Summer Fun

By Tiffany George

We have had a wonderful time this summer with Andrew & Natalie. Natalie is so good-natured, smiley, and easy to get along with. She puts up with her brother constantly needing to kiss her or touch her, and thankfully she enjoys spending time outside. Natalie has already gotten more bug bites this summer than Andrew has had in his whole life, but she doesn't seem too bothered by them.



Natalie just had her 4 month well baby visit this morning and she weighs a whopping 17 lbs, just about 10 ounces more than Andrew weighed at this age. She is in the 95-97th percentile for weight (down from being off the charts two months ago) and her length of 25 1/2" puts her in the 75-90th percentile. Maybe she'll be as tall as Daddy. He also said that her eyes will likely be some shade of blue, maybe like Mommy's. He said they are close to their permanent color now. Dr. Hoerman said that she looks perfect (not that we didn't already know that) and she was very happy smiling at the nurses at her appointment until they snuck up on her to deliver her with 4 shots. She certainly didn't enjoy the shots, nor did Andrew. He just sat there and sadly watched as Natalie screamed. Luckily for him, she gets the shots and he gets the stickers! The funny thing is that Andrew never takes these square dr. office stickers off from the paper. He just keeps them in with his sticker collection, but never takes them off. I guess they are some sort of prize.

Natalie has started to make more sounds now, squeaking out the occasional "ga" from time to time. When she gets excited she inhales noisily and it is just too precious. She is at the point where she wants to put everything, including her hands, into her mouth. When her hand isn't in her mouth she likes to spend her time admiring her hand. She yells at it, coos at it, and just has a nice conversation, primarily with her right hand.

Natalie is also a very strong girl. She has been rolling both ways for nearly a month now, and she is very strong when on her belly. She lifts her head right up and has even showed some initiative to try to move toward an object of interest. God knows that in order for her to fall asleep she MUST shimmy herself up into the upper right-hand corner of her crib. Her chubby little (very soft) legs are also very strong. She loves to stand up and look around the room from high on her two-foot perch.

Andrew still absolutely loves his sister, though he is learning to test his limits more now. He would kiss her and touch her all day long if he could. He loves to get really close to Natalie and just stand there so that she can touch him. Check out the pictures below to see Andrew letting Natalie put her feet all over him. He is adorable! He is so patient with her, even if she happens to pull his hair.

Most noticeable about Andrew lately is his language development. He regularly speaks in 4-5 word sentences and it is just so cute. He refers to himself as"An-you" and it is adorable. His favorite saying lately seems to be "okay, please yeah" which he says whenever he wants us to answer favorably to his request. He also likes to say "one more", "two more" or "yot more" depending on how many he wants. He has learned to raise the correct number of fingers associated with his request, and he loves to look at his fingers to be sure that he is doing it correctly.

He has also become much more adventurous. From climbing up on rocks with Grammy to (finally) going into the Lake, he is spreading his wings. Today we went to the Riverside Rest Home Summer Carnival with Pete's Nana and Andrew went up to this bush/shrub and said that he wanted to climb the tree. When we told him that he couldn't climb that tree, he pulled down one branch and said "An-you climb stick please". Every day is full of fun stories just like this.

Most nights Pete and I finish our day off by walking to the Commons to take the kids to the park. Andrew could be pushed "more high" on the swing all day, and Natalie loves to watch him. He also loves to climb the ladder to go down the slides. He used to be too timid to jump down from the bottom of the taller slides, but he now does it with confidence, all the while saying "no big step An-you". You're right big boy, that's not a big step for you anymore.

It's amazing getting to spend each day with these two cuties. I honestly cherish each moment because I know that soon each stage will pass. And while I know that the next stage will be just as cute as the last, it is still hard to let go of these cute little things.

Here are a few recent photos of my sweeties: