12 Month Pictures!

She's ONE! I can't believe it! Marin loves....

• to point at everything. It is one of her favorite ways to communicate. And her little pointer finger is adorable. 
• the "ba" sound...I think she tries to say bite, bath, ball, and bye....
• to write! If there is pen and paper around, look out. She is going to be writing. 
• Sliding- her little Tikes slide is still a fun activity. She climbs up and usually slides down on her belly backwards. And always finishes with an applause for herself. 
• CLIMBING
• snuggling with her Daddy in the mornings. It really is the most the precious thing in the world. When she wakes up in the morning, I bring her into our room and she goes straight for Daddy! 
• Pat-a-Cake....especially the "roll em' up" part. We sing it "Pat a cake, pat a cake, Baker's man, Roll 'em up, Roll 'em up, Throw them in the pan." We clap and then roll our hands. She has learned how to roll her hands and it is just too cute. 
• Nursing. The idea was to wean at a year and at one point we thought she would be ready. But there is no way this girl is ready to give it up. And we don't really mind. 
• Waffles, yogurt, fruit/veggie pouches are still her favorite foods. 
• She loves her books Peek-A-Who and now Grow Up (Santa brought it) by Nina Laden
• The Wiggles are her favorite! 
• MUSIC! 

Santa Came to Marin's House

Although we have had a cold bug going around our house, we still managed to have a wonderful Christmas day. Sorry for all the pictures.....

Checking out everything that Santa brought her for her very 1st Christmas. 

The toddler crayons and coloring books were the first to get her attention. 

We had a bit of a rough night with coughing and colds but she still managed some
energy to open presents. :o) 

Her first Doctor's Kit. 

She loves medicine bottles and thermometer, so Santa thought a Doctor's kit would be fun! 

The crossed legs are just too cute. 

A new bug puzzle!

Little People Airplane

Love the "bed" head...even though it was more like "sleep on Mommy's shoulder while she rocked me
ALL night long" head. 

A Doodle pad for the little writer/artist. 

An egg color/shape matching game. A big hit because not only can she take it in and out of the container but
she can break the eggs apart as well. 

This was Burke's idea of a picture of me and Marin together. It just makes me laugh.
Although he did manage to get one of us together, after the long night we had,
this is actually the best picture of us together. :o)

And a trip to Dr. Daddy!
All better now!
(Of course, I think this is the most adorable picture.) 

We did take her to the doctor today just to make sure the cough wasn't anything worse than a cold. Everything sounds good and she is actually feeling much better! Yay! But we have all of our Christmas decorations already down and we are ready to put up the balloons and birthday banner! Can't believe our little girl is turing ONE!

Thank you Bear and Honey!

Marin got a brand new outfit from her Bear and Honey in the mail. It is perfect for cold Chicago! 

She had so much fun unwrapping the present. 

Adorable!

A little snack...

Marin got into the diaper bag and fought some snacks. She was so proud of herself. This girl makes me laugh!

Christmas in Chicago!

We went downtown to see the big Christmas tree and to write a letter to Santa. The tree was beautiful of course. We wanted to eat lunch at the Walnut Room again this year but the wait was 4 hours long and that just wasn't going to happen. Between sickness, teething, and pregnancy, we are all a bit slow moving this holiday season and we waited just a bit too long. But we did get to see the tree and get some pictures. :o)

Writing her letter to Santa....
She wants a baby doll diaper bag, a doctor's kit, and a Little People Airplane. :o) 

She wanted the whole box of crayons.
(Oh, and she wants some toddler crayons and a coloring book for her stocking. :o)

Mailing her letter to Santa....

Family! 

Hollis at 31 Weeks 

 And just for fun.....

And I don't want to forget this part of the day because it makes me laugh.... 

Since we couldn't eat lunch at the Walnut Room we thought we would just look around the block for another place to try since we were downtown. Right when we left Macy's I felt someone tugging at my bag and turned around to find a small group of teenagers. I was a little suspicious but didn't want to be crazy, so I just moved my bag to the front and kept an eye on them. Of course, there was never a time for me to fill Burke in on any of this. Plus I figured we would lose them in the crowd, etc. But, no, every turn we made, they made. We stopped to look at a menu at one place and they stopped to look at the window of the store next to it. So now I am really concerned and just want to get in somewhere. Again, Burke is clueless. So the next place we come to, Burke is tired of looking and I'm afraid for our lives and we both agree, this is where we will have our special little downtown Christmas lunch. As we are going up to the restaurant I fill Burke in on the situation and we both notice they are sitting right outside the place waiting. Yikes. But once we get up to the door, we realize we have chosen a place that can only be described as Hooters. I could not stop laughing. Seriously. We were definitely the only family dressed up in our Christmas attire there. In fact, I may have been one of maybe 3 other female costumers (Marin included). It was hilarious. We were surprised Marin didn't want to nurse the entire time. But they did have a changing table station in the women's bathroom, so they were family friendly. I'm not sure that we will necessarily start a Christmas lunch tradition at the booby place, but it will be a really funny memory. And by the time we left, our muggers had disappeared. :o)