Happy Halloween

Wishing you a spooktacular Halloween .......

Under the Weather

Maribelle's been a bit under the weather lately with another cold (she just had one two weeks ago!), and we took her to the doctor yesterday to find out that she has an ear infection. I'm totally blaming it on daycare. Ugh ... all of the kids have runny, snotty noses all the time. I know it's just a typical part of daycare and that there's not much that can be done to prevent the spreading of the germs (those kids sneeze and cough everywhere!) but it still drives me nuts and makes me a bit bitter that I can't stay home with her every day (and even more paranoid about the Flu that is Swine). Poor baby. Today was one of those days where she stayed in her PJs all day. She's been a trooper but has been clingy and mopey and does NOT want anything to do with baby food. All she wants is cheese, silly girl. Once she got a dose of antibiotic though, she chippered right up. And here's the proof:

Zoo Boo

I've decided that we're totally going to be the type of parents who chaperone every one of Maribelle's school field trips. Hopefully Maribelle's cool with that, cause really, she has no choice.


Today we went with Maribelle's daycare to Zoo Boo at the Maryland Zoo. Belle got all outfitted in her bumblebee costume and got to check out some animals, and I did a little trick-or-treating on her behalf. With five kids and eight parents in tow, we didn't get to see a whole lot of the zoo, but the kids didn't care. They just loved prancing around in their costumes.



And on a side note, I wanted to post a picture of Maribelle's new obsession -- this activity table that our friends Sara and Josh are letting us borrow.


Maribelle LOVES playing with this thing and won't even let us walk by it without protesting for us to put her down so she can play with it. It has all kinds of buttons and knobs, plays music and has flashing lights. She can spend an eternity just standing next to it and playing with all the gadgets. This smile pretty much sums up how she feels about her new toy:

Movin' on Up

It's hard to believe this is the same little girl ...

Two Weeks

Nine Months

Jeremy recently installed Maribelle's "big girl" car seat, which is a huge change from the Graco Snugride car seat we've been using since she was born. This one is super soft and cushy, and Maribelle totally gives it her stamp of approval. How do we know?? She conks out the minute we strap her little but in the seat. When I picked her up from daycare yesterday, she literally went from babbling to snoozing in 2.5 seconds. Where was this car seat during Maribelle's "no napping" phase, when not even a car ride would lull her off to sleep?!?!

Nine Months

We took our little nine month old Pumpkin to a local farm the other day to enjoy some fall goodness. This crazy little girl is ALL nine month old right now (except for the fact that she's not crawling yet, but we're working on it!) She does so many fun things and is becoming such a little person. Here's what she's doing now as a nine month old:

Weight: 16lbs 15 oz (25th percentile)

Length: 27 3/4 (50th percentile)

Head: 43 3/4 cm (50th percentile)

Diaper size: 2-3

Clothes: Pretty much 9 months, but most of the pants are still a little big


* She has two teeth (her bottom front teeth) and is getting more and more hair (yeah!!!).

* She's been enjoying a wider variety of food, especially finger foods. In fact some meals we can't get her to eat anything BUT finger foods. Although avocado is still her all-time favorite, she now enjoys eating waffles, blueberries, meatballs and cheese (not all at once). Oh, and Puffs. What baby doesn't like Puffs?!?!

* She yammers and blabbers like an old lady. "Dada" is still pretty much on repeat all day long, but she's been stringing together multiple consonant sounds and saying things like "Dada-Nana-Baba." I could listen to her talk forever.

* She can play peekaboo with a blanket and loves to wave "hi" like a little Miss America. I caught the peekaboo on video (which I will post once I get some technical assistance from Jeremy), but the waving is a different story. She insists on doing it on HER time, and typically that means the minute we turn off the camera.

* She enjoys banging things -- anything. The louder the sound, the better!

* She still loves to stand up against furniture and even likes to "walk" across the room with our help. She's started picking up her legs with big, dramatic stepping motions and always seems so proud of herself when she figures it out.

So, about the crawling thing ..... yeah .... this little girl is in NO hurry to get around. She's perfectly happy sitting on her butt playing with whatever toys are in reach. Just like she's never been much of a roller, she's just not much of a crawler -- yet. Up until recently tummy time has always been a nightmare and doesn't last more than a few minutes. However this past week she's been staying down on the ground for longer stretches and has started inching around, pivoting in a circle and even trying to push her butt up in the air. I know, I shouldn't be in a hurry for her to be very mobile, but I just worry ... I'm a mom!

Texas Travels

It's time for a recap of Texas, in pictures ...

For her first plane ride, Maribelle was such a good baby, even with all the congestion and teething pain she was experiencing. She flirted with all the passengers around us and entertained anyone who would give her a smile in return. Oh, our little social butterfly ...


We based most of our days around Maribelle's nap schedule, so we didn't stray far from our hotel in Forth Worth. Our favorite place, by far, was the Botanical Gardens, especially the Japanese Gardens and their amazing Koi fish pond. Man, were those fish HUGE and HUNGRY! We made two or three trips to the area just to take in the beautiful surroundings. I think I could have watched the fish swim around for hours.










We also spent an afternoon at the Fort Worth Stockyards, where we browsed the various shops (and totally dreamed of buying some proper Texas boots), ate some tasty Texas grub and met up with Grandma and Grandpa M, Aunt Myriah and (Great) Aunt Barb to watch the cattle drive of longhorns.




Then it was time for the main event: Josh and Misty's wedding festivities! They had a perfect day with a beautiful ceremony and reception, and Jeremy was honored to serve as best man to his brother. In typical Jeremy fashion, he gave an entertaining toast to the new husband and wife that had everyone laughing. And although it was a crazy long day for Maribelle, a quick catnap during the reception was all she needed to keep her partying through the night.

A week later, we're still trying to get Maribelle back on schedule with her napping, eating and sleeping, but that hasn't stopped us from daydreaming about our next trip with Baby Bells!

There's a new sheriff in town ...

Life's been more than a bit hectic lately. We just returned from an eight-day trip to Texas (and Maribelle's first plane ride!) to witness the beautiful wedding of "Uncle" Josh and "Aunt" Misty, and now I've got a messy house and a million work projects to put back in order. Ugh ... I hate that feeling of coming back to reality after a short vacay. Lately I've been feeling like I just can't get caught up on anything anymore .... housework, emails, work, school ... all of life's big and little things are just barely getting done. I hate that feeling. Hate, hate.

And it didn't help that leading up to our trip, Miss Maribelle caught a nasty cold bug and was sick and miserable for almost a week and a half. But, she's got a shiny new tooth to show for it! (Yes, this is her FIRST tooth. Unlike the tooth we thought she was getting way back when. I swear, one day that tooth felt like it had broken through, and by the next day, it was nowhere in site. I honestly think it crawled back up her gumline.)

We've got great pics from our Texas trip, and I plan on posting those soon ... once I feel a bit more caught up on life. Until then, enjoy the pics of our little "sheriff."

I can't say it enough: I want to eat those cheeks!