Rowe Family Blog

Natalie Loves Pumpkins

2011-10-15T23:01:00.001-06:00

Mariella has always loved pumpkin picking. This year Natalie decided that she loved them too. Because they're just the right size to sit on....

Pumpkin Shoppers

2011-10-15T22:44:00.000-06:00

We performed our perennial pumpkin "picking" pilgrimage today (couldn't think of a p-word for today). Natalie and Mariella both joined in to help Judy pick the perfect proportion of pumpkins. The rest of the afternoon Mariella was talking about "pumpkins and organs". We couldn't figure out what she was referring to at first until we realized she was referring to "pumpkins and gourds".

If You Give a Moose a Swing Set

2011-10-03T22:14:00.001-06:00

A recent visitor - who needed a little rest. I was traveling/out of town at the time. He evidently hung around for over an hour getting in a few winks. I wish I'd been there to see it. Click on the headline to see more pictures.

Swinging with Matty

2011-10-03T22:10:00.000-06:00

If anyone ever doubted that Matty is a docile dog.....

Rapunzel

2011-10-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

Mariella was given a Rapunzel doll (one released after the debut of the new Disney movie). Here she is dressed alike with Rapunzel with the Rapunzel family.

Buddy buddy with Big Bear

2011-10-03T22:05:00.000-06:00

We have a huge stuffed bear. Natalie (and Mariella) love to sit in the bear's lap and have a snuggle.

Natalie Goes On A Hike

2011-10-03T21:58:00.002-06:00

On our anniversary this year Judy and I took the girls on a hike at Sundance. The particular meadow we wanted to picnic in involves a substantially steep climb. So we put Natalie in a lovely backpack while Mariella took off in the hiking lead.

But Natalie figured out after about 10 minutes that it was a lot more fun to be walking than riding. So finally we let her out. She loved her first hike. I have a video that I will try to upload - she is walking along the path by herself, swinging her arms up over her head as she marches along. Very cute.

Click on the headline to see more pictures.

Sister Bath Time

2011-03-20T10:33:00.000-06:00

We've decided to make a feature length movie about sisters having fun together. Here's the theatrical trailer.

An Ice Skater ???

2011-02-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

I wish I had a picture of this but I didn't have the camera with me. At the ice arena on M's birthday there's maybe 8 people on the ice. And Mariella is skating with Mommy while daddy tries to regain his form on hockey skates that Mommy bought him for Christmas (perhaps the best gift ever!!!). So Mariella shouts "Daddy, Look!" and I look and Mommy is holding both her upstretched hands while Mariella lifts and points her one leg straight out while skating forward on the other leg.

So when Daddy suggested later that she might want to join the learner class at the rink she basically gave a resounding "No". Because she already knows how to skate because she can skate on one leg.

Mariella the Gymnast

2011-02-22T23:09:00.000-07:00

Mariella started gymnastics at the local gym. And if I've ever seen her take to something without hesitation, this is it. I don't know if it's because she's spent the years bouncing around in her Bounce House in the basement or if it's because she saw her cousin Maya (age 13) do it but she was begging to do it and from the first visit to the gym she was into it like nothing we've ever seen. No fear, no hesitation. She's done balance beam, trampolining, handstands, cartwheels. Every week is an exciting adventure.

We bought her a couple gymnastics suits this week at Target. And she is ecstatic to have them - couldn't find matching gymnastics tights yet so she's not entirely in full regalia. But she's very proud of her ensemble. I can almost picture her as a little Mary Lou Retton circa mid-80s with her poses.

She might be a natural. She's intent on starting ballet classes in the next semester. So - who needs preschool when you have Kindermusic on Tuesdays, Figure Skating classes on Wednesdays (daddy's preference), Gymnastics on Thursdays and Ballet on ??? Who has enough time?

It's nice that beneath the layers of tourists and Sundance Film Festival veneer Park City is really just a small town of 10,000 people where they still read the weeks lost and founds on the local radio station. So one of the kids from her Kindermusic class is also in her gymnastics class. And who knows who might turn out to also be in her ballet class (assuming of course).

I know you think I'm leaving out Natalie's progress. But I have video of her first bath in the big girls tub with big sister Mariella (Natalie's hero of the universe). I just have to edit it so it's not a 50MB file. Then I'll post it.

Mariella Turns 4!!!!!

2011-02-22T22:52:00.000-07:00

We just cannot believe that Mariella is four years old. And so intent on becoming an adult and getting older and doing older kid stuff. Here are a couple pictures from Mariella's bday celebration. The day included a couple of her friends from church coming over after school, some Clifford games (toss the Clifford into the bin and pin-the-dogtag-on-the-Clifford, a little supper of veggie-dogs in blankets and a Clifford-theBigRedDog cake and then off to ice skating at the PC Ice Arena. Then home to open presents and off to bed - very happy and tired. Natalie enjoyed the birthday as much as anyone I think.

Santa says.....Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T14:09:00.001-07:00

Or she would if she weren't teething.

Mariella Learns to Skate

2010-12-24T14:07:00.000-07:00

All fall and early winter Mariella has been asking when we could go ice skating. Finally the day arrived. I got home at the appointed hour and found Mariella sitting in the house in her coat, snow pants, hat, mittens and boots, saying, "I'm ready to go Daddy. Let's go ice skating." Which went on for about an hour until the rest of us were finally ready to go.

She did really well. The first time around she just let Daddy and Mommy support her 100%. But by the last time around she was taking steps with her feet and keeping her skates straight and gliding in the right direction.

Elk Migration

2010-11-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

We've been having quite a few bull elk (singles and pairs) traversing the yard the last couple weeks. But tonight about sunset I looked out in the yard and couldn't believe my eyes. There are 11 bulls visible in this picture. And my wide angle wasn't wide enough to catch the other 8 uphill from these.

Sundance

2010-10-07T17:12:00.001-06:00

We had a professional real estate photographer shoot the Sundance house. This is a lovely evening picture. For those who have visited us there, it may look a little different.

Natalie thinks Mariella is VERY funny

2010-10-06T21:39:00.001-06:00

Mariella was horsing around in the kitchen tonight. And Natalie was very - to say the least - entertained.....check it out.

Moore Moose

2010-09-25T19:16:00.000-06:00

A couple shots of recent moose visits. The big bull let me get within about 20 feet of him before he warned me off. The mommy and calves showed up to get their annual (it seemed like they licked it for 30 minutes) salt infusion treatment.

Which is Which?

2010-09-25T19:00:00.000-06:00

The more things change the more they stay the same. Three and a half years apart - the jumperoo is still tiring. Can you tell which is Natalie and which is Mariella?

In Fields of Gold

2010-09-25T18:39:00.000-06:00

After Mariella helped me in the yard last Sunday we were putting our tools away and Mariella said that I should take her picture in the grass because it matched her hair. At first I said, "OK but there's not enough sunlight left today, I'll do it tomorrow." But then Mariella assured me that there was enough.

So here is Mariella, as Sting sang, "In Fields of Gold"

Sister Twin Dresses

2010-08-04T22:33:00.000-06:00

Mariella and Natalie wore their "twin" dresses to church this week for the first time.

Our Backyard

2010-08-04T20:31:00.000-06:00

A few things we've seen in the yard in the last few days. Bullwinkle, a young red tailed, and a double rbow

Natalie Learns Emotions

2010-07-24T21:41:00.001-06:00

Natalie is learning how to be a great actor.

Check this out:

Daddy: "OK Natalie, act happy"

Daddy: "OK Natalie, now, I've just said something that hurt your feelings. Go."

Daddy: "OK Natalie, tough one. Be really, really bored"

Daddy's Day

2010-06-22T06:50:00.000-06:00

And while we're here posting moose pictures. It was Daddy's Day on Sunday. And Daddy had his picture taken with the sisters. Everyone says that Natalie's hairdo is just like Daddy's.

Seriously Bullwinkle

2010-06-22T06:45:00.000-06:00

This morning I went out with the dogs at the crack of dawn to see if a huge porcupine that Judy had seen in the yard had done any damage to the new trees I planted. And because I wanted to make sure I didn't have to take the dogs to the vet to have more quills removed. It's something I've never done before.

But I'm glad I did today. As we walked around the corner of the garage Jabil growled and started to charge and I called him back thinking it was the porcupine. But instead it was this fine fellow.

He wasn't the least bit concerned that we were there - at least he wasn't concerned enough to leave. He did give us the evil eye few times.

And if you've ever wondered what those antlers are good for - they're good for scratching.

He's a magnificently large guy. It's hard to tell because I zoomed in as far as I could on these shots. But at the shoulder he's easily as big as a large horse - probably nearly 6'.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling.......Sisters

2010-05-02T15:33:00.004-06:00

Hi, This is Mariella. I want to show you my little sister Natalie. She is really cute. I like being her big sister already and I am really, really good at it. I have already helped Mommy change a diaper. And now that I am THE big girl I am going to take Natalie for a ride in our car. Natalie can use my old yellow car seat and I will drive. For today, Mommy says I need to just work on my diaper changing skills. I'm pretty good at it already so I'm hoping to take my baby sister for a drive really soon.

PS - this is daddy typing now. This is really the plan Mariella has. She seems to think that having a baby sister is a rite of passage. And now - by virtue of having a baby sister - Mariella is big.

Natalie Johanna Rowe

2010-05-01T02:22:00.004-06:00

Here she is. Born at 10:21pm on April 30 (sorry Auntie Sharyl - missed by 1 hour and 39 minutes). 7lbs 3oz. 19" long.

Johanna is the name of her maternal gr. gr. gr. grandmother who emigrated from Russia to South Dakota in 1887.

We're not sure of much about her personality but we know that in at least one way she is the polar opposite of Mariella. She's a thumb/binky sucker. Mariella would never touch either. I'll be surprised if Natalie is discharged with either thumb intact.

Like Mariella she doesn't appear to be too noisy. From the moment of birth through her antibiotic shot through her rubdown and hepB shot I doubt she cried more than half a dozen sobs.

Judy is fine. Natalie is fine. Mariella seemed to be put off by the flecks of blood still on her little sister. Mariella wanted desperately for Natalie to have her bath. But by then it was 1am and Mariella was a zombie so we will have to wait for the first touch between sisters until tomorrow.

First Dance of Spring

2010-04-18T00:40:00.003-06:00

We took Mariella to the opening day of the Tulip Festival at the Tulip gardens this Sabbath afternoon. She was extremely entertained by the grass and just generally the opportunity to be outside after winter.

While in the rose garden (not yet blooming) she had a Spring revel - showing off her Kindermusic dance moves. These two photos were taken back-to-back using auto drive. So they were less than 1 second apart. If I tried these moves back-to-back I'd have a broken hip.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T21:59:00.003-06:00

Go hug a bunny

Twas the Night Before Easter

2010-04-04T15:40:00.004-06:00

....when in every kitchen.

The smell of vinegar and eggs

Wasn't a missin.

Pink ones and blue ones

And yellow ones too

Were all being painted

with PAAS egg paint goo

Egg glitter was flowing and shouts of,

"That's my egg you cracked!"

"I want that last egg" and

"Hey, that was supposed to be black!"

And just when the eggs

Were about put away

And the dye was dumped out

At the end of the day

From out in the yard

There arose such a clatter

We arose from the pitiful semifinal NCAA basketball game between Duke and West Virginia

To see what was the matter

And what to our wondering eyes

Should appear

But a big giant rabbit

With two great big ears

We thought, "it is magic"

"Peter Rabbit! it's true!"

And waited for Easter candy

To appear out of the blue

But then as we waited

He hopped away with no racket

And we went to the store

To get stuff for our baskets

Happy Easter!

Little Chocolate Princess

2010-04-04T15:24:00.002-06:00

Mariella helped Mommy make chocolate cupcakes last night. You can see that Mariella was primarily involved in "cleanup".

Little Dirt Princess

2010-04-04T15:08:00.003-06:00

A couple weeks ago we went to Moab with Auntie Sharyl, Uncle John and Cousin Maya. We went for a hike in Arches National Park. It was probably the first time since last fall that Mariella had been able to get out and walk on ground that was not covered with snow. And she loved the red dirt. She was "holding up" the hike because she had to stop every five feet and pick up a couple handfuls of dirt and throw them around.

By way of context, Mariella is into Princesses (Disney) lately. And we often tell her she's our "Little Princess".

On this particular day she was so excited that she told Judy that she was a "Little Dirt Princess". I suspect you can see why.

Foxy Loxy

2010-03-14T19:28:00.004-06:00

For weeks now we've had a lovely, lonely fox that hunts our property. He comes out in broad daylight and drives the dogs nuts. Finally this evening he was out long enough for me to get the long lens on the camera. Everyone who sees him is amazed at his coloring. It's almost as if he's part arctic fox - adapting to a lighter color for the winter.

Summer Wear

2010-02-24T23:40:00.003-07:00

Well, I don't suppose there's too much special about these pictures other than the fact that Mariella is just as cute as a button. She and Judy bought her some new summer gear in anticipation of our 2 feet of snow being gone and 15 hours of daylight (3 months to go!). She has a matching tankini, hat, beach bag, and sunglasses. And she couldn't wait for me to get home from work to show them off.

Mariella Turns Three

2010-02-20T11:04:00.002-07:00

We celebrated Mariella's third birthday this week. We had lots of friends from Florida who were in town skiing. Plus John, Jodi, John Christian and Jamie Griffin came to play so her birthday party turned out to be a really big celebration. First, we went tube sledding at Soldier Hollow with the Griffins and Tink, Lisa and Kenneth (1 yr) Kittrell. It was Mariella's first official opportunity to sled down the "big hill" which requires you to be three years old. We had snuck her on the big hill for two runs a few weeks earlier with the Pathfinders. But this time she was officially a "big girl" and she was really looking forward to it. The slope was really icy and fast and a great time was had by all. Mariella even decided that "big girls" pull their own tubes.
Then we went home and made pizza's in the outdoor pizza oven while everyone watched the Olympics. And finally it was time for the cake and ice cream. Curious George - of course. And presents. Thanks Bamba for the music instruments and doll house furniture. Thanks Gramma and Grampa for the Curious George videos. Thanks Tink, Lisa and Kenneth for new pink and green PJs. And thanks Mommy and Daddy for the the new doll that flushes her own toilet! And for new clothes.

Mariella's hot wheels

2010-02-14T17:51:00.004-07:00

Here's Mariella on her Christmas Tricycle (from Gramma and Grampa). She really cruises the basement on it now. The first couple days she pushed it more than rode it. But now she is very proud of her ability to "go really fast" and not hit any poles or walls.

Elk for Christmas

2010-02-14T17:39:00.002-07:00

I keep forgetting to post these pictures of the Elk bucks that came to visit during Christmas. There were five of them - all bucks. They walked through our property during a snowstorm and stopped to graze at the top of our hill. You can barely make out the rack of another buck just behind this buck.

Going Out in Winter

2010-01-05T22:23:00.003-07:00

Mariella's favorite pastime is going somewhere. Grocery store (baby drivers), bank (lollipops), Bandito's (Fancy Nancy), Costco (new Pajamas). Doesn't matter. If you ask her what she did today her first response is usually either "We went to...." or "we didn't go anywhere" with great disappointment.

So, while the grandparents showered Mariella with doll house furniture, a tricycle and other fun things. Mommy and Daddy got Mariella "going out in winter" clothes (and the dollhouse itself).

Good thing Mariella loves clothes.

Deer Foraging

2009-12-14T17:11:00.003-07:00

The first snows of the year bring a lot of wildlife out of the hills to forage on what's left of the summer draft. This was Sabbath afternoon during the beginnings of a snowstorm.

Moose

2009-12-14T17:06:00.002-07:00

Last week - before the first snowfall - a mommy and her yearling moose were caught browsing oak trees just outside our bedroom in the morning. Fortunately the dogs were inside the house.

2009-12-14T17:01:00.002-07:00

Here is Mariella with her pumpkins. The lighting isn't too great but one of them is Ernie and one is Grover from Sesame Street.

Great Pumpkin Time

2009-10-10T23:42:00.009-06:00

We've been missing for a while. Something about a bad USB port on the computer - we couldn't upload pictures. Fixed now - we'll see how long it holds.

Mariella went pumpkin picking today. She had to be awakened from a nap so for the first 15 minutes she wasn't too into the pumpkins. But then she started getting into it.

Helping roll the pumpkin cart (only after seeing another baby pushing her own cart)......Picking out her favorite pumpkin - barely visible to the naked eye and slightly rotted to boot.

We're going to try to carve Elmo and Big Bird's faces onto pumpkins on Sunday. We'll post pictures if they turn out good.

Happy pumpkin harvest!!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T11:24:00.004-06:00

Today Mariella got up and snuck out of bed. She took the dogs out to do their business. And then she brewed Mommy a nice cup of cafe au lait. And she got in the car and went to Les Madelines

There she purchase some yummy Kouing-aman and some Margueritta cupcakes and some Pina Colada cupcakes. She picked up a few nice cards on the way home, a few roses. And she made mommy a little wake-up treat for Mother's Day.

Then she took a self-portrait of the bounty. Happy Mother's Day!

House - a bunch of pictures

2009-03-15T10:24:00.018-06:00

There's a lot going on at the house right now as we try to hit our May 1 occupancy date. This week almost all the interior wood staining was finished. The railings were installed. All the granite tops except for one piece is installed. So you can start to see a lot. I'm just going to put in a whole bunch of pictures.

In order (from left to right and top to bottom) they are:

1) stairs and tile risers going from kitchen to bonus (above garage) bedroom
2) master bath tub deck (almost done with tiles on front)
3) Judy standing in the kitchen - granite, sinks and cabinets done (click on it to blow it up. I couldn't get it set right)
4) Kitchen, family, great rooms - from kitchen
5) master bath shower and exit to outside
6) exterior view - back - deck off master bedroom w/door into great room
7) Mariella admiring "Ruby's bathtub"
8) Mariella in dining room (antique brick ceiling finally done/grouted)
9) Mariella admiring her own bathtub
10) Master bath vanity - granite counter and backsplash all in place
10) Stairs going down to basement - all rails, treads and skirts done
11) Master shower - all tile set and grouted - only window ledges not set
12) Great room - view of stairs, risers, newels, railings going to tower

Singing about Monkeys

2009-02-24T07:03:00.003-07:00

Some of you who have kids have heard the song about "[Number] Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". We got a video the other day of Mariella doing her best to sing the song.

To refresh your memory it goes:

Five little monkeys jumpin on the bed
One fell of and bumped his head
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said
No more monkeys jumpin on the bed

Mariella's version goes something like this:

Muh-ees jumpin bed
Bupped his head
Mama, doctor
Muh-ees jumpin bed

The Big Snow

2009-02-20T14:55:00.003-07:00

I didn't take any pictures (yet) of the huge snowstorm we had on Mariella's birthday. We got somewhere just short of 3' of snow over 36 hours. And that was after we had 2' the previous week.

But, fortunately for me, someone on a road just around the block from us at Sundance took this picture of their Bobcat skidsteer trying to clear their road the day after the storm. This was the second run the skidsteer had taken. One during the storm on Tuesday. And this one after the storm had passed on Wednesday morning.

For scale, the height of the tracks and the snowblower housing is a bit over 2'.

Turning Two

2009-02-18T10:08:00.005-07:00

It's an amazing reality that Mariella turned two yesterday. She was just a little peanut two years ago. We got up and let her open a couple presents to get her day off on the best possible foot. Here's a picture of her doing her sing-songy dance of happiness. She was singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".

In spite of 2-3 feet of new snow pelting down we managed to get dug out and get down the mountain to the Kangaroo Zoo. It's a huge warehouse full of those blow up bouncy slides. She had a great time. Some friends of ours from the church brought their two children who are a little older than Mariella.

Then we went and had pizza and cupcakes. By then it was 2:00 in the afternoon and after all the excitement of the morning Mariella was practically asleep on her feet. We put her in the car to drive to the house and she was asleep at the next traffic light.

When she woke up all she wanted to do was "Home. Toys." because she knew she had new stuff at home to play with.

I'll compile all her birthday video footage and post it sometime. We're doing little birthday things with her through next weekend as new gifts arrive and next Sunday we're going to take her to the zoo.

The Face

2009-01-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

No pictures but Mariella's stitches came out today and she is well on her way to her wounds being forever invisible. Judy said that the scene at the ER trying to get out those little tiny sutures was pretty traumatic. Four adults trying to hold down a 25 pounder. But she got a lollipop!!

The House in the Snow

2009-01-28T20:51:00.002-07:00

Mariella's house is making pretty good visual progress these days. The stonework is pretty much done. The heat is on. The wood floors are down. The cabinets are mostly in. They're laying stone floors and tile and getting ready to cut counter tops. Here are a few pictures. On the left is the entryway with the stone floor all finished.

Here is a picture of the family eating area and kitchen. With the fireplace on the left and the kitchen island base (curved cabinets) in front of the stone hood over the stove (not yet installed)

These next two pictures are the laundry room (with the window over the sink) and the mud room with the "lockers" installed.

Finally, equally as exciting to Daddy but boring to everyone else, at long last the garage doors are hung.

A Sympathetic Little Face

2009-01-22T20:10:00.005-07:00

Mariella had her first major life tragedy today. We're not sure how it happened but Judy had just given Ruby a juicy bone. And seconds later Mariella was bloody. Judy called me and by the time I got home from work there was blood (and county sheriffs) everywhere. We think that Mariella tried to snag the bone from Ruby and Ruby wasn't having any of it. Even with that plausible explanation it's strange because Mariella can sit on Ruby's head and bounce up and down while pulling out handfulls of fur and Ruby will just lick her.

Regardless it was a 5 hour sojourn to the Emergency Room and lots of stitches (about 14 by Daddy's count). Ruby is in quarantine by state law for the next 10 days. Here are the pictures after Mariella got home. While she looks like she just got out of a boxing match it looks a LOT better than the before pictures. And she was in good spirits the whole time (except whenever a hospital employee came into the room). At one point BEFORE the stitches in the ER she pointed to her lip and said, "Uby. Funny." and did a lopsided smile. We think she's already forgiven Ruby but we haven't yet.

First Haircut

2008-10-31T21:59:00.004-06:00

Mariella's hair finally got too shaggy for Judy. And over my protests ("Remind me again why she can't stay Daddy's little girl forever?") Mariella got her first haircut by Norma from our church with her daughter Sadie looking on. I wasn't there but Judy said that Mariella took the task very seriously - as you can tell from these pictures.

Fall Storms

2008-10-31T21:33:00.008-06:00

We had our first snows while the leaves were still at peak - seems to be pretty normal. Here are a few sunrise and dusk pictures.

Sundance canyon - you're seeing aspens in the foreground and the Sundance ski resort in the background.
Here's a Japanese Maple in our yard that had hit it's peak when the snow fell.

Here's our lamp post and the last of the summer wild flowers in the yard.

Here's a picture of the sun rising over the Heber/Midway valley on the way to Park City. The sun is hitting Mt. Timpanogos snowcapped in the background on the right and Mt. Nebo on the left. Sundance is at the foot of Mt Timp. You can just see a cloud in the valley floor out near the mountains - that's lying over Deer Creek Lake.

Here are two horses just waking up with the sun in the shadows of Mt. Timpanogos in Charleston near where the Nordic ski events were held during the Olympics (and the sheepdog trials every summer).

Finally here is a picture of Park City taken from just behind our house. You can see the snowcaps in the background under the storm clouds and just catch a glimpse of patches of high mountain aspen groves up high on the slopes. The new house is in the very lower right.

Finally - the house

2008-10-31T21:02:00.007-06:00

Finally the house is really looking like the finished product. This week they finished applying the color coat of the plaster outside. It will get antiqued on Monday but this is pretty close to the final color. Once it's antiqued and they take the scaffolding down only the garage doors, front door and chimney caps remain for it to be completely finished outside. Here's the preview

The drywall inside is all hung and the taping is almost done. They will probably be ready to start laying tile and such inside next week. Here are a couple pictures where you can actually tell what you're looking at:

Back in the Saddle Again

2008-09-13T21:06:00.003-06:00

Mariella got a rocking horse from her Gramma and seemed a little nervous about the whole concept for quite a while. She would pet it but never get on it. But then one night while I was at home alone with her I asked her to get up on the horse and she did! Just like that. So I mixed the video with her current favorite car ride song and Viola!

The video is a bit large so it might take a moment to load.

Olympic Water Sliding

2008-07-09T21:00:00.012-06:00

In St. Louis for the 4th of July Mariella demonstrated that she has the chops to be an Olympic-class water slider.

First, she wisely tests the rate of flow of the slide lubricant so she can adapt her sliding pose for maximum acceleration.

Next, she gets maximum "push-off" benefit with a perfectly- legal but seldom used initial shove; A technique referred to as "The Double Mommy Assist". This technique has a high danger ratio and should not be used by amateurs. But judges of the sport give higher scores for its successful use.

All the planning achieves the perfect effect as Mariella achieves terminal velocity at exactly the instant that she hits the "Deceleration Pool". Only a few more feet on the slide and the high-speed friction would melt the butt out of her swimsuit.

Taking just a second to recover from this death-defying maneuver she's ready to go again.

Practice-makes-perfect.

Ruby's cell mate

2008-05-24T20:04:00.004-06:00

Mariella loves Ruby. Ruby is her best playmate. Even when Ruby doesn't particularly want to have her hair pulled Ruby still puts up with it because Ruby knows that if Mariella can get a minute away from Mom and Dad, Mariella will give Ruby as many dog biscuits as Ruby can eat. Fair trade for a little punishment.

But when Mariella decided to move into Ruby's cell, you can tell that Ruby was not too happy about that.

Family Photo

2008-05-24T19:43:00.004-06:00

You will notice (if you go through this blog) that we use all our allotted studio time getting portraits of Mariella. So no family photos by a professional. But, on our trip to Michelle and Matt's wedding in Lake Ozark someone snapped one for us while we were waiting for the reception to start.

Cheergirl

2008-05-24T19:39:00.002-06:00

Even though we live far, far away from the stomping grounds of the St. Louis Cardinals, cousin Sophie was kind enough to pass down to Mariella Sophie's first cheergirl outfit.

It fits now and she really likes to get out there and show that she supports the team!

Mariella's House....Part Next

2008-05-02T12:14:00.006-06:00

Mariella's house is almost "lumbered up". There are a few gables to be cut in, some more roof sheeting to finish and a bunch of window holes to be cut.

Here's a picture of the North (long) and East (short with garage openings) sides of the house

You can definitely get a sense for the house now. I took pictures of the inside but with just open framed walls it's hard to see in pictures what's really there. Here's (below) a picture of the South-facing side of the house.

We're coming to the end of the structural stuff. Next week they'll finish closing it in and then Glenn says they'll "dry in" the house - wrap it and cover the roof with a membrane. Then they're going to put the radiant heating in so they can pour the basement floor. It was moving really fast to the naked eye the last few months. But now it won't appear to change much visually for a while. The windows won't get here for three more weeks.

Even though we have days of spring-like weather, we had 4" of new snow in the house on Thursday (May 1) and you can see that we have plenty of good snow left even though most of the resorts shut down for the season 2 weeks ago.

On the Beach

2008-04-23T21:52:00.004-06:00

We just got back from a really fun week in Sandestin, FL (on the panhandle, east of Pensacola). We flew down to Mobile where we stayed with Cousin Sophie (21 months), Uncle Toby and Aunt Windy for a day. Then we drove to Sandestin together and stayed in a great place just a couple hundred yards from the beautiful ocean.

It was sunny and nice but not super warm so we spent a lot of time with Mariella in the heated (very) swimming pool. She loved it. She loved it so much that every time we left the hotel she would point to the pool and lean way out and say, "Ma". Which was her way of saying, "we gotta get back in that pool". She loved splashing, playing with the beach ball and "swimming".

During the trip she really got to know her older cousin well. She just loved being where Sophie was and observing her cousin's mature girl "ways". Sophie really liked Mariella too. She would go up to her and rub her head and hug her and kiss her. Very sweet. Here's a picture of Sophie hugging Mariella. Mariella looks a little unsure of whether this is safe pool behavior.
On the last, warmest day we took Mariella and Sophie down to the "Big Pool" with the waves and the salt water. Wow! What a treat that was for Mariella. The water wasn't very warm and her lips were quickly blue and she was shivering but she did NOT want to come out of the water. When I was holding her in the waves she kept trying to lunge out further into the waves, full of confidence that she could handle it without realizing that Daddy was all that was keeping her upright.

When she was too cold and Daddy went out into the waves to splash around she was really jealous that she had to sit on the sandy sidelines and just watch. She kept pointing out there and wanting to get back in the water. Strangely Mariella hated having her feet on the dry sand (she would not put them down) but she loved having her feet on the wet sand in the waves. When the wave would recede and suck sand from under her feet she would just stare down at her feet to try to understand this magic.

Help in the Kitchen

2008-04-12T18:56:00.002-06:00

Mariella is a HUGE help in the kitchen. She loves to get in there and anticipate exactly what we will need to have out of the cupboards and then try to make sure she gets it out before we need it. Honestly, it doesn't take her long at all to get everything out of the cabinets just in case it's needed for something. She loves the dishwasher ride. And recently she's learned that a wok on the floor can be kind of like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland.

Sledding in the Spring Snow

2008-03-30T20:56:00.003-06:00

We had a typical late season snow today - about 12" of new stuff. And we thought it was time to bring out Mariella's speed freak. We took her up our road and took turns sledding down on a boogie board.She loved it. She would get a big grin on her face when we sat her down on the board. And she would laugh while sledding down. Then when she got to the bottom when you asked her "do you want to do it again?" she would say, "Mah" which is her word for "more" (and a lot of other things) and then start giggling and pointing to the board.

Mariella's House

2008-03-26T21:26:00.005-06:00

Hi,

This is Mariella again. Mommy and Daddy (Mama and Dada) took me to see my new house today. I felt that it was coming along pretty well and I complimented them on having managed the project well so far. Dada took some pictures and most of them were pretty boring - their bedroom, the kitchen, etc. etc. etc. etc.

But a couple are worth me showing to you. Here is the outside of the house. It's coming along pretty good. This picture is taken from the north side facing south. So it's what people like all my cousins will see when they drive up the driveway toward the house. Soon they will start "stacking rafters" as Glenn (our builder) says. He has a really nice black, Labrador Retriever called Jackson that can climb ladders!

And here is the breakfast room (with four openings for door and windows) and to the right (Dada had to tell me which is my right hand so I would get it right) is the family room. You can see the mountains of Park City and Deer Valley in the distance. That's where I hope to ski someday. It was getting ready to snow today - which is why it looks so dark out there.

Anyway, stuff is happening. I might get to move into my new bedroom around Thanksgiving. In the meantime I like having my crib just a few feet from Mommy and Daddy's bed. But they don't act as excited as I think they should when I wake up at 2am and want to get in their bed.

Daddy told me that until I get my own room I have to stop buying so many toys. Like this 4' tall Easter Bunny that I got for $5 after Easter. I love it a lot. But Daddy said something about "poor political prisoners in China working overtime" so I guess maybe I shouldn't get that giant $10 play house that I had my eye on. At least until I have my own room........

Mariella's Tale: Have Purse, Will Travel

2008-03-15T16:36:00.009-06:00

Hi there. This is Mariella. I have to tell you a funny thing that happened to me the other day.

I was minding my own business, strolling through the Serengeti with my purse. The giraffes were doing their thing, eating trees and all. And I was curious about this mysterious pill bottle that I could see off in the distance. So there I am walking, minding my own business. My Italian leather purse by my side. Nothing unusual; just a normal day.

Suddenly, I was startled by a monkey who came up to me and asked me if I could spare some change for a cup of coffee. Kind of weird right? I mean where can you get any amount of coffee for some spare change these days right? Much less on the Serengeti with the giraffes. So I gave him my best quizzical look. Now usually, that would put any liar off their game. But this monkey didn't even flinch. Just kept holding out his paw for the change. Now you know what I'm thinking right? I'm thinking that this monkey's just trying to score some change so he can run right out and buy himself some fermented banana juice. Who knows, he may be a little juiced as we speak if you know what I mean. You never can tell with a monkey. Sitting there picking fleas off each other and eating them and all. That's pretty strange behavior for any mammal.

But this monkey seemed OK and well, you know, who am I to deny a monkey his coffee even though they're generally jumpy enough already. So I said, "let me see what I've got in my purse. I must have something in here somewhere." But you know, I looked and looked and I couldn't find any money in my purse. I could have sworn that I had some money in there somewhere. I turned that purse upside down. I took out my calculator. I took out all my pens. I took out my address book. I took out my Kleenex. I took out my credit cards. And my debit cards. I took out my lipstick and my mascara. You won't believe how much stuff I had in that purse. But for all the stuff I had in my purse, no money. Go figure.

By now the monkey was getting pretty ticked off. He thought I was lying when I said I couldn't find any money in my purse. I was worried that he was going to start trying to pick fleas off me or worse. What's a girl to do?

Then....inspiration. I remembered that I am only one year old and I do not own a purse. So this must be Mama's purse. And no wonder there's no money there. Dada keeps telling me that all their money is going to build me a house. So no wonder there's no spare change in Mama's purse. What a relief. But what to do about the monkey? And I remembered that before I went on my safari walk I had stuck two quarters in my sock. So I gave the monkey two bits and he ran away into the jungle. That's the story of my day. Anything exciting happen to you?

One Year Photo Shoot!

2008-02-22T19:21:00.003-07:00

Mariella had her one year old portraits taken today. She was a superstar. I'll let a handful of the pictures speak for themselves.

One Year Old!

2008-02-19T20:13:00.015-07:00

Hi, this is Mariella. I hit the big One on Sunday. And WOW did I have a great day of fun, sugar and attention. First, we (Mama, Dada, Gramma and Grampa) went to the zoo on a cold day and saw all kinds of cool animals, especially a baby giraffe (I liked the baby Orangutan too) that was already taller than Dada.

Then we came home and after I took a nap I saw that Mama had a beautiful cake and party hat for me. I don't usually like to wear hats and this was no exception but I liked how pretty it was.

Then Mommy showed me my new 1st Birthday dress. It was so pretty I could hardly wait to put it on so I could be as pretty as my cakes.

Finally I got to dig in and eat my cake. Mommy made me wear the hat too. The cake was so good that I forgot that I had my hat on.
Then, Bama and my Uncle Toby and Aunt Windy got on the videophone to watch while I opened my presents. My presents were so exciting!

At the end of it all I was so happy and really tired too. I slept really well that night. I hope I get to do this again next year!

Anticipation

2008-02-12T20:37:00.004-07:00

We have an extra deep bathtub in our house. It's a little over 2' deep.

Mariella is fascinated with it. She likes to throw magazines and things into the tub and then she has to stand on her tippy toes to look over the edge and see where they went.

On this particular evening she is not looking for magazines but instead is wondering how she can get into the bath water that is waiting tantilizingly on the other side.

We love the "tippy toes". And Daddy's glad that her bald spot on the back of her head has covered over. There are some things we're glad she did not inherit from Daddy.

Check out the Lance Armstrong biker thighs. You half expect her to just vault into the tub.

Up to Her Neck in Snowflakes

2008-01-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

This winter has been epic in Utah. At this point we already have more snow than any total winter I can remember. And we haven't gotten to the "big dump" time of year - typically late Feb/early March. On Sunday night we had 2' of new snow in less than 8 hours and that on top of the nearly 4' we had piled up already.

Judy decided that it was time for Mariella to experience the joys of playing in snow for the first time. Bundled up in a warm suit we plopped her in a fresh snowbank. In this picture, she is standing up. And she kept sinking down deeper and deeper into the snowbank as I was taking pictures. At first she was very excited (as you can see) but in later pictures in the series she has a slightly more concerned look on her face as the snow reached up to almost her shoulders.

Of course, we rescued her before she completely sank. She had the biggest smile on her face about the whole snow experience.

Dancing Queen

2008-01-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

Since Christmas Mariella has definitely discovered the joys of music. She really seems to like banjo music the best of all her choices. I'm not sure if that means she'll be a bluegrass fan or what....Check out the Dancing Queen......

First Christmas

2007-12-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Mariella's first Christmas. We thought all she would want would be the wrapping paper and bows. But she was clearly delighted by the presents too.

"Wow, this big present is all mine?"

"Let me get this straight. If I pull off the paper I get to see what's inside?"

"Clothes. I just love clothes. It's just what I wanted."

"Awesome! A Junior Chemistry set!

Mariella's Christmas Wish

2007-12-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

We had some Christmas pictures taken of Mariella today. We bought her an Advent Cabin to celebrate her first (and subsequent) Christmas. All the windows and doors either open up or pull out so you can put little treats in there for each day from December 1 to Christmas day. Being the busy little person that she is, we put her on the floor of the studio with her Advent Cabin and she immediately got busy pulling out the drawers. So we decided that almost any Christmas present that allows her to be busy (push it, pull it, chew it, suck it, beat it, prod it, tear it, drop it, wave it, stuff it, etc) is a perfect present. The cardboard from a toilet paper roll is as good as a Tickle Me Elmo doll (thank goodness!) at any price.

So at 10+ months old (on Christmas) the best thing you could wish for is to be busy. Wishes only get more complicated from here on out......we'll remind her about this someday.

Merry Christmas from Mariella
Just Keep Busy!

First Big Snow

2007-12-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

We had our first big (more than 6") snow of the year this last weekend. It started Thursday in the middle of the night and kept right on through Sunday morning. We had to keep clearing the road every time 6" would lay down because it was such heavy snow that if we had let it pile up we might have had to wait until spring to get rid of it. We cleared the road four times before our neighbor finally called in a friend with a skid steer to really move the snow out of the way because we were running out of places to pile up snow. We would blow it way up on the hillside (our 13HP blowers can throw it 75' or so) and it would just come right back down on us.

It never felt like it was putting down too much at once but over the course of the weekend it dropped about 3' which had packed down to 2 1/2' by Sunday morning. Here are a couple pictures as the sky started clearing on Sunday morning. This one is of the tree that our road is named after.

Mariella Loves Ruby

2007-12-09T11:58:00.001-07:00

We are glad that we have Ruby so that Mariella can grow up feeling safe around animals. Ruby is so gentle with Mariella. M will put her hands in Ruby's mouth and pull on her tongue and Ruby won't even flinch.

As a result Mariella LOVES Ruby. She gets very excited when Ruby walks into the room. And I'm sure that at least 1/3rd of Ruby's calories come straight from Mariella's hands. If you give her a biscuit or a piece of spaghetti you can be sure Ruby will share in the bounty. As a result, I'm pretty sure Ruby is one of the few canines that actually love butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

I was playing around with a movie making program a couple weekends ago and made this short video that - I think - says it all. It's 12MB so you might have to wait a minute depending on your connection.

Good Housekeeping

2007-11-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Today Judy decided that Mariella is old enough (9 months+) to teach her how to be generally useful around the house. And since Mariella produces a LOT of clothes that need to be cleaned Judy decided to start with teaching M to do laundry.

As you can see, things started out just fine. Mariella was "into" the task and really "adding value".

But, unfortunately, Mariella just couldn't muster enough excitement for laundry to keep her going and things went downhill from here.

Being Busy

2007-11-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

When Judy talks about Mariella being busy all the time. Here's a short sample of what she means. Like all other children Mariella wants to experience everything.

Motorin'

2007-11-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

Most utahrowes blog devotees have only had a chance to see Mariella in freeze frame. Here's a video of Mariella doing her best to set a baby land speed record rolling across the kitchen floor

Foundations

2007-11-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

In the week since our last house post our contractor finished forming and pouring the foundation. This is what 300 cubic yards of concrete looks like. This is from the Master Bedroom (west end) looking east. Compare to this picture from last week showing only the foundation.

In the intervening week Mariella hasn't done anything new or exciting.....just kidding. I'm trying to get a video of her doing the "no no no" that I can post tomorrow. We'll see if we can catch her in the act.

Bath Time Bubbles

2007-11-03T21:11:00.000-06:00

Mariella discovered the magic of bubbles. Here are a few snaps of her enjoying bubbles during bath time (in her inflatable ducky bath tub).

Here she almost gets her hands on a BIG bubble.

If you look really close (click on it to blow it up) in the first two pictures you can see the droplets left by bursting bubbles. They look like little white specs - almost like imperfections in the picture

In this last one she's chasing the bubbles over the edge of the ducky and onto the floor, trying to reach them.

Fashionable Lady

2007-11-03T20:29:00.001-06:00

I'm not sure if Mary Slikkers was fully aware of just how much Judy likes leopard print but she sure did a great job in giving Mariella this little number.

Here's Mariella all dressed and ready to step out on the town on her way to church. This outfit is perfectly accessorized with a matching leopard skin purse in which a fashionable young lady can put her favorite little plastic pig (not shown here). Because who would want to be caught dead in church without their pig.

The Big Dig

2007-11-03T20:08:00.000-06:00

For those of you that don't know it there's nothing scarier around Halloween than building a house. Frankly there's nothing scarier any time of year than building a house. But Mariella needs a house. Our current digs have three floors of open staircases, stone floors and a rushing river outside the back door. Oh yeah, and 1000 sq ft was OK for two adults but it just doesn't seem anywhere near commodious enough for those two adults plus crib, changing table, clothes, swing, play area, walker, jumperoo and two dogs - one of whom is nasty mean. Call us spoiled. We're American after all. Nothing less than 1500 sq ft per person will do.

So we decided to build a new house for Mariella. Not for mommy and daddy. Although the master closet will be nice.

Our builder is a great guy who is unconscionably fast. One Wednesday two weeks ago he volunteered to go the county and see about the status of our building permit. And the next thing we know he's got it and has dug a HUGE hole in the ground and poured footings. In less than two weeks. We're hoping he's a little slower on the billing.

Here's the first of many house progress reports to document everything for posterity.

From the garage end, looking along the long axis of the house (toward the west)
For a little proportion here is Ruby standing on the edge of the excavation looking across the narrow axis of the house (to the north) with the garage on her right.
And here's the view in the other direction along the long axis of the house (from the master bath to the garage on the far end).
We'll try to keep taking photos as things go up for those interested. You can see the forms for the foundation walls all laid out. They think they will pour those in a couple days. Yikes.

Scaaaarrrrrryyyyyyy Giraffe

2007-11-03T20:04:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows that Judy's favorite mammal is the giraffe. So, of course, this Halloween what would Judy choose to dress up Mariella but a giraffe costume. Here's Mariella doing her best to be a scary giraffe. But I'm afraid the scary part never really worked out.

Visitng the Nernesses

2007-11-03T19:41:00.000-06:00

This post is well overdue. I'm trying to catch up on a bunch of posts. We took Mariella to Orlando in early October and spent a whole week with the Nernesses. Mariella got to swim (in the hot tub) for the first time. And she had a blast being surrounded by so many active creatures that she could pay attention to. She got poked and prodded and jostled (by accident) more than she usually gets as an only child - which we considered to be good life training.

Of course we took the camera and the whole time we didn't take a single picture until we were rushed to get to the airport to come home. Here's the Rowes and all the Nerness kids. Pamella (mom) is taking the picture and Pamella's Dave is at work.

You Wanna a Piece of This?

2007-10-21T20:21:00.000-06:00

OK. The title might not makes sense but look at this picture and then imagine Mariella saying this with a New Jersey wise guy brogue, "Oh yeah? You wanna piece of this? I may look Amish but you give me more of that lip and you'll be tasting this shoe leather here. Bring it on buster."

Thankfully Mariella is much to sweet natured to ever say anything remotely like that. But that's what I was thinking when I saw her here in prize fighter stance.

The Littlest Jailbird

2007-10-21T20:14:00.000-06:00

When Mariella wakes up in the morning in her crib, she's figured out that she can spy on Mommy and Daddy to see what we're up to. First, she pulls her bumper down so she can peek between the slats of the crib. She will look out the side that faces our bed. Sometimes you'll be lying there half asleep and feel like someone is watching you. And you look over at the crib and there are these little sleepy eyes staring out from between the "bars". But if she doesn't see us on the bed she will move over to the other side of the crib and do the same thing over there. Once she figures out where you are she will get up on her knees and that puts her so her face is just over the top of the crib. This is the perfect position for both watching M&D and for chewing on the wood top rail (which we assume is NOT painted with lead-based paint even though it was made in China). If you zoom in on her grinning mug on the 2nd picture you will see two little bottom teeth poking through.

Autumn to Winter

2007-10-21T20:01:00.000-06:00

The season is changing here in Utah. And every once in a while you catch a snowfall right on top of the beautiful colors of fall. These pictures were taken just as the sun was setting - the tops of the aspens are catching the last of the daylight.

Joyfuller

2007-10-14T09:09:00.000-06:00

As Judy says, "as if she weren't happy enough"........ This week Mariella learned to clap her hands together. We've been trying to teach her to do it for a while ("patty cake, patty cake" etc.) and she would kind of put her hands together and hold them there while looking a bit bemused at the adults doing an exaggerated clapping that looked kind of like a simulation of alligator jaws.

But suddenly this week, she "got it". Sometimes she does it spontaneously when she's really joyful. And sometimes she does it because every adult in the room is egging her on. She claps her hands together and rocks back and forth while simultaneously kind of bouncing up and down and making a happy hissing kind of sound and grinning as big as she can. I can't spell the sound she makes, sorry. It's kind of a chuckle that you would make if you were trying to laugh silently. A little like Muttley on the old Dudley Do-Right cartoons. But not entirely. We attached a video clip (9MB so don't click on it unless you have a fast connection) using the newest Blogger feature.

Last night when Mariella had just erupted in spontaneous clapping Judy was clapping back at her saying "hooray for Mariella". And - I kid you not - Mariella clapped her hands and said, "hooray". Clear as day. No mistake about it.

Judy and I have decided that our church needs a little more clapping so we're actively trying to teach her how to take her new-found capability and make a LOT of noise! As the children's song says,

"If you're happy and you know it......CLAP YOUR HANDS!"

Greetings!

2007-09-23T09:05:00.000-06:00

Breaking news. This very week Mariella has learned to do something new.

The other day she was moving her arm up and down rapidly and folding her hand repeatedly and making a strange grunting, groaning sound. Kind of like a "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" or a "aaayeeehhhaaa" or maybe "daddy". Impossible to tell. Anyway, she was smiling the whole time and seemed very excited about something.

We tried changing her diaper, feeding her food, singing songs to her. Nothing seemed to get her to stop doing it.

Finally we realized she was waving and saying "daddy". Or "Hi". Impossible to tell which. Here's a picture - you be the judge.

Supermodel w/183 IQ

2007-09-23T08:44:00.000-06:00

It's been almost a month since we last posted here. We've had Judy's knee repair surgery going on with lots of mother and mother-in-law visitation during that time to help with Mariella and the house. And then a one week trip to the midwest. So we just didn't have a lot of new pictures to share - even though there is always news.

So I will probably post a few new items in the next couple days.

For those of you interested in Mariella's vital statistics these days she recently visited her doctor for her 6-7 month checkup. This time Mariella was very excited about the crinkly protective paper that they put on the exam room tables. She was laying there all nude, waiting for the doctor to pop in and in about 30 seconds she had practically balled the whole piece up in a wad and was sucking on every corner she could get into her mouth. This might have helped distract her a little bit from her shots. She didn't cry quite as pitifully or long this time as in past visits. But this time did leave a big welt on her chubby thigh that took over a week to disappear.

At present course and speed Mariella is destined to be a runway Supermodel. Her vital statistics are: 12-10-11. Basically she's presently shaped like a large can of soup that has been stepped on so it's kind of oval shaped. Not the institutional kind like you get at Costco. Just a big family sized can from the supermarket. Maybe Tomato or Split Pea with Ham. I don't know. The point is, a modestly large, ovalized can of soup. Roughly. With a little bit of top-to-bottom taper. And not made out of metal. Kind of like a family-sized can of Tomato soup which is made out of modeling clay with a taper and an oval kind of shape. That's just her torso mind you. Not including her head, arms and legs. If we include those, I'm not sure how to paint a mental picture for you.

Anyway, we're off on a tangent here. That's not why we say she's destined to be a Supermodel. Basically it's because as she grows she is getting tall and skinny. At this visit she is 27.6 inches long. Which continues to be about 90th percentile (she's been 90th percentile since she was 2 months old). But her weight is 16lb 9 oz. Which is 45th percentile - down from 67th percentile when she was 2 months old. Her head continues to be just about 60th percentile but her IQ measured out this time at over 183 - up 5 points from her 4 month checkup. So we think that cranium is going to have to grow to accommodate all those smarts........

For all you parents thinking about getting you doctor on speed dial to have baby IQ tests done - I'm just kidding. I'm pretty sure they don't do IQ tests at this age. The doctor just thought she was pretty smart based on the fact that she pointed to her mommy when he asked her who her favorite food source was (again....kidding). I'm sure your son/daughter/puppy will get into Harvard without a 6 month IQ test. But if you know about one.....let me know.

Retrospective

2007-08-25T18:31:00.002-06:00

Most of our blog readers have or have had children. So I'm preaching to the choir when I say that it is absolutely amazing how much Mariella has changed in her first six months. I could write paragraphs and not do justice to the concept and you would just be nodding your head in agreement.

So, in the vein of letting a picture say a thousand words. Here are about three thousand words:

Mariella at six months and five days - our sophisticated little lady:

Mariella at five days:

Mariella at 5 hours:

Mariella at 5 hours - diaper size N. Now - diaper size 3.
Mariella at 5 hours - 7lb 7 oz. Now - about 16 lbs.
Mariella at 5 hours - No shoes. Now - Blue flip flops that taste good.
Mariella at 5 hours - MAJOR outty. Now - Inny.
Mariella at 5 hours - Thick dark hair. Now - Sparse strawberry blonde.
Mariella at 5 hours - Fashion diaper. Now - Fashionable one piece.
Mariella at 5 hours - under the heat lamp. Now - on the beach.

We loved her then. We love her now. Can't wait for the next six months.

6 Month Portraits

2007-08-22T19:39:00.002-06:00

Mariella had her six month portraits taken today. They are smashing. The printed copies are touched up, airbrushed, etc better but here is a sampling so you get the idea. Mariella was a super-trouper.

Happy Six Months

2007-08-20T09:11:00.001-06:00

Mom and Dad have definitely enjoyed the first six months of Mariella's life. Friday was her birthday and here's a quick set of snaps of her enjoying her birthday present.

First and foremost of course, the box is the main attraction regardless of what is inside. Although this box is considerably larger than Mariella she still thinks that if she can maneuver it just right she can suck on the corner of it. Hard to beat laminated cardboard for taste. The other day we sucked the corner off a blue Delta Airlines flight coupon envelope while Daddy was doing his expense report. The good news is that although it clearly didn't taste very good it passed through the entire digestive system almost entirely intact. Color and all......

Anyway, Mommy and Daddy eventually turned the box around and showed me all the fun stuff that was inside, firmly attached and sewn to the packaging by those industrious Chinese toymakers (these toys have absolutely no paint on them or magnets in them). It might take Mommy and Daddy a while to get all the bits out of the package by the looks of things. But look it's a Baby Beach Band! This is so exciting! I am not sure what they do but they sure are colorful. And you and I both know that color can solve all the world's problems.

Finally, Daddy got all the strings cut and the pieces out of the box. I just love the Lobster Castenet. I'm sure it's useful for something other than sucking on but frankly I'm good just sucking on it for now.

Ready, Set, Crawl.....or at Least Flail

2007-08-20T08:49:00.000-06:00

We're not sure when it will happen but we know that crawling isn't very far away. Mariella can roll over in multiple directions with ease now. And when she wants something that is out of her reach she will just roll toward it and then roll onto her tummy and prop herself up and reach for it. Check out this series.......

First, we have to stretch and limber up our leg muscles to get ready for the big race. We learned this exercise from a former grand champion sumo wrestler.

Then we roll over onto the tummy, flex our arm muscles and smile for the camera as we prepare to set off toward the desired toy.....Here's a profile from the other side for good measure - I haven't figured out which is my best side yet......OK? Now we're ready to set off.

Obligations to the gallery satisfied we flop down on our tummy and flail our arms and legs in the air hoping to get some traction. Wow, that's really surprising. All that flailing and no traction.....at least we can be in generally good humor about it.

You know, all that exertion is just not worth it when I know I can just do barrel rolls across the blanket until I get there. I'll just save crawling for another day.

What a Good Back (and Hips?) Can Accomplish

2007-08-05T18:16:00.001-06:00

I was pulling weeds in the yard today for like 25 minutes. And for the rest of the afternoon I could hardly stand up for a creaky back.

And then you see this. You could see where she was headed. First grab the toes, then "hmmm, they look good". Judy says that a double toe suck has been known to happen. One toe from each foot at the same time.

But the question is: "How?"

In Her Cups

2007-08-04T18:35:00.000-06:00

With Mariella pushing six months Judy and I are working on her basic baby skills: being able to eat with a fork and knife, let the dog in when she barks, do her own laundry, etc. Today we worked on "drinking from a cup". To incentivize her progress we picked a cup with a lovely yellow interior and a large, easy-to-grasp handle.

We filled it with a potent hot toddy (it's not really a test if you can't burn yourself if you do it wrong, right?), gave it Mariella and........nature took its course. OK. Stop right there. Don't call Child Protective Services. There was nothing hot in the cup. So relax. Anyway, at first the drinking part went pretty well. She immediately figured that "shiny and yellow" meant "this is where you drink from" and that the activity of drinking generally involves the tongue. So far so good. She gave the cup a good sucking. We think she got almost everything out in that process but we can't be sure because it was pretty much full of drool when she was done.

But from there it was pretty much down hill. And we were forced to conclude that she has a drinking problem. Or at least a problem drinking. I'm not sure there's a difference at six months old.

Turning her attention away from the pretty yellow drinking compartment Mariella determined that the curve of the handle was perfect for sucking. It seems to fit the mouth well and the porcelain is cool on the tongue evidently. After sucking the glaze off the porcelain (and ruining a perfectly good mug) she seemed to be exhausted by the exercise.

We were, however, left to conclude that she had gotten - as they say - plenty to drink. I'm sure you will agree that based on the picture on the right she is pretty much - again, as they say - in her cups (click here to see the reference if you're not at least 40 or 400 years old).

Generations

2007-07-24T20:23:00.000-06:00

As Monty Python (pictured at right just to be obtuse) say, "And now for something completely different......"

This past weekend we traveled to Frederick, MD to celebrate my grandmother Butler's 90th birthday. We have been a marvelously blessed family. Every cousin, aunt and uncle made the trek from all parts of the world (even Hawaii and Moscow) for the occasion. And we got to meet both of Mariella's newest second cousins (Rosalee and Blake) and her "old" second cousin Lainey (pictured here rubbing Mariella's head for good luck with first cousin Maya and my sister Sharyl) and we were excited to learn that three more are on the way (we'll call them TBD1, TBD2 and TBD3 in no particular order).

There was some discussion about whether Mariella is a second cousin of Lainey and newcomers (I call them Joanie-come-Latelies). I checked the ultimate authoritative source. The font of all folk-wisdom; the encyclopedia of the people - Wikipedia. It says that the degree (one, two, three, etc) of removal of two cousins of the same generation from a common ancestor determines whether they are first, second or third. Got all that?

Since my cousins and I are first cousins, any children of ours share only one common ancestor (unless we were from Appalachia or Colorado City, AZ - look it up) and they are an additional degree removed so they are all second cousins. Officially. Or put another way, any cousins that share a great grandparent but are not first cousins are second cousins. So there.

Here's a picture we will always treasure. Great Grandmother Lois Butler holding her great grandaughter Mariella. She was a super trouper (Grammie Butler, not Mariella who was at least a trouper for being held by everyone that day). By my count she sat there in the sun while we took different combinations of family unit pictures of 32 people from four families. I cannot even count the combinations.

We also schlepped to nearby Rouzerville, PA to visit the cemetery where many of my Rowe ancestors are buried. And guess what we found? Ancestors. Buried.

Of great interest and the subject of general amazement among all in attendance was the grave of Mariella's gr x 5 grandfather John. But of even greater interest was the spelling (or lack thereof) of his surname. His tombstone was too worn to read. But the tombstone of his wife, Barbara (pictured here) is easily discernible. She was born in 1789 and would have been one of Mariella's many gr x5 grandmothers. Gr x5 grandfather John Row's grave was right next to this but was too worn to read. Also buried there was gr x4 grandparents John and Mary Row, gr x3 grandparents Jeremiah and Susan Rowe, gr x2 grandparents William and Vinnie Rowe, and gr grandparents Leroy and Melva Rowe along with countless gr x uncles, aunts, etc. I wish we could have met them all. I'd love to hear the stories.

Victory over Piglet!

2007-07-16T21:46:00.001-06:00

While Judy and I were getting ready for the day today we propped Mariella up in our bed with her big Piglet. And a very strange WWF-type match ensued.

Mariella seems very pleased to be Chillin' with Piglet. But suddenly she turns and stares down at Piglet - a stare of pure defiance. And the next thing we knew - Piglet attacked. He (Piglet is a he) did a backflip from a prone position to body slam Mariella on the head. We thought that unprecedented move alone would end the match but Mariella had too much spunk for that.

She immediately slipped out from under the grasp of the wily Piglet and in one swift move maneuvered Piglet's foot into her mouth and gave it a resounding suck. This did not go down well with Piglet but Mariella had another magnificent move in store. She grabbed Piglet by his pink jumper and lifted him high over her head. Yes, you know what is coming next. Down came the mighty arms of the Magnificent Mariella. Down to the canvas crashed Piglet to rise no more.

Savoring her improbable victory, Mariella throws her arms over her head in a gesture to the crowd (Mommy and Daddy)

Meet me in St. Louis

2007-07-14T18:02:00.000-06:00

Mariella's first trip to St. Louis was full of firsts. She put on her new green hat and headed for the zoo. She saw her first Sea Lion show, followed by a first siting of giraffes. She snoozed through the bears' feeding, but was excited to take her first ride on a giraffe.

In addition to the zoo visit, Mariella saw her first elephant at Grant's Farm and took her first swim in her first bikini. (Daddy says this will be the only time you see her in a bikini).

Mariella's favorite part of the trip was, of course, seeing Bama and Papa and all her Bitzer cousins, aunts and uncles. While Sophie (age almost 1) and Vonn (2) had visited her in Utah during her first week out in the busy world, this was her first time to meet Gregg (7), Ben (3) and Emma (2).

Mariella had a big time with all of them. Emma shared her baby and Ben, his Buzz. Vonn invited everyone to ride his numerous go-carts and Sophie put on a splashing show.

Gregg was an especially doting cousin, requesting to hold Mariella as soon as she arrived in STL, riding in her car to the Zoo and Grant's Farm and even giving up a train ride so he could stay with Mariella.

He also holds the record for making Mariella laugh the hardest, ever. Mariella can't wait to see them all again at Christmas.

It's Official - there are 10

2007-07-13T19:13:00.000-06:00

Mariella confirmed today that she is happy with the number of toes she has. We caught her in her crib counting her toes. She had gotten all the way to "eight" when we interrupted her. But she felt certain that she had enough to get through life and generally approves of her feet. Judy says that Mariella also thinks they're pretty tasty. We just think they're gorgeous feet.

The Afterbath

2007-07-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

Mariella loves her bath. But the afterbath is sometimes a little less fun for her. The drying off and the getting dressed and the getting ready for bed sometimes go better than others. Tonight, most of it was fun. She first got to stand and look at herself and Mommy in the mirror. Then she got to "kick it" on her changing table in her towel. Then she played "put my hands in mommy's mouth" (her current favorite) before going off to the la-la land

Patriotic

2007-07-05T19:58:00.000-06:00

Happy July 4th Holiday from Mariella. We didn't have any Stars and Stripes outfits but we put her in a red, white and blue suite for her first Independence Day. Mariella is so happy to be patriotic that she puts her red socks right up in the camera for all to see....

Today (July 5th) was Mariella's 4 month checkup. For the curious she remains tall and skinny. 91st percentile in height (26"), 54th percentile in weight (14lb 7oz). And although I personally thought her head grew a lot in the last week but she's only 58th percentile in head size - down slightly from her last visit.

Seeing Feet

2007-07-01T22:30:00.001-06:00

We need to post a bunch of stuff from Mariella's trip to St. Louis and Ruby's 1st Birthday and Father's Day, etc. But it's late Sunday night and I want to post the latest before starting the week. Mariella appears to have discovered that she has feet. Or maybe it's just that she has discovered that she has abdominal muscles. We're not sure which. But the effect is that suddenly (in the last day or so) she doesn't just lie on her back in her crib and writhe around - she actually lifts her feet way up in the air and alternates between being generally very happy about this achievement and actually staring at them.

This picture was taken in shadow but I purposely over-brightened it so it's a bit grainy. But you can see that she's got her little lamb by the neck and is threatening its very existence. And her feet are high over her head while she does her little Mariella war cry.

And in a rare display of feet talent, in this photo, we captured Mariella reaching up with her foot to capture the sunlight with a tiny glimpse of the Vulcan foot salute.

It's amazing the things parents will get excited about isn't it?