Comedy Central

Our baby girl is definitely keeping us LAUGHING and reminding us of all that is so good in our lives!  It's always nice to come home after a long day of work...her smiling face is usually waiting in the front picture window, where she sits on top of the couch, banging on the windows as she sees us coming up the sidewalk!  Love it!!!!!

Marley is all over the place...not quite walking, but standing on her own for brief periods of time, crawling (not on her knees, but up on her hands and feet), and talking up a storm!  No real words yet...other than da-da, ma-ma, hi, and what sounds to me like, "What's this?"  And the point, she puts her index finger out and points at EVERYTHING!!!!  She's growing and changing so much everyday!  Here is a list of the top 10 new things in the life of Miss Mars:

1.  Her top 2 teeth have cut through...bringing her to a total of 4 teeth!  So cute!

2.  She is OBSESSED with Sasha!  Hugging her, petting her, laying on top of her...you name it!  Sasha doesn't seem to mind all of the attention and I envision a long future of fun of the 2 of them!

3.  Marley is a piggy.......eats everything in sight, and is not the least bit picky!  We haven't introduced her to a whole lot of meat yet, but she LOVES avocados, mushrooms, hummus, banana bread, green beans, red peppers, feta cheese.........yum!!!

4.  She is weighing in at just over 21lbs and is 30.5in tall.

5.  And yes, still rocking the BALD head!  Though she is getting a thicker coating of dark brown fuzz and her eyebrows have darkened significantly!

6.  Her favorite place to play...in the kitchen!  So many fun things to pull out of the cupboards.  I think we may have a little drummer on our hands...she loves to sit in front of a row of pots and bang on them with a spatula!

7.  Her favorite place to sleep...at home in her crib.  This girl is a picky sleeper and likes to be in her own bed!  She doesn't like to sleep in her pack n play or in other houses.  Home sweet home for Marley :)

8.  She's obsessed with shoes.........ok, so Mommy is obsessed with shoes, but Marley crawls off in to her room multiple times per day to pull all of her shoes out of her closet!  That must mean she likes them?!

9.  She gives THE BEST hugs and kisses..........a little slobbery, but so what!

10.  Countdown to her 1st Birthday!!!  Only 54 days away!  I can't believe it!

I'll post some pictures later tonight of Marley in action!  Life is crazy and busy and chaotic, but in the end, we know we are so blessed and lucky to have all that we have.  

Happy Thursday to all of you!
XOXO-
Stevie

Good-bye October...

It's hard to believe that another month has passed (exactly) since my last post.  I'm struggling lately, to keep on top of this blog, among other things!  My house seems to be ALWAYS in disarray, my laundry is never done, and if it is, it makes it to the bedroom floor in piles, but never gets put away.  I can't cook a meal every night to save my life!  I never have enough of anything...groceries, laundry soap, time to get to work, sleep, etc.  And that is how I think you just feel as a working mother.  But in all honesty, I've been doing a lot of "reflecting" lately and it is all of those things that really matter SO VERY LITTLE!!!! 

Earlier this week, I found out, along with everyone else from our small town of Faribault, that Dana "Spitzack" Cook had been diagnosed with Lymphoma.  She graduated a year ahead of me in school (her sister, Renee, was in my grade) and as with most small towns, everyone knows everyone!  For the full story, please visit Dana's CaringBridge site, which has been so lovingly updated by her hubby, Jake, also from Faribault.  Dana is 30 years old and was pregnant with their 3rd baby at the time of diagnosis.  She has since delivered the baby, Olivia "Olive" Hope Cook, via c-section, and will resume her chemo treatments.  The battle is on and I can't tell you how much I have been praying for their family.  Please, if you feel so inclined, read their story and PRAY for them!!!!!!  They are wonderful people who deserve all of the prayers and positive energy that they can get!  

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danacook 

This entire situation has caused me to literally PAUSE lately and think about what I am doing.  I am kissing Marley goodnight and telling her that I love her, and asking God to watch over my sweet baby girl...I am telling my husband that I love him as often as I can, I am holding the door open for strangers, and praying all of the time.  You just never know what could happen to you and in this life, we cannot take anything for granted.  Dana's husband asked everyone via the CaringBridge page to really take a look at their lives and make sure that you are living your life to the fullest, laughing, hugging, telling your loved ones how much they mean to you...so quickly, all of that can be gone.  I, for one, have not always been the most religious of people until recent years.  The death of my grandfather and then the birth of Marley significantly changed all of that.  I now have faith in God and I pray to Him often, with the faith that he will answer my prayers.  And I'm praying extra hard for Dana and her family...that they have the strength to fight off this cancer and make it out of this terrible situation, that they know how inspiring they are to all of us, and that they are able to live a long and happy life together!

To all of my dear friends that may read this page (and to some of  you who may think I've gone nuts), I just want you to know that I pray for all of you...for your health and your happiness, for relief from whatever struggles you may be facing, and I feel blessed to have all of you in my life.  Seriously, very blessed and I wish nothing but the best for all of you, always.


Tomorrow is a busy day...hanging out with Marley, running some errands, and then a night out with girlfriends!  On Sunday, Marley will be getting her 10 month photos taken with her cousins!  I'm so excited to see how cute these pictures turn out!  All 4 of the kiddos...in adorable coordinating outfits...shot at St. Anthony Main/Stone Arch Bridge!  I will post a few recent photos of Marley later this weekend, along with a sneak peek of our most recent photo session!


Happy Friday to all of you!
XOXO-
Stevie

 

Already 9 Months Old...

Marley was 9 months old on October 11th.  I CANNOT believe that she is 3 months away from her 1st birthday.  It goes so fast!  Here are a few photos of her from the last week or so.

Enjoying Blueberries!!

Showing off her teeth!

Eggs and Bagel for breakfast...yum!

I'm sooo in love with this face!!

Pretty Miss Marley Jean!

On a not so bright note, we are still struggling with sickness in our home.  First Marley was sick, and then she got better, and I got sick, and now Marley is sick again.  It's been a very rough week...lot of sleepless nights, and sometimes I don't know how I am ever going to catch up.  What I need to get better is MORE SLEEP, and it's just not happening while I'm caring for a sick child.  Ugh!  Trav is picking up the slack, but he's also been working long hours and trying to finish up a few side jobs here and there, so we are stretched pretty thin.  Crossing my fingers that we make a turn for the healthy by weeks end.  Neal and Angie's wedding is on Saturday and both of us are in the wedding party.  I REALLY want to be feeling as close to 100% by then as possible...but I'll take any improvement.  Please, please, please!!

Hoping that everyone has a fabulous weekend!

The Perfect Weekend...

It's coming...the perfect weekend!  Minus the fact that my hubby will be Up North (taking out the dock, winterizing the boat).  I'm already making plans to get anything I need (coffee, creamer, snacks, wine, etc) prior to heading into Friday.  And then Marley and I are going to hole up in La Casa de Severson all weekend long.  We will venture out for walks and to play outside...I hear the weather will be beautiful!  But other than that, I'm having a no driving/no plans/no commitments kind of weekend!  And so looking forward to it!  I'm still feeling exhausted from Marley's recent cold, and sure enough, I have a cold of my own now.  Life hasn't slowed down one bit...so I am going to take advantage of the fact that I CAN do nothing this weekend if I want to!  Doesn't an afternoon nap sound AMAZING?!  

Happy Monday everyone!

Oh, September. Where did you go?!

I realize it has been almost a month since my last blog post.  Where did the time go?  This month just flew by...and I have a lot of catching up to do, in more ways than one.  I'll start here! 

First things first.  I mentioned in a previous post that we had Marley's 8 month photos coming up (she was technically 7 1/2 months old at the time).  Casey VonStein, from Smile Upon Your Face Photography, met us at the Arboretum on August 29th.  This was our second time working with Casey and she is FABULOUS!!  She is fairly new to photography, and what started as a hobby (according to her) has blossomed in to this AMAZING talent...she is seriously good!  I'm always blown away by the pictures she captures AND she is incredibly laid back and fun to work with!  Please, check out her site and book a session with her...you will not be disappointed.  You can access our full gallery by visiting her website (mentioned above) and going to the client proofing section...enter password (marleys).  I love ALL of the photos she took that day, but here is my favorite of Marley and my favorite family photo...

September really did come and go!  Travis and I had a mini getaway, something we had been planning for months, September 16-19th.  We left Marley with my sister and headed to Bayfield, WI for some sightseeing and relaxing.  I will (eventually) post pictures of our trip.  The scenery was BEAUTIFUL...ridiculously beautiful and breathtaking.  I had never been to the Apostle Islands, and we spent an entire day on an 8 mile hike along the shore of Lake Superior, up and over the sea caves.  It was gorgeous!  Even Sasha (yes...we left Marley home and brought our first baby along) had a blast!  Well, Sasha was mostly so happy to be getting so much attention from mommy and daddy!  I think she was in heaven!  Here are 2 pics from our trip...

Returning from our trip was bittersweet...we missed our baby so much while we were away, but we came home to a SICK BABY!  This was Marley's first sickness in her whole 8 months of life and yes, we have been blessed to make it this far with a totally healthy baby (no colds, sniffles, ear infections).  It was just sad to see her so stuffed up!  The little lady couldn't breathe out of her nose, which made it hard for her to nurse, which made her crabby!  So, she was eating so little each time I'd feed her, and then she'd get hungry just a few hours later.  I felt like I was back to having a newborn.  Up every 2 1/2 to 3 hours each night since last Sunday...and it's just now starting to get better.  At the worst of it, she wouldn't even let Trav get up with her to eat a bottle...she only wanted mommy.  And I'm sure that had to do with the fact that she was feeling so crappy and me nursing her is a comfort.  A week and a half later and one EXHAUSTED mommy...

In the midst of the exhaustion, I turned 30 years old!  What a great birthday!  It's been a great year, my best year, and I have no problems with being 30.  I really feel like the best years lie ahead of me!  Raising a family with the love of my life, more babies, maybe a few more renovations in our home...all fun stuff that I am really looking forward to!  My sister made my birthday especially fun as she planned a surprise dinner for me at Chino with a few girlfriends.  We had a BLAST, I had too much to drink (hey...once in a blue moon, I deserve that), and I can honestly say that I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time.  So the only bad thing about turning 30 was the day after, when I spent the day feeling a little under the weather.  Gone are the days of sleeping in though...I have a baby to take care of.  So it was cartoons and coffee at 7:30am.  The times they are a changin'!  Me on my birthday...

Sake Bombs with my sister at Chino!  Happy 30th Birthday to me!

A little update on Miss Marley...she is just the cutest little girl ever (well, according to me)!  Gone are the days of colic and God knows that was the WORST few months ever!  You would never know now that she was the worlds crabbiest baby!  She is just the most smiley person, always smiling, mouth wide open, and talking.  She does say da-da and something that sounds kind of like, "This?"  I think it's her way of saying, "What's this?"  She usually is picking something up and looking at it and then says, "Issss?"  We have quite the speed demon crawler on our hands.  In the blink of an eye, she is in another room, or scaling the fireplace, or pulling herself up on any piece of furniture she can get her hands on.  She actually likes to stand more than she likes to crawl.  It won't be long and she'll be walking...I've caught her standing by herself a few times, holding on to NOTHING!  As soon as she sees me, she plops down on her butt and smiles!  Mealtimes for Miss Mars still consist of mostly milk...but she is eating pretty much everything else too!  For dinner tonight she had cubes of roasted sweet potato, fresh blueberries, and some cottage cheese!  Weird combination, I know, but she really won't let me feed her cereal or oatmeal anymore...she wants to eat things that she can pick up and feed herself!  And she has a big appetite.  We go in for her 9 month appointment and shots next week and I'm curious to see how she's grown.  Here is her 8 month photo @ our house!

8 months old on September 11th, 2010

Soooooo HAPPY to be in her big girl carseat!

Ahhh...Friday tomorrow!  So exciting!  Angie's bridal shower and bachelorette party on Saturday and Kyan's birthday party on Sunday!  Busy, busy, busy!!  Wishing you all a very happy weekend!

XOXOXO!



Look who's talking...

Da da da da da!  Miss Marley is just a chatterbox!  I'm pretty sure that she doesn't KNOW she is saying dada...but it sure sounds like daddy, and I keep pointing to Trav when she says it!  I think she's beginning to make the connection!  Such a sweetheart!  She loves yelling (and gets louder if we aren't paying attention) and putting her hand over her mouth to make her voice sound differently!  I have a feeling we are going to have our hands full with this little lady!

She's had a busy month, with so many changes and milestones!  Tooth #2 has made it's appearance.  So now we have the bottom (middle) two teeth!  It just broke through in the last day or so and she was just drooling puddles in the days leading up to it.  

Other news...and this is such a "melt-your-heart" moment...I was putting Marley to bed tonight, reading her the Nighttime Prayer Book and sitting in her rocking chair.  After the book was finished, I turned her towards me and she was chattering a little bit and looking right at me with a big smile.  I kissed her little lips (like I do about a million times a day), and I said, "Kisses!"  And she looked back at me, and leaned in to smooch me again!!  And again, I said, "Kisses!"  She kept smiling and leaning in for more!  Of course, these weren't clean little kisses...these were Marley-drooling-open mouth-slobbery kind of kisses, but so PRECIOUS nonetheless!  I was just beaming...she is growing so much, physically and emotionally!  And this was her first real display of affection!  Oh, how I heart her!!!!

It's time to get some sleep!  I just finished 7 loads of laundry (ick) and am not looking foward to heading back to work in the morning!  Already looking forward to the weekend and am so happy it's a short week!

I hope everyone had a HAPPY holiday weekend!

Full Speed Ahead...

Just a few weeks ago, Marley was just perfecting her crawling skills.  Now, she is trying to pull herself up on everything...even standing up on her own in her crib!  Time, if you hear me, please SLOW DOWN!!  Here are some pictures of the little munchkin...what kind of shenanigans will she get in to next?!

We've had a busy week, and tonight Marley had her first Minnesota State Fair experience.  For those of you that don't know, Travis and I have gone to the fair every year since we've been dating...and every year, I drag him (unwillingly) into the photo booth.  I save the photo strips, and write the dates on the back.  Point of my story being that we now have 7 strips of photos and it is so fun to look back and see all the changes!  Last year we were newly married and I was 20 weeks pregnant with Marley, and this year, we're a family of 3...and we had another little head to squeeze into our photo!  So much fun!  Marley was such a trooper.  We carried her in the Baby Bjorn and left the stroller at home.  She was so content to people watch and sample some of our food!  The barns were closed for cleaning while we were there (major bummer), so we just meandered around sampling lots of unhealthy deliciousness!  Trav's first stop...the footlong hot dog stand.  I hit up the Salty Tart, where I got a Peaches & Cream parfait...sauteed peaches layered with a vanilla soft serve/Greek yogurt mixture, topped with organic ginger snaps!  Yum!  Marley loved the peaches and ice cream!  Then it was on to cheese curds and Sweet Martha's, a MUST at the State Fair every year!   Finally, we sampled a Pronto Pup and a Gizmo (one of Trav's favorites), and then tried the Australian Battered Potatoes on our way out.  Delish!  I skipped the Cotton Candy this year and am having a bit of remorse about doing so!  Here are some pics of our trip to the fair...

We're off to the cabin tomorrow!  Three days of relaxation and cool weather!  I'm actually excited for fall.  Is that sad?!  I love sweatshirt/track jacket weather!  Hoping that you all have a happy and safe holiday weekend!  Bring on September!!

XOXOXO!!!