M & A

Marissa has been especially hysterical lately:

• Marissa was telling us about how K. bumped his lip at church and it was bleeding and he was crying. Then she said, "It was just, like, so sad!" (with just the right inflection in her voice) and I asked, "Did you feel bad for him?" and she said, "No!"

• ME: I love Ikea.
  MARISSA: Wanna hear the Ikea song?
  ME: What's the Ikea song?
  MARISSA: Ikea-us was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he...

• Marissa typed her very first word on a computer. She found each letter of her name and typed them all in! She was so proud. Now she keeps begging for a turn on the laptop...
  

• Somehow (and I have NO idea how) Marissa learned how to give "the look" to people. Lol. One night at dinner, she said "Daddy, watch this!" and she raised her eyebrows, opened her eyes up wide, and gave him "the look" and we just about died laughing. I give her "the look" when I'm waiting for a "thank you" or "please" or a better tone of voice. But it's much better when she gives it!
  

Arianna turned 9 months old today last Tuesday (I started writing this Tuesday, and I'm just getting around to finishing it the following Monday)!

• It's so weird to think of how much she's grown and changed in these 9 months, compared to the 9 months she grew inside of me. She's already hit every physical milestone, so pretty much the only milestone left is talking. That can wait for a while, as far as I'm concerned! Marissa talks enough for both of them these days.

• At her 9-month check-up, Arianna weighed 16 lbs 12 oz (10th percentile) and was 29 inches long (90th percentile)! Marissa weighed 16-9 and was only 27 inches long - that 2-inch height difference is throwing off all the sizing in the hand-me-down clothes! Arianna screamed her head off the entire time we were at the doctor's office. Even when nothing was being done to her! The second I tried to put her on the table to take her clothes off (before anyone even came in our room!) she was clinging to my neck and climbing up me. It was pitiful. The doctor was surprised to hear that she's walking already - she said she didn't even have it on her developmental checklist so she had to write it in! (Anybody know offhand if there's a height/length limit for infant car seat carriers? I need to look it up because for some reason I remember there being one, but I'm not sure...)
  

• Arianna is literally walking across the entire living room these days. She's getting fast too! Yesterday she walked from the middle of the living room all the way down the entryway, just grinning at me. It's probably about 10 feet maybe.
  

• We are having major sleep issues these days! She is chronically overtired (so am I) and I'm really struggling to find a way to fix us! She still doesn't fall asleep until 11:30 or later at night. So obviously I have to stay up with her until she does. Sometimes she falls asleep nursing, but not always, so I know that's not a huge issue. She's also been waking up a lot at night recently. She still (again) has a cold and sometimes her stuffy nose and coughing wake her up. But she also has trouble going back to sleep sometimes. That's the most frustrating thing of all. I don't care how many times she wakes up in the night (ok, that's a lie...) if she goes right back to sleep. But sometimes she'll be up for an hour - falling asleep, only to wake up as I put her back down, or wake up seconds after I get all warm in my bed again. She also has trouble taking good naps. I don't care when she naps, but she usually sleeps around 11 or 2, then again right after dinner. But she has a really hard time sleeping for longer than 45 minutes. She does have some good days (she took a 2 hour nap just the other day), but I can't figure out why some days are like that and some are horrible. I've tried turning her evening nap into bedtime, but all that did was make her wake up EVERY. SINGLE. HOUR. ALL. NIGHT. LONG. and that's just not worth it for either of us! She isn't miserable or grumpy, so it's not really affecting her mood that much, but it's affecting mine! She doesn't have a set time she wakes up in the morning, but Marissa does, so I don't get nearly enough sleep these days, and it's killing me. I never feel rested! I know I signed up for this as a mom, but the reality of it stinks! As I type this, she's asleep cuddled up on my chest. I had a million things to do this afternoon since I have editing work due Wednesday, and my parents are coming this weekend. But she needs her sleep, and I certainly don't mind a cuddly sleep baby! She won't be this way forever...
  

• She knows how to make it up to me though. She learned how to give kisses and cuddles, and it's so precious! If we ask for "kisses" she lunges forward, puts her mouth on our mouth, and licks away! It's so gross, but so cute because she loves doing it. And if we say "awwww" a certain way, she'll cuddle us for a nice long hug. She is the happiest girl and just amazes me every second of her life.

• The girls are playing so well together lately. Marissa "helps" Arianna walk, gives her hugs, shares her toys, chases her around the kitchen, pulls her around the kitchen (pulling a stool Arianna is holding onto, walking behind it) and Arianna gives Marissa kisses too. It's so fun to watch. Marissa very rarely even plays with her baby dolls now, because she has a real life baby to play with! (Although she's still asking for a brother!)

My stupid laptop basically died the other day, so Dan installed a new operating system (Ubuntu) on it. It's weird to get used to, but now things are working more smoothly. So that's why I haven't been able to be on here as often. I already have more pictures to upload from the camera, but I can't do that with a sleeping baby on my lap, so they will have to wait!


Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, just the four of us. It was the first time we've had a "vacation" at home without any visitors, and it was so relaxing. Marissa was excited to watch Sesame Street with Daddy since he's always at work when she watches it. Dan and I made a great team making the Thanksgiving meal. He did the turkey, stuffing, and part of the apple crostada, and I did the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and the dough for the crust of the crostada. Everything was so yummy, and we will be eating turkey for the next month! 11lbs is the smallest we could find! Arianna had a few extraordinarily horrible nights, but I caught up with a 2.5 hour nap Sunday afternoon. It was a little weird to not be with any extended family, but still fun. My parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and we'll see Dan's parents for Christmas in Georgia (unpleasant memory: last time we went to Georgia for Christmas I had just had my 2nd miscarriage).

I don't want to end this long post with that last sentence, but I think I've run out of things to say! Arianna is still asleep on my lap, and I just hate to move her. Guess I'll look around on the computer for something else to occupy my time!