually (tearfully and dramatically) gave up.

Other days, the matching wardrobe elements are there...but both shirt and pants are on backwards. Oh, and shoes are inevitably ALWAYS on the wrong feet.

Our little artist

Natalie is an art lover! Crayons, paint, colored pencils, pens, finger paints, and chalk will keep this kid busy for hours. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the fact that she has her "office" on the floor between Corey's desk and my desk and is forced to entertain herself quietly a lot during the day as we both work from home. When told she must find a quiet activity while one or both of us makes a phone call or drafts an email, she always chooses to color.

The easel that Santa brought her for Christmas could not have been a better choice. She uses it every single day to create some piece of painted art that I'm not able to throw away...the stack is getting quite large.

The other day I watched her paint this self portrait. Natalie...in the yard, under a blue sky surrounded by flowers and butterflies. Too sweet.






We could just be typical proud parents who think our kid is the next Rembrandt...but, honestly, I think this is pretty impressive for a 3 year old!

An-sis-ipation

Natalie is anxiously awaiting this new baby sister she's been hearing so much about. This is how I found her baby doll the other day.

Mom and I had set up the baby swing the day before and Natalie wasted no time trying it out. Beware baby sister...Natalie pushes with gusto as if we're at the park. This swing will need CONSTANT supervision by an adult very close by when the baby is actually in it as I fear Natalie will attempt an underdog! Again, thank you, Aunt Amber for introducing that little thrill known as the underdog to our daughter!


Natalie has been asking all sorts of questions lately..."where will the baby sit in the car?", "where will the baby sit in the grocery cart?", "will the baby take a bath with me?",and my personal favorite, "will the baby help me clean my room?" After answering her questions, I tried to explain to her that the first few weeks were going to be a little nuts and that we'd all need to take care of each other. I explained that Mommy will have to spend a lot of time taking care of the baby and Daddy will have to spend a lot of time taking care of Mommy but that either Nana or Grandma Lala will be here for the first few weeks to make sure Natalie is taken care of. She just looked at me shaking her head and said, "Don't worry, Mommy, I'll just take care of all you people." She actually called us all you people.

She tells everyone that she is going to be a big sister (grocery store clerk, librarian, the neighbor)...as if my belly didn't already spread the word loud and clear! She's had a great time looking through her own baby clothes as we wash everything and get it folded and ready. She insists some of the really cute outfits would still fit her if I just let her try them on. And when she joined me at a doctor's appointment this week, she told the doctor we had everything ready...we just needed the baby!

So, Natalie appears to be ready for her little sister. The question is...is little sister ready for Natalie?

Mom's Day...a week early

Grandma Lala came to town for the weekend so we did some early celebrating of her birthday and Mother's Day. We were able to meet Aunt Ashley for dinner halfway between Phoenix and Tucson and just have fun gabbing, eating and gabbing some more. We've not all been together for Mother's Day in many years!

Grandma Lala was such a help getting many before-baby-arrives "to do" list items crossed off the list...thank you so much, Mom! The swing and bassinet are now assembled and ready to go! Exciting.

The latest belly picture. I'm huge. I'm beyond the point where people look over, see the belly and smile. Instead, they look over, see the belly and their expression tells me they're worried I'm going to go into labor while they're having dinner next to our table.