C&K Rand Family: HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY MARISSA!

Good Morning Marissa. Today is your 1st birthday! I like your party hat.

Marissa had her FIRST cupcake on her REAL birthday Wednesday, December 4th.

Tentative at first, but she looks content by the end.

Then we had a big Christmas-Birthday party over the weekend. We had to start decorating the house before Thanksgiving in order to be ready in time. The morning of, I spent 2 hours decorating the Christmas tree smush cake. Rather than gifts, we collected Toys for Tots and donated them.

How has she grown?
Marissa grew 10 lb, 10 oz and 8 1/4" in one year. She doubled her birth weight at around 5 months old.

Stats (as measured at home on her birthday):
17.5 lbs (3-12 % ile depending on the chart used) (*maybe this is low since I weighed her first thing in the morning?)
28.5" long (2' 4.5") (24 %ile)
(Addisyn was 18 lbs at 10 months and 19 lbs at 1 year;
Piper was this weight at about 9 months and 21 lbs at 1 year)

She is growing out of her size 2 shoes. I just took the size 6 jammies out of her dresser; she is still wearing some size 9 and now size 12 too.

What has our baby been up to?
At 10-12 months, she has become very active. She follows me around the house with her one-legged scoot/crawl and likes to hang out with me in the kitchen, playing on the floor and in the drawers. Her hand-eye coordination is developing and she can now set an object in place or stack an object on something stable.

If I'm at the computer, she tries to eat the cords or crawl under the desk for the power strip. And she always loves playing with everyone's shoes in the shoe basket by the front door.

She has learned to go up and down the step to our living room.

Going down is 3 parts--the sit, the reach, and the landing. She practiced this move over and over for a few days. Now she can also scoot her bum off sideways, or back down feet first on her tummy, depending on the size of the step.

Not only does she like steps, she climbs in our end tables too. She likes climbing... on chairs, tables, in the shower, up the fireplace, in Piper's bed, out of her high chair, up slides...

After having fun on a friend's ride-on toy, we got her one of her own. She can't steer it, but leans forward on the handlebars and pushes her toes back.

She is fascinated with doors. She was in love with this dollhouse for a while swinging the doors open and shut. Now, anytime she sees an open door in our house, she just HAS TO get behind it and push it closed.

Marissa also loves faces. The books she has most interest in are the ones with photos of real people's faces. Here she is enjoying some daddy cuddles and a book. Notice she is trying to touch the baby's face in the picture.

Is she walking yet? Not on her own yet. She enjoys walking holding two hands, and can probably go 100 yards this way. With a little distraction, she has walked 4-5 steps one-handed. She easily "couch-walks" holding on to furniture and can push the walker or a chair around too.

It was nice for her little bum to be off the cold tile when I gave her some "air time" for her diaper rash.

She's so small; don't you feed this girl? YES! Chris even commented the other day that it seems like she's always in her high chair eating.

Marissa loves feeding herself, so we don't spoon feed her too often anymore. She will let us spoon feed her yogurt, but she is just as content dipping her fingers in the bowl and sucking it off (and smearing it on her face and hair, and tray). Right now, some of her favorite foods are bananas, peas, O's, whole wheat bagel, skinned apple slices, and yogurt drops (freeze dried yogurt treats).

She has 8 teeth, and has only bit her own fingers a few times.

Her morning milk on her actual birthday was her last nursing session. We weaned down to just morning and night by 11 months, and just mornings the last 2-3 weeks. She takes bottles or sippy cups during the day. And just like we did with Piper, she would also get a sippy cup of (cow) milk after her morning nursing (supply issues).

She can even hold and tip up her own sippy cup on her own (rather than drinking air).

Hello? Are you talking to me?
Marissa talks a lot! She just babbles on and on! And it makes me laugh and smile so big! And when she imitates other people talking, it is impressive. It's really just syllable sounds and zero enunciation, but it is clear to me she knows certain words and can mimic many sounds. When her sisters sing "Fa la la la la..." or "Glor or or or ia", Marissa joins in too.

She is starting to say words, like an unclear "hello" on her toy phone, or "thank you" when you give her something. I think she knows "mama" and "dada" too! And of course we've known she knows "uh-oh" for a while when something falls to the ground (or when she's holding something out the side of her high chair about to drop it intentionally!). She likes to do that when she's "ah-da" (all done) eating, throwing her food and bib on the floor.

She certainly can communicate. She will lean and look at what she wants when we're holding her, and she'll reach for what she wants. She nods her head "yes" and is starting to touch her chest for "please" (although it is still rare). She is starting to wave "hi" or "bye" (although usually delayed). And boy, when she is excited, she smiles and waves arms up and down so fast they're a blur!

Marissa has a great personality. She makes expressive faces. She is friendly with people, and appropriately shy with strangers. She plays well with toys, with me, and with her sisters, who love making her smile and laugh too.

I don't know where this nickname came from, except from baby talk, but Addisyn and Piper like to call her "na-nign-ya".

Picture proof of Marissa's great personality--

and doesn't she look so cute in that beanie too?

I LOVE this picture.

If you do it for the first kids, you can't forget it with the last kid...so we had a naked photo shoot on a pink bath towel: (nearly 10 months old)

Is it bedtime yet?
Marissa is a great sleeper on a regular schedule. She goes to bed and wakes at the same times as her sisters ~7:30/8pm to ~7am. She is still napping 2x/day. Naps are usually 1 hour, but sometimes 1 1/2 hour. We will push for longer naps when she gives up the second one per day.

DADDY'S TRIPLETS: Getting their daddy cuddles...before they all grow out of these matching sleepers.