Playdate at the Mall

Another great thing about summer time is we have lots of play dates! A couple of weeks ago we met up with at the mall for a playdate with a fellow IF friend of mine, her son who is 4 years old and her baby girl who is just two weeks younger than Natalee. The boys had fun playing on the mechanical rides, taking a spin on the carousel, playing in the play area and just walking around the mall. I snapped a few pictures and thought I would share them on here.

Nico always chooses to ride on this spinning thing instead of the horses...who wants to ride a horse that barely moves when you can spin yourself silly?

  Natalee's first ride on the carousel! She wasn't sure what to think...and I was just glad it didn't make up her throw up!

Weekend Fun with Pops

This morning the kids and I dropped off Pops at the airport after having a nice and fun weekend together. He almost wasn't able to make up due to Mops being sick, but thankfully was able to make the trip and a certain 3 1/2 year old and 33 year old were terribly disappointed.

After arriving Saturday morning we spent the day on the east side of the DWF metroplex. First we ventured out and went the Dallas World Aquarium. I have read nothing but wonderful reviews about this place and what a great attraction it is; however Pops and I beg to differ. It was over crowded with small spaces to move around, they overcharged for admission and there was actually very little sea life. The term aquarium was used loosely here. Anyway, it was something I wanted to do with Nico before we potentially move away from the area, and I can cross that off my list and never go back. All in all, although it did not meet our expectations, Nico still enjoyed himself and had fun, so I guess that is what really matters.

There seemed to have been more jungle areas with monkies, birds and other creatures than fish at the Dallas World Aquarium!

"Look at my feet!"

"I am being a penguin."

You gotta love Nico's fake smile....

And there's that fake smile again.  We need to work on that.

After our narrow escape from the aquarium, we drove around Dallas a bit and wandered into the Grapevine area, so we stopped at the Rainforest Cafe for late lunch. Nico did not remember ever having been there in the past, so it was like a new experience for him. He was in awe of the mechanical animals moving around and growling every few minutes. The food was great as usual and the atmosphere is so much fun for kids. I often forget that the Rainforest Cafe is so close by, and I am thinking we should go more often.

Excuse the blurry picture. I was changing settings on the camera since the RFC was a little dark.

Intensely watching the gorillas.

Someone had a lot of fun at RFC!

Waiting outside of the RFC as Pops went to the bookstore.

Do you like Pops' new hat?  Looks pretty heavy.

The next day, we took a ride on the Forest Park Miniature Train, which we hadn't done since last November. This train ride was Natalee's first time, and she enjoyed it while sitting laid back in my lap and looking at everything passing by her. The rest of the day consisted of running a few errands and relaxing/playing at home. It was a good visit and this time we were able to say "Bye Pops, see you in a month!"

"Look at my crazy Momma! She is so funny!"

Sitting back relaxing on the train ride.

Now these smiles look good!

5 months already!

5 months...wow! I can hardly believe it; Natalee is already 5 months old. She is absolutely so sweet and incredibly beautiful! I am amazed at how much more gorgeous she gets every day. I think Ed and I are going to be in a lot of trouble later on when Natalee gets older. She is definitely keeping those baby blues God blessed her with and then there is that gorgeous smile and her beautiful head of hair! But besides being such a pretty girl, Natalee also has such a wonderful personality. She is such a happy baby. Natalee loves being talked to and getting that one on one attention and especially likes being sung to. She seems to like all songs such as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, The Wheels on the Bus, and Row Row Row Your Boat, but her all-time favorite is the sweet song her Daddy thought of...the Natalee song.

Natalee has become such a rolly polly. No matter where I lay her down, she is trying to roll around and over. This is becoming a bit of an issue as she is rolling over in her crib at night now. Once the Little Miss rolls onto her tummy, she becomes distressed and after a few minutes she lets everyone know. Natalee is also trying very hard to sit up! I am excited for her, and while this milestone could make life a bit more convenient, I want her to slow down. She can balance herself to sit up for a few seconds and then waivers forward or sometimes to her side, tipping over. I think she may be sitting up by the time I write her six month blog!

Since Natalee came down with the nasty upper respiratory infection, she has not been sleeping through the night, which has been wearing on poor Mommy. However, the good news is that her cough has finally subsided, so I am hoping some solid sleep is in our near future. Finally, Natalee must have had a growth spurt because she has outgrown a lot of her 0-3 months clothes and is comfortably wearing 3-6 months now. This might contribute to the increase of food she has been eating. In addition, to eating solids once a day, Natalee is eating 5-6 oz in almost all of her feedings. Who's a big girl?!  I guess before I know it, we will be doing 6 month pictures...gesh, where is time going!
  

I have to brag...

About my precious Nico. His heart is so big it he demonstrates his loving nature very often and frequently towards the littlest one. Typically, Natalee will take two longer naps and a short one thorughout the day; however the other day, she must have been protesting. I could not for the life of me, get this sweet baby to sleep in the late afternoon as I am able to. Since I had 150 million other things going on, such as cooking dinner, cleanning, catering to my dear 3 year old, and monitoring my crazy online students (at least they were crazy that day), I decided to try a bit of CIO with Natalee for the first time. Silly baby girl was extremely tired, but would not cooperate with what she needed to do, so I laid her down in her crib and let her fuss and cry some.

Nico, was so concerened and did not understand why in the world I was not running in to get Natalee! He kept coming into the kitchen saying, "Mommy, go. Natalee is crying." After multiple attemots of him trying to get me to go get Natalee, he realized I was not budging for the time being. So this big hearted brother took matter into his own hands and went on into Natalee's room. He climbed up on the crib and stood there talking to her, making her smile and laugh. Nico would then leave the room once he thought Natalee was happy again, but before he knew it, he heard crying coming from the nursery! So he turned right back around and would run quickly into the room to continue to make his little sister happy....and he did this for a good 20 minutes.




My sweet boy continued to go out of his way to make his little sister happy. He easily could have ignored the crying and instead watched one of this favorites, "Super Why" or "Caliou," colored, or played on his Nook or laptop. However, he put his sister first; he cared about someone more than himself even at the mere age of three, and showed how big his heart is. What a gift from God this precious boy is!

Beautiful, Beautiful Girl

I must pat myself on the back for the frequent blogging I have been doing. I guess I have a little extra time when I am not working full time! I have also have a bit of extra time on my hands to get some great shots of our baby girl. It has been a while since she has had a photo shoot or two! So in case you forgot jusy how beautiful our angel is...here you go!

Going Bananas!

Yesterday was a big milestone for baby girl Natalee!  She had her first try at solid food.  I decided to start with bananas because I figured..."all babies love bananas!"  Right? Well, I am not so sure, and Natalee was not too sure either. She did a great job of opening her mouth to take the spoon in and gave very good indications when she was done eating by keep her lips tightly locked. I am not necessarily saying Natalee did not like the bananas, but she just was not sure what it was or what was happening. Unlike Nico with his first bit of food, Natalee was hard to read, but over the next two feedings she seemed to have gained an understanding of what the name of the game is when I have a spoon coming to her mouth.  I am excited to try sweet potatoes and avocados with Natalee in next couple of weeks, which are already in the freezer made by with love by her very own Mommy. 

Video of Natalee's first bites of bananas!

Pictures of Natalee taking in her first food!

Growing up in Videos

Nico is already 3 AND A HALF years old, but we finally just got around to putting together Nico's 3rd Year video. I have posted it here, but also along with the other two that have been made for him all on a separate page here on the blog. Just like on the page titled, "Nico, Growing Up in Videos." Enjoy watching my precious boy grow up in pictures!   And don't worry grandparents, your very own copy is comng your way.

Nico's 3rd Year

Happy Father's Day!

Today was Father's Day and mine and Ed's anniversary!  Yep, they finally fell on the same day.  We knew that would happen eventually.  Since the last three years Ed has either been out of town on Father's Day or life altering events have occurred about that time, he was definitely due for a good one.  So the focus today was on Father's Day and the celebration of our anniversary will have to wait. We started off the day with making Daddy breakfast in bed and of course he opened up his presents.  It was precious that both Nico and Natalee came home from school with presents for Daddy so we wrapped those up.

After a lazy morning of coffee, the U.S. Open, exercise, laundry and some cleaning, we headed to The Ballpark in Arlington to watch the Texas Ranger take on the Houston Astros. I, of course, was excited to see and root on the baseball team that will always hold my heart, the Astros.  The may do poorly most of the time, but I have some of the most fondest memories going to Astro games with my own wonderful-Astro-fan-of-a-father. So going to see the Stros on Father's Day was quite memorable for me.  Ed does love baseball, but he loves his Cubbies probably even more than I love my Stros, so he was not going as a fan.  This was only Nico's second pro-baseball game, as his first was when he was just 5 months old and we saw the Astros play the Cubs in Chicago.   He was in awe of how big the ballpark was and kept forgetting that baseball was actually being played down below and not just on the big screen TV.   Nico was adorable to watch as he lit up and joined right in when the various defense claps or songs came on for the audience to participate in.  

With having both kids in tow, we were expecting a very short stay at the game; however they surprised us and we stayed until the end of the 4th inning; even in the heat and crowded seating area we were in!  That is a pretty big deal and we can work on staying later as we possibly go to more games in the future. This was Natalee's first baseball game, so it was important to commemorate this event! Big surprise....I took a lot of pictures.

A little souvenir for each of the kids to remember today, and to symbolize Natalee's first baseball game.