Birthday Photo Shoot

I had planned on having a photographer take Birthday pictures of Marlee on her Birthday weekend, but we had to cancel.  And now it is cold outside and our photographer doesn't have a studio so we had to cancel again.  So, we had James' sister take a couple of pictures of Marlee in her Birthday hat.

  Our family pictures are now rescheduled again for next weekend.  So, I doubt I will get them on a Christmas card, but hopefully I can at least get some prints made so I can give them to everyone at Christmas.

Lights on the Square

Every year, Fayetteville decorates the downtown square with Christmas lights and it is absolutely beautiful.  Mom, James, and I took Marlee to look at the lights last Monday.  Here she is as we entered the square.

 Taking it all in

 And pointing to all of the lights

 We looked at one of Santa's reindeer

 Mom took a family picture.  Marlee is still pointing and I can't believe that I didn't get a picture of her and her Memaw.

 Marlee spent the majority of the time there running around in her squeaky shoes (showing off her new walking skills), talking to other kids, and giggling.

 Love this one

When she gets a little older, we will have to ride a pony and maybe a camel, go on a horse an carriage ride, eat some cotton candy and get a funnel cake. This year she was content with running around under the lights. :)

12 Months Old

Weighs 19 pounds, 5 ounces.  Still in the 25th percentile for weight, but has moved up to the 50% for height

Still wearing 9-12 month clothes and size 3 diaper.

Walking everywhere and getting fast!  Also climbing on anything and everything

Still sleeping 11 hours at night, from 8:00pm to 7:00am and still taking two naps a day.

Transitioning to whole milk.  We still have a little bit of formula left, so we are mixing it in with milk. She will drink water our of a sippy cup like a champ, but prefers her milk in a bottle.  Not sure what to do about that because I'm ready to be done with bottles.

Has started liking more food.  She will now eat a turkey or ham sandwich and chicken nuggets (if I put a little ranch on them) and yogurt.  

Still points at everything.  And if it were up to her, we would walk around the house and tell her who is in every picture all day long.

Still a bookworm.  She will bring me a book and sit in my lap.  But, she is still picky with her books...one line per page or it loses her attention.

Still loves her monkey lovie, but we have limited it to nap time and bedtime only.  Otherwise, she would carry it around and suck her thumb all day long.  For some reason, she has to suck her thumb when she has her monkey.  They go hand in hand.

Still loves bath time and we have started putting a cap full of nighttime bath wash in her tub which makes bubbles.  She loves the bubbles.

Still dancing, but not really swinging her head anymore.  She now just bounces.

Starting to get an attitude.  I'm not a fan of that.

Loves to climb into her shopping cart and have her Dad push her around.

 

Loves to be outside.  She especially loves to walk around on the driveway.

Has said "Ma", "Pa", and "Dada"...although not consistently

Loves being in public.  But doesn't really love being in her stroller in public.  Now that she can walk, she would rather walk.  I guess I can't blame her.

Very outgoing and loves to work a crowd.

Happy Birthday, Marlee Mae!

Marlee Mae turned 1 last Sunday.  My baby girl is one year old and I can honestly say that it has been the best year of my life.  We had some friends over Thursday night for spaghetti and Ferg and Cassie brought her first Birthday present.

 It was a three piece band set and she absolutely loves it.  She has been composing music ever since. ;)

We made her Birthday pancakes for breakfast Sunday morning

 Soon after this picture, she threw the pancake like a frisbee.  I guess she isn't used to food that isn't cut in pieces.  So, Frank enjoyed the Birthday pancake.

After breakfast, I set out a couple gifts from us.  She enjoyed this toy for about 2 minutes (I don't think she is quite old enough yet) and loved climbing into her new big girl car seat.

 Marlee watch Baby Einstein DVDs about 10 times (way over her 30 minutes per day limit) so Dad and I could get ready for her party.  I should give a big shout out to Pinterest for the decoration ideas.  It was a fantastic Winter Onederland!

Here is our snowflake princess ready to greet her guests

She had so much fun with all of her favorite people in one place
 
 
 
 

This picture absolutely cracks me up.  Her facial expression and the fact that she is just hanging out with one of her little friends.  I love it.

Marlee didn't care much about her presents, but she did love playing with the ribbon and eating the wrapping paper

But the cake was a hit.

 Happy Birthday to my sweet Marlee Mae.  Daddy and I love you so much and could not imagine our lives without you in it.  You bring us so much joy each and every day and when we are not with you, we are talking about you.  You are such a sponge and you want to be learning every second you are awake.  Your sweet smile and giggle are my favorite and they both usually lead me to give you 1,000 kisses.  I know you can't stay little forever, but it sure is awesome and I promise to continue to enjoy every second that I get to spend with you. 

O Christmas Tree

The first couple days of the Christmas tree being up, Marlee would keep her distance, stare, and point.  A few days later she started lying underneath it and admiring the lights.  Now she loves to pull off the ornaments and "put them back on the tree".  She has three favorite ornaments: a football, a karate Santa, and a picture of Frank.  Here's a 5 minute idea of how this goes...

"Hmmm....there is that cool football ornament again.  I guess Mom put it back on the tree."

 "Mmmmm...so tasty."

 "Hi, Mom!"

 "Let me see what is over on this side."

 "A picture of Frank!"

 "Hey, what is that over there?"

And she is off to do something else.  She sure is a busy bee these days.  There is so much to do, see, and learn.