Shawna’s Whimsical Weblog

This picture marks the 500th item to be placed in Marshall’s picture gallery. I wonder how long it took me to make it to 500 pictures in my childhood. I would guess at least 13-14 years (around the time when my friends and I would have received our first film cameras). Hail to the digital age. In honor of the 500th item, I finally got around to posting a few more videos of Marshall (Crawling, Cruising and Walking with his pushcart). These videos, along with FAR too many pictures can be found by clicking on the link to the left in my blogroll. If you need the password, shoot me an e-mail.
Here are a few of the cute things Marshall is doing right now:

• Making a puckerfish face
• Leaning down to look/crawl under things (he used to just hit his head into an item and be unable to move any further)
• Still screeching loudly (wait… I don’t know if that classifies as cute)
• World Baby Wrestling Federation with Dad while waiting for Mom to come home
• Standing momentarily unassisted before sitting down

Happy 3rd Anniversary to us. As per tradition, we took a trip to our wedding location (Marston Gardens) to take a self-portrait of ourselves followed by dinner at our reception location (Park Manor). Also as per tradition I was disappointed with my dinner. I always get something too over the top (venison with a chocolate wine reduction) that sounds good, and might actually good at a better restaurant. Alas, perhaps I’ll learn from my mistake next year.

Marshall went for his 9 month check-up last Monday. Here are his current stats:

Weight: 15 lbs, 8 oz
Height: 28 1/4 in
Blood: Mildly Anemic (9.6)

The doctor didn’t say a word about him being skinny. Rather, she was concerned about his mild anemia. She asked if I was still taking my pre-natal vitamins. Wait… PRE-natal vitamins? Wouldn’t the PRE be indicative of say… something I should be doing before birth. Why would I still be taking PRE-natal vitamins, 9 months after I had given birth? They asked that I start taking them again and come back in 6 weeks for another test. At the store, I saw that some bottles of vitamins just said “pre-natal” vitamins, but others said “pre-natal and lactating women”. Now I guess I’ll be taking them until Marshall weans.

Today, Marshall was on a much later schedule than he normally is. He usually is in bed by 7:45 PM. As previously mentioned, his favorite activities typically involve making a mess. Throwing items out of the pantry cabinets is one of his favorites now. To summarize his day: Slept 13 hours, Ate 2 1/2 hours, Cry 1/2 hour , Destroying/Exploring Landscape 8 hours.

At 9 months old, Marshall is honing his first super power. What is this super power you ask? He has the ability to detect and squash out orderliness. Here is an everyday example:

Marshall will be playing with his learn and groove music box with his back to me. I will be quietly nesting cups, stacking blocks, putting shapes in the shape box or putting rings back onto the ring stacker. As I near orderliness completion, Marshall’s baby sense will start to tingle and he will abruptly turn about. What happens next is just a blur of destruction. Shapes, rings, small aquatic animals, you name it are now flying this way and that. He also shows great prowess in ripping pages from magazines and deconstructing his interlocking foam playmat.

I think dada (aka Cobra Commander) is quite proud of his child’s developing skills. How will Marshall’s skill set be used for the empire? That information is currently marked classified.