Melkam Lidet, Mar-Mar!!!

That's "Happy Birthday" in Amharic. I know this post is a day early but we've got a lot going on tomorrow with the birthday party and everything. It's hard to believe that our little girl is getting so BIG! Really 2 big milestones this week. Today marked the day in which Marley has officially been with us longer than she was without it. It's a great feeling knowing that we've been there for the majority of her life.
Tomorrow we are having a cupcake themed party for Mar-Mar and are expecting lots of friends and kiddos. We're pretty excited, especially to see her expression when we wheel out the Little Tikes Cozy Coupe that we got for her 1st b-day. We were over at Brenda and David's the other night and Marley got in Jenna & Jarrett's Cozy Coupe and threw a screamin' fit when we took her out. Made our gift decision pretty easy.
Our last post was a vid of Marley taking her first steps. Since then she's pretty much mastered the art of walking. The girl absolutely refuses to crawl anymore. Her personality is hilarious. She is constantly cracking us up with her antics. Her newest favorite words are "Hi", "Bye", "Bree" (is actually a cross between "book" and "read") and BaBa". The last word actually encompasses many meanings. It means ball, bottle, and MaMa. Yes, we've actually discovered that Marley can fiiiiiiinally say "Mama", it just comes out as "baba". Mama is sooooo happy! Melkam Lidet baby girl!
Until next time, here are some new pics of the lovely and talented Miss Marley.

Hangin' out at Coco Keys in K.C.

Chillin encounter with livestock!

Chillin' w/ dada at the K.C. Zoo

Marley rollin' w/ cousin Jarrett

This is what happens with 3 kiddos and 1 Cozy Coupe :)

1st b-day invitation photo shoot

That's right, you're 1!

Mar-Mar's 1st Steps!

It's official!!!

Marley is a walker!!!  She just took her first steps about 20 minutes ago!  Age: 11 Months and 8 days.  Got some really good video but the memory card decided to bite the big one (figures).  Will try again though.  Stay tuned!

Darn spammers!

Just letting you know that in an effort to thwart those darn spammers from leaving junk comments on our blog, we've changed our settings so that only Followers can leave comments.  So join our blog and keep in touch!  We love hearing from all of our fellow adoption buddies out there.

Happy 11 months Mar-Mar!

Today our big girl turned 11 months old (and daddy turned 32).  Marley celebrated her 11 month birthday by pulling off a 1st.  She was able to stand up out of the tripod position all by herself.  It was hilarious.  We have always said "WOW!" whenever she pulls up alongside a piece of furniture and I was standing in the kitchen fixing her breakfast and I heard "WOW!".  I looked over and there she was standing up by herself in the the middle of the kitchen.  I about died laughing when I figured out what she was saying.  Needless to say, Marley's second word [the first being "dada" (sorry staci, had to throw that in there)] is "WOW!"  We'll try really, really hard to get this new trick on tape.
It was the greatest birthday ever.  I got to spend the whole day with baby girl, just the 2 of us, and listen to her ecstatically say "WOW" and watch another milestone come to pass.  She is growing so quickly and it seems like every day brings new surprises.  We are truely, truely blessed to be Mar-Mar's mommy and daddy.

Rockin' our new $5 pool (I swear it looked bigger on the box)

Having a blast camping w/ Uncle David, Aunt Brenda, Jenna & Jarrett!

Chillaxin in the new wagon Mimi and Papa got her

M's first Dallas Cowboys Game Day!

Hopefully there won't be too much of this happening on Sundays (daddy included)

Did I mention she has this knack for getting into absolutely EVERYTHING?!?!

More pics...I know, I know late again

Believe it or not, these pictures were taken back in March and we just recently got around to picking some out.  So without further adieu :)

Extra, Extra!

Here's a great article on the Davis family's adoption of Nyah.  Well, I guess it's only PART of the article.  I'd post the rest of it but I'm pretty sure there are copyright laws preventing me from doing so.  Congrats again Jim and Dixie!  What a lovely family.

Davis Family Article

Summer Fun!

Alright so I know we haven't been the best bloggers lately. Before we had Marley we read lot's of adoption blogs and hated it when families would get home with their little ones and their new posts got farther and farther apart. Now we totally understand why! You see, just a few weeks ago, Marley figured out how to pull all the way up on her feet. Yup, that's right, we're officially the parents of a full-blown puller-upper and soon to be parents of a full-blown stands-on-our-owner too! Needless to say, large portions of our evenings are spent chasing Miss M around and around, taking things out of her mouth, and trying to convey the meaning of "no,no" to her. And you know what?!?! We wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
     A couple of weeks ago we attended the CHI Reunion in St. Louis. It was such a blast FINALLY getting to meet several of the wonderful people who's blogs we have followed for the past few years. Finally got to meet the Salyers and Hyman families and lovely Ru and (other) Miss Marley :) It was awesome to finally be able to connect face-to-face with these wonderful families. We can't wait to see them again some day!
     While in St. Louis we met up with the Davis' (who just arrived home with their little Nyah about 2 months ago) and to our surprise had adjoining rooms. We had a blast hanging with these guys. There boys, Davin and Delton are a hoot and Nyah was just amazing. We spent Saturday with the Davis clan hanging at the reunion and then we were off to the zoo for the afternoon. It was the perfect weekend! We are truely blessed to have a fellow Ethiopian adoptive family like the Davis' living so close here in rural NW Missouri!
     Other than the reunion, it's been the normal summer stuff here. Marley has officially become a pool rat this summer! We love, love, LOVE kicking, screaming and splashing in the pool (and tub). This last weekend we had both sides of the family over for our first ever weenie roast at our new fire ring we just built. Lot's of weiners, smores, and games. Until next time, more pics!

All ready to meet my Ethiopian gal-pals in St. Louis!

Momma & Marley at the reunion

Finally meeting Missy and Elisa!  Good to see Alida again too!

Marley meets Marley!

Breakfast in bed at the Mariott

Daddy and Marley at the Mariott pool

Momma and Marley doing kissy-faces

Havin' a blast in the tub

Tellin' Aunt Brenda a reeeeeally big campfire story at the weenie roast

Daddy hanging with Marley and Abby at the roast