29 March 2012

Dear Mara... at 9 Months


Dear Mara,
Well... you were nine months IN and now you are nine months OUT... of my body, that is.
My pregnancy with you creeeeeped by but the past nine months have FLOWN by. Funny how that works.
We had your nine month check up today and thanks to your sister, it was a very exciting one.
She informed Dr. Ory that... and I quote, "My daddy has a wee-wee."
While I about died of embarrassment, she quickly redeemed herself upon learning that you would get a shot  and promptly burst into tears just at the thought of someone hurting you.
Not just mini-tears but HUGE, crocodile tears. And sobs. She told the nurse over and over and over again... "do not hurt my sister." It was very sweet and proves to us that she does love you dearly (even though she frequently tries to lay on top of you).

OK, enough about her.

Oh Mara... I could not love you more if I tried.
Your smile absolutely melts my heart and your new little tooth completes the look.
You are still waking up once a night for a little snack... we should probably end this soon but I don't mind too much. You love your pacifier...not surprising. That seems to be a trend in our family. Just ask your three year old sister who still HAS HERS.

You are my snuggle bunny and I love your laugh.
You are one HAPPY girl.
Just like the rest of us... you love to eat which is why it was surprising to learn that you are below the tenth percentile for weight (15 lbs, 14 oz) and you have only gained 2 oz since your 6 month check-up.
Hmmm...
Looks like we need to lay of the finger foods and get some more formula in you.
Some fatty breast milk would probably do you good but I'm long out of that.

Looks like you and your sister may be about the same height given your almost identical 9-month STATS.
You are going to crawl soon... you get up on all fours and rock back and forth. I'm not really ready for you to crawl so every time you do this, I have to resist the urge to push you over. I do resist though, obviously, and soon enough you will be on your way. And I will be digging out baby gates and electric socket plugs.

You are perfectly you and amazingly ours... 
Hugs and Kisses my baby girl!
Mom



25 March 2012

Too Cool for School


She is days from crawling.. and now she sits up on her knees. 
She thinks she's too cool for school. 


I kind of agree.
I think we'll keep her.


Wowzas!


Holy Hair! 
But more importantly, holy EYEBROWS!! 
One of these days I will dig up my 6th grade school picture.
She comes by it honestly.

Grown-Up Girl

This one is looking so grown-up to me lately...
Not so fast, missy.

Sink Baths...

are the best! 
And there's nothin' I love more than a squeaky clean baby.


20 March 2012

Just For a Second...

Just for a second, I am going to whine about being a stay at home mom.
It's hard. Really hard. 
Not hard in that I have a headache at the end of the day because I am mentally exhausted from using my brain for exciting, earth-shattering things, but hard in that I have a headache at the end of the day because I banged it against the wall 10 times. 

I banged my head against the wall once for every time I: 
 - changed a diaper 
 - wiped a face
 - did a dish 
 - cleaned the floor 
 - picked up toys
 - put in a load of laundry 
 - folded a piece of laundry 
 - cleaned the floor 
 - picked up toys 
 - made a bottle 
 - made breakfast 
 - cleaned the floor 
 - made a snack 
 - made lunch 
 - cleaned the floor 
 - picked up toys 
 - put a kid down for a nap and breathed a sigh of relief .. right before the other one woke up 
 - made dinner 
 - cleaned the floor
 - picked up toys 

The moral of this story is: 
1) I need to get an area rug for my hardwood floors. They are killing me. 
2) I need to start making my kid pick up her own damn toys. 

Some days are just like this.
Particularly when your husband travels for work and you haven't had a break in two days ...
with one more still to go. 

Some days I miss teaching... a lot. 
But then I make myself think of the days when I wanted to bang my head against my classroom door because being in charge of twenty-some second graders ain't all that easy EITHER! 

So, we take the good with the bad. And most days... are good and usually...  great.
I do all of this for them... and me ... and I don't take it for granted... I will never, ever regret this time. 
And I know that. 
I just need to get a damn area rug. 
And the sun. 





The highlight of my day: bedroom sunlight on my girls (albeit, brief)

17 March 2012

Big girl, Big Seat

For some reason, this transition to the bigger car seat always makes me sad.
Time flies, that is for sure.
Oh well, at least it is just a bigger car seat and we aren't dancing at her wedding yet.

15 March 2012

Cousins in the Crib

 Mara is far more entertained by this than Mckenna...
 These little ladies are four months apart in age (to the day).
And yet they are the same size!
Mara at 8 months and Mckenna at one year

13 March 2012

Figuring It Out

I am going to guess that crawling is not too far away...


Glad you're happy about it sister...
I'm not ready.


But I could gobble these little toes right up... 

And kissing these sweet cheeks is a habit I can't kick...

Love you, baby girl. 

Both Mine

A lady at the mall today asked if my girls were both mine.
She said the little one looked like me but the other one didn't....

I have no idea what she is talking about.

Mara at 8 Months 
  
Kennedy at 8 months

08 March 2012

Major Milestone

We are proud to announce that our girl will not go off to college still peeing her pants...
That's right, we have a potty-trained child. 
I am so proud of her.... and quite frankly, us. 



Um... Hi Sean.


And meet the newest addition to our family.... baby.
She doesn't have an official name... it varies from day to day. One day, she had 6 names.
Whatever her name may be, her mommy loves her.
She won't sleep without her, she won't ride in the car without her.
She feeds her, changes her and dresses her.
 And she kisses her and hugs her and loves her much like I do my girls.
I have to remember just how closely she watches and learns from me...

This girl...

... likes to eat! And I am loving it. I know it sounds terrible... but I don't love the phase where I have to sit down and feed my kids baby food. ( I know... so rude, right?). So I always look forward to the phase when I can throw a bunch of bite-sized food on the tray and they have at it.

Our girl loves blueberries, bananas, yogurt bites, scrambled eggs, noodles and avocados.






03 March 2012

Newborn Shoot

I did my first official "newborn photo shoot" this week.
My friend Scout had her 3rd baby, John and asked me to do photos of him as well as some family ones.
It was a blast!
Check out a few of the shots on my photography blog!