Marlowe update: 1 year old!
So months ago, Marlowe turned 1 year old! I can’t believe its taken so long for me to write this post…other than the fact that someone has been sick in our house almost every week since then! Regardless…she’s (over) a year old and she’s amazing and feisty, and I want to put all of these details down here for posterity. Because in another year, I won’t believe how little she was at this stage, and I’ll miss all of the little baby things about her when she’s a full blown toddler. I know this because every time we look back at pictures or videos of Jenson when he was young, we can’t believe how different he was just 1 year ago! I see our friend’s nearly 2 year old and I can’t believe that Marlowe will be at the stage he is in as soon as this fall!
So Marlowe’s birthday was December 29, of course. It’s kind of ironic that she was born right smack in the middle of the holidays because I always said I’d never want to have a baby around then because their birthday is always mixed in or overshadowed by the holidays. Either I didn’t think about the timing when we were ready to start trying, or I was just ready and decided I didn’t care…I don’t remember. We’ll always try to make her birthday special and separate as best we can – even if just within our little family. Even the first year, planning her birthday party date was difficult. With Christmas and New Years falling on the weekends, we couldn’t expect our families to plan their holidays around the party and drive 2 and 3 hours to our house. We decided to have her party the week after New Years, on January 8, so that it would be easier for family to celebrate with us. I hope to post about her party before she’s 2… We got to my parent’s house on her actual birthday to celebrate Christmas with them, and the next day we had cake for both Marlowe and my dad. Ages 1 and 76. I made a nearly sugar-free cake with a healthy whipped coconut milk frosting…she mostly just licked some of the frosting off.
As you can imagine, our December was quite busy (as it is for everyone who celebrates the holidays). The first weekend of the month we went to a Santa Parade in a nearby town and then to a Christmas tree farm to get our tree. Marlowe wasn’t that interested in picking out the tree, but she did enjoy the lights and watching us decorate.
The following week we were having our garage built and then had Jenson’s Christmas program for school. Marlowe entertained people before the show by rolling around in the aisle while we waited. She was smiling and looking at people for their reactions – it was really quite funny.
Unfortunately, Marlowe and I had to go to my parents that weekend as my 90 year old Grandpa passed away early that week. He was doing pretty well – lived at home still with my step-grandma, still driving, etc., and he suffered a heart attack. Being the stubborn German that he is, he didn’t let Mary take him to the hospital for about a day – he said he just thought he worked too hard getting the Christmas decorations up. Even at the hospital he was doing ok – my mom and aunt got to spend some time with him and there was an assumption that he’d be okay to go home in a week or so (on oxygen as he was in CHF), but he passed away at the hospital. He said he was ready – he didn’t want to have any surgery or invasive treatment…that if it was time, he had lived a good life. We were having our garage built that week and weren’t sure when they would be done, so we decided that I would go home for the funeral with Marlowe, and Jenson would stay home with Loren. Jenson is at an age where he really couldn’t understand what is going on and I thought seeing the open casket would be confusing for him and not something he needed to be exposed to yet. He only saw his great-grandpa about twice a year, so he didn’t know him very well as it was. Marlowe did well at the calling hours, and we didn’t go to the burial as it was very cold outside and it was her naptime. My sister caught this picture of Marlowe during the 21 gun salute at the funeral home, and it’s the sweetest thing.
She stared at the picture for the longest time, and held onto it the whole way to the luncheon at the church. I had the chance to sit and talk to my grandma for a couple of hours about her past. I learned a lot about her when she was young and the time leading up to when she met my grandpa and in their early years. They divorced after a little over 20 years, but always maintained a cordial relationship when we were all together for holidays, so she had attended the services and even sat with my step-grandma at the luncheon. Grandma lost her husband about 9 years ago, so she knew how Mary was feeling. Marlowe enjoyed being at my parent’s house and getting all of the attention (instead of having to split it with Jenson).
Right before Christmas, both kids came down with a little crud. Jenson had a bad cough and Marlowe had been running a low fever for a few days. When I called the Dr., they wanted to see Jenson for his croupy cough, but they were so busy that they didn’t want to see Marlowe since she was lacking other symptoms at that time. Jenson’s cough got better pretty quickly, but he started with a fever and waking at night, which usually indicated an ear infection. So we took them both to urgent care on Christmas Eve, which is not an amazing time to go to Urgent Care. It was packed. Neither had ear infections, so the Dr. said it was just a virus going around. (Fast forward 10 days later at her 1 year appointment when the Dr. found that she had a double ear infection and asked us to bring Jenson in…and he did too).
Marlowe’s first Christmas was really low-key, as we stayed home on Christmas Eve and Christmas. We celebrated with Lo’s family the day after Christmas, and then with mine the weekend of New Years. We actually got to my parents on Marlowe’s birthday, so I made a little (healthy) cake for her the following day, which is also my Dad’s birthday. She just licked some of the whipped coconut milk “frosting” off and was done. She rang in the New Year by waking up and crying while we were at my sister’s house watching the end of the Ohio State football game. We headed home before the ball dropped, and I didn’t even see it, as I was nursing her back to sleep – which is exactly the way she would want to ring in the New Year (since she has no plans to give up nursing).
Marlowe Update: November 29 – December 31
Age: 1 year old!!
Weight: 17 lbs., 10 oz. (40%) at her appointment on November 14
Length: 28.5 inches (90%)
Clothing size: She’s in 12 month clothing. She’s a size 2 in shoes, though she’s only had them on for pictures. Baby shoes are cute, but not worth the trouble. She’s in a 3 for diapers and we switch between cloth and disposable.
Hair: Her hair is getting so long on the sides and front. I have to pull it back every day so it’s out of her eyes. It’s very blond still, and superfine. It’s still shorter in the back, so she’s rocking a stylish inverted bob.
Eyes: Blue. The color is so pretty…I really hope it stays, but Jenson’s turned from blue after 1 year, so I wouldn’t be surprised if hers still turned.
Teeth: Just her 2 bottom teeth
Temperament: She’s sweet and lovey, but has a temper when she wants to exert it. She loves kisses and being tickled, but if she’s mad, you know it. She’s very loud when she’s not happy or if she wants to nurse. No one can settle her when she’s ready to eat – she’ll just scream until I feed her. She loves crawling all over the place and playing with toys and watching Jenson. All in all, she wasn’t what I’d call an easy baby…she can switch from happy to mad in an instance. She never really got used to being with other people since I’m home with her all of the time and we’ve only had the chance to leave her with family a couple times for a few hours. She does fine with just Lo, and would usually take a bottle from him, but we pretty much got to the point where we didn’t feel like we could leave her with a sitter, unless it was someone she already knew – and that limited us to very few people. So I’m not sure whether she was actually a more difficult baby, if it was difficult because we also have a toddler who demands much of our attention, or if it was because we rarely got a break from either.
Sleeping: She wakes up between 8-9 am and will play in her crib sometimes before she wants out. She typically takes a morning and afternoon nap. The morning nap ranges from 45-60 minutes beginning around 10:30, and the afternoon nap is from 45 minutes -2 hours starting around 1:30 or 2 pm. She goes to bed around 7:30 most nights and wakes every 2-4 hours to nurse for 5 minutes. We haven’t made much progress on nighttime sleep. If she wakes to nurse before 10:30/11 pm, Lo will go in to make sure she has a pacifier. She’ll usually settle a bit longer. We have tried to let her cry it out a few times (checking on her throughout), and she proved she can outlast us on that one, to the tune of straight screaming for over an hour. She cries harder and more consistent than Jenson did when we started sleep training him. Her cry is a scream…its loud and it wrecks you. I don’t even use a monitor for her because I don’t need it. I can hear her anywhere in the house. She doesn’t want held or bounced or anything to do with Loren when she wakes…she just wants to nurse for 5 minutes and then go back to bed. So I pretty much just give in because waking for 5 minutes is better than her screaming for an hour. She still puts herself to sleep…I just nurse her and lay her down awake, so at least that is easy.
Eating: She’ll eat pretty much anything we put down in front of her. She loves being in her high chair and feeding herself. We pretty much just give her pieces of whatever we are eating or whatever Jenson is eating, plus vegetables. She eats mostly real food, though she eats probably about 1 pouch a day because its the easiest thing to give her when you can’t get the food to her fast enough. She SCREAMS for food if you aren’t fast enough.
Movement: Her crawl was still a scuttle. She sits on one knee and propels herself along with one leg – she looks a bit like a spider or crab. When she tries to crawl fast on both knees on the wood floors she just peels out, so she adapted to this method. She loves to dance and clap, and pulls herself up to everything. She cruises around the furniture pretty well and I kept expecting her to take steps, but she never let go. When she wanted me to pick her up, she’d use my pants to pull up to stand against my legs.
Milestones:
–Cruising all over the place
–Standing up
–First Christmas
–First Birthday!!
— Top tooth starting to come in
–She “winks”, which is more like a hard blink, but she does it to show off. So cute.
–New words: thank you, all done, bye bye, again, Hi Boof, reindeer, stinky, pupa (for puppy), doda (for doggie), where Jenson?
Favorite toys/activities:
–Getting to things she couldn’t get to before now that she’s cruising and standing up easier
–Baths
–Reading books
–Eating….and she means NOW
–Her pacifiers. She loves them. One in the mouth and one in each hand.
–Being tickled – she has such an amazing belly laugh, and she’ll make a tickle motion on her belly when she wants us to continue
–She still loves musical cards and got a “new” one over Christmas – it was actually an old Father’s Day card of Don’s with a squirrel inside and the theme song from Benny Hill. She holds it right up to her face and rocks back and forth dancing.
–Kissing stuffed animals and babies
–Any other musical toy. She dancing and looks around to make sure people are watching
–Wearing silly hats. She’s not a fan of wearing hats for real when we go outside, but she likes putting them on in the house.
–Her favorite Christmas gift from Santa was Beat Belle dancing robot. She got so many great gifts from everyone though, and had a blast playing with everything new.
Dislikes:
–Taking things from her that she was playing with…which Jenson has started to do
–Waiting to eat once she’s in the chair
–Being held instead of crawling around
–Sleeping. She just loves me more than sleep.
Sibling Rivalry:
She LOVES Jenson. She watches him constantly, and all he has to do is talk to her and she’s happy. She tries to play with him, but he he gets mad when she tries to touch his toys or snacks, and he often takes toys from her. She doesn’t usually mind very much, but I’m sure that’ll change soon. He does really like playing with her when he initiates it, and he is gentle with her.
Sounds and Words:
–Big belly laughs
–Loud, girly screeches. So loud. I guarantee my hearing has gotten worse this year just because of her screaming. Everyone grabs their ears when she screeches because it cuts out your hearing like bad speaker feedback.
–Words: mama, dada, boof, papap, papaw, Jenson, baby, thank you, all done, bye bye, again, Hi Boof, reindeer, stinky, pupa (for puppy), doda (for doggie), where Jenson?
Special events:
–Her birthday!
–visits with family
–Christmas and New Years
Looking forward to:
–Longer stretches of sleeping at night (will this always be on my list?)
–Becoming more verbal
Watch Marlowe grow:
