Life is awesome!

Smiling boy! This was taken 3 days ago.

Watching TV with Daddy. Like father like son.
I'm getting so big!

I got my hata' blockas on!

Taken around 8-9 weeks when he first started smiling.

Happy Leap Day! Or whatever it’s called. Well, once again
I am a major slacker and I have not written in oh….7 weeks. Ouch. But I swear
it’s really not because I don’t want to. I feel like such a crappy mom for not
taking more time to document Marquette’s life. So…let me start by make a few
points about him.
·
Marquette started smiling around 9 weeks. Now he
is almost never smiling. Every time I see that gummy grin on that boy’s face my
heart melts.
·
On Thursday, February 23rd my mom
made Marquette laugh out loud for about a continuous 20 seconds. That is the
most he has ever laugh before and since.
·
He is has pretty impressive neck control now—although
he sometimes still looks like a little bit of a bobble head.
·
He hates tummy time. Well, he’s getting a little
more accustomed to it. Still, he’s not a fan. He rolled over at his 2 month
check up at the doctor’s office because he didn’t want to be on his stomach.
·
He started babbling around the 8th of
February. He went from being absolutely silent to unlatching one morning when I
was nursing him and giving me an earful. He has his days when he is quieter,
and then one day he won’t stop babbling. It’s the most adorable thing. He is
usually more talkative when he’s eating though…which can be a little more
frustrating. He also tends to completely lose interest in nursing because he
wants to look up at me and smile. While this proves to be slightly irritating
at 3:30am, I can’t help but smile back and just enjoy the moment.
·
He started sleeping through the night! I kid you
not, he never slept greater than 5 hours at night until 3 days ago. I was getting
really depressed because everyone kept asking me “is he sleeping through the
night yet?” like it was totally expected. I hated saying “no, not yet” because
1.) I’m exhausted and totally don’t feel like discussing that horrible subject
2.) I feel like I must be a bad mom for not being able to get my child to sleep
at night. I felt like I was failing. However, after talking with both my mom
and Derek, it became clear that Marquette seemed to go longer between feedings
and slept longer when he was given a bottle. We started piecing things together
and realized that he probably isn’t getting completely full when we put him to
bed, so he kept waking up. You would think this would be obvious, but I promise
I had called my pediatrician like 4 times to try to figure out what the deal
was and they kept saying “oh, I’m sure he’s getting enough to eat. He has the
right number of poopy/pee diapers. He’s just not ready. He can’t go long enough.”
I also called them because I felt like he wasn’t eating enough in one session.
He seemed more to snack. This started around the time that he could really
start to see. I figured out that as soon as his stomach starts feeling even
slightly satisfied, he decides that it’s time to start looking around and
talking to me instead of eating. So he was not eating enough to go long periods
between feedings. *sigh* It’s so nice. I just hope he keeps this sleeping thing
up. I feel like it’s almost too good to be true.
·
Marquette loves to look around. He is always
fidgeting around in attempts to find the best view of the world. Almost
everyone that sees him comments on how alert and attentive he is. I know he is
sucking in every second of life he can.
·
He is gorgeous. I may be bias. However, I get
multiple compliments everyday from strangers on how adorable my baby is.
Actually “beautiful” is the word I get most often. I get the most compliments
when he is awake because of “those big eyes.” And if you are lucky, you may get
a huge smile if you talk to him (which most people are due to the fact he is
constantly grinning from ear to ear).
·
He still never cries. Everyone said “just wait,
he’ll start fussing.” Well, I’m still waiting. He still does not cry or fuss
when he has a poopy/pee diaper. This is actually kinda bad since he now has
fairly bad diaper rash from when he slept in a poopy diaper for what was
probably most of the night (2nd night he slept for 6+ hours). As
long as he is not hungry or EXTREMELY over tired, he has a smile on his face.
Sometimes he’ll be about to crash from exhaustion and he’ll still smile at you
if you talk to him. I hope he stays this way forever.
OK now for favorite moments:
·
For the past two mornings I have woken up at
7:45am wondering why I haven’t heard Marquette crying to wake me up. With the
extreme urge of needing to nurse, I have gone into his room to check and see if
he is stirring. Both times I have walked in, peered into his crib, and found
him wide awake looking around his room. As soon as he sees me, he gives me a
big smile like “Good morning mommy! I love you!” It melts my heart.
·
Marquette has found his hands. He loves to suck
on them and then proceeds to drool everywhere. I used to think drool was
disgusting on babies. But the other day he was sucking on his hands then looked
up at me and started talking/smiling at me.
A string of drool was dangling from his mouth. I thought it was
adorable. I now understand that I will
never like any baby’s spit, except the spit of my child. Then I will love it.
When he blows spit bubbles…I love it even more…(wow…I’m becoming such a sap)
·
Sometimes, although sadly it seems rare, Derek,
Marquette, Baxter, and I will all be in the living room or Master bedroom
talking or watching TV and I will think to myself “Golly. This is what life is
really all about. Family.” This is why Derek spends hours and hours working
every week. This is why I give all my energy to my child and dog. This is why
we have worked to provide a house, food, and clothing etc. for all of us. This
is why I am so grateful to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. Because
that way I can have these moments for the rest of my life.
·
A stroll in the park/going to the dog park.
Although it’s a huge undertaking, I take Marquette and Baxter to the dog park
every day I’m not working. I love these moments because I get to be the “stay
at home mom with the cute boy and wonderful dog.” We always stop to let Baxter play
with other dogs and get his energy out, and then we go walk the trails with my
new jogger stroller. It’s so fun!
·
I love taking him to church and daydreaming
about when he will be able to really learn about the gospel. I love folding his
arms during prayer and cannot wait to teach him! It will be so fun!!
OK…as far as actual updates go…The
Robinsons came into town January 26th- Feb 5. It was SO nice to have
them come! I was able to spend some one on one time with Dionne and the family.
Here are a few of my top favorite memories.
·
Hiking with the boys: I went hiking with all the
boys while Dionne and Derek’s Mom went shopping when we went to Blue Ridge. Luke
became my little shadow and literally talked to me the ENTIRE 5.9 miles of the
hike. Although at one point I remember
saying “let’s play the quiet game,” I REALLY enjoyed it. Luke is such a fun and
adventurous boy that it was really fun to listen to him and his personality. I
also got to spend some time with Isaac and hear what he has to say. He is
REALLY smart. They both are, but you can tell that Isaac is really a thinker.
·
Painting nails with Dionne and Derek’s Mom. It
just felt like a bonding moment. It was simple, but meant a lot.
·
Picking Jaclyn up from the airport. I loved
having the opportunity to have one on one time with Dionne. Then when Jaclyn
got in the car we couldn’t stop laughing. It was so nice.
·
Girls Day:
Derek’s mom, Dionne, Jaclyn, and I had a girls day. IT WAS A BLAST! We
laughed until our sides hurt and really had a ball.
I am sad that it will be quite
some time before we see them again…but we are really hoping that they move back
to the USA after Josh finishes working in Germany. It’d be nice to see them
more often.
My parents went to China for a
little over two weeks and Derek and I stayed at my parents’ house to make sure
that Joel and Laurel were able to get to school and their activities ok. It was
a little challenging to be gone from home for 2 weeks, especially with such a
little baby, but it was nice to get to spend time with my siblings. I feel like
I really had some good conversations with both Laurel and Joel. Sometimes it’s
hard to relate to them because of the age gap, but I love them so much. I’m so
grateful for them and their sweet spirits. I’m proud to have them as my
siblings and know that we get to live together for forever!!
Oh, one last thing. I found out
last Friday that I got into VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY!! I’m going to be an Acute
Care Nurse Practitioner!! WOOOOO!!! What kind of awesomeness is that?! Derek
and I are really grateful because it will be such a nice thing for me to have
if Derek ever loses his job, becomes disabled, etc. I will have to work for at
least 1-2 years to pay off the debt, but after that I will probably only work
part time or less. I will probably always work a little so that I don’t lose my
skills. Anyway, that is really good news for us and we are so grateful for the
opportunity!