22 MONTHS

• I can hardly believe it, but in just two short months, Marissa will turn 2! My baby is all grown up! We weighed her at home the other day, and she weighs approximately 21 lbs. Which means she only gained 1 pound in 4 months...I'm starting to be a bit concerned, but there's really nothing more I can do.
  

• Her language is exploding these days! But my absolute favorite word of hers is "poffle" = waffle. Wall, fire, tower (blocks), shirt, snap, raisins, cheerios, water, Uniqua, Pablo, Austin (from The Backyardigans), fork, pillow, blanket, home, car, truck, plane, stairs (to go up or down), socks, yogurt, and book are just a few of the words she has either learned new or refined the pronunciation. Every day she is putting more and more words together to form complete thoughts. Today at lunch, she said "Dada, home? I mish you" so I just had to call Dan and let her talk to him. So precious.

• Monday morning, Rissa and I drove to Indy to visit my friend and roommate from college. Her little boy is 5 months old and Marissa just loved watching him while we were there. She always had to know where "baby" was, and was just fascinated by him. She even succeeded in saying his name, Carter, which turned out pretty cute coming from her mouth. I've got some ridiculous/cute/hilarious stories from our visit:

• We arrived just before lunch, and Marissa had fallen asleep in the car for about 15 minutes before we got there. I wasn't too worried, since she has just been so awesome about her sleeping schedules for several months now. So after lunch, I put her pjs on (they don't have feet, but they snap all the way down) and put her in the pack-n-play. She screamed, but I figured she'd calm down as soon as she got used to the different room. Crap, I can't remember the exact time line of events. Well, she cried on and off for a while, and I went in and reassured her a few times probably. Oh yeah, I gave up and let her play downstairs for a while too, since I thought her cat nap in the car might have messed her up. Once I put her back to bed, she finally quieted down, so I went to check her to see if she was actually asleep. Well, what I found stopped me in my tracks. She was asleep, but her pjs were in a pile next to her, her diaper was all wadded up in a pile on her pjs, and she was completely naked. I debated long and hard about waking her up to put her diaper back on, but decided she needed the nap more than I needed her sheets to stay dry. Lol. She slept naked for an hour! The second I heard her wake up, I ran upstairs to put her diaper on and clean up the mess I expected. But she was completely dry! I was shocked!

• When it was time for bed, I didn't have anything better for her to wear, since I only packed a few things. So I gave her a mini lecture (lol) and hoped for the best. I listened on the monitor, and when she got quiet, I ran upstairs to see what she was up to. When I opened the door, she was standing up in the pack-n-play, holding her pjs and diaper, naked again! This time I think I yelled at her quite a bit. Lol. At this point, I realized we would have this same problem every time she was left alone in the pack-n-play. I asked Laureann if she had any onesies for her little boy that might fit Marissa. The biggest one she had was a 12-month blue football onesie, which fit Marissa perfectly. Lol. So we borrowed that for a few days.
• After all this drama, we all realized that since her pjs didn't have feet in them, I probably could have just put them on her backwards and she would have been stuck in them. So from now on, she either gets a onesie or backwards pjs (or both!) for every nap and bedtime, since she is too smart and figured out snaps and zippers.
  

• 3. The first time Marissa saw Laureann nurse Carter, she looked at me with a funny look on her face, then said "shhhh" (which was her word for nurse, when she asked for it - she hasn't nursed for at least 3 months). On the drive back home, when she was in her car seat, she was holding her baby, and said "shhh" and pretended to nurse her baby. I think it's so cool that she actually still remembers nursing. And as much as I was annoyed by it, and ready to be done, I miss it now! I miss that cuddle time, quiet time, and giggle time with her. She's way too busy to be bothered with cuddle time, quiet time, and giggle time with me very often anymore!

• Wednesday, I made Marissa a half of a peanut butter sandwhich and put it on her plate. Then I made myself a whole peanut butter and marshmallow fluff sandwhich and sat down next to her to eat it. She took one bite of her sandwhich, then pushed it over to me saying "no, no, no" then took my sandwhich out of my hand, and proceeded to eat the entire thing. So I had to make myself a whole new sandwhich! I was so pleased that she actually ate so much though, that I just let her! Whatever it takes these days!
  

• I'm sure there were other things I wanted to share from our visit with Laureann, but I can't remember anymore. We had such a good time, and Marissa really enjoyed new/different toys. I hope they are able to buy a second car soon, so L and Carter can come visit us!

• Calling all grandparents (great-grandparents?), relatives, and close friends: Birthday party for Marissa the weekend of April 26-27? Sound good? Be here, or else...

• My sister is gone for the weekend, visiting Liberty University in preparation for going to school there in the fall. Rissa already misses her Aunt RaRa!