Life Update

It's time for a Smith update.  I keep planning on doing lots of smaller blog posts but now I think it will be easier to have one big update post.  Because I'm kind of a lazy blogger.

School is back in full swing for Billy.  This is his last year of course work, which he is really excited about, but for now classes are just as stressful as ever.  He has also started his teaching assistant responsibilities; he is teaching two discussion sections (one all freshmen, one all upper classmen) and seems to be enjoying it.

We recently went to Notre Dame to walk around campus while the weather is nice.

My work schedule recently changed.  In order to get benefits, I needed to increase my hours to 24 a week.  So I work full days on Thursday and Friday, and on Tuesday and Wednesday I work from 4pm to 7:30pm.   Thankfully I really like my job and my coworkers.  But it is hard to be away from Maryn so much.  It has also become more difficult to coordinate our schedules, and getting things done around the house, grocery shopping and errands, and spending time with other people has become more of a challenge.  Our new schedules also caused transportation issues for our one car family.  Which leads to my next update.

We bought a car!  We found a 1998 Subaru Forester in Indianapolis that is just perfect for us.  Obviously it's not new, but it's a great car and it will be nice to have all wheel drive in the snow.  It was the first time Billy and I have ever bought a car and it was definitely the biggest purchase we have ever made so it was exciting.  And it feels really good to know that we saved up our money for something we can afford to pay cash for and not have a car payment.  We've never had a car payment and would like to keep it that way for as long as possible!  Here is a picture.  This isn't actually our car because I am too lazy to go take a picture of it, but it pretty much looks just like this.

In other news, we had our first family member visit from Oklahoma!  My Gramps and Grammy were vacationing in Chicago and came to see us.  It was so nice to see them.  We went to a restaurant on campus called Legends, which is basically a shrine to all Notre Dame sports.  Gramps had us cracking up while accosting the waitress about how much he hates Notre Dame because they beat OU back in 1957.  Somehow he ended up getting a free ice cream out of it.  Of course, Maryn charmed Gramps and Grammy with her cuteness.

Speaking of Maryn, she has officially entered toddlerhood.  She is walking everywhere and getting into every thing.  Which can be exhausting but lots of fun.  She's also learning lots of new words.  And Curious George is her ever-present best friend.

Also of note, we recently switched to cloth diapering.  We're kind of late since we're starting with a one year old, but better late than never, and we can use them for any future kiddos too.  We really love them. I'm sure lots of my friends would say, "I told you so."  :)  Maryn seems to like them too.

One other development that has been fun for us is a new monthly date night tradition we have started with our friends Kevin and Erica (parents of Maryn's BFF Elliott).  They watch Maryn while we go on a date and we watch Elliott likewise.  Last Saturday Billy and I got to eat at a fun Irish pub downtown called Fiddler's Hearth.  I had yummy authentic Irish stew.  Then we walked around downtown and got dessert and coffee at the South Bend Chocolate Company.  It was so nice to have some alone time together, and we are definitely grateful for and looking forward to more of these monthly dates!!!

Wall of local family coat of arms.   

Another huge part of our lives is our church, and I have lots to write about that so I'm going to dedicate an entire post to it.  Would you believe we have been there a year now and I still haven't done a single post about it?!  That travesty will soon be remedied.  :)

BFFs

Maryn has a new BFF.  Her name is Elliott, and she is just 3 weeks younger than Maryn.  She and her parents, Kevin and Erica, just moved here for Kevin to get his PhD at Notre Dame.  We knew them in Oklahoma, and boy, are we excited that they are here!!!  We have lots in common - 1 year old girls, husbands in grad school, and Erica is also a PA.  How crazy is that?  It has been so nice to have them here.  We are already planning OU football watch parties!!  They are also going to church with us, so we have had the pleasure of spending lots of time with them and are looking forward to much more!

So anyway, Maryn and Elliott are destined to be best friends forever.  It's funny because developmentally they have a lot in common.  Both crawled about the same time, both took their first steps within a week of each other.  But in personality they are very opposite.  Maryn is very outspoken, and in-your-face friendly.  Elliott is very sweet, introverted, and contemplative.  And I think this means they will complement each other well!  We have had lots of fun watching them hang out together.

Swinging at the park!

I think they look guilty...double trouble :)

They think it's funny to drink their sippy cups together...and sometimes swap.

Pajama girls

At the zoo!!!

Louisville

Earlier this month, we got to spend a fun weekend in Louisville, KY visiting our dear friends CJ and Shelly, and their 2 boys Atticus and Ransom.  We had such a great time catching up, and it was lots of fun to see the kiddos interact.

Maryn and Ransom

Shelly gave us a tour of Southern.

We ate lots of good food.

Billy and his buddy Atticus

We also spent an afternoon playing in Louisville's beautiful park system.

Atticus found a big stick.

CJ and Ransom

The babies loved the swings.

We had such a sweet time of fellowship, and we are so thankful for our friendship.  We miss them lots!  

Push-Walking

I have a couple of blog posts in mind once I actually get the time to sit down and put them together.  Until then, I thought the grandparents would enjoy video of Maryn's newest skill - walking with the push toy we got her for her birthday.  She gets better every day and she has a ball with it.  Sorry that the video is sideways; I forgot to change it.

Birthday Bash

As you can imagine, we had a lot of fun celebrating Maryn's big (birdie-themed) day.  We had our friends the Gaudets and the Smiths (no relation, lol) over to par-tay with Maryn.

The day had a rough start.  Maryn's one-year old intuition told her something was up.  Thus, she refused to take any naps that day.  She was a big cranky pants.

Then 5 o'clock came around, and Miss Brette walked in the door; all of Maryn's grumpies disappeared immediately and stayed away the rest of the evening.  Thank God for Brette.  :)

With the Smiths - the younger, more likable ones :)

First taste of pizza

She got to open LOTS of gifts, because we saved all the gifts from relatives for the party.

Olivia was a big help.  I think she enjoyed opening the gifts a lot more than Maryn did.

I think the baby doll from Momma and Dadda was her favorite.  She immediately started hugging and patting it while saying "aww" and pretty much hasn't put it down in the week since the party.

Sweet baby Kyle slept for most of the time.

The cupcakes (made by a co-worker) were fantastic.

Maryn's special cupcake.

We watched the video montage of her first year; no one enjoyed it nearly as much as Maryn did.  She danced and laughed during the whole thing.  She loves being the center of attention.

Maryn and her friend Olivia in a brief pause during the sugar-high madness that ensued.  I think both girls slept really well that night.

Maryn also loved her tambourine.

In sum, Maryn had a happy birthday indeed.  And no two parents were ever so blessed to celebrate such a wonderful one-year-old gift from God.

Twelve Months Old (One Year!)

What a year it has been.  Maryn is one!  She is rapidly becoming less of a baby and more of a toddler.  She's beginning to express lots of emotions - happiness, frustration, jealousy - and trying to figure out how to let us know what she wants.  She's using the signs for more, all done, and milk, and she's saying "hi", "momma", "dadda", and "book" and lots of new sounds.  She loves the body part game ("where's your nose/mouth/hair/feet" etc).  She is crawling all over the place and into everything.  She's definitely been keeping us on our toes; if we look away for one second she'll disappear and we'll find her in another room with the door closed getting into who knows what.  We're working on "no" and "come to momma/dadda".  She is doing much better cruising around the furniture and this last week she started standing on her own without holding on.  She's such a big girl!!  I think we now get to discontinue physical therapy which is great too!

She had her one year check up (and vaccines - boo) yesterday with her pediatrician.  She hasn't gained much weight.  She is 16.8 lbs (1st percentile), 27 3/4 in (10th percentile), and her head circumference is 17 and 3/4 in (50th percentile).  It turns out she is a little anemic, which can cause decreased appetite.  She has to start an iron supplement, so hopefully that will help.  We go back in another month for a re-check.  Dr. Harvey also wants us to really work on boosting calorie intake.  She is becoming very stubborn about eating though.  Unless it's yogurt, a yummy fruit, or her cereal, we have a hard time getting her to eat anything from a spoon.  She wants to feed herself.  Her favorite finger foods are cheese, avocado, blueberries, strawberries, pears, apples, beans (pinto or black), crackers, cheerios, peas, corn, bagels with cream cheese, toast, and waffles.  I'm having a hard time getting her to eat much of anything with protein other than dairy and the beans.  She refuses all meat and eggs.  We may have to add some kind of supplement in her milk (carnation, etc) too.  It can be quite frustrating.

We've also begun the weaning process.  We have replaced one nursing session in the afternoon with a sippy cup of whole milk and a snack.  She does pretty well with the milk.  We're going to stay with this for a couple more weeks and just see how it goes.  I'm not in a huge hurry to wean but I do want to get down to two feedings a day - one first thing in the morning, one just before bed, so we still need to drop her late morning feeding.  She is only waking for a midnight feeding occasionally.  I can't believe I've been breast feeding her for over a year now; she's never had to have formula.  We are very blessed; I know there are many moms out there who, for various reasons, are unable to breast feed.  I am also blessed in that I have received so much support - from Billy, from our families and friends, and from my workplace.  I haven't received a single negative comment about nursing her for this long.

Pictures from the big birthday will be up soon.  Can't wait to see what the next year brings for our sweet little girl!  We'll do another update at 15 months.

Dining Area Makeover

We will have lived in our apartment for a year in August, and this summer I finally got around to accessorizing our dining area.  Previously we had glaring blank walls, a table and chairs, and a bunch of books piled against one wall.  Pretty hideous.  I had been wanting to do a "wall of frames" (any other Young House Love junkies out there?) for a long time, but Billy wasn't so sure.  I thought it would really cheer up the space since we can't paint.  I convinced him to let me do it anyway, and now he loves it.

This is how I warmed him up to the idea: 

 I only had to buy a couple of frames; the rest I had around the house.  If they weren't white or off-white already, I spray painted them:

Finished product:

I still can't find anything to put in the landscape 8x10 - I just left the insert in for now - see the one with the self-portrait/camera?

 We also got bookshelves for the area.  We still have a TON of books in the room we call the office.  But it's nice to have access to the ones currently being read or most often referenced.  As such, the books on this shelf will probably rotate frequently:

As you can see, Owlivia and Archimedes got a new home.  And I'm seriously considering spray painting those candle stick things.  I'm thinking apple green but I'm not sure.  Any opinions?

Our new dining area - much more cozy and cheerful:

Any one else doing any mini room make-overs this summer?  Any one else have a completely blank room still after living somewhere for nearly a year?