32 weeks - 3/20/12

Natalie turned 32 weeks this week.  When I went to do the photo (on our new sofa) I put the blocks in front of her and this is what she did with them.  I kept trying to set them up and she would immediately pick them up and push them all around.  She did finally smile for this one but every smile that I took a picture of her eyes were closed.  We will get it right one of these weeks. 

I ended up just putting the 32 next to her and she played with the weeks blocks.  Natalie is getting better at sitting up on her own.  Also, if you wait long enough and just watch her get mad, she will roll over to her side.  She is not very quick about it but she is good with other stuff so we don't care.  And I am not rushing her to start moving around.  We are not baby proof yet and need to start on that before she even thinks about crawling around. 

Here's Rocky.  He was kind of upset with us because we got a new sofa and his old one is out on the porch.  When we first got the couch, we were thinking that we wouldn't let him on it.  I then found a cover that goes directly on the sofa that is made just for pets.  When I got to the store, they only had chair sizes left.  I ended up getting that one because the couch is too high for him to get up on anyway.  The chair is just perfect for him.

Here is the new sofa.  Both sides recline.  It is super comfortable.

Rocky was getting a little uppity with me.  I think he just wanted me to pet him. 

Chris had the week off last week.  He decided to do some projects around the house.  This was the first one.  He had originally painted the stairs with old paint he found downstairs.  It ended up causing the stairs to be really slippery when it rained or snowed.  It also peeled a lot.  He sanded it down and then painted it with gray that had a bit of sand in it so that it grips a bit better.  Looks way nicer.  He is going to do the railing later because he didn't want to paint that with sandy paint.  Ouch.

The beautiful 80+ degree weather we had last week brought out some of my flowers including this daffodil:

and my forsythia:

Thanks to Jean for helping me tame it a bit.  It is in the back of the house behind the deck and has overgrown.  She helped me by trimming it back a bit. 

Natalie took advantage of the beautiful weather by enjoying the outdoors at day care.  Cutest little hat. 

Daycare got a new high chair that attaches right to the table.  We got to get one of those at our house.  Such a happy girl. 

Chris' other big project of the week was the shower.  We don't have a before picture because it was nasty.  The previous people put a rounded shower enclosure on a square shower.  I know I have seen rounded shower enclosures but not ones where you could put your hands down behind the corners.  It wasn't caulked very well so it was detaching from the bottom and creating a lot of mold.  He decided to replace it.  I will just say that he said to put plumber on the list of jobs he  never wants to do for a living.

This is in the middle.



Here it is all finished. 

It's weird. It is the same space but it just feels bigger.  We also got new faucet and and massaging shower head.  It is so much nicer to take a shower in there.  Thanks Chris.  Even though it was a huge pain in the butt to do, it was well worth it.  You also saved us a lot of money doing it ourselves.  Now that the weather is not as nice, he is back to work.  Although, I think it was wise to stay out of Hampton last week due to the unseasonably warm weather.  

31 weeks 3/13/12

Natalie turned 31 weeks this past week.  She has been doing a lot more talking and sitting up on her own.  She makes these screaching noises which are really funny to listen too.  I have posted a video at the end of this along with hide and seek that she has been copying us doing.  It is really cute.  We have been trying more food like carrots and zucchini.  We also have some green beans to try.  Mostly she has liked everything.  We had some issues today but nothing a little prunes couldn't cure.  You can figure it out.  So, during her photo shoots she has been more interested in playing with the blocks than looking at the camera.  Oh well. 

This was a super cute outfit that Grammy Judy got us. 

New area at day care.  She is sitting up with only the small boppy to help her out.

They are taking advantage of the beautiful weather and spending time outdoors at day care.  She slept through most of it.

We headed down to our friend's house this weekend.  Brian and Kirsten live in Scituate, MA.  It is a beautiful area.  They have a son, Connor, who is 4 1/2 months old.  Such a cutie.  Our friends Paul and Tanya came to visit as well.  We had a good time.  The kids were cute hanging out together. 

The boys made a cribbage board because they really wanted to play.

They were holding hands.  Love it!!!

This was the only photo that we got of Natalie in her St. Patrick's Day outfit.  Brian has this silly wig that we were playing around with and had to try it out on Natalie.  She's so cute!!

Back at home.  Dad and Natalie were hanging out while Mommy slept. 

Blues Brothers!!!

This is soo cute!!

This is Natalie doing the where's Natalie, there she is herself. 

We are doing well.  Rocky spent the weekend with Grammy and Grampy Baker and got his Kellan fill for a while.  They "raced" back and forth on the deck all weekend.  He also got a much needed bath.  Chris is taking the week off and doing some projects around the house.  First off today was the stairs.  He sanded and repainted them with a gray color that has some sand mixed in.  They were really slippery this winter so this should help.  Also, on the agenda is the shower and some yard work.  Should be a beautiful week.  Jealous that I have to work.  Hope all is well with everyone else.  See you next week.

7 months 3/9/12

Natalie turned 7 months this past week.  It happened on a Friday when Chris was home with her.  Perfect timing to take the picture during the day but that didn't work out so well.  No smile and she melted down before he could get a picture with the bear.  Oh well, next time. 

 This was a very strange week.  We had snow 2 Fridays ago and then we had a super warm day this past Thursday.  Natalie got to go outside at daycare.  Then over the weekend, reports say we got more snow but neither Chris or I were here and by the time we got home, it was gone like it had never happened.  Then today, we had 65 degrees.  Beautiful.  Very weird.  I think Natalie was going through some sort of growth spurt last week too because she was eating like crazy.   She ate some sweet potato with chicken with Chris on Friday.  She really liked them - see the photo below. 
The time change gave us some issues.  Chris went to Connecticut with a friend to play disc golf.  Natalie, Rocky and I went to Westmoreland to visit Grammy & Grampy Rancourt.  We had a good time.  She had some issues with sleeping on Friday and I had to resort to giving her the pacifier.  Not something I am proud of but not something that will happen again.  She did better and we did some shopping at a few consignment shops.  My favorite kind of shopping for her as she doesn't last in some of these clothes.  We got her a cute little rash guard and a swim suit.  Can't wait for summer.

Rocky loves the warm weather.  SUN!!!

My girl having a blast in the exersaucer.

The sweet potato and chicken are just as good in as they are on the body.

While at my parents, I was looking through some photos of Natalie that they had taken with their camera. Here are some of her in the first week after she was born.

Grammy & Grampy Rancourt

This is one of the first photos of Natalie and her dad in the hospital.

This one is so cute because the onesie is so huge on her. 

29 weeks 2/29/12

Natalie turned 29 weeks this week.  Because of the storm, Daddy stayed home with Natalie on Thursday.  We can never seem to take her picture on the day that we have planned, so we usually do it some other time in the week.  Thursday, he gave her a bath, put her in a cute outfit and took her pictures.  This is the first one that he got. 

Her hair is so long in these photos.  I am really hesitant to cut it because she still has the bald spot in back and underneath all that long hair is very thin fine hair.  Sorry kid, you seem to have inherited your mom's hair.  Hopefully it will change for you as you get older.

These two together make me laugh because these were some of the last ones that he got and it seems like she is starting to not like having her picture taken.  She has started pursing her lips a lot like this. 

These two are from day care.  The one above she is holding the bottle for the first time.  Shannon is the only one that she will take the bottle from right now.  She pretty much refuses from Grammy Jean and Dad.  It's not too bad now because she can eat food now. 

The one below is in the new Johnny Jumper that Shannon got.  It hangs from the door frame and they can bounce in it.  She seems to like it pretty well.  We might have to get one of those for our house. 

Today, Natalie and I went to visit my high school friends and their kids.  We had a good time seeing everybody.  It had been a while since I had seen them. 

She ate some squash today and seemed to really like it.  She also tried some chicken by itself.  She ate a little bit of it but not much.  She made that face she always makes when she is not sure about it.  The doctor suggested putting it in something so we have made up a huge batch of chicken in sweet potato and are so excited to have her try that.  We have a lot of new foods on the list to try as she will be 7 months next week.  We will try carrots, potatoes, green beans, and peaches.  It also suggests asparagus which I cannot stand so Dad will have to cook it and feed it to her when I am not here.  I just can't take the smell.  Yuck!!  This kid will have more variety than we have. 

I finally got a video to upload.  We have a video monitor because my friend Hailey had one and she said it was really nice once the kids got older.  We didn't get a super fancy one but it works great.  It is so fun to watch what she does when she thinks no one is looking.  This is a video Chris took of her a couple of weeks ago.  So funny. 

We are doing well.  Sickness has left the family for a little while at least.  We got about a foot in the storm we had late last week.  Can't believe that it actually happened.  We hadn't had snow on the ground for months and now slam.  Oh well, this week it is supposed to be in the 60's.  What a weird winter.  Luckily spring is just around the corner.  Can't wait for all the flowers to bloom.  Love watching it all and now we have someone to show all this stuff to.  It is going to be so much fun.

Hope this finds everyone well.  See you soon.