Funky Ear

Jason and I had a bad parent moment the other night. I am sure it wont be the last!! Natalie's ear had a funky smell!! I know it sounds weird, but it's true! We went days without knowing what it was. We asked some of the people at day care and they thought that the smell was coming from her neck. We looked at her neck and it was raw!! And it did kind of stink like milk. We felt so bad that we thought the Nata had something wrong with her ear and the whole time she was just DIRTY. That night we bathed her (which we DO do pertty often) and made sure to clean her neck out really good. The next morning the smell was back. And it was coming from her ear. We decided to call the pediatrician. I felt kind of stupid saying to the nurse "My baby has a stinky ear". I am glad the nurse didn't think it was stupid because she told us to come in. As it turns out the poor Nata had an ear infection and we didn't know. She didn't have a fever and she wasn't fussy so I am not sure how we would have known if we hadn't noticed the smell. I guess we learned a lesson this week, "don't ever let someone else tell you what is normal for a baby if you think there might be something wrong".

I think she is feeling better. The doctor gave us an antibiotic and some ear drops. I am really glad we found this before our trip to Ecuador. We have less than a week left before we travel and we would have not been able to go with a sick Nata.

A great thing!!

A great thing has happened, the Nata likes her bouncy seat!!!!!

Finding a new house

The day after derby, while Jason was feeling terribly ill, we went house hunting. We are looking for a new house for the Nata. We don't think our house in Old Louisville is the perfect place for her. We are wanting to move to a quieter street, where we can go for walks and we would like to find a house with a usable basement and garage. We've been looking for a while in Crescent Hill and the Highlands. Everything so far has been junk!

Well, today we went to a house on the east end. We weren't really looking all that much in that area but we really liked this house. It's in a nice neighborhood and we think we can stay in this house for a while (our friends and family are tired of helping us move). We made an offer on the house and they accepted it!!!! We are in the process of doing inspections and appraisals and all that good stuff. We hope everything goes well with the selling of our house. We have a contract on it but it has a contingency on the sell of the buyers house in Tennesse. We are keeping our fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong!!

Derby

We went to see Zack, Bethany and Stella for Derby. They were having some people over and cooking out. We had a great time. Chuck, Danna and Ella were there also. It's crazy to see all these babies together!!
The Nata made her first bet that day. We put $1.00 into the pot and drew a horse. Unfortunately our horse didn't win. That could be a good thing, we don't want the Nata to get used to betting and winning becuase I am pretty bad at horse betting. I ususally follow the which one is the prettiest or which one is wearing the color I like method.
That night Jason got incredibly ill. He was vomiting all night long. We found out that Jennifer, Chuck, Zack and Bethany got sick also. I must say, it wasn't Zack and Bethany's cooking. They all had the same virus!! Isn't terrible. Luckily none of the babies got it and Danna, Scott and I were spared also. Poor Jason!

Fashon Show

Sorry, I just can't helpt it. She looks sooooo cute in her new clothes I just have to take pictures. She is finally big enough to wear her 0-3 month old outfits.

Thunder Over Louisville

Thunder was pretty low key this year. The Nata got to meet Tio David for the first time. David has been in Alabama for training so he came up to Louisville for the weekend. David hadn't been able to meet her yet becuase he is stationed in Germany (he's a pilot for the Air Force). There was a bunch of other people in town that weekend also. One of David's friends was flying the F-15 for the air show so several other friends of his were in town to see it. Once brunch was over they all went to the waterfront. Jason, Natalie and I decided we better stay behind.

We went over to Scott and Jennifer's for dinner. Once it got close to 9 pm we walked towards Broadway and found a spot where we could see the fireworks. I think Natalie enjoyed it very much, she slept through the whole thing!!!

Easter

Easter was crazy. First we went to Tita's where Tia Lucia, Tia Cynthia and Tio Pat were also...





...Then, we went to Mammaw's where we also saw Uncle Travis and Aunt Erika...









...Then we went to see Pappaw and Mammaw Patty and Uncle Ryan...







...EVERYONE LOVED HER DRESS!!

The Nata and Friends

Meet some of Nata's friends, Ella, Stella and Nicole.

Natalie's 2nd Month

We had a lot of firsts this month. Here are a few I can remember:
1. She found the little bears above her swing.
2. She took a bath with out crying (I figured out I was freezing the poor thing, the water was too cold!!).
3. She had her first day at day care and I went back to work.
4. She started SMILING, not just passing gas anymore!
5. She has started cooing.
6. She rolled over!!!

First day at work was weird. It was very strange leaving Natalie with strangers. Don't feel to bad for me though, she is actually in my building. The building where I work has a day care on the first floor!!I get to see her every three hours becuase I am still nursing. I love being able to see her during the day. I makes it a lot easier to concentrate when I do have to actually work.

We have realized that the Nata is a morning person. We wake up at 5:15 and she is ready to go. She is always smiling and talking. And we are at work by 7 am. I love this schedule because it means that I get off at 3:30.

I can't believe how big she is getting. I love this pic! She looks like a little buddha!



At her 2 month old appointment she weighed 10 lbs 5 oz, was 22 1/4 inches long and her head circumference was 38 1/2 inches. Unfortunately she had to get shots this time. She did great. I think she got more upset when we had to undress her so she could be weighed.

Catching Up, Part II

The first month was kind of rough. I was trying to figure out how to feed and take care of the Nata, Nata was trying to figure out how to eat, Jason was trying to figure out how to have enough energy to work all day and then come home to a wife that needed to have some kind of interaction with a person that could respond back, and the dogs were trying to figure out what this little noisy thing we brought home was. Needless to say, we all survived.

It took a while to get used to being home. My skills for doing things with one hand were lacking. I think what made it a lot easier was that Jason would come home for lunch or my Mom would come and visit us during her lunch break. Most of the days that's when I ate lunch and took a shower. As Nata got a little older we started venturing out a little more. We would go to the park, or Target, or I would run any errand I had to do that wouldn't take more than two hours. The first time we went out took me forever to get us ready. I think it must have taken me about three hours just to take a shower, feed Natalie, dress her, get her diaper bag ready and we were probably out for no more than an hour.

Everything got a little easier when we figured out that she likes the baby swing. What a wonderful invention!! It's great to be able to use both hands again!! She still doesn't like the bouncy seat. We are still working on that one.

This month we also gave the Nata her first real bath. She hated it. Cried the whole time!! Who desn't like to take a warm bath!!!

We took her to the doctor for her 1 month check up. She weighed 8 lbs 2 oz, she was 20 1/4 inches long and her head circumference was 35.8 cm. She has really grown!

Catching Up, Part I

Ok, so I decided to start this a little late. The Nata is already two months old. So, I figured I should bring you up to speed.

The Nata was born on February 21, 2006 at 10:11 pm at Norton Suburban Hospital. It all went a lot smoother than I expected. I went into labor at 3:30 that morning. I stayed in bed for a while, I really didn't think this was it. It was a week and a half before my due date. I finally got out of bed around 6:30 am and woke Jason up. We both thought I was going through false labor becuase nothing was really progressing. We finally decided we would both go into work, so we got ready. We were about ready to leave for work when we thought it might be best to call my doctor. Of course, they said go to the ER. I felt so stupid. I thought they would tell me I was in false labor and send me back home. Well...I am glad I went in.

Natalie wasn't in any rush that day. They all though she would be born in the middle of the night on th 22nd. That was fine with me because I was looking foward to watching the Short Program of the Women's Olympic Figure Skating. I couldn't do much more since I had already gotten an epidural. Needless to say, I didn't get to watch any skating. Natalie didn't think I should.

She weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. was 19 1/2 inches long and had a bunch of black hair and really dark eyes. She was absolutely perfect.

I must say Jason was great during this whole thing. He pretty much let me be and did whatever I asked of him. He slept for two nights in a very uncomfortable sofa. It looked so uncomfortable that I wish I could have shared my bed with him. I think his back is still sore!! But I guess it was all worth it because by Thursday they let us leave the hospital with the Nata. I think all we could think was "are you sending a nurse with us?!".

Let's see how this works

The Nata is sick today so I figured I would test this out while I was at home. So, let's see...