Dining with Princesses

Natalie got this table and chairs set for her birthday, but she just climbed on it then, so we put it away for a while. She was so excited when we got it back out for her to play with today. She just giggled and giggled.

The princesses on it made it that much better. She plays with her little princess "babies" so much that she knows some of them by name now. Her favorite is Belle - probably because her name is the easiest to say.

She ate her supper at her table like a big girl. And her babies joined. Imagine her saying "dip dip" as she dips each piece of chicken into her ketchup. So cute. And yes, I fully realize that this is not the most nutritious supper. She had fruit later, and she usually eats better, I promise.

Current Favorites

I never want to forget this sweet, shy, silly little girl that Natalie is right now. She's so fun that I find myself missing her and her little voice and quirks when she's sleeping. I know that if I want to remember this, I'm going to have to write it down because between pregnancy brain and sleep-deprived-mom brain, my memory doesn't stand a chance. So here she is. Our little Miss Personality.

She is extremely shy around new people, which I secretly love because it means more hugs, hand holding, and lap sitting for me. But for as shy as she is in public, she is equally as crazy at home.

Playing peek-a-boo around the corner

She is sure to tell us what she doesn't approve of lately as one of her newest words is "no". It sounds more like "nuuuuuuuuh" and is accompanied with an arm wave. We currently think it is about the cutest thing on the planet, but I know that will soon change.

Although "no" is now in her vocabulary, so is "please" (or "pease"). It doesn't come nearly as often or as voluntarily as "no" does though. We're working on that :)

She has also started running up to me, reaching her arms up, and saying "dance?" when she hears music on the TV. I pick her up, and she kicks her little feet in excitement as we dance around the living room.

She loves snack time, and she calls most of the foods she eats by name. She even attempts to say "macaroni" and "spaghetti", but my all time favorite food name is "bock bock" - chicken of course.

She squints her eyes, furrows her brow, purses her lips, and gives a little grunt when something is hard to open. "Hard to open" is open to interpretation though because the little grunt comes out even when I'm taking the cap off of the milk jug.

She absolutely loves babies. Babies in books, babies on TV, dolls, toddlers - she loves them all. And she is the sweetest little mommy to her babies. She gives them lots of big hugs. I'm sure her baby brother will be the recipient of quite a few rough hugs. Maybe we should work on "gentle" before he gets here. Either way, he will be loved by his big sister.

My least favorite things about this current stage?

Learning the art of the tantrum
and
The sleep that comes with new teeth.

It can't all be sunshine and roses, right? She's just trying to keep things lively around here.

Sledding

Natalie got a sled for Christmas, so we tried it out this afternoon. It was too cold to stay outside very long, but she loved every minute that we were out there. Maybe next year we'll brave the big hill at the park.

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!