Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Marsh's. Christmas also marked Sophie's 10 month birthday. Sophie started crawling on Christmas. It was hard to take a picture of them by the tree, because Sophie kept wanting to move. A few weeks ago, Sophie started to sign "all done" and last week she started to sign "milk".
Lillie is also starting to learn a new language. She loves Dora the Explorer and she tries to tell us Spanish words. Instead of "Feliz Navidad" she would say "Feliz Naughtydad".
We had a great Christmas. The girls love all of the presents that they received from Santa and our family. Thank you to everyone.

Christmas Photo

Last week, I took a picture of the girls in their Christmas dresses for the Christmas card. It took several attempts to get this great photo. Lillie and I were singing the theme song to Dora the Explorer when I snapped this photo. Unfortunately, Sophie's skin broke out in a rash and she will be wearing a different dress on Friday.

Teething biscuits for 7 teeth

Today, Sophie tried a teething biscuit tonight for the first time. She ate more of it than Lillie did at her age. But Lillie only had 4 teeth and Sophie has 7. She bit a piece of the cracker off and I held it out towards her, She took the piece in her hand and tapped it on the piece that I was holding. She did this several times knowing that the two pieces went together.

Sophie had her 9 month check up last week. She is almost 28" (2" more than Lillie at 9 months) and 17lbs, 5oz (and 1.5lbs more than Lillie at 9 months). Yesterday, Sophie pulled herself up to play at her activity table.

Hey Santa

Tuesday, I worked at Lillie's school and they had a Jack and Jill family tell the class about Hanukah. We also learned how to play dreidel. That evening we finished our Christmas shopping and visited Santa at the mall. When we told Lillie that we were going to see Santa, she asked "Is Rudolph going to be there?" I told her that the reindeer were at the north pole. Sophie did not cry or smile when she sat on Santa's lap.
One of my favorite memories of this Christmas season will be: When we got to the mall, Lillie stopped as she was getting out of the car, because she heard the Salvation Army bell ringers and thought that it was Santa's sleigh.



Sophie is starting to make new noises and she is starting to squeal really loud. She loves to dance while standing at her activity table or even when she is sitting down. This past week, she developed another ear infection. (Edited 12/10: I forgot to add Sophie's new accomplishment yesterday. While I was writing this blog entry yesterday morning I heard music. We don't have a church nearby and Lillie was in the bathroom. I then realized that it was the musical toy on the side of Sophie's crib. Sophie had learned how to maneuver herself over to the toy and kick her leg to hit the button with her foot. At 6:30 this morning she was fussing a little bit and I was hoping that she would put herself back to sleep and not need me to feed her. But she had maneuvered herself over to the side of the crib with the toy and began playing the music. Brian called it "the mommy call button.")

Lillie is starting to recognize words. The other day she saw the word "money" on a store wall. Lillie asked if it said "monkey." I told her that is said "money" and she will remember the next time we shop at that store. This week, we were doing workbook pages and she recognized the words "Yellow, Orange, and Green." Her Preschool teacher does a "word of the day" exercise everyday that she is in class. Another Christmas Memory: On Monday, we started putting ornaments on the tree. I unwrapped an ornament with different colored mirrors on it and handed to Lillie to put on the tree. When she saw the ornament she said, "Whoa, that is a pretty ornament."

We are getting use to the Michigan snow. It has snowed or flurried almost everyday since we have been back from Nebraska. If it snows an inch or two, they do not plow or put down sand/salt. In Nebraska or Pennsylvania they would have put down lots of gravel and salt. There was a lake effect snow storm that hit Michigan this past week. We are an hour from the lake shore. We got 1" of snow, but the lake shore area got 11-18".

Happy Halloween

We have not updated the blog in a while, because we have been trying to get over a cold. Sophie's cold turned into a double ear infection and bad diaper rash. In addition, she had her 2 top front teeth come in within 2 days of each other. She is working on the 3rd top tooth now, so we have been missing out on a lot of sleep.

Last night, we took Lillie trick-or-treating around our neighborhood and Sophie went along for a buggy ride. There were a lot of kids trick-or-treating and it was great to see all of our neighbors.
The best part of trick-or-treating is eating the candy and tonight, Brian had to show Lillie how to eat pixy sticks.

Sophie's 8th month photo:

And finally we leave you with a Lillie saying. Saturday, we watched the Husker football game on TV. When Lillie saw the football players in their uniforms, she exclaimed, "Hey look, they are wearing capris."

Blueberries, dinglehoppers, and firetrucks

We have been busy the past few weeks, so we have a lot to update you on.
This morning, We went to the Library this morning for Fire Safety week. The Morning 4 year old class from Jack and Jill Preschool was also there. Lillie is in the front row in the overalls and heart jacket. Camille, the Little blonde girl next to Lillie is one of her friends. Camille's Brother, Gavin, is in Lillie's preschool class.
Sophie's 2nd tooth came in about 3 weeks ago. She has been scooting backwards a lot and last night, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Two weeks ago, she decided that she hates baby cereal and baby food. She refuses to open her mouth when we try to feed her. She usually laughs with her mouth open, but when she is at the table and laughing she keeps her mouth shut tight while she laughs. She also learned how to play with the food by blowing raspberries. The other night at the dinner table she was blowing raspberries and I said "are you going to blow raspberries?" Lillie chimed in, "I am going to blow blueberries."

Lillie's favorite movie to watch in the car is "The Little Mermaid." There is a scene in the movie where the silly seagull, skuttle, tells the little mermaid, Ariel, that a fork is a "dinglehopper" and humans use it to comb their hair. Two weeks ago, Lillie was sitting at the kitchen counter eating lunch. I looked over and she was using the fork to comb her hair. I told her, " don't comb your hair with the fork." She responded, "It is not a fork, it is a dinglehopper."

Lillie can also count backwards from 10 to 1. At the end of each preschool class, the kids go outside to play and as the moms were watching them play last week, Lillie's Preschool Teacher, Mrs. Hagen approched me. She said, "During circle time today Lillie was able to recognize all of her classmate's names." When she said "During circle time today," I must have had that 'oh great, what did my child do today' look on my face, because I couldn't imagine what Lillie could have done to have the teacher approach me. Lillie also is great at recognizing store logos, "kalamazoo" signs and police cars. The Police car recognition is great when you are suppose to be driving 25 mph on the main street in town.

And finally, Brian would like to thank "Preschool." Two weeks ago, Lillie came down with a cold, followed by Sophie, myself and finally Brian. When I told Brian that Lillie probably brought the cold home from preschool, he said, "thank you Preschool."

Sophie's 7 month Birthday, Zoo and Pumpkin Patch

Today, is Sophie's 7 month birthday. She now has her 2nd tooth. Her favorite thing is to play with the tags on stuffed animals and blankets. When I took her picture this month, she wouldn't leave the lamb alone. She kept grabbing for it.
Yesterday, we met Brian at the zoo after work. This is the last week of the season that the zoo will be open. The Giraffes were not on display, because they lost power earlier in the day and couldn't run the register at the Giraffe lookout. The zoo sells lettuce leaves to feed the Giraffes. We did see the Swans for the first time yesterday. This one wanted us to feed it. Lillie may look tiny in this picture, because the swans were big. There are a lot of swans and cranes in the area that we live in. There are at least 4 pairs of swans, that we are aware of, on the local ponds and lakes that we drive past. Unlike geese, Swans live in pairs and not flocks. There is only one pair of swans per body of water.

Today, we went to Gull Meadow Farms. They are a greenhouse, orchard and pumpkin patch. They had hayrack rides out to the pumpkin patch and orchards. We did not pick apples today, since it was a little cool. They also had a play area for kids, with a bouncy area, hay mazes, tunnel slide, tractor/train rides and a zip line. Inside, there was a wide selection of canned items from michigan farms.

Lillie's First Day of Preschool

Lillie had her first day of Preschool today. At 10am, Lillie asked "Can you tell me when it is time to go to school?" I said, "yes, after lunch." Lillie responded, "I am hungry for lunch now."
It was "meet the teacher day" and Beth stayed with her, even though she wanted to stay by herself. Lillie's teacher is Mrs. Louden (in the picture above with Lillie). We had circle time, with poems and songs. Choice time with the art room, the dress up/house room and the game room. In the picture below Lillie is playing in the sand with 4 of her classmates.

Peas, birthday party invite and big sister sayings

Sophie had her first vegetable tonight. She had peas and rice. She liked them and had 1/3 of a jar. Right now I am holding her as I write this, because she has her first cold and she keeps waking up. For the past month, she has been schooting around in circles and backwards.
Lillie went to a friend's birthday party today. Gavin (the birthday boy) is in Lillie's preschool class. She had a lot of fun playing with the kids and all of the toys.
Lillie has gone 6 dry nights, so I think that she is night time potty-trained.
Her first day of preschool is Thursday and she can not wait. She really wants to go by herself, but the co-op preschool wants a parent there the first day. She already told me that she does not want to hold my hand.
She is becoming quite the cutie and full of surprises. We went shopping yesterday and she asked to buy a pair of sunglasses. I looked at them and noticed that they were only $2, so I said sure. (She only has 5+ pairs of sunglasses.) When I got home, I cut off the tags and handed them to her. I said, "here are your sunglasses." She replied, "I got those for Sophie."
Two weeks ago we went to the zoo, I packed snacks, drinks, sunscreen, jackets, diapers, and many more items, but I forgot Sophie's noon medicine. (It is OK for her to take it a few hours late, but I like to keep her on schedule.) When I discovered this, in the car at the zoo parking lot, I said out loud, "Sorry Sophie, I forgot your medicine." Lillie replied, "Sorry, doesn't make her tummy feel better."
Yesterday, a Michigan Groundhog wandered into our yard. The groundhogs here are more gray than brown. The one that came to our backyard was bigger than mow, our 14lb cat. She was definitely interested as she stood on her hind legs looking out the window at him.

Who needs to sit up, when you can lay back and watch TV

Sophie is almost ready to sit up on her own. She will sit up without support for 30-60 seconds, if she is focused on a toy, TV program, etc. But when I sit her on the floor in the living room, she would prefer to lay back on the floor and watch TV. We have started to cut back on one of her medicines and I have started to eat cheese. She is really a happy baby and starting to like baby cereal.

Tiny Dancer

Lillie had her first combination dance/gymnastics class today. There was suppose to be another little girl in the class, but she did not show. So, Ms. Shelly kept Lillie busy the entire hour. (Yes, Ms. Shelly is expecting a baby in December) For the first half hour, Lillie had her dance lesson.

Then, during the second half hour she went to the classroom next door for her Gymnastics portion of the class. The dance studio is in a really nice Gymnastics complex. Lillie loved the class, but I know that she wanted to have other kids in her class today.

She loves hula hoops and liked jumping through them in this photo. (Lillie likes hula hoops, because of the Chipmunks Christmas song.) I am glad that we put her in dance/gymnastics class. Today, she got one-on-one attention and she learned to follow directions for someone other than us.

Pretty as a butterfly

We went to the zoo yesterday and Lillie asked to have her facepainted. The zoo employee said that she sat very still for a 3 year old. Lillie liked her face painted so much, that she wanted to leave it on till today. She washed it off only because we were going swimming today.
If you also noticed, she is wearing a hoodie sweatshirt in this photo, because it was a cool 73 degrees yesterday. We were also wearing pants because it was 49 degrees when I got up yesterday.

Sophie is 6 months old today

Sophie turned 6 months old today and I celebrated with a CHEESEburger. It was almost too much cheese. I have not had cheese (or any other dairy products) in 6 months, because of Sophie's acid reflux. I hope that it does not give her any problems and I can slowly start to add cheese back into my diet. I hope that I can have ice cream for my birthday in January. (Yes, I already have it planned out. The Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae at Applebees or Mint chip ice cream from Baskin Robbins. This summer has been rough, since I can't have ice cream, etc.)

Sophie celebrated her 1/2 birthday with an outing to the park with her big sister, baby cereal for lunch (she still hates it), tried using a sippy cup and she is now taking a nap.

Baptism and fun in Omaha

We traveled to Omaha last week to celebrate Sophie's Baptism. We went to the zoo, did some shopping and played with family. Lillie rode a pony and Brian drove the tractor at Grandpa's. We had great weather on Tuesday and Lillie played at the slide/swing park and splash park with her cousin Brenden. She asked if he was at school today and probably wishes that she could play with him more.

Sophie's first food

Sophie got to eat solid food for the first time yesterday. She hates it. (It was different at first and she ate it, but now she is refusing to eat it.) Brian fed her 2 days before her 6 month birthday, because he went out of town today. And I didn't want Brian to miss feeding her. I fed her cereal again tonight and she does not like the taste. I will try again tomorrow and hopefully she will like it soon. Tomorrow she will be 6 months old.

No more toothless grins - Sophie has her first tooth

Sophie had her first tooth come in yesterday. I am going to miss these toothless smiles.

I am 5 months old today

I am 5 months old today. I got up at 5:30 and 6:30 to eat this morning, but then I slept until 8am. I slept for 3 hours in my carseat earlier today (I must be growing) and I hear that mom has a bath planned for me tonight.
I am starting to outgrow my size 2 diapers and my 3-6 month clothes. I haven't rolled onto my back yet, but I love to scoot around the floor on my back or side, until I move around too much and end up on my tummy. I like to jump in my jumperoo in the kitchen, while Mom is cooking. I love to watch my sister play and tv with my Dad. Sometimes, I even fall asleep in Dad's arms while watching tv.

Our new playground

Today, our new playground was installed. Lillie's favorite slide is the straight one. The twisty one is really fast. Her favorite swing is either the glider or tire swing. We even got an infant seat for Sophie. Lillie climbs the rock wall with ease and enjoys looking through the periscope. The only thing left is to decide where to hang Beth's hamock swing. It will either go under one of the towers or under the deck. Lillie can't wait to have family over for a picnic in the tower.

On another note you may notice how beat up the grass is in the second photo (Where the rain ran down the hill) and all of the twigs and leaves on the ground. We have had a lot of storms in the past 24 hours (some tornado warnings).

Drumming at the Library

On Wednesday, we went to the library for a drumming activity. We got to try 5 different instruments. In the afternoon, the neighbors invited us over to swim in their pool. Lillie had a lot of fun with the 2 teenage girls that live there. Maybe next time Daddy can go with us to swim.

We have been filling out paperwork for Lillie to attend a preschool in the fall. It is a co-op preschool and she will be going for a couple of hours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

In the 3 weeks that we have lived here we have seen 4 deer. We got some corn and a deer lick for them. So, hopefully they will keep coming back, but stop eating the hostas.

Independence day parade and Balloon Festival

Yesterday, was a busy day for us. First, we went to the Independence parade in Richland. Later in the day, we went to the balloon festival in Battle Creek. We saw over 15 hot air balloons fly over and drop a "marker" on an "X" on the airfield. Lillie's favorite part of the balloon festival was riding the rides. She rode the ladybugs, carousel, flying bus, and ferris wheel. Her favorite ride was the ferris wheel, because she has wanted to ride a ferris wheel for a long time. When we driving to the airport, she yelled out "there is a ferris wheel."
After the hot air balloon pilots played their "game" they lined up on the field and illuminated their balloons. It was such an exhausting day that both Lillie and Sophie fell asleep on the way home.

New lawn mower

Last week, Brian got to try out the new lawn mower. It took him only an hour to mow the lawn, which would probably take him 2 or more hours with a push mower.

Rolling over is exhausting

On Monday, Sophie rolled over to her tummy and after a few minutes she fell asleep.

First week in the new house

We have been in our new house for a week. On Sunday, Brian went to the mailbox for the newspaper and was welcomed to the neighborhood by a buck. The moving truck arrived on Monday and we were overwhelmed with the number of boxes. We have met all 4 of the families that live on our cul-de-sac and two of them brought us cookies. Friday, Beth and Lillie planted a small garden and Brian got to mow the lawn with the John Deere riding lawn mower. Sophie is now 4 months old and is working on rolling over on her tummy.

Greek Festival and Art Fair

Today, we went to the Greek Festival in Kalamazoo. We ate Gyros and Lillie had a hotdog. She ate her entire hotdog while watching the Greek dancers. After Lunch, she jumped in a bouncer in the shape of a dinosaur and played on the playgroud equipment. There was a huge art fair (over 200 booths) just a few blocks away. We strolled through the park and found something for Grandma's birthday. Lillie asked for another hotdog and ate 1/2 of it with Dad. She of course had to have her favorite drink of rootbeer to wash the hotdog down with.

Curious George!

There was suppose to be a summer reading kick off event at the park today. It was cancelled, because it rained. So, we decided to go to the library and Curious George was there! We read several books and even went to a storytime.

Sophie is 3 Months old!

Sophie turned 3 months old today. She does a great job of holding her head up and this week she started grabbing for toys. She is a happy baby now that we have figured out her acid reflux. She loves to watch ceiling fans and the lights and music on her bouncer seat.

Quack, Quack, Quack

There is a park two blocks from our apartment and it has canadian geese and ducks. On Sunday, we went to the park to feed them. The geese and ducks are not aggresive, but you do have to watch out for their droppings. :)

Lillie wrote her name today!

Today, at playgroup Lillie wrote her name without any help. I was talking to the other Moms when Lillie said "I wrote my name." I turned around and saw her accomplishment. I have been trying to help her with a smaller pencil, but today she wrote her name with a thick piece of chalk.

Giraffes

Tuesday, we went to Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, MI. The highlight of the day was feeding the Giraffes leaf lettuce and biscuits. There is a video of Lillie feeding the Giraffes on the "Lillie and Sophie" page. We have settled into temporary housing until we close on our house in June. We found a house in Galesburg, Michigan, which is halfway between Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. The house is on a large lot with a lot of trees.

Prior to moving into our tempory housing, we stayed at a Holiday Inn. Lillie loved to stay there, because they had a pool. During our stays Brian taught Lillie how to swim. She can doggie paddle (with her arm floaties) from the stairs to Brian 6 feet away.

Sophie has outgrown all of her 0-3 month clothes. She is growing a lot faster than Lillie. She is also a better sleeper than Lillie, especially when she has very little acid reflux.

Reptileland

Today, was a free admission day at Clyde Peelings Reptileland for the WVIA (PBS) members. Lillie's favorite repitiles were the turtles and tortoises. After seeing all of the repitiles, she picked out a stuffed sea turtle in the gift shop.

Smile!!!

Sophie started to smile last week. This is one of the better pictures that we have gotten of her.

Lillie has been saying some cute things lately. 2 weeks ago, when I bought Mickey Mouse shaped chicken nuggets, she asked "are they made from Mickey Mouse?" Today, she said "It's snowing" when she saw the apple blossoms blowing off the trees.

Month long update

Things have been so busy around here, that we haven't had a chance to update the blog. In March, Nana, Grandma and Grandpa all came to visit. Lillie celebrated her 3rd birthday and went to see Sesame Street Live. Lillie and Sophie saw the Easter Bunny and he brought them lots of goodies for Easter. This is the first year that we were able to participate in the Church Easter Egg hunt/dash. Sophie has Acid Reflux and is on 2 medicines. This also means that Beth cannot have any dairy and has started to eliminate foods with dairy in them. Including Hot dogs, cereal bars and other processed foods. The biggest news is that Brian has accepted a job at the Kellogg's corporate office. The house has been on the market for less than 24 hours and we have had a few people drive into our circle to get a closer look at our house. We hope that this interest in the house will lead to an offer before we move to Michigan.

Lillie's first visit to the Dentist

Lillie had her first visit to the Denist today. She did great, while she let the hygentist clean her teeth. The Dentist said that her teeth looked great. At the end of her visit, She got a sparkly toothbrush and 2 Dora the Explorer stickers.

Sophie is here

Sophia Elizabeth arrived on Thursday, February 25th at 8:56 pm. She weighed 7lbs and 3 oz and was 20" long. Lillie enjoys being a new big sister and helping Mom out.

Sillie Lillie

Lillie can spell her name! Sometimes she will forget that there are 2 'L's in the middle of her name, but she does a great job. Her favorite new thing to do is to put puzzles together. Including, 50 and 100 piece puzzles. Yesterday, she got a new "lentricular" puzzle (one where the image changes if you move your head) and she put it together by herself.

Bye Bye Nala

This picture is of Lillie (6months old) and Nala. On Friday, We lost Nala to the final stages of kidney failure. She was almost 16 years old. She hissed at the cable guy, our parents and friends, but she loved us. Lillie could pick her up under her front legs and carry her around like a rag doll.