A Surprise from Daddy!

Marley is in love with Franklin the turtle. That is her new favorite show to watch, which is one of the only shows I let her watch currently. I told Asa about her new love for Franklin, and he got online and ordered her a lot of 28 Franklin books! That is a lot of Franklin!
So, he told me that he wanted me to make her a scavenger hunt, and have the books be the prize at the end! I got it all done tonight and unfortunately I only have pictures of before and after since I was recording the actual hunting. But she loved it! She loved the hunt and the puzzles and especially the books! There are 28, so we will have to spread out the reading over a few days! But she was so happy to know that he Daddy got them for her and told me he was the "best Daddy ever!"And he is, isn't he?!

Dessert!

Tonight, we had a special treat: ice cream with sprinkles! Marley was so excited to have something so fun after dinner! Ice cream is one of the things that Marley remembers doing with Daddy. Her Daddy loves ice cream also and it's on the list of things to do in September!

Summer Swimming Fun!

Her own glass of tea!

Marley loves iced tea! I allow myself one single glass a day and I think it might be her favorite part of the day!

Any time someone in the house is making a glass she asks, "Can I put the lemon in?" or "Can I put that sugar in your tea?" or "Can I stir that for you?" She wants to help with every part of it, but her favorite part to help with is the drinking! She is going to fit right into this family with her tea addiction later in life!

Marley's Words, Part Six

"I wish I can have big boobies like you one day!"

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While Marley and I were discussing names for her brother or sister I asked, "Do you like the name Oliver?" Marley thought about it for a minute and said, "No... I like Olive-him!"

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We drove past a field of cows today and Marley excitedly said, "I saw a cow! It was looking at me!" I replied, "Oh, really? Did he say 'Hi Marley'?"

"No! He is just a cow!"

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Me: "Who do you love?"
Marley: "I love Mommy. I love Daddy. I love my brudder-seester. I love pink. I love the water park. I love ice cream. I love tree."

The Future

One of my biggest fears about having a new baby is how it will change my relationship with Marley. I have been with her every single day and every single night of her life. She and I are buddies, and that will never change. But it would be completely naive of me to think that things will stay the exact same way they are now.

Asa and I have always known that we wanted a big family, so there wasn't ever a debate about whether or not we should have a second baby. We knew we would. We want our kids to have siblings to play in the yard with, and we want to have big family dinners together every night. I still want those things, it just breaks my heart a little bit to think about that fact that my time with just Marley is running out. Starting in July, she isn't the only one who gets to decide what games we play or when we do something. There will be another little baby who has a say also. And our last time as a family of three was months ago, before Asa left! It will never again be the three of us, like it has been for over two years.

Don't get me wrong, she will be an awesome big sister. I have never doubted that. She will love this baby more than I can imagine right now. I just worry about her still knowing how special she is to me. We have talked about how I will be nursing the baby, and I will have to rest a lot. And we have talked about how I might need her help sometimes and the fact that she will have to be gentle with the baby. I am trying to prepare her as much as I can, I just fear it will be a big shock when it actually happens.

I am sad that I will miss things with Marley now. Other people may have to take her to do things that I would have normally done with her. What will she think? Will she miss me? Will she understand? Will she still want to cuddle with me just as much as she does now? Will she be happy to cuddle with me and the baby? I don't want to miss her gymnastics classes or reading her bedtime stories.

But then I remind myself how much fun she will have with this baby one day. Right now, I am really thinking this baby is a little girl. Marley and I talk about what her name will be, things they will do together one day, and how much fun they will have. I picture two little girls together, and I wonder how this baby will be different from Marley. Marley has my personality for the most part, so will this baby have Asa's? Will she be the wild child? Will she look like Marley? Will they be best friends and will Asa get to continue to say "my girls"? And if it's a boy, will Marley like to play dress up with him like I did my little brother? Will she want to protect him, and have an opinion about the girls he wants to date one day? Will he be the wild child? Will he be an Asa Jr. and destroy everything is his path, break both of his arms, and pour rice in his big sister's computer? Will they be best friends, no matter what the sex of this baby?

I like to think so. And I like to think that it may be hard to miss my little girl at first, it is totally worth it for her to have a sibling. I think about the cute pictures I will get of them, and the activities we will like to do together, and it makes me so excited. I can't for Asa to meet this baby, and for us to be a family of four. I'll put on kid in the car seat while he does the other. He can push the stroller while I hold Marley's hand. He can get Marley a snack while I'm feeding the baby. Little things like that will mean the world to me when we can be a family again.

There is so much to look forward to about having a new baby, and I know it will be wonderful. I am just so scared of how I will feel when it's not just Marley and me anymore. I am trying to soak up our alone time together right now and make plenty of memories for us to think about later. And in the end, everything will be fine and we will have our big happy family around the table for dinner!

A Play Date with Zane

We had a play date yesterday with our friends Zane and Samantha! We haven't seen them in a while, and Marley was very nervous when we first got there. But by the end of it, she was playing, they were working together to fill a dump truck with rocks, and they were talking up a storm together. It was amazing to me that they could understand each other, when sometimes we couldn't understand what they were talking about!

It was great to have another mommy to talk to and see Marley play with another kid. They also have a 4 month old little girl named Kymber, who Marley loved! She kept saying, "We are going to have a baby like that!" I can't wait to see her with her brother or sister!

Friday in New Jersey

We are back from New York and New Jersey, and I have 520 pictures to look through and narrow down! We were only there from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, but it was exhausting! We spent all day yesterday resting and sleeping and recuperating, and Marley and I are finally feeling normal again.

So, I am starting with day one, Friday. One of Marley's favorite parts of the trip was keeping track of how many different modes of transportation we had been on. So, Friday we rode in Daddy's truck, a bus, a stroller, an escalator, an airplane, a train, and a new car! It was "a lot of stuff" according to Marley!
The plane ride went pretty well. Marley, Emily, and I sat across the middle on the plane together, and we managed to keep Marley pretty entertained most of the time. I really wanted Marley to take a nap in the plane, but she just couldn't. There was way too much going on. She was also just really excited! I'm sure people saw that they were sitting near a toddler and thought they had gotten extremely unlucky. But, I was happy that we proved them wrong and the only time she cried was when it was time to get off the plane!
It wasn't very easy for me to sit still that long without being able to put my feet up or move around a lot. I tried to take a few laps around the plane, but it was beyond awkward. So, it sucked, but I survived.
When we got off the plane, we found our baggage, and rode a train to the rental car area. And we picked up our bright blue car!
Marley finally took her much needed nap the second we got in the car. I think her car seat in our car is much more comfortable than the rented one, but the rented one worked for two days.
We found our hotel, I put my feet up and laid in bed for a while, and then it was time for dinner. Getting to see family is always fun, but this was the first time that Marley really felt comfortable with everyone. She talked and wanted to play with people that she doesn't see all the time and it made me proud. My little girl is growing up!

So we had a fabulous dinner, and then ended our night with a slumber party with Deedee! But we needed our rest, because the next day was going to be a big day walking around New York City!

Hello from New York!

Shopping for glasses

She LOVES it!

A New Place to Play

We have a new addition in the backyard! Papa built a playground for Marley and all the future grandchildren of the family! (It's missing a slide on the front as of right now. It got damaged on the way, so we are waiting on a new one!)
I foresee a lot of afternoons spent lounging in the backyard with the baby while Marley plays her little heart out. And she told Daddy tonight that in September he can play too! I can't wait to see that!

Mother's Day

We had a great, relaxing Mother's Day on Sunday! This was my first year to get some homemade gifts from Marley which are my favorite! She painted me a little wooden box at Grandma's (which I didn't get a picture of) and my mom took her to Lowe's on Saturday for a Build & Grow workshop and made me a little flower vase! That says "Happy Mother's Day" just in case you couldn't read it!I also got some beautiful flowers from a high school friend names Katie! I was literally shocked to get these! How sweet of her to send me some gorgeous flowers just because she thinks I am an awesome mother! That made me so happy, and they are still brightening up our house!
I made a special breakfast for my mom which everyone seemed to love, and Marley made Mimi a fancy card for Mimi's Day. We also got a Mother's Day call from Afghanistan! Asa talked to me for a while, and then even got to talk to my mom and wish her a happy day. It was so great to get to talk to him on a day that could have been pretty lonely. This is the second Mother's Day in a row that he has missed, so he owes me next year! I expect a day all about ME!Marley and I took a big afternoon nap together. I have not been feeling very well the past few days, so naps are beginning to be a necessity every day. Then we made strawberry preserves with my mom! We have been talking about doing this for a few weeks, and spent most of the day Saturday trying to find a bunch of strawberries at a farmer's market. We finally just bought a ton of them at Kroger and I got to see how to make homemade strawberry preserves. We are going to make blackberry preserves sometime in the next few days. They are my favorite on a peanut bully and jelly sandwich or biscuits or even cheesecake!
Other than missing my husband, it was a great Mother's Day. I am so thankful for the little girl who made me a mommy and the baby who will be making me a mommy again. This is the best job in the whole world and I couldn't be more proud of my babies!

Marley in the garden

On Thursday, I had an eye doctor appointment, so Marley stayed with her Papa for a little while. She was busy in the backyard when I got home and had stories to tell me about the things she had done. She filled a pot with dirt, Papa spilled some in her hair, she had checked on her bean that she is growing, and they had planted some flowers. Papa went inside and I saw that my camera was outside. I asked Marley if Papa had taken pictures of her putting the dirt in the pot (mainly because this is a little unbelievable... she hates to get dirty). She said, "No. He want me to be in the gah-den. But I didn't want to be in the gah-den." I laughed, assuming she meant that he didn't get any pictures of her.

But, he made me proud and got a picture of her anyway!I have to laugh out loud when I look at her face! That is such a Marley face and I love that Joel took a picture of her being such a toot! It reminds me some pictures Joel and I took of Marley in the garden, and she loved it just as much then!
The moral of the story is that Marley is willing to help in the garden, picking vegetables or planting flowers or filling pots, but she is not willing to have her picture taken in the garden!