18 and 19 months

Welp. It has been awhile once again....

We have had a busy 2 months. We went to the beach. My sis graduated. Went to a wedding in Dallas. Maren is growing like a weed. She finished a full year at mothers day out, which she looved. 

Maren loves her colors, shapes, singing, elmo, noodles, being outside, starting to string 3-4 words together. She is very chatty and I love it!

She is also tons of fun and a ball of energy. Marc and I often like to reflect on the greatness of God and allowing us the privilege of being her parents when we didn't even know if we would ever have a child. My heart is always hurting for those that are still waiting. I think that is one of the main reasons I haven't kept this blog going. I just felt like it would be pics of my kid all the time (which is what it is) and I just remember that bothering me soo bad when I struggled to get pregnant so I felt like a hypocrite or something. Once you go through infertility you never forget even if you have a child. It really never stops b/c then you are wondering if you can have another and so on... so know I'm still that girl that struggled to get pregnant and also know I hurt with you. I also feel that Maren is a perfect picture of Hope and that miracles can happen. So don't ever give up hope or on God!

Sorry- that has just been weighing on me recently especially as we are re-entering this world while wanting, waiting and praying for #2!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Weekend!
Much love to all those who have served our country and made sacrifices.

Gorgeous Pics

Our sweet friend, Maura just happens to be one of our neighbors and really good friends! She married one of our friends from college, and we have loved getting to know her over the past couple of years. She has blessed us tremendously with some amazing pics of our family that we will treasure forever. I will never be able to thank her enough! Thanks sweet friend, we our forever thankful to you!
She also wrote a sweet blog for us and you can see more pics there:
http://www.eugenegrace.com/item/140-the-yount-happenings

You can check out her other site here for more awesomeness!
http://www.mauradawnphotography.com/

15 months

Our sweet girl is already 15 months! I miss doing those monthly pics with the stickers. But here is a quick little update so we can remember!

She is seriously such a blast right now.

Some things she loves:

-blueberries

-bananas

-cheese

-stomping and dancing

-clapping.

-saying "uh-oh", da-da, ball, baby, bye-bye, pop-pop and tons of other gibberish.

-pushing her baby stroller

-playing outside

-praise baby and elmo

-babies and her lovie

-books- Brown Bear

-sleeps w/ a big girl pillow now in her crib

-all of her grandparents

-me of course and meg meg (she may or may not think she has 2 moms...that's currently un-clear :))

-she has fantastic hair

-loves brushing her teeth

-is currently getting in her 4 incisors (canine teeth)

-loves other kids, especially older ones

-loves her schools 

-does not love being held ever since she began walking in october... miss independent for sure

we've had a few too many snow days here....

cutest pony tail i ever did see!

I think she weighs around 21-22lbs and wear size 4 diapers. She also sleeps from 9-8:30 most nights and naps 2-3hrs once a day!

12 months

I'm still playing catch up!

Here is her 12 month post... not bad she won't even be 13 months for 4 more days! This may be a record. haha.

So her 12 month was from September 8th-October 8th 2013

9/10- She started standing on her own and loved it

9/12- took a few steps on her own

-Learned she is terrified of balloons or any other inflatable for that matter, therefore there were none at her party!

-Loves baby dolls, books, blocks, balls, and cars

-she's hilarious and can be such a ham sometimes

-she may or may not be developing a strong will....

-can make a doggy sound, monkey sound and sign all-done

-can play itsy bitsy spider, patty cake, high-five, wo pig and touchdown

-made the complete switch to whole milk! woohoo for no more formula!

-still loves her bottles though, even asks for them!

-went to several pumpkin patches and enjoyed them a ton. side note: she calls pumpkins: bubbas. She knows exactly whatI mean when i say go get you pumpkin then she shows me a says, bubba? :)

-10/7- began cutting 4 back molars. that was fun.

-started fully walking 1 week after her birthday!

-weighs 18lbs. 5oz 28in long

photo credit: www.mauradawnphotography.com

We have way too much fun with this kiddo! We like to tell people we special ordered her, which we kind of did. I got really emotional cleaning out all her of her little summer clothes the other day as its getting chilly here in Northwest Arkansas. Marc and I are overwhelmed with how the Lord has blessed us with her. It literally brings tears to our eyes most days when we think about our little miracle.
I can't believe she's one!

11 Months

Better late than never... {even though she's closer to 13 months now...oops}

 

I deserve the worst mom ever award!  But I'm about to attempt to play catch up... pomise.

 

 

Maren at 11 months...August 8th-September 8th

 

-sleeps from 8:30-7:30

-can say: bye, bye, baby, ball, pop-pop, da-da, ba-ba (for bottle)

-can wave and imitate us

-pulls up and cruises all around the house and furniture

-started mothers day out on 9/9/13 and loves it!

-takes 4 bottles a day and eats 2-3 meals

-super animated

-weights 18.2lbs

-can hold her bottle on her own

-has 8 teeth

 

She is so much fun and such a happy girl!

7 and 8 months

Miss Priss was 7 months May 8th...

She is obviously a happy girl!
-She slept awesome through the night. 9-6:30 w/ no waking up
-Takes about 4oz every 3 1/2-4hrs
-She got really good at rolling (i know, super late)
-She's a belly sleeper
-She loved her jumper, sitting or rolling around in the florr
-Loves to cackle
-Super hard to take out to eat b/c she doesn't quite fit in a high chair
-April 26th started sitting up by herself
-April 27th- began rolling from back to belly



On June 8th, She turned 8 months!
-She is super happy still! Her laugh may be the best thing ever.
-She sleeps from 8:30-7:30 w/o waking up!
-She takes 6oz every 4hrs
-She loves all baby food
-Still wears size 2 diapers (needs to bump up soon)
-Have no clue how much she weighs
-She got dedicated on May 12, Mothers Day. It was such a special day.
-She traveled to Orange Beach, Al on May 13th and did fantastic
-She loves puffs, yogurt melts, and mum mums
-She loves any and all baby food. Still trying to get better at feeding her more than once a day :)
-She loves water! Loves the lake, the pool and still loves the bath
-She also loves watching older kids play
-Still loves swinging


This punkin is seriously such a joy. Her personality just gets better everyday. We can't imagine if we had never done ivf. She was definitely worth it all. I absolutely love being at home with her everyday and also working a little from home as well. I enjoy watching her learn new things and explore her little world! Time is just flying by and I'm trying to just take it all in.

Lake time!

ANNND its been a month since I last posted. Ughh, I'm so mad at myself for not making the time to keep this up. Although, this past month has been on-the-go and a little cray cray. But I really want to start back up so Maren can know what all she got to do in her 1st year of life.
First of all, she will be 8 months in 4 days.. so I will do her 7th and 8th month post soon.

Secondly, We got to take her to the lake on memorial weekend. I was super nervous that she may not do well out on the boat.. which would be tragic for the whole family. But no need to worry, she LOVED it, I mean she did amazing. We were out there for 3 days straight and she got in the water, handled her bulky life jacket well, and even fell asleep sitting straight up and lying down. If you know my family, you know that my parents are there every weekend. Those were my summers and I loved every minute of it. I'm hoping Maren will get to do the same.
She is definitely a water baby! She is so much fun right now, and probably one of the happiest, laid back babies I've ever known. I'm swear I'm not trying to brag... but we are so thankful and can't get enough of her.

She just out of the blue started doing this crinkle nose, open mouthed smile and it cracked me up! She hasn't done it much in the past few days, but it was cute while it lasted.

and again :)

My favorite people at my favorite location!

Water baby! and it was freezing~

and again...

Must have a hair bow with the life jacket. 2 great accessories.



Hope you all had a great Memorial weekend as well!

6.5 months

Well I have somewhat neglected my blog this past month and I do apologize. I'm just having the time of my life with our baby girl and she distracts me most of the days. I also feel pretty boring these days so I haven't been very inspired to write about much.

But now that Maren is almost 7 months old... Here is what she is up to. First of all we are over half way to her 1st birthday. Sadness. I just want to bottle up all of her cuteness, and this might be my most favorite age yet. I love that I don't have to discipline her yet and she is just so stinking fun. She is still super easy and content I could not be more thankful.

-She still loves her carseat and will nap in it if need be
-Travels great
-Just this weekend started rolling from back to belly.... just a tad late ;)
-She can sit up for awhile by herself
-Loving any and all baby foods plus a few little tastes of my food sometimes
-Starting to master a sippy cup
-Loves her big girl stroller
-Weighs 14 1/2lbs and can't remember her length. But it was 10th percentile again
-Wears size 2 diapers
-Wears 0-3 month still and some 6-12month things
-She sleeps from 9:00pm-6:30/7a
-Has had 2 unfotunate ear infections :(
-She has about 5 bottles of formula a day every 3 1/2-4hrs
-Takes about a 2hr nap in the mornings in her swing and 30min- 1hr nap in afternoons. I hope to start weaning from the swing but its just so easy right now and I feel like keeps her flexible to still sleep on the go.
-Still has only 2 teeth but the top ones I keep thinking will be popping through soon
-She loves people and kids- no stranger danger yet
-Her laugh is contageous

This kid loves swinging!

sitting up!

Best pout pout face EVER! And yes I will always give her what she wants when she does this ;)

Dear Maren,
You are such a joy to have in our lives. Your sweet smile is the best thing ever and makes us smile everyday. You have a sweet personality about you and are also super fun. I love being able to spend my days with you and having our time together. I would be so sad to miss out on all the fun we've been having. Your love people makes me so happy and your laugh is the most amazing thing ever. Sweet girl, thanks for bringing a joy to our lives that we've never experienced. Time needs just slow down a bit!

Easter 2013

We celebrated Easter in Little Rock over the weekend. My grandmother is in the hospital and we wanted to make sure and get to see her.
Maren hammed it up all day on Easter! She was so glad Jesus is Risen and that He has victor over death! We went to church with my family and then went back and had a late lunch with some family friends.

obsessed with her dress! Her Granny D bough her that.

She loved her Easter basket!

Her Easter meal! :) yummy rice cereal!

what a poser!

Thankful the Lord died on the cross for our sins and the reason for celebrating this Holiday!

5 months!

Well Miss Maren tuned 5 months old yesterday. This month flew by and we are just absolutely having a blast. She gets more fun, a little sweeter and cuter everyday. {I may be a tad biased, but hey I'm her mom}!
We had a some big and exciting things happen this past month.

Happy 5 months!

She loves having her tongue out!

She likes the jenny jump up!

and her jumparoo

Still loves her baths and just look at those yummy rolls!

We got our first tooth! Whaaat!? Its all the way through now a sharp little sucker at that.

We still love our swing and take most naps in it.

another big thing that happened was that we finally weaned her from the swaddle. It took a good 2 weeks, but she is doing great now with both arms out. We started off with 1 arm out for a week, then bit the bullet last week with both arms out. It took her only a couple of days to get used to it. So that's a huge relief.

Most of her days she is super happy and content.

 I'm so very thankful for that and that she has been healthy so far!

Another big thing that happened was that she rolled over both ways. She rolled from her back to belly first {and only once} then a couple weeks later did belly to back {and only twice}. She has yet to do it again, but I guess will do it on her own sweet time. She just wanted to make sure we knew she was capable I suppose. Ha. We like to call her miss independent.

Other things that have happened:
-We just moved to size 2 diapers, still a little big, but her rolls were spilling out on the ones.
-She wears 3-6 month tops and still in 0-3 pants. Most 3-6 month things are still too big on her.
-She sleeps from 9:30/10-6:15/7 then is awake an hour or so and goes back down for a 2-3hr nap.
-She stills loves her car seat
-She is super alert and just takes everything in by concentrating pretty hard
-her head control is getting really good, and we are working on assisted sitting
-I'm down to pumping twice a day so she gets more formula than BM now, but is doing great with it.
-We are probably going to giver her some rice cereal or at least try in the next few days!

I'm absolutely loving being at home with her and grateful I get to do that. I feel like I just can't get enough of her and that my heart may explode... ok not really but I'm definitely slightly obsessed!