Archive for December, 2007
A Year of Natalie
Enjoy!
Natalie’s Birth Story
One year ago today, I woke up having contractions. Chris was so excited he said he felt like it was Christmas morning! And only 29 hours later, Natalie was born.
For prosperity’s sake I really should have written this down right after Natalie was born, but I was too busy figuring out motherhood! So on the eve Natalie’s first birthday, I wanted to write down the story of the day she was born.
Just to warn you, this will be long and detailed, but here it is…Natalie’s birth story.
We’ve established communication!
Natalie’s communication skills have improved dramatically over the last month. She started nodding and shaking her head in response to questions! Yesterday while Grandma was watching her, Natalie nodded in response to the question, “do you want to sleep?” And then she went to sleep easily and slept for over 2 hours!
Natalie has also finally started signing! She signs “milk” which either means she wants to nurse, or sometimes means she wants mommy. Today she did the “change” sign, and I took her up to the changing table even though I had just changed her. Sure enough, she had a dirty diaper!
In terms of speech, she started saying “mmmmmm” whenever she saw a picture of a cow or heard the word cow. She also smacks her lips together whenever she sees a fish or hears the word fish (Aunt Kary taught her that one). When she sees a picture of an elephant, she blows raspberries trying to make an elephant sound.
We will continue to teach her more signs now that she’s mastered the basic ones. Being able to communicate has made our jobs as parents infinitely easier and it makes us so proud and happy to see her learning and using new skills.
Here she is practicing walking wearing a beautiful sweater hand-knit by Auntie Bethany:
