1 Year!

Marlee is one! Wow, her first year zipped by so fast. She has brought so much joy to our lives. For such a small thing, she certainly contributes a lot to our family dynamics. Today we celebrated this fabulous little girl. Her brother and sister were very excited to sing happy birthday to her first thing this morning. She was in a great mood. It was as if she knew it was her day and she was ready to party.
What a year it has been! She has done all the normal things like learn to smile and roll and crawl; walking is almost ready to be checked off the list. She can take a few steps, about 4 or 5 with no problem. She has even gone about 8 or so, but typically she knows if its more than a few feet, she can crawl there faster and doesn’t try too hard.
But mobility is not really an issue. She can climb stairs like nobody’s business, and can sorta come down, but I don’t really trust her yet. She can now climb up on the furniture especially the little table and chairs. Strapping her in has curbed her high chair escape tactics. Pretty much nothing pleases her more than to climb into a chair next to Hayden and play with his markers while he colors. She especially likes to have her own coloring book, even if there is no chance I will take the caps off the markers for her. However, she is sorta figuring that one out on her own. She is a monkey for sure!
And now that she is so mobile, she is quite certain that she is perfectly capable of keeping up with the big brother and sister. With the improved weather, she is able to chase them around the yard. Somedays, they sneak out; then she just stands at the door and bangs on it until someone takes pity on her and lets her out. She likes to do laps around the perimeter of the yard, same thing at the playground. It’s a bit bizarre. With Hayden’s Tball season in full swing, (hehehe) we are spending lots of time at the park, and Marlee couldn’t be happier, even with the nasty wind.
She is a complete chatter box. My friend was watching her this week and her 3 year old did something to tick Marlee off, and well, Miss M thoroughly chewed him out. She often has choice words for Hayden and Sage too. We are not really sure what those words are, but she means business.
She prefers to handle her own bottles now. After the whole BPA plastic bottle leaching toxins thing on the Today show, I tried to switch her over to sippy cups, but she promptly let me know that we are not quite ready for that transition. So we bought all new non-BPA bottles. (toss all your bottles with 7 in the chasing arrows if you haven’t already done so)
Such a busy month, we spent so much time on the go. She takes it all in stride with a big grin. Her naps have been interrupted, cut short and even skipped a couple of times. She is never too put out by any of it. I am just hoping that she doesn’t get used to the nap skipping stuff. She is a champ of a sleeper! She still takes 2 naps a day, but I am guessing that she will be losing one soon. It will be a sad day for me.
Favorite things this month:
Cousin Jess and her purple finger nails
Climbing
Whole green beans
Goldfish crackers
When Daddy comes home from work or when mom comes home from being out
Playing any game with Hayden and Sage

Spring Break

Hayden's first Spring Break. ahh, we played hard. Seeing how I have been quite homesick, I decided that we needed more than just a way too short weekend to play in Seattle. Just the kids and I (just???) got to hang out for a few days and visit and do really cool stuff like roller skating and going to the Bouncy Place and even the Science Center for Hayden. A big thanks to cousin Avery for scouting out hot spots in town. It was so much fun!
Friday: We rolled into town nice and early. We went to dinner with my mom and dad at everyones fav, Red Robin. Apparently the mac and cheese was too much for poor Sage, she threw up all over the restaurant. It was aweful. And when I say all over, please know that I in no way am embellishing. Ask my mom. What a way to start the trip!
Saturday: well, the throwing up was an isolated incident, Sage was ready to tackle anything. We loaded up Cousin Jess and Grandma and headed up north where we gave Hayden to Auntie Shelly for the weekend (thanks aunt Shelly, you're awesome!) and us girls headed to Jenny's baby shower. Sage entertained all with her rendition of Drift Away, or if you ask her, "give me the beat boys and free my soul, i wanna get lost in your rock and roll and drift away." She prefers the long title. Marlee was entertained by Jessilyn and her cool purple finger nails. Those two made a connection, way cute!
Sunday: We had a belated Easter dinner. The WHOLE fam gathered at my dads. Boy, those events are totally worth the drive over. It is always so cool to have everyone under one roof. Lots of food and family. (only one missing was Heath:( ummm, I think my nephews are turning into giants. They soooo tower over me, and boy can they eat!


Monday: We bounced. The Bouncy place-soooo fun. Seeing as it was spring break, it was slightly more crowded than last time, but they had more bouncy toys so it wasn't terrible. Marlee got in on the jumping this time. She LOVED it. I had to limit my bouncing because my back is bad again. grrr. But the kids just bounced and bounced till they could bounce no more! It was great.
We went to dinner at Wally's with Mom and Mike and my Dad. Yum, the halibut was fabulous! No throwing up either, thankfully :)


Tuesday: Roller Skating! Oh my goodness, does it get any cuter? (actually yes, but we didn't know it at the time) This place was so cool. They played Disney music, had the tiniest skates, did the Hokey Pokey, and even let moms take strollers on the rink. At the end, the kids got an icy, which made the whole event even cooler. Then lunch at the Rock, mmmmm. Grandma wanted to take the kids to icecream after lunch, because apparently, all you can eat pizza does not fill them up sufficiently. Sage and Avery sharing a bowl of ice cream WAS the cutest thing ever.



Wednesday: After tearing Jamies house apart, we headed home. The fun had to end sometime, right?
Home sweet home, where Daddy was recovering from a nasty spell of the flu. We were lucky enough to miss it all. Poor guy had a miserable few days.

um, and are these photos amazing or what??? It is really great to have a sister with a great talent and a really nice camera! Thanks so much Jamie!

Our Little Artist

Last month, Hayden's class did a weather unit. His teacher sent home a form that the kids could do a weather drawing and have it submitted to the newspaper. Hayden was pretty excited about it and drew "partly cloudy."
Well, we get the friday, saturday, sunday papers, and each time one comes, he always asks if someone in his class got their drawing in the paper. I have even gotten to the point where I just turn straight to the weather section. Friday, and Sunday, as ususal, we checked and were of course disappointed because we didn't know the artists. Usually my thought is that in the unlikely chance that he did get his picture published, it would probably be on a tuesday or sometime when we would never know. Well, today, he gets off the bus all excited to show me that he had been published. His teacher had clipped it out of the SATURDAY paper (the one untouched in our garbage can) and shown the whole class. He was sooooo proud. And, well, so am I! Way to go Hayden!

11 months

11 months have come and gone, in fact the big oh-one approaches way too quickly. I guess I have procrastinated posting long enough. This past month included Marlee’s first Easter, a family birthday party, a visit from Grandma and Grandpa, The NCAA tournament and several play groups.
One of the most notable things last month was Marlee coming out of her shell. She has always been a bit shy, especially in big groups but that trend seems to be fading. We have been going to play groups, Hayden and Sage have had some friends come play, and lots of little folks at church to chase all seem to be helping her to become more social. We got to go to a big birthday bash for my Grandma, and Marlee seemed to really enjoy being around other people. Playing in the hall with all the cousins and Hayden and Sage really tickled her funny bone, particularly when Auntie Kim helped her run after them all.

Last month she continued her quest to become master crawler. I love to watch her prowl about, then focus on something across the room, and kick into turbo-speed after it. If that something is her brother or mom, she will usually let out a little war cry and have a huge grin as she tears across the floor. She loves to sit in Sage's rocking chair. Sometimes her chubby toes get stuck in the slats, its kinda funny.
She logged some time on the stairs, indeed, her favorite activity these days. Hayden loves to help her climb up and down. One day he tried to help her out by running up ahead of her to open the gate and she tumbled down. He cried harder than she did Now he is very diligent in watching her.
She has become a waver, she loves to wave at people as we leave, especially at the grocery store. She also points. My favorite is when she does the double point. Both pointer fingers, straight ahead, and oh-so-serious look on her face, cracks me up!
On a sad note, we finished up nursing at the end of this month. Sad? Maybe bittersweet is better. Sad to see that special time just her and me come to an end, but now I have a little bit extra free time. Hayden has become the primary bottle feeder. He is so excited to get to help feed his sister. It’s very sweet the bond those two have.