i have not forgotten

about you, dear blog reader friends. it's just been crazy. all aspects of life have been crazy. it's now 10:30pm and i'm just getting time to sit down and have a minute. of course, there are a zillion things that need to be done. anyone feel like folding laundry or unloading a dishwasher for me? come on! you know you want to!!

marley has been changing every day. in little ways and in big ways. she's a crawling maniac, constantly on the move. and fast too! and she can climb up the steps. the entire flight. which she loves to do. i've got gates sitting here waiting for me to figure out how to install. she really likes her hippo push toy and is now walking behind it like a big girl. she's stood by herself a couple of times, but falls pretty quickly. so we aren't quite walking, but probably by the end of summer.

and her mouth moves just as much as her legs do :) she loves music and dances along. she has also figured out how to "sing" to herself. she does her rocking/dancing and then vocalizes along in this high-pitched sing-songy voice. she loves to play "peek a boo" and "so big". she blows kisses, and gives hugs and kisses. she waves hi and bye, and can say both. she says "mom" now, very clearly. and has used "papa" for her grandpa. "da" is for the peyton, and "ka" is for the cat. she also produces a great "s" sound and can clearly say "ass". i am so proud! she signs "more" and "milk", and is getting very interested in watching the sign language stuff. we found some old school sesame street you tube videos and she's so intrigued by them. especially "ladybug picnic".

marley has also developed quite a temper. she understands "no" very well, but has begun to sass back a little. she's also been known to slap at people when she's mad.

i'm starting to introduce milk. she got ahold of aidan's sippy cup of chocolate milk one day and drank the whole thing. no problems after, so i figured why not give it a try. i think she'll go easily to whole milk completely, but i think we're going to have some problems giving up the bottle. i bought a straw cup to try with her. she can drink well from a straw, so i'm hoping that that works a little better than a regular sippy cup as far as replacing the bottle. wish me luck!

we had our first vacation. we went to north carolina for marley's cousin kate's 1st birthday. it was so much fun. kate and marley played very nicely together, and seemed to really enjoy each other's company. it was a long trip back, just the 2 of us. and i've had some trouble putting marley to bed at night since we came back too. she got used to sharing a room with mommy I guess. oh well. i guess before i know it i'll be begging her to cuddle with me!!

i'll try to get some recent pictures loaded this weekend! enjoy the heat :)