Natalie is 1 month old!

We're amazed that Natalie is already 1 month old! She's getting so big already. This past week we've noticed that she's started smiling in response to our smiles etc. and not just from gas. She has such a beautiful little smile! Here are a few photos that I captured of her for her "1-month" shot.

Emile's parents, Riet and Andre (Oma and Opa), were in town over the weekend and are staying till tomorrow. This was the first time Opa got to meet Natalie. Both Oma and Opa read her a few Dutch children's books over the weekend. She intently watched them while they did this. Hopefully with a lot of exposure to Dutch, she'll pick it up as a second language as time goes on.


While they were here, we went to the Capital Building in downtown Raleigh. It was my first time breastfeeding in public where I felt everyone could see me (of course, I had a cover over myself and Natalie). The only place available when she got hungry was a bench in the middle of the Capital Building right where everyone walked up the stairs -- it was a strange feeling.

On Friday, we finally (after 3 tries) got Natalie to take a bottle of expressed breast milk. We ended up switching bottles from the Advent to Platex Drop-Ins. Now Emile will get to spend some more bonding time with her while she feeds! And I'll get to leave the house occasionally -- to celebrate, I went out to get a well-needed pedicure on Saturday. Unfortunately, Natalie still had a hard time with me being gone for so long even after getting the bottle. But I'm sure she'll get more comfortable with me stepping out occasionally to run errands etc. as time goes on.

Here are some additional photos taken since Father's Day. Given how adorable she is, I don't believe our blog can have too many photos of her! :) Unfortunately this week, she's also started getting baby acne on her face but it's starting to look better already today. Hopefully it won't last too long.