Trip back to Stephen

After spending Labor Day weekend at my parents' house, we came back to Minneapolis on Tuesday. Jon didn't have much work for the week so on Thursday we went back up to Stephen so that he could help my dad replace the gutters on the farm house.

Natalia loves Goldfish. I always buy the small bags, but my mom bought one of the big cartons. It was so funny watching Talia carry the carton around and stick her entire arm inside to grab a handfull.

She really liked playing with the girls that live next door to my parents. She loved pushing this stroller so much that I bought her one when we got back home.

Natalia was not interested in playing in the sand. She wouldn't touch it or step in it. At one point she used a little rake to play in the sand, but only because she wasn't directly touching it.

Her new thing was hugging. She was always trying to hug the other girls and she tried to hug my mom's little statue in her living room.

Natalia dragged poor Lola all around the yard. Lola was a good sport and followed her around even though it was obvious she was nervous about it.

Trip to Stephen

We went up to Stephen to visit my family for Labor Day weekend. Jon had some days off from work so it was a good time to make the long drive.

It was Natalia's first time at the farm. She loved running around and exploring everything.

She liked running up and down the hill leading up to the barn. There is a swing in the hayloft, but she was not interesting in swinging.

She really liked pushing my old stroller. For a while she was pushing Lola in it, but then the wheel hit an acorn and Natalia fell and scraped her hand. After that she would only use her good hand to push the stroller. We also put a doll in it instead of the dog.

She also got to try out sitting in a tractor.

Jon wanted to climb up everything he could.

Busy Baby Keeps Mommy Busy Too

I have been doing a terrible job at updating this. Natalia is so much more busy now so I spend most of my spare time trying to get homework, laundry, or the dishes done.

A couple of weekends ago we made it up to Stephen. We got to go to my grandma's 99th birthday party.

Talia really loves to collect things when she is outside, specifically leaves and sticks.

The last picture is so silly. She was being all crazy with the ribbon from her Easter basket that I had to take a picture.

As she gets older she is starting to get so much more personality. Frequently she will sit on the floor with a book and is super chatty. She also has learned that when she hears the word "no" to shake her head no. She of course has no idea what the word means though. She is also starting to make the association of the word "ow" to "no". She will be pulling my hair and I'll say "ow", and she'll start shaking her head no and laughing. She is really big on dancing. Anytime music comes on she starts bouncing. I had my soap opera on the other day and the theme song started playing and there she was dancing away.

Christmas

Natalia's first Christmas this year was over Thanksgiving in Stephen with my parents. We were planning on spending Christmas in Minneapolis, so Talia got to open presents then.

Her second Christmas was when Jon's grandparents came to visit. She got this adorable coat and hat. The outfit also came with a muff that you can see on the floor.

We ended up going back to Stephen over Christmas so that Jon could put down new flooring in my parents' kitchen. We had our final Christmas last Sunday with his family.

You can see all over her new toys around her and there she is chewing on the book that came with one of her outfits.

Trip to Stephen

Talia is so funny. I'll walk in to check on her when she is napping and she will be awake looking around. She loves to stare at herself in the mirror in her crib or she will appear to be reading the letters on her quilt. The other day I woke up and she was already awake. She had rolled onto her tummy and was watching me.

She tries to crawl. She has the motions down, but isn't quite strong enough. She will roll back and forth from her back to her tummy, but she mainly just pivots around. She can move a lot more though. I'll set her in her play gym and when I look back at her a few minutes later she is in a completely different place from where I saw her last.

This past weekend we went to Stephen. It had been a month and a half since we last saw my parents. It was also a nice time to go up there because my aunt and uncle were visiting from Florida.

My mom bought Natalia her first pair of sunglasses. It rained the whole weekend so she didn't get a chance to wear them outside, but she looked so cute when she was trying them on that I had to take her picture.

One of the nicest parts about going up to Stephen is being able to go visit my grandma. She is 98 and loves to see Natalia. She says that Talia is like a little doll. When we got to the nursing home Talia was still a little groggy from napping. It was really nice because she was still in her cuddly phase and wasn't too squirmy when my grandma held her.

It was nice going to visit, but it is even nicer to get home. Talia missed her farm and seemed to be happy that all of her animals were ok. I think she was a little worried about how they would survive without her playing with them and if they would be alright without a daily drooling.