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Five Months Old!

Our little Marshall is growing up, and it is breaking my heart! I can't believe that he is five months old-time is flying by! The other day I was looking at pictures from the day he was born and I was missing my tiny little baby, okay so he wasn't really that small to begin with, but I could still cradle him in one arm.
Anyway, after being saddened by how fast he is growing and changing I started to think about all the things he is doing now that I love that he didn't do as a newborn.
For example, he now sleeps about 10-11 hours straight at night-I am absolutely loving it and he definitely didn't do that as a newborn!

He is also so interactive. He loves to play with us and we can always get great smiles and hearty laughs out of him. He is also getting really good at grabbing his toys and hanging onto them.
Marshall also loves his rice cereal. He is eating about 1/4 of a cup in the morning and again at night. He did go through a little phase of wanting to hold the spoon and never letting go which made feeding him a little frustrating. But, now he is much better and realizes that the best way to get food in his mouth is to let us hold the spoon.



He is also rolling over a lot now, although he has yet to realize he can roll off of his stomach to his back, but he definitely has the back to stomach roll mastered.
He is also getting pretty good at sitting up with minimal support; he's a strong little guy!
So, all in all, it really is great that Marshall is five months old. We love him so much and we are grateful he's here!

Bubble Lips and Laughs with Dad

Marshall has mastered bubble lips! Well, probably not mastered, we were just really lucky to get this on video!

Rice Cereal and all of December!

Marshall is four months old-time is flying by for me! He had his four month check-up last week and once again checked out completely healthy! He weighed in at 14 lbs. 11 oz. (50%) and measured 26 inches long (80%). He is a growing boy and Richard is hoping that he keeps growing lengthwise.

The pediatrician told us that we could start him on rice cereal anytime now so I tried it for the first time on Friday. He took to it pretty well and sometimes I couldn't get it in his mouth fast enough. As soon as he would see the spoon he would open his mouth and his little tongue would just start fishing around, it was so cute. Here is a little video clip of it all, and you'll have to disregard the pink spoon-it wasn't until I was done that I realized what color the spoon was! Also, please note that I was feeding him and recording all at the same time; I was quite impressed with myself. :)

OK, so I have been trying to upload this video for a day and I can't get it to work. So, I will keep trying and hopefully I will have it up to morrow, but for now, here's the rest of the post.

Marshall has also recently discovered his hands and feet. He usually only looks at his feet when he is sitting down, but he loves his hands and will look at them anytime-who knew five little fingers could be so fascinating!

Here are just a few more random Marshall pictures...do they come any cuter?

Diaper changes with dad usually result in crazy things!

Marshall and his little dog we have named Walter.


I love this little guy!

Now for a bunch of Christmas pictures...

And lastly, I would just like to document that we do indeed live in a very cold place. On Wednesday we had a high of -5, and with the wind chill we were fluctuating between -30 and -40! Here is a picture of the door in our building that goes out to the balcony-talk about frosted window panes, more like frozen window panes!

Thanksgiving and Random Tidbits

Holy cow, time flies! Sorry it has been so long since our last post, who knew that one child could keep us so busy! We have had a great few weeks and have much to share, so here it goes...

Thanksgiving

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Cheyenne with Richard's family. It was a pretty quick trip, but it was great to be all together with the Leake's. We spent our time talking, playing games, watching movies, and of course, eating great food. Marshall was able to meet his four little girl cousins, for now he is very outnumbered. :)

Marshall with Mara, Teia, and Becca

Unfortunately we didn't get one with Katelin, Marshall's newest cousin. We'll have to get them together during Christmas.

While we in Cheyenne we also took family pictures. This is Marshall after the picture festivities..I guess we wore him out. So, being in the picture spirit, we put him with this giant teddy bear for a few more shots...what a sweetie. :)

Three Months Old and a Thumb Sucker

That's right folks, Marshall turned three months old on Friday and he has also turned into a thumb sucker! He has always enjoyed sucking on his fist, but yesterday morning he discovered he didn't have to put his whole fist in his mouth, he could just suck on his thumb. He will still take a binkie, but if that's not around, most likely his thumb will be in his mouth. Richard is less than thrilled with this new development. I'm not too bothered by it, seeing as I also sucked my thumb, and I still turned out okay. :)

Our Little Reindeer



A couple weeks ago Richard found this little outfit and couldn't resist buying it...and who could blame him! We had our branch Christmas party last night so of course we had to dress Marshall up. He looked SO cute and received many compliments. Unfortunately, he was asleep when Santa arrived at the party, so he didn't get to experience the whole Santa thing this year, we'll look forward to that next year.

Smiles and Laughs for Mom

Marshall is a big smiler now and we have started to get some semi-laughs out of him. He is so much fun and makes us laugh too. Yesterday I discovered another way to get smiles and laughs, so here it is, enjoy!

Catch Up Time!!!

Sorry its been a while since our last post, time just gets away from us. So, here's what we have been up to these last couple weeks...

Marshall's Blessing
Marshall was blessed this last Sunday. It was a great day and we were so fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful family and friends for this special occasion. Some of my dad's family from Michigan made the trip to Milwaukee as well as our friends Corey and Bekky who live in Minnesota. It was great to see all who came and we really appreciate their support.

Marshall wore a little white outfit we ordered from the Distribution Center and he did a great job at keeping it clean. He was also great during the blessing; he didn't make a peep. Richard did a wonderful job and it was a tender moment for all of us.

Marshall was pooped after we got home from church, he had had such a big morning!

Marshall with cousin Sarah.


Aunt Michelle holding Marshall and Grandma Toney enjoying her newest great-grandson.

Two Month Stats

Marshall had his two month check-up last week. He weighed in at 12 pounds, 4 ounces and measured 23 1/2 inches long! This puts him in the 60th percentile for both height and weight. He checked out as a completely healthy, growing, and developing baby boy. He also had to get three shots and take an oral immunization. Despite the tears with all the pokes, he did a great job and didn't have too bad of a reaction to the immunizations. And, as you can see, he is one happy boy!

Good Morning!

Yesterday morning Marshall woke up SO happy-I love mornings like this! When I went in to get him he was smiling up at his mobile that has three bears. We played with the mobile for a few minutes and then I pulled him into our bed for some snuggles. We had a great time and he just smiled away at everything I did. I absolutely love being a mom, and even though at times it is exhausting and overwhelming, it is mornings like these that make it all worth it!







Gotta Love the Fishes!

The swing we have has four colorful fishes that hang down from a water globe. The last couple of weeks Marshall has really come to adore these four little fishes. Whenever we put him in his swing he just stares at them and cracks smile after smile. We finally caught it on video, so enjoy!

Smiles, Halloween and a Friend

Richard and Marshall went to a Halloween party on Thursday the 30th, I didn't go because I had to go to work. I think they had a good time as Richard said that Marshall was very well behaved. Sorry we don't have any good pictures in his costume because he was either sleeping or crying. Better luck next year.

Here is Marshall with Duncan, another boy in the cul-de-sac. Duncan is 6 months old and 21 lbs. I hope Marshall looks like this when he is 6 months old.

Successful smile pictures! What a happy boy!