FOREVER... I KNOW!!!

I know, I know, It has been forever. There are some not so good reasons and then there are the legitimate ones.

First the not so good ones… there was nothing going on… the good one, she was really sick.

In the last month she has had spirit week at school where they got to dress up different each day. Natalie missed Wednesday and Thursday due to Pink Eye. This was crazy hair day.




Yep I let my daughter out of the house looking like this!!!

Natalie is one!!! We had a party for her the weekend of the 18th. She had a great time. Nana came in town and took some pictures but I do not have them yet… She had a Dora the Explorer party and was not too fond of her cake. All of her gifts talk and make all kinds of noise. She got an Elmo from her Aunt Megan that actually talks to her. It says 'Good morning, Natalie' and ' Natalie's favorite food is grits, Elmo's favorite food is grits too' You can not turn this thing off but you can reprogram it. She also got another talking Elmo that she seems to like better, I think it is because it does not call her by name. Nana got her 2 books and she LOVES books as well as a "special" outfit, you will have to wait for pictures to see this one! She also now has her OWN cell phone that you can program. She still knows that it is not the real deal and prefers ours.

On Wednesday of last week she went to school and then went to the gym with Daddy, got home ate dinner and then the "FUN" started. She was getting ready to go to bed and she just started projectile vomiting. In fact, she got a friend of ours that was over for dinner. We thought it was a one time deal… we were so very wrong. She missed Thursday and Friday from school and did not do anything but sleep all weekend. The only outing was a trip to the ER for fluids since she could not keep ANYTHING down and she had a fever of 105. She is feeling much better today. Yesterday she was still not feeling like herself and slept a lot at school. Out of the 5 kids in her class 3 of them have had this virus and the other 2 are still out. Joe just called and he is going home sick… I hope he does not get this!!!

Like I said she is back to herself now and making her latest face….

She has taken a couple of steps but nothing committing to walking yet. I will keep you all posted.

Hope everyone is doing well!!

Ouch....

Monday at school Natalie had her first accident. She was playing in the ball pit and fell onto the side where there was some velcro. She scrapped her nose on the side and now has velcro marks on her nose and one on her jaw line.

Pictures

Ok here are some pictures from the baptism.

Her with us and her God Parents, Megan (Joe's sister) and my Uncle Buddy (my Mom's brother)



Natalie got her first haircut last night... She thougth it was the best thing ever!!

Before

Bye-Bye hair

OOOOOOO!!!

YEAH!!!! All done I can see!!!

All that hair came from me...

So that is what my Daddy looks like these days...


Hope you all have a great and safe weekend!!

Finally...

I know you have all been waiting for an update….

I was waiting to see if anyone would send me any pictures from Natalie's baptism. I have not gotten any yet. As soon as I do I will post them.

Natalie's baptism went well. She was a good little girl, did not cry at all. She was not so sure about the water but after it was all said and done I think she was ready to go back for more. The day itself was interesting to say the least. My Dad got into Indy at 10:30 that morning. The baptism was after the 12:30 mass so we were cutting it a little close. He was coming in from India so he was coming off of a 19 hour travel. Joe's parents picked up my Dad from the airport and then brought him to the house so that we could all go to the church together. When Joe's parents were getting my Dad, Joe and I had to go and get more food for the lunch afterwards. When we go back to the house everyone was there and my Dad informed us that my mother had broken her wrist. She thought she had just sprained it but and did not need to go to the Med check, she was FINE!! After getting back to Pleasanton and getting X-Rays the next day she had in fact broken her wrist. How you ask??? She fell down the stairs, or I should say stair. Natalie was sleeping so she was trying to be quiet and just missed the last step. I have been trying to get pictures of her new accessory but still do not have those either. Hopefully someone will get those to me soon…. Patrick???

What else is new you ask??? She turns one in less than a month. We are going to have an evening birthday party for her as our Nephew Quinn has a swim meet and we are going to be watching him during the day. He is a kid after my own heart. His best and favorite stroke is the breaststroke. He is great!! This weekend we are hoping that he makes his State cut, so if you have any extra prayers to give he could use some!!

Natalie has started her transition into the toddler room and seems to be doing great. She still is not a fan of meat or starches but that girl loves her fruit, veggies and cheese. She is drinking real whole milk now and seems to be loving it. She stands on her own but is still not walking. Soon I am sure. Her new favorite word is baby. She can point in the mirror and will say "baby" over and over. She is still her own best friend, no one makes her as happy has looking at herself in the mirror.

That is it for now but as promised here is the recipe for this post:

Soft Shrimp Tacos with Tropical Salsa

1/4 cup scallion's)
1 Tbsp cilantro
1 Tbsp canned green chili peppers
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
8 oz canned pineapple, water-packed
4 sprays cooking spray
1 cup yellow pepper's)
1 cup red onion's)
1 clove garlic clove(s)
1 1/2 pound shrimp
1 cup tomato(es)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp cilantro
8 medium flour tortilla(s), 6-inch
5 oz Kraft 2% Milk Natural Cheese Monterey Jack Cheese

Instructions
Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Cover and chill.

To prepare tacos, place a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add bell pepper, onion, and garlic, sauté for 2 minutes. Add shrimp, tomato, cumin and chili powder, sauté for 3 minutes. Stir in cilantro.

Nothing Much....

EXCEPT... how cute is this girl!!!







Have a great weekend!

A Toddler can you believe it???

Well Natalie has received her moving papers from the daycare and she will be in the toddler room as of March 6th. She will start going over there in about a month for a couple of hours a day. She does not seem like she should be leaving the comforts of the infant room yet!!! In her class there are 8 infants total and over the next month all but 3 will be moving out. Natalie will still be in a class with 2 of the other girls that she is with now. Her current teacher and I were talking this morning and she said that if she was the next teacher of the those three strong willed ones that she would be putting in her 2 week notice now to be moved to a different room.

Developmentally what does all this mean… it means that she can now stand by herself for a little while (we have yet to see this but daycare swears she does it) she can drink from a sippy cup on her own and in the next month she will be walking. Yep, walking!!!

Lately little miss has been hearing the word "NO" a lot. Specifically when she crawls over to the stairs and starts climbing. She is not really fond of that word, in fact, there are times when she thinks it is funny. She will be on her way from the living room to the stairs and we will say "NO" she will sit up, look us dead in the eye, laugh and keep on keeping on. She has also found the mirror and is now her own best friend. She just thinks that looking at herself is the greatest thing ever. She will look at herself, point and say "BABY" Joe says that she said "Natalie" the other night but I have not heard it yet. When she tries to repeat it she gets that there are three syllables but that is about it.

I think that I am going to start ending each entry with a recipe that we have recently tried. So enjoy. If you have one you would like to share with everyone who visits this site email me.

Crock-pot Roast
1 Roast
1 Package Brown Gravy
1 Package Ranch dressing mix
1 Package Italian dressing mix

Put all in crock-pot cover with water and leave on low while you are at work, about 7-9 hours.

As promised my moms pictures from Christmas.

Us on the Riverwalk


Natalie and her new table Nana and Grandpa Mike got her for Christmas


Natalie and Nana

Natalie Christmas morning with her new Hanah doll

Wondering where we went???

I know it has been FOREVER!!! I have been waiting on some pictures that my mom took to show up so that I could post those as well.

We were in Texas for the Christmas and it was a BLAST!!! This was the first time that I had seen the new house and the new town. Pleasanton is a great place. They have some really great neighbors and the neighborhood itself is great. We got to town on a Wednesday and went to THE restaurant in town, Fat Cowboys. I had not realized how much I missed Texas beef until I went there. In the 6 days we were in Texas we went there twice. On Thursday we went out to the mine and took at tour. It was absolutely massive. Here are some pictures of our tour of the mine.





Mr. Friley, aren't you glad to know your hardhat has not gone to waste?


The Suburban in the picture is still a couple hundred yards away from the dragline, to give you an idea of just how big the dragline really is



This is Grandpa Mike holding Natalie in a spare bucket of one of the draglines



These are some of the "pets" they have out at the mine. Yep, it is a gator!


HERE IS A VERY RARE PICTURE…. PATRICK WORKING…. AT THE MINE… WHERE MY DAD IS HIS BOSS, in a round about way!!!



Thursday night was a party to introduce the McGuire's to all of their new friends in Pleasanton. We had a blast. So many nice people! Since we had so much fun on Thursday night not everyone had a good time on Friday so we rested and took a tour of Pleasanton. Saturday we were off to the big city, San Antonio. We decided that we were going to go to the Alamo and since our docent (my mom) insured us that they were only closed one day a year, Christmas, we were good to go. Well apparently our docent was wrong. This was all we got to see of the Alamo.



The trip to San Antonio was not a complete bust… Natalie got her first cowgirl hat. What girl is complete with out one of those???



Sunday we got up and went to church and then home to open gifts. I got a beautiful pair of diamond earrings and Natalie got a very cute table that I will post pictures of as soon as I get them. Monday we went to San Marcos outlet mall to shop. Lots of great stores but not a lot of great deals. It was nice just to be out walking around in the 85 degree weather though. Unfortunately Tuesday we were headed back to Indy. Natalie is a great flyer, she slept the whole way!!!


We had Christmas with Joe's family right before our annual New Year's Eve feast. Natalie got a lot of toys that make noise and she loves them!!!






All and all we had a wonderful holiday and we hope you did as well.

Since the holidays Natalie has been trying to whistle. It is pretty funny!



I am back in school for another couple of months and then I will be done for good, I think. I have also registered for a mini marathon in May and have been training for that. Joe is still riding and actually was lucky enough to be able to meet the only cyclist that has been riding with Lance Armstrong on all 7 of his wins of the Tour de France, George Hincapie.




We hope that life is treating each of you very well and I will post more often in the new year!!!

Santa's little helper!

So now that you all have seen the cute naked baby, here are some from our weekend adventures.

We had Joe's Christmas party and every year Santa makes a special trip to give all the kids their first present from Santa for the year.

Here is Natalie opening her gift.


The First Bank of Oink






"stashing" her "money"


Waiting in line to meet the big guy himself at the mall


Natalie and the big guy





Hope you all have a great week!

Such a cute kid!!!

Well Natalie is crawling!!! She is so funny…. She will start crawling to get something and Joe and I will do the whole "YEAH NATALIE" thing and clap our hands and she will try and clap and crawl. She ends up falling on her face and then rolling over and just giggles. She is just so stinking cute!!!

Grandpa Mike, Nana Karen and Uncle Patrick were all up for Thanksgiving and believe it or not Patrick actually played with her. He did however tell her that if she did not stop spitting up he was not going to play with her anymore. That did not last long. Nana Karen brought her a stuffed bear that is orange from her latest business trip to California and she loves it. That thing has more spit up and slobber on it than any other of her toys.

We are going to Texas for the holidays but unfortunately we will not be in Dallas for more than a couple of hours. Sorry. If anyone wants to come to the airport to see us on a Wednesday afternoon let me know I will get you our flight info.

Here are some pictures…. Have you ever seen a such cute kid???






Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season!!!

Doctor visit

Well no pictures for this post but we do have a doctor update.

We took Natalie to a GI doctor last week for her reflux issues. We took her to our local children's hospital and they were wonderful. We saw a fellowship student and then the resident GI. The fellowship student thought wanted to change her medicine from Prilosec to Previcid and put her on an oral suppository. The resident concurred and also wanted to get an upper GI. My mom and Joe took her yesterday for that and there were 2 other doctors that confirmed that there is nothing going on except reflux. They were looking to see if her food was digested in the opposite direction as well as to see if she had a hernia. Since we have switch the medication she is doing a lot better! Her spit-up is minimal and she seems to be a lot happier.

Other than that there is nothing really to report. I will post after Thanksgiving with pictures!

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday!

Halloween and more!

I know you are all anxious to see pictures of Natalie from Halloween but then again I am anxious to see pictures of a friends house in Dallas that have been "on there way" for the last couple of months :). So here ya go:
If you look really hard you can see her teeth!






In addition to Halloween Natalie has started saying Dada and Hi Dada. I am pretty sure she does not know who she is referring to but Joe swears she does. She also had a very eventful morning to which I will receive the bad mother of the year award for… she was in her bouncy seat in the middle of our bed while we got ready. She was "watching" cartoons and got all excited when the music came on and was bouncing and laughing. Wouldn't you know she bounced right off the bed. She was strapped into her seat so her and the seat bounced off the bed. She landed face up and as soon as I took her out of her seat she started laughing so I am pretty sure she is not hurt. When I told the ladies at daycare they all welcomed me to the club. Those are all of the stories I have for today so I hope you all have a great weekend and I will post again next week.