Christmas Chaos

I am settling in to write this blog post, and just thinking about it is exhausting me. As usual, we did some serious running around for the holidays. Michael and I have discussed it and decided that this was our last year. In the future, everyone can come to us. It's just too much to visit so many houses. We love seeing everyone, but the stress overwhelms the joy, and we feel like we hardly see each other.

Festivities started for us on Tuesday the 23rd. My mom, Alex, and Jenna came over for pizza, games and gifts. We played Carcassone, which we fondly call "Pig Risk." In between my turns I was baking a cake for Christmas Eve dinner, making treats for our neighbors, and preparing chicken casserole for 50 for Meals on Wheels. See, you're tired from reading, aren't you?

Wednesday morning (Christmas Eve), I got up around 7 to put my casserole in the oven. At 8:30, I brought it to the church where volunteers packed it into individual meals. I picked up Marlee and Jenna, and we were back at church by 10 to deliver the meals. We got lucky and all of our deliveries were in the same apartment complex. When the last meal was delivered, we headed to my dad's house. Michael was working in the morning, so he met us there. We had lunch and did the present thing with Dad and Wendy. Right before we left, Jessie stopped by with baby Riley, so we finally got to meet the little turkey.

We left Dad's a little after 3 to go to Mass. We got there more than a half hour early but still couldn't get a seat. It turned out to be fine, and we sat on the floor. Marlee's patience was starting to wear thin, so Michael took her out to see all the animals at the live nativity. She was in heaven...we just had to stop her from kissing the animals.

After Mass, we went to my mom's for dinner with some family friends. We had a great time, but we were so tired. By the time we got home around 10, I had been running around for 15 hours.

After the late night, Marlee decided to sleep in on Christmas morning. I walked around the house making a bit of noise so she would wake up :) She was still half-asleep when we walked out to the living room but quickly perked up. She got a play kitchen, play food, a new baby, and lots of other toys and cute clothes. We had breakfast at Waffle House (in our PJs!) so that we could spend some time together, just the three of us. We came home, got ready, then headed up to Nana and Grandpop's to visit for a while. Then we all headed to Aunt Nancy's for Christmas dinner. We got home around 7 and collapsed.

The weekend went by in a flash...it was mostly recovery time! I'll be sure to post some Christmas pictures soon!

Sled Ride

We got this picure taken because we had a coupon for a freebie. I don' love it, but it's cute.

A Visit with Santa

Marlee had mixed feelings about her visit with Santa. We got in line while he was away feeding his reindeer. He came down the escalator, waving to the kids and ringing his jingle bells, and Marlee was ECSTATIC. She squealed and waved back. The entire time we were in line (20 minutes maybe), she couldn't wait to get to the front. She was so excited that I had tears in my eyes...it was precious. I guess maybe it was the excitment of the situation and all the other kids. She was literally bouncing when we were next in line. Then it was our turn...we walked up to Santa...and she cried.

I'm Marlee...Could I BE wearing any more clothes?

This morning MJ kept asking to put more an more clothes on. So here she is, wearing a t-shirt, sweatpants, my sports tank, leggings tied around her waist, her raincoat, her socks, and one of Michael's socks. Fabulous!

Tellin' It Like It Is

Lately, the only thing that makes my ulcer feel better is to put some food on top of it. So I've been snacking a lot. The result is a few extra pounds around my middle. The other day, I put Marlee in her carseat then got in the car. I was fastening my seatbelt and said, "Ugh, I feel like a cow."

From the backseat I heard...

Mmmmmmmmoooooooooooooo!

Talking Up a Storm!

A couple weeks ago, I was concerned (and think I mentioned here) that Marlee seemed to have stopped talking. She wasn't saying ANY of her words...not one. Then, out of the blue, she started REALLY talking. Her words have transformed. "Breakfast" used to be "sheffish," now it's "breffest." "Shoes" used to be "soo," now it's "shoes!" And she's added the "s" to "nack" to say "snack." She's also repeating things we say. Today I asked her, "Marlee, why'd you do that?" She said, "Why do dat?"

It's a whole new aspect of her personality...so fun!

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Hi, everyone! I've been a little out of touch because I've been without a computer...my laptop finally bit the dust. I'll try to catch you up a bit, but I don't have pictures now...I'll post those as soon as I can.

The latest excitment started Wednesday. I woke up in the morning prepared to put the finishing touches on the house before Kacey, Chris, and Pruett arrived for Thanksgiving. My back was sore and I had a sharp pain in my stomach and a bit of nausea, so I called my mom to see if she could come over and help me. By noon, the pain was so bad that I could barely walk, and every time I stood up I felt like I was being stabbed. I called Michael in from work and told him I thought I needed to go to the emergency room. After hours in the hospital and lots of inconclusive tests, the doctor decided I most likely have an ulcer and referred me to a GI specialist. While I was still in the hospital, Michael had to leave to pick up the Mas at the airport. By the time they all got back to the house, I had had some meds and was feeling a bit better. It's still bothering me a bunch, but I can't see the specialist until the 15th. Blurg.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. We got up early, and my mom came over to watch MJ and Pru. Michael, Chris, Kacey and I went to the church to pack and deliver meals on wheels. We found out that they were set for packers, so we went to Waffle House and returned to deliver. We brought Thanksgiving dinners to 10 families. When we got home, the boys watched football while Kacey and I started cooking. We pulled the turkey out of the brine only to be knocked over by the smell of eggs...the turkey had gone bad. We smelled this when we put it in the brine, but thought it might just be from the pre-packaged brine and that it would go away with a rinse and new brine. We were wrong. So Michael and Chris ran to Kroger and returned with two chickens. We roasted them like turkey, and the result was almost as good. Fortunately, Thanksgiving isn't all about the turkey...we were able to share it with people we love, and it was great. We spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out...it felt like old times.

Marlee and Pru were cute together. MJ is such a peanut, but Pru is even peanuttier...she makes Marlee look big! Pruett was so sweet the whole weekend...Marlee was another story. She is cutting 4 teeth, two of which are molars, so she was a bit of a crab. She finally started to come around on Saturday. I think she misses Pru. On Monday morning she walked into each room of the house calling "Puuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!" We miss Chris and Kacey daily...now Marlee knows the feeling.

Marlee has really changed a lot in the past weeks. She is so smart :). You can give her a pretty complex command, like "Go into your room, get your crayons, and bring them to Daddy," and she does it. She can also point out her (or your) body parts (head, hair, eyes, nose, ear, mouth, teeth, shoulders, hands, knees, toes). Her animal noises are getting better and better (dog, cat, cow, owl, sheep, duck, lion, "gorilla"). I'm trying to get her to say Santa says HO HO HO, but she's not feeling it. She's also picked up some new gestures, like shrugging her shoulders (complete with hands by ears, palms up), nodding, and shaking her head. I think it's funny, because I didn't teach her. I must do those things more than I realize. Oh, and Tuesday she ate an entire bowl of oatmeal with a spoon. She's been using a spoon and fork for a couple of months now, but her hand inevitably ends up helping. So an entire breakfast with no hands was an accomplishment!

Cute story: Yesterday I had her on the floor in the bathroom playing with her bath toys while I got ready. I look down at her, and she had gotten her soap pump down from the bathtub, pumped some into her hand, and was "washing" her hair! I told Michael about it so he let her help at bathtime that night. She was so cute washing her hair and face...but I don't think I'm ready for that kind of independence!

Speaking of hair, she had her first haircut yesterday! Just a bit off the front so that it doesn't get in her eyes. She held still and didn't fuss a bit.

Pictures coming soon, I promise!

Weekend in Review

We had a fun (and fast) weekend. Friday night Mindy, Joe, and Brandon came over for dinner. Mindy is one of my oldest friends, and even though we only live about 20 miles apart, we don't get together much. It was great to catch up, and Brandon and Marlee had fun playing.

I'm not quite sure what happened to Saturday. We went out to breakfast and had dinner with my mom and Jenna, but the day in between just sort of slipped away.

Sunday we did some stuff around the house then went out for a kid-free dinner with John and Melissa. They are moving to Illinois this week...we'll miss you guys!

If You Type It, She Will Sleep

9 1/2 hours straight last night.

I've never won the lottery.


(hey, it's worth a shot!)

Let's Talk About Sleep

I realized that I don't really mention Marlee's sleep habits much here, and because I'm using this blog as a sort of baby book, I felt I really should.

Marlee is wonderful about going to bed...for naps and at night. We talk about naptime/bedtime and go into her room. She turns off her light, and I turn on her white noise machine. I sing her a song and put her in her crib and walk away. A few minutes later she's asleep. It's wonderful, and it's been this way since she was about six months old.

BUT...

at nearly 15 months, she doesn't sleep through the night. She's done it twice I think (8+ hours), and both times were around 4-6 months. She wakes up around midnight and cries for three minutes or so and goes back to sleep. Then she's up between 2:00 and 4:30 and comes into bed with us. It's really not that bad, and I'm kind of used to it. We love having her in the bed. As soon as she comes in, she snuggles up and goes right back to sleep. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to sleep for 8 hours without interruption. One day I'll find out, but I'm good for now.

The Weekend in Review

Saturday was a busy day. We went out to breakfast in the morning, did some housework, then Daddy and Marlee played while I had lunch with a friend and shopped with my mom. While shopping, I convinced my Grammy (not hard to do!) that she wanted to play with Marlee for the evening so Michael and I could go out. She and Jenna came over and watched MJ and Michael and I had a date....Ikea, Moe's and a movie. Oh, how life has changed! We went to Ikea to buy this dresser (in black-brown) for our bedroom. We've been married six years now, and we've only had flea market or hand-me-down furniture...not that there's anyting wrong with that, but I really wanted something with drawers that open and close without a fight and that makes our bedroom look less like a dorm room. We're hoping to get the matching one after the holidays. After Ikea, we decided on a quick dinner so that we could see an earlier movie...we just can't stay up late like we used to! We saw Quantum of Solace, which was better than we anticipated because we'd heard it was tererible.

Sunday we went out to breakfast with my Mom, Alex and Jenna to celebrate Jenna's confirmation because Alex had to work that night. We spent the afternoon putting our dresser together. Marlee was so funny...she watched us for a couple of minutes then knew exactly what to do. She would grap a screw, put it in a hole, get a screwdriver, and try to screw it in. She was a big "help." :)

Jenna's confirmation was at five. I was her sponsor, and we had to be there an hour early. We spent the hour studying...The Archbishop was going to ask the Confirmands questions, and if they couldn't answer, the sponsor had to...yikes! So I brushed up on my Church knowledge and warned Jenna that she'd better know her stuff. The Mass was really nice. It was long (2 hours), but the Archbishop did a great job of keeping things light and funny. Turns out he only asked about half of the kids questions, and Jenna got lucky...no question for her. She did the first reading, so I think that helped. She did such a great job that she was asked to sign up to be a regular lector! Dad, Wendy, Mom, Jenna, Michael, Marlee and I went out for a post-Mass dinner. It was a late night, and Marlee crashed as soon as we got home.

Flashback

Watch this.

It feels like yesterday. Sniff Sniff.

Playing with Uncle Alex

It's been a while since I posted a video. This one isn't great, but it's still cute.

Just Some Cute Pictures

Isn't she pretty?!

Sick Baby

Here is a picture of Marlee's trip to the emergency room. Poor baby!

Part Two: Heading North

[scroll down for part one]

Ten days into our trip, Marlee and I flew up to San Fransisco to visit family. We stayed with my Grandma Lois, but got to visit with the DeVos side of the family too. We even got to visit Poppy on his 80th birthday!

Playing in Great-Grandma's yard...Just like Mommy did at my age!

Silly Uncle Keith

Great-Granny and Cousin Catrina

Great-Poppy

Michael joined us after his last day of work. Unfortunately, he wasn't feeling very well, so we didn't do much. By the time we flew home, he was sick.

**forgot to mention: When we got to SF, the airline had left our gate-checked stroller behind. What is up with that?

Part One: Deep Breath In.........................

and here goes!

We left Tuesday, October 14th for Los Angeles. The flight was pretty uneventful, except for a couple of protests from Marlee June. She doesn't understand why she can't walk up and down the aisles and show people how cute she is. We arrived at LAX to discover that the airline didn't put one of our bags on the plane. They tracked it down in Atlanta and agreed to put it on a later flight and deliver it to our hotel. By the time the luggage crisis was solved and we picked up our rental car, we were running late for the check-in at our hotel. Instead of staying with the rest of Michael's team at a flea-bag motel, we had made our own reservations. I called to let them know we were running late and was told our reservation had been cancelled for a no show the day before. Originally, we were arriving on Monday. When I called to change to Tuesday, they just made a note in the comments section and didn't change the reservation itself. The hotel admitted their mistake, but didn't have anywhere for us to stay. So we were driving around LA, lost, missing a suitcase and without a hotel reservation. Needless to say, I was majorly stressed. I called my dad to see if he could get online and find something for us. He stays at Marriotts on all his travels, so he pulled some strings to get us a room at the Courtyard in Beverly Hills. It was great, but we couldn't afford to stay there for two weeks, so it was a temporary plan. Thanks to the awesome GPS on our iPhones, we arrived at the hotel...finally! We checked in, got to our room, and remembered that our lost bag was being delivered to the other hotel. A few phone calls and some begging and problem solved...the courrier would bring it to our new hotel.

The time in LA was okay. Michael was pretty miserable, working 16 hour days, even on weekends. Marlee and I did a few fun things, including The Aquarium of the Pacific. She had such a great time...she walked around for hours saying, "Fish, fish, fish." I think she would have been happy to stay all day.

Another day, we went to the Santa Monica Pier and beach.



Sunday the 19th was our six year wedding anniversary. Michael was able to leave work around 5, and we all went to Downtown Disney for the evening. Our plan was to stay to watch the fireworks, but we were all too tired to stay that late. So we just had dinner and some treats, including a snickerdoodle cookie for Marlee. I don't usually give her sweets , so she was beside herself. Michael has a picture on his phone, so I'll get moreit soon and post it.

To Be Continued...

Broken Promise

I promised I'd blog last night, and I didn't. I couldn't have predicted that we'd be spending the night in the emergency room with a sick baby. Michael was sick all of last week, and it looks like Marlee June caught the violent stomach bug yesterday. She's still asleep, so I don't know if she's feeling any better, but I woke up with it myself this morning. This should be an interesting day.

Trick-Or-Treat

I know, I owe you lots of blogging. I promise I will write about our trip and Halloween tomorrow, but for now, here are some pictures!

Homesick

We're still in California, but we'll be home Sunday! I miss home and miss blogging. My poor laptop is on the fritz, and I have to type fast because it shuts off after 5 minutes or so. Just saying hello!

New Family, New Traditions

Last year, when Marlee was less than two months old, we watched the Roswell Youth Day Parade and followed it with a trip to the pumpkin patch. It was a festive fall day, and we decided to make it an annual tradition. This year, the Schugs joined us to watch the parade. Sophie and Marlee enjoyed it...I think Nick did too, but he didn't have much to say :). After the parade and a nap, we took Marlee to the pumpkin patch. It was so much more fun this year. She enjoyed the animals, the hayride, and picking out pumpkins. She chose a small orange one and a teeny tiny white one, which she carried around (and slept with!) for two days. I have some pictures to post, but I'm blogging from LA, so they'll have to wait until we get back.

More MJ updates:

Marlee is talking up a storm (new words: breakfast, magnet, finished) and is very in to her baby doll these days. I keep meaning to take pictures. She carries her around, pats her on the back, and even pretends to nurse her. It is so stinkin' cute.

I'm Back!

Sorry for another blogging hiatus....It's been a busy week! It all kicked off with the birth of Madelyn Rhys after a long overnight labor. I was able to catch a few hours of sleep before leaving for Birmingham Thursday for a three day training. I did't want to be away from Michael and MJ for that long, so I made the 2.5 hour commute (each way) each day (ugh). Apart from the drive, the training was good. Before the end of the year, I should have my cerfification in both Childbirth and Lactation Education. I've been teaching these subjects with clients, but sort of unofficially. The whole time I was gone, Michael took care of Marlee while working from home...he's SuperDad.

When I got home from training Saturday, I quickly threw on a dress and headed to my 10 year high school reunion. I wasn't planning to go, but I changed my mind at the last minute, and I'm so glad I did. I had a really good time. The official reunion ended at midnight, but when the lights came on, we were all still having too much fun, so we moved the party to Taco Mac for a couple more hours. I don't think I've been out that late in forever. It was also the first time in forever I've had more than one drink (I've had a baby in my belly or at my breast for nearly two years, ya know), but that's another story.

We went out to breakfast Sunday morning...Finally some family time! In the afternoon we headed to the Labor of Love Reunion. LoL is the group of doulas that taught our birth class when I was pregnant with MJ. I also did my apprenticeship with them and will probably join the group myself soon. Each year, they have a big picnic for all the LoL families. It's pretty neat, lots of tiny babies, but the oldest is 12. After the picnic, we met up with the Schugs at Moe's and had dinner while the kids ran around on the patio.

We also got a bit of interesting news this week. Michael's company wants his whole team in the office for a project. So we're packing up and leaving next week for a couple weeks in Los Angeles. Adventures are never-ending with the W Family!

Cam and Nick's Wedding Weekend

We spent the weekend in Asheville, NC at Biltmore Estate for Cam and Nick's wedding. We were supposed to leave around 5am Friday so that Michael could be set up at a Starbucks for his 10am conference call. At about 11pm Thursday night, I realized that I had forgotten to pick up the dry cleaning, which included Michael's suit, so our departure was delayed until after his call, around 2pm. We rolled in to Asheville around 6pm, just in time to meet Kathryn, Steve, and Henry for a quick dinner. We had breakfast for dinner at IHOP, Henry had prunes :)

After dinner, we met up with the rest of the family at a surprise 60th anniversary celebration for Michael's grandparents, Ray and Kenalene. We didn't stay too long, as it was getting late, and MJ was sleepy.

On Saturday, I went to Cameron's bridal luncheon while Michael and MJ played at the hotel a bit. We met up after the luncheon and spent the day touring the Biltmore grounds with Kathryn, Steve, and Henry. We saw the farm/petting zoo and winery. Marlee really really loves animals. This is the second time we've taken her to a petting zoo, and she has such a great time. We just have to keep her from kissing the animals!




We went back to the hotel for a nap before the wedding. MJ never took a morning nap and was up until 3:30 pm...the longest she's been awake her entire life! Needless to say, she was very tired and more than a bit fussy.

We arrived back at the Biltmore around 6pm to get seated for the wedding. The ceremony was in the Italian Garden, just next to the house. Everything about it was beautiful, especially Cam, of course. :) When the ceremony ended, there was a coctail hour on the Library Terrace followed by the reception in a tent in the garden.

First Dance as Mr. and Mrs. A

Marlee was a dancing fool!

She even danced when the band took a break, and there was no one else on the floor!

All that dancing wore her out!

It was so wonderful to see the whole family, and we had a great time. After nearly running out of gas (gas crisis, ya know!), we made it home safely.

A Long, Catch-You-Up Sort of Post

I'm sorry it's been so long since I blogged. It's been quite the hectic week in the W Household.

Last weekend started off great. Mandi and Jackson came over to play and have lunch. Marlee loved playing with Jackson. She really took to him...more than any other friend so far. Maybe it's just that she's older and getting more interested in playing with friends, as opposed to near them.
We all went to lunch at one of our favorite spots, The Fickle Pickle. MJ and Jackson shared their food with one another...we would come to regret this later.

After nap, we got ready for Casey and Jessica's baby shower. We stopped at the Schugs first to watch a bit of the GA Tech game and play with Emily, Sophie, and Nick. Unfortunately, MJ came down with a fever while we were there, and we never made it to the shower. We felt so horrible that Marlee was sick on the day she played with so many friends.

The fever persisted, followed by a rash. Just as Marlee was feeling better, I started to feel bad...just in time for Michael to head to Austin for three days. He was there attending the Game Developer's Conference, and I was home with Marlee and sick, which was a bit of a challenge. I did manage to get some shopping done though, and my mom and Jenna helped me pick out a dress for Cam's wedding next weeked (thank you, Michael and Tyler, for casting your votes via iPhone).

Marlee is doing great with the walking. She pretty much doesn't crawl any more. It has brought out a whole new layer of her personality, and we're really enjoing it. We heard so many times, "Once she starts, youl'll wish you hadn't wished for it!" That couldn't be farther from the truth. It's so much fun!

We're glad to have Daddy home, and tonight we're all adventuring to a new pizza place and Alive After 5. We've been anticipating the restaurant opening for months...let's hope it's good!

Warning

This post contains lethal amounts of cuteness.

First Day of "Playcare"

Marlee went to her first day of "playcare" today! We have a place nearby that does short term and drop-in daycare. They also have a couple cool gyms and imagination centers where you can stay and play with your child. I was a bit sad to leave her, but she was all grins when I picked her up an hour later. The teachers said she had a great time. Marlee walked me around the room when I got there and showed me all the fun things she played with. It's such a relief to know that I can leave her and she'll be safe and happy. Now that Grammy is back in school, I needed a solution for appointments and labor calls. She'll be going for three hours once a week...I think it will be good for both of us!

Yellow Daisy and Finger Painting

Jenna, my mom, Marlee and I went on a girl's trip to the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Yesterday. I love a good festival, and this is one of the best! Aside from having to park a mile away and walk uphill in the heat to get there, we had a great time.


Here's a cute pic of Marlee painting. I usually give her her pacifier to keep her fingers out of her mouth. She had already painted two pictures without getting a spot of paint on her. I turned around to look for a pen to date the paintings, and two seconds later, this is what I saw.

Now THAT'S Walking!

Okay, I'll call it walking now. MJ Just walked through the kitchen. :) I'll work on getting video soon.

A Picnic with Rosemary

We met Marlee's new friend Rosemary and her mommy, Angela, at the park for a picnic yesterday. Angela is a friend from high school. We were friends- but not close- in school. We re-connected on facebook to learn we have lots in common as adults and moms! Social networking is a cool thing.

It was funny to watch the girls together. Marlee petted Rosemary like a dog, and Rosemary looked at Marlee like she was nuts (understandably). They played near each other, but not really with each other. Marlee chewed on Rosemary's toys (sorry, Angela), and Rosemary tried to eat Marlee's sandwich. Rosemary sat nicely on the blanket, and Marlee rolled in the grass clippings. By the end of it all, Rosemary was tuckered out, and MJ was asleep, covered in grass clippings held in place with sticky cantaloupe juice.

Rosemary is the sweetest laid-back baby, and her mom is pretty cool too. Hopefully we can "play" again soon...Marlee wants to show Rosemary how to swing.

[I am kicking myself for not taking pictures...I even had my camera! Oh well, next time.]

An Odd Coincidence

I buy two kinds of milk...Organic Whole for the wee one, and Organic Lactose-free Skim for us. I have two kinds of drinking glasses. I've had these since our wedding. Anyone else think this is really weird?

Collector

Marlee has become quite the little collector. It started a month or so ago with her red wagon. She would put her favorite toys in it and push them around. Last week she got a Chick-Fil-A kids meal that came with a hollow book...it opens and closes like a box. She loves to collect her most prized possessions (currently a piece of tissue paper, a finger puppet, and a chupa) and carry them around in this book. As I type this, I realize that the humor is not quite coming through. It's like...she'll find something..."OOH, what a nice piece of tissue. I should put this in my book box!" And there it stays for a couple of days until something is deemed more valuable and worthy of the space in the book. It's hysterical. She also picked up a seed-pod type thing outside (Michaels says it's called a gumball???), said, "OOOOH!" and carried it around for hours. It's so funny to watch her collect silly little treasures. One day I'm sure I'll find a bug in her pocket or something.














The Collector




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Some Treasures

An update on the "walking," since many have asked: If it's possible, she's less interested than ever. I believe we're moving backwards here. She took her first steps over a month ago, and I felt like walking would be close behind. Now I think she'll walk when she's seven.

First Night Apart

Last night was my first night away from Marlee...not necessarily by choice. I got a call at 6pm that a client's water had broken. By midnight, she was ready for me to come to her house to help her labor. After a very long night, her little boy was born just before noon today. I knew it would happen eventually...I've been really lucky with labor timing so far. Still, it was a little sad to know that MJ was waking up without me. :( I guess there's a first time for everything.

On a related note, I am really really tired.

More Cuteness!

Click here for the Schug Shots from Marlee's party. We're lucky Marlee's godfather is such a talented photographer!

Click here for a slide show of Marlee's portrait session at the park with Lori.

One Year Check-Up

Marlee had her one year well visit today, and it was good all-around. We were surprised to learn that she weighs 20 pounds, 2 ounces! That's the 31st percentile! She's 29 inches tall. She has finally started to drink milk (I had to mix it with a bit of yummy yogurt), which should make weaning a bit easier. My plan is to cut back to nursing twice a day for now. We also got a thumbs up from her pediatrician on the selective/delayed vaccine schedule I planned. So, other than a couple toe pricks for blood, the appointment was good.

Party!

Here's the first of many party pics...thanks to Uncle Mike!

One Year Pictures

Click here for a sneak peek at MJ's portrait session with Lori.

Good Night My Someone

I just put Marlee to bed for the last night before she turns one. As I sang her her lullaby for the 366th time (leap year!), I got a little teary-eyed. I'm not sure if she noticed a quiver in my voice or just sensed my emotions, but she squeezed a little tighter and pat my back.

At this time a year ago, Michael called to tell me he was on his way home from a meeting. His mom had just left, and I told him I had been feeling some contractions. I had been having them on and off for weeks, but I joked, "You never know. Tonight could be the night!" And it was. It was the night...and the following day that changed my life forever. And for so much better.

I am so in love with my baby girl and so proud of her. She's sweet, silly, and smart. Truly a bundle of joy. Who knew I could love so much?

Here are 12 things about Marlee at 12 months:

1. Walking? That's the question on everyone's mind. I dunno. Maybe she is. I think not quite. She'll take a few steps, but I'm waiting to call it walking until she can cross a room.

2. Talking...oh yes. She has quite the little vocabulary. The most recent addition is "fish."

3. She makes animal sounds and will answer, "What does the doggy say?" She can also do kitty, and best of all, beats her (or your) chest with fists when asked what the gorilla says.

4. Smarty pants can identify pictures in a book...mostly animals. She'll point to dogs, cats, cows, chinchillas (yes, chinchillas), gorillas and more when you ask her to find them. She can also identify lots of real life items. Some she had down months ago (chupa, shoe, book, cup), but now she's branching out (banana, red fox, baby).

5. She's a great eater! Her favorite foods are blueberries, mac n cheese and saffron rice with black beans, but she'll eat just about anything.

6. She's still a signing machine and goes a bit overboard with the sign for "more."

7. She can sort items (we use wooden beads) by color (two colors, but not yet three).

8. She has two full teeth and four partials.

9. She always wants to be a helper. First it was unloading the dishwasher. Now its flushing the toilet.

10. She LOVES to read and be read to. She'll hand you a book, then climb into your lap and wait for you to get the hint.

11. She has not only masted the art of climbing up onto furniture, but can finally also get down. It's adorable to watch her scoot to the edge of the bed, lie on her belly, and lower her feet down.

12. She is the greatest, most wonderful, fabulousiest baby in the world...at least in my book.

Happy Birthday My Someone!

What Part of "Nur-Na" Don't You Understand?

I have started the process of slowly and gently weaning Marlee. We've dropped one day time feeding, but I have to keep her distracted so she doesn't realize it. A few days ago, I got her up from her nap and sat on the floor to play (we used to nurse after every nap). After a while, MJ crawled in to my lap, nuzzled me, and said, "Nur-na (nurse)?" I said, "Not now. Ooh, let's read this book!" A few pages in..."Nur-na?" "Look! Mommy has your hippo!" "Nur-Na?" "Let's play music!" At this point, she crawled over to our end table, opened the drawer where I keep my nursing cover for times when we have company over, took it out, crawled back to me and put it in my lap. "NUR-NA!"

This is going to be harder than I thought.

Drinking from a Cup

I couldn't help but notice how well Marlee drank her pretend coffee...so I put some water in the cup. She drank it right up, with just one tiny little spill! Who knew?!?! :)

Coffee Break

MJ is so needy lately (4 teeth!) that I often can't even have a few sips of coffee in the morning without her fussing at me. I finally found a solution...we had our "coffee" together this morning.

Four New Teeth!!!!

Marlee's two tiny teeth finally have some company. Three of her top teeth have popped through, and the fouth is sooooclose! Four teeth at once...no wonder she's been crabby!

Warning

Do not, I repeat, do NOT waste your time or money on the new Mummy movie.

Canadian Adventure

The Adventurers (minus Cam and Nick) at our camp at Zups Resort.

We all began our adventure in our respective home towns at met up at the airport in Duluth, Minnesota. We waited for our van to take us to the Boundary Waters and had a good laugh when it arrived. We walked out of the airport to find a limousine-style party bus, complete with neon lights. Our sweet ride drove us about 2.5 hours to the Boundary Waters, where we met two boats ready to take us into Canada and on to our camp at Zups. After an hour and a half boat ride including a stop at the customs dock and two portages over land, we arrived at Zups.

The camp was, um, rustic, but nice. The 17 of us were divided between 3 cabins. Each cabin had a basic kitchen and bunkbeds and luxuries like lights and running water :) Ours also had a screened porch where we hosted game nights. We really enjoyed staying at Zups. It's owned by a husband a wife, Mark and Kathy, and has been in Mark's family since 1936. It felt like staying at a bed and breakfast. The lodge had fresh baked goodies and comfy sofas for relaxing. Our first night, we had dinner in the dining room. Each day, we had breakfast at the lodge, lunch in our cabins, and took turns cooking dinner for the group.

We spent our days enjoying the scenery and fishing. On Thursday, we took a group trip to a small island, where the Zups staff prepared a fish fry for us. From there, we went to see some Indian pictographs and pick up the M family, who had been camping for a couple of days.

On Friday, some of us went out to Spring Lake. Zups has exclusive rights to the lake, and we had it to ourselves. It was truly beautiful and worth the rocky half mile portage, which was uphill both ways....really.

There are too many pictures to post, but here are a few. Click here to see more.

Some Canadian beauty that speaks for itself.

These are pictographs painted on rocks by natives over 500 years ago. See the figure in the middle holding a spear?

Marlee rockclimbing

My best catch, a Northern Pike

Daddy and MJ at the fish fry

Our canoes

We had an absolutely wonderful trip, but we're glad to be home...with lots of memories of course.

I'll have to tell you about the trip home, but I'm too tired right now!

First Steps!!! **Updated**

I posted this from my iPhone in Canada, so I didn't say much. Marlee took a few steps over our vacation...about 3 or so at a time. So not really walking yet, but well on her way. She can stand indefinitely and will occasionally decide she's brave enough to move her feet. Most of the time though, she thinks crawling is more efficient ;)

She can also stand from a sitting position without using furniture or people for help.

Happy Wednesday

I was a bit stressed this morning and was looking at pictures of my sweet girl to cheer me up. This one put a smile on my face...hope it does the same for you!

New Chairs

I finally got some new dining room chairs. For those of you that have eaten at my house, you know my chairs were...um....perilous. We were down from six to three after some of them gave out when people sat on them.

We have a cool $99 Store near us. Yes, you read that right, $99. It works like the 99 cent variety, only with antique furniture and such. I saw these chairs (a set of 4), and saw the potential.

Before

After!

look how great they look with my rug! (not so much the table cloth :))

Now you may all come over and eat without fear. What would you like for dinner?