Natalie’s Blog

Natalie, like most babies & toddlers, loves to play peek-a-boo. When she was younger (around 11 or 12 months? how quickly we forget the details—that’s why we have this blog!) she used to only cover one of her eyes when she hid. It was like she knew she should hide, but couldn’t resist watching others’ expressions while we asked “where’s Natalie?”

On our way home from the Poconos, we stopped in Quakertown, PA for lunch. Chris took this series of Natalie playing peek-a-boo.

Natalie feeds Clara:

We spent Memorial Day weekend in the Poconos with the Schantz family. Natalie (despite her illness) and Clara had a great time running around together. And the adults got to relax a bit. All in all, a very nice trip!

Here’s Natalie snoozing on my lap, lakeside:

Lovely blue skies:

Dave, Diane, and Clara canoeing:

Clara playing by the lake while Natalie slept:

Chris reading the girls a story:

Clara asleep in the ergo:

Natalie attended her first benefit as my date to the Barbara Boggs Sigmund Award dinner last Thursday. The annual fundraiser benefits Womanspace, where I’ve worked for the last six years.

Here she is all dressed up and ready to go:

Her favorite part of the evening was looking at the fish in the lobby of the Hyatt:

Our longest (post-daycare) illness-free streak ended last Thursday. Natalie, who hadn’t been sick since the beginning of April when she had croup, had a mysterious fever with no other symptoms for 4 days. We had a trip to the Poconos planned for Memorial Day weekend, so I took Natalie to the doctor Friday morning before we left. We saw Dr. Pierson, who must have been a founding member of the large practice. Natalie was petrified of his white hair and hairy ears and became hysterical before he even got near her. No ear infection, no strep throat, so Doc declared the fever to be viral. Despite the temperature, she was in a good mood for the holiday weekend (more about that in the next post).

Unfortunately, when we got home the fever turned into coughing, sneezing, extreme clinginess, and hardcore crankiness. She had little appetite and trouble sleeping. Today she’s in a better mood and eating a little, but still having explosive-snot sneezes that make her cry. Right now I’m the only healthy one in family—Chris caught the bug and is home sick with fever, aches, and nausea. Luckily, Natalie’s napping now, so I finally have time to blog! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can stay healthy…

My friend Chloe (just realized we’ve been friends for 15 years!) called me last weekend to say she was in town from VA. Chloe has two kids, Greta (age 4) and Marla (just 8 weeks older than Natalie). We talked about seeing each other (a rare treat) and I immediately started talking about playgrounds and kid-friendly activities. Chloe stopped me and said, “OR, we could get babysitters and go out by ourselves.” Duh! I have been so baby-focused over the past 17.5 months that I didn’t even think of going out without the kids. I replied, “I can tell who’s been a mother longer…I have much to learn from you, Chloe!”

Here we are—our big night on the town, sans kids. It was refreshing to go out to a kid-unfriendly restaurant (and sit down through the entire meal!) and then linger over a cup of coffee, as opposed to slurping it down while chasing after toddlers!

Natalie can’t pronounce the “kah” sound, so she calls cookies “tootees.” Here she is having (mommy)milk and a “tootee”….what a delicious combination!!

This morning on the way to school, Natalie and I had a minor disagreement. It went like this…

Natalie (pointing to a truck) says: Bus!

Mommy: No, sweetie, that’s a truck. Can you say truck?

Natalie (looking inquisitive): Bus?

Mommy (firmly): Truck.

Natalie (wildly shaking her head and frantically pointing): BUS!!!

Mommy (gently): Truck.

Natalie (desperately): BUS??

Mommy (melodically): Trrrrrruuuckkk!

Natalie (seizing the opportunity to play a game): Bus!

Mommy (smiling): Truck!

Natalie (giggling): Bus!

We go back and forth like that for a while, until a big yellow school bus goes by.

Natalie (super excited): BUS!!

Mommy: Yes, that’s a bus!

Happy Mother’s Day! Here are some pictures from our annual trip to Sayen Gardens.

This picture perfectly captures the stage Natalie is in. She will tolerate being held for about 30 seconds before she throws her upper body forward and shouts, "DOWN!!" It’s nearly impossible to take a picture with her. She loves to look at photos of herself, but can’t be bothered to pose for the camera…

Not sitting still…

Most people see Natalie and immediately see a resemblance to Chris…Of course her coloring comes from Daddy, but I think in this photo Natalie looks a lot like Mama…

A tiny, tiny smile…

Here’s a picture from last year for comparison’s sake. My, how Natalie has grown! I guess she was wiggly then, too…

This post is a photo essay commemorating the rattail in the back of Natalie’s hair. While a lot of parents are excited for baby’s first haircut I really didn’t want to cut Natalie’s hair…ever…so much so that I was willing to let her have a rattail. Sure, sometimes it was messy and unsightly, but at times is was a perfect ringlet curl. In the end, it was knotted up beyond repair, forcing Natalie’s first haircut before I was emotionally ready for it. The back of Natalie’s hair is now all one length. Chris is overjoyed that our daughter no longer has a hair style reminiscent of a redneck from the 80’s. I’m still in mourning for that perfect little ringlet.

The rattail started with a bald spot. In my grandmother’s day, mothers were advised to alternate the position they put their babies to sleep in to avoid bald spots and flat heads. Because of the “Back to Sleep” campaign, these days it’s common for babies to get bald spots on the back of their heads. Natalie was no exception. But because she was born with unusually long hair (especially unusual because she’s also blond) the hair at the base of her skull stayed long, even after the bald spot developed. Hence, her rattail began…

Around 5 months, we tried to sweep the rattail to the side. We thought the rest of Natalie’s hair would eventually catch up.

But there was no hiding or containing the rattail…

The rattail got longer, curlier, and messier as the rest of Natalie’s hair grew thicker….

This was my attempt to capture the perfect ringlet that the rattail would sometimes be:

Even I knew that eventually the rattail would have to be cut off. I had wanted to save the ringlet in a pewter box I bought specifically made to save a lock from baby’s first haircut. But, alas, the rattail had to go because it got knotted up, so we’ll have to remember it with pictures.

Here it is, the last known photo depicting the rattail before its demise….

P.S. It was actually difficult to find all these photos. We’re usually trying to photograph Natalie’s face, not the back of her head.

P.P.S. If you think I’ve gone overboard documenting every single aspect of Natalie’s young life, you’re right! Feel free to laugh with me and at me. Just be thankful I didn’t post a picture of Natalie’s first vomit!