8 and 9 Months

There is no excuse for my delinquency. Unless you count my job, the house, the holidays....the list goes on. Anyway, Natalie is now marching towards 10 months!! In about a month and a half, we'll be talking about planning Natalie's birthday! So hard to believe.

The past couple of months has been very busy for us. Natalie celebrated her first Thanksgiving! While she didn't participate in the cribbage tournament (yet), she did have a brief encounter with a large turkey leg. I think she was a little overwhelmed at first with the number of people at the house, but she warmed up and had a good time.

We had our first night away from Natalie for our friend Andy Selby's wedding. It went well! Good to gear up for our trip to Mexico when we'll be away from our gal for 5 days!

December will bring Natalie's first Christmas! You can rest assured that Santa will bring her lots of gifts :). We're excited to see how much Natalie will learn in the next month - she has gone from not crawling at all at 7 months, to crawling everywhere and pulling herself up to standing position at every opportunity. It's definitely getting more interesting watching her! You can't let her out of your sight for a minute. She's babbling like crazy and is making the sounds for "dada" and "mum-mum" - although to make myself feel better I think she's saying "mama".

7 Months (and some 6 month pics - belated)

Natalie is 7 months old already! At times it seems like only yesterday that she was a brand new baby in the hospital, and at other times it seems like she's been a part of our little family forever! She's growing like a weed. She sits up and plays by herself without toppling over, and is very eagar to crawl but can't get there quite yet. She has two whole teeth and we think she'll be getting some more soon. Best of all, she is a really happy baby who brings us so much joy every day!

Here is a link to our picture website with some updates for Natalie's 6 month photo shoot and other miscellaneous pictures from October. Enjoy!

http://nataliemaxine.shutterfly.com/pictures

Six Months!!

Natalie recently celebrated her half birthday. We can't believe how big she's getting! She rolls over now (sleeping on her tummy of course), has TWO teeth, and loves her bouncy chair. She sits up in her big girl high chair and eats oatmeal and a small variety of fruits and veggies. She is growing up so fast!

This month we enjoyed a trip to the Fair and a visit from Natalie's godmother, Jillian!

Natalie also came to Mommy's work to visit co-workers and see Target!

Every day with Nat Max is more fun than the day before....we live for the weekends so we can spend even more time with our little lady bug!!!

Photo Website

Just a quick note to any blog followers that I've posted some new pictures on the photo website so check those out. I'll be posting a 6 month update soon! There's also a new video on the website as well.

http://nataliemaxine.shutterfly.com/pictures

5 Months

Natalie is 5 months old - time flies when you're having fun! She's getting much better at sitting up and will probably be able to do it on her own soon. She's eating a few solid foods now (mostly oatmeal, carrots, sweet potatoes, and pears) and seems to really enjoy it! Her favorite activity is jumping in the exersaucer. She's getting a little better at sleeping through the night and we hope by 6 months she'll be sleeping all night long :). She's also "talking" a lot more lately and we just know she's going to be an extrovert like her mom and dad. She's keeping us constantly entertained and we're loving every minute!

Natalie loves bath time at night!

Although she gets a little distracted, she likes a good story when Papa reads it.

Four Months Old!!

On July 2nd Natalie celebrated her 4th month on Earth. She can sit in her Bumbo chair, grab her feet, chew on her hands and belly laugh! I can't believe that in just two short months she'll be eating solid foods! The time really does fly.

This has been a big month! I started back to work after Memorial Day and Natalie started at daycare. She loves her teachers at daycare - especially Miss Debbie, Miss Renee, and Miss Kathy. They sing songs together, go on stroller rides, and she even gets to have some group playtime with the "older kids" (by that I mean, 12 month olds!). Natalie's favorite friend so far is Madeline. Madeline is a year old and loves "Baby Natalie" so much that she cries when we leave for the day. Madeline likes to bring Natalie all of the toys in the entire infant room and set them next to her head. Someday Natalie will actually be able to play with all of those toys Madeline!

We are starting to get somewhat of a routine established now with work and daycare and "free time". It is definitely a lot of work and we cherish the hour or two that we get to spend together after work and school each day. None of us are sleeping through the night yet :( but hopefully soon. Natalie has contracted something new from her school friends just about every day since starting at daycare. Thus, she has been subjected to multiple forms of medicine and home remedies to try to cure her and therefore her sleep schedule has been thrown off a little.

On June 4th our new friend, Brooks Merrill was born! We haven't gone to see him yet but we're going to try soon!

We celebrated Chris' first Father's Day by going to brunch together with Grandma/Grandpa Olson. We made Chris a fun picture of Natalie for his office.

Finally, on the 4th of July we went to our friend Molly Brackett's house to enjoy a little R&R. We had so much fun and got to fly our own little American flag to celebrate!

Three Months

I can't believe that our little Natalie is already 3 months old! It seems like yesterday that we brought her home and I sat in her room and cried my head off because I didn't know what to do with a baby. I really enjoyed spending these three months at home with Natalie. I cried again before going back to work because I didn't know how I was going to give up spending my days with her!

Luckily my first week back to work went well. It helped that it was a short week (Memorial Day) and Chris stayed home a couple of days. Natalie did great at daycare and all of the teachers loved her! This week they said she loved to look at her "friends" and smile. If only life could stay that simple! Chris will primarily drop her off in the morning and I'll pick her up at night. The nights go so fast now that its the only time I get to spend with Nat Max! However, I know that Natalie will really benefit from being at daycare and experiencing all of these new things.

Before we know it, Natalie will be crawling and jabbering acting like a little lady! I can't wait to see what the next 3 months brings! Here is a link to the photo website where I've been uploading pictures of Natalie.

http://nataliemaxine.shutterfly.com/

Baptism Day

Today we baptised our precious little girl Natalie! It was such a special day for our family. It also happened to be my first Mother's Day so that was pretty cool too. Natalie wore my mother's baptismal gown for her big day.

 We were fortunate to have a lot of family in town for the weekend. The weather was so great for once! We sat outside for the first time with Natalie and since the sun was out we needed to get a hat to shield her from the sun. However, we only had one that was size 2T so we had to make it work! Natalie wasn't too impressed.

Chris' cousin Matt came into town from Des Moines and filled the role of Godfather to Natalie. My cousin Jillian came from New York and is Natalie's Godmother - both did an excellent job!

My dad Brian also came and met Natalie for the first time!

Chris' Godmother Darlene was able to make it to the baptism as a special treat.

Matt's parents Karen and David came up from Iowa as well.

We were able to get a 4-generation picture with my mom and grandmother...that was very cool!

 At our church, they place a stone with the baby's name on it in the baptismal font and at the end of the year they gather all the stones and make them into a stepping stone to place in the church garden. Then each year the kids can go out there on the anniversary of their baptism and look at the stones - how special!

It was a great day - very memorable and spent with all of our favorite people!

Two Months!

We can't believe our little ladybug is 2 months old already! She has grown so much and is starting to smile and show more personality now. It's so fun! I can't imagine having to leave her at daycare and go to work in just 4 short weeks. We also had her 2-month doctor visit and she had to get her first round of shots. That was hard for mama :(. She was fussy for the rest of the day but she has recovered now. I think Daddy has to do the next one! We can't wait to see what the next month brings!

We had to capture a picture of Natalie in this onesie that I wore home from the hospital in 1982 - how cute!

Here is Natalie in a sweater knit by my mom's good friend, Lynette. Thanks Lynette!

Vogue

When it comes to the latest fashions, nothing is too good for our little gal! My grandmother saved a bunch of clothes that I had from childhood and this was one gem that I thought Natalie should have.

We also found this wonderful item called the Wombie. It simulates the womb so that babies can sleep at night without waking themselves up. At first we liked it......

Then we weren't so sure......

Stay tuned!

Happy Easter!

Natalie enjoyed her first Easter this year! We made it through church without a major breakdown and then we went to Grandma Gretchen's for some brunch. All in all it was a great day! I've added some additional pictures to the website so check it out!

One Month!

Natalie has reached the 1 month mark! We can't believe how much she's grown already! She is more alert, eating much more and sleeping a little better (however during the day, not at night). We are so excited to see what the next month brings :).

Natalie and her Thumb

Here is a short video of Natalie locating her thumb for the first time. Exciting stuff, I know! You'll have to ignore the Weight Watchers leader talking in the background. Maybe if I were listening at the meeting I would be losing more weight!

Photo Gallery

Here is the link to Natalie's full photo shoot gallery. I'm also re-posting the link to the other photo website that I've set up. Enjoy!

Professional Photo Shoot

Photo Sharing Website

First Photo Shoot!

We had Natalie's first photo shoot with the photographer Jen Taylor. She did a great job! Our friends Kelly and Matt used Jen for their daughter Kya's pictures and we always thought they were so cute. Jen came to our house and brought all of her supplies. Natalie slept through the entire three hour shoot (as planned) which I was thrilled about! Jen took several pictures of Natalie with no diaper on and I was again impressed that we had no accidents! The pictures turned out great and there are more to come - this is just a preview!

Natalie Maxine Krusmark

We welcomed our daughter, Natalie Maxine, on March 2nd at 8:16pm. She was exactly 2 weeks early! We are loving every minute with her. Here are some pictures that we've taken so far. I'm sure there will be MANY more to come :).

Here is a link to the website with pictures - check back regularly for updates!

The Baby's Room!

At long last, here is a link to the Baby Room "Reveal"  for those of you that can't see it in person. Enjoy!

37 Weeks

I'm about a week behind (I'll be 38 weeks this Friday) but here are some recent "bump" pictures. If I get really adventurous this week I will post an actual picture of my actual bare bump this week - but don't hold me to it :).

37 Weeks

32 Weeks

28 Weeks

24 Weeks

20 Weeks

16 Weeks

10 Weeks