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.