Bigger update

Okay, now that I have our bandwidth all to myself, I thought I'd make a slightly bigger post. Mara's "asleep" up in her crib as I type... and by "asleep" I mean talking to herself, swapping binkies, cuddling belly down with a soft blanket and tapping her legs on the mattress. I just had to go rescue the water cup that we usually leave resting on the ledge since she was flinging it around her crib and making a racket. I also took her shoe shopping tonight and she picked out her own set of shoes. I gave her several options in different sets and each time she chose the same pair of shoes. She is now a size 3 instead of a 2.5. We knew all that food had to be going somewhere!

Here are some more pictures of her at the park with the Darden clan.

 

And what goes in one end,

 Must come out the other end...

 Just kidding!!!

Now when I try to get my picture taken with her... here's the treatment I get.

Grumpy face, followed by backwards bucking baby:

Oh, well. Cheryll snapped this photo of us:

So, Mara's 14 month photo shoot didn't last long. She was grumpy from Saturday until about yesterday (molars again?)... so this is the best I could get:

Mara's SOOOOO big.

Hope you enjoyed the post! I'm battling either the flu or a very bad cold and it's limiting my creativity. Sorry!

14 Months and Counting

I can't upload many pictures right now since Zack is playing Warcraft - I think I have a date with our bandwidth tomorrow night, though. Here's a preview of my favorites:

 And I think most of you know that Mara was bitten by one of her "friends" at daycare last week. It turned out to look worse than I imagined. Brave girl only cried for a few seconds before moving on with life. Teaches us something, doesn't it?

Happy Tuesday. :) I'll try to post more tomorrow.

Some February Videos

Mara is coming along with everything, walking, signing, etc. Here's some video from earlier this week of her getting around on Retro Rocket allllll by herself.

And she's learning to be part of the family!

It was such a pretty day today that we went to the park to swing and walk around and play on the slide. Look what she can do:

And get a load of this accomplishment!

Thanks for tuning in. :)

A few February Photos

Hi everyone! 

Mara had to stay home one day last week because she threw up at daycare. No fever... but spewed all over the place. Lovely. I think it's cuz she'll shove her fist down her throat in an attempt to rub her incoming molars. Anyway, this is her typical weekend attire. I'm lucky if I get her out of her jammies (me too!). I don't think she was crying when I took these pictures, her eye must have just been watering. Check out the lashes on this gal!

I hear that her Daddy had lovely baby lashes, so it must be genetic. :) Maybe she'll be able to go light on the mascara as she gets older.

We took a short trip to the park 2 Sundays ago, I just never got around to posting the pics. It was an extremely warm day, so the park was CROWDED. She did get a turn on the swing:

But ended up liking the slide WAY more. She would just laugh and laugh at the bottom. I didn't get any pictures because whoever wasn't on slide/Mara duty was on dog/stroller-watch duty. We had a wonderful time, and saw lots of babies, toddlers, and pregnant women. Must be that time.

Mara has been practicing her walking all week and this Saturday made it about 20-30 steps on her own! (About the length of our kitchen). She tends to speed up as she goes, especially if you are right in front of her and backing up, and she leaaaans forward. We've had plenty of noggin bumps and face splats that result in bruises and red noses... but she's a trooper.

When my family isn't eating, pooping, or crawling up and down the stairs, they spend a great deal of time doing this:

Gaming. Yep. That's Mara helping Daddy out. In my chair. Which is in fact what Zack is doing right now and why I am not posting videos. I cower at the thought of Zack's wrath brought on by me uploading video and lagging his gaming experience. SO, pictures will have to suffice for now. I never ended up with a good video of her walking, anyway. I'll work on it.

I whipped out my camera tonight, instead. Isn't her outfit from Grandma Mischinski cute?

For dinner, Mara ate chicken, perogies (yes she loved them!), and I put green beans out, but she just poked them around and clamped her fingers like they were disgusting. At least I'm trying. Uncle Ian gave her vanilla ice cream this weekend... she would take a bite, get brain freeze (it looked like) and then eyed the bowl for more. Uh oh!

She knows she's SOOOOO BIG!

And tonight she sat on and moved her Retro Rocket fairly quickly by herself! Again, by the time I got my camera phone... she had stopped. :(

Check ya' later! Oh, I'll try to get video of her signing more. I THINK she has signed horse, duck, chicken, dog, and pig. :) (we mostly read farm animal books, can you tell?). 

Here's a quick cute video.