Foot Earrings

They are all the rage this year. Well, they've been all the rage since Kylie was a baby and would be the baby attached to this dangly fashion accessory. Often, Jason will walk up to me to tell me he bought some cool, new foot earrings. He'll then ask me what I think of them or if they go well with his outfit. Then, he will let me know that these said earrings are acting wiggly. Wiggly? That's strange. Oh wait, there's a BABY attached to those earrings. No wonder the salesperson said these were a 2-for-1 deal. Buy some earrings, get a baby free. At this point, he will swing the child around and tickle her until she is laughing hysterically (Or just ask to be put down, depending on the which girl it was).

This time, Jason discovered that Eve was the baby attached to the earrings and decided they both needed a little power nap after the excitement:

Isn't he cute? I think so, but that's good since I have to be with him forever. Did you notice his new glasses? He just got his first pair of glasses this month and loves them. Here's a picture I took of him early this morning, before he put his glasses on (or foot earrings for that matter). He had just woken up, but he's still adorable (in a manly way of course Jason!).

Kylie didn't want to be left out of this post, so here is an early morning picture of her too:

She had found one of my tank tops in my dresser and insisted on wearing it. She was calling it a "Go State dress" (There's a KSU powercat on the other side). She's upset because she just discovered that her daddy put a childproof cover over the door handle to this closet. She told us she wanted to: "count my cards just a little bit." Ha! I love the way she puts words together. There are a bunch of playing cards in the closet and she likes to lay them all out in a line and count them. I let her do this of course after this picture was taken, but the childproof door handle kept her from getting everything else out of the closet as well. The fact that she can open doors now has really affected our lives lately.

Mr. Potato Head

The title of this blog post really says it all. It's what Kylie has been obsessed with ever since she received a couple "mister tato heads" (as she calls them) for her birthday. She and Daddy have played so many times together with this toy, I'm not sure which one of them loves their 'tato heads more. Regardless, I love to watch them having fun and spending some quality father/daughter bonding time. I know it requires a lot of patience because she is never satisfied with a final poduct of Mr. Potato Head, she continuously wants to change every little body part. It just makes me fall in love with Jason even more as I notice how well he takes care of our children. Such a great feeling.

This crazy lady potato head got arrested and handcuffed. I don't remember this toy having so many accessories!

Family Picture Update

Here's a picture of Eve at 7 months. She's very photogenic, which makes my job as "Marsh family photographer" so much easier. We have to put her hair in a ponytail or put clips in it because otherwise it will hang in her eyes and whenever she has a runny nose, she likes to wipe it all over her face. It's just way too disgusting when her hair is in her face for her to get her snotty little hands as well, I'm sure you can imagine what that looks like. I'm also a firm believer that no baby should ever get a haircut before they are at least one year old.













Kylie on the other hand is more difficult for me to capture in a picture. She doesn't often want to look at the camera, much less smile for it. Plus whenever it seems that those conditions are met, I seem to have "forgotten" to fix her hair that day. Well, it's not easy to fix the hair of a busy 22 month old. We are growing out her bangs, so it's pretty important that I try to pull her long bangs out of her eyes. But she's still a doll and such a sweet little girl.
















Jason is doing well, there's not too much to update. He's still working at Sears, in fact in this picture he is wearing his new blue Sears shirts since their dress code now requires blue shirts instead of white or black. So that's the big news lately... :) He is still taking classes obviously and is very busy trying to keep up with all the reading, papers and tests. He also still has his internship at our church and is busy running the Awana program [with my help, of course! :) ].













And here I am, with my new haircut. I think it's the same haircut that I had way back in 8th grade, only updated with a side part instead of down the center. Oh, and I will never curl my bangs the way I did back then, I promise. I can't believe I woke up early to spend time making my hair look so ridiculous. I also think it's the first time since eighth grade that my hair is not colored in any way. And I've course I took this picture of myself since I'm the "Marsh family photographer."

It's too bad that although this photography gig gives me the opportunity to store many memories in pictures, it doesn't bring me any money (Actually it costs me money when you think about it). I'm still working as a substitute teacher, and still looking for a full time job that would allow Jason to be more of a stay at home dad and student. I'm still hopeful.

In other news, I have stopped breastfeeding. Eve was not sleeping at all at night unless she was physically attached to me, using me as her pacifier. After over six months of this sleeping arrangement, I was becoming very tired and grumpy with terrible back pain from the way she was forcing me to cuddle with her all night, every night. So we started giving her more bottles at night to stop her from associating sleep with breastfeeding. My job as a substitute teacher allowed me to pump, but once we started giving Eve more bottles, it wasn't enough. We started formula, which of course made my supply drop until she was eventually all bottle fed. I was a little sad about it, because there's a good chance she's my last baby, but the fact that I could sleep soundly in a comfortable position made up for any sadness. Also, after being pregnant and/or breastfeeding for over the past 2.5 years, it feels nice to finally be able to have my own body back! (Let me tell you how exhausting that "and" part was!) Caffeine here I come!

Two year anniversary

Life as boyfriend and girlfriend:

Wedding Day 06/22/07:

One year anniversary:

We had a small wedding, yet we wanted to be able to celebrate with friends and family. The solution: a reception one year later.

Two year anniversary:

Compared to our very busy one year anniversary, this one was very uneventful. We spent the day at home together with our two girls. Jason went to pick us up some Chipotle for dinner, which is our favorite. We wanted to take the girls somewhere fun, but the temperatures were just too hot and unsafe for them.

My mom took the following pictures the day before. She was in KC for Kelly's softball tournament.

All about Jason

As if you didn't already know, tomorrow is Father's Day. What you might not have known, or remembered, is that Monday, June 22nd, is our 2 year wedding anniversary. We have had two children during those two years, so it has been a chaotic/busy/fun/adventurous/exhausting/wonderful time. In light of Father's day and our anniversary, I would like to dedicate this blog post to my best friend, who just happens to be my husband and the father of my children.

TOP TEN REASONS JASON IS A GREAT DAD:

1. He is the one who picked out both of our daughters' names. I had about a hundred names picked out, but he vetoed every one. In frustration, I asked him to give me some names that he liked. He only gave me one, but as soon as he said it I knew it was our daughter's name. This happened both times I was pregnant.
2. We are pretty sure that we are done having children. Yet Jason is not at all disappointed that this means he will never have a son. He knew nothing about baby girls before he had his own, but he was never scared of it. He is so in love with his little girls and is always telling them how beautiful and special they are.
3. He wanted to hold both girls as soon as they were born. I won that battle, but I let him hold them soon after I did. He just walked around the hospital room, looking his new baby in the eyes, and telling her how much he loved her.
   
4. He was the only one who could get Kylie to giggle at first. Although I was jealous, I would love watching him tickle her neck or wave a blanket over her face just to hear that sweet sound.
   
5. We don't have very much money right now, but whenever he can he will buy some little gift for his girls instead of spending money on himself. Another example of this generosity is when he won a free DVD at target and he decided to get Kylie a Barney DVD (she LOVES Barney.) He is always doing things like this, which shows how much he thinks of his girls.
   
6. When Eve or Kylie are fussy, he is always able to calm them down. He doesn't pass the baby on to me when they cry, he just knows what to do to calm them down.
   
7. Jason grew up as an only child. He has a half sister and some step siblings, but he wasn't raised with them. He also had never been around very many babies. Yet this didn't stop him from learning as much as possible on how to care for our girls. He is involved in everything (including the diapers). I'm proud to say that he does a great job at everything he has learned to do from learning about tummy time to helping with those first steps.
   
8. Kylie had her nights and days mixed up her first month of life and he would stay up with her most of the time at night and only pass her off to me when she needed to eat. While there were some nights that I stayed up with her, I must give credit to Jason for doing it a lot more. When she did want to sleep at night, she wanted to be upright, so Jason spent lots of time sleeping on the recliner. We've been a lot luckier with Eve, she sleeps well at night, but I know he would do the same thing for her if he had to.
9. Eve is too young to really "play games" but when she is old enough, I know she will have a blast with her daddy. Jason always gets really into whatever game Kylie wants to play.
10. He gets so proud of everything his girls do, such as first smiles, first words, crawling... you name it, if the girls do it Jason is proud. (Unless it's something naughty). Kylie and Eve are so lucky that they have a dad who will always think everything about them is so special. I also think my girls are amazing, but it makes it so much sweeter to know that their dad thinks the same thing.

There are many other reasons why Jason is a great father. All you have to do is watch the interaction he has with Kylie and Eve to see for yourself how dedicated and proud he is. I'm so happy that I have him as my partner in raising these girls. This idea of partnership brings me to the next part of the post:

TOP TEN REASONS JASON IS A GREAT HUSBAND:

Jason is trying to learn a foreign language… can you guess which one? FRENCH! He has a Rosetta Stone CD and takes time during his busy schedule to try to learn it. He hasn’t gotten very far yet, but I think it’s so sweet that he is taking an interest to something that was a big part of my life before he was even in it. He really wants me to teach French to our daughters, but I’ll wait until they are a little bit older and play lots of French music and read lots of French stories to them. I do have reasons for waiting a couple years, but I won’t get into that unless someone is interested.

2. Jason is always interested in everything that goes on in my life, even if it mundane. He will always listen to me talk about my day, even if it consisted of me sitting around the house. We don’t share the same interests in everything, but he will always discuss anything that I find interesting. For example, he does not like the reality TV shows that I love. I will admit that they are dumb, but I’m so entertained by them. He will watch them with me and even join me in discussions about the characters. I know it’s not his favorite thing to discuss, but he does it for me.

3. He always finds little ways to touch me during the day. Whether he’s holding my hand in the car, cuddling up to me on the couch or hugging me as I walk by, he always finds a way to make contact with me. He also knows that I get smothered easily and knows what the right balance is. While that may seem weird, Jason will understand what I’m talking about.

4. Jason works very hard and is currently attending seminary. Yet when he’s home, he helps out so much. He has every right to be exhausted at times, yet he’s always helping me clean or just take care of our daughters. He even lets me take naps whenever our schedules work out for me to. I hope he realizes that I do not take him for granted!

5. He kills spiders for me, big or small. Actually it wasn’t until just recently that he finally took my fear of spiders seriously. He used to think that I would be able to kill spiders myself, because he didn’t understand just how much the little creatures and their many legs freak me out. Now, he will just kill them without any complaints.

6. He cares about my spiritual well-being as well as my physical and emotional well-being. We have big theological discussions. We pray together and read the Bible together. Jason always tells me things he learns in his classes. I love how he finds it important to share these things with me. We both have the same religious values and try to support each other in each other’s walk with Christ. I can imagine it would be very difficult to be married to someone who believed in different theology than you did.

7. Like I mentioned in point 6, we both have the same ideas when it comes to theology. Every once in a while, we might disagree on something small, but we both listen to each other and see if we can learn anything new. I like how he will listen to me, instead of just trying to prove that his point is right. He truly values my opinion, which I am thankful for.

8. He always makes me feel like I am the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. He always compliments me and I can honestly say I have never once noticed him checking out another woman, not even a quick glance. His compliments are always so sincere too.

9. There are times when I can go a little stir crazy staying home. Jason will do things like go with me to the grocery store so we can find ways to spend time together outside the house. Going to the grocery store is not his idea of fun, but he does it because he knows I enjoy it.

10. I’m not a huge fan of talking on the phone, especially if it’s someone I don’t know. Jason helps me out by making the calls to the insurance, the bank… all those errand-like phone calls that I can’t stand. I also hate doing the dishes, so Jason helps out a lot in that department too. It’s just simple things like this that show me how much he loves me!