Bonnett-Castillo Family Blog

Natalie turned ONE!!

We celebrated her 1st birthday in Phoenix so all of our family could be with Natalie. We left San Diego Thursday night and arrived in Phoenix just after midnight. Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jim were waiting up for us, they couldn't wait to see Natalie! We played for a little while and Natalie warmed up to both of them very quickly, she was even giving them kisses!! Then we put Natalie to bed, and she fell right to sleep.

Friday morning Natalie spent time playing with Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jim. Then Natalie, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma Carla, Grandpa Jim, Grandpa Jim's assistant Selina, and Grandma Mima went to lunch at Chilis. Natalie ordered her very 1st meal!!! She had a cheese quesidilla with cinnamon apples and milk. She enjoyed all of her food, and had fun drinking from a big kid's cup with a straw. Then we went shopping for her party and went home to decorate and bake.

Saturday (Natalie's birthday) we all woke up early with her to go have breakfast together. We went to Ihop and Natalie had baby pancakes. She was a happy girl the whole time! She had a special birthday hat and bib. After breakfast we went home to finishing getting everything ready for her party. At 12:00 the guests started to arrive, Natalie was a little shy at first but over time she became more social. There were 4 other kids at her party and she had so much fun playing with them!! She hardly ever gets to be around other kids, but she loved it!! Natalie opened her presents (with a little help from mommy), and then it was time for cake! We didn't get pictures of her eating the cake because Daddy was recording a video the whole time, but my mom got pictures and I will be posting those very soon. But, it was adorable... At 1st Natalie was just picking at it, then she started in with handfuls of cake. I believe she thought it was more fun to play with than eat! After that she needed a bath which was not a surprise!! Then Natalie played with Hailey for the rest of her party. It was a great day, and Natalie was such a happy girl!! Later that night after Natalie went to sleep, Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jim babysat and Charlie and I went on a little date :) We went to the movies and saw Date Night. Even though it was Natalie's birthday, we thought it was ok to sneak out for a couple hours since she was sound asleep.

Sunday morning we woke up and packed up the car to drive home. Natalie slept for awhile so that was nice, it passed the time for her so she wasn't too fussy or bored. When we got home Natalie was happy to be back, she started playing with her toys and was in a very good mood. I think she was just thrilled to be out of the car and able to walk around!

Waking up on her birthday!

Breakfast at Ihop

Natalie, Mommy and Daddy

Talking to Grandma Carla

Natalie and her Grandmas

Natalie with Grandma and Grandpa

Eating her yummy pancakes!

The party favors and game...

For the game everyone had to

guess how many animal cookies were in the teddy bear,

Natalie's Great Great Aunt Marilyn won,

and the prize was chocolate covered Oreos.

Natalie's cake table.

She got her own cake,

and the cupcakes were for all of her guests.

Mommy made everything :)

Natalie's cake...

Ha ha!!

My daughter is such a lady!

Natalie and Mommy

Just hanging out

Natalie, Daddy and Uncle James...

This was Natalie's first time meeting her Uncle James!

Opening her 1st present from Grandma Carla

and Grandpa Jim

The birthday princess in her new chair!

Opening her present from Grammy and Papa

She loves her new butterfly plate

Opening another present,

she was very good at opening the presents that came in bags!

Taking a peek to see what other goodies were in the bag...

Puppy!!

She actually got 2 of these, and we decided to keep both.

One for her playroom and one for her bedroom.

Opening one of her birthday cards...

Present from Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jim...

... it's her birthday angel!!

This is a special present because every year

(up until I was 21)

my grandparents gave me the same birthday angels.

Reading her book from Grandma Carla and Grandpa Jim

Natalie's cake...

Its not the greatest picture,

but we are singing "Happy Birthday" to Natalie

Natalie and Hailey in their matching outfits from Ashley

So cute!

Goodbye kisses...

More goodbye kisses...

Ashley and me

... and Charlie :)

Relaxing in her new chair...

... she loves it!

A little more about Natalie...

As you saw in Natalie's birthday pictures she loves to give kisses. She has even started putting her bottom lip out when she wants us to give her kisses.

She no longer lets us rock her at bedtime, she just wants to go straight into her crib. Its a little sad for us, I loved being able to rock her and cuddle before bed... but I also love the fact she goes down so easy at night, she is such a big girl!

She had her 1 year well baby check a couple days before we went to Phoenix. They were not able to give her any shots because it wasn't close enough to her actual birthday. We are having to go back for the shots. But her appointment went great, she is a healthy little girl. She is 31" long and weighs 24 pounds 1 ounce.

She has switched over to milk in sippy cups instead of the formula in a bottle. Although we still give her a night time bottle, but it wont be long before she doesn't need that anymore.

Recently Natalie has started undressing herself every time she has an outfit with a zipper.... and about half of her pajamas have zippers! So, we are having to go buy her some more pajamas. I put her to bed one night, and about 15 minutes after I laid her down I looked on the video monitor to see if she was sleeping... she was sitting in her crib with her pajamas unzipped and was proceeding to undress herself. It was hilarious! I went and changed her into zipper-less pajamas and about 2 minutes later she was asleep. That was the last night she had on zipper pajamas.

Unzipping her pajamas while playing