Smiles and Discovery

Whew! What a month it has been. It is such a delight to watch Marley discover life and the world around her, it just becomes hard to find time to do anything else!

We had a very blessed trip to Arizona to see our family and friends. Marley had her first plane ride over there and was a champ: she slept the whole way! The drive back was long for her, but she did well. She loves her Arizona family. This is our cousin Gabe. He put the Baby Bjorn on and ran Marley all over the mall. She loved it! Then they got tired and took a rest.


Marley is discovering many things. The most noteable ones as of late are her thumb and her feet!



Marley's favorite activity by far is going for a walk around the neighborhood in her Baby Bjorn. It's been so cold out, so we bundle her up in what we've affectionately termed her "Pink Pepper" outfit. The hat was made by my friend Adrienne, and Marley loves it!


She is so full of smiles and is so much fun. We had a couple of photo shoots of her for our Christmas cards and she was great. We are truly blessed to be her parents, and we are looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Redeemer with her for the first time!

Marley and Auntie Joyce

Our Princess Leia

I think we had a lot more fun with costumes this year than we ever have. We found the best infant Princess Leia costume and decided to make a family theme of it...so Bodie was Anakin and I was Padame. We were a proud Skywalker family. Our church Harvest Fair was so much fun! Marley enjoyed seeing all her friends.






Our precious little girl is getting more verbal and social every day! People are much more interesting to her than objects and she loves when people talk and sing to her. In fact, worship is her favorite! She gets quiet and still whenever the worship band is playing. She is still a great sleeper and we are loving her more and more every day. She did wonderfully on her first road trip. We went to Arizona to meet our new baby cousin Ryan Alejandro Castillo. He is beautiful and it was wonderful seeing our family over there!

Grandma Wendy Comes to Town!

Marley was so blessed to meet and spend time with her Grandma Wendy last week! She came out Wednesday and had to leave Monday but filled the time well with family and friends. Marley was sure sad to see her go and can't wait to see her again! Here are some pictures of the stay:



Hanging with Auntie Hailey


Checking out silly Westley


This is our precious one in some of her favorite places:

After bath=clean and cute


Laughing and talking with Daddy



Extreme close up in the bouncer...we love itsy bitsy spider!


Sleeping in the swing, thug life style


What a joy it is to discover life with Marley every day. She is sleeping 7-8 hours straight a night and then eats quickly and goes back to bed for a couple more hours. She is healthy and already ministering to others with her smiles and coos. We are so proud of her!

Smiles!

There is nothing better than seeing Marley smile and having a "conversation" with her. She is experimenting with her voice and making all kinds of cute noises and faces. We discovered that she finally really enjoys being in her bouncer because she can see and be entertained by the toys and songs. It reminds me of how it is such a testament of God's love for us that He created us to enjoy life. He created excitement and joy and happiness for His precious creation to experience. Even little Marley who is just scratching the tip of the iceberg of wonderful things to enjoy and make her happy is a recipient of His amazing love in this way. Thank you, Jesus, for joy!

Eight Weeks of Love

Marley Joy is 8 weeks old today, and we are more blessed than ever. It has been so fun to watch her grow and develop. She is smiling now and starting to make little coos when you talk to her and we just love it! This video link below shows just the beginning of this process. That's right, we bought a HD video camera. We have officially become "Those Parents" and we are not ashamed!

http://gallery.mac.com/bodieq#100053

Marley has thrush, but we are so blessed in that our pediatrician actually goes to our church and his wife (who is a nurse!) was holding her and they diagnosed her on a Sunday morning! Then they just called in the prescription for us and it's a good thing because the next day Marley was very uncomfortable and we already knew what was wrong and had the medicine to treat it. She's doing much better now, but it is very hard to get rid of.

She had her first experience in the pool on Labor day. She loves her bath so much (and let's you know by how much she screams when you take her out!) that we were just sure she would love the pool. Well...maybe we didn't pick the best time because she had just been awakened from too short of a nap and we were too excited to see her in her cute suit that we put it on and put her in. She definitely was less than amused at first, but then settled down as long as she was being held really close.
Marley is so loved. We are blessed to have so many people that care about us and about our little precious girl. I started back to work part time on August 29th and we have some of the best babysitters there are: grandparents! It is such a relief to know she is cared for so dilligently. My parents watch her at their house two days a week and Bodie's stepmom comes all the way up from Carlsbad to watch her one day a week. Uncle Kenton has volunteer to watch Marley two Wednesdays a month so I can go teach at youth group, and he is so good with her. Here are some recent pics of those that love her.

Proud Uncle Kenton

Auntie Megan

Auntie Kelly

We continue to be amazed at how much we love our little gift from God. It seems like every little thing she does is amazing. She now sleeps 6-7 hours in her first stretch of the night, then eats and sleeps a couple more hours. Last night was her first night in her own room and crib! We will keep you updated on her progress

Firsts

Marley is officially 4 weeks old! So much growth and change has happened, it is amazing. Thank you Jesus for continued health and joy! She is now sleeping a 5-6 hour stretch each night followed by 2 more. She is a delight. Here are some updated pictures:

Auntie Ajja came to visit us, and Marley thought she was just great! It must be her relaxing Hawaiian vibe.

Grandma, this outfit and these socks are far too big for me! You need to wait!

This is my "I'm awake and curious" face

Daddy sure makes a nice pillow. He must be watching Agassi.

Marley and Presley hanging out in the back seat while Heidi and Kathleen have an "outing"

First Bath! We didn't like this too much at first, but by the third night of baths, they have become one of our favorite things!

I took this picture to remember how little she looks in her carrier. One day she is going to fill it!

This is Joiya Szolomayer doing a great job holding Marley

Marley just loves hanging out in the Baby Bjorn. We took a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood with her in this and she was relaxed and taking in all the sights.

"I sure am curious!"

Beautiful Baby

We were so blessed to have a friend from church come and take some professional pictures of our precious little one. She is one week and one day in these pictures. Please visit our friend's website, www.photobyangel.com, and see some of her other beautiful work!

Eyes Wide Open

I realized that all the pictures I put up before were of Marley sleeping! Although she does do that most of the time (she is a GREAT sleeper! Even at night!), I wanted you to see her with her eyes open, as she begins to take in this world that God has created for her.

May we continue to see this world as God has intended us to: through eyes of love, compassion and humility, fixed on Jesus to whom all glory and honor is due. "Love sent my Savior to die in my stead, Why should he love me so?"