Christmas

Well, we made it back to WI after our 9-day vacation for Christmas. Now we are relaxing as best as we can, trying to finish Samara's room, catching up on other things and I am working on finishing my senior thesis for my Masters. Hoping to be done by Friday! We are loving being off for two weeks!

Anyway, Christmas was great! After a difficult ride to MN on Saturday through a snowstorm, we went to my old church back in St. Paul. Mara loved it, but doesn't understand why she has to be quiet during prayer and can talk during worship, so we utilized the crying room, which was very nice. We then visited my grandpa and grandma on the farm and they loved playing with her. That night Mara left us her first present during a bath, if you know what I mean!! I freaked out.

Monday we visited with my high school friend Beth and Grant and their kids. Beth is expecting her 5th! CONGRATS!! That night we celebrated Christmas with my Grandma Lilly and amazed everyone with how big Mara is getting, how vocal she is, how much she eats and how well she plays. Tuesday we relaxed at my dad's with my uncle and yummy sandwiches. Wednesday we had Christmas at my mom's and Mara played with her cousins Kenny and Michael. Trav and Kenny and Grandpa Jerry took to the manmade hill outside as did Mara on her new sled. Later we tried on her new swimsuit and took a dip in the big tub. She loved it and splashed up a storm.

Thursday we were off to Madison to visit Grandpa Jim and Grandma Maria. We relaxed there a few days while Trav tried to snowmobile and worked on his truck. We visited with some of Trav's high school friends and did some shopping. I have learned that the Baby Bjorn, as great as it is, doesn't make Mara weigh any less or make my back hurt less...Anyway, Christmas there was great and Cousin Kameron had a good time making Mara laugh, that is until she bombed out and had to be put to bed. We finally came home Sunday and spent the next day cleaning up the house and putting things away.

Now we are finishing painting up Mara's room while she is playing with her new fav toys. She loves her stacking rings from Grandma and Grandpa Nonn, all her Dora toys from Aunt Shelle, was a hit in her Wild outfit at daycare on Monday, and is anxiously awaiting to get back in her sled (all our snow is melted).

Trav is hoping to get some snowmobiling in tomorrow while I travel to Chicago to hand in my paper. Then Friday we are off to do some skiing while Mara visits at daycare. Mom and Dad need some alone time, too!! Then back to the grind...Argh!!!

Anyway, pictures are coming. I haven't had the time to download them yet...Please be patient.

Big girl in her big girl chair!

I like reading in my chair, just like mommy!!

Here I am reading the Barnyard dance. I love this book!

Not quite done with my book, yet.

All done. Now it is time to cheese!

We had a busy weekend. Mommy played with friends on Friday, so I hung out with daddy and we played, but no forts, though. Shucks, too bad! Saturday I was tired and I think that mommy and daddy were, too, because they didn't wake me up in time to go to swim class. Guess mommy played too hard with her friends! That night mom and dad took me out for dinner and I had a little bit of fun, but I really wanted to eat what daddy was eating, something red with cheese on it. Made his breath smell yucky, though! Sunday was fun cause I got to sing with everyone at church and they didn't tell me to hush, I got to watch mommy talk to the church people, I got to play with other little friends after daddy shushed me again, and then daddy took me home to play more. Finally mommy came home and we watched these guys in purple on TV beat these other guys in red. It made mommy happy, but daddy was sad cause the guys in green lost to the guys in blue and black. I just laughed at him and then he laughed, too! I can't wait to see what daddy and I are going to do tomorrow!!!

I have a new trick. I suck on my lip! Mommy liked it so much, she made me do it while she took pictures! Silly!

In this video I am playing with my Barnyard Dance book. I guess this is super cool or something. I was just trying to get the dumb thing open!

*Mommy said I have to tell you that I can crawl now. Only she says that it isn't the right way. I like to push myself up on my arms and push backwards. Sometimes it is bad because it makes my toys further away, other times it is cool because I get a lot of attention when I do it. Anyway, I didn't do it when mommy had the camera out...HE HE HE...got her, didn't I?

Hearing Test Update

Mara had her hearing retested at CHW Wednesday. We needed a retest because the first time Mara had fluid in her ears that may have skewed the results. Well, thankfully she didn't have to have the same test as last time (where she had to stay asleep or she would have to be sedated). She got to sit in a sound booth with Travis and listen and respond to noises from the corners of the booth. Anyway, bad news is, she still has fluid, now in both ears. Her ENT Dr. cleared out the wax and did a timpanogram, which checks to see if the ear drum moves like it should. It did not, indicating that there is fluid in her middle ear canal, again. Luckily, no infection. So she has mild hearing loss because of the fluid, so we just have to talk to her closer and look at her face when we speak, but that is it. We will have an ENT recheck in January and discuss tubes in the ears to help the fluid drain. Then, if that is successful, do a hearing recheck. WHEW! What a day! Thankfully, I didn't have to go back to work, so Mara could rest at home, because believe me, the ordeal of having wax cleared out was NOT FUN!

Promised pictures

I am counting babies!

OH! Reading is so much work!

I can't turn the page without sticking my tongue out!

Hey all, here is my new booster seat for mealtimes. What do you think?

Playing isn't just for Mara, anymore!

It's for daddy and mommy, too!

Ready for the Badger game after a good dinner of Pizza Hut.

Close up of my cute tattoo (that took 15 minutes to scrub off Sunday morning before church!).

Here is mommy and me, but mommy likes watching the game more than posing! We won, by the way, or so I am told. I was sleeping...

Don't call CPS on me for this one! She just tipped over (no crying=no owey!)

Christmas is a-coming

We have a beautiful tree! I wanted to get a video of Mara when she first saw it, all decorated and lit up, but she woke up before we were done and we didn't have enough lights to cover it, so she didn't seem that impressed. I sure do like the fresh smell of pine in our casa, though!!!

We had a great weekend and have lots of fun pics and video to show, but you will have to wait till tonight to see it. Swimming continues to go well and she loves splashing me. She is sitting up so well, reaching for everything, eating her toes, and bouncing and clapping a lot. She is testing a few new sounds, like ada, but definitely has an affinity towards dada. We caved in and bought her a booster seat for eating. We used to use her Bumbo with a tray, but, sad to say, her thighs are too big to fit in it now! DON'T LAUGH! So now she has a cute rainforest booster seat for years to come!

We are expecting a snowstorm soon, so maybe we can get some pics of Mara in the snow this week. On Wednesday she has another appt. at Children's Hospital to get her hearing retested. We are praying that it will be accurate and she won't have any fluid in her ear like last time, otherwise we have to get retested again in 3 months! Hearing tests are VERY DIFFICULT, to say the least! More later...

Art Project, Kinda

Mara and I tried to work on our Christmas art project tonight, while Trav was sleeping (he is sick =( ). Needless to say, she hated it. She loved playing on the floor while I got things ready, but once the paint was applied, it was all downhill. Hopefully we can try again another time.

Mara exploring a wooden spoon.

ETC....

ETC....

Mara playing with the soap water that we washed up in (see following video...)

Trying so hard....

...to crawl. I did some internet searching on different techniques to help babies crawl and found one. We are intent on getting Mara to crawl (supposed to be good for the brain, I read), so we tried something new tonight.

Oh Yeah, I chopped all my hair off because most of it fell out. So instead of having long hair with spikes of new hair everywhere, I have short hair and can hide the spikes. I hope that this was due to baby hormones and nothing else!!!

Mara standing!!

My big little girl!

So here is the technique: You place the towel under their upper chest to push them up onto their hands and knees and help them get used to this position. Then you put a toy in front of them and assist them in moving forward toward it. Doesn't look like much, but it is great progress for our lady!!