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!