What to do on a beautiful afternoon.

So check out the rebel at a young age! Someone went and got a tattoo during "field day" at school without asking her Daddy! Uh oh! Bold move, Mara. Was Daddy mad? Well... who knows... because she did this:

And all was forgotten by her Daddy. Sigh. Make my heart melt.

"He's myyyyyyy Daddy."

If you look closely, you can see the doting parents reflected in her big brown eyes.
(They are very brown today, but sometimes they still show grey!)

This is what happened when Daddy walked out to see her for the first time since she got home from school:
Smile. Laugh. Smile. Laugh. Kick. Smile.

Definitely my Daddy.

Oh this is the life!

Mara's version of multi-tasking.

Loves those toes.

Here's my attempt at a photograph together.

Me and my beautiful Marbles. Yep, same picture, cropped differently.

Mara cheering, I think.

Have a wonderful weekend!

She is her father's daughter...

Mara's first real boo boo... we think she got into a fight at school and beat up some Carolina or Duke baby who was being naughty (notice it was wear your favorite sports team clothing day). She told us we should see what her nose did to the other kid's hands. Woo hoo! But yes, she is her father's daughter. Let's hope this isn't the beginning of a series of boo boos.

Arson actually stepped on her foot last night by accident. Mara was so surprised and then cried, poor girl. But she was tough and I was able to hug her and distract her, and thank goodness babies are so bendy.

The daycare did have to call me at work to tell me that Mara got hurt and they weren't sure if it was her own nails or her playmate that was right next to her. Either way, she's a tough one.



"Hmmm, Mommy. I tried to be nice to the other babies like you said, even though they had the disadvantage of Carolina or Duke fan/alumni parents... but I know where my heart's at!"

"I didn't mean to step on her, Mom. I sowwy."

So, on another note. It's been a little more difficult getting decent pictures of your favorite niece/granddaughter because here's what's been going on...

Oh yes, and this too.

Nom Nom Nom, tasty hands.

What? They are like little fat sausages.

See?

And I've come to realize that babies are just walking/crawling/sitting-there-like-a-bump-on-a-log bundles of goop. Drooly, snotty, poopy goop. You're lucky I'm only putting this photo for this thought.

"ACHOOO"

"Seriously, Mom?"
(BTW, I love how "positive" she is here...)

Yesterday was crazy hair or sock day at school. It was so much fun...

"Like I said. Loads of fun. Bet you're jealous. I'm having so much fun here."


She still gets compliments on her beauty... boy oh boy. I mean, check out this pretty shaped head.

And also, these stunning baby features.

"Love me because I'm gorgeous"

And to leave you with one more picture - here's what I see when we "play" on the floor:

Kicky kicky baby, Arson kissing baby feet, baby kicking Arson's nose, Arson leaving.

Mara Toes

So get a load of these kickers! That's right, this is what she karate kicked me with throughout my pregnancy. Big. Fat. Baby feet. I find myself nibbling on them a lot, not really caring where they've been. They are just some of the cutest parts, probably because they are still itty bitty. Mara discovered last week that she had these things and has had so much fun grabbing them ever since. This makes diaper changing more of a challenge when she balls up and grabs her feet... and I'm trying to uncurl her so I can reach the diaper straps. She is just no help! Her thighs are another story. I made up and sang her a little song which goes "Mara's thighs, they tell no lies, she eats so good, just like she should..." In other words... chunnnnnky monkey. Woo hoo! I think this is the only stage of a woman's life that it's completely acceptable and encouraged to have these thunder wonders.

I snapped all these photos this morning while she was tickling her own toes. We plopped the hat up there for some color. I think the hat makes her looks like a cross between a park ranger and a little old lady. I am glad, though, that the whole "shirt and shoes required" doesn't apply to babies. I wonder when that stops? Hmm.

"Seriously, Mom, please stop embarrassing me."

And here's my favorite:
Mara and Daddy, both grabbing her tooties.

Awwww. My loves.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody! I thought I would give this blogging thing a try... and it will work wonderfully until Zack gets paranoid (what's new?) and makes me quit. It should save you some space in your inboxes and I think you can get notified when I update this thing... so you can become as much of a Mara addict as I am! We've had quite a busy weekend, yet we made sure we had plenty of playtime on our floormat-that's-a-giant-whale-whose-HUGE-eye-always-seems-to-get-in-the-picture (see left photo). Endo supervises the kicky kicky now that Mara has learned to spin around on her back.
Mara's had a bit of a daycare cold the last few weeks but that doesn't stop her from stripping down and showing off her ginormous frog belly! I mean seriously, check out the milk-gut.


She discovered her phalanges over the last week or two and I've caught her using one hand to jam a thumb in the mouth and a finger up each nose. I don't think we are THAT terrible at parenting that she's trying to snuff herself already... but I'll keep an eye on it. She enjoys touching things, including my hair the last 2 days. I don't realize she has a deathgrip on it until Zack is walking away with her and I find myself dragging along behind him. She was at the pediatrician's office on Friday and loved rolling around on the crinkly paper that they put on the table. She enjoyed holding this soft teddy bear blanket:












I mean, can you keep a straight face staring at this?



Nom Nom Nom, yummy teddy bear.








So, anyway. Playmat. Whale eye. Mara-cuteness. Same old same old.



I'm usually on the other side of the camera making the strangest animal noises and googlyboogly-if-my-friends-could-only-hear-me-they'd-think-I-was-insane sounds to try to pry a smile out of her. The result:

"You're crazy, Mommy!"
She really makes me WORK for those smiles. I'm sure she and Daddy have some inside joke to see how many ridiculous faces and noises Mommy can make to elicit a gummy grin. All he has to do is breathe in her direction and she laughs and smiles, and smiles and smiles and smiles. Can she be a Daddy's girl already??? I'm the freaking BOOB toter and she prefers him. Such a flirt. Well, all's fair in love and war... so then I make HER work for it:


Haha! You CAN do it. This is what tummy time is allllll about. She is watching tv... but that's beside the point...

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We had a lovely visit on Saturday with SuperGammy (not pictured) and the Charlotte Mischinski family. So. Many. Women.








All the girls were so beautiful and I can't picture Mara one day being as old, tall, and gorgeous as these 4. I think Mara's face in these pictures is because of the abundance of Mischinski hair... and lack thereof... of her own. :-( Soon enough, young one!













Megan, Ellen, Cara, and Lily were great with Mara! You can see how much she loves looking at her second cousins.
I hope that Zack and I are able to give Mara some siblings sometime in the future. All you see in these photos is love. Sisterly and womanly love. It makes my heart just melt.

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Are you sick of hearing about her yet? No? Ok, good. This is a shot of her having some Daddy time. I apparently missed the ooooo faces and smiles she was making right before this. I felt like I interrupted... I'm almost like the 3rd wheel in this family. Sheesh. Excuse me while I take my camera back into the other room and leave you two alone.


If I want any Mara time, it looks forced! Quick, hand her off, stick the binky in her mouth to keep from crying, and snap the shot! Woo hoo! (Please note - the binky is a recent addition to our little family in an attempt to keep Mara from snuffing herself as mentioned above). Oh, check out the great NC State shirt on her, too. It was one of the first things Claire noticed today and disapproved of. Too bad.












Mara got to spend some quality time with Grandma Cherry, or just "Cherry." I think so many of the expressions I see from Mara resemble the Dardens. We also spent some time with Grahampa (didn't get a picture on my camera), and Claire and Travis. Dinner was delicious and Mara had no problem showing off her standing skills and she even threw around some smiles (I was giving her the stink eye from across the room... seriously... THEY get smiles?).



We were going to make it to Easter mass this morning as a family... that is until somebody pee pee'd all over the Easter dress I'd bought and been saving for this very occasion...




"La la la... dah dah dah... what? Who... me?"





























Yes YOU! So I stripped her down and looked around, helplessly trying to find a suitable replacement. This was, of course, after I stood there for awhile... gauging the wetness... trying to convince myself that the drippy dress was just a paper towel or two away from still being church-worthy. Need I mention I was running behind and I thought heck... it's a patterned dress anyway so who would notice? But guilt overcame... just as Zack walked in and offered to stay home with her. Meeeh, they did a good deed while I was gone and got my computer back up and running. And I had time to wash the dress and force some Easter pictures upon them! WAH HA HA!

"Aww... Daddy... my ultimate plan did not work."

And here are the beautiful results:

Oh, and we even survived through the binky-fall. I didn't stick it back in her mouth because of the pollen content... but I spent awhile evaluating THAT as well...

So, here's to our first baby blog post and busy holiday weekend. I'll try to make future posts a little shorter... there was just so much info and so many cute pictures to cram into this! Besides, she's so adorable that I want to share her with all of you.