how much is that baby in the window?

Mikey and I truly entered the real grown-up world this weekend, just in case the whole holy-matrimony-home-ownership-parenthood-thing wasn't enough to make us card-carrying adults. Nope, the real event to put us over the line and into adulthood was our first ever yard sale. Something about putting all of our useless old junk on a tarp in the front yard made us feel like we're not just a couple of kids anymore.

Helping us make some clutch sales was miss Natalie, who we figured might be worth a pretty penny herself--we just had to put one of our "Make an Offer" sales stickers on her pretty little hat to see what kind of buzz she'd generate. No one could bid high enough on her to convince us she was worth giving up, though, so she's still safe at home with us.

Mikey handled most of the price haggling while I did some baby-tickling, but we also managed to trade off so the Moo could get his fair share of spit bubbles on a Saturday morning.

We received this great pink hat with ears from a teacher that Mikey and I have both worked with at Rockland Middle School, and it is sooooo cute on Natalie that it nearly kills me every time she wears it. It's actually still too big for her (size 6mos), but even with the top flopping over she just looks too funny with those little pink ears poking up over her little moon face. While Mike insists that she has FAR too many hats already, I am continuing to be on the lookout for more hats with ears, floppy sun hats with brims, and little knit hats with frilly edges to add to her collection. The girl looks like she was absolutely made for hats!


This week we've seen some big jumps in Natalie's development and growth (I'm sure I say this every week, but I really mean it this time!). She is finally starting to enjoy sitting in her little Bumbo chair (as evidenced below), and is making so much more noise now! She is cooing and making screechy noises nearly all the time, which is hilarious but a bit hard on the ears. We think she's starting to like the sound of her own voice, because she seems to love just listening to herself belt out these wild noises that range from high-pitched to monotone drones.

She is also trying to roll over anytime we put her on her back (I'm not sure that she realizes yet that rolling over will just mean that she ends up on her stomach... which she hates). If you are up for some adorably roly-poly naked baby rolling action, check out this video of the budgie working super hard to roll up onto her side. I think it will still be awhile before she actually accomplishes a true roll, but it is so awfully fun to watch her try in the meantime!

To be honest, I don't know how she has the energy to do all that practice-rolling, considering she has decided that sleep is no longer one of her top priorities. We think this week was a growth spurt week for the little Natifuss, because she began eating at an even more voracious rate, waking us up every hour and a half to two hours at night with hunger cries. 3 months is an approximate growth spurt time, according to What to Expect the First Year, so we're hoping she's just a couple weeks ahead of schedule and are reminding ourselves that those adorable chubby cheeks & plump little limbs are worth our recent lack of sleep. Poor Mike has had to suffer with this exhaustion at work, while Natalie and I try to spend most of our days catching up on sleep:

Soon that situation will be reversed--Mikey's finishing up his school year early this week, and I'll be heading back to work part-time beginning the week of the 21st. Yikes! I'll surely be posting more on this big transition as it gets closer.