{More} Sister Love

I love watching Charlotte and Natalie spend time together. Natalie's eyes light up every time she sees Charlotte, and Charlotte loves to tell Natalie everything about everything. I hear her in the backseat of the car - "Natalie, look at all those windmills!" "Natalie, wanna play 'barber' when we get home?" 

Charlotte has always treated Natalie like a person - even when I was pregnant with Natalie, Charlotte would talk to her & tell her "I love you." Now she is (usually) patient with her, shares toys with her (usually), and is happy to show her how to do stuff.

Showing her how her table toy works

They joke around with each other, playing peek-a-boo, jumping in Natalie's crib together, and Charlotte tells all of her best knock knock jokes to little sister!

"Natalie is eating my toes, Mommy!"

 They love taking baths together & riding together in shopping carts. Charlotte actually complains when we go to stores that don't have double seats up front.

Natalie is still too little to do much playing outside, but Charlotte likes to include her where she can. She likes to push her around in the car, shows her all the little bugs & plants she finds out there, and draws her pictures with her sidewalk chalk.

Of course they're not always perfect with each other - sometimes Charlotte gets frustrated that Natalie can't do the same things she can, she can get annoyed with the limitations Natalie puts on the things Charlotte wants to do - and the timeframes she wants to do them in, and sometimes they're just each others' pesky sister!

don't blow the whistle in your sister's face!

Wrestling fun

Of course, there will be times when Natalie gets dragged into Charlotte's schemes and has no choice but to just play along... :o) 

I hope that I can help keep them close. I love the idea of each of them having a built-in best friend here in our own family - someone they can run to for help, laugh with, offer a shoulder to cry on, share ideas, and help each other learn and grow through the years. These girls are our greatest blessings and it makes my heart happy to know they cherish each other. 

Natalie Faith - 10 Months Old

Sweet baby Natalie is 10 months old now and she is BUSY BUSY BUSY! She is a quick crawler, knows how to start climbing the stairs, pulls up to stand on everything, gets into the cabinets, and just loooooves to get her hands on anything contraband. As tacky as the baby gate in the fireplace looks, there is no doubt in my mind this sweet little girl would be covered in soot by the end of every day if it weren't blocked off.

Natalie currently uses her bottom two front teeth to eat anything and everything in sight, is a professional self-feeder, and has weaned herself down to about 3 nursings each day. She sometimes takes a bottle, too. Some of her favorite foods are string cheese, bananas, pears, noodles, any kind of bread, peas, carrots, and anything Charlotte is eating :o). She also makes it her mission to get at least one snack of cat food each day. 

string cheese snack at the zoo

an ounce or two of milk in her bunny cup

baby's first Oreo :o) 

This month Natalie had a string of nights where she slept all the way through - a good 11 hours or so! It only lasted about 5 or 6 days, but it was amazing! For the last few days, she has only woken up once around 4:00 am to eat, then goes back to sleep until 6:30 or so. Still pretty early, but I can't complain too much! She is taking 2 naps each day now, around 9:15 and 1:30 - aiming for 60-90+ minutes each. Our biggest obstacle with naps these days is the dreaded "poop awake." On days I'm not babysitting, I have been pretty successful changing her & getting her back to sleep after a poop awake, though, so that's good. 

I think my favorite time of day is in the afternoon when Natalie wakes up from her nap and Charlotte always wants to go into her room to get her out of bed. Of course before she gets out of bed, they spend about 15 minutes together in her crib playing. Natalie is always so happy to see Charlotte, and Charlotte just dotes on Natalie and loves on her while they play.

No consistent words yet, but Natalie will sometimes say & sign "dada." She claps and waves, too. She even knows the song "If You're Happy & You Know It." :o) She is a sweet baby who pats us on our shoulders while we're carrying her, loves to give smiles and big open-mouth kisses, plays well alone or with another person, studies everything, is very easy-going, and has a smile for everyone. We love you, sweet baby!