It's a Boy!

Heber James Natter

November 19th, 2009

8 lbs 7 oz, 19in

He is such a cute little guy and we are so lucky to have him in our lives. His delivery went so much smoother than Eliza so I really can't complain too much. I feel pretty good, but am still taking it easy. Don't want to over do it.

Eliza absolutely loves her little brother. Occasionally she tells us she wants to hold her baby sister and we have to remind her it's her baby brother. I think she finally gets it now. She's pretty gentle with him for the most part, but luckily he's pretty resiliant and puts up with her so far. We'll see how long that lasts.

Again, I am so happy to have Heber as part of our family.

Happy Halloween!

So, I hope all of you out there had a Happy Halloween! We actually had a bit of fun. For once our village finally decided that it was okay to go Trick-or-Treating on the day of Halloween. Course, that might only happen this year and next if Halloween lands on a Sunday. But, if it is on the weekday again, then the village will push it to the weekend and have it on Sunday. Not to mention that the times to go Trick-or-Treating is during the day. I remember when we would wait until after dinner to go out Trick-or-Treating. Sad how things change.

Anyway, Scott has been sick for the past few days and opted out of taking Eliza out. I was planning on staying home, but that changed. So I called a family in the ward and asked if she and I could go out with them. Eliza lasted about an hour walking around in her costume before she decided she was done. That meant we all walked back to their house, evaluated our haul, and then Eliza and I came back home. We took a break and indulged a bit in the loot and then went out to the neighbors homes. Then we were done. It was so much fun and I was glad that I could go with Eliza, and that I still managed to fit into my costume.

Anyway, now we have to work on limiting how much candy Eliza eats. Not easily done. Part of me wants her to eat as much as she wants so she either eats it all and it's gone or gets sick and decides she's done with candy. Oh well. It was still a great day. Hope you all had as much fun as we had!

It's Autumn Time!

Well, I can't believe it, but Autumn is already here. It's weird because I feel like we haven't had much of a summer and now Fall is here and next think you know it will be Winter. Not sure I'm ready for the snow yet, but what can I do.

Yesterday was such a beautiful day that Eliza and I spent quite a bit of time outside. We got to run around, play, and dig. I think Eliza's favorite part was playing in the leaves. Our back yard had so many on the ground that I had to make more than one pile of leaves.

The other activity we got to enjoy the other day was Shades of Autumn at Stade's Farm and Market. Each October they open up their farm and have lots of booths, rides, food, a pumpkin cannon, and a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch to pick your pumpkin. That was a lot of fun and funny. We barely made the final hay ride of the day out to the pumpkin patch. The ride had just left and we had to run and catch up with it. I couldn't run, but I walked as fast as I could. One of the workers had to race out to stop the hay ride because the tractor driver wasn't responding to his radio. I felt bad, but no one else cared.

Riding the Pony

Feeding the goat and llama

Playing in a big box of feed corn

Either way, Fall is here and I'm pretty excited! I love the changing leaves and the beauty it brings. I have always loved this time of year here because I never got to see this back home in California. The other exciting thing about right now is the fact that baby number two is almost here! Just under a month to go. Yeah!

Hall Family Visit

I was so excited to have my family come and visit over the weekend. Kind of crazy though, because Scott's family just left and my family arrived only two days later. I could care less. I'm just glad I was able to see them again and to see Brent before he leaves on his mission to the Dominican Republic in September.

Grandma and Eliza

Brent, Mom, Travis, Me and Eliza

Even though the stay was short, that didn't cut back on the amount of activities we did. We spent Saturday cooped up for a bit due to a nice rain storm that came through. Later, Anthony and Travis went with Scott to the Elder's Quorum activity for a barbecue and to shoot guns. So jealous! Mom, Dad, Brent, Eliza and I went to the Botanic Garden. The flowers and the shrubbery was absolutely beautiful! I think my two favorite areas were the Japanese Garden and the Waterfall garden.

Eliza in the Gardens


Watching the ducks

Monday we got to go into the city. We drove past the Temple and through Northwestern University on our way into the city. We also drove past Wrigley Field, US Cellular Field, and the Sears Tower. (I know it's the Willis Tower, but it will always be the Sears Tower to me!) We then parked at Navy Pier and walked around the pier, had lunch, walked to Grant Park and then made our way back home.

Giving Baby a hug

Sadly, my family had to leave on today, but they left with a bang. We got to make Molasses cookies and Eliza had fun pounding the dough so she could use the cookie cutters. Anthony and Travis had a blast putting the sprinkles on the cookies. They turned out really well. Cookies made together as a family always have some way of turning out super awesome!

Grandpa reading to Eliza

Making Cookies

Travis and Eliza

Aside for spending every waking minute together and playing games late at night until we were so exhausted and would laugh at everything, I loved having my family here. I wish the stay wasn't so short, but it was so worth it! I love you guys!

Natter Family Reunion

So, this past week has been awesome! The Natter family has had the chance to come out to our place and have a family reunion. After everyone showed up, we took off for the Dunes in Indiana. Scott's boss was gracious enough to let us stay at his beach house from Saturday to Tuesday. We spent every day going to the beach and Eliza absolutely loved the water. The last time Scott, Eliza and I went we couldn't get her into the water. This time, she was running and jumping in, forgetting the fact that she doesn't know how to swim. Luckily one of us was always around her so she didn't drink up too much water.

Playing Games

Relaxing in Lake Michigan

Eliza running down the dune

We spent all of Tuesday driving down to Cuiver River State Park in Missouri. We ended up spending that night in a hotel instead of at the campground because of all the rain and because some of our stuff got wet from the drive down. So, we set up camp on Wednesday, played in the river, went on a hike, and just relaxed. Scott and Steve had fun catching crawdads and little Jackson was excited to see his dad, Tim, meet us there.

Lounging on the fallen tree


Scott hunting for crawdads

Walking in the river

We also got to spend Thursday in Nauvoo and watch the Nauvoo Pageant that night. It was an amazing production and we all had fun with the pre-pageant games and activities.

Family Pic in Nauvoo


Circle Dancing

Scott and Eliza dancing

Watching a puppet show

Friday's activity took us to a cave in Southern Illinois. I was a little nervous about going into the cave, but I had a blast! We hiked in as far as we could go and then Scott's dad and I came back. I couldn't stay in the cave much longer and I couldn't do all of the exploring like everyone else got to do. That's the joys of pregnancy: big stomach and nature always calling.

Group photo before entering the cave


Scott and I are posting on wall

Scott crawling through the cave

We came home on Saturday saying good bye to Tim, Lindsey and Steve before we left camp. They flew out from St. Louis that afternoon. We then had to say good bye to Scott's dad and Danny on Sunday and today we said good bye to Riki, Jackson, Scott's mom and Grandma Hendricks. It's sad to see everyone go, but we had such a wonderful time.

Ultrasound

First of all, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. We got to meet up with some of the other families in the ward and played softball. That evening, Scott, Eliza and I went to the local KMart parking lot and watched the Round Lake fireworks. It was a lot of fun and Eliza clapped and cheered after each firework. She also like playing with the sparklers earlier in the evening. I would put those up, but sadly they are on Scott's work camera and I have not downloaded them yet. Hopefully I can soon.

Two days prior to the 4th, we got to have our ultrasound for our next baby. We brought Eliza along with us and she kind of wondered what was going on. She watched as the technician scanned my stomach and found some good shots of the baby. Eliza really had fun looking at the picture of the baby in my tummy. All she did the rest of the day was talk about the baby in Mommy's tummy. She also held onto her personal picture the technician gave her.

Eliza seemes to enjoy the fact that there is another baby coming into the family. She likes to put her hand on my stomach and see if she can feel the baby. When we ask her if the baby will be a boy or a girl, she almost always responds, "A baby girl." So, we'll see what happens come November.

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!

Indiana Dunes

This past weekend we had the chance to go to Scott's bosses lake house in Beverly Shores, Indiana. It is a couple of blocks away from Lake Michigan and near the Sand Dunes National Park.

We spent Saturday morning playing games until it was warm enough to head out to Mt. Baldy, the largest sand dune in the area. We climbed up to the summit of the dune and took a picture at the top. It was crazy to look out and see Lake Michigan so far below us. Scott then suggested that we run down the side of the dune to the beach. He took off running and practically jumped his way down. I followed with Eliza and we got going pretty fast. It was a good thing I held onto her hand because she would have toppled over and rolled down the entire side of the sand dune.

Scott was the only one brave enough to go into the water. He took Eliza with him and she was not too happy about that. The lake water was about 40 degrees or so and the only way you could stay in the water was to get past the numbing point. After the second time Scott took Eliza into the water she wanted to get out so badly that she cried and said, "I wanna go out!" followed with a "Pleeeaaase Daddy!" How could Scott resist not letting her come back in.

Eliza played in the water as long as it only touched her feet. She did help us collect rocks to skip in the water. Braden Kizer and his wife, Natalie, had joined us for the weekend. He was the champion rock skipper of the group. Natalie also took pictures as we buried Eliza in the sand.

All in all, it was a really fun weekend and I'm sad it's over already. Eliza really took to Natalie and she had a blast getting her toe nails painted before we came home Sunday afternoon. Such a girly girl when she wants to be. Not sure what I will do with a girl who is girly. Learn quickly I guess.

Memorial Day

We had the wonderful opportunity to spend the morning at 6 Flags with our friends Carli and Ryan Woodland. They were gracious enough to invite us to go with them. Since they bought season passes this year, it gave them a free ticket each. So they invited us.

Eliza had a blast with their daughter, Hayden, riding on the little kids roller coasters. The first one they got on was a little ladybug car ride and they were the only two on it. Once the ride stopped, the ride operator undid their seat belt and Hayden was ready to get off. Eliza instead put the seat belt back together and asked "Another ride?" Hayden was just as excited as Eliza to go for a second round.

They went on a few other rides and there was no way to really keep them away. Once they were done with one ride, they ran to the next one. Luckily the kids section was practically void of anyone else so they were able to do what they wanted. The two of them had a blast!

We ended our day at the park going to Hurricane Harbor. It was a bit cold and windy, but we put on our swimsuits and jumped into the water. It was cold, but the kids loved it. Luckily the wave pool felt like it was heated so Eliza and Hayden tolerated that better. Either way, we all had a lot of fun and Eliza almost passed out in Scott's lap as we took a ride around the lazy river. Thanks to Ryan and Carli for inviting us over. Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day!

A Week of Everything

Two weeks ago was the craziest week we have ever had. Course we expected it because of everything that happens and will continue to happen every year. What I mean is Mother's Day (May 10th), our wedding anniversary (May 13th) and Eliza's birthday (May 16th). Yeah, we set ourselves up for that one. What made it interesting though was the Saturday before Mother's Day, Eliza decided to get sick. The poor girl wasn't too happy about that, especially since we had ordered pizza that night and that is one of her favorite meals. Needless to say, we had to skip out on church for Mother's Day, but I couldn't complain too much about that. Luckily no one else got sick and it was only Eliza. Scott and Eliza did make breakfast in bed for me: an omelet and an orange julius. So delicious! I think every mother deserves breakfast in bed.

Wednesday was our wedding anniversary (3 years) and Scott ended up feeling sick. He came home early from work and I had to cancel the reservations I had for dinner. Maybe we will go there for his birthday next month. Anyway, we did manage to get out for a little bit. We ate dinner at Panda Express before going to the movie theater and watching Star Trek. AWESOME! I really enjoyed the movie and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a movie to watch, especially those with an understanding of the Star Trek saga. For those who don't, like Scott, you will still enjoy the movie. Scott said he thought the movie was really good.

Then for Eliza's birthday, Scott and Aaron had to go and run some errands and I worked on a cake for Eliza. I made a teddy bear cake with chocolate frosting. I was pretty proud of it, seeing that it was my first time I had attempted something like this before. Next time I will flip the cake over after I level it. Frosting doesn't like to stick to the cake part like it does to the crust.

We did manage to finally go shopping for her birthday once Scott and Aaron got back and I had finished her cake. That night we had pizza for dinner and then celebrated her birthday. She had a blast opening her gifts and was really thrilled about the bike we got for her. She hasn't quite figured out the mechanics of pedaling yet. Saddly, we did not take very many pictures of her but I got a lot on the video camera. Now, I just have to figure out how to get the video onto the computer without the proper hook-ups.

So, that was our crazy week. Somehow we made it though and I think we will make it though more to come.

I'ts Official

It's time to say welcome to the Natter clan to the world of blogging. Well, I guess it's more like welcome to me. I doubt Scott will ever post anything on here, so it's really all up to me. I hope that this will be fun for family and friends and if you care to laugh, then by all means go for it! Anyway, I think this will be fun and we'll see how I do. I can't type much right now because I will be heading off to a workout class in the next few minutes. So until then, this will have to do. So, welcome friends to All Things Natter out here in the beautiful flat and windy plains of Illinois!