My Two Month Old Cutie!

Natalie is two months old!
She no longer has a problem with not wanting to eat. At her two month check-up, she was twelve and a half pounds! She's got chubby little arms and legs now, and I'm so glad that she's doing so well on formula.

This little girl is SO smiley! She's the happiest baby, and I love it! All the time, all day long, she just wants people to look at her and talk to her so she can smile and talk back to them.
I adore her smiles!

Some other things I have learned about Natalie so far are:

*She's a night owl. . . just like her mommy! It's hard to get her to settle down to sleep until at least 10 pm, and sometimes much later.

*She has a pretty short attention span and doesn't like to stay in any one place for too long, just like her sister. She loves to be entertained and doesn't like to be left alone.

*She is a total social butterfly!

*We have to swaddle her and wrap her up tight to get her to fall asleep, just like we used to do with Kirsten. She's really wiggly and loves to try to get her arms out of the swaddle, so we usually have to wrap her up a couple of times before she finally settles down.

*She hardly ever spits up anymore! Much less than Kirsten did at this age!

*Her favorite person to smile at is. . . ANYONE who smiles at her!

*It's impossible to predict which nights she will sleep through the night, and which nights she won't. It's anybody's guess!

I love my happy little baby! She is just too cute for words!

Country Girl or City Girl?

Despite growing up surrounded by chickens, horses, ducks, turkeys, and 5 acres of land, I am definitely more of a city girl than a country girl. I'm actually a suburbs girl, since I've always lived in the suburbs and within 30 miles from a large city. But I'd choose the culture and excitement of a city over the country any day! There are only 3 country girl-qualities that I possess:
1. I love country dancing
2. I love demolition derby's, they are awesome!
3. I'm a sucker for good old-fashioned county fairs with fireworks

So far, Kirsten is a country girl! She loves to run and play outside, isn't afraid of farm animals, and probably wishes she lived on a farm. She's having such a blast playing outside at grandma and grandpa's house!
These pictures are from Seattle, at the South 47 Farm in Redmond where we took Kirsten for Farm Animal day a couple weeks ago. It was really kind of a shabby little farm, in my opinion, and we didn't stay very long.

Can't ride a horse yet? No problem! Just hop on a saddle on a bale of hay! Ride 'em, cowgirl!

She thinks she's ready to start driving! That's a little scary, but she does look cute behind the wheel!

As you can see, she was ready to leave the little farm just as soon as I was.

Are you a city girl or a country girl?

Oh, Happy Day!

Ohhhhhh, yeah! We are in San Diego! We just arrived today! Wooooohooooo!

(Insert Mary Murphy-like scream here. . . even though Stephen thinks she's the most annoying person on TV!)

What a week this has been!
Highlights of the week:
1. I got the laundry done, got everything all packed (I hope), got to the airport on time, and survived the flight in the very last row of our Alaskan Airlines plane with Kirsten and Natalie. You know what? A family of four (as long as one is a baby) fits perfectly into a row of airplane seats!
2. Natalie was a dream! She was either sleeping, eating, or just awake and happy for the entire flight. And Kirsten was so excited to see Grandma and "Poppy" she could hardly sit still!
3. I saw 'The Proposal' last Friday night with Miranda. It was hilarious! I don't know when I've laughed so hard! Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds were both awesome in it, and I loved the movie. Go see it!!!
4. Stephen and I finally went to dinner tonight without any kids, and I got my favorite dessert in the world. . . molten chocolate cake. Heaven!!!
Chili's, I love you!

Things I learned this week:
1. When you unpack your portable DVD player from storage and take it with you on the airplane, test it out at home to make sure it still works. (Oops. . . the stupid thing wouldn't read any of our discs!)
2. Invest in Huggies Overnight diapers. I've changed Kirsten's sheets and washed her pj's a bunch of times, but I had enough of regular diapers at night when she slept in late one morning and was literally dripping with pee when I got her up in the morning. Dripping! Everywhere!!! I hope the Overnights will fix this!
3. To Kirsten, everyone with a beard is Santa. . . even the picture of Jesus hanging in our bishop's office at church. ("Kirsten, who is that in the picture?" "Santa!" Gasp! I felt like a horrible parent!!!)

1. Don't give your 2 year-old crayons if you can't sit with her and supervise. Kirsten bit the tops off four crayons last week! How many times do I have to say, "Crayons are for coloring, not for eating!" before it sinks in???

Stay tuned for our San Diego adventures!

Kirsten's Birthday Party!

A few weeks ago, we had a small party at the park to celebrate Kirsten turning 2! And it took me this long to get the pictures edited and posted on the blog. :)

We had the party in the first week of June, the hottest week ever, but it was a gorgeous afternoon and Kirsten had such a fun time!
The party was small, but it had all the ingredients necessary for a great 2 year-0ld party:

*A fun playground

*Kirsten's best friend, Uncle Chance (yes, her best friend is an adult!)

*A beach ball
(that ball really did belong to her. . . but it didn't stop her from stealing a soccer ball from some other kids she saw)

*Fun friends!

*A grill for BBQ'ing hot dogs and hamburgers

*Chips (one of Kirsten's favorite things)

*A Daddy to man the grill for the majority of the time

*Water!

(And not just any water. . . a gorgeous lake!)

*Big, shady trees and some picnic tables

*Yummy food

*The CAKE!

*Someone to cling to when you get shy because everyone is singing to you

*Two candles!

*Balloons! (another of Kirsten's favorite things)

She loved the cake so much! I had to get tons of pictures of her digging into it, because on her first birthday she would hardly touch her cake. What a difference a year makes!

*Mother Nature's dirt floor makes for much easier clean-up after the cake devouring!

She got the frosting everywhere!!!

But just look at that happy face! Kids are happiest when they're messy!

*Too many things to play with

*Presents to open!

It was a fun day at a great park to celebrate a very fun little 2 year-old!

I Have a Great Dad!

I don't get to see my Dad on Father's day, so I better do the next best thing. . . give him a phone call and also track down some old pictures for a blog post. :)

Starting as a baby, my Dad taught me lots of valuable things, like. . .

*How to play and enjoy quality time

*How to treat animals with wonder and love

*The value of hard work

*That I have to be nice to my little brother, because someday he'll be bigger than me

*To treasure time spent with my family

*How to have fun and enjoy life to the fullest extent!
(My dad was known for making the best, highest swings in the world. This swing he made for our annual ward camp-out was scarier and more thrilling than most theme park rides!)

I love you, Dad!
Happy Father's Day!