Keeping Up With Natalie

It has been a mighty busy week since our return from Wilmington!

 

Last week went by in a blur. I had the usual things keeping me busy during the day: Natalie, exercise (almost to my target weight! Yay!), Natalie, keeping the house in order, Natalie, putting up Christmas decorations, Natalie. You know, stuff like that.

 

Natalie is figuring things out pretty fast. In just the past few days, she has learned to put her sippy cup into the cup holder of the stroller, take off her socks, climb down stairs feet-first and stick her finger in her nose. Those may seem like small things, but I imagine that they indicate pretty significant intellectual gains. She takes a few steps, but she's very deliberate about it, so it might be a while before she's completely walking. I'm glad, because she will probably have fewer falls than kids who want to take consecutive steps before they have the balance for it.

 

Speaking of injuries.... we've had a lot of them lately. Quite a few pinched fingers from toilet lids, the trash can lid, and dressed drawers. She puts one hand inside the lid, then puts her weight on her hand on the outside and crushed her poor little hand and doesn't know what to do to stop it! It's so sad. She has had a lot of bumps on the head, but usually when she is playing, she doesn't mind- gets right back up and continues after whatever she was pursuing. Yesterday she pulled a chair down on herself. Our chairs aren't very heavy, but it was still pretty traumatic for her because she was stuck under it!

 

Natalie has been exploring cupboards. Thank goodness my dad gave me some child-proof latches that they couldn't use. So, we've at least got the chemical and tools cupboards childproofed, but she continues to get into the bathroom cupboard and our pots and pans.

 

 

I didn't mind that much at first, until she climbed in and sat on the edge- I was so worried that she would fall back and hit her head on the tile! She likes to climb up on the dishwasher and sit like this too. Drives me nuts!

 

 

We have finally gotten down a system that keeps her out of the dog food. Sammy eats out of tupperware and we keep the lids on when he isn't eating. Here, after shaking it, hitting it on the floor and chewing on it, Natalie tries her luck at opening it using a baby fork as a tool.

 

Despite how much she moves, she still has the cutest, chubbiest little thighs. Little roll crease and everything!

 

My receipt from CVS yesterday. This week, CVS and Walgreens have crazy awesome sales that make tons of stuff free after in-store cash rewards. This transaction was for $90 of stuff, after sales and coupons I paid with $47 of Extracare Bucks, then a little over $3 for tax and received over $64 of Extracare Bucks printed on the bottom of my receipt. Cashier said it was the best she's seen yet! Could have done even better, but they were out of several things.

 

Excitedly looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow and then Christmas-music-playing-season after that!

 

Micah has been extremely busy with school. It will be awesome when the semester is over and we leave Atlanta and I get to have his undivided attention for a couple of weeks. Yay!