Happy Half-Birthday and taking adventures!

Marlee is 6 months old today!!!!  BeBe and Gramps came in town this past weekend.  We spent a beautiful Sunday in downtown Nashville.  Had a great lunch at Big River Brewery, then walked along the river, strolling Marlee.  We walked across the pedestrian bridge as a family for the first time. 
Can't believe how big she is...I catch myself going back through all of her pics frequently.  Still looks like the same girl, just cuter and cuter!  She's now tried pears and starting broccoli tonight.  Let her try some apple-prune juice as well.  Going to the doctor on Friday...can't wait to see how much she weighs and measures, but not looking forward to more shots. 

Weather is still mild.  Had to replace water heater.  Haven't missed cable, but have missed having internet at the house.  We will probably start back internet next week.  Dave is still working nights at HD part time.  I'm looking into working some afternoons soonly so that he can quit that job.  :)

Playin'...sitting up!

She can only sit up for a few minutes before starting to fall over, but she's startig to play while sitting up...such a big girl!  She is getting more and more playful with many of her toys, sits through many books that we read, and can hold on to toys for a long time while playing.  Gonna get more and more fun it seems!

The weather is getting very nice today and for the weekend.  Looking forward for David being home and awake more than 1 hour at a time.  He is working so hard, having this second job now.  His parents are coming in town Sat and staying til Mon, and since the weather is gonna be so nice we'll probably grill out on Sunday!  We've been taking our walks again this week and can't wait for Marlee to have real play time outside. 

I am updating this blog from a McDonald's nearby that has free WiFi.  I came here to eat cheaply, use the internet, and take Marlee on an outing (she ate some cereal).  I can honestly say I've only missed tv a little...I've been so productive w/o it so far.  We are probably going to get a cheap Netflix membership to get movies and shows.  The hardest part is not having internet.  We can get on a nearby connection sometimes, but usually it's better just to go somewhere (less frustrating and faster).  We are saving a good bit of money...we'll see how long we can keep it up.  :)  I'm doing yoga daily now too.

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's our first Valentine's Day with our new little love...I'm chapping her cheeks from kissing her so much!  The weather is in the 50s and 60s this week, so that means we can be outside again!  We are taking our walks/strolls...Marlee even rode in her stroller facing forward like a big girl.  Nana is a happy camper too...6 more weeks til we find out if she's gonna have puppies!

We are trying to continue to save money however we can, so we cut our cable and our phone plans back.  It's gonna help out.  Plus Dave actually started a second job at Home Depot tonight.  He trained some for the last 2 weeks after work at ABEC, but started the 8pm-12am shift now, and still has to wake up at 5:30am for ABEC.  At least he got a 2 1/2 hour nap before dinner tonight, and will hopefully get at least 2 hrs each night before going to HD.  He is such an awesome hubby and daddy to take this on so that I can still be home with Marlee.  He wants to be with her so badly too, but will do whatever it takes for her to have her mommy and Marlee be raised at home.  It doesn't go without sacrifices, but I wouldn't have it any other way!  The job at HD is just temporary until we save a good chunk of change.  And maybe something will happen with his singing or songwriting soon!!!!!

Feel the LOVE!

Sittin' in a highchair...and soon alone, exersaucering, and eatin' peas too!

Marlee is trying to sit up alone...won't be long...been practicing on the floor.  She's been sitting in her bumbo seat for eating, and last week she sat in a highchair for the first time...so we'll be starting meals at home soon in her highchair.  When I was visiting Mom for her b'day, we went out to eat with my grandparents at the mexican restuarant, she was fussy in her carseat so I tried her in the highchair and she did great!  She just looked around a lot...she expected to be fed...which was cute to watch!  For now, the seat still has to be pretty deep/big so that she can sit back and have her feet/legs straight out to balance.  Gettin' BIG!

Nurse Amy that works with my dad gave us her used exersaucer...and Marlee loves it!  She feels so big and independent.  She can almost reach flat-footed and loves having all of her toys to spin around and play with at her whim.  There are lots of happy sounds and new noises coming from her when she plays in it...and mommy loves that it keeps her contained.  ;)

The newest vegetable (that is also a winner) is sweet peas!  Her first green food and she seems to love it!  There hasn't been a food that she's rejected yet.  I've also started mixing her applesauce in her cereal for breakfast some too.  So veggies: carrots, sweet potatoes, peas (soonly potato and squash)...fruits: bananas, apples (soonly pear and advacado).  It's getting messier and messier and her diapers are getting smellier and smellier, but it's so much fun!  At least there are no more liquid blowouts anymore ;).  Mixed apple and banana together in her cereal this morning, and gonna start mixing some other accepted foods together soon too.  Yummo!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

I finally got a picture of Marlee sucking two of her fingers upside down like I used to!  She just started this a week or so ago, and I've been stalking her with the camera trying to capture it.  She's also sucking on her thumb some, especially to put herself back to sleep through the night.  Speaking of night...she woke up for a middle of the night feeding for the first time in a long time last night, hope it's not the start of a new phase...we'll see.

The food processor my mom got us is awesome!  I haven't taken a picture yet, but I've made sweet potatoes, apples, & peas.  It's been pretty easy to make them up & spoon them into ice trays to freeze with a tablespoon (about a serving).  After they freeze, I remove them from the trays & put them in freezer bags with the date (keep up to 3 months).  She seems to be liking the sweet potatoes (the most recent food she's tried).  I did mash up a little banana in her cereal/breastmilk this morning...and she liked that too.

Probably heading to Centre tomorrow for my mom's birthday & hang for a few days.  Mom has some issues with her skin & has to have some chemo after all, but hopefully by summer this will all be behind her.  My Grandma has had a few episodes and some bad bloodwork, so we're gonna try to visit her too.

Rockin' and Rollin'!

Just when I thought Marlee was going too long without a #2...she had her first big girl poopy after a week of nothing (I'll spare you a picture), and boy was it stinky!  After eating on rice cereal and carrots for a few days...it hasn't definitely changed.  Even though I'm glad they are getting less frequent, I'm not looking forward to the stinkiness! ;)

Marlee now rolls/flips to her tummy almost every time she is put on her back, while playing or napping.  Today was the first day she rolled and feel asleep on her side/tummy.  We had a feeling she would be a side or tummy sleeper, but we'll see.  She was holding the edge of the bumper like she does my shirt when she falls alseep on me...so cute.  As cute as it is...I was scared too death since she did it after fussing before her nap after I got in the shower and got completely quiet and I couldn't see her face on the monitor.  Since I couldn't tell if she was breathing, I jumped out of the shower soaking wet and went to check on her...and sure enough she was breathing and sleeping sweetly.  If I look really carefully on the video monitor I can see her breath now, so I'm trying not to freak out.  I know she is strong enough to move her head around to keep breathing too.  Growing so fast!

1st Hotel Stay & 1st Solid Food (well, it was pureed, but it was real)

Well, the trip to Atlanta was a success!  Dave said his auditions went well, and he should find out if he made it through by the end of February (this month!).  Then back to Atl for taping.  Marlee did well traveling farther than she has before and was a rockstar with her first overnight in a hotel.  We stayed at the Hyatt downtown, and stayed up later than we should have, but we were hanging out with Jon and April plus the time change messed with us.  Dave and Jon woke up (after I woke them up) at 5:30am to go stand in line to get into the building, they only had to stand in line for 2 hours and he was done by noon.  Marlee slept 7 straight hours (thank goodness the boys didn't wake her) in a pack and play the hotel provided.  I got maybe 2 hrs of sleep total, and Dave may have gotten even less.  April chilled with me and Marlee in the hotel room.  We got late check out, and then walked to lunch with my friends (Bryan & Kathryn) that met up with us.  The weather was great...65 and sunny!  So walking around til we decided where to eat was actually nice.  Fun times and can't wait to hear that he made it!

On my birthday (now 28) yesterday...Marlee tried her first real people food...pureed carrots (mixed with breastmilk and a little cereal).  She made a face that was unsure at first and didn't seem to love them, but managed to eat most of them...what didn't end up on her bib.  She did even better tonight eating off the spoon and hardly spit any out.  Next we will move on to sweet potato, peas, apples, pears, etc.  It is so cool to see her eating like a big girl off a spoon.  She tries to grab it herself...and the bowl too.  Can't believe after she turns 6 months we can put her milk and juice in a sippy cup too.  Such a big girl!