Life with a Toddler (so far)

Easter Egg Hunt at Stroller Strides:

Just some of the eggs

"Look, I got an egg"

Isabel and Natasha

Noelani and Natasha

"My eggs"

Big Day- Easter Sunday and 13 Months: Yogurt face...

... and yogurt hair!
(Great! Right before getting ready for church.)

First time at church

Uncle Matt and Tasha

At Grandma Lou's house

Cooper and Natasha

Sharing with Cooper... more like teasing.

Supposed to say "13 months"...

... There we go. Our little smiley toddler!

Life with a toddler has kept us on our toes. Natasha is 13 months and she is officially a walker. We love her little waddle and what she has accomplished in just 2 weeks. Not only is she walking, but she can bend down and pick up objects and she can carry her ball around and then throw or bounce it to us. She is also standing up (from a sitting position) without assistance! It is so much fun taking her to the park now and watching her walk around and climb the jungle gym. She still likes to be held, but only on her terms. Natasha has added the word "ball" to her vocabulary and still babbles to us every day. She is learning how to make different sounds with her mouth and gives us open mouth kisses... so sweet! Some not-so-fun toddler-like behavior that she exhibits now is fighting me when I change her diaper. I have to come up with new ways to keep her occupied just to get the job done. Most of the time I just let her run around nude for a bit before putting on the clean diaper, but I can't do that when we are out of the house. It would be fine if all she did was try to roll away, but she screams (almost like throwing a bit of a tantrum). Also, she is now afraid of bath time... great! So my little toddler who loves the dirt and sand (and apparently is content in a dirty diaper), now hates water. Every time I try to put her in the bath, she cries and tries to climb out. According to BabyCenter.com, it is one of three most common fears that toddlers have. The two others are fear of dogs (not Natasha, she loves dogs, especially Cooper) and fear of haircuts (well, it will be awhile before we find out if Natasha is afraid of that). So, for now it is sponge baths and occasional showers with mama. I sure hope this passes soon because the warm days are upon us and the pool is calling my name. Other than that we have a happy, smiley and lovable toddler on our hands and can't wait to see what she learns next!

Spring in Minnesota...

At Country Kenny's 90th Birthday

Auntie Lizzy and Natasha

Daddy and Natasha... look at that face!

The whole family!

The cowgirls

Back at the hotel...

Watching Baby Signing Time before bed

Zac, Grandpa Kenny and Matt

Drawing pictures

Silly Zac and Natasha

All the grand kids

Grand kids (with spouses) and Great Grand kids

The whole family again

The Larsons

Reading time

... means highs in the 30's! We left beautiful blue skies and warm sunshine in Orange County for a weekend in cold and snowy weather in Minnesota. So, why did we go, you ask? Well, Zac's grandpa (Country Kenny) turned 90 and we went to go celebrate the big day with the whole family. Our day started early with a 7:45 flight out of John Wayne. Natasha was a little fussy during the takeoff, but after some milk and a little nap she was a great little traveler to Denver. We had lunch at the airport with Uncle Matt and Auntie Lizzy and then we just let Natasha have the run of the airport before out flight to Fargo. She had so much fun exploring and walking around that she slept through takeoff and landing on our connecting flight. We arrived safely in Fargo only to find out that our bag was still in Denver... ugh! At least Natasha's bag and carseat arrived with no hiccups. After the hour and half drive to Ottertail, we checked into our room and then headed over to grandpa's house for dinner with the family. Grandma Lou was nice enough to watch Natasha so Zac and I could go out to the bar for drinks with the "kids." The next day we put on our cowboy boots and cowboy hats (yes, our bag was delivered at 11am) and headed over to the restaurant to celebrate Country Kenny's birthday with the rest of the town (180 people)! We had great bbq food and a comedian (Zac's cousin's husband) telling stories of grandpa Kenny. Later that night everyone headed out to the local bar for some karaoke. Natasha and I stayed in because she was a bit fussy since her nap schedule was all off. I heard everyone had a great time, but Country Kenny got upset when everyone wanted to leave... it was 12:45am and he was still going strong on the mic. I only hope that when I am 90, I will have as much energy as Country Kenny has to do the things he does... windsurfs, ice fishes, bow hunting, etc. I mean, I don't do any of those things now, but I hope to continue to do the things I love as I age (gracefully). Anyway, after a delicious brunch on Sunday and some family photos, we headed back to Fargo for a short visit with Zac's aunt and uncle and then back to the airport for our flight home. Poor Natasha was so tired from the lack of naptime on this trip that she slept on both flights. We didn't even need to pullout our portable dvd player to help entertain her! We are so proud of Natasha and have decided that we could go on longer flights with her... where should we go next?

One step, two steps, so many steps!

Natasha has been practicing her walking skills lately. She was up to 12 to 15 stepps on Tuesday. Then last night at Best Buy, Natasha decided to let go of my hands and took about 30 steps turning corners and going down aisles... all with a big smile and her little tongue sticking out. Zac and I were so amazed and proud. We encouraged her to do it again, but I think she was tired because she resorted back to crawling for the rest of the evening. Natasha loved exploring Best Buy and she had no problem leaving Zac and I in the dust. Which is funny, since she gets upset if we leave her alone in a room at home for a second. It won't be long until she will just be walking. Wish us luck on our flight tomorrow...

Have a good weekend!

Party Time

The Birthday Girl

Our little family

Not too sure about the bounce house

Natasha's smash cake

Sunflowers in the wind

Beverage station

The kid's zone

Sign-in board

Birthday crown

"Is this for me?"

"Yummy"

"Oh yea! Give me some more."

"What?"

Homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert

(Thank you Matt and Elizabeth for helping with these)

Natasha's 1st Birthday Party was on Saturday and she was a great hostess. She greeted everyone and went from one person to the next giving mommy and daddy some time to enjoy the delicious food and great company. Thank goodness the hail storm the night before came and went and I was able to string up the sunflowers the next day when everything was dry. It was still pretty cool outside, but at least it was not raining. Parties by Panache did an awesome job (as always) with the quesadilla station and the taco bar. Not to mention the beautiful table centerpieces that went along with the Spring theme. Natasha really enjoyed her birthday cake (as you can see above) and had no problem digging in. I'm very proud of her for doing so well when all the attention was focused on her. She had no problem with us singing "Happy Birthday" to her. I know this can change year to year, but she loved it. The rest of us enjoyed yummy homemade ice cream sandwiches! We still have a dozen or so left in our freezer... shhhh, don't tell anyone. Overall, it was a wonderful party and we want to thank all our family and friends for coming and celebrating our baby girl's 1st birthday!

Off to Minnesota this weekend for Country Kenny's 90th birthday... lots of birthday's to celebrate this month!