The Third Prayer

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.

Proof that Mary Rene is a girly girl.  She refused to eat breakfast the other morning until she was wearing her new shoes.  She is starting to pick out what she wants to wear in the morning.  Sometimes the outfit is appropriate and sometimes, not so much.  I went ahead and let the sandals slide since it was only for breakfast.  (Eating left-handed by the way.)

Proof that Mary Rene is going to be a good big sister.  She likes to help out around the house and that includes feeding Sophie B.  (Petting left-handed by the way.)

Need another reason?  When she woke up from her nap on Friday, she walked in the front room and Frank was still napping on the couch.  I put my finger to my mouth and said, “shhh, daddy is sleeping.”  Mary imitated me and then wanted to make sure daddy was taken care of.  He only had one blanket on him so she went into action.  (Using right hand.)

Okay, so she went a little overboard and we lost Frank for awhile.

View from Sophie B’s perspective…

There he is!

Well, maybe she is good at covering up a person but not good at letting the person sleep.

I’ve been craving Slurpees lately and Frank has been a dear to get me one here and there.  Well, I can’t drink the Slurpee alone, no, not in this house.

She finds it pretty funny that my tongue turns bright red after drinking the Slurpee.

Mary Rene has become a big cuddlier lately.  After she gets out of the shower and we are brushing her hair and rubbing lotion on her, she wants to lay her head against my chest and have me hold her.  The days we are home alone, when she wakes up from her nap, she’ll come find me in the front room and climb in my lap and cuddle for awhile.  I love these moments.

 We have officially become a ponytail family.

I guess I need to explain those stickers on her face.  We’ve been doing Easter egg hunts all week in preparation for the big hunt on Easter.  Last Wednesday, I did a Easter egg hunt in our backyard for Mary Rene and her friend, Ella.  (Ella, her sister Beatrice and her mommy, Emily come over on Wednesday nights for dinner. Love that family!)  I put stickers in some of the eggs as a prize.  Now we have stickers everywhere in the house, including on Sophie.  Yesterday Mary Rene decided they should be on her cheeks, hands and shirt.  So cute.

So much has happened since the last time I wrote a Mary Rene update that I’m afraid I will forget some important milestones and events!  But I’ll try my best.

Mary Rene turned 18 months (1.5 years) last Tuesday!  How time files.  She has grown up so much in the last six months that I can’t believe it.  I remember going to St. Ferdinand Park when she was about 12 or 13 months old and I had to help her up all the steps and go down the slides with her.  Now, she can walk up the steps by herself (some of the steps) and go down the slides alone!  It was so neat to watch her do it alone, although I was one step behind her the entire way, but it was also sad to see her being all independent and growing up.

Last time we went to West County Mall she couldn’t get up the steps on the slide without falling.  Now…

Sure the independence is sad, but then again, it makes for some lazy parenting!  Frank and I were able to sit and watch her play for an entire 45 minutes without helping her.  It was a very relaxing day at the mall.

I haven’t checked the internet to confirm if there is an 18 month growth spurt but I think she is going through one right now.  Her appetite has increased, although that could be due to my lack of milk production.  On St. Patrick’s Day, for the first time we ordered Mary Rene her own meal off the kid’s menu.  She ate both chicken strips (they were adult sized) and half of her fries!  Seriously that girl can put down some food.  Sunday at lunch, she ate two thin slices of pizza.  Okay, don’t worry, we feed her healthy food too.

On top of eating more, she is starting to outgrow some of her 18 month onesie.  She could still wear them with disposable diapers but the cloth diapers are so big that I can’t button a few of them anymore.

In the last two weeks, Mary Rene has added the following words to her vocabulary:

1. Clap
2. Bird
3. Puppy
4. Book
5. Eat
6. Out
7. Ball
8. Mary
9. Pray
10. Mine
11. Grandma (maw maw)
12. Water
13. Beads
14. Please

There are a few other words that she is saying but I can’t figure out what they are yet.  Also, she is starting to try and repeat after me.  If I say, ‘book’ then she tries to say ‘book.’  I’ll try four or five new words each day and she’ll try her best to say them. 

She is also starting to say two words together to form a sentence.  The first time she did it she grabbed a ball from my mom’s hands and said, “MY BALL.”  Well, little miss thing, take your ball.  But I’ll also give her some props here because she is saying, “More please,” when she wants another bite to eat.

Mary Rene really enjoys looking in the mirror and seeing how she is dressed.  If she likes the way she looks…

She’ll give herself a kiss.

She likes using the mirror to put on hats, ribbons and other hair accessories.

But sometimes she decides that the accessories look better on someone else.

We ran in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Run a couple weekends ago.

We got to mile three and Mary Rene decided she was done with the stroller.  So we decided to carry her.  That was one long mile.  When we got to mile four I decided to cut over two blocks to the place we were going to watch the parade with our friends.  Baby girl was crabby and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.  It was pretty darn cold outside but it turned out she was tired.  I sat on a cooler and rocked her in my arms and she fell asleep in minutes.

After her 30 minute snooze, she was ready to party again.

A few days later on St. Patrick’s Day, my parents joined us and we went to Dogtown to watch the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.  It was gorgeous outside (what a difference a few days can make!) and we watched the parade at the very beginning near the zoo.

Mary Rene was having so much fun collecting all her beads.

All the kids around us were chanting, “BEADS BEADS BEADS” whenever someone in the parade walked by with a handful of beads.  Soon, Mary Rene was joining in and started chanting, “Beads Beads Beads” with them.  On the way home, she was still chanting her Bead song.  It was so cute.

As an early Easter present, my parents got Mary Rene her own table and chair set.

Mary Rene loves to color so I set up her coloring books and crayons and she went to work.  The top of the table comes off and underneath is a lego table top.

I let her play with these for a few minutes but decided to hide them until she gets a little older.  I’m still afraid she will try to eat them!  I’ll replace them with big legos instead. 

My friend Nicole C and I went to a consignment sale on Friday and I bought some early Easter gifts for Mary Rene.

How cool is that?  Her very own lawn chair!

She’s been having fun pushing around her baby doll, Bobby, a cat magnet and a piece of toy bacon in her new stroller.

She got some other toys as well and is in early Easter toy heaven.

Frank has been teaching Mary Rene new dance moves.  She already can bop her head to a beat, shake her legs, tap her feet and wiggle her arms.  Now when Frank says “shake your butt” she will squat and put her hands on her knees and move her butt a little.  When Frank says “spin in a circle” she will start spinning in a circle.  She loves spinning in a circle and doesn’t know how to stop.  When she finally does stop she is so dizzy that she keeps falling.  Sometimes she will start spinning even though there is no music playing and we have to make her stop so she doesn’t keep falling.  Baby girl is so darn funny sometimes!

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.

Yes, necklaces are a necessity and must now be worn in the bath.  I can’t get her to take them off.  This morning, she hid two necklaces under her shirt so I didn’t realize she still had them on until I dropped her off at grandma’s house.  She is a sneaky little girl.

Mary Rene has added four new words to her list: Boo, night, my sister’s name, Tara and my brother’s name, Joe.  Tara sounds more like ‘ter’ and Joe sounds more like “doe.”  We practice all family member’s names and she is starting to try and verbalize them more.  Tara and Joe have the easiest names so I figured those would be coming first.

Mary Rene has decided that she likes when daddy puts her to bed and now as soon as she is done nursing, she sits up, picks up her blanket up and stares at the door.  She knows that I start off putting her to sleep and then daddy comes in about 20 minutes later.  So now she will just sit and wait for him.  He can put her to bed in 15 minutes easily so now we have decided to switch it up and let him come in sooner.  That’s what she wants after all!  Every night this past week, except last night because she is teething again, Frank has put her to bed.  She really enjoys her daddy time.  Do I mind?  Are my feelings hurt?  Not at all!  This is a much welcomed break and couldn’t come at a better time.  When bedtime arrives I am beat myself and sometimes wrangling her to bed can be tiresome.  Now I’m given the opportunity to relax on the couch while daddy wrangles.  Works for me!  Plus, I can start attending both La Leche League meetings each month because I don’t have to worry about her not going to bed for daddy.  I used to only attend one meeting and lately it has been hard to get to those on time because I was working to get her to bed.  Now, daddy does such a good job that I can leave!  A little bit of freedom for me.

Do you like Mary Rene’s new pillow?

I bought this material nearly a year ago and never used it.  When she was an infant, Frank used to talk to Mary Rene in his “Kermit the Frog” voice so I thought it would be cute to make her an outfit out of it.  But a dress?  I thought that would be too loud.  I still might make her a pair of pjs out of the rest but for now I made two pillows for her.  She loves her little pillow.  She was carrying it around the house and kept putting it on the ground and setting her head on it.  She then would give the pillow to Sophie B and tried getting Sophie to sleep on it.  She knows the pillow belongs to her and she kept hugging her pillow and carrying it around the house.  I could eat her up.

Regarding the nursing, I’m not sure how much milk I am producing anymore.  Mary Rene is still nursing about five to six times a day but I don’t hear her swallow at each session.  I was making her laugh during one of the sessions and I saw some milk dribble from her mouth so I know there is milk.  Regardless of the amount there is, Mary Rene hasn’t slowed down and stopped asking for it.  I think for her, it is not about the milk.  She seems to enjoy being in my arms and me talking to her and playing with her while she nurses.  So who knows, maybe there isn’t much there but she seems happy still.

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We finally got our new screen door installed!  Before Christmas, there was a bad windstorm and our door blew off the hinges and shattered into pieces.  We got a new screen door for Christmas but opted to save the $98 installation fee and do it ourselves.  Do it ourselves means, beg my dad.  My dad came over on Saturday and Frank and him spent nearly the entire day working on the door.

Frank said the door would have been installed much sooner but they kept misplacing tools.  I find this humorous because we live in a matchbox and all the tools were in the front room.  Regardless, the new door is nice and it will be even better once spring gets here.  It hasn’t been up a week and Sophie B and Mary Rene are already fighting over who gets to look outside.

They both would stand there all day if they had their wish.

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Thanks for the prayers on Monday.  A few of you emailed me privately and said you would pray as well and I really appreciate that.  Monday’s prayers were answered But I continue to ask for prayers.  This will be a long process, I am prayerful that it will, so prayers will be needed for months.

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When I was pregnant with Mary Rene, I asked the girls in my Bible Study Group for their recommendations on a pediatrician.  I took the names they gave me, did research and found the one that I really liked.  He was right by my house too which was even nicer.  Unfortunately he was not covered under our insurance so I had to go searching again.  A friend of mine recommended the pediatrician we selected and I must say, I was very pleased.  However, the whole time Frank questioned her and I found myself always sticking up for the doctor.  When Mary Rene went in for her 12 month appointment, her doctor wasn’t available so we had the other doctor.  I’ve always liked the other doctor but this particular visit went back.  He did his evaluation and then told me that Mary Rene would be getting four shots.  I asked why she needed four, and he looked me dead in the eye and said, “That’s what she is due for.”  I asked why four?  She has never had that many at once.  He picked up his file, looked me straight in the eyes again, and said this time was different and she had to get four.  As he walked away, he told me a nurse would be in right away.  My heart just stopped because of the way he treated me but I was frozen in fear and let the nurse shot Mary Rene up.  What happened?  She screamed, she ended up getting a runny nose, she ended up getting an ear infection.  I was so mad.  When her 15 month appointment came, her doctor was available.  This time she was getting less shots but I still wasn’t happy.  We left the office and I just started to get this bad feeling in my heart.  I was supposed to be my daughter’s advocate and I wasn’t doing a good job advocating.  I let these professionals walk on me because I allowed myself to think that they knew what was best for my daughter.  And it wasn’t.  Every time she got more than two shots, she would get crabby and a runny nose.  January came and so did our new insurance.  I remembered the name of the pediatrician I had wanted in the beginning, and it turned out some ladies in my La Leche League used him.  I had Frank see if he was in-network and…he was!  So on Monday, I switched pediatricians.  The problem for me is that I have learned I am all talk, and as much as I want to back down to the doctors, I couldn’t.  I had already started down the path of full vaccinations and I was too much of a coward to slow down the pace.  But with a new pediatrician I can start fresh.  Mary Rene will be going in for a 18 month check-up and my plan is to have a delayed schedule set up and show him on our first visit.  I will also have this set up ahead of time for Sweet Pea.  Starting off fresh is so much easier for me to do then stand up to authority figures.  And besides, I didn’t feel comfortable with the other doctor and I was paying him a lot of money.  Frank and I don’t have much money left at the end of the month and it came down to-spending my money wisely.  And I realized, I needed to invest my money wiser when it came to health care.  Okay, that wasn’t really a quick thought.

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I’ve been doing a lot of research this week about switching to organic products.  I mostly was thinking about genetically modified foods, such as meat and chicken.  But the further I went into my research I realized that GMO also effect milk, eggs, vegetables, fruit and even canned foods.  So if there is anyone who reads this and only eats organic, explain please.  Also, how much more does it cost?  Now that we are on a grocery budget I’m wondering if I can afford to go organic.

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Mary Rene went on a playdate Monday with her friend Elaine, who is two.  They aren’t that far apart in age but they didn’t interact too much.  Mary Rene wanted to sit on her momma’s lap the whole time while Elaine had fun running back in forth.  On Wednesday, we had a playdate with my friend Laura and her 2 month old son, Cole. 

Mary Rene was in absolutely heaven and loved him to pieces.

Laura was so kind and let Mary Rene hold Cole in her lap.  Mary Rene felt like such a big girl and was beaming with pride.  When we put Cole in the bouncy seat, Mary Rene kept trying to sit with him.  Poor little guy was getting squished by a 23 pound baby!

She just kept looking at him and smiling away.  Love?  Oh, I just think she likes babies a lot-which is a good thing.  It was really cute because she kept getting really close to him and jibber jabbing away.  She had to be saying something really important to him because her face was very serious and she would not stop talking.

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On Wednesday, I was able to cross off #95 on my list: get re-certified in CPR.  Well, I didn’t get certification because the class I registered for didn’t offer it.  But I am counting it because I learned Adult, Child and Infant CPR.  It was a three hour long class and I took it with one of my co-workers, Laurie.  (She had it on her list too.)  I feel so much better now that I know infant CPR.  It is so scary to think of, and I pray I never have to use it, but I feel more confident as a parent now.

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Last, but definitely not least, today is the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.  As my amazing OB/GYN  put it on facebook, “Lord forgive those of us who have had one of the 50+ million abortions and forgive the rest of us for not speaking up as much as we should to protect your innocent.”

Sweet baby girl-

Today you are 16 months young.  The next time the number 16 will be an important milestone is when you will be 16 years old!  Oh gosh I can’t even bare to think of you being that old.  Getting your driver’s license and out and about, without me.  Can we keep you 16 months young forever?

You are a girly girl.  You love to wear five, six, seven necklaces at the same time.  If you are not wearing them then you are making Sophie B, daddy or me wear them.  You also love to wear your bracelets around your wrist.  A new girly thing you have started enjoying: SHOES!  Oh dear, this is a bad, expensive habit to fall in love with…but it may already be too late.  This morning you insisted, absolutely insisted, to wear your pink shoes.  You tried to slip them on over your pjs but they wouldn’t fit.  I took off your pj legs and slipped on your shoes. 

When I turned my back, you had ripped off the rest of your pjs and were walking around in just your diaper and shoes.

You loved to hear the way they clicked against the hardwood floor so you kept spinning in circles.  I think you might enjoy dance lessons someday.

You kept sitting down to admire your sparkly pink shoes.  It was so precious. I just sat and took it all in.

You even wanted Sophie to enjoy your shoes.

You love your doggie so much and love to give her kisses throughout the day.  When you are not kissing her you are yelling at her to SIT or climbing all over her.  She doesn’t seem to mind though.

Besides Sophie B, you love Theo, my cat.  Today, while daddy and papa were installing the new screen door, we went over grandma’s house.  You instantly looked for Theo so you could pet him.  Theo started meowing and you responded with a ‘meow’ back at him.  It was so cute.

You colored a beautiful picture of Barney while at grandma’s house.

But Theo’s feelings quickly got hurt and he wanted your attention.

You tried coloring him…and then moved on to color grandma.  You crack me up.

Friday you had your second experience with chocolate and I must say…you loved it.

Then you decided to give mommy a big hug and shared your chocolate face with my gray sweater.  Thanks!

You are still my little nursling and enjoy your milk.  First thing in the morning you want your milk.  A couple hours later, either out of boredom or comfort, you want your milk.  Lately you have been nursing just to come be closer to me and I enjoy this time together.  You look up into my eyes and smile away.  I’ll sing to you or tell you a funny story and you start laughing, clapping, and nursing away.  Yes, you do all three at the same time! 

These have been the most blessed 16 months of my life and I look forward to many more months and years, and years, and years, as your mommy.  I hope you always feel loved and special, because you are, in so many ways.

Well, Mary’s World is filled with a runny, snotty nose right now.  Poor baby woke up Monday morning with it and it drained all day.  All she wants to do is nurse or chew on her teething ring so I think the runny nose is a result of teething.  The main problem is she doesn’t know how to blow her nose very well.  I’ll hold a cloth to her nose and say, “blow” and she will but it isn’t hard enough to do any good.  So instead I spent most of my day cleaning up the snot that was running down her face.  And if I was lucky, she would sneeze and I would be right there to hug the cloth under her nose for a cheat blow.  Last night, sleeping was horrendous because she couldn’t get comfortable.  I could just cry for my baby.  She seems happy and was playing and laughing all day.  It’s just that darn nose.  I’m just hoping it doesn’t drain to her ears and cause an infection.  Hopefully she’ll be feeling better soon!

In other news, about a year ago I bought this adorable cordourey lady bug material and finally put some use to it.

I absolutely love this dress and she looks so super fabulous in it.  When I went to take the picture below, Mary Rene turned her head just as I hit the button.

But I must say, my daughter has a beautiful profile and I love this picture of her.

Mary Rene is still in love with her doggie, Sophie B, and enjoys sitting with her on the couch.  Okay, maybe I should say, enjoys sitting on her.

After sitting on Sophie B for awhile, she will crawl on her, tickle her and then kiss her on the nose.

Sophie B lets Mary Rene do whatever she wants.

Mary Rene is up to saying 18 words now.  I feel like we are constantly adding to our refrigerator list!

My new favorite game to play with her is the name game.

Me: What do you tell Sophie?

Mary Rene: SIT (with complete attitude and pointing her finger)

Me:  What does Theo say? (Theo is my cat)

Mary Rene: meo meo

Me:  What does the cow say?

Mary Rene: mo mo

Me: What does the sheep say?

Mary Rene:ba ba (Just realized I don’t have that on her word list. So now we are up to 19!)

Me:  Where is mommy’s belly button?

Mary Rene:bop (and then walks over, lifts my shirt and touches my belly button)

At this point I start laughing and say, “tickle mommy.”

As she tickles me, she says, “tikle tikle tikle.”

Oh so cute, so fun, I could do it all day long.

Mary Rene loves, loves her dog Sophie B. and spends a great deal of her day playing with her.  Sophie B. is like her best gal pal and she shares all her toys with her.

Mary Rene will sit on the couch with Sophie B. and one by one, I have to load her up with every stuffed animal in the room.

Don’t be fooled, Sophie B. doesn’t mind.

Well, sometimes she does…it all depends on what Mary Rene is doing to her.

I ended up moving all the stuffed animals into Mary Rene’s room and well…she decided that her Nativity set needed to be shared with Sophie B. instead.

I’m learning that Mary Rene is a little OCD like me.  But hey, she watches me all day long and is learning my bad habits.  Her animals have to be in a straight line. 

So do her Little People.

I am trying harder to not be so anal picky about the way things are placed around the house.  Hopefully Mary Rene will learn to relax more than I have.

Mary Rene is doing better using a spoon by herself.  When she does get the food in her mouth she instantly drops her spoon and claps.  She knows she has done something good.

Baby girl is starting to say words better to the point that we can finally understand what she has been trying to say all these months!  Just yesterday alone I heard her say, “thank you,” “get” and “stop.”

Regarding her sleeping habits, oh I just don’t even want to go there.  But the one thing I will say is it is freezing in this house.  With our screen door missing and the old window, our front room is an ice box.  Which only moves cold air to the other rooms.  Plus with her mattress being on the cold ground…that doesn’t help.  My toes are freezing as I type this and I am wearing thick socks!  So the last week, I have been picking her up, asleep, and moving her into my room when I am ready for bed.  Which makes me think it is time for a toddler bed.

Frank and I have a tradition that the day after Thanksgiving we decorate the house for Christmas.  This year is no different than any other…just a bit more challenging. 

As we decorate the house we listen to Christmas music and have a merry ol’ time.  We start by bringing up Baby Jesus’ crib. 

Each day of Advent we will add straw to His crib and say something we are thankful for that day.  Our plan is to get His crib nice and padded for His arrival on the 25th.

Next, I took all Mary Rene’s books and hid them away until after Christmas.  She didn’t know what to think of the empty box.

But it was soon replaced with Christmas books and she was in book heaven again.  During Advent we will only read Christmas books, mostly those that talk about Baby Jesus.

On to the tree.

I guess Mary Rene felt left out because she decided to decorate Sophie B.

I laid our Advent wreath on the center of the kitchen table and then I gave Mary Rene her own wreath.

She got the Advent wreath as a birthday gift from my friend, Emily.  Such a great gift!

This year, we decided to do an Advent chain.  Each day, we will break off a chain and inside of it we wrote down someone special to pray for that day. 

As the chain gets shorter, Christ gets closer.

My mom bought Mary Rene her own Nativity set.

I wanted her to have her own so she wouldn’t play with the nice one.  Mary Rene was having a good time playing with her set

until she saw me set up the real Nativity set. 

Needless to say, it wasn’t set up for very long.

But mommy, your pieces are so much bigger!  But mommy, your pieces bang together louder.  But mommy, I know you don’t want me to play with them. 

And play with them she did.

She was being cute with them at first, playing nicely and kissing them

oh nevermind, she was trying to eat them.

Then she decided to take the ox and sheep grocery shopping

After their trip to the grocery store, they stopped at her butterfly chair for a little R&R.

Somehow one of the sheep ended up resting in Baby Jesus’ crib.

By the end of the night, two of the pieces were broken.

And the Nativity set was moved in our bedroom, on top of our dresser, where no little ones could reach it.

Here is to a good start to Advent…which starts on Sunday.