Christmas with Kevin, my Mimi, and Pawpaw Gene

Yesterday evening, Kevin brought over a Christmas gift for Marley! It was her first Christmas gift this year, so I was really excited to see how she would do with it. Last year we pretty much had to open everything for her. She would hold the paper or the bow, but the actual opening was up to us. Marley is a little nervous around Kevin. She has definitely gotten better than she used to be, but she still tries to walk at least 2 feet around him. Which is unfortunate, because he feeds her treats and brings her ice cream when the rest of us are on a diet!

Anyway, she did great opening the present! It was way more exciting than last year. She was very delicate with it, and every piece she pulled off she handed to someone near her. But once she finally got it, she was SUPER excited about what she got! Kevin got her the Little People Farm! I love the Little People toys from Fisher Price. Aren't they just adorable? Marley calls them all babies. So, now she has her own farm with a pig, cow, horse, sheep, goat, and barn! We tried to get her to make all the animals sounds for a while. She can snort in the back of her throat like a pig and make a little bit of a sheep sound.
But the funniest of all is her cow impression. She doesn't make a sound, but she purses her lips like she is! It cracks me up every time and we haven't been able to stop ourselves from asking her to do it! She looks SO CUTE!
Next, it was time to open presents from my Mimi and Pawpaw Gene. They came by and stayed the night on their way to Houston to celebrate Christmas with us. I had told Mimi she needed a few bath toys, but I didn't know how many she would be getting! This girl won't need any bath toys for years!

She got a boat with a few animals that go in it, but she did not understand that she couldn't get in the boat. She was trying to stand in it and getting really frustrated when she couldn't. Poor little girl, just wanted to drive something!One of the coolest things she got was a bubble blower! She loved watching the bubbles come towards her and she tried her hardest to catch them before they hit the water.
The next morning, Marley had to patiently watch while the rest of us opened our presents. I don't know why I jumped the gun and gave Marley her presents the night before, but I did. So, of course, Marley wasn't very patient! She needed to help everyone!
Emily got a "Beyonce jacket" that we tried on Marley. It didn't fit, but she sure was stylin'!It was a great first day of Christmas, and we are so thankful for everyone showing how much they care about us!

Recent Pictures of our Activities

Shopping in Shreveport

We got up early early this morning so that we could make it to Shreveport and back before my grandparents got to the house. It worked out perfectly, because since we woke Marley up earlier than normal, she slept the entire two hour drive to Shreveport! And when she did wake up, she was in a fabulous mood, well rested and ready to party!The main reason for going was to go to the Air Force base there and get myself a military ID. Without it, I am nothing according to the Army. So, I followed orders and got my booty over there. Of course, they take the picture at the worst possible angle and then make it so bright that you can barely see my features, but whatever! We got that and then made sure our TriCare stuff was all sorted out. Which is a relief because now if we need to go to the doctor, we can just go!

After that was done, we had some shopping to do! We bought Asa a new wallet and he bought me some earrings. Marley was in a great mood during most of the shopping, and kept all the people who walked by us entertained with her charming smile.
We went to Bass Pro Shop to spend Asa's gift card there and we ran into one of his best friends from boot camp! I was so happy so meet someone that he knew, and he seemed like a really nice guy. Luckily Asa isn't the only one who hasn't been staying on the Army schedule while he is here.

It was then time to eat. We went to Joe's Crab Shack and Asa took Marley out on the playground to expend some energy. About a minute into playing, he saw a snake on the playground! He killed it, thank goodness, and everyone was safe to play.


Ok, by everyone I mean Marley. She was the only kid out there. Everyone else's Daddy must have been too scared to kill the snake! So, Marley had to play alone.

Shopping wore everyone out, and we all got to take a nap on the way home. Marley has become such a great traveler! When I was younger, I would always fall asleep the second I got in the car for a long trip. I am so glad that Marley has gotten that from me, and she has made the last few trips so much more pleasant!
It's so weird to be shopping with Asa again, by the way. I did most of the Christmas shopping while he was gone, so having his input now is so different!

Asa's Home for Christmas!

Today was an exciting day. We got up early, put on cute outfits, put on make-up, and made sure we had everything packed for the day. We left a little late, but that couldn't distract from our excitement about getting to see Asa in a few hours!

He had gotten his phone back the night before, so we had been texting all night and the next morning. Asa had to be in the gym at Fort Leonard Wood at 9:30 pm Thursday night. He got on a bus around 11:30 pm. Then they rode to the airport and sat on the bus for a total of 5 hours! By 4:30 am Friday morning her was at the airport, waiting for his flight to leave at 9:50 am. I had planned to stay up most of the night and keep him company while he traveled. But I accidentally fell asleep and missed his calls and text messages.

Marley was a great sport for the whole trip down there. She slept for about an hour and then snacked on Apple Jacks the rest of the way. We had told Asa we would meet him in the baggage claim area, but we got there early and decided to get as close as we could to where he would be coming out. So, we waited right outside of security, watching intently.

Picking Up Asa from Jillian Shaw on Vimeo.

I really wanted to run to him, but one of the main reasons I didn't was that I wanted my mom to have time to turn the camera on. Marley was a little nervous at first, but she warmed up to him really quickly. It felt so odd to have him with us, like we had been waiting for him so excitedly it was hard to believe it was happening. He was so excited, with tons of stories to tell about boot camp. We ate a wonderful lunch at Cafe Express and then Marley was a great sport for the drive home. It put a huge smile on my face to hear Asa have so many stories to laugh about and tell us how many friends he had. I am so proud of him.

We had a little party when we got back to Nacogdoches with all of the family. It was so great to see how supportive everyone was and how happy they were to see Asa. Marley hasn't wanted him out of her sight since we picked him up. Every time he leaves the room or walks away from her her, she signs "Daddy" and points to him, like she is telling him to come back and stay with her. It breaks my heart to think about him leaving again and her sad little eyes looking at him, hoping he will turn around. How will we be able to handle it?

What we've been doing

Here is a video I made of all the things we have been doing. It is about 8 minutes long, and I am mainly posting it because tomorrow night when Asa gets his phone back he can come here to watch it! Enjoy!

The Past Couple of Weeks from Jillian Shaw on Vimeo.

Blog Catch-up

Marley has two new teeth (molars) that have come out on top and two more that are about to come through on the bottom!

Which bring me to my next point: Marley has been the queen of temper tantrums lately. I don't know if it's the teeth or the congestion or the changes in her life, but this kid is learning to throw herself a fit! Her favorite is to stomp her feet and wave her hands in front of her face, screaming like a wild animal.

She is obsessed with her baby dolls. She loves to hug and kiss them, put them to sleep, put them in their stroller or the shopping cart. She even wanted me to nurse them! She takes such good care of them most of the time, but then it cracks us all up when she gets mad and chunks them on the ground. I guess she's not quite ready for all the responsibility!

She has been much better than I expected about not touching the Christmas tree and presents. She will walk up to the tree and think about touching it, but she only rarely actually takes an ornament off. The presents are a little more tempting to her. We had a few smaller presents with bows in front, but they were way to enticing for her, so I had to move them around back. She has made a few small holes in some gifts trying to figure out what they are, but hopefully those people won't mind! If we spend three weeks telling her not to touch the presents, what is she going to do Christmas morning when we want her to tear it up?!

She loves to give hugs and kisses now. She wraps her little arms around my neck so tight, and I can forgive her for anything when she does it. If she accidentally hurts me or I am crying for some reason or another, she knows just what to do to make me smile again. And she has really been into giving me kisses when I am nursing her. She will just stop and hug and kiss me and give me the biggest smile in the world. It melt my heart. I hope she gives Asa one of those hugs on Friday.

My mom and I taught her the sign for "cold" the other day. This one really surprised me, because most of the signs she knows go along with a tangible object.Cold is a feeling and I wasn't sure she would get it. But today when we were walking in the WalMart parking lot, a bug gust of wind hit her face and she immediately did the signf or "cold" and smiled at me!

I have never seen a child who wants to brush her teeth as much as Marley. She is obsessed.

I had an ElfYourself video for my mom and Joel that has the two of them and Marley in it. We showed it to Marley and now she is also obsessed with that. She will sit in my mom's lap and watch it 6 times in a row, thinking it is absolutely hilarious every time.

I have noticed that when my mom comes home from work, Marley is always really excited to see her but she doesn't usually run up to her to kiss her. She gets my mom's attention and then she points at everything she can think of. We think it is kind of like her way of telling my mom about everything she has been doing and what toys she wants to show her. Then my mom will say "Did you do (blank) today?" And Marley will shake her head "no" to any possible question. I think it is so adorable though that she wants to show her everything.