Cutest Dragon Ever!

October 29, 2010

The cutefest continues. I wonder if Natalie is in her prime, and she will be a homely monster when she is a teenager? I don’t think I can handle the potential attention she may get when she is older, it is tough enough having her stop traffic as it is today. She literally stops people in their tracks. We may be in trouble.

Yesterday was the RTD Fall Festival, an annual fun afternoon where all of the employee’s bring their kids into the office and we have a small Halloween party. There is candy and cupcakes (thank you Jakki) and popcorn, activities for the kids, and a karaoke show. Jakki brought Natalie to the festival, dressed in her Dragon outfit that I bought online. She is adorable. We let her crawl around freely before the masses showed up, and everyone formed a semi circle around her, watching her act out and play monster on the floor. I made a castle out of toilet paper rolls and let her destroy them at will. It was a fun event. We left when they warmed up the microphones for the singing, a perfect cue to disappear as it was going to be loud and obnoxious.

Natalie was not shy at all. She is really confident and outgoing when Jakki and I are both with her. She knows we are watching, and she knows when one of us goes out to the truck to put quarters in the meter. She watches the door for us, and makes sure that she can see one of us when the other is away. She is aware, and that is good.

Chico was a great trip last weekend, and this weekend is the RTD Charity Golf Tournament and Halloween, so the fun continues!

~ Nathan

The Cutest Knit Hat Ever

October 22, 2010

Oh no! I missed a week. Did anybody notice? Probably not. The last two weeks have been pretty busy for me at work, so I didn’t take many breaks to write things out. I guess that means that I really didn’t have anything to complain about, or worry about, so that is good.

Natalie is cruising along. Her teeth are not breaking through yet, but I did notice that her gums are lighter in color at the top, so hopefully they break through in a couple of weeks.

Last weekend was a whirlwind. We went to San Francisco to cheer on Jakki’s family on the Nike Women’s Marathon. Natalie’s grandma Carol, great aunt Sue, and cousin (aunt) Nikkole all participated, while Jakki and cousin (aunt) Cara and I tried to help and watch. I had a really up and down weekend with many high’s and many low's. It was truly a crazy weekend.

First, I packed a light sweater and a heavy fleece sweater, figuring that this would be enough, as it had not rained in 6 months and the weather forecast was cloudy but comfortable. Liars. It rained on us for most of Sunday, which would not have been too bad if I had my fleece. Jakki thought my fleece needed an espresso bath and, in an admittedly horrible accident, she spilled a wonderful mocha all over it on Saturday. Needless to say I froze my wet butt off on Sunday.

To add to the mix on Sunday, I tried to read a marathon map made by a bunch of marketing majors at Nike and their BS information packet helped me get lost. It is interesting, I can read a detailed topographical map and know exactly where I am on any given trail, but I can’t decipher a map made for the city folk. No cross streets, no details, no landmarks. How was I supposed to know there were two different routes with one end? I was so mad. I mean “find a hapless punk to pick a fight with me so I can punch the snot out of him” mad. Jakki and Cara and Natalie were able to cheer on Carol, but we missed Sue and Nikki. We also missed the finish. I ruined the day because I couldn’t read an oversimplified map. Enough with the map. I need to get over it, but it still stings (a week later).

Natalie was a trooper last weekend. She slept surprisingly well in her Pack and Play in the hotel room in San Francisco. She was not fussy. She walked all over San Francisco in her front carrier (Baby Bjorn?) as well as her stroller (I think we logged in a half marathon ourselves just walking around *lost*). She was never really fearful of the crowds of people, and when she was she tucked into our shoulders. As long as Jakki or I had her, she just looked around and wondered what the fuss was all about. It was awesome. I was so proud of her.

After walking for the morning on Saturday, Jakki and I needed a cab back to the hotel. As we walked along, we came across this lady making knit hats with cat and bear like smiley faces on them. Jakki put a brown bear one on Natalie and it was like we stopped pedestrian traffic in the area, and everyone collectively went “aww, how cute”. It was over. We shelled out $12 for the cutest knit hat ever. She wore it for most of the rest of the trip, stopping people as we passed. It was fun.

This weekend we are heading up to Chico to visit Jenna and her baby Corinne. Corinne just turned one last week, and Natalie turns one in three weeks, so they are about a month apart. We will probably make them cupcakes and watch them make messes of themselves. It should be a good weekend, but I really need a day to relax. Maybe I can get one next month?

~ Nathan

Explorer or Demolitions Expert?

October 08, 2010

This week was full of school and conferences for me, so I have not had too many opportunities to come home and focus. I just crash on the floor and play with Natalie for awhile before we send her to bed. On top of that, Jakki’s Aunt Sue visited the ranch this week and stayed with us for a couple of nights, causing a slight tremor in the “schedule”. Aunt Sue was relatively helpful and it was fun to see how other moms play with kids. We enjoyed her visit.

On Wednesday night something odd happened. I was sitting on the floor with Jakki beside me, and Natalie crawled between us and sat down. I looked at Natalie and Jakki and back to Natalie and realized that Natalie is huge. It’s like she gained 2lbs in the last two days, and her upper body strength is starting to show on her body. She is starting to pull herself up and climb, which is fun yet frustrating when you realize that you are a path to someplace else. Natalie is a little bulldozer, expecting everything to move as she drills forward. Fearless and stubborn. She is working towards hurting herself, but that’s the only way she will ever learn, right?

I am happy that she is becoming more curious about the things around her. She is starting to pay attention to things that we use every day: the remote, the laptop, books, glasses, shoes, etc. She wants to see what’s on the other side of the fence. She wants to know what else is going on that she can’t see. Natalie wants to explore and learn.

Natalie is going to be either an explorer or a demolitions expert, I can’t decide. Either way, she will have fun doing it.

~ Nathan

The morning goodbye

October 01, 2010

We had a great time at the Draft Horse Show last weekend in Grass Valley, and we took quite a few pictures which will be in the slideshow shortly. No major issues, except Natalie’s desire to sing along with America the Beautiful during the evening show. The stroller worked ok, and then we switched to Jakki’s Baby Bjorn thingy for the evening show. We timed it well, being home around midnight Saturday night. Jakki and I are talking about going on Friday next year, just to change it up a bit. Overall it was a pretty good Saturday though. Sunday was relaxing, from what I remember, and this week has been a blur.

Natalie’s sleep/nap schedule has been screwed up this week, a likely result from the very long trip on Saturday. She did not sleep much on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday nights. She has been exceptionally needy and upset for unknown reasons throughout the week, likely related to exhaustion. She just started sleeping through the night again on Wednesday. She also struggles to take a decent nap on a regular basis. Why is it that when you are younger, you never want to sleep, even if you are tired; but when you get older, all you ever want is an afternoon nap to keep pace? Natalie fights sleeping so much that we have been putting her down later and later. Last night we finally put her down at 11:00pm, because she just isn’t tired.

This leads to my current dilemma. When I leave in the morning everyone is asleep. I wake Jakki briefly to say goodbye, and then quietly visit Natalie to do the same while she sleeps. 80% of the time she is sleeping so soundly that it isn’t a problem. But since she and Jakki are exhausted, I have been very cautious. The last thing I want to do is accidentally wake Natalie and start Jakki’s day off prematurely with a crying baby (which happened last week, and I felt really terrible about it). And today was one of those moments of dread. I snuck into her room and just as I was about to whisper goodbye, she started waking up. I never moved so softly and quickly in my life. I tiptoed backwards and shut her door just as she turned to look my direction. She cried very briefly, and then went back to sleep.

For me, this is a no win situation; I am either the ghostly figure leaving her room; the dad that wakes up the baby and leaves the house; or the dad that doesn’t even see his baby before he goes to work. I hate leaving without seeing her, so that third option really isn’t an option for me, but it might be necessary when I know that Jakki and Natalie need their rest. The whole thing is a gamble I guess. I wonder what other dads have done. Do they even worry about these things? I am so attached to her that I am a wreck in the mornings if I can’t see her and verify that she is ok before I leave the house. But I am full of guilt if she wakes up, and I have to wake up Jakki.

Let sleeping dogs lie. . . That would be easier if they slept through everything that you wanted to do. So, for anyone listening, what do you do?

~ Nathan