Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Bwah-hahahahaha! Scary Ladybug!
Three months ago we were in Costco and stumbled randomly upon halloween costumes. Your dad and I weren't sure which McDonald farm character you'd prefer so we let you choose between the ragged foster's chicken costume and the cute little lady bug. You decisively chose ladybug. You snatched the costume from my grip and kept hugging it and kissing it while we roamed the isles finishing our grocery shopping. When we got home you immediately began practicing flitting around like a little lady bug. Well done, little bug! Well done!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Week Forty-Three
Dear Maren,
As of October 7, you're embarking on your tenth month of adventure. You're crawling all over the house. First you scooted around, then you learned to get up on your knees to rock back and forth, and now you cruise around the house with ease.
You also love to climb. You scale the back of the couch without any help and you love to pull yourself into a standing position using drawer knobs for hand grips. You're always lunging for the knob that's just out of reach. You lean against the cabinet, get up on your tip-toes and reach for that one shiny knob that's just over your head. You do this at the counter where we make your milk which makes me think that's your motivation. Must. Get. Milk.
You've become much more communicative in the last week. When I come get you out of bed in the morning you pause to give me a hug before trying to wriggle out of my arms. When we go to Miriam's house and knock on the door you watch for it to open and then make a sound that sounds remarkably like "hi". We were playing with your stuffed frog today. I would kiss you, then I would pick-up the frog and kiss him. When I gave the frog back to you, you held him up to my face for more kisses.
You're learning something new everyday. I can't wait to see what you discover tomorrow!
Love,
Mama
As of October 7, you're embarking on your tenth month of adventure. You're crawling all over the house. First you scooted around, then you learned to get up on your knees to rock back and forth, and now you cruise around the house with ease.
You also love to climb. You scale the back of the couch without any help and you love to pull yourself into a standing position using drawer knobs for hand grips. You're always lunging for the knob that's just out of reach. You lean against the cabinet, get up on your tip-toes and reach for that one shiny knob that's just over your head. You do this at the counter where we make your milk which makes me think that's your motivation. Must. Get. Milk.
You've become much more communicative in the last week. When I come get you out of bed in the morning you pause to give me a hug before trying to wriggle out of my arms. When we go to Miriam's house and knock on the door you watch for it to open and then make a sound that sounds remarkably like "hi". We were playing with your stuffed frog today. I would kiss you, then I would pick-up the frog and kiss him. When I gave the frog back to you, you held him up to my face for more kisses.
You're learning something new everyday. I can't wait to see what you discover tomorrow!
Love,
Mama
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Nine Months
Dear Maren,
Last week you turned nine months old and you're constantly in motion. In July you were moving awkwardly across the floor using your whole body for traction. Like a worm. Now you've mastered the crawl. You can get from point a to point b in a flash. You can easily navigate a room while holding on to furniture or walls for support. Your favorite destinations are your toy basket in the living room, the computer in the office (where daddy let's you use the keyboard), and the kitchen where you gum the door knobs and pull towels off the oven.
Four weeks ago you cut your first teeth: two bottom teeth and two top teeth. Now you're working on your incisors. The first sign of the impending incisors was two nights ago when you decided you simply were not going to go to bed. It was six pm, your usual bedtime, and you just couldn't relax. You were soooo tired. Your eyes were half closed. Your head was bobbing up and down on my shoulder, but you just couldn't get comfortable. It took us 90 minutes of countless songs and constant bouncing until you finally sacked out. It's not like you to be fussy so we knew something was up. I searched the internet the next morning, felt your gums, and wah-la. Instant diagnosis. Teething.
You are so infatuated with Oliver right now. Whenever he's in your line of sight you chase after him in hopes of grasping a chunk of his golden fur. But he anticipates your approach and evades your attack. Last night he decided to turn the tables. I brought you into our bedroom at 4:00am because you were restless. You're usually asleep within two minutes of me setting you down. I knew I was in trouble the minute you caught sight of Oliver on our bed. You pulled yourself up into a standing position at the foot of the bed, eye to eye with Oliver, and started screaming with glee. And Oliver just sat there. Staring. Taunting you. At 4:00am. I remained laying motionless in bed for the next 20 minutes, praying that you would go back to sleep, that Oliver would lose interest in the tease. Your dad managed to sleep through the first ten minutes and then he rolled over to my side of the bed, took a look at you and Oliver, and started laughing. That's when I took you back to your room. And you fell asleep without another peep.
Being a mama is probably the hardest and most rewarding job I've ever had. I can't wait to see what's around the corner.
I love you, Maren.
Love,
Mama
Last week you turned nine months old and you're constantly in motion. In July you were moving awkwardly across the floor using your whole body for traction. Like a worm. Now you've mastered the crawl. You can get from point a to point b in a flash. You can easily navigate a room while holding on to furniture or walls for support. Your favorite destinations are your toy basket in the living room, the computer in the office (where daddy let's you use the keyboard), and the kitchen where you gum the door knobs and pull towels off the oven.
Four weeks ago you cut your first teeth: two bottom teeth and two top teeth. Now you're working on your incisors. The first sign of the impending incisors was two nights ago when you decided you simply were not going to go to bed. It was six pm, your usual bedtime, and you just couldn't relax. You were soooo tired. Your eyes were half closed. Your head was bobbing up and down on my shoulder, but you just couldn't get comfortable. It took us 90 minutes of countless songs and constant bouncing until you finally sacked out. It's not like you to be fussy so we knew something was up. I searched the internet the next morning, felt your gums, and wah-la. Instant diagnosis. Teething.
You are so infatuated with Oliver right now. Whenever he's in your line of sight you chase after him in hopes of grasping a chunk of his golden fur. But he anticipates your approach and evades your attack. Last night he decided to turn the tables. I brought you into our bedroom at 4:00am because you were restless. You're usually asleep within two minutes of me setting you down. I knew I was in trouble the minute you caught sight of Oliver on our bed. You pulled yourself up into a standing position at the foot of the bed, eye to eye with Oliver, and started screaming with glee. And Oliver just sat there. Staring. Taunting you. At 4:00am. I remained laying motionless in bed for the next 20 minutes, praying that you would go back to sleep, that Oliver would lose interest in the tease. Your dad managed to sleep through the first ten minutes and then he rolled over to my side of the bed, took a look at you and Oliver, and started laughing. That's when I took you back to your room. And you fell asleep without another peep. Being a mama is probably the hardest and most rewarding job I've ever had. I can't wait to see what's around the corner.
I love you, Maren.
Love,
Mama
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Wearing Daddy's Glasses
Me: She looks like a Mitchell.
Brent: A what?
Me: You know. A Mitchell. Like Jen's dad. She looks like Mike.
Brent: Oh. Yeah. I see that.
Me: It's the Mitchell side. Maybe it's the finger.
Brent: A what?
Me: You know. A Mitchell. Like Jen's dad. She looks like Mike.
Brent: Oh. Yeah. I see that.
Me: It's the Mitchell side. Maybe it's the finger.
Month Eight
Dear Maren,
This week you turn eight months old and you've just mastered your own unique version of the crawl. You can scoot yourself around the house at will. We've discovered the best motivation to get you to demonstrate this new skill is to place one of Oliver's toys within sight. It becomes like a military operation. You sight the target, lock it in your radar and attack. All of your colorful fluffy toys pale in comparison to the fantastic-ness of Oliver's toys. Just yesterday I sat you in the middle of the room surrounded by your favorite toys so I could run to the bathroom. When I came back 10 seconds later you were across the room devouring Oliver's racquetball. Gross!
The doctor assures us it wasn't the ingestion of dog germs that caused your first fever last week. Nor was it exposure to germs in the community pool. Your dad and I were trying to identify the source of your illness so we could NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! Apparently, the fever, the vomiting and the heat rash were due to a bout of bad luck. One of those things that's out of our control. Go figure. I thought we controlled everything.
Last week the three of us went to a meeting with the DJ that's going to rock our wedding reception. I was in the middle of describing how I thought the father/daughter dance would play out when out of the blue Brent grabbed my hand to shove my finger in your mouth. I was sitting there talking to the DJ, thinking your dad had lost his mind. Then you started gnawing my finger and I realized it was no longer the soft baby gumming. I felt a hard jagged edge protruding from your gum. Your first tooth! Or, as your Aunt Mary would say, you have your first toother!
We're still pureeing all of your food but the menu has expanded from just rice cereal, avocado, and sweet potato to include green beans, peas, and lentils. You love the green veggies but the lentils don't yet have your vote.
Breakfast is such a time of discovery. Who knew? Not only discovering new foods, but new body parts. I buckled you in to your high chair for breakfast last week and noticed you discovered your fingers. You've been aware of your hand for some time, but just recently you recognized that you have multiple digits capable of operating in a coordinated fashion. You hold your arms out to the side so your hands are at eye level and rotate your wrists in a circular motion. The speed of rotation indicates your level of enthusiasm.
Maren, you're crawling, you're swimming, you're teething, you're getting sick, you're experiencing so many new things. It reminds me of one of our favorite books. We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Whether the journey is good, bad, happy, or sad...remember:
"We're goin' on a bear hunt.
We're gonna catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared."
And then something unexpected happens:
"We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
We've got to go through it!"
We'll get through it all together. I'm loving the ride.
Love,
Mama
This week you turn eight months old and you've just mastered your own unique version of the crawl. You can scoot yourself around the house at will. We've discovered the best motivation to get you to demonstrate this new skill is to place one of Oliver's toys within sight. It becomes like a military operation. You sight the target, lock it in your radar and attack. All of your colorful fluffy toys pale in comparison to the fantastic-ness of Oliver's toys. Just yesterday I sat you in the middle of the room surrounded by your favorite toys so I could run to the bathroom. When I came back 10 seconds later you were across the room devouring Oliver's racquetball. Gross!
The doctor assures us it wasn't the ingestion of dog germs that caused your first fever last week. Nor was it exposure to germs in the community pool. Your dad and I were trying to identify the source of your illness so we could NEVER DO THAT AGAIN! Apparently, the fever, the vomiting and the heat rash were due to a bout of bad luck. One of those things that's out of our control. Go figure. I thought we controlled everything.
Last week the three of us went to a meeting with the DJ that's going to rock our wedding reception. I was in the middle of describing how I thought the father/daughter dance would play out when out of the blue Brent grabbed my hand to shove my finger in your mouth. I was sitting there talking to the DJ, thinking your dad had lost his mind. Then you started gnawing my finger and I realized it was no longer the soft baby gumming. I felt a hard jagged edge protruding from your gum. Your first tooth! Or, as your Aunt Mary would say, you have your first toother!
We're still pureeing all of your food but the menu has expanded from just rice cereal, avocado, and sweet potato to include green beans, peas, and lentils. You love the green veggies but the lentils don't yet have your vote.
Breakfast is such a time of discovery. Who knew? Not only discovering new foods, but new body parts. I buckled you in to your high chair for breakfast last week and noticed you discovered your fingers. You've been aware of your hand for some time, but just recently you recognized that you have multiple digits capable of operating in a coordinated fashion. You hold your arms out to the side so your hands are at eye level and rotate your wrists in a circular motion. The speed of rotation indicates your level of enthusiasm.
Maren, you're crawling, you're swimming, you're teething, you're getting sick, you're experiencing so many new things. It reminds me of one of our favorite books. We're Going on a Bear Hunt. Whether the journey is good, bad, happy, or sad...remember:
"We're goin' on a bear hunt.
We're gonna catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We're not scared."
And then something unexpected happens:
"We can't go over it.
We can't go under it.
We've got to go through it!"
We'll get through it all together. I'm loving the ride.
Love,
Mama
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