Marleigh has been a very busy little girl!

I mentioned previously, that Marleigh was getting teeth 3 &4. The top, upper left has pretty much pushed through. Her upper right is starting to peek out. She's also got some big, swollen gums on the bottom towards the back of her mouth, and you can see the white buds of teeth where her canines are starting, too! She has been a bit fussy, but I think I would be too if I had that many teeth coming!

Speaking of teeth.... she has become very interested when I brush my teeth. I have a battery operated crest spinbrush. I happened to have a new head, so I put a new head on it and brushed her two little chicklets. She thought it was the funniest thing ever! She giggled the whole time I brushed her teeth.

Marleigh has gone from walking around the house, to running! Sometimes she gets to going too fast and faceplants, but she just laughs at herself, hops up, and its off again! The best is when she puts on Mommy's shoes and tries to walk. She spends more time trying to put the shoes on, and picking herself up off the floor than she actually does walking.

Another BIG accomplishment: Marleigh now puts herself to sleep 100% of the time, naps included. I give her a kiss and her Mickey Mouse stuffed animal and that 's it. Nighty night!!! :) Oh, and at bedtime, she gives her Daddy a kiss and says, "night, night, Daddy."

Marleigh has been oinking down on food lately. She eats about as much as I do! With more teeth showing up, we are trying more and more new foods. She LOVE pb&j's! I remember a time, long, long ago, when my little girl preferred her veggies over all other foods. What happened?!? Now she wants to eat anything but.

Her vocabulary is growing, as well. She has started to try to sing along with me when I sing "You are My Sunshine". She also sings along to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. My favorite thing to hear her say is, "seriously". I laugh out loud every time!

Marleigh is also getting opinionated. Most of the time, she is very good about doing what we ask of her. Here lately, if it is something she doesn't want to do, she shakes her head no and says, "na na na!" We're going to have to nip that one in the bud! She decided yesterday that she wanted a bath, so she ran into the bathroom. She ripped the shower curtain open and was trying to climb in, saying, "bath, bath, bath, bath." She is also Miss Independent. Sometimes she gets frustrated, but don't dare try to help her. Marleigh wants to do it all by herself!

It just seems like she is growing up and changing so fast!

Corn Harvest (riding with Daddy)

"I'm so excited for my first semi ride!"

"I LOVE the sleeper!"

Ridin' in style!

"A girl has got to have her accessories... even in the semi!"

Driving combine with Daddy.

Aunt Shannon, Luke, Marleigh, and Gigi

Towards the end of Salt City Splash. A little tired.

"Hi, Aunt Sarah!"

First every ponytail! :)

Hodge Podge

I have been such a bad blogger! We have been busy, busy, busy!

Let's see... the weekend after we were in Colby, Marc was gone, my Dad was gone, and so was my brother-in-law. Grandma, Marleigh, and I packed up and headed for Hutch. Friday afternoon we took the kids to the Salt City Splash. They had a ball. It is really great for young kids. They have a pool that is graded really gently and plenty of different things to play with. Saturday Luke and Marleigh slept in, then we did a little shopping.

About Thursday of last week, we saw teeth 3 & 4 finally peeking through Marleigh's gums. We have been waiting on more teeth FOREVER!!! She's been running a slight fever and VERY clingy to mommy.

This past weekend was the ONLY weekend in a total of 14 weekends that our whole family was or will be home for the entire weekend. We bummed around Friday night. Saturday, Marc went out and farmed. Marleigh and I went to ride with him in the tractor. She was a little apprehensive at first, but then settled in and wanted to drive. That's my girl!!!! :) I'll have her driving grain cart before she knows it! (Although Daddy says she'll be driving the combine!)

Saturday night a nasty storm blew through. Emphasis on "blew". We had a beautiful willow tree in the middle of our backyard. We don't anymore. The wind uprooted the tree and laid it over. The strange thing is that our fence is still standing. The tree took out our power and cable, but we were extremely lucky it didn't land on the house!

Sunday Marleigh's teeth were really bugging her. She was so uncomfortable. She was content snuggling with me on the couch. Pa and Gigi (as Marleigh calls them) came in with chain saws. Gigi watched Marleigh while Pa, Daddy, and I cleaned up the tree. Marleigh was playing with Papa's phone and somehow pulled up all his pictures. She scrolled til she found one of herself, then was looking at herself on the phone talking. Pretty cute!!!

Yesterday we had a doctor appointment in Hutch, so of course we asked Gigi to go with us. We kidnapped Aunt Shannon and Luke and played at a playground and water park. Luke grabbed Marleigh by the hand and was walking with her. Might be the most adorable thing I have ever seen! Luke didn't want us to come home. Last time we were there, he didn't want Marleigh to sit in his high chair for some reason. Well, yesterday when he was pleading with us to stay he said, "I'll even let Marleigh sit in my high chair!" What a sweet little boy! :)

Okay.... I think that catches up the last couple of weeks. I've got some pictures I'll try to add in the next day or two!

Fear

I'm usually not one to worry too much about all the "what ifs" in life. I've learned that I'm not in control, someone much greater than me is. I trust in Him and His master plan. However, one thing I can control is how I remember Natalie. I worry about how all of this will affect Marleigh. I don't want to dwell on the fact that Marleigh lost her twin sister. I don't want every milestone in Marleigh's life to be saddened with the memory of her sweet sister. But the fact is, we lost part of our family. That will never change. I also don't want to act like it doesn't still hurt, that Natalie isn't still a part of us and that I don't miss her every single day. I worry as Marleigh is getting older that I won't handle something in the best way possible, and that it may have a negative effect on her. So where exactly is the fine line of remembering Natalie without having the constant sorrow? How do we handle it so that Marleigh knows how much we love and miss Natalie, but also knows how incredibly blessed and lucky we are to have her as our daughter?

Family Reunion at Colby

Saturday morning we packed up and headed to Colby for a family reunion. We hadn't seen our entire Johnson family since March! At that time, the new "three little girls" (Marleigh, Keira, and Brinley) weren't even walking yet. Imagine how much fun it was now that they are all mobile! It is cute how they interact together. Of course, Reese is always good for laughs, too. Some of the things she says just crack me up! I didn't get very many pictures, but here's a few.

Look at those eyelashes!!!

Sleeping angel.

But not for long. Shortly after taking the previous picture, I hear, "hi!!!"

How can you not love that face?!?

We tried to get all the girls to stand still for a picture.

Aunt Monica and Marleigh

Brinley

Keira

Grandma and Marleigh

The whole Johnson family.

Sunday as I was packing up, Marleigh was digging in her diaper bag. She was occupied and happy, so I just let her pull everything out of it. I was packing up our bathroom toiletries when I felt a tug on my shirt and a little voice saying, "Peeeeeaase, mama, peeeeaaaase?!?" She had her cheerios in hand shaking them. I having been working with her on saying "please" and "thank you". I was so proud of her. So, we took a break and ate some O's. :)