5.25.2009

Yay Dave!!

Dave graduated on Saturday the 16th at the Eastman Theatre. Our family and a couple of close friends came to celebrate with us, and we had a terrific time together.
Here's a couple shots of Dave with his hood:


The whole family (except Dave's brother Chris, our dedicated photographer):

Just the 3 of us:

Dave and his parents:

Dave and his siblings (and Natalie):

Thanks, Chris, for all the great photos you took! We'll have to make sure you're in front of the camera more frequently at your graduation in July :)

4.26.2009

Hikers

The weather was so beautiful yesterday that we decided to go for a little hike. I was glad that Dave was up for this plan, because he had just gotten off of a red-eye flight from Tucson to Rochester via LA and Chicago. (By the way, Dave is now good friends with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Just ask him for details!) But back to the hike. We went to Powder Mills Park in Pittsford, and took their Daffodil Trail. It was an easy, short hike, and the best part was having a snack in the field of daffodils near the end of the trail.


But if you ask Natalie, she'll probably say that her favorite part was riding "on Daddy's legs." Also known as riding in the baby backpack. She had a great view and didn't have to negotiate her way among the roots and branches on the ground.

We saw that there was a fish hatchery at the park as well, and we decided to take a look at the trout there. We paid a quarter to feed them something that looked and smelled like cat food, and I couldn't believe what a show they put on while they were eating it!

Also, we saw the craziest house at the park! Dubbed the Mushroom House, this looks like it's straight out of the Shire. We expected to see some Hobbits pop out at any moment. All in all, a fun outing on a gorgeous day!

4.23.2009

Rise and Shine

Wow, look who's posting twice in less than 12 hours!

As you can see in the photo, Natalie's crib has become quite crowded in recent days, because of all the babies she likes taking to bed with her. One afternoon, when she wasn't falling asleep for her nap, I came in and she made an unusual request: "I need Chick Hicks!" So I gave Natalie her little green race car and she slept soundly.

Anyway, I came into Natalie's bedroom this morning to answer her request for more water and this is what I saw:

When I grabbed the camera to take a picture, Natalie instructed her babies to "give a smile!"

A side note for anyone wondering about the backward sleep sack Natalie's wearing, it's the easiest way we've found to keep her diaper on all night long ;)

4.22.2009

It's a Boy!

We had a prenatal ultrasound today and learned we are having a baby boy! The sonographer said he looks healthy, which we are grateful for. It was so fun to see his head, face, heart, toes, everything! After months of telling Natalie she will have a little brother or sister, we told her after the ultrasound that she is going to have a little brother, and she promptly filled in, "...or sister." We think she'll figure it out eventually. After the ultrasound we went to the mall and picked an outfit for little David. Ok, two. We couldn't choose between these:

3.10.2009

I wish I was a fish

As promised, here are photos! Natalie is sporting her new fish towel. She loves watching fish "swimming in da water," and now she gets to be one after every bath! I tried to get a better shot of what the towel actually looks like, but Natalie is just about as wiggly as a fish. When you combine that with her constant desire to be touching the camera or some other piece of technology, I figure was lucky to get the shots I did!

3.08.2009

24 hours in the life of...

Friday-Saturday was so crazy I couldn't think of any healthy way to cope besides blogging about it. Here goes: We went to a friend's house for game night on Friday, and Dave and I played tag team (in between stints at Guitar Hero) trying to catch Natalie in her various shenanigans. These included snagging the entire bag of cheese puffs and going for broke, eating her weight in strawberries, floating dog food in the dog's water dish, and dialing random phone numbers on my friend's cordless phone. We're hoping she didn't call the Dominican Republic or anything. We'll see when the bill comes.

On Saturday morning, we ate breakfast and then walked Dave to work because it was so warm out. Natalie was all excited to "play in the water" on the way back--there's a little muddy stream with a bridge--so she wore her pink rain boots and had a great time splashing around and throwing sticks in the water. Then she made the mistake of leaning over to grab a stick while she was on an incline, and she went head over tea kettle and landed flat on her back in the water. I was standing a foot away from her, but couldn't get my hands or brain to work fast enough to help. (It's funny how I always go through these scenarios in my head of dangerous hypothetical situations and how I would save Natalie from some terrible thing by sprinting across the room, all the while maintaining my balance and speaking to her in a soothing motherly tone. Situations like this make me realize that's not so realistic.) Anyhow, I picked her up out of the water and brushed the leaves and dirt out of her hair, and we headed for the house. Of course she was wearing only a sweatshirt and jeans, so she was completely soaked. But that didn't stop her from requesting a ride on the swing set as we passed it. (Request denied!) So apparently, she was not badly wounded. This is why I didn't feel too terrible for stifling a few snickers as I thought back about what had just happened.

We got inside the house and I stripped Natalie down for a bath. This was one of those "run the water, hose child down, drain water, remove silt from tub, and refill" kinds of baths. She had a great time with her toys, and recovered nicely from the experience. For the last day she has been reminding us frequently, "Nat-o-lie fall down in water. Muddy water. Boots." It's pretty cute.

So once she was clean and dry, I decided to take a shower myself. I suggested that Natalie look at some books and do puzzles. (Yeah right.) But this wouldn't be the post that it is if she had taken my suggestion. Natalie popped in on me a couple times while I was showering to say Hi, and then I asked for some privacy and she left. When she didn't come back for awhile I knew something was up. I found Natalie in the kitchen. She'd pulled a chair up to the counter, and she was plucking grapes from the fruit bowl, dipping them in the dregs of the waffle batter from earlier that morning, and eating them!!! Disgusting! Oh, and drinking from a sippy cup of milk that had been in the sink (waiting to be cleaned for about a day). I have learned from this experience that I need to do my dishes more often. Probably for that to happen, I need a dishwasher.

Long post, no pics. Sorry. Will post some soon!

1.31.2009

Future firefighter

Natalie and I had a great time touring the fire department yesterday. She loves fire trucks, and getting to climb inside one was a pretty exciting thing. I was amazed to learn that I can stand up straight inside a fire truck. Those things are huge! Natalie left with her own firefighter's hat, and she was in 7th heaven.