My little button pusher

Marley Lou has many a nickname in our house. Mar Mar, Beauty and Princess to name a few. However, lately our little baby peanut gets one name and one name only. Trouble Maker. Marley appears to be at the age where she is seeing how far she can actually go. How much will mommy and daddy actually put up with? Her new favorite thing to do is hold up her little finger and say 'no no no'. Think she hears that a lot? haha. Yesterday she was sitting her in high chair pushing all the food off. I told her no 47 times (ok thats what it felt like) and she just looked at me and kept right on doing it. The other day we were playing in the living room. She went to the stairs, I told her 'Marley no, you stay down here'. What does she do? Goes right up the stairs. Really kid!? Now when I actually do yell at her and tell her something very firmly she cries and wants a hug. So I KNOW that she knows shes doing something wrong. (sigh) for now I will continue to re direct, say no, be mean when I have to and set every limit possible. And while I HATE repeating my self 100 times a day. I do love that she's got a little mind of her own. ;)

My crazy hectic mornings

It's not very often that I have a calm and relaxed type of morning. I tell myself every night that I need to get everything ready, get up ontime (before MarleyLou) and get ready. Yeah, that never happens. Even IF I have everything ready the night before I always feel rushed and un organized. Two things in the last two days, however, have made me pause and enjoy my mornings with my lil baby. Yesterday was really kind of a frantic day and Marley was especially wanting her mommy and asking to be held every two seconds. As I was holding her she let go of her sippy where it promptly landed on the floor, cracked open and splashed milk all over my pants. I said loudly 'Oh Marley!' And she said to me for the very first time ever 'oh Shorry'. And I just paused for a quick moment and said, thats ok. We cleaned up the milk together and went about our morning. But that wonderful moment when she said sorry to me made my whole world pause. And then today I was a little more prepared and was taking some time folding laundry in the living room before we had to go. My little girl came up to me and held her hands up so I picked her up and she laid her little head right on my chest. We stood there for a few good minutes just her and I in the quiet of the morning rocking and cuddling. I LOVE those moments so much. When my whold world stops and it's just her and I.

Saints Game

Sunday Ben and I went with his family to our first ever Saints game. We had so much fun! We celebrated a late birthday for Jake and an early birthday for Tony. We cooked out and played games. It was a great time. I didn't get any pictures of it but Jake and Cody even got to dress up and a cow and chicken and have a race on the field.
Here are some pics of our super fun day.

                                                  Enjoying a birthday cupcake

                                                  About to eat some of my very potent Vodka Pineapple

Parade!

Last weekend was FunFest in New Richmond. We took Marley to the parade on Saturday night and she LOVED it. For a little girl who NEVER sits still, she sat in her stroller for almost the whole hour and a half parade just people watching and dancing to the bands. She's been to one parade before but she was smaller, it was st patties day and it was FREEZING! This was much better :)

Sunday we ventured down to the rides and did two little kid rides with her. She rode the cars and she rode on a train. She had fun! I little skeptical of what was actually happening but when we asked her if she wanted to go on the train (after riding the cars) she nodded yes and seemed to love it. Super cute.

Here are some pics from the parade.

It's been awhile!

I've been slacking a little on posts but I am going to try and be more devoted to posting.

I'll start with our 4th of July weekend, which was perfect. Both Ben and I were lucky enough to have Thursday and Friday off so we headed up to the cabin Thursday after Marley's nap. That morning we went to Walmart and got some Shopping done and then headed over to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Colleens house to pick up the cabin key. We even got breakfast and a nice visit out of the deal :)

Thursday night Marley promptly jumped into the crick and played and played in the very warm water. It was perfect height for her and there was a nice sandy spot right in the middle. She LOVED it and even greeted Dan and Katie in her birthday suite from the water. hahah. Friday I got my first try at Kayacking (thank you dan and katie) and while it was crazy windy and my weak arms barley paddled me across the lake, we made it and it was super fun!

Friday Dan and Katie left and Saturday Brianna and Cody  came up and spent a day. Marley loved seeing all her friends :) playing in the water, going in the paddle boat and 'riding' the lawn mower. She even made sure to keep the place clean for gm and gp. 

Hopefully we will make it up to the cabin again as it was a much needed get away.

Happy Mothers Day Mom! You have given me more than I could ever ask for. You've put up with more BS than you EVER should have had too. And you make me laugh and smile pretty much every day.
Here are just a few thank you's that I don't say enough:

-Thank you for giving me my grandma. Because we lived with her I got to have a relationship that most kids don't get to have with their grandparents. And I am forever grateful for that...Even though she always busted me for not wearing a winter hat ... how did she know!? : )

- Thank you for letting me live, make my own mistakes and for letting me cry about them to you, even when you'd told me the whole time that whatever I was doing wasn't a good idea.

-Thank you for letting me move out ... and move home ... several times because of those bad ideas I mentioned above.

-Thank you for laughing at me, putting me in my place and making fun of me. Sometimes I can be a little too serious for my own good.

-Thank you for allllll the times you didn't bitch slap me. I know I desearved it.

-Thank you for being the most wonderful, fun and amazing gramma to Marley Lou. She loves you.

-Thank you for showing me what it is to give of yourself and put other people first...that being said ... I also have learned to really just put myself first sometimes and say screw you to all those other people. hahahaha.

Really and truley I love you and have so much respect for you.  I love that I can call you 3 times in one day and you are always ready to just 'catch up' and chat. Even though it's been an hour since I talked to you last. I love that we have the same eyes and forhead and that when I look at me, I see you. And that makes me proud. You are an amazing mom and gramma and I don't think we tell you enough.

What being a Mommy means to me

Recently I got this tattoo on my arm - dedicated to my lil Marley Lou and inspired by a song by Bombshell.

I got it because ... well because I want Marley to know that she doesn't have to take crap from anyone. I want her to know that she can do anything and be anyone that she wants to be and I want her to know that I am always always always in her corner. I have a great mom who taught me to stand up for myself and to know that if I am being my best, then I desearve the best in return (more about her on mothers day). But I want to teach marley all that and more. SO here are a few thoughts on what being a mommy means to me ... so far at least ...

-Knowing that her needs are more important than mine. This includes her needs at 1am...when she's too lazy to reach over and find her nuk...so she cries until mommy comes in and gives it to her. :)
-It means hugs and kisses and smiles and laughs from her erase all things bad. A bad day, a bad haircut (see my previous post haha), a bad nights sleep. Nothing else seems to matter when she looks at me and smiles.
-It means a crazy need to protect my baby from everything that might hurt her. I try to let go and not hover ... but it's hard. This also means that I will rip your eyes out if you even think of hurting her...I did say crazy right? :)
-It's a feeling of being fulfilled. I've wanted to be a mommy for a long time and she has made me feel complete and whole like I never knew was posisible.
-It's a little bit of fear. What if I screw up ... what if I loose her ... what if what if what if ... all of the above however make this little bit of fear ok.
-It's knowing that I made the right decision to become a mommy, because even at 3 am when marley is throwing up all over and I have puke running down my side I am thinking 'yeah, I could have another one of you'.
- It's a feeling of accomplishment. I CAN do this. I can get down on the ground and play like a kid again. I can tell her no and have her listen to me. I can teach her things.
-Mostly it's feeling the most amazing amount of love for someone who has only been in my life for a very short time ... but who has been in my hear forever.


Marley Lou you are my light of my world and the beat in my heart. You are special and wonderful and strong.