Hello There, Little Blog!

It has been hard to give my blog the attention that I want.  Between working, being a full time mom, school, being a wife, keeping a semi-orderly home and having a bit of "me" and "husband/wife" time, I don't get to blog as much as I would like.

We had a great visit with Robby and Katie this past weekend.  We lounged around the house, passed around babies, ate yummy food, did a little shopping and to top it off, I got to stay in my pj's most of the visit!  How can you not enjoy a visit that consists of pj's, coffee and babies?

 "Bobby Knox"

 Look at those big blue eyes!  Who's eyes do you think she has? Mine or Danny's?  I can't tell!

 Can I say adorable!?  Marissa grabbed Knox's hand, it was so cute!

We got home late Monday morning, around 1 am.  It was nice to be home and settle back into our routine here.  Danny and I took off of work on Monday.  I caught up on laundry, put all of our stuff away from our trip and tried to relax as much as one can with so many chores to catch up on.

Marissa has been doing really well.  She's not really rolling over much, but if you lay her on a blanket she will turn around like clock work.  Her head will be facing one direction and the next time you look over she's flipped all the way around.  This week Marissa is trying out sweet potatoes and so far, she seems to really like them.  She loves, loves, loves bananas.  She's not a huge fan of avocado but she will eat some of it.  She still likes her carrots but she seems to be liking the sweet potatoes more.

She has the cutest laugh I've ever heard, a smile that can make the gloomiest day brighter and her curiosity for life just has me falling in love with her more and more every day!  Danny and I can't seem to get enough of her.  Sometimes it's hard to share. :)

Mom and dad are coming to visit this weekend, they haven't seen Marissa since Christmas.  I think they'll be surprised at how big she has gotten.  She is growing so fast.  Holding Knox over the weekend reminded me of how little Marissa used to be.  I kept thinking to myself, was she ever this little?  It is amazing how fast these little people grow.  In just 4.5 months she has changed so much.  Before I know it I'm going to be planning for her first birthday party!  How in the world do I have an almost 5 month old?  It feels like just yesterday I was wobbling around, with swollen hands, feet and ankles, looking like I was smuggling a watermelon under my shirt.  Now I have this beautiful little girl who I can't imagine my life without.

New Additions

This weekend we are spending some time with Danny's brother, Robby, and his wife, Katie, in Bristol.  We finally got to meet the newest addition of their family, Robert Knox.  He is adorable!  I think he looks just like his momma.  Knox and Marissa are a little under 4 months apart, so they should have a lot of fun together as they get older.

Speaking of new additions, I got my 35mm f/1.8 lens for my camera.  I've been playing around with it a little bit and certainly have a lot of homework to do.  Here are a few photos from my first time using it...

 Baby Knox

 Eli was being a good puppy model for my new camera lens

I'm having a lot of fun with my camera.  Still have a lot of studying to do but hopefully I'll learn more as I play with it. 

Speaking of learning...I'm signed up for a course this Spring semester and it is my LAST CLASS to get my degree.  I don't know if I will continue on with my education or not but it will be nice to check this off of my to~do list.  It's been a long time coming, that's for sure.  I just hope that with working full time, being a wife and a full time mom, I can keep up with my studies and all of my other duties without totally overwhelming myself.  People do it all the time, right?  It's all about time management, I suppose.

Check out the "newest addition" to my recipes tab for this yummy (and easy) recipe!

MmMmmmM...

We have officially dived in to solids.  So far Marissa has had carrots and banana.  Today I spent some time making and freezing baby food for her.  In the upcoming weeks she will try out her taste buds for kiwi, sweet potato and avocado.  In the future I plan to make apples, peas and maybe some peaches.  She has been doing really good with the purees I've made.  Some of the faces she makes are priceless, but every time I bring the spoon to her mouth she opens wide for another bite.

 I have carrots, would you like some carrots?

Marissa is absolutely loving her jumperoo.  I think this is her favorite Christmas gift!  It plays music when she moves, she can jump and there are a lot of toys to play with.  Such a happy girl!

This weekend we finally got some time to R-E-L-A-X!  Ah, it was much, much needed R&R.  Friday we watched movies, ate popcorn and spent the evening together.  Date nights have pretty much been non-existent since we've had Marissa but I must say, I don't really mind that much.  We've been able to go out to dinner with friends several times and so far Marissa has done really good when we go out to eat.  Saturday we picked up around the house a little and spent the afternoon at the in-laws house.  They enjoyed spending time with Marissa but after dinner she was getting cranky and ready to go home.  We got in bath time and dinner for her and she was out for the night.  Well, let me rephrase that, she's not exactly sleeping through the night anymore, but she was asleep until 1:00.  That gave us time to enjoy a few beers and relax before bed.  I am not sure what has gotten into her lately but she is up two times a night now.  Talk about a tired Momma!  It wouldn't be so bad but I kind of got used to her sleeping through the night or almost sleeping through the night.  Working full time and getting up several times in the night is harsh!

We have a short work week coming up and then a four day weekend.  We are going to go visit Robby and Katie and their new addition next weekend.  We're really excited to meet Knox and it's been almost 2 months since we saw Robby and Katie so it will be nice to see them again.

We're also working on making some vacation plans for this summer.  I think we've found a house in the OBX, now we just need to finalize all the plans and book our trip.  I'm so excited to take Marissa to the beach for the first time!  

Have a wonderful week, blogger world!

4 Month Stats

Marissa had her 4 month well baby visit yesterday.  She is continuing to grow right on track and the doctor's are happy with her growth and development.  For a breast feeding mom, that's always good news!  Formula fed babies sometimes get more calories and gain weight faster than a breast fed baby.  Sometimes I wish they had two different growth charts, one for formula fed babies and one for breast fed babies.  I feel that you would get a better idea of her growth compared to other babies her age.  Anyway, I digress...her growth is great and she's as happy as can be!

Age - 4 months

Weight - 13 pounds 3 Ounces

Length - 25 Inches

Head Circumference - 15.75 inches

4 Month Percentiles:

Height - 75th %

Weight - 37th %

Head - 21st %

So how does she match up to her 2 month well baby visit?  Well, her numbers have actually gone down a little bit in the percentile range but she has gained a little over 2 pounds, .75 inches in head circumference and .75 inches in length. 

Marissa also had to get 3 more vaccines.  I will say that she did much, MUCH better than her 2 month shots.  She still cried, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic as the last time and I wasn't a blubbering mess didn't cry at all.

I've been having a lot of fun with my new camera, still trying to get used to all of the functions and features, but I'm learning.  Here's a few recent photos:

 *Little cutie pie*

 Hi, Momma!

 Daddy's Girl!

Marissa was pretty fussy last night around bedtime, I could tell she wasn't feeling well so we gave her some tylenol and finally got her settled down.  Her sleep has been all over the place it seems.  Ever since the Holidays, her schedule hasn't gotten straightened back out.  She's waking up 1 to 2 times a night, anywhere from 1:30 am to 4:00 am.

The pediatrician said that we can go ahead and start solids if we want.  I told her my plan to make my own baby food and to skip rice cereal and oatmeal.  She said that was fine and to just wait one week in between introducing foods so that if she has any allergies we'll know what it is.  On Marissa's 4 month birthday we gave her a little taste of banana.  Her face said "what the hell is this, mom?" but she actually did really well eating it.  The pediatrician said that since she has good head control and is sitting up well (still assisted) that it would be okay to slowly start introducing purees.  The doctor said this may or may not help her sleep more through the night, so we'll see how our adventure into solids goes!

4 Month Photo Session

Marissa and I got up early for a mini photo session while Daddy slept in.  The photo shoot consisted of almost every picture with Marissa's fingers in her mouth.  She still looks cute, but it would be nice to see the face behind the thumb!

We have her 4 month well baby visit tomorrow (more shots, too) so I'll update her stats then!

Resolutions!

I'm usually not one for making New Year's resolutions.  Let's admit, most people go in with a resolution with no real intentions of following through.  I've decided that for my New Year's resolution, we are going to start recycling.  We tried this last year and did good for awhile, but slowly stopped and eventually quit all together.  I want to be more conscious about being green.  It will cut down on our regular waste and I feel that we should have been recycling a long time ago.  So, what's your New Year's resolution?  If you don't have one yet, I challenge you to recycle too!  Think of all those beer cans and bottles you drank out of while you were ringing in the New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!  Hope you brought the New Year in with the ones you love!  I know I did, and I made some black eyed peas for good luck. :)

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!