All I have to say.....

...on this post, is that my precious little poodle slept 7 hours last night! I felt so great this morning that we went for a run at 7 am. We have been blessed!

photo by Nina Brauer

Maryn is 6 weeks old!

Maryn is 6 weeks old and it's officially the half way mark until I return to work:( I know I went to four years of college and then 2 years of nursing school and then 3 years of graduate school but I just don't want to go back to work! I think this is the coolest most rewarding job I could ever have. I swear...from the moment I can remember I have always wanted to be a mom. She has been such an easy baby, which may be the reason why I enjoy spending every waking moment with her. Parenting is a challenge and stimulates my brain far more than my job does. Don't get me wrong...I really do love my job and never really dread going to work but the thought of leaving Maryn for 14 hours at a time...even if it is in the middle of the night while she is sleeping just makes me sad. Maybe I'll be ready in 6 weeks...we'll ask Maryn how she feels about it.

Maryn Amelia is 6 weeks old today

~amazing head control

~coos and babbles

~gives us the gummiest smiles:)

~loves looking at herself in the mirror (not sure where she got that from?)

~hates pacifiers...I've tried to get her to take them so that when she melts down in the grocery store I can steal just 5 more minutes to pay and get her in the car

~is not crazy about bottles either..we've fed her a bottle a couple times to make sure she'll take it when I'm not around and she would rather not....this might be my 'out'..my excuse to not work:)

~is currently protesting all naps in her crib...but will nap all day long in her carseat...so much for Babywise!

~loves bath time

~loves tummy time too!

She was 'rocking out' to her wrist rattle and then all of a sudden...total exhaustion!

Mac thinks she looks like Minnie Mouse with this big bow on her head!

During our photo shoot, she went from this....to...

...this in half a second!

Watching my husband cuddle with our precious newborn...it's amazing

(If you click on the photo and look closely...you can see that she's smiling...she loves her daddy and I do too!)

Notice that Mac took her bow out of her hair and it's resting on the arm of the sofa...he's really got to get use to this girl thing!

Poop, Sleep and Grandma's...the important things in life!

Maryn has decided that the most important things in life are poop, sleep, and grandma's! Oh, and milk of course! She slept through the night for the first time on Saturday night (May 23 2009...for my records)....6 hours!! I heard her fuss a little around 2:30 am and I let her fall back to sleep. I woke up at 5:30...shocked!! She had slept through the night! Now...to many of you, 5:30 am on a Sunday morning doesn't constitute sleeping through the night but in the eyes of a new parent...6 hours of sleep is a blessing! She slept 5 hours last night so I think we are almost there. She is still sleeping in our room in her pack n play because I was getting up twice in the middle of the night to feed her...but I think she may be moving into her big girl crib this weekend! She is a little grunter so it'll be nice to have a quiet room again but sad that my baby is moving on to her next step in life! whaah....tear drop:(

It really surprises us that Maryn has such good head control because you would think that those cheeks would pull her down!!

Trying to figure out what her crazy mom is doing
We're madly in love





This is what we do on a rainy day...cuddle with daddy on the bed and watch t.v.

Here's where the poop comes in! So, Maryn and I were out shopping with Nanny and Maryn requested that lunch be served early. So, while Nanny was shopping, I fed Maryn in the car and about half way through her feeding, an explosion went off in her diaper. I decided to let her continue eating and then I would change her diaper...little did I know that the poop was slowly creeping up the back of her diaper, out the top and onto her pretty little purple dress that her godmother auntie Kristen had bought her! It was an interesting challenge to get her out of her poopie dress without spreading the poop all over her hair or my carseats...then while putting a new diaper on, she poops again...now I've got two poopie diapers, wipes flying everywhere, a poopie dress and a very happy baby!! I was laughing the entire time because all of this was happening on the front seat of my Yukon in the parking lot of Bed Bath and Beyond with friendly bystanders passing by. Thank goodness I had an extra outfit in her diaper bag! Moral of the story...always pack an extra outfit and investigate what I'm eating in my diet that's causing these explosive poops!!!

Despite the embarrassing event, she pulled it off looking gorgeous! That's my girl, Mare!
My camera was on the dashboard so I had to steal some pics!

This is what she thought of me fumbling around in her poop!

Grandma Nanny couldn't stay away for too long and Maryn had no objections about spending 2 days with the lady who spoils her rotten! Nanny was able to witness Maryn's first 'coo'!! She's starting to talk now. She'll look at us and her little mouth will start moving around and then she speaks!! Or coo's!

First time her little toes touched the grass

Soooo many kisses

Can you see her little birthmark over her left eye? I think it's kinda cute...just popped up the other day!

Hanging on daddy's chest...excuse the mop on her head:)

Missy blue eyes

Bode just loves Maryn...he's just a little anxious to run around the back yard with her! He thinks she's sort of boring.

Modeling her precious dress that auntie Jaclyn gave her! Thank you so much, Jac!! It's beautiful and I'm so bummed that she's going to outgrow it in a couple months....I want it in every size!

The cheeks started to take her down here

Nanny and Maryn...this is her face right before a sneeze!! She's so cute I could just squeeze her...and I do:)

This is the pretty purple outfit that later got pooped on

And of course....Bode came in for a kiss

He loves her toes!!

My mom still cries everytime she sees her...it's so sweet! I can't wait to see what that feels like...holding your first grandchild!

After a long day...more adventures to come

Maryn is 5 weeks old!

My Itty Bitty is 5 weeks old and still just a little peanut. She is smiling at us every day and it's the greatest feeling in the world!

It's been cold here lately, hence the long sleeves! It better warm back up because all of her clothes that fit are for warm weather! Time to go shopping:)

Cuddling with her puppy dog


"Me and my buddy"

So, I felt the need to blog about our day yesterday in hopes to prove that even though I brag about Maryn's perfection...she still IS a baby! I'm a NICU nurse and change diapers for a living, right! I think I have only been pooped on a couple times and those times were by babies who were notorious for pooping on their nurses. Well, I was rushing to get out the door yesterday and I went to quickly change Maryn's diaper...I had all precautions set up with the second diaper underneath the first for emergency recovery but without notice and with GREAT force, she had a massive and explosive poopie that shot straight through the dirty diaper, the clean diaper, my hand and over the side of the changing diaper (hitting it first) and then shooting 3 feet unto the carpet, just inches from our bed! I was in shock and then started laughing so hard I just stood there...frozen!! Of course this stuff only happens when you're running late. Needless to say, she ended up with 2 baths yesterday and Mac got a good laugh out of it too!

The damage!! Notice, the only carpet cleaner I had was for pet stains.

Mr. Bode and his first haircut

He loves his sissy

Always better in bows:) But, it's just not hard for her to not look cute.

Sorry...I'm just a little proud

Announcing Maryn's arrival

Maryn's announcement

The winning photo...look at her little smirk:)
My sweet little poodle
Here are a few other contenders that didn't make the final cut...


All wrapped up...pretty in pink



She thinks her daddy's a pretty funny guy!
Look how tiny she is compared to his hand

Snuggle bug

Just hang'n on the couch...watching cartoons

"Hey mom...grab me some milk will ya, my show's on!"

Me and my gorgeous girl

Daddy took a couple pics of us loving eachother, she was quite bored with it all

God is good! I am in awe of His awesomeness...His work is perfection!

Maryn started smiling at us this week. She's smiled before but I chalked it up to gas...but now I can actually MAKE her smile! Every day is like a brand new adventure for her.

Maryn has learned how to 'skype' with her grandparents.

Here she is 'skyping' with grandma Cummings

...and with grandma and poppop Loeper

"turn off the flash mommy!"

Guess who bought her this onesie?!

Look at those delicious lips

Now that's a smile! You should see how excited Mac and I get when she smiles at us...we jump around like idiots

A double chin has never looked so good