Natalie is 1 year old!

Our sweet Natalie turns 1 today!  Wow!  What a fast year!  Her personality is really blossoming now. 
She weighs around 23 lbs and wears 18 month clothes, size 3 shoes, and size 3 diapers.  She is starting to transition to cow's milk (not a big fan yet!), and she loves table foods now.  She is babbling away, says Momma, Dadda, baba (bottle), uh-oh.  She is walking, but crawling and cruising along furniture are still her primary means of transportation.  She can take probably 8-10 steps before falling.  She loves climbing up stairs and basically anything she can climb up on (just like her big sister!).  She loves giving hugs and kisses.  She has the biggest smile and the best giggle.  She is such a little angel at bedtime, she puts her head on your shoulder and holds on really tight and is just the best snuggler.  She loves to be sang to.  She just adores her big sister Avery.  She wants to do everything she is doing, she gives her hugs and just lights up when she sees her.  I could go on and on about this sweet little girl and all her accomplishments this year.  We have really enjoyed watching her grow and learn new things.  It has been a busy year, mostly just "surviving" our day to day routine with 2 little ones, but we wouldn't have it any other way.  Natalie is a blessing to our family, we just love her and thank God for her every day. 

 Natalie at birth... 6lbs 14oz

 Natalie's 1 year pictures... I took these at UMHB

Memorial Day Weekend

Life has been busy, busy, busy around here.  Thankfully, Memorial Day Weekend was pretty relaxing.  Ted had a much needed fun guy's day/night at a friend's deer lease... and the girls and I enjoyed some time with the cousins at my parent's house.  Memorial day was just spent hanging out with the girls at our house, taking some 1 year pictures of Natalie, getting some lunch together, running some errands, and really just not doing much of anything.  It was nice. 

 These 2 had so much fun together! 

 Hanging out with NaNa

 Our little gymnast

 Sweet Natalie

Avery loves her cousins!!  So much fun!

Mother's Day 2012

I am so blessed to be the Mother of these two beautiful little girls!  Being a Mom myself now makes me so much more appreciative of my own Mom and what she did for us.  We are who we are because of our Mother's unconditional, sacrificing love and hard work.  Being a Mom is the hardest job I will ever do, but also the most rewarding.  I am thankful to be a Mom and I am extremely thankful for my Mom and the example she has set for me. 

 I cannot believe that we will be celebrating this sweet girl's 1st Birthday in less than a month!!

 She's had a rough several months with illness and teething, but after getting tubes in her ears this week, we are hopeful that she will be happy and healthy again!! 

 She is crawling and pulling up on everything in the house, just babbling away.  She loves feeding herself finger foods now.  She loves giving hugs and kisses. 

She can stand on her own briefly, and has taken a couple of steps on her own, so we are thinking she might be walking by her first Birthday!

First Trip to the Zoo!

Yesterday was our first trip to the zoo with the girls!  We took them to the Houston Zoo with Nana and Grandpa.  Avery had a blast!  We will definitely be going back! 

Avery loved the Dora 4D show!

Easter Weekend

We had a wonderful Easter weekend last week.  It was filled with great friends on Friday night, a visit to my Grandma's house on Saturday with lots of cousins, good food, an Easter egg hunt, and some kite flying.. and then Easter Sunday that included Ted taking Avery to sunrise service, followed by a visit from Ted's parents, a great church service, lunch, checking out progress on the new house, and more Easter treats! 

 All the kids opening their Easter baskets!

 Peyton and Natalie are so cute!

 Natalie found the golden egg! 

 Avery loved egg hunting this year!

 Avery is getting excited about our new house!



Sweet Natalie!  She has really had it rough the past few months with a persistent ear infection, teething, a horrible diaper rash from antibiotics....  I really hope she is over all of this!

Our New House!

After many years of looking, dreaming, planning... we are finally in the building phase of our new house!  We purchased our lot about 15 months ago, designed and drew up our plans last summer, and then finally closed on our construction loan and broke ground about 4-5 months ago.  It has been quite a process getting this house out of the ground.  There have been a few delays here and there, but now we are finally out of the ground, and our house is really taking shape this week!  We are so excited to be a part of this whole process!  Here are some pictures of our progress over the last several months....

Fun Comparisons!

I haven't done a comparison of the girls in a while, so I thought it might be fun to compare the girls in the bluebonnets! Sometimes, I look at Natalie and totally see Avery when she was a baby... and other days, I look at her and don't think they look alike at all. Let's see what you think!

 Avery (above) at 8 months old.  She weighed about 18lbs with stunningly big blue eyes, dark brown almost reddish hair, pale porcelain like skin, and two bottom teeth with the biggest smile on her face all the time!  I dressed her in lots of blues all the time to bring out those beautiful blue eyes. 

Natalie at 9 1/2 months old.  She weighs 22+ lbs with pretty hazel/brown eyes, lighter brown hair, pale but slightly tanner skin, two bottom teeth with chubbier cheeks, and a happy sweet smile.  I seem to dress her in pinks more than blues. 

Our girls definitely look like sisters, but are unique in their own special ways.  I enjoy looking back at pictures of Avery when she was Natalie's age and seeing what she was doing and wearing.  It seems like yesterday that Avery was 9 months old, playing in my tupperwear drawers, pulling out ziplock bags, crawling through the doggie door, playing peek-a-boo, pulling up on furniture, and doing all the cute little things that Natalie is doing now!  These months just go by so fast!