Dear Nathalie,

You have survived 4 months and 4 days of life thus far.  Bravo little one, BRAH VO!

You are developing quite nicely.  Your visual acuity is on point and your ability to reach out and grab your feet has come along quite nicely.  Which also means that you enjoy it when I play with your feet!  For today anyway.

Your ability to crush the heart of a grown up is well above average –  you have the “sad look” perfected like no other.  There is something about the way you squint your eyes and push out that little bottom lip that makes the heart just seize up from the desire to make you happy again.  I fear for your Grandfather… he did not get the nickname “Uncle Sucker” for nothing.  We may just have to change the “Uncle” part…

On one of your more recent visits, I subjected you to a viewing of one of my favorite animated movies:  The Last Unicorn…to be honest, I watched it while you did your Nathalie thing and discovered new objects and demanded to be entertained… the only time you showed any interest was during the theme song… so, like a good GrandDawn, I purchased the song and added it to your playlist.  I really hope that playlists are still a thing when you are old enough to comprehend this letter.

As I type this, you are visiting  Dr. Sarah Bajuyo and getting shots (your mom loved getting shots – really, she did) and your current stats are 13 pounds and .02 oz and you have sprung up to a whopping 24 1/2 inches!  Your father likes to point out that you are more than 1/3 of  your mother’s height.  It’s okay, your mommy might be less than a giant physically, but she is FIERCE – don’t mess with her… she may appear to be a cute, little, angelic snuggle bunny – and she is for the most part, but she can turn into the Mother of Dragons when you push the wrong button… consider yourself warned.

To be honest, you are still simply perfecting the art of cuteness and not much else.  You are trying your hardest to hold yourself up in a sitting position but you just aren’t there yet,  you keep spotting your feet and then you reach for them and once that happens your course is set and downward you go… like one of those little Roly Poly bugs…pill bugs I think they are called.  Anyway,  until you get that stuff down, I am afraid that we just can’t move forward with some of the activities I have in mind for you.  (Like learning how to write, type,  complete jigsaw puzzles, and Aunt Pixie is sure to want to teach you how to use chopsticks while you are mastering the art of common utensils.) I suppose we just need to let you develop your gross and fine motor skills for any of that to happen… Although, it would be really awesome to see a baby using chopsticks while writing on a fine piece of parchment with a calligraphy pen.

I know, I know… slow my roll.  I hear you.

Just keep doing your Nathalie thing, you will eventually catch up…I have patience.

Love, GrandDawn

Dear Nathalie,

It’s hard to believe that you are now (yesterday) 6 weeks old!  You are still so small but you are growing.

Before I begin gushing about you, I am going to point out a couple of things that I witnessed this weekend.  #1  While at a stop light where there were two lanes of cars at least 6 cars long, two guys on motorcycles drove between the two lines of cars to get in front of the lead car so they could be first when the light turned green.   Some day, if you EVER decide to ride a motorcycle… Don’t be that person.  #2 While driving on the bypass, we drove by a deceased racoon… with a “Get Well” mylar balloon tied around its paw.  I could not help but laugh but then my brain went to “Did the person tie it to the racoon BEFORE it crossed the road or after it was dead?”  Either way… Don’t be that person either.   Why am I including this in my letter to you… I am preparing you for the oddity that is humanity.  Expect the unexpected.

Now on to you:

This weekend you met many of your cousins (2nd, 3rd, etc…) at the family reunion for the Giles side of your family.  You may not know what side of the family that is, but my Dad’s (your great grandfather) last name was Giles.  Which means that my maiden name was Giles and that is why your Aunt Pixie has that last name as well.

The grown-ups at the reunion had the opportunity to snuggle you and you seemed to especially like sleeping on your cousin (my cousin is her father which makes her my 2nd cousin and your…cousin…lets just call it cousin and be done) Shelby.

After the reunion you finally met your Aunts Bobbi and Sherry!  I thought my friend Christa was bad… but these are your aunts!  Wait, they are your mom’s Aunts on her father’s side so that makes them your great aunts.  I guess we can forgive them. Your Aunt Pixie has been there since moment one and that is really the important thing… we will talk more about that in a minute.

Guess what you get to do this coming weekend?  You get to visit your Ohio grandparents and I think that means you get to meet your Aunts Paige and Jennifer!  These would be your Dad’s sisters.  Oh… and you have 1st cousins on that side of the family to meet!  They are boys… they might poke you, so be cautious.

Now, back to Aunt Pixie.  WE – your grandfather and I – were asked to watch you while your mom and dad went to a baseball game.  Well,  Aunt Pixie was home and she was having a heck of a time with some kind of neck pain prior to your arrival but let me tell you… she is a total Woodsprite (that is what she calls you) addict.  You cured her neck pain. Once she came upstairs from her dungeon she plopped down next to you and took over feeding you, and at one point she changed you but most of all she likes to talk to you and then snuggle with you when you are tired.  You, my dear grandchild, have your Aunt Pixie wrapped around your tiny finger.  Are you enjoying your power, you tiny little deity?

I can’t wait to hear about your visit to Ohio… Look at you, less than two months old and you will have visited another state!

You GO Carmen Sandiego! Stealing hearts across the…state line.

Love, GrandDawn

Dear Nathalie,

Your grandfather and I had the privilege of your presence for several hours yesterday.  My how you have changed in a week!

We picked you up right before a scheduled feeding time and you were perfectly content when we whisked you away…for about 3 minutes. So, since we were in a vehicle and I could not reach you I thought I might distract you with some music. My first music choice was a CD of worship songs…you were not interested AT ALL.  So after a few minutes, I switched it over to my P!NK CD…The Truth About Love.  The uncensored version. That CD is a highly inappropriate CD choice for a young child who can understand and repeat words. It is a good thing that group of people does not include you yet as there are phrases that I do NOT want to hear coming from your mouth anytime soon. However, almost immediately you settled down.  I will have to purchase the censored version of this CD if I am to bring you into the fold as a fan of P!NK.

Seems like you may have taken that mental leap that I mentioned last time.  You seem less flaily, I know that is not a word but I will use it anyway, and less fussy.  You eat more in one feeding… almost double now. Changing you is much easier…again because you are less flaily. You seem to enjoy using my arm as a body pillow while laying on my lap… your grandfather thinks that is the cutest thing and is amazed at all of the ways that I hold you. The best thing of all, though:  you seem to be able to see better!  You are following people with your eyes and by golly, I think you were even watching television when we lay you on the floor to just stare at you after we fed you.  Yes, that is what we do when you are here and we aren’t actually holding you… we stare at the mighty wonder that is you.

Aunt Pixie came home and could not resist scooping you up and bogarting you for the remainder of your visit…you did not mind at all and it did make for an adorable photo op.

Congratulations on a successful leap!

Rock on tiny P!NK fan!

Love, GrandDawn

Dear Nathalie,

Your dad had been out of town for some work related training and your mom had been caring for you on her own during days 20 through 26, with the exception of the evening of day 25 through the afternoon of day 26.  She opted for an overnight visit at our house.  Saturday morning, your mom slept until NOON!! But only because every time she heard you fuss, she would look over and see  your grandfather or me already on the task at hand.

The only thing that seems to be new was the color of your poo.  Apparently, your mother had never seen it that shade of green, or any shade of green for that matter.

You are a fussy, flailing baby.  Still.  You like the feel of water running on your head. You seemed to enjoy big swaying motions and spitting up on me.

You also seem to like your Aunt Breanna.  She really seems to like you as well. I saw the evidence on her phone… photos of nothing but you for DAYS. She is determined to stock your library. She bought you a book and special stationary for herself to write you little notes. She talks to you like you can follow everything she is saying and makes you do funny dances like the Whip/Nae Nae as well as the Macarena, which is the original whip/nae nae combo if you watch the motions in the beginning of the so-called choreography…whoa, rabbit trail.

You do not seem to have changed too much but the internet tells me that you are approaching your first “Mental Leap/Wonder Week”   which is week 5…however, it is based on your due date and not your birth date; perhaps next week or the week after. I might have to check out the book.  Again, this is something that I had never heard of when I gave birth.

Honestly, I don’t have a lot to report… other than the color change of your poo and that you – though fussy and flaily (is that a word?)  – have still captured our hearts.

Rest up little one, give yourself and your parents a break to prepare for your big leap!

Love,

GrandDawn

Dear Nathalie,

I have seen you every day for the past three days!  After not having seen you from day 9 through 15 you are now looking like your dad.  Your tiny countenance is going to be changing so often we will have to start calling you Mystique. (I hope that by the time you can read this that you have learned about the X-Men). We have also learned that you enjoy the feel of terry cloth.

You stayed overnight on Friday, a.k.a. Day 18, and reminded us what it is like to have a newborn. Hoooo guurrrlll. There came a moment, around stupid o’clock in the morning, when you would NOT be consoled.  We just had to put you down and let you go for a bit.  Oddly enough, this was the moment that Cally (one of The Kitties Three) decided to put her little front paws on the edge of the pack and play and check on you…it was cute.  We knew you were a little “bound up” and there wasn’t anything we could do to help.  It was awful.  Finally somewhere between 2:30am and 5am (the hours we were allowed some sleep) you had a diaper explosion.  GrandDave cleaned you up while I worked on saving your clothing from staining… I won the battle!  Score one for me against the battle of the poo!

Saturday, Day 19, I can’t really recall the time anymore, we eventually all woke up. Although, I don’t know that I would call the remainder of that time “sleep.”  Ash (the eldest of The Kitties Three) is old and senile and cries… a lot.  On a normal night, Ash crying does not disturb my slumber, but that night… that night her crying was so similar to yours that I must have checked on you every 15 minutes.  Darn cat. Poor GrandDave had to deal with that PLUS my snoring.  I am not sure he even slept.  In my defense, I have to sleep with this new, flippin’, dental device and it often forces my jaw open…he was actually surprised that YOU slept being in the same room with MY noise.  We finally got around to our day and I gave you a bath; you were not so keen on the body cleansing part but you loved being wrapped in a towel while I sponge washed your hair…you reminded me of your mom.  She loved having me wash her hair in the sink, while she laid on the counter, well into her elementary school years…If she’d fit she would probably still want it done.  Once you were fed and clean and dressed and performed live for Facebook, you were very content to lay on the floor listening to music and slowly fell into a contented slumber and stayed that way until your Great Grandparents Lovitt came by…actually, you slept through that, it was when your parents came to get you that you really started waking up again.  Eventually, we sent you home…and took the rest of the day recovering.  If there was ever any doubt, I am so NOT in my twenties.

Sunday, Day 20,  your mom dropped your dad off at the airport around 10 something a.m. and popped in for a quick visit… and she did not bring supplies because it was supposed to be a quick drop and return home.  HAHAHAHAHA. Life with babies is so unpredictable.  Nothing happened but she had to scurry on home with you fussing because…well, you have bodily functions.  Later this day, I swooped you and your mom off to your cousin Colton’s (2nd cousin actually…wait…if Colton’s mom is your mom’s cousin and Colton is your mom’s 2nd cousin, that makes you???? Whatever, some kind of cousin) birthday party. He is a year old now.  Time flies. Colton tried to poke you.  His big sister Kenzie got to hold you…as did pretty much every other woman there… your cuteness is still powerful.

Tonight is your mom’s first night alone with you; your dad returns on Saturday… She knows we are here if she needs help.

Be good for mommy.

Love, GrandDawn