Meeting Grandpa

Natalie met her Grandpa for the first time on Monday afternoon. He was so excited that he immediately took her from me without even saying hello! Natalie enjoyed sitting with Grandpa in his chair to watch tv and take a nap. She also had a great time visiting with him during dinner in a restaurant. Although she does save her best smiles for Daddy, Grandpa got some pretty good ones too.

Mmmmm Chocolate Cake

"Surely Daddy wouldn't notice if I took just a small taste of his birthday cake!"

Cousin Reed

After all the excitement at FanFest, Natalie met the first of her cousins. She got several big hugs and Reed assures us that they are already "Best Friends". They should have a lot of fun when Reed, JT and Traci come to Birmingham for a visit in May. After we move back to Maryland this summer, they should have many more opportunities to play together.

A True Fan Begins in Diapers

Natalie's indoctrination as a die-hard Baltimore Orioles fan started today as we attended the Orioles FanFest. Most of the important lessons were lost on her, as she spent most of the day asleep in her baby-bjorn. She did manage to get her picture take with "The Bird" and a new T-shirt that reads "A True O's Fan begins in Diapers".

On our way to Baltimore

On Thursday, Natalie made her first trip out of Alabama and took her first plane ride. We came up to Baltimore for a long weekend to celebrate my birthday, to visit with all the family that hasn't met Natalie yet, to start looking for houses, for Michelle to go on a job interview, ...and probably for a few other reasons as well. Our flight out of Birmingham was delayed for more than an hour because of all the bad weather, so Natalie passed the time by playing on the floor and taking a nap. She actually seemed to enjoy the flight, even though Michelle was more than a little nervous about all the turbulence. Of course, Grandmom and Granddad where very happy to meet us at the airport.

Bath Time

We have known for a while that Natalie loves to have her hair washed. When she was getting sponge baths, we washed her hair under the faucet and she would arch her back and lean back into the water. She loves it so much, when she gets really upset, we sometimes use it as a trick to to calm her down and make her stop crying. Now that the last of her umbilical cord has fallen off, she can take regular baths in her baby bath-tub, and she loves that just as much. Here's a couple of pictures from her first real baths. Notice that Ally is still always right in the middle of the action.

A Trip to the Gardens

Since the the weather was so nice this weekend, we took Natalie to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a walk and to take some pictures. It made for a great opportunity to try out her fancy jogging stroller, since we have only really used it walking around the neighborhood. We walked around for about an hour before she decided it was time for lunch. When we tried to see a little more after that, she decide that a nap would be more interesting. A lot of the flowers are just starting to bloom, so I think we will try and make another trip in the next couple of weeks to take some more pictures.