Merry Christmas!

Christmas girls!

We celebrated Christmas with the Ackermans this year. Dan and Charlotte flew out from Idaho and  on Christmas Day, Luke, Michaela and Everett came down from Baltimore for Christmas dinner and gifts.

Santa was good to both of the girls and Lily was thrilled with both her and Marin's gifts. Lily was more than ready to "help" M open her presents and try them out for her.

Marin's very own copy of Goodnight Moon

Lily got a bike from Santa and she's a natural when it comes to cruising around our street. She's taken one or two spills, mostly as a result of turning too sharply, but mostly she's kept it upright!

Lily's most favorite gift is her Dream Lite, which is a stuffed animal that projects stars and a moon on the ceiling. It's actually pretty cool!

Rosie the Dream Lite

More Christmas pictures here!

Six Months!

This happy girl is six months old! She's sitting up (with some assistance,) reaching for anything in sight, and of course, putting everything in her mouth. She has two teeth now, with more on the way. She's finally gotten the hang of eating solid foods. She's tried bananas, sweet potatos, carrots, apple sauce, peas and pears, and she's loved every one of them!

Her six-month doctor appointment told us what we already know--she's growing like a weed. Her six month stats:

Weight: 19 lbs, 7.6 oz. or 94th percentile
Height: 26 3/4 inches or 84th percentile

Harvest Time

Ethan loves to plant a garden every year, and Lily loves to be his trusty assistant. This year because of our move mid-summer we were unable to plant one at our old house, and we were a little too late to plant one at the new house. Ethan and Lily still managed to get a few seeds in the ground this fall, so we had plenty of lettuce and peas. The one "crop" that took the longest was the carrots. They finally pulled them in December. Lily is the proud owner of the shortest, fattest carrots we've ever seen!

Sad about the shorty carrot.

Just kidding!

Chomp Chomp

At five months, two weeks and five days old, Marin has her first tooth!

Five Months

Our little cutie is five months old! She's been in daycare for a month and that's just enough time for her to get her first bug, that brought with it a fever of 102 AND, she got pink eye! Marin spent a few days at home getting cuddled during her virus and then she bounced back to her happy self.

Marin LOVES her big sister. No one can get her to giggle quicker than Lily. Lily likes to get down on the floor with Marin and "help" her play with her toys. They're quite a pair.

How big is M this month? Still growing! At her doctor appointment for pink eye, she weighed 18 lbs, 3 oz. HUGE!

Happy Halloween

Fairy Princess Lily

Last night was Halloween, and Lily was more than ready to hit the streets to trick-or-treat. She and Ethan made the rounds in our new neighborhood and came back with a bag full of candy. Also, Lily came back with TWO DOLLARS! They went to a house with its light on, but it turns out the man inside didn't have any candy. He didn't want Lily to go away empty handed, so he insisted she take $2.00! Too funny!

Marin decided to forego a costume this year and just wear a My First Halloween onesie.

The pumpkin Lily designed herself. She drew the face on paper and Ethan did the carving.

 

Marin and I stayed behind to hand out candy. I had to stop mid-way through to put Marin down for bed, but I had a pair of eyes helping me out when I left the bucket of candy on the doorstep for the kiddies.



Four Months Old

 

 

The day after her big sister turned four years old, Marin turned four months old! At her four month appointment, she weighed 17 lbs, 2.6 oz, or 98th percentile! She's 24 3/4 inches long, or 65th percentile.

 

In the last month, she's discovered her hands and feet. She's always got her hands in her mouth, or she's using them to grab her feet. Her legs aren't quite long enough to get her feet to her mouth, but if they were, I'm sure she would. She's becoming much more adept at using her hands and now she can grab things like toys or a rattle...and put them right into her mouth. Marin is also valiantly trying to roll over, but so far, she has not succeeded. It's coming soon though.

 

She's such a happy, good-natured girl. We love her!

Four Years Old!

On October 20, our sweet Lily turned FOUR YEARS OLD! Like every other parent on Earth, we’re wondering where the time has gone and how our little baby is a full-fledged kid. No more baby. No more toddler. Lily is definitely growing up. 

Her stats, in case you’re wondering (and yes, they still chart these things at the pediatrician’s office, even when they’re four):  

• Height: 36 inches (92^nd percentile)
• Weight: 37 pounds (68^th percentile) 

To say Lily is bright would be an understatement. On most days, she’s smarter than her parents, much to our dismay. She can negotiate better than a car salesman, which usually gets her what she wants. On the rare occasion that she doesn’t get her way, she says defiantly, “I want to do it the way I want to do it!!!” And if that doesn’t work, a nasty temper tantrum is next on her agenda. In the last year, she’s become very familiar with time out! 

But for every temper tantrum she has, she’s 10 times as sweet on a regular day. She loves her baby sister like no other and is free with hugs and kisses for Marin (and us). She’s really into My Little Pony and anything princess. Lily is very independent and enjoys picking out her own clothes for school each day (sometimes with “interesting” results) and deciding what she’s going to have for dinner each night. 

She really is a super star kid and we’re so happy she’s ours!

 

Me and my big girl!

Opening presents.

Pizza before birthday cake.

Cake!

Birthday snack at daycare.

Tummy Time!

Lily likes to help Marin practice her tummy time.

Another Daddy's Girl in the Making

Fun day at the pumpkin patch with Daddy

Soccer Star

We signed Lily up for soccer this fall at the rec center. She's always been really good at kicking the ball straight and hard, so soccer seemed like a natural fit. She was excited for her first class...until we got there.

To say that she's been less than enthused woudl be an understatement. It's an 8-week class and we're sticking with it till the bitter end. She's really good at doing all the drill the coach asks the kids to do, but she doesn't like to play one game that the coach makes them play each week called "What Time is it Mr. Wolf?" It's not a scary game but it does  involve the coach pretending to chase the kids.

Here are some pics of her when she's in the mood to participate (and one of her when she didn't want to):

Getting started.

Practicing "heading" the ball.

Girl on the move.

 

Three Months Old!

Look at that face!

Marin turned three months today. She's such a doll and a pleasure to be around. She loves to chatter away while looking at her toys and mobile. Marin is a happy girl most of the time and really only fusses when she's tired or hungry. She goes to bed around 8:00 every night and wakes a couple of times before she's up for the day. We're still waiting for her to sleep all night, but she's young and we're patient!

Her unofficial weight (per our bathroom scale) is 16 lbs. She has doubled her birth weight in three months. Way to go Marin!

Heavy is the Head that Wears the Crown

Princess Marin

First Day of Preschool 2

 

Lily was so excited to go to her first day of Preschool 2. In PS2, she'll learn how to write her letters, have a bi-weekly science lesson and become more independent by learning how to serve herself at lunchtime, as well as having a weekly "job" in the classroom. Such a big girl!

 

Two-Months Old!

 

Miss Marin is two months old. How can that be? She's growing like a weed and getting cuter by the day. She is now smiling at us often and making the cutest baby sounds--gurgles, coos and squeals. She had her two-month check up and her growth is not slowing down:

Weight: 13 lbs,  14 oz: 96th percentile!

Length: 23.25 inches: 86th percentile

Such a happy girl!

 

Does this diaper make me look fat?



Marin loves tummy time. It gives her a chance to suck her hand and chill out on her belly. I love it because, when she's only wearing her diaper, I can marvel at her ROLLS! She's so squeezable!

And here's a bonus picture of Marin's beautiful sister! Lily has definitely gotten over any camera-shyness that she had as a baby.

Family Photos

Smartypants

At dinner, Lily said, "Mama, is your food running away from you?"

"No," I said.

"Then why are you eating it so fast?" she replied.

My eating habits were called out by a three-year-old. She's too smart for her own good...or for her parents, anyway.

Belly!

Let's just say that Miss Marin does not miss a meal.

She's been at the pediatrician weekly since she was born for a number of issues (reflux, thrush, diaper rash, plus the standard check ups) and every time, she's weighed. When she was born, she weighed 8 lbs. Not too small. Not too big.

Now, 5 weeks later, she's just over 12 lbs! She sits in the 98th percentile for weight and weighs 50% more than she did on June 21. Newborn clothes were left behind weeks ago and she's filling out 3-month clothes with no problem. Our little chunky monkey!

Sisters

Lily was very excited about the arrival of her baby sister, but we were anxious to see how she reacted when Marin was actually here. Well, Lily has exceeded our expectations when it comes to being a sweet, helpful, caring big sister.

During their initial meeting in the hospital on the day M was born, we put Marin in Lily's lap and that lasted about 10 seconds before Lily said,

"Take it away!"

Since then, Lily has shown what a sweet girl she is by kissing M on the head often, asking to hold her, sharing her blankies with her (after unceremoniously snatching her favorite blankets off of Marin during the first week) and being such a great helper.

Just yesterday, we were doing tummy time with Marin and Lily sat next to her the whole time, clapping her hands and saying, "You can do it, Marin!"

If Marin cries, Lily offers helpful advice too:

"Mama, she's crabby. Maybe you should feed her." Or "maybe she needs her diaper changed."

It's so fun to have the two of them together. It really warms my heart!

One Month Old!

How has it been a month? Time flies!

Marin Claire

At 1:46 pm on Thursday, June 21, we welcomed our second beautiful daughter, Marin Claire.

I was due on June 24 and fully expected to still be pregnant whe the 24th rolled around. But Marin had other ideas.

I woke up around 12:30a on the 21st with a mild contraction. In fact, I fell back asleep and when the second one hit, I thought I was dreaming. I gave Ethan the heads up that things were starting to happen but told him to go back to sleep. I, of course, couldn't sleep so I decided to start timing contractions. (There's an app for that!)

Though the contrax were never very strong, they did start getting close together, so we decided to get up, get ready and get to the hospital. By the time we got ready and got Lily ready for school, the contrax had pretty much stopped. We headed to the hospital anyway, though I was fully prepared to be sent home.

My midwife agreed to let me stay at the hospital, or I could go home and come back later. I opted to stay, as I didn't want to be too far from my epidural, should I want it. Ethan and I walked the halls of the maternity floor for a couple of hours, with just a contraction here and there. We both thought we were in for a very long day. Wrong.

Around noon, my contrax suddenly got very strong and at 12:15p, my water broke! Things moved very quickly from there and Marin Claire was born! She weighed 8 lbs and was 19 1/4 inches long. She had a head full of dark brown hair and looks just like her big sister. We could not be happier!

Cuddles from Mama.

Meeting her big sister, Lily, for the first time.

Tired but happy family.

And, we're back...

And...we're back! After a long blogging hiatus, I've decided to resurrect our family blog. So what have we been doing the last seven months? Here's a quick review to catch you up:

Baby #2 is on the way. Estimated due date: June 24, 2012.

Thanksgiving in Baltimore

Hiding behind our Christmas tree

Lily riding her new tricycle she got for Christmas.

Wearing her chef's coat and "cooking" cake and pizza.

Playing with her new kitchen from Santa on Christmas morning.

This is what happens when Lily and Daddy hang out while Mama sleeps late. Green hand!

Easter morning.

Pretty flower (and girl)!

We sold our house...

And bought a new one!

All of these things kept us very busy from November until June. Then in June, we anxiously awaited the arrival of the newest Ackerman...but I'll save that for another post.