We're still here

Yikes!  We've been a bit remiss about our blogging.  Don't worry - we have a really good reason... and the reason is:  It's all Hayley's fault!!!


Seriously though, it is.  Hayley's been playing the "difficult" card and has gotten sick quite a bit recently.  And when Hayley gets sick, she wakes up every hour on the hour all night long.  And then she gets better, and Mom and Dad re-train her to sleep through the night... and then she gets sick again!  And so it has gone in our house since the middle of November.  And there's something about waking up 5 times a night each night that doesn't lend itself to Mom wanting to "help" us with our blog...  So, we apologize for our hiatus.  We know how you LOVE your Nathlich News.  We'll do our best to catch you up.


As you can see - there was a HUGE holiday in mid-November called Abby's 3rd Birthday!!  I'm super cute about it if you ask me how old I am... sometimes I just say "Treeeeeeee" but sometimes I'll answer in the conversation I had with my parents for the first few weeks I was three.  Mind you, I have this entire conversation all in one breath and I play both sides of the conversation - because, really, who cares about anyone else.  Here's how it goes:


You:  "Abby, how old are you?"
Me: "One. Nooooo. Two.  Noooooo. TREE!  YAY, TREEEEEEE!"  (Insert huge fist pumps in the air)

Mom and Dad were unsure why I decided to just cry on my birthday - but then our friend Brie pointed out that (a) it's my party and I'll cry if I want to and (b) THERE'S NO CAKE YET!  So of course that calls for tears.

Hey - it's my cake.  I'll take what I want of it and if you're lucky I'll share with you.  And if I licked that part first - tough.

 I had a birthday party!!  It had jumping castles and pizza.  What else could a girl want?  Oh, that's right.  TO NOT WASTE TIME POSING FOR PICTURES!  Let me down, Dad!!

Yum, Yum!  Friends and food!

See how my buddy Tucker is ready to help me blow out my candles if I need it?!

 Auntie Em knew not to come to a party without wearing my favorite necklace.  I got right to work on that thing.

My seriously impressive mountian of gifts.  Awesome.

So then comes the holiday (second to Abby's Birthday, obviously) of Thanksgiving.  Oh - but there are no pictures of this:  Why?  You guessed it - Hayley's fault!

At the beginning of November Hayley got a simple cold, which turned into Hayley waking up in the middle of the night coughing and having a tough time breathing.  So she got put on nebulizer medicine - and that made her vomit.  A lot.  So on Thanksgiving this year our Dad had to work - (YES - ON Thanksgiving.  Because you know how it goes, the women folk are at home cooking the meal and they tell the men folk to "get out of my kitchen" so the men folk flock to the golf course and alas: our Dad has to be at work.  Stereotypical, maybe.  But true.)

SO, we had planned a nice Thanksgiving with Auntie Em and Nana, but Hayley vomited on her cute "First Thanksgiving" outfit as we drove over there.  And then she vomited a few more times for good measure and dinner became an eat and run activity as opposed to a sit and enjoy family time activity.  So yeah, no pictures from Baby's First Thanksgiving. 

In December we went to the National Zoo for Zoo Lights.  It was pretty cool to see the zoo all lit up - and to see all the Christmas trees!  It was COLD, but it was worth it!  (Check out Abby's new favorite way to pose for photos: by flinging her arm around the neck of anyone else in the picture with her!)

Evan and I had a little alone time under the lights while Abby and Tucker went to look at the train display.  There's never any mistletoe around when you need it...

By the time baby's first Christmas Eve rolled around, guess who was sick, AGAIN.  But I did look beautiful, didn't I?!

Uhh, we have yet to master the whole 2 kids looking great in a photo thing...

We spent Christmas Eve with Nana and Auntie Em... they brought us some neat gifts.  Like this one.  But why open a perfectly good box when you can just drum on it?!

You may remember that I told you how much I LOOOVE to jump.  So I got my very own trampoline for Christmas!! I was PSYCHED!

... but I'm pretty sure Mom and Dad were more psyched.

(Seriously: whose legs bend like that?!)

Then we got up on Christmas Day and Santa had come!!  When my mom was growing up Grandpa would always make her (and my uncles) sit at the top of the stairs while he went downstairs, turned on the Christmas lights, got the camera ready, etc. etc. etc.  And after years of finding this to be an extremely annoying practice: this year Mom made US do it.  Well - me do it.  Hayley's not always sturdy enough, so leaving her sitting at the top of the stairs for a photo isn't recommended parenting practice at this stage.

Obviously while Santa was checking out if I'm naughty or nice what he saw was that I'm STYLIN'...

I didn't even need my own gifts - I was perfectly happy with other peoples gift boxes.  I know they say the camera adds 10 pounds - but that's the real life size of my cheeks.

Dad had to work the rest of the week, so the Nathlich ladies got in the car on Christmas afternoon and drove up to Connecticut where even more winter adventures awaited us as we visited with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Charley.

How's that for an adorable little bear suit?!  We decided to visit the Bronx Zoo one day.  It may sound silly to go to the zoo in the winter - but the Bronx Zoo is so big there was still LOTS to see.

So Abby took off on her own to see it all...

There was an ice carver at the zoo!  He was making all sorts of neat ice sculptures - and he had carved this amazing slide!  What was one to do?!  Hold on and touch ice - or just go no hands?!

Yikes!  Slides are slippery enough - slides made out of ice are in a whole other league!

All these fun trips can be exhausting.  Sometimes a girl just needs to boycott lunch in the name of a good nap.

By the end of the week Daddy was able to come up and meet us, so I let him take us to the super cool interactive Children's Museum. 

At the energy display sending balls UP!

While we were in Connecticut - I got sick - AGAIN - and we had to go see Mom's old pediatrician to find out I had an ear infection.  A day or two on the good drugs and I was back to my smiley self...

Never doubt the power that comes with having mastered the "sad eyes, pouty face" look... as demonstrated here.

NO HANDS!

You be the judge:  who is having more fun here? 

Just a little Daddy/Daughter building...

SO:  Our New Year Resolution - or at least Hayley's:  to (a) learn to sleep through the night yet again and (b) to not need to see the doctor so often that mom has their phone number memorized. 

Happy New Year, Friends!