Two Big For Her Own Britches

Two years ago today...

Our life was changed forever. In fact it has seemed like every two years we have been going through change introducing a new child to our family. But two years ago today we entered into the "Natalie World" that took us places that we never wanted to be...but helped us realize how much of a miracle every new life is.

For all of those who have been praying for our little half-heart blessing, I thought I'd give a detailed update on her current antics:

• Natalie has been sick lately with a gastrointestinal bug. It's come out of both ends and made our usually very active girly a little more tired. (So no party today. Mamma and Jessie aren't feeling well either.)
• But...that didn't stop her from chowing down on two packages of Reese's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups...all before breakfast this morning. Of course, she hasn't been eating much at mealtime, but candy must be in a different category. How she figured out how to open the package is beyond me. Smart girl.
  This girl loves chocolate. She will even eat the 70% dark chocolate that I love so much. She's fortunate that dark chocolate is being advertized as a "heart healthy" snack.
  
• Natalie's newfound passion is cooking. She loves to sit on the stool next to me and watch when I'm working in the kitchen. But...sitting and watching isn't the only thing she does. She also thinks she's big enough to learn how to cut-with a knife! Everything with a toddler is interactive!
  

• With all the mention of food, you would think that she would be a little porker, but Natalie is just hanging around 22 pounds still. She has cut out wanting milk at night just recently. Her appetite is usually good, but some of her favorites include rice, manderine oranges, yogurt, cheese and salad (with lots of Ranch dressing, of course).
• Natalie became a big sister on November 12th. Her little BROTHER, Craig, was born. What a surprise! We totally expected getting another little girl to play around with Natalie. So Natalie's world will be a lot different than we had expected having a brother instead. So far, she has adored her little baby and given him all kinds of hugs and kisses.
• Just in the past month, Natalie's volcabulary has exploded. She is now saying many single words and has just started putting together two words at a time. The lady from the Infant Learning Program that has followed Natalie since we have brought her home a year and a half ago did an evaluation of her last week to find that she is around 18 months in her speech development, but 24 to 28 months in her cognitive interpretation. Her gross motor skills were at 28 months and fine motor was right at 24 months. I just love to hear her say her name-Latalie! We are so thankful for how Natalie has grown and matured these past two years.
• Just like her older two sisters, Natalie has become a big tease. She gets a real mischevious look on her face and will act like she's giving you something then take it back. This teasing isn't so funny when it happens when I'm feeding Craig and can't go take off after her.
• Just after Natalie's baby brother was born, she had another cardiology appointment with Dr. Brauner. Her Daddy took her to that appointment as it was literally the day after Craig was born. According to him, she didn't want to have much to do with the doctor, but then her world had just been turned upside down and Mommy wasn't there with her. Daddy said that she was satting at 77% but wasn't happy the whole time they were trying to get it. Dr. B thought she was doing well and didn't require her to be seen for another 6 months. They did discuss the next step in her three-part open heart surgery heart transformation-the Fontan. They would like for her to be at 10 kg or around 33 pounds before they do it. I'm expecting for that to be a year at least with as little as she's gained lately. We will continue to monitor her oxygen saturations to make sure that they don't drop too low before that time.
• We had a real treat seeing the man that was behind saving Natalie's life two years ago. Dr. Cohen, the head surgeon, was making a 24 hour visit to Anchorage the day that Craig was born and Dr. B brought him by to see us and the baby. I have vivid memories of Dr. Cohen sitting in the chair out in the CICU hallway right after Natalie's surgery. According to staff comments, he stayed there until 2am to make sure she had stabilized enough that she wouldn't have to go on ECMO (or bypass). She was a pretty sick cookie.

Happy Birthday Natalie, you are one treasured little girl!