Marley Elizabeth

I can't believe Marley is 19 months old. I just keeps saying it, but time truly doesn't fly. It seems to go even fast when I write blog posts, because I wait every six months to write and I realize how quickly just 6 months passes. Marley is the sweetest little baby with so much personality. She is sensitive and always wants to love. She enjoys playing and being around her brother more than anything. She is finally getting to an age where they like to interact and be around each other, which has been so exciting to witness and watch. She is so happy and is often found wearing a pair of somethings shoes, wearing a dress up hat, running around with items found in cupboards, or slow dancing to any kind of beat she hears in the house. She is hilarious and we have loved watching her personality develop into one that is so drastically different than Noah's. My sweet girl, I really never knew I needed a girl until I had her. Having one of both has been one of life's greatest treasures. 

Marley has had a rough few months. In October, Marley got a cold and it quickly escalated into some alarming breathing (or lack there of), we rushed her to the hospital and we were admitted to stay the night, which ended up being a 3 night stay. She had Bronchiolitis and had to be on high flow oxygen and a feeding tube. She was so dehydrated when we went from the lack of liquid and food. We tried to get her to drink her milk, which her "baba" is her favorite thing in the world so we knew something was off. We couldn't get her to eat and she refused to sleep. When we had arrived at the hospital, her oxygen was in the low 80's, which was really alarming. It was a very stressful and scary three days filled with much prayer and support from family and friends helping with Noah and everything else we had going on. I was so appreciative of all the love we were shown. I really will never forget it. Marley was a champ and at the end of three days was doing better. Not fully healed, but better. We were very careful with her and were scared she would get sick again. Within two weeks she started getting another cold, which required a visit to the suction clinic, but we were able to fend the cold off and stay away from the hospital. Well, come the week after Thanksgiving and Marley was back in the hospital with Bronchiolitis again. An inspired nurse did something that we are so grateful for and put her on Albuterol (asthma medication to help alleviate restricted airways) and Marley immediately responded to it. This is typically only given to individuals who have asthma, so this told us two things, this wasn't viral and Bronchiolitis like we thought, it was asthma. Marley stayed the night and was diagnosed with Reactive Airway Disease. You can't diagnose asthma until age 2, so they call it reactive airway disease and prescribed her an inhaler for day-to-day preventative, and then albuterol for emergencies.  This sparked the crazy side in both Travis and I. We decided we were keeping her home all winter -- no church, no family parties, no nothing. We weren't going to chance a 3rd hospital visit, especially when we could see she was so susceptible to a mild virus, like a cold. We are about 2 months into this and it has been tough, but we've gotten down to a routine. It is hard to miss out on things because Travis and I alternate who stays home with Marley and who goes and takes Noah. However, we know it has been working as she hasn't been sick since her last hospital visit. We wash hands many times a day as well, which seem to be helping a lot. It was a very difficult time for us. We had so much going on and both of her hospitals visits brought on much stress and anxiety as we were dealing with normal life deadlines at work, but also so concerned about our sweet girl. It was hard for me to turn off anything to focus on her and it just made it harder knowing how Noah was taking this, etc.. I'm grateful for the sacrifice we've made the past couple of months as it clearly is working. I just hope she continues to stay healthy from here on out. We love our Marley babe and we are so glad she's been healthy. Happiest little girl there is.

18 month favorite things: 

-is obsessed with anything that is a blankey. She refers to her blankets as "B". I think it is her attempt at saying blankey

-she loves to find shoes in the house and wear them around. She specifically loves wearing Noah's shoes.

-She is pretty particular about the food she eats and always surprises us with what she WILL eat. She currently loves any berry, mac and cheese, avocados, apples sauce, mandarin oranges, apples

-she can say baba (bottle), dada, mama, poo poo (she is so funny and will always tell us when she goes in her diaper), block, night night, hi, bye, when we say dog she will pant her breath like a puppy does, cheese, tank tu (thank you), she signs "more" and it is the best thing ever

-she loves to dance to music and does the funniest dance moves

-she loves to chase and play with Noah

-she loves to go down the slide

-she loves to read books and always has to be sitting on someones lap

-loves to hug and if she is fond of someone, will run up and give the biggest hugs and loves. She is very affectionate

-loves to play

-loves to play with crayons, particularly in the bathtub (bath crayons)

-loves to CLIMB. On EVERYTHING

gives the cheesiest smile all of the time. She loves to giggle and fake laugh.

-loves to follow mom and dad around. Often just wants to be held to see what's going on.

-loves to play on the bed and always wants to climb up. Once she is able to get on top of the bed will just laugh and laugh and laugh because she did it.

-loves the bath more than anything. All we ever have to say is "let's go take a bath" and she runs to the stairs, climbs them as fast as she can, and runs to the bathroom and screeches. 

-loves her baba. She is always seeing a bottle laying around and will cry if it is in her line of sight because she always wants to be drinking water or milk.

-loves being outside

-loves jumping from the ottoman to the couch and will always go "yeah yeah yeah" just to prepare right before jumping

-loves Super Simple songs and will always make eye contact with something and smile really big to show how excited she is to watch the songs on YouTube

-has so much hair that is curly! it has been so fun to do pig tails with because it makes them so much cuter

-she is just the tinest little girl and is still wearing 12 month clothing

-knows where all of her body parts are. When I say nose, ear, hair, arm, toes, etc.. she knows and will point to them

-loves spinning in circles and getting dizzy and will laugh as she falls to the floor

-is getting really tough by having an older brother, although she is a drama queen and will often cry over nothing for attention 

We love our sweet girl and we love watching her grow. Happy 19 months sweet Marley.

 ^^First time in the hospital (spent 4 days in the ICU)

^^Second time in the hospital a month later (3 days in the ICU). You are so resilient, baby girl

Where has the time gone?

The past few months have been a bit crazy over here -- I'd like to think that isn't normally how it is, but it is. With both of us working full time, it is mad chaos most of the time and to be completely honest, most of the time I am asking myself what I'm doing. I'm trying to do my best at working and being a good employee, being a good wife, being a good mom, and finding time to be spiritual and put myself first sometimes. I'd like to admit that I fail most of the time and finding a balance to do it all most often feels impossible, but we are finding ways, slow painful ways, to make things work. We have a lot of trial and error over here and our kids take most of the error -- poor little things. There is a reason they can't remember most things when they are this little right? on my journey to being a more patient and kind mother, I mess up and sometimes am not as nice as I want to be. In the middle of trying to figure all of this out, I decided to sign up and study for a hard professional certification exam with a 50% pass rate. I studied my bum off for 8 long weeks taking many nights away from my husband and children to study, take practice exams and attend study groups. It was a sacrifice and looking back, I'm so grateful that 8 weeks went by fast because it was starting to wear on me. Many days I would leave to work before my family was up and not return until they were asleep. There was actually a period of time I didn't see my kids for two whole days, and while I've done that for vacation purposes, it was harder on me than I would have thought. Felt so much guilt. Are you seeing an underlining pattern here? I feel guilty and bad most of the time and I'm really trying to change that mentality because I know it doesn't help. Anyway, with anxiety and a nauseated stomach in tow, I went to that testing center and passed that 3 hours 175 question exam. I was so proud of myself and grateful I only had to do it one time. 

Well, this rather turned into a place for me to complain. Hey, blog, don't you miss me?! 

We had a good summer! We played, swam, went to the aquarium many times, played with cousins and grandparents, went to Bear Lake, flew our kite, kayaked on the lake (mostly Noah and dad, they made a lot of one on one trips), spending a lot of time finishing our basement (will be done soon!) and made a lot of fun neighbor friends. There is so much that we did that I'm hoping I can just document accurately through pictures. I will describe a bit more in each kids individual posts, but we spent a lot of time together, even despite our busy work schedules. I'm grateful for the summer months but for some reason, so excited for the fall and winter holidays. We always have so many good memories formed by the traditions we have and the people we spend our time with. I'm trying to get a lot of things set in place before December, like having all of my shopping done (eeek!), but I really want to enjoy December and also can't wait because I'm taking the entire week of Christmas off, which I've never been able to do!!

Our kids are getting bigger and bigger and I can't believe how fast time is going by. I'm trying to soak up the amazing time I have with them because I know that one day I will wish it back. Going to try to print out a calendar for December and fill it with something we can do each day. I have a 30 before 30 bucket list and one of those items is to volunteer with my kids, so I'm hoping to find some fun things we can do as a family to serve, but also check something off my list :). We got to go to Disneyland and few weeks ago for a quick weekend. It was the craziest time I've ever been there, seeing lines get up to almost 3 hours long, but we had fun as a family. It was such a quick trip, I look forward to the time (when kids are older for sure) we can go for a bit longer, stay in a closer hotel, and enjoy a week out of it rather than going going going for a few days. It was good to have uninterrupted time with our kids and Noah was elated the entire time. It was so special to see him light up, especially when he sees his favorite things on Disney movies come to life. It may have made me tear up a few times, or maybe not. 

I could write quite the blog update, but I was hoping to hop on here and just do something quick and put a bunch of pictures together. I like to print blog books at the end of the year and I have a lot of catch up on. Happy November!

ONE YEARS OLD

Our darling Marley is finally ONE year old. The first year is always the hardest in my opinion. It is full of sleepless nights, lots of mental breakdowns asking yourself how you are surviving (especially working full time!), and so many others, but I don't want to complain. The first birthday is always bittersweet, excited to be past the really hard newborn stage, but also sad to realize the years just go by so fast! Marley has been the sweet safe haven that I didn't realize I needed. When I had Noah, I thought to have all boys was ideal and all I wanted. When Travis announced that our baby was a girl in the delivery room, I couldn't keep back the tears. It was such a spiritual and amazing experience to feel my little girl being placed into my arms for the first time. Marley is so sweet. So incredibly independent, but sweet. Since Marley isn't talking yet, i'll start listing our favorite things around Marley:

Marley at one-year-old: 

-loves to play with her brother

-loves to drink her bottles of milk

-if you make a growling noise, she will growl back at you even if you didn't intend to. The other night I sighed out of frustration and he growled thinking I was playing. Put a smile on my frustrated face.

-loves to take a bath

-HATES to get her diaper changed or dressed. Wiggles and wiggles until we have to pin her down. Never experienced this with Noah. It can be extremely frustrating.

-loves to chew on everything

-loves to open up cabinets and take everything out

-loves to eat; avocados and berries are her favorite

-loves to giggle and laugh. We will just be in silence while I make dinner sometimes and I will just hear her giggle as she is playing with toys -- it is so sweet.

-loves to get into the stroller and go on long walks

-doesn't love her car seat, but does well. She can't be in there for long periods of time before she starts to cry.

-wants to play with anything that Noah is playing with.

-loves to put her fingers in anyone's mouth. She thinks it is hilarious.

-she is walking!! she refuses to crawl and walks everywhere now.

-loves to crawl upstairs and doesn't quite know how to go down from them yet.

-if you are eating around her, she wants whatever you are eating NOW.

-hates being thrown up in the air. It scares her.

-her aunt Abbie can always get her laughing so hard!

We love our Marley Elizabeth. Her temperament is so calm and sweet. Can't wait to see her develop in the next year. We had a combined birthday party with Noah and her aunt Abbie made her a beautiful pink smash cake. She didn't even try to eat the cake -- it wasn't her thing. Happy Birthday to my sweet girl.

1 year checkup: weight 19 lbs (13%), 30.1 (72%), head 17.5 (26%)

THREE YEARS OLD!

My Noah Wolfgang is three years old. It is quite true what they say; the years are short but the days are long. I still remember the warm June evening I went into unexpected labor six weeks early to deliver our firstborn -- a boy! a beautiful little boy. I have been smitten with Noah since day one. I had quite the struggle and postpartum recovery with him, but he made every ache feel that much better. I have had an overwhelming amount of love for him as the years have passed and I have watched him grow into a brave, talkative, energetic, loving, toddler. Noah is such a passionate little soul. When he loves something, he loves 100%. He is so smart too. Talks to us in full sentences, is fully potty-trained, can name 15+ different kind of dinosaurs, knows all of his shapes and colors, knows an incredible amount of nursery rhymes (he LOVES music), knows mostly any animal you could show him in a book, knows all of the letters of the alphabet, can sing his ABC's, I really could go on and on. The most impressive thing to me at his age is his ability to hear and know music. Travis and I are huge on instrumental music and play it at least once a day at our home and have since Noah was born. If we play something he recognizes, he will yell it out. More specifically, he will know the parts in the movie that the specific music is from. He knows what music belongs to Buzz trying to fly and landing on Sid's stairs, he knows when Joy falls into the darkness, he knows when Jesse and Bullseye are riding through the desert, he knows when Baymax is pushing Hiro away from him to get back through the portal. Seriously, I could keep going on and on. HE KNOWS his music and it is seriously impressive. I am going to try and get him in piano lessons once he turns 4. He has always been drawn to music and especially the piano whenever we are around it. I'm so proud to be his mom. He is a magical little boy who fills our home and hearts with so much joy. I am so lucky.

Noah at 3 years old:

-doesn't ever want to go to bed. Could stay up until midnight if we let him. Bedtime isn't very fun around our house.

-loves PJ Masks and his toys he got for his birthday

-loves reading books. Every morning he gets out of his bed and comes into our room with a blanky and a book for us to read in the morning.

-loves bath time and often requests bubbles if we have it. I don't let him have it often though because it irritates his skin.

-loves to be outside. He loves to run, run, run and play HARD. 

-he loves to play with chalk

-he loves to fly his "scary snake kite"

-he loves to play with his dad. He always wants to wrestle and Travis does such a good job always playing with him.

-he loves to watch TV (I mean what kid doesn't). More specifically, he loves to watch youtube videos of people playing with fake insects, monster trucks, playdough, you name it. He is very easily entertained.

-he loves crafts; coloring, painting, etc..

-he loves doing puzzles and can navigate a 25-30 piece puzzle all on his own -- impressive to me!

-I've been trying to teach him that if someone hits or pushes him at school to say "I don't like that, Please, walk away!" His teachers told us that he manages his emotions very well and rarely reacts. At home is another story, BUT he does tell me when he is upset with me and will tell me to "walk away!" if I am not doing something that pleases him.

-he loves to play with his sister. He has been a very good brother for the most part.

-he is very good at recognizing where we are at. He will often remember where he got his hair cut, or where we got ice cream. Very good memory!

-When he wants us to see something in his perspective, he will close one eye and squint as if something is really far away and point to it. This can even mean something right in front of his face and will say "look mom and dad, look at this!" and will point and squint.

-we were going to take some toys to the DI the other day and he saw some trucks and said "that's my favorite toy!" we now hear him often say "that is my favorite!" it is super cute.

-loves to say "mmmmhmmm, I like it." For example, if I am turning on the TV he will just see something he wants to watch and will say "mmmhmm I like that one. I like it." haha 

-he thinks the following words are the funniest things ever: stinker, bum bum, fart (typical boy), yo-yo, goofball

-I'm not sure where he gets this from because we DO NOT do it in our home, he will just come up to me, fart, and walk away and laugh.

-he gets scared very easily. Has randomly been telling us the "coco's" are coming to get him (skeletons in the Disney movie coco), the lion (stuffed animal on his wall) is coming to get him, and if anything is in the dark, he won't go.

-loves to sing! LOVES to sing. He will often want Travis and I to sing and then he will very loudly announce that it is "Noah's turn to sing."

-He came home from school one day and started singing "oh my gosh, look at her butt." He got it from a girl at school and I had to teach him that saying that isn't nice. He will now randomly sing "oh my gosh, look at her face." hahaha. Touche, kid. 

-loves the water. Loves the splash pad

-loves playing with his cousins

-loves eating treats

-asks for a fig bar and applesauce every.single.morning.

-loves going in the stroller when i'm out running. It is getting harder and harder for me to push him, but he loves it. Been doing it with him since he was a baby.

-knows my name and Travis' name. If he calls us to find us in the house by "mom (or dad), where are you??" he will say "Travis! (or Erin), where are you!?"

-knows his whole name and says it really well (impressed, our last name is hard

Overall, our boy is so special and sweet. We love this stage. I'm so excited to see the man he will become, but also don't ever want to forget his 3-year-old self. He is the little boy who made me a mom and we got to celebrate him with a big dinosaur cake that his aunt made him. He was so happy!

I love you, Noah Wolfgang Siebenhaar.

3 year checkup: weight 32 lbs (52%), height 37 (36%)

Poor kid. Going to be short like his mama.