our mile high nest

a few snaps

2012-02-03T13:24:00.001-07:00

A few snapshots from the last few days.

Marianne riding the buckin Bronc at the grocery. It only costs a penny for a 2 minute ride and it makes her so happy that I let her ride almost every time she asks.

Henry between outfit changes. He's a tank...I just love his cheeks and that growing pot belly.

And one of my little mother of two: changing dolly's poopy diaper while baby elephant is snuggled in her wrap.

P.S. after I posted the video of Marianne reading to Henry in my last entry, I realized that she happened to be reading him the very first book I bought for her (Little Hoot by Amy Krouse). Just thought that was a "happy accident" given the context of the blog post.

smiles for momma

2012-01-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

we had a big day today! for two reasons:

i read to henry for the first time (outside of him sitting in on marianne's story times)
i got my first real smiles from him (and caught a couple on video)

the first book i bought for henry was right after we found out we were having a boy and i bought him little blue truck by alice schertle. after reading it a little less than three years ago to marianne and her friend, ryan, while we were at ryan's house on a baby play date, i fell in love with that book. for some reason or another i never bought it for marianne but immediately thought of it when i found out i would be having a son. it's a great little book with a heartwarming story about treating others the way you want to be treated. so i read it to henry today and when i was making the animal sounds (particularly the "moo" of the cow) he grinned so big it nearly made me cry. he's already smiled at daddy numerous times and all when i wasn't around to see them, of course, and he's cracked a couple of "almost smiles" for me but this was the first all-out real smile he's given me. i grabbed the camera and lucky for all of you he blessed me with a couple more smiles. and as you'll notice, he prefers cows over horses. he even threw in a few coos (also a fairly new development). a few moments later, he was snoozing the afternoon away.

i actually wasn't the first to read to henry. unsolicited, marianne read a story to him a couple of weeks ago:

so, henry is nearly seven weeks old now. he is spending more and more time awake and his personality is blossoming. he is such a relaxed baby and just goes with the flow. he has found his voice though and isn't shy about letting me know when he's hungry or uncomfortable but really he's not a crier. he's still eating very well and growing so big it seems...i'm scared to see how far the scale tips at his 2-mo well-visit. he is our little tank. henry loves to spend his evenings in daddy's arms. his sister loves being hands-on. she runs to him when he's crying...she just loves popping that pacifier in his mouth (or cramming it down his throat). a few weeks ago, she gave him his first cheerio. the three of us were kicking off our morning in bed—henry lounging in the boppy and marianne was eating cheerios and watching dora the explorer. i left the room to grab a kleenex and when i walked back in, she was hovered over him holding a soggy cheerio and said "he spit it out"! ARGH!!!!! talk about a wake-up call. granted, it was a cheerio and it would have dissolved in his mouth, but i was sick over it. i never saw that coming! but i guess i'm just going to have to get used to those type of interactions because she's doing her best to toughen him up...the other day she "pinched" (read: gripped his ring finger with her whole hand and bent it backwards) so hard that he wailed inconsolably for a few moments—which, of course, instigated her crying too. all of this aside, she does seem to really love the little guy.

henry's first day in plaid...gratis of aunt kimmy. daddy was so proud!

rub a dub dub

2012-01-17T00:04:00.002-07:00

my how time flies. henry is a month old already. he is quite an eater and is packin' it on. he's not a roly-poly pudge though...he's a solid tank. and after four weeks of spit up building up in the cracks and crevices, we decided a bath was in order. so henry got his first bath last night.

he seemed to really like the wash pod...he was as quiet as a mouse during the whole thing. but he did spray us with pee when we pulled him out.

meet henry

2011-12-17T21:27:00.001-07:00

we are now a family of four (well, peyson would argue five). we welcomed our son, henry allen, to the nest on mon 12/12 at 3:24pm. he weighed 7lb 13.5oz and measured 19 3/4" long. he has a good bit of black hair and deep blue/grey eyes. he came to us via cesarean birth and it was a truly beautiful experience—thanks in large part to my fabulous ob and the wonderful team of hospital nurses and docs.

our stay at the hospital was a bit extended because henry is jaundice so we've been working to eliminate the excess levels of bilirubin from his system. essentially, ever since monday night, henry has spent just about every moment of life (with the exception of nursing and some extra cuddling here and there) on and/or under UV phototherapy lights. we were discharged and came home yesterday afternoon but we brought a UV bed with us to continue the phototherapy treatments throughout the weekend until we recheck his blood on monday at the pediatrician's office. from what i understand jaundice occurs when red blood cells break down and an excess of this bilirubin remains because the baby's liver isn't quite mature enough to eliminate all of it. this is usually resolved in a matter of days with continual peeing, pooping, phototherapy, and close monitoring. but henry is what the doctors call a "setup baby" because his blood type is a+ whereas mine is o+. my o+ blood that remains in his system is more aggressive than his a+ blood and attacks his blood, causing more of the dying red blood cells, and thus elevated bilirubin levels. he is not, by any means, a critical case but despite the constant phototherapy treatment his levels remained steadily in the "at risk" categories. he has been eating well and eliminating appropriately, so combined with the UV lights, we are fully expecting good results at our monday appointment. i really hope we'll be able to ditch the phototherapy for good...it's tough not getting to cuddle him as much or as often as i'd like to. thank heavens for nursing!

alright, so here are some photos from our week in the hospital and our first day at home:

merry merry

2011-12-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

this will be our first year to spend christmas at our home in colorado. we usually travel back home to missouri to be with our families for the holiday. between wanting to start creating christmas memories at home with marianne and the impending arrival of her baby brother, we won't be traveling this year. as torn and sad as i am not to continue the traditions we've had with our families together for the last ten years, i am so very excited to celebrate christmas at home with our two babies. marianne has been ECSTATIC about christmas. from the moment she saw a tree on display at the grocery (before thanksgiving), she's been asking for one. i negotiated with jerry to get a *real* tree this year—real in that we went to a local tree lot and loaded it up...not the "apply for a state permit to trudge out in the wilderness and chop one down" kind of real. but living, drinking, and dropping needles all over the place none-the-less. i haven't had a real tree since i was a kid and i am pumped to have it...and marianne is too! shy of hauling it in and setting it up, jerry's not a trim-the-tree kind of guy so marianne and i took the honors.

choosing our tree at the tree lot

bare naked

most of the ornaments were
hung low...i had to do a little
redistributing after bedtime

for the last 3 or 4 years i've been making some homemade ornaments to add to the tree. marianne helped me make and hang six yarn-ball ornaments. they were so simple and fun and i just love how they turned out.

start with a foam ball

choose your yarn, glue on an
end of the yarn

wrap, wrap, wrap yarn until well covered

ta-da! marianne is convinced that when grandma, grandpa, nana, papa, and aunt kimmie come to visit later this month...they are coming solely to see our tree. i mean, it is glorious but i don't think she quite gets it that her brother might be the main attraction!

of course we've been talking so much about her brother being born, that marianne has taken to reminding us that she is born too. when we were hanging ornaments, she was curious about this peanut ornament. i told her how we started calling her "peanut" in the hospital after she was born and that her aunt julie found and gave her this perfect ornament for her first christmas. every time she sees it on the tree she says "i'm born."

marianne's favorite ornament this year!

shy of having christmas stockings (which i am desperate to find or make some fun, non-traditional ones) the house is decorated for christmas, my christmas shopping is just nearly complete, and marianne can't wait for santa! but, honestly, she's been a little more excited about her brother's arrival and the birthday party (with "brown" cupcakes) that we're going to have at the hospital! every day she asks if we're going to the hospital. well, today is finally the day! she's at preschool for the day and in just a few short hours jerry and i will be checking in for the scheduled c-section. labor didn't come on it's own and since i had a cesarean with marianne, there's no option to induce labor so we're going in to do things the modern way. it honestly blows my mind that later this afternoon we'll be holding our son, nursing, and changing diapers. i've made myself (and jerry) so busy the last few weeks with nesting to-dos and house projects that i didn't make much time to prepare mentally and emotionally. but maybe there really isn't anyway to adequately prepare for it. even after 40 weeks of carrying this baby and feeling his vigorous kicking, rolling, and punching i still find it absolutely bizarre that there's a baby in there. but i can't wait to meet him and introduce him to his loving family and friends. well, here we go...i can't believe we're doing this!

one last parting gift...a video of marianne having her own little storytime in her blue reading chair (my apologies for the jarring cut):

the belly

2011-11-16T22:28:00.001-07:00

here it is at 37 weeks in all its glory.

a breadmaker's hands

2011-11-11T14:04:00.001-07:00

i've been anxious to share my love for making handmade bread with marianne and no hands are too small to punch, knead, and shape dough. she really got into the process and devoured the product.

boo. eek. spooky.

2011-11-08T20:29:00.002-07:00

my favorite photo from fall 2011:

the pumpkin patch at our local farmer's market

PUMPKIN CARVING:

marianne wanted a scary jack-o-lantern but he turned out a smidge on the friendlier side. she loved pulling out the innards...which was her assigned task. i drew the face and daddy carved. scary or not, marianne was pleased with our handiwork.

pumpkin

elbow deep in pumpkin entrails

marianne took a stab at drawing the face

jack-o-lantern

HALLOWEEN PARTY AT PRESCHOOL:

marianne's school had a halloween party for the kids to dress up, eat yummy treats, make monster-hands, and have a costume parade!

TRICK-OR-TREATING:

weeks before halloween marianne had resolutely decided she was going to be a bumblebee. i was a little worried that she might change her mind last-minute but she was all about going as a bee. she LOVES trick-or-treating and refuses to let momma or daddy go up to the door with her.

we were coaching her on saying 'thank you' after getting her candy. most of the time she wouldn't remember until after she had started walking away so she'd turn around to go back up to the door, wait until she got their attention, and then say 'thank you.' with all of the commotion of other trick-or-treaters, usually the homeowner wasn't paying attention or didn't hear her so most of the time she would end up with another piece of candy. score!!! at one door when she remembered on her own to thank them, she ran to the edge of the porch and yelled "mom and dad, i said 'thank you'!" it was a proud moment!

i could have let her go all night it was so cute! i think i have more fun watching her trick-or-treat than watching her open presents at christmas...then again, this year will be our first year watching her open gifts at our own home on christmas morning, so maybe that will change.

for some reason i got pretty lousy photos this year and failed to get one of her on our porch with all of her pumpkins (ERRRRRR!!!!) but here are at least a few anyway:

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END:
i finally got around to taking down our halloween decorations tonight and marianne is already asking about putting up our christmas tree. so, i know what we'll be doing thanksgiving weekend! she'll probably ask a thousand and two times before then and, honestly, i won't want to push it off any later/closer to hank's arrival anyhow.

extraordinary week

2011-10-26T21:59:00.003-06:00

this week has certainly been extra-ordinary!!

last night/today, we got our first real snow of the season. a few weeks ago several parts of the metro area were dusted with some snow but today was the real deal. we have about 6-8" on the ground and lots of low-hanging/broken limbs. it was a preschool day for marianne so by the time i picked her up she was desperate to get out and play in the snow. we bundled up and went out for a bit to throw a few snowballs and run in the deep drifts. george would have been in heaven!!! but we had to enjoy it without him.

marianne's preschool has each child take turns being "student of the week" and they ask the parents to bring in an "all about me" poster for their child. marianne and i have been talking about her favorite things, people, and fun ideas for her poster for a few the last several weeks. this is marianne's week so i put in a couple of late nights to finish it up. when we dropped it off at her preschool earlier this week, marianne was heartbroken that it had to stay at school and we couldn't bring it home. i think i was just as proud of it as she was!

marianne and i got a special treat on monday...after weeks of jerry working long, late hours to meet his audit deadlines for work, he decided to work from home on monday! we all went for lunch together at one of our favorite burger joints—freddy's (very reminiscent of steak n shake)—and marianne had her very first cheeseburger and fries! daddy was the proud one this time. she actually loved it and ate almost her entire cheeseburger...at least she washed it down with milk, right?

this is actually from last week: marianne was building with blocks and built this "pirate ship" (her idea completely) all by herself. okay, well i had to help brace some of the pieces while she stacked the tall sail but otherwise it was all her own doing! i got the camera to snap a few bragging photos and then she started hamming it up...covering her eye with her hand (her pirate eye patch) and saying "argghhh, matey"! i caught a little video too.

alright, so this is actually from a few weeks ago but i forgot i had it and just found it on my phone! we were grabbing a quick lunch at the grocery store cafe on our way home from the pumpkin festival and marianne started dancing to the grocery store "elevator music." a riot.

movie night

2011-10-14T20:21:00.001-06:00

Cuddled up on the couch with my peanut...eating popcorn and watching pooh Halloween movie.

I love this job

2011-10-10T23:32:00.001-06:00

I've learned this year how much of a job being a FT mom can be...it seriously is. To keep us busy, productive, and the both of us (M + myself) from going crazy, it takes a good deal of pre-planning and self-discipline which has taken me most of the year to adjust to. I feel like I'm finally hitting my stride...of course just as everything is about to change all over again.

I thought I'd share a couple snippets from our recent adventures. in sept, "circus" was the curriculum theme at M's preschool so we did a circus train craft at home one week. She had a blast with it and I was so proud (of both of us) that we've displayed it in her room.

after music class this morning, we dropped by the botanic gardens and enjoyed ourselves for a couple of hours just running around amongst the flowers, sculptures, and fountains soaking in the beautiful fall weather before meeting up with daddy for an impromptu lunch date. He worked all weekend and late nights last week so we haven't really seen much of him. It was a fabulous lunch on a patio.

Have I mentioned I love fall? it's by far my favorite season. Usually we get a blip of true fall weather here in CO, going straight from summer to winter, but this year we have been spoiled with a few weeks of fantastic cool weather already. i also love halloween and have been on a mission to deck the house with delightfully spooky decorations this year! Marianne + I have been working on some of them so I've included a couple snapshots of what we've done so far.

punkin feztible

2011-10-08T22:51:00.000-06:00

i am so happy that fall has arrived and in full force on this cold, rainy saturday. i love a good stay-in-the-house-cozied-up kind of day but i found myself longing for the outdoor fun we had last weekend at The Four Mile Historic Park Pumpkin Festival—or as marianne says "punkin feztible." we met up with our friends, the andersons, while we were there and the girls (marianne and maryn) had a blast. it was such a great little festival—free admission and both free/very inexpensive fun activities for the kids, plus most of the festival-workers were dressed in wild frontier period costume. we panned for gold; spun wool yarn; played tug-o-war; ate apple cider donuts, hot snicker-doodles and kettle corn; explored the pumpkin patch; rode the horse-drawn covered wagon; and although we passed on making a life-sized scarecrow marianne enjoyed filling her own pants with straw while climbing and clambering all over the hay bales.

panning for gold...marianne preferred throwing rocks in her pan and
then dunking them into the water as opposed to panning silt from the
trough. maryn, however, scored several gold nuggets for her efforts.

there was a huge play yard with several games like wooden stick horses,
stilts, and tug-o-war. the girls pulled each other all over the yard...
giggling the whole way.

marianne was desperate to find a small pumpkin that she could actually
pick up on her own. we scoured the entire patch a few times over with
no success. she was so focused that she refused/ignored my requests to
let me get a picture of her actually looking at the camera.

she tried...but it was too heavy!

from the moment we arrived, marianne saw the wagons and begged the
entire time to ride! at $3 for the both of us...who could refuse. i was
thinking of grandpa george the entire time.

it looks like she's miserable but i assure you she had a blast...but to my
complete frustration she rarely obliges my request to smile for the
camera (much like her daddy).

as you might be able to tell from marianne's rosy cheeks, it was a little too warm to be ideal fall festival weather but it got both of us extremely excited for fall and halloween. i broke out my handful of halloween decorations yesterday and we've been working on some handmade paper decorations to transform this home into a haunt!

jesse corduroy

2011-10-05T17:00:00.002-06:00

we've been talking to marianne about her baby brother (due dec 10) as much as we can with the unsquashable expectation that she will welcome him with open arms when we bring him home and become instantly attached to him. it's that easy, right? ok, i'm not completely off my rocker—we are prepared for any possible reaction marianne might have to a new baby in the house but i'm sure hoping that the more we talk about him that she won't be absolutely unnerved when the day comes. over the past six months, her comprehension and interest in the subject has fluctuated from curiosity, to aversion, to excitement, and all in between. she's gone with us to the "baby doctor" (as she calls my ob) for the ultrasound appointments to get a glimpse of him and hear his heartbeat. and although he's hasn't been very cooperative in giving the u/s tech very good profile "photos" for us, anatomically everything is looking healthy. our ob even gave us a follow-up ultrasound at 28 weeks to double-check everything to put our minds at ease given everything that we've been through with marianne's kidneys through pregnancy and postnatal. as a side note, i've switched practices and am seeing a completely different ob with this pregnancy and i am loving how amazing, amenable, and responsive she has been about every concern, every step of the way.

baby boy laflen : 13 weeks

baby boy laflen's feet : 20 weeks

in the last couple of months we've been talking increasingly more about names for the little guy—who has taken on the pregnancy nickname 'hank' since we found out he does indeed have a penis (or, at least, a scrotum which is all that we've seen...even so i think it's safe to assume that the twig is there as well). it's highly likely we won't name him until after he's born. which is when we named marianne, mostly because we simply hadn't decided between our top three favorites. but, in retrospect, having the opportunity to meet her got me to a place of absolute certainty that the name belonged to her, however relatively brief those eight hours between birth and naming her. so we're working on names for hank (which we have decided to keep a surprise!!!) and have periodically asked marianne to weigh in. now keep in mind that she chooses rather transparent names for her stuffed animals ("pink meow meow" for her pink cat, "brown doggy" for her brown dog, "piglet" for her pink/white striped pig...you get the picture) so the first option she gave us was "baby brother". makes sense. then, a couple of weeks ago she decided that "princess" was a viable choice. to which, of course, momma and daddy were not as convinced. yesterday, she pointed to my belly and said "that's my baby brother." i figured, while she had brought up the topic, i'd ask her for another opinion on his name. without hesitation she declared that his name should be "jesse corduroy" — no doubt, derived from toy story 2's cowgirl jessie and the bear from the classic children's book corduroy (a couple of her current favorites). hmmmmmmm.........well, i guess if he comes out wearing a cowboy hat and green overalls we won't be able to argue, now will we?

i suppose i'll subject myself now, to a little humiliation. here's the progress on the burgeoning hank belly:

16 weeks

24 weeks

...and he is going to KILL ME but i cannot resist to post this : sympathy belly 16 weeks

i'll leave you with something genuinely cute...a "kids say the darnedest things" moment:
marianne has been rather opinionated lately. this weekend, i scored a cute new yellow purse for $8 at the thrift store (thanks to my good friend, amy, who is schooling me in awesome thrifty finds)! i've been carrying the same green purse for 6 months now, so i thought it was time for a change and the price was right. sunday afternoon, marianne and i were on the way to a birthday party and marianne (who, from her spot in the seat behind me, has a clear shot of the front passenger seat where my purse rides) asks, sounding rather disgusted, "where's the green purse?"

i told her i changed to this new yellow purse.

"oh."

several moments pass and then comes a quite definite, "i like the green purse."

for what it's worth, i haven't switched back to the green purse...yet.

marianne (right) with the birthday girl, maia

front porch relaxin'

2011-10-03T17:45:00.001-06:00

kickin' back + blowing bubbles on this fantastic autumn afternoon.

boys

2011-09-28T01:06:00.001-06:00

i'm not sure what it its but Marianne is some kind of boy magnet. first it was Desmond...then Felix + Kian at her first daycare...and now Max, Andrew, + Gavin at her new school. one of her teachers was telling me that "Marianne is always hanging out with the boys" and that Marianne will put on one of the dress up skirts to dance and before long she'll have 2 or 3 of the boys wearing dress up skirts and dancing right along with her. at least she's learned early how to make them bend to her will.

the other night at dinner, daddy asked her about her day at school and she announced that she had danced with max that day. Jerry wasn't impressed and being the protective daddy he is, he asked her if there are any girls who go to her school...to which Marianne replied, "nope". I met max's mom recently and she told me that max calls Marianne his girlfriend and is always talking about her at home.

honestly, I can't question her taste...he's a cute little guy with dark hair and dark eyes. Reminds me of someone I know. Here she has him running races with her in the school yard. (Running/racing is one of her favorite games!) And then playing with the fire truck...I like how she wanted to operate the hose and he obliged.

also, i added the option to follow my blog by email (get email updates when i post)—find it in the right column. sign up if you'd like. i do my best to post a link on facebook too but i'm hoping to post more regularly and don't want to inundate my fb wall with obnoxious blog links.

and i'm back

2011-09-25T23:26:00.001-06:00

i've been working on my blogging comeback...most of which has required getting up to date on filing and sorting photos, which is quite a job when you're a year behind. but tonight i got out of my comfort zone and took some time to get better acquainted with my smartphone. the apps they have for these things are no joke handy. i am now equipped to blog remotely...and I give you (if there are actually any of "you" still checking/reading my blog) my first mobile post:

sick day

2011-09-25T23:09:00.001-06:00

nothing makes me softer than a sick baby girl. marianne's usually not the down and out type of sick kid...it's actually hard to get her to rest & take it easy. but last week she came down with croup and it hit her hard. she napped twice that day and melted to the couch after the late-day siesta. i could barely peel myself away from her...can you blame me with a sad lil face like that? a persistent fever, barky cough, two coughing spasms that turned-her-lips-blue, and a call to the nurses' line later and we were headed to the e.r. at midnight. with that one healthy dose of steroid she kicked croup's ass and called it a day.

can't wait for the bill...

quotable

2011-04-02T22:15:00.007-06:00

lately i've been thinking how i need to start one of those "quotable moments" journals for the riotous things marianne is starting to say. and it dawned on me that my (severely neglected) blog is the perfect venue...

...today we were driving past elitch gardens amusement park and she said, "look, momma." to which i replied, "what is it, baby?" and she pointed out the window at the roller coasters and excitedly squealed, "a BIG playground!"

she's been all about distinguishing big from small. little rock. big rock. little cup. big cup. little book. big book. and she's counting to 6...however she has some beef with the number "5" because she adamantly leaves it out every time—"...3, 4, 6." she sings her alphabets and gets just about every letter in there. she loves to sing "baa baa black sheep" and "humpty dumpty" and gets such a kick out of playing ring-around-the-rosies with momma, her stuffed cat (mowww mowww), and her stuffed dog (doggie). she talks about her friends from school, felix and kian, a lot (i think she misses them since she's only going to daycare two days a week now. and they must miss her because the teachers say they ask about her all of the time and they swarm her with hugs and kisses when i drop her off). she's funny and witty and uses facial expressions (esp her eyebrows) to accentuate her words. she amazes me and makes me laugh everyday.

my baby is 2.

what?

it's cliche but it feels like only a blink, a breath, a moment ago i was staring the e.p.t. blue + sign in the face bewildered and thinking "what have i done." which, of course, quickly changed to elation. but that joy was nothing compared to what i've experienced with her everyday since i met her two years ago. her smile warms my belly and her hugs melt me.

i know i owe you a lot more from the past six months but i'm gonna start with her 2-year birthday and fill in the gaps when i can.

this photo says it all. i'm 2. i don't care what you want me to do.

singing chipmunks card from nam-mah and grandpa.

chocolate bunny from uncle dale.

superman costume from nana and papa.

birthday playdate at the science museum with desmond.

couldn't get the two of them in the shot...from afar they were intrigued but up close they were a little bit scared of the three-story dinosaur.

two burning candles just for me.

getting frosted...

brian and brianna came over for the evening to help us celebrate...marianne has quite a crush on both of them and despite the fact that brian keeps threatening to buy her a broncos jersey that they'll keep for her to wear at their house, we continue to trust her in their care on a regular basis.

my bilibo. a hat? a shell? a seat? a stepstool? yes.

disaster zone.

we've had so many birthdays in the past month (daddy, uncle eric, marianne, uncle jeff, momma, papa, madeline, peyton, nana, stella) that she now knows the happy birthday song and sang it for her nana's birthday and stella's birthday. happy birthday everyone.

from the reel

2011-03-16T21:49:00.002-06:00

i know it's been far too long and i almost don't even know where to start but i wanted to post a quick little video tonight of something recent but apparently my memory card reader doesn't read my new sd card, which is holding everything i've captured since christmas. bah. so, instead, here's a little something from november...

my new mittens.

long overdue

2010-12-15T22:16:00.004-07:00

i'm terribly behind on posting and no time for a proper entry but as i was on the phone with a friend tonight, i was browsing through photos and came across one that i just had to share.

during a visit from nana and papa in october, we went to a local berry farm for a pumpkin festival. we took a hayride, played in the hay bale maze, and picked fresh strawberries + raspberries (marianne's favorite). it was so much fun!

okay, a couple more...

halloween preview

2010-10-31T22:48:00.003-06:00

i'll have to post more on our halloween weekend later. we had a spooky weekend (read: lots of fun). marianne loved being a lion, carving pumpkins, wearing her costume, and trick-o-treating. i was so excited because she actually climbed up porch stairs, went up to the doors and roared for candy...and said 'thank you' (the roaring and thank yous took some prompting, mind you, but i was one proud momma). what fun!

goober

2010-10-05T00:08:00.004-06:00

in the bath or at the zoo?

ham and cheese

tonight she wanted to sit in her stroller. not for a walk. just to lounge and watch monday night football. i'm not even exaggerating. she sat quietly in the stroller for 15 minutes watching the game before i finally made her go take a bath.

take a hike

2010-09-23T23:29:00.004-06:00

labor day jerry had to work so marianne and i went for a hike - it was a spectacular day: sunny and warm with a breeze. ashamed to admit that it was marianne's first hike...we definitely need to do more of it. she had so much fun pointing at all the trees/rocks/plants/clouds, begging me to hop the whole way, and roaring like a (mountain) lion.

and, of course, per usual i took all the photos of us. i'm getting pretty good at disguising that it's the "one-arm snapshot".

trailhead.

a water break.

back on the go, just past "our summit"/half-way mark and she's starting to ask for milk. it got a little hairy for a few minutes but, as you might have guessed, she lived without until we were able to make it back down to our milk supply at the car.

in her milk-less frustration, she kept pulling off her sun hat and it's not easy to get it back on her at that angle.

over our shoulder, is the magnificent view from a lookout on the way down.

full on view. i'm no ansel.

a bonus photo of marianne wearing a headband. the only thing i can do to tame the mane. good timing that she's "into" lions right now (read: she loves to ROAR)...i think maybe she'll be a lion for halloween. her hair is perfect for it!

weekend in the mountains

2010-08-31T21:50:00.004-06:00

we were in keystone this past weekend for an overnight stay. jerry had company meetings saturday afternoon and a company bbq that night.

marianne and i had lunch on a patio overlooking keystone lake with our very good friend, brianna, while the guys were in the meeting. brian + brianna often keep marianne for us. she ADORES them and we feel so blessed to have them here. they are our family away from family!

after lunch marianne and i took a stroll along the lake before nap time.

spotted an ant and was emphatically saying "bug"

just about the only photos i get with my baby are self-shot so i always have goober smiles. oh well - everyone's looking at her anyway, right?

poser (ugh, that hair. i mean, will it ever grow out?)

hand-in-hand with dada and brian. marianne thinks brian is hilarious and she follows him around doing everything that he does.

shortly after dinner, we discovered there was a bounce house at the bbq. marianne and i recently had a playdate with some new friends. her friends, twin 3-year old boys, have a mini bounce house instead of a swing set which they had aired up for the playdate. the three of them had an absolute ball jumping and bouncing all afternoon (pictures to come) and marianne actually held her own with both older boys—even after getting body slammed twice. must be all that time at daycare in a classroom full of boys, i guess. at any rate she loved it and when she saw the bounce house this past weekend, we couldn't get her in there fast enough.

she ran, tumbled, flopped, jumped, bounced, tripped, and skipped all over this thing. she has really been working hard at her jumping skills lately. she bends at the knees and pumps her arms, yelling 'jum, jum, jum' (read: jump, jump, jump) and then launches forward one. foot. at. a. time. so she hasn't really gotten air yet, when attempting a jump from a standstill but she actually did get off the bounce house floor a few times.

a down pour ensued shortly after we finally pulled her out of the bounce house. brrrrrrrrr...we were stuck under a tent until it let up enough to make a run for the car. luckily there were entertainers making animal balloons. one of marianne's other FAVORITE things. balloons.

of course she was pretty worn out (from all of the jumping) and tired from the long day so she practically had to force herself to play with the balloons.

she actually popped this yellow balloon on the rocks. i thought she might lose it but she just sulked for a few minutes.

from the shutter

2010-08-10T21:33:00.008-06:00

:: laflen | lesh wedding reception ::

caught climbing and couldn't be stopped.

tammy, dale, jill, jerry

chasing peyton

being chased by peyton

grooms-to-be

:: nana + papa's ::

blue eyes so deep and so pure

kissing cousins

i'll have a little of that, thank you.

:: at home ::

momma's little helper. she does just about anything you ask her to—laundry, putting away dishes and toys, vacuuming, and now swiffering (i think dada actually put her up to this)

the shirt says it all.

after church. even george is behaving.

loves to brusha, brusha, brusha with her new toothbrush from the dentist! (nice blow-dry dada)

:: vegas ::

:: welcome olivia ::

zach, olivia, nikki

i love how zach is looking at olivia in this photo - so sweet

:: prius'ed ::

a special thank you to mom + dad for setting us up in the meanest ride to ever hit I-44

full social calendar

2010-07-25T23:20:00.005-06:00

as a family, we've all been very busy this summer. even marianne's social calendar has been particularly full. a couple of weekends ago she brunched with her friend, felix. they are besties at "school" and felix is the wild man that is part responsible for inspiring marianne's progressions into crawling, walking, running, and—I suspect—her interest in trucks as well. felix was kind enough to host the playdate in his backyard. complete with pool and tonka trucks. they had a lot of fun and both took 3-hour naps that afternoon.

they had so much fun slurping pool water from those shovels.

secrets, secrets.

today marianne and i went to the zoo with my friend, nicole, and her two boys—gunnar and micah. somehow i didn't manage to get a photo of all of them which is really too bad because they are the most gorgeous little boys. gunnar's favorite was the giraffes. marianne liked the lions and tigers. and micah (just 11 mos) was ecstatic to share a cheerios snack with marianne. they were grinning at each other from across their strollers. so adorable.

okay, so it looks like marianne is hamming it up for the camera but she was actually demonstrating how the monkey behind her was sleeping. we saw a sleeping bear shortly before and momma tilted her head and snored—marianne thought this was a riot and mimicked. and she did it again, unprompted, when we came upon the sleeping monkey.

social activities aside, marianne is learning that it's practically a full time job just keeping up with the house. she has been a BIG help with the laundry. she helps me load/unload the washer and dryer and she pushes the basket (full or empty) between the hampers in the bedrooms and the utility room. here she is pushing the clean crib sheets into her room so that i can make up her bed.

i love this video...it's so hilarious the laughs i get from the impromptu recordings. i like to call this one "oh, just screw it!"

more portraits

2010-07-20T23:09:00.004-06:00

i thought i would share a few more of my favorite photos from marianne's 1-yr photo shoot with denise chambers:

i was so excited about shooting marianne with the oversized balloon but jer was mortified because of the attention it drew from people in the park. and of course he was delegated the task of retrieving and retiring the balloon from the car as needed—as you can tell, he's not thrilled with the assignment.

from the shutter

2010-07-18T22:02:00.004-06:00

i'm so behind but wanted to post a few quick photos. i just realized that the camera has been saddeningly absent from my hand for the last few months so I barely have any photos from the summer...i will have to remedy that with what's left of it!

dada is always the one to give her the treats.

we were headed out for a run and this is where marianne wanted to ride. she climbed in there herself and when i took her out, she climbed right back in.

summer fun'in

2010-06-29T21:18:00.003-06:00

marianne is doing all sorts of new and fun things in the toddler room. she can wash her own hands, throw away trash lifting and lowering the lid of the trash can, nap on a cot, and ride a pedal-less trike:

how stinkin' cute, right? her teachers emailed us this photo lask week and it completely made my day. she also now says "mine". wonderful! and she's still working on growing that hair and cutting her third molar.

we finally made it to our first swim class last saturday. she is so cute in the water and already has a strong kick. she didn't even cry when they had me dunk her fully under.

the "t" word

2010-06-09T21:53:00.003-06:00

i guess there's no avoiding it now. last week marianne graduated from the infant room at daycare and started in her new classroom - the toddler room. i've had a pretty hard time with this transition. i had become so accustomed to our routine of the infant room and loved everything about it. mostly because her teachers in that room were so amazing and put my "going back to work" worries at ease almost immediately. they loved her from day one and she took to them so quickly. and i guess the the other part of it was that she was so young that she didn't know the difference. really this transition has been easy for her - she loves the new classroom and teachers and seems to be thriving on all of the new activities, schedule, and environment. i know my struggle has more to do with the effects that this change has on me than it does on her but it doesn't help that she's at the stage where she reaches for me when i drop her off and cries when i walk out the door. it rips me up. today i almost cried - which would have been only the THIRD time i would have cried after dropping her off since she started at day care: the first being day one (a given) and the second was a few weeks ago when her A.M. teacher was on vacation and she had a meltdown when i had to drop her off in a different room one morning (hers was a confused and hurt cry and i couldn't even make it out of the building before breaking down. i had to run into the daycare bathroom to dry my tears). i know it will become the usual routine soon and i won't even notice anymore but, darn it, i feel like my baby is practically all grown up.

here's some highlights of marianne at 15 months:

she can feed herself with a spoon
she makes associations...when she sees the lotion bottle she rubs her palms together and says "rub rub"
she shakes her head when her answer to a question is "no"
she (sometimes) correctly responds with a "yeshhh" (read: yes) when you ask if she poopied in her diaper
she follows directions - will sit down to drink her milk when asked to
she LOVES to be outside and will patiently sit to have sunscreen applied
she hugs her stuffed animals, dolly and pets
she thinks it's so much fun to bounce
she runs away when it's time to get dressed, get a diaper change or get in the carseat
she's a big fan of cheese, bananas, cheerios, rice krispies, black beans, peas, quesadillas
she will "cheers" you...tinking her cup to your cup
she says "momma" much more often now
she is into pull-toys, trucks, ducks, books and swings
she laughs a lot and has become a jabberbox overnight
her hair is finally starting to grow and is at an awkward, fluffy, sticky-outy stage
she gives hugs sparingly and has only doled out two kisses (both to momma)
this saturday will be our last day of the spring session of music classes with her friend desmond and our first day of parent-tot swimming classes for the summer with her friends ryan and hannah

her last day of "school" in her infant classroom:

her first day of "school" in the toddler classroom:

(only five days later but, is it just me or, doesn't she look older/bigger?)

one-year photos

2010-05-30T10:01:00.002-06:00

we met up with our friend, denise chambers, last weekend for marianne's one-year photos. okay, so they ended up being 14-mo photos due to weather and schedules but hey, that's how it goes for us as parents these days. denise has proudly displayed a few pics on her blog.

she takes gorgeous shots of our baby girl.

we are so blessed by her talents.

thank you, denise. we love you.

from the reel

2010-05-25T20:29:00.004-06:00

daddy finally hung marianne's tree swing a couple of weeks ago. this is her first go. it's hanging high with just the original chains so later daddy had to go buy more length to bring it down to a safe swinging height. but it didn't inhibit marianne's good times. she loves it.

a little peek-a-boo

this one's for you, papa. we've been working on names. she humored me and played along for a bit but then...not so much.

playin in the rain

silly rabbit.

2010-04-26T21:00:00.006-06:00

boy oh boy did we have fun on easter. it was such a beautiful day. it was marianne's first real easter. last year she was only weeks old and the easter bunny must not have had her address yet to deliver her easter basket and eggs (read: new momma was too sleep deprived to shop for easter loot). but this year was a different story. and we lived it up. great, great, great day.

all that loot and went straight for the easter eggs.

easter service was a packed-house but somehow we managed to get there at the same time as the yeagers so we all sat together...on a pew in the balcony hallway! note to self: never show up to easter sunday church on time...get there half an hour early. at least we had seats though because some people stood for the entire service.

after church, we feasted on brunch at snooze - momma's favorite. who knew the wait would only be 20 mins on easter. on any given sunday it can easily be an hour plus.

home. let the festivities begin. which started with daddy picking up dog logs from the front yard so that we could safely scatter eggs for marianne. while we waited, we played with some eggs to get charged up.

on familiar territory...the sidewalk.

grass was still a new terrain for marianne - she's still not so sure - so we gave her a little bit to warm up to the idea of trudging around out in the green.

egg-hunt ON. we dumped out the eggs and as soon as daddy handed her the bucket...she went right after it picking up eggs and dropping them in her bucket. we didn't even show her what she was supposed to do. it was a proud moment. oh yeah. (a few stills and then video)

she's not greedy. although, i'm not sure who she was leaving the rest for. momma/daddy/george/the birds???

we soaked up the sun as she played in the grass.

the easter bunny filled marianne's eggs with her favorites: cheerios and puffs.

now let's dig into this easter basket full of treasure!

i was going to share a video of her as she pulled everything out but it's FIVE minutes and i couldn't get it to load. so instead, here's a clip of marianne getting her only bite of easter chocolate. white shirt + chocolate = 4-letter-w...

it was the birthday that never ended. but finally did.

2010-04-04T20:45:00.011-06:00

we did a lot of celebrating in honor of marianne turning "1"! the fun just went on and on.

the weekend before : grandpa and grandma visited.

we took marianne to the park for her maiden voyage in her wagon.

while we were waiting for the swing (marianne's favorite) to come available, i gave marianne a ride on the motorcycle...

...and a busted lip. oops.

we did some birthday shopping. thank you, grandma and grandpa, for the fabulous outfits.

bye, bye. i'm gonna miss you.

the weekend of : papa and nana visited.

it snowed...just like last march when nana was here.

marianne's school had a birthday party for her.

marianne with felix and kian, her marem (man-harem).

let them eat cake.

we opened all of marianne's birthday deliveries from the entire week.

nana and papa got marianne her very own swing...now daddy just needs to hang it from our tree in the yard.

p'nut (from aunt kimmie) gets some love.

smashing outfit (and elmo card) from uncle jeff, aunt holly, peyton and cohen.

on mine and my dad's birthday we did some denver site-seeing at lookout mountain, lariat loop scenic byway and red rocks amphitheatre.

that evening, mom and i had some girl time at a painting class. SO MUCH FUN!!!

it was lots of fun. see you on ichat, nana and papa.

the week after : more gifts and a play-date party

birthday delivery from aunt julie, uncle eric, cadence and jack. the packing material is a gift in itself.

we had a small birthday party for marianne with a few of her friends. i probably had as much fun as marianne (or more). i handmade the decorations and party hats. i have to say, it was darling. apparently marianne thought so too. she's been "asking" to wear her party hat every day since the party and i can't help myself but to oblige the request!

opening my gift from tiffy - another precious hand-knit hat from shan, tiffy's mom, and a lovely pink eyelet dress for the summer.

sharing her boppy with ryan. at a whopping 3 months older, marianne is practically a cougar to this younger man. marianne digs all of his blonde locks.

birthday cupcake - sans chocolate frosting - add some bananas and strawberries. yum yum.

a group shot. and in true baby-fashion, you can see that it went over SO well! madeline, ryan, marianne, desmond

desmond and marianne opening one of her gifts: a framed snapshot of a loving moment between marianne and desmond at his first birthday party. DES LOVES MARIANNE (see previous post from february 2010).

marianne's three-week-long first birthday was absolutely special and memorable. we appreciate everyone who was a part of it and we feel so blessed that you made the effort - great or small - to be with us to celebrate. you mean so very much to us and we treasure having you in marianne's life.

if nothing else, in the last year, i've learned how miraculous and precious life is. i am trying to savor every moment that i have with marianne. there have been trying ones and i know many more like them to follow but the moments when she amazes me, makes me laugh, giggles at my antics, takes my breath away, smiles at me, reaches for me, hugs me, learns something new, says something new, plays in the kitchen cabinets, gets caught with one foot in the dog bowl, snuggles in bed with us, gleams and squeals with delight when i take her outside, quacks like a duck, says dada 10x more often than mama (which makes the "mama" ones that much sweeter), claps for herself, claps for me, splashes me at bathtime, eats what i make her for dinner, charms a stranger with her smile, loses me in her big brown eyes, holds my hand...(i could go on and on) are far too tremendous to give a poo about the tough ones.

our very first photo of marianne

and one at a few weeks old

i love you, baby girl. you make me proud.

then and now

2010-03-29T21:34:00.004-06:00

i have a lot more to post from marianne's two-week birthday celebration extravaganza but i'm still sorting through all of the photos. as i was working on it tonight i did come across a couple of photos from the early days that i just fell in love with all over again.

i can't even believe that now she's this little spit-fire.

she LOVES cheerios. LOVES LOVES LOVES

i just laugh so hard at this photo. i think she's putting cheerios in her mouth but it looks like she's about to take off in a sprint, for fear i'll take away her handful of cheerios.

she's a little monkey. a VERY happy monkey.

i'm one!!!!!!

2010-03-18T11:49:00.006-06:00

my birthday agenda:
sleep in.
wake up to both momma and daddy wishing me happy birthday.
enjoy a nice milky breakfast.
stay in my pajamas.
play with my birthday balloon (as seen here).

get gussied up for school - hopefully the boys will notice.
appropriately choose the number "1" sponge from my bowl of bath toys to chew on.
play in my room.

go to school late (oops, momma couldn't stop taking photos and playing).

so far, one is fun...

fine motor skills

2010-03-16T21:23:00.003-06:00

marianne has started helping us put her toys away at bedtime when we ask her to and show her what we want her to do. here, i had dumped blocks out for her to play with and she put them away. i guess she was ready for bedtime:

during her bath two nights earlier i had set the green ring on top of the red cup. marianne must have remembered because i caught her doing the same task without prompting her:

just a swingin | party time

2010-02-28T15:42:00.009-07:00

marianne and i took a stroll around the park this afternoon. it was a little chilly but i decided to let marianne take a swing for the first time. i'm not sure but she seemed to enjoy herself.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, DES

last weekend marianne's friend, desmond, turned 1 and had a rad birthday party to celebrate. it was a lot of fun and as desmond's only same-age friend attending, we were really honored to share the day with him. we wore party hats, ate cupcake, played with balloons, visited with other guests and (oh my!) got kisses from the birthday boy. i think he wants to be more than just friends. it was such a riot - desmond was pulling marianne close, hugging her and planting some serious kisses. at one point, marianne was pushing him off of her but he was undeterred. we all had a really good laugh.

P.S. new january post

pitter patter

2010-02-24T23:19:00.005-07:00

marianne has officially taken her first steps.

it's taken me a week to come to terms with the fact that her first steps (without holding on) were to someone other than momma or daddy and that neither of us were there to see her. naturally, she took them at daycare. when i first went back to work, i had a hard time with missing her "firsts" but i had made peace with it since she spends her weekdays at a place full of love for her. that said, first steps are a big one and i was trying to prepare myself for it but apparently i wasn't ready. mostly, i wasn't ready for her to walk yet. even though she's been steady on her feet and toddling behind anything that rolls or scoots and along anything stationary since christmas, we just weren't in a rush for her to be off and walking all by her big-girl self. so we hadn't been coaching, encouraging, pushing, or working with her...i just wanted her to get there in her own time. and she did.

by the time she got home in the evenings last week, she was too pooped to take much more than one wobbly step. over the weekend, she took SIX steps to her very proud momma and she hasn't slowed down. it's so cute to see how proud of herself she is.

we captured some footage tonight. enjoy.

p.s. new posting under january

some catching up to do

2010-02-11T20:46:00.002-07:00

i'm obviously WAY behind on updates to the blog. the holidays were busy as usual and january was just a rough one. we were in and out of the pediatrician's office at least once a week all month. first it was a mild case of rsv, then an ear infection, then a couple of visits for a virus that i'm pretty sure turned out to be roseola, then a sore but-luckily-not-infected ear because that was only a few days until we were flying to see aunt kimmie for a long weekend. she started the month at 16lbs 2oz+ and ended it at 15lbs 12oz. but she's back to full health and seems to have gained several ounces over the last couple of weeks. however jerry and i are now taking our turn. some kind of stomach bug kept me up all night on sunday and home from work on monday and jer's currently sleeping off a fever as i type.

marianne is walking with support. she started doing so just days before christmas and i'm relieved she hasn't started walking unaided yet. she is standing for longer and longer without holding on so i assume it won't be long til she puts it all together.

her one year birthday is coming up faster than i can believe. we're not planning a blowout party but both sets of grandparents will be visiting before/after the big day so we'll be sure to do plenty of celebrating.

jerry is starting his 7-days-a-week work schedule. neither marianne nor i are thrilled but it's busy season so our grumbling doesn't make much of a difference. i've been ramping up my running routine - going over lunch breaks with a colleague who's shaping up for her april nuptials. we signed up for a 10-mile race in march. i'm praying for nice weather and to cross the finish line running.

i'm going to post some back-entries from the last couple of months, so keep an eye on december and january for the next several days. i'll try not to get so far behind again. i know i have so many avid followers ;)

a visit to the north

2010-02-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

momma had been promising a visit to aunt kimberly for over a year now, so marianne said it was good and time we made good. aunt kimmy hosted us for a long weekend and showed us her terf.

we flew into Salt Lake City on friday morning and spent the day in the city doing some shopping. on our way home to kimberly's apartment, we stopped in Park City to check out the main street shopping and the sundance film festival festivities. adorable little ski town.

we were pooped when we got home that night. aunt kimberly read marianne her bedtime stories.

on saturday we explored evanston, saw kimberly's office and grocery shopped for cooking her birthday dinner. we ate lunch at don pedro's. yummy. marianne got a balloon.

after church on sunday, we went to a little coffee shop downtown for breakfast. quaint and cozy and a delicious sticky bun. then we took it easy for the day before making indian for aunt kimberly's birthday dinner.

kimberly took us to a great italian market for lunch in slc before we caught our flight home. indulged in a cannoli - marianne had her fair share too.

thanks for having us aunt kimmy. see you in april.

rub a dub dub

2010-01-08T21:18:00.006-07:00

marianne had buckets of fun in her washpod...

...but for the last several nights she has been refusing to sit down it the water. so we have retired the pod and moved on to the tub.

she had a ball. she splished and splashed and slipped and slid. she found it especially thrilling to crawl to the shallow end and slide back down to the deep end. marvelous fun.

yes, my little rubber friends, i think we're going to like it here.

even daddy had fun and managed not to get completely soaked.

the holidays

2010-01-02T21:34:00.001-07:00

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!

hey momma, watch this

2009-12-10T21:26:00.007-07:00

before all of this single-digit and below-zero weather, we had some really nice fall days. i took marianne out to play in the leaves but instead she decided to taste-test. i made a valiant effort at first to stop her but as soon as i would pull one out, she'd shove another in. so i ran for the camera and let her sample.

blech! not so tasty.

but enough fun to give it one more try.

who needs toys when you have empty beer boxes?

they can be a car - vroom vroom, dada.

or they can be a boat - there's room, momma, come on in.

home to see the grands

2009-12-01T23:01:00.005-07:00

in november, marianne and i joined jer for his trip home to deer hunt. while jer was off hunting and camping we carried on our merry way, visiting marianne's grands: two great-grandmas and four grandparents. it was quite a weekend and marianne had a blast. she took her first ride sitting in a shopping buggy at walmart while daddy and uncle john shopped for a camping gear and supplies. marianne had just started saying "ba" shortly before the trip and over the weekend she uttered her first "da" - I guess she missed her daddy while he was out on the hunt. a couple of days after we got back home, she started saying "dada"...most mornings we wake up to her yelling it. since then she's also been working on saying "cat" but is yet to clearly say "mama". i suspect i've heard it a few times amidst tired/frustrated cries but otherwise, nothing! she is now starting to wave hello and goodbye - on her own terms though, she refuses to be prompted. she's also clapping like a fool...when she takes a bite, when she knocks down blocks, when she takes a drink, when she crawls into the room...it's addictive and stinkin adorable. she still doesn't like fruit, AT ALL, but i've managed to sneak it into a few meals by mixing it with other foods. she's been cutting teeth like crazy and now has four that have erupted (two front bottom, one front top and the one next to it on the top). she's working on two more (the two corresponding top teeth). that front tooth on the top sure did give her a heck of a time. she started cutting her teeth on 10|9 and pretty much hasn't stopped. maybe she'll get em all out of the way and just be done with it.

here's the photo log from our trip to mo:

with great grandma mary, who remembered marianne's name and was in great spirits when we visited. we actually caught her in the workout room doing her exercises. she was hounding the nurse who was monitoring her workout...she kept calling him a the "meanie man"!

smiles and laughs with grandpa and grandma at the white grill - one of the yummiest dive burgers i've ever had, thanks john.

in the buggy seat at walmart - what fun!

hammin' it up with great grandma minnie. it made grandma's day to hold and hug on a smiley baby.

playing with her cousins at papa and nana's house. cadence is directing the baby play.

on papa's lap with cousin jack and pretty darn happy about it.

laptime with nana. worn out and very content and relieved for the downtime after a busy day playing with the cousins.

halloween +/-

2009-11-08T21:49:00.005-07:00

marianne's classroom at daycare hosted a fall party as a parent meet-n-greet about a week before halloween. marianne is in a class with all boys and she pals around with two of them - kian and felix - who are both older by two months and one month, respectively. here they are working hard at a music/activity bench (felix is on the right). her teachers tell me that it doesn't even phase her that she's the only girl. in fact when the boys cry she gets in their face and smiles and laughs. way to go baby girl, work 'em over.

a couple of days before halloween we had a snow storm. i worked from home for two days and got to have one snow day with marianne.

this is her outfit for black-and-orange day at "school" the day before halloween,

when we arrived at school on halloween, kian (aka spider) crawled over and gave marianne a few kisses on the forehead. it was incredibly precious. he's a sloppy kisser. he gave her some slobber along with the kisses.

and here she is in her "very hungry caterpillar" costume. it's homemade so use your imagination.

nothing particularly poignant about this photo, i just love the huge grin. which is almost always in place. she's a happy girl. she is pulling herself up and standing all over the place. today she tried standing with only one hand holding on and then tried "no hands". she promptly landed on her bottom. whew!

have a little laugh. we did.

peas

2009-10-27T20:46:00.007-06:00

marianne had peas for the first time tonight. she LOVED them. she kept banging on the tray between bites and practically bit (read: gummed) the end off the spoon. seems she might be a fan of green veggies, so far...zucchini and peas.

don't mind the commentary - we thought we had been recording earlier and then barely caught the end of the meal...as you can tell, I'm scraping the bowl clean.

we also noticed that she was jabbering a new sound tonight - "buh". she's only been saying "hehhh", which she says first, and then she starts in with the "buh"s. george is a pretty good sport with her. the video comes to an abrupt end when she makes a hurried getaway to the ledge. ever since saturday morning she's been going up the ledge on her own and she can now maneuver her way down without doing a header into the floor.

pumpkin cap is compliments of aunt kimberly. she's going to wear it to daycare on thursday for "black and orange" spirit day.

playdate

2009-10-21T21:06:00.004-06:00

marianne had a playdate with her friend, madeline, several weeks ago while momma had a playdate with madeline's mommy, tonya. they are only three days apart in age - madeline was actually born on marianne's due date of 3/21. they had a great time together. this is actually before marianne was sitting up well on her own.

marianne adeline and madeline marie

i think madeline may have possibly taught marianne to sit up.

they spent a lot of time playing take-away with this strand of beads.

is that a hint of a tantrum?

yeah, they swapped some spit.

madeline, you are so precious.

creepy-crawler

2009-10-19T21:35:00.014-06:00

the last month has been so busy and so has marianne...busy taking on the world of crawling, standing and eating solids (at least mushy ones) with her lone tooth. we certainly have seen a lot of change in her during her 7th month.

she decided she needed to be on the move and she made haste. at the end of august she found her way up to hands and knees.

by the end of september she was military crawling and - much to our amazement - pulled herself up to standing at her einstein gym.

military crawl.

i think i'll just stand.

she put it all together this past weekend and she started crawling on all fours.

crawling (and she actually jabbers a little in this one).

she's now aware that there's a lot more on the floor than her toys and the dog and cat - rugs, outlets, cords, shoes, dust bunnies, so much to touch and taste. that's a big "ooooh noooo" for momma and daddy.

a little tummy time in the nude before my bath.

on the fourth of october we started a meal of solids (read: rice cereal thinned with breastmilk). five days later we gave zucchini a try, which she really seems to like, and i suppose she thinks she needs to chew all that mushy food because on the same day her first tooth emerged. i've been making her food so far. it's so simple and quick. i actually can't wait to start flavoring some of her dishes and trying some combos.

first taste...she's not sure about this.

second day...i can do this.

zucchini is a hit.

this past weekend we went to a pumpkin festival. it would have been an amazing day but it was 87º. are you kidding me? in october? it was supposed to be sunny and cool. it was miserably warm, nay, HOT! hence, marianne's cheeks are beet red. but darn it she looks cute with those pumpkins.

our little yogi getting into downward dog.

our little baby girl is changing before our very eyes. we were so lucky to have our friend, denise, take 6-mo photos of her. here's a couple of newborn vs 6-month comparisons.

marianne is finally getting hair - even in these 6-month photos it's barely there and now she has quite a lot and it's fuzzy, that is before momma slicks it down with lotion. it was pretty dark at first but it's turning lighter and lighter.

i like to think she's momma's girl...

...but who am i kidding?

two years

2009-09-28T22:07:00.002-06:00

for our second anniversary i made plans for jerry and i to attend a farm dinner in honor of our farm wedding.

i found this genius group of culinary folks who have collaborated with farms all over boulder county to host dinners on various farms throughout the summer. the spots fill up quickly and i was lucky enough to get two seats for the weekend of our anniversary.

there are a couple of long community tables set amidst the farm - in the field, near the garden or, in our case, in the barn. the food prepared for dinner is harvested fresh from the crops and livestock raised on the farm. it was an amazing experience. jerry was doubtful, of course, but we both had the most wonderful time. we met some interesting people, savored a tasty bottle of wine and ate the most scrumptious meal.

we were greeted to frog belly farm with an apertif of italian bitters and ginger ale & an appetizer of grilled flatbread with mozzerella goat cheese and basil.

we toured the farm and enjoyed the sunset before heading to the barn for dinner.

our menu:

cerleriac soup - creamed celery root

roasted peppers, potatoes and farro salad with chevre

wood-fired farm ham with polenta and chard

grilled colorado peaches with lemon verbena cream

we sat next to a couple who had their 1-yr old girl with them. she actually reminded us a lot of marianne and gave us a glimpse of what's to come in six more months.

happy anniversary, jer. it was a wonderful night and brought back so many memories of our wedding. i love you so much. jb

first came love. then came marriage. then came our baby in a baby carriage.

my boots

2009-09-23T11:03:00.003-06:00

these are my john deere boots.

they are still too big but i asked momma to let me try them on the other night. i'm so stylin'. momma and daddy can't wait for me to wear them.

baby belly

2009-09-10T10:16:00.003-06:00

i'm a little behind on posting, we've had a lot going on the past few weeks so i'll have several new photos and videos to post when i get around to it.

this morning marianne was doing a little playing while we were getting ready for work and school (daycare). i only got as far as putting her pants on before i got sidetracked with getting myself ready. i snapped this photo with my phone so it's not the best but i just love how it highlights her little belly.

she's not crawling yet but she seems determined. she's not very interested in sitting up but we've been trying to work on it with her. she'll sit up unaided for a few seconds and then topple over but she doesn't face-plant, she has enough control to lay her head down gently.

we had a very low-key labor day weekend...cleaning house, yard work, errands! loads of fun. ha. we did have an nfl fantasy league draft on monday. marianne (and momma) has her first fantasy team. momma didn't really know what she was doing but marianne hollered when she wanted a player for momma to bid on and draft. i think we ended up with a pretty good team. everyone at the draft kept saying how "marge pearl" (that's our team name) has one of the best-looking lineups. we'll see...game one tonight!

summer fun

2009-08-25T21:53:00.006-06:00

sunday was ablaze so we took marianne up to the fountains in stapleton to try out her swimsuit and cool her off. all summer long there are always kids playing in the water...it's such a great little fountain and I couldn't wait to dip her in.

she was super pumped: swimsuit - check; smile - check...

unfortunately, by the time jer got home from the office and we walked up there, the sun was going down and it wasn't so hot out anymore and the water was COLD!!! brrrrrrrr

our water play was short-lived.

george is wishing he could get loose of the tree and join all of the kids in the fountain. he'd have that place cleared out in a heartbeat.

dry, warm and ready for some milk.

"i'm lookin' for milk. do you have any milk?"

then momma, daddy and george had ice cream but all marianne got was to lick the clean spoon.

gettin' air

2009-08-24T22:18:00.003-06:00

she's small but strong and learning, trying and doing everyday! it is awesome to be witness to her discoveries within her own strength and mobility but another part of me kind of wants to hold her down -- what's her hurry anyway?

growing growing

2009-08-17T20:57:00.004-06:00

testing out my jumperoo:

i'm so cute in this hat:

i guess i'll humor mom with a few smiles for the camera: