Dancing and Bath Ball

Marin's MayeMaye got her a dancing dog that sings Jingle Bells. She loves these little things. Burke and I laugh and laugh at her favorite dancing move...the bobbing head.



And Mimi got her a bath basketball net and balls. She is learning with the help of her Daddy to put the balls in and out of the net. It won't be long and she'll be shooting three pointers.

Leg Warmers and Coffee

1. Marin has to have everything that Burke and I have. If we have a snack, she has to have snack. If we are on the computer, she needs to be on the computer. And....if we have a cup of coffee, she needs a cup of coffee. So I let her play with my empty coffee cup. And she knows what she is supposed to do with it. Seriously, she is so cute. 

2. I found these leg warmers at Target and well, I had to get them. Marin crawls around everywhere and bless her heart she has her mom's figure. She may look like her Daddy but she has my good ol' pear shape body. You know, round in the belly and short in the legs, All her pants seem to get in the way when she crawls because they are a little too long, so I though maybe some leg warmers may help out in that area. (Burke thought she looked like a stripper. I thought she looked adorable.) 

9 Months!

"I don't have time to be still for a picture. I've got things to pull off the shelf."

"Let me try to escape this way...."

• You talk all the time. Dadadada is one of your favorite words! 
• You're a picky eater but you love yogurt and oatmeal and these fruit and veggie pouches that you get to squeeze into your mouth. 
• You love putting anything in and out of a cup or bucket. Your stacking cups are one of your favorites right now. 
• You shake your head like Stevie Wonder every time you hear music. So stinkin' cute!
• If it can be climbed on, you will find a way. 
• You crawl everywhere and are becoming more and more brave with "walking". 
• You love your gym class and story time although the other kids are your favorite part and you tend to make them cry. You are just really, really "friendly" and it's a bit frightening to the other babies. 
• You had your first fit....I didn't get you from your nap fast enough and you threw everything on the floor (blanket, passy, glow worm) then you took your pants off and threw them on the ground too. You were so proud of your work and...so very cute. I know it stinks that your frustration is cute so I will apologize now for not taking you too serious when you get mad. :o) 
• You are so cute playing with all of your toys. You will pull them all out of your toy basket and play, play, play. It is really fun to watch you! 
• You love talking on the phone and Skype calling family. If the phone rings, you have to talk! 

I brought out her very special Madame Alexander Huggums doll.
Thought it might be a good idea to start using the words "baby , gentle, sweet hands.
We will definitely need the next 5 months but she loves her doll! She'll give her kisses...so cute. 

Putting her passy in the cup and out of the cup.
One of favorite games....

Daddy's Home!

Burke had a 4 day work trip last week. We aren't fans of those around here. But there was one Beluga that was so very excited to her Daddy come home. I wish I got some video of the reunion. The two of them were giddy to see each other. So very cute! 

Our Little Tomato

This week our new little one is the size of a tomato. He or she is growing, growing! Our little tomato can hear now so he/she can hear the LOUD noises big sister is making these days. This 2nd trimester is going so much better than last year around this time. Very thankful to the little one for being so good to me. ;o) We are so excited to find out what we will be having! I'm a little stumped about this one. I tend to lean more towards another little girl but won't be surprised if Marin gets a brother. So very fun. 

We went to another church rummage sale.
We couldn't pass this onesie up....you know, just in case.
We already have a "Little Sister" onesie so now we just have to find out!
A week and half away.....

Happy Fall!

So we LOVE fall around here! Chicago is fun and beautiful during fall. And I get to light my pumpkin candle all day long. This year I made a "Fall Things to Do List". I stole the idea....but now that we have a little Beluga to do this season stuff with, it makes it more fun!

Here is our list:
Go to a Fall Festival
Go to a Pumpkin Patch
Make a fall treat ( I have only found about 20 of these treat ideas on the internet I want to try....)
Go Trick or Treating
Go to a Petting Zoo
Decorate a Pumpkin (Monogrammed pumpkins this year!!! With maybe some colorful ones for the Beluga...)
Make a pie
Drink Apple Cider
Go to a football game (Rock Chalk Jayhawk GO KU!)
Try a new chili recipe
Make a Halloween and Thanksgiving craft (Can't wait to do these with Marin!!)

Nothing special but I love this season!!!! And yes, the planners over here already have Marin's Halloween costume, the Thanksgiving dinner menu, and Christmas lists and shopping is underway. :o) This time of year brings lots of visitors and lots of trips. One of which will be for our new maternity/family pictures for the sweet little one on his or her way!! Can't wait!

And because FALL is fun...

We have a mantle this year!! And, yes, that is a Mickey Mouse scarecrow.
Marin loves it.
(Can't wait for Halloween and Christmas!)

I stole, I mean borrowed, some fall/Thanksgiving decorations from my mom.  I love
the leaf table cloth/runner. 

My fall blocks from mother-in-law! Always fun to bring out! 

And because if I don't put a picture of Marin my Mom may kill me...
a very blurry picture of Marin at storytime.
Mother Goose on the Loose started back this week and Marin was a busy
little bee! 

I love this time of year.

She makes us laugh....

Dancing Girl

Mickey Mouse

We got Marin a little Mickey Mouse doll that sings and talks. I got a little video of her "meeting" him for the first time. She is so funny about Mickey Mouse.



And I love, love, love going in to get her after nap times. She is so cute! She stands in the corner of her crib talking away while waiting for us to come get her. I wanted to get a video of her but she got a little camera shy. I guess she wasn't expecting the video camera after a nap.

It's beginning to feel like fall......

and some other pictures as well...

Marin LOVES Mickey Mouse. 

Burke has started putting on puppet shows for Marin.
It is hilarious. She loves them!
(Video to come...)

The weather is definitely cooler here in Chicago so the Beluga is having
to bundle up for our park visits. 

I just love her in hats. 

Swing, swing, swing!

Our park has deer.
They are not afraid of people at all. But Marin is taking a swing break
to watch the deer run across.
Of course, the deer is hidden by the tree but oh well, next time. 

Marin is saying a lot more consonant/vowel sounds like ya, ba, etc. But our favorite is "DA DA DA DA DA"!!! Here is a video of her squeezing in a few "dadas" while crawling around the house.


"Da da da da" from Stacey Brednich on Vimeo.

Farm

I wrote this out a long time ago but forgot to post it. Sorry, Amanda. :o) 

So here is some of the farm stuff I did with the Beluga. I will admit that my nerdy teacher self had a lot of fun with this! We are going out of town to visit family but when we get back we want to go to the petting farm at the zoo too! 

First, these were some of the yard sale finds that Marin hadn't got to play with yet. 

So I pulled them out for farm fun!

1. A cow xylophone to bang on while we sang farm songs. 

2. The cutest wooden shape sorter except instead of shapes it was farm animals that

you put in the barn. Cute. Cute. Of course, she just wanted to pull out the animals and eat them. :o)

3. One of her favorites was the farm puzzle. Each animal made its sound when you put it in the puzzle and then it sang Old MacDonald. She actually would try to put this one back together. The sheep made her mad though. :o)

4. BOOKS! (My favorite!)

5. We read Click Clack 123 and Click Clack ABC and then she played with magnet numbers

and letters on a cookie sheet. This was a bigger hit than I expected. She would drag the magnets around and take them off...eat them a little...then drag them around the cookie sheet again.

 It was fun to watch her. 

6.  Our first little felt board story. :o) I glued felt on the back of the cookie sheet to make a felt board then we sang "Five Clean Squeaky Pigs". She didn't really care about this though. She liked the song but it wasn't a whole lot of fun for her to take the felt pigs on and off. And they didn't taste good either. :o)

7. My favorites....the square felt farm animals. I found a little pattern/tutorial online and decided to make these for songs. I put different fillings in each one to give a different texture. I haven't finished all of them yet (I blame my friend Amanda for introducing me to the Hunger Games trilogy). 

8. Our farm shakers! She does love these....corn kernals with lima bean painted farm animals (cow, chicks, and pigs). Lima beans were a big math manipulative trend when I taught Kindergarten so I did some for Marin. 

Playing with the magnets.

I put her in her high chair so I could do dishes and she played with the magnets in
a pie pan the whole time. Very helpful. :o)

Pulling out the farm animals to chew on. 

Since climbing is one of her new favorite things to do, I put her chunky farm puzzle pieces on the tv cabinet for her to climb up and get. 

She got the cow! 

Since she loves songs so much, I think I will try and put together some music stuff for her next! Then it is all about FALL!!!

17 Weeks and some kicks!

Our little one on the way is growing and growing! We had an appointment on Friday and heard his or her heartbeat and everything sounds perfect! It is hard to believe, but our next visit (October 7) we will get to find out the gender of our new family addition. So very fun! We really aren't sure what we are having. During the first trimester, I would have said another girl because I was sick like Marin. And although I am still pretty sick in the 2nd trimester, I have so much more energy this go around than I did before. So....maybe a boy. :o) Either way, we are so excited and are looking forward to finding out! 

Another note for this little one....I have already felt some KICKS!! I asked the doctor if that was even possible this early and she said yes. And that most times the 2nd time around, moms feel kicks sooner. We've got another KICKER!!! :o) So good to feel you moving around in there, little one. We love you! 

Midland!

This was mine and Marin's first trip to Midland, TX to visit Bear and Honey. We had such a GREAT time.    Marin had a blast with their puppies. Bear and Honey have 3 dachshunds and she crawled around with them and had tons to say to them. It was really cute. Of course, I didn't get one picture. Argh. I didn't get one picture of Marin with her Bear and Honey either. ARGH! ARGH! Next time....

But I got a special little spa day with a manicure and mini makeover....thanks again Robin. And we both we treated to some very delicious meals and just some good, quality, family down time. It was a wonderful trip!

Bear and Honey had a pool in their neighborhood.
Marin was in heaven. 

The baby pool was perfect for walking around. 

So. Much. Fun.

This one you can see her two teethies a little bit...

She got to eat a graham cracker.
She had it everywhere.
We had to bathe her after this snack.

And on our way home....such a busy little traveler.

Her favorite....she could stand and look out the window the whole flight.