The Third Prayer

Is there a sweeter, more precious word in the world than, mommy?  I doubt so.  Not ma ma, mama or mom, but the perfect, mommy?  Is it not every mom’s dream to hear her child utter the perfect, “mommy?”  Although ‘I love you’ is  a close second.  Mary Rene has perfected the perfect mommy and it is music to my ears.  I could hear her say mommy all day long and it doesn’t get old.  So what if it takes an hour to put her to bed.  Hearing her say “mommy” first thing in the morning, priceless.  And her ‘I love you’ is so cute as well.  At first it was ‘I’ but now it is “I you’ with such love.

Mary Rene has become quite the vocabulary copy cat and is saying everything we say.  Which is very adorable as she is our little parrot repeating our every word to the best of her ability.  I love this stage.

I also love dress up and Mary Rene’s favorite accessory are her purple sunglasses (glasses.)

She wants to wear them everywhere, mostly indoors though.  Nine out of 10 times she puts them on upside down though, which is actually much cutier then right side up.

 This past week has been all about Piedmont.  Frank, Mary Rene, Sophie B. and I headed down Friday morning to meet my parents who were already there.  This would be our first adventure in the new minivan and with Mary Rene sitting forward.  She was having fun playing peek-a-boo with me through the headrest.

Speaking of peek-a-boo

Love her little contagious laugh at the end of the video.

The one downside to sitting forward is her chair doesn’t recline anymore.  Which means naps in the car, don’t seem to be as comfortable.  But she still made it work.

I could take pictures of her sleeping everyday.  So precious.

Saturday morning we got ready for Clearwater Lake, THE BEACH, and apparently Mary Rene was in more of a hurry then we were.

If we set her clothes out, and she can reach them, she will try her best to get herself dress.  Sometimes she gets it on right but swimsuits…not so much.  So mommy dressed her and she looked fabulous.

We gladly played the part of Beach Bums and soaked in the sun for a good three hours.

And water bums too.

I asked Frank to get a picture of Mary Rene giving me a kiss but she decided to wipe her sandy hands on my face instead.

Sunday morning, Frank and my dad rented a john boat and did some serious drinking fishing.  Us girls, we hung out on the beach again.

Sunday happened to be my 31st birthday (happy to be celebrating with the two people who gave me life-my mom and dad, and the two people who make my life-Frank and Mary Rene.)  Since Frank left me in the morning to go fishing, I was a good wife and gave him a nice going away gift.

Besides the obvious fact that I didn’t finish painting his toenails, he is a man with pink toe polish.  And well, when you are renting a boat, you usually don’t wear socks.  So yes, someone pointed out Frank’s “cute” toes.  Love you honey!

That night, Frank surprised me with a birthday cake and we indulged.

What a great birthday weekend, spent with the people I love.

Wednesday morning, Mary Rene, my mom and I left for Piedmont, Missouri for a few, much needed days of relaxing.  And much needed it was!  Five days with minimal internet access meant I was only able to do work emails for one hour a day.  Being unglued from my laptop was heaven in a bottle.  I wish I could capture it more often. 

I relaxed by spending every evening, after Mary Rene went to bed, crocheting with my mom.  Mary Rene has a lovie that is entirely too big and too white (when you have a black dog) and she carries it everywhere she goes.

Case in point, she carried it in the bathroom with her this morning while I was in the shower.

So I made her a new lovie, much smaller and her favorite color.

Unfortunately I made it too small and she can’t drag it and won’t welcome it as her new lovie yet.  I’m guessing I’ll have to make her another lovie, a bit longer though.

Mary Rene spent her time in Piedmont relaxing by…

playing Chinese checkers

chillin’ on the couch looking at old photos of herself and

going to Clearwater Lake.  For the most part, we had the beach to ourselves.  Mary Rene really liked having all the room she needed to play and splash.

It was a hot day but you couldn’t tell while wading in the water.  I could have spent the entire day at the beach!  I’m so glad Mary Rene is a water beach bum like me!

Oh how she makes my heart flutter too.

But being at the beach all day can wear a girl out.

Everyday while Mary Rene napped, I headed into town to use the free WiFi at McDonald’s so I could get some work email done.  Well, I guess the WiFi isn’t free when you buy a ice cream treat each time!

My dad came down to Piedmont on Friday to spend the rest of the weekend with us.  He decided to make homemade ice cream for us all, yummy. 

Unfortunately the process of making ice cream was much more difficult then we imagined.

Since we didn’t have crushed ice, my dad had to crush it by hand.  Mary Rene grabbed the broom and cleaned up the mess for him.

And then the ice cream making began.

Mary Rene was ready for her sample of the ice cream once papa put the bowl in front of her.

Like I said, yummy.

Frank’s mom has been successful at getting Mary Rene to drink milk by letting her dunk graham crackers in a bowl of milk.  We gave it a try in Piedmont and Mary Rene was in milk heaven.

Love this picture!  Turns out that my dad used to do the same thing when he was a little kid and even still did it when he first got married.  (My mom actually remembers buying graham crackers every week for him!)  He used to do it at his grandma’s house too which makes the story even cuter.

Saturday we decided to try out the river instead of Clearwater Lake.

There were fish, tadpoles and craw fish everywhere and papa was able to catch one for Mary Rene.

Mary Rene wasn’t impressed with the river so we ended up hitting the beach again.  Fine by me!

It was a fun few days but Mary Rene and I were starting to miss her daddy so Sunday we packed up and headed back home.  For the ride home, we decided to hook up the DVD player so Mary Rene could watch Holy Baby.  She loved it and was completely captivated.

But the fun filled weekend caught up with Mary Rene and within an hour or so of being home, she got cranky.  She decided that she didn’t want to eat, even when Frank grilled her a hot dog!  She just wanted to cuddle with mommy so we did.  I noticed she was really warm so I took a fever wipe and wiped down her body.

Mary Rene went to bed with no problem but was awake within two hours, screaming.  She was very, very warm and ended up having a slight fever.  Again it was a teething fever reaction because she was biting like crazy on a teething ring.  We gave her some medicine to ease the pain and Frank and I brought her into our bed and we both rubbed her back, face and hair until she settled down and went back to sleep.  Poor girl.

Monday morning she was still sluggish and her teeth were still bothering her.  So far, she has all her top teeth except the second year molars.  She is still missing three bottom teeth, two of them being the second year molars.  I can’t tell which tooth/teeth are causing her such heartache these last couple weeks but I wish they would just cut through already.  I hate to see my baby in such pain. 

Hopefully she is still feeling better tonight so we can make swimming lessons.

One night in Piedmont, my dad and I stayed up and while I was crocheting he was watching tv.  A commercial came on about neglected animals.  Visuals were shown of beaten, dirty and underfed animals as a voice over said, “some of these animals will never know love.”  My dad commented on how sad the commercial was and yeah, I agreed.  I love animals but the commercial sort of made me angry too.  In my head I thought, ’some babies will never know love.’  And that just made me more sad. 

Why is it that animal right’s groups can have advertisements on tv about animal brutality but a pro-life group has to fight to have an advertisement shown on tv? I still find it absolutely ridiculous that there was such an uproar over that Tebow Superbowl ad.  Which by the way, didn’t even mention abortion.  It was all about life; the complete opposite of death.

Like I said, I love animals, but when have animals become more important than human beings?

Wednesday: We had a play date with some friends and went to Edmundson Park by my parent’s house.  Last time we were there they only had a “kid” playground and well those are hard for toddler moms.  But this time they had a second playground just for toddlers and I must say…

mommy heaven.  I was able to sit back and relax because the playground was TODDLER SAFE!  All plastic, small steps, small slides and no where to fall off a ledge.  Love it. 

Thursday: We took a trip to the library for the second week in a row.  Mary Rene loves the library and really enjoys picking out her own books off the shelf.  She will grab two or three books and then take them over to the table and start “reading” them. 

They also have a colorful rug with plush animals for her to lay on but she likes to sit up straight in the chairs.  So cute.  I let her pick out three books, then I get a book and then we check out.  As soon as we get in the car she says “please” for her book and will read until we reach our next destination.

Friday: At 10 a.m. my parents came over and the four of us left for my parent’s property in Piedmont, Missouri.  They have a car seat in their Jeep so we got to ride with them.  I was really worried about how Mary Rene would do during the long car ride, 2.5 hours, because the last few times we went to Piedmont she had a fit.  But she was a perfect angel the whole way (Nicole C. you would have been  so impressed!)  She slept for an hour but the remaining drive she was really good and that made me feel good too.  My parent’s car seat is forward facing so that might have helped the situation!

When we got into town we headed to the grocery store and right away Mary Rene noticed the pony and had to go for a ride.

This is small town Missouri and that horse has easily been there for 20 years.

Inside the store, she saw the car attached to the grocery cart and had to ride that as well.

She was having fun steering the wheel while she drove.  Every time I stopped the cart she would start yelling “more more” so I would start ‘driving’ again.  Too terribly cute.

When we got to the cabin she was in heaven.  So many new things to play with and explore.  I know that next time we don’t have to bring toys because she entertained herself very well the whole weekend with all her new stuff.  One thing that really interested her was the traveling booster high chair.  It easily occupied her for 30 minutes each day while she practiced snapping and unsnapping the buckles.

Check out that determined face.

Saturday:  Frank and Sophie B. arrived in the morning to join us for the rest of the weekend!  And I must say, Sophie B had a relaxing weekend as well!

Once Frank was unpacked we all headed down to Black River for a little relief from the heat.  Although Sophie B was the smart one and stayed in the shade for the most part.  And we…

took a dip in the water.  Mary Rene is absolutely head over heels in love with her water shoes and wanted to wear them the whole weekend.  She loved it when she saw me put my shoes on too. 

The water felt incredible and gave us a nice taste of summer.  Oh how I love summer and the water.  And from the looks of it, so will Mary Rene.

Sunday:  A new day means a new watering hole so we decided to head to the breath taking Clearwater Lake.

Like I said, breath taking.  And I’m not just talking about the beach!  That girl is breath taking, wouldn’t you say?  She loved how the waves would splash up against her feet and then run back into the lake.  It made her laugh every time.

(Don’t worry she has a total of five swimsuits!  I just wanted to keep her in the swimsuit with the most skin cover because we would be in direct sunlight.  Even with SPF 60, applying 30 before leaving the house and two hours after applying, she still got a tan.  And yes, I said tan not burn.  She’s got momma’s skin.  Just what we wanted.)

Mary Rene was having fun splashing in the water but when she stuck her face down to “feel” the waves, not so much.  That scared her out of the water for a bit and she only wanted to be held by me.  I slowly got her reacquainted with the water though and she was back to her old water loving self.

Some kid had dug a hole and put water in it for a “miniature lake” and Mary Rene was having a good time in her private water hole.

She easily could have played in it for a good hour if we wouldn’t have pulled her away.

I tried my darnest to capture a good mommy daugther picture but was not successful.

But I sure got a good daddy daughter picture.

Mary Rene was worn out after being at the beach for two hours and we headed back to the cabin.  She fell asleep within minutes on the car ride home and we were able to transfer her from the car to the bed.  Once she woke up, she was ready to go again.

She heard the train pass by and wanted to sit on the porch to watch it.  We put out a blanket for her and let her look out for her choo-choo train.

She was being a little ham for the camera and was giving me her best smiles. 

Monday:  Memorial Day!  After a nice breakfast and cleaning up, we closed the cabin and headed back to St. Louis.  As soon as we walked in the door she went right to her toys and went to play.  It was as if we were never gone.

When we tell Mary Rene to smile, she will either give us a cheesy smile and pose

or look something like this

oh!  She cracks me up!  What a little ham.

A new tooth popped through last week and two more are halfway through.  Interestingly, she hasn’t been entirely too crabby and no snotty nose.  This time we just know she is teething because she keeps chewing on her fingers.  And well, I stuck my finger in her mouth and saw them.

On Saturday we went to the pet store to get Sophie’s nails trimmed.  Let me first say that I really need to start scheduling these appointments so I stop falling behind.  Those nails grow so fast since I’m not running with her anymore and they are so freakin’ annoying on our hardwood floors.  I digress.  The point of this, Mary Rene had so much fun at the pet store.  First there were the birds, then the dogs, next cats and finally her favorite, fish.  She was in fish heaven with the hundreds of fish swimming around.  She kept pointing and “oohing” and “ooooo” as she went from tank to tank.  She melts our hearts with her simple, pure, innocent episodes of happiness over the smallest and most mundane things.  Wouldn’t life be great if we got that excited over trivial, daily items in our life?

We hit a huge, huge milestone yesterday: Mary Rene napped at my parent’s house.  When she was an infant, she would fall asleep anywhere.  But as baby girl grew, she got set in her ways and she would only nap at home, my mother-in-law’s house (that is who watches her the two days I work) and Piedmont (my parent’s property.)  The last time I was able to get her to take a nap at my parent’s house was the day of my sister’s bridal shower which was back in August.  Frank was in charge of Mary Rene and she wouldn’t take a nap for him.  So he drove her to my parent’s house in hopes that she would fall asleep in the car.  She didn’t.  I tried to get her to nap there and she wouldn’t.  So we continued to get ready for the shower.  People arrived, the shower started and Mary Rene was busy crawling from one person to another.  By the time the shower was ending, Mary Rene was well past her morning nap and it was time for her afternoon nap.  She was so exhausted that I was able to get her to take a nap.  Glorious.  But as you can see from the details, she was super exhausted and that might be the real reason she napped.  So honestly, the last time she took a nap at my parent’s house was probably…Christmas 2008.  Seriously.  So yesterday was a huge milestone.  When I went to pick her up, my parents mentioned that she was tired but they couldn’t get her to nap.  So I asked her if she wanted to take a nap and she walked right into “the nap” room and climbed on the bed.  I hanged her her blanket and she quickly tugged on my top.  At first it didn’t appear like she was going to fall asleep but after 10 minutes of nursing she closed her eyes.  But she has done that before.  So I waited another five minutes before I tried unlatching, and well, she wouldn’t let me.  I let another two minutes go by and she still won’t let me.  So while still latched on, I laid down on the bed, continued to nurse for a few more minutes and finally was able to unlatch.  Baby girl doesn’t want to let go sometime.  And…I was able to walk out of the room.  I went in the room where my parents were sitting, Mary Rene-less, and pounded my fist in the air and did a little dance.  I was one proud momma.  About 45-50 minutes into her naps, my dad went to check on her and she woke up.  He is a worry wart!  But the good news is that she napped, regardless of the amount of time.

Okay, that sounded like a huge ordeal, but, I have hope.  If I continue to do this every week then eventually she will associate “the nap” room with naps and maybe nap for my parents too!

My dad had so much fun playing with Mary Rene all day yesterday.  He enjoyed feeding her breakfast and lunch.  She liked it too because he plays the “airplane” feeding game and it was cracking her up.

You may wonder, what else does she do over there?  She currently is teaching the cats to sit.

Okay, maybe teach is the wrong word.  She forces the cats to sit.

She explores every room in the house, and there are a lot of rooms, and she seems to find something new to play with each time.  Yesterday she found my grandma’s scary life size dolls which have always been in the computer room.

Isn’t Mark scary?  Well, Mary Rene didn’t seem to mind.

Mark wears size 2T clothes, bigger then Mary Rene, but Mary Rene sure was showing him who was boss.

Mary Rene has added two new words to her list.  She likes to stand on the window ledge and jump in my arms and before she jumps she says, “WEEEEE!”  So cute.  Frank’s mom has been trying to teach her to say “Happy Birthday” because it is on one of her Barney videos.  Right now Mary Rene says, “hap” for Happy.  So close!  Baby girl is one smart little cookie.

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Sometimes coming up with seven thoughts on Friday is harder then coming up with one thought for a single post.  I try to think of a different thought for each day of the week but sometimes I can be completely thoughtless.

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While in Piedmont over the weekend my mom showed Nicole C and myself how to crochet which is #31 on my list.  I crossed it off my list but I’m going to finish my first project before I blog about the experience.  But I will say that I never thought I would enjoy crocheting so much.  Or maybe it was just the company I was with at the time.  We had a heck of a time and laughed our butts off the entire weekend.  We were two ol’ skanks skanking away (inside joke.)

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My mother-in-law and I both have been working on getting Mary Rene to sleep in her crib for her naps.  I can write an entire blog on this as well so I will keep this short.  We started this on Tuesday and so far it is a struggle but I am sticking to my guns.  We are going on vacation for a week in August and she’ll need to sleep in her playpen while we are there.  If we don’t get her used to taking naps in it now then our vacation could be a disaster. 

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I’m going to the doctor today to try and find out what happened to me last week.  Vertigo, food poisioning, whatever it is I hope there is an answer.  I will admit that I am still getting a little light headed and I have been feeling a bit nauseous but it is no where close to what it was last week.

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This is a video I took this week to show everyone how Mary Rene is hugging and rocking her stuffed animals now.  But while I was videotaping something interesting happened…

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I hate going to the bank almost as much as I hate getting gas (by the way I am empty.)  I’ve had a $142.11 expense report check from my company sitting on our table for two weeks and I still haven’t cashed it.  Maybe I’m just lazy but I hate going to the bank.

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I am 29 today and will be 30 tomorrow.

Our little princess is 44 weeks young today.  I decided to use this picture because I thought it was a nice profile of her.  You can see the cute little curls on the back of her head really good.  This picture makes her look so much older than she actually is…although our little girl is an amazing 10 months now.  Wow time flies.

Mary Rene went on her first GIRLS WEEKEND to Piedmont, Missouri (again).  We ended up staying three nights this time so it was a little longer of a trip.  We went with my mom and my amazing friend Nicole C.  It was a girlie weekend filled with doing nothing but girlie things.  Mary Rene had a hoot of a time.

On our trip, Mary Rene learned how to click her tongue against her top teeth to make a clicking noise.  I don’t know if the waitress did it first or Nicole but either way Mary Rene started imitating the noise and did it the rest of the weekend.  She is really good at figuring out how to make sounds with her mouth and picks it up quick!

Twice over the weekend and once on Monday, Mary Rene was able to get herself into the sitting position from her back.  What a great milestone!  Before she was trying to pull up with her abs and neck and wasn’t getting anywhere.  Now she rolls a little to the side, puts her hand on the ground and gets up.  As exciting as this is it is also dangerous.  Now she will be on the move more.

Baby girl just woke up crying…gotta run!

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On Saturday, Frank and his awesome friend Jim got all the framing done for our new wall downstairs!  I honestly did not expect them to get that much work done but they worked really hard and surprised the heck out of me.  I had goosebumps when I saw the wall.  Once I saw the wall I started realizing my dream of an office/playroom were close to coming true.  I had trouble sleeping that night because I was dreaming about the room.  Seriously, I’m a total dork but this is so super exciting to me.  If we are able to move all Mary Rene’s toys, our computer and my laptop downstairs we will have so much more room upstairs.  Enough room to where I can make this small house work for us again.

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Regarding Monday’s post on “A Mother’s Rule” I planned on starting my rules Tuesday morning.  I had my alarm clock set for 6 a.m. but I woke up at 5:38 a.m.  Of course I decided to sneak in those extra 22 minutes of sleep so I put my alarm clock (cell phone) in my hand so I would quickly hear it ring and it wouldn’t wake up Mary Rene.  I guess my plan worked because I must have turned it off and rolled back over because I didn’t wake up until I heard Frank walking around the house getting ready for work at 7:20 a.m.  I wasn’t going to get discouraged and planned on starting over Wednesday however…

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Tuesday afternoon I was sitting on the ground playing with Mary Rene.  I started tossing her in the air and then I would roll back on the ground and give her kisses.  Then I would sit up really quick, toss her in the air and roll back down and give her kisses.  By the third time I was so dizzy that I couldn’t see straight.  I put Mary Rene down and let her play with her toys and I waited for it to pass.  But after five minutes it didn’t pass and I was getting really scared.  Then I started to feel incredibly sick and had to throw up.  I picked Mary Rene up and placed her in her crib and ran to the bathroom.  I threw up a few times and thought it had passed but when I stood up I was still really dizzy.  Mary Rene was starting to fuss so I crawled into her room and sat on the ground playing peek-a-boo with her through the crib.  She was starting to laugh but I could tell I wasn’t getting better.  I called my mother-in-law but she wasn’t home.  I called my parents and my mom said she would come over.  I knew it would take her 15 minutes to get there so I called my neighbors over and they were there within minutes.  They picked up Mary Rene for me and I went and threw up a few more times.  Mary Rene did not like to see her mommy upset so she was getting really upset and crying really hard.  I tried taking her but then I would have to threw up again.  Finally my mom got there and changed Mary Rene’s diaper and I nursed her to sleep.  While she was nursing I had to puke in a bucket.  Once she was asleep we both went and took a two hour nap.  When I woke up I still felt bad and my mom had to go to work so my mother-in-law came over.  She stayed the rest of the evening to take care of Mary Rene so I could lay on the couch.   The next morning she was over at 7:45 a.m. (when Frank leaves for work) to take care of Mary Rene again so I could feel better.  After eating breakfast and taking a shower I felt a million times better.  Mary Rene and I took another two hour nap and I woke up feeling like my old self. 

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I never get sick.  The last time I was sick was…I can’t even remember.  I never get sick.  Which led four people to ask if I was pregnant.  I really think I just got the 24 hour flu or something.  I will admit that I am still a little light headed but it is nothing compared to Tuesday.  I scheduled an appointment to see a doctor next week.  Maybe my iron is low or something.

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My boss was in town yesterday and I had my 6 month review.  It went really well and she made the point to say, “Trena works harder than anyone else and she is only part-time.”  I’ll have to remember that when they ask me to come back full-time in three months.

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Mary Rene, my mom and my awesome friend Nicole C. are heading down to Piedmont, Missouri for the weekend.  Frank is at the lake and Nicole’s husband has guard duty.  So we decided to get away ourselves.  The weather is supposed to be amazing this weekend so Clearwater Lake should be a lot of fun.

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I’m going to be 30 in eight days.  I still have no idea what we are going to do.  I know we are going to Confession in the morning but after that…Maybe we’ll go to the zoo.  Maybe we’ll do dinner at our local Mexican restaurant.  Everyone is making it out to be a really big deal so I feel like I need to do something important, but what?

About a week ago we decided that we would spend the 4th of July holiday in Piedmont, Missouri where my parents own property near Clearwater Lake.  So on Friday we packed up the car and started our journey during Mary Rene’s morning nap.  She usually only naps an hour but she ended up sleeping for an hour and a half.  When she woke up we stopped for some gas and decided to eat lunch at

If you look close you can see Frank and Mary Rene sitting at the table with some bikers.  After lunch we drove up a quarter of a mile and got some fireworks.  The fireworks were 80% off so Frank was able to get a bang for his buck.  Ha!  By this time, Mary Rene was ready for a diaper change and the only place to do it was

We journeyed along and when we finally arrived in the city limits of Piedmont we knew we had 10 more minutes to go up the windy road to my parent’s property.  By this point Mary Rene couldn’t take the car ride anymore and started crying.  We kept chugging along but then her cries turned into screams and she was starting to hypervilate.  I guess that’s what sitting in a carseat for two and half hours will do to you!  We finally got to the country road that leads to my parent’s property so I pulled on the road and jumped in the back seat with her.  She calmed down and stopped shaking just as we arrived at my parent’s cabin/mobile/vacation home.

Last summer Frank and I didn’t get to come down since I was pregnant.  But it seemed like we had just been there months ago.  I instantly felt a sense of peace.

The three of us did some grocery shopping and then went out to dinner.  By the time we were done with dinner, my sister and her finacee had made it down there.  They decided to go to the drive-in theater and we stayed back so we could put Mary Rene to bed.  Mary Rene was in bed by 9:30 p.m. and didn’t wake up until 4:30 a.m. to nurse.  After nursing she went back to bed until 8 a.m.  Frank and I originally discussed staying up and building a fire out front but we were both exhausted from the drive.

On Saturday we decided to celebrate Indpendence Day down at Clearwater Lake.  Mary Rene was in heaven on the beach because she loves

her some sand.  She played in the sand for a bit and then we headed into the lake.  The water felt great and Mary Rene was having fun splashing around. 

The lake wasn’t crowded so we had plenty of room to move around and swim.  We swam for about an hour and then we ate lunch and left. 

We went back to the cabin and everyone took naps but my sister’s fiancee and me.  I just can’t nap anymore (my mind is always racing.)  After napping we put Mary Rene in her 4th of July outfit and she decided to pay tribute to Michael Jackson and

do the triller dance.  She was having so much fun dancing and playing with her yellow foam number 5.

We then went outside and Frank shot off some of his daytime fireworks.  My sister’s dog was barking and trying to chase the fireworks which made Mary Rene cry so we didn’t stay outside long.

We decided not to attend the firework display in town and stayed in the cabin instead.  The next morning we cleaned up the place and came back home.  Overall, it was a great vacation and memorable way to celebrate Mary Rene’s 1st Independence Day.

Our little pumpkin is 42 weeks young today.  We had a busy week with the 4th of July holiday which led to her first vacation!  I’ll write a separate post about this tomorrow.  I read so many things telling me that babies don’t do good on vacations because they are in a new environment.  But our baby girl did great!  The first night she only woke up once to nurse and the second night she slept the entire time!  I guess you can say she felt at home in my parent’s cabin/mobile/vacation home.

Unfortunately when she came home her schedule was really off.  Sunday night I didn’t get her to bed until 10:45 p.m.  Then she woke up Monday morning at 6 a.m. crying.  I hurry up and put her in my arms, she latched her legs and arms around me and buried her head in my chest.  She was back to sleep in seconds.  Our stay-in date got cancelled last night because we couldn’t get her to bed again.  She was so extremely tired but wouldn’t surrender.  Frank got her to fall asleep on his chest (like she was an infant!) but then he decided to put her in her crib.  Big mistake!  That woke her up and she was wide awake again.  I picked her up and rocked her until she calmed down.  Then I had to take her in our bed and snuggle with her again.  She instantly wrapped her legs and arms around me, buried her head in my chest and fell asleep.  The good news is that she slept through the night and didn’t wake once!  We are praying that she gets back on schedule soon…like tonight.

Last week, Mary Rene started waving her arms in the  air and at the same time she says, “AH AH AH AH AH AH.”  We don’t know what she is doing exactly, maybe dancing?  But she has done it while in the high chair so we might think she is also asking for more.  More food?  More play time?  The other day she was doing it and looking at her doll in front of her.  Strange.

Sunday night when I couldn’t get her to bed I took her for a car ride.  Usually she gets relaxed right away but she didn’t want anything to do with the car.  We were driving for about five minutes when she said, “ma ma na na.”  Which I think means, “Mama No.”  I looked back at her and she was staring at the mirror, which is right in front of her so I can see her.  It looked like she was looking right at me when she said that.  I instantly turned my wheel in the direction of our house.  It could really be in my head that she said that to me but it sure sounded like it.

She has been doing a lot more babbling lately but I can’t exactly make out what she is saying.  Gosh it would be so nice to speak her language!

She has been sticking her tongue out a lot lately.  But instead of sticking it out front she curls it to the side.

I think she might have picked that one up from me.

I mentioned last week that she stood on her own.  She did it a few more times this week. 

She is leaning against the couch in the picture above but she was standing right before she was leaning.

A few people have commented that it looks like her hair is red.  I have overlooked these comments because, well, I thought they were ridiculous.  Until last week when we visited my grandma’s friend Mary.  She was holding Mary Rene and said, “she has red tints in her hair like your grandma.”  At that moment I believed my baby girl has red in her hair.  If you look at her hair in the pictures above it does look like she has some red tints.  It just depends on the way the light hits her head.

Finally, Mary Rene has been loving her daddy lately.  At Mass on Sunday she kept putting her arms out for him to hold her.  When they sit together on the couch she hugs him and buries her head in his chest.  You should see how happy this makes Frank.  Breathtaking.