Much Ado About Something!

Today Marissa is 4 months old!  Yep, she is 1/3 of a year old.  In 4 months she has learned so much.  From discovering she has hands (and a thumb that is oh so yummy), to smiling, to laughing, rolling from her belly to her back and rolling from her back to her belly (she did this for the first time yesterday)!  She has melted our hearts and given us the best gift you could ever ask for.  I will have her 4 month stats on the 4th when she goes to the pediatrician.  I'm estimating that she will weigh about 13 pounds.

 We have also discovered that we don't like socks...and we kick them off every chance we get!

Speaking of pounds, I've lost a few more!  I now have 6 pounds to go until I reach my pre-pregnancy weight.  If you are one of those ladies who just sheds the pounds after child birth, good for you.  I however, am one of those ladies that it took 9 months to gain the weight and it will probably take 9 months to lose the weight.  And I'm perfectly okay with that.

New Year's Eve is literally right around the corner!  We have no definitive plans, I guess it's just not on our top priority list this year.  We may go out to an early dinner with friends and reside at our home or a friend's to watch the ball drop, drink champagne and bring in the New Year.

I'm loving my new camera.  I am taking a 12 week course to better photography and I've learned a lot so far. I still have a looong ways to go though, but at least some of the lingo is no longer a foreign language to me.  There's this lens that I'm eye balling, in the photography world they call it the "thrifty fifty."  Now why they call it the thrifty fifty?  I don't know, because it costs about $200.00.  I have a $50.00 Visa gift card from Christmas, so I really only need an additional $150.00.  I'm trying to convince Danny to let me go buy it but he thinks I should work with what I have for the time being.  Boo, he's no fun!  He told me to conjure up something to sell on Craigslist.  Hmmm.... ::rubbing hands together::  Dang it, I'm drawing a blank!  I have no idea what I could sell on Craigslist for $150.00.  I'll keep working on the hubs, he'll cave when he wants something in exchange.  :)

We had a little visitor yesterday.  Auntie C came to visit all the way from South Korea!  It was a short visit, but a visit, no less.  This will be the last time we get to see her in person until next November.  So there were lots of snuggles, coffee and she brought us a few gifts from her far away land.

 Popular Korean Beer and bowls that they drink out of

 Are these shoes not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  Marissa is stylin'!

I wish I had a pair of these for me. 

 Nap time

It was a good visit, just not long enough.  Thanks again, C, for our South Korean presents! :-D

Happy New Year if I don't blog again before then, may you bring in the New Year with the ones you love the most!

Santa Was Good, Really Good!

Santa (aka Danny) was suuupppppeeeerrrr generous this year!  I got a brand new Nikon D3000!  I'm so excited to learn more about photography and capture beautiful photos of our growing family.  I'll admit, it's a bit overwhelming with all the settings, aperture, depth of field, millimeters, oh my!  But I've already learned a new term today, "bokeh" meaning blur or aesthetic quality of the blur.  Wait?  Aren't pictures supposed to be crisp and clear, not blurry?  Well I really like photos that have a central focus point that draws you in, so that's what I'm going for in these photos.  I have so much to learn and I think it would be really neat to join a photography club or find a mentor.  In the meantime, I'm going to learn as much as I can on my own. :)  I know that beautiful photography starts with the photographer, not the camera...so lets hope I have that artistic touch.

Miss Sadie Lady! 

 Our little roller

 Christmas baby legs and a pink fluffy butt!

I want a little more "bokeh" but I think that will take a little more time and practice.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  I loved spending our first Christmas as a family together.

Look What I Can Do!

I just wanted to share that Marissa rolled over for the very first time today.  What a big milestone!  She did it just like she's a pro!  The greatest part was Danny and I, my parents and my brother were all here to witness it.  We were all clapping and cheering as she rolled over 4 times!  I even caught it all on camera.  I am so proud of her, such a big girl!

Hi Momma!

 Are you paying attention?

 You better be paying attention, big things are about to happen...

 Tuck...

And Roll! 

TA~DA!

With each roll she got faster and faster!  On the last roll she went so fast she bumped her head...she started to cry and was pretty much over it.  Last weekend she was trying to roll from back to tummy but didn't have much luck.  Today she rolled from belly to back without a hitch!

Who's the Guy with the White Beard?

Today Marissa got to meet the big man, you know, Santa Claus!  She didn't cry and was quite intrigued with her present.  My work throws an annual Christmas party for everyone to bring in their families.  Santa brings gifts for the children and we have pizza afterwards.  Today there was about 75 kids at my work!  Marissa stayed with me all day and she looked adorable in her Christmas dress that I picked out for her.

 Like father, like daughter...watching Santa come in!

 Oh my!  A present for me?

My Christmas cards finally came in the mail on Monday.  So I was in a rush to get them all filled out and in the mail by Tuesday.  Much to my surprise, several people told me they received their card by Wednesday!  Yay!  I was so afraid they wouldn't make it out in time.  I was holding off on posting our family Christmas photos until everyone received their Christmas cards.  So, here are a few more from our Christmas photo session!

Gosh I love our little family!  

I feel like I have much more to blog about but it's time to snuggle up on the couch with my hubby and watch a movie together (and maybe sneak in a glass of wine in there).  Have a wonderful Christmas, blogger world!

A New Addition to the Family!

Robert Knox was born on December 22nd, 2010, weighing 8 pounds 12 ounces and 21 inches long.  Marissa's new baby cousin made an early arrival!  We are so happy for Robby and Katie and can't wait for them to experience all of the joys that Danny and I have over the past several months.  You guys will love every minute of parenthood!  Katie, if you are reading this...I had to hi-jack your picture from Facebook, hope ya don't mind! :)  Love you guys and let us know if you need anything!

 Such a handsome little man!  Can't wait to meet him, I gots the "bebe feva!"



What A Week!

In case I forgot to mention...thank you mom and dad for the awesome Redskins tickets last Sunday.  Even with the rain, we truly did have a blast!  And mom, you need to "follow" my blog...I know you are out there reading this! :)  Love ya!

Earlier in the week Marissa was sleeping like total crap.  She was up several times in the night, which is very unusual for her.  I know, I know...getting up in the night is all a part of being a mom and I have no problem with that.  Tuesday night she was up so many times, fussing, not really eating, stuffy nose, pulling at her ear and just generally unhappy.  I checked her temperature and she had a low grade fever of 100.6.  I decided to call the pediatrician on Wednesday morning and get her an appointment.  I took her in at 2:00 and the doctor confirmed she has an ear infection and a nasty cold.  My poor baby!  :(  So we got her an antibiotic and we've been staying home to get her better this week.  We also got snow this week so I didn't want to be dragging her out in the cold while she is sick.  Unfortunately, I think that going from hot to cold, getting over heated and then breathing in cold, moist air is what has gotten her in this position in the first place.  After two days on antibiotics, using that nasty blue bulb to get the nasties out of her nose, steamy showers and lots of mommy snuggles, my little love bug is finally starting to feel better.  Her nose is still extremely stuffy but her overall mood is much, much better!  I know it is inevitable and that she will get sick, but I don't like to see her not feeling well.

Yesterday Marissa got to see her first round of real snow!  We watched from inside as the snow fell.  One day we will get to take her sled riding, build snowmen, make snow angels and even have snowball fights (I see a Mommy & Marissa versus Daddy snowball fight in our future).  Here's our view after the storm:

Since we've been stuck in the house for three days now, we've been doing lots of play time on our new play mat!

 Hanging with Octopus and Seahorse

Under the Sea 

 Of course we have to taste everything...nom, nom, nom!

 Marissa is now grasping at toys, look at those motor skills!

 We officially have a thumb sucker!

Since I can't wait any longer...here is a sneak peek at our Christmas photos.  I wanted to wait until I got our Christmas cards out but they haven't come in the mail yet. :(  I hope I can get them out before Christmas!

12 Days 'til Christmas!

And we still haven't finished our Christmas shopping.  I guess we better do that this weekend, along with all the other crazies who haven't finished.

This past weekend we had most of my dad's family over to our house for an early Christmas celebration.  We had a great turnout and I think everyone had a good time.  It was nice to see everyone and catch up.  Of course, Marissa was quite the hit and everyone enjoyed seeing her for the first time.  We had about 15 people in the house, so we were pretty full.  The pass through in the kitchen was full of yummy food, we opened a bottle of wine, we drank and we were merry.  Isn't that what the Holidays are all about?  Good food, good times and being with family!

3 Generations...my mom, me and Marissa

 Grandpup and Grammy with Marissa

 Here's a group shot, minus Danny...he was nice enough to take the picture for us. 

Kim, Paul, Janette, Marissa, Wes, me, Tina, Linda, Carl, Jen, Josh, Doug, Jeremy, Lauren and Madison.

On Sunday Danny and I went to the Redskins vs Bucs game at Fed Ex Field.  It was chilly and it rained most of the time, but we had so much fun together.  This was our first time going out together without Marissa since she was born!  Thanks to my parents for the early Christmas present.  We made it to the game with enough time to tailgate before hand.  Then we went inside, got drinks and found our seats.  We spent way too much on beer, yelled, cheered and unfortunately weren't able to walk away with a win under our belts, but we still had fun.  

In our panchos!

Overall it was a great weekend.  It wasn't long enough but then again it never is.  I wish I had more time to spend with Danny and Marissa, the days just go by so fast...