17 months!

At the beginning of this week Nataleigh turned 17 months old! She has really changed a lot recently.
Some Highlights:
-She's feeding herself with her spoon/fork
-She's more aware of things going on around her and getting involved with those things (recently was a Birthday party where they had a little dance party for the kiddos and she joined right in)
-She's very compassionate towards other kids
-She's saying many more words now and clearly understanding direction we give her
-She's signing pretty much all of the signs she has learned in 2 "Baby Signing Time" videos
-She's down to 1 nursing time a day (Highlight for mommy since a new one is on the way) :) We are trying to nurse as long as possible for health benefits.
-She is def. a social butterfly
-She has 4 molars now
-She loves to dance
-She loves clothes and putting things on her head. She will run to the stove so she can check herself out after she's put something new on :) hahaha
-She loves to Skype with "G G" and "PaPaw" and points to the computer all the time wanting to talk to them :)
-She is enjoying that there is a baby in mommy's tummy. She will say "baby" and point to my belly and give the baby kisses/zerberts :) Very sweet :)
-She continues to be very busy!

Some Lows:
-Sometimes she is just so busy that it wears this mommy out! Being pregnant and all it's def been a challenge!
-She has started throwing "mini fits" at home
-Her molars are in and she seemed to not tolerate the pain so well (but this is usual...she's never done well in the teething area)

She is a joy and we are extremely blessed to have her in our lives! Life would def. be dull without her!

our newest addition in the Rupp household

9/6/10

9/6/10-7 weeks

First Ultrasound-7 weeks 5 days


Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12


On September 9, 2010 I took a pregnancy test because I thought it was possible I could be pregnant. I had all intentions of just leaving it on the bathroom sink so Chris could see the test result first but it instantly came back positive and I saw it before him. So, like last time I was the one to know for sure first. I did leave it on the sink and that's how I told him. We are SO excited!! We wanted our children close together and we are so glad that Nataleigh is going to have a sibling close to her age! I was 7 weeks when we took the pregnancy test. This time we are going with a midwife and we couldn't be any happier with our choice! She's wonderful! We had an ultrasound the first appointment to determine the actual due date which is April 30, 2011. So, they will be 23 months apart. :) Everything on the ultrasound looked healthy! Praise the Lord!
At our second appointment we had a little scare. She could not find the heartbeat with the doppler. With the way my uterus is right now it is hard to hear the heartbeat with the doppler. She immediately did an ultrasound and the baby was waving at us :) The heart was fluttering and looked great! :)
So, here we are. I think I've caught you up on the quiet 1st trimester. I'm excited to be entering the 2nd for many reasons. One being the nauseousness I've had. I was never this sick with Nataleigh!
Praising God for His new blessing. Please pray with us during these 9 months. :)

16 months!

Nataleigh is 16 months old!
She's growing up so fast!
Some highlights-
-She's been down to 1 nap since 15 months.
-To add to her signs "more, all done, eat, thank you" she's signing "baby, ball, train, hat, doll, bug, sun, stars"...all thanks to our "Baby Signing Time" videos
-She is associating names with faces a lot now
-We started the potty this week and the 2nd time she was on the potty she peed!!!! We are reading "Diaper Free Before 3"
-Her vocabulary is growing...she's saying "hello"...it's adorable how she says it (we will have to get it on video)
-About 3 weeks ago she cut another tooth (top right molar)
Some lows-
- She used to only suck her thumb in bed but ever since I began weaning her she has started to suck her thumb on occasion outside of bed time :(...we work on this
-She's been in a phase for about a month now when I leave her with anyone she will cry and not want me to leave but soon after I'm gone she's just fine! argh :(

We are so thankful for our blessing!

15 months

Well, folks she's 15 months old 9-8-10 (a few days late in posting). Some new things that she's been up to:
-finding a comfy place to sit and read her books (usually in the purple Barney chair our neighbor gave us or the bottom step)
-talking more and knows names of certain people (mom, dad, Nataleigh, Nonna-probably missing some)
-she has an obesession with "Doggies"--she will look out the window for them and look everywhere outside for them :-) I found a stuffed doggie that I had and she is so cute as she walks around the house with it saying "doggie" "doggie" "doggie"
-she really seems to understand more and more what we are saying
-she mastered the word "no" but it was only bad for about and week and I think she learned she's not allowed to say that!...It's been nice not hearing it lately! :)
-she loves to play peek-a-boo (will hide and want to be found)
-she loves babies
-she's still a very good eater...that girl could eat all day
-her personality seems to be a mixture of extrovert and introvert
-she's a very sweet, kind, loving girl
-At 14 1/2 months she went to 1 nap and will nap anywhere from 11/2-31/2 hrs.
-She's still going to bed at 7ish and waking up at 7.
-We are still waiting for her molars to cut through...she acts like she might be getting more!

My sister's family came for a visit!

My sister's family came for a visit this week! We had a blast!! This was Chris, Bryan, Ben and their dog Miley's first time to our house in Cleveland. We went to the dog park, to the park and played tag, played at home in our little blow up pool, ate popscicles, ate in Little Italy and played in a park there, had a fashion show with the kid's first day of school outfits, went to the Science Center, Bry and Ben went with Jennifer to the U.S.S. Codd submarine, went to the beach in Mentor, had Uncle Chris's yummy spaghetti and had SO Much FUN!
Nataleigh had a blast! She really got to bond with her Aunt Jennifer. She learned a new word, "doggie"..she LOVES dogs and they brought their golden retreiver, Miley. It was so sad after they left because she would walk around saying "doggie" and looking for her :(
Here are some pics :)

Missions Week 2010

Where has the summer gone? I'm trying to enjoy every last bit of it. Leah, Nataleigh and I went to Missions Week last week while Daddy went to Nashville for his Aunt's wedding and then he went on to camp Illiana. I did the music for the little kids in the morning and enjoyed the rest of the time getting to know some missionaries and being surrounded by people that are so in love with God. I'm trying to get Chris to go next year to Missions Week. It's such a great week for spiritual encouragement!!
Here are some pics of our time there. Nataleigh is growing so fast. She LOVES the water and the dirt. Leah watched Nataleigh in the mornings for me and they had some great bonding time! ;)

13 months (just a little late)

I can't believe the summer is half-way over! We are enjoying our summer so much I haven't been on the computer that much. Nataleigh surprises us everyday with how much she is growing up! I can't believe she is 13 months old! She's walking like crazy and is super, super independent! We really have to watch her close because she's so quick. She ventured over to the stairs for a split second and was on the bottom step and fell backward, hitting her head. She was fine but it sure scared us :) She loves to be outside and loves to be in the water. She's talking ALOT some of her words are:
momma, dadda, baby, belly button, glasses, bird, ball, pretty (calls flowers pretties), what's that? boo, big bird, book, broccoli, nonna, papa, bye-bye, hi, duck, brush, strawberry, cheese, drink, please, all done, lala (Leah) sometimes will sound like she is saying Leah, balloon, dog (is duh, duh) Pooh (sometimes she repeats us and it's so clear it cracks us up! ("oh man", that's silly")
She's also making the sounds for sheep, boat, monkey and cow
We are enjoying her so much and so, so thankful that God gave her to us! Here are a few pictures and videos:

walking around with my purse...she loved it when i put it on her :) such a girl :)

after our trip to the West Side Market...the outcome of our labor :) Rainbow trout, asparagus and rice


our friend Leah is here for the month of July and we are enjoying her visit so much...and Nataleigh thinks she's the ticket! :) She will bring books to Leah and want to crawl into Leah's lap for story time :)
she was having fun yesterday with my purse...she was so tired though (we think she was recooperating from the weekend) she would just lay down on the floor :)