Natalie Meadow turns ONE!!

My sweet baby girl was born one year ago today! Right up there in my bedroom. It's so cool to think about that day.

For her birthday today we had a little neighborhood party. There are 18 kids on my cul-de-sac, mostly boys, but they're a lot of fun and it keeps this street full of life and busyness. I told Jason last week that we're never moving because you can't buy great kids to play with your kids. Anyways, Reem is my little helper and she made some invitations and came over today to make/decorate cupcakes. We put an invitation on everyone's porch that said to come outside at 6:30pm and we'll sing to Natalie and serve the cupcakes.

It was a good way to celebrate!

My little Natalie is still a sweetie, but her stinkery side is developing nicely as well. She's been taking daily lessons from Adam. :P So in addition to her smiles and laughter, there are now demands and tantrums and arching. All part of growing up! Lately her biggest lesson is learning that she's not allowed to go into the street. So she gets a lot of "No, no" from me and Frannie and "No street" and putting her back on the grass and this just really ticks her off. Boy this baby can really cuss me out sometimes when she's tellin' me what's on her mind and how dare I not let her on the street? And take the cell phone away? And take that penny out of her mouth? Are you KIDDING? Yep. She's got a lot of words for her mama. A lot of words.

I dressed Natalie in the same dress I put Frannie in when she turned one :)

One thing I love about her right now is the cool 70's baby hairstyle she's got going on. Soft and shaggy over the ears. A very common style for 12 year old boys. And 1 year old girls!

She has a few words in her vocabulary:
Ma ma
Na na (banana)
Did did (daddy)
No no!

And she's an excellent pointer. She understands a TON. For example, I say "Seepy seep!" and she starts laughing. She knows it is nap time. Jason asks her to dance and she'll shake a little booty. She'll give a kiss and hand me something when I say "Can I have it?" She's understanding the whole no street thing too.

One thing she does that the other two never did, is she has a favorite blanket. It is a pink fuzzy blanket that I keep in her bed. One day when I was changing her sheet, I had all the blankets in a pile in the hallway for washing. She came waddling down the hall, saw her blanket and dragged it all the way back to her bed and got on her tippy tippy toes trying to put it back inside. Every night she buries her face into that thing when going to sleep.

She nurses, but she eats a lot of solid food as well. She still only has two teeth on the bottom. She will jokingly nip while nursing and I say "Ouch!" and she'll start laughing. Then she'll do it a few more times. She's not hurting me or anything, but she knows that the potential is there. It's like her little joke on mom. :)

She loves to be outside and play in the dirt and sand and play in her little front yard house. There are so many kids around here that she is a pretty easy going baby. Just yesterday I peeked in the front yard and there were five boys, Ali, Omar, Nicholas, Christian, and Aman all sitting in a circle with Frannie, and they were doing goo goo ga ga with Natalie. Anyone who says kids, even boy kids, don't love babies is crazy. The age range is about 6-12. These kids love to take her for rides in the push car or wagon and they do a good job of making sure she never goes on the street.

Sweet Natalie I love you so so much. You are a wonderful delight to me. I love to nuzzle you up under your neck and nip your ears and give you delicious squeezes every day. My heart sings with joy at your baby ways and in watching you grow. Happy Birthday!

And just for fun, I want to throw in a few Natalie/Frannie comparison shots at one year of age.