Surprise!

Last week I sat Natalie in her crib and turned to her changing table to pack her diaper bag for a day out. I heard a strange noise, turned around, and this (see first photo below) is what I saw! She pulls herself up at every opportunity now, although it doesn't always work out the way she'd like. I think we are in for a lot of bumps and bruises!

Eating!

Natalie started eating "real" food during the last month. So far she has sampled cereal (rice and oatmeal), sweet potato, carrot, peaches, and bananas. She's also had some applesauce and a pickle. Her favorite so far seems to have been carrot. We start a new food tomorrow, probably squash or green beans. Yum! She gets pretty messy sometimes, mostly because she insists on "helping" and likes to hold the spoon.

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.