8 Months...and a weekish

Eight months old, really!?! Our little butternut is just growing like a weed. He started pulling up last week, so we've had a little more tears recently from all the falls that come with standing. But he's getting the hang of sitting down "easy" and gets the concept that letting go quickly isn't to his advantage. He's a speed racer in the crawling department so he constantly keeps me on my toes. It's fun to see him explore the house, until he finds the room with the Christmas tree!

He's still sleeping and eating like a champ and in perfect Uphues/Harrelson fashion his love for green peas is waning. Initially he was all about them, but now he'll only eat them if I mix them with his cereal. But he comes by it honestly since there is a long list of family members on both sides that don't favor those little green suckers...including both Creighton and I.

No stats to share since he doesn't go back to the Dr. until his 9-month appointment. But the boy is heavy...the return of my back pain is proof. We love that our house is filled with constant baby chatter, gummy smiles and laughter. What a fun time...and I'm trying to soak up these days as much as possible. Our little baby is quickly growing into a boy before our eyes. Thankfully he still likes to snuggle with his momma...cheek to cheek is our favorite.

Aunt Leslie

After much anticipation, Marshall finally got to meet his Aunt Leslie (Creighton's sister)! Leslie and Adam live in Seattle so unfortunately we don't get to see them as much as we'd like. She was in town for a quick trip, so they donned their matching pumpkin hats for the occasion! We had a lovely visit, minus the head butting incident...sorry about that Aunt Leslie!?! Now Marshall can't wait to meet his Uncle Adam!

My friend Egan...

Two weeks ago I took a trip to Canton to shop with my mom. I was hoping to bring Marshall along with me until the temperatures dropped and it was going to be in the low-40s. So my dear friend Miss Whitney graciously volunteered to watch him for me. Her son Egan is just a day older than Marshall, so Whitney is also a very braze woman to take on the task of two 8-month old boys. Thankfully her husband Blake was there to help!

Here's a link to her blog post...she's a wonderful photographer so she took some great shots of the boys playing. Thankfully Marshall behaved himself!

http://www.blog.blakeandwhitney.com/2009/12/trouble-in-making.html#links

Thank you Whitney, Blake and Egan, we REALLY appreciate it! :)

Let it Snow!

Last Wednesday was a big day of firsts for Marshall for two reasons: 1) He got to see snow for the first time, 2) He got to meet his Aunt Leslie for the first time! (That's my next post.)

So it snowed...in Texas...in December....crazy! That morning I was already up in the office on the computer, when Creighton came in and asked if I had looked outside. I had about 30 minutes ago and everything seemed normal. But in typical Texas flare, the snow came as fast as it left! Knowing this, we quickly got Marshall up (thankfully he had just woken up) and dressed him in a fleece suit over his pj's. We got some great shots, but Marshall really didn't know what to think of it all. The Belgian in our family, Maggie, thought it was the bees knees....she was all about it!

Thanksgiving

The holiday season has been keeping me a little busy so I'm backed up on things to post. Better late than never!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Murphy, TX at my in-laws. My parents came in from Tyler and I was in charge of making the desserts! Do you think 3 pies, a chocolate cake and cookie crackers is too much for 10 people!?! Marshall's feet never touched the ground because someone was always holding him...no complaints from him of course! He actually napped during the meal which was nice for me, so we didn't have to worry about entertaining him.

Jack made a wonderful meal, as always, but this year the turkey was out of this world! He used a new recipe that has you brine the Turkey (which basically means marinate it in a bucket, then grill it.) I'm not a huge turkey fan because it's usually dry but this was THE best turkey I've ever had. It was tender and juicy and oh so tasty! Here's the recipe Apple-Brined and Hickory Smoked Turkey. I highly recommend it!

We got some great family pictures, but unfortunately we didn't get any with Gi-Gi and Gpa before they left.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Us with Papa & Gana (my parents) and Grandma & Grandpa (Creighton's parents)

Marshall with his Uncle Chris & Aunt Susie (We couldn't get a shot with every one's eyes open...sorry Creighton.)

B is for Ba...Ba...Ba, Bath!

Now that Marshall can sit up on his own, he has been enjoying the whole bath experience, much more. Here are a couple of pictures of the naked baby, with his styling hair-do!

The other new trick he started this weekend was saying "Ba" over and over again. He thinks it's hysterical if you say it back to him. It's like he knows he's making a language break-through. Here's a very short video of his verbal antics...

Bouncing with my Buddies!

Last Thursday some of the girls from Playgroup met at NorthPark for Baby Bounce. Michelle took some great pictures of the kiddos. Marshall wasn't in a smiley mood, since we were missing his nap for this trip...until Daddy was able to join us since he had just flown in from Houston! Creighton was the only man there, so the Baby Bounce leader gave him a shout out, which was quite funny! But it was good for Creighton to experience the chaos that is, Baby Bounce!

Mia, Marshall and Piper hanging out at the food court!

A scene from "Look Who's Talking"

Green Peas make me sleepy....

YAY, Daddy!

7 Months Old

Marshall turned 7 months old yesterday, boy has time flown by! October was a crazy month for us, so I completely missed posting an update for his 6 month bday, sorry. So we'll catch you up on all his likes and dislikes this time around.

Marshall is the light of our lives! He's just a wonderful, extremely happy baby. Creighton and I know that we are very blessed, thank you Lord!

It is so much fun to see how much of the world Marshall is taking in these days! Gone are the days of the poker face when he meets people, he's warming up much faster to give everyone a big smile. But he still doesn't laugh when he's really happy unless you are tickling him, then he can't control himself. No first words yet, but we swear sometimes it sounds like he's saying "hi" back to us!

Likes

• looking in the mirror - vanity smurf loves to see himself in the mirror!
• toys - he loves to sit on his blanket and play with a surrounding toy or 2.
• "Schwacking" things - he's all boy! he's gotten the right arm "pump" down when he's got a toy in his hand
• moving - crawling, rolling...if he's determined, he's going to get there. Unfortunately his target is usually Maggie or shoes
• solid food - he loves it all, there hasn't been a single thing he doesn't like thus far. He's eating 3 meals a day and so far he's eaten: rice cereal, sweet potatoes, squash, green peas, green beans, carrots, applesauce, bananas, pears and peaches. Next to try are oatmeal, prunes and little finger foods.
• sleep - he still sleeps 12 hours a night with two 2-hour naps a day...daddy is extremely jealous!

Dislikes

• nasal aspirator - just gets fightin' mad
• falling backwards - when he's sitting, he can catch himself when he falls to the side, but backwards is a whole other story
• slow service - sitting in his high chair and mommy isn't fast enough with bringing his food

His Stats - from his 6 month check-up, he's mainly wearing 9 month or 6-12 month stuff.

• Weight - 17lb 6oz - 50%
• Height - 27.25" - 75%
• Head - 16.75 - 25%

6.5 Months with Gordo

7 Months with Gordo

Realistic shot of how the photo shoot typically goes...Marshall in a monkey take down, Gordo usually loses.

The Beginning of the End...

Marshall's been pseudo crawling for the past couple weeks, more like an army crawl with strategic lunging towards a specific toy or mainly Maggie! But on Halloween night Creighton spotted him making a bee-line towards Maggie and it was real crawling. He'll be 7 months on Sunday and I'm already mourning the end of my "mom independence" when I could leave the room for a second and not worry about him hurting himself, sigh.

We took this video Sunday night and his skills have progressed even further since then. But the best part of this video is the very beginning when he appears to wave to the camera, priceless!

Halloween

Most you know Marshall has this little stuffed turtle that he just loves. So when thinking of costume ideas, we thought a Turtle would be right up his alley. This costume was ridiculously cute and he loved it! Not to mention it allows him to move around....but that's another post!

We had a quiet Halloween at the house passing out candy. Since I had some bunny ears on hand, I decided to be an impromptu bunny so that Marshall and I could be the Tortoise and the Hare.

Arboretum Mom Group Shot

I wanted to post this quick picture of the moms from our trip to the Arboretum. There were only 8 of us there, we are 13 strong! Along with another group shot of the kiddos from Whitney.

Left to Right: Marshall and I, Kristen and Jake, Erika and Raylee, Amanda and Camryn, Gretchen and Preston, Sandra and Zane, Jennifer and Mia, Whitney and Egan

Love these ladies, they are amazing!

Arboretum Pumpkin Patch

Since it's been raining so much, our playgroup made an impromptu trip to the Dallas Arboretum Wednesday to get some pictures at the pumpkin patch while the weather was in our favor! Unfortunately Marshall was the only one without a costume, his was coming in the mail (and of course it was delivered while we were at the Patch. One word - Turtle!) But he had his faithful pumpkin hat! It was a very muddy patch, but we got some great shots. I'll have more to post when I get some of the pics from the other mothers. Thank you Grandma for coming and taking the group photo!

Top Row (left to right) - Jake, Camryn, Preston and Zane, grrrr

Bottom Row - Egan, Raylee, Mia and Marshall

Mom and Marshall in the Pumpkin house

Who's the happiest punkin head around!?!

We didn't have tons of luck on the pumpkin pile, kinda hard for him to maneuver.

Happy baby, free from his pumpkin hat and sweaty head!

Kansas - Part 3

As mentioned in my first Kansas post, we had a strange encounter with little critter when we were touring Fort Leavenworth. I think I spotted him first, just hanging out in the side yard of this house we were driving by...there he was, Phil the Groundhog! To say this is a highlight of my Kansas trip is an understatement. I mean, seriously...a groundhog in some one's yard...a cat he ain't! His name instantly became Phil, because of the classic movie Groundhog Day. Austin thought it was the bee's knees, too...so much that he adamantly defended his sighting to his disbelieving dad and sister. But here's the picture to prove it!

Here are a couple more pictures of Elizabeth and Austin with their FAVORITE cousin! And sweet Miss Tikka...just a precious girl. It didn't take her long to figure out that Creighton is her favorite Uncle!

After enjoying a couple of days in Leavenworth, we headed over to Kansas City for some BBQ and more R&R. The weather was not in our favor, unfortunately it was cold and rainy most of the time. But we stayed in a great area called The Plaza that has tons of shopping and restaurants so we didn't have to go far for good food and fun stores.

We went to a WW1 museum, which is the only one in the nation...random, in KC!?! But it was an excellent museum and since I married a trivial pursuit genius...this is right up Creighton's alley. But don't get me wrong, I love museums, I just have a retention problem....so although I'm sure I learned all this back in school, it's like learning it for the first time. But since it was pouring rain, we didn't stop to take any pictures. :(

Did you know that Kansas City is the City of Fountains!?! There are fountains everywhere! So we did get to take one picture by a fountain near our hotel. It was freezing so we had Marshallmellow all bundled up, but as you can see he didn't mind one bit!

Thanks Auntie Vicki and Uncle Andy for a great time! :)

Kansas Pumpkin Patch - Part 2

Working for a marketing agency for 8 years opened my eyes to photography in a completely new light. But unfortunately the Lord blessed me with the gift of administration and not the gift of true artistic talent. But I'd like to think that hanging around all those art directors rubbed off on me a little. So these are a couple of pictures I shot to show a more artsy view of the patch.

I've always loved fall for the festivities, not necessarily for the colder weather. I have very distinct memories of October afternoons, when my parents would leave our front door open so the cool, Fall breeze would come through the screen door. Helping mom put out the Halloween decorations and making plans for my birthday party...dunking for apples anyone!?! So when I see pumpkins, it takes me back to my childhood. The funny thing about pumpkins, I don't really like to eat them...just like to look at them. :)

PS - Speaking of childhood, we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" when we were visiting Vicki...it just never gets old. Poor Linus....

Kansas Pumpkin Patch - Part 1

We had a great time in Kansas visiting my sister and her family! We spent the first half of the week in Leavenworth, KS where they live. We got to see Elizabeth and Austin's schools, go to E's soccer game and A's football practice. Saw the sights in downtown Leavenworth, the penitentiary and took a tour of the famous Fort Leavenworth where Andy is attending school. (Very excited to share with you the unusual varmint sighting we had on the Fort!!! But we'll save that for a later post!) And most importantly, we had the pleasure of meeting Tikka, the newest member of the Rolling Stone's family!

I'll start with the pumpkin patch since that was our first outing in Leavenworth. I sent a quick preview of the pumpkin patch, but that was just the tip of the photo op iceberg! The Lamborn Pumpkin Patch is a family run operation with all your typical patch festivities...hay ride out to the patch, petting zoo, hay bale maze, kiddie "train" ride, mini donkey and lots of pumpkins! Marshall was dressed to impress in his pumpkin hat that his grandma knitted for him. It's a little big so we had a hard time keeping it out of his eyes. Enjoy!

Marshall & Elizabeth as Happy Scarecrows (ignore the man behind the curtain, I could have cropped him out, but that's the best part about the picture!)

Elizabeth & Austin in the hay bale maze (She might look like her daddy, but she has her momma's smile!)

Riding the mini-train...that look is priceless!

We just couldn't get out little punkin to smile.

Pumpkins are definitely more interesting than our camera. But those cheeks are worth the shot!

Hay ride out to the pumpkin patch

Marshall falls asleep in the patch

Sleepy pumpkin head