There's been alot going on lately . . . .

but that's no excuse for not blogging. so for all our fans out there we send a big apology!

marley had her 6 month dr appointment monday 1/14. she's doing great. so far she's on track with all her developmental milestones, they're pleased with what she's eating and has been pretty darn healthy overall. she's had those first signs of a cold off and on since her 4 month check-up but it never turned into anything. so far we've dodged that bullet. she weighs 18 lbs and 4 oz, and she's 26 1/2 inches long. that's about the 88th and 75th percentiles. what can i say?? she's got her mom's body.

then the following thursday, i come downstairs after my a.m. routine to a flooded kitchen. i made a quick call to my dad, took marley to daycare and cancelled my clients, and then came home to try to figure this out. my dad and i spent all morning working on the drainage system and eventually found the clog. i won't go into all the details, but it was pretty much as anyone can imagine. complete with surprise sprays in the face, disgusting stuff all over clothes, a trip to home depot, and many curse words.

and then on sunday i wake up to no water in my bathroom. frozen pipes. this happened last year, so i called my dad again and did the same stuff i did before to defrost the pipes. like i said, this was in the morning. i call my dad in the middle of the afternoon asking him how long this defrosting should take. after all, i only have one bathroom. i finally get some hot water in there, but only to the sink and to the toilet. go figure. i mean, the pipes go the the bathtub first so why would i expect there to be hot water there? my dad comes over (again) and we try all this stuff but can't get the water working. it's like 8pm now. so i call a plumber. they'll come over monday. which is MLK day, so i'm not working. thank god. my dad continues to work until after 10 i think, then leaves me with a protable heater in the crawlspace and alot of fears about starting a fire. that night i left water running everywhere and the heat cranked up to keep anymore pipes from freezing. i'm sure my water and gas bill doubled in just one day.

on monday, still no water. yes it's been 24 hours now. the plumber comes about 10. he can't figure it out, but was gonna try something that probably wouldn't work. but would cost up around $400 anyway. and if it didn't work i was going to have to start tearing up floors and walls - and i'm not kidding or exaggerating. so the plumber sits down to write up this estimate, my dad sits down to shoot the shit with him, and i sit down to pretty much cry and pray that the pipes just burst (b/c then insurances pays!!) when the DAMN WATER STARTS COMING OUT OF THE FAUCET! i kid you not - all the guy thinks he did is move some debris out of the way in the basement and that must have let enough warm air get up in the crawlspace to the pipe.

oh the joys of homeownership.

then it's thursday again. i start to feel a little sick late in the day. wake up friday and feel fine. but by that afternoon i'm in the e.r. with a temp of about 105 and the diagnosis of influenza. yeah - the real flu, not just the "oh i feel like crap i must have the flu" but the flu that they give you special flu medicine for. and if anyone reading this ever has to take the special flu medicine, take it with food. because if there's anything worse than the flu it's the flu with dry heaves. just trust me. i had to take the special flu medicine, cough syrup with codine, sudafed, ibuprofen and run a vaporizer. this is where being a single mom is unfortunate, the dr told me the meds were pretty much going to pretty much put me to sleep. so i packed up marley and peyton, and off we went to the grandparents. i never made it past the couch. with the exception of the dry heaves incident. on saturday my mom had plans so she took marley to my sister marcy's house. marley stayed with her cousins jonah and aidan until sunday, and then back to grandma's house. i stayed with my dad.

MY DAD IS SO SICK OF ME RIGHT NOW. and i love you for it Dad!! xoxox

i've been trying to post pictures of marley with my posts. you'll notice that there aren't any today. that's because i can't find my camera. yeah. great 2 weeks huh??

but my baby is safe and sound, warm and healthy, snoring softly in her crib. and believe me, it's all worth it.

December 2007

wow. alot happened in december. of course, i had a great first christmas. santa brought me lots of stuff, both toys and clothes. i'm such a busy player now and i really like toys that i can pick up and move from one hand to the other. and everything that i can pick up goes in my mouth. i can sit-up pretty well now, and i really like to do that. i'm eating stage 2 baby foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. and i get to drink some juice every day too. with all these new foods my tummy was getting pretty upset so the juice keeps things going. my mom makes me try my sippy cup with juice first. but i'm still not too sure about that crazy thing so i get to finish it up from my bottle. which i can hold all by myself now, and i'm drinking 7 ounces of formula at a time. i got alot of pretty new clothes for christmas and i wear size 6-9 months. but some of the pants are a little snug around those "frost thighs". mom got me a new carseat because i was getting cramped in the baby carrier. i also got a new taggie blanket. it's my most favorite thing to play with when i'm sleepy.

thanks for checking out my update, and i'll see you next month!! oh - mom's been a little behind in this so i'm sure there will be another post from her soon about my 6 month dr. visit.

have a happy and healty 2008 everyone! love - marley

Ben loses the ball!

and so goes the end of Marley's first football season. the steelers lose to the jaguars at home 31-29 and finish the season with 10 wins and 7 losses.

as you can see from the first picture marley was just disgusted by the whole thing.

i guess the fact that marley can sit up now with just a little support wasn't enough motivation for the black and gold. maybe next year.

4 weeks, 6 days and about 12 hours until the 2008 Bud Shootout. GO TONY!

I just can't quite reach . . .

oh binky. how did this happen? jump back up here in my hand. c'mon. you can do it! just a little more oomph.

this is what i found this morning when i went to get marley up and ready for the day. my immediate thought was to run and get the camera. because really, how cute is this? the memory of it has been popping in my head all day, making me smile. but then as i got ready to start writing this post, i got to thinking about how sad it could be too. now i can't stop imagining her in the dark of night, reaching for her binky and trying so hard to get it. she's all alone, no one to hear her little grunts of frustration. mommy's sound asleep in her bed in the next room, oblivious to it all.

My sister's gonna kill me.

can we post video on this blog? i think we can.

Marley's First Christmas Morning

Here's some pictures of Christmas Morning. Mabel was hiding behind the tree, peeking out between the branches at us. Peyton was still a little sleepy when we first got up. Elmo was mesmerizing to all. Marley likes the toys that light up and make noise, such as the spinning letter sounds thing. The animal train that moves across the floor was also a big hit. We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for breakfast and to see what Santa had left there. Uncle Andrew's Wii was a big hit (as you can see from the three pictures on the bottom). Grandpa sure can bowl!