Finally!

Last night was a momentous occasion for our little family. Marshall slept through the night! Hooray! He went to bed at about 8 p.m. last night and woke up at 7:30 a.m. Awesome!
Matt and I worked long and hard this weekend taking Marshall off of the bottle. He really relied on it to get to sleep, and back to sleep in the middle of the night. (We were giving him about 5 or 6 bottles a night!)
It was a rough weekend. Friday night he cried a lot, but Saturday night he cried even more. He cried from 11:00-1:30 straight. There was nothing we could do. He just wanted his "baba." We felt horrible, but knew it would pay off if we stuck to it. Before going to bed last night I was so worried that it would be another long night of tears. I wasn't sure I could handle another night. I kept waking up hour after hour thinking "I'm surprised he hasn't got up yet." When I left this morning to my surprise he was still sound asleep.
It has been over a year and a half since I've gotten a full nights sleep. I sure hope this continues, and wasn't just a fluke. Either way I'm very proud of my little man. He is getting so big!

Swimming

Marshall is a little fish! Uncle Mitch and Aunt Linsey have had us over to swim at their new condo a couple of times. You would think he would cry or get cold and want to get out but not this kid! He could swim for hours.

Trouble Maker

One day Marshall couldn't crawl... the next he was in to everything. Here was his first big mess after learning to crawl. He is so speedy. I looked away for 10 seconds max! And YES that is dog food in his mouth. AWESOME!

Marshall's First Easter

Yes I know Easter was months ago, but I lost my camera cord and just got a new one, so they are just going up! Marshall was very confused Easter morning when he was getting a basket full of cool new things. The Easter Bunny brought him some snacks, a tigger stuffed animal, a toy stuffed animal, and clothes. He loved throwing the eggs the most though.

E-mealz - a meal planning resource for busy moms and frugal family cooks.

I just signed up for this great meal planning website! It is awesome! What you do is pick the grocery store you shop at. Then they run the ads for the store and make a menu based on what is on sale for the week! Most weeks for Matt and I it is only $45 for the groceries for dinner. The website gives you a menu (with recipes) and a shopping list with prices. It is well worth the $5 per month it costs!
E-mealz - a meal planning resource for busy moms and frugal family cooks.

Marshall Outside

Last night we took Azure to the park to play ball. Marshall looked so cute all bundled up in his coat, hat, and gloves. He loves being outside. Even if it is really cold.

Dinosaur Museum

What a funny looking dinosaur!
This really puts things into perspective!
Here are the boys by a Utah Raptor. Scary!

Dinosaur Museum

Matt and Marshall.
He is so tiny!
First time riding in his big-boy stroller without the carseat.
Wow we had a lot of fun! It wore him right out.
Here is Marshall and Mommy by a baby mammoth who was probably less than 1 year!
Yesterday Matt and I took Marshall to the the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. We had a lot of fun and Marshall seemed to like it. He was wide-eyed the entire time. We bought him a touch and feel book that he was really excited about. By the time we were done he was so exhausted.

JCW's

Yesterday we went to JCW's for lunch. Marshall had his first french fry and loved it! Here he is making a mess of it.

Sick Baby

Poor Baby Marshall has spent the last month of his life being sick. He started with bronchiolitis, which is a lung infection. This then developed into RSV, which developed into the pneumonia. He has had a fever of 102 degrees, with a cough, throwing up, and difficulty breathing. He was put on antibiotic and has a nebulizer to help open up his lungs a little bit. He is such a good baby that he sits nicely and helps you hold the mask on while he has his treatments. He knows it helps him feel better.
I missed two days of work last week to stay home with him. Then Grandma Vallentine took Wednesday-Friday last week to watch him. It was nice to know he had his own personal nurse to take care of him.
This week he is doing much better. He is still coughing and kind of sleepy, but is starting to be his cute little self again. What a relief!

Sitting Up!

One day when I picked Marshall up from daycare the babysitters were so excited to show me that Marshall could sit by himself! They had spent most of the day teaching him how. I was so excited when I got home that I took a billion pictures! As you can see, Azure was very nervous about it so he was there to catch him if he fell!

Hanging with Daddy

Marshall is such a Daddy's boy. He gets so happy when his daddy gets home to play. Daddy is the only one who can get him to sleep properly too! He has special methods that he tries to teach me, but it is just not the same!

Big Boy Food

We have started the new adventure of eating solids. At first he ended up with more on his clothes, and on me, than in his belly! Now he is doing much better.
So far he has LOVED sweet potatoes the most! I am crazy and decided to make his baby food. We have stocked our freezer with sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas. We have also made bananas! He makes a big mess, but is really happy with having a full tummy.
We have also started loving to drink from sippie cups! One day I was drinking a glass of water and Marshall grabbed at it. He then drank from my cup like he had been doing it all of his life. I finally decided to buy him his own big boy cup. I'm so proud of my little guy. He is getting so big that it makes me kind of sad.

Christmas Afternoon

Christmas afternoon we went to Sherri's house for lunch. (Matt's Mom) We had our annual crab and shrimp meal. Then we opened presents and played some really hillarious games. It was fun! We had a fantastic, relaxing Christmas.

Christmas morning

Here are some more pictures of my family on Christmas morning. We had a nice morning together. My mom started a cool tradition where she buys ornaments for each person each year. Then she passes the ornaments out and you have to say something nice about the person who's ornament you get. It is really neat.

Marshall's First Christmas

Early Christmas morning we went to my mom and dad's house to open Santa presents there. Holy Cow Marshall got spoiled! Here are a list of some things he got; pajamas, clothes, a dog that sings and talks, books, tool box set, baseball toy, cars, a jumper, etc. It was a lot of fun to see him try to open up the presents. He was much more interested in the paper and bows than the actual toys.

Christmas

Christmas Eve at Mandie's

This year we decided to get together with Matt's Dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve. We had a ton of fun. We each brought a game and did a white elephant type activity to see which game you got. Then we played some of the games. Great idea!