Vivi in the Jumperoo

Joel cleaned some things out of the attic for me yesterday in preparation for our move back to Missouri (in nine days. that's insane, people.) and he found the jumperoo we had with Marley!  If I had known it was up there, I would have asked him to get it down a month ago!  I was about to buy her one for Christmas!

Well anyway, I put her in it and she loves it!  It will be so nice to have in Missouri so that I can contain her for a minute while I wash dishes or something.  Because as you can tell from a few posts ago, the girl is so close to crawling it's not even funny!

Now, I wasn't there when my mom took this picture of her with her head down, but I know she wasn't asleep when I came back a few minutes later!  So, I think she's just looking at it really closely?  Who knows...

And Marley just couldn't resist!  She has also had her babies, Maggie and Emma, in there playing a few times.  They loved it, I'm sure!

Vivi's First Tooth!

Vivi is getting her first tooth!  There is a little corner of her bottom tooth sticking out.  Poor baby!  I hate that babies have to go through the pain of teething when they are so little!  But she is a pretty good sport and still smiling most of the time!

Christmas Eve

 After our little Christmas with Asa and the longest nap I could get Marley to take, we headed to Grandma and Pappy's house for our Christmas celebration with them.  Mimi 2 had bought the girls Christmas dresses earlier in the day, so Marley got to wear her's.  Unfortunately, we didn't remember to get any tights for Vivi's dress, so she wore a Christmas onesie.  But they both still looked beautiful!

We had a yummy dinner and then we all opened presents together!  Everyone that we gave gifts to really liked them!  Marley seemed to be a little bit of a rush to open the presents.  Maybe that's a normal kid thing... I don't know.  Regardless, she rushed through opening them and didn't even take the time to look at what they were!  So once she was done, she actually rested for a second and began to play with a few things!

Vivi really loved all the bright colors.  She wanted to grab every piece of wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue paper, or gift bag within reach.  She was cracking me up and keeping me busy trying to keep little pieces out of her mouth!

 Christmas is my favorite holiday.  I love giving people gifts that mean a lot to me and I love seeing all the faces of the children in the room.  They are so happy!  We all spent a while looking at our gifts, playing with toys, talking about everything.  It was great.  (Would have been perfect with Asa!)

Me and my girls.  Notice the Christmas explosion all around us!

Marley looking like her Daddy!

Grandma, Pappy, and the grandkids, each showing their personalities!

Decorating cookies!

The 20 minute ride back home was spent listening to Vivi scream.  I really almost lost it.  There was nowhere to stop and nothing I could do to help her until we got home and it completely broke her heart and my own.  I've never heard her cry so hard.

When we got home, we made a quick batch of chocolate chip cookies (of which Marley ate about half of the dough), put on special Christmas pajamas, and I put the girls to bed. 

Marley did not fight me on bedtime!  For she knew what the morning would bring...

Christmas with Asa

I've known for a while that we weren't going to get to skype with Asa Christmas morning while we were opening presents.  His internet is never good at normal times of the day.  However, we did get to skype with him on Christmas Eve at 1:30 in the afternoon, so it was technically Christmas morning for him!  He got to see Marley open two presents and Vivi open her first present (with a lot of help from Marley)!   

I was so excited we got to do that.  It was great to be able to spend even just a little bit of the Christmas excitement with him.  And Marley was ecstatic, of course! 

She had been wondering for weeks if Santa was going to be able to leave Daddy anything.  I assured her that Daddy would have some Christmas goodies!  She told him goodnight and was excited that when he woke up, he would have a stocking from Santa!  I made him promise to take a picture, and she was in complete shock when I showed it to her!  She didn't believe Santa was going to go see him, but he did!

And obviously, Asa was super excited also!

Mobile!

 This happy, beautiful, five and a half month old little girl...

 ...is trying as hard as she can to start crawling!

Picking up Aunt Noah and Expecting the Unexpected

The weekend before Christmas, we travelled to Tyler to pick up Aunt Noah from the airport!  She has been stationed with the Navy in San Diego (LUCKY!) and we haven't seen her since the summer.  So, we were all there to welcome her home to Texas!

Marley was a little nervous at first, but warmed right up to her. But Vivi did something totally unexpected and out of character!  She cried when I handed her to Aunt Noah!  She has since done it to other people, so I am thinking she is just reaching that stage... the scared of people she doesn't spend all day with stage.  Which stinks... maybe she will get past that by the time Asa gets home...


After the airport, we all went to Chuck E. Cheese!  This was Marley's first experience.  We used to go when I was a kid, and I knew what to expect.  And the main thing I expected was for Marley to be shy and nervous.  But I literally did not see her for an hour!  She ran around playing whatever open games she could find with Grandpa and Aunt Noah.  She was such a kid! 

I learned a few things. 

We ALL missed Aunt Noah.
Chuck E. Cheese is overwhelming for this mommy.
Don't take anymore night time car trips.
And the girls' personalities are not set in stone.  They may change their minds at any moment.

Bike Riding at the Arboretum

Marley's Christmas Program!

Today was Marley's school Christmas program.  She has been talking about it for weeks and walking through the house singing the two songs her class was going to sing.  She was so excited and every morning she has been jumping out of bed and asking this was her program day!

She had many supporters!  Mimi, Papa, Grandma, Persaious, Emily V., and Vivi!  And me, of course!

She looked like such a big girl, walking with her class and scanning the crowd for me. 

They sang the first song sitting down, and I couldn't see very well because there was a teacher in the way.  But she sat there very calmly, looking overwhelmed.

And then it was time for "Must be Santa"!  They stood up, had hand motions, and I think they all really had fun!

I really wanted to cry watching her.  I was surrounded by mommies and daddies, adding this to the list of firsts that I am witnessing by myself this year.  I don't want to throw myself a pity party, it was just really hard to know that Asa missed another thing.

I was also insanely proud of her.  A year ago, this little girl would have been crying and running back to me if she was expected to stand on a stage and sing for a crowd.  But she is turning into her own little lady.  She is still shy and cautious, but she is also becoming independent and self-confident.  She amazes me every day.

An Interview with Marley

Surviving Deployment: Let's Talk About Love!

Loving each other is a given.  But I think something that has really helped Marley is talking about it.

Marley doesn't actually get to talk to Asa very often.  I usually chat to him on Yahoo Messenger, he calls every few days, and then we have gotten to Skype with him only a handful of times.  So, she doesn't get to hear his voice all the time telling her that he loves her.  So, most days it is my job to tell her all throughout the day and every night how much her Daddy loves her.

I also make a point to talk about how much I love him and he loves me.  I think it is important to remind her how much we love each other.  Parents who are together (and happy) are frequently hugging and kissing each other around their kids.  Since we are not physically together, I still want to present that for Marley as much as I can.  I feel like it is very important for her to know we are in love and happy.

I have to make sure that I also talk about how much Asa loves Vivi.  Vivi has only been with him for two weeks of her life, so I want to make sure Marley remembers that he loves both of his girls!  I don't want it to be a big shock for Marley when he comes home and also wants to spend time with Vivi!

I really feel like these things are making a difference in how Marley thinks about her family.  It may seem obvious and silly to put so much effort into this, but I don't want her to ever doubt our love for each other and I want her to feel as secure as possible in this situation.  She tells me randomly all the time about how much she loves Daddy and loves her family.  I can tell that it has an impact on her and I am thankful that I have reminded her how happy and in love we all are!

Photoshoot with Marley

Marley fights me every single time I try to take her picture.  She hides her face, says "NO CAMERA!" and runs away.  I have no idea why, but today she cooperated.  She sat still for a whole 10 minutes while I tried to get a good picture for our Christmas card.  I was shocked!  And I did get a good picture for Christmas card, but I hated for all the other pictures to go to waste!  So, here are some of the best ones.  I love how much they show her personality and how much fun she had taking them!

 I love this little girl!  She tests me and keeps me very busy.  But she also makes me laugh all day long!