19 months and 26 weeks

So, I'm a little behind in my posting! SorrY!! Life has just been VERY crazy with the Holidays and then getting settled back at home.
So for the very first time we had Christmas at our house and I hosted. Dad, Mom and Grandpa-Great joined us for a few days at Christmas. It was a very memorable time and nice to be at our own home and begin some new traditions! Our family arrived Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve we went to a church nearby for Christmas Eve service. Nataleigh sat on my lap for the most of the time-she did so well! Christmas morning we had oranges, grapefruit and a star cookie for breakfast. For Brunch we had Egg Casserole and Orange French Toast and for Dinner we had boneless Beef Tenderloin, sphagetti, fotatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, rolls (I'm probably forgetting something) and a Lamb Birthday cake for Jesus' Birthday.
We enjoyed being together! Nataleigh was so excited about her new toys and having family around that she wouldn't nap. :)
The next day was Sunday and this was our last Sunday at Velocity.
On Monday we headed to Indiana where we stayed for a week and then headed to Chicago for the following week. There was much time spent with family and friends. It was great! Nataleigh did wonderful! We did, however get sick when we got to Chicago but tried to enjoy it in spite of our sickness :(



So...now to the title of the post-19 months...
Yes, Nataleigh is 19 months old, can you believe it? We can't! She def. has grown into a little girl and we are enjoying her so much lately! It's like she's this sponge that soaks up EVERYTHING! She's been talking A LOT more lately and continues to shock us each day with something new! We enjoyed watching her learn how to put Legos together. When we were in Chicago we got her her first set of Lego Duplos. She calls them her "blocks" and has really been enjoying this bonding time with daddy!
She continues to be excited about my ever growing tummy and whenever she sees pictures of herself sleeping as a newborn or sees other people sleeping says "shh __________" Too cute! She's also been showing more and more interest in her baby dolls and is going to be such a great big sis! She's also become my little helper lately! She will throw trash away and pick up things that need put away. We look forward to bringing home a new baby and watching Nataleigh interact.
We are slowly getting away from the "Baby Signing Time" videos and renting the "Signing Time" videos (as they are more grown up/age appropriate for her). She loves to sign and we are so thankful we started this with her at such a young age! We believe it's helped with her communication.
For the first time this weekend she stayed away from us for 1 night and for the first time stayed at Grandpa and Nonna's house. We stayed at home after a date night so it was weird coming home to no Nataleigh. (I closed her door to pretend she was sleeping) I did enjoy the next morning as I could just lay in bed, read and doze back off to sleep as I wished...then I made breakfast when I felt like it ;) We then went and got her while she was napping...it was so hard not to go in there and wake her up but when she did wake up and we saw her for the first time it was a sweet moment.




I was finally able to do real piggy tails for the first time!! :)


And for the 26 weeks...
So, here I am starting 26 weeks with this pregnancy! I can't believe it! This baby will be here before we know it! We are getting prepared but there is still a lot more mentally, physically and emotionally to prepare for. Our friends, Heather and Curtis just had their baby yesterday and we got to visit them today. We are actually going with the same midwifery practice and same hospital as them so it was nice to see where we will be delivering and got to hear great things about the care they received! We are very excited and relieved to be doing something different this time!
I'm feeling great! As far as eating goes...I feel like a pig...I eat ALL OF THE TIME!! :) As far as sleeping goes...I'm sleeping great! I'm feeling a little uncomfortable when I bend over and have been either having round ligament pain or braxton hicks contractions.
So, thankful, though for a healthy pregnancy! Everything is great! My midwife measured my belly for the first time last appointment and said the baby was right on track with his/her growth.
I will see the midwife at the beginning of Feb and then after that every 2 weeks. It's hard to believe we are already down to every 2 weeks!
Enough rambling...here's a picture....and, no we are not telling the gender so guess all you want but we aren't telling! ;)
newest picture at 25 weeks 5 days:

18 months old!

Our baby is no longer a baby! She's a little girl now! At her well visit check-up she was in the 50%tile for her weight and height. The doctor did say she had beautiful teeth but there is barely any room for all of them-and to start saving for her lovely braces :( Good thing we have awhile :) She doesn't go back to the doctor until she turns 2! (and to think we will have another baby at that appointment too-scary :) She's growing up WAY too fast!
The past 1 1/2 years have been such a joyous time for us as we learn about parenting. I wouldn't say lovely all of the time because it's def. had its tearful, dreadful, ugly moments too. But our joy does still remain because of Christ. We wouldn't trade it for anything and we are so thrilled that we get to experience having a family of 4 really soon! Someone told us that having a sibling for Nataleigh is one of the best gifts we could give her! I know she's going to be so excited! She loves babies so much and is going to be a great big sis!
She's talking a lot more (saying 2 words sometimes 3) Her newest thing is telling all men "bye, bye, daddy" I recently took Nataleigh on a mommy/daughter date and when our server left the table she said "bye, bye, daddy." So cute :) She seems to really be understanding a lot more now overall. She loves her Baby Signing Time videos and asks to watch them WAY too much so we are having to limit the time being spent watching these! She is learning so much from them!
We recently did our Christmas with Chris's family and Nataleigh got a kitchen set for Christmas. I have posted a video on here of her seeing the box. I can't wait to put it together for her!
There are so many new things I would be sitting here all day trying to recall and type but I'll spare you and get some videos and pics posted!

Merry Christmas 2010!

These are this year's Christmas cards! Enjoy! :)

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Create modern Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Christmas Cards 2010

It's that time of year when we begin thinking about that perfect gift for our loved one, our children, parents, etc. It's also that time of year when we think about how we will share our joy for the season and communicate what has been going on in our lives over the past year. Last year we did not send out Christmas cards because of the expense but hopefully this year we will be able to! Shutterfly is offering a promotion to get 50 free Christmas photo cards...so you know I will do whatever it takes for something free or very cheap!!
So, you might be seeing one of these very soon! :)

I like this one...

I thought this one was good because we could share about our year...


This one is also great because you could also do highlights of the year...

This one is great...

This one is also great...

And this one would be another way to share the year's highlights...


If you are interested in getting 50 photo cards and you have a blog here are a few ways to go about getting them...
- holiday photo cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/holiday-cards
· Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards
· photo Christmas cards to http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery

Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly… learn more: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

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!