How she looks today

Here's just the backs of her legs. Front looks similar. Poor thing!

My poor baby!

Today Natalie woke up with hives. Here are a couple of pictures, but throughout the day they got worse. We have been slathering on the hydrocortisone cream and gave her benadryl before her nap and before bed plus she got a baking soda bath. I hope they go away soon! She doesn't seem to be in much discomfort and we're hoping she sleeps through the night tonight!
By her nap time, her whole belly was covered. Her poor little hands and feet were all red and puffy.
After her nap the large areas were greatly diminished but she had these little spots all over by bedtime. You can see how her hand is red in this pic. She liked rubbing the cream into her belly button. Tomorrow Mark is going to stay home with her instead of going to church (since I am subbing in primary) and it will be the first Sunday she's missed ever! She generally is pretty healthy, which we are very grateful for.

My hair

So I recently figured out how to curl my hair with a flat iron. This youtube video taught me how. Anyway, it was really fun and easy and here's a pic of how it turned out.

However, despite all the fun that long hair brings, I just couldn't deny the short-haired girl inside anymore. I got it all chopped off today and bangs recut. I missed my bangs! I love it so much and I can't wait till tomorrow when I get to try doing it myself!

Natalie's recent hair dos

I've recently found some hair blogs through blog-hopping. You can check 'em out on my list--they're at the bottom. One is for girls with longer hair, but I found one for little toddler girls. I've been trying out some ideas lately, and for the most part they look pretty cute. It's hard to get them perfect because she's so wiggly, but if she's really hungry and I give her food she likes, I can get her to sit still in her booster seat at the table long enough to put these together. I'm having so much fun. I love having a little girl!!
Here's the cheater french braid. This one is my favorite because it stays in the best. She's wearing my dad's biking jersey in case you were wondering. The sticks in the background were leftover from the wedding.
I made some flower bows from a flower bouquet that I bought at JoAnn's for 70% off. So cheap, and so cute!
This one was fun, but the bottom ponytail didn't stay so tight so long. For this one I had to feed her AND give her play-dough. It took a while.
Side view. At first I was doing the "hair headband" across the top, but had so much fun I kept going through the rest of her hair. I hope my next baby has a nice head full of hair like her big sister!

First Day of School

This was Tuesday. For those of you who don't know, he is attending Phoenix School of Law. He's been studying nonstop already. Good luck sweetie!!

I recommend this for parents of young kids

I just finished reading this book and I highly recommend it! It is a straightforward, loving, simple method of helping your children learn how to be obedient and realize that wrong choices bring unpleasant consequences. I have already started it with Natalie and it's going really well! It was a fast and easy read (I read it in one day). Yay for Love and Logic!

25 weeks

Well, it's sure flying by. Here I am five weeks bigger than the last pic.

If you want to know months, I'm 6 months along now. It's easier for some people to think of it that way. I feel great! My ankles have started to slightly swell just at night, but hopefully that'll be the worst.

And I had to post this pic. Katie was throwing out some old clothes, and here is Natalie "trying on" Katie's underwear.

Obviously we haven't put her in panties yet!!

Introducing Mrs. Katie Lorsch!

Well, they did it. They got married! The long awaited and much anticipated day finally arrived and they are blissfully wed for all eternity. Everything went great and it was a wonderful few days of festivities. Here are some pictures from the blessed event.
Here they are, freshly sealed. It was really hot. We were all squinty and dripping with sweat. Doesn't Katie look beautiful? For more pics of the happy couple, check out my uncle's blog (their photographer) to the right under "Bruce Barnes."
Isn't my sister so gorgeous? I think she makes such a cute little wife. And Ryan looks good too. They are both glowing.
This is one of the only pics I got of my darling daughter. I put her hair in curlers so it was bouncy and curly for...half an hour or so. She has flower clips in her hair that I made really quick just before the reception. I've never made clips/bows before, but it was really fun and I think I will start a little collection for her.
I was chasing Natalie so much I did not really have time to take many pics. Sorry! I'm sure Katie will post much better ones on her blog eventually. Here is the garter tradition. Fun times.

We are so happy for Katie and Ryan and wish them all the happiness in the world! We love you guys!

Catching up

Well, my patient readers, it's high time I catch up around here. I'll post another belly shot soon, since this week I'll hit 25wks. I'll post one every five weeks, that way I don't have to take as many, and it will go faster for me. :-) Here are some pictures of what we've been doing lately.

We went to Saguaro Lake with the fam a couple of weeks ago. It was super fun, and Natalie actually did really well. She liked the water, and loved wearing her hat that I picked up at Walmart for $1. The water was really shallow for a long ways, so the girls could wade around. My dear mom went in the water with her so I didn't have to.
She's probably saying, "mama!" like she does 5 bazillion times a day.
Natalie and Brooklyn liked picking up handfuls of gravel/sand stuff and dropping it in another spot. Brooklyn was WAY more into the dirt at the BBQ area than Natalie. Natalie poked at it timidly with one finger whilst Brooke spread both hands around in it then smeared it all over her body. There were way too many bees and flies and stinky bathrooms for us though, and we didn't stay TOO long because of them. All in all, a fun afternoon trip and I recommend it!
Natalie was getting antsy and cranky while I was trying to make dinner so I gave her a bowl of some flour and some utensils to stir with. Messy, but kept her occupied for a good 15 minutes while I rushed around the kitchen.
She even took a big bite before I could stop her. It was hilarious. She didn't like it and didn't eat anymore after that! Ignore her shaggy bangs...I have since given her a trim. :-)

I made this delightful little dessert for my sister Katie's bridal shower on recommendation from Mark's cousin Karlie. They turned out great, and so cute and delicious!

I will shield your innocent eyes, reader, from the scandalous outfits received by my sister at her two bridal showers. These are some lovely briefs she got from a cousin...Kayci, I think. Love the look on her face! She's getting married on Friday, we can't wait!!

In other news, Mark has quit his job at Wachovia! He is a free man, for another week at least. He has been super cheerful and fun and so helpful with Natalie with extra time on his hands. It's nice because when I need to rest from one of my killer pregnancy headaches, he can take her off my hands for a little bit. He has attended one orientation session so far and loved it, and has a few more this week. He is so excited to start law school. I love it. It'll be tough to not see him as much, but hopefully it will go by fast and it'll be over before we know it. Sundays will probably be our favorite day since we'll get to see him all day.

We also traded in our trusty Altima for a 2007 Toyota Sienna this week. We have realized for a while that we were outgrowing our sedan and started looking while Mark has had free time to test drive, etc. We found a great deal on this one here in town and picked it up on Tuesday. It's white and we LOVE it. Thanks to our cousin Kayci who test drove all the mini vans out there and let us know that the Sienna was her fave. It saved us lots of time!! :-) It also has more safety features than our old car which makes us feel better about having Natalie in there.

Sorry so long! Thanks for reading. TTFN.