Natalie at 11mo Old

Natalie at 11 mo Old:     

                                                       I like to give hugs and blow kisses.

                                  I love vanilla pudding and hard boiled eggs with a pinch of salt.

                                             And like many babies I also enjoy the dishwasher.

                                                                        I told ya I love it!

                                                 OMG! Little climber and calendar stealer.

                                                   I picked out my pumpkin at Home Depot.

    Hmm. Let's see here. What else can I get my hands on? Books and maps sound good!
                                                             The CD's and DVD's are next.

                                                    Reading is my favorite past time.

And here I nearly gave my mother a heart attack with this goose egg. I slipped on the bathroom linoleum and hit my head right along the ledge and corner of my sisters' white bathroom stool. With the help of an ice pack my goose egg went down considerably after a couple of hours. My goodness! My sisters never had any major bumps and this was really worrisome to my mother. Thank goodness I am okay.

A couple of hours later my bump has gone down considerably and I have a bruise in a line shape from the ledge of the stool.

                            My first Halloween! Grandma got me a pretty white unicorn costume.

                                                                          Halloween 2013

Natalie with Roseola in October

Poor Natalie also contacted Roseola somehow. Even though we pretty much where only home or going a few places like the grocery store with the kids, Natalie caught a virus called Roseola. It's fairly common in children 6mo-2 years old. It starts off with 3-7 days of fever and followed by a rash on the upper torso that is not ichy. There is no medication for this other than to just treat the child with the fever symptoms. Poor Natalie had a fever for 5 days straight. I took her to the doctor the fever started off on a Wednesday night and I took her to see her pediatrician on Thursday. Since she didn't have any other obvious symptoms we waited till Monday to see if she would get the tell tale signs of the Roseola rash. Finally, she got the rash on Tuesday at about 11:00AM and I say finally because that afternoon she would have had to get a blood draw to try to determine the cause of her 5+ days of fever. The fever subsided just as the rash was appearing. She had the rash for a week and didn't seem to be bothered by it on her torso, but was bothered by it on her scalp. I rubbed coconut oil on her head hoping the oil would add some moisture to her scalp and make it less dry and bothersome. Thankfully, Charlotte and Ava were too old to be contact the virus.

                                                          Natalie's back with the roseola rash.

                                                  With unrefined organic coconut on her head.

She was understandably not a happy camper during this illness. Here is a picture of the rash on her forehead and scalp. I had given her a piece of chocolate at the time to help cheer her up.

Charlotte in October 2013 With her Cast

Charlotte couldnt walk on her cast and was in some discomfort the first 1 1/2 weeks. I gave her ibuprophen the first few days, esp at night when I think she was less distracted and the bone pain would set in and she was having a hard time sleeping. She was crawling with her cast in our living room after a few days. I was carrying her a lot since she could not put any weight on her foot even with the cast on for the first couple of weeks. I also took the adapter off our double stroller which meant that I could not connect Natalie's baby carrier to the double stroller. With the full leg cast I couldn't sit Charlotte in the stroller without taking off the adapter/snack tray that goes across it. So, many times I was carrying Charlotte and the baby everywhere! I seriously lost about 5lbs just carrying the two of them and having to lug my double stoller everywhere and in and out of the car at least 4 times a day just by having to take Ava to and from school. Luckily, my Mom was able to help me the majority of the time by taking Ava to school in the mornings. She has been a God send. Thanks Mom! After week 3 Charlotte was gaining her balance standing and walking with her cast around the house. But, it's not a walking cast so it doesnt have any sort of padding for her to walk around outside or anything. The new leg brace has worked out better for her to practice walking and allows her skin to breathe better and regain more of her muscle tone.

Our improvised Lego table. I moved the water table indoors to help Charlotte move and walk around the table and play. It helped Natalie with her balancing too.

                       Walking at Grandma Evelyn's.  She was so excited and proud of herself.

                                   Painting some beautiful fall leaves to decorate our front door.

                                                             Making my jack-o-lantern.

                      "This is a picture of Daddy" by Charlotte. Notice the beard and red hair.

Natalie at 10 mo Old

Natalie at 10 mo Old

                                           Yes, Mommy, says I look a ton like Daddy when I smile! hehe

                                 I love strawberries, raspberries, juicy pears, and slivers of grapes.

                                            I enjoy pushing big trains and cars across the floor.

                                        Drinking my yogurt smoothie through a straw. Yum!

I entertain myself by climbing onto my bouncy seat backwards and bouncing myself as if it were a pony.

I can drink out of a sippy cup, but I can still be a little messy. And I like juice, but having a hard time enjoying the taste of whole cow's milk. During this picture at 10 mo old I wasn't quite drinking cow's milk yet. I mostly just have water or juice right now. My mom plans on nursing me till I am 12 mo old.