Arizona

Last week I took Molly and Marshall to visit my family in Arizona. I was a little nervous about taking both kids on a trip by myself since Molly and I took several trips together before she turned 6 months old and lets just say I did not have fun flying alone with her! This time the flights to Arizona and back were a piece of cake, Marshall is an awesome little traveler and Molly is incredibly self-sufficient. We actually got multiple compliments from our fellow travelers when our planes landed in Phoenix and Houston.

Marshall took a 45 minute nap on our way to Arizona, then discovered my empty water bottle and fell in love.
For Valentine's Day Daddy gave Molly his old mp3 player loaded with all her favorite music. She thought she was such a big girl on the plane rocking out to her jams!Monday we met some of the cousins at the Phoenix Zoo. Marshall got to meet his cousins Pierce and Knolan for the first time. We enjoyed a super-fun and sunny afternoon before heading home for a nap!
Tuesday morning we headed to Apache Junction for Marshall's first visit with his great-grandparents! Marshall's middle name is Benjamin, after my Grandpa Benny, so I've been looking forward to the two of them finally meeting!
I got a kick out of Molly teaching Grandpa to play guitar on my phone!Thursday night the Gomez family took us to dinner for my birthday. We had a fun night at one of my favorite pizza places. Dominic and Shannon bonded with Marshall and Molly learned how to use the camera (Daddy's little one - not mine!)

Molly's first self-potrait:Molly also captured this picture of Marshall
Friday and Saturday we spent the days hanging out with family and playing with Nana and Pop-Pop's puppies. Molly also was excited to have a sleep-over with cousin, Tirscha.
Usually when the out-of-town cousins come to visit, we try to plan a cousin's night out either playing trivia or laser tag. This trip we tried to play trivia, but the restaurant couldn't get any of the boxes to work, so we ended up watching some big UFC fight... I also was treated to a birthday shot from Carrie and Levi. When I woke up that morning I never imagined I'd be watching cage fighting while taking shots that same night... Oh and yes, baby Knolan was there too! What a night!

Sunday morning we said good-bye to the family and boarded another Southwest flight bound for Houston. We sure were excited to see Daddy after being gone for a week!

Many Faces of Marshall

Here are a series of faces made by Marshall as he ate his rice cereal and mushed peas.Here he is trying to sign "Mommy", but not getting it quite right!

My Cute Little Builders

Paul has surprised me by taking up wood-working as his new hobby! He's really getting into it and enjoying himself. When the weather is nice, he and Molly have had fun banging out some projects together!

More Toupee Styles

Marshall is proud to announce the addition of two new styles to his line of baby toupees:

INTRODUCING:

The Hasselhoff

and

The Ron Burgundy

6 Months Old

Marshall turned 6 months old on January 29th.
At his check-up he weighed 17lbs, 2oz and was 27.25 inches long. He's in the 75-90th percentile for both height and weight. Marshall is loving his baby foods and especially his MumMum crackers. I had hoped we'd be a lot farther along with bottles by now, but we'll keep working on it. So far he only takes bottles with any regularity from Mrs. Molly and MiMi. I know Molly was only nursing on her first and last feedings of the day by this age, so I am hoping to get Marshall moving in that direction this month.

In all I can't complain, he's a wonderfully content and happy baby. Even the two weeks that he was really sick you could tell how badly he wanted to be his happy self despite his runny nose and glassy eyes. He would still muster up that charming smile for everyone he saw.

Marshall loves being outside, especially swinging or kicking around in the bouncer.

He also loves being inside in the exersaucer with all of his chewy toys.Marshall just adores Molly and gets so excited whenever he sees her. I love hearing him laugh at her, it's one of the best sounds in the whole world.

Big Sister was so excited when Marshall wore his first Star Wars shirt. It's not the best picture of little man, but Molly begged me to take it! Cousin Carrie got them matching Star Wars shirts and nothing makes Molly happier than when they wear them together. I'll have to get that picture posted pretty soon!