self portrait of a princess

Grace standing next to her self portrait from school.

happy birthday... kinda ;)

8 months

Today sweet Marion is 8 months old! How time flies! The thought of how close we are to her first birthday saddens and excites me all at the same time.

Today I took the girls to Cirque de Sweet Day, a local cupcake shop to celebrate the occasion!

Little Marion....

Eats...
- breastmilk, won't touch a bottle!
- babyfood, mostly stage 3, and she loves it!
- crunchy baby snacks, even though they say "for crawlers" and she isn't crawling yet, but she loves them!
- smushed bananas
- tiny pieces of bread

Does...
- rolls everywhere she want to go - and fast!
- can sit indefinitely
- get excited and throws her arms and legs around
- try to feed herself baby puffs... and is sometimes successful!
- pulls hair... a lot!... and has earned the nickname "The Puller!"

Says...
- Dadadadada
- Mamamama
- Nuhnuhnuh

sunday at anne's

Today I took the girls to my cousin Anne's home. She has two girls of her own, Molly and Kate, and they all had so much fun together. I know mine came home exhausted!!

Marion, aka "The Puller," even got to join in on the commotion as the older three girls let her pull their hair and then ran off screaming (all in fun!).

Grace hugging on Grandma :)

Lunch, clothing optional!

Yes, it's late September, but it's still 90 degrees in south Louisiana, so a sprinkler and a slide make for a good time!

going places

Yes, our little May May is getting around. She's not crawling at all... instead, she just rolls to where she wants to go. She's gotten pretty fast!







I used a picture drawn by Sissy for bait! Paper is Marion's toy of choice these days. Many of Grace's drawings have a perfect baby bitemark missing!

from the sewing room...

I guess you could say I took a little break from sewing... well I've got my motivation back! I bought the fabric for this outfit at the beginning of summer, but never got around to sewing it. It's a little on the bright side, but I'm gonna pass it off as Fall :)

The flower made out of ribbon and a button was a new project for me, and Grace thought it was super cool. She even requested I make another flower on a hair clip... cute idea, I was impressed! Now I just have to get around to doing it!

Lots more sewing projects to come!

homework

Grace got her first homework assignment of the year last week. The current unit is "All About ME!" and she had to decorate her "silhouette." We raided the old scrapbooking supplies and made it super cute!

Ice Cream... she loves it! :)
Swimming with Mom and Sissy
A bug... she loves to play outside
Picture of her with Marion... because she is a wonderful big sister!
The dogs... her first pets
Her signature... she loves to write!
At the recital... she loves to perform
Flower... she loves to garden, grow flowers and vegetables
At the beach with a friend... she loves to hang out with her friends!

She decorated it all over with the jewels becuse she loves to be fancy and decorate! :)

swinging sisters

This picture makes me smile... both of my girls playing together (sorta!) having a great time :)

why do I worry like I do?

Marion's first time on the big swingset!

Remember all the stressing I did over Marion's hypotonia? The blood work came back normal and her pediatrician referred her for physical therapy. I decided to go through the Early Intervention program and take advantage of some tax dollars at work! Today an occupational therapist came to our house to evaluate her. The results...

She tested right on target at 7 months for both gross and fine motor skills. I was basically told that the standards I was comparing her to were too high. I know that all babies develop differently, but it's still hard impossible not to compare.

I do still feel like she's a little floppy and behind, but I am also reassured. I know that Marion demonstrated her abilities well and that she was scored very accurately. I thought a while about getting a second opinion, but I don't think I will at this time. They offered to come back in two months and reassess, and I will definitely take them up on that :)

the new boyfriend

Today was day 4 of the new preschool and last year's beloved boyfriend is already forgotten! Today was orientataion; and when it was over, I, along with a few other curious mommies, spied on Grace's class on the playground.
She was sitting at a tiny table with a little boy that I hadn't noticed before. When I picked her up from school, I asked who she had been playing with on the playground...

"That's MacKinnon, he's my new boyfriend! We were just sitting at each other... and looking at each other... and MacKinnon said we were at the drink store, and were getting drinks!"

I'm not so sure about MacKinnon yet ;)

her special day!

At Grace's new school, the kids take turns having "special days." Yesterday was Grace's. She was the line leader, helped put things on the board, brought a show-and-tell, and brought the class snack... she chose to bring granola bars, strawberries and blueberries, some of her favorite things. For show and tell, she brought her book, I'm a Big Sister, along with a picture of herself and Marion.

The sack on the left is the one that the teacher sends home that you return with the snacks and show and tell. The sack on the right is her new school issued book bag.