Justin and Kristin

Where's the Pause Button?

Maybe I've put off getting this post done because then it would make the fact that my baby is now two all the more real. Isn't denial a good place sometimes? I love this age - ok minus the 2 year old tantrums - but really for the most part it is delightful! It's the age where you really can see what kind of person and personality your little one has and may even continue to grow up with. They can understand you but can't talk back, they are learning by leaps and bounds and every new discovery or advancement is the most adorable thing ever and never ceases to make you beam with pride! I love our little Nouvelle. I just love every single little thing about her. I just wish I could pause time for a bit and keep her this way for just a bit longer. She is getting too big way too fast. 

She, being two and all, made getting her two year pics quite a challenge. I think it's the hardest year mark picture to get. We tried three different photo sessions. I didn't come away with as many options as I normally like to have, but I got what I got, and it will just have to be good enough! 

So here she is my little chubbers. My precious, gregarious, funny, ham. The sunshine in our lives.

 

 

 

 

 

Don't you just love her over ambitious attempt to say "cheese?" Oh I want to gobble her all up!

 

One Little Monkey

I think it's still a bit hard to know exactly what a two year old really likes. Especially when all she really seems interested in is what her two older sisters are doing. One thing we DID know about Nouvelle: she LOVES to eat, especially bananas (any food is thrown to the side even at the sight of a banana), and she goes around every day singing the "5 Little Monkeys" song - adorably, I might add. Though she is not all about monkeys per se, she IS our little monkey - so silly, funny, fun of energy, and well, full of bananas - literally! So though we didn't throw her a huge party when she turned two, I couldn't sacrifice on the cake. So keeping with tradition, I made this:

 

For lunch that day, we kept with the monkey theme and ate Nutella banana sandwiches.

I'm pretty sure she thought she had died and gone to heaven.

We invited a few friends over to help us eat cake that evening. One of them is a "connoisseur" of sorts for great tasting treats, and inspired me to try something new. So instead of a plain ol' buttercream frosting, I made peanut-butter buttercream to accentuate the devils food chocolate cake. It was a hit! The cake seriously tasted like a Reese's peanut-butter cup! I think I'll try this more often. Shouldn't a cake taste as great as it looks? Hmmmm, the flavor profiles are endless!

Nouvelle dove right in without hesitation and devoured her piece!

We washed the cake down with some frozen chocolate covered Bananas, and some Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey Ice Cream.

What could be more appropriate?

Happy Birthday to our Chunker, our Smushy, our Smooshy, our Silly, Monkey! We absolutely LOVE and adore you!

Just Because She's So Darn Cute

I often change my wallpaper on my desktop and right now this is what graces the screen. Everytime I see it I can't help but smile. This little one simply makes me so happy!

And the Award for Least Favorite Bacteria Goes To:

Escherichia coli O157:H7

Mr. E. Coli approaches the stage, recieves his award, turns to the audience, gathers his thoughts for a slight moment and says:

"I would like to thank the Marshall girls for allowing me to take complete control over their bodies, family, and home for the past 2 and half weeks. I am much more powerful than any puny, measly stomach bug, or flu virus. I have the ability to kill toddlers at my very best, and drive parents to the brink of insanity at the very least. You WILL have to wash your hands all day - to the point of near rawness - to make sure I don't spread . But that is only minor compared to the GI symptoms that will devastate your bodies - leaving you trapped in your homes on beautiful, sunny summer days. I am so honored that your parents could spend hundreds of dollars on pediatrician visit co-pays, ER visits, urine, stool, and blood tests, and medicine; Not to mention the nights of lost sleep.

Oh and a little shout out to Lymphadenitis, who took over once I was gone, just to, you know, reek even more mania and misery to the Marshall family. "

 

Screw you Mr. E. Coli. Screw you.

 

Just to spite you we went to the beach as soon as everyone was feeling better, and had a marvelous time WITHOUT you!!!!

The Most Reliable One-Year-Old

I suppose one of the good things of having two kids with birthdays within a week of each other is that you can do a two for one photoshoot. So on that wind chilling day I snapped a few of Nouvelle as well. I think I'll need to take her back out for just a couple more, but these will do for now!

 

 

 

 

Nouvelle always keeps us laughing and happy. In any situation, through sickness, cold, fatigue, noise, chaos....I can always count on her to give me a smile, and even a laugh. I pray daily that she doesn't change and that forever she can be the source of constant and reliable joy in all our lives.

A Year of Sunshine

That's right folks.....

Here you thought I was stuck in some crappy, horrible, cold, dark, snowy, icy, depressing Boston winter....

well....ok I was...

But in the  midst of this last year and it's crazy, and yes admittedly somewhat depressing weather, I have had a house full of sunshine.

One year ago today, on a bright, warm sunny day with the blossoms in full splendor my little Nouvelle was born. And just like that day she has continued to bring brightness, warmth, sunshine, and beauty to our lives. 

In thinking about a cake for her there really wasn't any other choice but something that just perfectly depicts her....

She was a bit tired come cake time, but she still did her best to give us a taste of her sweetness and cute personality.

She enjoyed playing with the frosting a bit more than eating it and really did NOT like the taste of the cake! I'm sure that will change soon enough.

Oh Nouvelle what a wonderful addition to our family and to our two other amazing daughters. I can't wait to see what her personality is like the older she gets; what surprises she holds for us and; what other great things she will bring to our family.

Happy Birthday little Chubbers, Smooshie, Squishy, Chunker, Mooshie...and all other cute non-sensical words that we can think of! You are a beaming light in our lives and we love you!

10 Months Revisited

The challenge is being in a photo with my kids that is actually worthwhile. It usually comes down to either setting a timer and praying to the camera Gods that it takes when we are all looking and not making funny faces; or asking my husband  or family member to try and snap a few which inevitably leads to disagreements and tension as they "don't know what they are doing." (though bless their hearts for attempting to help out!)

Thus came the challenge....Justin really wanted to keep the tradition and have some professional photos of me with Nouvelle around the age of 8 or 9 months. He refused to try and take them for me. Where else to turn? We thought of even flying me out to Idaho where my *retired* professional photographer sister lives to have her do some. That became too much of a hassle.

Thankfully there is a fellow photographer in my ward who understands my dilemma and kindly offered to snap some for us so that I could have some digital copies to play around with. Thank goodness for Staci. We thought the shoot would be a snap since Nouvelle is so unceasingly happy. We found out that she really only wants to smile for me when I'm behind the camera. She was a tough crowd, but we still managed to grab a few keepers.

So now, after the fog of illness, snow, and stress has lifted I finally got around to editing some.

 

 

 

Nouvelle is a treasure. I really must apologize to anyone who hasn't gotten the chance to really know her and be around her since she was born because you really are missing out. She truly is one of a kind. Her happiness is so contagious and she just exudes sweetness. When I walk in the room to get her up from a nap she just kicks and wiggles with such excitement I can't help but smile. Even through this recent bought of sickness she has tried so hard to be happy and always greet you with a smile. She is one of a kind and brings such a joy to our home. I look forward to experiencing her amazing personality as she grows older and can't wait to see what kind of person she is.

Nine-er

 

Yesterday my sweet little Nouvelle turned 9 months. I can hardly believe it!

She is growing so fast I almost want to cry. Still in the 50-60th percentile, she is a butterball (compared to my other two) of yummy love! She continues to be the brightness to the day and the joy in my heart. Me being a completely NON-morning person, most days she actually is the only thing I need to be able to jump out of bed without any hesitation. I look forward to squeezing her cuddliness so much and being greeted by her ecstatic smile that morning's are ALMOST bearable! 

We love Nouvelle so much and every day is a wonder to watch her learn and grow and develop into the person she will be!

Happy 9 months Nouvelle!

Chubbers

Justin and I have been calling Nouvelle silly names like "Chubbers, Chubby, Muncher," and/or "Munchkin." Apparently, the other two girls think these are legitimate nicknames. Sage called Nouvelle "Chubbers" the other day. We said, "Sage that's not her name. What's her real name?" To which she adamantly insisted "CHUBBERS!!" Now they walk in the room to see Nouvelle there and say "Hey Chubbers!" Oh boy. Hopefully, they'll stop calling her that before Nouvelle gets a complex!

But actually we love that she is so "chubby." And yes I realize that she isn't the chubbiest baby out there, but she the chubbiest one we've had, so it's fun for me. I was kind of disappointed at her 6 month appointment last week where her weight went from 50th percentile to 35th! :(  I think I'll start packing her with sweet potatoes! I've always wanted a chubby baby so just let me keep believing she's truly chubby for a bit longer! We love our "chubbers" so in honor of those squeezable, eatable chub and rolls.....

(sorry Nouvelle for the revealing shots, but you just can't see the rolls as well with a diaper on!)

A Taste of Vermont

This last weekend we headed up to Vermont to experience one of the famous New England Falls. We made it barely in the nick of time. Many of the leafs had already blown of the trees, but the ones that remained were beautiful. The countryside and the town we were in where magical and picturesque. The girls did pretty well in the hotel and absolutely loved that there was an indoor pool we got to use before bed. 

It seems I got a million pictures of my girls and just a few of the area we were in, but even the breathtaking Vermont, pales in comparison to my beautiful girls, right?

But here is a taste of our Vermont experience.

• Covered Bridges
• Cheese farms and tasting (9 year aged Cheddar! Crazy!)
• Maple Farms (Aunt Gemima will NEVER cut it again)
• The most well manicured farmland I've ever seen
• Antique malls
• Old train rides
• Handmade icecream
• Hiking through the trees to the magnificent Quechee Gorge

Ahhh....what sweet memories.

What a beautiful 4-Month-Old looks like at the beach

 

Pollywogs and Tadpoles

The girls have started swimming classes. They were super excited to swim in a "Big pool" and both are doing well! I didn't know how Cadence would do, but she is a natural and can almost pull herself up on the side of the pool all by herself. Sage is kicking and stroking all by herself. The only problem with swimming class? The tantrums they throw when this much-too-short class is over.

 

(looking at this picture of Cadence I realized just how big she is getting! She's a little girl now!) 

 

 

And not to leave Nouvelle out....

This is in honor of her healthy appetite! She had her four month check up today and she is by far the biggest kid we've had. She's not huge compared to some other kids out there but 50th percentile is big for my kids! She really just loves to eat! I love how content she is in this picture now that she has a full belly. And notice the lovely milk drool she has! :)

Blessing

We really wanted to make it out to Ohio for Nouvelle's blessing, but work "demands" made it such that we had to stay put for the 4th of July. So it really meant a lot to us that some of Justin's family was able to make a way-too-long-drive all the way to be here with us, My mom was able to fly during busy travel times and make it as well. It was sweet to have family here and not have to be alone for this special occasion. We just wish the visit could have lasted a bit longer! :(

Here are some pictures of our precious blessing on her blessing day.

 

(sister Christy, bro-in-law Jordan, sister Robyn, Justin's Dad and Mom, and us!)

(my mom)

(my two loves!)

Oh man, what can I say about this wonderful little girl? She is so sweet, and I'm absolutely enamored with her. She has me wrapped around her little finger and I just don't care about anything except giving her what she wants, no matter what! Awwww the stereotypical youngest child syndrome begins! There is just nothing sweeter than seeing her sleep, and all I want to do is lay next to her and watch her, and cuddle up to her cuteness! I want to neglect all my other responsibilities and just stare at her trying to get any kind of smile and laugh out of her that I can. She really has the sweetest disposition, and that is calming to my somewhat high strungness (haa haha I'm laughing at the fact that I wrote "somewhat." We all know it's just a tad bit more than that!!! :L Though I do have to admit having three children is taming that a little!) I'm not really one for being "baby hungry" or getting all googily over babies, but I think this little girl gets me about as close to that as possible!! It almost makes me wish she would stop growing for just awhile so I can enjoy her like this for just a little longer....I said "almost!" I know we'll enjoy every phase with her just as we are with our other two marvelous girls!

We love you so much Nouvelle!!!

It Only Took Me 3 Months

I finally got Nouvelle's baby announcement mailed out last week. Yeah it only took me three months. But hey, give me a break....at least it got done at all! So here's a peek at it. Also a few more shots from the week after Nouvelle was born. They seem so out dated now that she has changed so much. I'll get more up to date photos on here soon....(yeah, famous last words)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some behind the scene footage....I think that Nouvelle peed on Justin 3 or 4 times. What a good sport Justin was.

Challenge #105

Amongst the many challenges of parenting 2 children (3 years old and younger) along with a newborn, is trying to get a decent artistic shot of Nouvelle that I feel is as "good" as the ones of the other two girls. It takes about 3x more attempts in about 3x less available "free" time.

Here are just a few of our first attempts. More to come as I try to find one/some worthy of a birth announcement.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

A Few More Pics

Here are a few random photos of Nouvelle since I haven't really posted any closer up ones of her.

Nouvelle is doing well, and Justin and I are fitting the newborn paranoid parent role perfectly. Add that to our lack of sleep and it's certainly a recipe for craziness!

 

It's hard to tell who she looks more like. I think she is just a great mix between what Sage and Cadence looked like as newborns. Sage's nose, Cadence's lips, and a perfect little shaped head. She has SIGNIFICANTLY less hair than either of them had, but still a bit in back. I'm betting she has blue eyes, but time will tell! 

I'll try and do some "Professional" shots soon. It will be quite a feat with two kids running around, lack of sleep, and searching for good lighting in our house. Considering we can't even find the energy or time to go to the store or shower, for that matter, this may take a miracle....so here's hoping....

New Role as Big Sister

Cadence is relishing in the new role as a big sister. The first thing she wants when she wakes up is to see and touch the new baby! She still just can't get enough of Nouvelle. She is our little sweetheart!

(Remember if you want to just hear the video you'll need to pause my music on the bottom left of the blog!)

Complete...

...with our new addition.

It really couldn't have worked out better. Sunday Justin's mom, Grandma Carol, arrived. We had a nice relaxing Easter Sunday and a great Easter dinner. The girls had an entire day to familiarize themselves with Grandma a little better (since we don't get to see her all that often). The next morning, I was not feeling all that well, and I started noticing some contractions around 9:30 or so. I was so nervous to go to the hospital with false labor, because I didn't want to make Justin leave work for nothing. But within the hour I was pretty sure this was the real deal, since contractions were coming every 2 minutes or so.

Some who know what a stickler I am about feeding, napping, and just schedules in general will understand why I felt it was imperative that I drive myself to the hospital so that my kids could eat lunch and go down for naps "on time." Ah come on it's only like a 10 minute drive to the hospital, which I figured would "only" be like 5 or 6 contractions while driving. So worth it, as opposed to waiting for 35-40 minutes for Justin to take a taxi home to pick me up. He took his taxi to the hospital and I drove there fast but safely and we met in the parking garage. We were quickly admitted, since I was already dilated to a 6 and contractions were coming every 1-2 minutes! And they just kept coming about every minute for the next hour and a half!

Give me the epidural NOW!!!!! Unfortunately the first one didn't work, so they had to redo it. By the time they got the second one in I was dilated to a 9 and about 30 min later I was pushing the baby out.
After two easy pushes, and just 2 hours in the the hospital, our new little girl was born!

Her name is Nouvelle and she was born at 1:31 on April 5th! She weighed 7lbs 13 oz and was 19 3/4" long.

We introduced the girls to her later that day. That, by far, was one of the best parts of the day!

They were both beyond excited to meet their new baby sister. A real, living, breathing, crying, moving,  baby!!! Cadence, in particular, was absolutely taken with her. Every little bit of her, from her toes to her hands, and eyes, and mouth, and nose!! She even tried to share her graham cracker with her when she realized she was crying because she was hungry! Sweet sister.

 

Doesn't it just melt your heart!? She just LOVES her! Cadence is probably very relieved to have the chance to be a big sister now too!

Thanks goodness Grandma Carol is here to help! What would I have done if I had had to find someone to watch my kids that morning? I don't know if I would have made it to the hospital in time!!! And the girls love her, so it couldn't be better!

I'm feeling better than after either of my other deliveries, but glad that I won't be doing this again! Glad our family is complete with our precious little Nouvelle. I'll get more of just her posted on here soon....Glad all is well with baby and mommy! :)