the holidays

thanksgiving.

we spent marianne's first thanksgiving in monument, co with the rokkes and mcgees. we drove down the night before so that i would be there early enough the next day to participate in the rokke/mcgee family tradition of running the local 5k turkey trot. that was the first night, of what became many over the next month, that marianne woke repeatedly. and that night it was every hour, on the hour, all night long. i was exhausted come daybreak and questioning the 5k. but i did it. hills and all. at least i earned my stuffing and gravy.

we spent the rest of the day at the rokke home enjoying the company and not doing any cooking. which was a first for me in several years. and the food was delicious. eric roasts a mean turkey and john can bake a loaf of bread, i'm telling you what. the kids were like vultures waiting for it to come out of the oven.

i didn't take many pictures that day but i did snap a few of marianne with her cousins. she was a hit and they were great with her. they let her pull their hair and use their cell phones as teethers.

we had a lot to be thankful for.

christmas.

we made the annual trek home to mo and, per usual, it was a whirlwind of engagements. chapmans and laflens, marlows and beatties, mitchells and mardii, OH MY.

even for it being marianne's first christmas, she did get into pulling at bows and ripping some paper. it was adorable. she was showered with love and gifts and we really enjoyed our time at home with family...even if we slept in a different bed each night. and our drive home was undeterred by weather, which is always a blessing that time of year.

my nana

opening gifts with stella

entertaining aunt nati

is this what santa's beard feels like?

some of my loyal blog fans

laflen girls



sledgie ride

do what?

oh, okay!

au revoir. happy anniversary beatties.

christmas morning in their finest.

thanks for the bling, aunt julie.

christmas again.

technically, it was new years day but it was the day we opened gifts at home with marianne. so for us, it was christmas no. 2.

after all of that.
i needed some rest. marianne was teething from thanksgiving to new years and, as i mentioned earlier, she was waking often throughout the night, every night. upon our return to colo, we implemented some sleep training to break her of the new habits she had formed - and some old habits that we had formed - so that she could learn to soothe herself to sleep AND just as, if not more, importantly so that momma could get back to logging some serious sleep hours again as well. it's worked out amazingly. marianne took to the new routine with ease and is now a champ at falling asleep unaided and sleeping COMPLETELY through the night. and i am a brand new woman. hallelujah!