Since it didn't look like Natalie would be making it to Texas anytime soon (like I had planned months ago), my dad decided he could wait no longer to meet his grand-daughter and came up to visit!

She was pretty excited to meet a new person and hung out with Grandpa at the table while Nonni and I were making breakfast. In case I have failed to mention it, that turtle is her favorite toy. I think it may have something to do with the mirror on the underside that she likes staring at, but either way, she loves it.

Apart from playing with her turtle, her top activity these days is hanging around with her favorite people and sleeping on them.

Grandpa was more than happy to oblige! Doesn't he just look smitten already?? She tends to have that effect on people...

Since Grandpa was in town and we had another birthday coming up, we definitely had to go to our new favorite birthday spot - Benihana's! I thought I would get Heather to take a photo of me and the boys instead of the usual selfie. Unsuprisingly, they were as uncooperative as usual...

Side note - we went for lunch so we could have one of Natalie's home-care nurses stay home with her. The hibachi show was the same, it was definitely still too much food, but the bill was almost half as much! Well I guess we learned something valuable today...! ;)

I made my dad a loaf of sourdough while he was here, hoping that months of (understandable) neglect hadn't killed my starter. Thankfully, it is a resilient bunch of yeast and the bread turned out awesome! Dad was getting a bit concerned that everyone was eating *his* bread, so I promised to bake him a loaf of his own to take home.

Baked goods from his daughters has always been one of his favorite things, so I'm glad to keep that tradition going. It's a small thank you to the man who taught me many of my kitchen skills! It was great to see you, Dad, and I can tell your grand-daughter already loves you. :)