Wagon Rides

We've had a few warmer days lately, so Natalie has been riding her new wagon around town. So far so good. She has only tried to get out once, and a puppy in the yard we were walking by is to blame for that.

Christmas Recap

Christmas week was full of family time, delicious food, and traveling. We celebrated five Christmas's over the course of the week. We had so much fun and got to spend time with so many people that we don't see nearly as often as we would like, but to say that we're glad to be back to our routine would be an understatement. Being around so many new people and in so many new places brought out the very timid side of Natalie, but overall, she did really well.

We started off the week with the O'Hallorans. It was so great having everyone in town for a few days. Here are all of the cousins:

This is one of the few pictures we had time for before rushing off to Christmas Eve Mass. We had to sit in folding chairs in the lobby, but that fit Natalie's current church tolerance much better than getting there 30 minutes early in order to get a seat in the pews would have.

Since we didn't have time for a family shot before Christmas Eve Mass, we staged this one in our church clothes a couple days later. 

Santa was good to Natalie on Christmas morning. Here she is with her loot (and bed head).

Next Christmas Great Grandpa and Grandma Wilmoth will have double the great-grandkids to pose with. 

Natalie loves these little princess dolls. She calls them her "babies" and likes to carry all five of them at the same time. They get lots of hugs and kisses throughout the day, and last night she fell asleep with them in her arms. 

She is also pretty fond of her big "baby" and her Minnie purse.

Face Lift

I knew (or I guess I had hoped) that "Notes about Natalie" wouldn't always be an applicable title for my blog. I thought that one day I would probably have more than one little person to blog about. And even though I'm really excited to have another star of the blog, I'm a little sad to see "Notes about Natalie" leave. Oh well. It had a nice run.

Welcome the much more generic blog name - "O'Halloran Life".

First Piggy Tails

They're pretty short and thin, so they didn't photograph very well, but it's official - our once almost bald little girl has piggy tails! 

I can hardly contain my excitement! I've been waiting for this day for so long! I've tried to put her hair in piggy tails a few times before, but it just wasn't quite long enough. We tried again today, and it worked!

 

It's a Boy!

Some women say they can tell whether they're having a boy or a girl - mother's instinct. I have never been one of those women. I incorrectly guessed that Natalie was a boy, and I had no clue about this baby's gender until last Monday. That's when we had our 20 week sonogram that showed a healthy baby boy!

I'm really excited and just a tiny bit nervous about having a boy. I love that we'll get to experience parenting both a daughter and a son. The thought of the toy box holding both dolls and trucks makes me really happy, so does the thought of going prom dress shopping and sitting in the stands at football games.

But O'Halloran boys have a history of not only liking trucks and football. Historically they also really like Star Wars, and that's the part that makes me nervous. Before we got married I told Chris that the only way I'd ever watch Star Wars was if we had a son, and now I'm beginning to eat my words.

Star Wars marathons and figurines aside, I'm so very excited for this little boy to get here! Natalie is going to be really excited when he arrives too. She currently loves babies, and hugs herself and then me every time she sees one.

One Year Pictures

Better late than never.

O'Halloran Leaf Collection

The O'Halloran engineers came up with quite the leaf collecting/chopping/transporting contraption this last weekend. (For the record, Chris suggested that I call it a "leaf collection system" instead of a contraption.) It turned out to be pretty impressive and should save a lot of time in raking seasons to come. Natalie and I supervised their work for a couple hours Saturday afternoon. She loved running around outside, and I got a nice little work out chasing her.

Moments to Remember

This post isn't as much of a post for others as it is a post for me. It's somewhat of a digital note for the "motherhood memories" section of my brain.

Because I hope to never forget the sweetness of this evening.

Bedtime has been rough around here lately. We're changing up our routine a bit, and Natalie doesn't quite have the hang of it yet. We're getting there, but it's still rough. Tonight she went down really easily after just a short bit of singing and bouncing, but she woke up crying an hour later, so the singing and bouncing continued. As she laid cradled in my arms with her eyes closed, she puckered up her lips, leaned forward, kissed me, then laid back in my arms.

My heart melted right then and there. Nights like these are rough, but they're so so worth it.

Spoon Practice

Tiny Cheerleader

We got to go to our second K-State game of the season on Saturday, which was perfect because Natalie just got a new (to us) K-State cheerleader uniform.

(Thanks Tom and Missy for the tickets and Jennifer for the outfit!)

Little Red Riding Hood

Natalie wore Aunt Erica's Little Red Riding Hood costume for Halloween last night.

She was just one week old last Halloween, so this was her first time trick-or-treating. She was brave at the first couple houses we went to, but then she decided that being held was a much safer option than standing in front of the door.

She spent most of the evening clutching her basket in one hand and a piece of chocolate in the other. She was still clutching her basket as I put her in the bath tub at the end of the night, and the only things she would let go of it for were M&Ms. So Little Red Riding Hood ended her big night with a luxurious bath accompanied by chocolate.

Party Animals

We had Natalie's birthday party at the King Park shelter house Sunday afternoon. We had a great turn out, the weather was beautiful, and the birthday girl even stayed happy the whole time despite needing a nap. I figure the pictures speak for themselves, so here you have it - picture overload.

Birthday Fun

Natalie had quite the birthday yesterday. Chris took the day off work, and we spent the entire day celebrating.

We started the day with presents and donuts.

Then we headed to Wichita for lunch at Chipotle and Natalie's first trip to the zoo. She loved both.

Then we finished off the day with birthday cupcakes.

What a fun day!