11 Months Old!

Mara is 11 months old today! I know I say it every month, but...I can't believe it!

As is becoming the norm now, it was hard to get any good pictures. This was day two of NO NAPS (who knows what was going on today, but she was NOT interested in a nap!), so she was a little crazy already, and half the pictures I took are of her trying to get off the chair to get to me and the camera. But, we did get at least a couple decent photos for the scrapbook!

After the pictures, we went to the library and out to dinner. Was that brave or stupid of us, after two days with no naps? It went fine, she was a little vocal during dinner, but luckily we were tucked away in a corner of the restaurant, so I don't think she bothered anyone too much!

Luckily she went to sleep with no problem tonight. Happy 11 months, Maralyn!

Jenna's First Bridal Shower

Today was Jenna's first Bridal shower. Can't believe how quickly the wedding is coming up! She has another shoewr next weekend, and then two weeks after that we have her shower/bachelorette party. Busy time! The shower today was held at my Aunt Kathy's house. It had a 'camping' theme since Jenna and Derek like camping. So, we all got to dress casually to go with the theme! Jenna got lots of great gifts -- even some fun ones that Derek will like!

Mara had a blast, and was a pretty good girl, despite only sleeping for about 20 minutes the whole day! She was definitely tired by the time we got home! I'm hoping she'll be tired enough to maybe sleep in a little bit tomorrow...

Why Won't This Thing Work??

Twilight DVD

Twilight came out on DVD Saturday. So, yes - I was at Target right around opening time to make sure I could get my copy! There were people (ok, girls) of all ages there right away to get it! Several stores had 'exclusive' editions of the movie, and Target's was the one I wanted. It was 3 discs -tons of extras! It also came with codes for free uploads of the movie and the extras in iTunes. So, I'm in the process of getting all of that on my iPod! Then I'll be able to watch Twilight anywhere! haha.

The movie is great - I was able to watch it last Sunday night without any interuptions, which was nice. I have watched most of the extras - it's fun to see some of the behind the scenes stuff. I still need to watch the movie with director and actor commentary. I started it, but didn't have time for the whole thing. I'm sure that will be entertaining!

They've just started filming for the next film - New Moon. It's supposed to be in theaters on November 20th. I'm interested to see how it will turn out - and really excited! They have a new director and there are several new characters in this one. If done well, it could be REALLY good. I hope it is!

Mara and her Friends

Yesterday our friends came over for a little playdate. Three kids under a year old makes for an interesting afternoon! Kiley brought Kaisen (1 year) and Maggie and Marshall brought Lydia (4.5 months). Mara is 10.5 months.

Mara wasn't too sure about all the people right away, but relaxed after a little while. She checked out Lydia for awhile, and she and Kaisen played a bit too (or at least played NEAR each other anyway).

It was difficult to get a decent picture of the three of them - usually one was upset or looking in a completely different direction...so there are some interesting shots! But I got a couple cute ones!

It was fun to see the other kiddos...they are all growing up so fast!

Mara's Favorite Book

Ever since we got this book, Mara has loved it. It's been her favorite book by far. I don't know if it's just the way I read it, or what. She loves it! The book is getting torn apart from her 'reading' it so much. She loves the pictures, but doesn't even need to look at the book to enjoy it. Jay and I can both recite the whole thing, and a lot of the time, I just recite it to her, without even picking up the book. She loves it! She'll be doing something else, and as soon as you start with the first line, she'll turn and grin at us and get excited. It's so funny! It's a great way to distract her when she's about to get into something naughty too! I tried to find some other Corduroy board books the other day at the bookstore, but they only had the paper versions. I think I'm going to order a couple online. Hopefully she'll like other Corduroy stories just as much as this one. Who knew a book about going to the doctor and getting a shot could be so exciting? Wonder if she'll still like it when she realizes what "do I get a shot?" actually means!

My favorite part of the book:
"Corduroy has grown a lot this year, and gained a lot of pounds. Too many cookies, Corduroy!"

Happy St Patrick's Day!

If you know me, you know I love being Irish! So, I was happy to wear green today, and to put Mara in an Irish shirt too! Someday hopefully we'll be able to take her to Ireland!

It was a little cooler out today, but Mara still had fun playing with her rocks!

Stroller Walks and Rocks

Today was a beautiful day, so when I got home from work, we went outside to enjoy it!

Despite the way she looks in the first picture, Mara really did enjoy her stroller ride. She loves being outside and going for walks - she's a people watcher and pays attention to everything going on around her. There were lots of people outside today, so she had fun seeing what they were all up to.

We sat on the patio after we got back. It was just too nice to go inside right away. Since the grass is still kind of damp and gross, we decided to just see what Mara thought about rocks. She wasn't too sure to begin with. She's pretty cautious about what she puts in her hands (and even more so about what she puts in her mouth!). But after a few minutes of just looking at them, she decided they were 'safe' - and then we couldn't get them away from her! She loved them - holding them, throwing them, grabbing new ones. We weren't sure if we'd ever get her back in the house again!

It was so much fun to get her outside again! I wish so badly that we had a nice yard for her to play in this spring and summer! I'm sure we'll be spending a lot of time at my parents house since they have a huge yard, and lots of things to explore!

Quarters

Mara's Great Grandpa and Grandma gave her this USA Coin map for her baptism this past summer. And for Christmas, Great Grandma gave her all of the quarters to fill it! We hadn't put them into the book yet, so we decided to do it this weekend. Mara had a good time playing with the quarters (especially when she realized they made noise when they hit each other or other things!). When we'd put one into the map, she'd try to get it back out...but eventually we got them all in, and got her to pose next to it for a picture (this involved a lot of pictures of her crawling away or holding her monkey in front of her face, of course!)

Hopefully we'll be able to use the map to teach her her states in several years. And it will be a great keepsake from her Great Grandparents too!

As Promised...

A few more photos from yesterday.

Yesterday we did some cleaning in Mara's room. We sorted through lots of baby clothes...hence the pictures with the hats on. I had to see if they fit, since Mara has a pretty big head! She loved digging through all of my piles!

I'm happy to have gotten quite a bit of clothing ready to pass on to my friend Maggie. Since most of it was passed to us from my friend Andrea, it feels nice to be able to do the same thing for another friend!

This Cracks Me Up...

Funniest random photo ever? Quite possibly. More to come!

But I LOVE the Kitty, Mama...

I find these pictures hilarious! Mara looooves the cats. She loves being near them and smiles and laughs whenever she see thems (she even called Oliver "Dada" the other day). So I wasn't surprised to see her sitting by Oliver this afternoon (and babbling to him). And then she apparently just wanted to get a little closer...and a little closer... The funny thing was that Oliver just sat there and took it. I love the way he's just looking at her. I kept telling her she needed to be a little more gentle! And then her innocent look in the last picture is priceless!

Random Photos from the Week

Photo #1 - crawling around...she likes to see what spaces she can fit into

Photo #2 -playing her favorite game - laugh, throw a toy on the floor, wait for Daddy to pick it up, repeat cycle (over and over and over...)

Photo #3 - no, she's not in time out. She just decided that looked like a fun place to play!

"She's a Girl"

I know this is mostly my fault, and it usually doesn't bother me much, but why can't people figure out that Mara is a girl? I can understand if you just see her out somewhere, and she's wearing green or blue or something...you might think boy. It's hard to say at this age. And usually I won't correct people if they just say something in passing. I'm sure I've mistakenly thought a baby was the opposite sex too (although I would never say something one way or the other if I wasn't sure!).

But say you're at an appointment...and they call her name to be seen. MARALYN. And then proceed to refer to her as "he" and "him" for several minutes until being corrected. Hmmm. This happened to us the other day. Did they really think we named our boy Maralyn? Or did they just forget her name that quickly, and go by the color of the outfit and assume?

I'm not the type of person to dress my daughter in pink or feminine outfits every day. At the same time, I wouldn't put her in something that said "boy" on it. She has plenty of pink girly things, but she has a lot of neutral type outfits too. I like bright colors, and I'm not a big fan of pink, so it happens. She doesn't usually wear bows or headbands, and she doesn't have enough hair for pigtails or barettes.

I don't need people to see her and automatically associate a gender to her. She's a baby. (But that's a whole separate tangent that I won't go off on right now...) And like I said, it doesn't usually bother me. But when someone knows her name, I expect them to at least make the connection. It would be one thing if she had a gender neutral name, but Maralyn is pretty clearly a feminine name! And I'd much rather someone ask than to just assume...

Nothing Much

We've had a pretty quiet few days. Mostly because I've been sick. Luckily Jay and Mara are still healthy! And hopefully I'm back on the road to good health too (fingers crossed).

So just a note to let you know that we're alive! Hopefully I'll have some photos to share later in the week!

Stuck!

Mara thought it would be fun to climb under her exersaucer last night. It sure was fun...until she wouldn't get out. She managed it eventually, and then went right back in again! So, I guess it must not have been too bad.

She is getting pretty brave about checking things out now. She tries to squeeze into small spaces, loves chasing after the cats and playing with all of their toys. She's discovered that she can pull herself up on most anything, and loves to do it. She's not really interested in taking steps yet, just standing.

Jay is working today, and I'm not feeling too hot yet, so Mara and I are just going to hang out at home. There is a Harry Potter marathon on, so I'm sure we'll be watching that and playing. Hopefully I can get a little cleaning done too, but that's about the extent of my planning for the day!

One Year Ago...

One year ago...this was me.
This picture was taken almost exactly a year ago. It's hard to believe how much has changed since then!

I think this is the only pregnancy picture where I almost look like I might have that 'glow' -- but it must just be the coloring or lighting! I most certainly did NOT glow when I was pregnant.

Anyway...just a blast from the past for tonight!

A Few Recent Random Pictures...

Sick...Again!

I feel like I just got over being sick!

And now I am feeling like crap again. Congested, sore throat, feeling weak and my body aches.

I am NOT happy about this. I don't know where I caught it from this time either. Just hoping I don't pass it on to Mara and Jay. Took some dayquil this morning, and am armed with cough drops. Hopefully it won't last as long as the last time...

Food Woes

If you know Mara, you probably know that she loves to eat. The girl has never held back from letting us know when she's hungry. She tends to be pretty vocal about it, and we've never had problems getting her to eat her share of food.

But now that she's getting older, we've been trying to work out the transition from baby foods to table foods. And it's not going so well!

She eats baby food with no problem. And still loves her formula. But anything 'solid' or with chunks - not so much. We keep trying different things to get her more comfortable with food, and we sometimes have a little success, but then the next time she wants nothing to do with it.

And since she doesn't like to put things in her mouth, she won't pick things up to eat them. She'll grab a cracker...and then just look at it and play with it. It's very odd. She'll stick her fingers in her food, but won't put them in her mouth. She'll hold a spoon, but not put it anywhere near her mouth.

Sometimes I get really worried about it (mostly because everyone tells us how weird it is), but other times I just think she'll figure it out when she's ready. We'll just keep trying things and see what happens. Maybe one day she'll just decide that she wants to eat 'real' food and will do it!

Ten Months Old

Well, whatever day it happened, Mara is now TEN months old! Time really does fly, no matter how annoying it is to hear that from people constantly. It's so true!

Notice how the chair and blanket that I use for her monthly pictures seems to get smaller every month. And the stuffed animals just don't seem to sit as nicely next to her as they did before she could really move around!

But, the pictures still make me smile! Man, I love that little girl!!

Mara's Little Friend

Today my friend Maggie stopped over with her husband Marshall and their little girl Lydia. They were on their way home from visiting some family. I had some boxes of baby clothes to pass on to Lydia, and hadn't seen her since she was about six weeks old. She's now almost four months old! She was so smiley and happy, and so much bigger!

Of course, she's still tiny compared to Mara (who looks like an Amazon woman here!). There are just over 6 months between the two of them. Mara wasn't quite sure what to think of Lydia. She's used to being the younger baby in groups, so she really checked Lydia out while she was sitting next to her!

Lydia smiled great for the pictures, but had her fingers in her mouth most of the time. Mara wouldn't crack a smile, even though she was smiling non-stop before and after we took them! Oh well...they still look cute together!

We're hoping to get together again for a playdate with them and our other friends and their year old baby, in a few weeks.