Rolling Rascals

Marin is taking her first gymnastics class, and she loves it! Here she is learning to gallop.
The Ball Pit

Walking up the wedge
Balance beam, one of her favorites. I'm sure there will be more posts with pictures of the rolling rascals class.

Where is she?

Last week Marin and I (Holli) were home working around the house. I started washing the dishes and after a while I realized that Marin had been quiet for too long so I rushed out of the kitchen to see what kind of mischievous deeds my toddler was up to and this is what I found:


ahhh the joys of lazy Summer days, reading half naked in bed.

Playing the Piano

Marin's cousin Nathanael (and his parents) came for a visit. We took them by Todd's office and the kids found the piano. Marin is singing her heart out... at least it looks that way!

Playing Dress Up

Marin's best buddy came over a few days ago and they got out the dress up cloths. The boots are always a popular accessory.

Marin decided to go with the grass skirt. This is her new trick, she can now stack nesting boxes!

Eco Babies Wear Green

Here's a great book and I think the whole series is probably really cute. We just got this book for a friend who is having a baby, and is of course a hippie parent and will love it.

Eco Babies Wear Green


I think the foodie one looks quite funny.

Happy Birthday America

Marin and Todd picked up a big surprise while out one day. This is Marin's new water toy. We all love it.
Hey Mom I'm on a "big turtle!"
Mommy and Marin floating along.
Mairn learning to swim. This is her coming out of the water. She's very brave but not very good at floating yet.
Happy Birthday America! Marin and Parker went to their Thursday morning story time and Mrs. Wilma gave them these water bottle noise makers and pinwheel headbands. Then later in the day Marin and Parker did a paint project--see the painting behind her on the wall. This was done by dipping or dunking little toy balls into paint and then throwing them onto the paper.
This is how Marin smiles when we say "Marin smile for the picture"
and then this is how she protests smiling.


Later in the evening of the 4th we went to see fireworks in a near by town. It was a lot of fun, however Marin decided she really wanted to go home.

June Traveling

We just returned home after 2+ weeks of traveling in Missouri (to visit friends) and Minnesota (for my brothers wedding). We had a good time and Marin did really well for not being at her house, in her bed on her time zone. My brother's wedding was beautiful and really fun. I'm going to just post a few pictures to keep my writing short tonight. Also Todd says he's going to write on the blog about traveling sometime. So I'll leave the details for him.

Marin is a playground junkie, while this this picture does not tell a lot about our vacation, I love the sun on her hair, she's such a pixie!
We went to one of our favorite places just outside of Columbia, Missouri, a beautiful winery that overlooks the Missouri river. We went out with lots of good food, friends and wine!

We got to see new little Ethan Todd getting to visit with old friends.

Marin and Lincoln playing in the sand in Kansas City. We got to spend a few days with Holli's good friend from High School and her family. Marin and Wells eat waffles for breakfast.

Pops Winston gave Marin an African turtle to take care of for a few days. This was a highlight of the trip for sure.

Spending a day with Jake, Sarah Cate and Aidan.
Grandma and Marin making table runners for Williams wedding
Ring barer Christian and Flower girl Marin
We ended our vacation with a day in St Paul, MN visiting Garrison Keillor's book store and St. Paul cathedral.

Sleeping Like a Baby

A History of Marin's Sleep
or AKA Sometimes Sleeplessness Nights
or AKA The Night Nursling
or AKA Why Mama Acts Psychotic Some Days

According to Dr. Sears; the famous pediatrician, attachment parenting advocate and father of 8 (I believe), says there are "sleepers" and "high needs sleepers". "Sleepers" go to sleep quite easily, usually at a very young age they start sleeping through the night. These are they type of babies whose parents have to wake them up to eat in the very early days. "High needs sleepers" are none of those things. Marin is a HNS.

Now if you are reading this and expecting a child or have not yet had children I highly recommend you read sleep books BEFORE you have sleep problems. (My fav.'s are Elizabeth Pantely's No Cry Sleep Solution books, they are very AP friendly and very baby friendly, meaning its the gentle way to improve your child's sleep behavior) If you do what I have done, read sleep books and articles after you realize you have a HNS then you have some real back tracking to do... and boy do we ever. So here's the scoop on our HNS.

When I was a brand new mother I nursed Marin to sleep every time, so her sleep association equals; "I am unable to fall asleep without nae nae". Also (according to Pantley) if a child falls asleep and a parent is with them at the time of sleep, if they awake and that parent is not there it really freaks them out. For example if you fell asleep in your bed and woke up on the kitchen floor you would be a bit freaked out because that's not how you fell asleep. I'm saying all of this because its important to know that Marin is not only a HNS but I have not given her very good tools to learn how to sleep.

HOWEVER there is hope, Marin has fallen asleep 2 times this week with Todd telling her stories, singing songs, and tickling her "arnst" (or arms if you don't speak Marin). We are all working very hard in this household to help Marin understand that she is very capable of falling asleep without mama and that she can fall asleep with dada and at some point by her self. As a mother 2 times is all I need to be singing a VICTORY song! Yeah Marin, Dadda and Mama for working so hard this week.

I guess the reason for this entry is because, well its what is on my mind. Also as I was watching my baby sleep the other evening I was thinking about how big she has gotten and that I have an almost two year old (she's just about to turn 20 months). I was thinking about how completely crazy toddlers are, and how much she wears me out some times. But ya know, no matter how crazy she is during the day, no matter how many developmental steps or leaps she takes she still looks like a little baby when she's sleeping. I came across a few pictures and wanted to post them.


Remember when Marin was a tiny newborn and would only sleep with a hat over her eyes! Also can you see the baby acne on her cheek. She's going to hate me for having these pictures.
This was taken before we knew the hat over the eyes trick so she's covering her own eyes. She's also sleeping very comfortably in our bed in my favorite p.j's., little scooters.


Marin's very favorite way to sleep, on mama's body in a sling. This was our favorite sling of all times, while we love and use the Ergo now, our wrap was by far the longest, most used and most comfortable sling for baby and mama too.

Well we are about to travel for a few weeks and so all of our hard work may be tossed out the window, but we are still trying to gently help Marin develop healthy sleep habits. This has been my biggest lesson in patience and trying to practice parenting Marin for who she is, not who I would like or want her to be, but still learning how to set boundaries. Heck, I sleep with two pillows, a blankie, a husband, only on my tummy diagonally across the bed-- maybe HNS are genetic! I'm sure this was not inherited from her father who sleeps in the same position all night, on the very edge of the bed because that's all the room he gets.

Messin' Around

Holli: Marin please stop playing with the blinds. Marin are you listening?
Holli's interpretation of Marin: No! I'm not doing anything wrong!
Marin: I'm pretending to be a good girl
I'm so cute!

Water Joy

Marin loves water, what toddler doesn't? We discovered a little fountain on campus a while back and have been visiting it about once a week.
Trying to put a leaf into the water.
Getting so wet.
Drying off with mommy.
We also got to visit St. Augustine last week for a few days. Marin is a beach babe! She loves everything about the beach.

No Matter How Hard I Try

This is a story of Marin's hair and its starts with the lines; no matter how hard I try...

Before I finish that line let me explain something about Marin. She has red hair that everyone seems to love or at least make comments about. People we don't even know, in the grocery store, or bank, or while at the Farmers Market, or out for dinner, stop us to make comments about her hair. Now as someone who studied human development in college, I get a bit paranoid about how these comments are going to affect her as she gets older. Actually a few months ago she started pulling her hair when she was really frustrated... my first thought was "she's doing this because people always talk about her hair" not really a rational thought. Anyways we really appreciate everyone's love for redheaded babies, and our favorite comment is when an elderly person walks but and says, "now that's an Irish baby if I ever saw one!" OK aside from it being red, she has TWO cowlicks, and TWO of those swirly crowns in the back (all of which she had genetically inherited from Holli's mother, thanks mom!)... this is a combination for hair that never cooperates, EVER, you can ask grandma Cheri.
Just waking up from a nap... or just about any time of day really hahaha
Reading with daddy
Ok to finish that sentince, "No matter how hard I try, its still a mess!"