23 Months Old...Planning a Party!

This is not a very high quality picture, but it totally captures Marlee's budding personality and cuteness!  She wanted to wear these sunglasses through our whole dinner...Miss Hollywood.  ;)  It's time to get serious about planning her birthday party...yay!  We are planning one in Centre on the 25th at my parents' house with a Sesame Street (mainly Elmo & Abby) theme and water play (baby pools, sprinklers, water blobs, slip n slides, and water balloons).  Excited!  And April & Jon's baby shower for Samuel is the next day!  Busy, busy!

I know I say this all of the time, but Marlee is so smart, sweet, and funny.  She can carry on conversations now (complete with adorable ones over the phone while holding the phone with her shoulder and walking around!).  She is also VERY observant, and has started to put stuff in the top of her shirts like I do with my phone in the strap of my bra/shirt.  Too funny!  She's gotten better at throwing a ball, "reading" books, and climbing (on everything).  I now let her sit on the stool at the counter to snack if I'm busy in the kitchen, and she feels like such a big girl. Marlee is so nurturing if someone is upset, especially if it's a baby, she LOVES babies!  We still do things with the MOMS Club, and went to the fire station earlier this week.

(Sitting on the truck with Neve & Toby.)

She's still a good eater and sleeper, but will have to adjust our schedule a little...because she's STARTING PRESCHOOL ON AUG 14th!  Ahhh!  She's going on Tuesdays & Thursdays to Belmont Weekday School, will an option of going all week.  It's so crazy to have gotten her "school shoes", a lunch box, and prepping things to take her first day.  When we visited the class this week, she jumped right in to playing, and one of her two teachers was there and she was so nice!  We have got to clear our video camera so we can take more of our precious little girl!

And, Dave only has 6 class nights left until he is DONE with school!!!  We're so excited!

Happy 4th and Happy Birthday Daddy!

We had a blast with the James' Gang on the 4th of July celebrating with grilled food, swimming, sidewalk chalk, and dancing to music!  We made it home that night in time to watch the national and local fireworks on tv.  Marlee loves playing with Reed and Kalei!

Dave got off work a little early on Friday, so off to Centre we went for the weekend, and we made good time too!  We took another load of stuff to storage, then went straight to the lake.  I was still very warm, but the water helped!  We got to see Bev & Case before they left town, and Carly stayed all weekend, so she and Marlee got some good playtime in.  Jon & April, and Brandon & his friend Ashley (and now roommate) came into town as well.  Marlee and I went to the hospital with my dad when he went to do his rounds Sat morning, just like me, Ashley, and Matt used to do when we were little.  She got a tour and to show off to the hospital staff.  ;)

We celebrated Dave's b'day on Saturday evening with Chick-fil-a chicken, bbq, cookie cake, and frozen yogurt.  Plus, I made some blueberry margaritas... yum!  At dark we rode with Joseph, Kelly, and Marcus on the boat to watch the fireworks at Chesnut Bay, and they were really good!  We got lots of good hangout time, sun, water, food, and drinks.  My parents and grandparents came over as well.  And Marlee sang "Happy Birthday Dear Daddy" over and over again... so cute!!!!  The pic above is the only picture of the three of us from lately.

Now on to planning her birthday party, April's baby shower, and Ashley's baby shower!  The end of summer/beginning of fall is always such a fun and busy time!

Happy Father's Day & 22 Months Old!

Marlee got to ride on the jet ski on the lake for the first time over Father's Day weekend with her daddy!  It was a fun weekend on the lake and playing in the baby pool & sprinkler with family, while celebrating dads.  And Philip installed the airplane swings down by the lake too.  Gama bought a caterpillar sprinkler that was fun to run through.  We were glad Jon & April were there, since we hadn't seen them in almost 6 weeks!  April is entering her last trimester with baby Samuel David, and MJ is already asking about Baby Sam in April's belly.  Too cute, and so exciting!  They are coming to visit us here in Nashville on the way up to Cinncy this week too.  It's so nice that they have summers off of work, being teachers and all.  April has decided not to go back to work, and Jon has been looking for a job in North Alabama... and found one in Calhoun Co. working at Saks and Welbourne schools teaching ESL.  Right now they are planning on moving in July to a rental house in Saks... only 45 mins from Centre!  Yay!

We are slowing going through our house, decluttering, selling, and moving stuff to storage to prepare to sell.  If we decide to stay in Nashville longer after selling, we'll rent somewhere until we're ready to leave.  But we know we'll be back to Centre before too much longer.

Marlee attended her first zoning hearing last week regarding the proposed C & D Landfill (Dump) for down the road from our neighborhood.  Even though we don't plan on living here for the rest of our lives, it is not a good thing for the proposed area.  There are serious traffic, environmental, safety, noise, etc issues... not to mention a decrease in property value, which we definitely don't need as another obstacle to selling!  

I can't believe Marlee will be 2 years old in 2 months... I need to get planning her party (parties)!  We'll probably have 1 here and 1 in Centre again.  Thinking Elmo & Abby Cadabby Party... but we'll see.  She's favoring watching "Blues Clues" over "Sesame Street" these days, but those are really the only shows she ever gets to see, so she's not really into characters yet (but ELMO is probably the one!).  She can count to 12, say/sing/recognize all of her ABC's, getting a few more colors, and learning some shapes.  She's sat on the potty, peed some, and definitely getting annoyed with wearing a diaper.  But she loves running around naked more than actually sitting and going.  ;)  She's still a good eater and sleeper!  And David and I are blown away by the sentences she's saying "I call Daddy", "I put it right there", "Open it please, daddy", "I play the couch", "Where did baby go?", "I get up in chair", etc.  Speaking of getting up in the chair, she can officially climb all over everything, and LOVES climbing into her high chair/booster to sit and play with buckling herself in.  And last week, she was climbing onto the table from the chair, slipped on the tray, and fell face-first onto the floor.  She recovered pretty well, but got a bit of a black eye and a knot on her forehead.  I know it won't be the last.  Her memory and association skills amaze me!  And she loves her play dates with friends, especially when the little babies are there... obsessed with babies she is!  She says "I do it myself!" several times everyday... so she's got the independence thing down pat!  ;)  We plan on going back to Centre the weekend after the 4th to be there for Dave's b'day, even though he might end up playing a show that Friday night downtown Nashville.  Can't believe it's time for the 4th already!  We plan to celebrate the day of with the James' Gang since Dave has the day off from work!

And... I've officially lost 30 pounds in 8 months!  I'm still cooking at home a lot and we're eating pretty "clean".  I'm in week 7 of P90X2 and starting to feel very strong, but I don't want to be too cut, just toned.  It's the first summer in a loooong time where I'm comfortable in a two piece swimsuit!  Pretty exciting stuff!

21 Months Old, 1st Zoo Visit & "Why Not?"

I can't believe it's already JUNE!  Here comes summer and Marlee turned 21 months old over a week ago and seems to be growing so fast!  She got to visit the Nashville Zoo for the first time on that day (5-22-12) with some friends from our play group.  We got in for FREE as a guest on a friends' membership, which is awesome!  We got lucky that it wasn't too hot, got there early, and actually got to see many animals in action.  She loved playing on the playground and jumpy pit too!  The pic above is from the bridge at the flamingos, she and LillyAnn were holding hands and jumping... so cute!  It was lots of fun!

Marlee's language continues to explode!  She's so smart!  Asking "What's that, Mommy?", "Where did ___ go(es)?", and the latest is "Why not?".  Ha!  Not sure if she knows exactly what that last one means, but it's cute... for now.  ;)  Last night she was stalling going to bed, and said she wanted to go potty, after a little accident in the floor, she peed in the potty again... yay!!!  Dave and I then started cracking up because she was saying "Oh My Gosh!" and "I('m) Ready".  It was adorable, but I obviously need to watch what I say more closely around her!  She can sing the full ABC song (only leaving out a few letters), sings "Happy Birthday ___" (instead of just saying it to people), and loves to sing "Jingle Bells" right now.  I attribute that to her dog toy Violet that plays the music and the fact that Elmo ends his segment of Sesame Street with a song to the tune of Jingle Bells every. single. episode!  She comments constantly on what she sees and what's going on around her, continues to be a good eater, and a good sleeper.  She kisses and hugs her toys, loves holding (supervised, of course) baby friends, and I got my first unprompted "I love you, Mommy" right before Mother's Day... my heart melted!  I love her so much!  She can climb on the couch and into chairs unassisted (for the most part) now and LOVES to jump!

She also had a blast playing in the water last weekend in Centre while we visited for Memorial Day weekend.  Gama & Papa had a little pool with toys on the back porch, and we accidentally discovered her love for the sprinkler, and LOVED for Papa to "make it rain!" on her with the water hose.  See pic below (sorry I couldn't turn it)... too cute!  She also had a blast swimming in the lake and riding the wagon around the cabin.  We hope to go back over Father's Day weekend.

David is working lots of over time right now (even today, Saturday) at a downtown building that caught fire on Monday (and we saw the news story about it Monday night). We are thankful for extra money, but he still has class three nights a week til August, so we don't get to see a lot of him right now.  We are fed up with Bank of America, and have opened an account with a local credit union (luckily we qualified for membership!), and are set to get a great refi deal through them, with the process officially starting next week.  I hope it works out!

We're looking forward to this being a great fall... I mean, Why Not?, right?!  :)

20 Months Old... Reflections & Shadows

In only four months, we will have a 2 year old... wow!  It seems like Marlee learns so much everyday... I probably say that a lot, but it's so true!  It's really cool to see how her world gets bigger and bigger all the time.  She says "windy" when the wind blows outside, notices airplanes waaay up in the sky saying "airplane!", picks flowers and fallen fruit from our fruit trees off the ground, wants to dance, sing, swing, and play all the time!  She now plays a lot more with real kitchen stuff in the kitchen when I'm cooking and makes up food that she's cooking... so cute!  She can officially label all letters and numbers (1-10).  Her favorite songs to sing are the "ABCs" song and "Twinkle, twinkle", but she's really liking "Wheels on the bus", "Rock a bye baby", and "Where is Thumbkin" too.  :)

Marlee has really started noticing shadows and light reflecting.  On walks we wave and dance around to see our shadows on the ground, and I make light reflect on the ceiling, etc and she thinks it's hysterical!  She's digging playing in her princess tent that Gama (who she is consistently calling "Mammy", ha!) got her.  She's great with shape sorters, stacking objects, simple puzzles, throwing balls, and she's starting to group like objects together.  She also tries to put her on clothes on and off... among many other things that she wants to "do it myself"!  It's been really hard not to laugh lately when she says "No, ma'am" to me, because she's not responding nicely to a yes or no question, she's saying it to imitate me when she does something she's not supposed to or when I'm doing something she doesn't want me to.  But it's cute... for now... until she's older... and then it won't be so cute. ;)

I'm looking for work for the summer and possibly longer, but I can't see myself putting her in daycare/preschool and taking something completely full time.  I need a transition, and I am in the process of trying to create a part time position at a local weekday school, which also happens to have a M, W, F student slot open as well.  I hope to know if this position will work out or not in the next week or so.  Dave is starting his last year semester of school in a week and will be done by September.  Our plan is to put our house on the market after then, but who knows how long we will be around.  We'll make it work til then.  Dave's rekindled & formed some new music connections lately too, so he's definitely going to explore that as well.  This year will continue to bring lots of changes.  Oh, and I have lost 24 lbs since last November!  I continue to eat healthier and exercise at least 3 days a week.  Hope to lose at least 2 more, but would love 7 more to come off before the end of May.  Feeling good!

"Ready, Set, GO!"

Marlee is talking so much these days!  I hear her say so many words and phrases that she's heard us saying for months.  "Ready, set, go!" is constant on the swing, and while throwing/rolling balls.  She's using more possessive phrases, finally started using "my turn".  And oh, the singing!  It's adorable hearing her sing her "ABCs" and "Twinkle, Twinkle".  We were cracking up listing to her over the monitor the other night while she was saying "1...ha, ha, ha, 2...ha, ha, ha, 3...ha, ha, ha...Count!"  She LOVES her some Sesame Street still (the books and the show).  And it's SUPER ADORABLE watching her "talk on the phone"...sometimes she just pretends while talking and giggling, but she has also had many more convos with family on the phone.  Marlee Jessamine is such a cutie! :)

We went to the Egg Hunt at the Meadows Nursing/Retirement Home with the MOMS Club this morning...fun!  Looking forward to more Easter fun with family this weekend in Centre!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

19 Months Old!

Our little diva is 19 months old today!  She's just as precious as ever, even though her favorite word lately is "no", or phrase "no, no, no, no!".  She thinks she's pretty cute indeed. It's amazing that she's already taking in possessives (mommy's cup, daddy's hat, etc), and even started saying "my ___" too.  Sesame Street is still something she wants to watch (we allow 1 episode per day), and she's getting very imaginative with her play (feeding animals, making them sit and watch or play, playing farm, kitchen, "reading", "talking" on the phone, and pretending to be animals).  Cuteness!  Letters and numbers are still something she wants to talk about daily, and she can  now count to 10 by herself!!!!  Crazy!  She knows a few colors and is singing on her own some too.  At least once a day she wants to "call daddy" on my phone, and she loves talking to him while he's a work.  ;)  She loves to "go bye bye", whether it be a stroller ride & swinging outside, to the grocery store, or to playdates.  I'm so glad to have the MOMS Club for friends for both of us!

I'm going to be speaking at our next monthly meeting, hopefully helping other moms understand how behavior works.  ;)  I'm excited!  My part-time work will be coming to an end by summer, and our mortgage is going up, so I'm trying to secure something to bring in more money that'll work for me and MJ.  Dave is hopefully going to finish his final year of ABC Electrical schooling this summer and be a journeyman by September!  This fall will change many things!  Things will work out how they're supposed to, and I look forward to how it unfolds!