We're On The Move!!!

Natalie is officially crawling! Her official crawl date was on Tuesday. She was very slow and hesitant, but proved she could do it. Even by yesterday, she still was quite slow and wasn't really sure of herself. Each movement was highly calculated and took every thought, muscle and effort available. Today she has gotten a bit better and more wiling to try without prompting. She is really adorable to watch.
She has been enjoying her toys and playing more and more. She loves things that make music, especially her piano and singing book. Pumba is still one of her favorites as well. I just got out two large stuffed animals (Tigger and Piglet) that she loves as well.
Natalie continues to love vocalizing by doing this monster-like scream all of the time. If you didn't know her, you would think that she was really mad or upset. However, she actually does it when she is happy and just having fun. It is too funny!
Natalie also had her first school (day care) and class pictures! Her school photo is adorable and her class picture is hilarious! Even though she is screaming, the whole thing just cracks us up.
Natalie continues to fill our lives with love and laughter. We hope you enjoy these photos!

An Update and Some Pictures

Natalie continues to grow and change! She has mastered her sippy cup and loves all three of her meal times. She loves her puffs and enjoys making "mmm" noises as she eats them. She tries really hard to put them in her mouth, however, she holds them in her fist and cannot get them from her fist to her mouth.
She is getting even closer to crawling. She can move backwards, but is still trying to figure out how to move forward. Tonight was the first time that she actually seemed frustrated with her failed attempts.
She now can easily go from the sitting position to laying down/crawling position. She probably spends about an equal amount of time between the two. When she is sitting up, she loves sitting like a cheerleader (one leg forward, one leg back- see picture)
She is wearing mostly 18 month old clothes. There are some brands and individual pieces that are smaller. She loves bath time and has begun to get visibly excited when she knows that it is time for her bath.
She is beginning to imitate what we do. She will clap if you clap. She will make this smacking noise with her mouth if you do the same.
Natalie has been giving even better hugs and if you are really lucky there have been a few kisses too.
The only thing we are currently struggling with is that she doesn't want to take naps. She would rather scream quite loudly instead until we finally give up because she sounds like she is going to make herself sick. She doesn't seem poorly impacted by the lack of sleep, so we wonder if maybe she doesn't need as many naps. When she does feel like napping, she enjoys sleeping with mommy or daddy. I am including a few pictures of her sleeping. I am also doing a comparison of a very similar shot that we got a long time ago compared to now. My, how she has changed!
The rest of the pictures are just to show how cute she is and how she loves hanging with her pug brother and attempting to play with his tail.

Growing: 8 Months!

Here it is... and some "outtakes" as well.