You'll have to excuse my delay in this posting! I've had writers block and tons o' drama over the past 2 weeks. But here is the final posting in my trilogy...
Natalie:
Natalie Brooke was my Baby B. When I looked down, she was to the right of my belly button. She started moving right after Townes did so there was the constant rolling on the right and left of my belly. They are already fighting for space! She had big cheeks in her ultrasounds. You could see them from around 20 weeks on. Our US tech always pointed them out and laughed.
She was born last weighing in at 4lb 6oz. Although she was the heaviest, she needed the most help medically with a little CPAP at birth. She loved sucking on a pacifier immediately. I thought preemies her age wouldn't, but she somehow kept in (see first picture above). She stayed in the NICU an extra 2 days because she had the most trouble regulating her temperature. We brought her home to hang out with her sister and brother and finally saw what 3 little ones looked like in their huge crib.
Natalie has been our entertainer from the beginning. She started smiling at around a month old. It was wonderful because, as every parent knows, those first few months are so hard because you don't get any response from your baby. I needed to see that little smile to make sure they even liked me! :) Townes was constantly screaming and Caroline was angelically sleeping away. As she got older, we noticed that she has consistently been around a month older developmentally. (My theory is that she sucked some nutrients away in utero in her extra 2 oz) She sat up first, crawled first, walked first, etc and continues to meet milestones ahead of her siblings by a few weeks. She will eat anything and everything including pickles and sauerkraut. You cannot eat anything around Natalie without having a little hand raised up for her portion.
Although she MUST be noticed at all times at home, she is very shy in public and around strangers. No one believes this rumor about her being a diva at home. She hates the swing and is afraid of being held upside down. Shockingly, Townes is the biggest fan of being jostled around and swung all over the place. She developed the knack for biting once her little teeth came in. She continues to bite her siblings whenever they have something she wants, i.e. everything/anything around. I currently have 2 big bite bruises thanks to her. She loves to back her little rear up and plop in your lap. She doesn't even look sometimes! If there is a warm lap on the floor, she'll head in that direction.
I always thought Natalie would be the leader triplet during the 1st year because of her ham personality. The NICU nurses predicted Caroline would be the ringleader (starting to think so), Townes would be a lawyer/senator (heaven forbid) and Natalie would be an actress. That remains to be seen! She is actually the little mommy. She makes sure everyone has their pacifier and blankets. Their teacher pointed that out to me very early and we continue to see her try to take care of the other two.
Natalie is also an expert in getting attention during naptime/bedtime and we've had to do the cry it out method about 6 times with her because she tricks us into getting her with cuteness. Two examples from sleep training time follow. Do you think she has her daddy fooled??
The world would be amiss without having Natalie in it. Our youngest baby is going to entertain. She completes our family in God's perfect ways.
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