9 months

Is anybody else having a tough time believing that Natalie is already 9 months old?  She seems less and less like a baby these days, and more and more like a kid.  She still has her moments, don't get me wrong, but she's been up to some pretty cool stuff....

Unfortunately, technical difficulties prevented me from uploading the past 8 months worth of pictures for comparison, but you can review those on your own from last month's post if you really want to.  And, hopefully, the full spread will be back for 10 month pictures!  For now, here's 9 months:

She still has the remnants of last week's black eye...

Signs are a lost cause, apparently

peek-a-boo!

We are really loving the cooler temperatures!

And Nat loves to eat pretty much anything she can stuff in her mouth,

 including flowers and grass

Yep, standing!

(with assistance here, but also without assistance)

And walking!

She can take 5 or 6 steps at a time before losing her 

balance or diving for whatever is in front of her.

A good stretch is always necessary after a workout!

Great First Date Stories

We had an interesting weekend at our house...We were able to get out and enjoy the cooler weather at the Antique Tractor Show!  Perhaps a bit of culture shock for little Natalie, but worry not, because she fit right in the "rougher" crowd by sporting a sweet black eye.

That's right, yesterday morning Natalie was cruising around the kitchen chairs and table.  She made her way over to the bar stools and was standing less than 12 inches from me when all of a sudden she fell straight backwards, desperately gripping the bar stool on her way down.  She ended up flat on her back with a bar stool on top of her.  Yeesh.  I snatched her up, and her left eye was already puffy, and within minutes it was already turning all shades of black and blue.  She also ended up with several bumps and bruises on her head, which faded by last evening.  The black eye, however, persists.  See for yourself:

Minutes after the fall

and today

even her eyelid is bruised

She looks like a prize fighter, eh?

And, now, perhaps the funniest Natalie story of her whole 9 months...

As you likely know by now, we use cloth diapers.  Before we left for the tractor show, Natalie pooped, and the diaper needed to be, um, rid of some of its contents before tossing it in the diaper pail.  Usually I just shake the diaper contents into toilet, but in the interest of getting out of the house, I sat it aside to be taken care of upon our return.  Last evening was bath night, so while I was running the bath water, and Natalie was excitedly watching the tub fill up, I retrieved the dirty diaper to take care of while the water ran.  As I was working on the diaper, Nat cruised her way from the tub to the toilet.  I was none too happy about her holding on to the toilet seat for balance, but figured it was fine since I had a hand full of dirty diaper, and she was going in the tub in about 3 seconds.  The first major chunk of poo was floating in the toilet while I worked on the rest, and about that time I looked back at Natalie who now had both hands in the toilet water, and one hand batting around the poop floating in the toilet.  Ew!  Needless to say, she got her hands washed twice, extra good, last night.  If that's not a story for a prom date, I don't know what is!

Fun and Games

Natalie has mastered the art of clapping. All week she has been playing this game:

She crawls to a spot, stops, claps, laughs, then repeats. Pretty funny.

Also, today, she is trying so hard to walk and is very close! She's been getting really brave, but yesterday and today she can string together about 5 steps before diving into awaiting arms. Pretty awesome!

There were 2 posts from today, both with video, so be sure to check out the other post as well!

Wake up call

Natalie had a lot to say this morning while she was waking up. Take a listen.

I tried to embed 2 videos on this post, but was only able to do one successfully, so look for a second post in just a few seconds with a video of one of Natalie's newest games.

San Diego

Earlier this month, we had a real family vacation.  The first time all 3 of us have gone away, stayed in a hotel, the whole bit.  It even required an entire day of flying.  Eric had a work conference in San Diego, so Natalie and I decided to tag along, add a few days to his stay, and make a trip of it.  It was wonderful, eventful, and so nice to be away together.

We found this great store in the Indianapolis Airport before departing

Mom & Natalie at the koala exhibit at the San Diego Zoo

(note: for some reason this pictures uploaded in a really bizarre order, stick with me for a second)

Eric & Nattie pose at the San Diego Zoo entrance

Nat about to board her first ever flight, a 4 hour journey from Indy to Phoenix

(see, I told you!  Should be in order from here...)

Natalie finally put together waving on the trip, and waved at anything and everything.  

Here, she shows the koalas some love.

The San Diego Zoo was amazing, but we LOVED the koala exhibit.  In all, they have 25 koalas.

Camels

Meerkat enjoying attention

Snakes, snakes......

The elephant exhibit.  This exhibit was huge, and amazing, but the elephants 

were all hanging out by the pens.

You can't really tell from the picture, but Natalie was face to face with a lion about 8 seconds before I snapped this, separated only by a piece of glass!

Can you imagine carrying that around on your head all day?

Love this red panda.

And giant pandas!

Bears

Giraffes, another amazing exhibit

Mama and 1 year old baby

He was so relaxed

Just keep swimming

View of the bay and the USS Midway from our hotel room

Natalie and I had a day to ourselves while Eric worked, so we went to Balboa Park to explore...

Balboa Park

Botanical Building in Balboa Park

Loved the Spanish influence

Nat with a sweet mosaic dragon

enjoying some freedom from her stroller

Maritime Museum

The three of us met up to take in a Padres Game.

USS Midway

Another day, Natalie and I took a drive across the Coronado Bridge to Coronado

Hotel del Coronado

A drive back across the bridge and up, up, up to Point Loma where we visited the 

Cabrillo National Monument

View of San Diego from Point Loma

Cabrillo National Monument

lighthouse at Point Loma

tidal pool below Point Loma

Nat and I explored the shops at Seaport Village during a bizarre power outage that lasted 12 hours!

The power outage provided the perfect opportunity to take this beautiful picture

Eric, Natalie, and myself toured the USS Midway

Navy planes aboard the Midway

Aircraft carrier coming into the bay

incoming carrier passing the USS Ronald Reagan, the Navy's newest carrier

a destroyer passes under the Coronado Bridge

Natalie has her first frozen yogurt, a Pinkberry!

We visited Old Town....how fun!

Fiesta de Reyes

Loved Geppetto's toy shop

Natalie practices walking in Old Town

As you can see, we had a great time!  Natalie did wonderfully on the plane, and adjusted quickly to the 3 hour time difference.  Our only snag of the whole trip was a fluke power outage.  It left us dinner-less, and caused us to wait in line for upwards of 20 minutes for an elevator to our hotel room (on the 19th floor), but otherwise, we managed just fine!