One Year Old: Miss Independent

RICHLAND, WASH. -- My sweet baby girl turned one this week. It's hard to believe it's been a year since she changed our lives on a cold, snowy night in Boston. We haven't stopped smiling since. What a blessing she has been to us. She has filled my heart with so much joy and happiness than I ever knew possible. It's been such a treat to be her mother. I'm a little emotional over her growing up so quickly. What happened to my precious, little baby girl?! How did time go by so quickly?! On the other hand, I am also thrilled about everything she is learning. It's been incredible watching her learn and become more independent as the days go by. She is such a sweet, happy, goofy, smart, friendly, beautiful, delightful girl who makes us smile and laugh nonstop. Life is so much sweeter with her.

My cute sister in law took these photos for us last month while we were in Portland.

We mostly celebrated her birthday last week in California. We decided we needed a little getaway to somewhere warmer. We took her to the San Diego Zoo and played nonstop on the beach. What a dream week! Marin had the time of her life playing outside and running free (or trying to run free). It already feels like winter has been so long! She was in heaven chasing seagulls on the sand and seeing the animals up close at the zoo. Her favorite animal noise to make is the snake, and when we pointed one out to her she went wild! She put on a show for everyone around her. The cutest moment of the day was when one of the orangutans who was sitting right by the window turned around and starred at her. She smiled and waved at it without hesitation. She's such a friendly girl who loves to smile and say and wave "buh-bye" to everyone she sees. 

We stayed at a cute little condo right on the water in Oceanside. Our view was phenomenal and Marin loved being outside every second she was awake and would protest whenever we'd bring her inside. 

She was obsessed with this bucket, shovel and wheel barrow that the condo had for kids to play with.

Isn't she the cutest? Its hard to believe she's actually slimmed down quite a bit the last few months.

She loved playing with all the rocks on the beach and putting them in her bucket.

Such a ham.

One of my new favorite pictures of these two. 

She'd try to make a break for the ocean whenever we'd let go of her.

She'd gasp when the cold water touched her toes and started shivering, but she kept going back.

On her actual birthday, we didn't do much except blow up balloons for her to play with and sing to her and have cake. She loved the cake. Loved it so much that we had to take it away from her out of fear she was going to make herself sick. She complained when we took it away and I found her sitting on the kitchen floor the next morning eating the crumbs (don't judge, I just hadn't swept yet). I have video of the cake gorging that I will upload soon. It's good.

She kept calling the balloons balls. 

Playing with toys she got from her cousins. 

Twelve Month Stats:

24.8 lbs. (95%)

33 inches tall (99%)

18.25 HC (85%)

Eating: This really shouldn't be a category on here anymore. She eats everything.  

Sleeping: Wakes up at 5:30 a.m. generally and cries for a minute or so and then goes back to sleep usually until 7 or 7:30.  

Wearing: 12 -18 month old stuff still.  

Tricks and New Skills/Interesting tidbits:

• Marin wants to eat all by herself. She wants to hold the fork/spoon and make a mess with things before somehow managing to get a bite or two in her mouth. 
• She waves at us every few minutes to say hi. It makes me laugh. 
• She laughs a lot more now at random things. Recently, I've been reading her a certain book and she'll start smirking or laughing at certain spots. It's pretty cute. And reminds me that she is human and now understands so many things. Amazing. 
• Whenever we go to baby story time at the local library, she goes around and waves and smiles at everyone. 
• She likes to bring her "behs" (bears) and baby doll everywhere we go. 
• I'm concerned we've created a monster. There may have been a time or two (who's counting?) when we've shown her a few Sesame Street YouTube videos. She'll come over to us when we have the laptop open, or will pickup the laptop and bring it to us, reciting, "A, B's" over and over. "A, B's" is referencing the ABC videos, of course. Oh dear. She cries when we turn it off. 



She just looks so cute sitting there like a real person. How is she real?!

• Separation anxiety is in full swing. Ugh. It is so annoying. But sometimes cute. But mostly annoying. 
• This girl has her animal noises down pat. She can tell you what a snake, cow, dog, sheep and horse say. It's really darling.  You can check out some of those skills in this video: 

This girl loves life so much that it is inspiring. I love watching her get excited about such simple things. Like playing in boxes. She is such a happy, joyful little girl. It warms my soul to have her in my life. I can't wait to see what this next year brings. 

11 Months Old: Figuring Things Out

RICHLAND, WASH. -- The other day I was getting Marin dressed when it hit me how much she's grown. The labels on her clothes now say, "Toddler" in them. I may have gone into mourning for a few moments over the fact that my baby is officially gone. We've more or less got a toddler (can we just call it "baby-toddler") on our hands now. 

Kicking a soccer ball with her daddy.

Eleven Month Stats:

• 23 lbs.
• 32 inches tall  

Eating: Still such a good eater. She likes to grab the spoon when I'm feeding her and try to shovel food and eat herself. Not always successful. Usually ends in a nasty mess. She also loves throwing food on the ground. And on the wall. 
Sleeping: Wakes up at 5:30 a.m.  Sometimes she goes back to sleep. 
Wearing: 12 -18 month old stuff. Our favorite thing to have her wear lately are pom pom hats. Its been cold here lately, so we've been having her wear them a lot. They are so cute on her. Tricks and New Skills/Interesting tidbits:

• Walking like a champ. She hasn't crawled in over a month. 
• Now that she can walk a bit sturdier, she has gotten pretty good at kicking around the soccer ball. It's pretty cute.

• She still loves her books more than anything. She pulls them out of her book basket one by one until she finds the one she wants and then will look at it by herself or bring it to Isaac or I to read it to her.  
• Every Wednesday morning we've been going to Baby Reading Time at the Richland Library. As soon as we get to the reading area, I'll put her down and she'll wander around the reading circle and point to all the other little kids. She loves kids. 

• New words she likes to say: 

• Baby 
• When we ask her what a snake says she'll promptly answer, "Sss," which sometimes sounds more like, "Thh."  
• The poor girl developed a runny nose on Halloween which still hasn't gone away. Its inevitable that whenever she gets a cold it'll always turn into ear infections. Poor girl. You'd never know she was sick and in pain though because she's always so happy and energetic. 
• She's starting to figure out how things fit together. She has some tub stacking toys and has recently figured out how they fit inside each other. Its fun watching her figure it all out.

  

  Marin's first Halloween. We were so festive. 

  
  

  

  Wearing a coat and hat that used to be mine. Isn't she such a doll?!

Ten Months Old: Walking on Sunshine

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Ladies and gentleman, we've got a walker on our hands! Now that she's figured out how to get around on her feet, she won't sit still. Unless it involves books. Then she'll sit for a looong time. Its really adorable how much she loves her books. And walking. And getting into everything. Everything. 

Sometime between now and her 11 month update, it's my goal to find something else to blog about. We'll see how that goes. For now, here is Marin in her 10 month glory... 

My mom made this coat. Isn't it amazing?!

Marin being her curious self. 

She made this shirt too. And those leggings.

And my mom turned my old BP shirt into a dress for Marin. Seriously, amazing. 

Ten Month Stats:

• 23ish lbs.
• She's probably as tall as last month. Maybe. 

Eating: Favorite food this month is peaches.
Sleeping: Still wakes up around 2 am every single night. Every night. But she usually cries herself back to sleep.   
Wearing: 12 month stuff. 
Tricks and New Skills:

• Walking, as mentioned above. She still looks a little like a drunk sailor, but she gets around pretty well.
• She could sit for hours and "read" books. She loves to flip through the pages and look at the pictures. Sometimes, she'll bring one up to Isaac and I to read to her. It's really precious. 
• She's also talking a lot more. I mean, she jabbered like crazy before. But now she's actually saying real words. Here are a few new ones I can think of in addition to dada and mama and ball: 
• Bear: bah
• Bubbles: bub bubs
• Bellly button (she points to her tummy as she says this): buhbuh (a lot of these words sound similar, but she uses them in context, which is how I know what she's saying)
• Dog: daw or dawee (doggie)

Nine Months Old: Moving and Grooving

RICHLAND, WA: Its official. Marin has a real obsession with cats and dogs. Today I heard some meows coming from our back porch. Sure enough there was a cat just hanging around out there. Marin was asleep and I couldn't wait for her to wake up so she could see this curious creature. She'd never seen a cat up close before... I know... what kind of mother am I to deprive her of such joy?  We've just never encountered any wherever we've been. After she woke up I brought her over to the window to check it out. She was elated. The cat was a bit timid, so whenever we'd go outside for a closer look it would run away. But let's just say, Marin is a major fan (much to her father's dismay, I'm sure).  She'd cry a good one whenever it would run away. Thankfully it always came back and entertained her for a good 30 minutes or so. Ahhh! 

In other news, Marin took her first steps a few weeks ago. I wouldn't say she's outright walking. But she takes 2 to 3 steps at a time before she falls over or decides to sit down. She's making progress. 

The past few weeks have been busy ones. Over Labor Day weekend, Isaac's parents came up from Portland. We had a blast hanging out with them and taking them out on the Columbia River on the boat. It was a hot, breezy day and Marin even fell asleep in Grandma Reeve's arms. It was very cute. Marin and I also went on a week trip last week to help watch my sister's kids while their parents were away. Marin loved the cousin time and all the attention. 

Getting pulled around the kitchen by her cousin, James. 

When we came back we had this little 9 month photo shoot on our back porch. Isn't she the cutest? Oh, we love her so. 

Nine Month Stats:

• 23 lbs.
• 30 inches tall 

Eating: Nothing too new here. The girl loves to eat. Clearly.
Sleeping: After attempting to let her cry it out several nights in a row, Marin is finally sleeping (I guess?) through the night a bit better. She still wakes up every night at 2 am for some reason (I really wish she wouldn't do this), but now she just lets out a little cry for a minute, instead of wailing, and then goes back to sleep on her own. Hallelujah. 
Wearing: Wearing 9 and 12 month clothes. Seriously kid, please stop growing so much.
Tricks and New Skills:

• Biting. Urgh. Is this considered a "skill"? She likes to bite things lately. Including me.
• Marin is a friendly kid. She likes to wave at everyone and everything. Including animals. I'll randomly look up from doing something and she'll be waving at me. 
• The aforementioned taking steps.... cruising. She likes to stand up wherever she is and attempt to walk. She grabs hold of anything near her and cruises all around. 
• She started to "dance" I guess we'll call it. When she hears music and I start moving around to show her how to dance, she'll often imitate. It's pretty hilarious. 
• Her new thing now is to open every cupboard and pull things out. Oh boy. 

Eight Months Old: Family Time

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Living on the west coast has major perks... the biggest being our close proximity to family. The Candrian hub in Salt Lake is just an hour plane flight from the Tri Cities. An HOUR! AH! And Isaac's family hub is just a few hours drive away in Portland. So we've been taking full advantage of it. Needless to say, it's been a busy month!  We spent a few days in Utah earlier this month hanging out with my family. Marin got to spend time with several of her Candrian cousins and enjoyed being showered with attention. 

I love that she has so many cousins her own age. She loves it too, she just had a hard time showing it at this moment. 

Poor thing didn't feel too hot the first day we were there.

The day we got back from Utah we left for Isaac's family reunion in McCall, Idaho. Oh, I love family. It's really been a blissful few weeks. And I think its safe to say Marin was enjoying herself too. She's such a friendly little thing and liked to wave to everyone she saw. She's such a ham. We spent the week at the most gorgeous lake that Isaac grew up going to with his family. Marin had a great time playing in the sand and learning not to eat it. She also went on her first boat ride. 

We had to drive several hours away to get to Isaac's family reunion. So that meant lots of stops to keep her happy.

Going for a walk in Ponderosa State Park, near where we stayed. We saw a bunch of deer. 

Marin took her first boat ride on Payette Lake.

She loved playing on the beach as long as big waves weren't crashing on her.

Hanging out on the beach with her cousins. Such cute kids! Plus, another cousin her age! Blissful!

Eight Month Stats:

• 22ish lbs. 

Eating:

• The latest tricks up her sleeve are drinking from straws. She still devours mashed potatoes and gravy like they're going out of style. 

Sleeping:

• Urgh. Let's not talk about it. 

Wearing:

• Most of her summer clothes were six month sized. Since they're mostly all shorts and rompers she is still wearing them. But all of her six month leggings have turned into cropped pants. This girl is tall! 

Tricks and New Skills:

• Cruizing: Marin loves to pull herself up on anything and everything and walk around holding on to things. She's even started to stand all by herself for a few seconds at a time. Holy moly! 
• She still gets around best by crawling and has developed quite the speedy crawl.
• Her personality is really shinning through these days. She's a definite people-person. She likes to wave to everyone she sees. Her wave basically consists of sticking her arm straight out (kinda like "Hey, what's up guys!"). The wave has no hand action, it's all arm. 
• She's also starting to point to things, which is pretty cute. 
• She also loves to clap and give high fives. She'll even grab our hands and make them clap together. 
• The last few days she's started to turn the pages in the books we read. It's really darling. As soon as I start lifting the page to turn it, she'll grab it and turn it the rest of the way, meanwhile cranking her head to eagerly see what's on the next page. 
• One of the funniest things she's started doing since we moved here involves bath time. The bath tubs in our apartment don't have a drain lever on the medal plate below the spout, so it's just a plain round medal, shiny plate, which shows reflections pretty good. She was pretty confused/amused the first time she noticed our reflection in it. She'd get up really close to it and try to look inside to see what we were doing in there. It was pretty funny. It's not quite as amusing to her anymore, but she still gets really close to it and looks in it to see herself (and us) every time she has a bath. 
• She still gets entertainment out of staring in a mirror. Every time we enter or leave a bathroom we stop so she can giggle and smile at herself. Oh, I love her.
• The kid has four teeth. Sharp ones. Two on top, two on bottom. I know she's getting more because if she has nothing to suck on, then her fingers are always in her mouth. 

Seven Months Old: International Traveler

RICHLAND, WASH. -- Geesh, it has been quite the month! Our little family packed our bags  and bid farewell to Boston. We flew straight to London, where we treated ourselves to a little retirement/congratulations vacation (retirement for me, congratulations to Isaac on finishing 10 years of education). It was a much needed break from reality. We tried to have a good mix of site seeing tossed in with relaxation. I think we found just the right balance. Marin was a trooper through it all... the red eye flight, sitting in her stroller for good chunks of the days, and for the 9 hour flight back from London to Seattle. She is such a good girl! Here are a few photos from our oversea adventure: 

Marin's first time on the swings in St. James Park. Her face says it all! 

Isn't she the cutest?!

Hanging out on daddy's shoulders in Hyde Park

Feeding the birds in Hyde Park.

Playing in the water at the Princess Diana Water Fountain Memorial 

Hanging out with Uncle Casey who came up from Germany to play with us.

She loooooves the swings! This was in the Princess Diana Memorial Playground next to Kensington Palace.

Enjoying the Princess Diana Memorial fountain on the Fourth

Kind of ironic we celebrated her first Fourth of July in England. 

With the London Bridge and London Tower (home to the crown jewels) in the background.

Big Ben and the Parliament building behind us.

Watching a little tennis match at Wimbledon. 

Seven Month Stats:

• I haven't weighed her this month. I need to get on that. 

Eating:

• This girl can finally drink from a sippy cup! Hallelujah! 

Sleeping:

• Pretty sure our London tripped messed her sleeping up immensely. The poor little thing didn't know what time zone she was on. And now that we're on the west coast... even more far removed from the schedule/time zone she was accustomed to, she is even more out of whack. And add teething to the list. Fun nights. Here's to better sleeping in the coming weeks! 

Wearing:

• Nine month clothes still fit this munchkin best. 

Tricks and New Skills:

• This sweet little girl can say dada and mama like a champ. Her first time recognizably saying "mama" was when our movers were packing up our apartment. I set her down for approximately 30 seconds to sign some papers and she freaked out and yelled, "MA MA," it was darling. The first time she said "dada" (in front of Isaac) was in London. We were walking around a park waiting to check in our place and she was sitting in her stroller while Isaac was pushing her, and looked up at him and proudly declared, "DA DA!" Isaac melted right on the spot. Though, I am pretty sure she referred to some guy at the pool the week prior as "DA DA" when she saw him from behind with a hat on. To her credit, it did look a bit like Isaac. 
• She started crawling a few weeks ago and has upgraded to pulling herself up on things. Heaven help us!
• We introduced Marin to swings while we were in London and I don't think her life will ever be the same. She had an open mouth smile and giggle plastered to her face the whole time! 
• Marin likes to scream when she gets excited, or really to communicate anything at all. It's half hilarious and half annoying. They can be pretty high pitched.  
• I think she's starting to develop separation anxiety. The other day I put her on the rug next to the shower to play, while I took a much needed shower, and you would have thought I'd abandoned her and gone to China. She squealed and screamed like I've never heard her. Ridiculous. 

Well, that's about it. It's amazing to me that she's already seven month old. The things she learns in such a short amount of time astounds me. We have been spending our days at the pool (it's been in the triple digits here) and running random errands trying to get our new little place in order. Can't wait until we're all settled... and I'm sure this little munchkin feels the same!  Happy summer! 

Six Months Old on Father's Day

BOSTON, MASS.- I suppose it seems suiting that this little one reached the major milestone of turning a whopping six months old on Isaac's first Father's Day. Marin adores him. And has since the day she was born. I could tell. The way she looked at him (though I realize her eyes were a tad out of focus that first day) was so sincere and loving and adoring. It made me teary-eyed. She still stares at him like that. It makes me melt.

In the Sacred Grove

This past month was slightly more mellow than the last. My dad came out for a 24 hour visit and we loved having him even for that short amount of time. We also made a Memorial Day weekend trip to Niagara Falls and Palmyra. What a beautiful part of the country!  Marin made her first stop in a foreign country when we headed over to the Canada side of the falls. It was so beautiful there!

In Palmyra, NY

On the U.S. side of Niagara Falls

This next month will be filled with some more big adventures as we will bid farewell to Boston in just a few short weeks. We've loved it here, but are excited for the next step of Isaac's career. His graduation lunch was this past week. We're so proud of him for making it through all these years of studying. He's incredible and so dedicated. Before we land at our final destination in Washington state, we'll hop across the pond to London for a week of play and relaxation. Hopefully Marin won't suffer from jet lag too bad, because Isaac's really hoping for that relaxation part of the trip. 

Six month photo shoot at the beach. She liked eating the sand.

Five Month Stats:

• 20.2 pounds (95.74 percentile)
• 29 inches long (99.95 percentile)
• 43 cm head circumference (68.7 percentile)... good thing she doesn't have a huge head.

Eating:

• We've added things like peas and green beans to her culinary list. She hated them both. Especially the peas. I've never been so proud.
• I also bought a "turkey and gravy" mixture for her to try. She hated that worse than the peas. I tried it to confirm its nastiness. It tastes how I'd imagine dog food tastes. 
• I made a quinoa dish the other night for Isaac and I, and had the though she'd probably like it. Boy did she ever. She ate a ton!  Since then I have been trying to feed her whatever we eat for dinner, and just grind it up really well. So far, so good. 
• She still devours my smoothies I make for lunch. She likes to hold the glass herself (with my assistance of course) and slurp away. 
• I think so far her favorite thing has been mashed potatoes with gravy from Boston Market. Can't go wrong there. 

Sleeping:

• Ugh. This is not my favorite update. Remember how this little peanut used to sleep through the night perfectly? Well, around month 5, that stopped. She now likes to wake up all the time. I'll lay her down dead asleep, and 45 minutes later she is wide awake. Then a few hours later she usually makes her wakeful state known and is usually up again around 4:30 a.m. Thankfully she usually falls back to sleep until after 6. Usually.

Wearing:

• Generally she still wears 6 month clothes, but she is starting to wear more and more 9 month clothes... especially pajamas. 

Tricks and New Skills:

• Marin has added the "B" sound to her vocabulary. Everything is "Buh buh buh, ah, duh duh ga."  Its my favorite sound in the world when she chatters. 
• She also has been experimenting with getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. Its a start. 
• She also likes to roll from one and of the room to the other and find fun things on the ground, like computer cords, to entertain herself. 
• She also likes to give kisses. We'll point to our check and say "kisses," and she'll plant an open-mouthed slobber bomb on our face. It's pretty dang cute.