Sunday, August 10, 2008
I really should update more often...
...it's kind of hard to though when no one even comments on here. *sigh* Anyway, Natalie is now 31 months old and has definitely become a regular toddler in the throes of the "trying twos". She likes to say "NO!" A lot. So John has taken to doing LOTS of reverse psychology which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Now, instead of talking about going to the park, she talks about going to the park, in the dark. Toddlers, they're cute and crazy at the same time.SO...Natalie continues to grow and confuse the heck out of me when it comes to keeping clothes on her. Summer clothes are a riot to figure out too. Right now, with shorts, she's in anything between 12 months and 4T (don't ask me!) and shirts, between 18 months and 4T depending. It's all kinds of fun trying to keep track of everything AND be getting stuff for her for the fall and winter months. We are still at the moment keeping our move in mind though it has been put off to the end of October for the moment (and if things don't improve financially, Natalie and I are going to end up at SOMEONE'S house for a month until John can send for us--YUCK!) but that doesn't mean that I can relax about trying to find clothes for Natalie. Either way, whether we are here in the states or out in South Korea, Natalie WILL need clothes for the fall and the winter and with her rather erratic growth spurts, I need to be prepared. So, I will probably have clothes from 24 months all the way to 4T. So far, I have two totes full so I just have to start putting things into the suitcase. For the most part, I am set now, I just need some more 3T pajamas. I have lots of 2T pajamas but only two sets of 3T for the fall and two for the winter. So I really could use more than that. I think she's set on everything else including jeans, especially jeans. She has lots of pairs of jeans. She's got quite a few sweaters too which is good because you never know when you need sweaters.
So as we prepare for leaving the area, I have also been getting Natalie's appointments in that she needs before we go. This has included not only the doctor's but also her first trip to the dentist. Now, the ones around here do not take kids under the age of four but we got a number for a dentist in Madison that takes the state insurance (thank goodness!). Not only that but I was able to nab an appointment the VERY next day! So off we went and Natalie had her first dentist appointment. She did VERY well. No cavities and she was just perfect when they cleaned her teeth. Getting her to leave was another story! Here's a picture of her that I took while we were waiting for the dentist to come in:
That's "Dollie" next to Natalie in the dentist chair. Natalie is quite attached to her and unfortunately, that same day, she got left at the bank when we had stopped over to make some deposits. She was found by the workers there and put into the lost and found until John was able to pick her up at the drive-through Friday morning but poor Dollie did have to spend two nights at the bank much to Natalie's dismay. "Dollie at the bank?" was her constant question until Dollie finally came home Friday morning. So that was my bad mommy moment but at least it wasn't Natalie we left!So anyway, after we left the dentist, we went over to a park that we saw while driving around (Natalie insisted we stop, of course) and while we were there, I got a couple of pictures. Since I had done something new with Natalie's hair that day, I made sure to get pictures of that too. This is Natalie's hair from the side:
And Natalie's hair from the back. You can really see how long it is here.
Other than her bangs and one VERY small hair trim in the back, I have not cut it with the exception of the two very long pieces that were on either side of her hair. They were a good two inches longer than the rest of her hair in back so those got cut over a year ago. Wow, if those had been left, they would probably be about halfway down her back now but it would look pretty goofy had I kept them. As it is, at some point, I will need to deal with the section of her hair in front that is still only down to her chin from the hair cut she had before I started parting her hair. Until I did that, I had to cut a lot more bang on her than I do now. But now, she has at least two different lengths of hair going on and that does not include the bangs. Oh well, I will deal with them eventually but I have no desire to cut her hair right now as I know I'll just regret it.
So that was July 30th. The next day was Natalie's doctor's appointment. She is now at 35 3/4 inches for her height which is the 50th percentile. Her weight is 31 lbs and 9 oz which is the 77th percentile. So even with her being as picky as she is (she will NOT eat much meat at all!), she's still gaining weight quite well probably due to the fact that she's still nursing. But, as you can see, she doesn't look heavy at all. But if you pick her up...you can tell! lol She's a pretty solid little kid! Everything is going very well with her. We are dealing with some potty training regression but I'm not worrying about it because I'm sure she'll regress again until we move. John and I just aren't fully in agreement on how best to deal with it.
Saturday, August 2nd was a bit unusual for us for a Saturday. Normally, we spend the day at home but Natalie's adopted grandfather was going to be in the area and he has plates for our car to deliver. We also had milk to give him from the local dairy farm where we get raw milk. We had hoped to meet up on Friday but being a trucker driver, he got held up. And, being a truck driver, he had to stick to the road he was on which was the interstate so we met up in Madison. After we met up with him and talked to him for awhile, we decided to stick around town and hit the zoo since Natalie had never been there and since it had been YEARS since I had been there too. The last time was during the summer after I had met John. So, here are a few pictures from that:
Here she is posing on a rock in the zoo.
Here she is sitting on the carousel with her dad.
And here's a penguin swimming around in the pool (I didn't get to see the penguins the last time I was there so I made sure to see them this time).Again this was VERY unusual for a Saturday for us as normally we stay at home due to John's religious requirements. It was nice to get out though and do something besides sit around at home which we tend to do.
So, that's pretty much it at the moment. I'll leave one last picture for you all to see. This is a picture of Natalie and her cousin Gabby taken while I was up in La Crosse back in July. Hard to believe but Natalie is almost as tall as Gabby now! They're only off by maybe 1/4 of an inch, if even. I can remember pictures from last May when Gabby was a full head taller. Just mind boggling! Anyway, here they are! As you can see, Natalie has quite a bit more hair than her cousin, who is four months and ten days older, does.
There are more updates, of course but I'm going to save those for another day. Though I will mention that Natalie LOVES her new shoes. We had to get her a pair of size 8 shoes when she suddenly grew out of her 7 1/2 sandals (not only grows out of clothes but also shoes at an alarming rate!) so we found a pair of shoes on clearance for $10. The best part is they're light up shoes! Natalie REALLY likes that part! Makes me glad I got her the size 10 boots for the winter though. I have a feeling she's going to need them by then!
| posted by Janeen at 11:56 PM
