Computer Skills

Since Natalie has Aunt Amy wrapped around her little finger, she is frequently allowed to do things that Mommy doesn't let her do. (See photos below). The funniest part is that Natalie usually does something to the computer that Aunt Amy doesn't know how to do or doesn't know how to fix!

Sitting Up

Natalie mastered sitting up on July 14th. She seems to enjoy being able to see and get into things a little more easily. (Of course as I write this post a month later she is more interested in standing!)

Catching Up: Michelle's Birthday

To celebrate the day we took Natalie to the Baltimore Aquarium for the first of what will surely be many visits. She enjoyed her first Metro ride and loved smiling at all the new people. One passenger (an MTA bus driver) even asked if we had ever ridden his bus because Natalie smiled at him and "seemed to recognize" him! As you can see from the pictures she enjoyed all the fish as much as her momma does. She napped through the last half of the Aquarium so I guess next time we will have to start there!

Natalie's Swing

Aunt Amy has two big maple trees in her back-yard and one of them already has hooks for a swing. Since the weather was so nice today, I decided to hang Natalie's swing. It's still a little bit big for her, but we gave it a try anyway. At first she wasn't quite sure about it, but when we tried again later she really liked it.

Who is this dog?

Ally is very protective of Natalie, so as we were getting ready to move to Maryland, we were a little concerned about how Ally would react to Amy's dog Molly. Luckily, we haven't had any problems. Molly seems to like Natalie just as much as Ally and really seems to enjoy napping on the blankets we put down for Natalie to play on the floor. The only thing we have to watch for is that Molly likes to steal Natalie's toys. If you are wondering where Ally is off to while Molly is playing with Natalie, she's probably asleep on the sofa.

Sophie

On our way to Maryland, we stopped to visit our friends Amanda and Keith who were vacationing in North Carolina. Their daughter, Sophie, will turn one on July 28th. It was fun for us to see the girls together. They played a little bit although Sophie is much more mobile! You can also see Natalie's Fourth of July outfit in these pictures. She wore it one day early since we spent the 4th in the car.

Heading North

Natalie's Notebook has officially moved North. With my new job at Johns Hopkins starting this week, we left our house in Birmingham and to move to Maryland. The moving company arrived bright and early on Thursday and packed all of our stuff on the truck in under four hours. The first picture shows the truck making its way down our street after everything was packed. Its due to arrive in Maryland on Tuesday. The second picture, taken just before we left, is of our family; it sure has changed a lot since Michelle and I first moved south two years ago. I had hoped to find the first picture we took in front of the house for comparison, but sadly it hasn't arrived in Maryland yet. We are both happy to be closer to our families and excited about our new jobs, but are already missing Birmingham, especially all our great friends. Hopefully, we will be able to make lots of trips back to visit and our friends will make trips up to Maryland to visit us. And since we still own a house in Birmingham maybe we will move back someday.