The little pickle

That is what John calls Natalie. Along with Nattlefish, the Nattle, and Andrew's contribution: Natto. (I wondered why he chose Natto until I heard him calling to her, "Na-to-yee". So I guess he just shortened what he thought her name was ;-))

She is such a little fireball. She wants to do everything. One of her most used phrases is "I do it too." Nothing is too high, too hard, too scary. She is just cute and fun.

She has taken a liking to Andrew's bike. Andrew doesn't really want to ride his bike much, but Natalie does. And she now feels some ownership. Andrew got on the other night and she cried and cried because she wanted to ride it. She puts on the helmet, gets on the bike and then wants to go. She doesn't really want me helping her and pushes my hand away when I try to push her, but then she can't move on her own (her feet don't quite reach the pedals) and so she cries because she wants to go. Poor, independent, small one.

I took some pictures of her the other night on the bike. We had been coloring earlier with markers and she had put one up her nose and in her mouth (not sure if it was the same one!). We switched to crayons.

Our first big boy bed

Well, I woke up today and thought for sure today would be the day I would have a new baby. But here it is almost the end of the day and I'm not feeling any different--no contractions. I am so ready for this new little addition to get here. I guess it can't be too much longer.

Meanwhile, I am loving the push I feel to get everything in order. It's about time I cleaned out Natalie's small shoes and socks and small clothes from Andrew's closet. The baby clothes are washed and hung, we have rearranged the furniture so the changing table and glider are in the baby's room.

Andrew's room is finally almost done and he is sleeping in there! I was expecting a tough transition from crib to big bed--he is such a routine guy and doesn't always love change, but he has been so great. Friday night I told him it was time to sleep in his big boy bed. He cried and cried. "I don't want to sweep in da airpwane bedroom. I want to sweep in da baby bed." He cried for about 20 minutes. John and I put Natalie down and then both went into his room. We read him some books and he calmed down. I laid down next to him and sang him some songs. I got up, said I love you and he said, "I wuv you too, mom. See you in da morning." And that was that. He went right to sleep and slept until the next morning. He took a great nap in the bed on Saturday and went down Saturday night and tonight without any issues.

I have just loved looking in on him in that new big bed. He looks so little still but it feels like he is growing up so fast! I look at him and hope that I am a good mom.

I loved President Monson's reminder last night of the quote, "Don't pray for tasks equal to your abilities, pray for abilities equal to the tasks." That was such a good reminder for me to turn more over to the Lord in parenting. I often feel like I am so clueless when it comes to parenting--especially when it comes to individualizing so that I'm meeting the different needs of each child. I was grateful to be reminded to include the Lord more in my parenting. It's so crazy not to!!

Can a perfectionist really blog?

Well, here I am jumping into the world of blogging. I love reading other people's blogs and have been feeling an urge to get one going--merely for the fact that it can serve as a place to quickly keep track of all the goings ons here that race by so fast that I'm not writing them down. My main concern, however, has been that I can't just write something quickly and leave it as that. I suffer from being a perfectionist (although I seem to hide it well--meaning I don't really do anything perfectly!) which means I have to do several drafts, try to think of something really clever and witty to say and then think well maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow after I've slept on it! So I guess we'll see how I do. I've already gone back and forth over which template to use, what color type, what color borders, whether to add other things, etc. So silly. Who knows, maybe I'll keep this blog to myself for a while ;-)

I'm within a week or two of having this baby and I feel so many things. I'm really getting excited to finally meet this little guy. There is something so sweet and wonderful about a new baby and starting over on all the fun developments. I'm so excited for Andrew and Natalie to get another sibling. I just love watching them interact with each other and am looking forward to adding another one to the mix. It just seems like one of the best things I can give them is another brother or sister. There is nothing like family. They have to love you! On the other hand, I'm starting to feel so nervous about my capabilities! I know it will be fine but I want it to be great ;-) Amidst my worries though I definitely feel a push towards the Lord and the enabling power of his atonement. I guess I need hard/scary things like this to remind me of priorities and perspective.

Meanwhile, I feel like the past few months have flown by so fast and I feel like my other kids are growing up way too fast and that I'm missing it. I'm there for almost every minute but I haven't been savoring all the stages like I would like to. Suddenly Andrew is in preschool and is actually going potty in the toilet on his own! Natalie is talking more and more each day and has very strong opinions all of the sudden.

So, feeling like I'm not getting it all, I got the cameras out today and tried to catch some of the things that I just love about these cute kids. I got Natalie in her pig tails and Andrew in his underwear on backwards.

It was such a great evening--all of us spending some fun time together.