1st Haircut

I wanted to take Maryn to one of those kid salons for her first haircut for a couple of reasons. I was worried that she might be fidgety or upset (she gives me a lot of trouble when I fuss with her hair) and I thought it'd work better if someone else was doing the cutting while I distracted/entertained her. Perhaps the novelty of sitting in a little car might help too. Layering, which is out of my league in terms of hair cutting technique, would suit her hair type and I figured I'd watch the stylist closely so I could try it myself next time.
So it's sort of a boy cut -- not completely what I was hoping for, but what can you really do with baby hair, and at least it's all about the same length. Previously she had a few areas that were MUCH longer than the rest. Barrettes never worked well because her hair is so fine they would eventually slide out. Little rubber bands were better, but a pain to put in.
She did much better than I was expecting. The stylist turned on Barney, which she didn't seem to notice - she doesn't really watch t.v. yet. The car helped occupy her attention for a bit, but she probably found the cape they draped over her to be the the most interesting part. And of course I brought along her pacifier -just in case- and it proved to be a smart decision.
For now she's a wash and go sort of girl.

New Shoes

Home (sort of) with the Girls

This past week was the anniversary of our little Ryn's homecoming from the hospital.

I look back at that first photo of us taken together at home and I can't believe how much she's changed. Maryn's grown quite a bit too.

: )

This just in ...

T E E T H !

We discovered this on Saturday morning during our breakfast date with Anjali. Maryn was gumming one of those jelly tins most breakfast joints have out on the table. Mike reached over and took it from her then interrupted some long winded story I was telling Anjie - I hadn't seen the girl since October so there was lots to catch up on.

"Hey, take a look at this."

Anjie and I look over to see tiny puncture marks on the tin.

"Looks like she may have teeth in there."

"What? No!" I said in disbelief. "I just checked the other day."

"Brigit, I don't think she could make these marks without teeth."

We go in for a closer look. Nothing on the top, but the bottom is always much more difficult to check. I felt them before I actually saw them. And yes, there are two!

Getting a picture of these little pearly whites would be virtually impossible, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

T'was the night before, the day of & the day after Christmas

We had a nice but hectic holiday season. It was great to see everyone and spend time together. Ryn cleaned up on gifts! I'm beginning to see how difficult it is to keep the "stuff" to a minimum when you have a kid. Our friends and family were so generous and she enjoyed opening each and every gift (one came all the way from India). At this age it seems she's more interested in the wrapping paper and box than the actual gift--how sweet. Yeah, I know that won't last.

When I was a kid my family often spent a large part of most school winter breaks in the car traveling to and within Ohio to visit family. I'd forgotten what that felt like until this year. Between driving back and forth between my dad's, where we are staying, to my mother's, where my sister and her family were staying while they were in town, to Chicago to visit Granny, GG, Jim and Brynn, to our house (to check on things) and the various appointments for Maryn and remodeling, we were in the car for hours almost every day. Thankfully we were able to make arrangements so Maryn didn't have to be in the car quite as much as we were. Even with all the travel stress, it was soooo much better than last year. Every time we drove by the hospital this holiday season I couldn't help but remember the hours we spent there in such an emotional state each and every day for over 3 weeks. I really feel for those there now and often find myself thinking positive thoughts for all of them as I drive by. I'm so grateful for where we are and how far we've come. What I know now that I didn't know then was that it's all going to be okay. Actually, much better than okay.

sigh.

1st Birthday Snapshots

Maryn's 1st birthday was a very low key affair, which was nice. Mike made the cake and frosting. He followed the Barefoot Contessa's b-day cake recipe- a white cake (which included lemon zest) with semi-sweet chocolate frosting. I was a bit skeptical about the lemon zest, but it really added dimension to the flavor! Yum-O! If you look closely you can see he wrote "ME" with M&Ms instead of spelling Maryn Elise ... every time I look at the pictures it cracks me up. She dug into the cake with her hands but wasn't really that interested in eating it.



Then after she was cleaned up she opened some of her presents. Yes, Mike and I got her doll house furniture. She's too young now, but has lots of other age appropriate toys so we thought we'd get a head start on furnishing the dollhouse we built years ago. I love the picture of her with the miniature stuff .. she looks so perplexed. What am I supposed to do with this tiny fireplace?