Simply Amazing

This past month has been filled with adventure. We now tend to forget completely that Natalie was adopted. When I take time to sit down and think about the way things have changed and literally blossomed over the past nearly 5 months, it's just mind boggeling, and reminds me that God IS still in control, and definely at work in our lives and in our home. I want to start this post off with saying...."My God Almighty, my Savior, my Father, my DADDY, I'm so glad I've given my life to You, without You, I simply make a mess of everything, but with You, my life is simply beautiful. It is because of You that I have the life I have, and all the wonderful, exciting, and sometimes even scary things, are because of You. You have a way of making the difficult things cause growth in my trust and focus on You, and the beautiful things just shine with Your presence. Thank You for Your presence in my life. I love You and am asking that you start to directing me in the next step of my servanthood in Your name.-Amen"

I'm going to try to share with you all that Natalie has learned this past month. The list is honestly so long, I'm not sure I'll be able to think of it all in one sitting. She now weighs 21 pounds 12 ounces and is 26 inches tall. She now crawls at a "sprint" pace, she is feeding herself using a pincher grasp....so cute. She loves cooked egg yokes and bananas pieces for breakfast. She pushes objects to walk behind them, she'll use a large diaper box, her high chair, just anything she can pull up to and make move. Natalie says momma and dadda differentially, she waves bye bye and says it, she is just starting to point, but hasn't learned to point at objects she wants yet. She dances and sings for herself. She plays peek-a-boo, I love that one. She has just become such a little round, squishy ball of fun, and we're enjoying every single second.

Natalie has finally became equally attached to her dad. That one took a while, and I found it very difficult to diligently work on that. I would leave her with Eddie while I was trying to get some things done around the house and she would cry everytime I'd walk by, wanting me to pick her up. But I'm happy to say that after some real work and being persisitent....with Natalie and Dad, she will play with him and let me do house work. That was really hard for Eddie to work through. I've always been the one to help Natalie work though the difficult stuff, and let her cry through things, and Eddie had a really hard time watching her cry for me and not just saying, "Kami, will you please just get her". But he's seen that a few days of fussing is really worth the end result. Natalie is a persistent little girl, and very determined, but she's learned that she like her daddy's attention, and he definately is eating it up. I even left the house all day yesterday and volunteered at the kid's Christian school as a substitute teacher. Eddie had to even take Natalie to work with him for a staff meeting. Natalie done fantastic and of course was the star of the show. Eddie gained confidence in his ability to care for her alone, and I know now that Natalie will be just fine if I leave her with him for me to go out and do things alone---wow, that'll be fun!!! It seems like forever that I've done anything without Natalie on my hip.

Natalie has proven to be so different that my 2 older kids. She is so active, she is so curious, or should I say into EVERY thing, she climbs onto anything she can get those short legs on, she love to be "rough-housed", she loves to be spun around and around, she love to do "baby flips", and these are the things that make her laugh out loud. Ashley and Josh would have been terrified of the things that just make Natalie cackle. I always knew she was going to be a little dare-devil, oh how my nightmares have just begun, I'm sure. I've also always said that she'll be my little gymnist, and sure enough, Natalie will sit in the floor with her little legs stretched out to each side and then she'll lay down flat with her stomach and face completely flat on the floor. She is an amazing little girl, she's growing so fast!!! I know that I need to be sure I'm relishing in every second that I have cuddeling with her, because those days will be short-lived.

Natalie is awake from her nap, so I'll post pictures this weekend.